antebellum [t. riddle]

v.

october 1944

how did she get herself into situations like this? constantly being ambushed verbally, physically, and magically in a wide range of situations (most of which were caused by her way with words). she thought that perhaps this was entirely her own fault. in a room full of government agents, she could be sarcastic and condescending without having to worry about consequences, but teenage boys with ego's are not as immune to the temptation of vengeance. 

"shut up," steven snarled at her. he and the three boys walked toward her. she thought about running, but her instincts always told her never to turn her back on anyone holding a wand. instead, she stepped back, keeping her confident expression, but still ensuring that the boys could not surround her. rule one, never get yourself surrounded. if you do, you're fucked. her eyes glanced at each of them, trying to single out the weakest link. she settled for the tall, blond-haired boy with the red tie around his neck done incorrectly. his expression was false determination, but his body language showed that he really had no desire to be here. 

fight or flight.

her mind raced for a moment at the possibilities of where this could go. she could duel them, and though she was easily more magically talented, dueling four-on-one would be somewhat difficult, even if her opponents were incompetent. she could cast a shield behind her and run, but her pride would never allow her to run from a challenge unless she knew she had no chance of winning, and she thought she had a good chance at winning this one if she could scheme. she took a moment and then looked steven directly in the eye before diving into his mind.

legilimency is different for everyone, but sicaria was a natural at it. after years of practice, she mastered the art of sorting through memories, and learning how to bring certain ones to the forefront of the brain. she could go in quickly and unnoticed, slipping between thoughts and memories without alerting them or causing any noticeable disturbance unless they were a trained occlumens. 

she could have used legilimency in a much more painful way, giving him a migraine so bad that his limbs would go weak, but that would mean exposing herself as a legilimens, which she wanted to keep up her sleeve for the time being. nobody needed to know.

she saw the memory of them planning to corner her after professor merrythought asked her to stay behind. she saw them discussing which hallway she would be most likely to go down. she saw them come up with some dimwit strategy to try to attack her. she saw what they said they would do to her. she saw what he felt in that moment, that hormonal desire for sick, twisted revenge for something that no one would remember in a few weeks. the male ego was very fragile.

"when she comes round the corner, just everyone surround her."

she pulled out of his mind, and no time had passed. his memory gave her a bit of insight. they intended this to end in violence, so she would not be able to talk their way out of this one. she couldn't help but think to herself that if they were smart, they would have sent a spell at her before she had a chance to react. fucking idiots.

perhaps this was a gryffindor trait; seeing everything as a battle when many situations can be won with simple strategy; running to a fire where there was no smoke.

"aren't gryffindors supposed to be the brave ones? you need your three stooges to take me on?" she taunted. no one dueled well when they were overcome with any emotion. she had an entire lifetime of shutting out emotions (aside from when she was intoxicated) which made it natural for her to not feel anything, but it never got easier. this was why when working, she had to shut down her emotions completely; not a safe practice, but effective in the moment. sure, anger might make the spells come out more powerfully, but it clouded the mind to strategy and accuracy, making your moves predictable and insubstantial. to be a good duelist, you have to know how to compartmentalize passion and not let it cloud judgement.