| Details for Clockwork Hurricane |
| Summary: | Graham brings Michais a clock to look at, while Hurricane Miranda returns from her 'shopping' spree. |
| Date: | 26 June, 1938 |
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Floating lights in the aisles have been brightly lit, their glow seen from outside through the tall windows that front the shop. Once inside the customer can see that the light comes from a mixture of store fixtures and those that are for sale. Near the back there is a long counter, and behind that a man with rumpled hair and glasses currently in one hand as he rubs at the back of his neck with his other, sits looking over a ledger. With a sigh, he replaces the glasses, and looks again at the open pages, an expression of mild perplexion creasing his brow.
It's with a pop that a figure appears into the alley holding away from his body a small package. It's held tight all the same as he moves towards his destination. It's not a very long trip and he reaches out opening the door and stepping inside. He reaches up removing a hood which he'd been wearing previously. Graham glances around as he gains his bearings.
Miranda blows in like a hurricane. Only not a real one, since it's the middle of summer and those sorts of storms rarely happen naturally in England. Either way, she's here now and the door is banging behind her as she trots in carrying a mountain of books that leak dust and an angry doxy. "Sherlock, do we have any doxycide? I can't get this blasted thing to leave me — OOF!" Graham, being in her way, gets the brunt of the force of her literary invasion, which possibly involves a shower of pointy-edged books and so forth.
There's a little bell that always dings when someone enters, and it gets the attention of the man at the back of the shop. He seems almost relieved to have an excuse to leave the ledger as he stands and makes his way out from behind the counter towards Graham. "Good evening," he greets, inclining the upper half of his body slightly when he stops in front of the man.
Graham is pausing as he tries to find the owner of the shop which turns out to be a bad idea. He gives a wince as he's smarted by books rubbing the back of his head a moment. The young man looks back "Are you alright?" he asks firstly before bending over and picking up the books which fell and offering them back. It's only after this he spots the one he came to see. "Ah, good evening. I was told that I may be able to get some information about an item here"
"Ack!" protests Miranda, having lost her precious trove of books. She exhales in a frustrated manner and then forces a smile on her face. "Oh well." She picks the first one up, eyes the doxy placidly before aiming a vicious swing at it, hitting the doxy wih a loud THWAK and sending it hurtling across the room. The book, predictably, loses its cover. "Oh, bother," sighs the brunette, pushing her glasses up her nose. Two seconds later she's cheerfully telling Michais, "Never mind. Taken care of," before resuming to pick the books up.
"What kind of item, oh, careful there," Michais adds as he sees the cover of the book go flying, "those old books are fra- Miranda…" he trails off, just looking at the brunette, not having words to say. He adjust his glasses. "You're home," he finally says, then clears his throat. "So, uh, this item," he blinks, refocusing his attention on Graham with some effort.
The man gives a smile as things are settled. Graham looks back as he's spoken to the item in his hand remembered after the words reach him. "Ah, yes." the auror takes a few steps closer to the other. "I found this recently during a case, and unfortunately everyone's been too busy lately to get it looked at. It uh may be hexed or jinxed." he's careful not to touch it as he removes the wrapping to show a small simple clock.
Miranda gives Michais a sort of small suspicious look. "Of course I'm back. I live here. Unless you've rented my flat out to somebody else and are planning to take my name off the front before running off together into the sunset holding hands and singing." Shaking her head, Miranda trots off with her recollected books and dumps them onto a table out of the way. "Hexed or jinxed?" she says, perking up, and rounds the back of an antique dresser to peer at the clock. "What makes you think that?"
"Ahem, well, yes. You've been gone awhile, is all," Michais replies to the woman, and then turns himself to look at the clock. "Ah, yes," he takes a handkerchief from his pocket and reaches out to take the clock from Graham if permits.
Graham does allow the clock to be taken from him as the other seems to know not to touch it it's better safe than sorry when it comes to these things. "There were a few cursed items in the house, I was able to dispel the rest but wasn't sure on this background of this one more then anything."
"Fascinating," murmurs Miranda, peering around Michais' arm to look at the clock. "Well! I'll leave you boys to it then. You seem to be managing well enough without me, and all." Miranda trots across the room again to start repairing books with her wand sedately.
Michais nods as he looks at the clock. "Fascinating," he agrees, his glance up is caught as Miranda trots away, and he finds himself watching her repair the books.
The auror looks between the two confused a bit but settles on the first who has the item giving a small nod. "I dont believe it's too dangerous, as it was brought back to the ministry instead of destroyed but it's possible it would be more valuable if the hex were broken and the object back to normal." he says looking about the shop so the other can take a look at the item.
Miranda flits Michais a grin and flicks her fingers at him to indicate he should pay attention to the auror. "I'm sure dear Holmes there can find a way to unhex your clock, if it is indeed hexed."
Michais starts as Miranda grins at him, then clears his throat and nods. "Right, the clock. The clock," he repeats in a firmer voice. "I'll just take it to the back room. In case something pops out, right. If you'd follow me. What sorts of curses or hexes were on the other items in the house?" Apparently he was listening, with some part of his brain, which seems to be coming back into focus now as he leads Graham towards the workroom in the back.
Graham is focused on the clock but still listening and watching around him. It's an occupational hazard to pay to much attention sometimes, the question gets a nod and he moves forward. "Nothing too serious, I think only meant to slow someone down stinging hexes and the like." he answers thinking back to the ones they'd fixed already.
Once Michais and Graham have headed for the work room, Miranda wanders back to the front and locks the door, turning the sign to 'closed'. Better that nobody wanders in while they are working, after all. Then she flicks her wand to send newly repaired books to the shelves with others already there and goes to join the men in the back, unable to resist a good mystery (or a good cursed antique).
Michais glances up. "Slow someone down? Clocks are good for time hexes," he muses. Now that he is fully engaged in a mystery, he manages to keep his attention on the task at hand instead of the woman as she returns. He tests the wards on the table before he sets the clock down, then taps his wand against his other hand.
"That's very true, I'm not too sure the owner of the clock was up to that sort of magic." Graham says with a chuckle as he watches the other look at the item closely. "It's a very nice shop here I don't believe I've been inside before now." he says breaking the silence
"He may not have been, but he may have gotten it from someone who was. Hexed objects frequently change hands, it's the nature of dark magic, especially." Miranda leans her shoulder into the doorway, tucking her wand into her pocket casually.
Michais nods absently agreeing with Miranda. "We'll just have a little peek." His wand stills for a moment, and he wrinkles his brow, lifting the wand, then he pauses, and reaches out with the wand instead, flipping the clock onto its back. He bends down and peers at the runes on the bottom. "What have we here?"
Graham nods in agreement as well "That's true as well." he says to both as the other examines the item. He approaches as the other finds something interesting. "Hmm runes, not my specialty I'm afraid." he says ruefully the one thing he didn't really study in school it would seem. The auror goes back to watching back and forth now as they will likely know what's going on.
But it is one of Miranda's. "I read most ancient western languages, Michais reads pretty much all of the eastern ones. Between the two of us, not much is written that slips us," she tells the Auror with a wink. "Anything interesting?" she adds to Michais, though not coming forward just yet.
Michais glances back to Miranda, and there's a flush of red to his cheeks at her bragging about the two of them. "It's actually quite simple. It appears whoever made the clock didn't know that much about runes either. It's simple enough…" his tone evinces a bit of disappointment as he turns back to the clock. He pauses, then gives a swirl with his wand, pulling back as he does. The clock chimes, wheezes, then chimes again as the wizard straightens. He picks it up and hands it back to Graham. "There you are. A perfectly normal clock, now."
He accepts the clock after the wandwork of the other and nods in approval and seems to give it a looking over for a moment. "Excellent, if it's worth anything to your business you may keep it?" Graham offers to the other since it's not really being used as evidence or anything just confiscated. "The office has been busy lately so it had just been sitting around i'm afraid."
Miranda sighs in disappointment as the clock proves that harmless. "Well. Perhaps some day we'll find something interesting," she murmurs faintly. She glances at Michais and lifts an eyebrow. Does he want the clock? He's right, she's been gone a long time, she has no clue what's selling lately and what's not.
First deferring to the owner of the store, Michais gives Miranda a chance at the clock, but when she looks to him, he gives Graham a gentle smile. "Thank you for your offer, but with all the things Miranda has been collecting, we would hardly have room. I'm sure that it will keep perfect time, now, if you have need of a clock yourself." He punctuates the polite refusal with a half bow, and then holds a hand towards the shop to usher Graham at least to the shop proper, instead of the back room.
Graham nods "Fair enough, thought i'd offer at least." the young man says looking to each with a bow in return "Thank you both for your help, I should head back to the ministry still have some paperwork to do before I can head home for the day." with this he takes the motion and heads back into the shop where he'll likely show himself out.
Miranda makes a quick retreat in front of Graham to unlock the door and let him out, but she locks it again behind him and then puts her back against it. There's nothing but pure mischeif on her face when she turns around. "Well, Sherlock, what have you been up to in my absence?"
Sometimes, albeit rarely, Sherlock is moved to go after what he wants. He is also a naturally quiet fellow, and his footsteps as he followed, then sidestepped behind Miranda as she opened the door were almost indistinguishable from Graham's. Because of this, when Miranda turns around with mischief in her eyes, she'll have just enough time to register the flicker of a wand that frosts over the windows so the outside world can't see into the shop. By the time she finishes speaking, Michais has braced his hands on the door behind her, and he is leaning down to kiss her. Really kiss her.
Any thoughts of conversation die on Miranda's lips as her eyes widen. So used to being the one to chase Michais down and initiate, it takes her a few minutes to actually figure out exactly what is going on. Who is this strange man attacking her face?! Oh right, she's caught up to speed now. She throws her arms around his neck, fingers curling into his hair to haul herself closer. Finally when she must pull away to catch her breath, she gasps, "Happy to see me, then?"
Michais gives a sheepish smile. "You seemed disappointed earlier that there was no excitement from the clock. I was trying to make up for it," he informs her, before finding her lips again, his arms sliding down to wrap around her back. "Very much so," he admits against her lips.
"Well, it was disappointing," Miranda murmurs, running her fingers through Mich's hair affectionately. "Consider my disappointment forgotten. I'm glad you were waiting for me," she adds, leaning in to return the kiss.
There's actually a chuckle from him as she considers her disappointment forgotten. After a few more minutes of attempting to drown Miranda in a series of kisses that go from the yearning of having missed her, to tender brushes of lips, then back to a deeper hunger, Michais lifts his head. "Where are my manners, keeping you standing here in the door when you've just returned from traveling and must be exhausted? You should be upstairs… having a bit of a lie down…" his expression shows his usual deferential polite concern for her comfort as he turns to draw her towards the stairs.
A younger, less wise girl might be fooled by Michais' deferential treatment. However, Miranda is not that girl. "Oh, is that so?" Allowing herself to be drawn along, she teases, "And will monseiur also be drawing a bath for his tired traveling lady?"
Michais lets his head dip in assent as they walk up the stairs. "Oui, if my traveling lady desires such a bath to be drawn," he replies, a bit of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Her teasing does draw a glimmer to his eyes, even if his expression remains calmly unruffled.
Miranda chuckles lowly as they head up the stairs and into her flat. "Perhaps after I've laid down awhile," she decides at length, closing the door that leads to the stairs behind them. Poor store, so many reduced hours when the two of them are together. Perhaps tomorrow it can reopen for regular business.