Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "H is for Hammer"

erniedtmac (erniedtmac) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-10-17 22:55:00

Entry tags:

character: ernie macmillan, character: gemma farley, character: neville longbottom, character: pandora montgomery, character: pansy parkinson, character: vikesh moon, character: wayne hopkins

Who: OPEN
What: Finnigan's Dance Club - a quick Salsa lesson and then everyone par-tay!
Where: Finnigan's - The Roost
When: Friday, October 17 - 9pm - 2am
Status: OPEN / Ongoing

Even though several members of the greater wizarding community were off enjoying their dates from the Fawley Foundation fundraiser, that didn't mean that everyone else couldn't have a fun night out. It was Ernie's once-a-month dance lesson, and he'd chosen a simple Salsa for the night. Those who were interested were welcome to join in the short, half-hour group lesson to learn a few steps - and later, Ernie was more than happy to give a few one-on-one lessons to any man or woman interested - but for those who weren't the music was pumping in the room specially designed by Dominic to be fun and flamboyant - something like Ernie himself. Neither the music nor the pouring of drinks would end until last call.

[A/N - Feel free to start your own threads below, and/or start one for a private salsa lesson with Ernie]

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 01:54 am UTC (link)

Wayne laughed. "I'm not going to drop you." And he didn't. His head was spinning in the best ways.

Until, much later, it was suddenly spinning in the worst ways.

It had been a while since he'd woken up without a clue of how he'd gotten there. He was probably due.

Consciousness kicked Wayne in the head, daggers of light stabbing into his eyes with vengeance.

Shit. Shit shit shit shitshitshitshit--

Well, he made it to the bathroom, anyway, he thought glumly as he retched into the sink, tasting alcohol and curry. Wonderful.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 02:03 am UTC (link)

She woke up to the sound of gagging. That in itself was unusual because she always took out her hearing aids before bed, because her ears always hurt later if she didn't. She moaned softly and buried her head in the pillow when light tried to get at her, and curled up because her stomach protested as well as her gag reflex.

Her hands went up to cover her ears, to discover that, yes, they hurt too, but not as bad as everything else currently did. She heard the sound again and her eyes pulled open frantically, darting around to find not the source but the loo. She darted with surprising speed in there to reach the toilet, trying to recall where the fuck she was and why the fuck she was there and who the hell had given her tequila because she seemed to remember there being a promise of no fucking tequila. Her memory was, predictably, spotty, and she hated herself for going on a bender for so stupid a reason as her fucking siblings ignoring her again.

It wasn't until after she was done emptying at least some of what was in her stomach that she realized she didn't have on nearly enough clothing, because the floor was fucking cold and so was the toilet bowl. Her legs curled up protectively.

"Where the bloody hell am I?" Dora asked him in a raspy voice, peering up at him through eyes slitted against the light. Her Scottish accent was in almost full force, her being too hung over for her subconscious to even care about clipping off her words like usual.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 02:11 am UTC (link)

Wayne took a shuddering breath, turning on the tap to splash water on his face, and to rinse the sink.

Oh god, he thought. Dora. And-- "We're in my flat," he told her, resigned. He never took anyone back to his. Too much kid stuff and too small and...well, it was kind of a shithole.

Belatedly, he realized he was just in his boxers.

"Shit," me mumbled, before getting another punch-to-the-gut with nausea.

"What happened?" he finally asked.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 03:27 am UTC (link)

Dora groaned softly as he gagged again, taking a series of deep breathes through her mouth to try to control her nausea. "Well at least it has a roof," she muttered to herself. She'd had worse. The gutter was called a gutter for a reason.

She rested her too warm forehead on the back of the toilet, the only place where the cold felt good. It soothed the raging pounding behind her eyes a little. "I'm not sure," she said after a long and miserable moment. She really needed not to do this, even if it had been a long time since her last back slide. "I seem to recall fucking tequila though." She glared at him, though it's usual strength was somewhat mitigated by the fact she felt utterly miserable.

She looked over him, also half naked, and hoped that maybe she hadn't totally fucked up. Not that he would be, just... she hated when she ended up sleeping with a stranger. Hated it so much. And she had a guy she liked. Really liked. She didn't want to ruin that. She tried to subtly adjust her twisted bra to at least be decent.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 04:22 am UTC (link)

Wayne look down at Dora, assessing with his fuzzy brain. They were at his flat, which he never did. They had been drunk, which he had...Okay, he had done that.

More than once.

This month.

Fuck.

Had they…? He wasn't sure. Could go either way.

Wayne's brain went into worst-case scenario mode. Please, God, please, let her not be pregnant.

"Tequila?" He was pretty sure he would normally stare clear of the stuff. Then again…

"Did I say anything along the lines of 'reposado is probably different?'" That had been a tactical error in the past.

So, repeating past mistakes, then.

"You okay?" He asked finally, mouth feeling disgusting and dry. Belatedly, he ran a clean washcloth under the tap and handed it down to her.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 04:54 am UTC (link)

Dora tilted her head in thought and then nodded. "Yeah I was still sober enough at that point to remember you saying that. Damn you for that anyway." It was said without any heat though. It wasn't like he'd poured it down her throat. Still. Ugh.

"If okay means my head is splitting, I hurt all over and I'm completely unarmed, then yeah, I'm okay," she said, taking the rag with a thankful expression and pressingb it to her face despite the fact it took away her ability to read his lips. Oh that felt so much better.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 05:13 am UTC (link)

Wayne scrounged up another washcloth and did the same for himself. Feeling the nausea withdraw and hold behind the danger line, he sighed.

Leaned his back against the wall, and slid slowly down until he was sitting on the floor, at the same level as Dora.

This has to stop, Wayne. Delicately, he folded his washcloth and wrapped it around the back of his neck.

"Fuck," he said again.

"Hasn't been this bad in a while," he observed, not intending it to be aloud.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 05:53 am UTC (link)

Dora finally pushed the washcloth over to be between her cheek and the side of the upper part of the toilet. Well at least the world wasn't spinning anymore. Mostly. She sighed and opened her eyes, feeling weary and miserable.

"Hitting you a lot, huh?" She replied quietly, a sympathetic expression around her eyes. "Been a bit for me." Fucking ball. She loved the dancing but seeing them had really set her back again, and it still ached in her chest.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 07:45 am UTC (link)

Wayne thought a bit before responding. It took longer, the thinking.

He hadn't meant the hangover, or the puking, or the cold sweat he was in. He'd meant...his desperation to make it all go away. That was what hadn't been too bad in a while.

"Wish I could say I didn't do this, this isn't something I do, but...apparently...." Apparently it is.

She looked about in as bad of a shape as he was. The look in her eyes, the one that had drawn Wayne to her as a selfsame spirit, it was still there. But sadder, as he imagined his eyes were.

"So, what's it for you?" Wayne asked, without thinking. The harshness of his voice made him wince, and he amended his question in a lower voice.

"Something specific, or more..." He waved a hand. "...general thing?"

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 07:55 am UTC (link)

"Yeah. Me too." It was a simple confession, and quiet, but one she never really made and never to a virtual stranger. But what the hell, they'd obviously done something together, though she still wasn't sure if they'd done each other, so to speak. She'd need a little time alone to figure that one out.

Dora sighed, thinking in as much as her head would let her. But hell, he seemed like a kindred soul of sorts, even if not the same sort Richard was. Wayne had likely never wanted, truly wanted, to kill someone, let alone done it.

"You know part of it. I saw my brothers and sister the other day," she said, voice full of wistfulness. "But..." she hesitated, bit her lip and then sighed. "Well..." she uncurled her left arm, letting it stretch out where the Dark Mark stood stark against her pale skin, glamour faded sometime in the last few hours. She didn't say anything else, letting it speak for her, her gray green eyes waiting for judgment.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 08:05 am UTC (link)

Wayne was startled to see the Dark Mark, but only because it was such a stark contrast against the color of her skin - and he hadn't remembered seeing it before.

He shrugged. "It's just a scar, really."

So, family shit, plus residual guilt, he figured. He reserved any further conclusion-drawing to when his head was a bit less...throbbing.

It took a second before Wayne realized his was sort of similar. He held out his left forearm, the one with the new badger tattoo stretched across it. Stacey did good work - you could barely see the patch job from before.

"Under here?" he began, tracing the center. "Was a name. We...we were fifteen. And I..." He cleared his throat, mouth tasting sour and deadly.

"I ruined her life. Aborted my own future, too, but she...had potential."

He couldn't say more for now. He let his eyes slide shut. He hadn't turned on the overhead light, but sunlight was still streaming in through the door open to the main room of his studio flat.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 08:31 am UTC (link)

Her smile was brittle and sharp and utterly without any joy. Just a scar. God she wished it was just that. "It's far more than that," she said softly, curling her arm back in protectively against her body. She didn't have the energy to even begin to explain what it was though. Especially not with her head like this.

Dora peered at his tattoo, recognizing that a new one had been put recently. "Well, you didn't kill or maim her, I presume, so ruining her life is a little harsh on yourself, don't you think?" she ventured quietly. Her gaze wandered around, away from the light of the doorway. She spied a small toothbrush next to a big one and felt her brain throb as it tried putting pieces together. She waved a hand at the door and it shut part way wandlessly, shielding them from the worst of the evil sun.

"The potential is still there, likely. Sometimes you have to wait to use it though." Between the hospital and Azkaban she'd lost nearly two years of her life. The war had taken another. Tentatively she stretched out her leg and poked her toe to his foot. "We all make mistakes." She wasn't sure she'd label hers a mistake, per se. She didn't regret why she'd done the things she'd did. But... therr were similarities. Enough that she felt for him.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 08:39 am UTC (link)

Wayne hadn't meant to trivialize the meaning of her dark mark, merely to tell her it didn't bother him, but he didn't press the issue.

"Yeah, I guess we do." She was right - everyone makes mistakes. It was just that Wayne's mistakes seemed to literally follow him around, inviting him to repeat them.

For instance, now. Third verse, same as the first. God, but he hoped they hadn't fucked. Not that she wasn't-- it was just...yeah.

"Well, there's family and there's family," he said, vaguely. The ones you hurt people for, and the ones you hurt yourself for.

"So, do you..." He didn't know how to word the question for her, so he just answered it for himself.

"I just need to forget me. Everything I've done was because someone needed me to. At least this," he said, waving a finger around to indicate getting smashed, "I can control. Until I can't."

Bloody hell, he couldn't control it. The full force of that realization hit him. Shit.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 08:50 am UTC (link)

This time her smile was softer and full of understanding. "Yeah." She paused and the remaining alcohol in her system encouraged her to continue. "I did it for them, you know. This." She gestured at thr Mark and all it entailed. Julian knew, and Tristan. She'd told Healers and Aurors. Mils knew, or likely suspected. "My little brother was killed before I took it." She lapsed into silence, her gut panging hard at the thought of Perseus, even after all this time. She took a deep, shaky breath, hoping she wouldn't throw up again.

She listened, eyes watching his face. Her lips twitched though not in amusement as she saw realization sweep over him. It was a deep understanding, and a realization she'd made long ago yet still kept fucking up with. "It quiets my nightmares," she told him as he processed his thoughts. "Makes me stop thinking, if I have enough." She knew perfectly well it was self medication. That didn't stop her from sliding into it even when she didn't want to though. "But it's not controllable. That's the point sometimes."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 08:56 am UTC (link)

Wayne nodded, knowing that the dark mark had probably cost more than some bare flesh. Lots of people died during the war. Lots of people did desperate things to keep it from happening to more people. It wasn't even necessarily just because of the war - it happened in the Muggle world, all the time.

Still, losing a brother...

"Sorry," he said, clearing his throat again. "About your brother."

So, she couldn't control it either. At least, in this, he wasn't alone.

"I have to stop," he told her. "I can't keep doing this." His heart wasn't in it, though. He didn't really want to. It - everything was working, for him.

Until it wasn't.

He'd lose Rhys, if he didn't get clean, and fast. He already knew he'd fail the drugs test - marijuana still appeared for 90 days - but that was what magic was for.

"I think...I think it might actually destroy me."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 09:06 am UTC (link)

She nodded almost sharply, but it had nothing to do with himband everythingnto do with the pain she still carried. "He was only five." Her little baby brother, who had always run to her when she got home for hugs. She cleared her throat. "Thanks."

She knocked her foot against his this time, a small reminder he wasn't alone. Her heart felt for him. "It will, and you should. It can be done," she said. She really had done so well til the other day.

"You don't have to let it, you know." She tilted her head. "Fucking hard I know. But... do you really want to destroy yourself?" She glanced back ay the tooth brushes. "I mean, you have people who love you. Losing someone like that can destroy others too."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 09:10 am UTC (link)

Jesus, he was five. Wayne flashed back to when Rhys was five, all constant questions and running everywhere and leaving doors open.

He knocked his foot against hers, now. Strange but welcome camaraderie.

"Sometimes just being awake is the nightmare. Like a roller-coaster if you're blindfolded." The thought of roller-coasters made him queasy again, and he had to take a few deep breaths.'

"I can't go on like I'm going on," he told her, not realizing it was true until the words were out of his mouth.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 09:19 am UTC (link)

"I hate blindfolds," she said, more frombresidual alcohol than anything. Her sight was the one thing she had at times. But thrn she picked up on his sentence. "And every dip in the track could be a plummet to a place you don't want to go." Alcohol yo speed through them, in an attempt to find the next crest.

"Then figure something out," she said, knowing it was easier said than done. "I keep myself so busy I can't hardly think. Goals and schedules and everything. Always a project. Bludgers to hit, duels to fight, inventing new charms." Her foot tapped against his again. "This is the first timeb I've gotten drunk in over six months." Of course, she'd just started being social again a couple of months ago. "Obviously I still need to work on it though."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 09:22 am UTC (link)

"Six months. That beats my record. This time, barely made it two weeks." Or one week. But she didn't need to know that.

Her mention of charms sounded familiar, and it took a moment, but he put together that she was the one who had been talking about magical Halloween costumes. He'd asked her about kids' costumes.

"I've tried Muggle groups. They have this thing, anonymous groups where..." he trailed off. "I have to hold too much back from them."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 09:32 am UTC (link)

Pandora contemplated him for a long moment. Unconsciously she fiddled with a disillusioned hearing aid, tugged on her ear lobe. "Magic is a big thing to hold back," she said. "I just started going into the muggle world some. It's so... different and I can't say anything about who I really am." And she didn't like that part at all. She had lived and breathed magic since she was born.

She sighed and changed ton rubbing a scar on her shoulder. "Look, I'm obviously a shitty choice, but you can talk to me anytime. We've obviously visited the gutter together," and possibly done more, she really couldn't remember right now, "so it's not like I'm an absolute stranger anymore." It was a genuine offer, and that much was obvious. She wasn't the sort of person who would make an offer like that without meaning it. "I'm a fuck up half a step from Mungos many days, but I'm a lot better with other people's problems than mine."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 09:41 am UTC (link)

Wayne knew the destructive power of holding things back, and was accustomed to it, even in the Muggle world. That wasn't just a Magic-versus-Muggle thing, that was a...being alive thing.

Gratitude swept him like a wave, and he looked at Dora directly for the first time since...well, they woke up.

"Well, I'm shit at everyone's problems," he told her. "...but I can listen. And...I get it." Sympathise wasn't quite in his vocabulary, but it was close enough.

"What if," he ventured. "...what if...we helped keep each other off the sauce?" It was a long shot, he knew, but there was no way any Muggle would get them. And, as far as he knew, addiction programs in the magical world didn't exist.

"It's easier, with accountability, if there's another person-- I, ah. I'm not the best at finding a reason to keep sober. For myself, anyway. When I need a drink, I don't think about Rhys or anyone else."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 10:11 am UTC (link)

She smiled at him, a little lopsided but real, when he finally looked at her. "And I can try to talk about it." She couldn't promise more than that. She hadn't even told Tristan some things, and he'd been thr one with her back along with a few others during the war.

"I'm willing to give it a try," she said. "Can't promise I'll always succeed on my end, but I'll do my best for you." Which he probably didn't realize could include hexing him, but oh well he might want to learn that the hard way. It would be more persuasive that way. Hexes always were.

"I was Slytherin. I can find reasons for you." Her grin held a spark of pride. "Starting with your Rhys and going on and on and on from there. Plus I could just kick your arse out of the pubs." Always a good solution. "When I trust myself to cast again, I'll figure us out something else aside from thr journals for quick contact. I can't even remember my address yet though." And she was really hoping he'd let her stay until she either remembered or could Apparate.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-23 09:46 pm UTC (link)

Oh, had he mentioned Rhys? He hadn't meant to, but then again, he wasn't wholly surprised it had come up sooner or later.

"That sounds like...way more than I deserve, to be honest," Wayne conceded. "I'll do what I can for you, too. Even if it includes holding your hair back." Speaking of hygiene.

"So, if you want first shower, I can go ahead and see if I can not burn some toast. Not sure if I could handle more than that." Handle eating, or handle making it.

"Me, I've got all day. What is it, Saturday? Yeah I think I fancy a lie-in today." He had little intention of leaving. And, now that she knew about Rhys and all, he had nothing to hide from her.

Wow.

He didn't have to hide anything from her.

The last time that had happened was...never.

"You're welcome to kip wherever. There's TV, but I don't really fancy...light or sound, yeah?"

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

pandacharms
2014-10-23 10:08 pm UTC (link)

"I don't deserve anything, so let's not even go there," she told him matter-of-factly. Not with everything she'd done, even if it had been in the name of love and family.

"Gods a shower sounds fabulous," she said before she even thought about it. She was pretty sure there was alcohol coming out of her pores. She'd just transfigure a towel into a dress or something in the meantime, not that she knew where her dress was anyway. Ugh. How did she end up doing this to herself. "Toast. Crackers. Nothing big." Just the thought was nearly enough to turn her stomach.

"Oh thank goodness. I am not sober enough to apparate yet." And she really didn't want to wander London aimlessly until she was. She grimaced at the thought of light and sound. "Ugh no. Lounging around works for me." Laying prone on a bed sounded just fine. Even sharing. She really didn't care about literal sleeping especially right now. Sex was the only thing still worrying her a little.

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Re: Pandora and Wayne

waynecymraeg
2014-10-24 05:47 am UTC (link)

Wayne nodded, knowing all of his ideas were good.

It took a sizeable amount of motivation to hoist himself up from the floor, and oh god, head rush.

Dizziness and nausea resurfaced but only remained a threat...for now. He kept his eyes closed.

"I'll grab some clean clothes you can wear if you want. There's, ah, clean towels..."

Fuck, it was early and he was still too drunk and hungover for multiple tasking.

He reluctantly opened his eyes and the door, giving Dora one more look. She was beautiful, he could remember, and at the moment, sitting next to the toilet in her bra and pants...she looked how he felt.

Wayne sent up one more silent prayer that they hadn't fucked and she wasn't pregnant.

"Water first, I think."

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Re: Pandora and Wayne -

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