gretchen watkins is the spice of life (swashbuckley) wrote in wished, @ 2010-09-03 21:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | !2003: 09, !complete, gretchen watkins, titus scabior |
WHO: Gretchen Watkins & Trevor Scabior
WHAT: criming, snarking and snogging, pretty much all these two do
WHERE: the office over Moribund's, then some guy's house
WHEN: Friday afternoon
WARNINGS/RATING/STATUS: Crime and snogging contained within/R/Finished
Half paying attention to what was being said, Trevor rocked slightly in his chair as he leaned back, his boots up on the desk anchoring him. Directly behind him were two of his crew were bickering over, something, book making he thought but it wasn’t urgent and hadn’t gotten loud enough yet to interrupt his own thoughts, so he was happy to leave them to it. He was bored, that had most of his attention. Even as he bounced in his chair, prodding a bit of metal on his desk, making it flash different colours, he fought about the oppressive, unavoidable boredom he’d been feeling for days.
The World Cup was fantastic for making gold, that much was for sure. As the Quidditch Frenzy progressed he found fans were more prone to reckless bets and he was turning a better profit than he’d forecasted. But the last few had felt like anyone interesting had just fallen into some Quidditch stupor or gone on vacation because the rest of his worklife was dull, dull, dull. He prodded the disc again and watched it shimmer out of sight for a moment, barely lifting an eyebrow when a crack signalled another Apparating into the office.
Gretchen waited for a moment, expecting a reaction, but when Trevor merely poked the little disc of metal in front of him, she frowned. Snapping her fingers at the pair standing behind him, she jerked her thumb towards the door. “Out,” she ordered, not moving until they’d scarpered, closing the door behind them. “Oi,” she said once they were alone, crossing the room and leaning against the desk and watching the shiny thing that had captured Trev’s attention.
“What,” Trev muttered, prodding the disc again before looking up at her, lifting an eyebrow. She kicked the others out she he presumed she had some sort of reason. Or just really needed a shag. “I was trying to let them go until one took a swing,” he joked, stowing his wand as he folded his arms over his chest and looked up at her.
“Remember who had to clean the office up last time that happened?” She responded, settling on the edge of his desk. She had news, but wasn’t ready to spill just yet, she needed a build up. So instead, she gestured towards the disc he’d been toying with. “What’s that?”
“Nothing,” He flipped the disc toward her and let her examine it. “Just rubbish. I thought maybe I’d turn it into something shiny and pawn it off on someone in the Alley. Someone would buy it.” Or they would have if he’d done much more than clean it up and charm it to disappear in your hand. Neat or not there still had to be something about it to convince someone it was worth any amount of gold. “Fucking boring around ‘ere,” he explained with a shrug.
Moving his papers aside, Gretch hopped up onto his desk in front of him, spinning the disc between her fingers and examining it for a moment. “Lucky I’m ‘ere now,” she grinned.
Trevor raised an eyebrow again, casting her a doubtful expression but let the mocking slide, too used to it by now. “Yeah? Seem well sure of that,” he said, twisting slightly in the chair. “Still fucking bored.”
Pulling a face, Gretchen rolled her eyes. “I’m always entertaining, you know that.” she responded, sliding back on the desk comfortably. “Besides, I’ve got news.” She waited a moment, before continuing, hoping to build suspense, but realising this was Trevor and you couldn’t do subtle with Trevor. “Remember what we were talking about the other day?” she asked, gesturing to her face.
He stared at her and blinked a couple of times, waiting silently for her to continue before he realised she was waiting for some reaction. “Your...face?”
“And how utterly beautiful it is!” She responded, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. This was why Trev kept her around, he’d be useless without her. “The whole illusion thing? That spell I’d been working on?” She waited for a reaction, before barrelling forward, realising he might think she’d perfected the charm. “I heard of something we’re going to be interested in.”
At Trevor’s blank look, Gretchen rolled her eyes and leaned forward. “I was hanging about at Borgin’s, some bloke came in trying to sell a bunch of stuff. He was talking everything up, from what I managed to see, there was loads of dark stuff, a few cursed objects, but some things that did seem genuinely powerful. I didn’t get the best look, but I’m well certain that one was that transmogrification pendant we sold to Morningwood a few years back.”
She only just managed to keep herself from inserting a dramatic pause, knowing it would go to waste on Trevor. “He tried to act big, like he was some collector, but I’ve never heard of him and the prices he was asking were ridiculous.” She hesitated, pushing back on the desk and twisting her lips to the side in thought. “He said he had other options who’d pay what he wanted, so I’m thinking we should make a move soon.”
Listening intently, Trevor tugged on suspenders as he considered her news. Even if it wasn’t the same pendant they’d sold before, if it was anything similar it still meant they could turn a fine profit on that. The magic behind those was complicated and rare and it was far easier to shell out huge amounts of gold for it than to try and create one yourself. “Find out where he is,” he instructed, nodding at her. If things went well for them they could lift it tonight before the dupe even realised he was being targeted.
“Already on it,” Gretchen grinned and twisted slightly on the desk. She’d sent some of her own people out after the guy as soon as she’d left the store, wanting the amulet even if Trevor had surprised her and had no interest in it. “I should have something back soon.”
Trevor nodded again, wordlessly, but looked much livelier than he had earlier. He started to think about who he trusted, besides Gretch, with securing a powerful object but barely got the thought through his mind before he was dismissing it. This one would be his, an easy mark and huge gain was too appealing, especially as bored as he was.
Trevor’s nod hadn’t been the accolades she was looking for and she frowned momentarily, before sliding off the desk and settling herself on his lap. “Who’s brilliant?” She prompted, draping a casual arm over his shoulders.
Rolling his eyes, Trevor wrapped an arm around her waist regardless. “I’m not fuckin’ saying that,” he griped, a firm believer that the last thing he needed to do was feed her ego. “Maybe I’ll say it when all this is done...but you can’t make me.”
Gretchen slipped her fingers through his hair, tugging gently on the shaggy strands. “I can make you say anything,” she responded, making her voice low and husky. Dipping her head, she kissed him deeply, waiting until she felt him move against her before pulling back. “Oi, who’re we gonna send to pick this up?”
“We’ll go,” he said simply, leaning back in toward her for another kiss.
“We will?” she responded, tangling her fingers through his hair, unable to resist giving in and kissing him again. “As us?”
“Why not?” he dropped his head back, grinning up at her. “Sounds like a dupe, an easy job.”
Tilting her head to the side slightly, Gretchen considered him. “Well, yeah, but we’re kind of noticeable, aren’t we?”
“I’m not saying we walk around the street going on about ‘ow we’re filch this thing,” he rolled his eyes. They weren’t new to this thing they were quite capable of stealing an object
successfully without having to worry about getting caught.
Gretchen snapped her fingers and pulled a sorrowful face. “Darn, and I was planning on doing just that.” Tugging on his hair for emphasis, she shook her head. “That spell I’m working on isn’t quite perfected, but it’s good enough for a quick job.”
“Lemme see,” Trev grunted, nodding his head toward her. “You first, not going to let you turn me into some hag.”
Rolling her eyes, Gretchen ducked her head and kissed him quickly before reluctantly standing. She hopped onto his desk, pulling her legs up to fold them under her and transfigured one of his quills into a mirror, studying herself in it intently. “It’s a shame to change something as beautiful as this,” she said, solemnly as she darkened her hair to a deep brown, lengthening it so it fell in waves past her shoulders. Her face was harder, but she thought she’d figured it out, rounding her eyes slightly and turning them a clear green. Her lips were next and she only changed them slightly, saving most of the work for her nose, which she managed after a few attempts, to turn into a small, upturned nose with a smattering of freckles across it. “Well?” she asked, dropping the mirror into her lap after a moment.
Trev leaned back in his chair, twisting slightly as he watched Gretchen work. She turned, giving Trevor the opportunity to look over her work and he ran his gaze up and down her a few times. “I like you better normal,” he said as he shrugged, leaning back toward her. “But it’s good work.”
She grinned widely at his praise, the weight of the longer, heavier hair feeling weird against her head. “Brunette or ginger?” she asked, summoning a chair from across the room so she could settle in front of him.
“Me?” He scooted his chair forward, doing his best to make her job as easily as possible. He’d joked about the hag before but it didn’t mean it wasn’t a concern. “I like brunettes,” he said with a pointed grin.
Grinning, Gretchen raised her wand and set to work on him. “You like me,” she corrected breezily, changing his hair. It was lighter than hers, but definitely brown, and much shorter, the cut more classic and side-swept, something Gretchen disliked, immensely. She widened and darkened his eyes slightly and tapped his chin, causing a small, stubbly beard to appear before she moved onto his nose, widening it as well. Finished, she leaned back and studied him for a moment. “I don’t like it,” she said, reaching out and running her fingers through his now short hair. “Nothing to pull.”
“It feels fuckin’ weird,” he agreed, tilting his head back as she tried to tug his new haircut. Reaching up he pressed a hand against the back of her neck and tugged her into a deep kiss. “Now we just need to find out where we’re going,” he pointed out, prodding her even as they made out.
Allowing him to pull her close, she settled back in his lap, snogging him soundly for a moment before leaning back to tug her journal out of her pocket. “Let’s see if my people have picked anything up yet,” leaning comfortably against him, she flipped through the journal, stopping a few pages in and letting out a low chuckle. “Got it,” she sing-songed, waggling the journal entry containing the man’s address in front of Trevor’s face.
“Your people?” Trevor watched the journal as she waved it about, cocking one eyebrow at the assertion her people weren’t his. He was quite certain that, even if Gretchen was their direct superior, any one she counted as ‘her people’ knew very well who he was and what role he played in their lives.
Pulling a sour face, Gretchen arched her back, rising up off his lap enough to slide her journal back into her pocket. “Our people,” she huffed, not entirely joking. “Better?”
Smirking brightly, Trevor nodded and slapped her arse to get her to stand up. “Much,” he said smarmily, checking to make sure he had his pocket watch, wand and any other useful tools he could find in his desk drawer. “You got a schedule, when he’s going to be out? Or be back?”
Deliberately taking longer than necessary to stand up, she nodded, straightening her skirt and tugging the journal back out. She leaned against the side of his desk and scribbled a note. “He’s gone now, came home carrying things, left with nothing, so chances are, it’s in the house.” There was a pause as she waited for the response, then: “Burton’s watching the house and he’s got Cecil on the guy, so we’re covered both ways.”
Trevor nodded and leaned over the table, looking in the mirror she’d created earlier, pushing at his short hair. “Lead on,” he stood back up, holding his hand out toward her before he even turned away from his own image.
Linking her fingers through his, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the address Burton had given her, apparating them a short way away from the house. A moment later, her journal signalled her and she grinned, scribbling back to Burton that the two people who’d just apparated in front of him were no one to be concerned about. Leading the way, Gretchen waited until they were closer to the house before tossing over her shoulder: “We fooled Burton.”
“You fooled him,” Trevor pointed out, still tugging irritably on his hair. He stopped at the front door and pulled out his wand before Gretchen could step up to the job. He was much more excited about their little venture than he’d care to admit. He started feeling out the wards, not at all surprised to find some extra security thrown up. All of which felt like a weak, hasty job. Waving the wand, he started muttering under his breath to bring down the security in a few minutes.
Resisting the urge to run her fingers through his hair, Gretchen folded her arms and leaned back against the wall, scanning the property in front of her, more than content to allow Trevor to take point on this part. “Don’t worry, it’s not staying like that for long,” she assured him. “There’s no way I’d fuck you looking like that.”
“At least I didn’t get the ‘uge nose like yours,” he snarked back, cursing quietly when his pause allowed a ward to fall back into place. “Looks like a fuckin’ beak,” he said, chuckling to himself as he hooted quietly, watching her out of the corner of his eye.
Without allowing him to see, Gretchen tugged her wand out of her pocket and spun it in Trevor’s direction, silently turning his hair into a mop of tight, sproingy ginger curls. “Oi,” she responded, mildly, tucking her wand away. “It’s called a disguise, you knob. It’s supposed to hide my natural beauty.”
“Fucking nailed it then, didn’t you?” he laughed, his grin faltering when he felt his hair change. “What...” reaching up he patted the curls with a look of disgust and huffed as he shouldered the door open. Once inside he made a beeline for a nearby mirror, examining himself and tugging on his hair as he stared at it in horror. “Look like a sodding Weasley,” he groused, suddenly realising how handy it would be to learn Gretch’s spell.
Taking another look around, Gretchen followed him into the house, closing the door behind her. “That’ll teach you to sass me,” she stepped up beside him, leaning against his arm for a moment before reaching up and tapping his chin with her wand, turning his beard ginger as well.
Turning away from the mirror, she glanced around the house, wondering where to start looking, even as she attempted to feel for any sort of wards protecting the amulet.
“Ugh,” Trevor moaned again as she made him look even worse and twisted his head back and forth as he eyed the annoyingly red hair. He forced himself away from the mirror and wandered after Gretchen, looking about curiously as he moved into the house’s interior. “Fucking ‘oarder, innit he?” Trevor asked, eyeing the sitting room filled with a variety of items and odds and ends. He hated houses like this. He liked it when the mark they were after was all organised and neat and orderly, it made it much easier to get in and out.
Gretchen waved an impatient hand at him, silencing his whinging for a moment. She wasn’t comfortable in this disguise, as effective as it was, and she wanted nothing more than to go back home with the amulet and get the both of them normal. “I think there’s something upstairs,” she said, looking up at the ceiling. “Can you feel it?”
Shutting up for a moment, Trevor stood very still and gripped his wand tightly, waiting for a hint of what she was talking about. After a moment he felt the same wave of power she must have and craned his head up to stare at the ceiling. Wand out, he eased up the stairs and held it in front of him as he walked slowly past each door until they came to the end of the hall. “S’there,” he muttered, nodding his head at the door.
“Age before beauty,” she offered, quietly, gesturing at the door. The wards in the room didn’t feel like much, there wasn’t enough power behind them. Like the spells she’d felt on the house itself, the ones Trevor had dispensed with easily, they seemed a quickly slapped together afterthought.
Trevor rolled his eyes, waving his wand again to bring down the ineffectual wards. “This bloke is shit with wards,” he mocked, kicking open the door to some sort of office, stuffed with as many broken devices and portrait frames as the sitting room had been. He was sure there was a safe somewhere but the drawers on the desk distracted him and he easily fell into old habits, rooting through them and tossing them aside easily.
Ignoring the desk, Gretchen moved into the room, manoeuvring around stacks of boxes to the other side, where she crouched in front of a heavy black safe. Sitting back on her heels, she felt out for a moment, laughing triumphantly as she easily peeled the ineffectual wards back. “Or are we just really amazing at everything we do?” She asked, opening the safe door and reaching in.
“Well, yeah,” Trev pulled out a stack of papers and flipped through quickly, tossing aside most of the stack. “But ‘e’s still shit with wards,” he snorted lightly as he shoved a few documents in his pocket. He jerked out another drawer and shifted through, chucking a silver letter opener at the opposite wall for a laugh. “Is it in there?”
Settling down on the floor, Gretchen momentarily wished she’d worn something other than a skirt, but then she reached in and drew out a pouch. She tugged at the drawstring, opening it and allowing a tarnished amulet to slide into her hand. “Right here!” she crowed, excitedly, grasping the chain in her fist and holding it up for Trevor to see.
Dropping the drawer at his feet, Trev ignored the rest of the trinkets and pages and knelt down beside her. He eyes the amulet greedily, reaching out take it from Gretch. “Doesn’t look like much,” he admitted, aware as soon as he touched it and felt the surge of magical power it contained that it was the item they were after.
“Neither do you,” Gretchen teased, reaching out and boinging one of his curls. There was more in the safe, nothing of very much interest, certainly nothing as powerful as what Trevor had in his hand, but that didn’t mean it deserved to stay here.
“Fuck you,” Trev drawled, smirking at her jibe anyway. He slipped the amulet around his neck and tucked it under his shirt before he stood back up. “What do you think, take what else we can find and we go try this thing out?”
“Alright, if you insist.” she shot back, mildly, arching an eyebrow. Reaching into the safe, she tugged out a box, opening it and revealing a tangled assortment of jewellery. Nothing radiated power like the amulet but it all sparkled attractively and there were some minor flares of magic that bore looking into, so she tapped the box with her wand and shrunk it down, passing it up to Trevor to put in his pocket.
Nothing else in the safe drew her attention and she pushed to her feet, looking around the room for a moment for anything else of interest before settling her gaze on Trevor. She cocked her head to the side and studied him for a moment. “Maybe I could fuck you if I kept my eyes closed the whole time,” she mused, stepping up to him and reaching up, circling her arms around his neck. “Or there’s always blindfolds,” she continued, raising up on her toes to kiss him, completely missing the silent signalling of her journal.
Grinning, Trevor pressed his hand over her eyes, cutting off her vision of his unfortunate red hair as he kissed her soundly. His other arm wrapped around behind her and pulled her in close so he could guide her back against the desk.
Gretchen let out a muffled noise and hoisted herself up on the desk. They’d toyed around with blindfolds before and while it had excited her, she’d gotten the impression from Trevor that he thought it too slow and too much work, which she also agreed with. Moving to the edge of the desk, she wrapped her legs around his waist and reached for the button on his pants, freezing at the sound of a footstep in the hall.
Caught up in the snogging and the tugging off her top, Trev missed the sound of footsteps until she froze against him. In one smooth motion, he pulled out his wand and had already spun to face the door, forgetting about sex and snogging as he inched closer to the door. Stopping against it, ready to attack anyone who came through, he glanced back and Gretchen and raised his eyebrows, questioning both who it might be and how someone had gotten in without a heads up.
Wand in her hand, Gretchen yanked her shirt back into place and dug in her pocket for her journal. Fuck, how had she been so stupid as to get caught up in the excitement of being out in the field again, to let their cockiness get the better of them? She’d missed the signalling of her journal, too busy thinking about other things and now the owner of the house, and the amulet they’d just stolen, was standing outside the door.
It’s him, Gretchen mouthed, gesturing to the amulet around Trevor’s neck, just as the door swung open to reveal the man she’d seen in Borgin’s, his wand shakily outstretched towards them.
“Imperio,” Trevor said forcefully as soon as the door swung open and their mark walked past him. He watched the man’s frightened expression fade into one of total compliance, swaying in his spot serenely. “Go make me a drink,” he muttered to him, his tone evidently cranky, and watched the man turn on the spot and disappear downstairs. Trev watched him go before he rejoined Gretchen, leaning back against the desk.
Angry and disappointed at herself for making such a rank mistake, it was a moment before Gretchen was able to say anything, her tone mostly level when she did. “It’s your fault, you know.” she informed him, yanking at her shirt to straighten it, even though it was already straight.
Trevor simply smirked at her claim, and shrugged. “Think ‘e’ll make anything decent?” He asked, skipping over any blame or scolding. “Never ‘ad someone imperiused make me a drink...” It only occurred to him after the fact that he should have specified what type of drink he wanted.