Alice Morgan (onlypractically) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-08-04 20:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alice morgan, bellatrix black |
Who: Alice Morgan & Bellatrix Black
When: After dark, 8/3
Where: A street in Garden Grove
What: Face off!
Rating/Warning: PG13, language, talk about murder
Status: Complete
There was a loud crack, like a car backfiring, directly behind Alice.
A woman’s voice shrieked, "Immobulus!"
Alice had been walking away from a shop, texting, when she’d heard a loud noise and suddenly her legs refused to move. She tried to turn around, but when she did, she saw a woman who looked vaguely familiar. “Oh, hello.” Her tone was cheery, more calculated than anything. “You ought to have said you were looking for me.”
Bellatrix sauntered up, tapping her wand against her lower lip in time to her footsteps. "I rather enjoy blowing my own horn, you know. It's something I do." She patted her wand against Alice's cheek. "You're lucky I'm not her or you'd be in a lot more trouble, lovey.”
“Her?” Alice raised an eyebrow. “Those sorts amuse me. It’s as though the very mention of a vague appellation is supposed to reduce one to a quivering mass.” Oh, no, a pronoun!
“I wouldn’t want you to think I was nutters, so I talk about my dream self in the third person, “ Bellatrix replied earnestly. “She’s a bad sort, that one. There’s this spell, you know. Forbidden. Excruciating pain of the sort you’ve never experienced. No physical signs. Nothing to show for the agony.” She sucked on the tip of the wand. “But you have to really want it, to use it.”
“Dream self?” Alice’s tone was skeptical, but not dismissive. “I’m not intending to be rude, but I don’t actually know what you’re on about.” It sounded absolutely mad, of course, but she didn’t get a feeling from this woman that she was raving. There was a method to it.
She waved her wand, and Alice started to float into the air. She didn't voice any words - Bellatrix liked to keep secrets after all. She'd kept her father secret most of her life, even though every day she wanted to scream it out.
"Dreams, lovey. Doorways to another life. You're new to the area? Or have you just been blind this whole time?"
“I just returned here.” Alice’s tone was the same, though in truth, she was rather impressed with the floating. What a good party trick. “I was living upstate for some time. All the dreams I have are rather ordinary.”
“Lucky girl.” Bellatrix smiled toothily, and let Alice back down, and reversed the freezing charm. Part of her enjoyed the power, but hated the madness that came with it. Irritation and regret ghosted over her features.
Alice didn’t move much, just folding her arms. “So. In your dreams, you’re a witch of some sort, and you’ve apparently acquired abilities from them?” She might ask Flemeth if she knew anything about this. “It sounds like a little girl’s fantasy world.”
“Oh yes, such a wonderful fantasy world, full of killers and baby murderers. Can you guess which one I am?”
“Baby murderer.” Alice said without hesitation. “You’re very flashy, mum. Very theatrical.” Such theatrical people tended to think ill of themselves. They wanted attention. Murdering children would get it for them. Alice wondered idly if this woman ever had actually killed. She’d be amused, if so.
“That was my boyfriend. Only the baby wouldn’t die. Something about the power of a mother’s love protecting him from his bloody spell.” She snorted. “Little brat. Grew up to be a an owl-glassed little dork.”
“What bad luck.” Alice sounded bored. “Love is rare. True love. Most people’s professed love is just an extension of their self-absorbed need to be adored. They can’t receive without at least pretending to give.”
“I thought I loved him. It was a foolish sort of love. I’m learning the hard way that love is shite.” Bellatrix spit on the ground.
“Learning? Just now? At your age?” Alice was genuinely surprised. “I learned that at thirteen.”
“I suppose I learned it when I was five,” she muttered, folding her arms defensively. “But I kept trying and kept trying. That’s the definition of insanity isn’t it?” She gave her a look, with crazed eyes.
“To try and try despite the same results? Yes, I’d say so.” Alice looked at her. “If Daddy doesn’t love you when you’re ten, Daddy won’t love you when you’re eleven.” She’d learned that the hard way herself.
“Oh, with daddy, I’d say he loved me too much.” Bellatrix sneered again, then dropped her wand down the front of her corset. “But you know how it goes.”
“I do. It was nice to be rid of mine.” Alice shrugged. “So, why did you actually come to find me? Has nobody spoken to you like a human instead of a peon? Or did you just think I was pretty?”
“Yes, it is nice to be free of them,” Bellatrix agreed, smiling mysteriously. “And I thought I’d show you I wasn’t just talk.”
“Oh, neither am I. Lovey.” She didn’t know what kind of party tricks this woman could do, but Alice wasn’t afraid. “Does it just bother you that I’m not cowering? Call me curious.”
“Not really. I can respect that. Everyone cowers, or shows fear. It’s rare when someone isn’t a bloody sheep.” She smiled, almost softly.
“I’m not afraid of death.” Alice shrugged. “I have an intimate acquaintance with it. It’s the only force I can’t outrun or outwit, but I can make it my friend, if I want to.”
“It’s a good friend. Never lets you down, not when you need it most,” Bellatrix observed.
Alice wagged a finger, eyebrows raising in agreement. “I died once. They brought me back, but I still remember it. I just think it’s fascinating that so many people are so afraid of such a loving experience.” She laughed. “It’s a bit like good sex. Fear and pain give way.”
Now that was something Bellatrix could agree on. “I rather love pain.”
“To give, or receive?” Alice’s eyebrows arched, a faint smile puckering her mouth. “Boring people should die fast.”
“A little of both. What’s the point if you can’t share it.” She liked to give more than receive, though.It made her feel in control of her life.
“Well, that does make sense, but I don’t want to give boring people that pleasure.” Alice shrugged again. “When someone has to go, you shuffle them off. I don’t waste my time with sad little thieves, or perverts.”
“The boring people get the quick deaths.” She waved a hand dismissively.
“As I said, yes.” Was she slow, or just vain? Either way, Alice had to admit, this woman might be an interesting project. “What do they call you, sweet?”
“Just Bellatrix. Like the star. My family has shitty taste in names.”
“Bellatrix, the Amazon Star.” Alice knew her stars, knew her black holes. “I’ll be interested to see if you live up to that name, or if your parents screwed you.” She’d have her eye on this woman from now on. Maybe Flemeth should, too.
“Oh, I’m certain we’re all screwed, lovey.” She gave a little bow, and then seemed to twist into herself, before disappearing with a pop.
Alice remained smiling until the woman was gone, then it turned to an irritated growl. She hated not getting the last word.