don’t let me be misunderstood [Leo]

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

22 November 2025

The benefit of having so many years of cursebreaking under his belt was that very few things made Cas nervous anymore. He’d faced a number of perilous situations, dangerous locations and dangerous individuals that wanted the same treasure. It meant he’d learned how to confront a challenge -- any challenge -- with cold certainty and a plan. The events of Halloween were still fresh in his mind, and they’d reignited a long-asked question since the fall of Azkaban -- what had happened to the broken magic dampener? He’d puzzled over the question for some weeks, until finally he had sat down for an honest conversation with his sister -- more honest than usual -- and finally began to put the puzzle together.

He had a plan in mind, or at least the vague beginnings of one, but as always he needed more information before he could begin to act. And even more importantly, to put himself in contact with the people who would know. The first one on his list, besides Anya, was Leo -- a former cursebreaker who had found himself in the Ministry, and most relevantly to Cas had been at the forefront of the Ministry’s decision to slowly digitize and follow America in the integration of Muggle technology into the wizarding world. Cas despised technology, but he knew it would be an integral component of his plan for Ouroboros. So he’d arranged to meet his old friend at a bar in Horizont Alley. He couldn’t quite be sure where Leo’s loyalties lay, but he was certain they weren’t with the Ministry -- their long-standing partnership in the black market had proven that. He’d found a table in a shadowy corner, the perfect location to discuss a shadowy plan. Now he waited.

@leonardo

[Deleted]

how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

November 22, 2025
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Leo walked at his usual pace, his hands in his pockets and posture slumped down. Walking through Horizont Alley wasn't something strange for him. Ever since technology had spread into the magical world here in the UK, he'd been out and about more often. It was strange. He wasn't one that chose to socialize all that often, but a friend had asked him to help another friend in Diagon Alley, and then that friend told another friend in Horizont Alley and so forth. He didn't mind, these were regular people, and it was nice to feel useful, especially after so many years working in Human Resources at the Ministry wasting away but remembering random facts and details about his coworkers as they joined the Ministry. The other side of him also wanted to encourage more people to get online. There was so much more information there. It was useful and also profitable, but he was biding his time still for those opportunities.

An old friend had reached out to him, and Leo hadn't been surprised. He'd met Cas a long time ago after he'd graduated from school and moved to the UK to join the Curse Breakers, but after he'd voluntarily left the field and took the job at the Ministry, they had kept in touch. Since he'd gone to school in the States, he didn't have many friends here at first. Leo walked into the bar. He'd been here a few times, so he wasn't completely out of place. Sometimes the best secrets were created in plain sight, so he made a habit of appearing at various pubs, so he wasn't a completely new face when he walked in. Slowly, he looked around and searched for the familiar face that had summoned him here and caught him in the back corner. That part wasn't a surprise. They didn't tend to have their conversations at the bar where people could hear them.

Leo walked over, casually, to the corner, and sat in the chair across from his old friend. "Hey Cas." He spoke simply. Their work had them meet regularly, though his black market dealings were none of anyone's business, especially at the Ministry. "How's the shop?"

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas sipped at his drink idly as he tapped his fingers on the table and waited for Leo. His usual policy was to wait for the other person before ordering, but he needed something to keep him occupied while he waited. His mind had been a whirlwind of activity since he’d become fixated on the magic dampener. Cas was a naturally paranoid person, and didn’t trust any aspects of the early planning to paper. As an Occlumens, he was used to keeping everything in his head -- that just meant it got a little crowded sometimes until he’d had the opportunity to process it all.

Finally he heard the signs of Leo entering and approaching the table. He nodded at the former cursebreaker as he sat down, setting his drink down firmly on the table. “Leo,” he responded smoothly as a greeting. He paused for a moment to contemplate how much to share about Borgin and Burke’s before shrugging lightly. “Business always picks up around the holidays. Family reunions. Old grudges to settle. Someone will always need something from Knockturn.” He noticed himself tapping his fingers on the table and stilled his movements immediately -- in business negotiations, he was well-known for hiding his tells and he didn’t want to start becoming predictable. “I should have something else for you soon.” That was in relation to his partnership with Leo -- Cas often acted as a fence, not only selling goods of his own but being the go-between for smugglers that wanted to fence their goods to legitimate clients. Leo was one of the many ways that he conducted those transfers. He examined Leo closely, taking in his slumped posture. “Is the Ministry treating you well?” Cas had grown up with a distaste for the Ministry, made worse by the fact that he’d chosen a career that very often delved into gray areas. He was more familiar with Leo’s rebellious side, to the point where he could be certain Leo wasn’t completely satisfied where he was. The key was to pick at those anti-Ministry sentiments enough until they began to unravel.

@leonardo

[Deleted]

how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

November 22, 2025
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Cas had already ordered, Leo had thought about stopping at the bar, but he'd wait a bit. Though he liked a beer or something strong on occasion, it wasn't really his forte, at least not while other substances existed that made him feel more alive. It was a guilty pleasure, though he didn't let himself fall down that rabbit hole of weakness and instability. While any other man would have fallen over that edge easily, Leo had the mental fortitude only because of his upbringing. Anxiety was a powerful force to exert on oneself. It had also been part of the reason he'd accepted the teaching and training in Occlumency. To calm his mind, and with all that he knew and being in the Ministry offices most of the day --well, it was a dangerous combination. It also helped with his observation, he was a quiet person who was more of a wallflower, and since people didn't take a second look at him at times, it was easy to observe and notice things that others would miss.

Leo nodded. Indeed it was the Alley that everyone regarded rather negatively. However, it didn't stop them from walking through and stopping at the shops, whether out of a hidden necessity or morbid curiosity for something related to the dark arts. It also was a good front for their side business, which Leo helped organize and especially now that they could expand over the web. It opened up great opportunities where they had been limited logistically, and it seemed to be going well. Leo had been ecstatic when things started moving to online and electronic systems. He had felt at home with machines and servers surrounding him than he ever had with paper and parchment. Leo's face perked up when Cas mentioned the Ministry but hardly out of any kind of happiness.

He paused and thought about how to answer that question. His life was better in this new department--but it was still the Ministry. "Still a cog in the same machine." Leo responded, sure, it was a different part of the machine but an inefficient machine nonetheless. It was like a computer. If you crowded it with useless files and disorganization, then the system lagged or even crashed. There was no efficiency. "The computers and new equipment help, but people don't change." Not like technology could.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas rarely discussed Knockturn business with anybody besides clients. There were those who needed to know -- primarily the people he bought from and sold to -- and everybody else became a liability. A potential source for an outsider to intrude, whether they be a competitor or the Ministry. But Leo was somebody who needed to know, at least a portion of how exactly Cas used Borgin and Burke’s, and it was a very profitable business venture. Not to mention it opened potential markets up that Cas by himself didn’t have the skillset to manage. It certainly set him apart from other shops in Knockturn that still seemed to reside in the Middle Ages. That was one part of pureblood society Cas had never approved of.

Leo’s answer was predictable, if not extremely telling. Cas hummed in acknowledgement of Leo’s (somewhat dry) comment about being a cog in the machine. That was an attractive option to some people, who preferred to have an anonymous role and contribute as only a small part of something bigger. It was less attractive to independent people like Leo, or Cas who sought ways to gain influence and distinguish himself from the crowd. Cas wanted to be remembered, even if it was only by the people who mattered. That couldn’t happen from a position of bureaucracy.

“It certainly is something that the Ministry can continue to run as if nothing is happening. Unfortunate that so many accidents seem to occur under their watch,” Cas suggested, although his tone was as disinterested as if he’d been discussing the weather. His words were heavy with implication, however -- the murders that had occured at Hogwarts, the fall of Azkaban as several dangerous prisoners were released back into the world, and the Quidditch explosion that had ultimately killed the Minister of Magic. He shook his head -- casual, as if he hadn’t planned for this exact conversation to occur -- and took a sip of his drink. “One for you?” Cas asked, lifting his glass to examine the almost empty contents.

@leonardo

[Deleted]

how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

November 22, 2025
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Technology, it was the future of things. Many could stay in denial about it or lean on their obvious sympathies against no-maj society, but it wasn't the way Leo saw it. When it became something that could help the industry or economically, it thrived though that was his angle when it came to the black market. He'd learned early that following orders and doing what he was told was handing over your control willingly. Why would you do that? He was a cog in the Ministry's machine, but only so he could appear socially acceptable. Motives aside Leo and Cas were on the same page on a handful of things, and it was remarkable considering their vastly different origins. At first, he had been wary. If he was being honest, he'd heard the name Karkaroff, and people seemed to whisper it, and then someone had given him a high-level summary. But he'd only seen and met a man who wanted something different, much as Leo did for himself.

Leo looked at Cas curiously, he didn't disagree with his statement, but it wasn't usually on their discussion topics. "Well, they have their task forces now but its hard to say what's getting done after all this time." Leo could admit that he didn't know much about the cases and it wasn't for a lack of access but a lack of progress in his mind. Still, he wasn't one to show his hand necessarily. "Have you heard something?" That question was out of pure curiosity, and he'd been trying to keep an ear open on the side for what the world knew that the Ministry didn't. He had business to conduct, after all. He nodded yes to Cas' offer of a drink--might as well since he was here.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

As with most of what Cas did, his connection to Leo was shrouded in mystery. As far as most people were concerned, they were only former coworkers who occasionally met for a drink and to exchange stories. To a select few, they were aware of the small but significant role Leo played in Cas’s network of black market contacts, and only one other person (his sister) knew that Cas was approaching Leo for an additional assignment, should this meeting go well. That worked out for the best -- it was absolutely essential that no one in the Ministry be made aware of their plans beforehand, lest they increase security and ruin the whole gambit. It meant that these meetings needed to look natural, between people who had a reason to know each other.

“Ministry task forces,” Cas repeated with amusement, shaking his head slightly and finishing off his drink. As much as the Ministry liked to see itself as the central institution of wizarding society, it was amazing how useless it could be in driving policy or reacting to major events. Cas doubted those task forces had done much of anything, certainly not more than Ouroboros or even Heliopath was capable of in targeting the Purifiers. To the majority of the public, it must look like the Ministry wasn’t doing anything at all. Leo asked if Cas had heard something, and he only shrugged. “I only hear what everyone else in my position does about the Ministry. What I’m sure you’ve seen too from the inside...” He stood fluidly, motioning at his glass. “I’ll get this round.” He’d left his sentence hanging, and wanted to leave Leo speculating for those few minutes that he would spend ordering drinks.

After a little while he returned to the table with two firewhiskies, and slid one to Leo. Then he picked up as if he hadn’t been gone at all. “Accidents happen, of course. Things we can’t control. But so many in quick succession, and with what sort of response from the Ministry? It makes you wonder if they aren’t in over their heads completely…”

@leonardo

[Deleted]

how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

November 22, 2025
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Leo considered what Cas had said though he didn't respond, and looked at the whiskey glass in front of him. He wasn't wrong, and Leo was never the first in line to defend the Ministry's action or inaction. He was but a pawn on a chessboard where the pieces didn't move because of bureaucracy. His life's true passions were his computers and his work connecting the traditional black market with the dark web and its players. Leo had quickly realized that Cas would not be using technology voluntarily, so Leo helped him with that part. However, he couldn't for the life of him understand why. "Well, if something is going on, I probably won't hear about it first." This was the truth, though if he wanted to, he could find out whatever information he wanted, but he was usually kept busy by people forgetting their passwords to sit and read through Auror's notes.

He thought about the work Bianca was doing specifically to handle that incident from almost a year ago. It had been an interesting day and had caught him by Bianca was doing specifically to address that incident from nearly a year ago. She seemed frustrated, but at the same time, her demeanor always seemed as such whether it was the case or someone doing something idiotic in her department. "It doesn't seem like they've made a lot of progress on either….” Leo took a drink of whiskey. It burned but didn’t bother him as much though he didn’t partake all that often. Now that the magical world was integrated technologically, he was able to find all the buzz on the web about possible events and incidents but so far that hadn’t stirred up anything, but he knew it was there. “I always knew they weren’t efficient. All the systems we have now that used to be all rolls of parchment in a room, things run much smoother.” Leo mused, at least he thought it did. Though it couldn’t be helped with an Auror forgot their password again and couldn’t access their case files.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas doubted that Leo didn’t have the ability to find out anything he wanted about what the Ministry was doing, but he didn’t push the point. Maybe because of the hacker’s family background, or all those years he’d spent being ignored in the Ministry, but Leo tended to be overly modest about his abilities. It wasn’t Cas’s job to ensure he felt properly confident about what he could do -- and he didn’t even engage in that behavior with his siblings -- so he moved on to address his and Leo’s shared distaste for the Ministry, and all their bureaucratic processes. He was confident that Leo would have an important role to play, if he chose to accept it, and of all the things they needed to discuss, one of them was not whether Leo was up to the challenge.

“It’s only a small shift from inefficient to incompetent,” Cas murmured as he took a long sip of his new drink. “And I unfortunately don’t have many other words to describe what occurred at Azkaban or that accident over the summer.” What had happened at the Quidditch final was by no stretch of the imagination an accident, but that was the information the public had been given so Cas played along. Either way, accident or unprevented attack, it proved his point fairly well. “I find it concerning the Ministry cannot even adequately protect the Minister of Magic.” That seemed like enough for now to plant the seed regarding the Ministry’s inability to protect things of value, much less anything else, so Cas changed tactics. “It’s been some years already, but do you remember that one job of ours in Rio? The artifact was quite temperamental, I believe. You almost lost your eyebrows.”

@leonardo

[Deleted]

how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

November 22, 2025
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Cas had a valid point. There was a fine line between inefficiency and gross incompetence. Most of the Ministry seemed to be walking that tightrope the past few years, and the percentage of people that couldn't balance it was growing in Leo's eyes. His previous job in the HR department had given him a specific perspective on the employees. He knew the details of their files even if he didn't know who they were, but he could paint his own picture. Naturally, he had some bias for his friends, but that was only his tiny hope of the small amount of good in people. Just as Bianca had always wondered why he'd taken such a menial and tedious job, Cas had, at one point, wondered why he left Curse Breaking. It wasn't something he could put into words easily, but he just knew it wasn't the path for him despite what his qualifications on paper were. Besides, nobody looked twice at the man who had wasted his potential.

The Quidditch final had been an incredibly unfortunate incident, and even if Leo had not been physically present there, he could feel the after-effects at work. Though on that, he did do his own digging and knew that all wasn't what it seemed. But why hide it? "Well, they're still saying it was an accident. Wasn't it?" It hadn't been, but that was on a need to know information--a decision Leo disagreed with. He had still been thinking about that when Cas brought up an old memory. He didn't think too much of his Cruse Breaking days anymore. Not that he didn't want to, but there hadn't been much of a reason for it to be at the forefront of his mind lately. And it only provided ammunition to the thought of his wasted potential. Still, this one was a bit of a funny memory if he recalled the details correctly. "Yes, I do. I think it only took a few of your fingers too." It had been something that looked relatively harmless, and since he'd still been in training, he probably went in with some expectation of lower difficulty.

"Do you ever miss it?" He asked. Cas had also voluntarily left the career though he never really knew the exact reasons why. But Leo didn't pry. Even after all these years, Cas was still a bit of an enigma to him, but it could be that their very different backgrounds made it challenging to understand his motivations.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas tapped his fingers on the table thoughtfully as he considered Leo’s comment. Ouroboros knew most of the truth of what had happened at the Quidditch match because of their Ministry contacts – well-placed individuals like his sister who had been made aware of the investigation. In some strange sense, they even knew a little bit more, because Hermione had been a member of Ouroboros and the most likely cause for the attack in the first place. It wasn’t the public’s business to know that it wasn’t an accident, and Cas had no inclination to admit his true affiliation to Leo. His reaction could be too unpredictable, and Cas had gauged it more effective to recruit him through a solely anti-Ministry lens. “I’m hesitant to call it an accident when it occurred due to negligence and incompetence. This could have been prevented…which only goes to show, so it would seem, that the Ministry is struggling to fulfill its mandate.” To protect people, some might say, or to bring the Purifiers to justice.

Most cursebreaking stories tended to follow the same pattern – a perilous situation that usually involved adrenaline, a dangerous curse, and a near brush with death – although in hindsight they sounded funny rather than terrifying. Rio had been a difficult job, outside of Cas’s usual realm of comfort, but he and Leo had ultimately made it through. Cas gave a half-smile and snorted lightly as Leo recalled the artifact they had been sent to retrieve. It had looked harmless, and was supposed to be moderately simple. But it had proven to be the opposite and forced them to pool their collective knowledge and skills to subdue the curse. “Sometimes things are more dangerous than they seem,” Cas acknowledged. “But Gringotts has one of the most-developed security systems in the world, and a good track record for accountability. We will never need to worry about their ability to protect dangerous artifacts.” His inflection on the word ‘their’ was very purposeful, with the comparison to the Ministry being extremely subtle, although pointed.

Leo asked if he missed it, and Cas took a contemplative sip of his drink as he considered the question. Finally he chose his strategy. “Sometimes,” he admitted. “Most outsiders get the wrong impression about cursebreaking. They see the action and forget the extensive research required beforehand. I’ll admit, I’ve never quite found a replacement for that adrenaline rush as you formulate and execute the perfect plan…”

@leonardo

[Deleted]

how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

November 22, 2025
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Leo wondered how the Ministry could have prevented that tragedy. At least if it had been an accident as was the story. There had to have been signs or something that the Ministry had missed, but mistakes such as this came with arrogance in his experience. Cas would understand this. As Curse Breakers, one did not simply just walk into a cave and expect there not to be something to get in your way. A flying spear coming out of a wall, swinging traps or enchanted walls He'd heard of enchanted and cursed statues in Egypt and plates wit runes carved into them in the floor that acted as triggers. "I think over-confidence leads to mistakes. Something always gets missed." Leo spoke, it wasn't his place at work to comment on these matters, but he knew the Law Enforcement office had its tail between its legs after the Prison breakout and this mass casualty event. How had they missed so much?

Despite the incident that had taken him out of Curse Breaking, he still held on to the positive memories. The ones where he felt confident and that he'd conquered whatever ancient tomb they had been investigating. Overall it had been a positive experience, and the decision to leave hadn't been easy, but it was necessary. There was something admiral about the goblins and the famous Wizarding bank. The work he'd done at the bank and vaults themselves had been simple, but he'd been impressed by their security systems. It was technical or even that fancy but concise and showed him how important design simplicity was and have fail-safes. Not to mention that their firewall was quite literally a firewall in some parts. "I agree." He nodded and drank a bit more whiskey. "I know I didn't grow up in this world, but their security always fascinated me." It was commendable, but the goblins weren't known for sharing their secrets. "I try to apply the same simplicity in the Ministry, but people are always the weakest link." Leo admitted. He knew Cas wasn't a big proponent of this tech boom the Magical community in the UK was going through, but thus far, his main issues had been with the employees versus the systems.

Leo had to admit Cas was right. That adrenaline rush was addicting. Even with the excitement of work or his roaming through the deep recesses of the dark web on the WWWW, it wasn't the same. But it was still terrifying. The research had fascinated him, even if he still struggled since he had not grown up in this world. A plan--they had always had a plan when they worked together, and it had created this long-standing trust between them. Cas wasn't one to waver from his path or goal, Leo had learned early on, but he expected the same. It made their side business work as much as it had kept them alive working together. "There is nothing like it." It reminded him of computers too. Navigating through code or the web in places he had broken into virtually required careful precision and planning, and once you were done, you felt on top of the world.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

It had been several years since Cas had worked for Gringotts, but his admiration for the bank hadn’t faded with time. The goblins took security to a new extreme, with all manner of anti-burglar enchantments and spells designed to catch intruders masquerading as something they weren’t. As a cursebreaker, he had been exposed to some of that knowledge, seeing firsthand how the goblins ensured that the only ones who could enter a vault were its owners. Essentially, that you had to be who you said you were. It had given him a healthy dose of caution when approaching the subject of getting your hands on an object that wasn’t necessarily yours. And, even having absolutely no connection to the Ministry, Cas could imagine the broad strokes of their security regime, at least if it was anything like Gringotts.

Cas shot Leo an amused look. “You’ve always had a unique perspective on security,” he agreed. In public, Cas played the role of the perfect pureblood – old-fashioned, elitist, not the sort to degrade his social status by associating with Muggleborns or demi-humans. In reality, he cared very little for that ideology and associated himself with those based on talent. He had a distaste for technology, it was true – growing up with magic, he had never seen any role technology could have that magic couldn’t eventually fill. But the world was changing, and that was ultimately Cas’s greatest talent – seeing and getting ahead of the curve. He knew which way the wind was blowing, and he was determined to be on the right side of history. “People may be weak, but technology can have its failings as well. Easy enough to manipulate if you know what you’re doing.” Cas paused and thought. “With the right plan, anything could be possible.”

With that, he finished off his drink and set it down on the table. “There is no doubt that any treasure will be safe in Gringotts’ vaults. But truly, the thought of dangerous artifacts being mishandled by the Ministry haunts me. Can you imagine any of those devices we hunted down in the Ministry’s hands?” Cas had a unique reverence for magical artifacts -- he had devoted his life to the discovery and study of ancient magic, preserved through history through these remnants of the past. He knew the magic dampener could be a powerful tool in the right hands. But in the Ministry, it was doomed to be forgotten to the purgatory of bureaucracy -- or worse, someday doomed to fall into the wrong hands entirely.

@leonardo

[Deleted]

how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see?

November 22, 2025
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Magic and technology weren't usually thought to have any overlap or any reason to be together. But Leo found that it worked. It wasn't about the tangible things as much as it was about the principles—simplicity, tamper-proof, authentication. The goblins had many ways to ensure that you were who you said that you were when you walked in through the bank's doors. Leo tilted his head a bit but managed a small half-smile. Cas had been someone who had treated him fairly despite his background and infamous name. It had been a story that he was told when he had signed up with the bank, and he'd been nervous at first. He wasn't English, he didn't talk as much as the other trainees (which perhaps Cas might have appreciated), and he was of a no-maj background. But, he'd always heard his perspective and opinion though Leo, in the beginning, had hardly ever been right.

His face shifted as he went into thought. "I think that's true of any system." Technology or not, there was no perfect system. Even the bank had a mark on its almost stellar reputation. He hadn't attended Hogwarts, but Harry Potter's stories were known internationally, and so were his actions during the war. Breaking into a Gringotts vault? Nobody had thought it possible, but it had been done. No system was foolproof, and Leo could vouch for that on the note of no-maj and magical technology. "I don't imagine this new technology is too much at risk when most are still handwriting their messages." He spoke honestly, though the quip included his friend sitting in front of him. There were not going to be any hacks while words were still being written down. His skill level gave him an incredible advantage, more so than he had in the no-maj world.

Leo thought about Cas' words, his thought, and it left a strange sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The artifacts he had seen as a trainee had been incredibly dangerous, let alone what the senior Curse Breakers were assigned to retrieve. From his perspective and all the internal HR complaints he had helped handle over the past years, he could see what a mess of things a single Auror could or a dimwitted employee in Magical Transportation. The thought of one of them holding said relic from Rio in their hand and being so careless....well, it didn't sit well with him. He already didn't trust the institution. They had let their most valuable Witch die while mass murderers roamed free. Leo didn't answer right away. He paused to consider the implications of something small or something big. "I would--" He paused and shook his head. "I don't want to think about that happening..."

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas gave a reluctant smile as Leo commented that most wizards were still writing their messages by hand. He knew, from a rational standpoint, that his inability to understand technology was going to be a shortcoming of his someday. Magicked technology was becoming more and more common, from the governmental systems to newspapers to items for daily use like cellphones. But Cas was resourceful, and he had always found a way to accomplish his goals with the skillset he had developed. And besides, even someone as private as the Karkaroff understood that no man was an island, and that the most foolproof plans included a small array of people with different talents. He would never need to become a technology expert because he was sitting across from one already.

Leo’s reaction to Cas’s carefully planted commentary about dangerous artifacts in the hands of the Ministry meant he had done his job. He could see doubt and concern in Leo’s eyes, and the extended silence spoke volumes about his friend’s true thoughts on the matter. Cas leaned back in his chair and polished off his drink, and when he spoke his tone was resolute. “It’s already happening,” he said crisply, setting the empty glass on the table. There was a moment to wait, and a moment when it was time to make your move. They’d just crossed that threshold. Cas couldn’t avoid discussing the magic dampener openly any longer, although he had carefully choreographed how to begin. “There’s an artifact. A very powerful, very dangerous artifact. It first entered Ministry custody…almost a year ago now. It is not performing at full capacity, thanks to bureaucratic incompetence, but even so…it’s become a security risk. One the Ministry has proven incapable of handling.” Cas didn’t see any need to bring the Purifiers or Ouroboros into this discussion. Leo was an independent operator, and Cas had no interest in wasting his breath on a failed recruitment effort. He didn’t need Leo to do this for Ouroboros. Just for him.

@leonardo