People Watching (Closed)

Violetta liked to watch the patrons of the self proclaimed 'best pub in Knockturn', because most of them were up to something or another. It was always interesting to see how people interacted with others, especially on the occasion when she would recognise them. That was what she was doing now, watching someone she was acquainted with from a dark corner of the bar- curious as to what they were doing. Although things would have been a lot more interesting downstairs where it really was dark, she was also more inclined to be noticed down there, as people were a lot more careful. The person was speaking with someone else, and an item of some kind was changing hands. She was focused, trying to see what they were passing between themselves, when she was startled from her concentration.

Reaper was a man who enjoyed knowing. He knew there was six men in hear cheating on their wives. One who lead a double life. One who had told muggles they had magic. A woman who killed her husband. Another who was planning to. And finally there was his very very very very distant relative, Violetta. He sat before her and fixed her with his quizzical eyes. "Hello Violetta"

Violetta’s gaze did not move from the pair of men exchanging and item for money. She thought them stupid, as just downstairs was a booming black market and they chose to do their shady deals in plain sight. The woman thought that she really deserved to be caught out. Once she was satisfied in knowing what had been going on, she shifted her focus to the man in front of her. She looked him over for a moment, recognition taking only a moment before she nodded once. “Hello Reaper,” she said, “what brings you here?”

"Oh didn't they tell you? I'm here to kill you. Guess you didn't get the memo." He drew a large knife whilst looking at her coldly. Before a sly smile drew across his face. "Joking. Just happened to see you and decided to catch up with a relative"

Violetta smirked slightly at the display of the knife, not because she didn’t think he would be willing or able to kill her, but because she didn’t care. Of course, she didn’t want to die, but she wasn’t going to go out of her way to stop it from happening. Nodding again, she picked up the previously untouched glass and took a small sip. “A very distant relative, if my information is correct,” she answered, “where have you been? I didn’t think you’d been sighted in.. well, longer than I have been alive. Though, to be fair, I spent fifty years frozen in a castle. Anything could have happened during that time.”

"I've been dead for over a thousand years, I'm probably younger than you...in a sense." He dug the tip of his blade into the table. Twisting it as he did so. "They brought me back because the self-proclaimed "Dark Lord" has pissed the Nexus of by backstabbing her. So I'm putting my side twelve boots down his throat and see how gobby he is then"

Violetta was not surprised by the fact that someone had been brought back from the dead. A lot had happened in their group, from curses keeping people alive for centuries, to the curse which had taken her and the rest of Hogwarts for the previous fifty years. It was unsurprising, but definitely interesting. “I see,” she said, “good luck with that. I assume that they see some kind of worth in you if they bring you back for this cause. Though, I’m sure it could have been handled in either case.” She was not alone in her thoughts in thinking that while Tom Riddle had once been a name to fear, it was fastly becoming one to mock. He may have been in reign while the school was frozen, but she believed that with the enemies that he was making, he would not be around for much longer.

Reaper laughed dryly. "He may not be...but alone? He is a formidable force, and he has an army, larger than our own perhaps. He has spies everywhere. He has look outs watching, and he also knows this world better than us. Do not underestimate him. They wouldn't of woken me unless it's necessary...as I can be very difficult to control. That being said. They have threatened our glorious Nexus and she has awoken her best guardians...so this war will result with Nexian victory...Just a question of how much will we sacrifice?"

“He may have an army, but so many of them are inexperienced,” Violetta argued, “they have been free of real war for fifty years. Anybody born after that time are mere wands, and those born before are growing old.” Of course, Voldemort was not to be underestimated, but she had complete faith in their faction. “I honestly wonder if Voldemort is the only reason you were woken,” she said, “there are other enemies, ones that I believe are hiding in the mess that this world has become.” It was a theory, and perhaps one that she held alone, but in either case, she was prepared for something more. “Do you drink?” she asked as she gestured with her empty glass to the barkeep, "and of course there will be sacrifice. There always is when it comes to war."

"War...War never changes...Men do through the paths they walk, and burdens they bare. Walking new paths into the lay of history. Changing it for the better or worse...depending on the turns they make" he paused and waited for a moment. "Yes. I do, but I'll pay." he signalled to the barmaid "Can you please get me three double scotch whisky, the best you have, and whatever the lady is having. he turned back to her and sighed."Number can win you a war. You can be the best there is, but eventually. You'll get overwhelmed"

“I look forward to this war,” the woman admitted, toying with the glass on the table, “things will change, and I hope they will be in our favour. In any case, I look forward to the fight.” The war was unpredictable, but she knew that in some way or another, there would be an outcome. But more over, Violetta enjoyed killing, and it have her an excuse to do it as she pleased. She nodded as Reaper said he would pay, needing not say her own order as she drank at the establishment often enough. “I disagree,” she replied, “I’ve known of men who have taken on hoards and come out on top. Experience, strategy and training will lead to a victory better than any group of brawn.”

"Greece. The Greco-Persian war, a vastly out numbered Sparta, backed by Athens and two other Greek states, roughly 1000-1500 hundred were involved. They were superior warriors in every way, and when the Persians showed up in the 100,000's and although lost more. They got butchered. The fall of Rome. Same situation. The fall of Sparta, caused by a force of greater numbers. World War two, D-day, Kursk, Stalingrad, Operation Citadel, and Berlin. All greatly outnumbered and the superior force got butchered. There are exceptions. Yet, few and far between...Numbers Can win, A war. Yet it is not how I plan to win ours."
He received his three drinks costing a small fortune for each. Which he paid with change in his pocket. He poured them into one glass and drank half of it before ordering the same again.

“I am well rehearsed in the history of warfare, Reaper,” she responded, waving her hand dismissively, “but it’s like saying that the Order will win the war purely based on the fact that the good won it last time. There is more to it than being better warriors, anyway. Strategy is where it’s at. The right time, the right place. If a group of bumbling idiots can’t work together, then how do you suppose they could be successful? Because being competent enough to be a team may very well be out of their reach. Either way, if one person could not win a war, then why did they bother waking you?” When a new glass was placed in front of her, she took a long mouthful before smirking, “how do you plan to win, then?”

"They work well as a team. 'Good' won the first war because Averbane underestimated them. The second war was a crushing victory for us. Before we got frozen and the self-proclaimed Dark Lord took over. 'Evil' got a double tap victory. First us then we got froze over." he finished the first drink and took the next, smiling as the barmaid had already put it in one glass for him. "They woke me because I'm by far the most destructive weapon in their arsenal, because I have tactics and strategy nobody could match. A unpredictability that keeps even those who attempt controlling me worried. An insanity that makes me volatile. And intelligence very few can match. They woke me because I can and will bring the Death Eaters to their knees. Yet, I will need people to assist me by acting out my plans along side me. Nobody wins a war alone. A battle? Perhaps. A war? No." he once more drank half and reordered for the pair "Trust me Violetta, I already have a plan in motion. But too many prying ears lurk in these halls."

Violetta swallowed the last half of her drink, before putting the glass down and shaking her head. “That’s just recent times,” she said, “Gellert Grindelwald’s entire fight was lost against one man. The first wizarding war was ended by a baby. A little further back, when the Romans took Britain against an army ten times larger. The battle of Marathon, the Greeks had less people, but managed to drive the Persians out. The Blitzkrieg. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point. A war is just a collection of battles, really.” The woman listened, wondering as he spoke if he was really the right person to wake. He seemed too unpredictable, not that she was one to talk. “I would say I do trust you,” she said with a smirk, “but you just listed off all of the reasons not to.”

Reaper smiled. "You have a point, but a war is more than a collection of battles. There is more to war than the blood and fire." He finished his second glass. Clutching the third. "I am the best person to trust. A predictable, sensible, docile commander is one that will fall prey to traps. You need a man of insanity and violence. Its a volatile concoction"

“Of course there is more to war than those things,” Violetta said with a smirk, “but blood and fire is definitely the best part.” Not the kind of person to pretend she was something she wasn’t, Violetta was willing to admit that she wasn’t exactly cut out to command. She wasn’t stupid or incompetent, but she often lost the ability to control herself properly and that was not something that would help in such a position. “Well,” she said, taking a sip of her new drink, “I sure hope that there is some intelligence thrown in there as well. Otherwise we’re screwed.”

"I'm going to be one of the smartest people you'll ever know, both in a militant and knowledgeable way. Brilliance and madness are on the same side of a coin." He then ordered two of the bottles he'd been buying glasses of, before finishing his third drink. "You see, Violetta." He said as he opened one bottle and drank half in two mouthfuls. Repeating the action with the other. "There are many good things about insanity. Care to take a walk. I wish to show you something."

“That’s not what I’ve been told,” she said, her tone holding the slightest amount of bitterness. She watched as two bottles of alcohol were sold to the man and she raised an eyebrow. “Does intoxication go along with those as well?” she asked, her voice light once again as she finished her own drink and stood from her chair. “Yes,” she answered, placing a small handful of coins on the table, “where are we going?” She was not usually one to just go off with somebody that she hardly knew, but her curiosity was particularly high after their interesting conversation so far.

Reaper paid for the drinks, smiled and walked to the door, bottles in hand. He lead violetta out the door and smiled. "You see, Violetta, the world is full of madness and brilliance, the key is finding the right balance. For you see..." he had stopped in the door way, behind her, and as she spoke to face him, he threw the bottles over his shoulders. "Madness is like a inferno. All it takes..." he snapped his fingers as he spoke the next four words. "Is a single spark" after snapping his fingers, the alcohol caught a light in a flash of flames consuming the bar very quickly. "once it sets in. It consumes everything in its path...until it burns up everything you are." You could hear the screaming as the flames turned every one to ash. "until there is nothing but a smouldering ruin"

Violetta kept her gaze on Reaper as he spoked, standing just outside the door to the pub. Her brow furrowed when he stopped moving, though, she she watched as he threw the half bottles behind him. It took her a moment to realise what he was doing, and by then it was already done. She wanted to be angry as she watched flames engulf her most frequented drinking place, but as the reflection of the flames danced in her eyes memories filled her mind. The screams in them so similar to the ones she could hear from inside in their desperation, but it didn’t take long before the place was well and truly alight and slowly the screams died down. She wanted to be angry, but she couldn’t stop the sadistic smile that spread across her face. “You’re mad,” she said with an oddly bright laugh for the situation, though her gaze remained fixed on the chaos behind him, “absolutely barmy.”

Reaper began to laugh, a dark, twisted laugh. Thunderous and completely evil. His voice filled with torment, rage and madness. His eyes burned brightly with malice and insanity. His long laughs, coupled with the demeanour of the man who just killed over thirty people because he could brought a deep darkness that seemed to fill the streets. He dug his hands deep into his hands, his laughter finally subsiding. "Oh Violet...you have no idea" he said darkly. He turned and began to walk away. "Come along, I have more to show you".

Behind the pair the smoke and flames billowing, spreading. Burning the street they walked down. The smoke setting thick as fog. He chuckled as he walked. He clearly had a point behind all of this.

She watched intently as people took their final breaths through the doorway of the pub. Once the last person had fallen, she allowed herself to properly hear the laughter coming from the man in front of her. It was almost satanical, but she could not bring herself to be afraid. The sound, along with the image that had burned into her mind, made her smile all the wider. Even as he walked past her, she stayed in place for a few moments more before catching up with him.

Violetta could tell that there was a point to this, but she hadn’t yet figured out what it was. So, she followed Reaper, turning to ask, “again, where are we going?”

"You see how they try to put the fires out? Trying to stop the madness from spreading. Watch them run, try to stop it. Watch them get burned by it. The more intense the madness becomes...the more and faster it burns. Spreading quickly, faster and faster until it can't be stopped. As the madness grows. A haze, a mist sets in like the smoke. Makes it hard to see what's there, hard to act and think. A thick fog that spreads confusion, obscures vision. So when we decide to strike..." as he said this he stepped past three mean looking men who were trying to see what was going on and he snapped the neck of a fourth hiding behind them. He gripped the dead man's arm and pulled down the sleeve, revealing the dark mark. He then darted back to her side."they will be so lost in the confusion. They won't know what happened. They'll look to blame someone. Each other. Violence will spread in the ranks. Madness will begin to burn in them. The confusion will grow. You see Violetta...all it takes. Is a little spark" he said with a very wide grin.

Violetta turned to watch as the people behind them made attempted to extinguish the flames. But it was no use, as the fire was already too strong. Other ran away from it, trying to get out before it caught them as well. No matter what they did, the inferno was stronger and faster. She wondered if it would catch up to them; if she would burn, too. But for the moment she was more interested in watching the others, and listening to the words of the man who was even more insane that she was. She snapped back around, just in time to see a man die at the hands of her companion, and she smirked at his words. “Of course they will,” she said, “the person to blame always has to be someone they can get to. Somebody they can hurt or hunt for it. Even if it isn’t true. It’s always like that.” Her mind shifted to her family again. To how after she’d run away, they had tried to blame it on others until the truth was too obvious for them to avoid. They didn’t care if it was logical, they just wanted to get someone back. The more that people screamed, the more excited she became, but she fought to keep hold of her own mind. “Yes, I do see,” she replied absently as she couldn’t help herself but to turn and look back at the havoc Reaper had caused.