InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Bartlet for President"

cc_boots (cc_boots) wrote in charing_cross,
@ 2009-03-26 18:33:00

Entry tags:

! complete, ! public, * 2003: 03/march, - thread, character: dean thomas, character: dennis creevey, character: harry potter, character: lavender brown, character: neville longbottom, character: ron weasley, character: terry boot, npc: ben boot, npc: gareth boot, npc: maddie boot, retired character: cho chang, retired character: linden stebbins, retired character: roger davies, retired character: seamus finnigan

RP: Obscurus Books Presents
Date: 26 March 2003 (through early Thursday morning likely)
Characters: Everyone who'd like to come, plus various NPCs! Children Welcome! Add your tags!
Location: Obscurus Books & Cafe
Private/Public: Public as public can be!
Warnings: PG to start, if things get kinky, please use the subject line of the first comment to rate appropriately!
Summary: Just another day at Obscurus Books, until the storm hits and traps people inside.

Gareth looked around the bookshop with pride. Children were sitting enthralled by Marigold and her husband as they performed flashy magic tricks. Logan was hosting a small cooking class, teaching everyone from housewives to retired Unspeakables (though Gareth though it was highly unlikely that there were actually such a thing as retired Unspeakables) how to bake enchiladas. His Maddie was graciously signing copies of her latest best-seller Emerald Isle, and open mike poetry night would start in a half hour, followed by a rousing karaoke contest. All in all, Thursday was shaping up to be a wonderful, and profitable, night for Obscurus Books.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

Re: Cho~

cc_cho
2009-03-26 07:22 pm UTC (link)

Winter was Cho's favorite season. She liked the cold. She liked ice. She didn't like slush - that was the only thing about winter she disliked - but other than that winter was clearly the best of the seasons. It was pure and pristine, stiff and unforgiving. She loved the stiffness of the crisp air outside when it snowed.

Except, that was, when heating and lighting charms failed to take effect indoors.

"Merlin's bloody tears," she muttered under her breath as she lowered her wand for the fifth time since the heat had simply stopped working. Goosebumps were already rising on her arms. Cho tossed her spellbook (The Idiot's Guide to Everyday Charms; Simple Spells to Help You Get Through the Day) away from her. It thumped loudly against the armrest of her sofa before landing limply, spine-up on the ground. What to do now? She wasn't going to stay in here, hovering around a candle. That was unbearably...pathetic-sounding.

The Wireless had broadcasted several places that were available for temporary shelter and warmth. Cho threw a desolate look at her cold, dark walls. She hated sleeping anywhere except her own bed. But spending a sleepless night with a couple other magicians seemed at least marginally better to her than huddling here alone. In the cold. Tossing her hair, she raised her wand reluctantly once more.

To Obscurus Books it was. With a tiny pop, Cho appeared just inside the doorway of the store.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Dean meets Cho

cc_dean
2009-03-26 11:25 pm UTC (link)

Dean hadn't meant to stay at Obscurus forever, but as the snow kept coming down and more and more people arrived, he realized that the likely hood of his studio flat being heated was very small, staying at the bookstore seemed to be the best option.

Leaving Lavender to scout them out a place to sleep, Dean went in search of food. There was plenty, spread out buffet style on a transfigured table. The bookstore staff had been surprisingly quick to organize, and it kept everything moving clearly. He'd gathered enough for the evening and was heading back to Lavender when he spotted her in the doorway.

It was as if time stopped, and all that existed was her. Her hair was long and dark, shining in the dim interior light. He couldn't tell from here but he was certain her skin was flawless, and he found himself moving in her direction without actual awareness of the fact until he was staring dumbly at her from close up.

She was even more perfect close up, and he knew what he had to do.

"Hi," he breathed out, eyes wide and slightly unfocused as he imagined what colors he'd use--the blackest black and palest yellow, reds and blues and greens. He blinked and came back to himself suddenly, and realized he must look like a complete arse, standing here staring at her like he was. "Er...sorry." He knew he was blushing and was glad that his dark skin dulled the red somewhat. "It's Cho right? Cho Chang?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_cho
2009-03-27 04:55 pm UTC (link)

(OOC: Hahaha, love Dean! <3)

At first she didn't recognize him at all. And it wasn't her fault; except for various House Quidditch games, they'd really only known each other briefly through Dumbledore's Ar - through the DA - a long, long time ago. And besides, Cho was more preoccupied in the first five seconds with the way his eyes seemed to be transfixed to her face. Knowing why he was staring at her seemed more of initial importance than knowing who he was. Really, did she have some kind disfiguring wart on her cheek?

"Um, yes." Cho took a closer look at her new companion, attempting to scrutinize his features without being too obvious about her cluelessness. She began to mentally rifle through a list of people who could possibly know her name. "And you are...?"

A millisecond later it struck. Oh...! But what was his name...Finnigan? No, that was wrong. Finnigan was the other one. This guy was... "Thomas!" Cho cheeks flushed slightly as she smiled with a little ruefulness. "Sorry - Dean Thomas, right?" Now she remembered. "You were a Gryffindor, Harry's friend?" The names felt odd on her tongue, as if she hadn't spoken them in a while. Funny how they used to be part of her everyday vocabulary.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_dean
2009-03-27 05:32 pm UTC (link)

Dean was glad when it took Cho a few moments to respond, it gave him time to check the impulse to reach out to stroke her hair. Normal people didn't walk up to girls--even or maybe especially very pretty girls--and touch their hair to check the texture and weight of it against their hands to decide which medium would come closest to recreating it on canvas. Oils, he thought absently, with the Chinese brushes his mother had given him for Christmas.

"Yeah, I'm Dean," he said finally, once he realized she'd stopped speaking and normal, non-trancelike people would jump back into the conversation at this point. "It's good to see you again." Can I paint you went unspoken. For now anyway. "Um, the storm's getting wild, isn't it?" It was probably an odd thing to mention, but the snow was whirling madly outside the window at Cho's back, and suddenly Dean could see it laid out in front of him; swirls of black and red and white cut across the canvas, just barely the shape of a woman in a storm and he had to blink it away before she thought he was completely insane. "Plenty of room here though, at least at the moment."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_cho
2009-03-27 05:56 pm UTC (link)

"Right." Cho glanced around. "I wasn't planning on coming. Just...my flat lost its heat, you know, and I thought, this place would at least be heated." She offered him a warm, polite smile. "Are you here for the same reason?" She wanted to ask why he'd decided to come talk to her, but she also sensed it would be somewhat jarring to the flow of their conversation. Especially seeing as they'd only exchanged three sentences a total of three sentences so far. Cho was never one to insinuate awkwardness. She'd save her question for the next five minutes, when they'd started talking a little more.

Maybe Dean was just jolted into speaking to her because he'd known (extremely vaguely) from the old days. Cho felt a faint prickle curiosity. She hadn't seen anyone from Hogwarts except her Ravenclaw friends for almost two years. Would she would run into someone else she used to know here? It'd be nice, maybe, to see a familiar face.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_dean
2009-03-27 06:37 pm UTC (link)

Dean nodded, glad that the longer they talked the less apt he was to continue to make an arse of himself. The vision had faded for now, though he knew it was only temporary. Once a subject had grabbed his attention it didn't let go until he'd seen it through to completion.

"Yeah, my flat's heat was out as well," he said. "But I was here earlier with some mates. When the storm started I went home and found out I had no heat and decided to come back here for the night. Made more sense than freezing myself."

He looked out at the snow and grinned wryly. "I've never seen snow like this in London and I've lived here all my life, except for Hogwarts of course."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_cho
2009-03-27 07:13 pm UTC (link)

...Hogwarts. Cho recalled the pearl blankets that piled up on windows and the school grounds, endless fields of sparkling white under wide gray skies. "Neither have I," she agreed. "The blizzard is wrecking everyone's plans. I wonder how they used to get on at Hogwarts when this sort of thing happened." You would think that such a huge castle would be even more problematic when it came to snow storms and heating charms. "Although," Cho added as an afterthought, "I suppose a blizzard would be a trivial there. I think when we were there Hogwarts faced so many other problems."

Cho stepped forward away from the raging weather outside. "So what have you done since you graduated?" She didn't remember seeing him around since that final battle.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_dean
2009-03-27 07:32 pm UTC (link)

Dean nodded, and looked back at her. He'd done a good job of pushing back the art vision for now, and thought he could actually carry a conversation like a normal human. Or as close to a normal human as he ever got anyway. "That is something of an understatement," Dean agreed. "Though I think the House Elves had a lot to do with why we didn't notice blizzards so much. Here in the real world there's no House Elves to keep things running, unless you own one or two anyway." While Dean wasn't exactly a fan of owning House Elves, he did realize that they were extremely useful in situations like these.

"Oh, well, I'm an artist," he said, feeling that same sort of pride and relief he got every time someone asked him what his occupation was. Though sometimes he felt like saying that art wasn't an occupation so much as it was as necessary to him as breathing. He was very glad he'd never had to find out what it would be like to not be able to pursue his art. "Abstract paintings mostly, though I've been known to sketch a few portraits and play with clay, as my mate Seamus likes to put it, in my time. How about you?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_cho
2009-03-27 07:56 pm UTC (link)

"An artist, really?" Cho cast him an surprised look. "You didn't go into magic?" It was odd, she thought, that anyone who was a wizard wouldn't do something where he could perform using his magical talents. She almost felt like it was a waste. Almost.

Then again, the only things Cho knew about paintings and art came from the single trip to the Louvre that she'd taken with her Aunt almost six years ago, when they'd visited France over the summer. Everything there had been created by Muggles. But she had to admit the pieces had been...well, beautiful.

"I'm a teacher at the primary school. Just down the road from here." Cho slipped a hand into the pocket of her robe and wrapped two fingers lightly around the handle of her wand, toying with it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_dean
2009-03-27 09:12 pm UTC (link)

Dean chuckled at Cho's reaction. He got similar reactions all the time from former classmates and, well, most everyone in the Wizarding world. "Well, I use magic for everyday things, but my paintings are strictly Muggle." He grinned. "I've sold a couple to some Wizards and Witches. They seem to be enthralled by non-moving pictures or something." He chuckled again.

He was intrigued even more when she said she was a school teacher. He'd always gotten on well with children, and enjoyed being around them. He'd thought before that working with children, teaching them to appreciate are would be something he'd enjoyed, but he'd never known who to bring it up with. Never one to let an opportunity go by he asked, "Is there much of an art curriculum there? Beyond cutting and pasting I mean. I always felt the lack at Hogwarts, though I've never been a classroom sort of artist."

He realized that his inner art snob was showing and offered a sheepish grin. "Sorry, my sister Natalie is always telling me I need to keep my inner art snob on a leash, but I'm afraid it runs away with me often."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_cho
2009-03-30 03:18 pm UTC (link)

Art curriculum? Cho cocked her head thoughtfully. "You know, actually there's not much. Mostly we teach the basics - reading, writing, math, the lot - so they'll be able to function when they're accepted at larger wizarding schools...But there's really not anything else."

She stopped and looked at Dean curiously. "So you've always been interested in arts? I remember..." Her voice paused as her mind wandered down memory lane. "I remember...that I used to think we should play Muggle intruments in primary school. Because it was so amazing how Muggles could play intruments on their own without using magic. I thought, for sure, that we had to learn how to do that too. I mean if Muggles could do, it so could we!" Cho looked at Dean and shrugged. Her dark hair slid like shining ebony over one shoulder. She lowered her eyes briefly, slightly abashed, before lifting her gaze again. "Wizard's arrogance," Cho confessed.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: Dean meets Cho

cc_dean
2009-03-31 06:52 pm UTC (link)

Dean nodded, and looked pensive. "I thought as much," he sad with a small frown between his brows. "Do you think there'd be much interest at your school for a class? I know a couple other artists who wouldn't mind teaching a couple of lessons." He'd put a little thought into it before, but if Cho thought there might be more of an interest he could put together a small presentation.

"Yeah, my mum's a children's book illustrator in the Muggle world and I picked it up from her," he said grinning. He had to laugh though, when she admitted to holding a Wizard's arrogance. "You should go to the Muggle symphony sometime. It's brilliant, and you always come away feeling humbled, no matter who you are." He was slightly distracted by the way her hair fell over her shoulder, but he pulled himself out of the muse-induced trance quickly enough. "But most musicians who make a life out of playing their instruments do so at the cost of formal education, so I'm not sure it would mix well with Hogwarts' curriculum. There was so much to learn about magic that it didn't leave much time for much else." Which was why, he thought, there was a need for some sort of creative instruction at the primary level.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -