there be no sweeter sound

than the sound of music, written down
@fenix | outfit

The paper industry was like the titanic, it was sinking fast and before long it would be completely sunk. All the damn technology was taking over and it was only a matter of time before paper became obsolete. Van liked to imagine Hogwarts having to lift their electronics banning spell to accommodate laptops and tablets. He would have given anything to have it lifted when all he wanted to do was listen to his bloody Walkman back in his day. Walkman, ha! That showed his age. There were many things like that which showed his age, and some of them were specifically preference. He still preferred the sound of vinyl to a CD or MP3. He still jammed to 80's hairbands like they came out yesterday! And he still wrote his music on actual. Fucking. Paper.

There was no better shop for such paper than Avant-Card, he had been a loyal customer for quite some time and showed no signs of ditching them for a computer. He liked the little shop, which is why he had told Fenix about it. The other wizard most likely knew the place but he wasn't sure and, honestly, he couldn't remember the name at the time he had told his mate about it. Instead he invited him to Ottery St. Catchpole to join him at the shop. Van had actually arrived on time this morning, which wasn't like him in the least. He managed the feat by leaving a....friend's house, a little later than he should have. 

So he stood outside waiting for Fenix to show. It was a small enough community that the lad wouldn't be able to miss spotting him. Thinking of it now surely he knew of the place? Possibly? Van patted at his jacket for his pack of smokes only to find them missing and he groaned quietly to himself before spotting Fenix for himself. "All right, mate?" He greeted the gent and looked over his shoulder at the building. "This is the place? You know it?"

There were friends, music friends, drug and drinking friends, AA friends, family, school friends, ex girlfriends. Each of them had their rules and guidelines. A presence that was different based on who he was around. He could control himself now that he was sober and they all got a different level of the true man. No one saw who he really was unless they fit into one category, music friends. They were the only ones who understood, who knew the struggle. It was hard to be yourself when everything that people think they know about you is based on the presence you have on stage, or the music you write. One person who understood this was Van.

He was a part of the band that Fenix would be touring with before the end of the year. Weird Sisters II. They were an odd and eclectic group, but they were nice enough. His own band go along with them, and he liked to think that they would work out well. He did like their manager though, she was a damned fox and had blushed when he had flirted with her. She was related to Tib in some way, aunt or some shit he was certain because she didn’t look old enough to have a son Tib’s age, but then Fenix was shitty hen it came to ages.

Van had talked him into going to some paper shop or something for some paper. He wasn’t sure what he wanted for it, but hey. Whatever. Parchment was parchment. Half the time he wrote his music on sheet music he got from Porter’s. So if this place had something better. He was all for it.

”Nah, mate. I usually go to Porter’s for stuff or to Flourish and Blotts.” He lived in London and it was much closer than Ottery ever would be. Unless he bought another house.

THERE BE NO SWEETER SOUND

THAN THE SOUND OF MUSIC, WRITTEN DOWN

It was a poor habit of his to keep leaving his shit behind every time he visited with Cat. He had left his wallet, once. On the day that he had went to meet his best mate's new wife. Luckily for him the woman wasn't a total dud and actually paid for his train ticket; quite nice of her, seeing as she knew of his plans to abandon her in a strange village and never return. He hadn't liked her then but she was....growing on him, sort of. It had only been a month, hardly enough time to grow anything. Mold, maybe. But not an actually appreciation for the woman. If anything, his softness for her had come strictly from seeing his best mate so happy. It was disgusting, really. Smiling all over the damn place and writing in little snippets of her in songs. Not that he could really say much. A lot of his softness had begun to come from simply being able to understand them, though he hadn't really known how or why.

It most certainly wasn't because of that damn Shafiq girl he kept leaving his things with! Or, maybe it was, a little bit. Not that he'd ever admit it or even face it as fact. He was a pusher. Push things back, wayyyy back, and continue onward. It was the Parkinson way! Still, he had been writing a lot more than he used to now. A lot of what he wrote he hadn't dared to show Tib, or anyone really, and mostly as a subconscious blocking to save himself. If they'd have read it then they might have saw what he was refusing to see for himself. That he was starting to like that damn Shafiq girl, after all. 

In any case, he was out of paper to write his music on for whatever reason. So coming today had selfish intentions, not just being extra kind to a musician friend. "Pfffff," he furrowed his brows with a smirk. "Those places haven't the slightest on this place. I know, I know what you're thinking, it's just paper. But mate, I'm tellin' you, this paper is magic. And not like we're magic, but like..." Van found himself once again reaching for the smokes that weren't there. What for? They were going into the store anyway. Halting the pat down he instead opened the door for him and his friend. "We've wrote all our best songs on this paper. It's brilliant."

No real reason to accept the way things have changed

Staring down the barrel of a 45

 @van

Fenix had been like Van once. He had been all about the music and the life and the people that he played for. It had been about the booze and the girls and the money, until it ended in an unadulterated and complete train wreck. It seemed like it was only yesterday when he had been laughing at the group of people in the limo and then next thing that he remembered was waking up in the hospital and asking for Cal, only to be told that she hadn’t made it. It had been an eye opener, and it had made him look back at himself. Not everyone almost dies like he did. Not everyone though had that though. Not everyone went through that because they had family, and friends who were supportive and therefore them, like Van.

He had Tib and Sheryl, and his family. Even if that family didn’t agree with his choices, they were still his family, and that was something that Fenix didn’t. Well, he did but dear sweet merciful Merlin did they hate him for his life choices. His father had made sure of that when he had left and went out on his own. Sure he had a brother and a sister, and he could get to know them, but they didn’t want anything to do with him. Maybe Van would be lucky enough to find some sort of happiness and not end up like Fenix. He prayed they all had it, none of them deserved a life of solitude.

He smirked and shrugged a little as Van spoke. He couldn’t diss the fact that the man had a habit for his songs especially if he thought that he had a winner, then who was he to argue with them? ”Well, show me this magic, oh magical one.”

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THERE BE NO SWEETER SOUND

THAN THE SOUND OF MUSIC, WRITTEN DOWN

Van lead them into the little shop and into the sweet sweet smell of vanilla and coffee. It was so damn early he might actually be able to drink coffee like a normal human being and not be looked at like a total loon. Are you drinking coffee this late in the evening? Well, yes. Yes I am because I woke up two fucking hours ago and never mind the fact that it's five PM. Judgmental bastards. Don't they know he's got gigs to tend to?! And that meant staying out all night a lot of nights, so...yeah! Fuck em! Today was the earliest he could recall waking up in a while. This, this was like dawn for him only the fact that it wasn't. In fact, it was more early afternoon than anything. Still, he could get away with drinking coffee at this time and damn did this place always make him crave a warm cup from the shop down the street.

Walking right for where he knew the parchment he needed to be he found himself pretty happy to be in the shop. Or, maybe, just happy in general. Especially given that he'd have to, most definitely, stop back at Cat's to get his smokes. He thought maybe about bringing her a coffee when he went back. Yeah, he'd do that. "Alright," he said with a smirk, tapping a huge stack of packages of the parchment he needed. "This be where the magic is, mate. Smell it," he said picking up a package and giving it a light sniff, "It even smells like magic, my friend. Grade A stuff. Guarantee you'll write the most mind melting shit of your life on this." 

Van loaded a couple packages of the paper into his arms. He loved this damn place, especially the fact that the paper was pre-printed for sheet music. How fucking great was that? "You thinking of writing anything new? Y'know, Razzmatazz coming up 'n all?"

@fenix | OUTFIT

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