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[pawntakesking]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, REGULUS BLACK. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 079.07.1663.55 *** REGULUS BLACK has joined 079.07.1663.55 <ToujoursPur> This is the current address of Regulus Arcturus Black, formerly of London. <ToujoursPur> Please leave any messages here, and I will respond as soon as I can. Alternatively, ask at the Kit-TEA-Kat Café if you wish to see me in person. <ToujoursPur> Yours, R.A.B.

Comments

[pawntakesking]

Oh.

[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.

[icy_veins]

[Eridanus sees the way Regulus tenses, sees the conflict in the rise of his shoulders and the way he won't meet his gaze. In his lap, Eridanus continues to pet that purring cat, oblivious to the tension in the room between the two men.]

You shared some... vulnerability with me.

[He pauses, unsure if this is... the right thing to do, but it only seems fair now. Even if it's a bit like buying trust.]

Never mind the abuses he wrought upon me since my birth — he had the love of my life assassinated. If things had been his way, he would have claimed my infant son then, too. My mother died alone and grieving over the death of my youngest brother, who fell in war. My father only ever cared about anyone but himself.

[He lowers his own gaze then.]

I do not even consider him family, beyond the seed he gave to birth me.

[pawntakesking]

I see.

[And he does, at least a little. Family is sacred, but it's not unchangeable. Push the boundaries of your position far enough, and you can lose it. That's understandable.]

[He nods, reaching for the now-cool teapot to top up his cup.]

I'm very sorry. It sounds as though he put you through hell.

I can't blame you for wanting revenge.

[icy_veins]

[Eridanus exhales softly, and as Regulus reaches for his tea, he does the very same with his coffee mug. He takes a swift pull off it, enjoying the bitter taste as it slides down his throat.

Then he lowers his gaze to the board.]

Yes well, my one wish was to never turn out like him, and in some ways I succeeded. As we discussed, I am away from Eucryphia, which is the best way to keep her from my family's legacy of harm.

[pawntakesking]

[Regulus sighs, and finally reaches out to make his move.]

That's terribly sad. That to be away from someone should be the best way to protect them.

I understand it, though.

[icy_veins]

[There's a smile that crosses Eridanus' features, but it's melancholy, and perhaps a bit defeated.]

Not quite the experience I wished to call us kindred over.

[He leans forward and moves a pawn forward.]

Rather, our pasts are behind us now — and while they shed light on who we are now, we have the freedom to choose who we will be in the future, yes?