Dead Man's Party (Sidney Reilly/Catelyn Stark, semi-open)

[sidney_reilly]

As they had arranged, Reilly was waiting at the staircases at noon, watching for a woman in a familiar black lace stole.

He leaned against the heavy stone bannister and twisted his cane in his hands. (Immersion in his reading of 20th-century history and his disquieting meeting with Grant had sidetracked him from his mission of visiting Simon Tam

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[ex_ladyston]

Catelyn, who had not yet seen much of the castle owing to her formerly ruined face, at least knew where the main staircase was. It was still disconcerting, to be able to walk about without her hood and scarf--moreover, to be able to do so without disturbing people. The gouges she'd dug in her face with her own fingernails were marked now by faint scars, even fainter than the one at her throat. While she would never look as she once did, she at least looked human (if still not entirely alive).

She caught sight of Mister Reilly and waved, actually hoping he wouldn't recognize her--the less was left of her previous damage, the better.

((Repost because I can answer questions, honest XD. It's up to you--I'm good either way. ^_^))

[sidney_reilly]

Reilly caught sight of the wave, recognized the stole and smiled. The difference was indeed dramatic, and startling; at a distance he should not have recognized her. There remained a faint stiffness to her features, but vulnerability shone in her eyes.

"Lady Stark. The healers here do indeed work wonders." He offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

[ex_ladyston]

Catelyn smiled--she was unused to being able to smile, at least without making those she smiled at either flee or turn sick. "Thank you, Mister Reilly," she said, taking his arm. "I must admit I am not used to it yet--to walking without a hood, or without need of the scarf." Getting her voice back hadn't been nearly as dramatic a difference, oddly.

"How have you found Hogwarts? It was...very strange, for me, and though your world sounded much nearer this than mine, I feel it would not be easy for you, either."

[sidney_reilly]

He smiled at that. "It will come to feel natural, in time. Have any of your kinsmen here seen the changes yet?"

"It is not," he admitted reluctantly. "I've made one venture out into the world I knew, and in some ways adapting to Hogwarts has been easier. Better to learn a very different culture from scratch than to try to come to terms with a greatly distorted future version of my own, I'm finding."

[ex_ladyston]

((Sure ^_^))

It was always the unassuming ones who snapped, in the end, it seemed.

"Losing those who are close to us--be they friends or family--is...it hurts," she said softly. "More than anything, more than the fear of death for ourselves...." She looked up, inwardly shaking herself. "If it is not too painful, may I ask what happened to your friend?"

[sidney_reilly]

"He gave up," Reilly said with a shrug. "We all escaped Russia after the coup went sour, and we went on raising money and securing allies to oppose the Bolshevik regime - Lenin survived but never really recovered, and a year or two later was replaced by Stalin, who was less an idealist and more of a strong-arm man. But Boris, he was wounded on the way out, never fully healed, and over the next few years he grew more ill and tired and discouraged."

He took a sip of coffee. "And homesick, which is what they preyed upon. Their intelligence agency, The Trust, offered Boris a promise of amnesty if he'd come home. He'd have to serve prison time, but no death sentence. He took their offer, and a few months later 'mysteriously' fell out a high window to his death. They tried to pass it off as suicide, said he wasn't strong enough to stand up to prison. I knew that wasn't true - he could endure anything as long as the prize he wanted most, being a Russian citizen again, was in front of him. That was just adding insult to injury really."

[ex_ladyston]

"Betrayed amnesty...why is it that so many things common to all worlds seem to be bad?" Catelyn shook her head, toying with her spoon. "I am sorry for your friend--I know well what it is to long for home so badly you will do almost anything to get there. It is an evil thing, that so many who seek only goodness and justice so often meet terrible ends. My husband, who was falsesly accused of treason, was to be pardoned and sent to be a brother of the Night's Watch, but the dead king's poisonous demon of a son executed him instead. It was that, more than anything else, that set off the war in Westeros." Catelyn had no idea that the Great War had been (officially, at least) brought about by a very similar assassination. "One can only hope that those who abuse justice will someday have it turned upon them

[sidney_reilly]

((Pfeh, I could've sworn I replied to this already! What I get for trying to pick up tags at work.))

Reilly stared at Lady Stark in silence for a moment. "We have more in common than I could ever have realized, then," he said at last.

The other question he considered over a thoughtful sip of coffee. "At some point I think a visit home might be restorative. At this stage it looks like it's still in enough disrepair that it would only depress me. If the country straightens itself out to a greater degree in coming years, then I may go back. In the meantime I'll simply go on keeping an eye on their progress, and worry about settling in here."

He set his cup down. "Would you like to return to Westeros, if you could? If it could be done safely, perhaps with some sort of magical protections?"