The Night Spoke the Tongue of Flames [Rhys & Max]

[dahlia jade greyback]

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Even though Dahlia was just as guilty in perpetuating the fight, she could tell that in the grand scheme of things, Rhys was the one that was really in trouble. Getting carried away after one too many drinks was the Cursebreaker way. The two of them would probably be suspended for a week or two for disciplinary reasons and then sent off to a job that was beneath their level as further punishment. She was most likely going to get stuck with Buford again. If it meant more flowers and brushing off his silly flirtations instead of hours of grueling paperwork, she'd do it.

Max listened carefully to how Dahlia described her injuries. There were others, of course, but she didn't need bruises or small scrapes and cuts healed. Those were normal for her and also something she could clear up with the few minor healing charms she knew. Trying to fix her own jaw and hand was different. Getting the spell wrong or setting either incorrectly would mean getting reprimanded by Healers. Pissing off the people that consistently brought her back from the verge of near-death wasn't a smart thing to do.

"Go ahead," Dahlia relaxed in her spot as she waited for Max's hand to do it's weird healing thing. She didn't really understand it fully, though had mentally equated it to how she wolfed out once a month. Some people had special magical powers that set them in a category different from the rest. Strangely, it seemed like there were more around with mundane skills like that than she originally realized. It certainly came out like they were merely better at their one preferred skill than others.

While she was being healed, Dahlia's eyes flicked up to her brother. Was that really the smartest thing to be asking right now? They'd just done something incredibly stupid, which she could admit was also partially her fault for joining in. And Max was already upset at them over it. She kept her mouth shut though, not wanting to interfere with the healing process.

maxima ruqayyah greyback & rhys alexander greyback ● 345

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 23, 2028

Dahlia gave her the signal to go ahead with fixing her jaw, and Max nodded, doing as she had just described to her that she would. She was as gentle as she could be in healing it, but Max was sure that it probably wasn't the most pleasant experience that Dahlia had ever had. The healing ability that she possessed, though, meant that the process was over nearly as soon as she had started. It was better than what she'd seen Muggles had to do to heal their jaws, with all sorts of metal wires and things of that nature. She wasn't usually one to view Muggle doctors with as much hostility as some magical people; her stepfather was a Muggle veterinarian, but even looking at that healing process made her think it looked like some form of medieval torture.

"Have you spoken to Sage?" Rhys asked her in the meantime.

Max, looking over Dahlia's jaw, nodded. "Yeah," she answered him. She knew what he was getting at. "We've spoken," she added, but left it at that for the moment. Worrying about their present states was more important than trying to figure out what it would take to convince Sage that he could see Amelia again.

"How does that feel, Dahlia?" Max questioned as she multitasked, switching between the two very different conversations. "It looks like the swelling's gone down already."

rhys alexander greyback
dahlia jade greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

'cause i belong to the hurricane

it's gonna blow this all away

December 23, 2028
dahlia jade greyback
maxima ruqayyah greyback

Rhys fidgeted while Max focused on fixing Dahlia’s jaw. The thought made him twitch more because that the sort of pain Rhys had felt before and it wasn’t easy to forget. Not that he had the benefit of his sister and her ability to heal nearby at the time. After asking if Max had spoken to the mother of his child, he waited for an answer. Max responded curtly and completely void of details. This made him more restless, but he kept his mouth shut. Rhys wondered if he should never speak again, as it would save him a lot of trouble.

But internally, he was too eager to know what she’d said. At least Dahlia’s jaw looked far better now. His sister had chosen the right career path, healing. Aside from this ability she had, it fit into her personality. How often did she check on Rhys and Dahlia to make sure they were alright? All the things Rhys supposed he should’ve been doing. At least Max’s healing thing was useful and hardly as traumatic as Rhys’s memory ability. But after finally releasing his jaw that had been clenched rightly for Merlin knew how long, Rhys couldn’t stop himself. ”What did she say?”

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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The sensation of the jaw swelling receding into nothing was off-putting in a way. It almost tickled, the reverse of the pain made her face go from feeling full and swollen back to normal in an instant. She assumed the relief was what it felt like to get a tooth pulled at the dentist. Thankfully the punch that had caused it hadn't been higher, otherwise she would have been back. St. Mungo's for observation. She did not need another thwack to the head so soon.

Max kept her response to Rhys short, only confirming that she had spoken to Sage. That wasn't going to go over well with him. He had asked the follow up question almost immediately after. Dahlia had no stake in that part of it. From her understanding, the big screw up on his part had happened earlier. Everything that came after was happenstance. She did suppose that the fight that got them arrested made her look like a violent lunatic too, but she hardly cared what Sage thought about her.

Running her hand across the previously swollen spot, Dahlia confirmed that the swelling had disappeared. "That is much better. That would have taken a week to go down," she laughed before taking another sip of her water. Everything felt fine this time. Minus the wrist, but that would be taken care of momentarily. "Thank you," she added quickly. Being appreciative of Max's abilities and hospitality was all she could do right now. It was clear that, while upset with both of them, she was being tougher on Rhys. Dahlia wanted to tell him to relax and give it time, but she didn't know what that was like at all. Trying to step into his shoes had always been difficult, outside of being able to understand what it was like to have their mothers killed and then mauled until they both became werewolves.

maxima ruqayyah greyback & rhys alexander greyback ● 317

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 23, 2028

"What did she say?"

"…That you're not to see Amelia?" Max responded to Rhys's question with a rising intonation, despite having a feeling that he already knew that himself. "I mean, she's obviously angry." She wasn't going to get in the middle of anything between Sage and Rhys. Amelia wasn't in any danger with her mother, and it wasn't as though Max herself had the time to go see her niece under Rhys's nose.

With Dahlia's confirmation that her jaw was feeling better and her thanks for the same, Max bobbed her head and, still positioned in front of Dahlia, looked over at Rhys. "Alright," she told him as she assessed him. "Will you shut up long enough for me to heal your face, or should I fix her wrist?"

rhys alexander greyback
dahlia jade greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

'cause i belong to the hurricane

it's gonna blow this all away

December 23, 2028
dahlia jade greyback
maxima ruqayyah greyback

Rhys figured Sage knew about this additional fight, which wouldn’t help him win any arguments with her regarding their daughter. Max’s shift in tone caused Rhys to close his mouth immediately. She wasn’t taking his side, clearly. Frustration grew inside him. The feeling left him restless and with the urge to throw something. But it wasn’t his flat where he could do as he pleased and he didn’t need his own sister hexing him for acting out.

Dahlia expressed that her face was feeling better, though she hadn’t intervened in the conversation about Sage. Was it too much to ask for someone else to note how ridiculous Sage was acting? Rhys almost felt a little crazy, but that might have simply just been the hangover. When Max asked Rhys if she should heal his face or Dahlia’s wrist, he blinked at her a few moments before nodding his head toward their sister. She might as well finish her up before turning to him. For now, he decided he’d keep quiet.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Dahlia sat quietly, chewing on the inside of her cheek now that all of the pain had disappeared. This was awkward. Obviously, she had never seen Max angry or irritated like this before, and the way she was holding Rhys to his screw-up was sort of spectacular. Dahlia knew it was more about the initial problem and not what the two of them had done. That was bad enough on its own, but the real issue was what had preceded it. Getting drunk and carried away was unfortunately the product of it all. At the same time, she couldn't blame Rhys. Fucking up people that had problems with werewolves was sort of what they had to do. It didn't solve any of the broader problems their kind dealt with, maybe even emboldening the fact that they were crazy and violent still, but it taught some of them to shut up. She wasn't sure if Max understood what that was like but realized that they all probably needed to talk about it at this point.

Having Amelia withheld from him wasn't going to be good though, and Dahlia was sympathetic towards her brother in that front. Max was just laying it down hard on both of them to prove a point that they had messed up here. Rhys didn't respond to the offer to shut-up and take the healing or let Max finish with her first cShe took the silent head motion to mean that up next was her wrist. She'd been keeping it at rest on her lap, the occasional throb radiating up her arm whenever she turned it. "Just keep it even then?" she asked Max, doing her best not to have it bent in an odd way. Just straightening it out hurt in the worst kind of way, though still not nearly as bad as her concussion had been.

maxima ruqayyah greyback & rhys alexander greyback ● 313

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 23, 2028

Thankfully, thought Max, Rhys had the sense to listen to her instead of digging himself deeper into trouble. If he wanted to figure out how to prove to the mother of his daughter that he was a suitable influence on her, then Max was happy to have that conversation… after both Dahlia's and his injuries had been dealt with. Patience wasn't Rhys's strongest point, but he agreed to have her continue to heal Dahlia first.

Dahlia, seeing Rhys's gesture, asked if she should keep her wrist even. Max nodded, bracing Dahlia's wrist slightly with her hands to help ensure that it would set in place.

"I should be able to use spells for most of yours, Rhys," she spoke while touching Dahlia's hand. His would be a lot of Episkey-ing, more than the sort of thing she usually did at work. "Sorry about this," Max continued, gradually increasing the pressure she was placing on Dahlia's wrist until she was touching it more firmly.

After focusing on getting that taken care of, Max looked up at Dahlia. "How's that?"

rhys alexander greyback
dahlia jade greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

'cause i belong to the hurricane

it's gonna blow this all away

December 23, 2028
dahlia jade greyback
maxima ruqayyah greyback

Again, Rhys opted to remain quiet. It seemed his best bet. Max was clearly annoyed with him and his supposed antics, and there was less and less room for any sympathy from anyone, apparently. Just as he had thought through scenarios in his mind while sobering up in the cell, Rhys could already hear how the conversations would go with other close friends. Nell’s comments, Claire’s disappointment, even Archer would have had a thing or two to say. The last person, ironically, he wanted to call was Juniper. While her presence would have been a great comfort, Rhys also knew it risked everything building since the summer.

Max informed Rhys that she would be able to utilize spells to fix him up. ”Thanks…” He mumbled. Remember, he had a glass of water. Rhys occupied himself with slowly drinking it. It soothed his dry throat, though only barely. What he wished for the most, aside from more whisky, was a shower and his bed. If Rhys was lucky, when he woke up, this would all have been a bad dream, and he hadn’t actually jeopardized seeing his daughter while being scolded by his youngest sister.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Face scrunching up in pain as her wrist was held in place for Max, Dahlia tried her best not to yelp in pain. The position she had kept it in all night, which was a contorted, limp state, had been preferable. Every time she accidentally leaned on it while trying to sleep in the holding cell immediately woke her back up with a sharp stab. Thankfully, this would be the final moments of it being broken. Looking away from Max as her sister worked, Dahlia fought against yanking her hand away as more and more pressure was applied on to her. This was the only way to heal it, unfortunately. The pinpoint accurate jab of Max’s healing without a wand was scary. What started as a painful ache turned into what could only be described as feeling like all of the bones and muscles in her wrist and hand were being massaged. A similar warm presence that healing spells gave, yet prolonged because it was through physical touch instead of by a wand.

After a moment, Max seemed to finish and asked how it was. Dahlia stared down at it, a slight bit of lingering pain slowly fading as everything felt like it was back the way it was meant to be. Rotating her hand at the wrist, everything felt fluid and normal. ”Thank you, Max,” she said, relief in her voice. She could deal with pain up to a certain threshold, but it always seemed to feel much worse right before it was fixed by a Healer. Except the concussion. That was the gift that kept on giving.

Rhys was next, and she moved out of the way to give Max enough room to work on him. ”But it cannot fix your ugliness,” she tacked on to Max’s comment about what she would have to use on the eldest Greyback. Clearly, she was feeling much better now that everything was sorted on her end.

maxima ruqayyah greyback & rhys alexander greyback ● 325

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 23, 2028

Max felt as though she were refereeing her maternal half-siblings rather than Dahlia and Rhys., but she wasn't in over her head. Dahlia's injuries had been seen to, which left Rhys's. If she tried to get Dahlia and Rhys to play nice, it would take that much longer to get them both to a place where they were functional. Then, their biggest problems would be the legal issues that they were facing—and any consequences thereof.

Though she wanted to ignore Dahlia's insult to Rhys about his being ugly so that she wouldn't inflame the situation, Max felt the need to intervene. "This already sucks for both of you," she reminded them, "so let's not make it worse."

Though she didn't have a Time-Turner to keep them out of trouble, she could at least go ahead and work on healing Rhys's injuries. "Your turn," Max noted, readying her wand. "I'll heal your face first, and then we'll go from there."

rhys alexander greyback
dahlia jade greyback
OOC: I'm cool with some godmodding on your end, Vanessa, or we'll be here for ten years. 😂

[rhys alexander greyback]

'cause i belong to the hurricane

it's gonna blow this all away

December 23, 2028
dahlia jade greyback
maxima ruqayyah greyback

Rhys stared off at a spot on the carpeted floor while Max attended to Dahlia’s injuries. Aside from the fact that it hurt to speak, it also was not winning him any points. He couldn’t even use his phone as the battery had died, and the screen was severely cracked. It was probably for the best. Merlin knew what stupid messages he was bound to send in his terrible state. Max assured Rhys that spells could care for his injuries—which was good. He was used to those types of spells from his work, and they were given most of the time.

But, hearing Dahlia’s comment, Rhys’s brow furrowed as he slowly looked up at her. One eye was still severely swollen, but the other shot a few daggers in her direction. ”Your face looked better before—“ Rhys began before Max interrupted. She was right. He was not in the mood for their usual banter. Had they gone to his flat instead, Rhys would have happily taken a swing at his sister’s healed face. It would not have been the first time either werewolf landed a solid punch on the other.

He nodded as Max explained her plan. She began with his eye, the pressure was relieved slowly and after a few moments to adjust and extra blinking he could see out of that eye again. His nose didn’t feel so swollen, and neither did his lip. Max then healed his hands just as she had done for Dahlia. As far as Rhys knew, those were his injuries. But, by chance, he tried to take a deep breath and immediately coughed after wincing. It didn’t take long to find the bruise from broken ribs, each breath a painful reminder of his recent ordeal.

Now that he was not in so much physical pain, Rhys felt more miserable than irritable. Drinking the rest of the water, Rhys wished it would do something to numb everything swirling inside him. ”Thanks…” He mumbled, trying to sound a little grateful. ”Listen, Max, I know what we did was stupid…” What would he give for a shower and his bed? Hell—he’d sleep on the floor if everyone could leave him alone. Max could keep his wand for another week for all he cared. ”I just—I need to talk to Sage.” His growing anxiety was pushing Rhys toward tunnel vision, but he had to find a way back before it all went to hell.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Dahlia was tempted to shoot back with a snide remark about how she now had the ability to close up his one good eye as well. All jokingly, of course. She didn’t think she actually had it in her to attack Rhys outside of a practice duel. That sort of thing wasn’t really a part of their relationship. Not to mention that it seemed like she was pushing her luck with Max, and now that everything was healed up, she probably had a deadline on when she would have to leave too. Even if Max was fine with her staying longer, Dahlia disliked being too much of a burden. She did it enough when she was drunk as it was, and there were times where she worried that she was taking advantage of her newfound siblings. After spending so much time on her own, these concerns occasionally popped up.

Leaning back and out of the way of Max as she started to focus on Rhys, Dahlia played around with her now healed hand. It was amazing how quickly the aches disappeared and the stiffness of the newly healed replaced it. Now all she had to do was some stretching for the next hour or so and it would be like it was never broken in the first place. She didn’t look up from her wrist rotations until she heard Rhys mention Sage. What he wanted to do probably wasn’t a good idea. That was what had gotten them into this mess to begin with. Looking between her siblings, Dahlia tried to think of a way to distract him, but nothing came to mind. This was Amelia, after all. Trying to get him to think about something else was almost impossible, in her experience.

”I do not think that is a good idea,” she said after a moment, surprising herself the most. ”I am sorry, Rhys, but she was already upset with you, and if she knows about this…” She didn’t have to spell it out for him. The horrible timing of it all happening right before Christmas was the worst part.

maxima ruqayyah greyback & rhys alexander greyback ● 351

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

December 23, 2028

Though her healing him went well, Rhys was adamant about getting in touch with Sage. Dahlia brought up that maybe it wasn't such a good idea, but Max was admittedly on Rhys's side when it came to telling Sage what had happened. Sage didn't exactly trust Rhys as it was, but eroding what trust she had left in him wouldn't be pretty. It was better for him to be honest with her about the situation, Max felt. "If he doesn't say anything, it'll make it seem like he's trying to hide it or avoid her," she reasoned to Dahlia.

Max rested her hand on Rhys's to try to be of some comfort. "Call her, and I can back up that you're with me and that you're safe," she told him. She knew that that alone wouldn't be likely to smooth everything over with Sage, but it would hopefully make the situation a little bit better. At least Sage wouldn't have to worry that she had to drop everything for his sake.

rhys alexander greyback
dahlia jade greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

'cause i belong to the hurricane

it's gonna blow this all away

December 23, 2028
dahlia jade greyback
maxima ruqayyah greyback

Dahlia interjected as Rhys pleaded with Max. He supposed that was expected, not that expected such a serious tone from Dahlia of all people. Rhys’s expression shifted between annoyance and grief. Logically, she was right. Sage wouldn’t need to say a word as Rhys explaining this latest incident spoke for itself. Max’s turn was now, and he fully expected her to side with Dahlia on this one. Max was always level-headed and reasonable. Maybe watching Rhys stumble through life had helped her, although their upbringing was very different. One look at the trio and one might surmise that perhaps Rhys and Dahlia were, in fact, raised by wolves while Max enjoyed a civilized life.

However, Max agreed with Rhys. He stared blankly at her for a moment before returning to reality. That sinking feeling in his stomach twisted into a knot of anxiety. Even now that he had some validation, Rhys still felt frozen. He hadn’t expected anyone to side with him if he was being honest. ”I—erm. I don’t know what to say…” He muttered, trying to think while his eyes darted around a bit. It all felt futile, but his urge to fight didn’t leave him. ”I feel like I can’t win with her…” The moment she had offered him an out and Rhys rejected it, he wondered if she regretted ever telling him she was pregnant. And these days, he felt like his options were limited.

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