This is a topic for plotting the details of the fourth unforgivable curse. I'm not good at describing it, so if anyone wants to please do. All I know is that I'm giving Kate up to be someone who is experimented with the curse :( I'm letting anyone kill her though! I was thinking this should happen in the beginning development stages of the curse. They could use the spell to control her for a while, and then there's a glitch. I'm thinking something will happen to Kate, but she'll get her soul back. Maybe she'll lose her memory or something of the sort.

What do you guys have to say?
And discuss the curse here!

The Fourth Unforgivable Curse: The soul-stealing curse. Incantation currently unknown. It works like a dementor's kiss in that it tears the soul away from the body. Without the person's soul, the human being is a vegetable, alive but not alive. It differs from a dementor's kiss in that the soul isn't lost when it's pulled away, and the caster of the curse can use the soul to make the victim think, feel, and do things they never would normally. If the caster chooses to control the victim, however....(and I think this will work sort of like a pensieve)...then it works like a super-powerful imperio. Impossible to cure and impossible to detect.

Unless....(and this is shaky ground I'm going into)...you make some sort of sacrifice to return the soul. Maybe it's like a constant displacement process, where someone always has to lose a soul for another one to be returned? I'm not sure.

At any rate, that's what we have so far for the fourth unforgivable. It's still subject to change, but that's the basic idea.

I think Kate would be an ideal victim because a lot of people know her. If she were to get hit, then that would give a reason for Darien/Sinistras/whoever else to go exploring in the Dept. of Mysteries with the DP staff, who are already suspicious due to the apparition bug, murders, etc. [s]and the fact they have Alain on the team[/i].

What are your ideas on the whole glitch of the spell idea. I'm thinking Kate could be the first tester. The spell could work for a long time before they try to test it further, where it fails, because I don't want to give up Kate completely -huggles kate- only for a while :)

What do you all think?

I think what happens is that the spell works fine, but Darien ends up replacing her, so to speak. So maybe she starts out as veggie, gets landed in St. Mungo's, Darien treats her for a while, they decide to investigate, and when they do he manages to free her soul, but at the cost of his own, and it takes her a very long time to recover? I imagine that there's some sort of device that holds the soul, but whenever someone opens it their own gets sucked in. Something like that.

Yes, that's a good idea. B-b-b-but are you saying Darien will sacrifice himself for Kate?! -sobs- That's so sad.

Oh don't worry, he doesn't do it on purpose! :P He's just trying to figure out how to get Kate better and then...whoops...there goes his soul. Either it's a mistake on his part, or someone attacks him or something, I'm not quite sure. But no matter what happens he will get turned into a veggie at some point.

(I honestly don't like his character all that much, so this isn't a huge tragedy for me...)

Alright, good plan :) Kate will be devastated. At least, when she finally can comprehend what he did.

And I like Darien....

I am looking forward to this! Alain would probably have heart palpitations at the mere thought of snooping inside the department of mysteries. This plot is so well thought out, kudos to you guys!

And I like Darien too <3

Question, do we really want the Sinistra's anywhere near the department of mysteries? I can only imagine what they might bring back to their shop... 'Here want this odd floating brain in a jar that has all of life's answers? Yours for only 5 Gallons! It will look lovely on a chain with that top!'

Glad to see that should Apollo ever come around to Kate actually liking him she will be a nice little veggie/puppet for a while. He sure knows how to choose real winners when it comes to love for himself and his sister. Speaking of which if anyone else needs to die I can offer my dear Apollo up for sacrifice - only because I have difficulties seeing him having a long life. Don't think the fashion freak was made to live past his late 20s / early 30s. Just as a possibility. Though the murderer would have to deal with one crazy Artemis, who I think would rather like kicking some evil villain butt.

Oh gosh, if something happened to Apollo she would probably go crazy. Crucio's would be flying (duck Logan), she'd probably conjure up some boiling tar...maybe some rabid hedgehogs. It would not be a pretty picture.

Apollo- Kate would eventually come back. While she's a veggie he can realize his longer for her. Then they could ride off into the beautiful sunset together wearing togas and turbans once she's better.

Idea: Artemis knows Logan works in the Department of Mysteries. Suppose that once they start investigating, she takes a chance and either directly asks for his help or tries to be sneaky and trick information out of him. He gets suspicious/realizes her game, tells Ed, and is assigned to clean-up duty--aka, knocking out Darien, which is how he gets attacked and loses le soul.

I imagine that at this point there would only be one soul containment vessel, which would be why Kate's soul is allowed to escape when Darien's is captured.

Maybe Anna could find Kate. She can't help her so she takes her to her mentor, Darien. Derry gets his soul sucked out, and Anna is given Darien's job and the hopeless responsibility of trying to cure all these people without having her own soul sucked out blah blah blah.

Then more connections could be made with the other people against this and such...

Plot boggles ftw!

OK. Let's see if I can get this straightened out in list format.

• Daily Prophet is suspicious of Ministry because they're still not allowed in. (Alain may write lots of crazy stuff which is oddly accurate?)
• People go missing. People show up with their brains fried. People start going crazy. The Healers (Darien, Anna, and Bram) work together to try and figure things out. They don't get very far at first.
• Healers file complaints to Ministry, DP gets a hold of complaints, run to hospital to interrogate, and the pieces start fitting together. *hides plot hole*
• Fletcher catches Kate in a dark alley and uses her for target practice.
• Anna finds Kate. Darien is vaguely upset and has the unpleasant task of contacting those she was close with.
• Sinistra's, Darien, Anna, and possibly Bram if Brock can keep up, all chat about the situation and decide they need to do something about it.
• Alain/Carmen, who were conveniently hiding behind a bush or something while they were having this conversation, hop out and declare that it's in everyone's best interest if they joined forces and did a little private investigating.
• They somehow figure out that it all leads back to the department of mysteries. *covers plot hole with sheet*
• They figure out a way for <insert list of names here> to get into the Ministry undetected.
• Fletcher, who is working late, detects them. He finds Darien snooping around his jar-o-souls and zaps him just when he plucks out Kate's soul.
• Other people show up, manage to catch Kate's soul, and Fletcher disappears.
• That morning the DP breaks a big story about a Fourth Unforgivable Curse. People are sad.

That's one rough outline that we can at least work with. The biggest problem is, of course, how they figure out that they need to go to the department of mysteries.

*fixes plot hole*

Symptoms of victims whose souls aren't being used to Imperio them are just like those of Dementor's Kiss victims, right? So people draw that conclusion and the human soul is on the brain.

Remember Logan's creepy convo with Artemis? They started talking about the human soul. Artemis remembers it and how fascinating he said it was, etc., etc., and also that he works in the Department of Mysteries. Alain cries out that the Unspeakables must be trying to create a Dementor's Kiss spell, which is ridiculous but they've got nothing better so they decide to investigate.

Ta daa fixed!

Okay! And when is this all happening?

Hmmmm...I think it's going to happen relatively soon, in the next two or three weeks. We almost have everything set up for the big search in the Ministry, so I imagine that Spiv will start a thread soon for you and Fletcher.

Oh, and are Kate/Apollo still double dating with Darien and Artemis? Or was that plan axed/changed?

Well, Kate was all for it in that one thread, but no one has posted in it since she did.

Yeah...that's definitely my fault, haha. I didn't really know how to finish it off. I thought Apollo/Kate were going to be sneaky about it, not just hop right over and say 'let's go on a date!' so I really didn't know how to end it besides just leaving.

You guys probably already have thought this out, but I just realized it. Edward Garrow is the one who is planning this whole 4th curse thing right? We were trying to see why they would target Kate. At first we said she'd just get in the way.

I was thinking that we could have Ed make Logan curse Kate. Kate and Edward haven't had the best history [see letters to and from the two] -cough- So, maybe he'll be like "she's useless to this earth. curse her!" da da daaaaaaa.

That's a great idea, Autumn. Edward obviously wouldn't assign any importance to Kate, and since he owes her a shopping trip he could say, "Hey Kate...meet me here at this time." Only, instead of taking her shopping he sends Logan to get her. Logan would probably be very nervous about the whole actually using the spell on people thing and would cast before looking very closely; when he realizes it's Kate, he'll probably freak out and get out of there, especially if he hears the DP/MLE crew approaching.

Also, if you read my going away statement, you'll see I'm going away from like... ever. Okay, like two weeks. Anyways, I think we should make those two weeks that I'm gone, Kate's veggie period. Since I won't be there to rp, people can god mod her and be like "OMGSHHHH?!!? Look at her lying there DEAD!" and so forth.

Sorry for double posting, but the veggie topic is up. TOPIC! Carmen gave me to go ahead to set it up. I know you may not post in it at the moment, but it's there and ready. Post in it whenever you want. I'm ready whenever. It could take a day or a month, I don't care.

So the ministry is developing and testing a fourth unforgivable curse? At this point are their motives for this unknown? Are they developing it as some kind of weapon? Or was it preexisting and is only now being researched?

wow...there are so many things you could do with a soul too. I'm guessing the curse doesn't damage the soul itself right? I realize there are a lot of question marks here, I apologize. Just satiating my curiosity.

To address your questions.

So the ministry is developing and testing a fourth unforgivable curse?

Yes.

More specifically, Edward Garrow has ordered/funded a small group of Unspeakables, including Logan Fletcher and Astrella Snipe, to create this Dementor's Kiss Curse for his own evil purposes.

Are they developing it as some kind of weapon?

Yes and no. Garrow wants to have more thorough control over people (he has control issues--see "A Fateful Proposition" and "Love and Marriage" in Tangled Threads). He doesn't really intend to share it with anyone, and actually is planning to have the Unspeakables working on the case "removed" once it's finished.

Or was it preexisting and is only now being researched?

It's an idea that had been touched on before (by Garrow's granddaddy, funnily enough), but it's only now coming to fruition.

I'm guessing the curse doesn't damage the soul itself right?

At first, yes, which has resulted in some crazy rambling people wandering around. It's been refined now, and a careful caster is able to extract the soul in its entirety without damaging it.

Any more questions? ^-^

KATE IS UNSOULIFIED.

now who's going to find her?

*shifty eyes*

*slowly raises hand*

Could Macky find her?

*wants to be involved in some actual plot... even if it's a small part, really*

As for how he can tell if it's a soul... probably some sense of warmth or cold coming from it and it would probably make him curious about it, since he would never have encountered a soul without a body before. There's possibly a peculiar smell to it too...

*sinks back into a corner quietly*

Might Cal be involved, too? (Calixtus Ferox). He probably wouldn't be unless he heard of it somehow and got interested enough to leave his lab, or unless he heard Mack freaking out and noticed what was wrong... something. Er. Not sure, but I would like him to be involved. Or E.B., if anyone wants something from the resident incompetent Auror.

Well, the soul isn't there. Garrow has it, and they're long gone. So all that's there is Kate's soulless body.

I don't remember who was supposed to find her originally...I think it was Darien, Carmen, Alain and the Sinistra twins. So...Carmen? Haha.

I don't see anything wrong with Mack or E.B. being there, but that's up to whoever else has to get involved.

I don't mind either. Mack and Kate should know each other. Kate graduated from Gryffidor in '18 and Mack in '17!

Mack most likely knowing Kate and finding her when she looked dead would be rather interesting. It could cause some rather... interesting reactions. If I can have him be present (as in, it's all right with whomever else finds her), then that would be great...

{{Sorry. I take things literally a lot and have a horrid short term memory loss problem.

So it took me awhile after I posted to realize, "Oh... Kate's body... not Kate's soul... Damn it!"}}

Sounds good. You guys can go rescue her whenever :] haha!

-pokes- Kate needs to be rescued soon :]