Dean Thomas (primal_art) wrote in whatprice, @ 2009-06-11 01:57:00 |
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Current mood: | artistic |
Entry tags: | dean thomas, fleur delacour |
Who: Fleur Weasley and Dean Thomas
When: Wednesday, June 10
Where: Shell Cottage
What: Dean comes over to do preliminary sketches for an anniversary gift and gets to talking with Fleur
Fleur was sitting outside on her bench, still as a statue. Her students were inside, working on a foot or so of parchment she'd set them from the book they'd been discussing, and Dean was taking a bit of time in the afternoon sun to do a preliminary sketch of her. It was likely to result in something more formal that Bill would receive in August on their anniversary, but this was still very preliminary, and so they were just working on the early stages of the the project now.
"So tell me about Australia," she said, careful not to move her jaw too much as she spoke in case it destroyed the line Dean was trying to draw.
Glancing between the sketchbook in his lap and Fleur, Dean tried to keep his mind on what he was doing. He was getting more in the hang of it now considering he had forgotten how easy it was to just stare at a expanse of skin he was supposed to be drawing or to 'shade' the same area on the paper. He had also forgotten just how intense it was to draw Fleur. Granted he hadn't drawn anyone with veela blood lately. Or someone he fancied who he couldn't touch for that matter. Rubbing his thumb along the curve of a cheekbone to create proper shadow, he raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Is there anything in particular you want to know about? It is a big country and I was there quite some time," he said after clearing his throat slightly.
Fleur resisted the impulse to look over at the pad in his lap. "I don't know much about it at all. Whatever you think is interesting." It was difficult sometimes. She liked Dean, but it wasn't simple with him the way it was with Percy or Neville. There was always the slight danger, the edge between kindness and cruelty, with Dean.
"The land is interesting," Dean said after a little bit of thought. "You have the coast that's green, but not green like here. With tons of cities and towns and life, but as soon as you cross the mountains..." Pausing a moment to try and get the fall of Fleur's hair right, he stuck the tip of his tongue out in concentration. "It's a whole other landscape. Deserts and scratchy grass and just heat and sun. It gives you a headache the first few days, having that sun just all the time. Even on the rare days there are clouds, it is still incredibly bright." He chuckled as he shook his head. "When it isn't the rainy season, you cross over all these 'rivers' that you only really know are rivers because there's a sign by the road. But when you look out, all you see is grooved sand and dirt and maybe a stand of trees that thrive on that little bit of water that does turn up when it rains. There's this town out in the very center. They have a 'boat' race every summer, which means that they have tubs that they cut the bottoms out of and basically run however long the race is with these 'boats' about their waists. It's actually canceled if there's any water in the river bed."
"Did you see that? That must be fascinating to watch." Not moving was getting harder, and Fleur concentrated on remaining still. "Where did you get Maya? She's very lovely, and quite friendly. I think Margaux wants to keep her."
"I caught a glimpse, but the people who I was staying with weren't entirely welcome in town," Dean said with a shrug. "I found her as a pup out by the camp. They tend to take them in as hunting dogs. Although I think a few might have a bit of magic in them. While I know wild dogs are supposed to be smarter than normal bred dogs, these... They sort of remind me a bit of the owls we have here."
"We use owls in France, but I know they use different birds in other places. There's no reason why you couldn't use other creatures the same way, if they were intelligent enough. I think Charlie's dog may be that sort of intelligent, non?"
"I would agree with you on that," Dean said with a nod. "He seems to have the same sort of intelligence as Maya. Maybe a bit more, but that could be his age balancing out his brain and his youthful exuberance. Not to mention he's more used to the smells now. Maya is still overstimulated by the surroundings I think." He glanced up to look in Fleur's eyes. "There's nothing around here that she shouldn't hunt, is there? When we were at Ginny's party, she started coming back with gnomes in her mouth. She was very proud of catching her new prey."
Fleur started to shake her head before she remembered she shouldn't. "Non, all the little creatures should be safe. She's not likely to pull up fresh plants, is she? That's more likely to get her in trouble, and more with me and the students than by making her sick."
Dean shook his head as he finished off the sketch. "She may dig in the dirt a bit, but I don't think she'll actually focus on destroying the plants," he said before frowning a bit. "Unless they're very interesting smelling plants..." Casting a spell to make sure that the sketch wouldn't smudge, he flipped over the page before looking around the grounds. "You can move a bit and get more comfortable if you like."
As soon as Dean had given her permission to move, Fleur stretched, long arms arcing gracefully away from her body, held together at the far end by her interlaced fingers. Once she'd stretched her arms, she came to her feet, rolling her neck a little. "Much better, merci. I don't think there's anything too strange-smelling, but I don't know what's strange to a dog from Australia! It was all strange enough to me when I first came to Hogwarts."
His eyes unconsciously roaming up Fleur's figure, Dean shifted slightly on his seat as he sketched a quick gesture of the movement without thinking. Clearing his throat, he lifted his shoulders in a slightly stiff shrug. "I'm sure everything is strange-smelling. We don't have most of these trees and plants down there. But I was more thinking something that may be particularly stinky. I've found that she tends to like to roll about in stinky things."
"It's mostly root vegetables, so any fascinating smells should be safely underground. She should be safe for now." Fleur turned back to Dean. "I need to check on my students. Would you like me to fetch you something while I'm in the house, or do you want to come in?"
Dean shook his head slightly, an amused smirk on his lips. "I think I'll stay out here for awhile. Maybe go for a little walk," he said, memories of when he and Luna were stuck at Shell Cottage during the war flitting through his mind.
"I'll be back in a little while." Fleur took up the shawl she'd left on the bench and took the short stair up to the porch, pausing for a moment to look back at Dean before going inside. The door closed with an audible sound, telling Dean he was alone with the outdoors, Maya, and his thoughts.
Watching Fleur leave, Dean breathed out a big sigh of relief as his body relaxed a bit. Well... most of his body. Closing his eyes, he ran his hand over his head as he sat on the bench for a few moments and wondered what to do. Finally deciding that a walk like old times sounded good, he closed his sketchbook and stood up, patting his thigh and whistling to get Maya to follow him. After wandering the gardens a bit, he struck out towards the cliffs, feeling much better with just moving and keeping his focus on the environment and the dog bolting about to check out everything around the path.
A few minutes after she'd gone in, Fleur came back out with a pair of apples. She looked around for Dean and Maya, and, catching sight of Dean on the path, made her way down to join him. "Catch," she said as she tossed one of the apples toward him.
Catching the apple relatively easily in one hand, Dean laughed when Maya tried to leap up and catch it and then started to dance around in anticipation of a game of fetch. "Thanks. I think Charlie's gone and right ruined her," he joked with a shake of his head.
"That's for your daddy and not for you," Fleur mock-scolded Maya. "I'll have to complain to Charlie if he starts spoiling my students the same way." She bit into her own apple as she joined Dean in looking out over the ocean.
Dean shook his head as Maya gave a whimper at the mock-scolding, her bouncing stopped so she could sit and look pitifully up at him. "She's been on like this ever since she got a taste of chasing that practice snitch of his," he said with obvious amusement in his voice, keeping his eyes focused away from Fleur. He had learned early in his days at Shell Cottage that it was better just not to watch her eat anything. Even if it wasn't even something phallic, the imagery was usually just enough to get his imagination going. "Any time I pick up something round that can be held in one hand, she thinks it's meant for her. I'm just glad she didn't get sick from the rubber she took from my hand while I was sketching."
"At least paint doesn't come in ball shapes. For a while Margaux was drawing with paint crayons that her grandmere sent, and Marcel kept wanting to eat them." Fleur shook her head. "Maybe you should enchant a snitch of your own, if she likes it so much."
Holding the apple down for Maya to sniff at, Dean laughed when the dingo gave a bit of a snort and looked a bit disappointed that this possible toy was actually fruit. Wiping the apple off on his shirt, he took a bite before nodding. "Paint crayons come in such wonderful color though that they must be candy. I had the some problems with my youngest brother. He tended to think my pastels were just those horrid chalky valentine heart candies. Granted, they probably tasted about the same really..." Looking down at Maya, he ruffled the fur on the top of her head. "I may have to look into it. There is certainly enough space at Seamus' and Ginny's to get good use out of it. Give her something else to chase rather than the children."
"I'd be careful about encouraging dog chase games at Ginny's. You might end up with Maya being chased and a half-dingo, half-shepherd lot of, what is the word in English? For chiots?"
Dean looked at Fleur in regards to the word, the half-dingo, half-shepherd comment being the main thing that tipped him off to what she may mean. "Puppies?" he supplied. "Dog babies?" Chuckling, he shook his head as he ruffled Maya's fur again. "She has another year before she starts giving boy dogs that sort of look and when she does start, it won't be as bad as with normal dogs. She'll only cycle once a year, so as long as I keep her locked away from any boys that may actually knock her up during that time, we shouldn't have any unexpected puppies that may cause Mircea to settle down a bit."
"Puppies." Fleur repeated the word as if it were in a foreign language, which it was to her. "Oui, baby dogs. As long as you've thought of it; I'm sure Charlie would do nothing to Mircea to prevent it other than lock her away from a breeding female."
"Well, puppies aren't such a bad thing. I'm certain that Ginny wouldn't mind having a brood of them toddling about her farm." Dean chuckled as he looked out towards the sea again. "I'm also certain that Margaux would do all in her power to ensure that Mircea and Maya were in the right place at the right time too, if it meant she may get a cute little puppy."
"If you suggest that to her, I might have to hex you." It was said in a joking tone, but then Fleur added more seriously, "I'm not sure we can have a dog."
Dean held his hands up in mock surrender before taking a bite of his apple. "I would never think of putting bad ideas in small children's heads," he said warmly. "I've already had my fair share of punishments for that." A look of confusion crossed over his face, wondering if it was something about being part Veela before he remembered the other part of their family. "Bill?"
Fleur nodded. "It would have to be a very submissive dog, I think. And with him travelling so much, I think it wouldn't be wise."
Dean nodded in agreement. "If it were submissive enough not to take control when the Alpha isn't around, it likely wouldn't do with the stress of having a member of its pack absent so often... Either it would feel nervous constantly about not having the head dog about or it would just associate you as Alpha and feel threatened every time Bill comes back..."
"Exactement. And having the students come and go would be bad for it too. Too much stress. So no chiots--puppies--for Margaux any time soon." Fleur sighed and took another bite of her apple.
"Especially if those puppies were part dingo. There is still a bit of wild in them," Dean said before glancing over at Fleur. "How are the students doing in there?"
"They're on break now, having their tea. I made it while I was fetching the apples. I've parchments to mark up tonight after you go."
"If you need a distraction so that you can do more work before they go home, I can always watch over them while they have a bit of creative time," Dean suggested. "Give me a bit of practice if Ginny gets this school she was talking about going and drags me into doing classes for her."
"They don't go home overnight, except for Hyancinth. She lives in the village. But if you wanted to show them how to draw for a time this afternoon, I'd appreciate it." Fleur smiled.
"I'd happily show them," Dean said with a grin. "Children should have a bit of art in their life, even if they may not be perfect at it."
Fleur finished the last bite of her apple, leaving only the core, which she held aside to compost in her garden. "Oui. I argued for adding art to the curriculum at Hogwarts, but they insisted that there was no time for it in the schedule. Perhaps they should add another year to schooling, non?"
"There is always time for art," Dean said with a shake of his head. "They could have easily rearranged classes, shortened a few, and made an activity hour. A place to have art or even just a proper meeting time for clubs."
"If we go through that process again, I will be more insistent. Also, I think Percy supports a broader curriculum, so that will help when the time comes."
"Considering the state of the world right now, I would say a broader curriculum is in order," Dean said with a nod. "If you want an outside opinion on the matter when things start to be rebuilt, I can ask my mother about the matter. She's a primary school teacher, so she is full of opinions on the matter."
She liked the way Dean phrased that. When, not if they rebuilt. "I shall have to ask her, when the time comes. And talk to the teachers at Beauxbatons once more."
"I'll warn you know, she will talk your ear off," Dean joked warmly before he nodded towards the house. "Should we head in before the children get bad ideas of games they can play with the teacups and biscuits?"
"They don't have wands yet, so there's only so much they can do. But yes, let's go in." Fleur turned to lead Dean back up to the cottage, accepting that he might walk up a bit more slowly than she did.