Intentions → Soleus Lestrange

[Tiffany Lestrange]

Tiffany Lestrange strode back & forth in the living room, as she'd been doing for the last ten minutes. It was likely she'd be wearing a small rut in the ground beneath her heels, soon, the dust in that particular area of the hardwood floor was completely gone, a sign that she'd been there a while. Finally, she snapped her head up to her brother, Soleus, who was sat on the couch before her. How dare he look so relaxed? Uncaring? After her death stares did nothing to make time go faster, she finally spluttered indignantly, "Where is Rowle?"

Her pacing began again, "Did he have some more important prior engagement?" her acidic tone was laced in sarcasm. "This is serious. If Lucius isn't out soon, we're going to be one rather important member short, here." She turned & snarled, kicking the nearest end-table so roughly that it slid across the floor a little, before depositing the large lamp that had been sitting on it on the floor in pieces. 

"TRIXIE!" Her impression of her mother was scarily spot-on.

[Soleus Lestrange]

Soleus did nothing to move, and simple fixed his eyes on the pacing sister before him, his eyes flicking back and forth as if he was watching a muggle tennis match.
"Why would I know any more than you do? He's probably on his way or something. Maybe he's kitting out that weird house of his with more crap, last time I went in there-" He paused and gave a mock shudder, "well, I'm not going back there again. It's much nicer here." He wiggled further into the sofa cushions, and swung his foot up to rest on the opposite knee. "He'll turn up, just calm down-"
He watched the table slide across the floor and barely winced as the lamp hit the floor. "-stop breaking things, have a drink," He accio-ed the bottle on a nearby surface and glugged an impressive measure into the second half of the pair of crystal goblets on the coffee table in front of him. He settled back into the sofa again, held out the drink to her, an eyebrow cocked in anticipation, his gaze flicking to the archway leading to the main hall, awaiting the House Elf's arrival.

[Tiffany Lestrange]

Tiffany barely softened at all, her eyes flickering out to the yard for a moment, though her view through the window was obscured by the thick vines that were growing up the side of the mansion. She grabbed one of the goblets from Soleus, sloshing a little liquid onto the floor before taking a small sip of it herself. She winced a bit as it burned her throat on the way down, coughing a little in disgust before pausing, and taking a much braver, larger sip. 

"I'm going to wrap my fingers around Rowle's neck & make him bleed before I squeeze the air out of him." she threatened aloud to the empty room, her fingers on her free hand tightening together into a deadly little fist, all boney fingers & talon-like nails. Her eyes flashed hungrily at her own statement, darkening considerably in excitement, before she seemed to snap out of it as the elf appeared. Trixie took one look around the room before flinging herself onto the spill of liquor, using the torn cloth that acted as her clothing to mop it up before heading to tend to the broken lamp. Tiffany watched her in sick entertainment for a moment before settling down stiffly on the arm of the couch next to her younger brother. 

"They'll be on us like dogs, now, you know. The ministry, the school." she didn't even look at Soleus as she spoke to him, her eyes blankly fixed on the elf. "Every move you & I make is going to be under surveillance now that our idiot 'wardkeep' is in prison. Does it not seem ironic that we had to play house with the Malfoys to avoid any arrests, but it was one of them that was arrested at the end of it?" Her own mother and father would never allow themselves to be caught so easily. It had taken them years to find her mother the first time, and now they'd had her right under their nose & they'd lost her again. It just went to prove who the greater one was, really.

[Soleus Lestrange]

Soleus quietly sipped at his own drink while watching her, concealing any amusement at her wincing behind the lip of his heavy goblet, and listened to her malicious planning whilst alternating between leisurely rolling his shoulders and tilting his neck from side to side, stretching knots that weren't really there.
"Ah, Tiffany..." He said slowly, his voice edged with a brotherly-love, "I'm sure he knows what's in store for him when he gets here." He paused, and sipped slowly, then dropped his eyes heavily to the liquid before him. "Whatever his reasons are I'm sure he feels them adequate."
He flicked his eyes up in annoyance when Trixie began grabbing at glass pieces in haste, and lazily turned his gaze onto Tiffany once more, as if the whole thing was just a normal occurrence. Which, with this family, it was.
"Besides, we always knew the Malfoys were slightly impotent," He wrinkled his nose a fraction, "Probably better off out of the way, Tiffany. We can handle this. We can get any job done. Without fucking it up. We're better than they are-" He cut himself off, not wanting to push his boundaries and hoping his sister would not be callous enough to mention what he'd said in front of anyone in the elite Death Eaters. He breathed out slowly, thinking of the Malfoys and their downfalls. "Well, anyway. He will know what to do."

[Tiffany Lestrange]

Tiff let out a slow, edgy breath, trying to calm herself down a little. She knew he was right, but didn't remind him of that fact. Running her free hand over her thigh to try to get rid of some of the clamminess, she stood upright again took another sip of her drink. The liquid burned on the way down but created a subtle, not entirely unpleasant warmth from her core. It had been a long time since she'd properly felt much of anything, other than rage. Guilt. Paranoia. 

"You know Draco is going to lose face at the last minute, as usual, right?" she glanced at Soleus, almost looking maliciously amused, now. "And, as usual, our mother will have to come parading in to save the day." The idea of her mother on the school grounds made her absolutely shiver. Maybe she'd be permitted to be there. It'd be time enough by then to drop her whole 'innocent schoolgirl' charade. She'd give almost anything to watch the headmaster's death in person.

[Soleus Lestrange]

He eyed her, swallowing down his need to proclaim how he was right, as always, or so he believed. He noticed the hint of glee in her expression.

"Now, Tiffany, don't act like you want the plan to go wrong," he tipped the (rather large) remainder of the drink into his throat, swallowed unnecessarily loudly, making an equally loudly "ahh" to accompany it, "of course he should've chosen me, but I'm sure he has his reasons." He glanced at Tiffany, "Or you, of course." He added, very obviously as an afterthought, and stretched his lips across his teeth in what should have been a smile, if he was at all trying.

[Tiffany Lestrange]

She knew exactly why she wasn't picked. She was hardly a functioning social being after Kevin's death, they probably didn't trust her with something so important, not that she'd ever admit that explanation out loud. She knew she wasn't to be trusted with matters of delicacy, but she desperately wanted to prove that she could. Her trip with Yaxely & Rowle in the next month would allow her to get a few casual murders under her belt & prove that she could cope perfectly well. Glancing around as Trixie scurried away with the broken glass, she made sure that no one else was nearby & carefully settled back onto her perch on the couch arm. 

"Do you remember the first time you took a life?" her tone was quieter, now, no longer bold & casual like it had been when she'd been making up death threats & complaining earlier. There was no one she'd ask this to except Soleus - with the exception of Yaxely, though that had been entirely different circumstances. Asking him had been foreplay more than anything, but with Soleus it was genuine, curious. She didn't know what sort of answer she was looking for.

[Soleus Lestrange]

Soleus, still looking a little ticked off at having not been chosen for the task, was staring off into the depths of the fireplace, twisting his fingers around the top of the goblet he was holding in thought, his mouth set into a hard line. He had been tormented by the thought for weeks since the plan first emerged. Why wouldn't the Dark Lord pick him for the task? He was perfect. He wasn't paying attention to Tiffany until she spoke, only just catching her words.
He flicked his eyes to her, watching her and considering for a moment. His eyes then flicked back over into the fireplace, and he spoke in a somber tone.

"Yes." He paused and leaned over to where his crystal bottle of amber liquid lay, refilling his glass quietly.
"Well, in a way. The first time I killed it was a bit of a frenzy. It was over very quickly. There were a few of them. At first I wasn't really sure if I'd killed one or none at all. I was with others. Including mother. When it was over, she congratulated me. That's when I realised," He sipped his drink and sunk back into the sofa, face darkening. "They were all mine." He pulled the same non-smile, staring into her eyes and waiting to see what she would say.

[Tiffany Lestrange]

She knew. It was exactly what Narcissa had said. If it came down to Soleus & Draco - it would have to be Draco. It was dangerous & a task certainly designed to prove one's loyalty. Something that the Dark Lord already knew he had from Soleus. If anything, Tiff thought he should have been flattered, but she didn't say it aloud. 

Her eyes widened a little as she watched him speak. It made her think of Brent. She quickly shook that thought from her mind, squirming nervously on the arm of the couch before relaxing a little, finding a more comfortable spot. "No one you knew?" she asked quietly, curious. The few people she'd talked to like this seemed to tell her the same thing. It was always a stranger. Or strangers. It almost made her angry to think that these were the same people who told her to 'relax', to 'forget it' and 'move on'. No one else she'd talked to had needed to kill someone they spoke to every single day. It wasn't that regretted it, or felt sorry for Kevin. Not at all. It was just a little unfair by her standards that no one was in the same boat with her but were all telling her to just 'deal with it'. 

[Soleus Lestrange]

Soleus watched her, slowly sipping his drink as she squirmed. When she asked her question, he shook his head gently.
"No. Never seen them before. Just a face without a name. Well, a family of faces." He looked serious, his usually permanent amused expression completely removed.

He watched her again, wondering what she was thinking. Of course, he knew from the moment she asked the question what she was thinking. Soleus hated how Tiffany was becoming a shell of her former self. Although he'd probably never say it out loud, she wasn't just related by blood the way his parents were, and his other family. Tiffany wasn't just a sister, she was his friend, and even though he could be malicious and cruel, Soleus wasn't completely empty. He wasn't yet a hollow, murder-crazed Death Eater like his mother. He still tried to enjoy everything in his life and being a murderer was the price he paid for living as he did. After all, becoming a Death Eater and protecting what was left of the superior bloodlines was what he was born for in the first place, and being brought up in the Lestrange/Malfoy household didn't give him much choice for forming any other opinion.

He leaned in closer to Tiff, and with his attempt at kind-eyes, spoke softly.
"I'm sorry that that wasn't the answer you were looking for. I'm sorry that you knew him." He moistened his full bottom lip, obviously struggling to be a comfort to anyone, even his sister, "It's unfortunate... that he was your kill." He wondered to himself, if he should have looked after her by taking the kill for himself, but he knew that Tiffany wouldn't have thanked him for that. She would have hated him for months for not allowing her to prove herself. He sighed quietly, his mind ticking over the same thoughts he'd had many times before. Either way, Tiffany wouldn't be the same. At least, he reasoned, this way, she didn't hate him.

[Tiffany Lestrange]

She chuckled humorlessly, glancing at him briefly before doing a double take in slight surprise, not having expected to see him so sombre looking. "I was just curious." she insisted, though they both knew it wasn't entirely true. She finished off her glass & held it out to him for another refill, waiting patiently, for once. "I guess I'm just jealous that it wasn't an exciting, monumental sort of event like everyone else seemed to have. Something they could look back on with content." That was partially true - she really did feel jealous of Soleus, Brent, her mother, anyone who was able to look back on their first as a sort of coming-of-age thing, like getting drunk for the first time or losing one's virtue. It made her feel like the odd one out.

The look on her brother's face was still baffling her, she barely ever saw him like this. A surprising but not unwelcome feeling of warmth swelled in her without her entirely realizing what it was. She felt a sharp surge of uncharacteristic affection & had to suffocate the urge inside of herself to hug him, instead just twitching her fingers on the side of her goblet & drumming the fingers of her free hand on her thigh absentmindedly. 

"Come with me to the Ministry tomorrow morning. Early." she added, giving him a somewhat knowing look. "I want you signed out of the Malfoy's care." she hadn't mentioned this to him or even the Malfoys before, but she'd be damned if she let them be in charge of his assets while they were in the middle of a major PR crisis. Especially one that could financially affect them so devastatingly. The way she informed him of her plan made it clear that she wasn't planning to argue it out with him, even though she knew it probably wasn't the best sounding proposal to him.

[Soleus Lestrange]

Soleus eyed her, unconvinced that she was doing OK but not wanting to push it any further out of fear she would mock him for his thoughtfulness. After all, it wasn't really a trait that was highly valued by the Lestranges. Instead he took her glass and filled it halfway up. He then sighed a little and held it back out to her, an eyebrow cocked impatiently.

"What? And signed into whose? Yours?" He cocked his eyebrow further, his eyes fixed on hers. "What makes you think that I'd approve of that?"

"And early? Like, what time?" He looked very wary of her suggestion, and wasn't such a fan of early mornings. At Hogwarts, he liked to lounge around in his bed for as long as possible, before lazily sauntering down to the kitchens where he rudely ordered large plates of food from terrified-looking house elves. At home, he'd pretty much do the same.

[Tiffany Lestrange]

She smirked a little at his tone, but it barely registered on her face. Showing any sort of real emotion was such a chore, these days. She took a slow sip of her drink before answering him, leaving him hanging for a long moment.

"I just think it'd be better for you. Let's be honest, here, It'd make leaving the grounds a lot easier. I sign your permission slip, you're my 'buddy' for the buddy-system & ta-da." she gave him a little look, clearly trying to convey that she wasn't the person he should be worried about when it came to protecting what he was worth. "What do you think I'm going to do? Freeze your accounts & start grounding you for bad grades?"

[Soleus Lestrange]

Soleus eyed her, and leaned forward to place his glass on the scratched old coffee table, deliberately taking his time and sighing audibly. As he leaned back into the sofa, he pulled one leg up to rest his ankle on the other knee, settling comfortably.

"And do you think that the Ministry will approve of this? Malfoy fucks up, gets booted into Azkaban, and suddenly the Lestranges are free to do how they please?" His expression looked very doubtful. "It looks more than a little suspicious."


"Plus, you didn't answer my question. What time?" He said, as if this was the more important of the two matters at hand.

[Tiffany Lestrange]

"They're clearly unsuitable guardians & it's in our best interests to operate independently from this point on." she replied, her tone that of someone who had rehearsed this multiple times beforehand, as she did most of her 'lines' to give ministry workers. 

She ignored his question about the time, now, not because she feared his reaction but only to mess with him, keep him hanging. What sort of older sister would she be if she didn't rile him up every once in a while? 

"Besides, I'm already legal. It'd only be a year of it, for you, but if we can assure them it's to protect your wealth from being abused in their time of crisis, then it's probably a shoo-in."