video (un: man's greatest treasure)

[reparo]

[the video shows a very close up angle of her face, because someone hasn't bothered taking the pendant off to film this. there is a thin balance between amusement and panic on her face, too. she draws in a breath and:]

May have made a mistake.

[from beyond the video, a bird interrupts her confession almost on cue:]

CA-CAW

[she angles the video quickly to a murder of about ten crows in the grass, at her feet, looking up at her. she brings the video back to her face.]

Umm. I fed one. It followed me three days ago, and I had some biscuits in my bag, and I unthinkingly fed it. The next day it brought two friends over. The next day, they also brought friends over. [it's a pyramic scheme of crows.] And now this. [there's a bit more caw-ing in the background, and the camera shakes while she moves to clearly feed them again, because she doesn't know any better.]

Also one swooped down to nip at a villager's hat today because he was looking at me, so I think I might have a murder. Of crows. On my hands. [she's secretly pleased with that wordplay.]

So - that's all from me. Public apologies to the family for the ruckuss.

[ooc: SORRY FAM #10 but if you dont't want a murder of birbs, why claim a witch is your sister? dated to after the fox weddings.]

Comments

[reparo]

No - don't be barbaric.

[A pause.] Moran said the villagers do worship the House of Ravens, so maybe our house having a flock of birds flying by every now and then will be a good omen.

[somebadnews]

[ He was giving her the benefit of the doubt that they have a purpose. But even if he's not up on magic, he's well-read enough to know that superstition is not on her side. ]

They're also scavengers of death. How is it a good sign that they're circling the house?

[reparo]

...we do have those gossipy ghosts. [Maybe Harry and Ron can caw them away. Great idea, Five. Great idea.]

[somebadnews]

[ This house is the worst. ]

Case in point. If you want to bring in something useful, find an exorcist.

[reparo]

[But she does not yearn for necromancy.]

Five, if you don't think what I contribute to the family is useful, then why do you keep trying to check how I brew potions?

[somebadnews]

It's a small house, of course I'm going to wonder what that smell is.

[ It'd be a lot easier if she just told him how she brews potions so he didn't have to keep popping in. He's trying to learn magic on top of stalking his real family, dealing with a mirror curse, and figuring out what the hell 'atoning' means. Not to mention doing quantum physics on the side to fix this mess if all else fails. Cut him some slack. ]

And I assumed you were working on something for the curse.

[reparo]

I was more concerned with restocking on healing potions, since we're a confrontational bunch. [We fight a lot. She doesn't want to be without those. But he does have a good point, and that makes her realise she's neglected that curse completely.]

Ah, yes, my curse. The lady who poisoned everyone because she couldn't stand others being happy when she wasn't.

[somebadnews]

[ Healing potions. He wonders if the shallow cuts on his hands are annoying enough to resort to magic. — Probably not, but it doesn't hurt to grab some anyway. ]

That sounds familiar. [ The hypocrisy of poisoning all of them and telling them to atone for someone who did the exact same thing. ]

Too bad you can't go back to stop her.

[reparo]

[Come again?]

Yes, well, tragically time travelling devices were destroyed a few years after I got to use my last one.

[Guess. Guess if she's lying.]

[somebadnews]

[ ...What the fuck? For about one second he thinks she's with the Commission, but that's just his paranoia acting up. Probably.

He's not going to be able to drop this for a while. ]

What devices?

[reparo]

Time Turners. [At this point, fuck the statute of secrecy, you know? Everyone's seen her fling curses around by now, and there's no Aurors apparating in Ke-Waihu to whisk her away. (She'd even prefer it.)]

I don't suppose that you're familiar with them?

[somebadnews]

[ 'Time turners'... excuse him while he writes down and immediately hates that name. Clearly he should start asking about time travel experience with more of the people in their group.

Familiar with them? No. With time travel? ]

You said they were destroyed. What happened?

[reparo]

[They did.]

There was a fight, they got destroyed, in a sense. [A pause.] At least, the British Ministry of Magic's ones. I don't want to presume other countries don't have their own stock.

[somebadnews]

[ Well that's troubling. He doesn't like the idea of other organizations using magic devices to time travel. It bothers him on a fundamental level. ]

How many did they have? And how often were they used?

[ If the Commission knew about them mucking up the timeline, they would have sent Corrections after them in a heartbeat. ]

[reparo]

I don't know, Five, I didn't exactly have time to stop and count them. [Didn't have time, ironic - right?]

But they were only issued on special permits, to stop people from travelling back and changing time altogether.

[somebadnews]

[ He obviously thinks she should have an exact number, or at least a ballpark, but she probably wasn't high up on that chain. For whatever they were doing with them.

To think he was wasting time talking about crows. ]

Why were you given a permit?

i have been LOOKING FORWARD to breaking him like this for months

[reparo]

So I could go to all my classes.

appropriate for the minute they become family

[somebadnews]

[ Enjoy this moment that he's rendered entirely speechless, it goes on for a while. It takes time for the rage and indignity to build up okay. For now he mostly sounds incredulous, because that has to be a horrible joke. ]

You time traveled so you could go to class. [ Yes, repeating it is necessary. It sounds even more ridiculous the second time. ]

And everyone was just fine with that?

[reparo]

[Strangely enough, she does. She does enjoy the moment.]

Apparently so, considering I got it on approval from the Ministry. [A small pause, and a shrug.] In hindsight, they should've discouraged me from taking on that many classes, rather than found a loophole for a fourteen-year-old to overwork herself.

[somebadnews]

[ When she was fourteen. Does he need to relate the story of when he was a kid and accidentally time traveled into the apocalypse for forty years? Christ. ]

Yes. They should have discouraged you from taking classes instead of possibly irrevocably breaking the timeline. [ If he finds out where this Ministry is, so help him. ] Did you have any idea what you were messing with?

[reparo]

Of course I did. I was very careful. Only ever went back one hour, so I could attend two classes at once, and it was not the greatest - so I won't be looking to repeat it.

[A pause.] Although, we did save a few lives thanks to having one.

[somebadnews]

Unbelievable. [ — said so under his breath. She was careful, but used it to save the lives of people who were supposed to die. That could not be more of a contradiction.

No need to mention how he was implying they go back to solve her curse problem. And yes, he has reversed time to bring his family back from the dead, but they were never supposed to be in that time to begin with. And then there are the apocalypses he actively tried to stop, but he was the only one who lived with the alternative. He spent his entire life studying it. Nobody needs to lecture him about consequences. ]

They were idiots to hand those out in the first place. Whoever destroyed them had the right idea.

[reparo]

[Oh, that gets him a glower of a look.]

Whoever destroyed them did it by accident, in the middle of a fight that happened because a murderous villain was trying to kill teenagers, so I will thank you to not go around applauding him, or his followers.

[somebadnews]

[ Just her using the phrase 'murderous villain' is enough to remind him how young she is, and his silence is more awkward than anything. He'd like to know how that could have possibly been an accident. At least when he blew up a room full of briefcases it was very much on purpose, and the fact that there's another organization that was this haphazard with time travel is maddening. But not everyone can see the big picture.

She's probably hoping for more of a reaction to the bit about killing, which apparently they undid anyway. Go ahead and fast-forward on his curse to when he's still struggling to figure out why he needs to atone for murder.

He at least tones down his hostility when he eventually replies. ]

Were you there?

[reparo]

[The first time they had an actual brush with war.]

I was.