quicktoanger | Fourth Casefile: Damage Control. [Voice/Written/Action]

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Fourth Casefile: Damage Control. [Voice/Written/Action]

[Voice]

I paused, staring at the journal, not sure what to say for a moment.

What the hell do you say?

"Right. Sorry ab-"

Let's try this again without the accent, Harry.

"Right. Sorry about last week. If I was... off, or confused anybody, or offended anyone, or whatever."

I paused again.

"I lost the jacket, Richard, but did you at least get to keep the rifle?"

I sat for a moment longer, then chuckled.

"Least the hand didn't stay shot. Alright, I think that's it."

I shut off the feed and set to work on a filter. I suck at those, for the record, but this kind of needed to be said and was private, so...

Hell's bells, those things are more trouble than they're worth.

[Written- Locked to Molly Carpenter, filter at 2% 5% 6% 9% 9% 13 ~~16%~~ 20%]

Kid. Molly. I'm sorry about last week. Really, really sorry.
~~I never meant to~~
~~It was like I~~
Forget it. Look. Let me make it up to you somehow?

[Action]

That done, I tucked my journal in my pocket and went into town. I felt a pressing need to talk to people, which, let me tell you, never happens to me. Ever. Plus, there were a couple awkward conversations I wanted to have.

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"Nope. On the other hand, I was right. We haven't met."

... Though I have heard that name before. Maybe he was one of the pop-culture people from around here, and I'm just not familiar?

Who the hell knows.

"I'd introduce myself, but I think you've had a better grasp of my name than I have lately."

We haven't, but to be fair I'd met Molly prior to everything. [Not that that will help his case, but.]

Introductions aren't needed, Dresden. I'm Draco Malfoy.

"I recall. You said as much. Nice to meet you with my head on straight, anyway."

Not that we were really meeting. Conversing? Man, these journals screw everything up in my head.

I do believe this will go much more smoothly now that you're actually aware of magic. [If he sounds interested at all, it's because he is.] The fact that you don't seem nearly as perturbed by the subject this time around tells me something about you.

"If you remember your parallel-universe time with the Wardens at all, you'll remember their opinion of me."

I couldn't help grinning a bit, though I tried to keep it out of my voice.

"Powerful, dangerously unstable, liable to go warlock at any moment, right? A big dumb magical thug with some sort of freakish luck, no common sense, and no respect for rules, law, and order?"

Sometimes, I almost missed Donald Morgan. Except that when I did, it invariably made me think about him. And then I didn't miss him anymore.

I remember, but-[How does one say "I don't quite understand it now" without sounding like a dumbarse.]

That just means that you're a force to be reckoned with. Nothing wrong with that, really. [Other than it reminds him of another certain wizard named Harry...the sarcasm may be a bit thick.] How many people have you killed?

"Humans? Living, breathing humans?"

I sighed. Man, it wasn't something I liked to think about.

"I killed one with magic, in self-defense. That's the one you've probably heard about. I killed one after she switched bodies with Captain Luccio. I ordered my dog to kill one because he was already mortally wounded."

There were others, of course. "I killed two that were under the influence of a werewolf talisman, and a third that was cursed to become a werewolf. I didn't count how many Renfields I killed when I raided the nest of a Black Court vampire, because they were already dead anyway."

Like it mattered.

"So. Too many, I guess."

[There's a pause as he's tallying the total up off to the side, mostly for show. It didn't really matter, though the information would make for good blackmail should he need it later. He had a feeling he wouldn't.]

Still far less than the greatest evils of my world. Congratulations.

"I should fucking hope."

... Okay, wow. Claws in, Harry.

"... Sorry. Every one of those people I killed, I killed because I had to, and for no other reason. I don't have to like it. I just have to know I wouldn't have done it differently."

A bit volatile, aren't we? [This just got about ten times more interesting.] I never said otherwise, you know. I've killed people here because I've had to. I think most of us have at one time or another.

"... You have?"

Hell's Bells, he was so young.

...yeah. Self-defense. No one's told you about the drafts and the third party, have they?

"... No, I read about them. I just..."

I just didn't think they'd take people so young. I figured me, Richard, maybe even Luke, but... he couldn't have been much more than a teenager.

... And if they would draft him, they would draft Molly. Oh, Hell's freaking Bells.

"Guess I didn't think about it. Nobody really talks about them much."

[The drafts are one of Draco's least favorite things, but even then they didn't scare him nearly as much as what was waiting for him back home. But Harry didn't need to know that.]

Most people have enough tact to not speak about the politics of war. Unfortunately, nobody's actually safe. We're all just as likely to be drafted as the next bloke.

"... When you say 'nobody...'"

I'd seen children in the village, for god's sake. I don't mean, like, comparative youths, I mean actual small children.

Quite literal. Age doesn't matter, skill doesn't matter.

This entire experience had been going from bad to worse, and I had been having difficulty dealing with the anger at the indignity, the lack of control, the sheer offensiveness of being kept like a pet.

But this. Using children as soldiers? As guinea pigs?

The anger didn't surprise me. The intensity of it, however, did.

I wanted to hurt something, and I didn't have a target. And that only pissed me off more.

"... Is there anything we can do to keep them from the drafts? Volunteer in their place, or anything like that?"

My voice was a bit shaky, I was trying so hard not to snap. I was sort of surprised I'd made it this far without screaming in rage and trying to burn down a tree.

Doubtful. [Not that he can recall, anyway.] If a draftee tries to avoid being taken, the droids just come to the village and physically drag them away anyway. I suppose if you negotiated with the ones who tell us who're going off it's a possibility, but I don't think I've met anyone who's successfully accomplished that.

"... What if you did those missions I read about? Could you do those and get somebody out of a draft that way?"

...you might be able to, but I haven't heard anyone actually accomplishing such a thing.

"... One of these days, somebody is gonna kick the shit out of these Malnosso. I just hope to god I'm one of them."

Tell me something, Dresden. What makes you think you've the power to really harm them?

"I don't know if I do or not. If I did, it would be a promise, not a hope."

But yeah. Put me alone in a room with one of the bastards. We'd see how much goddamn harm I could do.

...I'm a fairly powerful wizard, and unfortunately they've even gotten to me. [He doesn't like admitting that, but it's a point he thinks Harry should know.] That's all I'm saying.

"Oh, I know for a fact that I can't fight them in here. They've got this place pretty well set up."

But every cell has a flaw.

It doesn't matter how cunningly you craft it, how carefully you design it, how well you guard and maintain it. Every cell has a flaw.

"But nobody's immortal, not even the Malnosso. I don't have to smack them down to know that somebody somewhere will."

... A fairly powerful wizard. And that went in my mental file.