InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Is that a lunatic in my head?"

Bryony Capper (goodlight) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2015-07-24 11:07:00

Entry tags:

character: bryony capper, character: marcus flint

Revelations
Who: Bryony and Marcus
What: Food and conversation
Where: Towpath Studios
When: Thursday 23rd July [backdated]
Rating: SFW

When Bryony had nervously asked Braith if it would be alright if a friend stopped by, the older woman had taken it upon herself to discreetly finish the painting she was working on and then make an excuse to work elsewhere that afternoon. Bryony wasn't sure when Marcus would stop by - and she was a little apprehensive about it. Seeing Marcus was always to be welcomed, but his mention of his mother put Bryony a little on edge. What had Phillipa said this time? Something more about the child that would have been Marcus's sister, or something else entirely? Bryony was still of the opinion that it was better, in the long run, for Marcus to know these things - but at the same time, wished they'd stop disturbing the happiness he was building for himself.

As well as the family portrait for Shauna, which she was still working on, Bryony had uncovered the larger canvass she'd been working on previously. It was finished, in theory, but she wasn't exactly happy about it. It had come out... darker and more turbulent than anything else she'd ever painted and it was hard for her to look at. A gently shining figure was featured at the bottom edge, surrounded by blue-black darkness which swirled with dark birds, their red beaks sharp and frightening. It hadn't turned out at all how she'd intended it, and though it wasn't technically bad... Bryony couldn't imagine showing it to anyone outside the studio and Marcus.

She was fussing with one corner of Shauna's portrait when she heard the slight crack of apparition. "Marcus?" she asked, not turning round. "Give me just a second to finish this..." She didn't want to risk the perfect colour of paint drying before she'd finished with it.

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marcedflint
2015-07-28 03:20 am UTC (link)

"You're welcome," Marcus answered, the words coming out of him on instinct as he pulled his eyes away from the painting to look at Bryony's face. He smiled at her softly, leaning over briefly to kiss her lightly at the place her forehead met her hairline. "I'm fine," he answered, before amending, "if a little bit tired." Taking a moment just just bask in her presence, he asked, "How have you been?"

He considered the options she offered for a moment, even though he didn't really need to - there was no chance that he'd want to be seen by any of Bryony's co-workers. She didn't need to feel the wrath of her mother if news of his visit somehow got back to Iris, and he didn't feel up to dealing with strangers in the mood he was in. "Here," he responded. "I don't need a table if you don't." Marcus glanced around the room, taking in the other details, including all of the ways to get out, an old habit he stopped himself from continuing when he noticed he was doing it. "I'm not entirely sure what lunch is, since I wasn't paying attention when Rakey packed it," he told her, "but I do know there's food."

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goodlight
2015-07-29 10:15 am UTC (link)

Bryony paused just a moment before answering. "Better." She was still a little ashamed of herself for bursting into Marcus's flat and disturbing his morning with Roger. It was taking some getting used to, the idea that his space wasn't just his anymore - and that now Roger had far more right to be in it than she had. "A little tired too." She'd been flying more than sleeping the last few nights, and Marcus had probably noticed that her broom had been missing from his cupboard.

She smiled brightly as she took the basket from him, taking on the role of hostess with more genuine pleasure than she would have for anyone else. "It will be like a picnic," she decided, levitating a few things out of her corner so they would have room to sit. She even transfigured a makeshift rug for them to sit on so that neither of them would risk their clothes on the dusty floor. "If Rakey packed it, it'll be delicious," she said as she sat, setting the basket between them.

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marcedflint
2015-08-07 02:43 am UTC (link)

Marcus smiled slightly at her answer, and said, "I'm glad to hear it." He had been a little worried, knowing the stress she was under due to her sister's wedding and all that that implied. But being concerned for Bryony's welfare was an aspect of their friendship that had been so ingrained, he wouldn't have known how not to do so. He had noticed the lack of the extra broom in his cupboard, though with all the other things he had swirling through his head, it had slipped his mind.

Following her lead, Marcus sat, folding his larger frame in on himself, though he did make sure to sit where he could see the door, so as not to be startled if someone came in while they were eating. He returned her smile with a more genuine one of his own, pulling out chicken caesar salads, garlic bread and two servings of raspberry sorbet. Setting the food between them, he rummaged through the basket, looking for utensils. As he did so, he commented, "That's a very interesting painting." He didn't look up at the artwork in question, though he figured she would know he wasn't referring to the family portrait, and he made sure to keep his eyes down just in case his observation had somehow made her uncomfortable.

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goodlight
2015-08-09 08:07 am UTC (link)

Bryony watched the food emerge from within the basket with interest a touch too keen, and was relieved to see a mix of things that were healthy and things she would actually enjoy eating. She wondered if Rakey had somehow known - she often thought the house elves might communicate with one another, it seemed the only way to explain the sometimes miraculous feats of coincidence.

At Marcus's words, her own eyes darted up to the picture in question and she frowned. "Interesting is one word," she agreed. Marcus had seen more of her work than anyone, so he'd seen the occasional darker turns her sketches had taken when she'd been trapped in Hogwarts with the Carrows, or feeling particularly upset with her mother. Part of her felt like it wasn't the kind of work she wanted to produce - she wanted to make beautiful things. On the other hand, she had seen Dean's nightmare pieces and knew they were incredibly powerful, in their own way. "I don't really know what to do with it."

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marcedflint
2015-08-09 10:53 pm UTC (link)

Coming up with forks and spoons, Marcus laid those out as well and paused a moment before reaching out to grab one of the sorbets, unconcerned with the proper order of things when it was just the two of them and he wasn't feeling particularly great. He looked up in time to see her frowning at the piece of art, which made his eyebrows furrow a little in confusion. "I like it," he told her, looking back up at the canvas. An unbidden memory of the walls of his cells covered in Bryony's drawings came back to him suddenly, and he had to blink his eyes to come back to the present. There had been days when the reminder that she had been out in the world waiting for him had been the only thing that had stopped him from completely losing his mind, even if the path they had found themselves on was completely different than the one they had expected.

Nodding once at her mention of not knowing what to do with it, he commented, "I suppose paintings are a little more difficult to send off via owl." He still had every one of the sketches she'd sent him over the years, carefully tucked away in a box at the top of his bedroom closet. "Let me know if you just want somewhere to put it, I can find room to hold on to it for you, if you'd want."

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goodlight
2015-08-10 09:32 pm UTC (link)

Bryony smiled, because inadvertently Marcus had hit on near enough her own thought. She didn't want to keep the painting, she didn't particularly enjoy looking at it, nor was she at all sure she wanted to sell it - and she'd been convinced Marcus wouldn't want it either. A sketch he could put away somewhere, no one else had to see it, but a painting that size he would have to actually hang somewhere, and Bryony couldn't have asked him to do that. "I can keep it here," she said. "Unless... you'd like it?"

She watched as Marcus helped himself to the sorbet, smiling. She followed suit, because the sorbet was obviously the best part of the meal, and because it would melt otherwise. "Was there a reason for lunch?" Bryony asked. Her curiosity often lead her to pouring over stuck out words in the journals, though of course she wouldn't reference it directly.

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marcedflint
2015-08-10 10:06 pm UTC (link)

"Sure," Marcus said, a little surprised that she would offer the painting up so freely. There was actually a place on one of the walls of his living room that the canvas would fit perfectly. "You know I'm always happy to have your artwork." At least, he hoped that she was aware of that, after all these years and the fact that it was one of her drawings he'd chosen to have permanently on his skin.

He was glad to already be looking down at the food when that question was asked, sure that the tumult of emotions he was hit with would show on his face or his eyes. Marcus had asked because he'd need the reassurance of her company, and while he wanted to talk about the revelations his mother had shared the day before, he couldn't quite bring himself to even consider revealing anything about Tristan. That piece of his history was an old wound that he didn't want to open himself up to again, no matter if it was his fault or that Phillipa had known about it all along.

Still, he couldn't not say something, so Marcus explained quietly, "She recognized me yesterday. Not as my father, or the person who makes her tea, but actually as her son."

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goodlight
2015-08-11 10:15 pm UTC (link)

"I do," Bryony agreed. It was almost true. She'd just been a little worried about the darker nature of the work, as well as the fact other people might actually be able to see it. The thought of her work displayed in Marcus's flat actually sent a little thrill through her. "I should make you something nicer," she mused, more to herself than to Marcus. "Something beautiful." She turned her attention back to him properly. "I still have to cast the last stasis charms on it, so you can't take it away right now... but I'll bring it over when I'm done with it."

Bryony was watching Marcus as she asked the question, though his head was bowed over his food. Still, she could sense a tension in the set of his shoulders. She knew him well enough to know the small signs. "That must have been... strange," she said. "After all this time."

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marcedflint
2015-08-12 12:22 pm UTC (link)

Marcus looked at Bryony out of the side of his eye at her mumbled comments, trying to think of anything to say that would show his disagreement without actually being argumentative. "I think it's wonderful," he settled for, which was the truth. He nodded his understanding when she explained that it wasn't quite finished, even if he didn't quite comprehend exactly what else needed to be done. "Whenever you have time is fine," he said reassuringly, though honestly, he hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

With a small sigh, Marcus nodded his head once in agreement with her observation. Strange didn't really even begin to cover the experience, but at the same time, there was nothing else he could think of to call it. Steering his own thoughts away from the things he wasn't ready to talk about, he instead offered, "She said she was proud of me." Some of his own disbelief leaked into his tone, because it was almost unbelievable to have had the reassurance he'd wanted his entire life would be so freely given when his mother was no longer so much herself.

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goodlight
2015-08-12 04:22 pm UTC (link)

"Do you?" Bryony asked, sounding a little surprised despite her best efforts. "You don't think it's too... frightening?" To Bryony, the dark birds with their sharp beaks seemed ready to attack the figure. She had intended the light glow around her to be a shield, to protect her, but against the darkness of the background it just seemed to pick her out and give her attackers a way to find her. Perhaps she was reading too much into it. It was likely that no one else would see it quite the way she would.

Bryony smiled at Marcus's words for a moment - until she recognised the disbelief in his tone, and then her sigh echoed his. It took her a few moments to find a way to phrase what she wanted to say that wasn't accusatory. "There's a lot to be proud of," she said simply. Whether Philipa had always known that and never said it, or only recently realised it Bryony was glad she'd put it into words. She just wished she could make Marcus believe it.

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