An uneasy truce

Jess walked into the Hogs Head, his nose wrinkling as the stench washed over him. He looked around cautiously then gestured for his accompanying force to follow him as he took an empty chair in the centre of the room, his eyes darting around as he awaited the arrival of the... other delegation.

Aaron casually strolled into the Hogs Head and looked around for the meeting place. He had only recently been released from Azkaban, but his first step once he was out was to attend this meeting. So far, everything had gone according to plan, and he intended to keep it that way. Jess was already at the table, so Aaron approached with an air of confidence about him. He nodded at Jess and then sat down across from him.

Jess looked up as he heard the door scrape open, his hand immediately resting on his wand - a secondary reaction. The man sat at his table, as Jess had come to expect, the Hogs Head wasn't exactly thriving with business and this man looked as shady as a palm tree. "Good evening," he said quietly, his eyes scanning the face before him. "Where are your fellows?" He asked.

Aaron did not expect to be talked to by the other man across from him. At first, he did not respond, he only stared across at the man. He could not see his free hand which Aaron knew meant he was keeping it on his wand. Aaron had his hands on the table for everyone to see, he was not worried about an attack in an open place like this. "They are hardly my fellows." Aaron said off handedly and with a chuckle. "But I would guess they are on their way."

Ne'Os appeared about a mile outside of the village. He wanted his presence to be unknown for the moment. As he neared the village he turned invisible only to protect himself from any ministry member in the area, and made his way to the hogs head. He paused outside the door making sure that his wand in safely in his robes; not that he would need it however. He opened the door and walked through letting himself be visible again as he did. He paused again at the door as he scanned the room to make sure he wasn't walking into a ambush and that he had all the exits in mind. Confident he was as safe as the situation would allow.

He walked over to the table where Aaron, Jess,and his entourage all sat. He sat down and gave Jess a nod "Long time no see" he said giving him a warm smile as if the two were still friends. "I see you have met my colleague here," he said gesturing at Aaron. "we are waiting for my last man and then we can begin." Ne'Os had no intention of getting into something without at least one person he knew he could trust.

Jess felt his body tense up as the door to the Hogs Head open up, his thoughts realised when he realised that there was "No one" there. Sure enough, seconds after the door had swung shut Ne'os Emof appeared out of nowhere, as real and unwelcome as ever.

As he spoke Jess grunted and gave a non-commital shrug, truth be told he would have preferred to keep it that way, Ne'os Emof was not a man he was overly interested in being associated with, however desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Well, wherever he is, tell him to hurry up. It's not that I don't want to be spending time with you Emof, but truth be told I would rather be anywhere else in the world right now," he said, inwardly cursing his own tongue. He had intended to keep the meeting civil, but he himself had put a stop to that already.

"I am grateful that you came though," he added, his tone shifting to a slightly more gratuitous one.

Jack sat next to Jess, looking a little different from the same girl that had proposed the idea of the truce between the two fighting factions. What had been meant to be a cautionary warning stay at Azkaban for a few days had turned into nearly a month there. She had got out once, to stop an attack on a muggle village by Vito, before promptly returning. By then, they could not keep her since she had restrained a murderer, and she had been released.

This was only her third day of freedom, and she had not yet gone home. It was easier staying in Hogsmeade, where people are always around and where she can rely on others to make her food and make sure she had not yet died. She tried to go into work and Zoe had sent her away, ordering she continue to recuperate.

But here she was- pale, thin, hair grown longer, hands looking absolutely brutalized with the criss crossing of scars and marks from her attempts to keep her same. Aaron strolled in and her eyes flicked to him briefly, nodding and continuing to stare forward. Her spirit was not stirred again until Jess greeted the next man. Emof.

Her cousin's murderer really did have the audacity to act as though nothing had ever happened. She looked up at him and felt her blood boil. Maybe this was harder than she had suggested. Her palms were clammy with cold sweat and she wiped them against her pants, her tender, raw hands stinging due to her injuries. She looked away.

"Shall we just start?" Jess suggested after Jack sat down, looking pointedly at the empty chair on Ne'os' side. "I don't mean to be rude, but I do not have all night, and I doubt that you do either," he said shrugging as he did so and glancing at Jack.

"You know, that could be mended in little more than a few seconds... I could do it myself if you'd like," he told her, pointing at the rather red looking hands and frowning. "It looks uncomfortable, and it'd be really no trouble at all," he added.

Truth be told Jess was feeling a little nervous... the door remained quite still and it wasn't that he didn't trust the man sitting across from him's judgement, but it wasn't like Death Eaters to stick to their words. For all he knew, a battalion of Aurors sat just outside the door, waiting for the perfect moment to barge in.

Jack was an odd duck, that much most people knew, and not for normal reasons either. She did not have a charming quirkiness to her nor did she seek to have abubbly, vavacious personality that spouted cute phrases and fun scenarios. She was odd because she had ideas about her life and let no one come between her and her ideas. She was pig headed and stubborn.

She rarely let people heal the injuries that came from injust matters. She had a scar from Nerezza on her head, with one to match from Vito. She had the scars from the run in with the werewolves in Knockturn. She had the faint outline from detention with Thaor; she had the scars on her stomach and her shoulder from Vito. And now her hands were recovering slowly.

It was her way of letting herself suffer, on her own, through everything thrown at her, so that no one could question her strength. Yes, it was stupid, but it was the only way she knew. She shook her head and said, "Nah, they don't even hurt anymore. Best to let them heal naturally."