Details for Broken Record |
Summary: | Graham and Cassiel take the charred and broken pieces, to an expert to find out a little more of what they're dealing with. |
Date: | 1939-02-06 |
Location: | Empty warehouse |
Related: | When the Music Stops |
Characters |
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It's still a cold day out but at least the sun is out and the wind has died down so it's not entirely unpleasant. It's midday and people go about there various businesses or just finishing and heading home. One such of these is Graham the job is never over it would seem despite having a rather long day he did promise to show up and bring the pieces left over from the record and record player which he had to make go boom. He has apparated close to the meeting point and carries a small back with him likely which he carries said pieces in.
The meeting place, a small warehouse on the outskirts of Muggle London, was one owned by a squib from a minor family, one Adelphus Quinn, who typically used it for private restorative projects, where the need for a controlled and remote environment were ideal. It's not small, but relatively decent in size… but at the moment is completely emptied, save for a workbench, a number of repair tools, and a series of runic wards placed around the table itself, designed to squelch any sound within.
Cassiel and Aldephus stand just outside the main entrance, waiting for Graham. There's no telling what favor Cassiel had to cash in to get the other to come… but clearly the squib is nervous.
Graham will approach the others once they are spotted at the warehouse which he cant remember being down this way before. He is moving at a quickened pace having been running a little late maybe. "My apologies for being late." he will say to each in turn. The back is unslung from his shoulder and held within one hand so he can offer his hand to the one he doesn't know. "Graham Cohen." he introduces himself.
Cassiel grins, and nods to Graham as he finally approaches, a general greeting coming in the form of that nod and a simple, "Cohen." He wearing a different hat today, of all things a checked Deerstalker, which doesn't mesh well with the rest of his outfit. Then again, it likely doesn't matter much to him at all.
The other, on the other hand, is dressed pretty much spot-on for the era, since he lives it. The man cautiously takes Graham's hand, and with a bit of a shakey nod, says, "Add… adde… addel…. Name's Addie. Thanks, Mister Cohen, sir. Cay here tells me ya needs a record player fixed?"
"It's good to meet you Addie." Graham will say in proper greeting though he motions to the bag a moment "Well I don't know if it can be fixed without a little bit of help, but at least looked at to see if anything is odd about it." he will say it's a little dubious to see what can be done but also very important to find out what's going on with it. He does seem not quite himself but he's trying hard to be at his best.
Cassiel reacts to Graham's statement with a bitof a knowing grin, but allows Addie to speak for himself, which he does, once over the initial nervousness. "Ain't nothin' Addie's put his mind to that he can't put back together. Hell… if the king's horsemen and men had come to me, Mr. Dumpty might have had a fightin' chance, I say. Bring it on in, though, and I'll take a look at it. Tell ya at least what kind of time frame we're lookin' at."
The squib leads the two in, talking all the way toward the work table. "Now, Cay's not been tellin' me much about this, other'n a note that there's some worry 'bout this being abnormal. Not what it seems. And unless you really didn't get any useful pieces, I'm pretty sure I can figure out that much at least tonight. If it's really Muggle 'r not."
Graham looks to the other two as they seem quite certain that it can be repaired. "I hope I am wrong of course." he looks to the other ministry worker a moment "If we can put it back together there is a safe place to put it right?" he will ask concerned on this point more so then the actual repair part of it.
Cassiel looks at Graham a bit incredulously, "I would assume, once we ascertain its nature, Abuse would want to get their hands on it… this being a potentially enchanted Muggle object." He grins, however, following along with Addie, "But first things first."
Addie nods, "Got to put firt things first, of course. And that's to see what we got in the pieces, themselves." He continues walking to the workbench, "Now some nice folks from your department came over, and made sure to set up a gri-".
His voice cuts out immediately, the moment he steps over an implied line on the ground, and he keeps talking for a moment, smiles, and then steps back over, "-eems to work perfectly. Sound seems to not travel at all within the field." A hand goes out for the bag.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they did want a look." Graham says offering over the bag to the others so it can be taken over he nods in appreciation to the sound bubble which is a good idea given what he saw last time the thing was active. "If they do it might be taken off my hands but i'll try remain involved it's important especially if it's being used to bait muggles or something like that." it's a soft spot for him.
Addie takes the back, and retreats back into the 'bubble'. And for the moment, all is silent as he carefully begins laying out each of the pieces on the workbench, sorting them loosely. Cassiel looks back to Graham, "I totally understand. Nothing worse than having evidence for your case taken out of your hands by bureaucracy. I honestly don't know how you MLE folks can handle all that. My job? If it's mine, it stays mine. No one else wants it."
Graham chuckles a bit as he watches the pieces a moment but also listening to the other. "That's about the worst, you get invested in something like this and then told that it doesnt concern you afterall so yeah sure I can just forget all about it." he sighs slightly "It's been a long day speaking of the MLE, but that's not really important." he will turn back continuing to watch the restoration at work as each piece is looked at.
"Internal politics," Cassiel responds, "I hear you loud and clear," even as he looks over to watch the slow process as well. For his own part, Addie seems to at least be able to sort out most of the parts, a silent clucking of the tongue every time he finds a half-melted or twisted gear from the destructive spell.
Eventually, he starts pulling out large, hard-bound tomes from under the bench, leafing through them, comparing them to bits and pieces, and seemingly always finding something that makes him shake his head and go further into another. Another tome comes out, and more cross-referencing. He pauses, and then turns around, coming out of the bubble already speaking, "—ave any idea who the maker of this blasted thing is?Would give me a real head start in figuring out if it's a fake, or the real deal."
The auror looks back towards where they work but also listneing the charred pieces get a wince from him "Maybe there was another way to stop it, but not through the brawl going on." he says knowing that it's likely not possible. He will look on to the question "I'm not sure I was reading a book about these things but didnt get too far." he has no idea in otherwords something he's not to keen to admit to.
Looking at Addie for a bit, and then himself walking into the bubble, Cassiel looks at the pieces. This is the first time he's actually laid eyes on it, and there is a definite look of mourning as recognition dawns, especially as he picks up a twisted and burnt bit of metal. He sets it down… and comes back outside the bubble, "I can't be too sure… but I think if you narrowed the research down to the Victor's catalog, you'll find a good match. One of my cases, they had one. I don't recall what the kid called it… A firmagrat or something… but I remember the name Victor. Victor's Victrola? Something to that fact."
"Different book." Not as much to the others as to himself, Addie steps around the small table inside the bubble and it's apparent that he's still talking. Unheard, perhaps, but still talking and whilst no one can hear it, the way his entire body jolts with his 'Hah!' of triumph as greasy ash stained fingers thump agianst the book, he's stumbled onto something.
It helps as he works too, because he doesn't come back out as quick and instead goes at the pieces with a new kind of drive, until they're done out into three different piles. The guts of the thing, the tinders that remained unashed from the destructive spell and the record itself.
A particularly large piece, that looked to be focused around a melted hinge was pryed apart, until the squibs eyes gleamed with near manic delight and when he finally stepped free of the sound bubble once again, it was with a twisted metal plate in his hand about as wide as a man's thumb and just as long.
"Well, aint no fake, as far as I can tell. That model comes issued with vender number. Oughta be able to trace back the dealer by it, if you knew someone who could look into things from the legal end. That Lestrange might do it."
Graham is a bit out of his realm despite being a half-blood on this case, but he will listen to learn he does like learning no doubt there. "Lestrange?" he says at the tossing out of the name nobody coming to mind immediately though given they say legal he wont say anything but his eyes tighten a little if anywhere looking directly to him he'll look away for a moment "So we can track where it was sold, that's a good thing."
Cassiel looks at Addie, and then back to Graham, "I think he's referring to Balthazar Lestrange, the chap you and the lovely Miss Moody were eating with when I first met you." A nod, "A good idea, Addie."
"But this," Addie gestures back towards the pieces of molten record at the end of the table, off in a group to themselves. "I think, but do not quote me, I think if those pieces were its bundled up like wax were clipped away from those other pieces that are still full of grooves, if I were to get another one and then, sort of cut out places so that they'll fit like putting puzzle pieces into a picture then…perhaps we could hear what's on those sections," he offered, running his tongue over the flat of his teeth, before he reached up to stroke at the stubble that lined his chin. "Do you know which one was spelled? I think, if I'd enough pieces of the player too, I could put those that were left into one, with the same principal and if there's any residue of the spell itself left then, we might find some piece of it. Unless either of you know a curse breaker who'd care to come in and give the pieces a poke?"
The young man sighs though nods to the words of the other "Ah, yes him I do know." Graham he tries to remain friendly but who knows how well this goes really. "If we can tell which one was hexed yeah it would help limit it down to an isolated event or if this will be more wide spread." he doesnt really want to think about that given it could cause so much more trouble then could be easily handeled. "If I do hear of another i'll try to bring it in, in one piece or at least less pieces."
At this, Cassiel nods, "You work on the lawyer… he… doesn't care much for me, to be honest." Sometimes it's worse to be a Muggle-loving pure-blood in some eyes, than someone born with the unfortunate lineage. "I'll looks to see about procuring one of these, I do have some more strings I can pull…"
He looks to Graham, "However, as rough as it is, we may still need to get Abuse involved with this. Especially if we're going to run the risk of /creating/ another one of the bloody contraptions." He's still convinced it's the phonograph itself.
"Well, you, you see about getting me another one of these and I'll get the record," the young man offers, his hand falling away from scruffing at his beard. "And once I've got ahold of that, we'll see what we have."
Cassiel looks back to Addie, "I don't know any… but I'm sure I know people who know people. And it may come to that. If you don't mind, though, it might be best to keep those parts elsewhere, so they can't be a danger to someone else."
Graham chuckles "He doesnt care much for me either our first meeting went very poorly." he wont explain to much but still this is important "I'll speak with him and if it'll get an answer i'll have anyone we need come to help with the case." he seems rather more willing to get answers then to caring if his ego gets bruised or whichever.
"Brilliant," Addied replies, looking back towards the chaos and then, again, towards Cay and Cohen. "Can I keep these for a bit? I'll work on getting the edges filed down to sort and see if I can't manage a bit with the Victrola as well. No one comes out here and the building is warded, just to be on the safe side. What say? If you get me those pieces by the end of the weekend, I ought to have something for you come the first of the week. Sound good?"
Cassiel nods, "Now that we know what we're looking for, it shouldn't be difficult. I'll try to get you something by Saturday." He looks to Graham, "You're the law guy here. Do you think it'll be safe to leave the fragments here?"
"I would ask that even if you do get all the pieces together that you don't play it without someone from the ministry here. It's dangerous if it's still working it can cause a lot of trouble." Graham says looking to both even though it's in pieces as it currently stands.