Grand Theft Autumn

Nolan stood at the counter of the post office, in hushed conversation with a short, middle-aged man in ministry robes. His round, flushed face made him look a bit like an especially happy tomato, "We are so pleased you've decided to adopt, Mister Witherby, especially a child with such a... problematic... history," he had to admit, it wasn't his cleverest fake name, but it was obscure enough not to draw much attention, "I am confident she'll be very happy with her new guardian."

This whole process was so complicated, Nolan was a little shocked no one had seen through it, or at least become a little suspicious. Of course, he was more than confident in his abilities, and even more confident in the stupidity and sloppiness of the people employed in administration. He was one of the richest wizards in Europe, and barely a handful of people knew his full name.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the bumbling little man brought out a couple of documents for him to sign. Nolan imitated his father's handwriting to forge the signature, and the official thanked him and left. Now all he had to do was wait.

Karma glanced down at the parchment in her hand, then up at the man before her. What was this about adoption? When had she been put up for adoption?! A part of her demanded to know who exactly thought they had the right to adopt her, stake claim on her, decide that she was theirs without even meeting her, but Karma had at least a loose handle on Kama, whether she agreed with the other girl or not.

"Witherby?" She asked, watching as the fat man, obviously ministry, waddled away down the street. He apparated once he'd gotten far enough for it to be polite, and Karma rolled her eyes. "That is the worst fake name I've ever heard. I can't believe you signed documents with that bad a name. At least make your fake name something cool, if you're gonna attempt to stick it to mine." She sniffed, looking the man up and down. "What's your name, anyway?"

Nolan raised an eyebrow at the girl in front of him, "No one would choose the name Witherby, which is why the average ministry worker would expect it to be real," He smirked, "After all, we can't all be named Karma." He felt inclined to make a biting remark about her mother's choice of the name, but reminded himself that it was important she didn't hate him.

The man crossed his arms, looking down at her with cold, calculating eyes. She was certainly a fighter, there was no doubt about that, but she seemed far more energetic than he had expected. The mafia teenagers were well-behaved compared to her. If the girl was as impulsive as she seemed, it could prove to be a problem. "Nolan Carde," he held out his hand, a trace of a smirk still on his lips.

Karma raised an eyebrow at him, and a grin flashed across her face as she reached out and took the man's hand, shaking it. "Karma Black." She said. "And congratulations, you've passed."

She stepped to the side with a smile, and Nightmare leapt out of nowhere. The panther had tackled the man to the ground, and was snarling at him from above, paws on his shoulders holding him down. Her golden eyes latched on his, and she let out a long, low growl.

"This is Nightmare." Karma said cheerfully. Nightmare leapt off of Nolan at Karma, changing from Panther to kitten before she reached the girl, and Karma caught her easily. She scratched the cat behind the ears, and the familiar purred, though she did not take her eyes off of Nolan.

"She'll probably get used to you." Karma said with a shrug. "She doesn't like most people."

Nolan's eyes widened as he was pinned to the ground by a massive animal. They narrowed again, not breaking contact with the yellow orbs across from them. Within the amount of time he was on the ground, he had already calculated the mass of the animal, how long and how much effort it would take for him to reach inside his pocket for his wand, and the total amount of time he needed to trap the animal... just in case it tried anything.

"I don't mind," he said offhandedly, standing and brushing himself off, "As long as she doesn't shed all over the house, I'm fine." He took out his wand, using it to pull off any stray cat hairs, "Speaking of which, I suppose you don't mind living in a mansion?"

Karma wrinkled her nose. "A mansion?" She asked. "I suppose it'll be okay." It wouldn't be as big as the Emerald Castle, that was for sure. Then again, she probably wouldn't get as lost either. A smile flickered across her face. "Where do you live? A house of Cardes?" She grinned at her small joke, looking around the post office with a grin. With a yawn, she reached behind the shelf next to her and pulled out a first year Ravenclaw by the ear. "You. Why are you eavesdropping on me?"

"I...I..."

"Twenty points from Ravenclaw. Use that legendary knowledge of yours and get out." The girl scrammed, and Karma waved at her.

Her eyes returned to the man who was going to be her father, on papers and such, and she sighed. "So. Any rules or such that I'm going to start living by, or what. Why did you even adopt me? Fancy using my powers for yourself?"

"I suppose you could call it that," Nolan allowed himself a small smile. A quick thinker, too. That was good. Every true artist must have a touch of creativity, and was he not an artist?

He raised an eyebrow as she grabbed the Ravenclaw, overcome by a yawn as he opened the door for her. "I think that's our cue to continue this conversation elsewhere," he said, looking around at the quiet office with lots of hiding places.

Nolan pretended to be mildly offended at her interrogation, "Maybe I'm just a lonely, unfulfilled billionaire with a wish to make the world a better place by helping a troubled teen find her way." He couldn't help but laugh a little at the obviously blatant lie.

"Actually, I was hoping to take you on as my apprentice. You're a bright girl with a lot of potential, and I'd hate to see that go to waste. Trust me, I've got all the power that I need."

Karma snorted. "And maybe I'm a black cat." She murmured. Nightmare mewed and crawled up to rest around her shoulders as she stepped past the man, into the chill of outside. The cold air around her was refreshing, and she sighed.

She grinned as her shortened hair blew in the wind. "Huh." She mused, her eyes turning calculating. "I suppose I could use another mentor." She glanced sideways at him. "I feel obligated to tell you that my boyfriend killed the last one I have." She shrugged. "Burnt him to a crisp." She winced at her own words, but it was only a minute twitch of her lips. "Don't see why you have to be my mentor and my father, but okay."

She grinned.

Nolan followed Karma outside, his jaw automatically clenching as the cold air hit his skin. The biting chill sharpened everything around him, making the man, if possible, more alert. That's just how he liked it, everything in cool clarity.

He nodded as if this were a piece of idle gossip, "Ahh, yes. My informants warned me of that, several times actually. But- currently, at least- there are a few things I can think of that are much more concerning than your boyfriend," he looked down as his feet crunched in the snow, slightly concerned about how the Sicarius' would act once they'd learnt of the adoption.

He looked up at the girl, mildly surprised that she'd called him her father. Though he was significantly more surprised that he hadn't anticipated it in the first place.

"I don't have to be anything. You have every right to leave and never see me again, if you choose to. But I have to admit, it would be a shame. You're one of the few people I haven't felt the need to sneer at in a long time."

"Well, if he doesn't randomly appear at any point in this conversation, I suppose that's true." She said with a yawn. "But he likes burning people, so you could just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." She shrugs. "Or the right place at the right time. I don't exactly control Demonboy." She smirked. "That he knows of."

Karma noted his reaction to her calling him father, just as she'd planned, and grinned when she noted the surprise. "Not really sure what you expected." she said, stopping to look up at one of the snow covered trees. She narrowed her eyes at it. "When you adopt someone and offer them your house, you become a guardian, and yes, a father. But I suppose our definitions of the word may be a bit different, as I've never had one." She shrugged, scooping up a bit of snow and hauling it at the tree. It hit the trunk, and out fell two boys. They both blushed and Karma let them run off, grinning.

"Might as well see where this thing goes." She decided. "Don't see the point of leaving now, if I'm going to get some training out of it."

"Yes, well, people usually find I'm much more difficult to kill than they hope," Nolan grinned sardonically, "And he sounds like a splendid boy. We should invite him over for dinner sometime."

He watched the boys as they ran away from them, "I expected you to take longer to warm up to me. I didn't anticipate someone who grew up fending for themselves to take too kindly to a parent, especially one they had no say in choosing." He shrugged, "Of course, there is comfort in having an older protective figure around, but something tells me you don't feel the need for that anymore."

"Cobalt said that too." Karma said, her tone clipped. She let out a laugh, the sound real. "We don't eat... human food."

"Hmm?" She asked, continuing her way down the path. "You anticipated right." She said, grinning. "I'm planning to kill you in your sleep even as we speak." Her tone was balancing in its favorite place between sarcasm and sincerity again, and she loved it. "A mentor is a mentor is a mentor, whether you call them a parent or not." She shrugged. "I don't usually stay in one place for that long, so I don't see why having a house would be bad, as I don't have one now, though I did spend Christmas with a friend." She turned and looked back at him as she walked backwards down the path, careful to stay on the balls of her feet.

"Are there no ground rules at all?" She asked.

Nolan stared at her for a moment, his face blank, not betraying the man's temptation to laugh. He didn't want to scare the girl. He let out a sigh, "I'm sorry. His loss must have been difficult for you."

He shook his head, "Trust me, that won't be a problem," Nolan gave a small smile, "You should have seen some of the parties I held in college."

Once again, the man found himself raising an eyebrow, "Oh? I'll add you to the list," he said, his tone unimpressed. There must have been dozens of people looking to kill him now, and hundreds of others who would try to if they knew who he was and what he'd done.

His clear blue eyes regarded her with a small smirk, "Try not to break anything of mine, that's a personal request." Nolan's expression turned cold, "And if I give you any request, it is your choice whether or not to listen to it, but it will almost always concern your life."

"Eh." Karma said noncommittally. "He smelled weird anyway."

She raised an eyebrow and grinned. "You should have seen some of the parties I held in fourth year." She countered, spinning on the ball of her feet a few times before lowering herself to be fully on the ground.

"Oooh, a hit list? Or just a watch list? I like to know these things." She was merely playing with the man now, as they wandered, but it would only be entertaining for a while... then she'd take her leave, and she'd either leave, or Kama'd take over. Either would be funner.

"A threat within the first hour? I knew I liked you." Kama said with a grin, her dark brown eyes glinting. "No breaking stuff... important stuff. Got it." She tapped herself on the forehead to demonstrate her keeping of memory, then grinned again. She couldn't seem to wipe the dumb expression off her face.

"So tell me about yourself, King Carde." She said evenly, dropping onto a bench. She yawned, and lounged backwards, all the appearances of being at ease.

"In that case, you'll have to get used to not knowing," he said, his friendly facade beginning to chip away just the slightest. Not that it showed even remotely on his face.

Nolan shook his head, "Not a threat, an example. Let's just say I like playing with fire, literally and metaphorically," A hint of a smile crossed his lips, and his eyes glinted dangerously, "It would be far from advantageous to either of us were you to explode."

The man looked at Karma, a mask of patient surprise on his face, "Were you paying close attention, I'm sure you'd find that I've been very generous with the information I'm giving you," He crossed his arms, finding the girl's inquiry- if anything- entertaining, "I consider knowledge, especially regarding myself, to be a valuable treasure, and I try to guard it with some amount of care."

Unlike you, he thought as he watched the subtle expressions of her face. He was, after all, able to discover her life story in a matter of hours, Miss Black, you have much to learn.

"Your life, your decisions." She said with a shrug.

She clapped, grinning. "I love playing with fire!" She said happily. She was being over enthusiastic about nearly anything that the man said, but this was all apart of the plan. She had to test the waters before she agreed to anything, especially living with someone. She'd never seen this man before in her life.

"You think I wasn't paying attention?" She asked sweetly. "That's the idea, isn't it?" She yawned again. "I can not contain most knowledge about myself, people seem to sense certain aspects of my identity, rather than learn them. At least, I'm sure you've done your homework, or you wouldn't be here, would you, King Carde?"

"Good," he answered simply. He couldn't have a ward who was afraid of getting close to an open flame.

Nolan tapped his forefinger idly against the bench, his expression becoming slowly more blank as he began to tire of the conversation. He was never satisfied unless something was getting done, "No, of course not."

"May I ask you a logistical question?" he said, crossing his legs with a slight tilt of his head, "I have no intention of being blunt, but just how many have you killed? It's for the purposes of training, of course. I don't want to be too harsh on you, after all." His eyes glinted slightly, not straying for a moment from her eyes.

She held in a smirk at his obvious waning interest. This was going exactly according to plan.

Karma frowned slightly, searching back in her memory. She'd killed quite a few people under Cobalt's influence, and she wasn't persisely sure anymore. "Less thant twenty..." she mused. "More than ten."

Nolan smiled, "So you're still green." Training would be much longer for this... but certainly more entertaining.

He stood from the bench, looking up at the sun, "I'm afraid I can't stay much longer," he turned his head to the girl, "It's been a pleasure meeting you Karma Black, I can tell I made the right choice in adopting you. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Karma cocked her head to the side and grinned. "When does training start?" She asked curiously.

"See you at home, Daddy." She yawned, standing and stetching. "Looking forward to knowing you better and all that."