Marlene McKinnon (allthemarbles) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2018-12-05 14:26:00 |
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DECEMBER 4
MARLENE MCKINNON ✦ SIRIUS BLACK
MARLENE ARRIVES IN ATLANTIS PG? SHE DOESN’T KNOW MUCH YET COMPLETE |
Sirius read the alert twice. Could it be possible that Marlene were here? Their Marlene? Surely, Marlene McKinnon was a common name, but not that common. Deciding that he could not wait for a network confirmation, he grabbed his jacket and headed out towards the town center. If Marlene were here, then he had to find her. It felt as though it had been forever since he had seen her, and he supposed in a way it had been. As he walked towards the town, he pushed any thoughts of Voldemort and the war from his mind. It might not even be his Marlene, he reasoned, and even if it were, it might not be the one from his most recent memories. He knew though that it might be, and just that thought made him press on. Although it was cold out, many of the Atlanteans were still out, bundled up to their ears in winter coats and scarves. He walked past them, hoping to find Marlene on her way back to the housing complex. Marlene had listened to the welcome spiel twice before venturing outside. What she could see of the island so far was beautiful and inviting. And really, anything was better than thinking about the warning she’d been given that she might learn terrible things about her future at home, and that many secrets were easily accessible here. The last few weeks had been fraught with danger and something wretched had felt like it was looming over them all, so Marly had a horrible gut feeling. But curiosity about this place let her set that grim cloud aside for a moment and she wandered to the market. She was examining a booth full of delightfully odd fruits she’d never seen before when she caught sight of a familiar face. Her eyes lit up and she hastily put the large spiny something in her hands back into its bin. It tumbled right back out again, but she was too busy racing away to notice. “Oi, you there!” She shouted, grinning as she ran up to Sirius. “How dare you escape to Atlantis without so much as an owl. I hope you’ve been having fun, you wretch,” she teased. Sirius turned, and then seeing Marlene, made to pull her into a quick hug. He had thought that he'd never see her again, and now here she was. It was as though Atlantis wanted them to have a complete set, a second chance of sorts. Well, besides Peter, who hardly counted now. That truth still stung. "Haven't they told you?" he said, laughing. "There's no owl service between here and London. Mind, it'd have to be a hardy owl to reach across…well, all of this." He figured that the Muggles had a word for the different dimensions of time and space, but he'd never learned it. He looked at her, taking all of her in. She was here, really here. "Merlin, I can't believe it's really you. Did they give you the whole spiel already?" “Yes, yes,” Marlene smirked, returning the hug and pulling back to gesture around them with a hand. “You, off in a mythical place and no quill strong enough to pierce the veil. I’m sure I’ve heard that one before.” Giving a cheeky wink, her expression sobered into something more serious and she blew a few strands of wayward hair out of her face. “I listened to the brief, but I’m still deciding how much I believe.” She squinted one-eyed at him. “Are you going to tell me you’ve been here longer than the three days since I saw you last?” "Well, you're right on that one. It has been more than three days for me." His expression darkened briefly. He knew that she must be from the Before, and he knew, too, that it would come out eventually. He wasn't about to ruin her first day though. Not when they had so much else to catch up on. "But that's Atlantis for you. It has a funny way of pulling people from…" He couldn't really say how Atlantis picked its victims, so he gestured vaguely. "Whenever it likes, really. Remus is older than all of us now. You should see him." “Is he really?” Marlene frowned, glancing away from Sirius to look back around at Atlantis as if a second glance would answer unasked questions. There were a lot of those, but she’d look for the answers to most of them on her own. She turned back to wrinkle her nose and smirk worriedly. “Not...too old, I hope? He was already an old man in personality, it wouldn’t be fair if he beat you all to the real thing.” Sirius smirked. "No, not too old, thankfully. He's only got a few years on us, but…" He knew those few years were more than enough, but that was a conversation for another day. He surveyed the street around them, aware of how strange this place had seemed when he'd first arrived. Now, the comings and goings of Atlantis seemed almost normal. "You'll see. This place is mad. It pulls people from all over. They're others here who can do magic, but not like us. They've got their own school and everything." “I mean, I figured the mad part.” Marlene grabbed him by the arm and tugged him towards a nearby table to sit down. “What's this about a different kind of magic? Are they friendly?” She came to an abrupt stop next to the table and gave him an apologetic smile. “Right, sorry, I'm sure this is all stuff I can look up. Tell me what you've been up to instead.” "Oh, they are very friendly, " said Sirius, without thinking. He paused next to the table, and then sank into the seat nearest to him. "I mean, they're a good sort. I've been...busy. I'm a field agent here now. Not much different from the Order. They put us through our paces though. What sort of job did they give you? James is a firefighter. Can you imagine?" Marlene raised her eyebrows at his tone when he said very friendly, but she sat down without chasing that subject. If he was have a good time, she was genuinely glad for it. They’d had a rough few years. “They said if I stay, I could work in magical research. Maybe sign up as a reserve agent. Whatever that bloody means here.” She gave a bit of a shrug, a helpless huff of laughter trickling free. “It’s nice to hear Potter has a chance to put out fires here and not just start them, though. Good for the baby and Lily, I’m sure!” "Definitely," agreed Sirius. "Well, for Lily at least…" He tapped a hand against the table, nervously. She'd find out eventually, wouldn't she? "Harry's all grown up now here. I mean, so you aren't surprised when he introduces himself…" He shrugged a little. "Just one of the many oddities of Atlantis. Remus and Julia are in magical research, I think. You should talk to them about it." “Little Harry’s all grown up? Awww!” Marlene made a face somewhere between a frown and a grin, like her face couldn’t quite decide which was more important in the moment. “Well. I’m sad I missed all the cute bits, but I’ll be happy to meet him now that he can introduce himself, of course.” She had to laugh at that a little. But the rest of what Sirius said certain needed some attention. Setting her elbow on the table next to her, Marlene propped her chin in her hand and stared at Sirius with the kind of affectionate teasing that years of friendship provided. “Did you just mention some lass in the same breath as Remus?” Sirius leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his face. He certainly had a flair for the dramatic. "I may have," he said. "She's his partner...and I do mean in more ways than research. It's quite a complicated tryst that we are in now, not that I am complaining." “Whoa, whoa, hold on a bloody second.” Marlene waved her hands in the air and gave him a light kick under the table. “Okay, I was following until the we and tryst bits. Are you telling me you’re shagging them both?” Belatedly, she thought to give a quick glance around. How did a place like Atlantis feel about that sort of thing? Well, no one was close enough to eavesdrop anyway so she turned back with a baffled grin. “Don’t toy with me, Sirius. It’s been a Morning.” "Shagging?" He gave a laugh."Hardly. We're still talking about Remus here, right? But we are a…" He waved a hand in the air, not worried about what the citizens of Atlantis might think about his personal relationships. "A thing now. I don't know what they call it here, or back home honestly. I just thought you ought to know." “So it’s actually like…something serious?” She couldn’t quite keep the delighted surprise out of her voice – as much as Marlene suspected Sirius and Remus had been in love with each other for ages, she hadn't thought anything would come of it. Sirius dating women and pining from a distance, maybe. A threeway relationship certainly wasn’t in her predictions. “Wow. That’s…great, Sirius. Really! I’m really happy for you and I can’t wait to meet her. And give Remus a little bit of grief,” she added, pinching her fingers together and grinning. “In the meantime, though—“ Marlene pushed to her feet. “I really should do some digging, first? Can we plan something for later?” "Of course," agreed Sirius, pushing himself to his feet, "we should have a get together with all us. That is, if you decide to stay?" “Yeah, I don’t know. There’s a war on and all,” Marlene winked. She couldn’t begrudge him for staying when he was clearly getting a chance at some bloody peace here. Even though they promised time was different here, she had to look into things a bit more before making a decision one way or the other. Going up on her tiptoes, she flung her arms around Sirius’ neck for a quick hug. “I’ll track you all down before I go, if that’s the case. Unlike you, “ she joked, pulling away, “I know how to say goodbye properly.” |