Several Days, Several Threads

[emptyyourself]

[Who:] Severus Snape, John Connor, Sirius Black, Open to others
[What:] Several days in Paris
[When:] Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Tag in, start your own, general Day in the Life rules. I'm open to anything!

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Saturday, Noon, Pont Neuf - Reserved for John Connor

[emptyyourself]

It was a shame that he was wasting his time in Paris on nonsense related to Bellatrix Lestrange and her wand, but such was life. Not that Severus particularly wanted to be in France in the first place. He had complained once already about the distinctly Continental slant their ports had taken recently - Germany, and now Paris - and was frankly somewhat tired of having to rely upon the scraps of a foreign language he'd learned as a child.

It wasn't homesickness. Certainly not.

He was at Pont Neuf not long before noon, awaiting Connor with an eye on the bouquinistes and the vague idea that he didn't need any more books (but then again...). At least it was distracting him from other, darker ideas. After all, if Connor was here, then Bellatrix could be anywhere. Doing anything. Possibly to Martha's detriment. Better to get this meeting over with as quickly as possible.

Re: Saturday, Noon, Pont Neuf - Reserved for John Connor

[metallonkardia]

John is there well before noon; he bought a GPS and spoke in broken-but-patient French with the concierge of his hotel, ultimately having no trouble finding the place. He's never minded walking - even injured like he is - and despite the way seeing any of this makes him feel like a traitor, it's... well it's not nice, but he's not taking the atmosphere for granted.

He waits against the great stone railing, keeping himself on the edges of clumps of excited tourists, never letting himself cut a lone figure (target). When he sees whom he figures is the man he's here to meet, he quietly disengages the tangle of people he'd been lurking amongst and heads over to him. John stops just to one side, close enough to be heard but out of immediate strike range, expression unreadable.

"Severus Snape?"

[emptyyourself]

Severus turns rather sharply at the sound of his name, the movement more natural than surprised. In spite of his Muggle attire, he manages to billow - at least about the lower half of his coat. He looks John over with the air of a man who is quite put out, and so he is; it irritates him that his fellow warden managed to get the jump on him.

Too much complacency aboard the Barge, clearly. If John Connor can waltz up without Snape noticing, Bellatrix could find it child's play to do the same.

"Mr. Connor. There is something to be said for punctuality." Of course, whatever it is is, he isn't going to say it.

[metallonkardia]

If it's any consolation, it's more John's years spent as a vagrant that give him the edge on vanishing into crowds than his military training, and it's unlikely that Bellatrix has that particular feature in her psychological Swiss Army Knife of terror.

He doesn't startle when the other man turns, and just looks at him - maybe in appraisal - before he nods. Hello. "You look like you'd prefer to get this handled quickly."

So let's talk.

[emptyyourself]

A normal person might suggest they walk as they talk - perhaps invite John for a coffee. Severus isn't a normal person, however, and considering the eternity he will likely spend on the Barge with this man, he has no intention of wasting his time in the port with pleasantries.

"Bellatrix's abilities." Getting right to the point, then. He pauses, glancing around at the crowd as though debating whether he wants to be more specific. Of course, after the morning he's had, he finds he no long particularly cares about the Statute of Secrecy. "I wish to know if it is your intention to return her wand."

It occurs to him that he could be handling this more diplomatically - as he did with the Marquis - but Connor doesn't look to him like the sort who allows others to ruffle his feathers.

[metallonkardia]

Hell, John doesn't even notice that this isn't diplomatic. This guy wants to get shit handled, and he's not making John do some kind of stupid political dance to get there. It seems logical and efficient, to him.

"Eventually," he says, not finding any particular reason to lie about it. "Pending her hands stop twitching like she wants to stab me to death when I talk to her."

... Which is certainly a statement, especially delivered so flat. But he continues, tone slightly less frigid: "I don't have a problem with her abilities. I don't understand the context in her culture, though, beyond the fact that I'd likely be giving her a very volatile weapon in very close quarters."

[emptyyourself]

If he wasn't so personally close to the situation, Severus might laugh about that. He suspects if the bar has been set to 'when she ceases to want to murder others', Bellatrix will never see her wand again.

"I have no interest in providing a lecture on the finer points of magic and its importance to us. Some other time, perhaps." Not dismissive, that - more of an offer for a longer conversation when he isn't standing on a bridge in the middle of France.

"For now, I will simply say that I advocate for all inmates with innate abilities to have them restored. It is better to do so at the beginning of her rehabilitation process than later, when the temptation presented by a full restoration of her magic will cause her to backslide."

A beat passes, and he adds coolly, "If you decide against it, however, I won't fault you for it. She is dangerous - with or without a wand."

[metallonkardia]

It's an interesting - and valid - standpoint to consider. Thus far, John has been toying with the notion that Bellatrix needs to find something (anything, fuck, a hobby) that speaks to her that isn't so reliant on magic. That it is so deeply entwined with her bigotry is a very tangled knot to have to unravel. Alas that they can't all be Gordian.

He nods. He'll take it into consideration, and seriously. Paris is serving as something of a field test for her temper as-is; he won't put off the decision much longer.

"Who are you worried about her attacking?"

Abrupt, perhaps, but it doesn't take a telepath to guess that there's some other motivation at work here. John knows she's dangerous - anyone with two functioning braincells can figure that out, and he's got her damn file. He doesn't think Snape reached out to him merely to remind him to mind the training wheels.

[emptyyourself]

If he's surprised by the question - and he is, come to that - it doesn't show. The obvious answer to such a question would be 'everyone', or so he might have assumed. Connor, however, seems to be more astute than Severus thought. Astute enough to see that there is a personal motivating factor causing him to favor hypocrisy over fairness, in fact, and give far less effort to advocating for the return of a wand.

"My concerns to that end have been addressed." At least until the end of October, when Martha plans to dismiss her retinue. He would be scowling about that if not for present company.

"I recommend, if you decide in favor of returning her wand, to see to it that she is unable to use her magic to harm others. The Admiral has agreed to such stipulations before." It isn't something he particularly likes, but he understands the necessity. In hindsight, anyway.

[metallonkardia]

John fixes him with a look that says he doesn't particularly buy that. He doesn't press the issue, because even though it is legitimately pretty much his business, he honestly can't be fucked to put forth the effort at present. Arguments over anything less dire than 'when to launch the warheads, before or after the evacuation' feel petty to him, these days.

But there's still that look.

"I'll take that under advisement. Thank you." That's genuine, for the record. He appreciates any intel, especially being so out of his element with a magic user.

[emptyyourself]

That isn't a look Severus is unaccustomed to seeing. He dismisses it easily; Martha is not John's problem.

For a moment, he's tempted to walk off and leave it at that; however, it's the memory of being an inmate that holds him back. There is no emotion in his voice when he speaks next; he isn't asking for Bellatrix's sake, but out of curiosity. "Do you believe you can help her?"

[metallonkardia]

Certainly not, but then, John would never see a person as a problem.

That, though.

John's quiet for a moment, occasionally shifting to avoid being barreled into by a stray tourist. He's barely past thirty but he looks older, the weight if it pressed into his skin and (most of all) his eyes. Absent of words to distract with, he practically looks like he should creak when he moves.

Finally: "I understand her." There's no passion in his voice; it's an observation. John is not at the point of being emotionally moved by the barge and its fumbling mission, not like this. "Not her orthodoxy," and that is an important fact to distinguish, as the entire affair is plainly grotesque, "but what it's like to be a soldier consumed by a purpose."

He still is that soldier.

"In time."

(This will not be easy.)

[emptyyourself]

Finding he has to bite back a sneer, Severus deliberates for a moment over the validity of that particular claim. I understand her. He doubts anyone understands Bellatrix, but suspects the meaning is a little more generalized. John generally understands her.

That makes enough sense for him to dismiss the assertion. He gives John another look over, reassessing him (or, perhaps, seeing him for the first time as someone worth being assessed in the first place).

With a curt nod acknowledging that this conversation has satisfied him for now, he turns to leave.

[metallonkardia]

John is unmoved by the look Severus gives him - it's not in a challenging way; there's no alpha male issues going on. He plain old doesn't seem to notice there's anything to get bothered about. So when the other man decides the meeting is over and heads off, John doesn't protest.

For a while he stays on the bridge, forearms rested on the side, watching the view, thoughts in his head a dull simmer of detached feeling. And then he simply walks away.