* k a d r i !

Kadri Sözen. Twenty Eight. Squib. Pacific Squad. She/Her. "The world never did help a smart girl." & Points –– 180 & Cases ––

[kadrisozen]

( dante’s apartment, the night that the letters got there, @dantevalentino​ ) 

It’s been a strange day. She’d expected something bad to happen, after the attack. But Kadri was one of thise people who felt, for the most part, like something untouchable. She was crystal, glass. Cold to the touch for most people, distant. She didn’t realise that made her easily cracked as well, when she had tried so hard for all her life to be someone strong. Someone who didn’t need help, someone who could get by without love. 

Dante was someone she went to when everything seemed wrong. He was the oldest friend that she had, after all. He might be the only real friend that she had. The only part of her childhood or teenage years that sounds out as something golden and undamaged. He’s hers, through and through, and she loves him to the ends of the earths. 

So she ends up here, at the end of the day. Tucked away in Dante’s apartment because her own suddenly feels like a war zone, like anything could happen when she closed her eyes for sleep. She had no magic, after all. Nothing to protect her if someone came to get her in the night, if someone decided that she was better of dead. She feels shakey with it, but she’s still trying to pull herself together, still trying not to be something weak and pitiful and sad.

“You sure you want to hang out, tonight?” She asks, just to make sure. “Sure there are lots of things you could be doing. I’ve seen the way that hot new recruit looks at you.” It should sound teasing but it ends up a little bit uncertain instead. 

[kadrisozen]

malachaifortune​:

Lox doesn’t seem to recognize them as he greets the both of them at the door in that ordinarily impatient, inconsiderate way of his, and it’s a small blessing, really—it’s been a long time, and it’s nice to know the man doesn’t seem to care enough about anyone else to hold an actual grudge, because Mal had pissed him off quite badly the last time they’d met, years ago, both students at the time, practically a lifetime ago. No, Lox was always quite preoccupied with his artifacts, his work; Mal had called him a prick and they meant it, but they also know it’s not malicious, he’s just the sort of person who can’t be fucked to deal with other people.

And the way he treats the two of them is no different. Mal flashes their badge and he checks the both of them and nods and then leads them inside, no ceremony about it. They’re sure they’ll be rushed out just as quickly, when he’s decided they’ve wasted enough of his time with questions.

Mal would love to take a look around the work space, but they get the feeling they won’t be allowed to. Instead, ox sits back at his desk, looks up at the two of them expectantly, a clear signal that they’re to start asking questions and not draw this out, so they give him a smile and a nod. They’ll start with the artifacts, and then move onto asking about the apprentice—clearly Lox’s order of priority, to get him talking.

     “Our file has record of four artifacts that are missing—the staff, the necklace, the box, and the battery. Have you done a full inventory of the workshop, since then? Is it possible there’s anything else missing we might need to be aware of, both for our own safety and to ensure your property all makes it back to you?”

It’s easy to fall into a sort of appeasing pattern of speaking, framing things in a way Lox will respond positively. If there wasn’t a real danger with these items being out in the world, they’d probably be less patient about it, but Lox is the only starting point they have, other than the house elf, and they know how touchy he can be, know he’ll be likely to shut down completely if they overstep.

     “I did a full inventory of the workshop just before reporting the items missing, and a second one shortly thereafter to confirm. You can see the papers if you like,” he adds, waving a hand, and a drawer opens in a filing cabinet to his side. It’s good—it’s protocol, Mal knew he would have been thorough, but it’s nice to confirm it anyway.

      “I’ll take your word for it, for now, and we’ll take a look if we find any discrepancies later,” they say, with a nod to Kadri. “You noticed them missing shortly after they were taken, I presume? Can you tell us a little about how you discovered that they were missing, and if you noticed anything unusual at the time, aside from your apprentice’s disappearance?” 

Kadri falls back for the time being, allowing Mal who definitely had more experience in things like this to fully take the lead and start the questioning. They were the expert, after all, when it came to dark magic and dark magical artifacts. She glances around the room, cataloging everything that she can see for later. It’s a dark space, but it does seem perfectly organised. Lox is clearly the kind of man who is meticulous when it comes to records, to notes, research and writings all filed away carefully, where no trouble could be caused. 

“I have an eye for these things. I noticed something was wrong the moment that I went downstairs.” Lox tells them. “Walked into that room a thousand times, and those objects have never moved –– not since i locked the battery up in its case last week, when I concluded my research into it leading up to the exhibition. That was what I noticed first. They were all present and accounted for when I went to bed the night before, around 1am, so someone had to take them before I woke up again at 7. Now, I’m sure you’re asking –– don’t I have wards? Of ocurse I do, you’ve seen the security just to get in the door. But any burgaler attracted to dark objects like this would probably have some level of experience when it comes to dismantling wards, or subverting them somehow, if they were smart enough.”

“You really believe it was an outside job?” Kadri asks, despite herself. She’s curious, because if it was her, she’d think the answer was an obvious one. Missing artifacts, missing apprentice. One plus one was usually equal to two, in her book. “Is there any way that your assistant could have had anything to do with it? They would have been keyed in to the wards, wouldn’t they?”

“Yancey? No. I mean, of course he was allowed in, but he’s ––” Lox shakes his head, and looks at Kadri. He doesn’t seem to think much of her, when he takes the time to look her over. “The kid was fine, as far as apprentices go. But he was just a squib, there’s just no way he would have been capable of a theft like this. He couldn’t even handle most of those artifacts without gettng himself blown up. And he was smart enough not to do that.” 

“Just a squib.” She echoes back, with a nod of her head. Her tone was bland, though, as she jotted down notes about everything he had said thus far in their little meeting. “Then he must have gotten kidnapped by the same men who stole your artifacts.” 

[kadrisozen]

( the office, briefly, a couple of days after the letters, @aurorhattori​ ) 

Eris Hattori was kind of an enigma. When they ran into each other at the charity auction a couple of weeks back, Kadri hadn’t thought much of him beyond his name. Now, she’d gotten to know him a smidge better, and still the most important thing about him might have been his name. His name and his knowledge of magic, and the dark spark in his eye, the way he looked at the party, exaiming dark books. 

She didn’t know exactly how she could use him to her advantage, but some ideas had been forming. They’d been brewing since her case with Mal and the cursed objects, obsessed with the way things had turned out for them. Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. And she had plans to use Mal if she could as well, to see if their own knowledge of the dark arts could be turned to her advantage. She was sure that it could be. But she had to keep every avenue open, had to make sure that she explored every possibility. 

She strolls over to Eris’ desk, smile in place, bag in hand. 

“You look hungry, Hattori. I hope they’re not working you too hard.” She muses, with a tilt of her head, eyes raking over him with that same examining edge they had taken on at the party. She makes a thoughftul noise, partially a show. “I must be your knight in shining armour and insist that you take me out for lunch. For your own good.” 

An arch of an eyebrow, another examining glance. “Plus, there’s something I want to pick your brain about, if you’re up for it.” 

[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.” 

[kadrisozen]

aurorduffyzanetti​:

location: greenway’s grounds coffee emporium

time: day after nbo squib letters

status: closed to @kadrisozen​

He’d been holding his breath for something to happen, ever since Squib Relations announced the bombing was a way to cover up the theft of all squib records, he knew it was only a matter of time before the group showed just what exactly they intended to do with such information. Sending a harshly worded letter likely isn’t the last he’ll hear from them, he knows that all too well, which only proves to deepen the worry that’d been steadily growing in his gut over the last few weeks. 

He puts on a brave face though, because he has to, because if he does anything outside of acting like he had everything under control right now, he’s sure he’s going to fall apart at the thought of his bloodstatus being the cause of any harm that may fall on the girls and Brittany. 

And it’s in that fight, the fight to live his life rather than live in fear of it, that he puts on the ridiculous outfit he’s wearing in that moment, fully taking Kadri’s “dress to impress” remark to heart as he walks into the coffee shop that afternoon, bow-tie and all. 

“Never joke about dressing up to me, Sözen,” he greets as he moves to take a seat across from her, “because as a father of two girls who enjoy the occasional tea party- I will take it seriously.” 

.

Kadri knows that she isn’t exactly the warmest and fuzziest person in the office. That she hasn’t made the same powerful kind of friendships that everybody else has. She’s been kind, and she’s been charming, and shes done the minimum of trying to make sure that at the very least nobody hated her. But she knows that she can seem overly focused, like if you disturb her from her work you might get a far less friendly variation of her smile. And that’s something she’s been battling against lately, something she’s been trying to fix. She knows just as well as anybody else that having friends and allies in this world can get you farther than just hard work –– so it’s time to branch out from just Dante, time to really make an impact. 

She doesn’t think that Todd will be all that diffuclt to warm up to. He seems nice, always has. Kind and warm and –– she doesn’t even want anything from him, not really. There’s no prize he can give her, no ulterier motive she can work toward. He’s just nice, and this lunch might be okay. Maybe it will make her look more approachable all around. Maybe it will just be... comforting, to talk to somebody else who knows, who felt that jolt of fear spread through them when a letter arrived to their home. 

She’s sitting, waiting at the coffee shop when Todd finally appears. And she can’t help but smile, a wide thing, with a little laugh escaping out of her chest. 

“Damn,” She says, as he takes the seat across from her. It was a little bit adorable, and definitely something soft. She could see him there, playing earnestly with his daughters, tea parties and little games. “I should joke more often. You clean up nice, Duffy-Zanetti.”

[kadrisozen]

dantevalentino​:

     “Yeah, of course,” Tabitha answers, nodding to Kadri. “Like I said before, I’m in charge of the store’s security, and not to brag, but it’s pretty top notch. Especially in our restricted books section, which is where those were being kept. It’s lock and key, literally, a physical lock and key, but also a bunch of wards I designed myself that should have alerted me if someone tried to access any of the books in there without me being there to unlock them.”

Timmy pouts, a little, behind her, looks like he’s about to say something—something about this Midnight person, if Dante had to guess—but Tabitha shoots him a look, like they’ve had this conversation a dozen times before, and then turns back to the two of them and keeps going instead.

     “No offense, but not even Timmy could get those books without me handling it for him. I take that stuff really seriously.” 

      “Could you show us the section?” he jumps in, and Tabitha looks reluctant to tear her eyes away from Kadri, which has him rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses, but she nods after a second and gestures for them to follow her.

     “It’s right over here,” she says, leading them into the darkest back corner of the drab store, where, sure enough, there’s a tall glass-fronted cabinet with a physical antique-looking padlock on it and, a wave of his wand reveals, a complicated tangle of carefully crafted wards, and Tabitha honestly seems to have gotten all of the intelligence in her family if she designed these herself. 

They follow Tabitha through the shop, down to the darkest corner. Tombstone’s Tomes seems like one of those places that lives for the aesthetic –– the dark and the gloomy, with very little actual flair beyond the minor touches. It’s surprising, given the way that Timmy acts, but she can see what he might have been going for when he built this place. 

With a wave of Dante’s wand, the shimmering substance of the wards reveals itself to them. Kadri may not have any practcical experience when it comes to magic like this, but even she could appreciate how well crafted they were, the artistry that went in to them. She eyes them with appreciation, with a hint of jealousy. Tabitha must have been smart, indeed. Must have been a natural, must have studied this, must have held some kind of passion in her heart. Kadri likes her all the more because of it. 

“If the wards were disturbed, it would alert you instantly, yes?” She asks, with a delicate arch of her brow, a curious tone in her voice. She thinks she’d like to hear about it, from someone who clearly boarded on being an expert in the topic. “An alert on your telekit?”

“Yeah, you got it.” She says, pointing out a certain section of the wards, a warm tone in her voice. “Right here, anything happens and me and Tim would get clued in about it,” Tabitha agrees. “But we didn’t get anything the day that the books went missing. Not even a blip. No one could have gotten through these things in the first place, and definitely not without the two of us hearing about it.” 

[kadrisozen]

emmyyaxley​:

She can already tell as soon as they’re inside just how well she and Kadri are going to work together. It seems like they’ve got a similar style, and she hopes that it’ll also be a benefit of theirs that they’re both young, friendly, can relate well to this terrible situation, easily could’ve been in it themselves. Emmy does the same as Kadri, pulling out her own little pink notebook, too, out of habit, and she thinks even better for both of them to take notes, and be able to compare once they leave, in case one of them notices something the other doesn’t. As it is, though, she doesn’t think these two girls have anything to do with it, just purely concerned friends worried for Leda’s safety. 

“It wasn’t your fault, you did what any friend would have. You couldn’t have known that they wouldn’t come back,” Emmy reassures them, but she knows that nothing is going to make them feel better until they can find Leda. It makes her heart ache for them both, though, and worry for Leda, too. She’s glad that they have people who care so deeply, people who want to find them like this, even besides just family. 

On the subject of family, though, she can’t help but wonder about this uncle of theirs. She agrees with everyone else’s gut feelings that he’s the one they’re going to need to look in the most deeply, but anything they can get before they make it to them will make it easier when they do. “Do you know of any reason they might have been so anxious about stopping to see their uncle?” Emmy asks.

Jackie gives Ana a look that already paints a very vivid picture, before letting out a sigh. “They didn’t talk as much about him as they rest of their family, but they made it pretty clear that they didn’t think he liked them as much as their siblings, because of the whole no magic thing,” she explains, looking at Ana again.

“It’s that sort of thing, like, where you have an old relative, who’s super conservative, and probably doesn’t approve of what you’re doing, but never actually says it out loud. That’s the vibe that I’ve always gotten from the way they talk about their uncle,” Ana elaborates, and Emmy knows that sort of thing well, the sort of thing she has a feeling she’d get from her mom’s family, if they ever saw them. 

“Did it seem normal for them to be so worried about the visit with their uncle? I’m wondering if it was a visit they planned themself, or one he asked them to make, maybe,” she reasons.

“I think it was sort of family obligation, you know, when you’re in the area, and you have to have lunch with your relative, because your parents would want you to. I’m not sure who planned it, really,” Jackie says, shaking her head. “But I don’t think that necessarily means any. Like we said, they’ve been acting a little more reckless. I’m worried they could’ve gotten picked up by someone unsavory if they went out alone.”

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.

[kadrisozen]

[incoming telekit message] cadet todd duffy-zanetti: i do, but thanks, i appreciate it. did you want to meet up during our lunch break tomorrow? we can exchange nbo love letters, and discuss future plans of corrupting this wholesome community with our no good ways.

That sounds nice. I’ve been meaning to go over the agenda. Pick me up at one and dress to impress. 

[kadrisozen]

[incoming telekit message] cadet todd duffy-zanetti: called me a dangerous procreator or something to that effect. brittany is about ready to go headhunting. how are you doing tho?

Let me know when she heads out, I’ll go with her. I’m pissed, but I guess I’ve been hearing things like this for a long time. 

I’m sorry about what they said to you, though. I’m sure you know they’re wrong. But if you need anything, let me know. 

[kadrisozen]

[incoming telekit message] cadet todd duffy-zanetti: hey, did you get any weird creepy mail today by chance?

Another win for the squib squad. Let me guess, you’re an embarrassment and a disgrace as well? 

[kadrisozen]

– found in a red unmarked envelope inside kadri’s mailbox at her home address

[kadrisozen]

dantevalentino​:

Tombstone doesn’t seem like he’s lying, despite the impression the case file had given. He answers Kadri’s questions vaguely but seemingly honest, his whole demeanor making the report in the case file seem less like a kind of suspicious cageyness and more like a genuine kind of ditziness which seemed to fit together with Tombstone’s entire… thing. 

     “Of course,” he says, with a nod, and then asks, “And were you aware, when you were purchasing the books from this ‘sketch’ man that they were, in fact, illegal, to sell, to buy, and to own?”

      “Does…” Tombstone starts, hesitant. “Does that… change anything? Because, um, I totally had no idea.”

Technically, if he doesn’t have the books anymore, there’s nothing they can do about the fact that he bought and once owned and possibly intended to sell the illegal books, and unfortunately Timmy Tombstone doesn’t seem like the kind of criminal mastermind who is playing dumb to throw them off of his scent. He’s about to open his mouth and reassure Tombstone that they’re not planning on arresting him, and he can talk to them, when a voice from behind he and Kadri interrupts.

      “Christ, Timmy, I told you to tell me when the aurors got here,” the voice says, and Dante turns to see a wix who, if he had to guess, is almost certainly Tombstone’s sister, Tabitha, the store’s security expert. She has a long-suffering look on her face as she looks from her brother to the two of them. “Sorry—I’m Tabitha,” she adds, holding her hand out for Dante to shake—which he does—and then to Kadri, who, Dante notices, she gives a quick and vaguely impressed once-over. “Can I help you all with something?”

.

Kadri presses her lips together, momentarily, reigning in some kind of amusement. She spares herself and doesn’t try to glance over at Dante, knowing that their warmer relationship will make her lower her guard, and she might end up laughing or something equally terrible to do in front of a witness. She’s sure they can laugh about it later over a drink, go to one of those ritzy wine bars she’s had her eye on and gossip the night away, cackle about whatever the hell was up with Timmy Tombstone. 

Of course, she’s far more impressed with the woman who walks into the room, as Kadri turns to look at her. Okay, this was something that Kadri could work with. She did like them competent, after all. An attractive woman who knew a thing or two about security. Tabitha definitely seems to have a better grip on things than her brother does, a calmer demeanor that matches up with exactly what had been relayed in the case file they were given. She reaches out, takes Tabitha’s hand and gives it a firm shake in return, letting her touch linger for just a moment. 

“Cadet Kadri Sözen,” She introduces herself, slow and with confidence, as she should. She talked like she knew she was the best person for the job, because she was, because sometimes people liked that about her. “We were just asking your brother here a few questions about his books.” 

Tabitha glances back at her brother, looks somehow long-suffering about it all, before smiling at the two aurors in front of here. “Well, I’ll hope you’ll discount anything incriminating he might have told you about himself. He really doesn’t know what’s going on around here, uh, most of the time.”

“Tab,” Timmy cuts in, an offended noise, and Kadri can’t help but smile at it.  

“Don’t worry,” She reassures Tabitha, and she thinks that the amusement really is coming through in her voice, “We aren’t looking to drag anybody here away in handcuffs. Not until we really get to the bottom of things. It was noted in our file that you believe the books might not have been stolen at all. Can you elaborate on that for me, please?” 

[kadrisozen]

malachaifortune​:

She raises an eyebrow at him and he shoots her a look: it sounds simple, it sounds obvious, all of it sounds like common sense advice, but they’ve been around artifacts that can pull the common sense right out of your head, and sometimes you need a rule to follow to push past all of that. Not to mention, smart as Kadri may be, not everyone they work with operates at the same level she does, and they’ve never worked together before, so better safe than sorry.

They almost worry, for a moment, but she seems to get it, after a moment, seems to accept that it isn’t personal, and agrees to the lot of it, and that’s as good as it’s going to get, for now. They pull their own gloves out of the pocket of their coat and shake their head.

      “No, we’d might as well get this over with,” they say, nodding towards the door. It’s a short walk to Lox’s lab—Mal hasn’t been there, before, but it’s impossible not to know where the cursebreaker has set up his operation. Just a few minutes from the office and they find themself at the door of his lab, Kadri at their side, and, unsurprisingly, the process of getting inside is appropriately annoying: they knock, and then a golden series of runes appear in front of them, like a keypad for some sort of access code. They slip their gloves on, tap one off to the side, and they can hear Lox’s voice come over some sort of speaker. Like a no-maj door buzzer or something. 

     “What is it? I’m busy.”

     “Pacific Squad,” they reply, holding down the rune again. “We’re here about your missing artifacts.” 

     “Ah— Yes, one minute, I’ll be right down—”

It isn’t a very long walk from their office to Lox’s lab. The familiar streets fold out before them, and Kadri falls in to step alongside Mal. They know exactly where they’re going, and Kadri hopes that they’ll be a good lead on this case. They almost certainly will be, with their past experience when it comes to curses and the breaking therein. Kadri really would like for this to go well for her, for her to be able to learn something new about the way of the world, for her to stand out on a case as intense as this, with important things hanging in the balance. If she could shine, she might really go places, she might get the promotion that she’s been angling for, people might start to take her more seriously. 

Lox is true to his word, when he says he’ll be down in a minute. She tilts her head at the sound of seveal locks coming undone, on the other side of the door. High levels of security, she thinks, and glances at Mal beside her. More symbols seem to burn on the door, when it finally sears its way open with Lox’s work on the other side of the door. The door opens with what must be a harsh pull, a sort of clattering, and there Lox is on the other side. Handsome, glasses on his face, short hair. He looks at them seriously, and opens the door further. 

“Pacific Squad. That’s about time. You’d think someone would have gotten here sooner.” He muses, sounding resigned to it as he curls a finger at them. That tone in his voice that tells Kadri he expects good work, expects this to be solved as soon as possible. She can’t imagine what it wuld have been like to work under him. Mal said that he was notoriously a dick, and she didn’t doubt it. She isn’t sure she would have made it very far as his apprentice, no matter how much he could have taught her, no matter how famed he was. “Badges, before you come inside. Can’t be too careful, in a place like this.” 

Kadri arches an eyebrow, reaches in to her bag to grab her badge from inside of it. She doesn’t fumble, just holds it up with a smooth movement. She’s practiced that. “Cadet Kadri Sözen.” She introduces herself. He squints at her badge, before turning his attention to Mal and the one held in their hand. With a sigh, he ushers them inside. 

He leads them through a room of objects, and up the stairs into what must be his official work space. She checks to make sure that her gloves are firmly on, her sleeves rolled down all of the way, as little exposed skin as possible in case she grazes past something bad. Lox settles in to a chair, at a cluttered desk. “You have questions. Ask them quickly, so you can get out there and return what’s mine.”

[kadrisozen]

emmyyaxley​:

Kadri laughs when the little giggle escapes her own lips, and for some reason she can’t really remember hearing her laugh like that much. It’s a nice sound, something musical and light, something so very real, and it makes her want to find other ways to make her laugh like that again. She knows how determined they both are to do not just a good job, but an exceptional job, to prove something to everyone who doubts them, both vocally and silently. There’s a lot to do, and it’s not going to be an easy one, but she thinks they’ll be able to manage it. And she’s also starting to think that maybe this case together is exactly what she’s kind of been waiting for with Kadri. She thinks maybe this will be their chance to really find a good rhythm, to fall into something closer to real friendship, instead of just friendly coworkers.

That would be something nice, she thinks, solve this case well, show that two squibs can take on something so huge together and get it done perfectly, and end up a little closer while they’re at it. She’s not great at multitasking, but she thinks this might be a situation where she can manage it, if she’s got Kadri on her side.

“Even better, what’s a good pair of shoes if you can’t show them off?” she smiles, as she starts getting all of her things together, ready to head out, too. She grabs the coffee to drink wall they walk, puts the case file in her bag just in case, checks her telekit to make sure it’s stocked with the potions she likes, and then finally gets up. “Let’s head out, cadet,” Emmy nods, the same teasing in her voice. And without waiting any longer, they head out.

Luckily, it’s a nice day out, just a little crisp, but sunny as ever, and it’s not a long walk to where the girls are staying, close by downtown in the heart of the city. They make it there without any trouble, Emmy taking the walk to consider how this all might go. She has to agree with what Kadri had said, the uncle seems like their real worry here, but it’s always a good idea to touch every base and not assume you know the full story just from a file, she’s learned.

Once they find the door, Emmy looks over at Kadri, giving her a smile and a nod, seeing if she’s ready too, and then she knocks. It’s only a few seconds before the door opens, to one of the girls, although she’s not sure which. 

“Hi there, I’m Cadet Emerson Yaxley, and this is Cadet Kadri Sözen with the Pacific Squad, we’re here about your friend, Leda. Could we ask you guys a few questions?”

“Yeah, yeah, come in, Jackie’s in the kitchen, I’ll get her,” the girl, apparently Ana, says, ushering them both in quickly. She leads them in, barely a pause before launching into things. “If we had realized that Leda never made it to their uncle’s we would have reported it all sooner. They’ve been acting strange, but you know how it is, what’s strange, and what’s just wanting to blow off steam.”

“I get it, I’ve been there with friends before, too,” Emmy nods, picking up quickly that relating to them might be the way to go on this one.

.

They fall in step with one another with a kind of ease that Kadri usually only feels with a select few people –– with Dante, who had practically grown up beside her, who she had held on to even when the rest of the world wanted to throw her away and treated her like garbage. Dante had never treated her like she was nothing, Dante had never thought of her like trash. But she thinks she could use someone else to balance on, that she could use someone else to walk beside. Someone who understood her, in a strange way, the same difficulty. Emmy is going to be useful in so many ways, Kadri is sure of that, exactly the kind of social capital that Kadri needs to gather close and hold on to. 

Kadri gives Emmy a smile, a nod, mirroring her own movements and handing them back to her. She takes a deep breath as Emmy knocks on the door, settling in to the moment and getting ready to get through this, praying and praying that these girls have something important to tell them about Leda and where they might have gone, what they might have been thinking on the day that they disappeared, if they were scared of anyone or dreading anything. 

She follows Ana inside, nodding along as she starts to speak. She definitely knew what that could be like –– there was always one friend in a group who went a little too wild, who blew off steam in just the wrong ways and got them into some trouble. “I think we all know what’s that like. But we’re going to do everything we can to bring Leda home safe, just like we would with our own friends.” She tries for a smile, tinged with concern, in the direction of both Jackie and Ana. 

Kadri pulls out her own notebook, ready to take notes on whatever the girls hav eto tell them. “You mentioned that Leda has been acting strange. Do you know if anything happened to upset them, in the last few days before they disappeared?” 

Jackie and Ana exchange a look, uncertain. They must have been thinking about this for a long time, blaming themselves for not knowing that something was wrong with their friend. Kadri feels bad for them, like that. “Nothing that we can really remember.” Jackie says, with a small sigh. “I think they were a little anxious about stopping off at their Uncle’s house, Ana was having a rough day when they had to go, and they tried to say that they could skip it.” 

“But we told them to go.” Ana says, guilt thick in her voice. “And then we thought they must have just had a good time, stayed longer than they said they would.”

[kadrisozen]

aurorhattori​:

In a different life, Kadri Sözen would have been precisely the kind of witch his family would have tried to groom him for. At least, if he’d made himself open to the concept of marriage. She had the bite and sharpness to her that would do well and thrive within the Hattori lineage, and the looks to promise an aesthetically pleasing brood of grandchildren. The problem of course, was that she wasn’t a witch at all, and while her surname may have given her enough notoriety to get her inside an event such as this one, it also guaranteed she’d be one of the few young woman there not trying to get matched with a proper pureblood spouse. 

He’s not quite sure just what places she believes she’s going to, but wherever they are, it’ll be a hard fought journey. Squibs may have recently made a few strides when it came to the eyes of MACUSA, but here within the heart of pureblood society she was a black sheep. Someone tolerated, but not welcomed with opened arms exactly. He did honestly feel for her, it wasn’t her fault she was born without the magic that had once so long flowed through her family’s bloodline.

“Everything in this room is unique to some degree,” he muses, his gaze falling once again on the books. She gravitated towards them for some reason, and so he cocks his head to the side, and squints slightly to read the worn lettering on the aged books’ spines. As he quickly glances over the titles they are what he’d expect to find in a place like this, all old books that are banned in most libraries, and if they weren’t so rare would certainly be found in the restricted sections of Ilvermorny’s vast library. 

It was odd though that Sözen would take an interest in them. Most of them were magical theory books, with a flair for the dark and unspoken. A strange collection for a squib to find any interest in.

It’s just as he’s about to ask her if she planned on bidding when a bell chimes from back out in the main ballroom, indicating the auction was set to begin. Glancing back over to her, he extends his arm for her to take. 

“Would you like to accompany me back?” He asks, with a small smirk before leaning in to add, “we can help keep the prospective spouse hunters off each other.” 

.

Kadri watches as Eris exaimines the books before them, the slight turn of his head as he shifts to read the words on the covers. She can pactically feel the gears turning inside his head, wondering what someone like Kadri would want with books such as this –– as if someone who couldn’t cast a spell didn’t have any reason to want to understand, to want to know the secrets of the universe, to want to see what might be uncovered for them if they delved deep enough into dark and mysterious arts. She knew that the universe was vast and she was smart enough to understand it if she tried –– she knew that there was an answer to everything, that if she tried hard enough, she could change her circumstances in this life. 

The smile on her face when he looks back at her is an innocent one, guileless and sweet. Like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. She arches an eyebrow, just in time for the bell to chime. THe auction beginning, and she had her eyes on exactly what she wanted. She just wished that Eris wasn’t here, with that curiosity in his eyes and the strangeness of being here with him, when he’s never given her the time of day before. He should have, she thinks. She’s not someone who should be pushed aside, underestimated. And she likes the idea, regardless of the fact that he’s probably going to make this all more awkward for her than it needs to be, of walking into the room on the arm of a Hattori. One of those good, lovely pureblood American families. People might look and take note, and that would be nice. 

She takes his arm, hums out a soft sound. “That would be lovely, Eris. Thank you.” She agrees, and lets Eris begin to lead her into the other room. She wonders what he’ll do here, what he’ll decide to spend his precious money on, if he’ll hang onto her for very long. His smirk spoke of things, and she vaguely thought that it was good he wasn’t her type, or she might fall victim to some of his charms, handsome as he is, rich as he is. She’s never been a gold digger, never wanted to find a rich pureblood man to accept her. 

“Do you think you’ll bid on something?” She asks, voice light, as they enter the grand room and take their spots among the crowd.

[kadrisozen]

dantevalentino​:

Timmy Tombstone is about as cagey in person has he’d sounded in the case file—maybe, somehow, more so. There was a chance it would just come off as impatience, which, okay, he does seem impatient, too, but there’s an antsy-ness to it and a dismissiveness that comes across in person: he wants this dealt with now, and dealt with fast, and not necessarily dealt with right. 

It doesn’t clear up the motive: Dante’s first thought had been that he was hiding the books somewhere and trying to get the law off his tail for owning and trying to sell the illegal books, but… it could always be that he was just trying to cast trouble on someone he didn’t like, some kind of pointless vengeance on someone who was not only business competition but, apparently, an ex as well. 

Either way, he’s the type they’ll need to placate to get anything good out of, that much is obvious. Thankfully, placating is one of the things Dante’s best at. 

     “We’ll follow up with Mr. Midnight soon, don’t you worry. We just want to make sure we have all the information we need, going in. We’d hate to miss anything that might prove he stole your books because we were misinformed.” 

 Tombstone looks at him, for a moment, a shocked little look on his face, momentarily speechless, like he hadn’t been expecting Dante to take him seriously. The heavy dose of irony seems to be mostly missed, for the moment.

      “Right,” Tombstone says, clicking his tongue, standing up a little straighter, clearly making an effort to school the surprised expression off his face. “Of course. What questions do you have?” 

Kadri spares a small glance for Dante, fighting the urge to raise her eyebrow in the strange mix of annoyance and amusement that she’s feeling, faced now with Timmy Tombstone in the flesh. She can’t believe how stupid this is, and if it wasn’t for the books in question, she would be raging that they got stuck with a case as silly as this. Surely there would have been better uses for their time. But the books are there, and they’re definitely worth investigation. She has that damned curiosity in her heart, she really can’t help it. 

Amusement wins out over annoyance, when she hears the placating note in Dante’s voice. He’s damn good at that, and he always has been. That’s the kind of thing that’s bred into you, when you’re someone like Dante, when you’re someone like Kadri. She never feels like she can quite pull it off, herself. She somehow always ends up a little too sharp. She’s much better at fake adoration, fake friendship, which doesn’t have much of a place here in the Tombstone residence. She wouldn’t waste her time on someone like this, not with any real effort, not with any of her best acting skills. She doesn’t need Tombstone to like her, or think she likes him. 

“Why don’t we begin with your books. Magick Moste Evil. When would you say that you aquired this particular book, Mr. Tombstone?” She asks, with a professional tone, yet still friendly and gentle enough. Ready to take note of whatever he says. 

“Um, god. I don’t know? Like...a few weeks ago?” He answers, the same increduous tone in his voice, an annoyance, and she nods. 

“And how did you come across it?” She pushes, expectant expression firmly in place. “Is it posisble that whoever sold it to you might have...stolen it back, lets say.” 

He looks thoughtful at that, as if he hadn’t considered it.”I mean. He was sketch, alright. But the books were genuine and –– not sketch enough that he’d wanna hurt his own business, doing shit like that, you know?” Timmy explains. Kadri isn’t sure that she does know. But she nods again, regardless. 

[kadrisozen]

Kadri Sözen + Party Look!