poly_chromatic

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[ The feed turns on to flames in a patch of flowers, bright red in stark contrast to the healthy colour of the grass and roses about it, but they don't appear to be burning. Perhaps it's not a flame after all, but rather a particular head of hair - familiar to some, certainly - and then he begins to stir.

Up sits one Fred Weasley, bleary eyed and stretching with a yawn. He blinks a bit, taking in his surroundings curiously before noting the recording device and taking it with a vague sense of amusement. One more yawn and a lazy scratch of the back of his head, and then he speaks with a tired smile. ]

Not a bad place to kip, eh?

[ ooc; Fred returns to the City! He's just woken up in Xanadu, and he has no clue that he's been gone. This is completely open to 4th wall shenanigans of all sorts - only just don't tell him they're characters from a book, and anything from the age of the epilogue will be forgotten after the curse. I missed you all, and I love you. ;; ♥ ]

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[ He stays quiet, still. He's glad, of course he's glad - he's particularly fond of being alive. But even without saying it out loud, Fred can still see it clear as day. The sounds of an explosion, bits of the wall flying everywhere, everything going dark. He sees it in every waking moment, every nightmare late at night, every time he looks at his siblings. He sees The End all around him, and for a month, that was that. The end.

Yet here he is.

Quietly, barely above a whisper to the point he's not even sure he said it (or why, why on earth would he--?) ]

D'you think my being here is keeping them from moving on?

[ Oh.

She swallows, eyes closing for a moment. She thinks about Cobb ("get the fuck out of my life") and the shade trapped inside his head, about how he would slip away to dream. She thinks about George drinking, about Ginny refusing to speak to anyone but texting instead, about Percy's denial.

She doesn't know the answer. She really doesn't know at all. One hand runs through her hair before she replies. ]

I think it's helping them get some closure. [ She pauses, wetting her lips for a moment. ] George told me, after you left, that he just wanted to be able to say goodbye.

[ And of course that isn't true, because people are willing to settle for less when they don't have it -- but it had been true then. It will be true if Fred leaves again. ]

And if we're being honest, I've seen worse coping mechanisms.

[ He only wanted to be able to say goodbye. A flicker of a thought - that they'd only ever been hurt while they were apart - and he closes his eyes, scrubbing at them roughly with his fingers. Fred laughs and looks up to her with eyes that are most certainly red - but it's clearly from the rubbing. Clearly. ]

Ooh, do tell me his piss-drunk brawl record. I'll settle for no less than at least three.

[ Just like your brother, Fred. He didn't want to let her see him cry, either. George had been better at hiding it -- then again, he's probably had more practice. ]

I wasn't actually talking about George's coping methods.

[ Pause. ]

And I don't know how many, because he's been going alone most of the time and it's hard to track him down. I was there for one of them, though.

[ He is not crying. He's just - tired, is all. He really could kip out here. ]

Merlin, he didn't involve you, did he?

[ Fred doesn't want to have to swat him for getting a gal into a fight. ]

[ Sure he isn't. And Ariadne isn't worried to death. ]

It was over me, actually. Some guy decided he needed to rescue me because apparently I was being bothered.

[ What she's not saying is that she was probably just as drunk at that point, because that had been the day she'd had her fight with Cobb. ]

I finished George's drink and the bartender broke it up before I could actually get involved.

[ He snorts a little. ]

Thank Merlin for that. You might've had his head off. The damsel in distress doesn't suit you, at any rate.

[ She's got skin as thick as a dragon's, to deal with all their rubbish on top of her own. ]

I'd had enough drinks that I cussed him out in French. Unfortunately, he didn't speak French.

[ There's a bit of a smile, though. No, it doesn't, and it's nice to not have to prove that. ]

Which reminds me, what's that you called me earlier? Something pleasant and heart-warming, surely.

Oh, definitely. Try it on your sister-in-law, I'm sure she'd love it.

[ She holds that face for all of 15 seconds before laughing slightly. ]

No, it's -- salaud, it means "bastard".

[ .....If he ever sees Fleur again, it is so on. ]

Oh, that's brilliant. I'll keep that in mind.

[ He smiles softly, teasing but also somewhat serious. ]

One of these days, I'll learn all your little tricks and secrets, Ariadne.

[ French everywhere. ]

You missed the lesson on what the French call French kissing the other day. That was a fun curse.

[ Her lips curl a little more. Is that so? ]

I wasn't aware foreign languages were considered tricks.

[ Bring it on. ]

I fail to see how they aren't. I'm of the firm opinion everyone ought to be speaking English. Proper English, none of that American rubbish that no one understands.

[ Oh, it's on. ]

You seem to understand me just fine.

[ bam. ]

Through great effort and a glass of firewhiskey at the end of each day.

[ suck it. ]

You'll figure it out.

[ ... pffffahahahaha ]

At some point, yes. I reckon I will.

[ /win. 8) ]

oo1.

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