BELLATRIX}}better not go to far

[astoria]

THERE'S ONE WAY OUT
THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY

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"gloved hands never really felt anything, glossed lips never really kissed anything, and pre-written words never really meant anything. just like how astoria's sheltered heart didn't really care for anything. the layer of protection that surrounded the organ was so thick there was no pair of flesh and bone hands that would be able to feel it beating, no lips no matter how raw and chapped that could kiss it better, and no words no matter how spontaneous or sincere that would be able to comfort it. the armored heart was numb to such things, and most other things that tried to come even the slightest bit close to it. which is mostly why astoria found herself in diagon ally."

"the poverty lining the streets was a pathetic sight, the polluted air irritated her skin, and any business establishments were either closed down or well on their way. there was nothing here for her, nothing worth doing or seeing, but what was she supposed to do on such an empty day such as saturday? visit people not worth visiting, being lectured on how she was barely worth anyone's time anyways. no, it was better to roam around alone with irritated skin than sit around with irritating people. she was almost positive that she wouldn't find any of her so called acquaintances here for any liable reason, unless they were looking for her, or enjoying the scenery."

"it wasn't that she didn't like the people she knew. no, most of them were just fine, all of fine status and wealth and in the end there was no reason to not like them. it's just that she didn't care. she didn't care if she was seen wandering around the crummiest places, or bugged about the red splotches the dirty air was causing on her face. she just needed a place to go. weekends were always a struggle for astoria because there was never anything for her to do. she moved through her whole life within society's box, once given the chance to step out, if only for two days, she was lost. her life revolved around getting things done, but she was so efficient at it that once it was completed there was nothing left to start."

"astoria's monotone of a mood definitely showed in today's attire, which was mostly the same as every other day's attire. a plain black dress with an even plainer and blacker robe. a high collar covered her neck and tight sleeves shielded her arms from any potential irritations. she was almost completely covered from head to toe going to the extent of an over-sized floppy hat and her tattered leather gloves. however, her presence gave away none of her boredom. her posture was as proper as ever, with her chin held high, giving her a sense of superiority. she was, after all, higher than the scum she was swiftly gliding over and even if it wasn't her most likable trait no one would be allowed to forget it. even herself."

[[sorry this sucks so much. it's been about three months since i've done any real rping. give me a couple posts, i promise it'll get better.]]

[kai]

Bellatrix was sure to be seen around more often than not. She had a life now, she did not have to hide from the world and for that she was most certainly happy. Who wanted to have to hide behind cloak and dagger all the time, it did actually feel nice to have the sun on her face, even if Bellatrix was unnaturally pale compared to Rabastan, who always seemed to have a glow about him. Bellatrix never glowed. It was just not possible and anyone save Rab or Rod...sometimes even Rod, who said she was glowing would get hexed until they were a writhing mess on the ground, their drool the only thing escaping their mouths. Surely people knew better than to annoy Bella, which was why people tended to not speak to her, or if they did kept to the point and spoke in an almost report-like fashion. It was perfect and it saved her from having to listen to some bastards whine about their life. She cared little for idle chit-chat. There was little to be said about what Bellatrix actually liked, but everyone knew that once her eyes darkened you were in for a world of trouble. Some translated that to – run bitch run.

Her life had not been smooth as much as people thought it had. She'd never told Rodolphus or even Rabastan of what life with her family had really been like. Cissa rarely spoke about it and Andy...well she was disowned and the bitch wouldn't talk about their mother or father at all. That was for certain. Her father had not been the nicest man around, He'd hated anything going wrong, so when Bella had been smaller she had gotten to know Crucio personally, in depth, she knew how it worked and how it felt to a tee. She could quite possibly be an expert on it if one wanted to go as far. If she'd spoken out of turn, when she had been younger, the red light of the curse would have made its way towards her, for any of the slightest disappointments. So when at school and people had seen her working on her essays, she had wanted nothing less than perfection. Bellatrix was not stupid. She was intelligent, but the Dark Arts she used so often left their impression on her mind.

Bella's mood was one of impatience today, she'd had a lot to do and people had not been helpful in trying to collect her things. Merlin, she needed the god damn ingredients today. Not tomorrow. Today. So she'd made the shopkeeper search. And he'd searched aright, she'd even made him go pick it up from the suppliers. Now thats what she loved about herself, she could command anyone into doing anything she wanted, whether it was because they were fearful of her or whether they did it because they were loyal servants. Either or, she cared little about that right at the moment, she'd only wanted her ingredients. Surely people were learning that Bella's moods only got worse the longer you left her there. She could hold grudges for years and years and the resulting argument or duel would hurt. Badly. Never on her though. Never.

With a shake of her head she exited Knockturn Alley, deciding to head back in Diagon to leave back home, her shopping was done for the day, everything else that she needed done could be put on hold, the potion she was working on was the most important thing on her agenda. She pushed her hood down from her head, as she had raised it before exiting the store and glanced around, her green eyes taking in the people walking. It was a large floppy hat which caught her attention. Her eyes zeroed in on the person wearing it, managing to catch a glimpse of their face and she rolled her eyes. Slipping through the crowds, even going as far as to snarl at someone who'd stepped on the trail of her corset dress she eventually made it to where Astoria was. “Fancy seeing you here.”



[[ooc: i have no complaints <3 It was a great post.]]

[astoria]

THERE'S ONE WAY OUT
THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY

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"it's funny, y'know, the big impact that the little difference between two very similar things can make. for example: speaking and screaming are two very similar things in the way that you create sound from your throat and usually end up forming words. the difference is the tone of voice and the choice of words that turns loud, projective speaking into angry, hysteric screaming. see? even if it is just the little things that make the difference, the difference is still huge, which is a fact that astoria had planned to use in her defense in moments like this. this moment being an unhappy encounter."

"see, astoria was not trying to hide from the person responsible for the unhappy encounter, nor others like her. she was merely avoiding. rather than pulling up her hood and sitting curled up in the dingy corner of some bar behind crates of fire whiskey, she just hoped and prayed that she would not be found while steering as far away as she could from the most likely places those people would be. however, had she been approached by one of these people, which she had been, the difference would be running away screaming [not speaking at a projective volume] and hiding away in a locked room, or accepting that she'd been caught and sneakily trying to get out of the conversation before it started."

"with all this in mind, although astoria let out an exasperated sigh, slouched a little with disappointment, astoria allowed herself to be approached by possibly one of the most annoying people on her list. her actions, however, were not exactly repelling. although she didn't stop to greet the woman now at her side, or even look up to offer a warm smile, she didn't push her away either. she simply kept walking, trusting that her visitor would follow although hoping that she wouldn't. funny said astoria, keeping her head down and focused on the ground. i was thinking the exact opposite. the comment could be taken any way one wanted, but astoria knew it wouldn't be enough to drive away the insanity standing beside her."

"there was no need to check who she was talking to. you didn't have to know the woman to guess instantly who she was. there was no mistaking that shrill screech of a voice. the only person that astoria could ever expect to run into, or even be approached by in diagon ally was none other than bellatrix lestrange: one of the top most annoying people on astoria's list, if she wasn't shrieking madly she was baby talking someone into doing something. but astoria would never admit to that. it wasn't lady like and draco would probably hex her for insulting his beloved aunt. what he liked so much about her, astoria could not tell, but she kept her mouth shut. she learned that was the most useful tactic in such situations."

[kai]

Azkaban. There was no way that she waould ever be placed back in that hell hole, she would gladly die before she ever did that. There was no way that she would allow herself to go back. Azkaban had affected her badly, in ways that would never heal, her throat had healed as had her voice. There was something about Bellatrix that had changed when she had been in there. Apart from the screaming that never stopped, or the fact that she still woke up in the middle of the night after having dreamt about that place. There was only her will to survive and what she saw as real and true in that place. There was always the one one to believe that what his eyes saw was unreal completely, and that was one of the many that lost their sanity instantly. What they saw was not real, and a just a figment of their imagination. That was something that Bella did not want to become.

There would be a time when all that was once forgotten would be found and used in a specific manner. If there ever was a time to discover what was in all fact lost but not in complete honesty forgotten, it would be now. Nothing is forgotten, nothing is but what it’s not, wise words written by Shakespeare makes things clearer in his eyes. Everything becomes a way of growing mentally, even though we see no immediate change in what we are from day to day. Bella's mind had been so fractured after she had escaped that there had been nothing left for her to do but repair. It had taken a while, but she had been able to kill her cousin in the Department of Mysteries. Her sanity had come and gone like the wind with nothing but the glint in her eye to tell you whether she was sane or not.

Bellatrix was not the biggest fan of Astoria, the girl was odd, quiet. If Bella had been bothered she would have called the girl stupid, but that never helped anyone. So she merely annoyed the girl into joining the dark side. There was little else to be said about her really. She was boring. Too boring. It was...boring. Bella never stopped walking, she knew full well that Greengrass had no intention of stopping, ever. The girl was odd but then again, Bellatrix was full aware of how to handle her. There really was no reason for Bellatrix to talk to this girl, Draco would have gotten acrodd to her better, but Bella felt the need to pester. It was something which amused her.

“Now that would have wounded me had I not been in a good mood,” she replied somewhat icy which contradicted her words. Bellatix may have been in an impatient mood, but that was about it. There was nothing else really, she just hated waiting around for things. Which was good in a way that she was still walking with her. Bella needed something to do while she spoke, so walking would do for now. “How have you been Astoria?” she asked getting the stupid formalities out of the way.

[astoria]

THERE'S ONE WAY OUT
THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY

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"some things just stick, y'know? and i'm not talking about extra stick duct tape or anything like that (although that stuff is really good for sticking non sticky things) i mean there are some things, sometimes the odd things, that will stay embedded in ones mind forever no matter what, because it just stuck. mostly the things that stick aren't particularly important. usually they're things like weird habits and nick names, and in the end we have no idea why the even stuck anyways. however, the same could not be said for astoria, who, although had her fair share of weird habits and quirks, was mostly made up of things that just stuck, and not accidentally either."

"astoria was raised a certain way, to be a certain thing, and the way she turned out was no fault of her own. for, after one too many mistakes the gurl realized that it was better just to stay in line, and after one tragic punishment resulting in a more than horrible skin condition that won't allow astoria to touch near anything, the rules that she was expected to follow just stuck. also imprinted on her mind was always the subtle reminder that cookie dough usually required an extra teaspoon of vanilla, but that's not the point. the point is that as much as astoria would have liked to tell the annoyance at her side to screw off, the imprint her parents had made on her mind, and on her skin, would not allow it."

"the most prominent aspect of her upbringing that stuck in astoria's head the most were the rules on polite conversation. of course, as it is for everyone, there are the times when it's hard to maintain composure and a clean tongue, but over the years astoria had mastered the trick. being a pureblood was all just lies anyways, it didn't actually mean anything. conversation was exactly the same thing. just make subtle comments, avoid answering any questions that you don't actually know the answers to, and maintain a likable persona. astoria learned this after several conversations she would rather not have participated in, quite similar to the conversation she was embarking on now."

"at bellatrix's next words astoria instantly remembered her etiquette and swallowed her tongue. if she had any trouble with this woman her family would here about it and there would be consequence. even though she lived on her own there was no place she could go that her family wouldn't find her. they made a point to be dominant in her life, not out of love or attachment, but to make sure she didn't dirty their shiny pureblood badge. it almost made astoria paranoid, knowing that they would eventually end up hearing about every move she made, but maybe it was for the better. for it had kept her out of trouble so far, and she had a feeling that bellatrix was not a woman you would want to be in trouble with. that in mind, astoria tried to take back her words."

"you're right. astoria admitted, taking a deep breath to suppress the annoyance in her voice. please forgive me mrs. lestrange. for the first time since she'd been approached astoria looked under the flap of her over-sized hat and offered the other woman a quick glance, to be polite. but she soon went back to looking strait ahead as she answered bellatrix's polite 'how are you?' astoria answered quite simply i've been fine thank you. and yourself, mrs. lestrange, for what do i owe this pleasure? astoria didn't return the question. there was no reason for small talk, she wanted to know what this woman wanted so that she could deal with whatever it was and return home before any other of these crazy people could find her."