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Post by Skatie on May 1, 2018 14:52:31 GMT -5
Maverick ErasmusHitman Demolitions Specialist
Whistling a jaunty tune, Maverick made his way down a busy street in London. It was only ten in the morning on a Sunday but he was feeling accomplished - two hours at the gym, breakfast with his father, and now the whole day was free before him. There was nothing better than a lazy Sunday where you had no obligations to meet. It was invigorating. It took him about seven minutes to be bored. He tucked into one shop, browsed idly, wandered back out. He was restless, jittery, bored. He took out his cell and dialed his brother. Voicemail. "Lazy shit," he muttered to himself and pocketed his phone again. "Someone amuse me!" he said loudly to the world at large.
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Post by trashpanda on May 6, 2018 8:36:10 GMT -5
Gavyn Scarborrough Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor
Gavyn sat on the porch of a pub, leafing through one of her new purchases and sipping an Irish coffee. An old friend from Hogwarts had gotten into researching the history of magic, and compiled several volumes on pre-Slavic folklore and tradition. She was absorbed in a description of the Vedmak, a "demon" she suspected was just an allegory for witches and wizards, when a voice exclaimed, "Someone amuse me!" She looked up and spotted a man who, frankly, looked like trouble. Curiosity got the better of her, not that she'd really tried to fight it. She smirked, and called back "Hey, sit down and have a drink, stop bothering the public." She pushed out the chair across from her with her foot as an invitation.
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Post by Skatie on May 6, 2018 13:20:44 GMT -5
Much to his surprise (and evident delight), a voice gave response to his call to action. He whipped his head in the direction of the voice and smirked at the lady kicking out a chair for him. "Don't mind if I do," he grinned, sauntering over to drop himself into the chair most cavalierly.
"Oy," he lifted his hand toward the waiter to indicate one pint, then turned his attention back to the lady before him. "Hello, then, love," he smiled.
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Post by trashpanda on May 6, 2018 15:46:42 GMT -5
He was trouble, she thought as he sauntered over, she just wasn't sure what kind yet. She scanned him quickly to see if she could guess. He had scars peeking out from under his sleeves, and a jaunty demeanor - so she'd guess that he was in a dangerous line of work, but nothing with a strict hierarchy like the Ministry or the military. Maybe he was a freelancer. Or a criminal. Either way, he looked like the kind of guy that would know some offensive spells, if he was a wizard.
"It's Gavyn," she said, setting her book down on the table and extending a hand.
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Post by Skatie on May 6, 2018 16:52:39 GMT -5
"Nice," he said in response to her name. "Maverick."
He made himself comfortable in his chair, slouching and kicking one leg out in a manner that was sure to trip someone up as they walked by the pub. That wasn't his problem, though. People really should pay a bit of attention to where they were going. He kept a mischievous smile at his lips as he glanced over her reading material. "Folklore, huh?" he asked. "You believe in all that stuff?" Maverick knew the truth, of course, but assumed he was chatting to a Muggle woman.
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Post by trashpanda on May 6, 2018 18:12:18 GMT -5
She laughed. "This?" she said, picking the book up. "Oh, it's just for work, I'm a teacher." She turned it over in her hands, calculating a reply. The bind runes on her forearm peeked out from underneath her flannel shirt as she did so. There was no getting around the fact that she was superstitious, by either muggle OR witch standards. "I'd say I believe it more than the next person, though," she added, looking up. "How about you?"
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Post by Skatie on May 6, 2018 18:37:05 GMT -5
Maverick cocked his head slightly, eyes roving over the ink that was on display. "Runes, too, huh," he said this as if it weren't a question. An observation. Maverick didn't know enough about runes to know the meaning of the ones she had selected for her tattoos, unfortunately. At the moment, he was regretting that fact. He'd have liked to impress her. "Are you asking me if I believe in folklore? Or what I do?" He gave her a cheeky smile as if he was only being difficult.
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Post by trashpanda on May 6, 2018 19:38:31 GMT -5
She took a sip of her coffee, and thought about it. He could be hinting at being a wizard. Or he could just be giving her trouble. Both seemed equally likely, and she wasn't about to start an incident because she guessed wrong.
"Why not both?" she said, deciding two could play that game and returning his smile.
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Post by Skatie on May 6, 2018 19:46:37 GMT -5
Maverick was usually pretty gifted at dancing around whether or not he was a wizard when chatting up a new female. When asked if he believed in folklore, however, he ran into a wall. He couldn't say that he believed in it to a muggle and not seem like a loon, but he couldn't outright lie, either. That wasn't quite his nature. "I'm on a bomb squad," he shrugged, choosing to only give his profession - sort of - and bypass the issue of the folklore altogether.
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Post by trashpanda on May 6, 2018 20:28:57 GMT -5
Well, that was interesting, and explained the scars. It also put them in similar lines of work. Muggle or not, she wondered if they knew any of the same people. "What unit are you with?" she asked. "I used to do freelance security jobs before I went back to school. Consulting mostly, but I worked with bomb squads on occasion to determine proper perimeters for events."
She realized too late that jobs in both folklore and security didn't make for a consistent cover story, but she could explain the gap away if he caught it. Probably.
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Post by Skatie on May 7, 2018 6:41:04 GMT -5
She had told him that she was a teacher and Maverick had felt safe in sharing he was on a bomb squad - what teachers knew anything about that sort of thing? And then she had to go and ask him what unit he was with, which felt odd to him. "What kind of teacher of folklore consults for bomb squads?" He asked this with amused incredulity - curiosity, not doubt. His genuine reaction also saved him from having to answer what 'unit' he was with. Maverick and his partner, Ambrose, were the only Demo Specialists in Britain for the Ministry of Magic. There was no need for unit numbers as a result, but he could have probably just thrown something out there all willy-nilly with a hope and a prayer that she didn't know what she was talking about.
Damn it.
It was times like these that Maverick wondered why the Wizarding community didn't have a universally known code word to determine who was magical when they met in Muggle parts of the world.
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Post by trashpanda on May 7, 2018 18:15:57 GMT -5
She laughed, and said, “The kind of teacher that went looking for trouble first, I guess. Besides, I was really the one asking them for advice.”
Shrugging, she explained, “I never meant to go into academia. Right after graduation, I started working security for a well-to-do family, then landed a few one-off jobs after that and built a freelancing career for myself. I only got out last year - demand was down, and I felt like I’d hit a plateau anyways. I started looking for a new job, and a friend pointed me towards a school in need of instructors. I didn’t expect them to call me back, much less offer me the position, but here we are.”
It was all true, at least. She grinned, a little self-consciously. “There’s my biography, I guess. Anyways, I couldn’t resist the chance to talk shop. How about you? Have you always had a knack for playing with fire?”
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Post by Skatie on May 7, 2018 18:50:24 GMT -5
"Demand was down?" he asked, brow furrowed though a smile still played on his face. "That can't be right. There's always a demand for blowing shit up, love." Maverick didn't really like to hear that his field of expertise was no longer in demand. If she spent a day on his job, she'd know for a fact that he was very much in high demand, thank you. He couldn't imagine that the Muggle world would be all that different. Muggle bomb squads were very much doing business and getting paid.
Though, perhaps he was falling prey to his delicate male ego. She was probably referring to jobs in private security.
"Yep, always." Maverick cut a grin, eyes flashing mischievously. "Some might even say I'm a wizard for creating disaster," he winked.
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Post by trashpanda on May 7, 2018 19:37:26 GMT -5
A wizard? She was pretty sure, at this point, that they were in similar lines of work. Pretty sure.
Regardless, she noticed his concern. It was almost comical - she didn't doubt he was an expert in mayhem, but she couldn't see why it would matter if she did.
She shook her head. "No, I only worked with bomb squads. I wasn't anywhere near that official..." she trailed off, thinking. "I worked in personnel protection, as an independent contractor. What I did was less of a science, sometimes an art, but usually more of a magic trick." She flashed him a grin, then explained, "There was a pretty steep increase in demand about twenty years ago. I joined the field just as the market plateaued. Now, things are getting more competitive. All in all, I'm glad people are feeling safer, even if it means I had to go looking for work."
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Post by Skatie on May 8, 2018 11:44:44 GMT -5
"Science is an art, love," Maverick said with a little smile. It certainly was when he performed it, that was a fact. Maverick loved science - the science of potions had always been his preferred form of magic. He didn't take well to people who spoke as if they understood his trade. While he didn't think she was lying, he also didn't believe that anyone was hiring a consultant when they could hire an actual expert. At the Ministry, they didn't hire outsiders to consult on their work. Maverick was certainly arrogant in that much. Even during the war, he couldn't see that being necessary. That was a discussion they could avoid, though.
"Perhaps if you'd pursued becoming an actual professional, you wouldn't have so much competition?" he asked her casually. After all, if she was as skilled as he took her to be implying, why didn't she just get a Ministry job?
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