| Details for Loss of Control |
| Summary: | A talk with family ends up with furious tempers. |
| Date: | September 9, 1939 |
| Location: | Chamber of Reception |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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Things have been kind of crazy since everyone returned to school. Angelus has wanted to speak with his cousin, but he’s had so much to deal with. Perhaps he has been putting of setting a letter to set up a time, but eventually Ananke is sent off to deliver a short letter to Evelyn, asking for her to meet him in the antechamber. He’s trying to keep it private, after all. Rumours spread so fast throughout the school and he wouldn’t want to make a scene. He’s seated on a table with his legs hanging over, his potions book in hand as he reads.
The door from the Entry Hall quickly opens and closes. Evelyn stays at the entrance for a few moments, looking in. With a final sigh, she adjusts her bookbag over her shoulder and walks slowly toward the table that Angelus sits at. "You wanted to see me." It's not a question. She knows the answer. She stares at him, not sitting down.
Angelus lowers the book an inch when the door opens, peeking over the top before he returns to reading as if he hadn’t looked at all. He keeps his focus on apparently reading until she approaches and speaks. He waits a second before answering her, as if he were finishing off the section he was reading, before he sighs and closes the book. Discarding it on the table beside him nonchalantly, the youth rolls back his shoulders coolly. “We haven’t spoken yet after the changes have been made,” he states. He rests his hands on either side of him, fingers curling around the edge as he kicks his legs. “I wanted to make sure you’re all right.” Gel tilts his head, regarding his cousin before he hops off the table. He’ll rise up on tiptoes and lean close to give her cheek a kiss.
Eyeing her cousin coolly, Evelyn doesn't respond right away, not even to the kiss to her cheek. Raising an eyebrow, she lets out a little humourless laugh. "I'm absolutely fine, cousin of mine." She readjusts her book bag ever so slightly. "Why shouldn't I be? After all, I'm a half-blood. Which seems to mean something around here. At least to separate oneself from the special class being taken by the muggle-born students." A little half-smile crosses her face. "Besides, I'm an Eibon. And that counts for even more, doesn't it? We're a strong family. Well established."
Angelus lets out a breath as he flicks his fingers through his blonde locks. “Because you’re in the Mud club,” he states. “So you might be targeted?” Letting out a sigh, he lifts his hand and shakes his head. “You’ve spoken to Elspeth?” assumes Gel. A mock ‘hah’ escapes him as he rolls his eyes. “So I bet she fed you more lies, right? Did you know that she tried to trip me in the Leaky Cauldron?” A sigh escapes him. “She’s not a very nice person. But yet you insist on keeping her as a friend even though she has it out for your family.” He turns from Evelyn, walking around the table as he trails two fingers over the surface, eyes on the table. “And she insulted Pa.”
"That may very well be." Evelyn responds quite simply. "Elet and myself are in the same house, the same year, and are good friends. There are no reasons for us not to speak." She sighs, finally actually sitting down, placing her bag at her feet. "Your relationship with Elspeth is not innocent. It's a two way street. You haven't exactly been kind to her. You've got some blame as well, regardless of what you think of her blood status." She doesn't even touch the topic of comments about her uncle. It's something that she has resolved to steer clear from. "I may not have the prestige of being a deputy, but I'd hope you'd trust me a little bit. Besides, it's not up to you who I choose as a friend."
Angelus circles around the table. When he comes up beside Evelyn now that she’s sitting, he turns and starts walking around the other way, fingers tracing the wooden surface. “No,” Gel murmurs out. “I’ve always been polite to her even if she’s… inadequate.” He stops on the far side of the table from Evelyn, his eyes shifting away. “But she once again proves that people not from a proper family do not know how to behave one self. Someone like her,” he says as he draws with a finger over the table, “can’t be welcomed at the manor.” His gaze lifts from the table to focus on his cousin. “Why should I put up with insults in my own house?” Gel sighs and turns his head to the side. “You choose to be all loyal to your mother, but refuse to show any respect to Uncle Greg.” Not that he really got a chance to know his uncle. “And after she ended up getting him killed,” he says, frowning. “Rosen has no sense of the right way to behave. You keep her as a friend, and she’s going to mess things up.”
"That…that's exactly what I'm talking about." Evelyn murmurs. "Calling her inadequate. Bullying her with your words. That does nobody any favours." She whispers. "And it's not your house. It's technically Uncle Noalan's house." Trust a Ravenclaw to work in technicalities! Standing up slowly, her gaze grudgingly turns to look at Angelus. "Don't you…don't you dare presume to speak on my relationship toward my parents! And how dare you claim that their deaths are on my mother's hands. It was an accident, and if you were a decent person, or even a decent cousin, you'd have kept those words to yourself." She glares at her cousin, and if looks could kill…well, this would probably just severely maim. "As far as Elspeth is concerned? She's a much better person than you are, Angelus Xian Eibon. She's not the one messing things up. I don't know why you seem so determined to ruin the good parts of other people's lives, but if you don't stop, it's going to be you who messes things up."
Looking for her friend, Elspeth opens the door and peeks in. Seeing Evelyn, she starts to smile and say her name, but then she hears Angelus's voice. At first, her expression falls more into lines of boredom, as it's not something she doesn't already know and has long since ceased to have any effect on her. Especially as she knows she no longer has to be pushed into his presence on Holidays. But it's his following words, the ones that disparage his cousins dead parents that change everything. Her face goes white, then red, then white again at the rage for the attack on his family that is so lacking in sympathy in and anything remotely resembling familial love. She crosses the room swiftly to wrap her arms around Evelyn in support, and while Evelyn's eyes might only maim, Elspeth's would definitely kill.
"Are you even being human anymore?" she asks incredulously. "Is your zeal for purism robbing you of your love and empathy, as well as your common sense? If you are wanting to see who is messing everything up, you should be looking in the mirror, Angelus Eibon. If anyone is dragging the family reputation in the mud, it is being you. It is you who is screeching like a fishwife in the Leaky Cauldron when your plan to embarass me ends up landing on yourself. It is you who is going to ruin all that your father has worked to build up. He is not liking muggles or muggleborn, but he is liking their money, and he has spent years carefully walking the fence to not alienate any of them. I am sure that he is not going to be losing everything, but he will not be making as much if you are continuing to give him a reputation as a man who is not having control of his own son, or who cannot be relied upon to be keeping his guests safe in his own house. It is /you/ who is doing this to your father and his reputation. Not Lan, and not Evelyn. And /that/ is why Lan was going mental on you on the train. My father is not letting me come to visit because he does not think that your father can be entrusted with my safety. It is an insult to your father, and it because of you. You are thinking of no one but yourself, and your pride that needs to see any insult redressed. You can be saying all the mean things about me that you are wanting, it is not hurting me. But your own family? You are turning on your own cousin saying hateful things to her and hurting her?"
Angelus lets Evelyn speak without interruption. His royal blue eyes lock on her, contempt flickering within as she talks about Elspeth, annoyance at the mention of it not being his house. His eyes narrow when she swings into talking about her parents. “It’s /my/ house, Evie,” he announces once she’s finished. “My father might /own/ it, but its /mine/.” She turns away from her, an actual sneer crossing his face. “You’ve lost it. You have no mind of your own anymore. You’ll stand up for a taint like Rosen over your fam-“ As Angelus turns to the exit, his gaze slides over Elspeth and he lets out an angry hiss. “You were not /invited/ you uncivilised Mudblood,” he snaps out before he realises what slipped out of his mouth. A gasp of surprise escapes the youth, and he instantly directs his gaze away from her. He’s /never/ used that term before. But of course it’s HER who causes it to come out. This just fuels his anger before she even begins.
At the start of Elspeth’s onslaught Angelus starts off snubbing, avoiding glancing her way and holding up his head up in arrogance. But his eyes narrow, dull, and turn to icy daggers as they slide onto Elspeth. Smugness is lost altogether as he glares at the redhead. His blue eyes flick towards Evelyn - his eyes steel and cold, no humour, no arrogance - then towards the door, before shifting his gaze back on Elspeth. He steps right up so that he’s directly in front of her, tilting back his head to look up.
“Don’t you speak to me like that. You never learn your true place, even when it’s been spelled out right before your eyes. If Flint could see your lack of regard. Or maybe your foul mouth will finally cause you to meet your doom. You don’t know anything about our family. You interfere and make a mockery of our culture. You’re lucky you’re still at this /school/, and yet you complain about some assigned seating.
“You don’t know what you’re even talking about. If /you/ had any decency you’d walk away and leave my family alone.” He shoots a glance at Evelyn, letting out another hiss. “If you support /her/,” he snaps, pointing a finger up at Elspeth, “then you’re no Eibon!”
He whips his back to them to begin stepping to the exit. “My father should just cross you off of the family,” he murmurs quietly as he walks away.
It takes all of Evelyn's control not to take out her wand and cast a hex on Angelus right here, right now. Her face now red, her gaze now that of which could kill, if it had any power. "Here's a secret for you, Angelus." She practically spits out. "I'm not the one that Uncle Noalan's ashamed of. Nor should he be. The one he should be ashamed of is you. One thing in our family is certain, we do not sully our family name by calling people 'Mudbloods'. Sure, maybe our family historically has no love for non-purebloods, but we don't turn on our loved ones, even if they are muggle-born or half-blood. If anyone deserves to be scratched out of the family, it would be you." She continues to glare, as if daggers are leaving her eyes and being shot at Angelus. "And before you go and do anything rash, remember…you're not the only one who knows how to get what they want. You'd better watch yourself."
Elspeth doesn't budge as Angelus steps up to her, especially as it gives her an unparalleled opportunity to actually look down on him. Her eyes still sparkle with fire, but somehow, the more he talks, the more satisfied their glow becomes. The only time that changes, is when Evelyn mentions getting what she wants. However, she simply lays a hand on Evelyn's arm. "Do not worry. Let him be digging his hole deeper. He used to be smart, but the Magijugend has been going to his head. He will be seeing someday. If it is not being too late."
At the door leading into the entry hall, Angelus turns back to stare at Evelyn. Inhaling sharply, his head lifts with superiority as his hand reaches up to grasp the pendant around his neck. “I’ve got nothing more to say to someone who wishes to crawl around in the mud.” His school uniform swirls around him as he spins, and he sweeps out into the entry hall.