[for Neil]

[the_beta]

At this point, Remus isn't all that surprised to find that Sirius has run off to do something reckless without ascertaining if it was even necessary.  That kind of foresight and ability to plot a course of action is what generally stops people from running off into a storm at all, much less after the bloody volunteers trained to do it have come in

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[little_moons]

I've got fingerpaint in my hair. I know it, everybody knows it, but there's really nothing to be done. The girls are tiny, adorable little demons, cranky and stir-crazy little bitches with a vendetta against me, and there's really no escape.

I'm relieved to see him, for all of two seconds, before I notice the urgency in his voice.

"Yeah, okay," I drawl, pushing to my feet and motioning for him to follow me to the other side of the room, the girls still within sight, "What's goin' on?"

[the_beta]

Even as they move away from the girls, Remus has a moment of wondering why--how much they'd care, how much he doubts Sirius has been playing some kind of doting uncle that they'd be terribly frightened for. Still, he'd rather not discuss it in front of them, if only for a few of the things he'd like to call the stupid git.

Folding his arms in front of him one over the other, then switching them irritably, he fidgets off another bit of the nervous energy that had him stalking the hall. "Sirius went to find Cassie, only instead of looking and finding her in the sodding basement, he went out there and hasn't come back."

[little_moons]

"Please tell me you're fucking joking," I say, muttered through angrily clinched teeth, but I already know he's not. Even if he would ever fuck around about something like that, which he wouldn't, all I'd have to do is take one look at him and see that he's freaking the fuck out.

"What the fuck?"

[the_beta]

The scathing look Remus tries to level at Neil loses some of its heat in the circumstances; he keeps fidgeting, like he did on the cusp of a change. Too much energy for this body and too much to worry about, and tonight he'd take it all back, just to know Sirius had a working wand out there with him.

The wolf would certainly help him with the part where he wants to kill Sirius for being so stupid. "They've already stopped patrolling," he adds, biting the inside of his cheek. "That's why he went out, he thought they'd missed her."

[little_moons]

Underneath all the anger and frustration, there's a cold knot of dread building in the pit of my stomach, and I drag in a shaky breath, pushing a hand though my hair and looking past him, at the girls sitting their with their goddamn color books, just so I can focus on something other than his face.

"How long's he been out there?"

[the_beta]

"At least an hour," Remus answers, tracking the path of Neil's hand and eyes and, somehow, feeling both better and worse for it. He doesn't like to be the only one this bloody nervous, though that's Sirius for you--he imagines if you aren't afraid for him, you're just afraid of him.

Staring at Neil, he wonders why he thought of him first, remembers how useless a pair they've been in the past, and today Neil's got the girls to tend to. "Is there anyone we can tell," he asks, knowing there's little else to do when they aren't letting anyone out into that mess.

[little_moons]

"I know people on the ITF. I know the XO, I can let her know, for when they go out again... Fuck," I hiss, shoving both hands into my hair and pacing a few steps away. There's this huge part of me that wants to go out there after him, that's just as fuckin' stupid as he was, but I know I can't.

It was really fuckin' stupid to think I'd catch a break through all this.

"I swear to God, I'm gonna have to put a fuckin' leash on that asshole."

[the_beta]

That's something at least, though Remus can't help but feel like it's all too little, too late, especially if they'll be waiting for the worst of the storm to pass before doing another search. An hour was worrisome enough when there was someone for Sirius to find: with nothing but the increasingly violent weather to prompt him to turn back, Remus doesn't even want to think about how they might find him.

Or worse--as with James, there might be nothing out there to find. "Can you go tell her now," he prompts, voice gone thin with worry, with a feeling like he's going to be sick. "I'll keep an eye on the girls."

[little_moons]

"I can see if she's here. She might've gone back to New Atlantis before the wind got too bad. If she has, I'll tell Tom and whoever else on the team I can find, and they'll tell her, when they reassemble or whatever," I say with a frustrated sigh, "I'll make a fuckin' call over the radio if I have to."

Taking a step back toward the door, I nod toward the girls and say, "They should be occupied for a little. Just keep 'em in this room, okay?"