[closed] - and maybe you'll be there

[byrightsinhell]

Who: Lucius Malfoy and Sebastian LeMat

What: Catching up and sorting out

Where: Queequeg's

When: Friday Veerdi, early afternoon

Notes: too many notes?

Warnings: none anticipated

Lucius has kept a low profile, for his first few days in Baedal. Most of his connections have been reconnections - people he met in Bête Noire, and Rodolphus. He tries not to think too deeply about Rodolphus, with only the ghost of a scar where his Mark should be, and only a flicker of the man whom Lucius had considered a friend left behind his gaze. That was before one of the two of them had gone to Azkaban. It was sobering in more than one way, and he hadn't sorted it out yet.

Of course, thinking about that was also better than thinking about how brief his reunion with Narcissa had been, and wondering if he should expect her to follow him here, too. He wanted her home, in truth. Wanting her with him was his own weakness. He felt less guilty, if more conflicted, about being glad of Sebastian's company.

He arrives when and where they'd agreed, promptly. He's split the difference in clothing, with what he was given for currency; he bought muggle clothes, but finer ones than he'd been using as a disguise, and has enchanted them to be as impeccably tailored as his robes had been. He would give at least some effort to trying to blend in, for the time being. He sees no reason not to resume the plan of appearing to be a model citizen as he attempts to orient himself.

He can break rules, if necessary, once he understands them.

Comments

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"The Lestrange that I knew died in 2001 during the Harrowing of Kent," he says with an equally shuttered expression. It was after the Harrowing that Sebastian acknowledged that 'winning' the war wasn't possible, just survival.

[byrightsinhell]

"His war's over at least," Lucius says, "The Mark's gone."

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"Good."

There's a long pause as he looks into his coffee and takes a slow sip, thinking over what it must mean that Lestrange lives without a mark.

"For what little it's worth, you do know that I have no desire to bring any of that horror here."

[byrightsinhell]

"I know." Lucius stirs his tea, idly. "I've never seen someone that... it's Azkaban, but it's not just that." The complex and deep ways in which Rodolphus were broken weren't all incredibly obvious, but they were notable when taken together as a whole.

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"It may be a combination of the end of the war and time in Azkaban, but..." He frowns and tries to figure out how best to explain this. "But if the mark was removed improperly, it could've scooped out a piece of his soul."

[byrightsinhell]

"How would you tell the difference, after that much dementor exposure?" Lucius asks, low.

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"There isn't a difference, really. They both do the same thing -- one by nibbling at the edges and the other just pulling out a piece." Yet another reason that using dementors in Azkaban was a terrible idea. "The prevailing theory is that it doesn't have to be permanent. Care and attention, finding something greater than oneself, being a 'good person' -- all of that can rebuild lost portions of the soul."

[byrightsinhell]

All of them terribly likely for a wild-eyed, broken Rodolphus Lestrange.

"His younger brother was just a little younger than me, you know - between my group and Severus', really, in age. The first time I met Rodolphus..." Lucius waves himself off.

"Well. Never mind. The important thing, I suppose, is that it's probably best for you to avoid each other, if possible."

[heardmermaids.livejournal.com]

"I would like to be something other than a greasy smear on the floor." Which is to say, it's a very good idea that he keep as far away from Lestrange as he can. "And, if you need to do the same for your own safety or ease, I won't hold it against you, Malfoy."

[byrightsinhell]

"I don't know. I'm playing it by ear. But thank you." The truth is, LeMat is more useful than Rodolphus, in his current state, but he feels he owes Rodolphus his first loyalty. It's something he's still sorting out himself.

"He's gone off, for now."