My hands, you'll start to shake again (closed)

[byrightsinhell]

Who: Lucius Jr and Rodolphus
What: Bracing against hurricane Bellatrix
Where: The Lestrange Cottage
When: Immediately after Bellatrix's arrival post
Notes:
Warnings: TBA if needed

Lucius doesn't waste time in following Narcissa's instruction to find Rodolphus. Luckily, his brother-in-law doesn't have a very long list of haunts. Lucius had been at Hellsing, so he checked there first, but then he heads for the cottage. He apparates just outside the wards, and magically "knocks." Lucius is not so gauche as to betray impatience, but he's a bit brisk.

Comments

[payglorytoashes]

It's a good bet that Rodolphus just about never looks at the network unless specifically messaged, and indeed, when the door swings open on his sad, mostly unfurnished cottage, he doesn't look the least bit disturbed. Okay, that can be difficult to tell, but Lucius is as familiar with his expressions as one can be, and it's clear that while Rodolphus is expecting some kind of emergency, he's not expecting the news Lucius has. All he does is step back to let Lucius in, inclining his head toward one of two chairs currently in the... parlor? Sitting room?

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius returns the nod, and comes in to sit. It occurs to him that he hadn't really decided how to put this yet; odd as it is, with Rodolphus older than him (now much older), he feels a little protective. Perhaps it's because Rodolphus is one of the few people from home with whom his relationship has only moderately changed here. Or maybe it's just that he counts as family without being as aggravating as Lucius' own alternate.

As it is, he takes a moment of silence to consider what Rodolphus most needs to know and how he'd like to know it.

"I take it no one has called you, in the past half hour or so?"

[payglorytoashes]

Studying Lucius with mild curiosity, Rodolphus says, "No."

Probably no one has died, he estimates, though one can always hope when it comes to Rosier. If that were the case, however, no one would have bothered to inform him in person.

Maybe Narcissa is pregnant. (Haha, he thinks dourly.)

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius presses his hands together, then says, "We've another new arrival. Too young, even by my standards." A tactful pause, then, "I'm not certain she'll even recognize you yet." Rodolphus presumably doesn't need a picture painted.

[payglorytoashes]

The pause before he answers is, mercifully, not too long, and not even terribly awkward, given that he's looking somewhere past Lucius.

"Ah," he says, quiet. For probably a second or two, Lucius may be able to entertain the delusion that that will be all, and then Rodolphus just slowly puts his head in his hands. It's something he never would have done years ago — before Azkaban, before the war was lost, before Bellatrix died, and before Bellatrix died again. He isn't crying, of course, it's just that he's old and desolate and has no real coping methods anymore when it comes to all things Bellatrix.

Another second and then he says, at about the same volume and with about the same amount of emotion, "Fuck." And then, politely, though he doesn't look up: "Thank you."

[byrightsinhell]

"I'd want to be told by someone I knew, in your place." He can only imagine - coping with young Narcissa before his wife arrived had been odd and off-putting, but his wife hadn't died (twice). He'd known she was still out there, that the other-Narcissa was just an aberration.

"Narcissa's talking to her now." He pauses, then adds, "Is there anything you need?" A drink, perhaps? Maybe to be left alone, but Lucius is trying, in his way.

[payglorytoashes]

He doesn't say anything for a few seconds, then forces himself to sit straight, though he's still not looking at Lucius directly.

"No. Thank you. Perhaps Narcissa would be so kind as to not mention me." And by 'Narcissa' he means 'everyone', though probably he really would have to murder Evan first to make sure that happened. Rodolphus contemplates that for a while.

[byrightsinhell]

"I'll let her know. Should I contact the other Lucius as well, or are you in touch?" Not that he was in touch very often himself, but this was worth offering over.

[payglorytoashes]

"If you would." That at least he says without painful hesitation. As usual, formality gives the strength and structure to his words that he's not actually feeling. "I appreciate it."

His eyes flicker toward Lucius before the resume attention toward something, anything else.

[byrightsinhell]

"Think nothing of it," he says, quietly. "If there's anything else, don't hesitate to let me know." Though he doubts Rodolphus will take him up on it, the offer feels important. "It's a wretched thing."

Her death, then her reappearance this way. He won't pretend there was much besides animosity between himself and Bella in any world, but she's important to people he cares about.

[payglorytoashes]

Rodolphus nods wordlessly, and after a moment, rises and heads to the kitchen. If Lucius sticks around, he will be back shortly with a bottle and two glasses. If not, just one glass. Really he's pretty used to that.

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius is still there when he returns; he's sent quick texts to Narcissa and the other Lucius, which has left him still in his seat for the time being. He smiles, a little grim, at the bottle, but doesn't object to sharing it. Instead, he just tucks his CiD away again.

He could use a drink himself.

[payglorytoashes]

It is, at the very least, hideously expensive. Rodolphus buys approximately three things on his Hellsing pay: food, books, and liquor. At home, he has a reasonably experienced palate, but in Baedal, he's basically just walked into liquor stores, looked for the most expensive things, and bought them. He pours them both a generous amount and gets started like the man of business he is.

It's not until the third that he gets his CiD out. Possibly by now he's forgotten that Lucius quite obviously already messaged the people who need to know, but in any case, he's starting with Evan.

'Incinerate' probably does not have two of every other letter, but this is an arduous task at the moment.

[byrightsinhell]

"Who are you writing?" he asks, after a moment. He's not very drunk yet - maybe a little - but he's no real intention of moving for the moment.

[payglorytoashes]

"Rosier will be silenced," Rodolphus says at length, hesitating with his finger over the exclamation mark, then deliberately adding another. "It doesn't have to be death. I know Narcissa would be put out."

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius considers that. "She would," he concedes. "She'd likely get over it, though I never said so." Rosier hasn't endeared himself much to Lucius, but he's joking. (Sort of. Mostly.)

[payglorytoashes]

"It was an accident," he decides, stabbing keys. "It will be an accident." At some indeterminate date, apparently; he's not drunk yet, and even when he gets there, as he is so speedily heading, he doesn't have the motivation to seek Evan out in this state. "Now I'm going to message Narcissa."

In an unusually cunning tactic, he opens his message to Narcissa with How are you, which neither discloses his burgeoning inebriation nor his true motives, yet will probably not fail to alarm her.

[byrightsinhell]

"I sent her a message already," Lucius points out. "I told her. You asked me to."

Evan's accidental death should probably distress him more than it does; but for the moment, it's only theoretical.