Unexpected reunion (Casimir)

[Deleted]

Today Virva had been sent to investigate the shops in knockturn alley to attempt proving sale of illegal objects. It was a total rookie task and by the looks of the place anybody that wanted to stay in business was bound to have their books totally in order. It was just one of those muscle shows to her, showing that the minsitry was watching so it was best to behave perfectly. Thus, the task was mostly dull and uninteresting. Still, she couldn't help herself, staring in fascination at some of the stuff that was for sale. Were those bones human? That was amazing! No, wait, gruesome! That was probably more appropriate to think. She chuckled and decided to step into the shop, glancing up briefly at the sign. Borgin and Burke.

She was completely absorbed in the displays for a moment. "By the Gods, they are human bones..." She softly muttered to herself as she started reading tags. Cursed objects? There was no way that this stuff was legal! Was there? She was highly confused but figured that she could just casually ask about that stuff while on work business. It was a bit on the borders of what she could do. She could claim she was trying to establish herself for a potential undercover role? Most people were squirmish with human bones and all, right? It seemed like her kind of niche.

But all of that flew from her mind the moment the shop owner stepped out from the back. Her eyes instantly went wide and a huge smile spread across her face and she practically danced across the room to bounce in front of poor unsuspecting Casimir. "Veli!" She squeeked, accidentally slipping into Finnish. She instantly slapped a hand in front of her face and giggled. "Sorry! I got a bit carried away, but you have to forgive me since I haven't seen you in years!" She said and completely overstepped and gave him a big hug. "Thanks again for saving my life. I know it's been literally years but I don't think I ever properly got to thank you so here I go!" She said, positively beaming with joy. "I joined the ministry! I want to be just like you! Saving people and traveling the world and all." It was very clear she had a different idea in mind of what he was than reality, but she also clearly had no intentions of allowing her bubble to be popped at this moment....

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

September 2025

Cas didn’t trouble himself often with overseeing sales anymore. He had so many new responsibilities regarding the store that it seemed highly reasonable to delegate the assignment of minding the shop to his assistants. He only rarely made himself available at the front, most often for an important client. And whenever the Ministry conducted one of its irregular investigations of Knockturn Alley. They usually left well enough alone, but every now and then seemed determine to catch someone in the act. As if Cas and every other storeowner didn’t have papers proving the perfect legality of their businesses.

The last Auror that had stepped foot in his shop had been Claire Slater, and that had already been months ago – thank Merlin. Her visits were never pleasant, or related to Ministry business, for that matter. Still, he wasn’t expecting to receive word of another team of Aurors (and their trainees) for months – until the day rumors began to circulate that a Ministry employee was asking about business. Cas had been preparing for a very important imminent home visit (he’d had his eye on an antique for ages and the family was finally willing to sell) when he heard the news. This Ministry figure would likely be the next person to enter the store, and Cas didn’t have to wait long to confirm that assumption.

It all went downhill from there. He rounded the corner to the front of the store, and the employee made her way over practically dancing and squealing to him before giving him a hug. What else could Cas do – he froze and his mind frantically raced to give a name to the unfamiliar redhead. He laughed nervously and, as gently as he could, put a little space between them, hands on her shoulders to ensure she didn’t try to hug him again. “Yes, Virva, it has been years.” It must have been at least 10 years since he’d visited her village in Finland as a trainee cursebreaker with his mentor. Life had changed drastically for him since then, and Cas glanced nervously around the empty store because while his past as a cursebreaker wasn’t unknown, it was private. Immensely private.

He tried his best to keep the horror out of his eyes as she went on to explain that, since he’d saved her as a child, she’d decided to emulate him and join the Ministry and save people. There was so much wrong that he didn’t even know where to start. Cas swallowed nervously, his composure broken because as much as he didn’t want to ruin her whole life plan, it was necessary. And keep in mind that she was in law enforcement now and standing in his less-than-reputable business. “Virva, you don’t want to be like me,” he said firmly. “I apologize that you’ve had an uninformed perception of me for so long. But you shouldn’t base such important decisions on your view of somebody else, especially someone as selfish as I am.” He took a step back to create some more distance between them. “I was a very different person the last time you saw me, and even then…” he shook his head as he trailed off. He wasn’t as much a devil as the rest of this godforsaken alley, but he was no angel like the rest in Ouroboros either.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

If there was one thing that was typical about Virva in her many peculiarities, it was the fact that she was exceedingly stubborn and very true to her beliefs, once they were shaped. She's shaped her opinion on Casimir such a long time ago that it was almost impossible for her to change her mind at this point. So when Casi started objecting, she was bound to counter or ignore it. She did notice that like far too many people here, he was not a hugger. Was that why British people always seemed so tense? No hugging, no sauna, barely any actual nature around. No wonder they all got so tense! It was so silly, considering that those three things were so wonderful to have. She most certainly couldn't do without them. She'd had a bit of a shock when she discovered the family she was an au pair for didn't even have a sauna! How on earth was a house a home without a sauna?

He really had to be a man of high honour, the way that he pushed his heroics aside as if they were nothing. He'd stood with her village and defended them against dark wizards and that was really all that counted. Back home they didn't find themselves under attack too often and more time and resources went to preserving nature and protecting the village from muggle interferance. That had changed after his visit of course. The village elders had agreed it was in the best interest of all to put more time and resources into fighting dark wizards and witches again. Virva would never understand those that chose a path of dark magic and had very little compassion for them. It was part of why being an auror seemed like the right path to take. There was no mercy for dark witches or wizards.

She shrugged, chuckled and softly patted the hands he kept on her shoulders to restrict her movement. "That is rude Casi." She said kindly and slightly chiding. "My perception is not uninformed. I call them like I see them. You helped protect my home and that is an act of honour. I feel you don't have a proper perception of your own nature." She sighed deeply and put a hand on his chest. "The selfish would have fled. Your heart is in the right place so I don't understand why you're so hard on yourself." She said and softly stepped backwards, looking around the store intrigued. "Although I am very confused about how you ended up in a place like this. Did you anger one of the Tonttu where you used to live?" She asked curiously as she looked in disgust at one of the more obvious dark artefacts. She was a little bit on the fence when it came to his store. She believed him to be good, but he clearly worked with some evil people. No niin, it was what it was and she'd figure out the truth it in eventually.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

The simple approach hadn’t worked. Not that Cas had really been expecting it to (since when did something he tried ever work on the first go), but it would have been preferable if his words had been enough to turn Virva right around and out of his store. Perhaps the proper solution was even simpler, but the situation felt highly complicated. Virva wasn’t a child anymore, but she had been the last time he’d seen her and the need to tiptoe around and preserve her feelings felt correct. And he couldn’t deny that it felt good to be appreciated. By the nature of his work, Cas could never be recognized for the risks he took for Ouroboros – and anyway, he was usually surrounded by people who (rightfully) didn’t trust him.

But there was a reason he conducted such business under-the-radar, and why he would never receive any recognition for it. And there was also a reason he was in Knockturn Alley and not somewhere more impressionable. Despite putting his hands on her shoulders to maintain distance, Virva found ways to continue physical contact and Cas shied away from it even as she took a step back. He chose his next strategy carefully, and kept his words firm and devoid of emotion. “You saw incorrectly,” he said coldly, clenching his jaw before continuing. “Driving them off wasn’t about saving your village. They wanted the same artifact we did and it came to a duel. It was a business transaction. If those wizards had only come to harass your village, we would have taken the pieces and left.” Maybe, maybe not – cursebreakers weren’t in the business of interfering with local matters, although Cas’s mentor had been somewhat soft-hearted for the druid community. But nonetheless, it was the probable truth.

Virva’s last question reminded Cas about what he’d learned on druids – and their particular hatred for Dark magic. He glanced around at the various objects on display and followed Virva slightly forward to the main area of the store. It was still empty, but he was dreading someone walking in on what was at best a Ministry inspection and at worst a terrible blast from the past. Neither option was particularly appealing to explain. Cas kept his voice level. “This is a simple antiques shop. You may occasionally find a cursed item, but that enchantment would have been placed centuries ago, so it will not have violated the ban on curse enchanting,” he recited flatly. “I have all my papers in order. Perhaps you would like to look them over and then move on.” It was phrased as a suggestion, but his tone suggested otherwise. Virva was a Ministry employee, so he’d rather avoid the Dark-angle of his work if possible. But she needed to leave – there was simply no way this would end well for both of them. He was still hesitant to say anything to her outright, but he’d resort to it if needed. The record had to be set straight.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

The man (well, boy with his current behaviour) seemed very intent on not being seen as a good guy. Was this a reputation thing? She frowned slight, frustrated that he was being like this. She was more than aware that her perception of him could possibly be off but that didn't change the fact that she was still grateful for his joining in his life for that time. It had shaped her, even if it was in a way that he personally might not approve of. No that such a thing seemed needed, she was a perfectly fine individual. Perhaps odd to the eyes of the modern folk but not at all a bad person. What was his problem?!

With his entire cold and distant thing a frown shaped on her face and she crossed her arms in annoyance. At this rate they were not going to have the most pleasant reunion and that would really be a waste for him. "Oh boo hoo." She said with the annoyance and sarcasm dripping from her words. "You could have stood by and let all unfold and not get mixed up. You got mixed up and choose battle with us. Go cry in a corner about your reputation as tough guy. I'd be more impressed if my teddy beast said he was a cold heart businessman." She rolled her eyes obviously and over the top. He simply had to notice how unimpressed she was.

And then he got the paperwork out that she was here for and she sighed in annoyance. Ministry work was boring. She walked up and looked over the ledger but didn't really inspect it too carefully. If he was that fine with showing it then it surely wouldn't contain anything all that interesting anyway. She skimmed it quickly, clicking her tongue slightly as she did so. Then she looked up and she pushed the books back to him with a single finger. "Done. Now, moving on as you so pointedly pointed out... How have you been? You didn't miss me at all? I mean, I'll be glad you even remember me at this point. I've long since adopted you as an older brother."

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

She spoke very frankly and asked direct questions. It was so contrary to his own style that he couldn’t quite decide on the strategy he wanted to take. Not that anything else he’d already tried had worked – Virva was showing an incredibly frustrating ability to wave away his words like he hadn’t spoken at all. She commented sarcastically about his reputation, and maybe he should have been offended but all he could muster was an expression of incredulity and raised eyebrows. He couldn’t remember anyone daring to speak to him like that for a long time – maybe since he’d first started at Durmstrang. Insults of that sort were usually more veiled – pureblood society had a knack for hiding their offensive observations in dressed-up language.

As it was, he was out-of-practice for the kind of conversation you might find in a schoolyard. Cas set his books aside on the counter – Virva had barely glanced at them, which was just as well because there was nothing really interesting to share – and knit his eyebrows in annoyance as she kept talking. Older brother? He prayed that this was some small cultural detail about the druid community, and that he hadn’t actually made that strong an impression on her. He ignored the question asking how he was (something he was asked often, but nobody actually wanted to know) and responded in a flat tone, “I honestly hadn’t thought about it.” Better to say ‘it’ than ‘you,’ it was more impersonal. He crossed his arms as he suggested, “Perhaps you should move on to the next store if you hope to finish before closing hours.” He could only assume she’d been sent to canvas Knockturn Alley, and that there was nothing special about Borgin and Burke’s.

Still, he couldn’t help himself – he’d learned, all those years ago, that druids tended to look down on the Ministry and consorting too often with outsiders. And yet here she was. “You’re with the Ministry? Not on loan or visiting?”

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Virva had found that people not used to her charm could be thrown off by it just a little bit. Cas had clearly changed since she'd last seen him and that could be good or bad. She didn't know, she didn't care too much. She had her own views of whom he was and that wasn't too likely to change. She'd long since made up her mind about him. Still, the look on his face had her holding back a giggle, although a smile escaped her face. It came as naturally as breathing. She just didn't really want to insult him too much. It had been such a long time since they'd last interacted that she wasn't too surprised he wasn't quite as familiar as she herself had decided to be. He seemed almost shocked, an expression that didn't suit him at all. She gave him an amused but somewhat bemused smile. "You're not actually all that surprised, are you? Nature has a way of guiding us, even when we don't really see or expect us. I didn't expect to find you here after moving south but it seems our path were meant to intersect once again. It can hardly be a coincidence when a combination this unlikely meets not once, but twice. I believe we have gifts not yet given between us." Her faith, although often a little strange, was always very strong. If she and Casimir had been fated to meet again it surely meant there were lessons they could still teach each other or ways in which they could help one another out? It wouldn't make sense to have such a meeting happen twice otherwise.

She found herself observing a lot more carefully after he didn't answer the question on how he was. She wasn't quite used to a society in which such questions were only asked to be polite. She asked because she wanted to know and those that shrugged it off too often had troubles on their mind that they didn't want to burden others with. Was something going on with Cas that had him worried? He was so distant now compared to then that she found herself worrying about him a bit. Perhaps that was why their paths had crossed then, so she might help him contain his worries or even resolve them. Well, that was a good enough goal to keep in mind as she continued on the path before her.

It was her turn to look surprised when he suggested she ought to move on so swiftly. She knew the ministry was annoying in wanting to get far too much work done in a short period of time but it almost started to sound as if he was trying to get her to leave. That was highly suspicious. She narrowed her eyes for a moment and glanced at the books again, a sparkle in her eyes. "I might not have been careful enough." She said as the twinkle grew much brighter. "You see the back of my head too nicely, which usually means you're hiding something. The question is, are you hiding it from job or person?" With a silvery laugh she opened the books and started absently comparing some of the inventory with the display cases. Not out of interest but to see how he'd react.

Then his words stopped her movements and for a moment she stood still as a young willow tree in a morning breeze. She smiled so faintly it was almost invisible. "Yes." She simply stated before turning towards him, holding the book almost like a tome from which she were to cast a lengthy ritual. "Not everything about the ministry is bad. There is balance still. Good, hoping to protect and serve the people that need them, but also a dark side with a will to dominate and control. If left unchecked I fear that side will seek to destroy my people because we refuse to be dominated. From inside I can do good as an auror and see if the disease within is still contained. My loyalty has always been and will always be with my people. That is where I belong. A single seed from a tree might fall in a peculiar place but if left at peace it can still grow to disrupt the man made structures that didn't wish for it to grow there. I don't know if I'm out of place here, but I can still grow here." It wasn't said, but it was very much implied. She'd grow to destroy if the ministry hoped to build her in. Time was patient but unforgiving and trees would always win when fighting unmoving stone, for life would ever triumf over death and containment. Sometimes all it needed was time.

@casimir

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas narrowed his eyes slightly – not so much out of suspicion as contemplation – as he brought to mind the various details he’d learned and since forgotten about the druid community. He and his mentor had spent a considerable amount of time in the far north among the druids and Sami, searching for some long-lost artifacts Gringotts had been eyeing to recovery for years. Cas had been fresh out of school then, recently graduated and free of his family for the first time in his life (or so he had believed). He had never been in a situation where he didn’t see at least one of his siblings every day, and to suddenly have joined a career that meant putting them out of mind for months on end…naturally his family needed every knut of the salary he earned, but he’d gladly left Prague behind to discovery new cultures and get his hands on some fascinating artifacts.

Yes, he’d been much more carefree for this assignment. Afterwards he had learned through hard experience that he would never really be free of the burdens of his family, and his mentor had taught him how to keep everything locked tight in his head. No wonder Virva was so casual with him. She’d been a child, but she’d only ever seen a Cas who had thought he was free. She still reflected that free spirit the druids were known for in her easy smiles and the way she didn’t watch what she shared. It could be dangerous – druids were famously intolerant of dark magic and as a result never really built up an awareness for or immunity to its dangers. A girl like her could be easily swallowed up by a place like Knockturn Alley.

Her views on nature and the way it ‘guided’ people together were unsurprising, but Cas pursed his lips. “I’ve always believed that opportunities are things that are created, not experienced. Coincidences don’t exist. But it is possible to create circumstances that make certain scenarios more likely. Like increasing the chances of seeing certain other wizards by choosing to leave home.” He gave her a pointed look but didn’t say anything more direct than that. The implication was heavy, in his opinion, that he believed ‘nature’ wasn’t responsible for this random encounter but rather that Virva had manipulated the circumstances to make such a thing more likely. Some measure of luck was still needed, he supposed, but it was entirely in people’s controls to fabricate ‘accidents’ and ‘coincidences.’ But he never said direct things like that if he could avoid it. Cas always preferred to leave his options open, and once something was said it was incredibly difficult to un-say.

He resisted the urge to sigh heavily when Virva turned back to his books with a reignited interest. What she’d said was true enough – he was indeed hiding things from her related to both his job and personal life. But she revealed her naivety by immediately looking at the most obvious, and therefore incorrect, place. In the end, Cas didn’t sigh or roll his eyes, but did allow himself to look annoyed (which wasn’t a lie, that was certainly an emotion he was feeling) as she flipped through his ledgers and examined some of his inventory. Cas was good at his job, very good, which meant she wasn’t going to find any inconsistencies. He’d taken the liberty to tactfully mismark some items and their true abilities to hide curses and other signs of dark magic, but there really was no way to verify it without extensive spellwork or simply using the item. As a druid, Virva certainly wouldn’t know the right kind of magic to look for those sorts of things, and as a Ministry worker she wasn’t dumb enough to actually try anything out. So she’d inevitably come up with nothing and maybe then she would leave. But Cas doubted his luck was that good.

“Saying that someone is hiding something doesn’t mean anything,” Cas said patiently as he looked to the ceiling for patience before watching Virva again. “Everyone hides things. I can assure you that mine don’t have any relevance to you.” The beginning of her passionate defense of the Ministry was nothing new to him – he’d heard similar arguments from Claire so many times that he could probably argue it himself at this point. But it was poppycock, because as much as there was a need for a centralized magical authority, it did no good at stopping illicit behavior and darker desires. Cas had scorned the Ministry in every aspect of his life, from his chosen profession to his work with a vigilante group, and he had no interest in revising any of those opinions. Sometimes the Ministry was wrong. Sometimes it allowed bad things to happen. Sometimes it was even the perpetrator of these bad things. Life went on.

Still, her professed loyalty to her community above all else, that was interesting because it contradicted some of the positions she needed to defend as a Ministry employee. Cas couldn’t see himself getting rid of her anytime soon, but perhaps he could still drive her away. Make it her choice, or so it would seem. “Then let me ask you,” Cas drawled as he leaned against the counter, folding his arms against his chest. “If the Ministry decided tomorrow that your community’s leadership was illegitimate and began the process of overhauling it completely to replace it with complete Ministry oversight…how long would it take you to give up becoming an Auror and all the things and people associated with it?”

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Well he was a bit of a heavy heart with a very grim outlook. She rolled her eyes far too obviously and smiled afterwards. She hadn't gone looking for him the moment she'd arrived because she hadn't quite expected to find him here. He was supposed to be a curse breaker, not a shop keeper. Perhaps there was overlap in them but she hadn't so much come here for him as found her way here where he just happened to be. Yes, she'd been eager to accept the job that would lead her on his path again but that didn't mean she'd put any effort into looking him up. That was oddly arrogant of him to think but she supposed it went with the nature of the city dwellers. Virva decided to wait just a little bit, partially because the ledger was far too accurate. It made no sense for a dark arts shop not to make any tiny mistakes, which meant it probably had secrets inside. She pulled a small branch out of her pocket with some dried grass and hairs wrapped around it, which she lit and blew out, softly and gently blowing the smoke over the pages. If he'd used magic to alter or hide the contents before she'd shown up the effects of the smoke would likely display it. It was a druid trick and she certainly wasn't going to teach it to anybody. It gave her a small edge. Druid magic often used nature to get the needed things done.

While she was pretty much waiting for the results she looked at the smoke a bit absently as she looked at Cas again. "I wasn't looking for you, you know." She said, almost indifferently. "I was told the best aurors in europe were to be found here. With the amount of weird things that happen here it makes perfect sense too. It was an added advantage that Hy-brasil is so close. I figured you'd be off hunting treasures somewhere and since you weren't exactly from here to begin with I didn't expect to find your name on the list at work. You sound like you don't believe in anything, which is honestly a shame. You've changed, Casimir, and I'm not sure it's for the better." She furrowed her brow for a moment as she considered her next words a little more carefully. "You might be safer now but you seemed happier when we met all those years ago. I might have gotten it all wrong but I already discover that Druids listen to their instincts more and a lot better than city dwellers. It's all thoughts and barely any intuition here." That of course was a huge loss to her but well, people here seemed used to it. A few professions still went with intuition but it was often discouraged if it wasn't able to be explained. Gut feelings were shut down until they no longer operated. It was a loss.

She smiled at his next question as if it was kind of a dumb thing to ask, but humoured him with a response nonetheless. "Less time than it takes a mosquito to flap it's wings." It was a very clear response, at least to her. She fished a small thing out of her pocket then and walked over to him, offering it to him on an open palm. "It's a snowbell seed. They can grow anywhere so I wouldn't leave it lying around in a place where it might get wet. It'll instantly stick to it." She smiled slightly. "We have a lot of them at home. The snowbells. They used to chime beautifully together at the fall of the first snow and all the kids ran out to greet the winter." She paused with a regretful sigh. She still remembered the discordant screams of the flowers as the attack he'd been around for had started. People had been terrified long before they knew why. "But as you might have noticed, they will also make a lot of noise when somebody comes close with an intent to harm or destroy you or the community that feeds and waters it. It's an uncommon gift but a useful one." She shrugged. It was clear why she wanted him to have it. Just because he changed didn't mean she stopped caring. He had to build his own community somewhere and feeling safe would help, in her mind at least.

The snowbells could sense the presence of malice directed at those that cared for them from quite a distance, although that depended on how well they were cared for as well. They were pretty flowers, although their almost glowing hearts often attracted the wrong kind of attention from those not familiar with their purposes. They died almost instantly if plucked so there truly was no use in putting them in a vase. They connected to the earth, much like druids themselves did. "But if you're that annoyed about my being here I can leave, of course. Just don't underestimate me because I was a child when we met. There are ways in which my people have long outgrown yours." She said plain and calm, waiting for his response and reaction before making her final choice.

Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas raised an eyebrow as Virva seemed to pull out some sort of branch from her pocket and light it on fire before blowing it out and allowing the smoke to waft over the pages of his ledgers. It was…an unorthodox move, to say the least, and not one he’d seen Aurors try before on any of their previous visits to Borgin and Burke’s. That plus the fact that it was a branch meant it was probably druid magic at work – a type of magic that he’d never fully understood, even after seeing it used, but which certainly did an accurate job of finding and occasionally dispelling Dark magic.

But she’d applied it to the ledgers, instead of any of his merchandise, so Cas wasn’t sure what exactly Virva was trying to find. He’d teased Titus relentlessly for the suggestion, but he’d made his changes with a quill and ink rather than using magic. His friend was notoriously low-maintenance and often did things himself instead of using magic, which meant Cas often ended up doing the same. As much as he protested how ridiculous it was. It’d be a different story if Virva was trying to find Dark magic in his store. Cas didn’t need to use his Dial Back to know that the storefront was practically dripping in it. But she didn’t have the authorization to look for that. At least Cas hoped she knew she didn’t.

Saying something about it would only make Virva and her smoking branch more determined, so Cas bit the inside of his cheek and kept his casual stance leaning against his front counter. Virva had him pegged in that he absolutely wished he still had the freedom to be off hunting treasures somewhere, even if he’d long since closed that chapter of his life. But she was wrong that he didn’t believe in anything. He couldn’t blame her – he had worked very thoroughly to convince everyone in his life that was the case. Knowing it wasn’t would only invite undue suspicion. He spoke carefully to confirm what she’d said by appearing to refute it. “Almost right. I do believe in something – it just happens to be myself. We do what we have to for protection.” One of his almost-truths again. There were people he wanted protected, and he took careful steps to make sure they were. His brothers, his sister. And himself, naturally. But protection could come from a lot of places, and he wasn’t the self-sacrificing type (not when it was much easier to source protections from somewhere else).

He shook his head at her as Virva answered easily that it wouldn’t take her any time at all to forsake the Ministry if it turned against her community. “You form connections very easily, Virvatuli. I can believe you have no love for the Ministry, but I do not believe that extends to everyone who follows them. It’s not impossible to separate one from the other. But the Ministry can come between people. It creates cracks in a relationship. Sometimes irreparable ones.” There was a small frown on the face as he considered his own relationship with his sister and the specter of the Ministry between them. She’d long since begun following a path to bring legitimacy to the family through formal institutions and establishing that the Karkaroffs could be reputable members of society. He’d chosen a long time ago to advance the family through darker and more illegal paths, ones that bought them credit and connections with the pureblood society that continued to despise the Ministry. They both did what they had to in order to stabilize the family, and each one was necessary in its own way. But his relationship with his sister would never be the same because of it, and there was a distance between them he couldn’t ever imagine crossing completely. But he was strong enough to bear it – he doubted Virva would be able to in her own life. Someone would have to make a choice eventually – with the Ministry, against the Ministry. Either way, he was sure someday someone would get hurt. You never could have it all, ultimately.

Cas took the snowbell seed reluctantly, although he listened with a stony face to Virva’s explanation, and her warning that he shouldn’t underestimate her. “That may be,” Cas responded simply to the assertion that the druids might have outgrown the rest of the magical world. The position of the druids in society was a contentious debate, and Cas didn’t have an interest in inserting himself in the middle of a long and convoluted history between the Ministry and the druids of Hy-Brasil. “Your people have long since been familiar with the concept of an unwelcome guest,” Cas observed flatly, another indirect criticism of both the Ministry and Virva waltzing into his shop. He didn’t want her in his life. She was an enigma, an unknown piece in the game he’d been setting up for years. He didn’t want to risk that she might ruin everything he’d built – either by revealing the wrong thing to the wrong person by accident, or even just reminding him of the dreams he’d once had and the person he’d once been. Those dreams were gone. He needed Virva to be too.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Virva was a lot of things, erratic, unpredictable, chaotic, wild, a free spirit but she was also incredibly stubborn when she'd set her mind on something. She was not the type of soul that could be contained by any means short of dark magic. She followed her heart which trailed the paths strange to most, much like the phenomenon she'd been named for. The will o' wisps. She could easily lead people astray if they choose to follow the same path as her without that being the best path for them but it wasn't something that she intended to do. She just led her own life without allowing other people to change her course without her permission. Right now it felt as though Cas was holding a hand in front of the path laid out for her and all she could do was playfully go against him and phase through his hand to keep to the trajectory that she was required to follow by her own soul. Her oddity was a gift, beyond a doubt. Yet it was difficult for other people to understand, even more so because she didn't have a need to try and understand it herself. She did as nature told her to and nature in turn gave back to her. It had brought her here, had it not? Her nature and her ability to follow it had led her straight back on his path and into his shop. She could feel that things here were unnatural, but he wasn't. He was the same heart, but beating to a different drum.

She shrugged. "People are not what they follow. People barely are what they do and say most of the time. The image that most mainlanders have of themselves changes like tide as pulled by moon." She said and shrugged. "Balance is delicate. You cut the wrong string and you lose more than their control. Yet you must cut the weeds for the plants to grow in your garden and if the herd gets too big there is nothing wrong with giving new purpose to some of the animals so that the others can last longer. Nature seeks balance and sometimes a flower is just a flower and the best thing it can do for us is die. The point is finding the things that upset your balance to lose." She shrugged and touched her chest in the centre. "You think more with your head, not with your chest. Yet your chest tells you what your brain fails to see. It's...." She paused for a moment, thinking of the word. "...instinct. You listen." She said, wise in her own peculiar little way. Modern witches and wizards were so busy knowing that they didn't think to listen to their gut feeling. So many of them got hurt because they reasoned their instincts away. It was a true shame, because nobody was born without them.

Still, not all was lost since he still accepted her gift. That was really all she'd needed. He still had the wisdom he'd had in the days she'd met him and her face lit up like a lightbulb, even though his words said the opposite of his actions. She wasn't all that unwelcome, just very unexpected. She chuckled softly. "I suppose you mean me and don't mean me." She said ever so cheerfully. "But that's okay. I have a feeling we'll see each other and perhaps then we can talk like druids rather than mainlanders." She said cheerfully. She gave him a cheerful little wave, then stopped, frowned, shrugged and gave him another quick little hug before skipping out of the shop, stopping as the bell ring to conjure a string over flowers around the cord that held the little bell. A small reminder but he'd know the flowers to be deceptive in nature. Poison ivy, though not somewhere it was likely to be touched. Just a silly little tease that she knew he wasn't harmless.

[end Virv, it would seem O.o]
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas listened with a stony face. He had certainly always held a great admiration for druid culture. Sometimes cursebreaking expeditions had required long trips to Hy-Brasil or the scattered druid communities in the north, and their flavor of magic was so different that he had always listened with great attention to whatever small scraps they offered to foreign wizards. In those days, Cas had still been far-removed from the Dark Arts. Nowadays he wasn’t so sure he would be able to travel among druid communities without suspicion anymore. At any rate, he had always respected their way of life, however removed from mainstream society it was.

But it could not be denied that he did not like to be disturbed without advance notice. Cas was a planner, even in his most wild days it had always been a dominant trait. He prepared for every excursion, and every potential implication. As a result, he’d never suffered a major accident while cursebreaking, and it now allowed him to maintain an equilibrium between Ouroboros and Borgin and Burke’s. Between pureblood society and the reformers seeking to destroy it. His friends might tease him about his paranoia – he would call it vigilance – but it had kept him alive so far and allowed him to prosper. And it meant that he could hardly appreciate anything Virva said because he was so interested in getting her out of his shop. He could respect everything she had said. Perhaps even relate to it, in some small way. Certainly the ideas she reflected on, balance and individual sacrifice to strengthen the group, were ones he contemplated every day. But he was worried about the optics of this meeting. A druid in Knockturn Alley was unusual enough – they were usually strongly repelled by Dark magic – but an Auror in his shop was worse. Particularly one that knew something of his background and who he had been before he learned how to guard himself. “You have a very well-developed philosophy,” was his only answer to her thoughts, as he visibly declined to offer any of his own. Not because they didn’t exist – rather, he would prefer nobody else overhear them. It might give too much away, even accidentally.

“Maybe so,” he reluctantly said when Virva mentioned they might see each other again. If circumstances had dictated they would run into each other after so many years since their last meeting, it seemed likely to happen again. Especially now that they knew where to find each other. He sighed heavily at the thought. “But I would expect a more thought-out location. After all, I’ve never seen a druid last long in a dark corner of the world like this.” In fact he rarely encountered druids who ever permanently left their communities, and the ones who did tended to naturally seek out other druids anyway. But it was also a warning that if they did meet again, it shouldn’t be in his shop or even in Knockturn. Cas stood stiffly as Virva hugged him again and skipped out the door. He watched carefully to ensure she’d left, then snapped his ledgers shut and returned them to their proper place. He glanced out the window furtively to ensure there wasn’t anybody lingering on the street around the shop, then he took his place behind the counter again. What an unusual meeting. Then again, even as a child Virva had never shown any fear in approaching the foreign wizards and showing them around. He didn’t know why he would have expected that to change.

@virvatuli
[End post Cas!]