InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "it's hard to let it go"

r. lupin (tufty) wrote in silverage,
@ 2011-07-30 13:01:00

Entry tags:

!log, lily evans, remus lupin

time warp
Who: Remus Lupin + Lily Evans
When: Maybe half an hour after this
Where: NYCWC Cafeteria
What: Remus rushes to see if this "Lily Evans" over the boards is just screwing with him.
Rating/status: ~PG/finished.

As Remus stepped off the short set of steps leading up to the antique shop, he turned again and clasped hands with the owner who was just about twelve years his senior. "Thank you for the interview, Mr. Townsend."

"Thank you, too," Townsend said to him with a tight smile. "You'll definitely hear from us again, Mr. Snape."

"All right."

Their hands parted, and before Remus knew it, the moment his potential employer had disappeared, he was walking briskly towards the corner to the closest alley, almost bumping into a woman with her groceries. "Sorry," he breathed to her with half his brain. It was quite unlike him, but he couldn't help him. An hour ago, faced with a bulletin board in the shop, waiting for his name to be called with Gwen Harkness' words in mind, he began wondering how the magical thing worked and decided to try it out, even if it could give his location away to a couple of evil-doers. He reckoned it worked almost the same way as a map he had done during his younger years but...a little less complicated and intelligent, but superb nonetheless. That was when a certain female had introduced herself as Lily Evans.

The Lily Evans?

So many questions took root from there and it was difficult not to think about them during his job interview. Why Evans? Why not Potter? How did she get here? Who did she come with? How about Harry? And then later: is she really his Lily Evans? It was a rather common-sounding name to start with...

But just the same, the possibilities of the combination coming from a lost woman couldn't be endless, could it? He pondered this as he marched deeper into the alley and spun round his heels, images of his room in the Welcome Center flashing in his mind as the ground beneath his feet crumbled away and the sound of a vacuum sucked into his ear.

Crack!

He dumped his faked documents in his bed the moment he recognized his door across of him and he all but bolted out of it. He kept himself in check as he walked down the halls, greeted Millie with a small smile and hurried down to the cafeteria where this Lily Evans told him they'd meet. He didn't know when other stayers of the Center went down for meals and wondered if there would be one too many red-haired females for him to choose from.

But spotting her had been easy enough. The frame of her shoulders, the shape of her head, even from the back, these were sights that were all so familiar to him, it didn't even seem like he'd missed them, not when he was so aware of them. Wondering if he looked well enough, Remus breathed in as he walked closer to her, then clearing his throat, he said to her: "Hullo, New York."

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

tufty
2011-08-01 02:13 pm UTC (link)

"Just..." Remus shook his head a little as if to shrug, "...work. Paid work. Nothing too extravagant or ambitious, perhaps something that won't be too demanding, either, if to give me an escape for those nights." Tossing his hair back a little, he said, "You know, looking for work here is much easier than back home. The Muggles are ignorant, there is nothing that is forcing me to reveal what I truly am. I had actually just come from an interview a while ago. A small antique shop which I suspect is home to many boggarts."

Taking up his fork, he pierced at the sharp end of the cake and scooped it off. "I do wonder if it would be enough to rent me a house..." He ate his cake piece. "Augh-- bloody hell, this is awful."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-01 02:22 pm UTC (link)

Lily imagined that if Muggles knew what to look for, he'd be spotted eventually, but she didn't suppose they did. "Best of luck with that then," Lily murmured. "I imagine that would suit. That, or the library," she suggested, a hint of a smile on her lips. She thought it was a shame she hadn't thought of that for herself first; she could quietly sort books. Instead, she was ... well, where she was. For now, at least. She still liked to imagine that some morning she'd be back home and not here.

"A house would be nice," she agreed, though she hadn't for a moment aspired that high. A flat seemed ... less long term to her. A house seemed like an 'I live here now' commitment, and she was determined to go at least three months before she reached that point. She thought it was a fairly realistic goal, and she wondered if she'd meet it or if she'd give up before then.

She grinned at his reaction to the cake. "Your tastes must be more discriminating than mine," she teased him. It wasn't the best she'd ever had, but it wasn't horrible.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tufty
2011-08-01 02:53 pm UTC (link)

Remus opened his mouth to protest, but he shut it, anyway, in favor for a curled smile of sorts, something akin to a smirk, maybe. "Well, I don't suppose it can be helped." All in the way of being a werewolf, he thought.

Anyway, food was food, and he knew how not to waste it. After having more tea, he devoured half his cake. "We should probably make a plan for ourselves for now. Find a job, find a place to move to," especially him, "and then find a way to stay in contact with each other. And then...look for a way back home."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-01 03:15 pm UTC (link)

Hadn't she tried that, just a moment ago? "I still think we should move in together. Once we've saved up a comfortable cushion. Enough to handle a couple of months' rent, at any rate, just in case something does happen." After all, she couldn't really see anyone kicking them out of the welcome center, not if they were working and proving they were trying to get established.

"It just makes sense," she insisted. "Why should we look for separate places and get stuck with unknown roommates when we can just live with each other and split rent in a nice flat we both like?"

Lily exhaled quietly. If he was going to insist they not live together, she wouldn't push him. "We could make mirrors," she replied. "Like the ones James and Sirius made in school. I'd like to try that, regardless, in case I need someone to talk to and be my voice of reason while I'm at work." She'd have to be careful, of course, but she was sure she could find quiet places to use it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tufty
2011-08-01 03:36 pm UTC (link)

"Because I do not want you hurt!" Remus said almost sharply although his features remained flat for the most part. "Lily, I can't tell you how much I would love to share a flat with you, but if that will put you at risk during...during those nights, then I would much rather you stay with a stranger. You're safer there."

It was only after his quick explosion that Remus realized his behavior and he sighed as he cut up his cake, again. "We should just stick with the mirrors," he said to his plate, almost mumbling to it. "I might remember how James and Sirius did them."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-01 03:47 pm UTC (link)

Lily stared at him. "Then go somewhere else on those nights," she suggested. "It's bloody ridiculous to not live with me for 29 days out of a month because of the one night you're not yourself. If you lived with someone else, you'd rather they be the ones in danger then? At least I know what you become." Not first-hand, of course, because James hadn't allowed her anywhere near them on full moon nights, and she wouldn't have disrespected Remus' privacy, anyway.

"I'm not taking no as an answer. Not if that's your only reason for leaving me to a stranger. And I'll tell James when he shows up," she "threatened", though there was a playful edge to it. "Remus," she said softly. "Just ... think about it, all right?"

She studied him quietly before reaching out for his hand, squeezing it gently. "We'll do the mirrors either way," she said quietly. "In case we run into something when we're out and about."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tufty
2011-08-01 04:00 pm UTC (link)

Remus had been keen to protest but there was something in the way Lily looked and something in the way that she sounded that reduced him to simply biting the inside of his lips. What she said made sense, of course. Live with her for 29 days, go away for the one day he was to shift...but go away where? The woods, maybe, if he ever does find one, or in some indistinct corner of New York where he could change and hope no one drops by to visit him.

To solve this problem, he really thought that a Shrieking Shack would do it. Less danger, less maintenance if he has to pay upkeep for both places, less worry...but less help. That was the best part about having a flatmate. He could have someone to look after him after his transformation and someone to help him hide or clean-up his mess.

He really missed his friends right now...

"All right," he said to Lily's hand, his fingers curling loosely around hers. "I will." Lily was the closest thing he could get for his friends and as a friend; and right about now, a friend was exactly what he needed, and really wanted.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-01 04:21 pm UTC (link)

Lily regarded him for a moment before she nodded. She was a little surprised he'd agreed so quickly, but then she recalled she was dealing with the Marauder that actually listened to logic and reason. "Good," she said softly. "That's settled then. We'll find a place in the meantime. Somewhere safe you can go when you turn." Then, after they each had some money, they'd work on finding a cheap-but-nice flat to call their own until such time as they were returned home. It wasn't her idea of perfection, but it was the best solution for this place.

She released his hand to return to the business of her cake. "I have to go out tomorrow and get some things to wear for work. I can pick up a couple of mirrors then, if you'd like," she offered. She reasoned she'd get a compact; that wouldn't look at all out of place. She'd just have to be careful not to lose it or lend it.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tufty
2011-08-02 01:47 am UTC (link)

Remus was still not entirely convinced that he should be living with Lily, and he did much prefer finding a small house all for himself, but if Lily knew of this opinion, then he was sure neither of them would see any end to it. Best to leave it for some other time, maybe when Lily is a little less stubborn. He'll have to think about the whole arrangement, anyway.

Now if James or Sirius or Peter or maybe some other Order member would just drop by for a permanent visit, then things would be much better...

"All right. You know mirrors better than I do," Remus said as he finished his cake, leaving most of the icing on the plate. "Shall I come with you, though? Anyhow, I am looking for work...and a place," he said quickly and added just as swiftly, "I don't have much longer to stay in the Centre."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-02 01:59 am UTC (link)

"Is there a time limit on how long we can stay?" She frowned lightly, wondering if that really was the case. She could understand, certainly, if people were just being layabouts, but people who were actually trying, and working? No one had mentioned to her, or if they had, she'd missed it.

Leaning forward, she swiped a finger through the icing left on his plate, sucking it lightly off her finger. "It'll be dull. I have to do ... a bit of shopping. Find things appropriate for work. You don't have to." She thought she'd see if she could find a sturdy pocket mirror for him. Something manly. If she failed there, she supposed he could likely transfigure a compact into something that suited better.

"We can find a place together. Next weekend," she suggested before swiping her fingertip across his plate again. "You could pop around for jobs in the morning. Definitely try the library," she encouraged. "If nothing else is panning out."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tufty
2011-08-02 02:17 am UTC (link)

Remus gave her a mock look of disapproval, a friendly eying of sorts, as he moved aside her tea cup and pushed forward his plate. "Next weekend, then," he said to agree. If they found a place at that weekend, then everything would work out for him. If not, he supposed he could just confund a poor Muggle hermit and steal his home for a couple of nights...

Still, at least now, he had something to look forward to...aside from the next full moon.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

just_lily
2011-08-02 02:27 am UTC (link)

"Brilliant," she declared with a contented smile. Whether or not they found a place, they could at least get an idea of what was out there, and what it was going to cost a month, and what they'd need to afford. Still, a lot could happen in a week, so she was hopeful and optimistic.

Content enough to let the conversation drift to more pleasant topics, Lily was simply pleased that one of her friends was here. Now, if only James would show up ...

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -