reality_crossroads | (no subject)

"Necessities? Well, I suppose I'm still sorting that one out," Regulus admits. "As for facts of life that can't be changed? In time, it ends." There's a trace of a smile for a moment that almost seems predatory before it fades into something more friendly.

"I suppose that sounds rather morbid, doesn't it? But I knew someone once who thought it didn't apply to them." And, if all went to plan, Voldemort would learn just how wrong he was.

Telrim shifts and straightens as she focuses on Regulus. She's not really in a mood to deal happily with humans. Regulus is, perhaps, rather different from the ones who've dealt her people their recent blows - but he is human, nonetheless. He's also, as her host quickly points out, both innocent and ignorant of that mess. And should remain so.

Therefore she gives a short nod in acknowledgment of his first remark; his second answer earns a 'hah' of grim amusement. "I've known a few people who acted as if they did. The ones who believe it tend to get a very hard and short lesson. It's better to have a realistic idea of... what you have."

(( ...I totally lost our other thread, didn't I? <_< Ping you about it later? ))

"Yes, I rather expect he will have such a lesson," Regulus says. Telling Kreacher to destroy the locket was as good as seeing it destroyed, to him. House elves always did what they were told.

"It's probably just as well I won't be around when he does."

She raises her eyebrows. "Wouldn't you like to see it?"

"Well, it's important to weigh wanting to see the result against the probability of being killed if he discovers how much I had to do with it in time to do anything about it. Since I've managed to survive so far, I'd like to continue to do so."

"Fair point. It's a pity you can't just send someone else to watch and get the memories off them later." Has this been something she's thought about lately? ...Perhaps.

The idea of getting memories off someone isn't something Regulus finds odd. After all, his world had things like Pensieves.

"True, things are never that easy or simple."

"Not usually." Whether that's meant as correction or agreement is anyone's guess. Telrim smiles slightly. "Though given all the magic in your world, I'm not sure I'd put anything past it."

"Viewing someone else's memories is simple enough," Regulus says. "Viewing the memories of someone who might see that particular event, when both sides involved would want to kill me if they didn't already think I was dead... That's the difficult part."

She looks mildly surprised. "So you can do that? ...I can see the problem, though. You'd probably have to kidnap them or something."

Or trick them out of the memories, with a little help. She can think of how she'd do it, but then her resources for toying with humans are rather different.

"If I had access to a pensieve, yes. The problem with kidnapping is they'd have to be willing. It would be better to trick them out of it, maybe with polyjuice... but I'd have to have a hair from someone they'd want to show the memories to. I could just as easily be caught trying to get that as I could doing anything else that would involve visiting the world I came from."

'There are other ways' Telrim almost points out- but catches herself as her mouth opens, hesitates and then nods in concession. There's nothing clear to be gained from it. Not yet. Regulus isn't that desperate to gloat, as far as she can tell.

"And I suppose there are other things you'd want to see much more, if you had the chance."

"Perhaps," Regulus admits. "But anything worth dying over was left in good hands..."

Provided Dumbledore's bunch of idiots took proper advantage of the chance once Kreacher had destroyed the locket. He could trust the house elf to do his part - it was everyone else he had no such faith in.

She pauses, at that. "...You must have had people you trust very much." The Controller ducks her head a little, considers him sidelong. "Did that help? When you thought you were going to die?"

For a moment, Regulus is silent, and briefly looks as if something in that hurt him, and perhaps makes him a bit angry. He hides the reaction quickly, but can't quite keep all the bitterness out of his tone when he finally replies. "No... I mean, no, there wasn't anyone I could trust, other than my family's house elf."

"Oh." She's swift to look apologetic. It comes so naturally to Natasha's face. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think..."

"It... It's all right," Regulus says. Which really means, from his tone, that the situation itself wasn't 'all right' at all, but that he wasn't upset with her about it.

"It isn't as if I've spoken of the matter. It seemed more important to try to sort out what to do with myself now, rather than dwell on things that are almost as out of my reach as if I really had died."

"I understand." She hesitates for a moment. "Regulus, ah- you know you can count on people here, right? I mean, if you need help from us, or Mikoto..."

It's tricky to switch from her preferred persona to almost-Natasha without making it unnatural. She has to pick the right moment to soften, be careful not to go too far either way between soldier and sheltered human.

"It's not something I'm used to. I needed help before I arrived here," Regulus says. After a pause he adds, "I had a brother. Sirius. He was a little older than I, and..."

"He was supposed to be the heir, but he was a continual disappointment to our parents. He moved out while we were both still in school, rejected everything our family stood for. Mother was heartbroken."

"He was disowned, of course... but he rejected us first. All the responsibilities he'd abandoned fell to me. I couldn't let my parents be disappointed again. They were so proud when I..." a hand strays to his arm, careful not to actually touch the spot - the Dark Mark had faded, since there wasn't an alternate of Voldemort currently in the Nexus or on Gaia, but he still didn't trust that.

Telrim studies him with a sympathetic expression, privately wondering how to react. After all, those values he stayed faithful to made him no friend of humans like Natasha. Knowing that, how sympathetic can she pretend to be? But then, Regulus obviously turned away from that path himself...

< Doesn't this sound awfully familiar to you? > Natasha's voice breaks in, startling the Yeerk.

< What? No- > She flinches ever so slightly as she catches her host's meaning, and snaps internally, < No! >

She's silent for a moment, scrambling to assemble a proper response. "...Are you angry with him?"

Regulus starts to say something, but stops. He's quiet for a moment before saying, "I'm not sure. I tell myself he's not even worth that, but... He must have burned the last letter I sent him. I'd asked him to meet me somewhere. I planned to tell him about... what was in that cave. When he didn't show, I had no other choices left."

"The Dark Lord promised certain things. Depending on what you've heard, you might wonder why I'd even talk to you... Unlike some, I never really had a problem with Muggles existing, I just don't think we should intermarry with them. And letting muggleborn students into Hogwarts holds the other students back. Maybe if they had some kind of remedial classes first, but... instead there's always a group of first-years boggling at the most normal things. They've never so much as held a quill in their lives, and they're tossed into this and expected to keep up."

He fidgets before adding, "To be honest, I always felt sorry for the poor things. The secrecy laws mean most of them didn't even know magic existed until they received their letters. There was a boy a year ahead of me who was... rather sweet on a muggleborn girl. I overheard one of their conversations in the library once. Her own sister had called her a freak because she could use magic. And that sort of thing happens because we hide away as if using magic is something to be ashamed of."

Telrim doesn't say that it's no mystery to her why they're talking: to the Yeerk's eyes he has very few alternatives. She just lets her gaze flicker for a moment at that; a silent admission that yes, it is rather odd. Just as it's odd - if amusing - to be assured that he doesn't mind 'her' existing. Luckily for Regulus, she's not likely to take any of this personally. Her people may not practice magic, but that doesn't matter: they're Yeerks, therefore superior to any host species, Muggle or not.

Natasha wouldn't - can't - dismiss the matter so casually, of course. Telrim's silent for a moment, absorbing what he's told her. "...I guess it would get very old, having to hide your whole life from the rest of the world." She smiles slightly, drawing away from her visible unease. "You're not exactly Mr. Cool when it comes to ordinary technology, yourself."

"Yes, I know. I'd never seen much of it before. There are whole lists of laws regarding 'Muggle artifacts'... mostly ones against enchanting them. Almost everything in the Desert Palace would be illegal."

"The Dark Lord claimed things would be different. That we wouldn't have to hide any more. But nothing he did backed that up. I told myself it was a matter of securing power before making further moves... until what happened to Kreacher. And then, well, I'd always had some skill with research. I found out some disturbing things, and the more I learned, the more it made sense. He'd meant none of it. Everything he said was simply to cater to various old families, starting with ones like mine and then to those more and more... extreme in their beliefs."

"He'd wanted our trust. He'd wanted access to our homes... and more specifically, to our libraries. Many of the old Houses had a few very old books hidden away that... wouldn't have been easily available. 'Knowledge equals power' is not an unfamiliar concept to me. And, thanks to Kreacher, I learned what he wanted that knowledge, that power, for.

"All his words were nothing. We'd... I'd killed people, because I believed what he said. And it was all because he wanted to live forever."

Her attempt at lightness fades into an expression of cautious sympathy - surprise, even, as he reveals how his people were duped. Behind it, the Controller studies him with weary dispassion. She'll give this 'Dark Lord' credit for working out, as they have, how readily his fellow humans can be manipulated. Distracting them with extravagant promises, preying on their misplaced arrogance, all the while working his way ruthlessly through his objectives... why, it's almost Yeerk-like. Regulus's tale doesn't greatly differ from many she's watched play out on Earth.

...Save in one respect of course.

"You lost everything to one ruthless con. Even yourself. And now you're left here." Discarded. Does she need to say the word? Telrim looks away, as if not sure what to add. "So how do you live forever, after all that?"

Hey, she's just a harmless Muggle. It's not like she could use the information - not herself.

No, she doesn't need to say it. Regulus wipes at his face a bit before he answers. "He'd made a horcrux... I won't go into the details. I don't know all of them, and the ones I do know make me feel ill just to think of it. It means he'd split off part of his soul and bound it to an object. A locket, in this case. That's what he'd hidden in the cave."

"That way, even if someone killed his body, he wouldn't be completely dead. He could come back... somehow."

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(Sorry for delays, darned interfering Real Life...)

no worries!

(trying to get back on the ball...)

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