InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Chacha!"

Penelope Clearwater (_penny) wrote in wished,
@ 2009-12-15 23:34:00

Entry tags:

!1997: 12, !complete, orsino thruston, penelope clearwater

Who: Penelope Clearwater, Orsino Thruston
What: Jingle bell rocking!
Where: Vinyl Countdown, off Campden Road
When: 15th December
Warnings: PG-13

There was something wonderful about slipping through the crowded London streets ; weaving in and out of the Christmas crowds and slipping past the workers in their bright yellow jackets, clipboards and forced smiles. Penny only wanted to make it to the record shop, not be caught and forced to fill out a form indicating how she felt about kittens being forced to wear clothes.

Entering the shop was an assault on her ears ; somebody with a sense of humour had put on Bob Dylans Christmas Album and the voice crooning out Christmas tunes and cheerful lyrics was a stark contrast to the mounrful tones of his voice.

Penny found herself standing in front of the Christmas section clutching a collection of records to play at home. She adored Oliver and loved sharing a flat with him ; one of the many benefits was access to the record player. It meant she could indulge in music after work and not have to wince every time Celestina Warbeck trilled out one of those awfully pitched notes.

Shifting her albums - the type of music she'd be embarrassed to admit owning in public - she reached forward to pick up a Christmas album. The cover was lurid, gaudy and with enough red cheeked elfs to catch her attention.

A large hand swam into view, blocking the portly santa and Penny reached for the album at the same time. It was the last on the shelf, and it was one of the few albums she could play on repeat for a few hours without Oliver or Meghan staging an intervention.

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oneandtwoand
2009-12-16 05:45 am UTC (link)

Although the Christmas season had always instilled an uncharacteristic sense of peace and well-being upon Orsino, if there was one thing about it he had never taken a shine to, it was the ritual of shopping. People seemed to completely lose their senses whenever they got anywhere near a retailer as soon as December rolled around. It was, to say the least, not something that particularly made Orsino want to go remotely near any kind of shop.

Despite this, he had awoken this particular morning with a determination that, yes, he would make his way to that record shop he'd overheard someone speaking about several weeks ago. It wasn't as though he had anything else to do. Besides, the idea of the band eventually getting around to a Christmas album had come up the other day, and Orsino took it as a sign that it was time to expand his already alarmingly large collection.

Steeling himself to just deal with whatever sorts of unreasonable crowds he may encounter, he'd eventually found himself at Vinyl Countdown with little enough trouble. After perusing the store's offerings and getting his bearings, Orsino found that he was just where he needed to be - a whole section of Christmas albums, most of which he didn't recognize.

Orsino was fully in his own world, humming to himself as his foot tapped along to the Dylan album. A particular album caught his eye, and as he reached for it he suddenly realized he'd not even noticed that someone else had a similar idea.

His humming ceased as he started a bit, head turning sharply to size up the competition. "Oh. You're...you wanted this one?"

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_penny
2009-12-16 07:42 am UTC (link)

"Yes please," Penny said charmingly as she oh-so-subtly inched her fingers out to gain physical contact with the album.

The Other Shopper - and he warranted capitals was tall and bordering on lanky. Not a problem, Penny thought dismissively as she notched the smile up a bit.

"I'm buying this album, its got all my favourite songs on it. Now if you could just please move slightly and I'll be on my way. Have a Merry Christmas,"

Penny reached for the album.

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oneandtwoand
2009-12-16 10:52 pm UTC (link)

"Er."

Orsino had opened his mouth the protest, and that was all that had emerged. Er. Wonderful. He stood there for a moment and glowered. On another day, perhaps he would have just given up there and then and let the rival shopper take the album. Actually, it was almost certain that he would. However, her presumption had irked him, and he leaned forward slightly to more securely place his grip on the album.

Turning to look at his competition, he looked down at a curly-haired young woman. She looked quite satisfied with herself, he thought. And she already had quite a selection in her arms. "Do you...can't I take a look at it?"

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_penny
2009-12-16 10:58 pm UTC (link)

As his grip on her cd tightened, Pennys smile turned into a scowl before turning it over so that track list was visible.

She didn't let go though. "There you go. You can look. By definition, looking is something you do with your eyes and not your hands. Othewise the correct phrasing would be be, "May I touch it,".

Penny wasn't giving the album up without a fight.

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oneandtwoand
2009-12-16 11:09 pm UTC (link)

"That's not-" Orsino began, frowning in earnest this time, becoming increasingly frustrated. This was why he hated holiday shopping! All the loonies were out, roaming free, being rude and taking the things he wanted to buy. Or look at. He wasn't even sure he wanted this CD, but he'd have at least liked a chance properly evaluate it without someone else stepping in and interrupting his train of thought.

"Why are- Fine. May I touch it?" he said, not removing his gaze from the CD, on which both he and the woman had a tight grip. Was this seriously happening?

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_penny
2009-12-16 11:15 pm UTC (link)

"You may," Penny said beatificully as she handed the cd over. "You're very polite."

It was wrong of her to try and rile up this utter stranger, but part of her was enjoying the various faces he was pulling as his temper changed.

She began flipping through the albums she'd gathered on her way to the Christmas section and then rearranged them. For a few moments she toyed with soring them alphabetically, by genre or in order of preference. Penny plumped for by genre, and then alphabetically.

Finally, satisfied that everything was in order, she looked up expectantly "Its quite a good album. I'm sure you'll be able to pick one up like it somewhere else."

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oneandtwoand
2009-12-16 11:27 pm UTC (link)

Orsino's foot had begun tapping again, and he scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. He grimace when she deemed him "polite", feeling suddenly a bit too warm to be wearing a leather jacket inside of a store. No matter. He would be done here soon, and well on the way back to his flat. He hoped.

As the young woman sorted through the plethora of CDs she'd already nabbed (no doubt, he thought, from right between the fingers of other shoppers!), Orsino let his eyes wander over the front and back covers of the album, taking in the art and, eventually, the tracklist. It seemed fairly comprehensive, and there were several versions of some of his favorites that he was sure he'd not yet had the pleasure of hearing.

The woman spoke up suddenly, seeming to have finished her sorting. Orsino blinked and reluctantly looked over at her. He briefly met her eyes before looking vaguely at some of the other albums on the shelf. "You seem to have quite a lot already."

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_penny
2009-12-16 11:34 pm UTC (link)

He was tapping. And scratching. And seemed completly unable to stay still for a millisecond.

It was one of Penny's weaknesses ; she liked people who valued the ability to sit still.

"I know. Music is a weakness for me, although its not as bad as books. My flatmate has told me that I have to implement a one in- one out system as I'm spilling all over my room."

Leather Jacket looked at her briefly and Penny felt that she knew him. One of those faces. It was highly unlikely she'd met him in St Erth as he lacked the distinctive accent which narrowed her choice down to Hogwarts or..Hogwarts. Unfortunatly due to the Magical Secrecy Act, she couldn't blur out 'I'm a witch, are you a wizard?'.

Tapping. Leather. Oooh. It as Thingummy from Kirleys band! The drummer - Orsey - no, Orsino. Recognition dawned in her eyes and had her shifting slightly, relaxing her body as it turned towards him.

"So since you've stalked me here," Penny smiled slowly "Are you going to tell me how you got into those leather trousers?"

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oneandtwoand
2009-12-16 11:42 pm UTC (link)

What?

For the second time, Orsino stopped fidgeting and leaned slightly away from her. He fixed her with a leery gaze. She apparently seemed to think they knew each other. Why else would she start asking about his trousers in such a familiar way, or accuse him of stalking her? But then...

"Oh." His posture became less rigid, though he was still a far cry from relaxed. Most people would probably smile at this point, having realized they've just run into someone they've spoken with before. Instead, Orsino just looked mildly concerned.

"What? Sorry. You're that one from the journals the other day." His grip on the CD tightened. "Penny?"

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	_penny 2009-12-16 11:55 pm UTC (link)
	Penny grinned and stuck out her hand "Yup. I'm Penny. Its a pleasure to meet you Mr Orsino Thruston." Her eyes drifted over him to rest pointedly on the cd "I think thats my cd you've got there. Tell you what, why don't you let me buy you a drink and we can see about splitting the album?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

oneandtwoand
2009-12-17 12:07 am UTC (link)

Orsino looked at Penny's hand and then took it in his to return the handshake. "Yeah." He shook his head apologetically. "You, too, I mean."

It appeared he couldn't keep her from this CD, though. For reasons he couldn't fathom she was really determined to have it, even if she did already appear to have too much on her hands. And she was so damned chatty. Although he suppose he ought not to have been surprised - she had been just the same on paper.

At her suggestion, he raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat. If this had been just a random stranger, he'd have refused the offer and just surrendered the CD.

This was a friend of Meghan's, though. And one he'd been in contact with before. And had seemed nice enough then, even if today she was pushy and rude. A drink might not be the worst thing. Besides, if Penny was as she had seemed in the journals, Orsino probably wouldn't have to speak all that much anyway.

"I, er...you serious?"

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_penny
2009-12-17 01:53 am UTC (link)

"Of course I'm serious. I never joke about food and other important matters such as friendship," Renlinquishing control of the cd wasn't easy but Penny would much rather gain a new friend than a new cd.

"So what are you doing in this part of London? Are you local? I have to say, I always think there should be more portable music in the you know, other place."

Guiding them towards the sales counter, Penny kept up her chatter. "Are you all ready for Christmas? I've still got a ton of shopping to do but I'm probably going to leave it till the last minute. I usually do, even though every year I swear not to."

The line at the desk wasn't that bad and Penny tilted her head up to smile at Orsino "What kind of drink would you like? Tea, Coffee, Alcoholic or something fun like a Milkshake or Ice Cream float?"

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oneandtwoand
2009-12-17 03:21 am UTC (link)

It had been a while since Orsino had found himself bombarded by quite so many words and questions from a single person in so short a time period. He began following Penny up to the front of the store, wondering how his day had gotten to such a strange point. After he'd been silent for a while, sorting through whatever Penny was saying, he answered her as they waited in the queue.

"I'm...not immediately local, but near enough for our sort of...travel," Orsino said, casually looking at the CDs as they were being rung up. He certainly wasn't about to tell her he was living in Canonbury. She seemed like the type who would just show up randomly. "Ready enough. Didn't need to buy for many people. Shopping is...stressful."

He looked down at the single CD in his hand and then tilted his head in an attempt to see the titles Penny was buying. "Hm. Dunno." There was alcohol at home already, and plenty of coffee. And he'd never liked tea. Thinking about it, Orsino had not had a float in, possibly, a few years. "Float might be good. Even if it is freezing out."

Orsino shifted uncomfortably, pulling the zipper of his jacket up and down a little ways.