InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I've just seen the face of God"

Dean Thomas (artistdean) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-09-29 16:07:00

Entry tags:

character: dean thomas, character: seamus finnigan, status: complete

RP: Time for food.
Who: Dean and Seamus
What: Making him leave the studio
Where: Dean's studio & Ireland (Seamus' family home)
When: Monday
Rating: NSFW - tiny bit of language

Dean had had a good weekend mostly. His date with Ophelia had gone well and he'd not made a fool of himself during dinner and there had been no surprise explosions during the film and they'd ended the night with a couple more kisses. Sadly he'd not slept well on Friday night but it had just given him the chance to make the belated cupcakes he owed Justin and he'd spent half of the day with his family before heading for the studio for a few hours.

Sunday he'd made it to Battlescars and paused to grab lunch before heading back. The piece that had been half inspired by his conversation with Lavender was coming along nicely and he'd got into something of a rhythm and ended up simply crashing on the sofa in the corner somewhere around 1am. He raided the kitchen for coffee and a stray banana when he woke again and set back to it, humming along to the radio he'd automatically switched on, and forgetting further food or drinks.

He knew Ophelia was planning on some trip or other to see a client in France and a visit to her parents so she wouldn't be in until Tuesday. Cadmus was doing... something, and Braith was busy with her own work and not planning to disturb him so he felt justified in dancing around for half an hour as he waited for a patch to dry a tiny bit more. It wasn't good dancing, just a bit of movement accompanied by humming and poking at a selection of paints trying to decide on robe colours for the people seen through the shop window.

It was coming along well, this muggleborn child looking jealously through the window at wizarding children engrossed with their toys, he thought. Still rather lacking in proper features on some of the children and definition on most of the toys and the brickwork, but you could get the general idea now.

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openbottle
2014-10-03 05:02 pm UTC (link)

Seamus rolled his eyes. "You don't say?" Immediately, he reached out and snatched one of Dean's chips - since he hadn't quite managed to unwrap his own just yet. He made happy food noises and popped open his drink, setting it on the wall beside him while he turned his attention to uncovering his won battered fish and delicious chips.

"About fifty," he answered, though of course he hadn't really kept count. "More, if you count me trying to talk you up to her! 'Oh, my mate Dean's really into football. He's much better than me.' 'Yeah, Dean really liked that movie! Saw it twice at the cinema.'" He shook his head. "I wasn't exactly subtle. You should probably be grateful I don't try to get you dates anymore."

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artistdean
2014-10-03 07:44 pm UTC (link)

Dean swatted at Seamus' hand for the second time in the last hour, not bothering to actually try and hit him. "Unwrap your own food, grabby," he said, without any heat, more focussed on eating more chips of his own.

"I possibly should. Dragons in flight have more subtlety than you. Although Susan isn't much better when she's being 'helpful'," he said, miming the quotes with one hand before ripping off crispy batter and eating it with a very satisfied hum.

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openbottle
2014-10-04 11:27 am UTC (link)

"I'd be offended, but I can't seem to be bothered," Seamus said, bumping his shoulder against Dean's as he used the provided wooden fork to spear pieces of flaky fish. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had decent fish and chips. Certainly not since before his Chef had quit. Dean had a point about his lack of subtlety. He did try, but... Somehow it never seemed to quite work.

He chuckled, knowing all too well just how 'helpful' Susan could be. "She seems to have stopped picking on us, at lest," he said, stuffing his mouth with chips as soon as he'd finished his sentence. He supposed it had something to do with Ophelia. Susan had a new target in her sights for Dean now. Seamus wasn't quite as relieved as he'd thought he'd be, but it would probably just take some getting used to, Susan's odd silence on the matter.

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artistdean
2014-10-04 01:21 pm UTC (link)

Dean made an unimpressed face. "Sure she's sworn of meddling, but that apparently doesn't stop sly helpful hints," he said, poking his tiny fork around and sticking some flakes of fish and a chip in his mouth. "The clothes thing was kind of appreciated though," he mumbled, mouth not quite empty. His mother would have killed him, but she was nowhere nearby so he was fine. Also very hungry now that food had started going in.

He held out his hand for his drink, which was still in the bag at Seamus' side, looking over to a tree in the field, the leaves starting to turn yellow and orange at the edges. "Pass me my drink, please," he said, nudging Seamus with his foot.

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openbottle
2014-10-04 09:31 pm UTC (link)

Seamus wasn't sure what Dean was talking about, but he could guess. Dean's date with Ophelia. Which, apparently, Susan had helped with - or tried to help with. It wasn't a topic he was keen to explore further. It only reminded him that it had been months since he'd had a date, and was likely to be more before he had another. Still, he smiled. At least one of them ought to be having some luck, right?

He handed Dean his drink and then continued eating, chomping through his chips. "So how's the work going?" he asked, knowing Dean could talk almost endlessly about that topic.

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artistdean
2014-10-04 09:51 pm UTC (link)

Dean uncapped his drink and gulped down about a third before diving back into his chips. "Well I've got about another two weeks before until the cutoff for all the publicity stuff. Although Hengis only knows which pieces will end up in the publicity. But the piece I'm working on now is going well. I got the idea when I was talking to Lavender in the park the other week. We were talking about the whole me missing a wizarding childhood thing. It sparked off an idea," he said.

"That is seriously good," he said, after crunching on the batter around some delightfully soft fish.

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openbottle
2014-10-05 01:46 pm UTC (link)

Seamus relaxed, listening to Dean talk. "So that's what you were working on?" He really had tried not to look - he liked being surprised by the finish product. "It sounds good. I mean -" He shrugged. He didn't have Dean's visual imagination, so it wasn't like he could really picture it. "Sounds like a cool idea."

He grinned as Dean tucked in. He might not be the best chef, but sometimes he could provide food in other ways and that felt good. "What about the nightmare stuff?" Seamus asked, "did you make a decision?" He hoped the 'do you want to talk about it? that went unspoken would be understood.

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artistdean
2014-10-05 10:39 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah, I'd caught on to the whole wizarding children thing before, but with being in work mode I guess it caught on. I guess if my father had been around it might have been something I got to experience too," he said. He didn't talk about his father often, and it had certainly taken enough digging to discover that he was definitely a wizard, but Seamus knew the story, knew that Dean sometimes felt he'd lost out because of the disappearance. Mostly though Dean adored his stepfather, who had raised him, and would never consider calling him anything but Dad. "It's turning out well though, it's one of those that might be that little bit extra special," he said, truly pleased with how the painting was coming along.

Dean took a deep breath and sighed. "Yeah, I did. I'm going to sell them," he said. It had taken a while to come to the decision, but he was sure now, ready to let them go. "Some of them go back to the start, and, I don't really need them hanging around any more to know that I've moved forward, you know? I mean it's not that I don't still get nightmares, but I can always paint more, and it feels like time. I feel ready," he said, mouth curling in a slightly sad sort of smile.

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openbottle
2014-10-08 04:18 pm UTC (link)

Seamus leaned into Dean as he picked at his chips. They'd talked about this before, a little and even when they'd been young Seamus had wanted to show Dean everything about the magical world, to make up for all that he'd missed in his first eleven years. Perhaps there was more he could still do - Seamus would have to think about it. He smiled at the pride in Dean's voice when he talked about his work. "I'm sure it'll be brilliant! How's that new apprentice working out, not getting in your way?"

He nodded, not sure what else to say about the nightmare pieces. It didn't make any difference to him whether Dean sold them or not, and he didn't feel qualified to judge whether doing so was moving on in a good way. He hoped so, but that was all he could do - hope. And be there if anything went wrong. "If it feels weird to be letting go of them, I could always buy one," he said. "Then, you know, you could borrow it back or look at it whenever you wanted. Or would that be weird - seeing it in my place?" Sometimes, it was best just to ask straightforward questions rather than try to guess.

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artistdean
2014-10-09 12:52 am UTC (link)

"Thanks, man. We'll see when it's done. And Bryony's nice enough. I've not seen too much of her yet, but she's good at bringing coffee or more pigment if I ask for it. But I know how much that job sucks so I try to only do it when I'm desperate. She's mostly Braith's responsibility though." He really hadn't seen all that much of her, and he knew Braith had been suggesting she went out to practice some of the time, partly because of the show coming up and needing to get on with her own work, and partly because real life situations were often more useful than forced ones in the studio.

Dean ate his food thoughtfully for several long moments, trying to think through his reactions to the offer. "Honestly you're welcome to buy them if you want them. For the last," he waved a hand negligently, "however long I'v been keeping them around to remind me of how far I've come since being chased in the woods, and since my initial breakdown or whatever." He scratched his nose and bit his lip, trying to find the right words. "I don't know that I'd want to look at any of them all the time. Sometimes they can be a bit triggering, some of them anyway. I like the one with the hat and the flowers that I did for Dobby though. It's more memorial than nightmare. Nobody wants a picture of a house elf with a knife in its chest," he said, brightening slightly as he spoke of the elf, even if the attempt at humour was desperately off colour.

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openbottle
2014-10-09 03:54 pm UTC (link)

More or less finished with his food, or at least down to chips he could eat one handed, Seamus eased an arm around Dean's waist as they leaned together. "I've seen her in the Common Room a few times, but she never really talks to anyone." Seamus had maybe inherited a bit of his mam's instinct to look after anyone who looked lost or alone - though he didn't want to intrude, so he mostly stayed aware of them, made sure no one bothered them. "Always got a sketchbook with her, I'd know she was an artist even if you hadn't pointed her out."

"Hmm." Seamus didn't want to buy anything that might trigger Dean. His flat was supposed to be one of Dean's safe spaces, after all. "Christmas is coming up. I wonder if mam would like one." He wasn't sure she would, really. She knew Dean a little too well, knew what he'd been through. It was unlikely she'd be able to view any of the pieces as just 'art'. Graeme might have been able to, but he lived in a muggle area so no magical paintings for him. "We'll see, I guess. Maybe they'll all sell before I can get around to buying one."

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artistdean
2014-10-09 05:31 pm UTC (link)

Dean crossed his ankles, swinging them slightly and shuffled the minuscule amount closer to Seamus that was possible, finding comfort in his warmth and closeness. "We're a strange breed, us artists," he said, amused.

"There should be plenty of other things you can buy too, although I admit Christmas did factor into the timing when we decided," he said. "We've got another planning meeting in a couple of weeks. I should know even more then."

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