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Tweak says, "why so sullen edward cullen?"

Andrew Kirke (dragondrums) wrote in reduxpitch,
@ 2016-10-14 23:15:00

Entry tags:

!thread, character: elise kirke, retired character: andrew kirke

Who: Andrew and Elise Kirke.
What: Halloween Costume Shopping (Part 2).
Where: Magical costume shop, somewhere.
When: Friday 14th October, afternoon.

After his rather disturbed night, Andrew was grateful to have Friday off. Instead of going for a run, he'd stayed in bed until Evan had to leave for his 10am lecture and had then headed to the gym. Focusing on weights, then swimming, had helped to clear his mind of the nerves about meeting Elise again in person. They'd had two journal conversations, now, which had been fine - but which hadn't exactly inspired Andrew with any brotherly feeling. He knew he should be patient, but it was a virtue he struggled with, and waiting to see whether his feelings changed wasn't doing anything at all to help with the nerves. He felt unsettled, and talking about it had so far only done so much.

After a light lunch, he didn't have very long to wait before he met Elise. He spent that time in front of the mirror, frowning at his hair as he tried to make it behave. Once he'd got it perfect, he grabbed his leather jacket without thinking and headed out the door. He'd thought about inviting Elise to Panquake House, possibly even to talk to Nina before they went shopping, but had decided it felt overwhelming - though whether for himself or Elise or both, Andrew wasn't sure.

Having had an entirely free day to prepare, Andrew was slightly early. He leaned against the wall of the train station for a moment before pulling out his wand to cast a warming charm on his clothes. It was, sadly, getting to that time of year when it was too cold not to.

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elise_kirke
2016-10-17 10:04 am UTC (link)

Elise had remembered that Andrew had complimented her jacket when they had first met but she hadn't thought of that when she had gotten ready this morning. She just knew that it was a sort of comfort for her to wear it when she had situations she wasn't completely comfortable in. "Great minds think alike I guess?" she said with a small shrug.

Thinking over his question she sighed, "Does everyone wear magical costumes to the Quake party? That's the only one for sure that I was invited to. Being just out of Hogwarts I've gotten the opportunity to really celebrate Halloween if that makes sense?" Running a hand through her hair she laughed a bit, "I'm no help whatsoever am I?"

Finally making a decision she continued, "How about since you went to the muggle one yesterday, why don't we go to a magical one today? I'm intrigued to see what is all out there and maybe one of us can get some inspiration?" Looking over at him she wasn't sure how to continue the conversation on, it wasn't like they were even friends yet, or really even acquaintances, he was a stranger. "Do you have many parties this year?"

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dragondrums
2016-10-17 03:19 pm UTC (link)

"Apparently," Andrew agreed. He was fairly sure there was no such thing as a genetic predisposition to wearing leather jackets. Andrew almost made a joke about Byron having one as well, but caught himself. He'd seen Byron around enough to know that a leather jacket wouldn't look totally out of place in his wardrobe, and if he did have one, Andrew really didn't want to make a big fuss about it.

He shook his head. "No, it's a pretty good mix. Magical costumes, muggle costumes, people who can't be bothered with a costume." Not to mention people who'd lost their costumes since they arrived, whose only nod at a costume had been a hat they'd since taken off or who'd come straight from another party. He nodded. "Yeah, no one really went in for costumes at Hogwarts. I guess there wasn't much need, with us all being dressed as witches and wizards already." The question suddenly made Andrew wonder if Elise had much muggle heritage on her mother's side. "Is your mum a witch?"

Magical worked well for Andrew, so he nodded. "We can floo from the Three Broomsticks?" he suggested. They could apparate, but the floo just seemed easier. "Well, I've got Quake's, and I think Nina said something about a charity thing we were all invited to but I don't remember the date." He paused, slightly, before adding, "And I think I need something for my birthday, but that's a few more weeks away."

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elise_kirke
2016-10-17 04:35 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah she is. She's a healer," Elise explained when he asked about her mother. "What about your mother? Are you two close?" She would had to think that he wasn't close to either of his parents when she was fairly close to both of hers. Although right now she felt she wasn't close at all to her father, like he was some new stranger to her.

When he suggested using the floo from the Three Broomsticks she nodded and started walking with him that way. It felt, well not completely uncomfortable, but not extremely awkward at the same time. She wished at this point that she could read his mind and figure out what he really felt about her, and if she was trying for something that he didn't even want.

She was about to talk more about the costumes when he mentioned his birthday. As a fan of Quake she probably should have known that his birthday was soon but she hadn't thought of that. Was she supposed to get him something or would that be trying to hard? "Oh is it? Do you have big plans?"

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dragondrums
2016-10-17 06:24 pm UTC (link)

Andrew should definitely have guessed what route their conversation would go down as soon as he mentioned Elise's mother. He wasn't sure he was ready to talk about Fiona yet. He'd only recently started to talk to Evan about how his mum objected to him talking about magic. There was no way he was going to reveal that particular tension to Elise. "We were," he said, consciously choosing not to lie completely, no matter how tempting it was to say they were still as close as they'd ever been. "She taught me music." He shrugged, leading Elise towards the pub. "It's... more difficult now." It was more than Andrew would have said to most near-strangers.

"Sixth of November," Andrew said. "That's my actual birthday, but Evan's taking me somewhere, so I'm going to have a party later. It'll give everyone a chance to recover from Halloween, anyway." He paused while he gave Elise the correct floo address for the shop and they stepped into the flames one after another, emerging in a medium-sized shop with costumes hung on every wall. "I've got a surprise from Evan, and Aisling's got a concert that week so we're going to that, and Halloween's right before it. So... lots of plans."

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elise_kirke
2016-10-17 07:21 pm UTC (link)

Elise looked at the ground more or less as they walked. She really shouldn't have asked about his mom, but she was hoping for some good news about him. At the confession about his mom and him not being close anymore she frowned, Merlin he just couldn't win could he? "I'm sorry," she mumbled, because in all actuality, what else was there that she could say? Sorry both of your parents apparently suck ass? That didn't seem nice.

Happy for the necessary break in conversation the floo provided she quickly stepped in and gave the address. Once arriving she stepped into the store, but not to far that he couldn't see her when he arrived. She was mesmerized at the different things in the store that she could see and was so excited. Finally turning to look at him she smiled, "That sounds like a lot of fun! I hope you enjoy yourself." She really meant it. If anyone needed some good honest distractions from reality she figured it was Andrew, followed then by herself. Greeting the salesperson she started slowly looking at things, "What is your favorite costume you've ever done?"

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dragondrums
2016-10-18 09:10 am UTC (link)

Andrew shrugged away the apology. It wasn't Elise's fault. Though, he doubted telling his mother about Elise was going to make things any better. He hoped she wouldn't do as Ginny had predicted and take it out on Andrew when he delivered the news. He didn't think she would, and she already disliked magic so much that Andrew wasn't sure that could get worse either.

Instead of dwelling on that, Andrew gratefully allowed the conversation to be diverted to his birthday plans. "Evan's ideas are usually great," he said, "and he seems excited about this one so I think it must be good." He tried to remember another surprise, to demonstrate how good they were, but he wasn't sure any of them would really translate for Elise. They were kind of in-jokes, usually. "He took me to this amazing glass workshop and we got to make our own marble." Andrew thought glassblowing was pretty cool and unique even if you didn't understand the significance, but then again maybe he'd been corrupted by Evan. He honestly couldn't remember if he'd have thought glassblowing was cool before. "Are you seeing anyone?" he asked, hoping the question wasn't too weird. He figured he would have been perfectly comfortable asking a stranger, so there was no reason not to ask Elise.

"That is a very hard question," Andrew complained. "Specifically Halloween costume? Apparently I'm the only person who thinks Halloween costumes should be of scary things." He reviewed his last few Halloween costumes. "Do you know The Nightmare Before Christmas?" he asked. "I went as the main character from that my first year out of school. I mostly made the costume myself, but I got this little ghost dog prop from here, so I thought that was pretty cool." Being a wizarding prop, it had really looked like the ghost of a dog.

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elise_kirke
2016-10-18 01:32 pm UTC (link)

Looking over at him while he talked about Evan, she wondered if having Evan here might make things easier, or like the first time it would just end up making things much more awkward. Not that it was Evan's intention in the first place to do such a thing, but it had happened. Maybe a party who knew both of them well would help control the awkward conversation along. Oh well, she really couldn't change anything now. "That actually sounds really fascinating. I've never seen it done but I bet you have to be pretty talented to do something like that yeah?"

When he asked if she was seeing anyone she couldn't help but be reminded of the events that happened prior in the week with her celebrity crush, Mr. Oliver Wood, right as she passed a sexy quidditch player costume. What she would give for a hot and heavy session with him. "No I'm not," she attempted to reply casually," I never really saw anyone in classes I was interested in back at Hogwarts," unless you counted one of the Professors. Running her hands over a color changing costume she wondered if that was weird at all, to not really be dating anyone at that moment. She really didn't think so.

"I think I saw that movie one summer. The tall character is very tall and lanky right? It was such a different concept I remember being intrigued by it. I should really watch it again," she said with a smile. Looking through the different costumes she wasn't sure how scandalous she wanted to go with her costume. Yes she wanted to look cute but she wanted to have some decency. "How many wizards do you think buy the Muggle witch and warlock costumes and wear them around for Halloween Something about that I find funny."

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dragondrums
2016-10-19 08:45 am UTC (link)

Andrew thought back to the glassworkshop and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, Evan and I managed to turn the glass in the furnace, and make a marble, but the woman who showed us was so much quicker, and I don't think marbles are that complicated. Some of the things she had for sale were amazing. Animals and figures and all sorts." He was so focused on saying all the right things to Elise - or at least, not saying the wrong thing - that he'd forgotten to even look at the costumes. He knew what he wanted, in general, but was struggling to find anything that lived up to his expectations. "We went to a sweet factory as well," he added. "Evan likes seeing how things are made."

It only occurred to Andrew after he'd asked that a real older brother might be expected to look out for Elise's welfare with people she dated, or something. Then again, Evan didn't really seem to do that with Daisy, so maybe Andrew's complete disinclination to interfere in Elise's love-life wasn't a bad sign. "I never dated before Evan," he said. "Actually, we're not dating. We're..." He waved a hand to indicate a whole mass of feelings and discussions and in-jokes. "I don't know what word we're using anymore. We're together." He paused in front of a very authentic (if larger-than-life) Cornish Pixie costume, then dismissed it. "I don't really know... how to be a brother," he said, realising the topic was coming out of nowhere, but trying to take Toby's advice and actually talk about it. "If that's even what I'm supposed to be doing here."

Her description of Jack Skellington was pretty apt, so Andrew nodded. "Even for people who haven't seen the movie, it's obviously a Halloween-themed costume, so it worked pretty well. I'll bet there are cinemas that are showing the film around now. We could go. Take Evan and - Byron, maybe?" At least, with a film, they wouldn't all need to talk very much. He snorted when Elise mentioned dressing up in muggle witch and wizard costumes. "I was going to suggest that to someone on the journals," he said. "I can't remember who now." The words did give him an idea, though, for his evolving costume.

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elise_kirke
2016-10-19 10:52 am UTC (link)

Elise was going to say something about his comment on Evan and his relationship status but then he walk talking about them more or less and it gave her pause. While it was good to know that he also had no clue how to go about this whole situation, it did make her feel a bit guilty about her trying to force him into some sort of relationship between them when he didn't want anything. It wasn't fair that they kept tip-toeing around it, talking about their feelings was the best way to handle it.

"I'll be honest I don't have an endgame planned out for this. Merlin I haven't even talked to our father about it yet so certainly I'm not expecting you to all of a sudden have all these brotherly feelings towards me, if ever," she said looking over at him. "Besides, not all siblings get along anyways. I just want to get to know you Andrew, to see if you are someone I can get along with, be friends with. If, at that point we can become friends, we will take it from there." Was it oversimplifying things? Perhaps, but really that's how she was looking at it. It was like getting to know a new friend, or someone you were dating, they just happened to share the same father. "If you don't want anything to do with me, that's fine. I don't want to force this on you, Andrew." Did people call him anything other than Andrew?

A bright costume caught her eye and she walked over to see what it was. It was a colorful phoenix costume that shimmered in the light. She ran her fingers over her fabric as he mentioned going to see the film, "That would be fun. I remember the songs being quite catchy, I think Byron would like that." It made her smile though at the thought that they had both thought along the same lines, "I mean wearing my Slytherin outfit to a Muggle party would just make me look overly creative no?"

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