InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "die another day"

Susan Amelia Bones (susanamybones) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-09-15 23:20:00

Entry tags:

character: marcus flint, character: susan bones

RP: Dinner
Who: Susan and Marcus

What: Dinner

Where: Susan's House

When: Monday 15th of September, 8pm

Rating: NSFW for language, probably

After a particularly draining weekend, Susan decided that for her own mental state, as well as for the continued unbrokenness of several of her friends limbs, that it was time for to reach out to someone she'd been meaning to see for ages. With that in mind, she'd sent Marcus and owl, inviting him over for a late dinner after practice.

Humming happily to herself, she placed warming charms on a rather ridiculous number of dishes - Fajitas, tacos, enchiladas, burritos, chicken paella, and chilli con carne - and walked up stairs to watch some television with Shadow while she waited for Marcus to arrive. A rerun of Fawlty Towers had just begun when there was a knock at the door. Smiling, she bounded down the stairs two at a time, and opened the door.

"Hey you," she said, with a huge grin.

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marcedflint
2014-09-15 10:24 pm UTC (link)

It had felt like ages since the last time he'd seen Susan, so Marcus was pleased to have gotten her owl about dinner. He hadn't been joking about needing a conversation about something other than Quidditch, and he wanted an outside opinion on something anyway. Ever since Roger had mentioned it, the idea of another tattoo to cover up his Dark Mark had been running through his mind at intermittent intervals, and as tempting as it was, he still wasn't entirely sure if what he'd come up with was a good idea.

So after practice he'd gone home to shower and change, grabbed the piece of parchment with a duplicate of Bryony's sketch from years ago, and headed over. Normally he would have brought something along, but he hadn't had time, and he felt a little bad about it.

Knocking on the door at the appointed time, Marcus didn't have to wait long until Susan was opening it, and he returned her smile with one of his own. "Hey yourself," he said, stepping inside. "How've you been?"

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susanamybones
2014-09-16 02:48 am UTC (link)

Susan moved forward and pulled the man's head down to kiss each cheek and give him a hug. "I've been really good actually," she replied automatically over her shoulder as she led him into the kitchen before stopping and snorting. "Well no, I've had drama coming out of the wazoo lately, but that is why you're here." She looked at him fondly. "You have a very nice wazoo and you are so blessedly free of diva antics."

She was cut off from saying more by the arrival of shadow, who approached Marcus slowly on account of the fact that her tail was wagging so furiously that she appeared to be having trouble walking. "This is shadow, my new guard dog," she said with a derisive snort. "As you can see, she strikes fear into the hearts of all those who come before her." Technically, this wasn't true. Shadow had gotten into the study the previous day, and knocked over a dark detection potion and then lapped up the contents. After some testing, Susan had deduced that the dog was now fairly accurate at detecting dark magic and bad people. "Well actually, she's a supremely good judge of character."

"Anyway," she said, gesturing to the various forms of Mexican food. "How are you, and what would you like to eat?"

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marcedflint
2014-09-17 12:13 am UTC (link)

Bending slightly to make it easier for Susan to reach him, Marcus returned her hug easily enough, though the gesture wasn't something he had much experience with before her friendship. He followed her into the kitchen, which smelled absolutely amazing, chuckling at her answer. "I assure you, I am drama free," he told her, and then paused to consider it. "Unless the stuff in my own head counts, in which case I'm not entirely sure."

Marcus knelt with a small smile as the dog approached, holding out his hand to let her sniff and take her time to come closer. Once she was close enough, he rubbed behind her ears vigorously, snorting out a small laugh when Shadow licked his face. "She's a sweetheart," he said. At present his own schedule was too erratic and he wasn't home nearly enough for a pet, no matter how much he might have liked to have one of his own.

"You know me, I'll eat anything and everything," he said teasingly, answering the second question first. "As for everything else... I can't complain." Susan knew better than most why he wouldn't complain - he could still remember that first breath of fresh air outside of Azkaban, when he'd paused to feel the sun on his skin, and had told her that he was savoring it in case he never got to feel it again. He'd been so sure that the hearing she had been there to take him to had been just for show, and that he would be back within the prison's walls in a few short hours. That he hadn't been was still something that took him by surprise if he thought about it for too long.

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susanamybones
2014-09-17 03:02 am UTC (link)

Susan quirked an eyebrow and smiled like a reporter just shown a sex tape of a politician. "This internal drama of yours, Marc. It has nothing to do with a certain roguish teammate who took a bat to the chest for you, would it?"

She watched the two interact, smiling happily. Just another confirmation in the long list that proved how utterly unaligned with the dark arts Marcus was. "She is a sweetheart, and as I said. A very good judge in character - aided unintentionally on my part by a potion she lapped up. If you had even the barest hint of darkness in you dear, she'd have her hackles raised." She tilted her head and smiled. "Although I think me chatting excitedly about 'Uncle Marcus' coming to visit probably helped immensely too."

She snorted and poked him in the stomach. "Oh yes I more than know that! You Quidditch players can eat like a Hippogrif, although so can I so there's not much to be said about that." She looked at him, remembering vividly one of her first missions. She'd been tasked with escorting a Death Eater who according to the accounts of a number of formally convicted members, had been atrocious at the whole dark wizard thing. She'd never forget the haunted look in his eyes as he stopped and stood in the sun, asking, begging, for a moment to enjoy it in case he never saw it again. Nor could she forget his testimony, sealed by Departmental and Ministerial order to protect him and keep the method with which his testimony was brought forth. "You're allowed to complain, darling. We both know why you... Why you became what you did. You're a good person."

"Anyway," she said, keen to move on to a lighter topic. "Let's get some food. I've finally caved and had a television put in, though the wards do stop it from getting the channel with all the Muggle sports on it." She spotted the piece of parchment in his hand. "What's that by the way," she asked, carrying her plate out of the kitchen and heading for the stairs.

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marcedflint
2014-09-17 09:25 pm UTC (link)

Marcus grumbled under his breath at the question, mostly because he hated admitting how right Susan was with her assumption. "It was an idiotic move," he muttered, pointedly not meeting her eyes as he spoke. "And then he tried to say... You know what, never mind. I'm tired of going over it again and again in my head."

When Shadow laid down and rolled over, Marcus grinned a little wider, obligingly running the dog's belly as he listened to Susan with half an ear. He let out a small laugh at the concept of being an uncle to anyone or anything, though with Hestia's child on the way, who knew. "Good girl," he muttered to Shadow, patting her head a few more times before standing up to his full height again.

Flinching away from her poke with a smile, Marcus shrugged, because he couldn't really deny that. By the look in her eye, he was sure that she was also remembering that day they'd first met as well. Under any other circumstances, he might have been embarrassed or ashamed of his words and actions that day, and he was glad no one else had been there to see it. That feeling was only confirmed by her statement, though he wasn't inclined to agree with her assessment. Even given the circumstances of his choices, those actions had still been his own, and he still had to live with the fact that he knew he was capable of killing people. "I don't know about all that," he muttered with another shrug.

Following her lead, he grabbed his own plate of food and wandered into the hallway as he asked, "Is that a common thing, television?" He was proud that the word managed to come out without sounding entirely foreign this time around.

Marcus glanced down at Susan's words, remembering what he was holding and why he'd brought it along. He got the same excited yet nervous rock in his stomach that he had every time he'd gone over this idea in his head, and he was looking forward to having a second opinion on the matter, even if he wasn't sure how to start the conversation. "Roger mentioned that... some tattoos are used to cover others up," he started to say as they sat down. "And then there was some question about missing short sleeves, which I don't particularly care about, but..." Marcus paused, trying to find the right words. "It's... tempting, the idea of it not being there all the time, of constantly hiding it because of all the bad associations." And not just everyone else's, because he himself was occasionally unhappy to see the Mark marring his skin, especially since it had only gotten uglier as the years had gone by.

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susanamybones
2014-09-18 12:51 pm UTC (link)

Susan narrowed her eyes at him, and then widened them in surprise. "Marcus Flint, it couldn't possibly be that you've fallen for my boy Roger could it," she asked with a giant grin. "I mean I know you're exactly the type of man he doesn't just sleep with but actually fall for - you know tall, dark, and broody. Has he talked to you about it?"

She smiled at Shadow showed her appreciation for Marcus. Getting a dog had been a good choice, especially if having one could at all make Marcus feel better. "Okay you," she said gently to Shadow got up from having her belly rubbed. "I've hidden some treats in your room just for you to find." The dog gave a great bark of pleasure and bolted for the cupboard under the stairs, which Susan had converted into an indoor kennel in preparation for the winter - and the fact that Susan liked her to be comfortable and inside.

The look on his face very nearly broke her heart. "Not everyone has the luxury of being able to make true choices, dear heart. Sometimes there is no better path. I know you berate yourself but we both know you had little options open to you." She smiled encouragingly and took his hand, deciding to let the matter drop. They'd had the argument countless times before, each time ending with her pointing out that she had in fact killed more people in the war than he had. It was never any good, he was determined to beat himself up about his past actions regardless of what she said.

Susan nodded absently, focused on balancing her overloaded plate. "They're like telephones and computers - most Muggle households have them. Edgar's trying to convince me to get a computer actually, but it's much harder to ward the components against magical surge. I would like one though."

She paused in the process of popping a fajita in her mouth and stared, suprise and pleasure mingling on her face. "That's a brilliant idea," she cried, "What are you thinking of getting?"

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marcedflint
2014-09-20 12:14 am UTC (link)

Frowning a little harder, Marcus shook his head as he said, "I am not having this conversation with you. Or with anyone else, for that matter." It was neither a confirmation or a denial, much the way the entire subject was in his own head, and talking about it aloud meant acknowledging it, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that, and all the repercussions that might come with it, yet.

Squeezing Susan's hand back, Marcus shrugged again, but didn't argue with her. He'd lost track of how many times they'd gone over this, and in the end neither of them were ever able to convince the other. With how dark and depressing the topic was, he was glad to let it drop, because he didn't need to sink into yet another bout of guilt and self-doubt right now.

He wasn't sure if she saw the way his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at the words, but he filed them away for future reference and didn't ask. As with most things Muggle, asking for clarification would probably just leave him more confused then before the explanation.

Marcus had to admit that he was a little taken aback by the positive enthusiasm of Susan's response. That didn't stop him from unfolding the piece of parchment and laying it on the table in front of them. It was an older sketch of Bryony's, a silhouette of a line of trees with a small flock of birds overhead. Motioning at it with one hand, he said, "I'm just not sure how it would work in relation with... that," another vague motion towards where the Mark was on his left forearm.

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susanamybones
2014-09-21 04:16 pm UTC (link)

Susan smiled and nodded. "Fine, we won't talk about the large, purple, glitter-covered elephant in the room," she said, deciding to see if she could extend her pact on romantic non-interference from Seamus and Dean to the other hopeless cases in her life. "Roger is very sweet though. I've always liked him."

She made a grimace at his perplexed expression. "Sorry dear heart! I'm ocasionally obliged to go undercover so I've become used to certain Muggle things. A telephone is a... well it's a device you talk into and that you hear the other person speak on. Computers are just... very complicated and I'd confuse us both if I tried to explain them."

"Now that's lovely," she said approvingly as she leant forward to look at the drawing. She bit into her burrito and chewed thoughtfully for a second. "So are you getting it and slowly adding to it, or just getting it one off?" She pointed lazily at her shoulder. "I'm thinking I need a couple more myself. My tree's getting a bit lonely. She pointed at the television, "Have you actually watched something on one of these before?"

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marcedflint
2014-09-21 05:12 pm UTC (link)

"Thank you," Marcus replied with a slight roll of his eyes, and even he couldn't tell if he was being serious or sarcastic. He was more than happy to let the subject of Roger drop though, and he was glad that Susan didn't seem to want to push the matter, even if she might have been teasing him about it.

Marcus could feel his eyebrows going up in something like disbelief at Susan's explanation of a telephone, and even though he thought it might make his brain hurt, he asked, "So, like, a Floo-call without the visual?"

At her question, Marcus shrugged lightly as he answered, "I hadn't thought that far ahead, honestly." At this point in time, he was more concerned with not having the Mark be something he carried around with him all the time.

Glancing at the television when she gestured to it, he nodded as he said, "Roger had it on the last time I went over. It was something about a pirate called Jack Sparrow."

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susanamybones
2014-09-22 04:22 pm UTC (link)

"You're welcome, Precious," Susan said with a friendly chuckle. "I'm trying out my all new and improved non interference policy with relationships. Especially since I may have stupid feelings for someone as well."

She shook her head and sighed. "I am utterly crap at explaining Muggle technology, but yes, it's sort of like a floo call only you don't need a fireplace for it to happen, and these days they have mobile telephones to communicate with one another on the go. It's all very bizarre."

"Fair call I say," she said, with a small smile. She knew how much he hated the mark, and the idea of covering it up and starting anew appealed to her. "I think you'll probably have to get it done by a Muggle tattooist though? Perhaps when you want a magical one we can get one together?"

She quirked an eyebrow at the fact that he'd watched Pirates of the Caribbean with Roger, but said nothing. "Do you fancy watching some form of entertainingly horrendous reality television with me? I feel it would truly add to your knowledge of Muggle Britain."

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marcedflint
2014-09-27 05:10 am UTC (link)

Marcus snorted lightly at that, because 'stupid feelings' was something he could understand, even if he refused to admit so. "Well, I hope it works out for you."

He was still unsure about the concept, but decided against questioning it further, to save himself the headache.

Shrugging again, because he hadn't really considered any other tattoos beyond this one, he said, "I don't see why not." It was something to think about, at least.

Chuckling at the tone of her question, even though not all of it made sense, Marcus said, "Okay?" He was almost always open to learning new Muggle things, and he'd already been introduced to television once, so he figured that helped at least a little. "What's the difference between 'reality' television and the rest of it?" Marcus was pretty sure that any guess he could take on that subject would be wrong.

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susanamybones
2014-09-27 02:35 pm UTC (link)

Susan shrugged elegantly. "Who even knows, but I hope so. We all deserve to be happy." She looked at him steadily for a moment before smiling. "I hope things work out for you too!"

"I think you should get a full sleeve done," she said, grinning wickedly. "All the women, but more importantly, men would swoon at you." She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "You could totally get like a crup as part of it to show that you're badass."

She laughed and flicked on the television, just in time for an episode of Airport to begin. "Well normal television is usually like a filmed play," she said, groaning happily as she bit into a burrito. "There's actors and writers and scripts. But reality television usually has regular people being filmed either in normal everyday situations or in situations created by the writers. It's very odd."

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marcedflint
2014-09-30 02:41 am UTC (link)

Shrugging at the wish on his behalf, Marcus didn't make the comment he was thinking of about understanding if it didn't - Susan didn't take kindly to his consideration that he didn't really deserve that sort of happiness.

"Something to think about, at least," he stated, because at the moment his primary concern was covering the Mark. Everything else was secondary, and therefore hadn't been considered yet. He'd get there eventually, he figured.

He was still a little wary of most Muggle things, but the television at least seemed innocuous enough, even if he didn't quite understand everything that was being portrayed on it. Marcus' confusion only grew as the show continued, and about ten minutes in, he felt the need to ask, "Are you sure those are real people?" Because frankly, they all seemed a little overly ridiculous to him.

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susanamybones
2014-09-30 03:46 pm UTC (link)

Susan rolled her eyes affectionately and let the matter drop. Sometimes there was just no talking to the man when he was in one of his moods. Privately, one of the things she admired most about the man was his stubbornness. Not that she'd ever tell him that, lest it get to his head.

Out of the corner of her eye she watched Marcus grow more and more puzzled with the television programme. "They are and they aren't," she said, sending him a huge wink. "When they see the camera, the people probably act out a bit, so really it could be that they're presenting sort of caricatures of themselves you know?"

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