[video] - .waxing.plum.

[lumenrelegandus]

- [color key: Tonks, Lupin] -

[filtered again to Arthur, Byakuya, Hermione, Hughes, Lust, Merlin, Shirley, Trevor[ Video on: picture shadowed. Shadow lifts as Lupin finishes setting the forge down and moves away from it. He leans back and the light exposure adjusts. Viewscreen focuses on Tonks and Lupin both looking into it. Behind them is the

Comments

Video. / Filter.

[supercilious]

A better prison.

[ Spectacularly neutral. ]

I'm not sure any of you are removed enough from this situation to be her gaolers, let alone her carers.

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[lumenrelegandus]

[unabashedly socratic]

Granted. Is there an available alternative we might find preferable?

Video. / Filter.

[supercilious]

Christ I miss Sakura.

[ Since Shirley obviously won't. ] Ask Raphael, perhaps.

[ A doctor, with connections to the supernatural, and no ties to Bellatrix? It's not that Arthur especially trusts him, but he's convenient. ]

Video. / Filter.

[lumenrelegandus]

[that shouldn't feel like a slap. Lupin keeps his reaction to a (still genuine) rueful smile]

So do I.

That's an excellent idea. [Not only no ties, Raphael may also be one of the only people in Anatole with no firsthand interaction with Bellatrix, or her doings, at all.]

It will be a group effort in any case. Whatever "it" proves to be. We can seek help but can't exactly foist this responsibility on anyone else. My hope… [sighs] No, won't try to predict. The best I can do is shed all previous attitudes and see what happens next.

I know it's hard to trust that that really is my intent. I hope you can.

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[supercilious]

I will predict for you. Either she will be quite mad, and further cooperation with Byakuya will be required.

Or she'll have lost her memory. Could you forgive her, if that happened? Could you talk with her, care for her, without holding her crimes against her? Will you still keep her locked away?

I can, I do trust your intentions, Remus. But even the best of men commit atrocities for-

[ He almost says "love". He refrains. ]

Bellatrix is responsible for her own life, choices, and consequences. Not you, Nymphadora, her parents, or anyone else.

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[lumenrelegandus]

[takes a moment of decision not to lock this as private.]

I'm grateful for everything you just said.

[even though it makes room for this… confession.]

Would it be forgiveness. Would it be care. My desire to rehabilitate-to cure her. See if she could become someone sane, safe, even admirable.

Mightn't it only be my chosen way to obliterate the version of her I hate.

She knows death. She knows pain. Torture, vengeance. She understands them. She accepts and wields and loves them. That's no real punishment; that's not giving her anything that would well and truly throw her.

I seek a worse atrocity. Destroy her nature. Undo her and rebuild in my idea of what's right.

It doesn't matter that she wouldn't know it. The version of her now. It doesn't matter that it could be called…

[constructive or merciful or benevolent or redeeming or… … …all these words taste terrible]

…something positive. I can't think of anything that would…

[no word harsh enough. Find a verb close to the unforgivable.]

crucify her more.

[action]

[wotchesyou]

[ She is sitting right there next to him. Tonks hears every word between Arthur and Remus. While they talk, she says nothing. He's right, reforming Bellatrix would be a more cruel punishment to the woman. ]

Re: Video. / Filter.

[supercilious]

Then perhaps I shouldn't trust your intentions. But I ask again, do they matter?

[ He shrugs. ]

Safe, sane, and admirable. I believe she could get there.

[ Little Bella Black, anyway. If he could grow up and not be a right berk, so could she. ]

But she's a person, and they tend to think for themselves. You can plan what she will become all you like, for whatever reasons you like. What I'm asking is how far you're willing to go to ensure she fits the mold you make for her?

Video. / Filter.

[lumenrelegandus]

[Of all things: at the last three sentences, the flash of anger Lupin had suppressed before, suddenly he can't. For an instant it explodes.]

Merlyn's eyes, does no one here know me at all?

[The words had the intonation of God's blood or Christ's sake. More telling is the fact that he forgot to avoid saying them at all.

He clearly doesn't realise he did. Even with Tonks beside him. Which is also the only thing stopping him from violent movement, like standing. For a moment he has to drag himself back from the hill.]

Fitting into a mold-discounting individual thought-assuming the outcome-That's not how you heal, cure, or teach. I don't care who we're talking about. You can be sure I know that.

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[supercilious]

[ Arthur's used to making other people angry. But Lupin... he feels a twinge of guilt. He should have a little more faith in his friend; would, if everyone hadn't been making such morally unstable judgements lately. ]

I know you. But not everyone-

What does Merlin have to do with it anyway?

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[lumenrelegandus]

[Lupin also sighs and calms himself.]

Please excuse me. These are the right questions for you to think of and to confirm I'm thinking too. I've been feeling this from many sides and only forgot myself with you.

[Some kind of affirmation of friendship, there. Lupin is unfailingly diplomatic with adversaries. Only with a friend would he be comfortable enough to forget to be. …Look at that, he has progressed since youth after all.]

Nothing. Just an expression from my world. Our Merlin has been very clear-headed throughout this. You'd be proud of him.

[Go with the diversion, Arthur, please. No more future revelations right now… if it's even the same timeline.]

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[supercilious]

Would I.

[ And now it's Arthur's turn to be a little furious. He's been trying to discuss this as rationally as he can, but. ]

I didn't want him involved. He shouldn't have to be involved.

[ Excellent diversion, as they go. ]

Video. / Filter. -- again with the threadjack (WHAT IS THIS POST?)

[wotchesyou]

Don't take your anger out on Remus for that. That was me. I asked him to keep people out of the Ruins.

[ Whose forge is this coming over? ]

Video. / Filter. / a mess!

[supercilious]

[ Not even bothering to private this away from Merlin, either. ]

I am well aware. He forbade me be cross at you. But Remus has been encouraging it!

Video. / Filter. / YAY!

[lumenrelegandus]

[Lupin keeps looking at Arthur. He has his opinions, his reactions, but trying to convey them is unhelpful. Repeating himself or turning Arthur's words back on him will just infuriate. The manifested example looking back at Arthur may be too obvious to be visible-but the act of pointing it out wouldn't do either. It would gain negative dimensions not inherent if left alone. Wonders if there's a way to help Arthur get there himself while all of them are feeling everything so intensely.]

Video. / Filter. / a big mess!

[wotchesyou]

Merlin is his own person Arthur. He didn't have to help me. I wouldn't have held it against him if he chose not to but he did. I didn't tell him what I was doing, I just asked him to help keep people out of there.

Bellatrix is a monster. Freya is his friend. I'd do it in his shoes. That's not what you want to hear, I know.

If you want to be angry at someone, direct it towards me.