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Date: 2020-10-28 04:37 pm (UTC)It was my House, at school. You got Sorted into one of four on your first day, and that determined your classes, your common room, your dorms... all of that kind of thing.
Slytherin, and then the other ones were Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. But, of course, most of the people I spent time around were Slytherins.
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Date: 2020-10-28 06:06 pm (UTC)[The very idea of it was preposterous to Eridanus. He could understand segregation to a certain extent, the nobleman from the beggar, the cultured from the boor, and so on. Yet, when it came to the school of magic?]
Was this based on background — race, rather? Though it seems like in your world there are simply magic users and non, unlike mine.
[After all, elven magisters differed from human, or orcish ones.]
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Date: 2020-10-29 10:13 pm (UTC)It's a historical institution. There were four Founders of the school, you see, and they disagreed on what the criteria for entry ought to be. Slytherin felt blood purity, ambition, and cunning should be valued. Ravenclaw, intelligence and learning. Gryffindor, brute force and ignorance. And Hufflepuff... well, Hufflepuff really just takes everyone else.
When you first enter the school, the Sorting Hat decides which of the four you're best suited to. Historically, it almost always put my family into Slytherin House.
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Date: 2020-10-31 09:00 pm (UTC)Surely this is an elaborate joke, yes? [He asks, the disbelief palpable in his guttural tone.] This is the sort of system someone who has no idea how a college is run would come up with.
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Date: 2020-11-01 08:38 pm (UTC)[Okay, maybe he's a little defensive. He couldn't necessarily explain why - as far as he's considered, he's put the wizarding world behind him - but he does feel a little ruffled by the doubt.]
It's a large school. It has to be divided somehow.
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Date: 2020-11-01 11:48 pm (UTC)Perhaps into age groups? The college I taught at separated classes by skill level, so some had varying age groups within one, and so on. It worked well for us, since with skill groups you would teach the same spells to a child you would an adult.
[Equal opportunity? Yes please.]
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Date: 2020-11-03 06:30 pm (UTC)I mean... of course? But we were all the same age.
We had exams. It wasn't as though you could just stay in first year for your whole life.
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Date: 2020-11-04 10:16 am (UTC)[Eridanus' claws return to the cat's under-chin, curling against it softly.]
Though at some point it's customary for an apprentice mage to follow under a master, and learn from them. I trained under several, the faction-neutral magic council known as the Tower of Xemorn, as well as the last 'Guardian' of my realm. I would have taken his position, too, but I had family duties.
[His expression hardens for a moment as those last words leave his lips, and then he looks back towards the chess board.]
It is your move by the way, dear Regulus.
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Date: 2020-11-04 10:40 pm (UTC)[He notices that hardening expression, and something closes off a little in his own expression in response, a distant wariness. Still, he nods, reaching out to move his bishop.]
That sounds more like how things were managed before Hogwarts' founding. But that's a good forty or so generations ago. I only know that kind of teaching from books.
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Date: 2020-11-06 11:22 pm (UTC)[Eridanus moves his pawn forwards again before meeting Regulus' gaaze.]
Even though it's useless now, considering neither of us have our magic as it used to be, I would have happily taken you as an apprentice. From what I've seen, you have a good nature for it.
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Date: 2020-11-07 04:49 pm (UTC)I would hope so. Despite all evidence to the contrary.
I appreciate the sentiment, in any case. I suspect I would have been proud to study under you.
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Date: 2020-11-10 01:06 am (UTC)So you say, though you have demonstrated yourself to have grown past such things.
[Eridanus sets his knight forward, claiming that pawn that had just stolen his own.]
Well, at the very least I can still tutor you in the ways of getting your arse thoroughly handed to you in stratagem.
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Date: 2020-11-11 07:32 pm (UTC)Knowing that you've had orders of magnitude longer to practice, I'll try not to take it personally.
[He considers the board for only a moment before moving his bishop through to the square which is, with the move of Eridanus' knight, no longer threatened. An intentional sacrifice. He can see how he could get Eridanus in check three moves from now, although he's sure the more experienced player will have seen it too and planned for it.]
It's interesting, don't you think, how common chess seems to be across worlds?
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Date: 2020-11-12 09:35 am (UTC)You certainly are not incorrect. [His smile wanes into something more comfortable, as his own gaze drops back to the board.
He sees what Regulus is doing, his plan is good, but it's too obvious. Eridanus does not move his knight though, and rather, moves his own bishop from the opposite side of the board—to where it could easily contest any piece that moved for his king.]
Even if they are not exactly chess, I have found games similar enough through many cultures on Vathea. So, I'm not so surprised of its existence beyond realms. [His gaze meets Regulus',] it's certainly nice though, isn't it? No matter the world, the language you speak, or your past — everyone is equal with a chessboard between them.
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Date: 2020-11-15 04:40 am (UTC)[He smiles, glancing up at Eridanus for a moment before returning to studying the board.]
There's a poetry to it, certainly. Though there's also an irony, isn't there? Equality, over a board of kings and pawns.
[Making his decision, he leaves his bishop where it is and shifts another pawn instead.]
And, of course, a game of winners and losers.
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Date: 2020-11-16 11:42 pm (UTC)Hm well, from one pawn to another... [There's certainly an irony there.]
Don't you find it to be comforting knowing that, if you play your moves right, even a pawn can take down a king?
[It would be a foolish ploy in the game of chess, but metaphorically, his point stands. Eridanus hovers his claws over his knight, and moves it center-board before lifting his gaze to meet the young man's.]
Every piece on the board holds power, and winning and losing is not determined from where you start, but the decisions you make to get to your end.
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Date: 2020-11-25 06:25 pm (UTC)[There's a certain hardness in his voice, a rawness that's out of place in his usually flat and clipped tones.]
That is, not himself. He can only help others to do so. Or prevent them.
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Date: 2020-11-26 08:07 am (UTC)I would say that you should tell that to my father — but he wouldn't be able to give you any response.
[Because the pawn slit the king's throat from ear to ear.]
Why do you believe the pawn to have less power than it does?
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Date: 2020-11-26 08:03 pm (UTC)[He reaches over, moving his rook. The shadows fall a little too deep across the board when he does.]
All a pawn can do is lure the king out. Almost definitionally, if the pawn is the only threatening piece, the king is not in checkmate. And you can start to think that it will work, that if you are clever enough and think far enough ahead, it must be possible, but it isn't. The best you can hope for is a worthwhile sacrifice.
[He clears his throat, reaching for his tea.]
Or you can just waste your pawn before it has a chance to cross the board and become a piece. Which, let's be honest with ourselves, is more likely.
It's certainly what's happened in my experience.
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Date: 2020-11-29 12:01 am (UTC)[Eridanus' voice is firm, paternal even, but there is no anger in it. The look he fixes the man across the board with is by all means gentle. There's concern in his furrowed brow and for the moment, he doesn't take his turn.
Instead he leans forward, and his voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper.]
You are not a sacrificial lamb, we are not sacrificial lambs.
[He sighs, the sound thick with irritation. He wants to say that if he could go back — if he could do for Regulus what he did for himself — he would. But he can't, it's too soon, he won't allow himself that level of attachment.]
I don't know how you died, but it is not your only merit.
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Date: 2020-11-30 06:22 pm (UTC)[When it doesn't, he sighs softly.]
I know. Don't worry, I know.
[Because there was no merit in it.]
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Date: 2020-11-30 11:25 pm (UTC)My father, [he starts as he moves his bishop forward,] never truly saw me as a person. I could do whatever I wanted, within the parameters he set for me. Even when I was across the world from him, he was always watching me. He took away my chance at happiness, and I... I apologize that you no doubt understand that feeling.
[He raises his gaze, leveling melancholy eyes at the aqueous shadow across from him.]
Our scars will certainly follow us, but they do not define us. I was the pawn who killed the king, and if only— if only I could give you the same retribution I gave myself, dear Regulus.
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Date: 2020-12-02 06:42 pm (UTC)Am I misunderstanding, or did you just tell me you committed patricide?
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Date: 2020-12-03 07:17 am (UTC)And I would do it again, [he murmurs quietly,] he had far more blood on his hands than I ever would have. He was cruel, and he deserved everything he got.
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Date: 2020-12-04 06:56 pm (UTC)[What else can you really say to that? Regulus doesn't meet Eridanus' eyes, dropping his own gaze to his hands, clasped in front of him on the table.]
[It isn't that he can't sympathise with the betrayal. Of all people, he can understand it. But he never has quite shaken that one principle driven into him almost from birth: blood is more important than anything. Family is sacred. Parents are especially sacred. You can't just...]
[He swallows.]
I see.
I... can't say my father was quite that bad.
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