ataraxion | Five. [Video]

[A bright otter bounds down one of the hallways, pausing here and there to investigate the sources of odd smells. Then it turns quickly, leaping into the air to swim on its back, feet paddling the air. As it nears the communicator, the tip of a wand can be seen.

No words are uttered; there is merely a bright pulse of light - much like the otter's own glow - and suddenly the creature forms words in the air:

A success.

The little creature flips and then disappears in a puff of glowing vapor. Hermione turns the communicator towards her, smiling faintly.]

I know how they did it now. Why couldn't I have discovered it sooner? [There is something extraordinarily clever by its simplicity.] He would make it into a challenge. If he were clearer, anyone could have intervened.

Not that I'm terribly clever, mind you, but -

These are things I can discover through pure logic. I wish I had told Harry before he left.

[That part is said mostly to herself, her eyes unfocused.]

Anyway, she belongs to me. If you see her, I've sent her your way. There will be a message attached unless I'm...under extreme duress. She will show you the way to me...or safety. Patronuses are useful things. They reflect the user. I suppose mine is an otter because we share traits.

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Oh, sweet. [She hasn't heard his voice before, but the crew number is definitely the same vulgar weirdo who was talking about incentivizing his pet fish to create babies for her last time. What a creep, right.

Also the Chief Medical Officer, though. Yikes.] I heard of Patronuses before. How sentient are the buggers? Can they complete tasks and shit?

[The fish guy. Right. She finds herself smiling faintly, baffled at how he phrases his thoughts.]

They can carry messages - as you can see - but they are connected to the will of the one who created them.

[Meaning they can't act on their own. Rather they reflect the desire(s) of their caster.]

The will of the maker, [William says, thoughtfully.] Some limitations make sense, of course. Can't have totally autonomous creatures fucking around.

Can they perceive, though? Like, uh, if you sent it over could I tell it something and it brings it back to you, and tattles about whether I looked really hungover at the time, or some shit.

...right. [She stifles a small laugh behind her hand.] Not... No. If you were a Wizard, you could send your Patronus back to me with a new message, but mine is attached only to my will. I won't know what you want to say beforehand, obviously.

[A one-sided conversation would be boring.]

That's a pity, but I s'pose you can't always have fine control over bloody everything.

[William sits back and hums thoughtfully.] Is there any way to facilitate patrols and that sort of thing using only magic? Like so a live person hasn't necessarily got to be there if shit happens. With people getting lost in the corridors all the bloody time, it could be helpful. Not that I'm sure the ship would let it work without fail, but you know.

That's how anything goes. I've overcome a milestone by merely discovering how to relay a message with them. It isn't easy.

[Baby steps, William.] Wards would serve you better in that case. You can embed messages in the spells and show people the right way to go.

That's fucking clever.

[William looks impressed.] I thought warding was for protection, though. In the traditional sense of the term, you know. 'Warding off danger,' that kind of thing.

What's it made of? That otter?

Magic. Patronuses are spells that take the form of an animal.

What does it do? Once it's taken that form?

It can relay messages, guide others to specific places and defend a person's soul against a creature called a Dementor.

What's a Dementor?

[ that all sounds useful, but. ]

Are they like the manticores here?

[ aka are they her world's grievers ]

A terrible creature that feeds on a person's soul. They eliminate all happiness and hope from wherever they travel, but that's nothing compared to them sucking out someone's soul.

[Shivering in remembrance, she shakes her head.]

No. But maybe the Manticores of your world are different from the ones I'm familiar with?

She's very charming.
You meanwhile are very cryptic.

I'll be happy to elaborate if you tell me how I'm being cryptic?

All those pronouns without antecedents.
You don't have to elaborate. I'm sure it's none of my business.

Have you been all right here without Harry?

I was referring to the Order and Professor Dumbledore. [Since it is his business...in the future.] I know he returned to a much safer world. That's enough.

[Enough for her to feel guilty about missing him.]

Did you see that someone else from our world arrived?

Oh. The Order is my business, I suppose. [ Sort of; the Order Remus knows is mostly a list of casualties, and the few survivors disbanded months ago. Remus walked away from it even earlier than that, the day after they buried the Potters. ] What Dumbledore gets up to probably isn't.

I didn't see. Is it someone you know?

Yes, it is. I didn't get to formally join the Order, but Dumbledore guided us. [Unsurprising, perhaps, considering Harry's role in the war.] He is - was - hardly idle.

Yes. He's from my Year. His name is Draco Malfoy.

[ Instead of having a public meltdown on the network about the eventual death of his idol and possibly, depending on how much information he gets out of Hermione about what happened, trying to execute Severus Snape, Remus is going to just assume that that 'was' is due to Hermione having been aboard the TQ long enough to start talking about home in the past tense. Everybody seems to start doing that eventually. ]

Lucius Malfoy's [ ~~spawn~~ ] boy?

[A fair assumption all things considered. Hermione wouldn't be willing to talk about those events anyway. It's not fair to burden people from the past overmuch.]

Yes. Unfortunately. [Doesn't that speak volumes?] We have never gotten along.

What's he like?

Arrogant, selfish, cruel but not nearly as bad as his father.

so what traits do you think

or is that too personal

Edited (bad html SORRy) 2014-10-27 16:38 (UTC)

Cleverness and curiosity come immediately to mind.

I suppose playfulness too. No one likes a boring life.

yeah?

so what do you do for fun then miss otter

Stick my nose in dangerous places. It has become a nasty habit.

one youre going to repeat here?

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text; private, 0% encryption, because wizards are cagey things

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