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Pandora Montgomery ([info]pandacharms) wrote in [info]finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-10-05 20:04:00

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Entry tags:character: pandora montgomery, character: richard summerby

Who: Dora and Richard

What: Moving into the new flat

Where: Clink St.

When: around 3pm

Rating: SFW for now


Pandora made certain to be on time. She actually left early to make sure she could find it, and didn't have too much of a problem. She'd thrown all her (rather few) belongings into one of her self-made extra-dimensional containers and paid her landlord the last of what she owed him, dismantled her over-the-top wards, and headed on over. She didn't bother to wear long sleeves today, but enjoyed the cooler quality of short ones, and didn't bother to cover up her Mark.

After all, Richard already knew about it and had seen it before, and it was nice to have an element of comfort for once without having to hide parts of herself.

She pushed her hair back and looked around for Richard, knowing she was in the right place. This was a very nice area, and one she had a feeling she'd be more comfortable in than her former very poor housing. She'd grown up with money, and the last years had been rough in a way because it was so very different, though she was rather too proud to admit it.


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[info]the_richard
2014-10-06 01:10 am UTC (link)
Rich had been keeping half an eye on the street cameras while he worked at his laptop so he caught sight of Pandora when she came out through the tunnel under the railroad bridge.

"Hey there." He had a smile on his face as he greeted her. To tell the truth, at least to himself, he knew he'd come on rather strongly the other night, and he still hadn't been completely sure she would show up. "Hope you like the neighborhood. Father and I have put a lot of effort into refurbishing these old buildings. Everything on the river side from the bridge here to the Thameside Inn is ours now. The next steel door past the two garage doors is my flat."

He led her through the closer, industrial looking metal door and into the foyer, which had been done in marble and dark polished wood like something out of the 1880s. Elevator to the sixth, top floor, the to the right and right again, behind the elevator were two doors, one marked 'Roof', and the other with two substantial locks. "Hot tub and gas grill on the roof for the tenants to use, and chairs and tables to catch the view."

Reaching into his side jacket pocket he pulled out a ring with a few keys on it and tossed it to Dora. "There you go. See what you think. Had the cleaning service in, and the refrigerator and pantry are stocked. If you hate any of the furniture, I can put it in the basement storage area and you can see if you like anything there better."

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-06 03:07 am UTC (link)
She smiled back at him, quick and genuine, when he greeted her. Things might be going rather faster than she'd expected, but some of her biggest decisions, for better or worse, had been spur of the moment. "Wow, lots of property," she commentedn suitably impressed but not overwhelmed by the knowedge. "So that's where I go if I need you then?" She asked.

She caught the keys on reflex, sorting through them automatically. "I'm sure whatever you have there will work," she said. She was grateful to have anything nice at all. Shebopened the door and went on through. "You were saying something about wards the other evening? What do I need to know about those and can I add to them?" She was also curious about potential neighbors, and if they were muggle or magical or what.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-06 12:51 pm UTC (link)
"You can try ringing the bell there," Rich nodded. "Easier to use the phone in your flat and call down. There's a list of numbers for you. If I'm someplace with too much magic about, where my mobile just won't work, my service will answer and get a message to me."

"You can't feel the wards because you aren't keyed to them. Each building in the neighborhood is warded, the spell work built into the wood and stone itself. Had to do it that way because this is a mostly muggle neighborhood and people have computers, televisions, mobile phones, things like that. Then each flat has separate wards that can be controlled by the occupant. Level one just keeps an eye on things and will let you know who is about. At level five, if somebody tries to force entry, well, you'll have some ashes to sweep up. In addition, this flat, first bedroom at the top of the stairs, has a warded room. Since there's just you I had it set up as a charms workshop."

He grinned. "All the wards were done by a master with my own humble assistance and are pretty well locked in. There's even physical keys. Doubt you'll find any holes. Don't care what additional protections you put up as long as it doesn't muck up anybody's electronics. Hold the keys in your left hand and put your right hand flat on the wall next to the door."

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-06 01:18 pm UTC (link)
She nodded. She wasn't about to admit she'd never used a telephone in her life, though she did at least know what one looked like. A girl had her pride, after all. "Got it," she said.

She listened with her head tilted, her eyes automatically flitting to his lips in order to process his words in both ways. "So keep myself on the subtle level, then," she said, lips quirking faintly up. That would be an interesting experiment. Maybe, she thought, Chris might be willing to help, though it would mean actually asking for help. He was a Muggleborn though, he'd know things, though Richard did too. But she wanted to impress Richard and prove that she could handle herself and deserved the opportunity he was giving her.

Her eyes brightened with keen interest when he told her about the workshop. "You did?" she said, surprised but incredibly pleased. She loved to tinker when she couldn't sleep; she'd spent more hours than she could count at the shop just to use the workshop. To actually have her own space meant more than he probably realized.

Dora switched the keys to her other hand and did as he asked, laying her broad and slightly calloused palm on the wall. She glanced back over at him, awaiting further instructions.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-06 01:48 pm UTC (link)
"More like be careful how you direct things, even in your flat. The wards will siphon off a lot of stray magic but you don't want your telly going up in flames by accident."

Rich shrugged. "I'm a believer in being stingy with power of any sort. I'll get more into that later. Until you really get a handle on it use your wards to feel how you're doing. You'll find it's like having another set of eyes, 360 degree vision, that will let you view the whole block or tighten down to look at a hair on your bathroom floor. Different for everybody, of course, but that's how it works."

He reached out with his right hand and wrapped it around Pandora's left where she held her keys. Animam Exitato he whispered, to open the woman's link to her flat and wards. "Let it soak in for a minute, have a seat if you like. Buildings are massive, and have seen a lot over the years. Only thing lets us puny humans link up with them like this is that a building's thoughts are bloody slow."

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-06 10:25 pm UTC (link)
"No large spell work, then, and I'll figure out how far I can push it." She would not want to owe for a television; she knew just enough to know they weren't exactly cheap. She was intrigued that she would have one, however.

"I've carried wards before, but not something of the extent you're talking about," she said. "I wasn't old enough to be put on more than the basic stuff at the country house when everything happened." And since then she'd been just responsible for whatever room she warded for herself, though she'd learned blood wards from her time with some of the oldest pureblood families, the blood-based ones that allowed only family through it when activated. Many people considered them Dark or at least grey, but it made her feel safest in her last place when little else had.

Pandora's eyes fluttered closed as the sensory input flooded in, and she leaned a little more heavily against the wall. "Yeah... it's heady and rather different," she said, letting herself soak it in like he suggested. "Most things bigger than us are slower like that." She opened her eyes slowly, the grey-green color more heavily green as she smiled slowly at him. "Nice. I promise to try not to fry people with the wards," she joked, removing her hand from the wall.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-06 11:28 pm UTC (link)
Rich nodded. "In your workshop, with the door closed, any magical spill will be shunted into the building foundation and used to maintain the wards. Otherwise, try to be careful."

"Because you're, well, who you are, I've set it up so you can monitor the entire block. You can only directly control the wards on your own flat, though. Oh, and that throw rug in front of the door is not only a dirt catcher. You'll find it is your private apparation point as well. Rolling it up and standing it in the corner will shut it down. Otherwise the flat is completely blocked.This is more or less the area where there have been what looks like Death Eater attacks on muggles and we all look like muggles here."

"SSpeaking of which," he flashed a quick grin before his face went serious. "Just as soon you used heavy stun rather than lethal wards if somebody does try to force their way in. I have a few friends at the Ministry, but I'd just as soon not to have to call in any favors."

"Now, do you want some time to get settled, or would you like to go up on the roof for a quick first lesson?"

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-06 11:52 pm UTC (link)
"Brilliant," she said. She'd be able to do a lot of work from here then, if she wished, and some of her best stuff happened at three in the morning when she couldn't sleep. "I'll do my best," she promised, though she could make no promise about accidental magic, though she was doing her best to not get that upset if she could help it.

Dora nodded. She was grateful to be able to monitor that much of it, it would make her feel a bit more secure. "Oh, yes, I was going to ask about Apparition," she said. "What about having other people in?" She wasn't the sort to casually key anyone into her wards; her trust didn't extend very far these days.

"I promise to try not to kill anyone," she told him in all seriousness. Most might think it a joke, but with her, it was serious. "I won't key up lethal wards." She couldn't promise on anything she'd do if she were actually attacked, but she tried to moderate her reactions. "I'll try to never put you in a position like that."

She flashed a smile and set down the bag she had slung over her back finally. "Let's go ahead and do a lesson," she said, eager to get started. Besides, he didn't need to know how little she actually had. "And talk about what kind of schedule and requirements you have of me."

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-07 12:26 am UTC (link)
Richard shrugged as he led the way back out the door. "It's your flat. I only own your time during lessons, and if you travel with me as security. Your keyring has keys for the roof, the laundry in the basement, and the ground level entrance, which is locked at night. People can call up from the street phone for you to let them in."

He continued talking as he unlocked the door to the roof and went up the staircase. "I've learned to never say never about things like that. Shit happens."

The sat in chairs positioned so they could enjoy the skyline view across the river. "I'm out and about at 6am when I'm home. That will be your physical conditioning. Running, parkour once you are up to it, maybe some simple sparring. Evenings, say around 8pm, we'll get together for training, learning spells, simple exercises. I'm afraid you're going to have to find your own time for practice."

"Now, lesson one. I said I'm stingy with power. There is always someone bigger or stronger, or faster than you are. Fight like a miser. Conserve your resources. Use only what you need to in order to win. Most of what I'll teach you is wandless and wordless. There's no time for swish-swish-flick in a dark alley. You have to have absolute confidence in your magic and your combat skills. Have you had much practice with silent magic?"

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-07 12:50 am UTC (link)
"Just making certain for the wards," she said with a quick smile. Some people kept them tighter than others. She did look forward to exploring the wards when she had some time alone. "And you're welcome over any time." He was more than just a mentor.

Pandora followed him up the stairs, glancing around and taking it all in as she listened. "Well, I won't key them up unless something really bad happens. And I only promise to try not to kill anyone." Which was the best she could honestly do.

She nodded. "All right, 6am physical conditioning, 8pm learning. I can do practice on my own, I'm not worried about that. Every day, then, or do we get days off?" Not that she wouldn't find time to practice on a day off, but she wanted to know how to arrange her time now that things had changed.

She focused on what he was saying, though a lot of it was stuff she already believed in doing. It all especially applied to her for her size -- despite her surprising strength, she was smaller and many men would be stronger than her with a longer reach. She nodded at him firmly. "A fair amount," she said. "It was a good... survival mechanism to learn." Surrounded by much more dangerous Death Eaters, as a seventeen year old, she'd learned hard and fast and dirty how to do a lot of things witches twice her age might never want to learn. Her lips quirked up into a smirk, deepening more in one cheek. "You've not seen me duel in the last several years, I think."

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-07 01:32 am UTC (link)
Rich laughed. "My schedule runs from hectic to insane. I'll try to keep you up to date as to when I'm around, but there are times I need to pop halfway around the world to take care of business. We'll work it out. I also do a fair share of broom racing and test flying on the weekends. I'll do my best to fit it with your work schedule and I'll try to give you things to practice on when I'm not around."

"Right then." His grin took a bit of a wicked twist as he stood up and started walking away from Dora. It was a simple enough spell. Any teenage boy worth his salt could Banish a bra. The real trick was banishing his suit, shirt, tie, and shoes while summoning his workout clothes and fighting robes from his flat without letting his pants flap in the breeze, and while moving. Between one step and the next his outfit was changed. As he turned to face her, a sword appeared in his hand in a low guard, magical fire running down the blade like water and dripping off the point, vanishing before it hit the roof. He brought his shield up with his left hand. It was a very economical shield, barely enough to cover his body and angled to deflect spells, rather than block them.

"Want to go for it luv?" he asked, still smiling. "Dueling is what you used to do."

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-07 02:39 am UTC (link)
"That works for me, and if something comes up on my end, I'll let you know." Because she did have a few obligations she attended to, and the occasional night out. "I do have a ball to attend coming up."

Her grin grew positively wicked as well. She vanished her robe which left her in the very comfortable tank top and capris yoga pants she'd fallen in love with a while back. A wave of her hand had a quick braid in her hair, and she tucked her wand in it with a smirk as she summoned her staff to her with one hand and created a shield much like Richard's with the other, but then her fingers quirked and ball of magic hovered over her palm. "I never stopped doing it, darling," she told him as she took her stance. "I just stopped competing for a bit." She might not yet be an expert in the staff, but it was obvious she was comfortable with it and skilled enough to do some damage, and her wand could be easily reached.

She had no delusions of winning against him with a sword, not yet. But like hell she wouldn't go down fighting. She'd won championships for a reason. Skill and a vicious edge.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-07 03:06 am UTC (link)
"I got an invitation too. Judging by the number of daughters in the family, it's another day on the meat rack for all the marriageable bachelors."

She looked good enough, Rich would give her that. Of course in a real fight he'd have been three bodies past her by now. Rather than using his shield for defense, he brought his sword up to block. It was uncharged, and could absorb rather a lot of magic. In fact, it would be Pandora's after the fight, at least hers until he could have the goblins do up a custom blade set for her.

As the blade rose, he used it to summon the chair she had been sitting in. It was still right behind her, and she was between it and him. He let some of the spell glance off her shield as if he had missed the cast. At the same time, letting his own shield coast for a moment, he used his left hand to throw a hotfoot jinx at her shoes. It was a small spell, almost household magic, and didn't take much power. He took two quick steps towards her to close the range as he took back control of his shield, and as he reinforced it, struck with the edge of it at her face, a full-strength shield smash, timing it to arrive about the same time the chair would. Things were about to get interesting.

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-07 04:25 am UTC (link)
"Better watch my aunt then," Pandora said with a cheeky grin. "She's been looking to foist me off on any rich wizard she can find since I got out of Azkaban."

She waited, perfectly balanced on the balls of her feet. She felt rather than heard the faint scrape the chair made as it began to move; her shoes had been charmed all her life for sensitivity given her disability. She'd long since processed it as naturally as anything else. She waited just long enough, though not idly, so he wouldn't think anything of it. She flicked a few annoying spells at him.

As his shield approached, Pandora dropped to the side like a puppet with her strings cut. The shield got just a bit of her head. She ignored the pain, going into a rollto keep from being run over by the chair. On the way down, though, her wrist flicked and rolled, tossing conjured sand up at his face from where she was behind the shield; the rest of the wrist roll flung a vicious stinging hex at his groin.

In the roll, she swung the staff around toward his knees, just enough power that she could break something of his at the correct angle. The other arm kept the shield up above her. She moved quickly, like the snakes of her house, and evenas the staff swung she cast with it, a sweeping jelly leg jinx. She kept moving, doubting he would stop either; she was always quick on her feet. She refused to be put down in the first minute of their fight. She would make him work for it.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-07 04:53 am UTC (link)
Pandora surprised Rich with the sand to the eyes, and he was forced to close them. She'd forgotten about the building wards. It wouldn't be fair to use them to attack, but he could also use them to see, just as she could, and he'd had almost four years practice with them. So he used the tip of the sword to swat the groin shot back at her while he caught the chair left-handed and jammed it down on the roof between them.

Using only mental control, he cupped his shield and slammed it down on top of the woman while another part of his head counted down the hotfoot. Catching the low line attacks coming with his altered vision, he did a one-handed handstand on the back of the chair, letting his momentum carry him into a front flip toward his opponent.

He grunted as the jelly legs caught a bit of him, but between absorbing most of the power with his sword, and the defensive spells on his robe, it hurt but had no real effect.

Rich had spotted the way Pandora had eyed the sword, so he started a fairly slow cut with it. She would have to block with that staff or hers or risk getting cut. As his mental timer on the hotfoot jinx reached zero, he closed his shield into a ball around her, the classic Aurora's scoop and catch.

He bounced a few steps backwards to see what she'd do next, shaking his head to clear the sand from his eyes.

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-07 07:09 am UTC (link)
Something in the air told Pandora the shield was coming, probably the sweeping compression of air, and she allowed it to press her back into another backwards roll. Her feet felt warm and she knew she'd missed something, but she'd deal with it as it came.

She was rather wishing her regular dueling outfit wasn't at the very bottom of her trunk. However, she'd make do without rhe spelled robes. She rolled back to her feet and shot several spells his way with her staff, aimed seemingly willy-nilly; some went with hot little burns at various body parts, some fizzed out near his feet, looking much like a firework. Her left hand drew the DisIllusioned knife from the belt that left her usually only to sleep.

The blade, held back against her forearm, reached about three quarters of the length of it. Instead of backing away from his blade, she stepped more into the attack, for it was slow and even if it did cut her around her own blade it wouldn't be bad, and he had no real time to add more momentum to it. Pain didn't frighten her; a year of Cruciatus had taught her to disassociate to an almost dangerous degree. The butt of her staff swung toward his gut in a short, hard move.

Dora almost missed the surge of his shield scooping around her. She barely popped her own shield around her and sent a surge of magic out before his closed, distracted for half a second by her hot feet. She Banished her shoes with a thought and pressed on her magic in her shield, shoving his with her and pressing forward. She sheathed her knife and drew her wand, sketching a rune in the air and pressing it through her shield onto his, an inverted Algiz, the opposite of protection.

She'd gotten the idea at the beginning of her apprenticeship six months ago, and she'd only experimented with Master Flitwick a few times, but it had a corrosive quality to such spells, though she had no good datum on how long it would take to help her break shields of others yet. She smiled sharply and pushed on, being the distraction while the magic she'd thrown previously sprouted and whipped around at his extremities, a rather virulent and very short lived poison ivy spell she'd invented for a duel in Romania where she'd won against a vicious bastard who'd put her in the hospital the previous time they'd duelled. There was still a dull throb in her feet, and she just then noticed some blood sheeting down, making her wand a bit slick. He was wearing her down, but her day at work had been long as well. She hated knowing she'd probably lose, but at least it would be a learning experience.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-07 02:15 pm UTC (link)
She was game enough. Rich gave her that. But she hadn't listened, didn't know, how to fight like a miser. She kept throwing spell after spell, which he either blocked, absorbed, ignored, or healed as he moved in.

The dissolution attack on his shield was a bit of genius magic, and would have taken someone who hadn't trained as an Auror right out of the fight. But Rich had conserved enough energy previously to have plenty to spare for a few moments. He used his shield to pick up Pandora inside her shield and shook her like a maraca a few times.

Under the cover of doing that, he cast a major stun trap on his sword. As soon as his shield stopped moving, he thrust the sword through his shield and into hers and set up an energy conduit, draining her shield and dumping power into his.

He let go of the sword, a major temptation for her to strike at it with her staff and trigger the trap. As he backed away he cast a body bind trap on the roof in front of him. Dora had been ready to follow him and attack, he'd see if she would chase him this time and run into the trap that waited for her.

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-08 05:37 am UTC (link)
The first shake snapped her head back, and it made her angry to be rattled about like a ragdoll. Her ambigiously colored eyes flashed and she braced on her own shield, balance held on it in a very dance like stance. She dropped it the moment she felt the drain start, landing on her feet like a cat and pushing off in a sudden dash of movement, already certain of what she wanted to do. He wasn't the sort to just let go of a weapon. She leapt onto the chair he'd left on the field of battle, eyes flicking across what terrain she had available to her. Besides, it was the best spot for the spell she wanted to cast.

She spun her staff in a fsst, controlled movement over her head and leapt back down, slamming the head of it on the ground and sending a large, strong wave of magic reverberating over the ground. Called misappropriately the Time Slow Charm, it bound conditions around one where it slowed their reactions by something like thickening the air while the caster remained unaffected. It definitely didn't fall under Rich's conservation rule, but sometimes it was go big or go home. She wouldn't have long, considering the spelled quality of his sword that left her at a severe disadvantage especially without her spelled robes and boots. Well, at least he'd have a nasty case of poison ivy to heal from that one spell. She was sure it had touched his skin.

Her staff apparently hit the unseen Body Bind trap and was ripped from her hands in a flurry of magical bindings. She grunted and took the punishment to her ribs and arm, shooting tingling pain down it, and dashed through the spelled area, knife in one hand and wand in the other. She didn't even realize that her knife glinted with magic, something she'd yet the practice. She formed a hard shield and slammed it at him, hard.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-08 06:33 am UTC (link)
"What a clever little Snake," was Richard's first reaction, as Pandora ignored the sword and let it fall to the roof. And then her spell almost brought a smile to his face as he dropped back into fighting stance. A beautiful variation on the Italian Lentamente, the Time Slow. Unfortunately for his opponent, he regularly used the International Apparation point in Rome and had become good friends with one of the Italian Auror, Ravelli, who had taught him the Corsican Counter.

And her reengagement, another thing of beauty. Despite the loss of her shoes, and then her staff, there she was charging down on him, wand in one hand, that knife of hers in the other. He took special note of the wild magic running over the blade. Wonderful instincts that really just needed training.

He'd have understood 'go big or go home'. Sometimes it was the only way you got to go home. And everything about Pandora's fighting style was big. Time to show her what being a miser let you do.

Martial artists called it ki, the centering of self, the point of focus. The object was to put all of yourself into the point of attack, maximum damage from minimum movement. He gathered the tiniest bit of his own shield to protect his knuckles, timed the advance of Pandora's shield with a Master's eye, and with a shouted, "Eeeyah!" put all of his ki and all of his strength into a single punch straight into the heart of the shield attack. A martial arts training fight was a rigorous as any duel, and usually a lot more violent. In past competitions Richard had shattered shields, even to the point of causing a recoil on the shield user. He flowed through the punch, and into the preparation for an asuto gari, a throw used against a person armed with a blade by one unarmed. It wouldn't do to underestimate the woman.

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-08 07:48 am UTC (link)
Shite was her first thought as her shield shattered. Pandora managed to turn her shoulder slightly where the recoil didn't quite send her back, though she did feel it. With most other opponents, she still might have gotten somewhere, but she could tell from his body language he had some move up his sleeve.

She knew it was best to stay out of reach of those hands. She was moving too fast to stop or turn, and with a mental sigh she knew what to do. A small part of her mind went 'this is going to hurt later,' but right now it would take something huge to knock her into pain enough to distract.

Dora dropped to her knees just outside his reach, still moving, sliding across the floor. She distantly felt the abrasions and wistfully wished for her boots or robes. Or both. She crossed her arms into an X in front of her face protectively, knife and wand still in hand, and pretty much barrelled straight at his legs from close distance at a pretty decent speed.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-08 08:18 am UTC (link)
Rich couldn't help but wince mentally as Dora did a skidding knee drop onto the roof. That's going to leave a mark, he said to himself.

When your enemy attacks, be elsewhere, Sun Tsu had said. While he didn't think her move was as much attack as desperation, that was still a sound principal. He'd already shifted his weight to his left leg and started to raise his right foot in preparation for the throw he'd planned. It was only a slight redirection of movement to step where her arms crossed and hop off his planted left leg as she slid through where he had been standing.

Still letting Dora do most of the work, and knowing both her knife and wand would be pinned for an instant he let her body catch his left toe, used her momentum to start his rotation as he threw a front flip with a half twist off her crossed arms. It was a pretty move, close and tight, landing on his toes and dropping to his knees behind her as Pandora slid to a stop. It would have been good for at least a 9.5 unless the Russian judge skunked the scoring.

He let all the magic he'd been holding ready ease off and pressed the tip of his index finger to the base of her skull. "Oops," he said quietly. "Want to talk about it after I've done some healing? And what is this damned itchy thing you threw at me?"

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-08 08:33 am UTC (link)
Dora grunted as all the sudden she had him somehow how her crossed arms. She had a flicker of gratitude as she didn't smash into his knees, however, as she really hadn't been looking forward to that. She flipped her hands up in acknowledgement that he had her to rights in this one.

She went ahead and simply flopped back onto the roof, knees still bent under her, not really caring as she focussed on her breathing. "Good match. That was brilliant," she told him genuinely, looking up at him from the ground and not caring. She'd held her own enough she was proud. "And healing would probably be good. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me yet." She would have to look herself over; she could, distantly, feel hurts, but her mind still wasn't terribly connected to them.

She smirked at him. "My own charm. A particularly virulent type of poison ivy. Itches like fuck, don't it?" She rolled onto her stomach and carefully stretched her legs straight, not really keen on rolling back and looking at the damage. "I think this is going to hurt tomorrow."

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-08 09:01 am UTC (link)
"Right. Didn't even think to look to the plant world for a counter. He popped easily to his feet and walked over to the abandoned sword, sending his fighting robes back to his flat and keeping only his workout clothes. Picking up the sword he deactivated the trap spell, pushing the released magic into the blade. "This is yours, by the way. At least until I get the goblins to make you your own set. Partly charged with your own magic, too. Roll over and grab it. It will give you something to think about while I see what you've done to yourself."

Rich handed the blade hilt-first to Dora and reached down the back of his collar for his healing wand. "Obviously, this did not happen, I am not a healer." He touched the tip of the wand to the side if his neck and whispered a small spell. "Now, I can immobilize your legs while I do this or you can hold real still for me. Cleaning up what you did to your knees will be delicate work if I don't want to leave any scars."

He touched the tip of his wand to the knot he'd given her on the side of the head to take away the pain and the lump. That sort of thing he could still do quick and easy. When you'd trained to heal dragons, you worked fast and did big magics. But during the war Alicia had taught him delicate work, people healing. It didn't make him a real healer, but he was as good as any of the trauma healers at St. Mungoes.

"And the next thing for you to think about after you decide what sort of a patient you'll be, is where did things start going wrong for you when we fought?"

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-08 11:40 am UTC (link)
"I invented it after this damned Romanian wizard put me in the hospital during a duel. Showed him next time we dueled." Dora sighed and rolled back over and sheathed her knife before reaching for the handle of the blade, holding it above her, completely ignoring her legs. "So what all does it do when charged?" She asked curiously.

"I know nothing," she intoned, though she kept an eye on him as he used his wand on her. She levered herself up more sitting and winced reflexively at her legs, more at the sight than anything. "Well that's a bitch," she said, wiggling her toes. She tugged up the fabric a bit on one side, wrinkling her nose. "I can hold still. I'm not really feeling it yet. And my vanity would appreciate the lack of scars, please." She eyed him as he fixed the bump on her head, which had been her biggest worry up til then, if she were honest, even though her arm still slowly bled.

She lay back down, leaving her legs half bent and accessible in front of her while she went back to studying the sword a few inches from her face. "Well they started to go wrong when I locked and warded my trunk and didn't grab my robe and boots beforehand," she stated matter of factly. "You had the advantage on me from the start with that. That, and you had the home ground."

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-08 08:22 pm UTC (link)
"It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries." Rich quoted the television commercial at Dora, not thinking whether or not it would go over her head. "It will also give you a reservoir of power to draw on without using your own. You never want to load it completely full because you can also use it to absorb some spells that are cast at you. Even better, you can preload spells like you would with a staff, and it takes minimal extra energy to trigger them. Oh, and it also looks impressive as hell when you illusion magical fire onto the blade."

He paused in what he was saying while he set a healing charm on each of her legs. It was slow working, something he had learned from Alicia, but it would do the job and leave Dora with no scars to show for her experience.

Chuckling, he went on. "Could have summoned your fighting outfit; I gave you time. And I didn't take anything from the building wards you couldn't have. No, I was thinking of when the tempo of the fight changed, when that hotfoot I snuck in on you at the start took effect. That was when I got inside your decision loop and you lost initiative. It gave me time to rattle you, make you angry, set some traps for you to run into. If you'd just said 'fuck it', backed off, reset your attack, I'd have had to start over with a new plan to get you close, coming after you. As it was, you charged straight in on me and gave me the one shot I'd been waiting for. Game over. On the other hand, you're good. Scarey good. In a real fight I'd have done my best to blow you up in the first few seconds instead of tossing schoolboy pranks at your shoes."


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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-08 10:08 pm UTC (link)
Pandora looked at him a little blankly, the reference completely eluding her though she knew it had to be a specific reference. The only television she'd ever watched was through the windows of a store or in a store, briefly. She flapped a hand slightly. "I don't usually preload my staff," she said, gesturing to it. "It's considered poor form to do much of that on the circuit. I almost always straight up cast with it. Master Markov was very strict about that when he was teaching me." Casting with the lignum vitae wood staff with its crystalline jade fractals in the very thin middle had been a wonderful learning experience. "Generally I might put a couple of spells in it."

Dora set the blade carefully to the side and kept perfectly still as he did the spells, hands folded across her stomach as if she were relaxing on the beach rather than getting healed from some painful scrapes.

Her lips quirked at him. "No, I couldn't. You can't summon things out of that chest," she told him. "Not when the ward is activated, and I have them all on. Everything I own except for a few Galleons in the bank is in that thing." And call her paranoid, but she'd been robbed before. Someone as well off as him probably wouldn't understand, but she did more than most because she had been rich and the last years she'd spent her life scrapping up a living from nothing, using only her skills.

She listened as she examined the small cuts on her arm where the sword had nicked her above and below her knife, poking them idly to see if they were done bleeding yet. "No, I wasn't angry until you shook me like a doll," she said, not looking up. "Well, not any more angry than I normally am," she amended. "That was probably the point I'd pick where it started going wrong, mostly because I was forced to act before my rune had properly degraded your shield. The hot foot wasn't that awful, I mean, I know my feet will hurt later, but it never would have been any issue if I'd had my boots. I've had to duel naked before, I can take going barefoot." And that was a story in and of itself. Not to mention that, aside from the lack of spell-repelling gear, she preferred to go without shoes, where she didn't have to depend on a spell to feel if someone was coming.

She flashed him a fierce smile, looking up from her arm where she'd finally quit prodding the open wounds with detached curiosity. Her eyes weren't nearly as flat and focused as they had been just a few minutes ago. "Thank you. I take pride in obliterating my enemies, and I've worked hard at it," she said, speech more relaxed as well. She got both blunter and less censored as well as slightly less enunciated after a fight, generally, if she wasn't mad. She found it incredibly... relaxing, in a way, to get it out of her system like that.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-08 11:38 pm UTC (link)
Rich nodded. "What you do on the circuit is your own business. That was zen, this is dao. Any resource you can have on call is legitimate. Play with it. One other thing that sword will do for you. I had the goblins load it with the first ten sword kata. Hold the pommel to your heart and command it, 'teach me'. It will puppet you through the movements until you master them on your own. No cheating. It won't advance a level until you've mastered the one before."

He nodded. "In your bedroom upstairs there's a small box that is keyed to you personally now. You'll find the information on your Gringotts account - your new one - cheques, a charge card. There is also a commercial charge card on my working account. Get three or four of everything of your fighting gear and set it up. Carry at least one set, shrunk, with you at all time. There's also some official identification for you as a security contractor for International Exports. One of the advantages of being a partner, albeit a junior one, is that I can do things like that so it is completely legit. Keep receipts. I can even write you off as a business expense and stiff the taxman."

"Point is, you started dancing to my tune." He frowned at the mention of her feet and tapped his wand first to one and the other. Again, dragons. It was always a good idea to be able to heal burns quickly. "I can throw a general heal on you if you want. Take a few hours to work but should clear up the aches and pains and that little cut you seem so intent on playing with."

"Naked in a pitch black room. Three opponents. Them armed, you not. Been there. Hell of a graduation exam."

Richard thought for a moment longer. "Get yourself an assortment of business wear, some normal, some severe. Black on black is good. Dark sunglasses. When the schedule works out, I'll take you around with me, let people start to get used to you. Parts of Russia, your bodyguards are sort of a status symbol. 'Only one woman?' they'll ask me. 'All I need' is what I'll tell them."

"So, are you happy with the arrangement?"

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-09 09:06 am UTC (link)
She mmed softly and examined the sword again contemplatively. Training charms she had experience with. "No use in trying to cheat them anyway, you always pay for it later," she said.

Her brows raised at him from her prone position. "You know my dueling robes are top of the line, lined with dragon hide and everything, right?" She asked. "I won them as a custom job just like my staff." The subtext saying they were hellaciously expensive. If she sold her robes and staff she could have gotten on better, but they were some of her most intrinsic and valued items. She snorted softly as he mentioned shorting the taxman. Not very Hufflepuffian, she thought, but definitely something a Slytherin could sympathise with.

"I'll take that today, yes," she said though she knew better than to depend on such spells. Some pain was of the good sort, but this duel had been rigorous and it had been a couple weeks since her last bout with Filius. She did offer him her arm though, the cut vivid red and the Mark vivid black against her pale skin. Nothing he could do would affect her Mark except make it hurt, maybe.

"Dueling arena with a nearly two thousand spectators," she said dryly. Most men would likely scoff but it would have put off a lot more women than men. As it was, she'd had to deal with a lot of shit off people for quite a while.

It was almost overwhelming to suddenly have access to money and be told to buy so much stuff, but she took it with relatively good grace. "I've always enjoyed Russia," she mused aloud. "Yes," she said after thinking it over a moment. No need to be rash - that had always been her brother's purview. "I think we'll work together just fine."

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-09 02:14 pm UTC (link)
"You remember I own this building? Am partners on most of the block?" Rich snorted a soft laugh. "This is an upscale neighborhood, even if it is muggle. The big flat, up above mine? Usually rented to rich tourists for 1000 galleons a week. And this is just a sideline. Not to mention, how much is my arse worth, if yours is between it and trouble? Hufflepuffs are loyal and hardworking. Says so on the box. Stupid is nowhere in the product description."

He was silent as he ran the tip of his healing wand over the cut he had given her, the moved the wand to her head to cast a general restorative.

"Barn in bumfuck Scotland, a Death Eater and two snatchers," he said softly. "Beginning of Voldemort's reign. Had the knowledge of fighting, didn't have the experience doing it for real. I do now."

"Good." He nodded. "And it was a fun little practice. unpack, get settled in, use the hot tub up here if you need to get the rest of the kinks out. Remember everyone else but us around here is muggle if you practice on the roof. Most of 'em are used enough to me running on the streets every morning and doing kata up here so just about anything but overt magic will be fine. If you really want to blend in, and want to stay with that sleeveless look, you might consider going for a whole tattoo sleeve. The Dark Mark is startling. An entire sleeve, or two, is a fashion statement."

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-09 09:40 pm UTC (link)
"Yes, well, darling, doesn't mean you should spend that kind of money on me," she drawled, playing up the bored upper class Scots accent she'd been born into. She didn't say that her father wouldn't have sponsored her in such a manner, even if he'd been alive, around, or whatever had happened to him. "Yeah, never did buy that 'bunch of duffers' fodderall some people were selling in school," she said.

"Yeah, sucks, doesn't it," she said in the same soft voice. She felt both sympathy and a hard, sudden aversion to adding to the conversation with more than her dueling background, at least at the moment. She liked Richard; she felt a great affinity and kindred quality with him. But some things, talking about came incredibly hard to her, when she even remembered everything to do with them or not.

She sat up and then rose to her feet, feeling a few pangs through the not quite as distant haze. "Definitely fun," she agreed. She'd needed that, actually, more than she'd thought. She stretched, arms going up above her head and back arching. "I'll do my best, Richard. I've not been in the Muggle world but maybe ten times in my life, not counting managing to get here today," she said bluntly. "I've never in my life really had to hide my magic." Her parents had never taken them into the Muggle world, even though she knew her mother's job often brought her in contact there. They hadn't been blood purists, but they sure hadn't let her out in it.

Her arm curled protectively against her chest, hiding the tattoo and covering up the inner flutter of panic she felt at the unexpected suggestion. "True," she said. Then, truthfully, "I've considered getting another tattoo. I'll think on it." There was a vast and infinitely complicated morass of emotions associated with the Mark and then with tattoos, one she had yet to really delve into.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-10 02:21 am UTC (link)
"Think of yourself as an investment on my part." Rich shrugged. "Putting you on a retainer and picking up some of your equipment, which is what the official paperwork just happens to say, may or may not be cheaper in the long run than hired guns. But hired guns are just that, hired. Bringing somebody in and training them in the IE way of doing business, giving them a shot at a piece of the take... You can't buy loyalty. But even a business can earn it."

"It's a mean world out there, and getting meaner. There's still a fair number of knuts out there to be made though. Don't even know if it will work out in the long run, be cost effective for the company. Doesn't affect the agreement between you and I. But if it does work, I can see us having our own security and disaster response team on staff."

"We survived." He shrugged again. That doesn't suck. May have been a time when I wasn't too sure about that. I'm getting over it."

Rich nodded. "My time is limited, but I'll help when I can. Probably could bribe one of the bright young office assistants to drop by and give you lessons in muggleation, or you're free to find your own teacher. I'll be honest here. The wizarding world is limited. There's much more business out there for me to do with muggles. They're just people like us, use technology instead of magic, do things we can't do as a matter of fact, and have pretty much the same hopes and aims we do."


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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-10 12:24 pm UTC (link)
She nodded, conceding to him in this. She couldn't help that she ... distrust wasn't the word, but was wary about matters of money when she had so little herself currently. Pandora would work hard to earn the opportunity he was giving her, however.

"I look forward to seeing what I can do to help out," she said. Kicking a little arse for money was rather appealing; after all, it was in a variation what she'd done for several years.

She lifted one shoulder. She wasn't so sure she agreed, but she wasn't prepared to argue at the moment. Some days she would agree, but right now she was tiring and in a weird headspace.

Dora smiled at him gratefully. "I appreciate that. I'll let you know what I need in the next week or so." She agreed, at least to an extent, about the Muggle world; however, she thought the wizarding world had a lot left to offer as well.

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[info]the_richard
2014-10-10 08:27 pm UTC (link)
"Right then," Rich returned his healing wand to the sheath below his back collar. "Any other questions or problems that need to be handled now? If not, I'm for getting cleaned up and heading back to work."

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[info]pandacharms
2014-10-11 02:00 am UTC (link)
"Not right now, but thank you, Richard," she told him, giving him a broad and genuine smile. She felt the urge to hug him or kiss his cheek, but held back; she didn't yet feel familiar enough with him to risk such liberties, even meant purely in gratitude for what he was doing for her. "I'll just settle in and everything. You have a good rest of your day at work. Don't overwork yourself."

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