Sideways/Upways

[aaaahhhh]

This wasn't right. The sign looked all off. Arianna couldn't quiet place her finger on it, but there was something wrong. She kept glancing from the picture in her hand, then up to the sign on the building. It read Marlow Studios just like it was supposed to, it was the right color, the right dimensions. Everything about it was just as she had drawn out on her example. The sign company had done everything right, but it just wasn't working for her.

"What do you think?" Arianna asked the fancy pram beside her, the chill wind whipping her hair around. She glanced over to see Jadon busy chewing on a cookie, hardly paying any attention to her mum. "That bad, huh?" Arianna shook her head and and looked back up at the building in front of her. It was the reason they had come back to London. Arianna had missed the city and her apartment building. Most of all, she wanted to get back to painting. She wasn't sure where it would take her, but it was a talent she didn't want to waste. Arianna would paint for fun, or even to earn a little money. It didn't matter as long as she was doing what she loved and still had time for her family.

"You know what I think?" she asked the baby as she knelt in front of the buggy, poking Jadon on the tummy to get her attention. It earned her a smile, which in turn made Arianna smile. "I think we should go inside and have a nice, warm bubbly bath. Just you and mommy. That'll warm us up. And then we'll take a nap with Mr. El....Oh, maybe we should get him cleaned off first." Arianna picked up the stuffed purple elephant and scrunched her nose. It was amazing how quickly Jadon could get her toys dirty. Arianna had just cleaned breakfast off of the stuffed animal and now he had mushy cookie all over him. Jadon loved the toy, though, so Arianna couldn't bear to keep it away from her for very long.

"You're such a silly little girl," Arianna teased, pulling a silly face at Jadon. Life really couldn't get any better. Unless she could figure out what was wrong with her sign.


[OPEN, of course ;D ]

[Cameron Brooks]

It was only a few parcels, just some things that Muggle London shoppes had in more plentiful stock than Magical London. Just a few things. Like, for example, this nifty thing called a flashlight. And this other thrifty thing called... a pen? A BALLPOINT pen. Muggles made such big deals about these things. Not to mention, among the parcels, his new cane. It was possibly the niftiest of all. And if Muggles hadn't been so nosy, he'd've gotten out of the store without having to lie about being in some war fighting some enemy for some cause, as he had. Luckily, Muggle Studies had come in quite handily at the moment when Cameron had reached the checkout and placed his items, the cane included, on the moving... rotating... counter top. Fascinating. Of course the nosy, 'tinsel-toothed' teenybopper had to ask:

'Wicked cane! I didn't know we carried those...'
He'd smiled. 'You do.'
'So are you, like, some World War Two hero, like tragically injured by the Nazis, or something?' Magical folk must understand that, in translation, this meant: Are you similar to one sort of person who fought across Europe between the years of 1939 and 1945, against an oppressive German regime, headed by some sort of Dark Wizard type who called himself Hitler (terrible name, Cam thought), and was similar to a terrible (often dramatic) event in which you were a living victim of this German regime's Death Eater-like militant party, which called themselves the 'Nazis', or perhaps you are not this sort of person.

It was all so very annoying. Cameron had nodded.
'That's the most wicked thing ever!' She'd continued to check him and his items out. 'I bet you, like, killed a lot of Gerries.' The chatter annoyed him.
'Yes. And some Susies and, on occasion, a Mary or two.' He'd collected the parcels, swinging the cane down so he could lean on it, and walked out at that. The poor idiot must've been quite perplexed by that. So, now Cameron limped down the street, spotting a woman and a baby carriage in the close distance.

The woman looked like she was either deep in thought, hindered by the child in the carriage or just in awe of the sign above her. He wondered if she needed any help.

"Sorry, ma'am. Do you need some help?" He said as politely as he could, as he approached. Stealing a glance at the child, he instantly felt his heart skip a beat. Babies were a weakness, but little girls were (possibly) the most adorable gender of babies Cameron had seen. He resisted the temptation to coo at the child. "You're daughter, if you don't mind my saying so, is precious."

[aaaahhhh]

Arianna heard the tapping of the cane on the walkway, but didn't pay much attention to it. She was too busy brushing off Mr. Elie to care. It was too bad she couldn't use magic on the darn thing. It would be so much easier. She really didn't want to risk getting in trouble for using magic in the presence of muggles, though. What would she do with Jadon? How would she explain to Nic that his wife had done something so dumb?

Jumping at the sound of the man's voice, Arianna quickly stood upright and turned to him, her cheeks blushing slightly. She held the stuffed elephant tightly in her hands as she tried to offer a small smile to the man.

"Oh, thank you," she grinned at the man's complement over her daughter. Of course Arianna thought nothing could be more precious than her own daughter, but it was always nice to hear that someone else thought so, too. Even complete strangers. "She can be a handful sometimes, but tons of fun, too." She then realized the man had also asked her a question and glanced at the building, lifting her shoulders in a small shrug.

"I don't know what sort of help you could offer," she replied. "I've just had that sign up there put in and it doesn't look quite right. Almost like it doesn't do the building justice..." she paused a moment, then shook her head. Silly to think this man could help her with this little problem.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Arianna...Torque and this is Jadon," she held her hand out and motioned to her daughter. Seeing that Jadon was getting a little fussy, Arianna handed her the stuffed elephant, hoping it would keep her quiet for a little while. It was a normal, everyday event for Jadon to have a tantrum and Arianna didn't mind them too much. She just didn't like some of the dirty looks she got when her daughter threw one out on the street. It was really difficult to know what your baby wanted when she couldn't talk. "It actually looks like you could use some help with those packages." Her eyes had fallen on the cane and she wondered why he didn't have a cart or something to help him along.

[Cameron Brooks]

Cameron looked at the sign again, then the building. Then the sign, a third time. Something did seem off. Was it the angle to the building, maybe? Cam couldn't tell. Everything else seemed all right. It was one of those feelings, considering this sign, that nagged at him. Not that he wanted or craved perfection in the world, but he did appreciate it. And, so, this sign - and whatever was upsetting it - upset him as it stood in the way of potential perfection. And what was more, if he could, he would've used magic to fix it, but a) he didn't know what to fix about it and b) he couldn't exactly use magic in a muggle surrounding... with, potentially, a muggle in his midst.

"She can be a handful sometimes, but tons of fun too." The lady said, handing a toy to her daughter. Cameron smiled. Yes, children would be a gift. Only two weeks prior to this, he'd become an uncle again. And young Connor was absolutely among the most adorable of the children his brother had produced with his wife. Maybe, someday, Cameron would be a father as well as an uncle.

"Yeah, I suppose I can't really help with anything terribly physical, but I thought I'd offer nevertheless." He answered in response of her statement of how he could help her. "I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Arianna...Torque and this is Jadon." Letting one of the parcels slip a slight way, Cameron took the offered hand and shook it. The parcel fell, but before it could hit the ground, Cam had muttered a levitation spell. It was purely by instinct. The parcel, therefore, levitated a little distance above the pavement. Cam blushed when he realised what he'd just done. "Erm, Arianna Torque? A pleasure to meet you, and baby Jadon," he made the sort of cutesy face any adult conjures up in the presence of a baby. Regaining his sense and restoring his own manners, Cameron introduced himself: "I'm Cameron Brooks."

"It actually looks like you could use some help with those packages." Cameron caught her glimpse the cane. "Oh, well that would be quite kind of you, Ms. Torque." He let the levitating parcel fall. Nothing broken... except for, maybe, the fragile secrecy of his world.

[aaaahhhh]

"Well, I thank you for the offer," Arianna smiled, assuring him that it was quite okay that he couldn't help her. She was only happy he'd even stopped. So many people walked by someone in trouble on a daily bases but few ever stopped to see if things were okay. Of course, it was understandable considering all the horrible stories you heard in the news, but it was also frustrating when you were the desperate one.

Reaching her hand out to shake Cameron's hand, Arianna hesitated slightly when she saw the package slip. She made a motion to grab it, but the package floated back up without her even touching it. Arianna wondered if she had accidentally done a little magic without realizing it. That did happen sometimes, but usually only when she lost control of her emotions. A dropping package was too trivial a thing for an adult to lose control of her magic over. Arianna's only other reasoning was that this man was a wizard. The first one she'd run into outside of Diagon.

"We're only too happy to help," Arianna insisted. She bent down to pick up the fallen package and placed it on the rack at the bottom of Jadon's pram. "I don't think the Ministry would be too happy knowing there was a package floating on Tottenham Court." She hoped she was right in her speculation. If not, the man wouldn't understand what she was talking about and she could make up something about being tired and not thinking straight.