fuck a fake smile

emerson yaxley x 28 x she/they auror officer x no magic? no problem! pts. 350 cases. Occamy Egg Theft at Merlinus City Zoo. NBO Attack.

[emmyyaxley]

dantevalentino​:

She’s right, at least, about her first point: he doesn’t know much about Crow. Bare details. He can probably count the solid personal facts on two hands: his favorite drink, that his godparent bought him those tacky sunglasses, that his other dad’s a no-maj born, that he likes backyard cookouts, that he’s… not an only child? Though Dante couldn’t venture a guess as to how many siblings he actually had. That he’d been on Central Squad, and then not on Central Squad. That he has a tattoo of a bird on his chest, and a tree on his ribcage, a line of what look like runes on his scalp only visible if you look closely which must, he think, have some purpose beyond the simply aesthetic.  A few other more intimate details that feel strange to think about with his cousin sitting here lecturing him.

It feels strange, to reduce Crow in his mind to a list like that. Of course he knows there’s more to him than that—it’s more than he knows about any of his other one night stands, unless you were counting Siouxsie Hazard, though everything he knew about her he’d learned from Ransom’s non-stop attempts to set them up with one another. It’s more than he knows about most of his coworkers, too, other than Kadri. More than he knows about Emmy. 

The second point she raises, though—well, no, he has no idea of what Crow went through on his old Squad, though it sounds, from what she’s saying, like that’s probably the why of why he’d left and come here instead. Two easy dots to connect, though he’s not entirely sure why she’s telling him, what it has to do with him. 

     “I didn’t know that,” he says, with a shrug, shaking his head a little. “We haven’t exactly done a lot of talking.” 

Yeah, he’s had cases like that. Ones that filled him with dread, ones he couldn’t shake afterwards, that kept him up at night. Emmy had been with him on one of them, though he knows she doesn’t remember it that way anymore, and that part hadn’t stuck with him at the time but now that he’s talking to her he can’t seem to stop thinking about it. When it happened, he did—well, it sounds like what Crow’s already doing. He went out, got drunk, slept with someone new and fun, passed the time with distractions until it faded away. As far as he’s concerned, that’s really all you can do about something like that. 

     “But, yeah, okay, I get it. Not really sure what you want me to do about it, but… I’ll keep an eye out for him, I guess.” 

.

She’s not sure if she’s getting her point across how she wants it, not through any fault of how she’s explaining it, she thinks, but more because she’s actually genuinely not sure if it’s something that someone like Dante Vitale actually cares about. The thought isn’t a negative one, or a judgmental one, just a fact, really, because she knows nothing about him, in the same way that she’s certain he knows nothing at all about her, or anyone else in the office, because he isn’t someone who seems to care about making friends, at least with coworkers. Which is why, she realizes belatedly, maybe this is a pointless attempt to help Crow. It makes her heart sink a little, realizing that this might just have to be one of those things that her cousin has to go through on his own, another potential disappointment, more pain stacked up. She just wishes she could do something to help, that he would let her or anyone else do something to help.

Given what she can glean from knowing other men like Dante, she thinks she can make a few safe assumptions about him, and hearing his reply, his little shrug, his insistence they haven’t been doing much talking, and that he doesn’t get what she wants him to do about it. He’s not the type who cares. This is a fun game for him, a distraction from his own worries, probably, not something to give much extra thought to, especially not the thought like she’s asking him to give. Another fun hookup, maybe a few more times than normal, but ultimately something he doesn’t care about lasting. It’s not healthy, and she’s pretty sure he could use someone like her, too, to try to kick him into shape like she tries with Crow, but she’s certainly not that person.

Maybe all she can do here is be as clear as possible, no matter how much he doesn’t want to care, or consider someone else’s feelings on something like this that isn’t serious to him, and then worry about Crow’s side of things, instead.

“I want you to make sure you don’t break his heart without thinking. He’s had enough pain; if you’re just here to fuck around, and nothing else, that’s fine, but you better make it bloody clear to him ASAP, or else you’re going to have me, April, Becca, Aster, and a dozen others to deal with when you get tired and drop him for the next hot, sad twenty year old you find,” she says, a little more forcefully than she means. Emmy pauses, shakes her head, letting out a sigh. 

“I just want you to be honest with him. He talks about you a lot, and I know what it means, he doesn’t do that with random hookups that don’t mean anything to him. I just want this to stay a good thing for him, I don’t want it to make things worse.”

[emmyyaxley]

victorsierraa​:

Victor’s own heart is beating quickly with some kind of excietment. It was a break in the case, exactly what they had been looking for. Before, everything had seemed sperate, strangely apart from everything else. Nothing touched, there were no messy corners or overlapping edges where the victims met each other. But now, they had a connection between Octavius and the warehouse. It meant that everything really did make sense, underneith the cloud of mystery. All things had a reason, all things had an explanation. They just had to keep digging, him and Emmy, and they would learn the truth. He bites at the inside of his own cheek, to reign himself in. And he tries to think, careful. 

He examines what they know, how he feels about it all. He tries to trust his instincts. He trusted what Emmy had to say, about what the best way to run a case was. He was glad he was here with her. Victor knew that some people doubted her skills, thought less of her because she had been born without the magic that came so easily to the others. But Victor knew that she was good, and he was already learning so much from her. More than he had from most of the others, save Brittany perhaps. Maybe it was because he was somehow more at ease now, maybe because any tension had been swept out of the way early. He looks at her as she voices the thought they must all be having.

Octavius could have been involved in something illegal, under the table. He could have bought the warehouse for someone else, for this strange and shadowy work that he may have been involved with. They wouldn’t know for sure until they looked further in to it, but now they had a trail to follow. It made all the more sense that he was the only one from his family to die, if he had been involved in something apart from them. 

“I’ll keep looking in to the matter from here,” Jackson promises them. “But I’m afriad I might not find much more than that.” He sounds as if he regrets it, as if he wishes he could do more, be more involved. He must be curious by now, about everything going on. About shady business deals and horrible fires that destroy entire buildings and entire lives.He checks his watch with regret. “I’ll be in contact, if anything else turns up. But for now, i’m afriad I have a meeting to get to.” 

It seems like as good a time as any to say they’re goodbyes, and after a few moments they’re walking back through the building again. He’s quiet until they’re on their own. Still thinking, still walking through the case in his mind. Octavius and the warehouse, Octavius and two seperate fires. The links were starting to make themself clear, and he wanted to know more. 

“Donnelley had… what, a lawyer or something, that handled his business?” He asks, taking his little scraps of paper out and flipping through them, looking forthe name and the address that he was thinking of from the case file. He finds it, and holds it out to Emmy. The words on the page look vaguely familiar, but he can’t exactly remember why. It’s like something out of a dream, hazy and half remembered. Must have been from when he first read the file, while he was still working through his first cup of coffee for the day. “What do you think, boss? Wanna see if he knows anything about some secret under-the-table business deals?” 

.

This feels like the things they’ve been looking for. Maybe in another case it would be something small, because they still have no idea what he was doing there, and there’s still no known connection with the third arson besides the same materials being used to commit it, but here and now in this particular case, it feels like a revelation, because there’s been so little to work off of in the first place. And she feels pretty certain that with this, even without the ability to find out from Octavius himself what was going on, they’ll be able to find themself on the culprit’s trail. She has a feeling what they’re going to find is that it was one person a part of something bigger, taking down one part of a bigger web, but it’s always a start, on cases like this that involve illegal goods or black market trading, and getting a murderer arsonist off the streets sounds like a great start to her.

“Thank you so much, and we’ll make sure whatever we find gets back to you, too, especially if we find something that someone in the company might be hiding,” she adds, not the sort of thing she would usually offer outright, but Jackson has been a huge help, and seems genuinely interested in the outcome of all of this.

With that, they head out, leaving Jackson for the time being, with a trail to follow finally. Her thoughts are speeding around, as they so often do when a break happens in a case, all the possibilities swirling around in her head, but she makes sure not to let herself get ahead of things when all they have is a connection between two of the three arsons. Once they’re outside, though, they pause to talk through things, and it’s clear that Victor is thinking exactly what she’s thinking.

“I think that’s exactly what we need to do. If anyone’s going to be able to tell us what this business was, it’s definitely this lawyer, and I think we have a really good chance of a lawyer understanding why giving us all the nitty gritty details, even if they’re messy, is important,” she nods, looking at the name of the lawyer as Victor offers it to her. There’s a reason he of all people was on the list in the file, after all. He must know something, maybe he’ll be the key to connecting the third fire, too, and finding their person.

“I think we’re really close, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has what we need to figure this thing out and get our guy. I say we just jump in, see what he knows about what Donnelley was doing,” Emmy says, before holding her hand out, ready to get going. “Shall we?”

[emmyyaxley]

auroraprilmonday​:

A portkey- but of course Wallis used a portkey, April thinks quietly to herself as she listens to Wallis and Emmy’s exchange. Glancing over to the object on the desk, she’s already ready to go, to find the chicks, and get them back to Tilly before any more harm could be done. Wallis won’t get away completely scot-free, but she won’t face the same punishment as the smugglers certainly will. 

“We can go in first, make sure the room is clear- or clear it if there are people in there,” she suggests, not quite wanting to put Wallis in danger by having her join them at first. With how these smugglers have operated so far- striking a deal with Wallis rather than threatening her with bodily injury, she’s not extremely concerned with what they might find on the other end. These people seemed to work with some amount of tact, and her gut was telling her they wouldn’t cast first without asking some questions when the two of them showed up to get the eggs. 

Removing her wand, she squeezes its handle, her gaze breaking away from the portkey to look from Wallis then over to Emmy. 

“Okay, let’s see if we can find them,” she says, taking a step closer to the portkey to show she intended to be the first through, just in case the smugglers did fire first. She didn’t doubt Emmy’s capabilities in protecting herself, but she knew from her own experience that it was quicker to fire a shield spell than grab a throwable from her telekit. 

“Ready when you are.” 

[emmyyaxley]

theaurorfiles-npc​:

The familiar pang of guilt hits her again when Yaxley mentions vaguely what happened back in the Central Squad. Nothing that she does now will ever make up for the mistake she made back then, but she’ll try her damnedest to at least make sure that something similar doesn’t happen to the children of the aurors she failed so long ago. Hattori seemed like somewhat of a lost cause, likely much more loyal to Appius than she ever was, but she has to have faith. 

“He’s aware of my loyalties at the very least,” she replies. It may have been a mistake to do so, especially if Hattori was loyal enough he’d turn her in, but if anything, seeing what he does with such information would be a good litmus test to see how much of a threat he was to the squad itself. 

“If I should suddenly leave my post here, I will make certain to leave you with what you need to move forward,” she adds, and the look she shoots the other auror is one that hopefully read that the only reason she should leave her post, is if by force or by a more final method. 

“You know where to find me though, if you should need anything before then, but I would caution against making any kind of noticeable routine of doing so.” Having nothing else she could tell the young auror, she looks over to her to see if she had any further questions before she left. 

.

She can see something there behind Langer’s eyes when she talks about being able to easily find someone who’s family members have been hurt by this whole mess, and she thinks maybe she’s starting to understand Langer better than she did when she first stepped into this office, assuming she knew exactly what she was looking at because of Marleigh’s messages. It doesn’t undo the damage, and the broken trust, and the pain caused, but she thinks that Langer regrets it all, that maybe she regrets getting caught up in all of this in the first place, and that’s why she’s giving Emmy anything now, to do the little she can now to stop anything like that from happening again.

And her reply only seems to confirm that thought, because even though she doesn’t think there’s a way to stop an unbreakable vow, it seems clear from her words that Langer’s loyalties aren’t in the same places as Hattori’s. It’s hard to trust it all, especially when there’s no way to speak outright, but she doesn’t think Langer would have a reason to lie about this, especially given how Hattori had been acting after their talk. Emmy thinks she means it when she says she’ll do what she can to help, and if she leaves, it won’t be of her own choice.

It’s a surprise that she’s been able to get so much, and yet it still feels like being stuck in the same place, because there’s no way to know what Hattori has or hasn’t been told to do. She’s going to have to get Becca’s opinions on it all, probably get her mom’s opinions on it, too, but she’s inclined to believe her, and to take her words to mean she isn’t as much of an enemy here as she used to be. “Thank you...for all the help. I know how risky it is. I know it doesn’t look like it, but I can be discreet, keep things quiet, especially when it’s something like this,” Emmy nods. She doesn’t think there’s anything else she can get right now, not without hopefully getting more on Becca’s sides of things, so she gets up, ready to start to try to parse through it all.

“And if you need anything from me, you know where to find us, too,” she offers, something a little softer in her features for a second, before she turns to leave.

[emmyyaxley]

dantevalentino​:

He’s, admittedly, relieved, when he realizes what Emmy’s here to talk about, what this conversation is going to be. Crow. He’d known they were related somehow, had gathered that much from general observation, but he hadn’t known the full details—cousins, Crow’s father, the pureblood one, related to Yaxley’s mother, apparently, which is odd because he hadn’t thought Yaxley was actually, technically, a pureblood, but if she’s half Yaxley and half Falconer-Quinn, she must be. Maybe the squib thing had thrown him off.

But better this be a conversation about his sexual indiscretions or Crow Falconer-Quinn’s purity or whatever ridiculous thing it was about to be, than it be a conversation about the suspicious he’d once erased from Emmy Yaxley’s mind in a desperate attempt to keep his cover here. Better, maybe, that she does have reservations about him sleeping with her baby cousin—and, okay, he’s not that young, and Emmy’s essentially the same age Dante is, so baby feels like a strong word—to distract her from rediscovering her prior reservations about him. 

       “I’m not sleeping with him, I slept with him,” he says, as if there’s actually a meaningful difference there that will matter to Emmy. And as if, if there was a meaningful difference, he was not fully intending to continue sleeping with Crow for as long as Crow wanted to. Still, this seems unavoidable, somehow. He’s dealt with protective types before, heard the if you hurt him I’ll hurt you lecture his fair share of times. People rarely followed through on it. 

      “Twice. But, okay, I take your point.”

He sets his coffee cup down, waves his wand to stop the coffee pot as it starts to float over in an attempt to refill the cup. Closes the case file he was looking at, pushes it to the side. Physically clearing the figurative table as a sign of good faith, a show that he’s listening to whatever threats she’s going to level his way. 

     “Go ahead. Let me have it.”

.

She watches closely, watches for any indication of just what the whole thing is in his eyes. He protests, because of course he does, of course, he wants to be right in any given situation, and she just gives him a look that says she’s not going to take that bullshit when she knows full well that at least on the other side of things, this isn’t just a twice and done situation. He makes a big show of closing his file, moving it out of the way, and she can’t tell if it’s a genuine gesture, or if there’s something condescending to it, but that doesn’t matter really, because she’s not here about what he may or may not think about her, or her role as protector to the gaggle of younger relatives she has, or her lack of magic, or anything else. She’s here to make sure he’s serious, or if not that at least that he thinks about what he’s doing so she can keep Crow from going through any more pain than he already has.

Folding her hands on the table in front of her, Emmy considers the right approach here. When she saw him, she had thought the half-joking, slightly threatening but ultimately well meaning approach would be right. But now that she’s sitting here, looking at him closely, and she can see the stress written all over his face, even if he’s trying to mask it, she thinks maybe he would actually respond well to seriousness. Because she is serious, deathly so, so afraid that one wrong move could send someone she cares so deeply for into a place so bad nothing can pull him out, and she already feels helpless enough to help him.

“I could give you the normal talk, but I assume you’ve already gathered that I’ll fuck you up worse than you’d think someone without magic could manage if you hurt him. So I’m gonna be serious with you, Dante,” she explains. “I don’t know how much actually you know about him, but knowing him well, I’m gonna assume it’s not much, no matter what it seems like, or at least not much straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth.”

She pauses for a second, for once considering just how to word this. It’s not her place to give any details, not her place to go into specifics of Crow’s life, but she thinks she can still make Dante understand.

“You’re older than him, you’ve been an auror for longer, I’m sure you’ve had a case or two that’s been hard,” Emmy offers, knowing everyone’s had at least one of those cases. “I don’t mean hard to solve, or annoying, or whatever, but I mean the sort of thing that stays with you. Like, something you can’t shake off, something you saw, or had to do that’s stuck with you, that’s fucked you up a little for one reason or another. I know I have...and you’ve maybe heard that the reason he’s here now is because he had a case like that on his last squad. A really, really horrifying one. Did you know that?”

[emmyyaxley]

victorsierraa​:

There’s something about Jackson that makes Victor think… well, not so much think as feel, that he really has no idea what had been going on. Not with the warehouse, not with the fires. He wasn’t the highest ranking employee at this company, that was sure, though he seemed respectable enough. He had an anxious look in his eye, like he knew now that something was very wrong indeed. 

Emmy prompts him further, after he makes his comments about the strangeness of everything going on. 

“To be frank with you, I mean all of it.” He pats his thick collection of files. “We keep very serious records of almost everything here at Lazarus, very serious. Detailed to the point that it’s almost excessive. It seems impossible to me that the records of a sale would just up and disappear. It should have really been as easy as pulling a file out of a cabinate in the archives. As simple as you could imagine.”

Victor arches an eyebrow. Becuause the tone of his voice makes it seem like this is a spy movie, like he’s anxious and strangely suspicious of everybody around him now. His eyes glance between the two of them briefly, taking them in. For a moment they linger on Victor, seemingly almost out of instinct, before he diverts them back to Emmy. It was clear that she was the lead here, after all, and she was the person who he should be addressing about all of this.  

He hands her one of the files. “That’s everything we have on the operations based out of that warehouse before the sale. Basic manufacturing, healing potions. It was well equipped for the task, even when it went up for sale. Most of the equipment therein was well serviced or fairly new. But it wasn’t removed from the warehouse before the sale went through and we lost control of the building.” 

Victor glances at Emmy, arches an eyebrow. It looks like their theory about the people in the warehouse manufacturing illegal potions for sale and smuggling was probably true. At least, even more likely now than it had been before. But its also curious, because… he’s pretty sure there would have been more of those machines left in the warehouse if the fire had been genuinely meant to destroy something. He didn’t think machines like that would melt under the heat of it, given how hot some potions had to get in brewing sometimes. “Okay,” He says, “I guess that is weird.” 

Jackson arches an eyebrow as well, nodding. “Stranger still. We don’t have any records of meetings surrounding the sale, or a finalisation of the sale itself. But –– I did discover something I think you’ll find interesting. Octavius Donnelley. He was here three times in the week before we lost ownership of the building in question. He’s one of your arsonists victims, isn’t he?” 

.

She’s not wholly surprised to hear that there are no records at all, and that that’s a rarity for a company like this, but it does beg the question if someone working here is also in on this, and she has to believe the answer is probably yes, even if it was something like being bribed or threatened to make something go away. Or even being hit with something like a memory charm. That thought sends a chill through her, an involuntary thought, the place her mind always goes despite her best attempts at trying not to be affected by her own family’s history with charms like that.

Looking at the file that he hands her, her frown only deepens, seeing just what they mean, that the equipment was left there, the sort of things for advanced potion manufacturing, a goldmine for any sort of illegal operation. But the thing is that stuff wasn’t there, at least not to the extent that would indicate such advanced techniques. She catches Victor’s eye, and it’s clear that he noticed that discrepancy too. And then it just gets stranger somehow, perking up as soon as she hears the name Donnelley, a huge turn in this thing, she thinks.

“Three times in one week right before the sale?” she repeats, a little shocked by that number. Immediately her thoughts are racing. There wasn’t a lot of information on what exactly Donnelley’s business was in the case file, since it was his family home where the attack happened, but she’s pretty sure that’s the break they’ve been looking for, something that they can use to connect the dots and figure out who did it, if they can figure out why exactly he was in. She nods eagerly, stopping her thoughts from going completely off the rails before they actually have any more information. “Yeah, he is, the most recent victim, actually. Do you have any idea why he was in, what sort of business, if it seems like it could have been related to that sale or not?”

“It’s hard to say; like I said, there are no records of meetings surrounding the sale, and no one I’ve spoken to has admitted to being a part of it in the company, which in and of itself is suspicious, of course. It’s unclear just what his business is, but I think it’s a safe assumption the two were related,” Jackson nods, looking between them, clearly anxious about all of the things they’ve found.

She pauses for a second, considering it. Usually, she can get a pretty good read on people, and there’s nothing about Jackson that seems to suggest they’re a part of this, or hiding anything, so she decides it’s safe to ask. “Do you think it’s possible he might have been sort of a proxy in the sale? Doing business for someone else? Is that something that happens sometimes?” she asks, genuinely curious, not knowing the ins and outs of business like this. 

“It’s definitely possible. It’s not rare for someone else to come in a company’s place for one reason or another. Anonymity is rarely that reason here, but...”

“But it could be, if the people buying the warehouse were into something illegal,” she finishes Jackson’s thought. “Looks like we’ve got our connection, at least.”

[emmyyaxley]

auroraprilmonday​:

She winces when the box moves, shuffling across the shelf loud enough it gains Wallis’s attention. She’s not certain just who this “Sam” is but she could take a guess it’s whoever the magizoologist has been messaging through her telekit with. 

“No,” she calls out, figuring there was little else to do but expose themselves. Flicking her wand, she removes the concealment charm from the both of them, revealing both of their positions to Wallis. 

“W-what are you two doing back here?” Wallis stammers out, her eyes growing large as she looks between the two aurors. 

“We could probably ask the same of you,” April speaks up, moving closer towards Wallis and the collection of papers on the desk beside her. Some look to be letters- or more like handwritten instructions, others look like a schematic of what she can only guess was of an egg incubator, having seen one once before back when she was in primary school. 

“We know you’re involved in this somehow,” she starts up again, hoping to get straight to the point and find these eggs before something were to happen to them. “And we know you don’t want to hurt the chicks either. But the smugglers who are interested in the egg shells won’t be, I can guarantee you that.” 

“How…,” Wallis starts clearly confused just how her and Emmy made such a leap. She doesn’t seem interested in fighting it much beyond that though, as her shoulders slump again, and the look she gives them shifts to something closer to desperation. 

“I did this to protect the chicks,” she says after a moment, “the theft would have occurred regardless, they told me as much. So when they asked for my help in teaching them how to incubate the eggs, I didn’t have much of a choice.” 

She had a million questions, ranging from just how these smugglers got in contact with her, to how the heist was pulled off so seamlessly. What she was interested in most though, was where the eggs were in that moment. 

“If you tell us where we can find the eggs, and how best to get them back safely, then I’m sure we can work out something out for you,” she offers, looking to Emmy for additional support before adding, “if you truly care about the chicks then this is the only way they’ll end up safe, and returned back to Tilly. I’m certain the smugglers have every intention of keeping the chicks, rather than turn them back over to you after they hatch.” 

.

She’s relieved, in an odd way, that April makes the call before she has to, and responds to Wallis, removes the charms concealing them both. There’s no other option here at this point, anyway. Even though she wishes she had been able to get a little more before accidentally revealing them, they were going to need to reveal themselves soon enough anyway, and this way hopefully they can get this sorted before this Sam, who she has to assume is someone involved in this mess, can do anything else, too. 

Wallis looks shocked to say the least, clearly already trying to figure out a way to turn this around, but Emmy knows that they’ve got her now, only a matter of getting the details and figuring out where the eggs are, which she’s certain she’ll be able to tell them. 

Stepping closer now, along with April, it’s clear just what the papers she’s been looking at are. It seems like some of it must be directly from whoever she was working with, instructions, probably directions to follow to the t to make sure the eggs and chicks weren’t harmed. She’s glad that April has the same instinct to cut to the chase here, given how close they are now, no need to beat around the bush anymore. Luckily, it becomes clear quickly that Wallis isn’t going to try to lie, especially in the face of the chicks’ safety and well being. And they get just what they need, an admission that she was involved to help protect the chicks. Emmy has a dozen questions, but she also almost feels bad that she got caught up in this, when she could’ve easily just told someone that the smugglers had approached her and stopped it all before it got so far.

Emmy nods along with April, because she’s certain that’s true; there will have to be consequences, of course, but it’s clear she wasn’t the mastermind here, but someone who got caught up in smuggler’s plans, and felt like she had to help to stand a chance of keeping the chicks safe. But that’s not how criminals work; they lie to get what they want, and they need those eggs back now, to make sure that can’t happen. “You weren’t the one who came up with this plan, were you? Once we know who planned this, we might be able to help even more. If we can get those eggs back safely, and quickly, it’ll be for the best for everyone involved,” Emmy agrees with April.

Dr. Wallis looks clearly worried, debating back and forth for a long moment before finally answering. “I thought it was the only way, I believed them when they said they’d give the chicks back, they only wanted the eggs...It’s a portkey,” she explains, nodding to an average looking paperweight on the corner of the desk. “I don’t know the location, or any of their identities, they’ve kept me in the dark. I’ve been keeping an eye on the eggs, making certain they’re fine. And they were the last time I went to check. I don’t know if anyone’s there now, though, but...I’ll help you bring them back. I’ll do whatever I can.”

A portkey makes sense; probably not difficult to set up covertly with the help of smugglers here, within all the protections so that there wouldn’t be indication of a breech. The rest of it makes sense, too, keep Dr. Wallis as in the dark as possible, except for the purpose of keeping the eggs cared for so they can hatch well. 

“You’re making the right choice, Dr. Wallis, we’ll make sure the eggs get back to Tilly safely,” Emmy nods, before looking at April, to see what she thinks the next step should be.

[emmyyaxley]

theaurorfiles-npc​:

Yaxley was a clever wix, she knew should would be what with who had raised her. She trusted Baron, all those years ago to be able to talk to her in a way that wouldn’t quite literally force her hand into doing something she didn’t want it to do, and she trusts Yaxley as well. The true task here was just what all she herself could give the young auror, how much guidance she could pass along without saying too much or getting either one of them into trouble. 

“I imagine he learned quite a bit more than he necessarily wanted to,” she nods in agreement. Hattori looked white as a ghost when he left her office that afternoon, but she still wasn’t so sure what to make of the young auror. The deck is stacked in Yaxley’s favor at the very least, and she believes Baron Savage may have had something to do with that. From what she could gather Hattori and herself were the only individuals associated with the squad with an unbreakable vow cursed into their arms, while there were several allies of Savage. 

“He is a smart auror, with plenty of ambition,” she adds, again choosing her words delicately, “with a legacy such as his, his loyalty would be incredibly valuable to anyone that he should give it too. I hope he is wise with where he places it,” she sighs, “although at this time I’m not so certain just who he holds in the highest of favor, between his position in your squad and that legacy.” 

She was trying her best to give Yaxley a warning without spelling it out too much. Hattori was no doubt a fellow member, that she could guarantee, what she couldn’t determine was if Hattori had been given any orders yet that’d put his squad mates in jeopardy, or if he ever would if the time came.

“You do have a common enemy though, that should have been apparent in your case together” she offers. The task force itself may have been recreated to simply make it look like MACUSA was doing everything it could, but she had no reason so far to think her placement in it was to dismantle it in some way. If anything, she assumed she was placed in it to help, to do precisely what she’d been doing so far with the cases she’d assisted with since her arrival. 

.

She doesn’t bother hiding how she’s watching Langer, because they both know that nothing about this conversation can be outright, so she needs to be able to rely on all those tools she learned in the no-maj world, being able to read body language, and tone, and the slightest change in look to mean something more. And she gets the feeling that Langer wants her to, that she’s willing to try to give her some information, which is a strange thought, but fits with what Becca had thought this meeting might be like, given the way Langer had been during the case.

Hattori having learned more than he wanted seems like an understatement, given how shaken he looked when he reappeared. She wishes it was possible for her to just tell her what they talked about, but she’s well aware that’s impossible. The likelihood of her getting something concrete spoken out loud is beyond low, it’s negative. But she thinks she gets the message that Langer is trying to give her, and it brings some things together in her mind, because it feels suddenly a whole lot less like talking to an enemy, and more like talking to someone stuck in enemy territory who’s trying to give a warning. That makes her heart speed up.

“In my experience, pureblood boys like that are never really wise with where they put their eggs. So I have a pretty strong feeling it’s the latter,” she says. Because it’s true; there’s never been any indication he cares deeply about anyone on the squad, or would feel any sort of loyalty towards them, especially in the face of legacy. Especially in the face of a fucking unbreakable vow. It almost sounds like she’s suggesting trying to get him to swing their way, but that feels impossible, when she thinks it would be hard enough to stop him if he ever tried to do anything against any of them, despite how many of them on the squad know about Appius. A wakeup call is easier said than done when you’ve got a century of an oppressive, corrupt system passed down from generation to generation to contend with.

She hums That’s good news, at the very least, and it makes sense; what better way to prove you can get shit done and deserve some power than by helping to dismantle an enormous terrorist group that’s been working for two decades. It doesn’t wholly convince her, though, that there might not be connections there that even Langer isn’t aware of. She had said it to Becca, not entirely seriously, but it’s a thought she can’t shake, because who is more desperate for power and willing to do anything to get it than blood purist terrorists?

“Yeah, that was clear,” Emmy nods. “But common enemies don’t undo harm already caused. And the legacy he’s loyal to...you could close your eyes and point at random in the bullpen, and you’d land on someone whose parents or relatives got fucked over with or without knowing because of it. Trust is harder won than that, which you know, of course. And like I said, doesn’t seem like he wants it, anyway.”

[emmyyaxley]

dantevalentino​:

The past few days have been an exercise in trying not to think. Trying not to be alone with his thoughts. Things used to feel a lot easier, to ignore what he didn’t want to think about and focus on what mattered—and he’s not sure why things have changed all of a sudden. Not sure why the second he’s somewhere quiet, and alone, he finds himself feeling a little sick.

It must be the stress. The NBO has ramped up everything they’ve been doing, all without warning him, and despite his best efforts, two of their agents have been captured, and whether or not they were expendable, it was an utter failure of his in the eyes of his father, he’s sure. Though there was literally nothing he could have done to stop it. For years, it had felt like things were paced out, spread out, so he could get a hand on the ball every time it came his way, and now it’s like he’s playing a one man game of dodgeball against an entire team of quidditch players, just doing what he can to not get smacked in the face. 

The sick feeling in his stomach, the tightness in his chest, it’s stress. It makes sense. But it means he’s been drinking more than usual. Distracting himself more than usual. Playing loud music and filling up as much of his space with other people as he possibly can, all the things that usually help—and none of them are.

So, okay, he’s hungover at work again. A bad trend. One he really ought to get a handle on before it gets worse. He’d been struggling so much to get anything done at his desk that twenty minutes ago he’d just… picked up his paperwork and moved it into the break room, so he can keep refilling his coffee cup every few minutes. After a few minutes, he’d stooped to charming the pot to refill the cup itself. Shockingly, it somehow hasn’t helped. 

What also doesn’t help is Emmy Yaxley walking in the room. Not because Yaxley is anything other than perfectly fine, but because the sight of her makes his stomach twist again. Stress. She’d gotten too close to the truth once before; there wasn’t much stopping her from getting there again except him doing his job well. Doing it better than he had been doing it. 

     “Well, well, well,” he says, as she looks him up and down. His chest tightens for a moment, as he does, a fleeting spike of panic and suspicion. Like at any moment, she might be about to tell him that she knows again. All he can do, though, is keep calm, look normal. “You look like the cat who got the cream. To what do I owe the honor?”

.

All in all, she doesn’t actually have any overly strong opinions on Dante Vitale, which is a rarity. From the little she’s gotten from him, he seems just fine, and she’s pretty sure that’s intentional. He’s always seemed like the typical pureblood asshole, just slightly less outright asshole-ish than someone like Hattori, leaning more on the vague charm. They’ve had a case together and it went well in her mind, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to her if privately he was the sort who had been less than happy to work with a squib. Any gossip she’s been able to uncover about him is downright boring in how stereotypical it is for a rich boy. Parties too much, drinks too much, sleeps with randos to fill the void, goes to brunch with Ransom Hazard, keeps everyone at an arms length, gives just enough to seem polite, but not enough to make any real connections. Not her cup of tea, but then, growing up with Ignatius Yaxley as her dad really did a number on any interest she may have had in pureblood boys who haven’t grown out of needing parents’ approval over breaking the cycle.

As long as he’s not a blood purist, he’s fine. But you never know what someone with more money than they know what to do with it, and a pureblood legacy to back it up, does when they get home at night, especially right now, so she’s cautious, and curious.

What this all says to her is that he’s the sort of person who could very easily not realize how attached someone gets, and hurt them without meaning to. And her cousin’s been through enough recently and not recently to have the guy he clearly has a crush on and wants to date, not just fuck around with, break his fragile heart. She’s always felt like an older sibling of sorts to her cousins, so it feels like her job to try to help keep that from happening as best she can, since she knows damn well Crow isn’t ever looking out for himself.

“You don’t know?” she asks, raising an eyebrow with a little hum. She comes into the room, and sits down at the table he’s clearly working at, leaning back in the chair to regard him. He looks tired, something tight just around the eyes giving him away, the sort of look of someone trying to keep it together, but truly one broken coffee maker away from losing it. Mood. 

“You’re sleeping with my little baby cousin, Vitale. My mom’s a Falconer-Quinn, and Crow and his siblings are like younger siblings to me,” she explains, because okay, he might not actually know that, since this whole office is a mess of relatives and pseudo relatives that’s impossible to keep straight, and she’s still only half sure how Lex is even related to anyone else, and she doesn’t want to offend anyone by asking. “So I think we need to have a little talk if you’re gonna keep doing that.”

[emmyyaxley]

auroraprilmonday​:

She nods along with Emmy’s plan as she stares at the shut door. Wallis had dropped some kind of ward when she entered it, which meant it could still be down since she was still in the room. Wallis wasn’t used to operating in such stealthy measures after all, and it stood a chance that she didn’t put up any kind of additional security wards after she slipped through, not realizing she was being followed. 

Leaning forward, she presses her ear against the door, just as Emmy suggested, but like Emmy she isn’t able to make out anything. They were going to have to go inside, there was simply no way about it. Retrieving her wand, she gives Emmy another nod of her head, indicating she was good with the plan if she still was. 

Starting with Emmy first, she casts a disillusionment charm over her, making sure it was a strong enough one before she turned her wand onto herself. After both charms were cast she turns to the door, and gently opens it, leaving only a small enough space for the two of them to enter before shutting it quietly behind Emmy. 

Once she turns around, she finds the closet they slipped into wasn’t so much as a closet, but rather a small storage room, filled with varying metal shelves stacked with boxes. She doesn’t spot Wallis at first, but can hear someone shuffling about further inside the room, behind a set of of shelving. Reaching out to hold Emmy’s hand, to make sure they didn’t accidentally become separated from one another, she leads her over to the set of shelves blocking their view of the room’s other occupant. 

When they reach them, she quietly moves a couple boxes to the side, so that both of them could get a vantage point of just what was happening. With the obstructions moved out of their way, she quickly spots Wallis, whose back was turned to them, as she seemed bent over a desk of some kind. From her spot she couldn’t tell just what Wallis was looking at, but stood to guess it had something to do with the theft. 

.

It always feels strange to have a disillusionment charm cast over her, a cold chill running over her as she disappears, but there’s no time to linger on that part of it or on all the amusing stories having to do with that very same charm her dad has told her. She steps back slightly to give April room to try the door, and sure enough it seems like the doctor didn’t think to put any wards back up, at least none that made any obvious sort of alert. 

She waits, giving April time to slip in, not actually able to tell when she does so, and then follows, April shutting the door very quietly behind her. It becomes clear as soon as they’re inside that this room is some sort of supply storage, bigger than expected, with dozens of shelves all over the room. Luckily, April takes her hand to make sure they can stick together despite not being able to see each other, and they move deeper into the room, closer to the sound of someone shuffling around, likely Dr. Wallis. Once they get to another shelf, a few of the boxes get shifted to the side, and they finally have a clear view of Dr. Wallis again.

It’s hard to guess what exactly she’s doing, but the fact that she’s bent over a desk in a storage room that was warded, when she’s certain that a prominent doctor of a zoo this large probably has her own office somewhere, tells her that it cannot be good. Emmy’s heart is racing in her chest, it feels like they’re so damn close to something helpful, but just far away enough literally that they can’t get anything from where they are. It’s a risk, she knows it is, but she really doesn’t know what the hell they can do but get closer, see something.

Before she can think the better of her idea, she gives April’s hand a little squeeze, as if to tell her she has a thought, and then crouches down carefully to move around the shelf and closer to the desk. She takes her time getting closer, making sure not to accidentally knock anything over, or disturb anything, barely even breathing, as she moves to get a better angle, to see what Dr. Wallis is looking at. And sure enough, she catches a glimpse. Her telekit is open, messages with someone displayed, and she can see the screen well enough to pick out the word eggs as she looks for it, but not much else as it goes dark. Maybe more importantly, though, there are papers, something that seems to be a schematic that she’s shuffling through, another that has a lot of writing on it, and she’s pretty sure it’s exactly what they need if she could just see better.

Emmy takes a cautious step forward, but the sweater she’s wearing, too fuzzy, too full apparently, gets caught on edge of a box, just enough to shift it, making an audible noise. She freezes in place as Wallis looks up, heart just about beating out of her chest, and glances around, looking directly at her but not seeing her thanks to April’s charm.

“Hello? Sam, is that you?” she calls tentatively.

[emmyyaxley]

kadrisozen​:

Kadri feels a spike of sympathy for Leda. She understands how that feels, when the magic doesn’t come and suddenly you look different in somebody elses eyes. When the love fades, when suddenly you realise that love isn’t really conditional after all. As hard as Kadri might have tried with her family, she knew that they wouldn’t stomach anything but perfection when it came to her. She could be the best at everything she set her mind to, but she could never be a true heir to the Sözen legacy. It was clear that Leda Graves had a family that loved them, through and through –– the way that they deserved to be loved. They might have been lacking, but love really did seem unconditional when it came to most of their family, when it came to their friends. Not, however, when it came to their uncle. 

Kadri had heared about the more extreme of the Graves, the one who wanted to stand stalwart and upright, to keep up the traditions of their kind. For some purebloods, tradition was everything, reputation was everything. She can understand how Leda might have been caught up in the family obligation, how they might have been trapped into going to see him because it was the good, polite, proper thing to do when one was in the same city as a family member. It seems like something they have to check out, the clear line of questioning they need to go on. 

“Someone unsavory,” She comments, with an arched eyebrow. “Like the man that tried to pick them up when you were all out together? The one that Leda almost went home with. Do you think there’s any chance Leda might have met up with him, gotten in to some kind of trouble?” 

They share another look, the two of them. Wondering. It must be a question that they’ve asked themself before, that they must have asked themself when Leda first went missing. Their friend was out there, somewhere, they hoped, and if a creep had talked to them it was something they must have considered. “I don’t know,” Jackie says, with a sigh. “He was kind of a massive creep, but Leda seemed into him. They were so drunk that night, though.” 

“I think he gave them a phone number, at some point.” Ana cuts in, and that’s something. If they could get into the records of Leda’s phone, they could check and see if the two had been in contact. Kadri didn’t think most aurors wasted a lot of time on no-maj phone records, when they had so much magic on their side, but it was something. 

“Well, we’ll look in to that as well, cover all of our bases.” Kadri says, and glances at Emmy. She doesn’t think that she has anything else to ask, that these girls can give them any more valuble information than they have. Still, she lets herself linger there in case Emmy has anything else to bring up with them.

.

If she had to put her money somewhere, the more that she hears from the friends, the more she’s inclined to say that Leda’s uncle is the reason they never showed back up, that he had something to do with it, even if it wasn’t him directly, but perhaps other people around him who have those same very particular old school pureblood beliefs. It makes her feel sick to her stomach, even considering it, makes her dread having to question him, just the two of them, if he sees the bright red stamps on both of their badges, how hard it might make things. She’s used to facing it. Hell, she willingly walked into the belly of the beast herself when she moved to Scotland for half a dozen years, and lived in that old manor that reeked of blood purity. She encountered a few people in that world who had managed to stay free, a few people who had never been outright enough to end up in Azkaban like her grandfather, and she has a sneaking suspicion that this Graves might be that sort of person.

And when she glances over at Kadri, Emmy gets the feeling that Kadri is thinking something similar. She has an even deeper familiarity with that whole world than Emmy does, she had been raised in it, had been expected to be a part of it, maybe had even wanted to be a part of it despite the fact that that world doesn’t want people like them there. So she hopes that that will help them when they head to visit the uncle, that she might be able to navigate someone like that better than Emmy would.

Kadri follows the line of questioning about the man that was mentioned in the case file as someone who tried to pick Leda up one of their nights out when they were acting out of character, and the look the two exchange is a familiar one. She’s been in that same position with friends, after all, something that feels like it verges on disaster, only barely stopped. But what if it wasn’t stopped, what if Leda had gotten in touch with that man after, and he was actually the one they were looking for.  It’s another lead, at least, and they have to take everything they can get. She gives Kadri a little nod when she looks over, signaling she’s finished, too, eager to follow these two leads. 

“I think that’s it for now, but we’ll get in touch if anything else comes up. I promise we’re going to figure out where Leda is, okay? We’re not going to let anyone get away with this,” she reassures them, one last time, before they get up, and head out. She feels horrible for the two girls, clearly blaming themselves for their missing friend, and she hopes they can bring good news, bring Leda back to them safely.

Once they’re outside, she turns to Kadri with a sigh. “We should look into who that man was that they traded numbers with, but I’ll be honest, I have a bad feeling about their uncle. Something just isn’t sitting right,” she shakes her head, as she looks down at her notebook briefly, skimming things. They didn’t get much new information, but sometimes it’s not about getting something new from a person of interest, but taking in the vibe, and everything they said about Leda’s uncle makes her worry.

“What do you think? I feel like we need to be better prepared before paying him a visit, but I’m also worried about waiting any longer, I’m worried at the very least he knows something that he didn’t tell the aurors who filed the initial report.”

[emmyyaxley]

theaurorfiles-npc​:

When she was first put on the NBO Task Force, she’d been in MACUSA for long enough to know what the point of it truly was. The point being to make a show to the public that things were getting done, that they didn’t need to worry, because MACUSA and President Roche had things all taken care of. She hopes though, she’s at least managed to do something here, especially now when she’s working with a squad that someone clearly made a point of filling to the brim with old ghosts of her own squad from years past.

She’s fairly certain its a test of some kind, assigning her of all people to this squad who half clearly hated her to some degree. She’s not certain she’s passing the test, and frankly, she’s at the point any more she doesn’t really care. 

When Yaxley’s head pokes through her door that afternoon, she still can’t help but see the small six year old she once knew as she looks to the fully grown adult in front of her. Which is why, despite everything she’s certain the young auror must think about her, she smiles at her softly before motioning her to come in and take a seat. 

“I have the time,” she says with a nod. Face falling for a moment, she studies Yaxley, trying to discern just what all she’s likely to know. Given how close it seemed the “Children of the Central Squad” as she liked to call them were, she can only assume Baron or Marleigh has since filled her in on what they knew back in 1998 about the complexities of just what she could and couldn’t say. 

“I was grateful to see the two of you paired together, you and Sergeant Hattori” she begins, having grown to be rather well trained in the art of talking around what she could at that point, “I’m certain you both learned quite a bit about each other while you were tracking down the Hermit.” 

.

It’s not that she’s expecting Langer to turn her away––she actually assumes she’s been waiting for this to happen, if not her, someone else of the half a dozen people in the office who have a connection in some way shape or form to her own old squad––but it still feels like a feat that she agrees, motions for her to come inside and take a seat. Maybe it should feel more like walking willingly into the belly of the beast. If Langer wanted to do something, needed to do something with her because someone who was wearing another person’s face told her to, it would be simple. Emmy has her telekit, yes, but there’s only so much throwables can do, and she didn’t even tell Becca that she was doing this right now, since she’s off on a case, planning to text her after, not wanting to distract her while she’s on it. But she doesn’t really think she needs to worry about that with Langer.

She smiles at her, after all, which isn’t necessarily unexpected in and of itself, except that the smile isn’t sinister, or vindictive, but something a little soft, a reminder again of the look she’d given her when she first came in with Hattori, the same sort of thing that had nearly thrown her off, considering how Marleigh had described her. It makes her curious, makes her wonder exactly what she’s thinking, how she sees all of this, but she knows it’s going to be very hard to get real answers, given the predicament. But Marleigh and Becca’s mom managed it, without anyone ending up dead, so she likes to think she can, too.

Langer’s words just confirm that, an artful way of talking around it while clearly talking about exactly why they both know she’s here. It’s a specific word choice, though, that she was grateful that the two of them were paired up on the case. This feels like a logic puzzle, like the sort of thing that her mom taught her how to do when she was little, something she ended up loving doing with her, finding the bigger picture in the clues.

“I think he learned more about me than I learned about him. He’s pretty much an open book, especially when you grow up a Yaxley. I just had what I already suspected confirmed, which is appreciated, so thank you, for that,” she says a little slowly. “But I’m glad we managed it without any problems. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye after that chat of yours at first.”

[emmyyaxley]

victorsierraa​:

Victor waits and watches, as Emmy considers his own words and ideas. He can see the wheels turning inside her head, and knows that she’s one of those clever ones, the type that makes him feel dull and a bit slow sometimes, even when he knows he really isn’t. Okay, he’s not the brightest crayon in the box, but he can clearly get by well enough. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be like the rest of them, though. Not with all of his hang ups, all of his weird quirks, his heavy past that lingers in his chest and seems to drag him down in the waters of life. 

When she actually starts talking, he nods along. He’s selfishly glad that she agrees with him, that she thinks his ideas must hold at least a little bit of weight. If he knows one thing and knows it well, it’s probably shady bullshit like this, like the way you can kill someone to make a statement and get everybody else to fall in line. Victor saw that happen often enough, back in the old days. You were only as strong as your weakest link, and Cain believed that your weakest link should be destroyed when it was identified, before it gave the others any silly ideas. Ideas about what they could do, what they could be. Victor became the weak link, in a way, when he made his decsion to betray them –– but he was still here, he was still standing, and he had more of a life to live. 

Emmy agreed with him, but they still weren’t technically any closer to understanding what was going on here, what the exact motive for a crime like this might have been. Victor was sure there must be a common factor between each and every case, and he was sure that they would find it –– but it was impossible to imagine, in that moment, exactly how they would do it. He supposed that was where the detective work came in. They would have to keep looking, have to work until they found something that led them to the answer. And this was the first case he was on that was really like that –– Eris had know, like an instinct, what was going on when they were in Hawaii. The case with Brittany had become scarily clear scarily quickly. This was mystery after mystery, and it made Victor’s heart beat a little bit faster. 

He nods his head. “Jackson. I guess that makes as much sense as everybody else.” And it did, “Seems like it’ll lead us somewhere.” Somewhere. Somewhere was a hell of a lot better than nowhere. And strangely, he had a good feeling about it. He pulls out his notes, checks the address that they have for him, for this company that sold the warehouse in the first place, with a small hum, he nods his head. 

They walk outside again, thinking carefully about the small number of clues they had found inside the charred building. Getting out into the open, they offer Emmy their arm again to side along her to the building where they could find Jackson at work. 

.

It’s helpful to see the warehouse, but not helpful enough, and she’s pretty certain that whoever did this is professional enough at it that they know better than to leave behind anything they didn’t mean to leave behind in plain sight. But at the very least she feels certain about some part of it, that Victor is right when he guesses that this was sending a message, one way or another. The other fires feel that way, too, even without seeing the scenes of either of them yet, just knowing the seemingly unconnected circumstances, and the way that both of them were something of a shock. But maybe not a shock to everyone. She has a feeling someone slipped up here, or these people pissed off exactly the wrong person. She only wishes that they had something better to go off of from this first stop, but it was going to be one of those cases that kept them on their toes, where they needed to keep their eyes wide open, ready for anything to lead them to something helpful.

Victor agrees with Jackson being the next stop, and she just grabs the half charred recipe, and one of the partially shattered bottles carefully with the hem of her jacket before they leave, putting them into her bag, with plans to possibly bring them into the office for closer inspection, if need be. She also hopes against hope that they might end up hearing some news about the unknown body being identified before they get too deep, but she’s not holding her breath for that one. “I think we’ll get something from them,” she says as they head outside, though, and she does feel like that’s true. She takes Victor’s arm, and it’s only a few seconds before they’re outside the company that apparently sold the warehouse.

They talk to the receptionist, get directed to Jackson’s office easily enough, and find them there, not looking surprised to see two aurors walking through their door. Emmy goes through the normal introductions, and Jackson gestures for them to sit, and jumps right into things, clearly as anxious about this as they are, even without a personal connection to the case.

“I was wondering when someone else was going to come by. I haven’t had a lot of time to go through everything––it’s a lot more than you would expect from a sale that should’ve been simple, but I do have some things,” Jackson says as they pull out a thick stack of files from one of their desk drawers.

“Anything at all that you’ve found will be a big help for us,” Emmy reassures them. “It’s a weird case, not a lot linking these arson together, but figuring out who owned that warehouse will be a huge step in the right direction.”

“I’ve been trying my best to find what I can about the sale since I spoke with the last aurors, but I’ll be honest, it’s been difficult. And it’s...strange,” Jackson explains, with a frown.

“We just stopped by the warehouse ourselves, and it’s clear that it was being used for illegal activities, so I’m not surprised it’s been hard to find anything. When you say it’s strange, what exactly do you mean?” she prompts.

[kadrisozen]

( kadri’s lovely lovely apartment, the night after the letters, @emmyyaxley​ ) 

Kadri isn’t some kind of weakling who can’t cope on her own. If there’s anything she’s been, its strong, all of her life. She learned to deal with the hard things that life threw at her, grew armor over her soft places and vowed not to let people hurt her, not to let the worlds injustices cause her too much pain. She was a girl with a plan, and she knew that she would make everybody eat their words one day, that she would reclaim her rightful place in the world and gain back everything she thought she had deserved from birth. 

That didn’t mean that she wasn’t shaken. It wasn’t so much the contents of the letter that had shaken her –– she had heard enough about her own failings from her parents, all of her life, the things that she lacked and the embarrassment that she was, a stain on the Sözen name. It was the fact that they knew where she lived, that they might decide to act against her as some kind of statement before she could prove herself truly worthy and reclaim what was there. It was what her and Emmy had seen, when they investigated the case of Leda Graves, what had happened to them and between them. That was enough to make her scared. 

Part of her considers asking Dante to come over, but she had leaned on him so heavily the night before, allowed herself to feel small in the company of someone who truly understood her. And there was another answer to the creeping fear and slight loneliness, one that might work to her advantage in the long run.

Emmy Yaxley. She shouldn’t be surprised that its easy to get Emmy to come over –– the offer of a quiet night, a sleepover of sorts. Team bonding. Yuck. Kadri had never been one for that mushy shit, but it was working for her now. She answers the door with a small smile, after the knock comes. Emmy on the other side, a sight more welcome than she’d like to admit. 

“Right on time, Em.” She sighs, opening the door wider to let her come inside. The apartment is a carefully constructed thing –– fashionable, but cozy. Perfectly tidy, but with enough of Kadri laced in with the clean cut lines that makes it feel personal. Pictures on the walls, throw blankets draped over the back of armchairs. Dark browns and reds and soft fabrics, becaue Kadri never really thrived in the land of pastel. “I don’t really have much here, but I thought we could order in, maybe. If you’re hungry.” 

[emmyyaxley]

She’s not surprised to get a message from Kadri soon after everything happens, she had been intending to message her, and Todd, too, although he beat her to the punch, of course. After all, they’re the squib squad, even if they’re not best best friends or anything, there are some things that run deep, and being the three squibs on a squad full of magic does that, especially in the face of something like this. What surprises her, though, is the content of the messages, the way things turn. Because Kadri asks her if she wants to come over for a nice night in, a sleepover, the sort of thing that she does with Becca regularly even just by virtue of it being easier to crash with her after a night out, the sort of thing that she and April do some nights, despite living together always. And she likes to think their case went well, despite the horrifying things that they found, that they worked well together, and got closer for finally being on a case together, but that doesn’t change the fact that they don’t do things like this. She can’t remember ever hanging out with Kadri without work as the context.

But then again, maybe things went better than she thought on their case, and maybe this moment, this terrifying moment is the sort of thing that makes it easier to reach out, to cross those invisible boundaries that have been set. Emmy couldn’t be alone right now, even if she wanted to, too afraid about it all, but even more terrified for everyone else, feeling helpless, like there’s nothing she can do. So it’s a no brainer to say yes to Kadri, she would’ve said yes even if they hadn’t been sent threatening letters by terrorists. 

Emmy makes an extra effort to be there just on time, finds the place easily, and heads there, knocking. She’s nervous, even though she knows she shouldn’t be. But this feels big, being invited over, having the chance to really talk, especially in the face of the letters.

“I’m nothing if not punctual,” she smiles as soon as she sees Kadri, maybe a little wider than usual, hearing her call her Em. For a second, she considers giving Kadri a hug, because she knows that she’s certainly wanted a lot of hugs in the past twenty-four hours, but she stops herself, not really knowing where Kadri is on the physical affection scale, and definitely not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable when it’s already a huge leap that she asked her over in the first place. Instead, she just follows her in, takes in the gorgeous apartment, cozy and warm, lots of rich colors and soft things. 

“Wow, your place is so beautiful. Very you,” Emmy says, looking back over her shoulder at Kadri with a soft smile. She sets her bag down unceremoniously, and pulls out a bottle of wine, holding it out to Kadri. “Ordering something sounds great. And I brought some pink wine, just in case we need to destress a little. Probably should’ve brought a bottle each, after yesterday, but I didn’t think that far ahead...thanks for inviting me over, by the way. I’m really glad I could come.”

[emmyyaxley]

break room, probably a wednesday morning, post threatening nbo letters       ( @dantevalentino​. )

All things considered, Emmy likes to think that she’s been doing alright. Despite the stress of it all, she feels lucky that she was one of the first to know about the true intentions behind the Squib Relations Office attack, because it meant that she was able to have her panic, have her breakdown at it all before they were even hit with the letters, and the mass panic started. It means that she’s been better able to focus on everyone else, trying to do the very little that she can to make sure it doesn’t feel like they won by doing this. Which is...easier said than done, when she doesn’t know what can be done, besides just continuing on. But then again, Emmy likes to think that that in and of itself, all three of them on the squad staying and working even harder, might be doing something in the face of all the blood purists who think they’re winning.

And the good news here is that there are plenty of other things to keep her occupied right now, to keep her from spiraling into panic constantly with just how helpless she really feels underneath it all. She’s got another awful in a different way group to be worrying about, but there are also plenty of personal things, too, which she’s very grateful for.

This morning, though, her brain is doing that thing where she can’t focus on the paperwork she needs to get done, and her whole body feels restless, no matter how hard she tries, to the point where she’s made a Ransom number of trips into the break room for no real purpose other than getting up. On this trip, though, she’s given the perfect temporary distraction in the form of Dante by the coffee maker. She hasn’t had a chance to give him the talk yet, and she thinks that’s exactly the sort of thing she could use this morning to get her on track.

“Well, well, well,” she hums, pausing in the doorway, leaning against it, making a big show of looking him up and down, before stepping into the room, “Look who we have here.”

[emmyyaxley]

at some point post arresting the hermit probably, during the work day     ( @theaurorfiles-npc​. )

She’s not exactly sure what she’s doing, in all honesty. It would be a lie to say that most of the time she comes up with detailed plans before jumping into things; she’s more of a follow your instincts sort of person when it comes to things, only vague outlines of ideas beforehand, those concepts forming fully once she’s out in the thick of things. And that works on cases, but she’s not sure it’s going to work here.

Even after being filled in more fully, Emmy doesn’t know if she fully understands everything that’s been going on for literal decades, possibly even a damn century, with these Appius people. She knows that there are way more of them than any of them could probably guess, even their own members, and that it feels pretty unlikely that anyone could ever take them down completely, unless somehow high up members decided to cut things off, but that doesn’t feel particularly helpful in seeing what she might be able to find from Langer. Especially because she also knows now, thanks to the long talks she’s had filling her in on everything, that Langer’s not actually going to be able to talk about it, without risking literally dying.

Becca seems confident that Emmy’s going to be able to manage to get something helpful, but she’s not as convinced. The reasoning makes sense, of course, Langer wasn’t exactly secretive about everything during the case, after all, to the point where it’s clear that Hattori knows that she knows now, but it could’ve been a play far beyond what she could comprehend, she thinks. There’s nothing to do but try, though, and it feels imperative to do it, given the danger from two separate corners lurking––at least it feels like she might be able to do something about this one.

So she heads down to Langer’s office, just after lunch, before she needs to get back to things, and takes a deep breath before knocking on the slightly ajar door, and poking her head in.

“Hi... I was hoping we could talk for a few minutes, if you have the time. I figure Hattori got his private meeting, I should get mine,” she says, voice more serious than usual despite herself. It’s hard not to focus on how her heart is racing, but she tries to ignore it, stay confident.

[emmyyaxley]

auroraprilmonday​:

She chews on her bottom lip as she listens to Emmy, her gaze still on the back door Wallis left behind. If they had the time, she’d prefer to do a concealment, maybe disguise themselves as fellow zoo workers or security staff, but the more they waited to follow Wallis, the further away she’d get, and they’d risk potentially losing her. 

“I think we’ll just have to go for it,” she replies, “I can throw a silencing charm on our feet, make sure our sound doesn’t carry after we get behind that door.” That of course was assuming they’d even be able to get through that door. She didn’t see Wallis use her keycard to leave the facility, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t have been some additional security wards on the door either. 

Removing her wand, she casts the charm on both of their feet, before giving Emmy one last look to make sure she was ready before heading in the direction of the door. Once they reach it, she takes a breath before pushing in on the metal bar at its center, bracing for an alarm sound or some kind of resistance, fortunately though the door gives in easily, and soon she’s finds herself in some kind of hallway of one of the zoos various staff access buildings. 

Wallis disappears around a corner further down the hallway, luckily not noticing the two aurors that were now on her trail. Nodding for Emmy to follow, she starts to walk carefully down the hallway, even with the silencing charm on their feet she is cautious not to do anything that’d drawl attention to them. If another staff member caught them, all it’d take was a flash of their badges to evade any questions, but that’d only put more distance between them and Wallis. 

After they turn down the next hallway she holds up her hand to let Emmy know to stop, as she watches Wallis tap what looked to be a maintenance closet with the tip of her wand, muttering some kind of spell as she does so, before disappearing behind the door. 

“She went into that closet,” she whispers to Emmy. 

.

Emmy nods enthusiastically along with April’s idea, unable to keep a small smile from her lips, excited to just go for it and hopefully get something out of this, a big break in the case. She’s ready to go. She waits until April casts the charm over both of their feet, and then follows her to the door. Luckily, it’s easy enough to get through, no noticeable alarm or anything. Maybe it’s not such a surprise, considering the door is from a staff area, but it does make her wonder if there’s not more security that they’re not able to see or hear; something that they could always fall back on looking into if they don’t find something following Wallis.

Stealth isn’t a natural skill of hers, but she’s gotten a lot better at being quiet, at slipping into places unseen when she needs to, and she follows April closely, taking after her lead of being extra careful. She pauses when April holds up a hand, holds her breath as she watches Wallis enter the closet, and she can feel her heart racing, knowing they need to get in there.

“Should we follow?” she asks, quietly, looking at her, biting her lip as she considers it. 

She doesn’t give April a chance to answer the pretty much rhetorical question, though, before she steps forward carefully, and moves to the door to listen carefully. But she can’t hear anything behind the door, at least not with her own hearing. The wheels are turning in her head already, though, not wanting to waste any time, in case the doctor is doing something that could lead them to their answer. The idea comes fast, and she’s not actually sure it’s the right move, but she’s not going to waste time, and it’s April, she knows that she’ll tell her straight up if the idea is worth the risk of it or not. 

“Do you want to see if you can hear anything? And then I say we follow. Disillusionment charms, maybe, and open the door; we can slip in if something is going on, and I’d give all my money betting she’ll write it off as forgetting to lock the door or recharm it, especially when she’s clearly upset. But it’s too weird that she went in there not to follow, right? Does that sound too crazy of a plan?”