a pale princess in a palace cracked

[suninhades]

Who: Integra Hellsing, Narcissa Malfoy, and perhaps a husband.
What: A concerned citizen contacts Integra about seeing Mr. Malfoy's wife being mugged in the forest! Oh no.
Where: Malfoy Townhouse.
When: In the wee hours of the morning after Lucius and Narcissa's mugger vs jar of moonlight deathmatch.
Notes: This takes place before Integra and Dean go looking for Mabel.
Warnings: TBA.

Four missing persons within Hellsing - Integra might be surprised there's not actually hellfire following her around the past few days if she was in the presence of mind to be more whimsical about anything. She's coming in from overseeing a captive hellspawn entity being taken in from outside when the man approaches her, timid but determined, afraid for 'that lost-looking fella's wife'. She hears the story and doesn't even bother calling anyone else. She's not heard a damn thing back from Mabel, and that's quite enough. CiD communication is apparently just not cutting it. Fine.

Wearing a black coat, hair pulled back into a high ponytail and clutching a sepia-glowing fae-lit lantern in one hand, Integra bangs ungracefully on the townhouse door, nevermind it being four in the goddamn morning. The night is inky-dark, corners curled around with fog battling the changing temperature of the season. She looks furious.

Comments

[vanities]

"Oh- that." It isn't dismissive, just a quick acknowledgement as it becomes clear to her why Integra is there. That someone saw and also saw fit to act on her behalf is pleasing, in an abstract way; they're doing something right, evidently, even if Narcissa can guess that Sir Hellsing's personal attention likely has more to do with the state of the city recently than the Malfoys especially. "Yes, it was quite the misunderstanding, but he's all right, now."

...after she hit him with a jar.

[suninhades]

"Your assailant is not my first concern," she says pointedly. "Four of my employees have gone missing in as many weeks and apparently someone thinks it's acceptable to assault people at random in Sobek Croix. 'All right' is not how I'd prefer that person to be."

[vanities]

"Of course," Narcissa concedes, opening the door wider and stepping slightly back; if they're going to discuss this, she sees no reason to make Integra stand on her doorstep in the middle of the night. Nor does she have any especial desire to explain this particular situation while standing in said doorway, where (heaven forbid) the neighbours might take notice. "It's slightly complicated- cigar? Tea?"

They're British.

[suninhades]

For a moment everything makes a bizarre sort of sense, in its familiarity; Integra is used to this sort of society behavior - "Thank you." She extinguishes the lantern and leaves it outside, stepping in neatly.

"You have my apologies for the hour," apparently she's feeling less needled already, though it's difficult to tell in her demeanor, "But you must understand the gravity of the implication."

[vanities]

"I can't help but." The war is never long enough ago; she suspects it never will be, with as little truly resolved in Britain as there is. Each side paid lip service to an end to the conflict, but the impetus for it has never been (may never be) addressed. It's something she gives more and more thought to since getting better acquainted with Sebastian LeMat, but for so long as they're in Baedal, there's little she can do.

(Especially with Bellatrix...being Bellatrix.)

Regardless, she shows Integra in, settling them both in the parlour where she'd been waiting for her husband; there's a pot of tea already, and it's only a moment to fetch another cup down from the cabinet and occupy her hands with serving as she explains.

"I'd say this is a wholly unrelated incident- we seem to have had an arrival from a world like mine slip past notice. My husband's- possible future." Who mugged her. In the forest.

[suninhades]

She sits, taking some slight solace in the familiarity; she isn't friendly with Lucius Malfoy, exactly, but they've never had a problem, and she's inclined to think well enough of him over his decent treatment of Sebastian.

That, though.

"...Your husband mugged you, in the forest."

[vanities]

"Unsuccessfully." Something she doesn't intend to let him forget if it ever comes up again, somehow; Narcissa raises her teacup to her lips without so much as turning a hair. "He's come from- much later, I suppose a bit more than a decade more than Lucius and I've been through, and he's a bit of a wreck. I suppose he's been lost, and he didn't recognize me in the dark- I scarcely realized it was him, either, 'til I had him on the ground."

[suninhades]

Silence for a moment, while Integra processes that.

"Is he still English?"

[vanities]

"I haven't entirely ruled out changeling." It's almost a joke, but- Merlin, he has been something to deal with. Setting Integra's cup down for her (there's sugar, lemon, the rest- Narcissa doesn't presume), she says, "My Lucius has been out, I haven't had the opportunity to tell him yet. The other one is sleeping upstairs, presently. I thought I ought to have him where I can keep him on a short leash, at least for a bit."

[suninhades]

"You have my sympathies," she says dryly. "If this ever happens again, though - even if you've managed to defend yourself suitably - I'd appreciate it if you could bring it to someone's attention, so there isn't undue alarm. You can contact me personally, if you like."

With the tone of things in the city, it's better to be safe than sorry, and if it seems like Integra is establishing a power chokehold over the district in which she lives, well - that's because she is.

[vanities]

Narcissa is an observant woman; she can see which way the wind is blowing locally, and this conversation only reinforces her certainty that aligning themselves with Hellsing is the smartest choice to make in this city.

"I'll do that," she promises, and it's largely for the aforementioned reasons of social politics that she intends to keep her word. The rules are different in Baedal, and she doesn't intend to suffer because she can't adapt. (Unlike some people.) "I do think I've made it quite clear that coming into Sobek Croix that way was...unwise, in this particular case, but I'll try smaller words if need be."

[suninhades]

Integra's idea of social politics is to threaten someone - in her case, it usually works - but she understands the notion of playing chess with power and opportunity; it's closer to speaking her language than sentiment is, anyway.

"Are his political leanings going to be a problem?" Of course Integra's been informed as to what Death Eaters are.

[vanities]

A pause follows, but Narcissa doesn't pretend not to understand the question and after a beat she tips her hand, so-so. "The consequences of his politics are already quite evident. At the very least, I should be able to persuade him how sensible it would be not to make enemies of substantial figures in the magical community here." Speaking of playing chess with power; it's in her best interests (and his) to be frank right now.

It's still not a guarantee one way or the other, but she doesn't have one of those yet- she's still feeling her way through unfamiliar territory with this strange, older Lucius and there's an evident caution for all that she clearly feels a responsibility for him.

[suninhades]

"Or anyone else," she says, flat. It is not merely the magical community that would be up in arms against a genuine aggressive stance about blood purity - of any kind. There will always be someone more powerful, or merely a better shot, around to take offense. Or to merely feel charitable.

It's not that she cares, really. But it would be an enormous inconvenience for someone connected to Hellsing to end up in that sort of legal trouble.

[vanities]

"Quite precisely what I mean, but not quite how I'll present it," Narcissa clarifies, shaking her head briefly before she summons a box of cigars. (They were upstairs, and she suspects Malfoy Sr of being a light sleeper now; she would be, if she were him.) "I doubt I can immediately convince him to understand he must care about that, but I've a good chance of being able to persuade him not to make his own situation worse for himself."

She pauses again, then shrugs and says, delicately, "I expect to have more luck if I frame the idea in a way that won't threaten his ego. I don't think he has anything left except his pride, so he may cling to it a bit less sensibly than my husband."

Quieter, "If we have a problem that way, it'll be my sister."

[suninhades]

"I've heard a bit about your sister," she says, and watches the magic trick with a dull sort of observation only carried by the truly jaded. "It is a situation we have been officially appraised of."

And though she's a blunt, no-nonsense sort of woman, she's not going to sit in Narcissa's home and threaten her own sister. Especially not in the middle of the night, unannounced, with no foreknowledge of if it's even safe to speak of, here. Bellatrix Lestrange is on a short list at Hellsing, and it's not something entirely appropriate to go into with someone outside the small circle of particularly skilled agents.

/jumps in?

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius is returning home much, much later than he intended; with the disappearances, he had to check in with a few people after his job but before he could head home, and he fully expects an earful from Narcissa over it.

What he doesn't expect is lights on in the parlor at this hour. If she hadn't gone to bed, he'd at least have looked for her upstairs, not down. So when he quietly lets himself in, it's with want in hand, just in case.

He stops, though, when he sees they've company. "...Sir Hellsing." He glances at Narcissa, questioning. "What's wrong?" At this hour, something must be.

[vanities]

"You're late." That isn't immediately what's wrong, but the subject of Bellatrix - and Narcissa's own doubts about Bellatrix's obsessions - is uncomfortable and picking at Lucius usually makes her feel better. In fairness, he wasn't exactly expecting a warm greeting for arriving home in the arse end of the morning and so she is, at least, reassuringly consistent.

Still, given that they've got company, she restricts herself to that icy opener and elaborates, "Your other self appears to have slipped into the city unnoticed. Someone saw him attempting to rob me in the woods and alerted Sir Hellsing. I sorted him out and he's sleeping upstairs, we-" with a glance at Integra, who she's decided she likes, even if she is a bewildering muggle, "-have been discussing the situation."

[suninhades]

"Mr. Malfoy," she greets, but doesn't get up - the hostess didn't, it's four am, she's a little over it. When Narcissa finishes, Integra provides: "With the tone of the city, I thought it prudent to check in with your wife immediately when I'd heard."

And here they are.

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius comes to sit with them, near Narcissa but not touching her. "He attempted to rob you?" That was, he feels, the most pertinent fact.

[vanities]

In the process of lighting a cigar and offering them to Integra, if she'd so desire - they're from Alastor's stash, she had them on her when she arrived and given the state of Baedal she's been hoarding them, this feels like sufficient occasion - Narcissa flicks her fingers dismissively over Lucius's hands. "He tried. He was a bit desperate and we didn't recognize each other 'til I had him on the ground at wandpoint."