driftfleet | The HS Maldua

Yes! Exactly like that. I can draw them out of people's minds and put them into things - jars, vials, or something like a Pensieve - and if it's the right thing other people can use them to review or look at their memories, almost like watching a film.

[ Now she feels a little bad, because she breathes out. ]

That's how Charles showed me his sister.

[He's silent for a long moment. He isn't sure how to feel about that... no, that's not true. He feels negatively about it, but it isn't an unfamiliar concept to him. Wasn't his entire life like that, in both the library and Kyriakos? At this point, so many people have seen the worst of his memories that there's little he'd balk at anymore. Still, that was usually involuntary.

His response, eventually, is slow.]

I've done things like that before. Given people memories. It was part of the nature of Kyriakos.

But did you want to?

[ Standing up straight, Hermione frowns, tilting her head and watching him intensely. ]

Magic from my world, like the kind that I grew up learning... You can take memories away, you can try to give them back... Sometimes there's no choice. Sometimes you just do it because it's the only option there is. That doesn't mean it's right.

[ Because that's what you have to do to protect people. ]

It shouldn't be like that here. I'll paralyse anyone that tries to steal memories.

No. I didn't want to, most of the time. [He's calm enough. It's over with.] Right and wrong doesn't always matter to people who can do such things.

You're assuming you'd know it's happened. I've woken up enough times with no memories at all to know it isn't that simple to avoid.

Which is why there ought to be people that do care about right and wrong, people that are there to try and help.

[ Which is a rather obvious side-effect of her becoming both Protectress and Marchioness in the Drabwurld; she's fiercely protective over everyone, even if she doesn't know them particularly well. ]

It might not have been avoidable where you were before, but here? I'd like to think people would notice. I'd notice.

[ Frowning, she hesitates for a moment. ]

If it's something you're worried about you can always store your important memories. I wouldn't mind helping you - I did it in the Drabwurld, just in case. People used to leave and come back and have no idea who they were, so...

No.

[It's short and curt. He sighs, taking a breath. When he continues, he's less abrupt.]

I understand why you're offering, but that's not something I want to do. What happened to me was the result of higher powers, beings you can't fight. In Kyriakos it was a side effect of my soul being destroyed. I've had more than enough of my memories being tangible and accessible. [There are few people he'd trust with something like that. Very few.]

That's alright then.

[ It doesn't offend her at all; she knows how precious memories are. The things she's seen and the parts of life that people had shared with her - they were beautiful, and incredible, but so intensely personal that she knows it's not something to be given lightly. She's hardly offended with how abrupt he is, not when she had been friends with far less polite people. ]

I would like to see more of your powers one day, though. [ A change in subject might be for the better, and talking about something he's proud of - at least, that's the impression she gets - might cheer them both up. ] I learned a little bit about gifts but I never had the chance to really talk about it. People were more interested in doing their quests or asking about how on earth I turn into a lion.

[He gets to his feet, pulling up the gears with him. He lets the talk of memories roll off him; it's settled, and he bears her no ill will for it. Memories are a touchy subject.]

That's easily done. If you saw a memory of Mystique, did you see hers?

[As he talks, he flattens his palm, and the gears rise off it to spiral around slowly.]

Is that also part of your magic, being a lion?

I didn't see hers, no. I think... It seemed like graduation, for Charles if not her. He must have mentioned she had powers once, but I didn't pry - it didn't seem right.

[ Charles seemed so hurt, so at a loss with thinking about his sister and what she meant that Hermione didn't want to be the one to tear open a wound. Charles had meant so much to her that the idea of hurting him was impossible to even imagine. ]

Some people from my world have magic like that - it's called being an Animagus, where you can turn into an animal that reflects who you are. I was given my power as a reward from the Queen in the Drabwurld, along with other things that I think Atroma took from me.

[ Leaning forward, she stares at his hand. ]

That's incredible.

[Graduation... in all likelihood, she didn't see what Mystique truly looks like, then. He says nothing further about her.]

A given power, hm. [Sounds similar to his own. Not that he's going to talk about it.] Was that common?

Sometimes. I was given my lioness form, and bubbles of magical power, some things to help my friends... Some people were given weapons, or items from home, things they missed.

[ Charles was given his legs. ]

It came down to what you needed the most, I think, or what you felt like you wanted.

[Enticements and rewards, is what he thinks. He hadn't been fond of Kyriakos's Queen, even before she was deposed by the worst of the Echoes. Then again, his own 'rewarded' power had been unasked for. Intensely hated, for a while.

He spins the gears together more closely, then crushes them into a single pillar.]

There was a wizard on my team, in Kyriakos. She could turn people into animals as well.

[A bit of a non-sequitur. But with conversation turning to magic, Willow is on his mind again.]

[ Hermione is absolutely enchanted by his power, and it's obvious from how she can't quite pull her eyes away from it. It's only when Erik talks that she actually lifts her head, fighting back the thousand and one questions before she nods. ]

Really? I know people from my world can do it, but I never met anyone else that could - or, at least, they never showed me.

[ She pauses for a moment before she tilts her head, almost shy. ]

Would you like to see?

She was more fond of making pancakes with her magic, really.

[He lets the pipe of gears fall into his hand, curling his fingers around it. She seems eager to share, and he'll admit to being interested, regardless of the 'job' they're supposedly meant to be doing. So he nods.]

Certainly.

Well, there's nothing wrong with pancakes.

[ As far as Hermione's concerned her job is done - she kept the Gumballs safe and she's made sure they got dropped off. Taking a step back, away from both Erik and the mess of the robot, she calms herself and focusses. After a moment, she seems to just change shape, transforming into a lioness- almost blindingly white, sharing the same scars against her face as the human form... With wings that curl around her body.

Stretching out, wings flexing around her, she tilts her head out and watches Erik, tail swishing behind her. ]

[It's a sudden change, and with the wings she takes up more space than he'd anticipated. So there's a brief moment where he leans back - very brief. Because then he's leaning forward to really appreciate the form in all its strangeness.]

Wings, too... you're full of surprises.

[ Hermione doesn't preen, really, she doesn't, but the way that Erik looks at her does make it seem like she might be giving it a go. She steps forward, moving to sit almost doglike before she tilts her head and leans forward.

... He can pet her, if he wants. That's what she's saying. ]

[Well, if she insists. He reaches out and lays a hand on her head lightly. What a turn this day has taken.]

I'm guessing you can't speak like that. Can you fly with those?

[Or are the wings simply for looks.]

[ She doesn't mean to purr, not really, it's just been quite a long time since anyone... Petted her. Which sounds strange, but the last person to do it was practically her baby brother, so that hardly counted.

At his question, she moved away and flexed her wings before she moved and leapt forward, lifting herself into the air and hovering there for a moment. It was obviously awkward for her, and a little uncomfortable - it had been a while - but she managed it before she settled down again, waiting until she was all four feet on the ground to turn back to herself. ]

If lionesses had vocal chords I'd be set, really.

[He folds his arms when she rises into the air, watching with sincere interest. It doesn't rank among the most fantastical of sights he's ever seen, but it's impressive nonetheless.]

There probably isn't much call to talk, when you're a lion. It's a very unique form.

[ She stretches her arms out, wiggling her fingers and making herself comfortable in her own skin before she hums and nods. ]

No, not really. Most people tend to run in the other direction. [ And some people spend half an hour petting her behind the ears. ] I'll have to work on trying to speak English.

Or devise some kind of sign language. Thank you for showing me.

Thank you for letting me show you.

[ And it's strange, how much she obviously means that. ]

If you ever need a shirt transfigured or food summoned let me know.

Well, certainly, but you may have to explain what 'transfigured' entails.

Oh!

[ It takes her a second, but she reaches up and tugs a plastic hairpin from the mess of her brown curls, holding it out before she focusses and reshapes it with a little bit of wandless magic - it turns into a little metallic celtic knot, a gift she holds out for Erik. ]

Turning one thing into another with magic.

The HS Maldua

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