Cai Vane. (vanest) wrote in disorderic, @ 2018-04-17 20:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | cai vane, evelyn mulciber, gwendolyn vane |
WHO: Evelyn Mulciber, Gwen and Cai Vane
WHEN: April 17th
WHERE: A Muggle Cafe
WHAT: Evelyn is not a fan of the Beacon
WARNINGS: Mind control, violence, death.
Gwendolyn Vane was an irritant. A rock in a shoe that one might forget about but for its need to make its presence known. And it was too bad, really, because Evelyn had found the young woman pleasant enough months earlier when the journalist was interviewing her. Pleasant and also familiar, somehow. She didn't realize then that Gwendolyn Vane was the daughter of another irritant. No, that connection eluded her for some time. She did not make a habit of following the children of her past victims the way some of her colleagues did. It wasn't of interest to her. Until those children became a problem in their own way, like Gwendolyn Vane had. Evelyn didn't know for certain if the young woman was involved with The Beacon, but she would find out soon enough. And after that rag called out her daughter and sought to ruin Victoria's career and reputation (not to mention the clever trick she'd developed), Evelyn was even more determined to see it ended. It would be a gift to her daughter. Petra Pepper, cheerful (and fearful) mid-level assistant in the Department of Magical Education, was an easy Imperius target. When she contacted Gwendolyn Vane, formerly of The Daily Prophet, she was sure she had important, pressing information that just had to get out there, even if she couldn't use her name, please, she was sure Ms Vane would understand! Could they please meet in person? She knew a little muggle cafe with outdoor seating that was quiet and private and they would be safe and undisturbed, she was sure of it. Petra Pepper showed up for the meeting confused, disoriented, and sounding more than a little unbalanced as a disguised Evelyn Mulciber listened in from not too far away. Gwendolyn had never been good at saying no to a story. Stories wanted, needed to be told — stories that came from people like Petra Pepper certainly needed to be told. She was in hiding, technically, which just meant she had to be more careful. Gwen left the property in the Hebrides, apparated to several different locations, before she ended up just round the corner from where they had agreed to meet. She was wearing one of the wigs she’d picked up and was dressed differently, a few light charms placed so she didn’t look too familiar to anyone. It was easy enough to find Petra. Gwen smiled as she walked towards her. “Hi,” she said, cheerfully as possible. “You wrote to me. Thanks for agreeing to meet here.” Petra blinked a few times and nodded. "You're Gwen," she said. "Yes. I wrote to you because I have a story and you can get it out somewhere that's not The Prophet." Nearby, Evelyn pretended to read her paper and listened intently for the confirmation. Gwen looked at the woman and then nodded. “If you’ve a story, I’ll find a way to get it out there,” she said. “There’s always a way. Is it — I mean, is it anything to do with Hogwarts or…?” She trailed off, trying not to put anything too awful into words, lest it be offering something up into the world that caused it to happen. She wanted Petra to fill everything in herself anyway. "Some of the professors aren't following the expected curriculum," Petra recited. Evelyn didn't bother to put much detail into the story. "They won't be around much longer." Gwen’s eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?” She tried to keep her incredulity out of her voice but didn’t fully manage it. This didn’t quite seem worthy of a huge, new story. “Won’t be around as in — fired or what?” Petra looked confused. "They won't be around much longer," she repeated, as if she were perfectly clear the first time, or as if she didn't know what to say next. “Yes, but what does that mean?” Gwen prompted, frowning. Petra didn’t sound sure, didn’t seem like she knew what she was really talking about. Gwen’s hand fluttered to her throat; she tried to remind herself this wasn’t (yet) a waste of her time, an unnecessary risk. And suddenly, Petra slumped out of her chair, the victim of a silent sleeping spell that an over it Evelyn sent her way. As far as she was concerned, that Gwen had shown up at all even after leaving the Prophet was evidence that the young woman was involved in some kind of "alternative media," and that made her a threat. Undisguised, she sat down in the seat previously occupied by her puppet, wand clear and ready. "Don't do anything stupid." She spoke with a quiet intensity. "Put your wand on the table and let's have a chat." It was fear that gripped her immediately, heart pounding fast, even though it felt like her blood was slowly cooling in her veins. It was an odd sensation, leaving her feeling almost breathless as Gwen looked straight at Evelyn Mulciber. Her fingers twitched but she didn’t go for her wand. “What are you doing? What did you do to her?” "Calm down. She alive," Evelyn said. "She might even stay that way. Now put your wand on the table." “I,” Gwen started and then stopped herself. What was she going to say? I don’t want to, as true as that was, was unlikely to get her anywhere. Especially not with a Death Eater’s wand pointing at her already. “Won’t you put yours down?” She was already reaching for her wand, fishing about in her coat pocket for it to draw it out. "That's not how this works. I know you know what happened last time a reporter refused to answer questions and do what he was told." Gwen swallowed, sharply, and nodded. “Yeah, okay.” There was a slight tremor in her hand as she went into her other coat pocket, using her thumb to open her phone. She was jabbing in the dark, not sure if she’d hit her phone, not sure if she’d called anyone who could help but hoping, hoping, hoping. Most of her last calls were either Cai, Chelsea or Baz. One of them would help, surely. Her wand was on the table then. “What do you want to chat about?” "That's better. Now," Evelyn said, leaning back into the chair. "What can you tell me about The Beacon?" “It’s a newspaper,” Gwen said, struggling not to swallow. Evelyn Mulciber. Mulciber, Mulciber, Mulciber: murderer, murderer, murderer. Her heart was beating too fast. “Seems to be in the Prophet. Seems to be dissenting from the Prophet. Probably everyone knows that. I dunno much else.” "Then what were you asking about this woman's story for?" Evelyn asked. She nudged the unconscious Petra with her foot. 'You're no longer with The Prophet." “I can find ways to get stories out.” Gwen tried not to look at Petra. She tried not to thrust her hands into her pockets, to yell down the phone for help. “I’m a journalist. I have a blog. I’m not necessarily with any publication going, you know. I’m very hard to get.” She smiled shakily and without any joy behind it, let out a laugh, tried not to let her nervousness sweep it away. The answer did not impress Evelyn. "I don't think you understand the chance I'm giving you here. It would be very easy to make you tell me. No-one cares about your 'blog,' so don't bother trying to convince me otherwise." “I can drum up some traffic,” Gwen said, trying to look offended. “I get hits. It’s all about who you know — I can get stuff out.” Her hand fluttered to her neck again, grabbing onto the necklace she had. She folded her fingers around it and wished for Cai. “I don’t know anything about the Beacon.” Evelyn sighed. She tried so hard to give these people a chance to cooperate of their own volition. She didn't know why she bothered anymore. Her Imperio fell over Gwen like a comforting blanket. "Now, shall we try again? Is The Beacon a part of the Order of the Phoenix? Tell the truth." Gwen heard her voice as if it was a completely separate entity from her. “No. We’re nothing to do with them.” Evelyn smiled. Now they were getting somewhere. "That's very interesting, dear." She spoke as if Gwen were one of her young daughters, an attempt at maternal comfort and encouragement. It rang hollow here, too. "We?" Cai had just missed Gwen’s call, instead finding himself listening to a strange voicemail that at first he’d thought was an accidental dial. Until he heard the words The Beacon. The message continued, only cut off by the time limit, but Cai had already hung up, frantically scrolling through his messages to find his latest one from Gwen. Her location. Being in hiding didn’t suit Gwen, anyone who knew Gwen could have guessed that about her. And even if she’d promised wigs and disguises, Cai was still always going to fret, so they’d agreed on a location sharing system. Anytime they left their hideouts, they had to let the other one know. He’d hoped they wouldn’t need it, and that if they did it would be because a mostly harmless DMLE member like Graham or Ian was after them again. He hadn’t expected what he saw when he appeared at her location. Evelyn Mulciber. Their dad’s probably murderer. Questioning Gwen about her underground paper. He needed to get Gwen out of there. His heart pounded in his chest as he pulled out his wand. “Immobulus,” he whispered from a distance that was safe, but not quite close enough to hit his desired target. The spell ricocheted off a chair nearby, toppling it over and putting Evelyn on edge. She was on her feet, leaving the two Imperiused women to fend for themselves (or not) as she shielded herself until she could figure out what was going on. Her eyes scanned the area the spell seemed to come from, but without an exact target, Evelyn instead sent a blinding flash in the general direction to buy herself time. In the chaos Gwen flung herself to the ground, trying to shake off the dregs of the imperius as she looked wildly around. Blinking to try rid himself of the black spots obscuring his vision, Cai sent a burning curse towards Evelyn, the muggle location forgotten the moment he’d seen his sister in danger. Arresting charms were his usual go-to, but there was no point arresting criminals anymore, and Evelyn had robbed them of growing up with a father. If anyone deserved to suffer it was her. The shield held against the curse, and her assailant had given away his location. "Gwendolyn," she said clearly, letting her previous Imperius do the work for her. "Stand up. Put yourself between me and any spell that man sends my way. Do it now." Gwen had been reaching for Petra, trying to crawl under a table, trying to think of how to help all at once, her brain screaming at her that she needed to do too many things but she had to do them. She had to do something. Then, the only thing she had to do was listen to Evelyn’s voice in her head. There was a distant horror to watching her body move independent of what she wanted, a far away voice floating through her that this was wrong, that she didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t a loud enough voice. Her body moved its way between her brother and Evelyn almost serenely, smoothly. She hated it, but it didn’t matter. She looked at Cai, but she was a million miles away. "Very good, dear," said Evelyn. She leaned around her new human shield and sent a bone shattering curse toward the man. Cai managed to deflect the curse but he was stuck. He couldn’t hit the death eater without hitting Gwen. He attempted an arresting charm, aimed directly at Gwen, tugging her towards him when the chains wrapped around her and grabbing her arm tightly. He followed it up with a spell aimed at Evelyn, but only risked a vertigo jinx, in case Gwen attempted to dive in front of it. Well, that didn't go quite as planned. The vertigo jinx weakened pushed through her shield and weakened, but hit, and suddenly everything started to spin, and Evelyn's aim was thrown off. She sent a series of blasting spells in the right general direction with no real regard for what else they might hit. With Gwen now safely beside him, the muggles in the cafe became Cai’s next priority. “Go,” he urged Gwen, “Get an obliviator.” There was still a sheen surrounding Gwen’s thoughts, a fog in her brain that made her slower, blinking at Cai. Fear and revulsion pulled at her: that had been so easy to slip under, to listen to what Evelyn told her to do. She was useless, here. “I’ll — yeah I’ll get someone,” she said, grabbing her phone again but her voice was strong as she added in a rush, ducking behind a pillar, “I’m not leaving you, though.” Focused on trying to shield the muggles, Cai didn’t react fast enough to one of the curses aimed closest to him, hitting a nearby wooden table and sending shards and splinters into his body. He doubled over in pain, grinding his teeth as he tried to push through and convince his body to straighten again. It was a bad idea to take your eyes off any opponent, he couldn’t give a death eater that advantage. "Don't move," Evelyn bellowed at the woman who might still be under her control. She took a few halting steps, still struggling from the vertigo, but at least her vision was starting to focus. "Lamina!" “Ebulio!” Cai cast at Gwen, a bubble to protect her from the onslaught of knives if she was still under Evelyn’s spell and unable to move. Adrenaline was pushing him through the pain. He couldn’t arrest her, the next best option was to knock her out so they could both get out of here safely and remove the curse from Gwen. Cai turned to the Death Eater once more, using all his strength to shoot a stupefy at her. The stunning spell erupted against her burning curse, keeping each from its mark. A bolt of lightning followed quickly, but Evelyn stumbled backwards then over the forgotten Petra Pepper and the spell connected not with either intended victim, but with the sign hanging above their heads and the building behind them. The sign came crashing down before Cai had a chance to react, a sickening crack as it connected with his head. Cai crumpled to the ground, lifeless under the heavy object. Her hearing didn’t seem to be working right: Gwen heard the crack and then nothing, not even the scream that ripped itself from her throat or the noise of the onlookers. She heard nothing else as she flung herself forward, her brother’s name falling from her mouth. Gwen said it like a litany as she got closer, a prayer in every syllable. Her heart had frozen in her chest. Her blood felt cold as she aimed her wand shakily at the sign, moving it off him. “Cai?” she said and she heard her voice this time, the crack in it as she reached forward to shake his shoulder. He didn’t move. He didn’t do anything. There was blood everywhere, dark red and spilling out over the concrete. Gwen’s hand slipped in it as she tried to turn Cai over, to find a pulse, to will it into existence. She forgot about Evelyn, until she looked up, and Gwen didn’t know if she had it in her to stand and face the other woman. Instead, she looked away, back at Cai, her fingers scrambling to find a pulse that wasn’t there. Evelyn was back on her feet a moment later, wand ready to defend against the spells that, for some reason, weren't coming back against her. When she saw the scene before her, she lowered her wand in some confusion. "Oh, dear," she said. She did not like it when things did not go as expected, but at least the real threat was eliminated. She wondered vaguely who it had been. Gwen could barely breathe as she looked down at Cai, chest tightening even more at the callous Oh dear. Oh dear? Oh dear. Her hands gripping hard onto Cai, she threw a last spell, the worst thing she could think of, bone shattering at the woman. She didn’t stop to see if it landed. She didn’t stay at all. She had to get to someone who could maybe help Cai, who she trusted enough to be able to bring someone back. Gwen apparated away. The spell hit its mark, and while Evelyn hated retreating, the damage to her arm and shoulder could not be ignored. She gritted her teeth and followed suit. A moment later, a very confused Petra Pepper woke up. |