Absit Omen RPG
Role-Play Boards => London => Muggle London => Topic started by: Adrestia Gamp on February 17, 2022, 02:30:03 PM
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After lunch time, in a quiet corner of Regents Park overlooking a bit of the canal.
It had been less than a week since she last transformed but Adrestia (https://urstyle.fashion/styles/3183428) was feeling quite centred - she had gone through her usual rituals, now as intimate to her as the rituals of a witch's blood cycle. Most werewolves found their rhythm eventually, though some took longer than others. Hers was performed with great care and intention.
"Lucinda!" she waved at the young figure coming round the bend of trees by the canal. "Got us a bench!"
Tia lowered herself into said bench and took out a golden pocket watch as she did so. Since being discovered after a runaway incident, Temple had been assigned to at least thirty minutes of mentorship every month. Adrestia had volunteered. She fiddled with the dials, setting the thirty minutes before pocketing the time piece again.
Today was her day off from the museum. Nothing urgent in cartography anyway. If nothing else, she looked forward to simply being in the park while it was still warm out.
"What do you feel like today?" Tia smiled and raised her eyebrows as the girl approached. "Want to sit and look at birds? I think I saw us a couple of swans that might make a return."
She never made her mentees talk about anything in particular, especially the ones forcibly assigned by the Ministry. Tia offered them all the same thing - sitting together in silence, if they didn't want to talk about why they were here.
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She didn't think she had fully recovered after the full moon, maybe she was just forgetting about them after every transformation, but it seemed like each one was more draining then the last, this one felt especially rough and all she still wanted to do was curl up and eat icecream under a blanket, unfortunately she didn't have the chance to do so today, partially as she was out of icecream, partially as her mum told her if she wants more she needs to get it. But mostly because she had to go to a stupid meeting with another werewolf about being a werewolf.
It wasn't as if the woman was mean, she was actually very nice to be around, it was just...the situation about it all, she was forced to go to her, she in turn was forced to be with Lucinda, sure she had volunteered for the mentorship thing but that was still being assigned to be with Lucinda.
She sighed and walked towards her, she felt somewhat naked without her wand but her parents were hiding it from her until she went back to school, they weren't...angry or anything over it all, something that surprised her greatly, but they weren't trusting her with it and now her window doesn't open as fully as it once did, so they were taking precautions against her.
She sat down next to her and leaned back, looking at the water, were swans really the most interesting thing she had on her mind? Or was it just for her own benefit? She remembered blowing up a little at Adrestia when they first met...nothing major...just some insults about the situation, a chair may of been broken, nothing serious.
"You couldn't of picked somewhere more fun?" She said softly as she crossed one leg slightly over the other, her hands going into her jean pockets after lowering the hood on her pullover hoodie, both of her running shoes seemed muddy but they almost always did. "Its...not the most interesting place." Although her tone betrayed a comfort of the area, it was quiet and peaceful, away from others, it was relaxing.
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There was a breeze - just the slightest one, enough to be enjoyable without messing anyone's hair up. Tia folded her feet up on to the bench as her mentee took a seat.
"I've used up my quota of fun over the weekend," she looked down at the canal and smiled as two ducks went by on the water's surface; it made her think of time spent with Fauna recently. "But I like quiet places. Can't always be interesting, nobody would get anything done."
Lucinda was such a teenager. Adrestia was sure that even her parents found it trying to get her to talk about being a werewolf; but there was no finish line to race towards, really, and extreme moods never bothered her much if she could kind of understand where they were coming from. She dug into her pocket, taking out a little lozenges tin.
"The museum is very quiet too," she opened it to reveal a bunch of rhubarb and custard boiled sweets. "Like, totally haunted, we have at least two poltergeists, but they've nothing on Peeves. Some days I don't see anyone living at all. Just ghosts and maps. Sweet?"
Tia popped a sweet into her mouth, offering the tin to Lucinda.
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"Will I regret asking what you mean by having a fun weekend? I've heard about adult werewolves and the...energy that comes from it." It was hard to not hear about it from when she was taken to the Ministry, her hearing was good, and whenever you gathered alot of nervous werewolves together they would start talking about more...intimate behaviours they had, despite her wishes.
She believed in what she said about the museum, its most likely empty or just has really boring and quiet people inside it, she didn't hate museums but certainly wasn't what she considered as a fun time commonly, but she did believe the poltergeists were nowhere near as bad as Peeves. She doubted Peeves was a Poltergeist half the time, more like a biblical demon coming into the world to torture students for their own amusement, it was the only logical conclusion she could come up with.
She glanced over at the sweets and shook her head, they weren't ones she really liked, and it made her question how old Adrestia actually was, like she was pretty sure the only people who carried those around were like...grandparents?
"No thanks, I'd rather not think of you as my grandmother offering weird clumped together sweets and keeping weird sweets about. She sort of disowned me." She felt a little bad at how she said it, not quite wanting to insult her, but it wasn't...entirely not true? Who really had those sweets? Atleast pear drops were understandable to have around but rhubarb and custards were...ew.
"Do you also have a biscuit tin filled with sewing equipment?" She asked with a soft smile, sliding herself a bit further down the bench.
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She laughed around the sweet in her mouth as she returned the offer to her pocket. "Umm, no, it's one of those Edinburgh rock tins," her eyes lifted into a roll. "You know, tourist shop claptrap. Sucker for them. Even went through a snow globe phase."
Adrestia's hobbies and interests were often phases that came and went; she thought it was part of how she compartmentalised being a werewolf too. It was a phase as well, cyclical, and it wasn't forever.
That Lucinda's grandmother disowned her wasn't uncommon but it was still incredibly sad. Almost every werewolf she mentored had family members who left, shunned, exiled. The stigma ran deep. She didn't remark on it right away, leaning back as she examined her newly varnished nails instead.
"Now, my weekend? Hm," Tia held her hand out, counting: "I had a lush bubble bath, went for a massage, manicure, the works. And had cosy dinners with my girlfriend... but you're asking me about something else, right?" she raised an eyebrow at the younger witch.
Adolescence didn't feel that long ago. Temple was a werewolf but she was also just like most teens, that messed up mixture of hormones and self-loathing and just being plain old dumb. Tia's personal life was pretext for a bigger curiousity.
"It's different for everyone. Some werewolves get a very sexual charge when the moon is waxing," she smiled slightly, purposefully holding back on her own preference and pattern. "Some people get angrier, moodier. I think it brings out stuff in us that was already there?"
Tia had been to clubs like Lapin, where they played it up. That whole horny-like-an-animal thing was glamorised, stylised. A way of re-appropriating their proximity to beasts.
She sucked on her sweet thoughtfully, and watched a lone swan pass in the canal below.
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She seriously got those terrible tat shop tins, it genuinely amazed her that anyone bought anything from those kinds of shops, she just assumed they survived off of pity or were free to keep or something like that, some sort of tax scam likely by a rich person to keep all their money. But hearing someone bought from them was another thing entirely.
The idea of her weekend wasn't...terrible, it wasn't something she thought she would ever do herself...although a part of her wants to, a nice long bath sounded so calming and nice but she doubted she'd be able to actually relax inside it, some part of her would want to just get it over with and run off, instead she just found herself taking long showers after her transformation usually, standing under the hot water until her skin turned red from the head and she couldn't see more then an inch infront of her from the steam...she guessed both were their own type of relaxation. Getting onto her bed to watch tv in a large fluffy dressing gown after always felt amazing.
The cosy dinners with a girlfriend didn't seem like something she'd get to experience anytime soon, with her parents less likely to trust her and needing check ups, but also just...finding someone. She wasn't even sure if she was into girls or boys, or both, just that she wanted someone to be with, but after what happened with Zeta (https://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=20420.0), she didn't quite feel up to trying it again.
Then she started to get into the other thing, while not getting intimate in the details Lucinda still turned a bright shade of red at the almost bluntness of it, not to mention the little smile she had, turning ear to ear red, Lucinda looked away from her and gave a small cough, she didn't quite want any images in her head right now from the topic, but it wasn't something she was expecting an adult to just talk plainly about, even her parents still didn't feel right with the birds and the bees.
"Well, as far as I know, I'm not getting any of...that urges." She coughed again as she squirmed uncomfortably. "I mostly just...want to curl up and rest on something warm, or with someone warm." She said gently as she let off a soft groan.
"That and be left alone, but you get all the people in the ministry surrounding you and wanting to talk to you...I'd rather if they just...didn't." She added with a hint of annoyance, it was always far too noisy in the ministry, not to mention it smelled really, really bad in the morning after, worse then any changing room or plane she's been in.
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She glanced at Lucinda, unable to repress a sympathetic smile. They hadn't spoken much at these meetings so she didn't know for certain what things were like for the young witch - whether she had a genuine group of friends pulling her through this, whether she was targeted at school. But she did sound... lonely.
A lonely person who wanted to be left alone. Well, left alone by the Ministry. Adrestia understood that feeling.
"I won't lie to you," she raised her eyebrows as she turned slightly to better face Lucinda. "The Ministry's going to be on your back for... the rest of your life, probably. I mean, we're on a list. Probably several."
It was a reality that took a long time to get used to. Wizarding society wasn't all that vast in the first place; even smaller when you're on a special list at St.Mungo's or the Ministry. She was sure they had an international wanted list too. Running away from all this meant changing who you were entirely, changing your identity.
And even then you lose, because they've taken away the life and friends you used to have.
"If you wanted to be left alone by them," she added with a wry smile, "you really went about it the wrong way. Rule-breaking runs the risk of getting caught. And getting caught runs the risk of unwanted attention. It's not advanced arithmancy."
Tia knew werewolves registered and unregistered. She never judged - but there were always consequences, risks, compromises. You just accepted the ones you were willing to live with. "They'll lay off, though. The Ministry. Case closed and all that."
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"I didn't even break any rules." She groaned as she leaned back further, stretching her legs out, all she did was run away from home, how was that illegal? Several people ran away for a night, was that illegal? Besides she had a good reason for it all, even if ultimately her fears didn't come true, but surely that was due to the amount of ministry attention given to her as a result afterwards.
"It doesn't feel like it should be legal to track us to such a degree." She huffed. "I'm sure they don't track people like the Malfoys as much as us, or any other former deatheater." She knew most are likely in Azkaban but it still seemed like too much watching on werewolves by the Ministry.
After awhile she just shifted softly in her seat, seeing a small duck flap its tiny yellow wings as it swam through the water, it was...not bad to watch she supposed, but slowly she figured, they were already talking, there was no point to not ask questions she had...sure she asked some with the head of the werewolf wing visiting SAWS, but that was a far more public setting...and likely she was Ministry propaganda, even if she was a werewolf herself.
"Being a werewolf means I can't be an animagus, like ever, doesn't it? And like, what about pregnancies, that person...Iona?" She thinks that might of been the name, it was like, a year ago or whatever that they had their second SAWS meeting. (https://absitomen.com/index.php?topic=20703.0) "Said it was complicated but didn't go to far. Do the children get marked and watched due to the mother being a werewolf? Is it possible for two werewolves to make a new one on the full moon? Are those even human?"
She shook her head and sat up a bit straighter, she probably asked too much and kept a red blush on her cheeks. It wasn't as if she cared for the idea, but like, she was one now, she supposed it made sense to know stuff right?
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"... they don't track people like the Malfoys as much as us, or any other former deatheater."
Adrestia shrugged, pushing up the sleeves of her light knit hoodie. "I agree, duh, but it's just the reality. A reality we can change, maybe, one day..." she trailed off without commitment and bit down on her boiled sweet with a soft crack. It shattered in her mouth in a flood of tart sweet flavours.
Of course she didn't like being tracked by the Ministry. Her own feelings were mixed. If the werewolf who bit her had been forcibly checked-in on a full moon, Tia would never have become a werewolf. For now, she saw these precautions as a way to prevent spreading the curse, to prevent trapping more and more people into this.
She raised her eyebrows at Lucinda's many questions. Oh, this girl was definitely lying about not having urges.
"Let's see." Tia paused to consider, tilting her head as she thought. "You could try to be an animagus but the mandrake leaf would probably dislodge at transformation before a full month or something. We can get pregnant, it's just super risky[1] for the baby and even for the mum if she goes into labour on a full moon. But the kid isn't cursed."
That was a silver lining - at least for those determined enough to try. Adrestia was herself adopted into the Gamp name, so she didn't think it was crazy meaningful to have a blood child.
Lucinda's final question was interesting. "I'm not sure about, like, werewolves conceiving at a full moon. I can ask around?" Tia offered frankly as she ran a hand through her dark hair. "Personally... like, it's a curse. I don't think cursed bodies are fertile. There's got to be books about it though."
Somewhere in the Ministry's library, in those endless shelves behind the Librarian's long desk. Adrestia knew that in more barbaric times people had performed all kinds of morbid experiments on their kind, and published their findings to a disgusted society.
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"Likely done by someone who viewed us as disposable." She sighed as she rested back, she knew there was likely answers to anything werewolf if you dug far back enough, its juts that the notes written were by someone who thought that bad smells could get you sick, and that killing cats was a good cure for the plague or something dumb like that, so how much they could be trusted was up for debate.
She gave a groan and stretched her legs, sitting idly here was making her restless, even with the full moon being 4 days ago, she was restless, maybe it was the blue moon, maybe it was something else, either way she wanted to do something, not just sit here doing nothing even if she was enjoying the peace and quiet of the moment.
Slowly Lucinda stood herself up and stretched, glancing back at her, the whole cursed bodies meaning they weren't fertile made some sense, she doubted even in that case neither of them would of been interested in...creating babies, she can't even imagine two werewolves transformed wanting to do anything but fight and tear eachother apart, even with Wolfsbane the two would be aggressive and territorial over their small box they would be stuck in.
"I don't think I can sit here much longer, wanna do something else?" She asked as a shiver ran through her. "What's a good way to burn some energy you reckon? Not the...way you were talking obviously." She wasn't entirely sure, although she knew she likely could get a ball somewhere, dogs always lost balls on walks for them, only to find another or a stick or something. Although she wasn't entirely sure if playing catch was too great an idea either in the end, especially near water.
"I think I'm game for mostly anything." She said softly as she walked towards the water, then looked back at Adrestia to see if she had any ideas, while fearful of being too close to the water incase of a swan attack.
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There was a hint of pessimism in Lucinda's response that wasn't unusual in younger werewolves. She could understand. Upon being bitten, Adrestia often saw more of what she had lost to Lycanism than what she gained. The trade-off would never be equal but as the years wore on she learned to live with the curse.
It became part of her, not she an extension of it.
Tia got up to join her mentee in a quest to find something else to do, hands in her pockets as they approached the canal and began to walk alongside it. "I don't think burning energy is like, conducive to conversation?" she laughed as she glanced at the running waters. "We can just walk. I have bird seed if you want to feed ducks."
She flipped open her bag, taking out a little canvas pouch.
"You know, there are books about us written by people like us..." Adrestia scooped up a handful of mixed seed before offering the pouch to the younger witch. "Just from other cultures and eras. I mean, does it surprise you that Coloniser Incorporated has a shit way of treating anyone who isn't normal?"
Or white. If she had a galleon for every time a girl she dated referred to her skin tone asexotic or her parents as being so selfless to adopt someone like her....
Tia shut out the thought and sprinkled some seeds into the canal as a few ducks drifted over from the other side. "World's a big place," she shrugged. "Not everyone's against us."
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"Not everyone, but there's enough...and in the worst places." She sighed, she didn't suppose that her mentor would disagree, but she hoped she would, she didn't love conflict, especially she supposed with her, but she wanted to be so wrong about it.
She looked over at the bird seed, she was glad to see it wasn't bread, but she shook her head softly. "I'm fine thank you, you be their friends." She said gently as she looked over the ducks being happy at the feed being given to them, it was enjoyable to see them splash about, having the time of their life in the water and getting free food, she half wondered if they'd get in trouble for feeding them.
Then slowly she stopped walking, it was the 6th of August, and it came to mind that soon she'd be at a year since her attack, she's still not really opened up about the attack, at several points she almost attacked the ministry worker who had been asking her questions, if she didn't shut down completely over the questions, but with a sigh she hugged her arms and looked downwards.
"Is there a point...where you forget what its like to be...human?" She asked softly, not wanting any others who might be around to hear. "I...i was attacked on the 13th...its not even a year yet and even now its...it feels like...I can't imagine ever not fearing the full moon..." She almost turned into a whisper as she spoke. "Next month is a full year of transformations..." She felt herself getting emotional, she didn't want to cry or break down, so she did her best to push it down, even as a tear came to her eye.