(1937-10-02) Before Grand Opening
Details for Before Grand Opening
Summary: Eden visits Laurence before the Grand Opening of his broomshop and provides alcoholic and moral support as the old friends continue reconnecting.
Date: Tue Oct 02, 1937
Location: Flights of Fancy Broomshop
Related: Flights of Fancy Broomshop Grand Opening
Characters
EdenLaurence

Flights of Fancy Broomshop
Diagon Alley


Stepping into a dream, the atmosphere in the room show room has polished white pine floors and soft creamy white carpets embroidered with exotic designs of gold, silver and black thread. when visitors look up, the ceiling has been bewitched to resemble the sky just above the clouds and there's a faint breeze in the room, cooler during the summer and warmer during the winter, adding to the fantasy of being up there amongst the clouds. Seats are provided around tables, each table about the length of a broomstick and the seats cushioned like lounge chairs with soft white upholstry and they match the two couches in the waiting area near the entrance of the shop. Daily periodicals and Quidditch magazines can be found and are easily accessible along with some thicker books about the history of Quidditch and other broom related topics. Exotic and fragrant teas are offered to customers as they browse or sit in consultations.
The backdrop for the front desk are all images of modern day Quidditch players who have agreed to try, use, and model certain broom models that were made for them or their teams. There are also large sketches and drawings of brooms and the like framed and placed within strategic view, displaying the artist's talent and appreciation for the crafts that are for sale. The front desk is made from the same polished white pine that the floor is, a sturdy flat surface long enough to rest several brooms upon and wide enough to service and examine things as needed.
The broom displays are the stars of the room however, sorted by function and price…there are racing brooms, brooms made for families, even brooms made for young children to name a few. Pre-Made brooms can be found on display in various points in the room but the majority of brooms that are on display are samples of the base designs that customized brooms can and will be made from based on customer need or demand. Moving pictures and posters are framed and placed strategically on the walls between, beside or above displays showing images of Quidditch players in history and other notable flyers. There are desk displays with little Quidditch accessories and Momentos, the occasional pairs of gloves or goggles for sale along with some sort of baked good…cake or pie, sometimes even tarts and the like under a glass cover for customer access.


A potentially busy evening for the shop has a certain broom maker moving around the shop to adjust displays and brush off cushions and the like with the diligence of a man possessed or perhaps obsessed. Fluttering behind him and around him and occasionally landing on his shoulder is a beautiful little turtle dove, all ivory pinkish and inquisitive, picking bits of dust out of his hair and cooootling as she scolds her owner. Laurence just has to laugh and run his fingers through his hair with another nervous chuckle before speaking softly in greek to the bird and tsking at her cooed response. It is late afternoon and the shop doesn't show and 'open' sign but the entrance is not closed.

Standing at the threshold after a moment's consideration, Eden looks on as Laurence tends to his shop. There is a tall skinny bag in her hand and she leans into the doorframe slightly, her head tilted. The usual pencil skirt and blouse are replaced for a red heart shaped cut dress with long sleeves. Her coat rests just at her shoulders and her sleeves are empty of her arms so it drapes around her shoulders to give her already curvy figure something more of an hourglass look. Her lips pull back into a smile and she speaks up. "It looks great. I think you are fussing too much." She steps inside as her head turns about to take in the shop before approaching him slowly. "I thought I would stop by, I heard you were going to have a grand opening."

Another coootling from the bird that almost is a hoot as she turns her head and notices somebody else in the shop and she's flapping her wings to go from Laurence's shoulder to land on the front desk and start…pacing about. Laurence hears the voice and turns slowly as he rubs his hands together and then blinks, head tilting to the side as he blinks again. While he has on his shirt, sleeves rolled up to expose some of the tattoos along his arms and his coat is tossed over the chair behind the front desk, he does feel a bit underdressed or maybe overdressed…in any case he just lets his eyebrows raise. "The beauty does not compare…" He murmurs before gesturing around. "Thank you, Eden, you know me…frettin' about when I should be sipping champagne and going over my lines." A grin is flashed. "I…I am happy to see you indeed."

Watching the dove a moment, Eden gives a look around the shop before coming to stop just before him. Her eyes lower to the tattoos and she smiles further, considering them and then up at him. She lifts the bag, "Good thing I brought some of Reshee's Good Cheer Champagne." She indicates and drags out the gold stamped bottle, bubbling with magical cheer as it waits to be opened. Dark eyes meet his and she nods her head, "I am happy to see you as well. I wish we had kept in better touch but I fear I lost track of you. And we did not have a proper greeting the other day." She steps in close and without warning, slips her free arm around him in a hug, her hair brushing his chin.

Laurence has to smile when he sees the bottle of Champagne. "Reshee's Good Cheer? Oh how you spoil me…ever thinking ahead." He meets that gaze for a moment before he's got an armful of Eden hugs and he's slipping and arm around her waist to pull her close in a gentle squeeze, ducking his head to brush a kiss against her cheek as he chuckles softly. "The fault lies with me, I'm always running aren't I?"

"One must think ahead, to stay ahead," Eden says, as if it were a mantra to live by. That light squeeze has her holding on and she sighs. "Yes, always needing to travel, be somewhere else. And around muggles no less. What about us magical beings? What about me?" She mock pouts a little as she draws back to look up at him and then wiggle the bottle of champagne. "Do we have it now in celebration of what is to come or after when you close your doors for the night. I can stay and help if you like or just come back with some food."

"An those….are brains as stunning as your beauty indeed, I must've lost my Ravenclaw brains somehow, too much falling off my broom and hitting my head." He winks and a wry smile curves his lips. "Aww…well now I'm back aren't I? Fully dedicated to concentrating my…full attention and explorations…" Okay, so its Laurence aka Larry, he lets his hand slip to goose the woman teasingly as she draw back. "…to those who are magically inclined." He laughs softly and then nods towards the bottle. "First, I'll get you some ice for it and a couple of glasses, I don't see why we shouldn't enjoy it beforehand, a celebration of what will be." A pause. "Help will be and is always appreciated luv, I've not planned a menu for the evening just made sure all my socks were clean and paired and that I had plenty of tea…" The dove coos in a 'see what I have to put up with' sorta manner, feathers ruffling as she gets to pecking at a pencil curiously.

"I was not always like this, do not tell me you were looking in school. No one was." But there is a sort of self confidence there that is able to get over the past. The goosing however gains a short yelp and she lowers her free hand back to her rears, smoothing her skirts and eyeing him a moment before smiling and nodding her head, moving to set the bottle down near the dove. "Good, then I will stay and when the night grows later, I will make sure you have something to eat. I can't say to have the best cooking, so I shall make others cook for us." She eyes the room, "Brooms…I could never understand why people enjoy them…dangerous things." She whispers and looks somewhat fearful?

Laurence pshs as his wand is untucked from where it was it was tucked and with a flick of his wrist and a soft uttering as he heads half-way upstairs towards where he will be living and summons a silver bucket of ice, moving back towards the front desk to set it down for the Champagne and he tsks and shakes his head. "You were always smart, and you know it luv…sometimes a sprout when its growing, baby trees that is…may look spindly or awkward and to the eye there's confusion as to whether to be attracted or not, but when they grow into their maturity they stand majestic. They were always beautiful trees, just sometimes people are too thick headed to see." He does look grateful. "That's very kind of you Eden…sweet even." A wink and a grin before he's retrieved a couple of glasses, rose tinted glasses at that and he sets them on the desk as well. "Dangerous?" He has to ask, looking around at the shop and he sighs softly before looking back to Eden. "Tell me darlin', have you ever ridden a horse?"

"Very poetic, but I am certain no one was thinking trees then, sadly. We were kids and what was before us was before us. We also saw things the clearest, now I feel a little befuddled." Her gaze lingers on him with saying that and then she looks to the glasses, her smile growing. Eden shakes her head, "Mention nothing of it. You are my dear friend, how could I not offer this to you?" She asks lightly and then tilts her head, pausing as she gives a look around, nodding her head again in reference to dangerous. "A horse? Of course not…and I would have prefered to never ride a broom. You remembered what happened last time…well in class. Well you weren't there, but you know how I nearly broke my neck. I haven't touched a broom since school. Not all of us are amazing quidditch players." She muses and smooths a hand up to her hair. "Its better that way."

Laurence snorts softly. "Well I'm sure quite a few of 'em were thinking /about/ wood in one way or another…teens tend to be some randy little buggers but yes…you are probably right." Then at the comment about being befuddled he catches his bottom lip between his teeth and just looks sheepish for a moment and then he clears his throat and continues, eyeing the bottle of bubbly thoughtfully before he comes back from around the desk, folding his arms over his chest and he nods slowly to show he does indeed remember. "You work for the ministry don't ya? You'll have to learn garden blossom, because anything could happen…" There is some concern in his voice about this before he sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "But you know your heart better than I, just know I will have you astraddle a broom eventually."

"Some of them were, yes." But in association with her. Eden leans against the side of the front counter, watching him with a furrow of her brows. "I attempted to learn, is that not good enough?" She asks faintly, breath coming a bit more swiftly. "Broomriding is not meant for everyone. It scares the ever living life out of me, Larry." She says, her hand lifting to rub at her neck and then her dark eyes shoot up to his with his last statement. "You think so, but I would like to see you try. It is likely not going to happen." It is a warning perhaps and then she hads the bottle to him. "You should open it, it is your shop." She intones.

Laurence holds up his hands in a sign of surrender. "I understand, no pressure here…I just be knowin' that sometimes when you fall, you're afraid of getting back up and that'll haunt you for years but can't nobody force you to face your fear or discomfort, has to be something you want." An apologetic twist of his lips as he's finding a bottle opener, aka…using a quiet spell from his wand to pop open the bottle of bubbly and he eeps softly, tucking his wand away and raising a hand to lick away some of the bubbled over…champagne before moving to fill one glass which he offers to Eden like a peace offering.

…. Fade Out

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