Zacharias Smith (wirelesswizard) wrote in whatprice, @ 2009-09-18 16:51:00 |
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Current mood: | curious |
I get to run mysterious errands
Who: Zach Smith and Eris Duchamp (NPC - Warrington's assistant)
What: A Secret Delivery & Drinks
Where: The Wireless office in Diagon Alley & the Leaky Cauldron
When: Thursday, September 17, 2009
Rating: PG/PG13 Gentlemanly conduct
Status: Log, Complete
Zach sat in the Diagon Alley office. The move had gone fiarly well, though he still had a second office somewhere as a contingency plan. The evening broadcast had gone out and he was working on an editorial about the new regime.
Eris eyed the door to Zach's office carefully. Chris had been fairly explicit with the directions, as he normaly was, but she knew there had just been a move and, honestly, hoped this wasn't going to take all night. She sighed and knocked on the door.
"Come in," Zach called, looking up, wondering who was coming by at this late hour. Hopefully it wasn't one of those old witches wanting to set him up with a daughter or niece.
Eris let herself in. "Ummm. Hey." She raised a hand in a nonchalant sort of wave, then feeling awkward tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "I'm Eris. I work for Chris. Warrington." She added, most likely unnecessarily but Chris was a common enough name. "He asked me to give you this." She fished a plain looking envelope out of her coat and handed it to him.
Zach frowned as he took the envelope.
"Please, have a seat, Eris," he said, trying to think back on what Chris had said. he was fairly certain that Chris wouldn't hire a muggleborn. Glancing inside the envelope, his eyebrows went up.
"Were you given any instructions?"
She found a chair and sat in it. "Ummm no. And you know how Chris is. Dotting every t and crossing every i. He gave me very specific directions on how to get here, said to give you that. And it was sort of implied that I go home after and not ask too many questions in between. Did I do it right? Am I supposed to do a secret handshake or use the codeword or something?"
"No, it's just. It's alright. I suppose I can just ask him about it. He is rather methodical."
Zach placed the envelope in his bag. He'd take it home and put it somewhere safe. He didn't know why Warrington was sending him hand-delivered envelopes of money.
"You don't have to rush off though."
She smiled. "That's cool. I appreciate that." She looked around. "So this is where the magic happens? So to speak I mean, magic happens everywhere... I like your broadcasts, is what I'm trying to say."
Zach smiled. It was nice to get compliments on the work he was doing.
"We do have an additional space, but we do a lot of the work here," Zach explained. "I tend to work primarily out of this office, but Donaghan moves between them."
"It's just nice to hear someone telling it like it is. I'm stuck in the Ministry all day and it's either people pretending that nothing's changed or people thinking that moving piles of paper from one room to another's going to change things." She shrugged.
"You're not English, are you?" Zach asked. "Otherwise you'd fall into one of those two categories. Or at least accept them as givens."
"As you may have noticed by my accent, or lack thereof depending on your point of view, I am American. Well, half-American. I was taking a tour, examining my roots when bammo, suddenly there's some kind of war on and I'm stranded. So I turned myself in to the Ministry and they put me to work filing papers."
"It was more not remembering you from school," Zach explained with a smile.
"They couldn't get you back home? Well, it was in such disarray. No surprise."
She laughed. "Yeah, that'd be it too, I suppose. And no, they couldn't. Or if they could I was so low priority that I got lost in the shuffle. So I get passed around from department to department... Now I'm helping the Wizengamot, Chris mostly. He seems nice, bit of a square though."
"His priorities are in the right place," Zach said. "Which is more than I can say for some members of govenments. If you agree with his politics, then Chris can probably help you out with some connections if you want to move up or elsewhere. He is rather meticulous sometimes."
She stretched out a bit, relaxing. "Not even especially sure I'm of a political bent. But it beats begging for knuts in Knockturn. And yeah, he seems like his heart is in the right place so.. Things could be a lot worse I suppose."
"What's your view on muggles?" Zach asked pointblank.
She gave him an intrigued look and sat up straighter. "Well. I knew some decent ones back in America. They have generally better music than we do. And food. But... I mean, since I've been here, well.. I see the whole situation in a new light now. I didn't know there was such resentment."
"Well, there are still plenty of purist here, despite some of the sympathizers and blood traitors," Zach said simply.
"I meant them for us. I mean... It's just brutal. You expect that sort of stuff from like African dictators or weird Asian despots but this is England... You guys are supposed to be dull!"
Zach chuckled.
"I'm afraid dangerous is more appropriate than dull right about now,"he said. "But you seem to be surviving rather well."
She smiled. "Do what I can. Keep my head down and my nose clean and all that..." She laughed. "Except when I'm running drug money for members of the Wizengamot! I mean, that's what it is, right? Chris seems the sort to think handing an unmarked envelope and telling his assistant to take it to a known subversive is how you do something like this..."
"I'm a known subversive then?" he asked with a chuckle. "It's not drug money. Unless there's something I'm not aware of."
"Well that's a shame. I wouldn't have thought Chris was such a square then. And yeah, you're a subversive. You should hear the way the old men mumble disaprovingly when one of your rants goes on."
Zach laughed.
"At least I get them talking. Although if we have a government, they should be doing something. Forgive me, I'm rather.. outspoken .. I've been told."
She nodded. "Yeah, you can say that again. And it's cool, no worries. Outspoken is good for the radio. Wireless. Whatever."
"You don't put much weight in propriety, do you?" he asked.
She scratched her head. "Should I? I mean, being polite is nice and all but it just seems to get in the way sometimes. I guess that's just me being American though."
"It does sometimes, I reckon, but it pervades most aspects of purist society. You are certainly a refreshing change."
"Well I guess that's one way of putting it." She smiled brightly. "Miss Clarendon and several of the folks at the Ministry would disagree."
"With current events as they are, people are clinging to the past and tradition I think. Batter down the hatches and all that," Zach said.
"Yeah, and I think they just... I dunno, figure if they ignore it, it'll go away or something? I mean they've been ignoring muggles this long, right?"
"I think it's harder with muggles trying to kill us," Zach said wryly.
"I would tend to agree with you there." She nodded, emphasizing her agreement.
Perhaps this bint wasn't so bad after all. She didn't seem to be the Ravenclaw bookish type, but there did seem to be some hope for her. And there was something unusual about her.
"What did you do in the States?"
She made a face. "Went to school. That's about it really. This was supposed to be my big adventure. Turned out a bit bigger than I hoped."
"Your parents didn't drag you back home? Interesting," Zach noted.
"Trying to be independant. I guess I could have begged for them to get me home somehow but...." She shrugged. "I didn't. They're concerned of course but I play things down for them."
Zach nodded.
"How old are you? Just out of curiosity, of course."
"A lady never tells. Besides, you first."
"Twenty-nine," he answered simply.
"Well I'm 20." She smiled. "And no lady, apparently."
Zach smiled.
"No, but you've got personality. Which is sometimes better," Zach admitted. Twenty was young. Very young. But really, one couldn't be too choosy. "I don't suppose you'd be so kind as to tell me your last name."
"Duchamp. That's the name. And yes, I've been told many, many times about how much personality I have. Usually following some misadventure."
Zach made a note to research the name and lineage.
"Do you find yourself in misadventure often?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
She smirked at him. "Well, apart from my entire vacation turning into an exile... Not lately, no."
"Exile can't be that bad. There are things to do around here, if one can tolerate muggles," he explained. For him, tolerating muggles involved a lot of showering, but it was doable sometimes.
"Well most of what I do around here seems to involve filing or taking notes or not touching things... and running mysterious errands. I don't dare even sneak out of Diagon in case I can't get back or get caught and dissected or something."
"As long as you behave enough, you probbaly wont' get caught," Zach commented.
"Yes, yes, I'm sure but.. behaving is boring, isn't it?" She smirked at him.
That was a dangerous smirk.
"Well, yes, but.. you're trouble aren't you?"
She laughed and gestured at herself. "Me? Trouble? Good grief am I ever harmless." She flashed that smirk again. "Misunderstood maybe."
"Then why do I have the feeling that you're going to drag me on a wild and crazy adventure that I may never recover from?"" Zach asked.
She leaned forward. "That would depend on the quality of the nightlife in this area. Trust me. I'm harmless. Mostly harmless at least."
"I'm not one for nightlife much," Zach admitted.
She sat back again. "Well shit. What do you do for fun then? I mean when you're not like adovcating the overthrow of the government and good stuff like that."
"I'm rather boring, I'm afraid. Listen to music. Drink with friends. There's not many wizarding establishments to go to, and well, I.. dislike going out into the muggle world."
That was an understatement.
"As do I. But I like listening to music. And drinking, drinking is lovely. What kind of music you like? I have to admit most wizard music is dreadful, I'm sure the lyre was a very rock n roll instrument like a thousand years ago but now not so much."
Zach smiled.
"Well, my tastes run to hard rock usually. Much is influenced by Donaghan. He was with the weird sisters back in the day," he admitted.
"OK, so, now you're talking. That's good stuff. Much more my speed. The Weird Sisters are, like, classic." She nodded, leaning forward again.
Zach honestly didn't know if he could handle this girl. She wasn't 'proper', she didn't follow etiquette, she was young, and very unusual. Not at all what one should look for in a wife.
"He's my coworker. I could introduce you if you're interested. "
"Yeah, yeah, you mentioned him earlier. Is he cool?" She gave him a look trying to gauge his interest. He'd asked her to hang out but now... was he trying to brush her off?"
Zach chuckled.
"One might call him the definition of that. I think I might bore you. I'm not so.. lively as you."
"Well I'm not bored yet." Ugh, it was the brush off. The first single guy she'd met under the age of 100 and vaguely cool and no luck. Oh well. "I should probably get going though, getting late."
"Well, then we could always go for drinks," Zach said in peaceofffering.
She nodded as she stood up. "Yeah, that'd be cool. I mean, I don't know anyone around here. It's either married career men or ancient dusty mummified guys. There's no one to hang out with. A drink would be nice."
"The Leaky alright? Or would you rather go elsewhere? There's still wizarding pubs in Godric's Hallow and Ireland," he said as he got to his feet and gathered his things.
"Yeah, that's fine. Anywhere I can get a beer'd be fine by me." She stood patiently and waited for him.
"Leaky's closest," he said as he offered her his arm.
"Are you living in Diagon then?"
She took his arm. "Gentlemanly. Yeah, there's plenty of places to live around Diagon now since a lot of people took off at the first sign of trouble."
"My parents were intent on raising me with traditional values," Zach explained.
"Well, then, it won't be too hard for me to walk you home at the end of the night. "
"Well thank you Mr. and Mrs. Smith." She smiled. "And no, it won't. The Ministry helped find me an empty apartment... flat.. to stay in."
It was a short and uneventful walk from the Wireless office to the Leaky as he got them a table and two pints.
"Well, that was nice. I'm surprised there's still enough people to do that. No offence, but you'd think they had more important things to do."
She raised her glass to him and took a long gulp of it. "Well, you'd be surprised. I worked in Sports and Games for a while, they keep thinking they're going to be able to have a Quidditch season any time now. I think they just didn't want me sleeping at the Ministry, honestly, so they sent me packing."
"From what I heard, it's not quite that safe in that rubble anyways," Zach said.
"Doubt you'd enjoy sleeping there."
"Meant the Annex or whatever, but yeah. Not comfortable, regardless."
Zach chuckled.
"Weasley would probably find an edict banning you from sleeping there or something."
"Probably... What is up with him anyway? I mean.." She gulped down some more beer. "Anyway. Yeah. So how'd you get into radio anyway?"
"Apart from the stick up his arse? I think he sees himself the saviour of the wizarding government," Zach said. "My father insisted I needed a job, so I started as a researcher and announcer for the Wireless and worked my way up."
"Well I wasn't going to say it but... Yeah, he does have some issues." She tried to change the subject again. "So it's not like your passion then? I just assumed that it was kind of like your thing, or that just the passion for the cause coming across."
"It's turned into that. I own it and run it now, so it's rather like my project. It'd be hard for me to leave it behind.."
"Well you're good at it, like I said. Glad someone's out there, raging. Mad as Hell and not going to take it any more."
Zach laughed.
"Someone needs to protect the interests of the purists before we get swept up in this mumbo jumbo and political bullshit," he explained.
She nodded and laughed. "Yeah, way too much political bullshit. But keeps me employed so whatver I guess."
Zach chuckled.
"I'm not sure I could go back to just quidditch so I share your feelings on that. What are you passionate about, Miss Duchamp?"
"Me? Well... The Fitchburg Finches, I suppose. Music, played loud. I hate portkey stations, full of lost luggage and lost souls... can't stand burnt toast. Ummm.. Not sure yet. I mean. I never had much of a chance to be serious about anything, till now."
Zach nodded and sipped his beer.
"What's it like, in the states?"
She paused thoughtful. "Well, it's not all like Texas. Or New York City, either for that matter. Most people seem to think I come from one or the other. Same as it is here, different accents. I think muggle and wizard cultures might be a bit closer, but still pretty far apart in the grand scheme of things."kori: alright, i think it's bedtime for me.
"Not as separate then?" Zach asked curiously. Draco had, admittedly, piqued his curiosity about the States. Davros42: "Well.. didn't seem so anyway. I mean, still a big secret but it seemed like there was always someone hip trying to co-opt muggle fashion or music or something. Where as here that seems like it'd be just about as offensive as it'd get."
"Well, when we went completely underground in the past year or so, many people ended up with muggle clothes because there were no wizarding tailors in wide circulation anymore. I had someone do shopping for me," Zach explained.
"That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense actually." She nodded as he explained.
"Of course, now we're trying to repopulate Diagon, so hopefully we'll get a proper tailor in soon enough. Although there are a few muggle things that are not so bad."
"Doing my part there. And tell me, what is a muggle thing that's not so bad?"
"Take away isn't so bad. And denims and leather jackets," Zach commented.
She laughed and nodded. "Yeah, takeaway is a life saver. And jeans are nice."
"Not a fan of leather?"Zach asked.
She gave him that smirk again. "Depends who's wearing it. But generally overdone."
Zach raised an eyebrow.
"What's you're favourite thing about muggles?"
"Music probably. Like I said. Wizard music usually isn't all that good. Or at least, it never changes, it never evolves, at least not as fast as muggle music does."
"You'll have to play me some then,"Zach said simply. "Show me what I'm missing."
"Well, that'd be a bit difficult for the lack of electricity but... the best way to judge music is a live performance, don't you agree?"
"I think it's useful, yes, but..." Zach trailed off and took another sip of his beer, not wanting to admit of his discomfort with muggles.
She drained her glass and set it aside. "Next round is mine, right? Or are you too gentlemanly to let me?"
"You can buy the next round. I.. well, I'm not sure how well I'd do at a muggle performance," Zach explained.
She fixed him with a look. "Understandable, I suppose. Besides you're probably a little old anyway. Stick out like a sore thumb. Middle-aged man in a leather jacket."
Zach sighed.
" I am not middle-aged!"
Eris smiled. "I don't know, I think everyone's life expectancy has dropped a bit in the past few months, you're probably past middle-aged."
Zach laughed.
"Oi! You're buying the next two rounds for that!"
"On my salary? You're kidding!"
"Well, you ought to make up for calling me old somehow," Zach said with a raised eyebrow."
"I don't like that eyebrow, mister." She pointed at him playfully.
"Do you do anything but complain?" he teased. " Or is that what Warrington pays you for?"
"I do plenty. And he doesn't pay me. He'd probably just as soon be without me."
"You can't be that bad," Zach teased.
"Well not bad but... I don't think Chris would have chosen me if he'd had a choice. We don't get on very well."
"Not meticulous enough for him?" Zach asked curiously.
"Yeah, probably not. I mean, not that I'm incompetant. I know what an auto-quill is and am vaguely aware of how to use a filing cabinet..."
"Well, he's rather, how shall we say, demanding? Very particular," he explained.
She laughed. "Yeah, I noticed. But you get along with him?"
Zach nodded.
"Well enough. But then, we share certain traits and viewpoints."
"Yeah, that's cool. Which is why I get to run mysterious errands."
"Apparently," Zach said with a chuckle.
"Any other mysterious errands you're running?"
She shook her head. "Nope, just a mysterious envelope. Like something out of a bad book."
"And if you could do anything you wanted, what would you do?" Zach asked curiously.
"Build a castle on the moon. Punch Grindelwald in the nose. Stuff like that."
He chuckled.
"And in terms of a career, what do you want todo?"
She shrugged. "Could be dead tomorrow. I try not to invest too much in a future I may never see."
"Bit pessimistic, don't you think?" he quipped.
She laughed and shook her head. "No, not at all. We're wizards, we should have different priorities."
It was one of those statements that Zach could interpret various ways.
"I can't argue with that. "
She pressed on. "See, careers all that crap. That's muggle thinking. I mean, not that having a career's a bad thing per se." She started talking more with her hands as the beer kicked in a bit. "But we're self suficient. In ways muggles aren't. I can make water from nothing. With my wand! Do you know how many muggles die every day from lack of fresh water?"
"Can't say that I do. Honestly, can't say that I care," Zach said bluntly.
"Loads. And so they go off and have careers. Spend a third of their life doing something they hate so they can have things I can make with a wave of my hand. We're wizards, we should have different priorities, that's all."
"Like living it up and listening to good music?" he prompted.
She nodded. "Yes, exactly. Have a career if you like. Some people are workaholics, need that sort of structure. But we should be living! I mean, present circumstances excepted, times are tough and all that. I'm not trying to be frivolous in the face of war and all that. But. Anyway. That's why I'm not sure what my career's gonna be or if I even want one. Short story long."
"I would have been fine not working at all, but my father thought I ought to give something to society or some rot like that and not just live off his fortune," Zach said with a shrug. "But now I own the wireless, which isn't a bad thing, and have friends in high places."
She raised her empty glass. "Here's to friends in both high and low places. And yeah, life could be worse than running the wireless. So good for you."
"And life could be worse for you than being alive and working in the ministry. Here's to having drinks with cute girls who aren't dull," Zach said.
She smiled. "Yeah, life is pretty OK, I guess. Who knew?"
"Not even the oracle could have predicted such a thing," he teased.
"Shall i buy us another round? Or is it time for me to walk you home?"
"As much as I would love another round... I so have my high level governmental job in the morning." She admitted.
Zach chuckled.
"Well then, I hope you don't mind if I escort you home."
"Nah, it's gentlemanly. I thought manners were the first casualty of war." She stood up and held out her arm.
"A proper upbringing never fails," Zach said and he took Eris' arm and placed his cloak around her shoulders. "Or rather, my father would tan my hide if he knew I'd allowed chivalry to die."
"Yeah, well. I think it was mortally wounded before you turned up. But, thanks. It's nice."
"Then I'd better to my best to bring it back to health," Zach said as he led Eris out of the Leaky and into Diagon Alley.