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Tweak says, "let's garnet!"

merrell gaunt is kind of a creeper (runthegaunt) wrote in flippedrpg,
@ 2012-11-17 19:57:00

Entry tags:

ch: swap: merrell riddle, ch: swap: toma riddle, p: annalisa, p: kit

Who: Merrell & Toma Riddle (swap)
What: father-daughter meeting!
When: Saturday evening
Where: outside the Thomas house
Warnings: look at the "who". this thread is going to heck in a handbasket.

This was, somehow, Malvoy and Morfina's devising. Merrell felt certain of it, although he was having trouble figuring out how they could have managed it. They were imprisoned, for one thing, but if they could manage to escape Azkaban, then he supposed they could probably manage to get him to a strange place like this. How, he wasn't sure, but they had far more knowledge of magic than he did.

Still, it seemed a little beyond even the scale of his sister and mother. This place was like nowhere else he'd ever seen, full of pleasant people (who actually smiled and greeted him in a friendly manner). What the point of the black and white was, or the strange language, he had yet to figure out. But even if this was not all of their own devising, he was convinced that either Malvoy or Morfina was here. The person he'd been talking to on the journals seemed somewhat different from them, but the kind of hatred she showed for him was something he'd only ever known from his family. He didn't think anyone else could hate him that deeply.

And she was spewing lies about Toma, too, lies that he refused to believe. How stupid did she think he was, to believe that his wife hated him just because she made up a future date? Admittedly, the fact that she knew about the potion was concerning, because his sister and mother weren't supposed to know about that-- but how could anyone else know that, either? She was just guessing, she had to be. Trying to break him down with words since apparently violence wasn't allowed here.

Which was something, he supposed, but he still didn't like this place. It was stupid and weird and he didn't like having an extra voice in his head, one who seemed obsessed with baking and housekeeping. It was like someone was attempting to Imperius him into going back to being a glorified house elf. And by glorified, he really meant not glorified at all. He was resisting it as strongly as he possibly could, holding tight to the determination not to fall back under his mother's thumb. He'd gotten away from her, and she had no control over him anymore, except what he let her have by falling into her mind games.

The reasoning that they were playing mind tricks on him made it hard to believe his eyes, at first, when he saw a familiar dark-haired figure. He was approaching the house he was supposed to stay in-- which was not where he really wanted to stay, but he didn't really know where else to go in this town-- when he saw her. Toma.

He started to rush forward, and then stopped partway, realizing belatedly that it might be a trap. His mother and sister loved to set him up to fail, to make seemingly easy tasks impossible for him to impress upon him how much of a failure he was; thus he'd learned fairly quickly to be wary of things that seemed too easy. They'd said Toma wasn't here. If they were allowing him to see her, or her look-alike, it was probably another game. But he loved her too much to walk away, to avoid the risk.

He continued toward her at a wary but hurried pace, and paused a short distance away when she started to turn towards him. "Toma?" he said, voice cracking a bit on her name. He looked hopeful, but also hesitant, half-expecting a violent reaction.

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soriddled
2012-11-18 04:49 am UTC (link)

Toma went rigid. She'd expected to be confronted by her biological father's presence at some point but she had not expected it to be so soon after her conversation with Albus. Her blood ran hot and her heart pounded in her ears which was unfamiliar to her as she'd never experienced such active hatred before. Before, it had been a part of her, something that existed comfortably within her. Now it was like a wild beast that gnashed its teeth and growled venomously each time she saw his handwriting and, now, heard his voice. She didn't know where the beast had come from or why it had only awoken upon his arrival but the way its rage and hatred coiled and pulsed inside of her made her want to give in to the beast, as well.

He looked as pathetic as he had in the pensieve, like a stray dog that no one wanted to even pass table scraps to. She looked upon him coolly, her petite nose ever-so-slightly in the air and a glimmer of malice shining in her eyes. "You're even more wretched in person," she observed, quickly abolishing her promise to Albus. Though, technically, she'd promised not to try to kill the man. She wasn't technically lying if her words just so happened to drive him to kill himself.

The Gaunt ring still encircled her finger as it had from the moment she'd arrived. It may not have been a piece of her soul anymore but it was still her trophy for having exacted revenge upon her mother. She rubbed her thumb over the underside of the band and briefly considered the fact that it was a link between her and the Gaunts and she didn't enjoy that particular connection. "I am not your wife," she added, "Thank Merlina for that. I'd have to off myself if I were."

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runthegaunt
2012-11-18 05:07 am UTC (link)

The insult wasn't unexpected. The other part was. No, he could tell at this distance that she wasn't his wife, though she was a decent look-alike, able to fool him when he was farther away. But wasn't the point of a look-alike to trick him into thinking she was his wife? What was the point of showing him a woman that looked like his wife, but wasn't pretending to be? To make the insults hurt more, coming from her? That would have worked if he'd believed it to be her. But it wasn't really Toma saying them, and he knew that, so it didn't sting any more than any other insult.

"No," he said, "You're not, you're different-- but you look so much like her." There was something wrong about this whole situation, some big punchline that he was missing, and it was really starting to bother him. He stared at her face, so like and so unlike his wife's, but the hatred in her expression gave him no new clues. "You're the person who was threatening me, though. Who are you?"

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soriddled
2012-11-18 05:27 am UTC (link)

Feeling more and more equipped to handle this predicament without magic—after all, she used to rely on words at school and she had the wild beast on her side—she moved to start circling Merrell, the corners of her lips curling up into a terrible smile. "You're not very bright, are you? Anyone with any intelligence whatsoever would have been able to deduce it by now. Let's see."

Toma tapped her pointer finger against her chin and moved slowly, appraising him with each step she took. Where her new tactic was coming from, she wasn't sure. Possibly somewhere pre-Compound and pre-Oscar. "At least you've figured out that we've already spoken, that's something." She waited a beat and continued, "I look like your wife but I am not her. I know about the potion yet I'd suffice it to presume you told no one of it. I know to use words like Merlina which I would also guess your paltry, muggle wife would never use, poor, magicless wench that she was. I deplore you more anyone but your family would..."

Toma let her voice trail off as she rounded back in front of the appalling man and stepped closer to him so that she could speak clearly without being overheard. In words that came out in a snake-like hiss, she finished, "I am Toma Malvoy Riddle. Who do you think I am?"

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runthegaunt
2012-11-18 06:33 am UTC (link)

The fact was that there was an idea niggling at the edge of Merrell's mind, but he was pushing it away. He didn't want to think whatever it was they wanted him to think, didn't want to leap to the conclusion they were leading him towards. He was resisting being affected by this awful prank with every ounce of willpower that he had, and so stubbornly refusing to see the things that were right in front of him.

"This isn't funny," he said, with more vehemence in his tone than he'd ever dared to show to his family in his life. His expression, on the other hand, was full of conflict; disbelief mingling with the shock that came with half-believing what she was saying. It was so much more plausible to believe that this was a trick, that she was Morfina or Malvoy in disguise, but they were the ones that he would never have expected to use words like that. She radiated so much more power and strength than either of his relatives had ever managed, the kind of presence that either of them would have killed for.

And she had the ring, and she had the hiss... but she had Toma's name, and her face, and some of his features as well. No. No. It couldn't be true, couldn't be real; his wife didn't hate him, and they didn't have a daughter, and his daughter wouldn't hate him if they had. He stomped his foot against the ground to release some of the anger building inside him, hands tightening into fists. "You're not my daughter. You can't be. My daughter wouldn't hate me, my wife doesn't hate me, and I would never--"

He would never hurt his daughter the way he had been hurt. She would have a different life, because he had married for love and any kids of theirs would be raised lovingly. But she didn't look like she had been abused and despised, she was the one despising him. Digging in his heels for one last stand, he drew on the last of his willpower to defiantly match her hiss. "You're lying."

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soriddled
2012-11-18 08:17 pm UTC (link)

"You're right," Toma conceded, noting with disgust the stomping of his foot and the onset of a childish tantrum. [Salazar] only knew how much she wished this man did not exist. "I'm not your daughter. I don't claim you even as my biological father. My father is Mr. Gamma. He didn't abandon me at an orphanage the day I was born. He didn't find a world without a woman who hated him so unbearable that he couldn't even manage to stay alive for his newborn. He wasn't so weak that he succumbed to such a pathetic, undignified death."

Shrugging in nonchalance, Toma gave Merrell a derisive laugh and shook her head. "You're as deluded now as you were then. I know your story, Merrell Gaunt. I learned it. I visited your sister once—and sealed her fate in Azkaban but that is another story for another time. I saw your life in her mind and the person you are now is no stronger, no better than you were then. You are weak and unfit to be a husband or a father." She leaned closer, tone sharp and hurtful. "They hated you, she hated you and I hate you."

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runthegaunt
2012-11-18 08:29 pm UTC (link)

"No," Merrell said, and this time it came out as a full hiss, unintelligible to anyone who did not speak the language of snakes. It wasn't a tantrum that was building inside him, it was a lifetime's worth of anger at being tormented by his family, finally brought to life by the love that had been allowed to burn inside him for almost a year.

He was not objecting to the hatred, because that he could believe. He was objecting to the lies. He didn't have to swallow their lies any longer, and he wouldn't. Still in Parseltongue, he added defiantly, "I will get out of your trap. You'll see."

And he turned to leave, uncertain of where he was going but absolutely, stubbornly determined not to be here.

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soriddled
2012-11-18 08:43 pm UTC (link)

Toma stayed put, not following after him even as her blood boiled with the desire to drive a knife straight through his heart. Didn't Gamma and Albus understand what this man's presence did to her? How hard it was to maintain her cool when all she wanted was to make him hurt, make him feel every single day she'd spent at Wool's and every single time she'd been left there because her magic scared prospective parents?

In the same tongue, she said, "Walk away, Merrell. Leaving is all I've ever known you to do. You never once exceeded expectations in your lifetime so, by all means, try not to start now."

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runthegaunt
2012-11-18 09:03 pm UTC (link)

That stopped Merrell, because it sounded... well, different. It wasn't outright hatred, at least not for the reasons he was used to. It wasn't anger with the intent to hurt him, it was anger because he had hurt her. He was still convinced that it was an act, that his sister or his mother was behind this-- after all, they were the ones he'd left behind, and they were the ones whose expectations he'd always failed to meet-- but that statement had gotten to him, somehow, all the same.

"You never wanted me anyway," he hissed back, matching the language as if that showed they were on equal ground, even if they weren't. He turned his head back partway so that she could see his profile, and he could see her out of the corner of his eye as he gazed at the ground. He didn't want to look her directly in the face, lest her expression-- on such familiar and beloved features-- be convincing enough that he fell for the ruse. "I would never leave my wife or my daughter, if we had one. Toma would raise her with me and neither of them would ever have any reason to hate me."

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soriddled
2012-11-18 09:18 pm UTC (link)

"Well, you did," Toma replied, still in her hiss. "I was born on the last day of the year, 1926. You left me there with nothing more than her worthless name and that was where I stayed until I found Hogwarts. You know, I thought for certain my mother was the magical one. I spent years looking for her, any mention of her. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that I got my magic from you, the one who wasn't even strong enough to fight death. I am stronger than you, though. My magic is more powerful than you could ever have hoped to be. I was a Slytherin and the most powerful witch of my generation. I am likely the most powerful witch here, as well, though magic has far more limitations here than home."

She stopped talking, realizing that she was telling him far more than she wanted him to know. She would not let him have that effect on her. "But I digress, you are right about that. I never wanted you. My life was better without you in it. The only use you ever were to me was dead."

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runthegaunt
2012-11-18 09:46 pm UTC (link)

Merrell struggled inwardly to hold onto his determination not to fall for her ruse, and then it hit him, like a load of bricks. She was powerful, more powerful than his mother or sister had ever been. More importantly, more powerful than his mother or sister would ever pretend that his daughter was. If they were to make up a child of his and Toma's, they would make her a wretched, pitiful thing, the way they envisioned a child of a squib and a muggle. They never would have created any ruse in which a child of his had gone to Hogwarts. The power he had seen in her, he had been able to attribute to the fact that they had clearly gotten more powerful to be able to break out of jail and kidnap him like this, but to hear them claim that it belonged to a daughter of his-- that was unthinkable, and therefore too impossible for him to continue believing that this was their ruse any longer.

The shock of it froze him in place momentarily, and then he dared to turn around and look at her, an entirely different kind of disbelief writ on his features. Not disbelief in who she claimed to be, not anymore, but disbelief that his story really could have turned out this way, that he could have a daughter like her. That was doubled and redoubled by the other truths that came with it-- the truth that his marriage wasn't real, that he was going to die rather than raise his child. But those were, for the moment at least, in the back of his mind, overwhelmed by the sheer surprise-- and frankly, awe-- at the very existence of the girl in front of him.

Words, even in the form of hisses, utterly failed him for a moment. He didn't know whether to be proud or heartbroken or both, could not even begin to sort out all of the information that he had been denying but now believed.

"You," he said finally, swallowing. And it came out in normal English this time, though he wasn't conscious of the change. "You're my daughter."

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soriddled
2012-11-18 10:32 pm UTC (link)

Toma put a smile on her face and walked toward him once more. It might have been easy to think she was coming to embrace him but, as she drew close enough to lift her arms, she leaned in to speak, instead. "And you. You mean nothing to me." Each word was intended to cut through him, to shake him, to hurt him. Pulling back, she continued to smile and, without hesitation, she brushed past him to leave.

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runthegaunt
2012-11-18 10:53 pm UTC (link)

Merrell didn't know what to make of her coming towards him, but he wasn't stupid enough to think that she was going to hug him. Her words, her dismissal, might have cut deeper if he hadn't already gotten such a reaction from her, from everyone in his life except his wife. The fact that he was nothing to either of them had occurred to him already, the moment that he'd realized she was telling the truth, but now it sank in more fully, settling in the pit of his stomach.

His gaze lowered to the ground, and he shoved his hands into his pockets, making no move to stop her as she moved past him. Instead, he said quietly-- in Parseltongue, which was now intended to add sincerity to it-- "I'm sorry."

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