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Tweak says, "You got love to burn!"

Isadora Raleigh (poison_and_fire) wrote in indarkness_logs,
@ 2010-09-04 21:18:00

Entry tags:

!complete, 2032 09, isadora raleigh, regulus black

RP: Fruitless Plans
Characters: Dora, Iridia, Regulus
Time/Date: Evening, September 4
Location: Outside
Warnings/Rating: None
Summary: Dora thinks, and finds flaws in her plans
Status: complete

Isadora had bumped into Jaime earlier, and discovered something about the girl she'd only guessed at before. The girl had the power to find things. Isadora was all set to ask her to find something very specific before she recalled that people with magic, powers, and mutations were stripped of them. So the girl couldn't well do that ... right now.

Which was a damn shame, because right now, while everything was so open, would have been a perfect time to plot against their captors. But then, what were the odds of them having observation devices past the line? Come to that, what were the odds? They expected everyone to remain on one side, didn't they? Would they expend the effort to lace the area with observation devices if they didn't intend for people to be on that side of things?

It was something worth considering, she thought. Maybe find the farthest point from the hotel and see if there was a strong likelihood of their being recorders of any sort. Places to mount them or hide them ... but if they could find a nice barren stretch ... it might be worth trying.

With little else to occupy her time, Isadora left the hotel after dinner. She'd gone down after most of the others had cleared out; Iridia was still uneasy about accidental touches, and there were people here that Dora thought might try to pet him. Fearless, small sorts that simply saw big kitty. It wasn't worth the headache to try to dodge them all, so she tried to avoid crowds. After eating some of the real food that was served in the kitchen, Dora made her way outside with Iridia.

Maybe it was just her, but it seemed like it was more active outside than inside. Maybe everyone was interested in watching to see who crossed where the line once was. They had at least one report of a successful crossing, and she was sure there were others who simply hadn't felt compelled to brag about it.

She wasn't going to brag.

Interested in moving far away from the hotel, Isadora started along toward the far end of the island. She wasn't going to trek the whole distance right now, but perhaps tomorrow she might. It was something to do, at any rate, and the farther from Observation Central she went, the better the odds were of not being observed. So instead, she walked roughly a mile or so past the mall, crossing where the line had been there to find the shoreline. While she was slightly nervous when she was near where the line had been, she crossed without hesitation. Anyone observing very closely might have noticed a tension to her shoulders and a stiffness to her spine, but she gave no other outward indication of her nervousness.

Once she and Iridia were safely past, however, she relaxed slightly as she made her way down to the water. She stood at the shore, listening to the lapping of the waves, and subtly scanning for any sort of observation devices - or places to hide them. She was very, very curious if they could find some privacy out here. Somewhere to plan. Somewhere to start sketching out a trap for their captors.

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halfway_there
2010-09-06 08:03 am UTC (link)

He didn't like being without his wand, though he knew complaining about it would be pointless - all the magic users were without their wands. Lily had posted, even, that both hers and James' wand were missing so... he didn't really know what complaining about it would accomplish, but he still felt... like a part of his arm was missing.

Which... wasn't that far from the point. The tattoo was still in place, though... sometimes he thought that he could see where the skin used to be, which was odd. Who ever heard of a tattoo phasing in and out of sight? But he supposed that was just one of the strange things about this place.

He'd been curious about the line no longer being functional. He'd seen the posts, but wasn't sure that he believed them. So he'd eased his way outside, following the path of where the line used to be until he saw a woman in the distance with... what appeared to be a large black cat of sorts in the distance. She was clearly across the line.

While he was aware that it may be an illusion, he was a Black, dammit, and he wasn't going to let an all but chalked on white line dictate where he could and could not go even when it wasn't present, so he boldly moved towards the woman, not looking back and hoping to god that he didn't die because of it.

A small voice in the back of his mind echoed that Sirius wouldn't have been afraid. But he ignored it.

When he reached her... he... wasn't really sure what to say, but he thought that he should at least acknowledge her presence. He swallowed thickly - residual, um, discomfort from having to cross the line and fearing that she was an illusion still - before he cleared his throat and offered a, "'lo," of greeting. He also nodded his head to Iridia, if he looked over. For all Regulus knew the great cat was an animagus, after all. He certainly looked like one.

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-06 09:50 am UTC (link)

Isadora had been aware of someone approaching, at least in part thanks to Iridia's slight but sudden tension. She glanced back when she heard footsteps, and she offered the young man a slight nod. She was moderately amused by his abbreviated greeting, but she didn't let that cross to her expression.

"Hello," she replied quietly. She studied him for a moment, and while he was no one she'd seen around, that meant very little save that they moved in different circles. She was fairly reclusive, after all, and he might very well be the same, which would mean they simply hadn't chanced upon one another before now.

"Come to see the world beyond the line?" she inquired, the faintest teasing lilt to her voice before she extended one hand to him.

"Isadora Raleigh," she introduced herself. "And Iridia, my dæmon."

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halfway_there
2010-09-06 11:33 am UTC (link)

He was vaguely uncomfortable - he hadn't had much social interaction since arriving, and at this point wasn't sure he remembered how to do it. He'd been popular enough in school, but that had always been without trying because of his status and looks. He didn't know how to put effort in to making connections with people, and that was necessary in this environment. It was likely why it had taken him months to get started with it.

"Something like that," he said in response to her question about the line. He did regard her hand suspiciously for a moment before he extended his own to shake hers. "Regulus Black," he said, his eyebrows curving slightly inward in question at her words. "Dæmon?" he asked. The word felt foreign on his tongue. He had never heard it before.

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-06 12:03 pm UTC (link)

If she hadn't thought Iridia would take offense to it, she had half a mind to start introducing him as a pet. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Black," she said with a polite inclination of her head.

"Dæmon," she repeated. "He is an extension of myself, my soul in animal form outside of my body," she explained. Or hoped she explained. The concept, she knew, was difficult for a lot of people to wrap their minds around. Everyone else's soul was internalized -- if their culture even supported the belief that one existed -- so the idea of it being an animal companion they could talk to ... well. It was difficult to truly grasp.

Iridia gazed to Regulus before he opened his mouth slightly, tongue protruding a little before he moved to position himself so that Isadora was between himself and the newcomer. Nearly being touched once was more than enough for him.

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halfway_there
2010-09-07 04:50 am UTC (link)

He shifted a bit, uncertain why but the 'Mr.' she'd placed in front of his name felt strange to him. He wondered if it was because he associated it with his parents dinner parties, and dressed in uncomfortable suits and ties. He quirked a small grin at his own foolishness, listening to the explanation she offered on what a daemon was.

"Had I to guess, I'd have said an animagus," he murmured, turning his attention back to Isadora. "Forgive me, a wizard who can take on the shape of an animal. One of the... wand waving variety. I would demonstrate, if I had one at my disposal. But with recent events..." he gazed back towards the hotel briefly, turning his head back to look a the two of them again.

"I apologize," he murmured when Iridia moved. "I imagine my staring made him uncomfortable.

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-07 04:59 am UTC (link)

Her brows lifted slightly. "Demonstrate ... turning yourself into an animal?" she attempted to clarify. "Or simply demonstrate your magic?" She smiled a little.

She waved off his apology. "It isn't you. Where we're from, everyone is taught from childhood not to touch another person's dæmon. It is a taboo of the highest regard. People here ... have no reason to be aware of this, and some see Iridia as simply a large pet, and attempt to do so.

"It's very distressing for both of us," she admitted. "So we do our best to minimize the possibility of it upon meeting new people."

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halfway_there
2010-09-09 04:52 am UTC (link)

He flushed a bit at the way he'd misspoken. "Demonstrate my magic," he clarified. "I... do not have the skills to transform into an animal." Yet, he wanted to add, but he wasn't sure that he had what it took to become an animagus, or if he even wanted to for any other reason that, "I suspect my brother has the ability to," though he had very little to base that on besides snippets of conversations he'd overheard and owls he'd intercepted, and glimpses of a large black creature bounding across the family estate. "Though it's something that we must learn on our own through study, not an inherent ability, and I have not yet bothered."

He nodded to her continued explain of the daemon, finding it an interesting - if confusing - subject. He nodded when she explained. "I will do my best to keep my distance," he spoke directly to Iridia - or attempted to at least. Though afterwards he felt quite silly having done so, and wanted to confirm with Isadora that Iridia... understood him. But that felt like an insulting statement to make, so he didn't bother.

"I have... noticed other animals here," he remarked. "Are they also daemons?" then he wondered if Isadora would know if they were or not. Just because they would be from the same world didn't necessarily mean she would know them. After all, he couldn't be sure another person was a wizard until he saw their wand.

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-09 05:06 am UTC (link)

"I see," she replied, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Is you brother here?" she inquired, because she might be interested in a demonstration of an animal shifting once they had their magic back.

Her amusement increased slightly when he addressed Iridia, but ... enough people had that she supposed there was a bit of a misconception regarding exactly how much of his own entity Iridia was. She spoke with him, of course, and other dæmon would speak with him, but most people ignored him ... as she ignored most people's dæmon. Speaking to them wasn't taboo, it was just ... weird in her society.

"There are no others from my world here. We would have noticed if there were other dæmon present." She hoped, at any rate, which made her wonder. Suppose someone like her was holing up as well. Or if there were witches. Perhaps one of the animals was a witch's dæmon ... but no. She would have heard, she was sure.

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halfway_there
2010-09-11 02:28 am UTC (link)

"As of this moment?" Regulus shook his head. "No. But believe me when I saw that when he gets here, we'll all know about it. He's the sort to make a..." Reg's lips curled in vague disapproval, "grand entrance." He thought he'd leave it at that, though there was a big part of him that wanted to keep going and complaining and angsting about his family life. There usually was, and he usually silenced that voice. It was hardly appropriate for a man of his stature to be speaking ill of his family.

It took him a moment to realize that he'd said 'when' not 'if' Sirius got here, wondering why he was so certain of his brother's eventual presence, and what that said about himself.

He nodded to her statement about whether or not there were other daemons present. "So the animals here are your typical run-of-the-mill talking house pets," he said with an air of sarcasm. "Though I suppose that among the strange things here, that's one of the least odd."

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-11 02:52 am UTC (link)

Dora managed not to react to the when-not-if, but he sounded certain his brother would arrive. From his tone and expression, she gathered there was no love lost between them.

She did chuckle softly at his observation about the animals. "I've never seen anything like it," she admitted. "If one disregards the ice bears at any rate." But she had trouble putting Iofur and the infamous Iorek in the same category as Dug.

It didn't seem right somehow.

Curious, Isadora tilted her head. "From your expression, you don't seem to like your brother much," she prompted lightly. She didn't want to pry, but if he wanted to share, she'd listen.

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halfway_there
2010-09-13 02:07 am UTC (link)

He did raise an eyebrow at ice bears, opened his mouth to speak before internally editing the question and rephrasing it, "By 'ice bears' I assume you are referring to something different than... bears made from ice?" which, though phrased as a question, was really more of a statement.

His expression hardened a bit when she mentioned that he didn't like his brother. It... wasn't really so much that as it was that he didn't like the choices his brother had made in his life. Sirius was supposed to be someone Regulus could look up to, not someone who's mistakes he had to make up for in order to preserve the good name of the House of Black.

"He has made some dismal choices in terms of people he wishes to associate with," Regulus said stiffly. "Turned his back on his family and we responded appropriately. It's... difficult to forget an insult like that." He knew that it was foolish to get into the gritty details on what happened, as he knew that in other societies the side of the table that the House of Black fell on could easily be deemed the wrong side, making Sirius into the hero that he'd always thought himself to be in the story. But it was difficult to brush off a question like that when he wasn't very good at burying the feelings associated with the topic.

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-13 03:44 am UTC (link)

"The panserbjørn, yes. The armored bears of the north in my world. They ... aren't made of ice. They simply chose to live in the colder climates." She once again attempted to put them in the same category, and simply couldn't. They were, to a degree, talking animals, but at the same time, they were much more. She doubted Dug could craft a set of armor from meteorites.

She noticed the shift in his expression, and she was curious as she listened to his explanation. "Well, we cannot pick our family," she said gently. Without knowing the whole story, she wasn't one to judge the situation. "Or who they chose to associate with. Each man makes his own decision and carves his own path. Perhaps someday he'll find a way to return to his home."

Realizing she was about to slip into something of a lecture, Dora smirked and shook her head. "Or perhaps people who know nothing of the situation should mind their own business," she murmured, eyes sparkling with amusement at herself.

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halfway_there
2010-09-13 07:55 am UTC (link)

"The... panserbjorn," Regulus repeated, probably mispronouncing it, nodding like he was following, and wondering if every other word she said was going to be a word that was difficult for him to pronounce and understand. He felt incredibly like a child around her, though he supposed it didn't help that he thought he might be acting like one. This place was... getting him grouchy.

"No, we can't," he agreed with a shrug. "He makes his choices, and we make ours. I doubt if he finds his way back he'll be welcomed with open arms." No. Not after the disrespect the family had suffered at his hands. Not that Regulus expected Sirius to ever come back anyway.

He shrugged a bit when she mentioned that she should mind her own business, managing a half smile. "I brought it up," he pointed out. "You were free to share any insight on the topic."

His eyes drifted briefly over the water before turning back to the hotel, and he thought that if the conversation was wrapping up, he might head back in and sulk some more.

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-13 03:45 pm UTC (link)

Dora smiled a little as he repeated the name. It was off, but how many outside of those native to her world could pronounce it correctly? Even her way lacked the proper inflection, but she didn't speak the language of the north, save for a few scattered, bastardized words that had worked their way south.

"Perhaps if he does show up here, the two of you can mend some of the fences without the rest of the family to be concerned," she offered gently. She hoped his brother didn't show up the same way she hoped no one else showed up ... but perhaps some good could come of it if he did.

She did notice the direction of his gaze, and she smiled gently. If he wanted to wander in, she wouldn't protest; she doubted she was the most exciting or interesting company for a younger man. But she'd let him decide that.

Her own eyes drifted back over the water, and she thought maybe if Regulus did go in, she'd wander around the coastline for a bit.

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halfway_there
2010-09-15 04:48 am UTC (link)

His lips curved up in a small smile, and he scoffed faintly, but it wasn't a scoff of doubt. He'd like that, really, if he and Sirius could find some common ground and actually be brothers for once... but he doubted that it'd ever come to be. They were both too stubborn to really be able to put anything behind them that easily.

"Maybe," he allowed, offering her a real smile for a moment before he tilted his head in the direction of the hotel. "Think I might... head back in. Leave the two of you to your... thoughts," he said, though he wondered briefly how that would work, sharing thoughts with yourself. He supposed about the same way it worked for everyone else. "It was nice to meet you," he added, with a slight bow. Because that was how he'd been raised. A proper gentleman.

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poison_and_fire
2010-09-15 05:04 am UTC (link)

"Have a good evening," she replied softly, dropping a hand to rest it on Iridia's head. "It was a pleasure to meet you as well," she continued. She almost added that she hoped things could work out with his brother, but ... that would require his brother being here, and it seemed wrong to wish for more people to arrive.

Perhaps when he went home though ... they could mend fences.

She nodded to his bow before she let her eyes return to the water before she glanced down to Iridia. Slowly, she turned away and began to walk along the shore to see what there was to see.

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