Change in Traditions

"Touche," Zada finally spoke, addressing the woman with the explanation of why there were no manners. The young needed to fight for position, assert themselves, climb on top of one another to try to reach some sense of power. She rather liked this new woman already. She made a mental note to get to know her.

As for herself, she had no need to fight for power. Not now. She knew how to acquire power if she needed it, but she was content at the moment. There was a slowly rising momentum in the room. Like at those heathen muggle music events for youth. There was always pandemonium up against the stage. What was it they called it? Oh, yes. A mosh pit. There was something distinctively akin to that in here tonight. And she had no interest in joining in in the mosh pit.

She noticed one of the guests had been rude to one of the house elves. She looked at Lorcan. That was not boding well with him. The guests might have gotten used to steam rolling over that fossil, Lucius Malfoy. But if they believe that was going to continue, they had another guess coming. And all she had to do was sit back and watch the drama. She looked at Aaron, hoping he would assert some decorum soon.

He smirked at the comment that Greyback made and he hovered over her chair for a few moments before speaking. He let his hand rest on the table and he tapped his fingers gently, mulling over his words before he spoke. In the background he heard Lorcan mention manners and then he heard the new girl speak up. He glanced over at Beatrice and then looked away when she started her little tirade on manners. It was not going to be easy, they would not understand most of the time, but this was the group he had to deal with.

"You will refer to me as my lord until I deem you worthy to speak my name," He spoke with calmness in his voice but the air of authority was there. He did not break eye contact with Naomi. "You are young and feisty, I can appreciate that, but if you think for a second that I could not reach into my robe, pull my wand out, and sweep away your life before anyone in this room could do anything about it.... you are sadly mistaken." He smiled and he gently smacked his hand on the table before turning to the man who had just entered the room.

"Alder, do you feel a tingle between your legs when you threaten something weaker than you?" He slowly walked over to where Alder was seated and he ran his finger along the table the entire way. "Since when are we notorious for making house elves cry. Breaking news, the Death Eaters break into an orphanage and steal toys, orphans everywhere are in fear of their lives!" He laughed a sarcastic laugh before continuing. "This house is a sanctuary, treat it as such, or you will pay the consequences."

He addressed everyone in the room now. "The Death Eaters were once a group to be feared! The mere mentioning of the name would send shivers down the spine of even the boldest of wizards. The Ministry could not stop us! They worked day and night to try and stop us but they could not succeed, why? Why was it, that at one point in time, those two words could strike fear into the hearts of men? Was it because they sat in some house bickering to each other and scaring house elves?"

"Things are going to change around here and you are either on board with the changes," He stopped himself and he looked around the room, letting it all sink in, before he continued. "Or you will die. Look at your arm... it is not just a fancy tattoo for some club. We aren't a gang, we aren't a group or a business, we are the Death Eaters and it is high time we started acting like it. You will do as I say from here on out and strike fear into the hearts of witches and wizards everywhere or.... Or you can sit there and continue what you are doing right now. You can pout," He pointed at Naomi. "You can be menacing to house elves," He pointed at Alder. "You can sit quietly and hope you get noticed," He pointed at Sofie. "The choice is yours."

He finished speaking and he walked casually over to the head of the table and he sat down gently. He reached into his robe and he pulled out his wand and sat it down on the table for everyone to see. "Now, are there any questions?"

They were all mad. Sofie knew it. Now, she did really like this new woman Beatrice. Mad and still attention-hungry, but at least there was method, at least there was intelligence and philosophy. Sofie would never have asked to be compared to a fly, but with so just a comparison as was drawn, she could not argue or respond. Zada felt the same it seemed, and the woman with the self-place power felt some respect for Beatrice, implying the woman really had a chance.

Aaron was really laying it down upon Adler and upon Naomi. The two were personalities that ran deep in the Death Eaters- one as the bored, uninspired killer with no release but to complain; and the other of the cruel, aggressively-look-at-me-evil Death Eater who wanted to remind anyone who was looking, and no one usually did, that they were killers. Aaron was speaking to two Death Eaters while speaking to every stereotype. Sofie did not fit either, she thought, and she felt rather left out. Better be scorned, than ignored, for she was still not even considered a Death Eater. She was still not one of them. She was not even a fly.

She listened with interest, finding that, now that he was speaking, there was no opening for her to take a seat. So she waited, listening. She could not force herself to do anything but admire Aaron. With the few interactions she had with him, she felt herself grateful for his attentions and his unconventional mind, but she also found herself admiring his abilities as a leader.

He once again addressed Naomi and Adler, warning them all, and found there would be no lesson for her. And then, he pointed at her. She found herself legitimately surprised and she straightened up, her blue eyes widening and her eyebrows raising. For a moment, she stared at her leader, and then he moved on from her. But she had been addressed. He was offering her what she needed- assimilation. He was giving her specifically a challenge, one that he had no reason to give anyone else. And she would lead the charge by rising to it.

He asked if anyone had any questions, and she stepped forward. With the clearest voice she could muster, forcing away all but the faintest traces of her accent, she asked, "What is it we are doing now? What is it I can do?" She was doing the very opposite of what he had almost dared her to do. She had spoken up and distinguished herself apart from the others.

He had called the challenge, and she had risen.

It had been a while since Vincent had last felt the burning feeling on his arm. Ne'os Emof had not been the leader Vincent had expected him to be. He had been counting on Emof to get the death eaters together to defeat the pesky order, but that had not happened. There hadn't even been a meeting for ages, but Vincent had been quite aware of the little power struggle that had been going on for the leadership. As soon as he felt the burn, Vincent knew there was a new leader. Who it was exactly, well, that would be interesting to see.

He apparated to Malfoy Manor, and proceeded towards the meeting room. On the way, Vincent noticed one of the newer Death Eaters bullying a house elf. It was typical behavior, the Death Eaters had always been cowards who were far better at picking on the weak than fighting their equals. Vincent could never quite stomach it, but he had to keep the charade up.

Vincent followed the man into the meeting room, just in time to hear one of the men give a rather long speech. He had seen him before, in previous meetings, Aaron Marcheti. He recognized a few others too, though most of them were new. Vincent took a small moment to study the situation in the room. It was easy to tell who was in control there. Aaron Marcheti seemed to have become the leader. Lorcan D'eath and the woman beside him also seemed to be in positions of power. The latter two did not impress Vincent, but he knew Marcheti to be quite cunning and dangerous. A better leader then Ne'os certainly, though perhaps a bit harder to manipulate.

Now, Vincent had heard the whole conversation, but he was not about to feed Aaron's ego by calling him my lord. He couldn't even if he wanted to, it would be impossible for him to choke out that word to someone so undeserving of the title. Anyway, Vincent had not done so with any of the previous leaders as well. They had all known his worth and power. "My congratulations," he said, nodding towards Marcheti, before taking his seat.

Alder had smiled when Aaron had barked his name. He lectured him about simply looking at the house elf. He sat there and smiled until he was done talking. "Yes, my lord. It won't happen again," Alder said with a small bit of sarcasm in his voice. He then watched him point out the flaws of the organization. He pointed at Naomi, then him, and then Sofie.

Alder could see the leadership he contained. He was definitely going to do something to change the behavior of the Death Eaters. He had earned Alder's respect. Has he earned Alder's friendship? HELL NO.

Aaron had finally sat down at the head of the table and took out his wand. "Are there any questions?" Aaron asked. "No, my lord," Alder said with a grim smile of his face and that same tinge of sarcasm.

He gave everyone plenty of time to respond, while he did, he paid very close attention to everyone's faces to see how they were responding to him. As far as he could tell, from the lack of an uprising, everyone seemed like they would listen to him. He knew it was not going to be easy keeping the attention of everyone, but he was up for the challenge. When Sofie stood up and came forward, a small smile formed over his face. There was a powerful witch in her, Aaron knew that, but it was going to take some coaxing to get it out of her.

"As far as anyone else is concerned, we are nothing but a joke. We are recluses who sit in a house and talk about evil stuff but we never actually accomplish anything. Well, that changes tonight. Sofie, Alder will be accompanying you on a little "mission" of sorts. A few Aurors have been sniffing around Knockturn alley and arresting anyone who they think even dabbles in dark magic. They are young and looking to prove themselves. I want you two to dispose of them." He looked from both of them but did not give them a chance to interject. "Alder, Sofie is in charge of this mission. You will listen to her orders and she will report to me after the mission. If you do not.... you will be punished. Once the aurors are disposed of, raise the dark mark. I want everyone to know we are back."

He turned to Beatrice next. "Beatrice, you will be taking miss Greyback here with you on something very similar. A young auror by the name of Calvin Ransom has been a pain for awhile now. I want him taken care of. Eliminating him as well as the other aurors will let the Ministry know that we are serious. Do the same as Sofie and Alder, raise the dark mark after he is disposed of. Questions?"

Sofie's requests were answered. There was a changing of times. In the old order, questions were forgotten. Forget questions! Her entire introduction was buried! In her first meeting, she had entered and no one had even questioned her presence! She had not yet been accepted into their ranks. She knew what she had to do because her father had been friends with English Death Eaters a long time before.

But things were changing. Aaron was trying a new daring technique- listening to his warriors, to his followers. Sofie was willing to trust him, because he was willing to listen and delegate. He was willing to change. And he had answered her challenge. He took her up on it. She glanced at Alder and nodded, telling him she could respect him, but she would be expecting to accomplish their purpose. The nod was a proposed contract- we shall work together, deal?

"Thank you, my lord," Sofie said, unafraid of using the term. If she was in his place, she would expect it too.

(are the 2 aurors actual characters? If not, I have some NPC 'friends' of my character I could TOTALLY have fun killing off)

Alder was assigned to kill a couple di-witted aurors waltzing around Knockturn Alley. Aaron had set Sofie in charge. Alder didn't mind as Sofie seemed like a reasonable woman. "Yes, my lord," he said to Alder. Alder had accepted that he had to call him that until Aaron respected him enough to let him call him by his name.

Sofie had nodded at Alder and Alder nodded right back. And they were working together.

ooc: sofie, your mission w/ alder is re: some npc's. does that help?

A fan of neither pets nor children, Beatrice did not look forward to being teamed up with the resentful werewolf. Fortunately, her private proclivities lent themselves toward being prepared for just such an event.

"Franklin!" her shrill summons permeated the quiet mansion and probably the eardrums of all in the room. With a pop, her own house elf stood ready to serve.

"The red leather, I think," she ordered it. Beatrice wasn't completely heartless; at least the girl could look good while she was being restrained and the red leather was one of her favourites.

She turned back to Marchetti.

"May I collar her?"

"Or would you like the honour? How precise would you like us to be? Are you after a quiet killing or more of a splash?"