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michael corner is reluctantly growing up (mlcorner) wrote in pandorarpg,
@ 2012-01-15 22:04:00

Entry tags:

!status: complete, ^date: november 12 2003, character: anthony goldstein, character: michael corner

Characters: Michael Corner & Anthony Goldstein
Setting: Anthony's flat, 12 November 2003, 7:00pm
Rating: PG-13 for language and possible arguing
Summary: Big kid sleepover! Memory speculation, zombie invasion, muggle warning system, BFF arguing, & moaning about The Lavender Situation.

Michael was exhausted and it wasn't even really fulfilling considering that there was still a tremendous amount of work to be done in the streets of Diagon Alley and elsewhere in the Wizarding World. He'd spent most of the day at the Leaky Cauldron trying his best to keep the mindless bodies from destroying the place and whatever other nearby building he could help defend. It was grueling work, especially considering it took them ages to realise that so many of their spells weren't affecting them in any way. Michael could barely believe that just the night before he had been worried about such menial things like Lavender being in his flat and now there were mindless bodies roaming all over the place. With all the shite they already had to deal with, why would they get more added on top of it all?

Now he only wished that the situation with Lavender staying at his flat was one of his only problems. Really that problem had escalated tenfold just last night when she decided to say those words he could not handle hearing. None of it probably would have happened if he had just kept his intentions to himself but he never knew when to keep his mouth shut and leave things be. Michael was smart, but he never seemed to learn with Lavender - he was constantly tripping up because she was always throwing him for a loop.

And then there was Anthony Goldstein, his best mate he could always rely on, regardless of whether or not he said extremely stupid shite he knew he was going to regret later. Because unlike Lavender, Anthony had been with him for twelve years and knew him backward and forward even if Michael liked to pretend that he could still fool him. And even now knowing that there was a pretty good chance that Anthony was going to call him out on some of the things he'd said in the journals, Michael still wanted that comfort of being with him even if a row could be involved. Because even arguing with Anthony felt like something familiar and home to him, unlike how he had felt with Lavender invading his space the past few days and that was exactly what he needed right now. So he may not need to stay at Anthony's, but it was something he wanted to do anyway, since he wanted to consult with him about the memory obliviation idea that had crossed his mind when he was talking about the potions with Lavender. There was no one better to talk to about it with than Anthony. And of course with all the mindless bodies wandering the streets, he wanted to check in with his friend anyhow.

These were all valid reasons for him to show up at Anthony's flat around seven that evening. Rather than knock he just opened the door because it was essentially an extension of his own place in most ways and Anthony had learned to set his wards to include Michael if he did not want to deal with an incessant amount of whinging. Unlike at Michael's flat where he might actually be shagging someone, there was no need to worry about Anthony entertaining since he was still so adverse to such things. It was really rather sad and Michael had to get him a shag at some point. "Honey, I'm home! I hope you aren't wanking in here!" Michael called as he closed the door behind him and tossed his bag on the floor near the sofa.

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mlcorner
2012-01-20 06:40 am UTC (link)

Michael chewed on his lip, nodding to Anthony's words. He knew that he was just giving in because he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Anthony never was one for confrontation and it wasn't like Michael enjoyed it but he wouldn't give up just because it was his friend; he had to try and get through to people whereas Anthony always knew when to draw the line with Michael or get stuck arguing forever. It was another reason why Michael respected him so much.

He wanted to get rid of this bad air between them, the awkwardness he hadn't meant to create, so he fished around in his brain for something to say. He knew it would still seem awkward regardless, but he didn't want to go back to his flat. Even with this having happened, he still wanted to be here because being with Anthony just made sense, disagreeing or no. When they had an argument, it wasn't so sodding confusing that Michael wanted to punch a bloody wall - it was just genuine disagreement between them. Everything he'd had with Lavender just fogged his mind so much that it made him feel crazy and he didn't want that; he just wanted simple. Finally he settled on something, though the subject wasn't ideal, and asked, "How did you sleep last night?"

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logiclogiclogic
2012-01-20 07:44 am UTC (link)

Sleep was always a very temperamental thing for Anthony. He'd never had very good habits for it, always staying up late to study or to read something, and these nightmares had only pushed him towards that more. He tended to stay up much later than was probably good what with having to wake up early for work the next day, and didn't got to bed until he couldn't keep his eyes open. Even with Michael's potion, it still wasn't the ideal sort of sleep he'd want, but there was a certain bit of ease in not waking up feeling as if he'd been tortured to death. Even if he had been watching someone else suffer.

"Better," he answered, though he wasn't sure yet if he was liking the topic change. It was better than the awkward air that had hung around them following his submission, but it was still a bit close to the reason they had even been arguing to begin with, the nightmares, his possibly impending death... Regardless, he wouldn't have felt right about Michael leaving, so it was just best to move on. Even if they were going to be talking about him. Which he hated. "I took the potion. It wasn't as... as vivid."

Which was a severe understatement if ever he could make about this, but Anthony hadn't actually told Michael what his nightmare entailed for a reason, and he had absolutely no plans to do so now. Not telling meant it was one less reason for Michael to feel like he needed to save him, or to worry even more about what might happen. "So it worked the way you said it should."

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mlcorner
2012-01-20 07:13 pm UTC (link)

Michael perked up a bit at hearing this, even if he did try to pretend that he wasn't extremely excited to hear it. It was brilliant to hear that his friends may have found some relief from the nightmares, even if it wasn't all that great. "Really?" he asked, despite the fact that he'd heard just fine.

"Well that's brilliant. I mean, not really because it's still not a good fix and it's still temporary and obviously you still experienced the nightmare in some capacity, but it's better than nothing, yeah?" Michael walked back into the living room to his bag so he could pull out a notebook and scribble some notes in it about this. It was important that he document as much information as possible about each potion, especially when they were experimental and being testing by only a few people. He'd need to hear as much as he could from each person who was willing to talk to him. He knew Anthony wouldn't want to give him a lot of detail because he didn't want to worry him with the details of his nightmares and Michael wasn't going to press him for it, but maybe the others would give him more details. He knew about Lavender's dreams so maybe she'd tell him exactly how different her's turned out to be.

"I don't think there could be anyway to adjust this one to do anything better," Michael said, mostly talking to himself, though still he spoke aloud. He began to ramble, not really noticing if Anthony was paying him any attention. "It is only going to affect the person who is doing the dreaming and the problem is not the person's mind, but rather the foreign memory attaching to it. And what about what Ron said about the spot actually being the memory itself? We know that she is killing everyone to get the memories, so that means she has to kill you to release the memory, but what if we were to simulate death in some way - would that have the same affect on the memory and release it?"

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logiclogiclogic
2012-01-20 09:12 pm UTC (link)

"Can't really argue against it having been better," Anthony only said with a nod, taking his time in following Michael back into the living room and reclaiming his previous seat on the sofa. "Even with it being... what it was." Logically, he guessed that he should tell Michael, if only for the sake of his notes on it, but he just couldn't. It was one of those things he just couldn't be logical on.

Anthony listened to Michael think out loud, sure that he didn't really have all that much to contribute towards any potions talk. He'd done well enough in it during school, sure, but it was one of those things that Michael didn't realise he was actually much better at than Anthony. For him, passing had been much more about remembering the directions and following them precisely, but Michael actually liked messing around with potions, all the experimental ideas only proved that.

Reaching over to pick up on of the books he'd had on the coffee table, he paused to think on that question, assuming it wasn't rhetorical. "Unless there's some sort of special requirements in how to kill the person, it might." Though he sincerely hoped there were no complications in even that. Could they have one thing about this just be simple and straightforward?

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mlcorner
2012-01-20 10:52 pm UTC (link)

Michael looked over at Anthony when he spoke - he had not really realised that he had been speaking out loud. But what Anthony said made some sense and also made him grimace a bit. "Wait, you mean like...kill you the way you're being tortured in the nightmares?" Michael chewed on his lip again and considered this thoughtfully. If this were the case there would be no way for them to really simulate death because they couldn't do that to the DA members.

But then he had a thought. "No, wait! We can find out for certain if that's true! Lavender spoke to Penelope about her dream. She sent it in signed, so we know what her dream was about - and well, Ron saw how she was murdered, so we can see if they matched. If not then at least we'll know that we haven't got that to worry about. I certainly hope not - like we haven't got enough to worry about as is..." Michael turned the page in his notebook and scribbled some more things down about this different topic, murmuring a bit to himself as he did. They really did need to have a meeting soon, especially now that they were getting attacked by armies of mindless bodies.

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logiclogiclogic
2012-01-21 06:53 am UTC (link)

Anthony only shrugged, not really liking the idea if it turned out to be true -- and, oh, he really hoped that was not the case at all because his didn't happen to be pleasant in the least bit.

Having knowledge about Penelope's death and how it matched up to her nightmare would definitely be helpful in that regard and Anthony's eyebrows raised when Michael brought that up. "Right, no, that's definitely good plan. It's a very, very good plan." Of course, that had a bit of Anthony's own personal interest speaking, but that really couldn't be helped with the topic of conversation. He'd been trying, though.

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mlcorner
2012-01-21 09:19 pm UTC (link)

Michael took note that he would need to speak with both Ron and Lavender about Penelope, either separately or at the meeting, whenever they decided when it would be. "We need to have a meeting soon. After all this happening outside, we've got to figure something out. If more shite like this is going to happen while we are having to deal with these memories, well we are going to have a bit of trouble getting to an answer when we've got to deal with extra problems like this. Do you think it's related?" Michael asked Anthony, looking over at him for the first time since he'd sat down. "Do you think that it has to do with Pandora - all these inferi or whatever they are? It makes me wonder, because these memories are memories but they don't act like normal memories and these inferi don't act like normal inferi so it just seems like her again. But is this what she's about now? Just trying to cause havoc for havocs sake?"

Michael thought that all they'd have to deal with when it came to Pandora was her killing people for memories. He never really expected anything else to occur.

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logiclogiclogic
2012-01-22 12:41 am UTC (link)

"It could be?" Anthony shrugged a bit, frowning in thought as he considered the question being posed. "I mean, the timing of it is suspicious enough that I think there's a very real possibility of it being related in some way." He thought on it a bit more. "And if it is, let's hope there's an actual purpose to it besides general havoc wreaking as I would much prefer there being a reason behind the chaos if there has to be chaos at all."

As it was, Anthony was highly considering the idea of staying inside his flat more so than usual. He supposed, though, that it came in handy that he could always Floo into work tomorrow if he had to. And he sincerely hoped the woman had nothing else on her agenda besides getting her memories back. That would be much preferable.

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