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Tweak says, "No, I am your father."

Seamus Finnigan (openbottle) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-08-24 14:10:00

Entry tags:

character: alicia spinnet, character: dean thomas, character: dominic chambers, character: ernie macmillan, character: george weasley, character: hannah abbott, character: harry potter, character: lavender brown, character: oliver wood, character: seamus finnigan, character: susan bones, status: complete

Dean's Birthday!
Who: Open to: Dean, Seamus, Dominic, Susan, Ernie, Alicia, Lavender, Oliver, Harry, Hannah, George.
What: Dean's birthday party
Where: The Roost
When: Sunday afternoon/evening/night?
Rating: SFW - for now

There had been no big shouts of 'surprise', Seamus knew Dean far too well for that. He'd just lead him up to The Roost after Battlescars and let him push the door open to reveal a sandy floor, warm salt-and-coconut scented air and a 'Starry Night' sky. There was a bar at one end of the room, stocked and ready for people to help themselves (Seamus wasn't working tonight, though he'd doubtless end up there showing off his cocktail skills at some point). Along the side wall were tables for the food, already containing Aunt Rose's jerk chicken and Seamus's attempt at a pineapple upside down cake, vastly outdone by Aileen Finnigan's cherry cheesecake next to it. The rest of the large room was scattered with deckchairs, apart from a small decked area for dancing. The music of steel drums floated from nowhere and despite the bleak grey sky outside the room glowed with sunlight.

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

knowhow
2014-08-25 06:43 pm UTC (link)

"Pretty sure Seamus made that one himself," Dominic offered. "He was here a little while ago, showing off." He gave an indulgent smile - Seamus was one of his oldest friends in the magical world and he didn't get to make fancy cocktails at Finnigan's very often. He grinned. "And a handsome face it is." He stepped back, holding up his camera one more time to capture a full-length picture of Ali's outfit.

"You look lovely," he offered genuinely. "Putting this away now." He held up the camera and summoned his work-bag, fitting the camera into it. The party could go on without record for half an hour or so while he stopped for a drink. He nodded at her listing of the various children related in one way or another to the patrons of the pub. "You know, that's an idea. Weekly playdates where I get to let my imagination run wild in a space this size?" His portfolio was already extensive, but that kind of work sounded like so much fun. "I wouldn't charge you. Maybe just get permission to use you all as references?"

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Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

_alicia_
2014-08-25 08:36 pm UTC (link)

“A very handsome face,” Alicia agreed with a grin, and struck a pose when Dominic pulled out the camera again, figuring that she might as well have fun with it. By no means had she been close to Dominic in school, just like they weren’t close now either, but he was one of those people that was just comfortable to be around and whom she was always glad to see. “My compliments to Seamus, then,” she said and took another sip. “It’s actually quite good.”

“Thank you.” Dominic’s compliment had her smiling. There was something sincere about him and just plain down to earth that made him come off differently from other people who might have said the same thing. Considering his idea, Alicia once again let her eyes drift over the room, stopping briefly to wave at Oliver, before she looked back to Dominic. “Weekly playdates?” she asked, her smiled growing brighter. “That’s actually a really good idea.” The kids were all around the same age, though Christopher were about a year older, but they were still close enough in age that they would be in school together albeit years from now. “I can’t speak for the others, but you have my permission both to try out ideas and use us as reference. They do start school in September, so as long as it doesn’t interfere with that. You think Seamus would be alright with playdates in his pub?”

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

knowhow
2014-08-25 09:02 pm UTC (link)

Dominic smiled easily at her compliment but shook his head. "I'm not passing any more compliments on to Seamus, his head will explode. Or he'll start nagging me to turn this place into a proper old-fashioned cocktail bar once a week or something." He genuinely loved his work at Finnigan's, even the outrageous next-to-last-minute requests Seamus sometimes threw at him.

The smiled faded from his face, replaced by a look of concentration as he began drawing up mental lists and plans of spaces and ideas that might work. Sand, like this, but more of it. Enough to make castles. Could he make a maze? Or turn portions of the floor bouncy like a trampoline? Though he'd never considered it before, designing spaces for kids was bound to give him greater freedom for his imagination - and bigger challenges. Alicia's voice called her attention back to him. "Wouldn't have to be weekly," he pointed out. "You lot are the parents, I'd let you decide when you wanted them. Weekends? Once or twice a month?" He'd rather not get involved with that side of the details. He shrugged at her question. "I can't imagine why not. It's not as if there's a bar up here." The fact that they were standing next to the bar didn't phase him, that was temporary and didn't count. "Children are allowed in downstairs anyway, during the day, as long as they've got an adult with them." He'd ask, of course, but with all Seamus's focus on the community, he couldn't picture him saying no.

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

_alicia_
2014-08-26 11:27 am UTC (link)

“Come on, be honest, Dom,” Alicia cajoled with a smirk. “How much nagging would it really take to get you to do that?” She had seen his work around the pub and the arrangements that had been here, but she had never seen him look unhappy about what he had done.

“Yeah, yeah, I know it’s up to us,” Alicia assured him, she too slightly distracted as she turned the idea over in her head. “I’d just never thought of actually making it a regular thing, but that would… that would be brilliant.” She took a sip of her drink before she chuckled. “The kids’ve been here plenty of times, so I know Seamus isn’t too fussy about that. But it’s one thing to run a pub where kids are welcome, but something different when having your pub host and cater to organised playdates. But I’ll try talking to the others and then get back to you about?”

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

knowhow
2014-08-26 06:39 pm UTC (link)

Dominic drew his brows together in a parody of deep thought. "About four minutes," he admitted. "Less if he bought me a beer." He'd made a mental note already to see if he could grab some books with pictures of such places and do a little experimenting in his own home.

He nodded slowly - and this time the frown of concentration was real. "I suppose it would be. "There'd be... health and safety stuff." Or whatever the magical equivalent was. Then again, maybe wizards and witches were less concerned about that, since broken bones could be mended instantaneously. If Seamus and his family were anything to go by, Dominic needn't fear he'd need to be assessed by the Ministry first. "Talk to them," he agreed, expression clearing. "You know where to find me."

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

_alicia_
2014-08-27 01:12 pm UTC (link)

Dominic’s admission had Alicia laughing softly. “You really know how to drive a hard bargain. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”

Crossing one leg over the other, Alicia leaned back slightly once again looking over the other guests. Well, friends and former Housemates more accurately. “I’m not saying that it should be filled with knives and spikes and with lava moats around, but as long as you use common sense and maybe use something softer on the floor, you know, like on Muggle playgrounds?” She looked back to Dominic. “It’s not like they’ll be unsupervised and it won’t be permanent fixtures you’ll be making. So…” Raising her glass in a bit of a toast to him, she took a sip before continued. “Any exciting projects going on or coming up?”

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

knowhow
2014-08-27 05:45 pm UTC (link)

"You know us Ravenclaws. Can't let out brains sit still for too long." That trait at least he shared with most of the other Ravenclaws he'd met.

He nodded at Alicia's words, suddenly wondering if he could design a playground from scratch, inside where the parents wouldn't have to worry about weather or strangers. The Roost was high-ceilinged enough for it - he'd made sure of that when he'd renovated the building. "Wood chips or that... rubbery tarmac stuff," he confirmed and raised his glass in return. "Mostly just finished. The journals are all set at last." They'd taken him months. Nearly a year, in fact. Not full-time, of course, but here and there. "I hope you've got one already? And there was this." He waved a hand at the room around them.

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Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

_alicia_
2014-08-27 10:56 pm UTC (link)

Alicia’s smile turned slightly wistful. She really did know those Ravenclaws. Even her Quidditch jock of a brother, Nigel, had been like that; constantly churning and either analysing or creating new angles and strategies.

She nodded, pleased – though not entirely surprised – that Dominic had known what she was talking about. At least it seemed that they were on the same page, and that was a pretty good place to start out from. “I did!” she grinned. “They’re really great. Now I just need to use it for something other than answering Wood’s hungover cry for help,” she nodded towards Oliver who looked to be a few moments away from making a pass at Harry, “or telling Pucey to get going. You really hit the Bludger with those.”

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

knowhow
2014-08-29 01:20 pm UTC (link)

Alicia's compliment was obviously genuinely, and Dominic smiled. "The things I do for my friends," he said before taking another swig of his beer. "I could be getting rich of this, and instead..." He honestly didn't mind. He had money, and Seamus had paid him for the work he'd put in. Just not as much as he'd probably have made if he'd sold the journals himself. He followed her glance over to Oliver, raising his eyebrows slightly. Susan and Oliver looked very comfortable together. Harry, not so much, though Dominic didn't really know him well enough to judge.

"I look forward to your first journal entry, though if you ever need to cry for help it's probably quicker to owl." He was so used to having the journals (many of them) around his flat that he was having trouble getting into the habit of actually checking his own now that they were live.

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

_alicia_
2014-08-29 10:12 pm UTC (link)

“…instead you’re making people connect,” Alicia finished Dominic’s sentence, though that was probably not what he hadn’t said. “You’ve got the ultimate proof of your ingenuity in the hands of I don’t know how many people, and someday someone’s going to wonder what else you can come up with?” With a slight shrug she smirked at him. “Who knows? Maybe some wealthy widow will take you under your wing, keep you on retainer for all her… construction needs. It could happen.” For a moment she watched Oliver and Susan, a small frown appearing on her brow. She loved them both dearly and could easily imagine both of them having fun together; she just really didn’t want to have a to cause a scene to rescue Oliver’s ass if things went wrong with Susan and more importantly, she would hate for things to be weird between them.

“Oh!” Alicia chuckled. “I wouldn’t rely on the journals for actual cry of help, but once you get someone on the journal, they’re priceless and so much easier and faster to use than Owls and Floo.” She paused for a moment. “Do you think it would be possible to add a Charm to it that would alert you when someone put a message out?”

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Re: Alicia and Dominic (and Open)

knowhow
2014-08-31 02:19 pm UTC (link)

Dominic laughed openly at Ali's suggestion. "I don't even know what else I can come up with," he admitted. "Inventing isn't really my line. The journals were Seamus's idea, I just had to work out how to implement it because Rowena knows he doesn't have the patience or the grounding in experimental charms." Not that Seamus was stupid, far from it, but he'd never actually finished his NEWTs and his seventh year, in terms of quality education, had been poor preparation.

He shook his head. "Wealthy widows can look elsewhere. I'm no one-woman man and I like having multiple projects on the go." That was literally true, and also true of his love life - though of course he didn't think of his efforts there as 'projects'.

"It should be possible," he agreed. "I haven't incorporated it into the basic model because different people want different things, but it should be easy enough to make the journal react to a new message. Maybe I should let people know I can show them how, or do it for them. But not everyone wants it to make a noise, for example, if they're going to be taking it to work."

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