| Details for Wandless Christmas? |
| Summary: | Gage makes a brief visit to Dweedle's Wheedles |
| Date: | December 26, 1938 |
| Location: | Dweedle's Wheedles - Diagon Alley |
| Related: | Secret Exchange |
| Characters |
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Gage definitely didn't go /home/ over the break. But there was no way he was going to stay at the castle. But while he had kept to the mundane world in Dublin, the day after Christmas has taken him to London, transporting him via the fireplace from wizarding town in Dublin to the Leaky Cauldron. Gage wears black pants with suspenders hanging down at his hips and a navy blue sweatshirt with a knitted pattern, the wide collar turned down, topped by his long coat that is worn opened. A knitted tuque is pulled over his head, blonde hair escaping from it. He walks along the marketplace at night, while only a couple stragglers are still about, until he stops by the door of a bookstore and lets out a breath as he stares at the door, his gaze slowly travelling upwards.
The lights within Dweedle's Wheedles glow brightly with warmth and activity, showing its patrons outside that the doors are open for all those searching for tomes of any shape, size and sometimes breed. From his place outside the door, Gage may see Arthur Dweedle. A short, slightly chubby man with the top of his bald head gleaming some as he peers intently through his spectacles at the end of his button nose. He wrinkles it slightly, the dark bracers over his shoulders stretching with his movements as he rolls from within his chair the length of the front counter, expertly avoiding a precarious stack of papers on piled up neatly on the floor as his wheels roll on the worn wooden floor. With a slip of a paper in hand, he rises to his feet and pulls out a long card column from the wall, sorting through it with practiced ease before placing the slip into its place.
In front of the well polished antique of a cash register is a young girl about fifteen or so, with long ebony hair that is pulled back into a crisp, precise French braid without a single hair out of place. With her back towards the front door just next to the register, she lifts herself from a crouch to stand to her feet, pleated skirt brushing along the pale skin of her thighs as the girl moves around the counter, carrying a stack of new books from a recent shipment while several more follow in her wake in the air, fanning out much like a cards in a slight arch.
Gage doesn't move from outside, frowning deeply as he stares into the store with crinkled eyebrows. His eyes are squinted as he stares at a distance without his eyeglasses, and he idly shifts his coat. Pulling his hands out of his pocket, he pushes his left hand against the door only to open it a couple of inches. …And he freezes there, scowling at himself as his hand suddenly shakes. Well he's starting to lose his nerve.
"Are you going in or out?" An impatient voice suddenly asks from behind him. His scowl deepens, but the tall boy doesn't even look at the woman as he slips inside and out of the way, even as he stays close to the wall. So the woman enters, tut-tutting young lads in general and blocking the entrance to stores.
The bell above the door rings with life as Gage enters quickly, followed by the grumbling woman as she disappears into one of the crowded aisles to browse. The ebony-haired girl keeps her eyes on the floating books in front of her as she expertly moves into one of the aisles, the last of the new books floating sorting themselves neatly into different areas of the shelves. Her chest rises and falls with a slow exhale, expression remaining passive as Elizabeth shifts her sky blue eyes behind her circular glasses towards the front of the bookstore, raven ponytail swaying back and forth from the motion. She then emerges from the row, her pale eyes blinking with surprise as she sees Gage, standing there awkwardly. Obviously pensive. The girl pauses for a moment. "Can I help you?"
After the woman passes Gage turns his head, looking at the door as he inches along the wall toward it again. But his foot barely lands on the threshold when he's lifting his head abruptly, dark blue eyes squinting as they focus on the raven haired girl. He lets out a breath as he quickly lowers his head, eyes falling to the floor as he shifts uncomfortably. Without a word, his hand disappears inside his coat, taking out rectangle, wrapped in thick brown package paper. He peeks upward - only to check that she was still lingering before returning his eyes to the floor - and crouches to lay the gift on the floor. He swallows, glances around the store swiftly, and then starts to exit, his gloved hand lingering on the edge of the door.
Her delicate brow gently knits together with a small frown as she watches him, the shift of his weight, his eyes catching hers before quickly looking towards the floor. The brown paper-wrapped package is set on the floor near his feet, amongst the towers of books that have yet to be organized. This earns another small and confused frown from Elizabeth, Gage rising to his feet again clearly with the intent of leaving just a silently as he had entered. Her pale eyes look from him to the present, a rectangle that fits in the size of one's palm.
And as her soft lips part with a absent breath, Elizabeth takes the few steps to bend down and retrieve the gift. "Eventually, you'll have to talk to me." she says quietly, looking at the wrapped gift in her hand. "You're my friend, and I would hate to lose you, but a friendship cannot survive without communication." Or trust for that matter. Gage looked as if he was trying to leave before she tries to take a bite out of him or something, like a werewolf.
Gage pauses by the door, his fingers tightening around the edge when she speaks. He shakes his head slowly, blowing out a breath. He turns his head to set his dark blue eyes on her, biting his lower lip. After staring at her silently, he mutters in his quiet, Irish accented voice, "Happy Christmas." His foot slides behind him as he inches a little further back, as if still planning on departing despite the fact that he lingers a moment longer to watch her.
Elizabeth exhales another small breath, not fully satisfied, but she can't pressure him to do anything either. "Merry Christmas." she replies in kind, pausing another moment before her fingertips begin gently unwrapping the package in her hands. "I already arranged for your present, so it should be delivered sometime soon if it has not arrived before now." She doesn't look up at him, her thoughts elsewhere as she unwraps his present.
Quite obviously the gift is a book, but it's one on ancient runes, a different one than she's always reading. But his eyes return to the floor as she starts to unwrap, and he turns his head to look outside. He frowns and looks back to her when she speaks, shaking his head. "Oi don't nehd a gift from you," he mutters quietly and turns to look back outside before stepping out. But the door doesn't completely close, as he hold sit open a crack, his shoulders slumping a little as he pauses.
"Perhaps, or perhaps not. In either case I already arranged this a week or so ago." Elizabeth murmurs, a hand trailing over the cover of the book in her hand, taking in the scrip of the title as Gage turns and steps outside, holding the door open with a hand on the door handle still. Indecisive, mentally rolling over something in his mind as is the boy's way. Her pale eyes look up to watch him, quiet and wondering just what thoughts are going through his brain to make his shoulders visibly slump like that. Wondering if it's even her place to try to comfort her friend. "I wanted to give you at least one thing." she murmurs even softer. It takes her a moment to exhale a breath and shift gears again, turning to the aisle of books once more. Elizabeth hoped that he would come to her when he needed to, but there's no way of knowing if that's the right choice.
For several seconds the door simply sways back and forth as Gage hesitates. He blows out a breath and lifts his shoulders up, muttering, "Oi'm not at 'ome." Because he doesn't know that he would have already gotten this gift. But he adds in, "Thanks," in a bitter sounding tone before he pulls the door shut (with a little too much strength) and starts away from the store.