all the broken chords and unnamed cries

[orionis]

Who: Bellatrix Black, Ilde Decima, Anna Demirovna, Evan Rosier, and OPEN.
What: Drinks, tea, possibly more?
Where: Lost Society, Malfoy Townhouse, other locations negotiable.
When: Various.
Notes: I have some specific threads here, but they're by no means limiting. If you have something in mind, please feel free to tag in as your little heart desires, or contact me if you have details you'd like to work out.
Warnings: Most likely language. And bad decisions.

Things have progressed rather smoothly since Bellatrix's arrival, which perhaps surprises her the most. She didn't hug her sister when she arrived to retrieve her from the room she appeared in after grabbing the portkey in Knockturn Alley. She instead nodded, and thanked her. And after being taken to her Narcissa's home and shown to her room, crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over her head to make it dark, so she could fool her mind into believing it could be her own bed.

Comments

[orionis]

She tries to think of something to say, she does. Because she should, and because conversation should be easy. If she can just... talk to him - to anyone from back home - then she can move forward.

"I'm certain," is weak, even if she keeps her tone even and conversational. "I won't need to impose on your hospitality long." She trails off for a moment, biting the inside of her lip as she gathers her resolve properly. "How is Narcissa taking it?" Bellatrix being here. "Is there anything I can do to... help? Either of you?"

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius is really not sure how to take Bellatrix offering to be helpful (or how to take her younger than he is). She'd be expecting him as practically a child, though he wouldn't have thought he was one at the time, and he expects her...

...it's an adjustment for both of them. He's cautious, almost, as he says, "No, I don't think that's necessary. We're getting by without elves, for the time being. I think Narcissa's taking it well - for all it's strange, she's glad to have you, I'm certain."

Diplomatic, not untrue, but skirting a great deal.

[orionis]

If it were just about him, she wouldn't be so helpful, but it's about Narcissa and preserving Narcissa's pride by asking indirectly after her wellfare. Assurance that her sister is glad brings a small smile to her lips. "Very well. Do let me know if something springs to mind, won't you?"

When did he get to be like this? Not that Lucius Malfoy as she knows him ever had difficulty with the rules of etiquette, and she always believed he'd do well in politics, but there was familiarity before. This man is nearly a stranger to her. It's a bit like when she was younger, and acquaintances of her parents would come to visit, and talk about how they knew so much about her, when she had no recollection of them.

Somewhat abruptly she asks, "What do you make of this city?"

[byrightsinhell]

Lucius is unused to her speaking to him without open disdain, for his part.

"Still trying to make it out," he answered. Little as he'd ever cared for Bellatrix in the past, he won't be the one to start a quarrel. "It's a large system, if a closed one, and they seem to be politic about keeping the new arrivals speaking mostly to each other and very little to anyone else."

[orionis]

"Interesting." Because it is, if you want to read into the deeper meanings of such things. She can think of several reasons why that would be, so she doesn't bother asking Lucius' opinion on the subject. That and she's beginning to tire already of this attempt to reach out to her sister's husband.

Her brother-in-law. Dear Merlin.

"I'll be going out this evening," Bellatrix informs him then, without bothering to actually look in his direction. "I expect you will do your best to ensure Narcissa doesn't wait up for my return."

[byrightsinhell]

"I can at least make an attempt. Is there anything else you need from us?" He didn't mean to harp on himself and Narcissa being a unit, not exactly. But the evening he'd spent with Rodolphus had made an impressions, not to mention the alternate of himself and the now-departed alternate of Narcissa. Having his own wife with him was a touchstone he was loathe to get far from.

[orionis]

And if Bellatrix gives it much thought, she'll absolutely empathise with his sentiment. If she were to arrive with her Narcissa, as she remembers her, she'd feel much the same.

"No." Her smile is polite, if somewhat on the frosty side of it. "I believe I shall manage just fine."

[byrightsinhell]

"No doubt," he says, with the smallest of sighs. "It's as you like."