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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 3, 2018 13:36:39 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 13:36:39 GMT -7
Lucy Weasley had submitted herself to Blishwick matchmaking services blind date roulette. She had never participated before, but she never had much of a reason to. Back in school, she had her pick of much of the litter of people around her. If she was bored and in need of intimate company, she could normally sweet talk some man into hiding in a closet with her. Especially when the foreign students were around. But now that she was graduated and living on her own and working, she found herself kind of lonely. Sure, she was on a date nearly every night with some muggle who paid out of the nose for her services, however, she never really felt like she connected to them, not surprising since she’d never even think about the possibility of dating a muggle. It was harder to find good people to interact with now that everyone was so spread out and busy doing their own things. So she submitted herself to the service and here she was, walking into All-Star Lanes during their black light bowling special.
The instructions on her note had said to wear white, so she had, though she felt rather odd walking around in all white. She was wearing white shoes, white jeans and a white long sleeves crop top under just a basic leather jacket that she figured she’d take off when she got there. Even in July, London wasn’t quite warm enough to walk around in without a jacket of some sort. Lucy didn’t know who her date was, of course, that was the point of all of this. So, she just sat at a stool with a view of the door, waiting for someone who didn’t look like a muggle to walk in.
@imogen
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 3, 2018 16:15:21 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2018 16:15:21 GMT -7
Why on earth had she submitted herself to a matchmaking service? Imogen was beginning to question her own sanity, especially since she hadn’t been on a real date in… well, ever. The closest she had come was when she had paid Lucy Weasley to escort her to the Quidditch player auction for charity, and that hardly counted since money had changed hands and it wasn’t actually with the expectation that they were going to pursue a romantic relationship together. A blind date didn’t have that expectation either, but there was more of a possibility of that than with an escort, Im knew. The letter that she had been sent with the time and location of her date said that she ought to wear white, since she was going blacklight bowling, and it was in that moment that Imogen realized she owned exactly one piece of white clothing, and it was a dress. Not exactly appropriate for bowling, but she would make due. Luckily, Im also had white sneakers that she could wear so that she didn’t look quite so formal. She considered changing her hair to be white, but thought that might attract too much attention in the Muggle bowling alley, and instead chose to make her nails appear as if they were painted white. All of her preparations took longer than she had expected, so Imogen walked into the bowling exactly the time the date was supposed to start. Imogen had expected an awkward moment staring around the bowling alley to find someone who looked magical in its midst, but when she did begin looking for someone, she saw a person she knew, for sure, to be a witch. “Lucy.” Imogen greeted, walking up to the younger woman. “Are you here for the Blishwick thing?” This was going to be… weird.
@lucyweasley dress
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 4, 2018 22:38:39 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 22:38:39 GMT -7
Lucy, who had been watching the door in search of her date, raised her eyebrows as she saw the familiar face walk into the bowling alley, it was honestly someone that she had never expected to see at such a location. Imogen Zhu, her ex-professor and one time date, thanks to the escort service that Lucy Weasley still worked for. Imogen couldn’t be her date, could she? What were the odds of the two of them being thrown together again? The escort service didn’t do much to pair clients with escorts who matched their personality or anything, people could request a gender and age range for their dates and from there the service just gave them whoever was available and the escorts were just good enough actors to make whatever work. The Blishwick service was actually supposed to match up people who would get along together and would make an alright couple. Lucy and Imogen had been thrown together seriously - and that was a little weird. “Hey. Uh - yeah. I signed up for it and they told me to meet my date here for bowling…” she nodded, standing up once Imogen got to her. What were the odds that more than one couple were supposed to be bowling on their date? Lucy doubted that the service would put two blind dates at the same location, but it was something that popped into her head. “I’m going to assume that you are here for the same reason?”
@imogen
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 5, 2018 10:44:50 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2018 10:44:50 GMT -7
Well, this was certainly a twist. If Imogen believed in fate, she probably would have thought there was some reason that the world kept pushing her and Lucy together, but as it was, Imogen wasn’t willing to put her life in the hands of some entity that might not have actually existed. She was just going to call it chance that she and Lucy happened to go on two dates in as many months, and neither of them intentional. Lucy finally seemed to put the same pieces together that Imogen did, asking if she was there for the same reason. “Yeah, I am.” She said, looking around the bowling alley. “Have you ever bowled before?” Imogen asked. She knew Lucy’s family was famous in the wizarding world, so it wouldn’t have been surprising if she didn’t know much about Muggle customs. Im had spent most of her life equally split between the two worlds, though that had changed when she had become a professor at Hogwarts, since it was harder to get to anyplace Muggle from the castle. “The letter said lane eight.” Imogen reminded Lucy, scanning the bowling alley until she saw the empty lane. The entire thing had already been set up, with their names input and everything. All they had to do was find balls and, well, bowl.
@lucyweasley
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 8, 2018 14:04:21 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2018 14:04:21 GMT -7
The surprise started to fade away pretty quickly. It kind of made sense that they were thrown together again. Lucy thought. Besides the night being awkward, she and Imogen hadn’t had a bad time on their first ‘date’. In fact, Lucy kind of enjoyed herself, at least she enjoyed herself a lot more than she ever did with any of the muggles that paid for her company. Imogen confirmed that she was here for the date and then asked if Lucy had ever bowled before. Lucy shook her head. “No. I haven’t. But I kind of get the whole idea, I think. You throw the ball down the...uh...lane… and try to hit the… things.” Lucy said, not having all the words, but from what she could see of the people already there, it seemed simple enough. Imogen began looking for their lane. “Okay.” Lucy nodded as they got to their lane. It was already set up for them and it seemed like all they had to do was get balls, which Lucy already could see were lined up on shelves all around the room. “So do we just pick a ball?” Lucy asked.
@imogen
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 8, 2018 14:54:48 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2018 14:54:48 GMT -7
Imogen smiled when Lucy said that she’d never bowled before. One of the great things about bowling was that it was easy to learn. There was a learning curve on how to aim and how much power to put behind the bowl, but actual mechanics were simple, and Lucy seemed to know a bit of those already. “Pins.” Imogen supplied when Lucy called the things at the end of the lane just ‘things’. Lucy asked if they just picked a ball, and Imogen shook her head, leading Lucy over to one of the racks of balls so that she could have a visual aid for her explanation. “They have their weights written on them.” Imogen explained. “The lighter ones are easier to throw, but they also can go off course quicker.” She explained. “But obviously the heavier ones are… well, heavy.” She said with a laugh. It was hard to get a ball all the way down the lane if it was too heavy for you to throw. Imogen selected a middle size ball for herself, and headed back to the lane, waiting for Lucy to choose a ball of her own so they could get to bowling.
@lucyweasley
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 8, 2018 18:29:56 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2018 18:29:56 GMT -7
Imogen supplied the words that Lucy was missing and Lucy found it interesting that Imogen knew so much about the muggle game. She wondered why her date knew the game, maybe she had gone bowling before. Maybe she had been on another date that brought her to the bowling alley. Maybe she had a muggle parent who enjoyed the game, or, maybe she had simply just paid attention in muggle studies in school. Imogen lead her over to the racks of balls and explained to her that they were all of different weights and thus swung and rolled differently. Lucy liked to think that she was a fairly strong person, but something labeled “16” still scared her a bit. After trying a few, she settled for a blue ball with a number “9” written on it in yellow paint. She carried the ball back over to the lane and set it down. “You go first? So I can see how it’s done?” she asked, biting her lip.
@imogen
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 10, 2018 15:00:04 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2018 15:00:04 GMT -7
Imogen waited for Lucy to return with a ball – the younger woman appeared to have chosen a fairly light ball, and Imogen found herself nodding a little in approval of the choice. Lucy asked her to go first, and Imogen nodded, taking her ball up to the line drawn on the wood planks. “You can’t step past this.” Im said, though that was kind of self-explanatory. One time her sister had slipped and stepped past the line, and the pins she had knocked down hadn’t been counted in her score. Imogen rolled the ball, and watched as it took down all but two of the pins, leaving the two that were furthest away from each other. She huffed a little. “You get two balls.” Im added, waiting for the machine to return her bowling ball to her before rolling it again, watching as it knocked down one of the two remaining pins. “It’s not that hard. Don’t try to understand the scoring, though – I really don’t.” She said with a laugh. She knew strikes and spares added extra onto your score, and that the highest score was 300, but beyond that, Imogen was clueless as to the internal workings of scoring bowling.
@lucyweasley
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 13, 2018 18:31:29 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2018 18:31:29 GMT -7
Lucy watched Imogen take her turn, captivated by her motions and knowledge of the game. So far, she had learned that you couldn’t step past the black line, which made sense. Otherwise there was really nothing that said you couldn’t just walk up and push down the pins, which Lucy wouldn’t do, but she could imagine that some would think about. Imogen took her shot, rolling the ball down the lane, or at least, letting the ball roll down the lane, it seemed like it was mostly in the swing of your arm, Lucy watched her technique, not entirely sure what she was watching for, but she wanted to be as prepared as she could be for her turn. Imogen was able to knock down all but two pins but explained to Lucy that you were allowed 2 shots per turn. Lucy was able to knock down another pin after the machine spit her ball back out and then, when she turned back to Lucy, she insisted that she not try to figure out the scoring. Lucy nodded with a laugh. “It’s all in the name of fun, isn’t it?” she teased a bit. Lucy was very competitive. However, she already was fairly sure that she was going to lose. Imogen had played before, obviously. There was no way the young witch was going to win her first game. “My turn?” she asked before taking her ball and stepping up to the line. She tried to remember how Imogen had done it and copied her, however, the ball slipped off her fingers with a bang onto the wooden floor and instead rolled into the gutter right away. “Whoops.” she laughed, feeling her cheeks go pink. There was no way she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself. “How do you know how to play?” she asked Imogen while she waited for her ball to return. Once it came back, she tried again, this time, releasing a little more gracefully, and, while the thud was still fairly loud, the ball rolled down the lane and knocked down 3 pins in the right corner.
@imogen
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 25, 2018 15:28:59 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2018 15:28:59 GMT -7
Lucy said that bowling was all in the name of fun, and Imogen grinned. “Who said that competition can’t be fun?” She teased. Im would have thought that Lucy, being a Slytherin, would appreciate a little health competition more than most. It seemed like Slytherins thrived on competition, because it went hand in hand with their ambition and their constant, pressing need to be the best. Lucy asked if it was her turn, and Imogen nodded. “Unless there’s a third person playing I don’t know about.” She teased, finding that it was a lot easier to talk to Lucy – and to tease her – now that they were on a sort-of date that hadn’t been set up via Lucy’s escort service. Now she had an excuse as to why she and her previous student were together: blind dates didn’t take into account previous relationships, just whether or not both people were legal and their personal preferences in partners.
Lucy’s first ball rolled into the gutter, and Imogen gave a sympathetic smile. She probably should have asked for bumpers since Lucy had said it was her first time bowling, but it was funnier when people were bad at bowling and had no bumpers. Like Lucy said, it was all in the name of fun. When asked how she knew how to bowl, Imogen shrugged. “My mother was a Muggle, so we did Muggle things sometimes.” Imogen learning how to do Muggle things like bowl and use the telephone wasn’t intentional, but since half of her life was Muggle, it just sort of happened. “Bowling alleys are popular for birthday parties.” Imogen added, standing up when Lucy finished her turn so that Im could take another shot. She rolled both her balls, and eventually ended up knocking down eight of the pins. She wasn’t doing well, but she was doing better than Lucy, so it was something.
@lucyweasley
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 29, 2018 19:20:32 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2018 19:20:32 GMT -7
“Competition can be very fun.” The red head responded smirking and letting her eyes glitter in a bit of a flirting way. Flirting was fun. Dating was fun. Blind dating, at least this one in particular, was turning out to be fun. She was worried, when she first saw Imogen walk through the door and realized that she was her date, that it would be like last time, which, while fun overall, had been really awkward, but this seemed to be different. Imogen seemed to feel a little better about dating her former student when she wasn’t paying to do so. When they didn’t have to pretend that they had been dating on their own and could admit to the random circumstances that threw them together. Imogen even went so far as to tease the ex-Slytherin girl. Lucy giggled, she couldn’t help it. It was fun seeing the other side to Imogen.
Lucy moved out of the way while her date took her turn. Imogen explained that her mother was a muggle and thus they sometimes did muggle things. That made sense. She probably could have put together that her mother was a muggle on their last date when Imogen took Lucy to a muggle diner that her mother had loved and they spent a bit of time talking about a jukebox. Bowling alleys were popular for birthday parties, Imogen explained. Lucy could see why, since it was a fairly fun and easy group activity. Imogen took her turn and did a lot better than Lucy did. Lucy stood up for her next turn. “And what about your dad?” she asked, just out of curiosity, family was a good topic for a first date, right? Imogen already knew a lot more about Lucy’s family than Lucy knew about Imogen.
@imogen
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Jan 31, 2018 19:56:57 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2018 19:56:57 GMT -7
Imogen wasn’t quite sure how to feel about this whole thing. She was having fun, bowling and talking with Lucy, but at the same time, there was a part of her that was still shocked that she had been paired with Lucy, of all people… and that the redhead appeared to be flirting with her. Imogen normally wasn’t much good at telling when someone was flirting as opposed to just being nice, but she was fairly certain that Lucy was trying to flirt. They were on a date, so it kind of made sense… but Im was also confused as to whether or not the flirting was actually supposed to be something more, or if Lucy was just doing it because that was what was expected on dates. She was trying not to think herself in circles, but if there was one thing that Imogen always managed to get tied up about, it was matters of the heart.
Lucy asked about her dad, and Imogen offered a small smile. “Ministry worker.” She explained. Since she was a Metamorphmagus it was pretty much given that one of her parents was magical – she didn’t think that a Muggle would take kindly to their child’s hair randomly changing colors hours after their birth. “He and I were never as close, though.” Im said with a shrug. Her mother had always wanted to go out and do things, and while her father was far from distant, he just didn’t have the same interest in his children as her mother did. “What about your parents? Anna got to say a bit about them but everyone has a different side to the story.” Imogen asked. Anna being the Triwizard Winner had thrown all of her family into the spotlight in some sense, but she was curious to see it from another point of view.
@lucyweasley
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Feb 17, 2018 19:13:11 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2018 19:13:11 GMT -7
Imogen told Lucy that her father was a ministry worker, Lucy nodded. She knew how that was, since her father had worked at the ministry for all of her life and long before she was born. Lucy was never excited to hear about her father's day at the ministry, she never cared about what was happening in the world or what her father did all day at his office. As a child, she fully believed that she shouldn’t have to worry about anything other than whatever was on her mind. She let some of that thinking follow her through her life, but as she got older, she put more importance on other people and how to treat them. “I’ve never been close with either of my parents.” she admitted. It seemed neither she nor her sister really felt the desire to be friends with those who raised them. Anna tried a lot harder than Lucy, however, and Anna at least cared what their parents thought about her. Lucy was great at telling them what they wanted to hear, and keeping in touch just enough to keep them off her back and out of her business. “They like to keep a heavy hand… Anna and I were always a bit too free-spirited for them.” She admitted with a smirk. Lucy never outwardly fought with them like Anna did; Lucy liked to keep a better grasp on the situation. She knew she was a good actor since she was young. And she used that to her advantage. Lucy bowled her turn, knocking down a total of 5 pins between her two tries, not the best, but at least it was better than a gutter ball.
@imogen
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Mar 27, 2018 6:48:03 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2018 6:48:03 GMT -7
Lucy said that she wasn’t close with either of her parents, and Im nodded. That was indicative of her own experience, too – her parents tread lightly around her after she had come out, and that was the end of the hope of having a close relationship with them. Not that Imogen had particularly wanted one; family was too complicated for her taste. A found family was much easier to deal with, because it meant less worry about… well, everything. But her own opinions weren’t relevant to Lucy’s story, and Imogen continued to listen as the redhead explained that her parents were too heavy-handed for her and her sister. “I can’t imagine they were pleased with you becoming an actress, then.” Im said sympathetically. She knew the type of parents; the ones who thought their children always had to be the best at… well, everything. She could only imagine that choosing an atypical career path, and one that wasn’t guaranteed success, was irksome to Lucy’s parents. She stood up to take her turn, and to her surprise, rolled a strike. Well, they were all bound to get lucky sometimes.
@lucyweasley
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last online Mar 28, 2024 15:28:16 GMT -7
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Apr 3, 2018 12:59:10 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2018 12:59:10 GMT -7
Imogen brought up her parents reaction to Lucy becoming an actress. “No - can’t say they were, but, since I wasn’t dependent on them at all, it didn’t really matter too much.” Lucy said with a shrug. There really wasn’t too much to be said about it. There was nothing that her parents could do to change the outcome of their daughters career, though they only knew about half of her actually career, Imogen knew more than they did, and she was thankful that Imogen hadn’t brought up her other job, at least not in this setting. Lucy was proud of the work that she did, but there were a few reasons for wanting to keep that confidential. 1) for the clients security and to help them pass off that they were actually on a date, and 2) it was still a taboo profession and Lucy didn’t want to draw unneeded attention to herself. It would just make it harder for her to continue to do her jobs and accomplish her goals, especially when it came to her standing within the purifiers. “Was your family into the idea of you teaching?” she asked. Teaching was a lot less of a taboo career than acting was, but the question was still valid, Lucy thought.
@imogen
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