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( private; video ) metallonkardia October 15 2011, 11:25:02 UTC

Sure, why not; he'll play along even after that initial outburst. He's only halfway through her file, but it's already and interesting read, if... utterly bizarre. The video clicks on to reveal him sitting against a black metal bulkhead wall.

"I don't have a problem on principle with you having your magic back, pending you aren't going to immediately go fuck somebody up with it." Like whatever the hell a Muggle is. "Nice to meet you too, by the way."

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( private; video ) bestlieutenant October 15 2011, 11:29:06 UTC
"I'm pleased to hear you're so reasonable, Mister Connor." See? She's even given to smiling about it! Like the cat that just caught the canary, but that's still a smile.

"I... apologise for my reaction earlier. What a horrid first impression." And she's so clearly dismayed by this, you see. "It's just that I simply don't feel I belong here, sir. This notion that I require supervision is absolutely ludicrous. I'm not a child."

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( private; video ) metallonkardia October 15 2011, 11:43:24 UTC

"Just John is fine." If she wants to get formal, it's actually Lieutenant Colonel Connor, though he has a suspicion she doesn't really care. That's fine; she was abducted. He has sympathy for her position, if not what's in the data he's received. "And don't worry about it."

It's not like he hadn't already been tipped off to her being slightly bonkers with the dancing in the ash thing on a public broadcast or anything anyway. Right.

"Unfortunately, we're both stuck. So we're gonna have to work this out."

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( private; video ) bestlieutenant October 15 2011, 11:52:00 UTC
"Work this out," Bellatrix repeats, as though she isn't sure she heard him right. "How's that, then? You and I appear to have an appropriate Warden-Inmate rapport... After a time you proclaim me suitable to return home, and we both get what we want." Easy as pie.

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( private; video ) metallonkardia October 15 2011, 11:57:51 UTC

"I can't find the 'pass' button."

Truth and flippancy: gloriously not mutually exclusive.

"If you're up for it, I'd like to speak with you in person sometime after your cigarette break."

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( private; video ) bestlieutenant October 15 2011, 12:13:25 UTC
"My wha-"

Oh.

"Listen, that's... Not what it sounds like." Sort of. It kind of is. Or it just is. "I wasn't so certain you would be as understanding as you've turned out to be." That's closer to the truth than the previous statement, actually. "I could postpone my cigarette break, if you wish."

Because then she can bitch to Gaius about this later if it doesn't go well, obviously.

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( private; video ) metallonkardia October 15 2011, 12:30:58 UTC

"If you want to know anything about me, or have questions about anything in my file, I'm fine with just telling you." He doesn't actually shrug, but there's an implication of it in his otherwise dully even voice. Still, he's not going to protest her running off to gossip; there's a very slim pool of potential mutual acquaintances, there, and he's not too terribly concerned about being able to figure out who it might be.

"I'm not in any hurry."

Go right ahead, he's gonna sit here and go through the network to find who he can ask about this magic fuckery.

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( private; video ) bestlieutenant October 15 2011, 12:35:47 UTC
Which is precisely what Bellatrix doesn't want. "No! Don't be silly. We should meet straight away. My fears have been entirely assuaged. I see no reason to delay our... getting acquainted."

Merlin, how does Lucius do this day in and day out? She'll have to ask him sometime. After they've managed to obtain wine of a respectable vintage.

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( private; video ) metallonkardia October 15 2011, 19:46:50 UTC

Even if he didn't know slightly better, between the file and things he's observed already, John would be skeptical of the twisted-sweet behavior. It's just weird. But he's not going to prompt her taking a swing at him by asking if the pod person act's going to keep on all evening.

Instead: "All right. Where are you interested in meeting?"

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( private; video ) bestlieutenant October 20 2011, 01:44:55 UTC
Bellatrix gives it some thought tilting her head to one side. "Your quarters?" she proposes. "I'd be interested to see how the supposed other half lives." If Inmates are one half, then Wardens are the other, in this case. "Unless that's too forward of me," she all but purrs.

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( private; video ) metallonkardia October 20 2011, 03:49:42 UTC

If Bellatrix is fishing for anything to be bitter about, this isn't the way to do it. John's quarters are exactly like they are at home: bleak and miserable.

Then again, maybe it'll do her some good.

"Level 2, room 2."

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( action ) bestlieutenant October 20 2011, 06:58:01 UTC
Level 2, room 2 is simply enough to remember. The CES going bonkers in every corridor, on every level, is where things get tricky, however. Bellatrix spends a moment standing outside of John's room, not yet having knocked on his door, attempting to regain her composure.

She'd been caught in a downpour on level four, and got sand in her shoes on level three. Her signature unruly curls have already begun to frizz, expanding to be an even larger mop upon her head, but she's only slightly damp, thankfully. And her boots were already emptied out and relaced before she ever started toward his door. Her Warden's room.

What is this anyway? The sick joke's gone on long enough, but she isn't about to voice that to the man's face. She finally knocks forcefully, listening keenly for the sounds from within.

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( action ) metallonkardia October 20 2011, 23:18:49 UTC

It doesn't take long for the door to open - it's heavy steel, a veritable blast door, and it grinds ungracefully as it moves. When it does, there stands John, piecemeal fatigues and all. Though he's clean and orderly, he easily cuts a far more haggard picture than Bellatrix herself. As do his quarters.

Though he spent the time she took on her way over to make sure there were chairs near the front of the room (and also clear away his arsenal, going so far as to remove the magazines from everything and keep them all in the back out of the way), it doesn't change the fact that it's a cold, dark, steel-walled rectangular bunker.

"Mrs. Lestrange." John extends a hand, expression unreadable. "John Connor."

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( action ) bestlieutenant October 21 2011, 06:07:37 UTC
"Mi-" She pauses, then smiles. "John. A pleasure." Connor didn't strike Bellatrix as the type for handshakes as an exchange of pleasantries. To seal a deal, certainly, so she's somewhat surprised by the offered hand. She accepts it, but in the way that women in society shake hands.

She could call his accommodations charming, however sarcasm doesn't seem the best weapon to pull from her arsenal at this point. "You'll have to forgive my appearance. It's absolutely beastly with the... CES acting up." Whatever a CES is supposed to be. She can repeat what she's heard from others easily enough, though.

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( action ) metallonkardia October 21 2011, 06:58:20 UTC

Though he's fully capable of functioning within what the societal norm would accept as basic manners, they are habits hammered into him later in life by his wife, with only varying degrees of success. He has no idea how women in society shake hands, and is momentarily puzzled at what the hell to do with that, but he rolls with it. John is nothing if not adaptable.

"Yeah, it's fucked," he says, clearly not minding her appearance. He steps back to let her inside, and at least he's re-arranged his room enough so there's something akin to a sitting area in the front half. (He may have borrowed a chair or two from a common area.)

"Your place is probably nicer." There's no apology in his tone, but nothing defensive, either. He doesn't mind her being here and seeing how he lives; it's him and his war and his life, and he has no shame of it. But it really isn't very impressive, in the creature comforts department.

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( action ) bestlieutenant October 21 2011, 07:47:13 UTC
"It is," Bellatrix responds flippantly. Nicer. But with a shrug. "Yours is likely more practical?" A glance around tells her that the world John Connor comes from must be at war. She sympathises in a way. She steps inside and takes a seat, as much as she'd like to walk about the room and start touching things.

She watches his movements, what he does next, with a guarded interest. "I'm not sure how this all is supposed to work, you being me Warden."

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