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finds nuclear physics more exciting than sex (bonedbones) wrote in foltlins,
@ 1973-09-15 22:41:00

Current mood:	blank
Entry tags:	alice prewett, back-log, edgar bones

[back-log] Alice and Edgar meet.
WHO: Edgar Bones and Alice Prewett.
WHAT: Their first ever meeting. D'awww.
WHEN: The fall of 1973.

Edgar Bones had all the common grace of an elephant on rocket-powered rollerblades. When he was working, he could control his body perfectly to make the magic do what he needed it to, but in day-to-day life, he simply seemed to forget what his body was there for. Like many Ravenclaws, Edgar perceived his body mostly as a means for his brain to get around. The sight of him trying to dance was often singularly terrifying.

This, along with his usual absentmindedness, is how he managed to walk right into Alice Prewett in one of the Ministry of Magic's many halls as though he thought he could walk through her. It was not that Edgar was experimenting with anything that could potentially give a human the ability to walk through solid objects -- although he would begin to attempt this shortly after the encounter documented here, and is still trying as of 1978 -- simply that Edgar had forgotten exactly what he was doing -- walking where a bunch of other people were also walking -- and as such had neglected to watch where he was going.

Unfortunately, Edgar had also been walking quickly, which meant that he suddenly found himself in a tangle of limbs both long and short, all skinny, and had to look up from the book he'd been reading to acknowledge the small blonde girl he'd just plowed over.

"Oh," he said, as he began to remember where he was. "Hello."

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tooyoung
2008-08-02 12:17 am UTC (link)

Alice Prewett was not having the best day. She knew she was cut out for Auror training-- she knew she was-- however, so far, she didn't seem to be proving herself very well. And today had been one of the worst. She'd been on the verge of tears, a nervous breakdown, or a temper tantrum for the past three hours.

And now, this obnoxiously tall man had evidently not been aware she was even there, right in front of him. Which is just about how she ended up on the floor. "OI! Whatch yourself, eh? What's so important that you missed the person right in front of you, then?" Alice demanded, her cheeks already reddening in frustration. She didn't bother with the people around them, watching, wondering, and she didn't bother with the mess of paperwork she'd dropped in the process. She wanted an answer. She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

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bonedbones
2008-08-02 12:21 am UTC (link)

"I, er, um, I," Edgar stared blankly at the blonde in front of him -- and she was quite cute, wasn't she? much too young, of course, but, well, the Ministry didn't have that many children running around, especially not with all of that paperwork, so she had to at least be legal, not that he was thinking that way anyway.

"I was reading this book, actually," he said by way of explanation, holding up the tome in question and knowing that this would not go over well. "It's... very informative," he offered.

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tooyoung
2008-08-02 12:30 am UTC (link)

Alice was not impressed. "Why in Merlin's name would you be reading and walking in a corridor crowded as this, eh?" she motioned at the many people still walking past them. "Doesn't seem like the best idea, now does it? Right silly, in fact--or right stupid, more like, considering our present situation. And now how 'm I supposed to get all this paperwork done now, with it all a mess and the like? Hm?" She looked at him questioningly again, throwing her hands up in defeat.

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bonedbones
2008-08-02 12:36 am UTC (link)

Edgar stared at her for a moment. He would have stared at her for another number of moments, but he had the feeling she would keep lecturing him if he stayed silent for too long.

"I can help you with your paperwork," he said, his words falling into their familiar pattern of rush-the-fuck-out as he became acclimatized to the present situation again. "I'm an Unspeakable, so really, nobody knows what I do, so nobody can say I'm slacking off or what-have-you if I'm helping someone organize their paperwork again you see, well except for my boss -- bosses -- but really they're off being busy important people and even if they did turn up I could always say I was afraid you were going to hex me because we don't actually have to be brave mostly we're all just a bit mad but don't tell anyone I told you that, point being that I could help you with it and then you could get it done quite easily, and no actually it's not a good idea to walk and read at the same time, but luckily I'm full of bad ideas. It's my job, see. I'm Edgar Bones, by the way," he added, sticking his hand out and now grinning manically. "Lovely to meet you." And he meant it.

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tooyoung
2008-08-02 12:51 am UTC (link)

And now, Alice was quite surprised. She was far too accustomed to a family full of loud, short-fused people who would simply lecture her right back. This helpful, kind, yes somewhat odd response was something she hadn't expected. She was torn between lecturing him a bit more to be sure he was quite aware that he was rather daft for causing this whole situation and laughing.

In the end, she sighed, smiled, and took his hand, "Alice Prewett--just started Auror training, not having the best day, and have--as you can see--" again she looked at the mess of papers around them, "a lot of work left to do." She smiled at him apologetically, "Are you sure you have time to help a bit?" Her cheeks were already starting to lose their fire.

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bonedbones
2008-08-02 12:55 am UTC (link)

Edgar's grin broadened to a full-out face-splitting smile as Alice shook his hand and introduced himself, and he sprung cheerfully back to his feet, folding his legs beneath his body in a gangly crouch, tucking his book underneath his arm, and beginning to gather up Alice's stray paperwork with one hand as he attempted to help her up with the other.

"Oh yeah," he said cheerily. "Absolutely. My work's basically -- well it's top secret and all, but yeah, yeah, it's not urgent just right now. Sometimes -- often -- but not right now. Auror, then? That's exciting. You liking it so far, aside from the daft Unspeakables plowing into you?"

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tooyoung
2008-08-02 01:07 am UTC (link)

The more Edgar spoke, the more astounded Alice became. She had never heard an Unspeakable, well, speak that much. She pulled herself to her feet, with his help, and joined him in gathering her papers--many of which, by now, had been either crumpled or stepped on.

"Um, yes, it's alright. Quite difficult, actually, but I'm keeping up alright. Well, I'm trying to, anyway. I wouldn't say 'exciting' necessarily though. Not yet. Just a lot of paperwork and athletic training and stealth training and disguise training..." she trailed off as she, once again, realized how large her stack of paperwork actually was. She would be, yet again, putting off making dinner for Carlin tonight. She mildly hoped he would remember to feed himself without her reminder.

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bonedbones
2008-08-02 01:12 am UTC (link)

"Oh yeah," Edgar said, nodding his understanding as he stood up to his full height (my she was short) and watched her. "That's about true of pretty much every job in the Ministry, so far as I can tell. Except for the Heads of the Departments, who you'd think would just be all paperwork and desks and so on but actually get more assassination attempts than most of the Aurors. Well, the Aurors are in duels so it's a bit hard to draw the line for what makes an official assassination attempt, but still, you get the idea. Where to, then?" he asked brightly.

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tooyoung
2008-08-02 01:24 am UTC (link)

Despite how badly Alice had wanted to be accepted into the Auror program and despite the fact she had come to terms with the whole death-rate, thing, it was still hard to feel apathy or acceptance for the idea when her sister, Biddy, continually pointed out how dangerous it was and how she didn't want her children suffering through the loss of their aunt at such young ages... The point is, at Edgar's words Alice felt a slight pain forming in her stomach.

Rather than address the subject, Alice just nodded toward the hall she'd been headed to, where the desk she'd been assigned was located. "Just up that way, 'round the corner a bit," she said in a much meeker voice than any she'd used in this conversation before. She was really starting to lean towards bi-polar these days, wasn't she? She ignored the thought and rather noticed that her assumption on the floor had been right: Edgar was obnoxiously tall.

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bonedbones
2008-08-02 01:31 am UTC (link)

Ah, awkward silences. The daily fare of all those people Edgar was surrounded with who had actual conversations with other human beings all day long. Enough to remind Edgar why he preferred mad experiments to the human experience, actually.

"So, are you fresh out of school, then?" he asked somewhat more quietly, the hand that wasn't holding his book snug in his pocket.

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tooyoung
2008-08-02 06:03 am UTC (link)

Alice nodded, glad for the distraction. "Yes. I was a bit upset about it, really. My brothers and sister all took at least a month or two of time to themselves after finishing school, and I didn't even get the chance. I'm quite pleased with being accepted, but I just can't help but be jealous, really," she replied with an amused smile. She glanced up (quite significantly up) at him with a questioning look, "And what about you, then? How'd the Unspeakable gig come about? That is, if you can even say."

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bonedbones
2008-08-05 11:50 pm UTC (link)

"Well,," Edgar said, pulling the face of a man who is having information forcibly extracted from his jaw, "technically I can't, but, you know, lots of things are technical," he finished with a bright smile. "Basically I entered the Auror program and terrified them a bit, kept... accidentally blowing things up and so on," he admitted with a guilty smile, running a hand through the back of his hair self-consciously. "But then they figured: walking disaster, potentially brilliant-- great addition to the Department of Mysteries! So here I am," he said with another dorky smile.

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	tooyoung 2008-08-06 12:36 am UTC (link)
	Alice nodded in approval, "From the sound of things, it's a wonder you're still in one piece. Impressive, Mr. Bones." They had arrived at her desk by this point and Alice set down her stack of papers with a sigh. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bonedbones 2008-08-06 10:44 pm UTC (link)
	Edgar grinned again. "It's not one of the things mum tells me she's proud about the most, but I suspect it's up there, regardless." With that, he crossed his spider legs and leaned against Alice's desk, looking down at the papers. "So what're we doing, then?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tooyoung
2008-08-11 09:35 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, I'm sure she's quite proud," Alice agreed with a smile. She sat behind her desk and shuffled through the first few papers in front of her, attempting to answer his question. "First, I think, they need to be in order by this number in the right corner," she pointed to said number, then hesitated. "...I think. But, maybe I was supposed to just file them-- no, that's not it... Oh," she put her head in her hands in frustration, "I can't remember."

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	bonedbones 2008-08-12 10:31 pm UTC (link)
	Edgar watched Alice switch from thought to thought with a troubled little frown that grew deeper and deeper as it became progressively clearer that she really had no idea what she was doing just then. "Would you like me to tell your boss I wiped your mind for one of my dastardly experiments?" he asked, somewhat seriously. "He'd never know any better." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tooyoung
2008-08-12 10:39 pm UTC (link)

Alice laughed humourlessly. "Oh, no no, I'll remember. I will," she sounded like she was convincing herself much more than she was him, "I just-- I'm just all flustered and tired and if I just breathe and think about it for a minute I'll remember. I always do, I'm just a bit frustratingly slow about it sometimes and it stresses me out and I get like this and it all seems like a disaster for a mo' but I'll figure it out... eventually. I think," she trailed off, looking from one paper to another, concentrating.

"Sorry, anyway..." she began, distractedly, trying to not sound crazy for a moment.

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	bonedbones 2008-08-12 11:32 pm UTC (link)
	Edgar grinned again and shook his head, shrugging. He should have been getting back to work, because no matter what Edgar thought sometimes, he did have bosses and they did sort of expect him to be there for the hours he got paid for, but.... "Whatever works for you," he said cheerily. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tooyoung
2008-08-13 12:40 am UTC (link)

Light bulb. "Oh! Right! They're to be in order by this document ID in the bottom corner," she pointed at said code, "then they're to be filed. Then the few that're not filled out all the way need to be finished then filed too." She shook her head with a small, embarrassed smile. "Seems so simple now." She looked up at him curiously, "Are you sure you shouldn't be working right now?"

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	bonedbones 2008-08-13 11:32 pm UTC (link)
	Edgar grinned. Deviously. "No," he said with undiluted cheer. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tooyoung
2008-08-26 04:54 pm UTC (link)

Alice shook her head with an amused smile, "You Unspeakables are so odd. Regardless, if you're going to help, would you mind just putting these" she handed him a stack of finished forms, "in number order? I'll fill out the rest of these, in the mean time." She pulled a quill and ink out of her desk and started in on the first form in her big loopy hand-writing. She pulled her long blonde hair over one shoulder and out of her face. As she wrote she glanced up at Edgar, "So what about something you can actually talk about then? Life outside of the Ministry?" she wasn't exactly looking for anything in particular, Alice just wasn't one to keep quiet for long.

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