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Tweak says, "Oshifer I'm not drunk!"

Dominic Chambers (knowhow) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-10-03 17:09:00

Entry tags:

character: dominic chambers, character: zacharias smith

Experimental Charms Funtime!
Who: Zacharias and Dominic
What: Mixing magic and electricity - could be dangerous
Where: Finnigan's
When: Friday after work
Rating: SFW

Unusually, Dominic had spent his day surrounded by books and manuals, trying to piece together some understanding of how electricity and film projection really worked. He had grown up in the muggle world, and been schooled there until he was eleven but while he'd certainly used electricity he didn't have an in-depth knowledge of it. One day of reading wasn't going to help much but it might give him some understanding. Enough to work with, he hoped. He'd been more than a little intrigued when Seamus had passed on Zacharias' message about trying to get a projector to work in Finnigan's. It would be amazing if they could get it up and running, something they could use more than once.

It wasn't an area Dominic had a lot of experience with. Mostly he was content to live in the wizarding world and experiment with the limits of what he could achieve with pure magic. That didn't mean he didn't miss films and television sometimes, though. After closing up his books, he apparated over to Monument Alley and made his way to Finnigan's. It was only just after five, so he might be too early to meet Zacharias just yet - but he didn't mind waiting. Once he'd ordered his lemonade (no alcohol while he was working), he set up at a table by the door, the better to spot Zacharias when he came in.

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unspeakableness
2014-10-03 10:28 pm UTC (link)

Zacharias had spent the night before figuring out how to take apart and put the projector thing he'd gotten from Romeo back together. He'd examined the pieces, trying to compare it with what he knew of similar Muggle devices thanks to Stacey and his tinkering with what they had in their flat. He'd pulled out old notes, the television and film player, and the game player while studying the projector thing. Thankfully, he'd known how to work around and with his own charms and wards to make it work in his flat (and may have actually watched something while falling asleep, though he'd never tell if so), especially without the added element of the electricity. But a magical pub in the middle of a magical street would be another challenge entirely. However, he hadn't been daunted by it, and, in fact, the idea had excited him, even if he'd have preferred to have had more time to work it out.

After work, he packed his bag, double checking that the projector and notes (both old and new ones he'd made last night) were in there. It'd just be a pain to have to head home first to find them, and he was pleased to see he'd remembered them in his tired state that morning. Once he was satisfied that he had everything he needed, he gave a polite nod to a few coworkers and made the long trek from the Department of Mysteries to the Atrium, idly wondering if there weren't a more efficient way to handle the end of day rush.

The new project kept Zacharias from becoming too agitated at the time it took to get from work to Finnigan's (though, really, he normally was never in any particular hurry to get to any pub), though his outward appearance looked alert but neutral instead of jovial as he entered. He stepped to the side so as not to block the door and scanned the patrons, trying to remember what Dominic looked like. He had an image in his head from school, and he used it as the basis for his observations. Thankfully, it didn't take long to spot a familiar enough face nearby, and he headed straight to the table where a man sat with a drink.

"Hi, Dominic?" he said, mostly as a way to ensure he hadn't mistaken this man for someone else. However, given the image he had of Dominic in his mind had been burned there years ago when he'd accidentally caught him--He didn't want to think about it. Regardless of the question, he was nearly positive this man was the one he'd arranged to meet with about the charms, wards, and projector thing. "Zacharias," he added, just as a way to affirm who he was and potentially bypass any awkward introductions (or re-introductions).

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knowhow
2014-10-04 10:29 am UTC (link)

Dominic remembered Zacharias from school. They hadn't been great friends, but after the whole catching him kissing incident, Dominic had kept an awareness of him, impressed by the fact that even without being asked Zacharias had kept the gossip to himself. Dominic hadn't been ashamed of what he'd been doing - or who he was kissing - but nor had he been officially out yet at that point in his life. It would have spread around school, if Zacharias had chosen to talk about it. Dominic had respected him for choosing not to. Still did.

That said, he hadn't kept tabs on Zacharias after school and hadn't been aware he was involved with experimental charms. It was an exciting prospect, and Dominic smiled easily as Zacharias approached him. "Zacharias, I remember," he said. "The Roost is free for the next couple of hours, I figured it would be easiest if we headed up there. You want to get a drink first?"

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unspeakableness
2014-10-05 02:14 pm UTC (link)

"The Roost works, especially since that's where the projector thing is supposed to be used, I believe," Zacharias said with a little nod, mostly to himself. He also figured it'd be the best place to work on it because of whatever potential charms and wards might be on that specific room, but he thought that went without saying. He then glanced toward the bar and gave another nod. "I think I do. I can meet you up in The Roost in a few," he said, looking back at Dominic. With a small plan in place, he broke away from Dominic to let the other man head to The Roost while he made a beeline for the bar.

At the bar, Zacharias ordered and paid for a butterbeer, glad that it didn't take a long time for service given the time of day. Part of him was anxious to continue working on the projector thing while another part of him just didn't want to wait around for a simple drink. He picked up the bottle after a polite nod to the bartender and headed upstairs.

Once in The Roost, Zacharias looked around, assessing any resources they could use. Mostly, he just wanted a table or two and a couple of chairs. Thankfully, it seemed there were some left over from the previous night's events. "Can you help me pull out a few tables?" he asked Dominic. "We can have a work station of some kind, and I can also spread out some of my notebooks for us to reference. I've done something similar with devices in my flat, and I've set up the projector thing to work in my flat with my own charms and wards at least. Although Seamus mentioned some of the magic on this building, he didn't go into details. Understandable, since it was on a public forum." He paused a moment to gather his thoughts, then said, "Right, yes. tables?" No sense blathering on when there was work to be done.

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knowhow
2014-10-05 03:55 pm UTC (link)

By the time Zacharias arrived, Dominic had already pulled out one of the tables to set his drink on. Together, they pulled out a few more of the chessboard-sized tables and set about transfiguring them into a larger one that would hold the projector and whatever notes Zacharias had brought with him. "You really got the projector to work in your flat?" Dominic asked, surprised. It wasn't that he had doubted Zacharias' abilities, only that it seemed quick to have managed it when as far as he knew the request had only been made the day before.

Once the table was set up, Dominic brought over two chairs, preferring to work by hand for this. Further magic would only complicate things more and so he'd avoid it for things where it was unnecessary. "A lot of the magic on the building is mine," he admitted. "I can walk you through it, and through what I was planning to do in here. Though, if it's easier I can just bring in cushions and seating to limit the amount of magic."

He looked around, considering. It would be more work - or at least, a different kind of work - to get chairs and cushions up the stars without magic, but not impossible by any means. "Seamus has talked me through his wards on the main building, too, so I can make sure I don't interfere with them. The only thing I don't know how to put up and take down are the wards on his personal flat on the top floor."

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unspeakableness
2014-10-07 09:20 pm UTC (link)

Zacharias nodded a bit as he set his bag on the table and pulled out first the projector thing and then his notebooks, arranging it all neatly on the table, his drink well out of the way in case of an accident. He'd stayed up later than usual the night before to work on it, determined to get at least part of the work done and familiarise himself with the machine to make things hopefully go smoothly once at the pub. And the kid had said he'd wanted it by Sunday, so he didn't see the point in wasting time. He sat down, taking another quick stock of everything he'd put out, double checking that he hadn't forgotten anything.

"I'm all for being walked through both your magic and what you planned. Feel free to look through my notes," he said, giving a nod toward his notebooks. He'd already submitted the information to the Committee on Experimental Charms and gone through the processes with them, so he didn't mind sharing. Had this been a year ago, though, and he likely wouldn't have volunteered to help in the least.

"And if we can't get this thing to work before Sunday, one of us can ask Seamus if he'd be willing to give up any information about the types of wards he has so we'll know how to work around them without negatively affecting them. And if he still doesn't feel comfortable sharing, I can always tell him about some that won't affect or be affected by whatever we do with the projector thing that maybe he'd be up for using just during the film." Not his own, though, no; he'd modified and reworked the wards and charms on his own flat. However, prior to that, he had others on them that he'd worked with when he first worked out how to make small electronics work in a magical environment like a personal residence. "I don't want him to be uncomfortable or inconvenienced over something that could also have easily taken place at a place without magic." Like the kid's own home or renting out a space somewhere at a Muggle pub and putting up proper protection charms to keep out Muggles.

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knowhow
2014-10-08 04:37 pm UTC (link)

Still standing, Dominic moved over to the notes Zacharias gestured to, leafing through them curiously. He might not usually be one for reading, but that didn't mean he didn't want to get at least a little idea of how Zacharias worked. "You're more organised than I am." He wasn't ashamed to admit it - he'd never been a very good scholar, even if he was inventive. "I suppose that comes of being involved with the Committee. Or at least helps." Dominic, if he even made notes, tended to spread them out between whatever notebook or scrap of parchment or paper he had on hand - and sometimes reading back over them he couldn't even understand them.

"I think he'd tell me about the type of wards, if we needed him to. I've known him since he was... twelve or thirteen?" Dominic couldn't remember exactly. They'd met on the ferry back to Ireland from Hogwarts, before either of them had been old enough to apparate. After that, Seamus had started inviting him to spend pits of his holidays in Greencastle, and had even visited Dominic's home a time or two. Seamus having a muggle father had meant it hadn't been too big a risk. "He really wants this kind of thing to be able to happen here. The meeting, I mean. Though I think he'd be ecstatic if we could make it so he can show movies on a regular basis."

Finally abandoning Zacharias' notes, Dominic sat down and pulled a roll of parchment from his pocket. He spread it out on the table and started to make some notes on the magic he knew was already present in the building, explaining it to Zacharias as he went. "And a lot of magic went into refurbishing it, but that was two years ago and I don't think those spells should still be interacting with anything," he added, when he'd finished.

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unspeakableness
2014-10-14 06:45 pm UTC (link)

Zacharias decided not to note that he didn't say there was anything wrong with the meeting itself so much as poor planning on that kid's part and that he'd said that if he really wanted to show a film to this group, and they couldn't get it to work, then he should have just considered this particular type of meeting -- the kind with a film -- one that would be better suited outside the middle of a heavily magical and magicked area. Then the next meeting, and any subsequent non-film related meetings, could have happened at the pub. It was just poor planning as far as Zacharias was concerned, especially since he wanted this done with less than a week's notice. Part of Zacharias debated on packing up and telling the kid he needed to learn to give better warning of things like this, but he'd already pulled everything out, so he stayed put. For now.

Pulling a notebook and quill in front of himself, Zacharias watched and listened as Dominic wrote down his own notes and explained the spells. He made a few notes here and there on particular things he said, mostly to ask more about them or to take them into consideration. And he nodded when Dominic mentioned spells that went into refurbishing the pub. He didn't personally think that they'd have much of an affect at this point, provided they weren't embedded into the structure itself but instead used to construct and reconstruct the building. He thought as long as the building wasn't held up by magic, they shouldn't interfere, but he made notes about them just to be safe.

"Alright, nothing sounds too difficult to get around and take into account," he began, taking a few seconds to pull out spare parchment from his bag. He spread it out width wise and began incorporating his own knowledge with what he knew of Dominic's knowledge. "I think we should first address the biggest, most complex spell first and work down. From my experience, they can interfere the most, and we can cross them off the list," he pointed with his quill to the notebook where he'd made a list as Dominic had explained the various spells he'd used on the building, "as we go. I know it might seem counter-intuitive to start big and go small instead of starting small and adding on, but, like I said, the bigger, more complex the spell, the more likely it will be the one that interferes with making it work. Also, I think it'll need a few more charms on it to account for any spell usage from the patrons, which will probably be the most difficult thing to do given how much that can vary even hour to hour. However, I figure one or both of us can be here on Sunday to re-calibrate the magic should the projector thing stop working.

"But first things first," he said and began outlining his thoughts and plans about how to go about making the projector thing work in the middle of a magic heavy street.

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knowhow
2014-10-16 01:44 pm UTC (link)

"No, that makes sense to me," Dominic said. "Start with the big picture, then add the details." It was how Dominic tended to work in his own projects, too. "We don't want to waste time getting it to work with small spells only to realise the larger ones are going to make the idea impossible." He hoped that wouldn't happen but he wasn't too worried - it didn't seem likely, if Zacharias had already got the projector working once that between the two of them they wouldn't be able to achieve a repeat performance. He'd only been sat down a few minutes, but he got up while Zacharias made more notes, wand out and ready to begin the actual magic.

He frowned slightly as Zacharias talked about customers doing magic which might interfere with the projector. He hadn't thought of that, and Seamus certainly couldn't ban people from doing magic for the duration. "I suppose I can be here." He hadn't been planning on coming. Despite being openly bisexual, it wasn't something he felt he needed to attend a meeting to talk about. Still, attending in order to deal with the projector didn't mean he'd have to be involved with the meeting itself. "Though if you're free, maybe you should come. I know more about magic interacting with magic than magic interacting with electricity." Which was why, he supposed, he hadn't thought about the customers.

Zacharias still seemed to be in note-taking mode, so Dominic left him to it, briefly, while he made sure there were no spells left working on The Roost itself. He was pretty conscientious about returning the room to its 'raw' state in between activities, but checking would give him something active and practical to do.

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