Tweak

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Tweak says, "*twirl!*"

Susan Amelia Bones (susanamybones) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2015-04-24 22:27:00

Entry tags:

character: dean thomas, character: susan bones

RP: Tête-à-tête
Who: Susan and Dean

What: Having a nice, terrifying chat

Where: Dean's studio

When: Friday morning

Rating: Let's say NSFW for language

Susan walked briskly through the gallery towards Dean's studio, pausing long enough smile and nod at Ophelia and Braith - eliciting a squeak from the former, and a smile and nod from the latter. She reached the door to the studio and squared her shoulders. It was definitely time for them to have a little talk about recent events, also to eat some lasagne that Susan had made the previous night. Ideally, Susan would have preferred that the conversation be conducted under the influence of alcohol, but she was a) respectful enough of Dean to know that would be a tremendously bad idea, and b) attempting to not become an alcoholic, so lasagne was an excellent substitution.

She jerked back from her reverie and knocked on the door, waited a moment, and then entered, trusting that the wards would let her through. She looked around and found Dean painting some decidedly Spanish-looking dancers and staring wistfully at another set of paintings. "Alright handsome," she called genially, shutting the door behind her with her foot. "I come bearing lasagne, good cheer, and the rather delightful knowledge that I can make your ex-girlfriend go paler than a crypt sheet." She moved forward to hug him, then pulled back, with her head tilted. "Also I figure we could have a little tête-à-tête."

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artistdean
2015-04-24 04:06 pm UTC (link)

He shrugged half-heartedly. "Eh, we're at mild resentment and ignoring each other, it's not so bad," he said. He mostly didn't care about her so much as the lingering nightmare effect.

Dean was going to clear off one of his small tables from the paint and water pots, but then of course Susan pulled one out of her bag. "You know, magic is a bloody marvel," he said, shaking his head at the table and going to wash his hands. "And I approve of less alcohol and more food," he said, not least because that was a mildly alarming statement from Susan. He was going to avoid questions about his revelation as much as possible, which given that this was Susan wasn't actually very much.

"I think you want to say 'I told you so' to my damn face," he said pointedly and plopped into his chair, reaching for his food so he could avoid talking for a few seconds.

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susanamybones
2015-04-24 04:22 pm UTC (link)

"Well that's something at least," Susan agreed. "It's a shame, I do like her jewellery."

"It rather is, isn't it," she agreed with a grin. "I figured stuff usually has paint on it, and I forgot to take this out of my bag last night so it all worked out well." She looked up from smoothing out the tablecloth, noting with interest that he let the alcoholism comment slide. "You need more food anyway. So do I. Food is the best thing."

She rolled her eyes and jabbed at him with a fork, before eating a piece of lasagna. "The 'I told you so' is implied, darling. I'm just happy that one of you has finally had the necessary epiphany. It's been like watching a couple not realise that they're a couple yet." She took another bite, thoughtfully chewing her food to give her time to decide what tact to take. Eventually, she decided to say to hell with tact and went in all wands blazing. "So tell me what's going through your head. I know you'd prefer to talk to Seamus about this, but given the circumstances..." she let the sentence hang there delicately for a moment, like a panda on the end of a bungee cord.

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artistdean
2015-04-24 07:02 pm UTC (link)

Dean hummed vaguely in agreement. He wasn't quite magnanimous enough to suggest she carry on buying Ophelia's jewellery, at least not yet.

"Yeah, paint is a hazard of the job, you know that by now," he said, gesturing with a wet hand to the paint splatters on his clothes and adding a few water ones to go with it. "Hey, I'm not avoiding free food," he said. "Far from it." He dried his hands on the towel by the sink and moved back across to Susan.

He picked at his lasagne a bit, but it did actually smell really good so he just went ahead and shoved it in his mouth. There was only so much fiddling and avoiding he could do, especially with Susan less than three feet away. "What's going through my head is that I'm seriously regretting my choice of bloody quotations," he said mulishly. He gave Susan what could be loosely interpreted as either a glare or rather pitiful look involving a measure of panic. "But there is no way I would rather be discussing this with Seamus." He applied himself to his lasagne again, vaguely wondering where he'd put his coffee down.

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susanamybones
2015-04-25 03:25 pm UTC (link)

"I do know that by now," Susan agreed, not even bothering to wrinkle her nose. "But that doesn't mean I like eating on paint covered surfaces anymore than I used to." She sunk into her chair and nodded approvingly at him. "Good. The day you avoid free food will be the day I cry for the rest of my life," she said nonsensically. "Or possibly become awash with avian bacon. I have no idea what I'm saying to be honest, just come over and eat."

She snorted indelicately at his turn of phrase before spearing another portion of her lunch. "You above all people should know that Pratchett quotes have a way of running away from you and revealing uncomfortable personal truths. For instance, 'She was beautiful, but she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful: something to be admired from a distance, not up close' is a little too revealing of my personality for comfort, wouldn't you say?" She repressed a laugh at his pitiful expression, surmising that it would have gone down like a nun in a brothel. "Obviously. Anyway, you've finally realised you're in love with him. Now what?"

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artistdean
2015-04-25 04:38 pm UTC (link)

"I...you... what now?" Dean said, thoroughly confused. He'd been following her metaphor to start with, but it had clearly gone awry somewhere in there and he really couldn't be bothered to work out how to fix it. "Also, there is a reason I usually eat in the kitchen or on the sofa if I eat here at all." He frowned slightly at Susan as he sat down. "Are you sleeping enough?" Not that that was the usual way around for that question, but since he was on daily potions at the moment it was a bit of a moot point on his side.

He made a hum of agreement as he finished a mouthful. "The man is innocuous and profound at the same time," he said. The quote she shared made him smile. "It might just be," he agreed. "Well, at the very least as far as suspects are concerned. I quite like you close, because close means I get to hug you," he said and smiled. Of course then she mentioned the rather looming l-word and his face twitched uncomfortably. In theory he knew the word applied, but he'd mostly been avoiding even thinking it too much. "Umm, now I try and process that, which I'm not quite done with yet," he said, both honest and somewhat sheepish. "And then..." he added, knowing Susan wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. "Then not a lot. He has Martin, well, I think he still has Martin. You know, the zookeeper he met?" he was trying not to sound too resentful or put out, but failing somewhat. He really did want to see Seamus happy, but no matter what people said he didn't think that happiness would come with him so he was all for helping his romantic relationships, even though it hurt him a little.

He was slumped in his seat rather by the end of this little run of thought and speech, reaching again for a mug that wasn't there. With a huff he pulled out his wand and summoned his coffee. "You want one?" he offered tilting the mug that floated into his outstretched hand with minimal force.

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susanamybones
2015-04-27 03:36 pm UTC (link)

Susan grimaced and waved her hand back and forth several times. "Yeah it ran away from me a bit. Oh well." She nodded at his comment about eating away from his painting - it made a lot more sense than her rambles about flying pigs. She paused her nodding at his next question, then shrugged in what she hoped was an enigmatic fashion but probably looked more nonchalant. "What is this 'sleep' that you speak of, and what on earth does it have to do with me?"

"He would have made an excellent Auror, or maybe even an Unspeakable," she agreed, shaking her head slightly. "Oi, that's a horrid thing to say," she laughed with an expression of mock outrage. "You're meant to be 'oh no Susan, you're lovely', though you win points for being immune to my forest fiery ways I suppose." She smiled back at him, glad that - all things considered - he was in a relatively good mood.

Her smile slipped away slightly at his next words, and she rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure Martin is a lovely chap - not that I've met him, but Seamus will do what he always does in relationships with men who aren't you," she replied with a sigh and slight shake of the head. "Which is to say: he'll go in all fire and vigour, get to the point where the chap would quite like to see him naked, have a breakdown about showing his scar to someone who isn't you or I, be comforted by probably just you considering the last time I tried to comfort him about something scar related," she paused and stabbed a little over-zealously at a piece of lasagna, which was growing slightly cold. "Then he'll either sabotage the relationship to get away from having to deal with his trauma, or be dumped because the other guy won't understand that Seamus' intimacy issues have nothing to do with sex and everything to do with a deep, overwhelming, and utterly incorrect belief that he is a coward who doesn't deserve to be happy because he was frightened in a battle."

She watched with amusement as he summoned one of his ubiquitous mugs of coffee. "Thanks but that's okay, I have something in here," she said, pausing to reach into her handbag for a moment. She frowned, and reached deeper into it, before pulling out a glass and a bottle of grape juice. "Do you want some of this?"

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artistdean
2015-04-27 08:12 pm UTC (link)

Dean eyed her, suspicious of her answer about the sleep question. He'd not really expected her to even admit to any lack of sleep by proxy and jokes. "And you guys worry about me having sleep problems," he joked. Hopefully she knew he'd try and check in with her about it. At least his own sleep cycles were consistent at the moment, even if they were potion-induced.

"I think I prefer his chosen job," he said, fervently grateful to Pratchett for his books, they'd brightened some of his darker days a degree or two more than he'd expected. He rolled his eyes at her protest. "Hey, you know the scary comes in handy for the job, and I know better than to lie to you too much." He looked at her and smirked. "Or indeed at all if I can help it."

Dean pulled a face and tried to distract himself with lasagne, but it didn't go very well. "He doesn't sabotage his relationships, he has body image issues, or I assume that's the more politically correct word. Or in this case he's trying to work out how to explain his curse scars to a muggle," he said hotly. "He says would have slept with him on their first date even if had been able to explain it somehow," he said. "I've not met Martin either, but he actually likes him, says he makes him laugh and stuff, and if he makes Seamus happy..." his already quiet voice trailed off and he turned back to his food, trying to eat it before it got colder and he had to attempt to not over or under-do warming charms. He had tried to not sound too sorry for himself and mostly succeeded.

The coffee in his mug was slightly cold but he drank it that way so often that he didn't really care. His coffee tended towards either scalding or tepid depending on whether he drank it right after it was made or forgot about it for an hour or more. He shook his head at her offer. "Nah, I'm good." He was fairly sure it was grape juice not wine, but he didn't really want either.

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susanamybones
2015-04-29 02:51 pm UTC (link)

"Yes but you're our special, growing boy, and you need eight hours of sleep a night," Susan replied with a haughty flick of her hair, ruined somewhat by the fact that she was also poking her tongue out at him. "Honestly, I've just been having a few setbacks with some rather gruesome cases and they're keeping me up at night. That's partly the problem anyway."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Well you know, one of my Muggle cousins is still convinced that I'm some sort of Bene Gesserit," she replied. "Which makes sense when you think about it. I can tell when someone's lying to me. Also, I'm involved in a ten thousand year programme of genetic engineering to birth the Kwisatz Haderach." She leant forward and wriggled her fingers at him in a mystical manner. "Yes?"

"Oh Dean," Susan replied with a deep sigh, her earlier flippancy forgotten. "He does sabotage his relationships, and yes he obviously has body image issues - which like I said, stem from the fact that he's unable to accept his scars because he's ashamed of how he got them. Which is all beside the point." She sat back and closed her eyes for moment as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Whether or not Seamus likes Martin is academic. They'll break up in a month or so, after Martin get's serious and Seamus suddenly drops the 'Oh, I thought you knew this wasn't serious' line on him. Then Seamus will go into a bout of self loathing and you will be the fantastic friend that you always are, only this time I will not only be worried about Seamus' self-destructive behaviour, but the prospect of you getting hurt." She paused and opened her eyes, and finished off her lasagna. "I'm really more focused on you being happy, handsome. What will make you happy?"

She shrugged and drank a long sip of her grape juice. "Why don't we discuss something nicer," she suggested. "Like how I'm inviting you to my greatly anticipated and greatly delayed housewarming party? Or the fact that Lucy is now living with me, and I have the sneaking suspicion that she rather heavily judges me for being rich."

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artistdean
2015-04-30 02:40 pm UTC (link)

"Susan if I grow any more I'm going to hit my head every time I walk through a door!" he said. He was already tall enough that particularly low doors were a problem and sometimes he just ducked anyway. He frowned at her admitted problems with gruesome cases. "I hate when things keep me up too much, I hope it'll settle down a bit soon." He reached over and patted her hand, unable to do much more from this side of the table. "No need to worry about me getting enough for a couple of months. My therapist suggested me taking my potion daily for a while until I get some distance from Ophelia."

He blinked at her, unable to decipher her words. From context it was probably another book thing, but not one he knew. "If you say so," he said, clearly displaying his lack of understanding, sure Susan will fill him in.

He listened as Susan spoke, mentally protesting so many of her points, but unable to really deny them aloud either. He swallowed a couple of times and shrugged. "Not losing my best friend," he said. Yes, supporting Seamus through heartbreak would hurt him, but he'd do it happily. "I mean I'd rather he wasn't hurting either, but mostly I just want to not lose my friend," he said. He shrugged again and shovelled up the last of his lasagne enthusiastically, mostly so he could attempt to ignore Susan's comments, which were as astute as ever.

"Well, the party's good, as long you're leaving my room free in case I want to hide out," he said, well aware she'd never deprive him of his hidey-hole. "And honestly, I don't know who Lucy is, but sometimes I well, not judge you for being rich, but I'm envious or resentful maybe." He held up his hands. "I know, I know, the way you came by the money was fucking awful and I'd never actually say you shouldn't have it, but you know, I didn't exactly grow up well-off, and it's a bit hard to comprehend sometimes."

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susanamybones
2015-04-30 03:27 pm UTC (link)

"Exactly," Susan cried enthusiastically. "My dastardly plan is for you to grow so tall that you can piggy-back me into battle." She paused and looked at him intently for a moment. "Which, admittedly you probably could now," she mused. She waved her hand in a gesture that combined both thanks and dismissal in equal fervour. "It should do. Once I 'accidentally' give the perp some 'regrettable' horrific maiming I'll sleep like a baby. Well, some of the time anyway. I'm glad your therapist suggested that actually. Do you think it's helping?"

She sighed at his blank look and shook her head. "I was trying to bring the tone down busting out a Dune reference, but apparently you haven't read it. My brother will be deeply shocked at you, Dean."

She surveyed him intently for a second, but decided that she'd dropped enough uncomfortably astute observations on him for one day, so delicately let it drop. "You won't Seamus, dear. You could never lose one another, you're like two sides of the same coin." She sighed again and polished off the last of her lasagna. "Unfortunately in terms of Seamus not hurting, there's nought I can do to help with that I'm afraid. Anything I try and say is met with a quick, harsh, and decisive suggestion that I go and do something with my head that is neither physically possible or hygienic - which to be fair, is in no way limited to Seamus. Indeed he's probably the nicest about the whole thing."

She rolled her eyes at him pointedly. "No I've completely lost my wits and decided to convert your room into the yoga studio I've always wanted," she teased. "As for Lucy, she was in my year, remember? A Hufflepuff like me. She's my new housemate as the Ministry has instructed her to stay away from Muggles because she's had a few 'thaumaturgically explosive outbursts' or some such twaddle." She took a sip and looked at him sternly over the brim of her glass. "I am glad you qualified that sentence there dear, but yes. I'm aware that people with money make those without uncomfortable - but I give to charity, I'm not actually that particularly frivolous, and I work hard. Besides, none of my friends let me help them out financially."

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artistdean
2015-04-30 08:50 pm UTC (link)

He stuck his tongue out at her and rolled his eyes. "I would make a terrible... whatever you call a human person you ride into battle" he said and snorted. He shook his head at her tendency to have at the very least violent thoughts about her suspects. He didn't really want to know. "Yeah, we talked about it, and with the nightmares it's honestly a good option, and yes, I think it's helping. I mean the nightmares were all sort of doubling up on each other and making my sleep shit before I started taking it, and the routine is really helping too."

"Yeah, well you know me. My reading taste is pretty limited," he said with a shrug. He was supremely unconcerned about her brother's thoughts, unlike Susan and his sisters he'd never especially bonded with Edgar that much. Not that he was likeable, but they'd never become friends as such.

He couldn't help the way his mouth twitched in a smile at Susan's assertion that he wouldn't lose Seamus. Not that was he so sure if he revealed his feelings, but since he had no plans to do that he would be okay. "Yeah, well, I mean, prizes for your description, but yeah, people can get mean when defensive. And well, I'll try and help with the hurt if or when it happens," he said, shrugging. He knew it was self-destructive but he wouldn't change that behaviour because it wasn't like he was going to stop years of helping just because it might be uncomfortable for a while.

He just laughed at her teasing, if she wanted a yoga studio she had plenty of other spaces to choose from. He paused, thinking through Herbology lessons at Hogwarts, the one subject Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had shared. He vaguely remembered who Susan was talking about. "Small girl? Kind of quiet?" he asked. He didn't really remember much about her. "That... sounds unpleasant," he said. "At least she's got you to stay with. I hope you warned her about the stray swimmer on a Thursday," he joked.

"I'm not saying you're a bad person, just that your money occasionally makes me a little uncomfortable. Besides, I love you anyway, and you buying my art is more than enough help, thank you," he said, gesturing vaguely to the rest of the room. Plus that way he actually felt like he earned the money rather than just being given it, even as a loan. Besides he'd never actually been on the point of starving or anything like that, just had to get a little creative with his recipes to keep them interesting when he was still living on apprentice wages. "You know, and we're all stubborn as hell."

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susanamybones
2015-05-01 12:33 pm UTC (link)

"You would make a fine war steed and don't you think otherwise, Dean Thomas," Susan teased, before frowning for a moment. "Though I can envisage that actually it'd be slower to ride a person than to just run myself..." She blinked and refocused on Dean, nodding approvingly. "Well I'm glad, I know a couple of the lads at work take the potions for the same sort of thing really. They used to call it curse shock or aurors heart back in the day you know."

She rolled her eyes and poked him with a stick. "I know, and I would judge you so harshly for that fact if I could muster up the energy to be a book snob. Still, you like Terry Pratchett and some of the magical authors Seamus and I have forced on you so it's not all bad."

"Oh I completely get that," she agreed with a wave of her hand. "But I mean, it's me that Seamus is mean to when he's defensive. It's like teabagging a Hippogriff foal in front of it's mother - the sheer audacity is the only thing that keeps him alive. That and the fact that I like him I suppose." She sat back and tilted her head for a moment in thought. "The mountain of apologetic baked goods and the look of absolute fear in his eyes when he's realised he's sworn at me are kind of worth it though."

She nodded at Dean's description. "That's Lucy! She's a lovely person." She nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, she was almost always... Oh I don't know, scared of her magic? She had to work so hard to keep up. I missed her when she didn't come back after the Carrows took over. I was always kind of terrified that she'd been killed in the war - Merlin knows she was never confident enough with magic to defend herself in any real capacity. It took me a long time to track her down actually." She batted Dean's arm playfully for a moment, then paused. "Actually... I don't remember if I have?"

Susan poked her tongue out at Dean again. "Well I think it'd be far more dishonest for me to live in a hovel and pretend to be skint when I have a massive vault in Gringotts inherited from my Aunt, plus money from my parents and grandparents. But yes, I suppose we all have to live with things that make us uncomfortable, don't we?" She sighed again. "Oh I know. I sometimes thought about tying you to a chair and forcing money on you when you were a starving apprentice eating, what did you call it? Pasts alla Deano?"

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artistdean
2015-05-01 10:07 pm UTC (link)

He snorted at the image of him carrying Susan into battle. "It's all the swimming," he said, flexing his arms jokingly with a bit of an eye roll. "And yes, probably. Me plus you is going to be slower than either of us running alone." He focused on her as she spoke about her colleagues, head tilted in consideration. "I didn't actually, but I know the muggle name was shell shock originally, so it's not surprising." The fact his therapist was a knowledgeable muggle rather than actually wizard made that little difference.

"I like silly things with happyish endings and get bored if it's all romance. And hey, I like Douglas Adams too!" he protested. He was a long way from being a book snob of any sort, and mostly went on recommendations so he could avoid things that triggered him. "You want me to read other things, you've gotta tell me what I might like!"

"Oh, Susan!" he complained. Her metaphors were often colourful, but a visual imagination wasn't very compatible with that particular kind of colour. He shrugged in the end though. "As long as he doesn't bake the stuff himself you're very lucky." Then again Seamus didn't usually need to apologise to him for anything.

He nodded thoughtfully. He could remember a time when he'd sort of thought that his magic was a little scary, but that had rapidly been taken over by wonder and excitement. "Yeah. Although, Circe, that must have been horrible. I'm glad she's okay." He shook his head, amused at the possibility that she might come across him randomly. "Well you might want to remember," he said. "I don't want to shock her."

"Hey, I'm not knocking the awesome house, and I prefer the honesty, but like you say everyone has something that they're uncomfortable with that they still have to live with," he said lightly. The idea of her tying him to a chair was kind of hilarious, but also pretty scary because he had no doubt she'd have done it in an inescapable way and now that he thought about it it might be best to stop thinking about it right away. He shuddered slightly. "Something like that. It didn't taste so bad, just looked pretty suspect. Just be thankful my family taught me to cook!"

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susanamybones
2015-05-02 03:34 pm UTC (link)

"Oh goodness! Your flexing has me all a-quiver," she quipped, with a mock swoon thrown in for good measure. She nodded thoughtfully for a second. "I could have used you the other day. I took down a witch who on top of being a blood supremacist was also a racial supremacist. She would have fainted in terror at the sight of you running at her." She furrowed her brows in confusion for a moment. "Shells as in sea shells? I'm not sure I see the connection?"

"Hmmm... Maybe you should read Dune then. It's by this really famous Muggle science fiction author called Frank Herbert. I devoured all my cousin James' copies of the books one year when we did Muggle Christmas with my mum's family." She quietly ruminated on possible books for several moments. "I'll owl you a list I think? I have most of them in my library - you can just come grab them if you want to read them."

She cackled but let the matter drop. She probably wasn't doing Seamus a great deal of justice - he'd never actually told her to shove her head up her arse, but he had deeply annoyed her in the past, and the look of terror had been the same.

"Mmm," she replied, furrowing her brow again. She wasn't sure that Lucy was alright, not yet anyway. But that was a problem for another day. She gave Dean one of her famous arch brow combos and fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Come now, she'll be fine. A touch of unmitigated terror is lovely and bracing for a young lady. But yes, I'll tell her about you when I get home. Hopefully."

Susan nodded thoughtfully. "Like yams? I hate yams, but I have to live with the fact that yams exist and some people actually like them." She sniffed thoughtfully and then grinned at him. "It's okay though, some of your weirder concoctions seem to stem from those halcyon days, and I'm really rather very fond of them, so I shouldn't be too quick to judge."

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artistdean
2015-05-02 04:46 pm UTC (link)

He poked his tongue out at her and dropped his arms. Not that he was actually dismissive of what all his swimming had done for his physique, but it was far more of a side effect than it was intentional. "Oh, that would have been good. I am pretty thoroughly terrifying on both fronts, even if my father was a wizard, I didn't grow up knowing that." Dean saw her confusion and shook his head. "No, shells as in bombs, I think they were known as shells. First World War thing - Muggle war obviously, lots of shellfire." His history knowledge was pretty thin, whether wizarding or muggle, but some things just managed to seep in.

He nodded in acceptance. "I'm all for book suggestions. I mean I don't know when I'll get around to them, but I'll take a list and come steal, er borrow, the books from you if you've got them." He grinned brightly, knowing she wouldn't actually take the stealing comment the wrong way.

Dean sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't blame me for whatever happens when we finally come across each other if you don't remember then," he joked. Not that he really thought terror was a great plan, but then again he had PTSD so he was particularly wary.

He was amused as ever. "I don't get what you have against yams, but each to their own," he said diplomatically. He was rather fond of them himself, but he understood that people had different food tastes. "My weirder concoctions also come from sleep deprivation and insomnia, so take your pick of what to blame," he said with a shrug. "Recipes are for try-hards and people who can't actually cook," he said blithely. Not that he totally eschewed recipes, but particularly with non-baking things he took a bit of a fast-and-loose approach.

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susanamybones
2015-05-04 12:37 pm UTC (link)

Susan smiled at him and nodded. She thought he might have been being a little self mocking, but whatever the motivation behind his words, they rung true. "You can be definitely terrifying. Anyone can be with the right stimuli and correct application of the pressure." She blinked for a second, hazily trying to remember stories that her Muggle grandfather had once told her as a child; tales of the World Wars that had been far more devastating than any waged by the wizarding world - testament to the ingenuity of the human mind to bring about chaos and destruction even without any genetically encoded magical proclivity to do so. "I think I remember actually," she replied at last. "The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar."

"Capital, I'll write out a hundred or so suggestions for you shall I? Any authors you particularly loathe? I know the one's we've discussed but there could be more?"

She waved a dismissive hand. "She'll be fine I think - just call out to me I imagine. I mean I explained the wards and what have you to her while I keyed her into them. So the fact that you pass the IFF wards should be enough for her," she replied, before pausing and moving her hand in the opposite direction. "I will tell her however, seems the right thing to do."

"Of course you don't," she replied darkly, leaning back to give him a look of mock weariness. "You're one of them." She took a contemplative sip of grape juice, trying to push down the vague desire that it be alcoholic. She looked up and smirked at him. "By which I mean, you're one of those people who like yams. I was too of course, until one too many occasions of having them forced on me by my great grandmother." She choked on her juice and spent several seconds coughing furiously before her airways were suitably unobstructed for her to begin to laugh. "I can cook by feel nearly as well as you dear," she replied after more than a minute of nearly manic laughter. "Though I'd have to say that being precise when baking is always a good idea - afterall, it is science for hungry people."

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artistdean
2015-05-04 03:28 pm UTC (link)

Dean couldn't help but smile at little in response to her assertion. Usually she reminded him that he wasn't so scary, but he knew it was meant with love either way. These days he just generally didn't have a reason to be really scary. He nodded vaguely at her quote, it wasn't one he knew. "Sure," he said, not really wanting to dwell on the point.

He rolled his eyes and summoned a box from the shelf over his sink. "No, nobody I actually loathe, but I prefer not to get into anything too wordy like Dickens, just not my thing," he said. He opened the box, and fished out a chocolate chip and caramel cookie before passing the box over the table. The assortment was a bit mis-matched with some cookies and some biscuits, no more than a couple of each, all ends of batches, several from a while ago kept fresh by the magic on the box. "But less than a hundred would be easier. Or at least do them in sections."

"Well, if you don't tell her I'm laying all the blame on you," he said pointedly. Hopefully when he came across Lucy either she'd have been warned, or at least she wouldn't try and attack him.

He chuckled and shrugged. "Hey, I'll not feed you yams and you don't feed me eels," he said. He'd never been much of a fan of eels (his family believed in making the children try lots of different things) but when he'd been on the run it had been the only think he could get one day and he'd had to give in. He'd vowed to never eat them again. For a good few seconds he was pretty concerned about the sudden choking, but then he realised Susan was laughing and had done something similar to what he had on Monday with Seamus. Still, he was watching her closely. "Better or do you want water?" he offered. "And yes, I follow recipes a lot more for baking than cooking. But even then I've found there's usually a bit of wiggle room. But I approve of food as science for hungry people."

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susanamybones
2015-05-05 05:19 am UTC (link)

"Oh damn," Susan said, snapping her fingers sarcastically. "I was going to suggest you read Herman Melville, Susan Sontag, William Faulkner, and Samuel Beckett. I guess I'll just have to think of some authors who aren't uncomfortably verbose." She looked through the box with interest, finally selecting several moist looking cookies with enough chocolate in them to make even the most hardened health nut go weak at the knees. "I was joking about the hundred books actually," she replied between mouthfuls of salted caramel and chocolate. "I was thinking I'd throw a couple of magical bestsellers at you? Stuff by Libra Traficante, Historia Witz, Michael Buchmann, and Augustus Prolixus even. I'm fairly sure I have all of their books, and if not I'll just have to go and get them, which would be a shame."

"Yes mother, I'll remember," Susan replied, lifting her hands in surrender. "Actually, speaking of mothers, mine's been complaining that she hasn't seen you and Seamus for far too long and that you should come up to Rosethorn with me next time I visit." Changing the subject was probably a good idea, since Susan had a sinking feeling that she probably would indeed, forget to tell Lucy about Dean - especially if her coming week was anything like the last, or the one before that.

She shuddered delicately, both at the thought of eating eels, and for the emphatic reason that Dean had for not liking eels. "That's a deal," she said emphatically. No need to bring anymore trauma to her friend's life - especially since he still had the fresh realisation that he was in love with his best friend to deal with. She continued to wheeze with laughter for several moment, holding up her hand to turn down his offer for water. "Oh I agree. I always put far more chocolate in things than the recipe asks for, but that just sounded so... Very food snobby and I loved it."

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artistdean
2015-05-05 03:29 pm UTC (link)

Dean wrinkled his nose in distaste. "I mean I don't mind a bit of length if they're easy to read but I'll pass on all the wordy stuff thanks." In a way he was sort of the opposite of a book snob and wanted something easy and decently written and relaxing. "Wizarding is good, you know I've not read that much," he said, examining a piece of cookie unnecessarily closely before putting it in his mouth. "And what a shame, buying new books, how sad," he said, sarcasm heavy in his voice.

"Oh, well you know I'm bad at ignoring mothers, apart from sometimes my own," he joked. Not that it was a joke really. Between his Mum and Aunt Rose he'd been taught to have a lot of respect for maternal figures, even though he barely remembered a time before his Dad joined their family. "Just give me a bit of warning and I'll do my best to come along," he said.

Susan's reaction to his apparent food snobbishness made him frown a bit. He certainly hadn't meant it that way, but he supposed it could come off like that. "I'm not sure how you think I'm a food snob when you've seen the combinations I come up with for random leftovers and stray bits," he protested. Leftover Thai curry and couscous wasn't the weirdest thing he'd managed to come up with. None of it tasted bad, just didn't quite fit together really.

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