→ i've lived a lot of different lives, been different people many times

[thedominatrix]

Who: Irene Adler & Sebastian LeMat.
What: 'Have you graduated to stealing towns yet?' and other vital existential questions.
Where: Irene's apartment, Syriac Well.
When: Not too long after this.
Warnings: None.

For all the outward shimmer, Irene Adler is an intensely scheduled person. Her work, her play- it's all carefully organised so as to maximise her efficiency and minimise her chances of ever waking up to the sound of Militia boots on her floorboards, or worse. And Baedal can always offer worse, no matter what rock bottom one tries to imagine. It's all stored in her phone. She wasn't lying when she called it her life- she meant it in a rather more dramatic sense, of course, but there was always the simple matter of convenience.

Sebastian isn't named in the virtual diary- no one is- but he's there, his visit expected and arranged for and privately extremely welcome for reasons which go beyond simple curiosity as to what leaving and returning was like. He's odd, is the slightly petulant but exceedingly fond description of him Irene has settled upon; it's meant to be a temporary description only. She'll find something more fitting later. In the mean time, it's a compliment. Odd is interesting. She's missed him. After all, in her dizzying serious-unserious world, she's often surrounded by people who haven't even stolen a street.

She answers the door in clothes casual enough to just pass for I threw this on unthinkingly, which is flattering nonsense. The very first thing he gets is a kiss on the cheek. "Look at you, dear. I stand by previous comments. Do come in."

Comments

[thedominatrix]

In a smooth, society-surprise motion, Irene's eyebrows go up, and she extends a hand gracefully; "Very Witchfinder General," she says, with utmost solemnity, not a beat missed at the mention of his house trying to poison him. "I'm yours to prick. Sebastian, dear, do ever you say things just to try and make me gape at you? Because I think you should know I'm working hard not to let it work."

[heardmermaids]

"Just a little, but I try not to," he says before triggering the lancet and pricking the skin just below the base of her thumb. By selecting an area that will bleed freely, but is less painful than the fingertips it suggests he's done this before. From there it's relatively simple to hold a drop on the tip of the needle and let it fall into the little bottle. With the addition of the blood, the liquid shifts from clear to a muddy, opaque blue-grey.

Sebastian swaps out the used lancet, placing the used needle back in its cap and offering it to Irene. He doesn't feel the need to explain how keeping someone else's magically sensitive ingredients and implements is a major faux pas. "For you."

When he repeats the procedure and adds in a bit of his own blood, the liquid swirls again and settles into a deep, iron grey. It looks as if it ought to just run off Beatrice's jar like water, but as Sebastian dips the nib pen in it and begins to write on the glass, it stays in place.

[thedominatrix]

"I'll treasure it always," she murmurs.

She watches, frowning- giving up on working hard to let her real interest show on her face. She has, she thinks, adapted well to this. She likes Beatrice for a number of reasons- because she was a gift, because she sleeps better for her, because she looks wonderful. She also considers the little construct something of an emblem; look how well I'm fitting in. As good as a neon sign saying that magic can't scare her.

It's not true- the incident with the towers proves it's not true- but the reality is always less important than the image, insofar as there's such a straightforward separation.

[heardmermaids]

The writing is messy, but still legible: 'Behold, I am BEATRICE. All those who threaten my keeper BEWARE for my sting is a fierce as I am swift!'

Once he's pleased with the inscription, Sebastian puts aside the pen and with a hiss coaxes the little creature back into her home. As Irene is no wizard, there's no need bother with the pretence of using his wand - a skill that never fully returned to him - rather, he holds the glass in his hands and with a bit of power and recitation, sets the charm. For a moment, both the ink and Beatrice flare a bright blue-white that throw his profile into stark relief.

"There. She should be stable enough to hold."

[thedominatrix]

"Marvellous," Irene says, very genuinely, extending a hand for the glass- there's a bead of blood on her skin which she ignores.

She catches his eye, and raises her eyebrows; "And stable enough to sting?"

[heardmermaids]

"No promises, but she'll do what she can for you." When Sebastian hands the glass over, Beatrice slithers up and out to curl around Irene's wrist and seems almost smug. Yes, she really is the most gorgeous piece of living jewellery and everyone should be suitably impressed. "And, failing that, she can go for help."

"Certain wizards of my sort can create a guardian that functions just about the same. They're the only real defence against a particularly unpleasant creature, so it's a great problem for those - often children - that can't manifest a patronus themselves." It's not a perfect solution, but it's a step in the right direction. "I'd worked out a sort of single-use version that could be hidden within a reinforced sparrow's egg, but it's still in development. For some reason, the creatures I can set into the spell aren't popular."

[thedominatrix]

Irene seems similarly pleased, stretching out her hand to admire Beatrice's best imitation of a bracelet. "Not since Eden, I hear." She lowers her hand to smile at him; "I'm a reptile sort of person, myself. And my God, if you want your magical defences against unpleasant creatures to be sweet, I'd hate to see the rest of your priorities."

[heardmermaids]

Sebastian smiles, but there's an sense of long held frustration behind it. "I happen to think Beatrice is perfect sweet and charming, but I know that's not the prevailing opinion back home. It's a, well, it's not so much a faux pas to have a patronus that's not a cuddly animal, but there's always the sense that if it's not a gentle creature, it's a spell left uncast."

Which is, of course, utter nonsense.

[thedominatrix]

Irene arches an eyebrow as Beatrice winds up and down her arm. "No wonder you were so cheerful in the arrival room," she says dryly, then sighs and settles back. "So." That sounds a little ominous. "Did you remember us all? While you were at home. Different people say different things, from what I hear."

[heardmermaids]

"Even you, Tinman." In this metaphor, he's stuck somewhere between Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, which leaves either the Scarecrow or the Tin Woodsman for Irene. "I actually looked to see in case you or your alternate might be in my world, but I didn't have any joy there."

[thedominatrix]

Irene decides she's probably more lacking in heart than brain and decides to accept the title without squabbling. Despite that, she's surprised into a very real smile. "It gets worse by the second, the way you tell it."

When the mechanics of Baedal are brought more clearly into focus like this, she's never sure what to think. Somewhere, out there, are universes she's never going to see. It's terrifying, but above all it's tantalising, to know but never experience. "If only we could do daytrips," she muses. "I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours, that sort of thing."

[heardmermaids]

"There's a lot of rubbish in my world, but there's really so much that's worth it." He's utterly unable to hide how much he cares about his home. "Dragons, for one. They're just brilliant and, admittedly, will try to eat you, but still pretty fine."

As he cleans away the little bottle and pen, Sebastian pauses before addressing Irene, "May I ask a personal question? You're welcome to tell me to hush and drink my tea instead."

[thedominatrix]

She chuckles at dragons- but that's just the problem, hearing all these stories but never getting to live them. She feels nostalgic for something she's never had.

(And let's face it, the reality of seeing the dragons he's talking about would probably be much less enjoyable than wanting to see them; an idle daydream can't eat you alive, or not literally).

She raises her eyebrows at his questions, taking a thoughtful sip of tea. "Ask away." No promises on how she'll answer.

[heardmermaids]

"If, suddenly, you found out you could to magic, what would you want to do with it? How do you think it would change your life, for good, ill, whatever?" Sebastian remembers how he felt when he learned, but as an adult now, a little more perspective on the situation would be good.

[thedominatrix]

"I'd do what I do right now," she says, sounding almost surprised and answering immediately, "just with different methods."

Maybe it shows a lack of imagination- or maybe it's just that Irene knows who she is and what she wants, and is at heart intensely practical. Magic is magic; as beautiful and terrifying as she finds it, she's sure that if she had it, she'd put it to work like any other skill with a supreme lack of romanticism.

[heardmermaids]

"That's it, right there. That's the biggest and most difficult problem I keep coming up against - the non-magical world has so many options for what you can do or who you want to be, and in the wizarding world, your choices are strictly limited." Muggle children are taught that they can grow up and be anything if they work at it, while wizarding children know they'll run a shop or push useless paper for the Ministry.

[thedominatrix]

"When did you stop falling for it?" she asks. (The idea of asking before posing personal questions has occurred to her at some point in her life, but it's never really been her).

[heardmermaids]

"I think I was about seventeen? It was a very late night and I asked my then-girlfriend what she planned to do when the war was won." It's unsaid, but unconsciously there's something to the way he speaks that suggests he'd never felt the need to answer that question for himself. "And she laughed as if it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard."

[thedominatrix]

Irene's lashes lower- the expression that passes across her face is the sort that she doesn't usually show when she's as perfectly coiffed as this, because it works best when she looks more human. As it is, it's gentle enough to jar with the rest of her.

"I think they try to do that here," she says suddenly, smiling like she's joking despite what she's saying and admitting. She returns to the subject at hand immediately and smoothly. "So. You want to open doors to doors to doors where previously there have only been -- or people have only been aware of -- walls." A beat, and, "You love it, don't you." She sounds openly fascinated, because she'll never experience that devotion to home or any concept of it.

[heardmermaids]

"I do." When he speaks, there's a hint of fear but no uncertainty. "If it works, and it must, it'll be a revolution."

"There's a long history of infighting, wars, dictators, and the like, but everyone who made a bid for power did it on an individual basis - more control for them and their followers. No one's done it to give away power." Sebastian truly believes that it's possible and he'll push for it, but he won't go to war to bring it about. With the sorry state of the wizarding world as it stands, he's well aware that he doesn't need to.

[thedominatrix]

Irene has known politicians, activists, soldiers and leaders. She’s played their game, or played a game which has run parallel to theirs, but her rebellions have always been for herself and no one else.

"That's rare enough, no matter what the universe du jour is. Would you accept a vote of confidence?" Her tone is anything but confessional. She sets her teacup down, perfectly calm. "If we shared a world, I think you'd be my plan A."

I think you can do it would sound insincere.

[heardmermaids]

"I'd accept and appreciate it." Knowing that he can set it in motion is vast gulf away from knowing that a thing will work. Along with being a damn fool endeavour, it's the right thing to do and he can't help but try. "And, on the upside, no matter how poorly it goes, it can't be worse than the last go-round."

Ha, ha. Your 'humour', such as it is, isn't funny, Sebastian.