Taking over the world,

Tav was immediately aware of Cecelia the moment she'd stepped into the ballroom, a sense now ingrained into him after having known her for years and having felt the sway of her charm countless times before. They saw the way that it affected others and found their mindless panting and drooling hilarious, only more hilarious considering the possibility that one of them might not live to survive the night. Though it also affected them, they found it irritating to have to deal with theirself. The insistent attraction he felt when he watched her dance was like having control pulled away from himself, and he refused to ever be vulnerable. His eyes were already following her onto the dance floor before she even started moving. Once she did, he found his way beside her to join her in dancing with a wide and toothy grin on his face. "Cece, darling. I wasn't sure if i'd see you here." She didn't seem the type to have been invited, but Tav was all for breaking stupid rules to make things more interesting. They specifically appreciated the way that Cece often did whatever the fuck she wanted, to her own gain. "You've chosen an excellent dress."

"It would be as simple as a wave of your hand," Tav agreed, gesturing briefly towards Lucius across the room, a smirk on his face. He doubted Bellatrix would actually do any such thing. Narcissa's idea of perfection relied too much on tidiness and composure, and Bellatrix cared too much about her sister to upset her that much. "I'm sure the happy couple wouldn't be so happy about it." He let out a snort of laughter at Bella's comment. "How unbelievably fucking boring, parents manage to ruin the fun in most things don't they?" They took another sip of their drink before continuing, "my mum's been insufferable since the funerals. You'd think she would have cared more when they were alive." Their father didn't even deserve her tears, his death was no loss to them. It had been his fault that their brother was now in the ground. "I'm incredibly bored. There's nothing to smash, no one to bleed, and an extreme lack of choice in witches to mingle with." It felt like they'd been on dated with every eligible pureblood witch applicable by that point. Perhaps it was too much for them to expect nothing less than perfection in a potential wife, but they knew that they deserved no less.

Rodolphus gave a small chuckle as the other turned around. "Who said it was about cleaning up his messes? He might have rabies, might need to have that checked." If there was anything he could say about Amycus it was the boy was insane. Tav had a point though. This party wasn't that exciting. "Did you expect anything less from them?" Being in pink was not something the man was used to. He had done it to make his sister-in-law happy, nothing more. At least that is what he was going to tell people who asked. He didn't mind the color, though he was actually happier with his manicure. "Do I hear just a hint of a compliment? I'll have to inform the press, it may never happen again."

"HAH," Tav laughed, tipping his head back with it before whipping it forward again, a wide and toothy grin on his face. "It's not my problem if he has. People should avoid him if they don't want to be bitten." "I don't expect anything exciting from Lucius. Or Narcissa either, sadly. I've tried to convince her to do whatever she wants but," they made a long, low, exaggerated groaning noise and gestured with one hand to the general affair around them. "Apparently for her, that means this? Tasteless. Average. Blah." Rolling their eyes, Tav smirked back up at Rodolphus. "You'll have to alert the media immediately so they can document it for you to cherish forever. I doubt it'll ever happen again. You rarely surprise me."

"You truly are blind, Rodolphus, I keep all of my beasts on leashes," Tav answered Rodolphus as he turned to face him, knowing his voice far too well to mistake him for anyone else. Grinning widely up at him, they pointed out easily, "he knows not to do anything if I wouldn't allow him to do it. I'm not cleaning up any of his messes, tonight. I'm busy having the time of my life surrounded by the dullest people, and the plainest aesthetic." Their eyes slipped up and down Rod's person as they spoke, their grin calming to a bit of a smirk as they took him in. While Rod was usually clad in all black, tonight he had taken the married couples' wishes into account and shown up in a light pastel pink. Their dusty blue gaze lingered on his hands for a moment, the shiny and intricate manicure on his nails, before returning to his face. "You've managed to look less disappointing than usual," he commented. "Your choices are usually much more boring."

"That would be so unfortunate for him," Tav answered with a toothy grin and a snicker, not having expected company but immediately open to chatting with Bellatrix. For ages they had been involved in similar circles, surrounded by similar friends and allies. "But only his own fault if he were to fail so hard. He should do it on purpose, just to liven the place up." The hand that held his drink swept out in front of him, indicating the rather dull party atmosphere around them. Nothing was even being smashed. "No offense to your sister," he said though he didn't actually care if anyone was offended, "but I wasn't expecting much better from a party partially planned by her and Lucius Malfoy. That man is the personification of plain white bread." "He's not even lightly toasted." Snickering again, they took a deep swig of their drink. Firewhiskey barely burned for him anymore.

He noticed the way that Rodolphus seemed to close up at the mention of the dementors, too familiar with him after years of working together, the bond they had inevitably formed through their teamwork. Their smirk stayed on their face, Tav taking note of the discomfort they'd seen there, what had caused it. He had never been one to apologize. They only did so when they felt it was truly deserved, and in Tav's opinion that was a rare occurrence. Still, they would be sure to remember and avoid the topic going forward. "He's your mark," they shrugged one shoulder. "Your choice how you want to make him pay. It'll be more fun to see it happen anyway, to get to do it yourself." Revenge was best when it came personally, from your own wand or hand. "If he wants to make stupid decisions that's his business. I had other things to focus on." He shrugged again, both shoulders this time, and gestured for Rodolphus to follow him as he began walking once more. They wanted to keep moving. The spilled salamanders were beginning to catch up with them and they wanted to move on to other things.

Tav turned their head to face Rabastan and doubled back to greet him, doing so with a quick turn of their heel and not a bit of hesitation in their stride. Their cackle quieted to a snicker as they approached, their grin sharp, wide, and unwavering. "Rabastan," he answered, quirking an eyebrow in response to the icy stare the youngest Lestrange set on him. "Wouldn't it be more suspicious for me not to have a little fun? Since when have I attended any event without breaking shit, or at least setting something on fire?" "So then you haven't heard back from the ministry...?" Tav grit his teeth just a little at the thought. His grin calmed to a smirk, and he gave a little gesture of his head in the direction he was headed before starting that way. Expecting for Rabastan to follow along without hesitation, they continued speaking as they walked, twirling the handle of their wand in their grip. "Of course we'll just have to go ahead and make them reconsider."

Rod had a few reasons for not wanting to hug them right now. He knew damn well that Tav would bite him, and as thin as he felt he didn't want them to feel that. The other reason, he wasn't sure he'd let go for a while. He made no move to stop his hair being yanked, and the familiar scowl only made him grin. The pain that seeped through felt good too. "So you were thinking about me all the time then," he smirked. Rod finally moved to bring them closer to him. "As soon as the bastard that outed me is free, he better run." He had to get caught and it sucked. He hated getting caught. It was to save his brothers, even if one of them clearly hadn't gotten the message. "I missed you too."

"Sure, big guy. If you want to count it as some sort of win, i'll let you have it. It's not often you get to after all." Their scowl didn't waver and neither did their grip on his hair. In fact he grabbed harder when Rod brought himself closer, keeping himself still and allowing him to do it. "Maybe a dementor will fall in love with him and give him a little kiss," they suggested in turn for the little rat that had put the final nail in Rodolphus' case, naming him and ensuring that he was thrown behind bars. "He deserves worse, but I hear the experience is terrifying, and that existence afterward is, well," he snickered. "Nothing." He only let go when Rod admitted that he'd missed him, letting out a harsh huff of breath through his nose and shoving him away from him, scowling harder than he was before. "Who wouldn't miss me? But you're delusional if you think I missed you. Or maybe your skull truly is entirely empty." "Have you seen Rabastan yet? ... Rhys?" They didn't know if he was back in the country, yet.

"I believe that's what I just said. Pay attention." The smirk remained on his face while he said it, despite it being a rather rude thing to say. That's just how Tav was, they saw no need for politeness or niceties outside of certain professional settings. Even then they were good at skirting around the rules to do whatever they wanted anyway, most of the time. "I know," his smirk widened back into a toothy grin with Alecto's praise, holding his head higher for it, strutting just a little more purposefully as he walked. Tav had never needed others praise or validation to know that they were perfect, if someone didn't recognize how much better they were than everyone else for themselves, that said much more about their own stupidity and lack of taste than it did anything about Tav. Still, he thrived in attention. It was good to be admired as he so rightfully should be. Alecto was always good for that, and of course it helped that she was stunning as well, that she understood them in certain ways that others didn't. "Did you hear we might have something to celebrate tonight? If our anonymous encouragement is taken seriously." It hadn't begun yet, but Tav knew all too well what Rabastan had planned for that night. Perhaps both missing Lestrange brothers would be returned to their rightful places. All they needed to do was send a little message, give a little taste of what might come if the ministry didn't release Rodolphus as they wanted.

They weren't sure that they had expected. Maybe if he'd hugged him in return, he would have bit him for it. Sank his teeth right into his neck or shoulder as he'd done countless times before. But Rod made no move to return their hold. Growling lower in their throat, they grabbed at his hair and yanked him back enough to scowl up at him, "you wish. The only thing I couldn't stop thinking about was what a failure you are, so monumentally pathetic-" "You let them catch you. It's your fault I have to put up with the department trying to assign me a new partner every other day, it's been so irritating- Eat a bag of nails and bleed out from the inside."

Tav stopped their cackling, righting their head and turning to grin sharply toward the sound of Antonin Dolohov's voice. "Bite me, Dolohov," they snapped, punctuating it with a literal snap of their teeth towards him. "I haven't even begun to have my fun, yet. That was barely a treat. Who am I not to do whatever the fuck I please?" It was their right, above everyone else as they were. They could get theirself into some trouble for being rowdy, but Tav was good at balancing theirself perfectly so they could have all the chaotic fun they wanted and all of the alibi to keep theirself out of Azkaban. Sometimes they even got to put away others of their ranks who got too sloppy. How marvelous it was to put lesser people in their place. "I could never possibly be soft."

"Ugh," Tav grit their teeth, growling when their swing was cut short, allowing Rodolphus to stop them but still they weren't happy about it. He could see from the way his clothes hung off of him, by the dark circles under his eyes and the way he held himself that he was worn from Azkaban. He would allow it, but he wouldn't pretend to be happy. Instead they hooked a stiff arm around his shoulders, holding him in a tense and awkward sort of hug. He dropped his blade so he could dig their nails into his neck and side. "You're so fucking underwhelming. You really can't help being such a constant disappointment, can you, Lestrange?" "Die in a fire, you waste of air."