InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Listen Are you listening"

Christopher Summers (chrisss) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-09-30 10:52:00

Entry tags:

character: ben stebbins, character: chris summers, character: ernie macmillan, character: pandora montgomery, character: richard summerby, character: susan bones

RP: A reunion of sorts (backdated - 9/30/04)
Who: Chris, Ernie, Justin, Dora, Susan... Anyone else?
What: Hufflepuffs unite!
Where: The Common Room; Finnigan's
When: 30. September; evening
Rating: Perhaps language?

Chris wasn't the sort to be fashionably late - he showed up on time or not at all, more dramatic that way, you see. And so he took a seat at the bar a little before 6 o'clock, figuring the rest would be along shortly. He introduced himself to the barman and ordered two fingers of scotch to wait for his younger Housemates to join him from whatever it was keeping them all busy during the day lately.

Outwardly, he kept his usually sharp smile on, but privately he was wondering if Dora might show and why she was so hesitant, and if Susan was as fiery and fun and she'd always been, and who the boys were dating, and how Ernie ended up specifically in the Thickey ward and a million other things, but you wouldn't know it from the look on his face.

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pandacharms
2014-10-03 03:34 am UTC (link)

Her eyes widened a little bit at his words, though she schooled her face quickly. "No one is going to buy from a Death Eater," she said, biting the words out in a low whisper. Her enunciation, always defined, sharpened a little more despite her accent. "And I'd be competing with mine own aunt." As much as the woman despised her most of the time, she was the only family left who acknowledged her.at the same time, though, she had a sharp yearning for independence.

She tilted her head. "Maybe?" She said. "I... I've managed just a little, this year." Mostly by being called an idiot, but she'd done it.

"My parents were old fashioned. But fencing is for boys, don't you know." Her eyes rolled a bit. "Only reason I got a broom is mother couldn't stand my whinging any longer, I think. Hyperion had fencing and all those lessons though. I got dance and etiquette and embroidery and music." And how she'd wanted them! She'd been so jealous and he'd never show her how because they were so competitive. Again, her slightly sharp smile flitted over her face, not a happy one but fierce. "Well, no one ever did see Dolohov's little bitch's face again,"she said idly. Woman had crucioed her one time too many, and the fight had been... harsh.

She took back the knife, spun it in a copy of him and slipped it back into her belt. It immediately went DisIllusioned and disappeared from sight.

Her eyes grew round in admiration as he showed her the blade, and she slipped it discreetly into her lap to peer at it. She cooed softly under her breath. "Oh it is so shiny," she breathed, carefully stroking fingers along thr blade for a brief moment. It was, and she wished she had an opportunity to try ut out, though he was right, no way to do that here. "Simply gorgeous," she told him, turning her face back to him with a bright smile. She slipped it back to him carefully. She bit her lip for a briefn moment. "Do you think you could teach me? I saw someone on the circuit who could dance magic along his sword edge, but he wouldn't take on a woman." She'd asked.

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the_richard
2014-10-03 04:26 am UTC (link)

"Oh bugger that." Richard mouthed the words silently so no one could overhear, knowing Pandora could read them plainly enough. Then he spoke aloud, "Put my Great Aunt Angelique's name on the place if you want. Tell people it's one of the owner's family's names. Nobody needs to know which pocket most of the galleons go into. Sure you don't want to compete with your aunt if she's treating you right, but ask my father how he and I do business with each other. Buy her out if you think that's the right thing to do. Business is business. And the Death Eater thing? Voldemort is dead. You aren't. Is it time to live again? Your call."

He slipped the blade up under the back of his suit jacket and into its sheath. "Anything you can do with a wand I can do with a blade. Well, mostly, anyway. You know what I mean. Nobody is a master of everything. But it's a long hard road to get to that point. I still practice an hour a day, almost every day. You can learn a little of this and that and be better than two-thirds of the people who pick up a blade, or you can go all in. Again, your call."

Richard sighed and sat back in his chair. "I'm being damned preachy tonight, aren't I? Apologies. I have plenty of ghosts of my own. Not withdrawing any of the offers though."

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pandacharms
2014-10-03 05:07 am UTC (link)

His silent words earned a grin and something that was almost a giggle. Her face sobered though, and grew thoughtful as she gazed at him for a long moment, contemplating. "I don't have much, Richard," she murmured, letting her lips do most of the actual saying rather than her voice. "I barely make rent every week. I spent most of my savings on that apprenticeship." Which would pay for itself eventually. It had been a conscious, long term decision on her part. It was a hard admission to make, because she was proud, and because she came from a monied background. "It is a goal I can work toward, though. Aunty M will never sell to me. I'm just her niece she's dutifully helping along." There was more she could say, so much more, but pride kept those admissions at bay. Pride, and shame. "But I am trying to live as much as I can." It would be easier on the continent, she knew. But her home wasn't there.

Her eyes watched the blade before flitting back to him. That she wanted to learn was very obvious in that minute before she tried to tone it down, having been refused many things these last years. "I would kill to learn," she said, and smirked slightly. "No pun or play on words intended."

She tapped her foot gently on the side of his shoe. "I'm a big girl, I can handle it, " she said. "Or you probably would have been punched by now." She gave him a cheeky grin. "We all have ghosts. I just .. have trouble with mine a lot. People love to dredge them up." She picked up the butterbeer that had just been delivered and sipped it.

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the_richard
2014-10-03 05:53 am UTC (link)

Richard shrugged and leaned forwards, resting his elbows on the table. Following her example he mostly mouthed rather than said his words. "Helping you, or is dear Auntie M letting you do the work and pocketing most of the take? Being good family, or getting a free ride on your back? Truthfully, is the place making her a decent profit? Not can you get rich doing it, but pay the bills, keep a roof over your head, pay off a 10-year or so loan? Have you ever seen the books? Anything is for sale, but is it worth buying?"

"I could have killed you, you know." It was an apparent non sequitur, but Rich had a point he wanted to make. "One more dead Death Eater, more or less, no real difference to anyone but you and me. But I saw something that night. Didn't know what the crazed little Snake was doing, fighting like she didn't care if she was taken down. Didn't really begin to understand until I'd talked to your Healers before I was willing to testify for you. Still don't really understand half of what they said. Healers are like that. But I did see something that made me willing to look further into what had happened. And maybe I saw... too much death already that night. So if you want a helping hand, I'll hold one out. I've already done some investing in you."

His face lightened a little. "Sometime during your training, it may be me you want to kill for what I'm putting you through. Any time you think you're ready, go for it. Playing by my rules, right now, I'd own you. And I'm not going to stop learning either."

"Yeah, ghosts." He shrugged again. "They come visit me some nights." He tossed back the rest of his drink and waved for another. "People don't bring mine up. I think some wonder where the Hufflepuff went wrong and became a rougherPuff. You and I are killers, luv, as well as war vets. Even more reason to stick together."

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pandacharms
2014-10-03 08:57 am UTC (link)

Dora slumped back into her seat a little, her changeable eyes shifting color a bit. He'd hit part of it, at least, on the head, and it discomfitted her to a great degree. She spoke of none of it to anyone. She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to bleed to keep the irrational anger at that at bay. "The shop does well. I've not seen the books in a while but we're not in debt, and there are always custom jobs." More since she'd come on board. "I'd have to go to her house to look again though."

If anyone else spoke to her like that, her hackles would be all sorts of up. But she owed him too much and besides, he wasn't threatening her. "I didn't care, not really." Her voice, if he could hear it, held a brittle edge. She'd utterly lost it, lost it enough that she'd enjoyed to an extent the one thing she hadn't before. She sighed and rubbed a hand over her eyes, shielding them for a moment like others might put a hand over their ears, and gathered her thoughts. "I'm not saying no," she started. "But you know I owe you everything already." Her life, her freedom. He'd managed to give her both when she'd thought they were impossible. "How can I repay that, let alone more?" As it stood, he'd earned her loyalty and that was no easy feat.

She chuckled softly. "Darling, I want to kill most people at some point," she told him, amused. "I know as a beginner you could take me apart. But I'll improve and give you a challenge someday." A promise of sorts, that. She might could take him on the dueling field a portion of the time, but with the sword? Not a chance yet.

She watched the way he tossed back another drink, very familiar with that method of self medication. She motioned to the server for one herself, though she hoped to limit herself to just the one. "I have your back," she told him seriously, though her lips were still quirked from the rougherPuff comment. His killer comment was met only with complacency, though anyone else would have pissed her off the edge. He wasn't criticizing the part of her everyone reviled. She was much like her mother; in her, at least, the Lestrange blood did run. "You think bringing yours up might help?" She ventured quietly. She'd be willing to listen, at least. Gods knew she couldn't judge.

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the_richard
2014-10-03 02:58 pm UTC (link)

"Thought so." Rich nodded slowly, suspicions confirmed. Custom charmed luggage and barely able to pay the rent didn't go together at all if everything with Dora's job was on the up and up. "Walk out tomorrow if you like. You're not that big; I could afford to feed you. At least give moving on some thought. If you didn't have to worry about a place to live or food and such, what would you do?"

"Figured as much. Got there myself for a while when I saw my girlfriend's body. If I'd saved your life, some'd say you owed me a wizard's life debt. Since I just didn't take it, you owe me nothing. I do what I do of my own free will."

He laughed softly. "Don't we all? Can't help thinking, when I get a really obnoxious customer or a difficult supplier or someone like that, how good they'd look with six feet of dirt over their face. That's part of the omerta, the secret people like us take to the grave. The not giving in to temptation to put a permanent end to a problem. Because we both know that after the first one, the rest are free. They can only hang you once. And it would be so easy..."

"My ghosts are usually quieter. Moving back to London, visiting Anna's grave, has them riled up. Stirred up a lot of old memories. I'll have them laid back to rest sooner or later. I can tell you that the worst ghosts are the ones you couldn't save because you weren't good enough, or strong enough, or fast enough, or even there at all when someone needed you."

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pandacharms
2014-10-03 11:49 pm UTC (link)

Her eyes narrowed and she hated that she was transparent, at least to him. But on the other hand, he was uncanny with reading people. So she supposed she couldn't feel too bad. Of course, if one had any idea what kind of salary a fully fledged master of a subject could earn, the fact that she paid weekly rent in a crap place and had trouble making it was a big giveaway. She took a long drink of her butterbeer and sighed. "Honestly? I'm doing it, at least in part," she said. "All my other plans are gone to hell in a handbasket. There's no way I'll never be an Auror like I planned, or anything like that." She had nearly killed herself before finding a set of goals to follow, thanks to Filius. She owed him as much as she owed Richard here.

Her lips twisted a little. She figured it wouldn't do to tell him that she probably did owe him a life debt; she'd just see that she tried to do what she could about it. "So you say. How about this... let me get the books and review them, and you show me where to learn more about business things. Then I can see if it would be viable to take you up on the offer," she told him. Her wheels were turning now, and her planning goal-oriented brain was taking notes she hoped she'd remember.

She shouldn't be amused, but she was. Because he was just saying what she felt at times. It was wrong, but it was how she felt. It wasn't like she was completely gone -- unlike some Death Eaters she'd known, she and he both had feelings and compassion outside of the darkness that lurked. "So tempting sometimes, though," she murmured, grinning over at him.

"I've not visited my brother's grave since he was buried," she said in a measure of understanding. She hadn't been sure if she could handle it, even now, though she wanted to at some point. Her face was full of understanding, especially her eyes. "I know how that goes," she said softly. "You know if you ever need help with them.." She lifted a shoulder and gave him a small smile. She might not be the most stable choice, but she knew more than most people about how it all felt.

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the_richard
2014-10-04 12:42 am UTC (link)

"Really?" One eyebrow went up. "You fought against Voldmort at the Battle of Hogwarts, that should be an automatic in. They actually told you they wouldn't accept you?"

"You do that. We will see what we will see. In the mean time, I saw in the journals you were looking to move. You need an apartment? My father and I own most of a block in Southwark where I live and I've got other properties all over."

He chuckled. "So tempting and so easy, and so not allowed any more. Sometimes I think I should have gone for hit wizard. Only adrenaline high I can get any more is broom racing. Get right up and push against that edge again."

"It was so peaceful there. The grass has grown up around her grave, and there are always flowers. I see to that, at least; none of her family survived the war." Rich nodded and sighed. "I appreciate the offer. Not that I'm likely to take you up on it. Tried counselors and that stuff. Even listened in on one of the Battlescars things. No real help. I just have to put things right in my own head again and they will all go back to... wherever in my head they rest."

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pandacharms
2014-10-04 03:38 am UTC (link)

She snorted, cynical and ultimately a little weary. She ran her left hand up into her hair, feeling her Mark even though she couldn't see it. "Yes. I have a Mark. That's all that they needed to know. Plus you know my mum is the head of the MLE with ambitions for more." She rolled her eyes faintly. "All the bad doesn't seem to outweigh that for the Ministry. I can't even get a owl room job there."

Her fingers rubbed down her forearm, unconsciously, but at least the sticking charm held. "I'm considering seeing if I can move in with Theo, since I can probably afford that. The room I'm renting now is... yeah." Not very nice, not in a good part of town, and she'd warded it to the fucking nines in order to keep her few things safe.

She put on a pout. "Pity it isn't allowed," she said a trifle over-dramatically, and she winked at him over the top of her glass that had just arrived before taking a swallow of the stronger alcohol with the ease of someone who had drunk a lot of it at some time or another. In fact it was still far too easy for her to fall into. She sighed slightly though. "Yeah, I don't get much. I don't have Beating anymore, or Dueling. It's like... a void." And a lack of a high, like he said.

She listened and nodded. She reached over and touched his hand lightly. "Well, I am here, and I don't mind. Might understand more than some." She shrugged but wasn't pushy. "Yeah. I thought about Battlescars. Then I looked at my mark and figured that would be a Very Bad Idea." There were times she desperately yearned for someone to talk to about it, the bad things she did remember happening, and even having to do, but somehow that would fall very poorly, she knew.

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the_richard
2014-10-04 04:20 am UTC (link)

"Oh! That is so... typical of those self-righteous assholes." Rich made no real attempt to keep his voice down. "Half of them toed the party line when Voldemort was in charge. Most of the rest went into hiding. And still playing petty politics? Some days I'm really glad I didn't go back and finish my Auror training. I mean, I do the Ministry the occasional favor here and there, but I don't think I could tolerate being around those people all the time now. There'd be some sudden vacancies in certain positions."

"Right then." Rich nodded firmly. "I'm pissed. They'll fuck with a war veteran, prisoner of war, they'll fuck with anybody now. I'm a freaking Sword Master with two other black belts; I'm taking you on as an Apprentice in the Martial Arts. I also went through all of Auror training but the last bits of field work and still have my books in storage. We'll throw that in as well."

"And as far as a flat goes? I've got one in the other half of the building where I live. You're taking it so I can train you in the morning before work and in the evening when I get home. I was thinking of renting you one of my small flats further away, but screw that, screw them. I'll work out a budget for you for the rest of what you'll need when I've had a while to think on it. Equipment, living expenses, although I expect you to keep up with your charms and runes, all that."

He chuckled softly, but there was a wicked edge to it. "Do me some good to poke a stick in the stodgy bastards' eyes. You'll get all the excitement you need if I push you as hard as I think you want."

"Talking?" Rich shrugged again. "Probably not so much. You'll learn moving meditation. You'll need to anyway to do the more advanced sword magic. Come to think of it, I've been pretty stupid lately to not have been doing it myself. Maybe I lost my way a little and you can help me find it."

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pandacharms
2014-10-04 05:12 am UTC (link)

The rant didn't surprise her. She made ones like it very often. Her resentment of the Ministry and its denial of everything she'd ever worked for -- she'd even gotten a good Potions mark, damn it, she'd worked her entire life to get in! Even now, potions aside, she could get into Auror program without trouble. She even kept fit enough for it that none of that would be an issue. Muscles were defined along her arms and shoulders, though not sharply, under her shirt.

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, however, when he pretty much laid out exactly what he was going to do for her. "I could.. ace most of the Auror stuff even now, except potions," she admitted, still trying to process what he was saying even as he kept talking. She should be upset to be ordered about, but she was stuck somewhere in the land of surprise and logic, because he was surprisingly logical with what he was planning even in a temper. She had to admire that. "I would," she said in response to things about her charms and wards. "I have to keep up with my job. And I'll pay you rent as best I can." She was sure she had a gobsmacked sort of expression on her face, though she wasn't usually that transparent.

She grinned to match him, an equally wicked expression. There was definitely appeal in that. Though she felt a more vengeful streak toward her mother. Learning a new physical skill would definitely sate that need in her, at least for a bit, though.

"Whatever works best," she murmured. She did desire to help, but she also knew it might be impossible. "I do meditation sometimes down at that class." She didn't show up reliably, though. It only helped so much with her anger issues, though. "Might be able to help a little, then, if only to remind you of some things."

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the_richard
2014-10-04 05:40 am UTC (link)

"You work at it hard enough, you won't need to think about the Ministry again. There are positions for private Aurors and Hit Wizards. Well paid, and with your background in charms... don't know where you might end up. My company employs a few in some of the rougher locations we do business."

Rich leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "You'll keep your job as long as you want to so you can keep in practice. And rent? Screw that too." His voice grew a little colder. "You said you wiped out your savings for your last apprenticeship. If you're good, that isn't how it should work. And you are good. I've seen you in action. You agree to become my student, your apprenticeship pays 75 galleons a week, plus room and board. Wardrobe included when I start taking you out with me. Places where an executive like me might bring a bodyguard. They'll be watching you for trouble, not suspecting it could come from either of us."

"Vee's style is good for him." Rich uncrossed his arms and leaned forward again. "I respect him for his convictions. His style is not mine, not at all. His is not the Way of the Warrior."

He snorted a small laugh, picked up his freshened drink, and downed it in a few swallows. "I've gone off on you again, haven't I? Still, there it is. Want some time to think about it, get your affairs in order?"

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pandacharms
2014-10-04 06:55 am UTC (link)

"Mercenaries?" she asked, tilting her head. It was a curious and non-judgmental question. She knew they existed, in a manner of speaking, from the dueling circuit; there dwelt some questionable characters of all sorts. She couldn't say she was morally against the concept these days, though in her youth she would have been. But then, back then she'd been much more like her mother than she was now. "Or private investigation?" She'd recently read a really good Muggle books with a magical PI, so she was curious.

Her face did harden at the mention of her payment. "She wouldn't take me over the other person despite my experience without a payment," she said shortly, anger flaring at the matter all over again. The woman had not been nice or kind, but she had been thorough, and she was the foremost expert in the UK when it came to Runic Warding. She unconsciously mirrored his pose with her arms crossed over her chest, fingertips at each shoulder. She was able to dissipate that anger by forcing her mind away from the thoughts that had all too often swam in her head, instead wondering exactly what his business interests were, that he'd need a bodyguard. "Your business sounds like it could be very interesting," she told him.

She nodded. She hadn't really known there was one, but it was good to know. If she'd been her brother, she probably would have, but her father had had Ideas on what was good for girls and boys.

She smirked faintly, reaching for her drink as well. She deserved it, making life-changing decisions on the fly. She downed the second half in one big drink, setting it down with a firm clink. "Not gone off, precisely," she said with a grin. "Saying a lot of things I already think, to be honest." Though she'd get jumped for saying it all in public. She twisted her glass back and forth for a moment, thinking. "I'll take it," she said, and almost immediately ordered another drink. Not because it was a bad thing but it was a big thing, and potentially risky. "I'll keep up in the shop and with your stuff, I've done it before." She would be perpetually tired, but she could handle it. "I will have to get some things together and all, but I don't have much outside of a job, so."

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the_richard
2014-10-04 02:52 pm UTC (link)

"Either. Neither. Both."

Rich made a quick gesture with one hand, as if throwing something small away. "So she was just another mercenary. And what does it tell you about the state of the wizarding world that it isn't the best gets the training, but the one that can pay?"

"I make money in an amount unbecoming to a gentleman with a couple of parlour tricks and a quick mind. All in a legal fashion too. Just not all of it in countries where the rule of law stretches very far."

Reaching into his jacket inside pocket, Rich brought out a DayTimer and a felt-tip pen. He'd rather have used his Blackberry, but around as much magic as there was in Monument Alley it would burn out if he even turned it on. Right then his service was answering his calls. "Here's my card - the one I give out in the wizarding world because it has owl addresses as well as the usual numbers. Get in touch when you're ready to move and I'll send some of the office boys around to pack and tote. Give you directions to Clink Street and meet you there with keys for the flat. Need to key you to my wards, too. No rush, but the sooner you get started, the better. At least take tonight to think on it, though."

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pandacharms
2014-10-05 12:46 am UTC (link)

Her fingers flicked in an unconsciously dismissive manner, a habit she'd learned from her mother growing up. "Never will claim our slice of the wizarding world is doing great."

Her eyebrows raised slightly, a small smile playing on her lips. She rather thought he could have been a Slytherin, to word that sentence so. She would figure it out if she spent any amount of time as a bodyguard though.

Dora looked over the card he handed her, nodding as she looked it over. "I don't really have enough to pack and tote, not unless I was moving the stuff in my aunt's workshop," she said with a casual wave of the fingers. "And not all that's mine, either." She'd lived out of a dimensional trunk she'd made herself for a long time. "I'll owl you though, soon. Just got to get my brain together about it all." It would be overwhelming, a little, when she actually had time to think about it, but it wouldn't be the first split second decision she'd ever made -- and honestly, you couldn't make a much worse one, or better one, than becoming a Death Eater to save your little sister.

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