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(no subject)

Who: Regulus Black and YOU
What: Catch all, we’ll see where this goes
When: Early June
Where: Wherever Regulus goes
Warnings: None at the moment, but individual threads will include warnings if necessary

[OOC: Individual thread starts for various other threading ideas will be in the comments, if you have an idea for a thread other than the options presented, hmu on plurk or PM to plot.]

Exploring the farmhouse
On one hand, Regulus was grateful to have been rescued from those forest people who’d restricted his movements quite a bit. On the other, they had fed him and given him shelter, and the freedom and what was on the other outside their dwellings wasn’t impressing him much.

A decrepit farmhouse full of rat droppings wouldn’t impress anyone, in Regulus’ opinion.

He found the garden and the study the most interesting parts of the farmhouse, the places he liked the most.

The garden, for the enchantment placed around it to grow the plants. The plants themselves were uninteresting, but the magic around them was interesting. He could read some of them – earth, (wo)man, sun/time, growth, but he had absolutely no intention of touching them, he was smarter about magic than that. But this was a place where magic existed and that was comforting.

The study was interesting for the books, more specifically, the astronomy books. One look at the stars at night and he knew he was not on earth anymore. Where was he specifically? He had no idea. But though he couldn’t read the language used in the books, he recognized the star charts and could now easily pick out the different constellations. It was a puzzle for him to mull over in his copious amounts of spare time.

Visiting the lake
There was nothing unusual about the lake, and this disappointed Regulus. For a week, he’d watched the forest people shout angrily at it and spit at it, and when he’d tried to sate his curiosity as to why, they would just get fluster and shuffle him away from any direct line of sight of the lake.

Clearly that meant that something was hokey about this particular body of half-frozen water.

But it was just a lake.

However, now that Regulus had moved to the farmhouse and his movements were no longer restricted by the forest people, Regulus found himself coming here, standing on the shore or walking along the edge, again and again, like there was a mystery to unravel. He knew the forest people wouldn’t be forthcoming about their secrets, but maybe if he studied the lake, he’d figure something out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was an inevitability that Five would return here eventually. Recent events have proven that there's still something left to this spot that warrants a closer look, though honestly... that's mostly an excuse. A part of him just needed a breather away from everyone. There's hardly a room in that old farmhouse that isn't crawling with people, and as much as he's tried keeping an eye on his sister, there's other complications with being around her. He can't focus like he should. There's only so much he can keep from her, and he doesn't really want to, but it's a delicate balance that gets harder to maintain when there's so many people around trying to throw him off.

So of course there's another man in the exact spot he was hoping would be empty at this time of day. Five doesn't immediately recognize him, but the way he's dressed immediately draws his attention. He frowns when he addresses him. Has he heard that voice before? There's been more than one newcomer in the past handful of days, and it seems even more suspicious to find one by the lake.

He doesn't answer right away. Almost turns around or teleports back before he can get another word in, but instead he steps forward with his hands in his pockets.

"Is that what you're doing?"

The teen's mistrust was comforting in its familiarity. Regulus understood it, as he was eyeing the young man warily and granting him the same wide berth. Regulus didn’t try to get closer.

A contradictory, how this wariness could set some part of Regulus at ease, he decided to answer honestly.

“No,” he said. “Not at all. I hate lakes.”

His expression twists as he tries to puzzle that out. Not that he's one to judge strange behavior, but his reply is odd enough that he can't completely ignore it. Just recently he was told of a member of the undead who was drawn to this lake, so he has his reasons.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Genuinely asking. Now that he's looking at him more closely, he can see how young he is, so he might just be mocking him. He also speaks too clearly to seem like one of the people who live out here, despite how he's dressed.

Which begs the question -- "Are you high?"

"Fuck, I wish," Regulus said. It would really make all of this bearable. And he fleetingly thought to ask if Five had anything with which to get high.

"I'm trying to figure out why the forest people hate this lake so much. Probably," he said, with a half defeated shrug, "Because that... Anurr bloke pissed in it once, or something, so now they hate it by default."

It should be amusing how many people wind up reminding him of his brother, but it's really just depressing. Unfortunately for this guy, he didn't even indulge his own sibling in his drug habit. (As if Five is one to talk when he steals a drink whenever he gets the chance, but everyone has to cope somehow and he's not the one with the problem.)

"Who told you that?" If he was curious before, now he's sufficiently distracted from what he'd originally had in mind when he came out here. He has more questions in mind, but he waits for him to answer the first one as if it will reveal the rest. The unasked 'where did you come from' is implied.

Regulus turned a curious eye back Five's way, because that was an eager question. But it was information Regulus wasn't going to hide.

"If you can call watching the forest people scream in anger at the lake for the past week them telling me," Regulus said.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and then a single cigarette from the pack. He lit it with a thought, wandless magic. And then made a face, even dried out they still tasted of that lake. He would have to conjure some new ones.

"I just spent the last week with those forest people until that woman- Karsa? found me."

That gets both eyebrows to raise, along with some appropriate silence while he processes that bit of information. He watches him light his cigarette, not missing how he never pulls out a lighter, and stews for a moment. Didn't really expect to start this morning with an interrogation.

"Karsa found you." Living with the forest people. Meaning that she intended to bring him to the group, and maybe Five did hear his voice earlier over the network. He shakes his head and starts over. "The forest people... they just decided to help you? Was it before or after you pledged support to their cult?"

Because it's definitely a cult. He's talked to one of them and he has so much more to say about this.

Regulus snorts white smoke, because, "They really are into that bloke." And because Regulus had been part of a cult, he'd just recently taken the only exit out of it.

"I..." Regulus shrugged, "Woke up in a mine? I think," he says. Because in all honesty, Regulus has only ever seen pictures of a mine, and never the real thing. "Wandered around a bit until one of the forest people found me. There was no initiation into anything. I was a bit of a hostage, they only released when Karsa noticed me."

Interesting. That's not unlike the first group of them. Five was taken to the old jail when he arrived, but the others escaped from the mine with Karsa. So they're still showing up there...

"You were alone?" Sorry, guy, these are very relevant questions to ask for someone who is hellbent on finding the rest of his family. He takes a breath to keep from getting worked up; the pent up frustration when he couldn't get much out of the man he kidnapped hasn't eased over time. "What else do you remember?"

"In the mine?" Regulus asked, and then answered, "Ya."

Regulus gives Five a bit of a side-eye for the intensity behind the questions. But he's not really ruffled by it. Regulus wants to know more about what the hell is going on as well.

He looked out over the lake while he thought about the experience. "They mostly kept me away from anyone passing through," how did Regulus explain this, he'd never in his life met a miner or a woodcutter, "Some had axes, some shovels- the people passing through, they all looked dirty." A word he half sneers at. "But were definitely not like the forest people but... probably unimportant. The forest people also often met with what were clearly some form of undead people. And some man with a goat- they really liked that bloke."

Apparently that means something to Five, because he nods along like he's following. At the last mention, he actually scoffs. A man with a goat. That sneaky mother fucker...

"Haltham." The man who arranged the farmhouse he stuck them all in. He made a deal with them, didn't he? "He works with Karsa. They must have been negotiating for you."

This is wild speculation, but he's already been suspicious of those two. They'd probably do whatever it takes to get them. He would respect that, but the fact that they knew of a new arrival and neither one said a word to their group puts a bad taste in his mouth.

"Karsa didn't mention him," Regulus said, now suspicious himself. He'd never been told Haltham's name.

"I never got close enough to him to access his mind, so I really couldn't say what his purpose was while there. Other than eating."

Five is already raging internally, and he would have likely started pacing if not for the next thing he says that throws him off track.

"Access his mind...?" If he tenses at that, well, he wasn't relaxed to start with so it might be hard to tell. It's very likely he should have been paying more attention to the man in front of him instead of getting caught up in these revelations.

One corner of Regulus' mouth curled in amusement before he focused back on his cigarette.

"Scry his thoughts-" then Regulus mouth dropped to a frown as if he'd bitten something bitter. "If you want to really simplify it," he said with a sneer, "some call it mind-reading. But that's not accurate, it's actually-"

Suddenly Regulus was too tired to explain the fine distinction between 'mind-reading' and leglimency.

"You get the idea."

Now that he's focused on him, he doesn't miss the shift in expression when he starts to elaborate on his ability, then abruptly stops like Five wouldn't understand. That response is visibly grating, but he doesn't want to encourage any demonstrations on him. Instead he clenches his jaw while he debates pursuing this further.

"What's your name?"

What is a member of the Black family if they aren't annoying someone, somewhere, at all times? Regulus casually collects another affected.

"Regulus Black," he said, not offering a hand, and he's fairly certain Five will not mind. "What's yours?"

He's content to keep his distance while he's not sure how his power works. The follow up question is as much personal information as he'd like to disclose at the moment.

"Number Five." It occurs to him that Regulus has just been out here alone, staring at the lake. Lends credence to the idea that they made some sort of bargain with the forest people to hand him over, which makes him wonder what they got in return.

"Are you waiting for someone?" He squints at him at the question. Was he counting on them coming back, or can he actually sense something about the lake?

Regulus was used to odd names. Hello, everyone ever in his family. But literally being named 'Number Five'. Okay, that was weird for this wizard.

"No. Really, just trying to figure out the forest people."

He's been down that road. Apparently with good reason, if they're holding some of them hostage. Distantly, he wonders if they knew that Five took one of theirs and this is some sort of revenge. Most likely not, but it still pulls his thoughts in another direction.

"Well, I don't see them here." Just a big empty ominous lake. He turns more towards him, curious. "Why didn't you try to use your ability on them before?"

"Never had a chance alone with just one of them. I can't just peer into a singular mind in a crowd. I need good eye contact."

Regulus shrugged. "I didn't know anyone else was here so why spoil a free meal and place to sleep?"

That wasn't the whole of it. Dying can really take a toll on someone and his magic needed intent and vigor to perform. He just hadn't cared until the last few days he was with the forest people. Regulus didn't feel like sharing that much. And then Karsa showed up.

It's at that point that Five decides that the lake is a better thing to keep his eyes on. Whatever his powers entail, they're alone out here, giving him the perfect setup if he were so inclined. Despite that, he doesn't seem motivated to do more than smoke and stare at the lake. He wonders if Regulus had a quartz on him to help translate what they were saying, but it seems more like he's been unable to communicate all that time. If that's the case, he might have reached the extent of what he was able to learn from them.

So what is Five doing out here? He's still worked up from that earlier discovery, and it's possible that his judgment is lacking. Is he desperate enough to take Regulus back, see if he can get anything more out of the old man? Ten minutes after meeting him seems a little soon to test how open minded he is to seeing someone in a similar situation to what he just went through. -- At the same time, the window of opportunity is closing. It's out of sheer stubbornness that he still has a captive in reach, and any day now he expects someone to stumble on him.

After a span of silence, he pipes up again.

"Tell me how it works. If it's not mind reading, what can you pick up?" He'd been close to subjecting the old man to what Mingyu did to him, but held back from approaching him after being reminded. Mingyu doesn't just get the answer to a question with his ability, he seemed to read Five down to his soul and made him relive his worst memories, maybe even experience them with him. He hasn't totally recovered, so if he's going to consider his alternatives, he needs to know more about it.

"What would you do, if you were face to face with one of them?"

Regulus turned and regarded Five, deep in consideration. Not just about how to explain the magic, but if he should.

Back home, explaining to Five what he could do would be crossing some legal lines. Not that he hadn't already done plenty of that in the last year and a half. It might be nonsensical for him to pause over breaking the laws against magical secrecy when he'd already committed murder but this was his morality in flux. He'd rebelled against Lord Voldemort, but where had he landed after leaping into that mutinous void? Where was the new line in the sand he would not cross?

But there was no Ministry of Magic here to be the bulwark of his burgeoning principles.

And it was in that moment he decided to fuck with the laws prohibiting the revelation of magic to non-wizards. At least here, he'd be open about his magical skills. When it suited or benefited him.

"The real shape of thoughts. Whole memories, as they were actually experienced and the way the mind changes them to make them more comfortable for us to remember. Intentions, desires. Lies and truths," he said. "The mind isn't a book, and we don't think in words on a page. Minds are richer and more complex than that. It takes skill to discern passing fancy from actual experienced events or purposeful fabrications meant to obscure the truth. That's what I can do."

A pause, he'd had an inkling of what Five wanted. "Do you have a particular forest person's thoughts you're dying to know?"

Having just decided not to look at him in the eye, Five still drifts back when he details exactly what his ability does. That's a different twist on what he's seen before, and he considers it silently. It could be one last chance to get some actual answers, or it could end in Regulus turning against him and deciding he's no better than the people he escaped from. -- Which, considering the nature of mind manipulation and the people who use it, doesn't seem too likely.

His honesty is at least a sign that he might understand his position here. Five must not seem like a threat if he hasn't considered using it on him, and that's fine. Let him assume Five just stumbled on someone in the forest and happens to know where to find him.

"If I did?" No reason to deny what's already obvious now, but he still watches him for his reaction. "There are a few things I'd like to know, when you're done sightseeing."

Regulus was starting to suspect there was something more to this kid, just not the shape of it. It amused Regulus that Five wouldn't look him in the eye now, but it was telling that this kid didn't want Regulus even getting the chance to see what was in his mind. (Not that Regulus could, fully, without taking his wand out. He'd left that part out, for now, but he didn't feel the need to clarify.) This kid caught on quickly and that was a bit unusual for someone of his (assumed) age. Certainly not enough to build a full picture, but there were definitely shades to this picture that was Five.

"I'm done sightseeing, for now," Regulus said. He had an unending supply of time, he could come back to the lake later. And solitude plus an idle mind was one hell of prison. He might as well be engaged in something that didn't let his thoughts wander.

"Whose mind do you want me to look at?"

Regulus is as compliant as he thought it might be. It's really something Five isn't used to, just asking and getting what he wants. Not that it's a hard sell when what he's offering is a chance to find out about the people who held him hostage.

"I never got his name." He gestures back towards the farm. If there were just a little closer he could teleport them right there, but it's probably best that he checks to see that he's ready for visitors before he takes him inside. Make this seem a little less suspicious, or at least, keep any assumptions vague.

"There's a bit of a language barrier, even with the crystals. You might find it easier."