A simple room, off white walls, a table, two chairs. One of them occupied by a small and wiry figure, with black hair. The other one soon occupied by a figure in a grey cloak.

For a moment, there is silence.

Lamar Innasson

The uncloaked figure, small and wiry, is sullen, with greenish-brown eyes glaring out from beneath an unruly mop. He is gaunt, tired, and his cynical gaze looks entirely out of place on one who appears so young. He breaks the silence, his still-treble voice weary and worn-down. The past few weeks have not been kind, though less so latterly. The words he speaks are heavy, burdened and devoid of hope,

"What now?"

‘Lady Grey’

“Now we discuss. We know your present, so we have to discuss your past and your future. What brought you here and where you are going.”

She pauses.

“You are somewhat of a surprise. We were not aware of your mother. We have to see to your disposition.”?”

Lamar Innasson

Interest piqued by a less... forceful line of interrogation than he'd been expecting, he replied,

"As much as I'd like to think of those who brought me here as a 'what' rather than a 'they', I don't have that luxury. Nor, I suspect, will I have the luxury of going free. I can't and won't deny what happened, you're aware of at least a good chunk of what I can do, can't even say I got worse than I gave out. If you're fishing for a name, I've got a fair few I can sprinkle at you, so let's go with Lamar for now. Is my mother still alive?"

“Alive, yes. Confined to a prison which can contain her. You though. I don’t know quite what to make of you. I don’t quite see you as prison material yet we obviously can’t just set you free, can we?”

Lamar Innasson

He glanced around the chamber for a moment, before meeting her gaze.

"This room is ventilated. If I made a concerted effort, I reckon I could get most of the way towards freedom, provided being a short-lived fugitive was more appealing than life imprisonment. I haven't made that effort yet. A few of those who brought me in nearly gave me cause to. But yeah. I could be anyone, anything, and given where you found me, my freedom is too much of a threat to anyone I take a dislike to. So, what material do you want to make my chains out of, if you'll pardon the metaphor?"

“First I want you to understand that I am not threatening you here. However, if they put you in the Black hole, there would be nothing you could do to escape. It was designed with the likes of Alchemy in mind, and there you would be locked in one form. It is my desire that you never see that place. But under your hypothetical, I could follow you and your mind whatever form it took. One of my compatriots could go where you go, albeit by different means. That is neither here nor there. My interest lies in making you no longer of interest to the justice system which exists for our kind, so that you live without apprehension of it.”

Lamar Innasson

"Hence only most of the way to freedom. Still, I could be wrong. No system is perfect, no plan is infallible, or there wouldn't be any villains out and about, and I wouldn't have been a surprise. But, hypotheticals aside, there is good faith on both sides here. I have no desire to be forever under justice's eye, and the freedom to use my power as I see fit depends upon how that fitness is seen by those who would otherwise constrain me. But the fact remains I will not be walking out of here an entirely free person, I will likely not be free to choose my next destination save from a short list with the Black Hole as an option. So, let's scroll up that list and put a name to the other options, shall we?"

“I have one option for you. There is a ... school. Call it a boarding school, a reform school, if you like. Run by one of my old friends, and with several others I know. Our goal, our main goal, is ensuring that those who are left abandoned by those would be ... criminal ... do not also find themselves victims. To equip them to choose. Because, in the end, what freedom exists other than that of informed choice?”

Lamar Innasson

A pause. A rather sharp look, and a sense that the boy was choosing his next words with great care.

"I would hardly call myself 'abandoned'. My mother didn't leave me, and I didn't leave her, otherwise I could have cut and run rather than stood and fought. I'd have gotten away, most likely, given the chaos of that moment. We are no longer together because she is in authority custody and isn't getting any kind of second chance offer, at least none that you have made me aware of. That said, and that made clear, that she falls under the criminal heading is unquestionable. I do not feel obliged to follow in those footsteps, though I've certainly been her accomplice up until we were caught. She taught me everything I know and I mean that in the most literal sense, I'm not sure how well I will thrive in an educational institution. Still, given the alternative or lack thereof, I'm willing to accept this offer."

She pauses.

“There are differences in your cases which you do not yet know. However we can tell you in time. One of them is that I can do what I am doing for you largely because she is officially an adult ... and you are not.“

“The others I will tell you in time.“

She pauses again.

“Lamar, I wish you well. I will be there for you. There will be others. Perhaps you may wish to get some sleep?”

Lamar

"True enough. Unless she could get someone with official editing privileges to want to see her as a child. Moot now, I suppose. All right, I'll get some rest. Don't want to be up fretting all hours of the morning."

(You can presume he had been sleeping and wake him up in the common room when you wish)