lakshmi patil (patill) wrote in disorderic, @ 2018-04-16 16:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | john dawlish, lakshmi patil |
WHO: John Dawlish & Lakshmi Patil.
WHAT: Lakshmi’s fine, obviously. Believe her.
WHEN: April 16
WHERE: The hotel in [redacted] that Lakshmi is staying at.
WARNINGS: Mind Control
“I’m fine,” Lakshmi said to no one in particular. It didn’t matter that John was in the room with her keeping him company (and checking up on her), because it clearly wasn’t said to him. She’d been staring off into space, and acting a touch oddly for the last half an hour. Because unbeknownst to John Dawlish and anyone else, Lakshmi Patil was also a victim of the Imperius Curse. Except the curse hadn’t sat right; it’s caster was too emotional to do it correctly, and now? Now it was coming unwoven, slowly but surely. “Really.” Her arm twitched. John didn’t seem nearly as convinced, and instead gave his friend a concerned stare. It had been a traumatic week for him and his peers, and there was no way Lakshmi was actually fine. But he relented and shrugged. “Okay.” He didn’t feel like arguing right now. He didn’t want to lose another friend. Frowning, he pulled his burner cell phone out as it buzzed with a message from his stepmother. ”Made it to sister’s. All fine. Don’t worry.” John distractedly put away the phone as he looked at Lakshmi again. “What’s wrong with your arm?” he asked, pointing at it. Lakshmi’s eyes flicked down to her trembling arm — after-effects of Cruciatus, she wanted to scream — but instead she looked dazed, and her foot twitched. “Nothing. It’s fine!” Her voice crackled a bit, sounding raw. John didn’t look nearly as convinced and as her foot twitched, he managed to catch a glimpse of that. “Lakshmi…” John trailed off and then her voice cracked like that. It was odd. Too odd. And a moment of panic struck him. “Are you really Lakshmi Patil?” he asked, his hand instinctively reaching for his wand. It could have been an imposter. Blinking, one eye glassy and one eye focused, Lakshmi looked over at John. “Of course I’m Lakshmi?” She seem perplexed, but it did nothing for her quivering muscles and limbs. “I just—” The curse continued to unravel behind the scenes, tendrils of dark magic evaporating from their places in her mind. “You just what?” John snapped, drawing his wand out and pointing it at Lakshmi. He was about five seconds away from throwing a minor defensive hex at her, not entirely convinced that this wasn't an imposter. It just didn’t seem like Lakshmi, and he was not in the position to take risks. “What?” He snapped again. But Lakshmi looked past the wand, and the former Auror that was her friend. Suddenly, her hands with to the sides of her head as Imperius curse, incorrect and emotionally sloppy as it had been, broke all together. She curled into herself, falling into the fetal position and openly crying, finally free of the curse and it’s command to keep up an act about what hadn’t occurred last night. “Victoria,” she got out through sobs. “She’s a Death Eater. Admitted it, using Cruciatus and Imperius but I can talk—” she trembled as an after-shock ripped through her. “Talk about it and her or something and I’m so sorry.” “What?” John repeated, though this time his tone was riddled with confusion. He let Lakshmi’s words sink in for a moment, calculating something in his head. He finally stuck the wand back in his pocket and slowly -- but cautiously -- reached for Lakshmi’s hand and helped her sit up. “Lakshmi… hey, it’s okay.” He let his other hand wipe away her tears as he exhaled quietly. “Do you think you can tell me what happened?” It took her a while between sobs and trembling, aching muscles she could finally acknowledge without the partial bliss of the dark curse effecting her mind, but eventually, she cuddled into John. “Victoria,” she tried again, biting her spasming lower lip and fighting against her urge to vomit. “I confronted Victoria yesterday about being a Death Eater. She admitted it and—” she swallowed a lump in her throat “— tortured me and then tried to Imperius me but I don’t think it work right and—” that was it, she was done, and buried her teary face into John’s shoulder. John’s imagination started to run wild right then, about what this confrontation was really like and he clenched his jaw. It wasn’t okay at all, and now every ounce of his body burned with rage at the Death Eater and her actions. He wrapped his hands around her, trying to give her the comfort he thought she needed and drew in a breath. “Alright. Do you mind if I look you over for any signs of other Dark Magic?” he inquired, though his voice was shakier than he intended. “Okay,” she choked out, allowed John to check her seemed safe. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have — but we needed to know.” John didn’t have the words that Lakshmi may have wanted to hear right now, that it was okay, that it would be fine, so instead he settled for taking out his wand and doing what he was used to for many years as an Auror -- inspecting victims for potential signs of Dark Magic. He got to work, muttering spells here and there, assessing what had been affected. He felt disgusted by the traces he found, and could only tell himself to calm down -- this wasn’t Lakshmi’s fault, after all. “The good thing is that you’re mostly clear of it, with just some various lingerings here and there,” he started. John’s gaze fell towards her hands, the way they must have felt and it was difficult for him to keep the disgust out of his facial expression. “And you’re safe now, so that’s great, too.” They obviously didn’t need any more deaths, though the fact that Lakshmi could have very well died for a second time in the same week was a glaring thought. “What do you think we should do now, now that we know?” John propositioned, his expression changing to something that was a bit more neutral. A bit more professional. A bit more John-like. He couldn’t lose his temper or lash out now. Except Lakshmi did feel guilt. Not over what Victo— Mulciber — had done, but that she’d gone on her own, throwing caution to the wind and being an idiot. There was no excuse for it, she could have lost her life so very easily. “We — I tell everyone.” That was firm. Everyone needed to know what Victoria Mulciber was. John nodded and quickly added, “Expose the bitch.” |