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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on May 12, 2010 12:26:57 GMT -5
Rafi was ready to tell him that she wasn't wearing a hood because sometimes, that was more dangerous. It was a flip of a coin, most nights. Hoods meant you were hiding something... no hood, and being a woman, usually meant you were an easy target. But then he complimented her, and she glanced back at him, almost as though she hadn't heard him.
After a brief pause, she took a breath and said, "Thank you." She didn't know what else to say, actually, or quite how to handle the compliment. She was still rattled from running into him the way she had, maybe.
She lead him down an aisle towards the back and stopped in front of a small selection of the slug repellent, and then looked back at him, choosing her words carefully. "You don't really need this... do you?"
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Post by Patrick Feeny on May 12, 2010 16:49:09 GMT -5
Patrick liked the way her breath seemed to catch in her throat when he complimented her. It was cute, but it also said a lot about the kind of woman she was. She knew she was beautiful, of course. How could she not? But to her, it was almost a liability, holding her back from getting the kind of respect she deserved for her position in the Ministry. He had seen women like that in the muggle world as well, and it was somewhat disheartening to know that women had to go through the same sort of issues in both the muggle world and the wizarding world. Some things, apparently, never changed.
He followed her quietly, wondering what he was going to do if she decided to walk him home and discovered that he didn't actually have a garden, just an empty flower bed with a few straggly weeds. When she turned back to him, there was a strange sort of expression on her face. He shouldn't have been surprised by her next words, but he was.
He was caught, and it felt just wrong to lie to her now. Well, about the slug repellent, anyway. He took a breath, then broke into a sheepish grin. "Ah... no," he said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry.... I just... You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth."
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Jun 15, 2010 19:31:52 GMT -5
"Try me. I hear a lot of unbelievable things."
She was just on edge, and though this guy was a smooth talker and seemed very much at ease, he made her nervous. She couldn't help it- coming from Knocturn Alley just had her rattled, and his shady behavior wasn't helping matters. She tried to quickly decide what she should do. She could make a quick exit, but what if he did have something up his sleeve? Wasn't it her job to make sure he didn;t hurt anyone? She sighed inwardly.
"You have to know that I'm finding it very difficult to trust you... no?"
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Jun 26, 2010 22:50:19 GMT -5
But Patrick's smile never wavered. He could charm with the best of them, and he knew when a tactic wasn't working. He also knew how to switch tactics mid-stream, if he had to. She was suspicious of him, and she had good reason to be. Better than she knew, actually. But he was fairly confident that he could get her off her guard.
"Well, see... the truth is... I saw you go down there earlier. And I... I thought to myself, 'what is this beautiful woman doing in Knockturn Alley?' So I followed you. But you got ahead of me and I lost you... so I was just kind of walking around lost. I got kind of freaked out, so I put on the hood... And then all of a sudden, there you were." He let out a laugh and shook his head. "I'm so embarrassed. You must think I'm a crazy stalker or something. I swear, I'm not."
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Oct 12, 2010 15:02:20 GMT -5
Rafi's eyes never left him, clearly trying to read his expressions while he spoke to her, coming up with an explaination for why she found him where she did.
"No... you're very right. I don't think I believe you."
It was an honest comment and she wasn't ashamed of saying it. Maybe he was a crazy stalker, but she wasn't sure that she was actually the reason he'd been in Knockturn Alley at all. Whatever was up his sleeve, it had nothing to do with her.
"Maybe we should part ways.... no?" Confident enough to not look away from him, she continued to study him for a reaction that she needed to respond to.
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Oct 16, 2010 22:36:05 GMT -5
Just his luck. She had to be beautiful and smart. It was a dangerous combination, and it required a different tactic altogether.
"You really don't like me, do you?" he said, allowing his smile to slip. His shoulders slumped, and he held up his hands as if in surrender.
"OK, look. You caught me in a place where I shouldn't have been, and we both know I'm not going to tell you the reason I was there any more than you're going to tell me the reason you were there. Yeah, you can say it's for your job, but the rest is confidential. And it's the same way with me. I was there on business... I don't like doing business in Knockturn Alley any more than you do. And I can tell you that it wasn't anything illegal, and you probably won't believe me.... you could bring me in, if you wanted, but I really don't think it would be worth either of our time. But... would you at least allow me to make it up to you? Maybe I could buy you a cup of coffee or something?"
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Oct 19, 2010 13:26:31 GMT -5
Rafi's mouth opened to immediately try and back out of the corner her verbally got her into. It wasn't that she didn't like him. "I just don't trust you," she replied, her feathers just a little ruffled by this. If she stopped and forgot about where she ran into him, and the shady way that she knew he was lying to her.
And then there was just Rafi's way of looking at people... she had a hard time trusting people, as much as she tried not to be like that. Working for the Ministry didn't help matters.
But could it hurt to take him up on his offer? If nothing else, she could suss out what she could from him, assess if he was a real threat or not. He already knew she wouldn't take him in because she really had nothing on him. It was his sudden confidence that shook her, though. He was being honest in who he was now, even if he was still hiding what he was doing. It was almost easier for her to deal with.
"All... all right." That easy. She frowned here and gave him a look like she almost surprised herself here, but left it open for him to respond. She almost wondered if he would be surprised as well that she agreed.
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Oct 19, 2010 22:17:28 GMT -5
Patrick felt a rush of relief, which showed only his face as a heart-stoppingly bright smile. The truth was, she most certainly had cause to bring him in, and if she had decided to pursue this, she might have discovered that, not only was he not a properly trained wizard, but that he had acquired his wand on the black market, right there in Knockturn Alley. He might have been wiser to take her up on his offer of parting ways, and yet he just couldn't let her go just yet. Maybe it was his love of danger, or maybe he just wanted to prove that he could charm her. Or maybe he was just a sucker for a beautiful face.
"All right, then," he said, reaching out his hand. "There's a nice coffee shop not far from here, if you don't mind leaving Diagon Alley. The muggles make better coffee, I've found. Have you ever had the poor excuse for coffee they have in the Leaky Cauldron?"
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Mar 23, 2011 1:37:54 GMT -5
Rafi eyed his outstretched hand, sorely tempted to ignore it. That would be rude, though, and as suspicious as she thought the guy was, he hadn't really done anything wrong. Not yet. He was nice, even, and she took a deep breath, sighing out slowly.
She reached out as well, taking his hand and listening. Should she be worried that he was taking her out of Diagon Alley? No... she was just overthinking this too much. "No, that sounds fine."
A moment later, she actually laughed at his comment, not meaning to. "Hey... I like the coffee at the Leaky Couldron. But if you know of better...."
Curse him... he was winning her over. Slowly, but still.
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Mar 28, 2011 21:43:19 GMT -5
He really should just let her go. The only reason he was able to walk freely into the magical world was by flying beneath the radar. He walked around Diagon Alley often enough that people recognized his face, but they didn't know his name. The Ministry didn't know about him, and that was exactly the reason why he shouldn't be taking a woman who worked at the Ministry out for coffee.
But what could he say? He liked living dangerously.
"Oh, if you like their coffee, then you haven't ever had a proper cup of coffee," he said, shaking his head in dismay. "This place.... it gives you the full experience. You can smell the fresh-roasted beans in the air... Come on. You won't believe how different it tastes when it's fresh."
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Jun 6, 2011 22:48:11 GMT -5
Rafi's eyebrows rose as he spoke about this place's coffee, and just like that, she'd forgotten about her doubts where Patrick was concerned. He had charm and charisma, and if he was any kind of a dangerous guy, those made for a deadly combination.
"You could pass for a poet," she murmured, her accent even thicker since she wasn't speaking directly to him. Not really, anyway. It was only when she really focused that her syllables came out very carefully pronounced. "You're giving me high expectations. I might be disappointed."
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Jul 12, 2011 22:55:05 GMT -5
"I'm Irish," he said with a grin. "We've all got a bit of a poet in us."
Just as her accent had grown thicker, he emphasized his own Irish brogue as he spoke those words. In the past, he'd managed to escape a lot of sticky situations with a well-placed smile and a hint of his accent. Whether that would work here or not, he wasn't sure... after all, he was plunging head-first into a potentially sticky situation, all because he was a sucker for a pretty face. He just hoped she was, too.
He held his arm out for her to take. "You might be disappointed. Or you might just have the coffee experience of your life. You won't know unless you come with me. Come on, what harm could it do? I promise I'm not a psycho."
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Aug 16, 2011 15:18:58 GMT -5
"Telling me that you're not some kind of psychopath does not make me feel better, Patrick," Rafi emphasized, using his name for the first time since he'd given it to her. Still, even so, he was charming to the point that she could almost believe him when he said it.
"All right, all right, I'm coming with you. She wrapped a hand around his arm, giving him a slight nod that told him to lead the way. Her guard was still up- working for the Ministry for long enough had taught her to never let her guard down- but she was more willing to accept that he wasn't a dark wizard. "Tell me a little about Ireland," she urged as they walked, just wanting him to talk about himself.
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Sept 27, 2011 23:29:28 GMT -5
"Is there anything I can do or say to make you trust me?" he asked lightly. Of course, she shouldn't trust him, and he knew that. He wasn't a dark wizard, though, so if that was what she was worried about, he could have easily reassured her. The trouble was, he wasn't exactly a wizard at all, and if she did some digging, there was a chance she would figure that out.
He continued to lead the way to the coffee shop, glancing over at her as he walked. "Ireland is still... very old-fashioned. Beautiful and wild, but the people cling to old traditions, and aren't always willing to get with the times. At least, that's the way it was in my town. It was a small town, and everyone knew each other. If I did something wrong, it would be all over the town in a few hours. It was... stifling. I like London better. It's easier to blend in with the crowd."
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Oct 28, 2011 0:28:06 GMT -5
"Well don't joke about being a psychopath, for a start," Rafi returned, a sense of dry humor to her words as she gave the man a sidelong look.
What she kept to herself, however, but also didn't make her feel better, was his apparent fondness of "blending in with the crowd." She sighed. He was charming and engaging, just perhaps not a genius with words. She needed to ease up on him a bit and not just assume everything he did was with mal-intent.
"Sometimes it's better to stand out, no?"
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Oct 30, 2011 0:23:26 GMT -5
Well, it was difficult to imagine her not standing out in a crowd, looking the way she did. She was the kind of woman that men would stop to stare at as she walked by. It was a good thing, then, that she liked to stand out.
Patrick, on the other hand, was more comfortable with anonymity. Who could blame him, really, when he'd grown up as the preacher's "devil" son? But he couldn't really explain that to her without revealing too much about his past. He didn't want to give her enough to dig into his past. Giving her his real name had probably been enough of a mistake. If she looked up Hogwarts records, she'd find out he had never attended Hogwarts. But he could always lie and say that he had attended one of the smaller, private magical institutions up in Ireland. Those records, he had learned, were harder to access.
"Yes, I suppose there are some situations where it is better to stand out," he replied agreeably. "I guess I just prefer to blend in, because I used to be a fat, freckle-faced kid. You know how kids can be cruel. Maybe a part of me never grew out of it."
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Nov 15, 2011 1:11:49 GMT -5
Rafi stared at him for a moment before she finally let a smile grace her lips, and she shook her head slowly, her loose hair flowing with the motion. "No... you were not fat." She decided that she didn't believe that story. Even if she didn't, she did know how kids could be cruel. Thank Merlin most of them grew out of that.
"Still, I see your point. They always find something to be cruel about." She pictured him as the quiet, nerdy kid. The one who grew out of it after school, of course, but that kid nonetheless. For her, it was usually her accent, And when she was younger, the girls hated her quite a bit. She of course knew why, it just hadn't been easy to handle as a young girl.
"Tell me more about your home," she decided. "What small town are you from?"
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Mar 27, 2012 10:27:58 GMT -5
"Do you think I'd lie about something like that?" Patrick said teasingly. He was well aware of the fact that she probably still thought he was a liar and was still trying to decide whether to trust him, but it was ironic that she should choose to openly doubt that one aspect of his story.
"Really, I was," he protested. "Well, I was chubby, anyway. There were probably kids that were bigger than I was, but kids just pick up the tiniest flaw and exaggerate it."
Of course. once she started asking about his hometown, he became a bit more guarded. If she was still a little suspicious of him, she could research his little town and find out that there were no registered wizards from that town. Were wizards registered? He wasn't even sure, but he knew there was some kind of method of record-keeping. The point was, it wouldn't be hard to find out he was a fraud.
"Oh, trust me, it's nothing much to speak of. It was a nothing little one-horse town. And then the horse died."
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Post by Raphaela Dominguez on Feb 18, 2013 18:17:47 GMT -5
Rafi gave him an almost amused, but half serious look when he asked that question. Truthfully, she shouldn't believe anything he said, and he skin was still prickling with the thought that this man could be far more dangerous than he was letting on.
Her eyebrows arched at his joke, and though she smiled, she did not laugh at it. "You're clever," she told him instead, another trait that should have scared her off. They had some people around though, and she was confident in herself enough to not worry about this. Right now, she wanted to keep asking questions.
When they were inside the coffee shop, she naturally stepped towards the counter, feeling more at ease now that they were in an even more public place. "I imagine everyone in Ireland to be drunk all the time. Is the stereotype true?"
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Post by Patrick Feeny on Feb 20, 2013 23:39:55 GMT -5
"I should be offended by that, but sadly, it's mostly true," Patrick said regretfully. "Some say that there are only two occupations in Ireland: Priests and drunks. I will confess, I do like the odd drink on occasion. Maybe more than that."
He still felt like she was trying to feel him out, to see if she could get him to trip up and say something too revealing. Realizing it would be wise to try and divert her from that topic, he ordered a cup of coffee, then turned to her with an interested look.
"But enough about me. Please, tell me about where you're from. Where in Spain were you born? How long have you been in England?"
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