inevitable conversation || LENA

Lora walked into the Blue Pomegranite, loving the colours and feel of the place. It was her first visit here but she decided she would definitely come here again. Her holidays were beginning to annoy her, as she had nothing productive to do. Of course, her main goal was to find Kait and she hoped to the heavens above, she would find her in time. She ordered a glass of Butterbeer and Firewhiskey and mixed them both, ignoring the glances from the other people.

Walking into the third bar in the past couple of hours, Lena managed to settle herself down onto a decent seat. She flicked the hair out of her eyes, staring at the warmly lit ceiling above her. She shook her head, and her eyes flickered to her left. She blinked when she saw Lora. She bit her lip, debating on whether she should stand up and talk to her or not. She decided that she should, quietly walking to where the other girl was sitting.

"Lora," she whispered, "how's your summer so far?"

"Le!" Lora exclaimed with a grin and hugged the Uchitel. "Aah, you have no idea how glad I am to see you," she smiled. "Seriously a sight for sore eyes." She shrugged in response to Le's question. "Holidays are boring; as usual. I went home for a week, but that was a bad idea I guess, so I came back here. The only good thing being that I'm spending time with Fro and Dyl." She sighed and shook her head. "So, how have you been? And can I just point out that you look horrible?" It was true, her friend lacked the usual aura of confidence and smiles and she knew she'd be probing for answers soon enough.

"I've been fine, I guess," Lena laughed, receiving her friend's hug without much resistance. "I've seen Frodo in the potions store up the road. He seems pretty sad. I wish I could help." She rubbed her eyebrows and looked back at Lora, raising an eyebrow. "Gee, thanks," she muttered sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest. "That's just the thing I wanna hear after I killed someone." She sat down on the chair next to her friend, nonchalantly flipping her hair. "And Prentiss and I are friends again!" she mock gasped. "Surprise, surprise!"

"Of course he's sad, how else do you expect him to be since his girlfriend has been kidnapped?" Lora muttered without thinking. She didn't think Le knew about it but maybe Dyl or Fro told her. Not wanting to talk about it, she decided not to say anything. "You did what?!?" Lora exclaimed loudly, earning a few glances from the nearby customers. She smiled at them apologetically and lowered her voice. "Who the hell did you kill Le?? And why?" She knew she was bombarding with questions, but she couldn't help it. "How many people know?" She asked quietly. Her eyes widened even more at the next confession. "You and that devil are friends?! Why, may I ask?!"

Lena opened her mouth to say something, but immediately closed it again because she knew that whatever would come out of her mouth would be simply be inappropriate for such a subject. "Shit," she muttered, the only word she could possibly say right now. It was no secret she loved Kait too, as more than a sister. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, I killed Charles's dad," she began in a monotone. "Blame him. He tried to kill me first. So, both sides are even, as of now." She pursed her lips. "Uhhh... Pat, Alex, Frodo, Dylan, you... no way in hell I'm going to tell Kayla ... so, five?" she answered hesitantly. "Oh - six, counting Charles." She chuckled. "I'm helping him out with a bet, Lora. A bet in which he's going to lose." Her mouth curled into a vindictive smirk, her eyes glimmering with obvious need for revenge.

Lora shook her head and said, "It's not just shit Le, it's hell! I mean, my best friend is probably out there with some sick twisted psycho who kidnapped for who-knows-what and I have no idea what to do!" She felt a few tears fall but she didn't care. "I warned her so many times to be careful but for once, couldn't she just listen?!" She looked at the Uchitel helplessly and put her head in her hands. "So let me get this straight- you killed a man who tried to kill you before and told his son, whom you are helping to lose a bet." She stated with a sigh. "Well, that sounds absolutely normal, you know?" She commented sarcastically. "And what's the bet about?"

Lena raised an eyebrow. "Have you even thought of her possible locations? Who would kidnap her? Why would she be kidnapped in the first place? Did she do anything stupid during the summer?" she thought out loud, saying all of these questions slowly, loudly and clearly so that Lora would take the time to actually listen to them, "if you don't know the answer to those questions, then you can panic." She clenched her jaw as she listened to the rest of Lora's rant because it was so difficult not to say anything as people ranted. She nodded as her sister told her about what she had heard her say. "Well, yes," she replied in a nonchalant tone, "but now that you put it that way... you make me sound like a criminal, which, in technical terms, I am." She pursed her lips, trying to find a way to explain everything without saying too much. "Um... it has to do with relationship statuses and blind dates," she muttered, "that's all I'm saying."

Lora forced herself to calm down and answer Le. "Well, considering the fact that her father was a dark wizard, it's possible that there might be some old enemies. I don't know what exactly she did; but I do know that she went to Greece in between lessons and that's where it happened. And if this is the case, maybe Iris has also been kidnapped." She sighed. Sensing the Uchitel's discomfort, she instantly felt bad for blowing up on Le. Guess that Dylan is the only other one who can bear me, she thought. "I'm sorry for venting like a crazy person." She mumbled.

"Hm, you are a criminal, but you like you said it's only in 'technical' term, so don't worry about it." She told with a slight grin. Then a horrible thought struck her. "Le...you won't end up in Azkaban, right?" She asked worriedly. "You're trying to set him up on a blind date?" If she was feeling alright, she probably would have laughed at the situation.

"See?" Lena replied after hearing Lora's rant on where Kait could be, "we get a lot more things done that way now, don't we?" She then began to analyze what Lora had said to her and grimly nodded. Her jaw dropped when she mentioned that Iris was kidnapped too. "No..." she breathed, her breaths not exactly breaths anymore. Just heaves. "Y-You don't mean Iris as in Iris Grayson, do you?" She then raised an eyebrow at Lora's next statement. "What are you talking about, dude?" she asked in disbelief, "you are a crazy person."

Laughing, Lena quickly replied, "He's a criminal too, so I'm doing a world a favour, in a way." She smirked before nodding. "Yes. Exactly it. But the thing is, I'm not exactly helping him. I'm setting him up with people he can't get along with, you see," she replied, a hint of mischief obvious in her voice.

---

outfit. i was bored.

"Yeah, I guess," Lora muttered. "Sorry I'm being so difficult, I'm just really scared." She admitted with a forced smile. She looked at Le sadly and replied, "I'm talking about Iris Grayson itself. But like I said, I'm not sure if she is. If it has something to do with their father, then yes, she also would be involved," she reasoned out and hugged the Uchitel. "You met her then? How did that happen?" She questioned. She punched her sister's shoulder playfully and retorted, "Oh please, I'm not at all crazy. In fact, I'm one of the sane ones out of the whole group, okay?"

"As long as you don't get caught, I don't care if you put him behind bars," she told. She shook her head and chuckled. "Aah yes, there's the catch. And who's the first victim?" She asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

Lena gasped. "Oh no!" she exclaimed, starting to panic, "Kait and Grayson's dad... he's a Dark wizard, isn't he?" she whispered, her usually overexcited, harsh voice suddenly disappearing from its place in her throat. "It's just that... Leon's a dark wizard you know... and h-he tried to kill m-m-me... so I-I'm scared h-he'll kill them..." stammered the blonde, trying to make sense of what she was saying. She then added, "Oh. I met Grayson somewhere in Azorat. I can't remember where..." She pursed her lips, and raised an eyebrow when her sister punched her on the shoulders. "Owch!" she exclaimed in mock horror.

Lena shrugged her shoulders. "I have a couple in mind... one of which is Adele Bass. She's crazy, joyful, and apparently she's terrified - that's an understatement - of something called the Pineapple Army. Now. The name Bass. Doesn't that sound familiar to you?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"He was a dark wizard," Lora corrected. "He's dead, remember?" Listening to Le speak, she felt even worse and hugged her sister tightly as though afraid for both of them as well. "You have no idea how relieved I am that you are alive and with me right now," she whispered. She shook her head and gave a small smile. "Nah, both Kait and Grayson are pretty tough, I'd be scared for the guy who kidnapped them," she told. "But that doesn't mean I'm not scared for them. I am, a lot actually." She added. She giggled at Le's expression. "It wasn't meant to hurt, okay?" She muttered.

"The Pineapple Army, huh? Nice," she commented amusedly. "Bass....um, I think so. Should it be familiar to me?" She asked, frowning lightly.

Lena pursed her lips. "No... come to think of it, he might not be. I don't know... I've killed one, and I had to do him good and proper to do it. He could be alive for all we know and we would have no idea," she stated, trying to keep herself as calm as possible. Except that 'calm', 'Lena' and 'murder' never do go in the same sentence. "Plus, the only enemies Kait seem to have are authority and a bunch of the Durmstrang students, and you know I can take care of them. So therefore..." She looked at her sister, expecting her to bounce back with a reply. She then raised an eyebrow at her too. "Well. You know how dramatic I can be," she responded in an obvious tone, "or have you untimely forgotten?

"Of course it should! Spoiler: haven't you seen Haze and I going around in skimpy clothes during all hours?" the Uchitel questioned carefully, "Haze is her triplet. Odd how such coincidences can come along!"

"Well..why would Kait say he is dead if she wasn't sure about it?" Lora asked. "I saw her do the blood test and when she researched on him, she found out that he was dead. But if what you're saying is true, then..." she trailed off, not wanting to think of the consequences. "I know you can take care of them, which is why I'm almost certain that it's not anyone from the school; it has to be within the family ties." She sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. The lack of sleep was finally catching up her. "No, I haven't forgotten..or maybe I have." She turned away from Le and wished desperately she didn't have to face this now. It seemed like pretty much everyone thought she was overreacting and making it a bigger deal that it already is.

"I'm sorry Le, my brain isn't functioning well right now but yeah, I remember now." She replied in a quiet voice. "Yeah, odd indeed. So is Haze involved in this as well?"

"He was dead when she was three, or so she said," began the Uchitel, still lost in her own rather odd definition of criminal profiling logic, "and she only did research on him. She has never met him until this point perhaps, and just because records show he is dead does not mean he is. Like how I pretended to have amnesia of a boy for a couple of years just to live." Lena shook her head. She knew how difficult this was for Lora, but she knew that if Anya went missing she'd do a hell of a lot worse. Unlike her friend, though, she chose to spend her sleepless nights screaming in her head. "I know it's difficult, and we must do something about all of this, but you need some rest," she said in her rarely used motherly tone.

Lena narrowed her eyes. "Haze is a bimbo, and we both know it," she snapped, ordering yet another shot of firewhiskey. "I'm not letting her date Chuck. And plus..." She paused for a dramatic effect. "... she has her heart set on someone else."

Lora nodded her head absent-mindedly at Le's logic statements. Normally she would have been impressed and curious at her friend's knowledge but now, she wasn't in the mood. "Dead or alive, I'm pretty sure it's because of him she's not here right now," she muttered. She rolled her eyes at her friend's advice. "Sleep? Yeah sure, that's going to happen. You know what? I'd rather stay up the night trying to think of a plan than simply get freaked out by my nightmares."

"Fine, she's a bimbo, happy?" She sighed and drank some of her cold Butterbeer. "Oh really? And who's that unlucky fellow she has her heart set on?"

Lena pressed her lips, trying to put her advice into words without putting more bits of shrapnel in Lora's exploded grenade as possible. "Do you think I have slept one good night's sleep in the past seven years?" she asked, her voice quiet to veer the attention away from those who were watching, "I wish I could stay up all night like you can, but I can't. I fall asleep sooner or later and get plagued by nightmares." She wanted to add that her illusions were part of the problem, but since Lora didn't know about them it was better to say nothing.

The Uchitel decided to stand up from her seat due to the fact that she didn't want to spill on who it was. Well, of course she didn't. "I have to go," she replied, a huge fake smile on display across her face. "Patricia's going to kill me if I don't meet her, so..."

Lora shook her head, almost amused at the way they both were acting. "You know what, Le? Let's just admit that we have our own problems, and we probably can't help each other. But I am sorry that you've been having a way worse time than me," she told quietly and gave the Uchitel a tight hug.

"You can just say that you don't want to talk anymore, right?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, obviously having seen through her friend's fake smile. Getting up from her seat as well, she said with a slight smile, "Better get to Patricia then." And with a wave, she left the club.

Lena nodded firmly at Lora's statement. Mentally, she was relieved that the other girl had finally realized what she had wanted all along, and she wasn't going to have to spell it out for her. "Yes," she began, "thank you for saying what I - " but before she could finish, Lora was already hugging her tightly. She had no choice but to reluctantly hug her back, not so tightly.

As the Uchitel was going to explain her smile, Lora had already left the club. It may have been a cruel act to do so, but Lena heaved a huge sigh of relief when she had left. At least she didn't have to explain the fact that Haze had a crush on her ex-boyfriend anymore.