InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Don't tase me bro!"

abidingpercy (abidingpercy) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-09-01 13:45:00

Entry tags:

character: percy weasley, character: sally smith

Who: Percy Weasley & Sally Smith
What: Talking entertainment, public humiliation, and interesting work stories over drinks
Where: Finnigan's, Common Room
When: September 1, 7pm
Status: Closed / Incomplete

Such days were always bittersweet for Percy. It was a day off due to Labour Day and he should be enjoying the extra time off, or even catching up on work, yet this morning he returned Lucy to her mother's home and he missed her already. The child was growing up so fast, and sometimes it felt as if the four days away from her resulted in him missing far too much of her life.

He was thankful that he had accepted Ms. Smith's invitation to drinks, however, as the Common Room at Finnigan's was pleasant, and as he was the first to arrive, he chose a small table by the fireplace where the warmth of the fire cast a glow over everything within range. He couldn't remember interacting with her much before, but the spread of Dominic Chambers' journals had made it possible to communicate regularly with people one had never known before. The possibilities were endless.

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thessalian
2014-09-07 04:05 am UTC (link)

The smirk was a challenge, and one Sally would definitely take up. There were several comebacks she could make to his claim of justice and leniency, but she bit her lip and held back - at least for right now.

She studied him for a moment, her eyes twinkling as she pondered how far exactly she wanted to take his challenge. Finally, she relented. "Now Percy," she said smiling, "here I thought we were talking about job horror stories, not dredging up the distant past." She did feel the need to add, "Though you shouldn't think I am declining your challenge."

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abidingpercy
2014-09-07 04:22 am UTC (link)

"You're right, of course, we've digressed quite a bit." His smirk softened into a smile. "I'll take it as a warning, then, and we'll see how the challenge goes."

He sipped of his drink and shook his head. Oh, when it came to work horror stories, he had far to many to list. "So yes, job horror stories. Before we begin to compare, I must warn you that I worked under three Ministers who all left the post within one to two years of my working with them, so I have quite a few under my belt. But I'd like to hear some of yours first, please?"

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thessalian
2014-09-13 07:24 pm UTC (link)

Three Ministers. Sally knew Percy had been older, but three Ministers put him squarely in the war era of the Ministry. If anything, it made her appreciate Percy a bit more, that he'd be willing to stay for his career (if nothing else). Ambitious men who weren't noble about it were rare indeed.

She laughed, "Oh, goodness, where to start. Animals are the worst, of course. I think first year Transfiguration gave many people the idea that turning animals was easy. Teacups into mice, what were they thinking? There was a man who wanted to give his daughter a krup, so he thought he'd transfigure some simple bed pillows into a beloved krup for his daughter. It did not go according to plan; the krup exploded on the little girl at one point, and her uncontrolled magic tried to put fluffy back together again, which resulted in the father being stuck in the middle of a rather bloody blob. The scene was absolutely horrific and we had to modify their memories severely - I'd have liked to leave his so he could live with what he'd done, and what he'd caused his daughter to do, but protocol doesn't permit for us to be judge and jury like that. Protocol says to wipe his mind, we do it. I do think my partner tossed in a serious aversion to krups on the part of the little girl though, so she wouldn't request them again." She took a sip of wine and pondered her last thought.

"Memory is tricky like that. We haven't quite figured out how to modify it completely, and you never know what will come and trigger into remembering details of the event - though do you know how many times we tell people they must have had a bad dream, and no, their memory wasn't modified? Too many." It gave her a little shudder, just thinking about it. She was glad she didn't have to live as an obliviator.

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abidingpercy
2014-09-13 07:57 pm UTC (link)

Percy listened to the story, smirking at first until it went into what happened when the krup exploded, at which point he felt a sort of horror imagining it happening to his own daughter. He nodded, happy to hear that the girl had been obliviated at least, and like Sally, felt the father had deserved worse for what he had done.

"It's as if the emotions come from a different place than the memories, so that while the memories are obliterated, the associated emotions remain." It was something he'd experienced a couple of times when working under Pius Thickness, and to this day he wondered if he'd seen something he shouldn't have which had resulted in his being obliviated.

"My daughter, Lucy, once asked me if I could transfigure her a kneazle. I said no, of course, though my own transfiguration skills are quite refined. Your example only reminds me how right I was to say no."

He took a sip from his glass, deciding he could segue into a story of his own - one of the less personally horrifying ones. "When I was first out of Hogwarts, I worked in International Magical Coooperation. One day, we had a visit from someone who was complaining because they were trying to export items to Argentina and they kept returning. When he showed me the package, he claimed it was a high-quality cauldron, yet inside the package was a dead rat. After a little interrogation, he finally admitted that he'd been transfiguring rats into cauldrons and then selling them to unassuming buyers overseas, claiming they'd been made by British cauldron masters. No wonder the packages had been returned, for the rats had been alive when first transfigured, but must have returned to their original shapes somewhere in transit and died on the journey."

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