Appearances

@finley

Maggie cursed internally as she checked whether the fragile birds hanging from the mobile were securely placed in the magically enlarged bag that already contained all the books about pregnancy that she had been sent to get. Fishing out the purse, Maggie shook her head. How had that little thing of a woman managed to expect three children at once? Well, at least with all the morning sickness and other complaints she had decided to stay at home, and Maggie could walk around in Diagon Alley like a normal person. The only thing that irked her at the moment was the fact that she had to be grateful that she could walk around in normal clothes and not in the maid uniform that practically screamed ”Mudblood” and would have exposed her to the amusement of the cruelest sort of wizardkind.

Now, it was almost like it had been before the take-over. She had her little glimpses of freedom though she couldn’t really enjoy them because she knew that many were not as fortunate as she was. Thus, she often was more angry than anything else to have been fortunate. She was still a servant, the only thing she had done was to escape the misery of the Kolna apartments. Because that was no place to bring up a child.

”What do you want?” she asked her daughter who let her eyes travel over the display of ice-cream. Even Maggie was able to enjoy an order when it sounded, ”and buy your daughter some ice-cream”. She was almost finished with the shopping, and it was certainly better to have a cleaned post ice-cream Lydia before she went to collect the dress for the Ball.

”Chocolate, please,” she said to the man behind the counter. She handed the money over and led her daughter to a seat outside the Ice Cream Parlour.

Fin was unexpectedly good with kids. He was just honest and himself, so it was easy to get along with them. Kids had a way of knowing when someone was uncomfortable around them, abd Fin preferred not to give them that worry with him. Still, he didn't go bothering someone else's kid either. He liked them and talked to them when he knew them. Simple as that.

However, the ice cream parlor was oddly full that day. He got his mint chocolate and turned around to see there was only one place to sit, just outide. Across from a woman and her daughter. He considered just taking his ice cream on a walk but... He decided to just try and be a little personable.

He braved it. He walked over and gently touched the back of the empty chair. "Do you guys mind if I sit here?" his voice was soft but very clear. He didn't believe in mumbling.

There had been a time when Maggie loved company. She liked meeting new people, making friends, though with her temper, such hastily formed friendships tended to be short-lived. Not everybody fell in love with her just because she hit them in the face. And even Danny had needed long enough. But as things were nowadays, Maggie was wary of strangers.

She had just managed to properly place Lydia on a chair just outside of the ice-cream parlour and put the ice in the child’s hand when it happened. Company. Maggie gritted her teeth for a millisecond, then she forced a polite expression on her face. "Of course not. Sit down, please." She had spoken before she had had the opportunity to properly look at the man. He didn’t look familiar to her and was most likely quite younger than she was. If she didn’t know him, he would hardly know her. As long as Lydia was concerned with her ice and didn’t start talking, there was little chance of exposure. It would do no good to learn how the man might react. In the best case, she would have his pity that she didn’t want. In the worst… she better didn’t think about that.

Upon a further look at her daughter, she turned to the bag and fished out a handkerchief. "Lydia, you don’t eat with your nose. You're a big girl, you can do better than that."

He sat down when she said it was alright, "thank you," he said. He kept his focus on his ice cream, not wanting to seem like a total creep. But hadn't he decided to sit here so he could be friendly? Gods, he was awful at being friendly. He looked up when the woman spoke again, talking to her daughter (he assumed) about how she didn't need to eat with her nose. Finley smiled gently at the girl, Lydia she had said. He turned to look down the street as he took another bite of his ice cream.

After another bite, he spoke again, "that ice cream looks pretty good," he said to the girl, nodding at her, "great choice." Then he turned his attention back to the mother again, "I'm Finley, by the way. Thanks again for letting me intrude," he wanted to offer something else because of his getting in the way but... he didn't know what. They had already paid for the ice cream, obviously, so what else could he do?

Wow. He was being so awkward.

(Okay for real he's a super unsociable person bahahha so We'll keep this going for as long as they can handle XD Maybe Lydia needs to be the friendly one HAH!)

The Finnegan woman had set no precise time as to when Maggie would have to return. But it was definitively better for her to be back before the master of the house, that Death Eater monster, got home. She did her best to avoid him, trying to keep her daughter quiet when he was around. To achieve this, she tried to tire Lydia out so that she would be too sleepy in the evening to raise any ruckus. Though her child was not in immediate peril from the Death Eaters thanks to Danny's wizarding parents, she still didn’t want to take any risks.

For now, Lydia was fully absorbed by her ice and the stranger who had sat down opposite them. Maggie was adamant not to show her nervousness and let Lydia grin at the man. Despite being very much on her guard, she smiled when her daughter swelled with pride at the praise of her ice-cream choice.

Maggie nodded polite at his introduction and gestured to her daughter. "This is Lydia," she said, making a small pause. Apart from being unsure whether he had given his first or last name, she had no desire to lay open her identity.

"And this is Mum," said Lydia into the silence.

[OoC Haha, for now, it seems more uncomfortable for him. Under normal circumstances, Maggie’d take the initiative.]

The woman introduced her daughter as Lydia and Fin lifted his free hand to give the little girl a small wave. Finley didn't expect a last name, nor did he really want one. He was okay with jusy remaining acquaintances. The girl took the moment to introduced her mother as 'mum' and Finley couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. "Such honesty," he replied, pointing his spoon at Lydia as a sort of punctuation.

He continued to eat his ice cream without saying much else for a moment and was about halfway through it now. "I suppose we'll all be having to get back to work soon," he guessed softly, his eyes shifting to all the people at the parlor who seemed to have arrived during a break of some sort. Finley really didn't plan on doing much else today, but he wasn't sure how long he wanted to just hang out around here either... Unless he just hung around until Jess got off work.

It still felt very alien of her to distrust everyone as a precaution. She was a reporter and used to addressing people. She had been a good - some may even say excellent - interviewer and knew how to lead a conversation, how to make someone feel comfortable so that they would open up and give her insights into their thinking. Which was fascinating. And most people didn’t inspire her to punch them like a certain someone in the interview she was after all these years still hesitant whether she should call it her best or worst.

She stiffened involuntarily for a moment at the mention of work but had herself immediately under control again. The man only made small talk, she knew that. “With Lydia I hardly get to leave the house," she said politely, avoiding to answer directly but also to lie. As long as she had no idea who he was, it wasn’t safe just to make up a story. He could make of her comment whatever he liked, preferably deducing what she intended him to, that she was a stay-at-home mum. But it was better if their conversation was in safer grounds. "She’s quite a handful, especially now that she is showing her first signs of magic," she continued. Finley seemed fond of children, and thus her daughter should be a safe topic - and the most obvious one of a proud mother.

She said that she hardly got to leave the house with Lydia and all. That made sense. Being a parent was hard work, if you were willing to actually care about it. Fin always cheered up about the world a little when he saw parents who did. She said the girl was starting to show her first signs of magic and he grinned. "Oh, well that's always fun. I'm sure we've all wreaked havoc when going through that stage," he said. He didn't remember that much about when he did, of course, and his parents weren't really around to tell him about it with adorable reminiscing and whatnot. He never spoke to them.

"What kind of stuff brought it on?" he asked curiously, glancing at Lydia and giving her a little smile before turning back to her mother. He wished he had more time to be a friend to kids, but he didn't really have a way to do that. He just knew that so many children had parents who didn't look after them or care about them, like he'd had, and he didn't want any of them to be left behind. This girl was one of the lucky ones.

Not being able to act naturally felt to Maggie about the same as she imagined wearing a corset would feel - terribly constricting. The way Finley looked at Lydia endeared him to her, there was something touching in the way he seemed almost envious of her. But she was no fool and not at all willing to trust anybody just because they seemed nice. She had to keep acting though she certainly had far less talent than Danny when it came to pretending. Because she didn’t like it. Danny was happy wearing a mask for everyone but her and Lydia, but she preferred the frank and open character. And Danny because he was so irritably the exact opposite.

“Yes, I’m sure we did,” she agreed to his first comment. “I smashed a lot of china when more or less accidentally levitating stuff.” Maggie had read some guides on wizarding small children education, but it seemed that the magical community had never found anything really useful for the control of little wizards and witches. “Ah, you know, the usual,” she answered. “Slamming doors shut, making the cutlery rattle, making the cat more patient when she pulls at his tail. But she never cleans herself or her clothes!” Shaking her head, Maggie looked at Lydia’s chocolate besmeared nose.

She agreed with him but was still not being very personable, which made Fin feel like he was intruding. Still, he wasn't quite done with his ice cream yet. Almost. She said that she smashed a lot of china while levitating things and he chuckled, "I was more of the making this vanish type. They always turned up somewhere, though," his mothers pens, his fathers wooden spoon, his mother's studies door. Things that were in the way of his happiness, really.

Fin laughed louder when she mentioned how Lydia never used her magic to clean herself off, which was one of the nicest ways magic could be used, he thought. "She's got different priorities?" he guessed, his laughter dying down. He was sure that if he ever had a child the kid would probably wreak more havoc than he ever did, because he'd be a much more forgiving parent than his were. "I'm sure it's a lot to take on, but also fun," he guessed, in reference to raising a child and all.