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Tweak says, "Would you like a jellybaby?"

Maeve Sheridan knows she's better than you. (few_and_far) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-10-06 11:04:00

Entry tags:

!2003:10, !incomplete, !open, maeve sheridan

Characters: Maeve Sheridan and Open
Setting: Flourish and Blott's, Wednesday afternoon.
Summary: Taking the afternoon to run errands and trying not to get lost in thought. And failing.
Rating/Warning: TBD

Maeve stepped out of the bakery, clutching her cup of coffee and stepped back against the front of the shop, out of the foot traffic, to sip her drink and observe. Normally she would have promptly turned down the Alley without hesitation. She knew what she needed, what shops she had to stop in and flowed from one errand to the next without a second thought. But the weather had finally started to turn and Diagon Alley in autumn was her favourite; taking a moment to enjoy the day only seemed fitting.

When she was younger Maeve had loved Hogwarts, it was her sanctuary from the first day, the place she felt herself even if she had spent most of her life in the muggle world. Since leaving school the Alley had supplanted Hogwarts as that special haven in her mind. During her apprenticeship it was a place she go and decompress without having to retreat to her family and their mundane lives. And since then it'd just become home, her little world that offered virtually everything she needed without having to leave. She was quite lucky, she thought, easing back into the crowd heading towards Flourish and Blotts.

What was less lucky, she considered as she took finished her drink and tossed it in the bin as she passed, was her 'love life,' quotation marks included. Delaney was...she needed a word other than complicated, it was starting to lose it's impact after all the times she'd thought it. She was not fond of children, not in the slightest, and pregnancy she'd always found discomfiting. But even if Delaney wasn't aware of her feelings she thought it at least understandable that she'd needed time to process the news. Since the first day the other woman had been a roller coaster, being too forward, holding back, throwing one stumbling block in front of her after another. Maeve wasn't good at assessing her own feelings but she'd wanted to stay with Delaney and she knew that spoke volumes. Relationships weren't her, even if she liked being around the other person she liked the independence they maintained. However, having to be around a child, even one not born yet, was something different.

Her mind wandered along that particular downward spiral as she wandered into the book shop and headed for the Potions section. Lost in thought, she stared at the titles, forgetting what she was looking for exactly for a moment and sighed.

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tigertiger
2010-10-07 02:35 am UTC (link)

How he had managed to find anytime to do anything other than work and worry was beyond him. He wondered if Merlin, or even Stephanie, when visiting, slipped something in his tea to keep him in such high spirits on this particular day because goodness, he was awfully cheerful. It seemed nothing could bring him down. Not a single fortune told was gloomy, the weather was delightful and the seer was not thinking of what his odd dreams had meant.

Well, not completely, anyway. Subconsciously he had to be thinking of them because he was drawn to visiting Flourish and Botts after his shift with the desire to purchase a new volume for dream referencing in his heart. He kept saying to himself it was for the shop but in the end, when thumbing through different books he kept finding himself searching for one or two particular words.

Crows. Birds. Blackbirds. Ravens.

He eventually found one book at suited him and decided his next stop ought to be to find a book that properly explained dreamless droughts, for Madame Cake had mentioned how she wanted to start selling them for particularly distressed customers. It was in the Potions section that he saw her and at once, Stephen felt an intense sense of... well, something. Anxiety wasn't quite it and neither was sadness. Frustration?

And then, for a split second he felt dizzy and when he closed his eyes he saw a flash of Marcus' grin and heard a baby cooing, laughing. He opened his eyes again and shook his head.

"Are you okay?" he managed, voice almost caught in his throat.

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few_and_far
2010-10-07 08:37 pm UTC (link)

Maeve stepped toward the shelf and paused when she heard a voice croak from beside her. She hadn't noticed him approach but kept her surprise inside, merely glancing over her shoulder at the man. "Just fine," she said, looking back to the titles, wondering what it was about her that made people think she wanted to engage in random conversation, despite all her best efforts.

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tigertiger
2010-10-08 04:07 am UTC (link)

She didn't come off as particularly friendly and while that might have usually served as a warning for Stephen to back off he didn't take to well to such a sign. The feeling that he had to talk to her was too heavy of a thing to ignore.

"Uhm, well it's just..." and he rubbed the back of his head where a dull ache was starting to throb at the nape of his neck.

"Sometimes I can sort of tell when things aren't fine I'm a diviner," he tried to explain, hoping she'd understand what he meant.

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few_and_far
2010-10-08 04:21 am UTC (link)

And still with the talking... Maeve held in another sigh before she turned back around, facing him full on this time, and folded her arms across her chest. She watched him rub his neck, feeling little sympathy for whatever was troubling him. When he admitted his status she didn't bother to hold in the sigh, however. "Of course you are," she muttered, amazed that she was 'lucky' enough to run into a bloody seer. There weren't many branches of magic she was happy to dismiss but Divination was certainly one.

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tigertiger
2010-10-08 04:38 am UTC (link)

That sort of response he was used to. People would drag their friends into his shop and Stephen, Merlin and the rest of the crew would be subjected to awkward naysayers who wanted to do nothing more than groan at every prophetic word spoken.

"I don't mean to intrude, really, it's just sometimes if I don't get what I'm seeing off my chest to whoever is... being.. seen, it.." hurt? Gave him headaches? Made him anxious?

"I mean, I can tell something is wrong even if you can't tell what and if that means anything to you don't hesitate to ask, I don't mind doing spur of the moment readings of palms and things," actually, he'd feel much better if she'd let him.

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few_and_far
2010-10-08 04:44 am UTC (link)

Maeve eyed him cautiously, considering the options before she spoke. She could deny his request but then would either have to leave without locating the book she needed or attempt to find it while enduring his whinging, most likely. Then there was the route of just giving in and getting it over with. Painful but possibly the faster option.

"You'll leave me in peace if I let you do...whatever it is you do?" She grumbled before she could change her mind.

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tigertiger
2010-10-08 04:48 am UTC (link)

"Of course. I'd leave you in peace if you didn't let me, honestly," but it would leave him feeling so completely off he'd have to find Stephanie or Bradley right away to fix the problem somehow.

Luckily for him she seemed to be giving in. So, Stephen held out a hand to shake hers before they started.

"Stephen Cornfoot, by the way. I work at Tea and Sympathy," he added.

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few_and_far
2010-10-08 04:54 am UTC (link)

"Sheridan. Maeve," she said replied taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "I work at Slugs and Jiggers. I'm a potioneer." And what a wonderful world it would be if she managed to find a way to never leave. The apothecary really was, to her, the sanest place in the world. Sometimes it felt like the only sane place. She considered asking about his shop, aware that was a perfectly good bit of small talk, what was expected in situations like this one but remained silent. Small talk wasn't her forte.

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tigertiger
2010-10-08 05:04 am UTC (link)

The name didn't sound familiar but it still felt as if she should know the name or better yet that he would soon enough. Not in this sort of way, but in a different light, maybe? Stephen pursed his lips and turned the hand he was shaking over so the palm was facing up.

At once he began quietly eying the appendage. He sized up her fingers, noted the shape of her palm and fingertips, even made sure to note how big her knuckles were. Then, very slowly he used his index finger to trace across the lines of her palm.

"You have a decision to make," he murmured softly. "And you know what you want but what you'll be getting doesn't seem to fit that equation."

Stephen lifted his gaze to read her face.

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few_and_far
2010-10-09 12:39 am UTC (link)

"Wow," Maeve said, obviously unimpressed. "That was almost as insightful as the fortune cookie I had the other night." She didn't bother to pull her hand away, if he had more words of wisdom as brilliant at that last set she almost wanted to hear them. Why it was so many people thought they could spout generic advice and pass themselves off as a seer she'd never understand. Everyone had decisions to make everyday, unless they were some simpleton that couldn't be trusted to keep themselves alive let alone handle responsibility. Then again, based on half the journal entries she read that demographic was possibly quite high. As for the knowing what she wanted part...well, he was obviously reading something not there. She didn't even know what she wanted.

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tigertiger
2010-10-09 01:45 am UTC (link)

He actually wasn't a typical palm reader. He didn't read a lot of specific things and like any good student who paid any attention he could list off her qualities by looking at the state of her heart and life lines and the plumpness of the mounds of her hand. That wasn't what seemed important to say at the moment though.

What he was reading was her magic, the way it buzzed hot around her, the colors it gave off, where on her palm it seemed to escape the most. Sometimes it brought visions to him, too and these were what he tried to channel the most for a quick and sucessful read.

But every image in his head was either some blonde witch he had never seen before, a baby boy, or Marcus Flint which really threw him off. He furrowed his brows.

"Are you a mother? I don't... I mean, do you have a child? Or maybe a young brother?"

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	few_and_far 2010-10-09 02:10 am UTC (link)
	"No, no!" Maeve said, more forcefully than she would have liked, and pulled her hand back. Delaney popped into her head but she forced it out and turned back to the shelf. "Definitely not. And I'm the youngest. So, wrong again sibyl." Served her right for indulging the ridiculousness. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tigertiger
2010-10-09 02:49 am UTC (link)

Despite loosing physical contact when she worked her hand back out of his grip the visions lingered. That ache he had was getting worse now and he just couldn't shake the vision of a damned baby and Marcus! Maybe it was Marcus he should be speaking to but... this all came from her, he was sure of it.

"Okay maybe not your baby.. you don't Marcus Flint, do you? I'm sorry, I really can't shake this vision."

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	few_and_far 2010-10-10 03:23 am UTC (link)
	This time, Maeve felt generally clueless at his question and simply shrugged her shoulders. She was much more comfortable with this, ridiculous accusations and questions that obviously had nothing to do with her. "Qudditch player, isn't he?" She pulled down a volume that looked promising and started flipping through. "Don't know him. I follow the Bats." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	tigertiger 2010-10-15 06:57 pm UTC (link)
	Stephen shook his head again and sighed. Maybe he wasn't reading her right after all. "Yes.. for the Falcons. I actually follow Wigtown myself," he muttered, a hand reaching up to snake through his hair. He shrugged helplessly. "Nevermind. I guess. I'm sorry to have bothered you, thanks for humoring me, at least." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

few_and_far
2010-10-17 01:58 am UTC (link)

"Hm?" Maeve stared at the pages as she idly flipped through them without paying attention to the text. She didn't like seers and she didn't like divination and she didn't like when the thoughts in her head were not the ones she wanted in there. "Wigtown huh," she shrugged, the Wanderers were one of those teams that always seemed to get lost in the ranks to her, unless the Bats were playing them, she just forgot about them.

She stowed the book under her arm and glanced back at him, unperturbed but his expression. "You're welcome," she said, turning back to the stacks.

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tigertiger
2010-10-21 02:28 am UTC (link)

He almost left it that, almost turned away and sheepishly stalked off but another pang of.. something hit him. A pain that has him closing his eyes and uttering the first few words that came out of his mouth. His voice was different, low and husky.

"Don't let the baby stop what you have," and there it was. Suddenly he felt light and that ache he had been nursing was gone in a flash. Stephen made a face and scratched the back of his head for a moment before shrugging helplessly.

"Well. It was nice to meet you, anyway."

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