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Post by Lydia Thomas on Mar 18, 2015 17:22:38 GMT -8
Lydia tried to bite back the smile at his statement she wasn't annoying. It was kind of nice to hear. She knew she could be hyper at times and liked to appear more optimistic than most people could stand, and considering the man seemed to be married to work, it couldn't have been easy adjusting to this stranger. Until now, a part of her had thought maybe he was just putting up with her because he was just too nice to ask her to leave or too helpful for his own good. Until now, a part of her had wondered if he had been looking for her father in hopes she would leave and he could go back to living alone. Then again, maybe he was just saying it. Lydia cleared her throat lightly as she brushed some hair behind her ear.
Lydia didn't look up at Alan until he spoke again, and boy, was she glad he was teasing her. She hated sentimental crap--at least with someone she was still getting to know. "And I've never met a giant before I met you!" she retorted as she playfully punched him in the shoulder. She could care less that he was teasing her about her height. She'd always been a short one compared to most guys out there, even compared to some girls. She'd felt super aware of that when she was a teenager and wishing she'd grow just another inch or two, but now, she'd become used to it. Height didn't matter where she was from. What did was one's ability to defend herself and strategize so that she could stay alive. It had been an empowering realization at the time she had had it. |
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Post by Alan Kalkuskov on Mar 18, 2015 17:23:09 GMT -8
Alan lived with the knowledge that no one was perfect. He lived with that every day of his life. If people were perfect, then they wouldn't hurt each other. His childhood wouldn't have happened. He wasn't perfect, so how could he ever expect others to be? And yet that was the rope that he metaphorically hung himself with, because he could easily make excuses for some of the worst things he had seen in his life. The healer could make excuses for his mother, both of his sisters, and a good amount of people that others hated because... he just didn't like to believe that there wasn't some good somewhere in people.
But he was slowly coming to terms with reality. That there were somethings that you couldn't let happen. Alan wasn't at the point where he was taking a stand against anyone yet, not in battle, but he was helping one side more than anyone else. He could heal people and send them back into whatever it was that had gotten them hurt in the first place. But that was neither here nor now. Instead of concentrating on his much darker thoughts, Alan grinned at Lydia. "Genetics. It's all genetics. My mother is six foot and my father was around the same height I am. I was actually pretty short when I was 14, then puberty happened and everyone swore there was giant blood in our family." There wasn't, of course, the Noble blood was old and well... noble in the pure blood sort of sense. No royalty in the least bit, but that was just who they were.
He took another couple of bites of Chinese food before sitting back in his seat. His mind was halfway on what he'd need to do to help her find her dad and halfway on well... her. Everything she had said was settling in his mind oddly and he was suddenly unable to get over the fact that she was supposedly from the future. What did that mean for her? What did that mean to him? Merlin, just when he thought his life couldn't get more complicated, he somehow did. "So what happens if you find your dad?" General curious, he was just trying to get an idea of everything that would happen if he did manage to find the man. Casey. That was his name. He really would have to ask the Order what they knew. |
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Post by Lydia Thomas on Mar 18, 2015 17:23:27 GMT -8
Lydia shook her head at Alan's commentary. "Can't say I blame them!" she replied with an amused smirk as she looked him up and down as though surveying Alan's height despite the fact he was sitting. Such a long torso, long legs. She honestly could say he was definitely a fine male specimen, but those thoughts had no place here. Such thoughts would prove distracting, and she enjoyed spending time with Alan as a friend much too much to allow him the possibility of becoming a distraction. Because then she'd have to leave him behind to stay focused on her mission. Lydia scratched her cheek before resuming eating, her eyes closing and a smile of contentment forming on her lips as she chewed. This really was hitting the spot. Chinese food. Hadn't had it in years and years. Alan had had a stroke of genius bringing it home.
Lydia looked at Alan as he asked his question. She looked up, thinking before shrugging. "My dad was in the Prophet as a sixth year. Focal point on his and my mother's claims that Voldemort was back, that they'd been attacked by another student who was allegedly working for him, and how false that idea could be. Mungo's for my mother eventually thanks to the fact they were speaking out with 'ludicrous' claims from the young Mr. Winslow about the prestigious Mr. Malfoy. And this didn't stop after their school years were over. My father made the paper again for 'coming back from the dead.' Not that he really did, of course. He'd just faked it, and there was controversy--especially since the real reason for the action wasn't clear. There were rumors and suppositions--mostly wild, of course. Skeeter, you see. Eventually, it died down a few years until his alleged affair with an 'innocent' barmaid at The Three Broomsticks."
Lydia was rambling a bit, so she stopped for a moment to take a drink. She needed to get to the point. "Point is... His paper appearances, though never directly stated, were due to his involvement in the Order. My contacts in the future were able to fill me in on the background story, what he was really about, and well, it fit with what I remembered. He and mother were deeply involved in the Order. I wasn't born when yet any of the major 'scandals' occurred. 2001, I think the 'affair' was. But I do remember my father being a very sad man, very distant, during the last few months our family was able to spend together before he and mother put us all in hiding following some letter from a 'monster man,' as mother explained to me. Grandfather took me away when he found out 'monster man' was going to find us. Only reason I'm alive. But I guess 'monster man' was involved in 2001 when that affair occurred. He was trying to kill my dad, and mother was collateral. At the time, that is. Monster man became obsessed with mother during that time. To the point he brainwashed her and made her his wife not that long ago for you. I'm sure you remember the 'late' Lady Williams?"
Lydia sighed. "But they never would have been on Monster Man's radar were it not for my father's stint undercover with the Death Eaters for the Order a few years before Monster Man was sent by Voldemort to kill him. My father's a fighter. I remember a meeting before we went into hiding in late 2008. No one liked what he was saying, what he was suggesting to get rid of the Death Eaters. I was hoping he'd help me gather some people to enact those tactics, get rid of them once and for all." |
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Post by Alan Kalkuskov on Mar 18, 2015 17:23:58 GMT -8
It was odd really, how much Lydia was talking now. Before she had been completely tight lipped on her father. Alan hadn't been able to get very many hints on who he was or what he did. He pretty much figured that Lydia didn't know anything about her father at all. Now that she had told him her big secret, she was talking more about him than the red head would have ever guessed she would have. This was probably the most that Alan had ever heard Lydia talk. It was kind of interesting to follow along, if only to watch the way her features lit up while she was going on and on about her father. Would he ever be able to talk like that? Perhaps if he was at work and discussing something with a co-worker but Alan didn't think he would ever be this animated.
But as the conversation went on, Alan realized that what she was saying was really serious business. She was actually telling him things (should the from the future thing be uh, true) that would put a new light on everything going on around him. The late Lady Williams, for instance, was something that Alan was aware of. He had honestly thought that she had died, like most of the world, so if she was Lydia's mother.... well, there was a fork halfway to Alan's mouth, but the tall guy was just paying attention to the small brunette on the other side of the table.
"I..." He didn't know what to say. To the violence in her voice where the Death Eaters were concerned or the information she had just laid on him. Apparently, Lydia wasn't done with curve balls. Alan put his fork back down and sat back, trying to digest this new set of information. The Chinese food in front of him was going to get cold at this rate. "Your mother was the Lady Williams? But your father wasn't Trevor and..." He sort of blinked and lifted a hand to cover his eyes. "This all sounds like one of those muggle soap operas." Alan meant in kindly but he needed to find something to laugh out or he'd go crazy about this. Merlin, there was more than enough to freak out about. "Well, at least you're not Lord Williams' daughter. That would somehow be more awkward." He smiled at her, letting his hand fall to the table. "From my understanding half the ministry is looking for him. I don't think I'd have any luck in that department." |
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Post by Lydia Thomas on Mar 18, 2015 17:24:32 GMT -8
Lydia couldn't help but chuckle at Alan's quip. It was strange to think of a wizard knowing about muggle soap operas. She wouldn't have were it not for having been adopted. For whatever reason, Lydia had simply assumed Alan was pureblooded, but now, she realized that was silly. He could easily still be halfblood and operating in wizarding society without too terribly much of a problem. A bit of prejudice, perhaps, but nothing of so severe consequence he couldn't live and work in the wizarding world. Whatever the case, it was of no consequence to her what blood lineage Alan was from, and the observation was true no matter how sad it was that it was.
"It would, wouldn't it?" Lydia replied, glancing at his hand as it fell to the table and shuddered. "I'm glad he's gone. Be better if he was being held for a trial, but gone is gone. I couldn't imagine being monster man's child." And from what she understood, monster man had two daughters of his very own. How did that work, exactly? She knew Death Eaters still married and had children, but how horrible a life it must be for the children. Didn't they view love as a weakness or something? Did they grow up with cold, empty childhoods priming and preparing them for their future misdeeds? But then, if the way someone's parents believed caused how they parented them, wouldn't the person want to avoid being like them in any way? So, she decided, there had to be some kindness and love-like behavior in such situation. Life without love was too sad to think about and even if pretending to love someone was a manipulation tool to get what you needed from them? Well, Death Eater parents had to do something like that, yeah?
"Do you think he loves them?" she asked, looking at Alan. |
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Post by Alan Kalkuskov on Mar 18, 2015 17:25:06 GMT -8
Do you think he loves them? That was a loaded question. An extremely loaded question on many levels because Lydia didn't know Alan's entire story. If she had spilled her guts, then perhaps it was time to fully explain everything. Put his cards on the table. Of course, his own story felt personal on many levels, and really it had more to do with the other members of his family instead of him, but she'd need the entire thing to know the why behind his answer to that question.
"I believe so. I believe he loves them in his own way, in his own fashion, though perhaps he has trouble showing it." Alan pushed his plate away, deciding he was done eating for the moment. Talking about his family always made his stomach turn. "I guess since you've been frank with me, I should probably be frank with you. I'm a thousand percent certainly that my mother, my little sister, and my father before he died... were death eaters. Or are death eaters for the first two." The very people that Lydia had expressed a desire kill them, that might have made things... awkward. He laced his fingers and put them in his lap, closing his eyes briefly as he spoke.
"I'm not, before you ask. I... couldn't be. I won't hurt people for any reason. I just heal them. But I can't change who my parents are any more than you could. I've never found proof, but it's a gut feeling." His mother nor his sister had ever tried to convert him. They thought he was too soft for such things. "My father was a good man when I was younger. He treated us very well and there was never any doubt of love in our home. My mother was a harsh woman, but he blunted away the edges of it, and while she wasn't as affectionate as my father was, she still loved us." His voice was growing softer as he spoke, as if he was trying to concentrate on what was going on. On actually speaking the story for the first time in his life.
"When my father died, he was no longer that buffer. My mother snapped. She started hitting my sister when she had outbursts because of my father's death. Lina was wild and angry over our father's death. She acted out and our mother became more violent. Then one day, she hit me. I forget what I did, I was only 8. My sister didn't know what to do, so instead of trying to tell anyone or even talk didn't make sense. We weren't really allowed around other people. I think my parents thought other kids would taint us." Which might have been true in some cases but it was a pretty normal elitist view to take on the world. "So Lina acted out instead. She tried to be worse than I or Layla could ever be. My mother got more and more violent with her. She locked her in her bedroom every time she was home from school and while I couldn't hear anything I knew what was happening. But from that moment on my mother never hit me again."
Lina's plan had worked. It was rough and terrible, but it had worked. "Because of my sister, I grew up with a mother that was almost affectionate to me. We never agreed, but we never argued. Things were civil in the house for Layla and I. My mother was even extremely affectionate with Layla. I didn't know what to do. I still don't know how to handle it, or how to repay my sister, I just do the best I can to heal people who are hurting. To help people as much as I can. It's the only thing I could think of." He shrugged his shoulders again, finally opening his eyes. "So my answer is yes, even a monster can love. But that doesn't mean she was ever right in what she did. It doesn't mean she shouldn't pay for her crimes. It doesn't mean that I don't love my mother. It doesn't mean that I don't hate her. It doesn't mean that she doesn't love or hate any of us. I think she's capable of love. And I think she should pay for her crimes against my sister, and against anyone else she's hurt... but it's... it's... I couldn't do it. But I wouldn't stop someone else from doing it." Frankly, Alan's family was a complicated beast. Perhaps not as complicated as Lydia's was, considering she was supposedly from the future, but everything was on the table now. Or at least, mostly. He still hadn't told her about the Order of the Phoenix. |
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