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mapmaker (mapmaker) wrote in expresslogs,
@ 2012-08-22 00:38:00

Entry tags:

{james potter, {zackary hawke

Characters: James Potter and Zackary Hawke
When: late night Tuesday, 8/21/12 (or 8/22/12 technically since it's midnight?)
Location: pool car
Warnings/Rating: none
Summary: transfiguring some shorts and taking a midnight swim
Status: Closed/Ongoing

There had been too much going on for James to handle much of anything.

The infants on the train weren't as much a bother as they were mind-boggling. He'd never been around a lot of young children. As an only child of elderly parents, all his friends had come from second and even third generations of his parents' friend groups; neither of his parents had close relatives who were still young enough to have kids of their own. James honestly didn't have a clue what to do with any of the babies aboard so he'd taken to staying out of their way. Meeting the tiny one that Lyra had brought into their room had been almost terrifying for him. They looked so fragile. He'd never been good with fragile things.

James hadn't yet seen a ghost, nor was he much bothered by the idea that they were aboard. It wasn't as if he'd ever been afraid of a ghost before, why start now? He was more fussed that he hadn't had a close encounter yet since at least that would take his mind off all the people claiming to be related to him or coming from a future world in which he'd gotten all that he'd wanted -Lily, a son, Voldemort to be crushingly defeated, and the war to be over- yet no one was mentioning him being about for any of it which meant he likely didn't make it, didn't it?

It was a bit---a bit much to think on a fellow's own death.

He'd had better luck putting together the baggage car than anything else. It had taken his mind off all the what-ifs and possibilities. James hadn't managed much more than to put it into a modicum of order really, but he had found two pair of shorts that could likely work for the fellow he'd met on the train's "net."

James didn't think it would be hard to make them decent. He had been tempted to simply charm them waterproof, but who knew if that would be useful for a water elemental? That was still puzzling to him.

Pushing open the door to the pool car, James looked around as he waved the shorts, "Hello? Ready to work a little magic?"

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soullikewater
2012-08-23 02:38 am UTC (link)

Needless to say, Zack had jumped at the opportunity to go swimming with James. Of course, just about anyone could invite him to go swimming, and he would have jumped at the chance. Hell, he didn't even need the invite, as sometimes he just liked being in the pool alone.

He had arrived at the pool car a few minutes before James. Dressed only in a pair of sweat pants, Zack wasn't about to go into the pool just yet. After all, the other man had offered to make him some swim trunks. It might have been rude to just swim without even waiting for them.

Still, Zack couldn't help, but to start playing around with the water. He made little whirlpools, and when he tired of that he made areas of the water shoot straight up like a stream. He was doing it for a fourth time when he heard the door opening.

"Ah, hey!" Zack turned around, the jet of water crashed back down, some of it splashing against his back.

Oops.

"Hell yeah! Let's see what you got!" he exclaimed.

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mapmaker
2012-08-23 06:09 am UTC (link)

"Looks as if you've started the magic without me," James laughed as the water splashed back into the pool.

There wasn't a breeze in the room that was enough to have caused that effect and he knew that Zack hadn't been in the water yet with his clothes dry, or, well, mostly dry. That had to mean he was using some kind of magic. He'd been thinking that perhaps water elementals were wizards whose magic only worked on water...or in water like merfolk. James thought either option was exciting to consider.

Gesturing to the water, he asked, "Do you have to use a spell to work with the water? Or be in it? I've been trying to figure out how water elementals work."

He cast a quick look over the fellow before nodding. James hadn't wanted to try to do much with the shorts until he could get a size in mind. The trick to transfiguring clothes was to do as much as possible all in one go, otherwise the material begin to take on a strange feel, unnatural and stiff from all the magic. There'd been more than a few times that he'd done rather creative things with his classmates wardrobes on a lark.

James pulled his borrowed wand out of his pocket to hold it up a moment and then lay the pair of shorts on the ground. He decided to try one before the other and focused on changing them into something more suitable for water-wear.

Black, he decided, and a bit shorter in the leg and smaller around the waist and, yeah, it'd be good if they were something of a lighter material with maybe two layers and a tight hem and he could add pockets as all trunks needed pockets simply because they should and did and that should do it.

Shrugging a bit, James cast a glance at Zack to ask, "Those look alright now? You try them to see if they fit. I've a charm to make them fit always, but I think too much charmwork makes clothes feel stiff. I'm particular about my comfort."

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soullikewater
2012-08-23 06:37 pm UTC (link)

Zack simply smirked at James' magic comment.

"A spell?" he asked.

He knew about witches from his world, because he had met a couple. Nice people, but sometimes a bit loopy for Zack's tastes. Which was rather odd, all things considered.

"No, no spells, and I don't have to be in the water. Just close enough to see it, or a hundred feet away at the most. Anyway, I guess you could also say that I'm not exactly human." He paused for a moment as he watched James transfigure the shorts.

It was amazing to watch the change, and when it was done, Zack accepted the swim trunks, and examined them. Satisfied with the material, and the cut, and everything else, Zack made the "hold on a moment" gesture, and went into the locker room to change. The trunks fit very well, and were very comfortable.

"They fit great!" he told James when he walked out. "Thanks man!"

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mapmaker
2012-08-25 07:39 pm UTC (link)

It was extremely gratifying to see that the trunks had worked out. James had worried he'd wind up crafting them too much and have the material come out wrong in some manner or another. He'd wanted to do something useful for the fellow. He'd come aboard with nothing himself so it had been a great help for him to be able to craft himself something to wear. It seemed something he could do to help.

Smiling at that response, James clapped his hands, the sound echoing in the room thanks to its acoustics, "Fantastic! I had hoped they'd turn out alright. If you work too much with clothes, they feel wrong. These I'll let you tell me what you want. Color or style or what-have-you. I can fix them up faster as I've already done the one pair."

He couldn't help studying Zack a bit. The idea that he wasn't human seemed completely foreign to him. There were nonhumans in the wizarding world. They simply looked more nonhuman than Zack did.

"You're really not quite human? I can't tell at all. You look perfectly ordinary."

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soullikewater
2012-08-28 09:10 pm UTC (link)

And as James was explaining all about the magical hoo-ha, and what not, Zack was bouncing on the balls of his feet; absolutely giddy about getting into the water. "Hmmm, can you make that pair a dark blue with white stripes over the side of each leg? Same style as these, thanks dude!"

Zack stopped bouncing around when asked that final question. "Well, I was born human, but back in my world we have these non-corporal entities known as elementals. In order for them to have a form, they have to possess a human vessel," he answered.

"I became an elemental when I was about two years old."

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mapmaker
2012-08-29 08:14 am UTC (link)

There was nothing more than a handful of movements with the wand to craft the second set at Zack had asked and they did look dashing if James said so himself. He made an amused sound at the way that Zack seemed literally buoyant with joy. It wouldn't be bad to have that type of enthusiasm again. For anything. James couldn't say that having a little less excitement and a little more pure joy would be a bad change of pace for himself.

"You're---possessed," James shook his head, his smile widening out as he tried to imagine that some alien being was inhabiting this cheerful bloke, "You're an incredibly chipper guy for one who's possessed. I don't know that I would nearly so cheerful if I were possessed. Alright though, it's a good possession? You're all fine in there just sharing space?"

He couldn't imagine himself.

Gesturing to the water, he offered, "If you want to head in, feel free to. I'll have to join in a bit as I've got to fix my kit here."

James could change up his clothes quickly, but he imagined that his possessed companion might not wait as long as that to get in.

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soullikewater
2012-08-31 02:29 am UTC (link)

Zack accepted the second pair with a smile, and now seemed to be a bit more calmed down, though not by much. His smile lessened at the question that James was asking. In hind sight, perhaps he shouldn't have said that he was possessed.

"Well, it's not like a demon possession, or anything like that. I don't feel like I'm sharing my body with some kind bizarro alien thing," Zack said with a laugh.

Saying nothing else, Zack put aside the second pair of trunks, and smiled. Those would come in handy later, and there was no point in wearing two swim trunks. Taking the other guy's words into consideration, the water elemental headed for the pool, and jumped in, and swam around as he waited for the other guy.

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mapmaker
2012-08-31 09:04 am UTC (link)

Transfiguring his own clothes quickly into trunks -bright red with simple gold ties to keep them up- James tapped his glasses with the wand twice before laying it down beside the pool. He jumped into the pool with a wild splash that immediately served to flatten down his hair and set him laughing.

"Sorry there. I didn't realize exactly how far in I was jumping. Before you ask, I charmed my lenses to be waterproof before making them into goggles. It's easier to swim with them on than it is to pay the price of fixing my eyes well enough to swim without them. I get headaches afterwards if I charm my eyes directly."

That was an unfortunate side effect of his magic fixes that James had never managed to circumvent. He wished he bloody well could though as he truly would have preferred not to have to wear specs for the rest of his life.

Making his way within paddling distance of Zack, James asked, "Can you talk to it though? The thing that lives inside you? Or is more like an extra sense? Magic is like that, I think. It's an extra sense that wizards and witches have that plain old Muggles don't. I can't help feeling bad for them myself as I can only imagine it's a bit like being deaf or blind or something except worse even than that as they don't know they're missing that sense, right? They're walking about missing it without even knowing. If yours is like that, I don't imagine it'd be so bad."

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