i watched you, my brother, make a fool of the moon tonight

[inkdamage]

Who: tinySnape and tinyLucius to start, eventually more persons of the eating death persuasion as they see fit.
What: Coming out of the anonymity closet.
Where: In and around the Malfoy townhouse in Sobek Croix.
When: Hours into the night after the Dark Mark scare.
Notes: Doop doop backdated, we're slow.
Warnings: Narcissa is gonna clock Severus in the face, js.

This is not, under any circumstances, what Severus wants to be doing tonight. But he knows his rashness - his kneejerk reaction to shoot first and ask questions later - is to blame for this fiasco, and so it's his responsibility to fix. It's an easy enough fix, too: just come clean about existing at all, lay the scare on a backfiring experiment with unfamiliar magic, and every Death Eater who doesn't know about Sebastian LeMat has an explanation that makes perfect sense.

He doesn't even consider not doing it.

That doesn't mean he isn't still furious with himself, meanwhile, waiting in the dark in Sobek Croix to meet Lucius - the other Lucius - after hearing back from Sebastian (Harry). He's ripped pertinent information out of his head, but not all of it; it's not safe or sensible to leave all your eggs in one basket, so he had to choose. Severus would rather walk around with proof of what he did to his compatriots back home than what he did to aid a child. If anything happens, he'd rather appear unstable and dangerous, not sentimental.

So here he is. Dressed in black, yes, but not his usual attire; he doesn't look like a Muggle, but he doesn't look like Severus Snape, Potions Master. That he is twenty-five and irritably smoking a cigarette, lacking in the protective charm that's hidden him these past few months, might be less weird.

Comments

[inkdamage]

"Yes."

It rarely ends well for their side, and never ends pleasantly for anyone. All wars are terrible, but there's something particularly vicious about ones fought in such close quarters. He wonders, with an unsettling sort of detachment, if Lucius knows that Severus had been spying from such an early time.

"You're hedging your bets."

Hellsing.

[byrightsinhell]

"Always," he says, a bit wry. "What I am doing is trying to ensure that my family comes through this and whatever follows in one piece." As they wouldn't, if things came to pass the way Sebastian had seen; or even as they'd happened in the world his alternate came from.

"I don't know how long Narcissa and I will be trapped here, so it seemed wise to be adaptable."

[inkdamage]

He says nothing to that; even now, at his relatively young age - hell, even before - Severus could see the idea of prioritizing one's family was at sheer, ludicrous odds with participating in a guerrilla war. He thinks of the child he stole (absently, the thoughts aren't fully with him) and wonders what the hell goes through the minds of real parents when they decide to throw their lives into fights that will never end well.

What bloody idiots they all are.

[byrightsinhell]

Had he been asked, Lucius would point out that he was in the war too deep to get out long before he was married, yet a father. But he isn't asked, so they walk in quiet for a short time. "Hellsing - a form of it - existed the last place we were trapped as well. It seemed simplest to continue building on relations that had been begun already."

[inkdamage]

And Severus would ask what the hell he expected, what with his entire familial worldview being to reproduce, but it's a pointless potential exchange; if Lucius's excuses are poor, Severus's are abysmal. He doesn't even believe in the blood purity war, and his choices were ones made out of furious injury. (Perhaps understandable, in his case, considering the abuse from all other sides, but it's in the past, now.)

"If it's working, then it's fine." His tone suggests that it's not any of his business to approve or not anyway - the Malfoys will do what they think the ought to, and ultimately it isn't his concern.

Nearly charring Lucius's arm off by proxy, however.

[byrightsinhell]

"Mmm." Lucius pauses as they reach the entrance. "Should I ask you how the scare happened, or shall we assume Narcissa will be asking the same question and just wait to get everyone on the same page?"

[inkdamage]

He looks over and shrugs. Might as well just get it overwith, right?

(Sigh. He really does just want to be left alone.)

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius shakes his head and shows Severus in.

"I can't offer you as much choice as I might at home, but if you'd like something to drink, we can manage something not totally worthless." Even in the middle of all this, Lucius is apologizing for his lack of real wine cellar, yes. Priorities.

He also trusts that Narcissa will hear they've come in before long. Hopefully before they run into anyone else who might be hanging about the townhouse. He's not sure if he can make Severus comfortable in the meantime, but he can at least be a proper host.

[inkdamage]

"No, thank you."

A sane man might want a drink for this, but... well. Severus seems awkward, suddenly, inside their home - but that's not entirely unexpected. He suspects the other Lucius is here, and possibly others, as if this wasn't enough to begin with.

[byrightsinhell]

"Very well." He moves vaguely in the direction of the kitchen, anyway; he could stand a drink, and if anyone's home, that's the first place they're likely to gather.

He's not really looking forward to this much more than Severus is, in truth. He anticipates a mess.

[vanities]

...he's not wrong.

For instance, Narcissa and Lucius the elder have been drinking for some time by the point at which her husband and Severus arrive at the house, and she is quite drunk already when the sound of multiple feet moving through her house stirs her from her seat. She leaves her cigar burning in the tray there, abandoning her companion to decide for himself whether or not he's going to follow her.

She stops in the doorway.

"You and you."

[amourpropre]

It would probably be really wise to just. Stay right where he is, possibly finish the dregs of the bottle they've been working on, go and have a lie down. Instead, Lucius tips his head back a little to watch her go, before drawing in a breath, setting cane against the ground, and pushing himself up to stand.

He follows, slower than her pace, but shadowing along by the time she greets them ever so warmly. His shoulders both slack and tense in automatic physical response at seeing his younger counterpart, sort of the human equivalent of a canine pressing its ears flat against its skull. Both war and a bit of wine are effective properties to wear down his usual veneers and affectations.

Not for Severus, though, he got the text. Just didn't reply.

[inkdamage]

Severus looks like he might say something in immediate response to Narcissa - but then catches sight of the older Lucius and. Doesn't. He gives him a look for a moment that reads Well of course there's two of you in this room and now if you get too close reality will implode upon itself, great before flicking his gaze back to his inebriated hostess.

"I must grudgingly point out that he is merely the messenger, in this instance."

[byrightsinhell]

"I did bring him straight here," Lucius says. He doesn't react outwardly to his alternate's presence, but can't help an internal wince. Of course he'd be here, just to make this as much of an ordeal as possible.