Sober and Surrounded by fire [Rhys]

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

The past few weeks had not been kind. Since graduation Maria had never gone this long with out drinking. Nothing like pregnancy to finally show you that you were borderline alcoholic. It seemed some of the side effects she'd been feeling were also from the withdrawal and not just morning sickness, though the combination had been making life hell.

By now though, Maria was... semi okay. She'd been keeping herself distracted. Buying a new (much more fire proof) couch had been a fun adventure, though only distracted her a few days. She'd already pawned the alcohol in her fridge on Rhys, forcing him to take it to his place so she wasn't tempted. Now though, she'd decided to attack her old school trunk. She'd hardly touched it since she'd moved out of Dan's studio and into her own place. Rhys had been over a few times since their chat, and while Maria was still... wary, she'd felt some reassurance by his actions. At least enough to give him the spare key to her apartment because sometimes she just wasn't in a position to let him in when he came over. Like today. She'd texted him asking him to pick up the anti-nausea potions. He had better apothecary connections then her, and she was honestly too stubborn to admit to them that she needed them. She wasn't quite ready to face the outside world, as if they'd somehow know she was pregnant. Afraid she'd run into someone she knew. So, she'd pawned the job off on Rhys since she knew he was planning on stopping by today. 

Though, since she wasn't running the errand herself, it meant she had made quite the mess in her living room. She'd dragged her trunk out from the bedroom closet and flipped it onto it's side. There was an explosion of multiple objects spilling out from it. Maria sat with her back against her new (flame proof) couch, sorting the items. She'd reach for one, ponder a moment, then throw it into it's respective pile. There was a trash pile, though it was less a pile and more just random stuff thrown in the same general direction. There was a stack of text books. There was a pile of random knit knacks she wanted to keep (though that one was still pretty small). 

It was... good. Nice to finally go through it. It brought about a lot of memories. Good and bad. Maria wasn't good at facing her own memories, but today... Today she would. Because it was better to stay busy with them then dwell on how much she wanted a fucking drink or cigarette. 

The door opened but Maria didn't acknowledge it. It was Rhys, so she wasn't worried. No, she was to busy flipping through one of her ancient languages text books. Rhys knew Maria spoke multiple languages. But sometimes people underestimated just how good Maria was with languages. It'd been the one thing she naturally excelled at. She'd usually just shamelessly flirt that she had a talented tongue when people asked, but it was much more then that. If you actually took the time to read the titles of some of the texts books there were a number of ancient languages. Advanced language books. In fact, the one she was currently flipping through was titled "The Art of Latin Spell Deconstruction". It brought back memories. Of what Maria had actually wanted to do after graduation before her world exploded. Spell creation and deconstruction. It was all about how well you understood the languages, then having the capacity to use those skills to create something new.

[rhys alexander greyback]

she's a myth that i have to beileve in
all i need to make it real is one more reason

---

December 8, 2025
@maria

---

Rhys carried a small bag in one arm as he walked up to Maria’s door. He’d been rather surprised she had given him a key but then again despite everything they were forever going to be in each other’s lives one way or another through this child and while Rhys’ initial terror and panic had wavered, it was albeit not by much. The full moon had come and gone and he’d gone to see Sienna and Jamie a few days previously to discuss the potion he took and even now four days later his eye’s still felt a bit sensitive but it was improving. When Jamie had gone to grab something for him while he was there he’d asked Sienna for a favor, his sisters tended to know him well enough by now when something was suspicious especially with how he’d nervously fumbled through his words for his request and Jamie was also up to speed on the Zombie Island incident. The one that had prompted him to tell Max he wasn’t going to see Maria again and yet, here now they all stood. It didn’t help his stress at all, and while the typical Aware Wolf symptoms had begun to wear off it made the slight hangover he currently had feel worse than it actually was.

Rhys let himself in and saw Maria sitting on the floor surrounded by random books and papers and various items and a trunk on its side, he wasn’t sure what it was but the trunk reminded him of his old school trunk he still had in his flat. His old Slytherin memorabilia and other items still stored away for no reason. Really, it was just a reminder of the happiest times in his life up to that point. ”What’s all this?” Rhys asked, placing the small bag of a few potions Si had managed to brew over the past couple of days on a side table. Most of the books he didn’t recognize and mostly because the text that was written on them was a language Rhys wasn’t familiar with, ask him all about different Ancient Runes but languages was not something he had studied extensively. The main downside of how much he traveled for work to various regions was that he typically didn’t stick around long enough to familiarize himself beyond some phrases and a few words. Maybe if he’d stuck to a region as Jasper had he would be more proficient.

Rhys picked up a random book that was on the top of a stack of them and his instinct based on previous banter might have been to poke fun at her ironically having all these books but then he flipped open a few pages and his curiosity took over, he didn’t know what it said but it seemed interesting. ”These from Durmstrang?” Rhys took a guess, but he also didn’t suspect books such as these were needed in her line of work after school. Still, he almost wished he could read them as he was someone who liked to learn and take in random information. Research was a part of his job that he actually enjoyed unlike some of his co-workers who preferred just playing in the mud. He liked to do both and he always felt better at a job site when he knew more about it. Rhys closed the book but kept it in his left hand and he crouched down to see what other books where in the stack.

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

Maria didn't look up as he walked in and set the bag on a table. Nor did she look up when he spoke, asking her what all this was. "A distraction," she answered, flipping a few pages. Finally she set the book aside and picked up the next unsorted item within reach. She made a face immediate. It was an old Valentine's letter. She'd always get way too many of these. She immediately flung it to the trash "pile" and grabbed the next book.

Rhys had crossed over to the chaos and picked up a book, flipping it open and she finally glanced up at him. "Yes. Figured it was finally time to sort it all out." She hadn't touched it in almost a year and a half, after all. That was a long time to sit. Though, he seemed very interested. She glanced at the book he was currently trying to read, realizing it was in Swedish. Not all her text books were in Swedish though. The more advanced once, from her later years, were in a diversity of languages. Swedish, Norwegian, Bulgiarian, and Russian. Because she hadn't always been able to get them in the same language. Durmstrang had been more of a language mixing pot then Hogwarts. Multiple countries attended the school. Though, Durmstrang had made it work. Somehow. Without even thinking Maria leaned over to the keep pile, picking up a glasses case and holding it out to him. "Try them." She wouldn't tell him what they were, aside from the obvious "glasses". He'd just have to put them on to see. If he did put them on though he'd see that they were enchanted. Able to read the languages in the books. Though, it only worked on modern languages. To help students communicate with each other, and understand all the text, most Durmstrang students had glasses such as these. Maria had stopped using them her sixth year, but she'd still kept them. As such an enchantment could always prove useful.

[rhys alexander greyback]

she's a myth that i have to beileve in
all i need to make it real is one more reason

---

December 8, 2025
@maria

---

Rhys watched as she put her book aside and then threw a letter immediately afterwards, barely glancing at it. He didn’t notice it at first as he was focusing on the various book titles stacked. Magic was not specific to one language and Rhys knew this well enough from his work, and he’d considered formally pursuing another language to aid his work, but he’d never gotten quite around to it. Though if you asked him about Ancient Runes, he could definitely talk about those. Rhys looked up and Maria was handing him a glasses case, he grabbed them and opened it. He squinted his eyes slightly as the light still bothered him some. The glasses didn’t look terribly old but looked like regular glasses, though he put them on his vision didn’t seem to change until he glanced at the book he had been holding. ”Oh…” Rhys had used glasses such as these before but it had been many years, the thing with his work is it had required research in foreign libraries where the Ministries allowed. Rhys looked around at whatever was around him, he was sure that he looked like a little kid fascinated by what he saw.

Books had always been something constant in his life, knowledge had given him an advantage in school and helped break some of the image of what people thought of him and he’d loved to learn. The book he had been holding was about spell deconstruction, that was an advanced topic that Rhys had studied briefly himself but not enough to be useful in anyway and it had been more out of curiosity. He closed the book and placed it next to the stack and looked around now that he could understand the writing and he stopped at the letter Maria had thrown aside rather quickly. ”You kept your notes too?” Rhys was now more curious about all this content, he’d never really thought of what Maria had been like in school though it just seemed to highlight the age gap that kept being pointed out to him. ”What kind of student were you like?”

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

Maria should have guessed he'd be familiar with the glasses. As a curse breaker, he traveled quite often. It was bound to be a useful item when traveling to foreign countries. Though his reaction made it hard to read if he was, or wasn't familiar with them. He put them on and she reached for another book in the unsorted pile. She did glance at him out of the corner of her eyes as he looked around, the glasses on. She smiled a touch. "You look cute in glasses," she teased. Though it was true. In her opinion, glasses made her feel super nerdy. Not exactly the sexiest look. Unless you were into that... then she could be a sexy librarian any day.

As he mentioned "notes", and eyed the letter she'd tossed she closed the book she'd been holding and held it out to him. "I wrote in my text books," she asid. If he wanted to see her notes. Yes, she was that sort of heathen. It had just made the most sense to her. "That-" she motioned to the letter. "Is what happens when someone falls for the Veela charm a little too hard." She wouldn't stop him if he tried to read it. It was poorly written poetry and professions of love that felt like a soap opera.

He asked what kind of student Maria had been and she paused. A few thoughts came to mind, and she had to really think about it. "Do you want to truth or a pretty lie?" She asked, though she knew he wouldn't want a lie. She reached for a few loose papers, flipping through them so she had something to look at instead of him. "I was the bottom of my class the first few years." She flipped more pages, still refusing to look at him. "While everyone else was learning magic I was learning how to read and write. I spent every waking moment just trying to catch up." Idiot. Slow. Durmstrang was a cruel place for those that couldn't keep up. As Maria knew first hand. Then, she'd found languages. something that had come natural to her but she'd never realized was an actual "skill". She wasn't sure if she'd ever admitted to anyone that hadn't known her at that age that she'd never been taught how to read or write until she started school. Her grandparents had never attempted to teach her, feeling it was a skill unfit for a woman. They were oppressive like that. "The only thing I was really good at was languages." More then good, if the books said anything.

[rhys alexander greyback]

she's a myth that i have to beileve in
all i need to make it real is one more reason

---

December 8, 2025
@maria

---

Rhys looked back at Maria with raised eyebrows when she commented on his eyebrows, they had a way of communicating with one another that and outsider might interpret as mean but it worked for them though an outright compliment did slip in there from time to time. He smiled a bit and looked back down at the books, he had reading glasses at home he used occasionally and really when his eyes were very tired, or the light sensitivity was still strong. He had already drawn up a mental picture of Maria in glasses and he could say that it was a good look on her too. Rhys grabbed the book she’d held out to him but also had the letter in his other hand, to which she explained was from a relationship or at least some infatuation. Even though she was only part Veela, Rhys remembered how his brain would fog around her when they’d first met and the allure and attraction that had give him momentum. He skimmed it and it seemed like something a kid or a teenager would write, it reminded him of his own school days. ”I think I have a few of these letters at home somewhere…” He muttered. His mind went to Deva. He supposed he should visit soon, deal with the aftermath of that last fight they’d had.

”Well, I hope you let them down gently.” Still, now Rhys was curious. They weren’t exactly in a relationship, but he wondered if she had ever dated or maybe they were similar in their lack of attachments in that sense. Rhys had been crouching and sat down instead, his knee reminded him he wasn’t eighteen anymore but also literally tumbling through tombs and being hit by walls didn’t fare well for his joints either. He listened as Maria told him in so little words a lot about her school experience. He’d never thought about a situation such as that, he’d been reading since he could remember. He paused, it was another puzzle piece to her, and he had been bullied rather badly for existing, but he could only imagine how much worse it would have been if he’d struggled academically as well. ”Well you seemed to do okay.” Rhys reached over and picked up the copy of a textbook on Latin Spell Deconstruction. ”Not everybody has the ability to study this.” He flipped through some of the pages, it would have probably been a challenge for him as well.

He flipped through more pages stopping when something looked interesting. It seemed their whole lives they’d just been setup to fail. Every step a steep incline to the goal of just existing in peace. ”People are cruel when you don’t fit their mold.” Rhys knew that as well. He was a werewolf and the son of a monster no less. Not to mention someone, a “reformed” Death Eater’s kid had pointed out to him when he was eleven that his blue eyes were actually his father’s eyes and of course that only gave the other kids fuel. For how much he’d been tormented at school it had been the happiest he’d ever been, which in the bigger picture was probably not the greatest sign. ”At least you weren’t alone.” He commented, Elias had been the same age as Maria and Jamie which means they would have had each other during school.

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

Maria had lost count of how many "love letters" and confessions she'd gotten. It was annoying. Hogwarts had been particularly bad, because none of the students were used to her Veela charm. At least the Durmstrang kids had had a few years to build up a bit of a tolerance. "Me? Since when do I do anything 'gently'?" Gentle was not her nature. No, she'd been quite the heart breaker. Like break into a million pieces. She also wasn't really... tactful enough to "let them down gently". In that sort of situation she didn't really mince her words. She might be a smooth talker when she wanted something, but when she said no it meant "No, or I'll set you on fire". She reached for a few more papers, and made a disgusted letter. More love letters. In English this time. She tossed them to the discard pile. "God, how many Hogwarts students snuck letters into my trunk?" She didn't blame them. She'd been with Viola at that time, and if they were too afraid to approach Maria, it was doubly so when Viola was around. "How Viola didn't catch them-" She started to say, thinking aloud at how they'd managed to get the letters to her... But stopped immediately. Nope. She wasn't going to talk about that. Maria immediately turned back to the spewing contents of the trunk, to keep herself busy.

Maria shrugged as he commented about her doing okay, and not everyone having the ability to study that. She glanced over to see which book he had at the moment. "I caught up. But, unfortunately, not much use for it now." Not unless she wanted to work for the ministry in experimental spells or something. Her, and office job with the government? Just didn't seem like a good fit. Nah, she'd chosen to pursue her other talents in terms of work after graduation.

Maria had been scooping up a few loose pages, when he spoke, and she paused. "Yes. They are." She spoke slowly. Maria had learned to "fit in" another way though. If everyone wanted her, then she wouldn't be quite so lonely. While it might surprise him, her promiscuous ways started when she was fourteen. She'd started manipulating people to her side, or setting them on fire if they kept trying to remember the girl she was those first few years. At the mention of not being alone, she almost corrected him. But then she knew what he meant. Elias. She'd had him. She'd also had Adonia, but Adonia wasn't great moral support, despite knowing each other for so long. No, Elias had been her rock. As if brought on by his words, she unearthed a picture as she moved the pages she'd been scooping up. A picture of Elias and her, back in third year. She smiled a little, setting the papers aside to pick up the picture, stare at it for a moment, then held it out to him to take. He hadn't known Elias that young.

[rhys alexander greyback]

she's a myth that i have to beileve in
all i need to make it real is one more reason

---

December 8, 2025
@maria

---

Rhys couldn’t disagree with her, there wasn’t much that was ever gentle with Maria though he remembered the first time he’d had a bad nightmare when she was near. Thinking through all that had happened since then he wondered if that had been the start of the unspoken trust between them, somehow born of a purely physical relationship. Rhys had realized later how much he had let her in, how comfortable he was around this person as much as he was his siblings or his best friends. ”That’s true.” He commented in agreement, when he thought of the slight knee pain he’d had earlier he figured there was half a chance it was from work or the other half that it had been from her and he really couldn’t decided which one was more likely at this point. Rhys put the letter down, but Maria had begun tossing more lettings into the same pile, though he couldn’t say he was very much surprised—she was part Veela after all. Again, his curiosity was piqued—he hadn’t been here all that long and today had already been full of information. ”Viola?”

Really what intrigued him was that someone had managed to pin her down, then again his friends all saw him as a bachelor and he could already see the surprise in their own faces back in school when he had dated Deva and he could only imagine their response when it became public knowledge that he was going to be a father. ”Someone you dated?” Rhys wasn’t normally one to pry as he valued his own privacy, but he figured he might as well learn something about the mother of his child. Though he now wondered how much her life had shifted by Elias’ death, had she had a future in mind? Either way it was surely different than ending up sitting on the floor with her cousin’s half-brother who also was now the father of her unborn baby. It wasn’t the future he’d had in mind either for himself, a lot of stuff hadn’t worked out. ”Sometimes it doesn’t matter what we do when people can’t see past who they think we are.” Rhys spoke as he flipped through more pages, he’d excelled academically and competed with other students in his class but it hadn’t mattered on bit in the end.

He heard Maria shuffle through more pages until she stopped, and he glanced up to see her handing something to him, he put the book down in his lap and grabbed the photograph. He recognized Maria and then….Elias. Rhys took off the glasses and looked at the photo, they looked very young but also so…happy. He was reminded of the memory of them exchanging Christmas gifts and the smiles and laughter and it left him with a strange feeling in his chest. There had never been a ton of family resemblance with the Greyback siblings and that was probably fortunate based on whatever photo’s he had seen of Fenrir when he was last seen and what he’d seen in his own memories but when they were all together there were small features that stood out. Rhys smiled but it still made him feel sad, he sighed. ”You know, I never knew I had siblings until I was seventeen.” He admitted. That was when Jamie had entered her first year at Hogwarts and he’d been so very confused but overjoyed at the same time. He knew Maria had Elias, and he wondered how that might have been for him if his siblings were closer in age to him.

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

Shit. Maria hadn't said that name aloud in.... months? A year, at least. No, she'd avoided everything Viola for so long. And yet, Viola constantly crept back into her mind like a tick. Latched on, never letting go. The good, the bad. Even though it had been over a year and a half since she'd broken up with Viola Maria still remembered everything. As clear as day. Every feeling, every touch, every snarky word, and that defiant tone Viola would get with Maria. God, Viola had made Maria feel weak and powerful at the same time. A conundrum that no one had been able to replicate since. And how Maria had broken their heart. Smashed it to pieces. Broken up with them when she realized just how strong these feelings were, and tried to run away from them. She'd been running for so long, and yet those feelings still chased and haunted her every single day.

Maria swallowed hard as he repeated the name, the name that made her heart leap uncomfortably, then asked if it was someone she'd dated. Maria didn't want to answer. Wanted to just ignore him and keep sorting. But she spoke without thinking. "Something like that," she whispered. She hated how her voice sounded in that moment. That raw, broken emotion. The heartache and longing. God, what would she do if she ever saw Viola again? Run to them, or run away? She didn't know.

So, she tried to focus on Rhys. He wanted to pry into her life, well she could pry right back. "You mentioned getting detention once. Sounds like you were quite the troublemaker in school." Though he must have done well enough, to be a curse breaker now. That career took some highly specialized skills. Daniel's girlfriend, Irina, was in training right now. So she'd heard a bit about the work that went into it. Back when she'd lived with Dan.

The photograph was a somber, but good memory. It was their first day back for third year. His mom had given him a camera over the break, and he'd brought it to school. She probably had a few more pictures throughout the years, scattered in the unsorted mess on the floor. Leaning over, she pushed a few of the items around, searching for any others that were near the top, then found them. thankfully most the pictures hadn't seemed to scatter in the mess, so they were still together. She picked up the pictures and started to flip through them. More from third year. Then a variety from other years. It was like watching them grow up. There were even a few from seventh year, before everything went to hell. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she flipped a picture and found one of her and Viola. Just like she'd remembered them. She flipped away from that one real quick. Then, without thinking, she handed them to Rhys. There were several of Elias in there. He was in almost all of them, except a few. "You didn't?" She'd somehow always assumed that... well, that they'd known each other. That Elias had been a bit of the odd one out because he'd lived in Bulgaria. "How'd you find out?" Though, she still had many unresolved feelings regarding his family (something that he would know very well), she was curious. She knew Rhys was broken, like her. But his family seemed to... make him happy.

[rhys alexander greyback]

she's a myth that i have to beileve in
all i need to make it real is one more reason

---

December 8, 2025
@maria

---

If she was trying to discourage him from pressing about whoever Viola was it was having the opposite effect. Since they were going to be in each other lives from now on Rhys had become more curious about who Maria was, he’d gotten a good sense over the past six months and slowly she’s revealed more and more to him and he to her. It seemed relevant now that they were past the point of just a physical relationship. And her tone was different when she answered, not a tone he heard often from her. ”What happened?” He asked. Maria was always very good about letting him know when to stop, and he wasn’t one to push beyond what boundaries people gave him. It reminded Rhys of his own past and situations he got himself into and the ones he never let go of. Even now he wished all the time he could go back to being that immature sixteen-year-old boy pushing away someone who was handing her whole heart to him without any conditions, without any fine print.

Rhys looked back up as she asked him about his school days, he’d expected something since he’d been asking her a few questions so far. ”Not on purpose.” He picked up another book from the stack and began to flip through it slowly. It was interesting material and would give him something to read the longer he stayed in Britain and didn’t work, there wasn’t too much of an urgency for him to return that wasn’t of his own accord. ”I was an easy target the second I got to Hogwarts. I was scrawny and everybody knew who my dad was and I grew up in an orphanage so nothing I had was new but some were upset I was smarter than them.” He continued, he remembered all the times he’d turn a corner just to run into a group of sixth or seventh year boys much larger than him and who knew the stories because of their own lineages and their own parent’s and grandparent’s backgrounds. Fortunately, not all of them were like that. But he’d had a hell of a time working hard to prove everybody wrong. ”It was mostly my temper, though.” That shouldn’t have surprised Maria, she’d seen him angry more than once but never the full volatility he could reach when he was a boy, he was more controlled now. Composed.

Rhys accepted the stack of photographs she handed him, and he placed the first one in the back as he slowly looked through them. It was Maria and Elias at various ages, but he couldn’t quite guess their ages. Though some of them resembled Elias more when he met him, so he figured he was about seventeen in them. He recognized Maria and her smile, the same one from that memory. Again, he could see how happy she was in here versus her demeanor these days. Rhys couldn’t blame her, losing important attachments was a fear of Rhys’ as well and kept him from creating them even when they could be something good. He flipped over a few more pictures and stopped on one where they were incredibly young and he smiled, they were just kids—innocent and not knowing what lay ahead for them. He looked up again when she seemed to ask him in surprise about his family. He paused, he typically didn’t bring up his family to her considering the history there but it wasn’t something they could avoid forever.

”It was the sorting ceremony my seventh year and Jamie’s name was called.” Rhys could still remember how his entire house table had turned to look at him when another ‘Greyback’ had been called and he’d had the same look of shock on his own face. ”She came and found me after that, she was the first one I met.” It was one of a handful of truly happy memories he’d held onto, he could still remember Jamie at eleven basically skipping toward him with her new Hufflepuff robes and a big smile on her face. It had only been awkward trying to not run into Deva when he would see Jamie since they were in the same house. Rhys paused again, if there was ever a memory, he’d use to conjure a Patronus it would be one of those. ”Then I graduated and then Adrian and Max came along.” He added as he flipped through a few more photos but he stopped when an unfamiliar face was in the photograph with Maria and instead of Elias. Now here, Maria looked different—happy. Content? Rhys picked up the photo from the rest of the pile to look at it closer, ”Who’s this?” He asked, it was an innocent enough question. Perhaps a friend from their school days or somebody else that had been in her an Elias’ life.

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

Maria should tell him to drop it. To forget that name, like she tried to forget it every single day. Yet she didn't. She could draw on the anger, the wrath to tell him off. Because Viola didn't make Maria angry. She couldn't attach the emotion to them. No matter how much she wanted to. To feel something other then deep longing and heartache. How did you tell someone that you'd found the person that literally consumed your thoughts, someone that you were so desperate for that it hurt, and you chased them away? You ruined it all. Because you were too goddamn scared that they'd leave you if you didn't leave them first? Well.. If there was anyone that would understand that feeling... It'd be Rhys. "How about you tell me your depressing ex's stories and I'll tell you mine." She answered. If he wanted to know, then he'd better be prepared to give up some information himself. If he wanted to know about the ex that had stolen Maria's heart and never gave it back, he wouldn't get it for free.

A teenage Rhys sounded quite interesting. People change dramatically from teenagers to adults, but they did change some. So what had Rhys been like as student? She listened as he explained being an "easy target" at Hogwarts, for a number of reasons. While she knew the Greyback name put a target on his back to begin with... It made her wonder why all the Greyback kids went by it. They could go by their mother's names, but few had. For some reason they all went by Greyback. As he mentioned his temper though she smirked. Ah yes, she knew he had a temper. "What, and you didn't have a sex junkie to take that temper out on back then?" She wasn't ashamed to admit she was a bit... addicted to sex. Nor was she ashamed to admit that she preferred the rough and wild sex that always accompanied his anger. Though it was a joke, it did make sense. Being angry and not having a "safe" outlet usually meant getting in fights. Something Maria had done quite often as a child and preteen.

Maria was gathering up bits and bobs, spare quills, a few ink bottles, as he explained. Jamie coming in when he was a seventh year. She knew how much older he was then her, but sometimes it was strange to put it into perspective like. It meant he was becoming an adult when she was just starting her magical education. "Must have been quite the shock. Finding out you weren't the only one." She said thoughtfully. She remembered Elias' reaction, at the same age as Rhys had been. Seventh year. When he found out he had siblings. Once again, it reminded her that Rhys had far fewer memories of Elias then she did. He'd missed Elias' entire childhood and most his teenage years. Maria had years of him. Rhys had less then one. It was why she kept handing him the pictures. Silently sharing pieces of Elias that Rhys had missed.

At his question though, Maria stopped her work to look at him, squinting at one of the pictures. She leaned forward to see which picture he had. Again, her heart tugged uncomfortably. "That's Viola." It was probably quite the contrast. Viola had a very unique look to them. They'd kept their hair buzzed short then and always had a harsh, unapproachable look to them. But that was what had first fascinated Maria. Who was this blunt, harsh, yet brutally honest person?

[rhys alexander greyback]

she's a myth that i have to beileve in
all i need to make it real is one more reason

---

December 8, 2025
@maria

---

Rhys looked up from the book he was looking at and looked at Maria, pausing a moment. He supposed it seemed fair, he’d asked about an ex and he had his own story he could talk about. It wasn’t something he conversed about often especially with the backlash he would usually get, his sisters would always tell him to leave the poor girl alone and he’d say that he did but she would come and find him. It wasn’t completely wrong, but he also knew he’d never let go even as he broke her heart under that tree at sixteen. Rhys was more curious now than ever though he didn’t answer right away, it would certainly give him more insight into her just as he supposed his own stories would help fill in the blanks about him. It was always difficult to resolve in his own mind why he had done what he had done, but in the end he told himself that he would never be accepted in her family or and neither would anyone else, so he’d let her go but he’d turned cruel to do so, to make sure she stayed away.

He was twenty-five now, but his school days seemed farther away than the mere seven or eight years that it was now, maybe he’d just grown up or just let the time fly by working so much. Then again, he’d quickly been put in his place during his years he was training as more senior Curse Breakers taught him important lessons and helped him become stronger. Rhys chuckled and smiled a bit at her response, she probably wasn’t too far off the mark. ”Can’t say there was.” He incredibly popular by any means but not everyone cared about his name or who he was. ”Not that I’ve ever met anyone like you.” He’d met his match when he’d met her and all these months surviving what they put each other through showed it. ”I wasn’t nearly as friendly as I am now.” He said with a mild sarcasm, his overall brooding demeanor hadn’t changed all that much but it had been a lot worse when he was younger and knew less of the world. All his experiences had at least given him some confidence that nobody had given him back then.

She seemed surprised that he’d actually known his siblings for very little time considering his age though sometimes he didn’t remember that it had been less than a decade. It was easier to block out the lonely years with the ones that weren’t as much, but then it had made the loss of that so much more painful. He nodded, ”Honestly, I thought I’d been hit with some hallucination curse.” He wouldn’t have put it past some of his peers to pull off such a prank. He knew of all people Maria would most likely understand what his own experience might have been like, but not exactly so he wondered how he might explain it. But he paused first, thinking a moment. ”Imagine….going through school as you did but you didn’t meet Elias until your last year.” He looked at Maria, his eyes were a calm blue today versus their usual turbulent dark blue. His tone was reminiscent, while he still held onto some of that from his past, he wasn’t bitter about it as he used to be. Rhys looked back down at the book in his lap and turned a page. ”I think I was more shocked when I found out that they had their own families, I guess I assumed they would all be like me.” Rhys knew at least Elias' mother had been unwilling in his own conception, just as Rhys' mother had.

There was still a lot of stress and anxiety on his mind, but the past week had given him some time to think through things and the full moon passing had helped as well, and also it was hard to feel anxiety with enough whiskey. Also, a sort of comfortable existence had come back between them—though he knew she probably still figured him a flight risk. Rhys turned the picture back around so he could look at it again, Maria looked happy and the one that Maria had identified as Viola had a serious look to them. He’d never thought about if Maria had a ‘type’, though he knew she dated plenty of women—well he knew because she had thrown it in his face more than once. ”Okay, you tell me about Viola and I’ll tell you about…Deva.” Rhys had never mentioned anyone he’d dated to Maria before, there hadn’t been a need to but she wanted to exchange information so it seemed fair.

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

Maria leaned back, her back against the couch, and crossed her legs. It was interesting, thinking about what he'd been like before. There were obviously things he'd overcome, growing up. Pieces of himself he'd managed to fix. But also, he'd been broken in other ways too. Like her, he was still trying to recover from Elias' death. But his comment on being "not nearly as friendly" made her snort, trying not to laugh, though half failing. To be honest, they partially got along being neither of them were "friendly". "So instead of just glaring all the time you, what, cursed people for looking at your wrong?" She teased. Maria knew she wasn't a friendly person. She was approachable for only certain circumstances. Usually when she wanted something. But when people got to actually know her they realized she was a terror. That was probably where they varied. Rhys was initially unapproachable, but warmed up once you got to know him. Not that she was saying she knew him well. There was still plenty to the Rhys mystery. Things she didn't know. Yet somehow they didn't need to know everything to get along in moments like this.

Moments like these... It made Maria realize that they were both broken. In the same ways, but also different ways. Maria had found Elias when she was 11. She hadn't been as along going through school. She'd found something good to hold onto. Rhys... Rhys hadn't. He'd been totally alone far longer then she had. She didn't say anything as he explained. She could only imagine what it was like. To realize you had family. Family that did care about you after going so long without one. The last comment, about finding out they had family and weren't like him hit close to home. She knew that feeling. Elias had had his mom. Despite being her family, she wasn't his only family. That had only intensified with the other Greybacks. Elias didn't technically need broken girl. He had other family he could turn to. "If they were like you, you wouldn't have to worry about them leaving you for someone else," She wasn't sure if Rhys had ever felt that particular way with his siblings. But she'd just spoken without thinking. Letting her thoughts slip into words.

He hadn't actually answered yet, about telling his ex stories in exchange for her own. When he did though, she was surprised. She'd half expected him not to agree, just dropping it and moving on. But, no. He'd agreed. Deva, that was the name he gave her. If she told him about Viola, he'd tell her about Deva. Both her eyebrows raised. Part of her had hoped he'd refuse. Because then she wouldn't have to talk about Viola. And yet... she at least knew he was someone that kept his word. He'd initially asked what had happened, so she guessed she'd start there. "I ruined it. Broke up with them when I realized how much I-" she stopped talking, swallowing the word that had almost come out. "When I realized I was getting attached." No, she wouldn't tell him how desperately in love she was with Viola. That she was still desperately in love with Viola. "All I ever did was hurt them. So I made sure I couldn't hurt them anymore." The way she'd worded that... Deep regret and shame. No, Maria had done something far worse then just broke up with Viola. There was something she wasn't saying. Something dark.

[rhys alexander greyback]

she's a myth that i have to beileve in
all i need to make it real is one more reason

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December 8, 2025
@maria

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Personality wise Rhys was more or less the same as he had been as a teenager and even a boy but he knew he was better with his temper and he wasn’t scrawny anymore, but as his friends told him—somethings just never change. The more she told him about her past, her school days the more it made sense that they understood similar experiences without having experienced them. Rhys and Maria were hardly sensitive people in terms of just how they interacted with others but on these things they could empathize. When one experienced pain or something deemed even mildly traumatic the last thing, you’d want is for someone else to ever feel that. Rhys shook his head and smirked, he had never been the bully in school even though he probably could have when he was a sixth or seventh year, but he’d kept to himself mostly. ”As much as I wanted to I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to expel me.” Rhys commented, he always knew they were waiting for him to show his real rage so people could just say ‘Well its Fenrir’s son, what do you expect?’

The families of his siblings had always been welcoming to him and it only motivated him to step into that older brother role even if he didn’t know what he was supposed to do all the time. Nobody had taught him, though he’d remembered some of the older boys in the orphanage who tended to watch over the younger ones like himself and he figured it might be something like that. Maria didn’t have her parents either so Rhys knew that she could understand that…void. But she’d had Elias, until she didn’t. He looked up when she spoke though, and it made him think. He supposed he had felt insecure for a while, until more siblings appeared and affirmed that they accepted him as their older brother. He supposed his happiness of having some type of family had surpassed any fears he had over time. ”Why do you say that?” He wasn’t sure how to respond to that, was that her fear? Even with the incident at Zombie Island for Halloween Max had acted out of concern for him as any sibling would, and never doubted that from any of them.

She didn’t start speaking right away and Rhys closed the book he was holding and placed it on the stack of the ones he’d glanced at and listened. She gave him what he knew was the summarized version, but it still struck a nerve as it reminded him of his own story. Reject before you were rejected, before it would be too painful to do so. But it probably wasn’t the same, it couldn’t be. He didn’t answer right away though, pausing for a moment. ”Do you still talk to them?” He was still trying to wrap his mind around it, not the relationship but that Maria had been so easily vulnerable with someone. She had been with him, but it been pulling teeth in terms of their ‘relationship’ or whatever you wanted to call it. Still, he heard the pain in her voice which only confirmed to him how real it had been. ”Leave them before they leave you….” He murmured. It was the thought that came to mind, but he’d said it thinking out loud but also because he recognized it—it took one to know one after all. ”How did you hurt them?”

[Deleted]

December 8, 2025
rhys alexander greyback

Maria often forgot that Rhys was an outcast. That he had fears like Elias growing up. Fears of his father's legacy. Fighting against what people thought he was just because of his father. At Durmstrang it wasn't as bad, she imagined. Because some people, as twisted as it seemed, had liked the whole Greyback thing. Hogwarts, however, didn't seem like that sort of place. Greyback had caused to much damage in the country. Broken too many families. Some scars just never healed.

Rhys seemed confused by her thought. As if he didn't understand why she would think that. But that's how she felt. Why would anyone choose her when there was someone better around? She eyes went cold. Maria had many unresolved feelings towards his family. His sisters. Issues that she'd shared a little with him, but nothing too deep. There was a lot she clearly hadn't shared. Like why she hated his sisters. He probably knew why they hated her, but not the reverse. Instead of answering though, she just shrugged. Not wanting to go down that rabbit hole with him tonight. No doubt that conversation would rile both of them up and Maria really wasn't in the mood to fight.

Did Maria still talk to Viola? God no. She'd never be able to control herself if she did. Silently, she shook her head. Viola had left. Traveling in Europe somewhere, last she'd heard. Good for them. They'd gotten far away from Maria. Somewhere where Maria couldn't hurt them ever again. She looked back at him as he mentioned leaving them before they left you. "It's easier that way. You don't get hurt." As hurt. At least you caused the pain, and not them. You broke yourself. She went unnaturally still as he asked how she'd hurt them though. Still, was not a common thing for Maria. Her eyes were focused intently on him. For a tense moment, it seemed like Maria might not respond. Refusing to answer the question. She debating something sarcastic, but no, that didn't feel right. Not right now. "I burned them," she whispered. Unintentional. It had been an accident. Wrong place, wrong time. But she'd caused minor burns before. She wasn't the type to get hung up on burning someone. "Rhys, I burned them." She repeated, trying to emphasize just how serious it had been. It hadn't been minor burns. What Maria was trying to tell him, without putting it into more words, was that she had severely burned Viola.