we fell from our pedestals [rhys]

[ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON]

Some time in December

Astrid sat in her cramped office, the single light overhead buzzing with a need to be changed. A half mug of unfinished tea was her only witness as she rifled through papers, searching for her notes on Hebridean Blacks. She'd just returned from the reserve and wanted to get things in order before going to the ministry with her findings. She didn't like having to spend much time in London, but it was necessary for this month. She'd rented out a cheap office space in north London with a rolling lease. She'd considered confunding the realtor and landlord, as they were asking for a shocking amount of money per month based on the amount of space she got. She could barely fit a desk, a chair, a kettle and a plant in the room. It was sparsely decorated, utilitarian much like her. She'd been spending more time in this office than she would have liked, rather than at the field.

Astrid scratched her nose with her quill, humming as she read over her notes. She'd found that certain Blacks were coming down with scale rot, with no linking symptoms. So engrossed in her work, she didn't notice when the bell to her office rang. After a second, longer, and most certainly annoyed ring, she jumped to her feet, grumbling. She pressed the buzzer to let whoever it was in. She didn't get many callers to this office anyways. As she sidled around her desk, she looked up to see a vaguely familiar tall frame in the doorway. Astrid bumped into her desk, sending her forgotten mug of tea flying.

Swearing, Astrid tried to salvage her soaked notes. Thankfully, it had only been the last page with her final thoughts, which she had memorised. She glared up at her visitor, fire in her gaze. "Well, sit. If you haven't got any other magizoologists to pester," said Astrid. She knew Rhys purely in a professional manner, and his swagger and drinking problem irked her to no end.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

it is silver and silent

it is silver and cold

December 15, 2025
ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON

Rhys rubbed a hand over his eyes and down his face. He hoped he looked better than how he felt. This particular holiday season had been a jump of constantly shifting emotions. One moment he felt relatively calm and in a decent mood, spending time with his sisters or with a close friend, and then the next, he was anxious and incredibly stressed. It was nothing like the panic he had felt before he'd gone to Egypt--the seer's words had never stopped running through his mind. But, he needed to keep working. For one, it helped keep him out of his own head, which was exactly what he needed these days, and second-- he had a baby on the way. Money wasn't an issue with all the constant working he'd done the past few years up to that point, but he just wanted to be prepared. It was what he did, prepared for every option, but he always managed to find himself at a spot where he missed something.

Rhys walked down a dimly lit hallway and wondered if he had come to the right place. Rhys had worked with Astrid before, though it hadn't been the most pleasant experience for him--at least she was knowledgeable. So, while he could have looked anyone else up to help him with some information for his next job at the beginning of the following year, he decided on this. Hopefully, he wouldn't regret it too much and especially with the hangover he was nursing. Rhys pressed the buzzer next to a plain door that only had a number print on it and waited to be let in, which didn't take that long. He walked in and saw that she was cleaning up a spill and very quickly began the conversation with her version of "hello". "Lovely to see you as well." He responded rather dryly, sitting in the old chair in front of her desk.

The room was small and not very well lit, though he wasn't sure what he ever imagined a Magizoologist's office might look like, they had met before in the field. "All the other magizoologists seem to be busy, and I have a job in a new area in South America next year." His mood wasn't the best and certainly not good enough for small talk and pleasantries. "So, I was hoping you could help me."

[ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON]

Perhaps Astrid shouldn't have been so quick to judge. Perhaps this curse breaker was just a sad, pathetic little man who was desperate for someone to actually care about him. Perhaps he deserved her pity rather than her ire. But Astrid was a woman of her word, unyielding like stone when her decisions were made. And she had decided that Rhys was unbearable, even if he had never been outright rude or awful to her. So when her forgotten tea went flying, she unleashed a slew of curses in Swedish that would be sure to shame even him. Astrid attempted to siphon the tea from her notes, and managed mostly well. Thankfully.

Barking an order to sit, Astrid followed suit and settled herself behind her desk. Rhys folded his bulky frame into the old wooden chair she had found on a street corner and had cleaned up with magic. Having been cut off from her parents wealth, she did manage to do well enough for herself. But magizoology was no ministry work, and therefore did not pay as such. She had to take shortcuts when she could. Astrid appraised him with a sharp gaze. South America? Her speciality was arctic and subarctic beasts, particularly scaled ones. Though she supposed there was likely similarities between the arctic and Antarctic species.

Though the distaste was evident between the two, there was no distrust. Astrid chewed on the inside of her cheek, and nodded, accepting Rhys' request. "Yes, I will help you." She appreciated his forward approach. "You will have to tell me a bit more about where you will go though. Do you know of the culture you will be infiltrating?" asked Astrid, her mind already filing through the knowledge she had of the South American continent. The various traps and beasts the Incans would use to protect their treasures.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

it is silver and silent

it is silver and cold

December 15, 2025
ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON

She seemed to be having about as good of a day as he was. Astrid was busying herself as she had spilled something on her notes, something Rhys himself had done many times working with whiskey. It always put him in a foul mood because he may or may not have been able to salvage his notes, but then there was the wasted whiskey that broke his heart a little bit. Rhys and Astrid had hardly ever gotten along. Perhaps it was her blunt nature though Rhys was hardly the amiable type. She seemed to be one of the few that didn't find his naturally brooding nature even a little bit endearing that hadn't won him any points with her thus far. Still, she didn't send him away or call him an idiot this time--maybe he should ask nicely more often as it seemed to do the trick at times.

Rhys nodded in appreciation. Sitting down just made him feel more tired. "Well, it's in Peru. So not completely unfamiliar, but I've never been to the northern part of the Andes." Rhys had heard a mention of dragons, but he typically had stuck to Southern Peru, where most of the major Incan ruins were places he enjoyed exploring and the food even better. Rhys paused. The Curse Breakers that normally also worked in the country had retired--voluntarily. It was fortunate they left unscathed but unfortunate for him as he had an increased workload all over the continent now. "I was told about dragons, what can you tell me about them?" He really wasn't looking forward to that type of entanglement and hoped some of these "facts" he had heard were, in fact, just rumors.

[ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON]

Astrid paused in her ministrations to clean up her notes and fixed Rhys with a cool stare. He was going to Peru and asking her opinion. It was akin to her asking Rhys if he could formulate a golden galleon from its atomic components. Theoretically, she knew the importance, but she had next to no experience with Peruvian beasts, besides the Vipertooth. She scrubbed her face with her palms, thinking. As a girl from the north, Astrid tended to avoid too warm climates. She knew she'd have to specialise when she went into magizoology - there was simply too much going on in the field to be a jack of all trades. However, her interest in dragons had never lessened. Astrid could offer Rhys the knowledge she had since he had come to her, tail between legs.

Astrid rummaged in her desk drawer, then pulled out a slim laptop. She didn't make much use of the technology, finding it easier to take notes by hand in the wild. She'd not yet gotten the hang of drawing on this thing either. It was all a bit clunky if she did say so herself. She flipped open the lid and the screen lit up immediately. "You're most likely to come across a Peruvian Vipertooth," said Astrid as she logged in and opened up the WWWW. "And depending on where in Peru you'll be... I imagine the rainforest parts? You'll have to deal with regular non-magical beasts as well. Such as panthers, jaguars, various snakes and so on." She tapped away on the keyboard, then flipped it around to show Rhys the image of the Vipertooth she'd pulled up. It was a long, sleek reptilian creature with coppery wings and body. Horns crested its head like a crown, and long, slim fangs poked from its mouth. "Like all dragons, Vipertooths are extremely protective of their eggs. They're really beautiful, but don't tempt yourself with one. They're a class A non-tradable good," said Astrid, pointing at the turquoise egg at the bottom of the image.

"As you can probably surmise from the name, the Vipertooth's fangs are venomous. If you do encounter one, you're best steering clear of the mouth however possible. You can transfigure the teeth if you're in a pinch, but the best way to deal with an angry one is to use a conjunctivitis curse. That should give you enough time to get away and regroup." Astrid paused, glancing from the screen to Rhys. It was very likely he knew these things. "What treasure do you seek that isn't yours? Are these ancient Incan catacombs?" asked Astrid, flipping the laptop back to her. "These civilisations often protect their treasures with glyph magic. It looks like condors, pumas and snakes are most common. You will probably encounter all three, if your goal is to infiltrate an Incan tomb." Astrid paused. This was all simple conjecture. "This information is useless without knowing your exact task. Will you tell me this, or do they not trust you with the details?"

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

it is silver and silent

it is silver and cold

December 15, 2025
ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON

She paused before answering him, he probably could have provided more information, but he was feeling a bit lazier than usual and not in the best mood. Not that she had asked him nicely either, it seemed they had never quite clicked as he had with some other employees, but he wasn’t discouraged when this occurred. It was the reason that the bank didn’t always assign him, trainees—though lately he’d been forced to with the retirement of other senior Curse Breakers who had actually enjoyed training while Rhys had not. While Rhys waited, she pulled something out of her desk. He recognized it as one of those newer converted muggle devices though he’d only managed to come across one probably once before. Using the keys and navigating had been a very foreign and frustrating experience, one that had given Rhys the urge to throw the object across the room. The cell phone had been enough of a learning curve for now. At least with that, he could speed up his communication speed, but for everything else, he preferred his books.

Astrid opened the device and began clicking various buttons while she explained the specific dragon to him. The name was familiar, but he’d never encountered one himself, and from the basics, he’d heard he didn’t want to either. She tacked on non-magical beasts onto the list of what Rhys would encounter, and while he could use magic to ward them off, it still didn’t make it any less dangerous. Rhys nodded, signaling that he was aware of those beasts based on his previous adventuring in the area. ”I’ve run into some cougars before there.” He noted, or some Curse Breakers referred to them as Puma’s, but it was all the same. His main concern had been the snakes. Their venom was enough to quickly kill a Wizard, regardless of intervention methods. Astrid turned the laptop and the bright screen toward him. He squinted at first before his eyes adjusted to the burst of light and viewed the image. It was large and had a reddish tint—at least that would help it be easy to spot in the green rainforests.

Rhys gave her a side-eye, he wasn’t stupid enough to get into that type of illegal business, and it was the last thing he wanted to do considering the notoriety of a Greyback doing it. ”Obviously…” He muttered. It was an obvious warning but obviously, one that had to be repeated often, especially to trainees. ”Just Incan catacombs.” He responded, sitting back in his chair. Rhys looked at her curiously. Perhaps she might make a good Curse Breaker or at least an addition to a team with her knowledge. Though Rhys knew that they could only stand one another for so long before arguing commenced—at least based on previous experience. ”The bank tells me where to go, who to meet if I need to meet somebody there and what they’re looking for.” He spoke, almost in a bored tone. ”Other than that, I’m left to my own devices.” And the risk.

template by vee

[ASTRID ALVA ABRAHAMSSON]

Astrid easily prattled off information that she recalled from memory regarding the area that he would be researching. She twisted the laptop to show him some photos of what he could expect to see. When Rhys revealed he didn't know the exact details of his task, Astrid huffed impatiently. This was a waste of her time. "That's useless. You can expect these things, but never know what to encounter." She twisted her hair back into a bun, frowning all the while. He was addressing her in a bored tone, and any patience that Astrid had previously displayed vanished.

"I'm very busy, Rhys. If you can't provide me with more information, I can't help you. I hope that what I've given to you so far will keep you from certain death, but I'm sure you're stubborn enough to avoid that anyways," said Astrid. "Now if you'll excuse me, I really must get back to my notes on mating patterns. The door," said Astrid dismissively, pointing to the exit for Rhys to see himself out.

[[end Astrid]]
rhys alexander greyback