Kate snickered to herself as she walked down the hall of headquarters. Another newbie had been fully initiated yesterday. Alexia something. Kate was looking for her. Newbies were always fun.....

"Speak of the devil..", she whispered to herself, as she spotted Alexia hanging around near the entryway.

"Hello, YOU must be the newbie", Kate gave Alexia a cool look.

"Oui," Alexia narrowed her eyes coldly. "Are you my tour guide? I remember you at the meeting....Karol something?"

Kate tried not to glare. This newbie was another overconfident, cocky bitch. Time to fix that.

She opened her eyes wider in a show of surprise and innocence. Best to act nice to start.....

"It's really nice to meet you", she lied cheerfully. "I was looking for you. I love meeting new Death Eaters!". Well, the last part wasn't a lie. She did like meeting newbies. Though NOT for the reason she was pretending.....

Alexia raised an eyebrow curiously. "Really? That's...nice. I'm Alexia, and I'm assuming your name really isn't Karol?"
She knew something was off, but Alexia couldn't know what until she talked to this girl. Maybe she could help her out into finding her room.

Kate smiled. "I'm Kate, I've heard about you, and I'm glad you're finally here", she stuck out a hand to shake.

"Would you like a drink? I'm sure it was a long trip over here"

"Uh..sure..It won't be poisoned, right? Also, if you don't mind...I kinda need help finding my room." Alexia hated admitting she was lost, but what other options were there? Wandering around aimlessly until she magically found her room? Say "Accio room"? No, asking for help was embarrassing enough.

"Why would I poison you?", Kate looked genuinely shocked, if a tiny bit offended.

"And sure, I know where your room is. I totally get it, you know. I kept getting lost here in headquarters my first few weeks!"

"Sorry," Alexia muttered. "I just don't know what to expect here, you know? Although..It's better than the Ministry. I look forward to working for the Dark Lord."
"Really?" Alexia frowned. "At least I'm not alone..."

Kate led Alexia to the amply-furnished kitchen.

"Yeah, it's allright working here. What would you like to drink? Soda? Butterbeer? I can't offer you any alcohol because we don't have any. I despise the stuff, so whenever I catch anyone with it, I throw it out"

"Soda's fine," Alexia looked around with her head slightly tilted. "I never knew Death Eaters drank. Huh..you learn something new every day. I'd thought most were too busy on missions to do anything else."

"HAH", Kate snorted. "You'd be surprised"

She reached into the refrigerator and took out a bottle of Diet Pepsi.

"Here, have some Pepsi?", Kate offered, pouring some into a glass with ice and offering it to Alexia. She poured in the remnants of the bottle.

"I think I'll have some too", she said, reaching into the fridge for another bottle. This one had a special new label she'd made for it, which read "DEATH EATER PEPSI", and had a smiley Dark Mark on it. She poured herself some.

"Thanks," Alexia nodded and took a little sip. "I'm kinda curious, how long have you been a death eater, Kate?"
Her cheeks flushed suddenly, and she looked down at her glass. "Sorry, stupid question."

"I've been here since almost right after I left Hogwarts", Kate admitted, actually not upset.

To be honest, she actually didn't mind talking about it. She actually liked being able to open up a little. She'd kept so much of her awful past bottled up, and there weren't too many people she could talk to. It hurt to keep it all inside, and it felt like no one cared. Only one other Death Eater knew, and that was because they'd been pretty close at Hogwarts. It felt good to let out something, even something as inconsequential as how long she'd been a Death Eater.

"Really?" Alexia tilted her head to the side. "I left during my final year in Hogwarts to try and join. Took a while, but I'm here now..."
She wouldn't admit this, but she liked talking to Kate. Something still felt off about everything, but she still liked talking to her.
"What, did your parents treat you like crap, too?" Alexia shook her head and laughed lightly.

"Pretty much", Kate nodded, dead serious, and bit her lip. Her eyes clouded with memories.
Against her will, she found herself kind of liking this newbie. But she had to be careful what she said. Because no matter what, everyone ended up letting you down somehow. Kate had learned the hard way to be careful who to trust.
She quickly made a face and took a sip of her drink. Now was not a good time to be remembering the old days...

Alexia cleared her throat and looked up at Kate. "Is the tour option still available? Or the help in finding my room?" She mentally facepalmed at her failing attempts at trying to change the subject.
Way to run your mouth, Alexia, she thought to herself bitterly.

Kate looked up.

"Oh, yes, of course", she said. She realized her hand was trembling. She picked up her glass to try and steady it.
She realized the newbie was probably a little embarrassed at this point. Kate wasn't trying to do THAT to newbies. Just some physical humiliation, bad-cop-ness, and cleaning chores....that sort of thing.

"Sorry about that", she found herself saying. "I was just remembering.....life. Things were pretty rough before I joined up". Her tone was guarded, implying a lot more than she let out.

"Anyways, I'll show you around. This mansion is pretty damn huge"

"Don't worry, I understand. Life for death eaters is always a little bit like hell, oui? I figured that was the reason most joined. That, and killing off all the muggles." Alexia herself didn't care much for killing off the muggles, but she'd do it for the Dark Lord.
Alexia's eyes widened as they started the tour. Kate really wasn't exaggerating when she said the mansion was big.
"Holy crap...how many death eaters live here?"

Kate shuddered a bit at the word kill. Yes, she was a Death Eater, but that didn't mean she liked killing. She'd seen her parents killing plenty. It was devastating. Watching the life leaving someone's eyes, as their bodies went limp. Knowing they were gone, would never live, would never.....

She pinched herself. "Stop it, Kate", she told herself.

"Sorry, what was that? Oh, probably about nineteen total. Most of them have their own places, but every Death Eater has some sort of living quarters here, though most are deserted.
Then there's an area for Snatchers in between missions.
This is the Malfoy's house, and most of it just here because they're materialistic millionaires.
Either ways, now, there's only about ten people who live here on a regular basis, and some of them are out a lot for various reasons.", said Kate.

"Oh, and Wormtail lives in a closet, because no one likes him enough to let him have a room, and I think he's kind of scared of us. Well, me in particular, because when he pisses me off, which is basically whenever I see him, I set him on fire. So he kind of avoids me....."

"Peter Pettigrew lives here? That coward I heard some people laughing about?" Alexia snickered. "Setting him on fire sounds fun. You'd have to let me watch sometime."
"So, this is Lucius Malfoy's place? Damn..they really have it made.."
"I'm guessing most are out on raids or missions, right?"

Kate shrugged.

"Not exactly. Some just live here for convenience. There haven't been a lot of missions lately. The morale's been a bit low because apparently, the Potter boy is on the run, and there has mainly just been Ministry damage control and Imperio's. Some of us do go out on raids, but I'm hoping for a mission soon.
Most of the people who are out at the moment are probably having some "fun" of their own, or just checking in with the outside world....."

Alexia wrinkled her nose. "How boring. Hopefully the Dark Lord will give us all something fun to do soon. I mean, you'd think he'd give us something important to do while the idiot snatchers track down Potter. Honestly, how hard can tracking the Potter boy be?"
She didn't dare mention how he'd escaped the Dark Lord himself a few times. What good would that do her to mention it? A crucio, maybe?

"Yeah, probably", Kate muttered, accidentally saying the words aloud. She was a very accomplished occlumens, but it wouldn't do to let the newbie know.

"Anyways, I think he's planning some upcoming missions", said Kate, hoping to distract form what she'd just said.

"Great," Alexia muttered absent mindely. "Anything else I should know about this place?"

Kate nodded.

"First off, avoid the first floor hall closet. That's where Wormtail sleeps, and I've caught him plenty of times just peeping through a crack in the door.
Also, be VERY careful in your room-like make sure he's not there with a spell or something, because in rat form, a few times, he's snuck into various girls rooms. I caught him in mine once-thankfully, he didn't see anything, but I crucio'd him until he passed out, so he left me alone, but he may try with you, being the newbie and all...

Also, when the Snatchers come by, don't leave anything tasty in the Kitchen fridge or cupboards, or disguise it if you do, since Fenrir will eat it, and no matter how many times I curse him, he keeps doing it!"

Kate paused to think some more...

Alexia raised an eyebrow. "So, basically keep a dagger or wand on you at all times? Didn't you all ever try just bringing a cat into the house? I think it'd be funny, you know, catching Wormtail being chased by a cat.."
"Also, does this count on Fenrir's "Must eat anything tasty" list?" She held up a small mentos container she had fished out of her pocket.

"Actually, Fenrir will just eat almost ANYTHING, tasty or not. Once I caught him eating a week-old tuna salad. No one wanted to go near it because it smelled so bad, so it didn't get cleaned up. It was GREEN. And he was EATING it. So yes, I'm pretty sure those....whatever-the-heck thingies that look like candy that you've got would be on his list. I once put a stinging hex on all my chocolate bars, and that worked, but I accidentally forgot, so I got stung when I went to find them....."

She rolled her eyes.
"And sadly, we don't want to KILL Wormy or anything. Just maim him a bit because I personally can't stand him at all"

"Ugh, seriously? Week old tuna salad..? Well, at least someone ate it, I guess.." Alexia crinkled her nose.
"Who said the cat would kill him? Just severly harm is all. Maybe almost swallow-" Alexia stopped midsentence, then smirked at the mentos. "You don't know what these are? They're muggle candy, basically. Good for as mints and blowing up when placed in diet soda. Of course, with a little magic, they might be more dangerous.." She looked up at Kate and grinned.

Kate looked skeptical. "Those? Really? This I would love to see", she crossed her arms and smirked at Alexia.

"Any victim you have in mind..?" Alexia raised an eyebrow at Kate. "Blowing up the whole house would probably be fun, but it'd probably be best to only have one victim in mind..for now.."

"How about Wormtail? His closet is down the hall. And I hope you brought your own soda to try this on, because I'm not sparing any of mine!"

She stopped in front of a closet and peeked through a crack.

"Yeah, he's in there, he's asleep....."

Alexia rolled her eyes and held up her glass of Diet Pepsi. "Mine's still mostly full, and I got the pack of mentos. How should we do this? Just leave the soda on the doorstep, knock on the door, then when he comes out we levitate the mentos in? Or do you have something more entertaining in mind?"

Kate shrugged.

"I was thinking, offer him a drink, slip in the thingies, and wait and watch the entertainment. IF this actually does work...... How long after you put them in do they make the explosion thingy?"

"Three seconds?" She guessed. "Not long, I know that. Who's gonna be handing Wormtail the drink?"

"I'll do it", said Kate, banging on the door.

After a few seconds, a disheveled looking Wormtail opened the door. Upon seeing Kate, he trembled and let out a terrified squeak.

"H-h-h-hi K-Kate", he stammered, blushing and looking scared.

Kate smiled. "Why so nervous, you incompetent worthless piece of crap? I just came to offer you a drink!"

She grabbed the Pepsi from Alexia, and the mento's, and discreetly slipped about ten into the bottom of the cup of Pepsi.

Wormtail winced and looked even more embarrassed and terrified. Then he lifted his head.
"A d-drink?"

Kate nodded, and handed the glass to him quickly.

Wormtail was not nearly as suspicious as he should have been. He accepted the glass, and brought it to his face to take a sip.
"Th-thanks, Kate"

"Three seconds," She reminded Kate and backed up a few feet. The top of the cup started to fizzle, and Alexia grinned.
"Hi Peter. I'm not sure you met me yet, but I'm Alexia, the newest Death Eater." She gave Wormtail an innocent look before adding, "I'm not sure you've realized yet, but your drink's about to explode."

Kate jabbed Alexia in the side, and hissed at her.

Thankfully, Wormtail didn't seem to believe her. Then, suddenly, the cup began fizzing madly, and the drink exploded. Pepsi exploded all over Wormtail, in a HUGE, waterfall-like gush.

"I put in like ten of those things!", Kate laughed, handing the empty wrapper to Alexia.

The mentos int he cup followed the cup, and shot out, hitting Wormtail in the face and ricocheting away. Wormtail shrieked and fell the the floor, the glass smashing as the last of the drink exploded.

Alexia laughed and dodged a piece of flying glass.
"See! Muggle candy can be dangerous," She giggled and shoved the empty mentos box back into her pocket. "Ten mentos? Damn, I wish I hadn't eaten the others. "

"Now Wormy, that's just a taste of what's going to happen to you if you pull your peeping Tom act of Alexia, OR anyone else, GOT IT?!", Kate snapped, kicking him in the side.

"Bye, filthy little rat", she turned and started off down the hall.

"Levicorpus," Alexia smiled angelically as Wormtail was yanked harshly in the air by his ankle. She waved to him before skipping down the hall to join Kate.
"I never knew you cared if Wormtail spied on me, or anyone else," She looked at Kate curiously. "I thought you hated newbs?"

"Why would you think that?", asked Kate, surprised.

"You told Wormtail that was only a taste of what would happen if he spied on me or anyone else anymore, then you kicked him," Alexia pointed out.

"No, I mean, why would you think I hate newbies?", asked Kate innocently.

Alexia shrugged. "Just some rumors I heard...I also heard some stuff about past newbies.."

Kate faked a loud laugh.

"Seriously, you can't believe everything you hear, Alexia", she said with a small smile.

"But you know, they probably aren't COMPLETELY unfounded. See, all newbies do have to pay their dues by doing chores for everyone else for a while", she lied smoothly. Well, mainly, she made newbies do chores for HER.

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow curiously. "What kind of chores would I be doing, exactly?"

Kate shrugged innocently.

"Laundry, cleaning up, fetching people things....the like. Oh, but your first job is supposed to be cleaning out the attic. No one's gone near it in years."

"One condition," Alexia smirked up at Kate. "In no way will I be killed, severely harmed, or maimed. No heights, either. Deal?"

Kate smirked. "Don't worry. No one wants to hurt newbies TOO badly. We do like them to still be useful....."

"But seriously....YOU are in NO position to be making demands here....."

Alexia shrugged. "Just one small condition. I don't really care about the rest, but I would like to not die while doing these 'chores'."
"So, the attic?"