whiplash | brigh

[Bran Fionn O'Dalaigh]

a little closer to grace.

THOUGH HE LIVED RELATIVELY NEARBY IN THE village of Hogsmeade, it still felt odd for Bran to step foot onto Hogwarts refurbished grounds. A bit like deja vu, familiar like a forgotten memory. The old mishmashed with the new, so that Bran had to stop frequently and ask to be pointed in the direction of the building for LIFE students. It was so large, seeming almost larger than it had before. He wondered if some kind of spell had expanded the land right under his nose, or if he'd always just been consumed by the old castle as it had been.

The hallways of LIFE smelled new, like paint and glue and everything Hogwarts had not. It took Bran very little time to find the union pub once he'd found the LIFE halls. Various enthusiastic flyers practically herded him towards it. Glossy cartoons of pints, microphones and musical notes ushered him in with a pleasing warmth. It was odd, he thought as he walked hesitantly towards the pub, to think that Hogwarts had become something so... modern, he supposed. Times were, most certainly, changing.

Smelling a little like the hay from the reserve, and with a very obvious scorch mark on his best blazer, Bran entered the Flobberworm & Lettuce. He almost had to duck under the friendly wooden doorways, the pub dressed like any other British haunt from the 70s. It was hung with various school memorabilia, garlands of house colours and a very shiny karaoke machine mounted on a platform near the back. Bran's face was open with glee, his dimples creating creases in his cheeks as he smiled. It was extraordinary, he thought, hands in his pockets as he let himself a happy little laugh of surprise. Bran made his way to the bar, the back decorated with various spirits and a row of appealing taps.

"Uh..." Bran shook the surprise form his face as he slid into place. "I'm waitin' for somebody," He told the bartender when he was approached expectantly. "Just... give me a pint of whatever lager you've got on tap." He waved his hand lazily, the drink almost secondary as he turned on his cushioned stool to look around the pub once again. "Now, I'd like to know what McGonagall thought of this one." He muttered to himself, mouth a thin, smiling line as he drummed his fingers on the shiny, polished top and nodded thanks as his pint greeted him on a fresh, crested coaster. 

BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH]

A summons from her brother could never be ignored. Especially since Bran was so incredibly busy at the MWRC with Brígh's boyfriend. It was odd to her that two of the three men she adored more than anything worked together in Hogsmeade, and she still didn't see them as often as she liked. Brígh had suggested to Bran that he come to the Flobberworm and Lettuce. She scraped her hair back into a long ponytail, pulled on a summer dress and a pair of trainers, and apparated to the campus.

Bran was recognisable at once at the bar, his lanky form hunched over a pint. Grinning, Brígh perched herself on the stool next to him. "What, nothing for me?" asked Brígh. "I'll have the same," she added to the bartender who had drifted over to take her order. She passed over the four sickles it would take to cover the cost of the beers, and turned to Bran, her eyes hungrily roving his face. "You do know every time I come here I turn into even more of a menace than I usually am?" she pointed out, taking a sip of the beer that was placed before her.

"How's it, then? Been keeping an eye on Aidan for me?" asked Brígh, a smirk hooking at the corner of her lip. "I bet he'd love to come on a dragon call with you. He nearly cried when I told him I saw a zouwu on one of my last assignments," she added. "And how are you? How are you really?" she asked, her tone more serious now as she surveyed her brother.

Bran Fionn O'Dalaigh

[Bran Fionn O'Dalaigh]

a little closer to grace.

SNEAK THAT SHE WAS, BRAN DIDN'T REALISE Brigh had arrived until she'd plonked herself into the stool beside him. He didn't bother flinching, so desensitised by her constant attempts to one up him. He simply turned his head at her chiming voice and grinned cheerfully. "Didn't want to get it wrong, did I?" He shrugged, slipping into that familiar haze of Brigh's blistering company. He had missed her, he thought earnestly.

Bran's eyes narrowed as he watched her fish over sickles for their lager. He almost slapped her hand away, but stopped himself with a twist of his pursed mouth. "Do I look destitute or something?" He asked with a teasing frown, lifting his pint for a short pull as he watched her over the rim. She looked too pleased to have her hand in her pocket, probably overjoyed to have a bit of spare change since she'd started work placement. "Training paying you well, or do you have some scheme I should be worried about?" He asked, tongue in cheek. He was only half-joking.

Turned on his stool, Bran cradled his pint with his elbow braced on the top. Carefully cataloguing all the ways his little sister's face had changed now that she was that little bit older. A little slimmer around the cheeks, though they filled every time she smiled - which was often. She held herself differently, he reckoned. A bit straighter around the shoulders. It unsettled him just a little bit. "I can just about guess," He muttered, lifting his glass to hide his smirk behind a sip. "Suppose the karaoke machines well battered."

His gaze had wandered over to the machine, quiet as it was for the moment. He dreaded to think the horrors it had endured at Brigh's hand. "Does he require a watch?" He wondered, allowing his smirk to curl the corner of his mouth unimpeded this time. Aidan was an exceptionally nice lad, he thought. Still a bit baffled Brigh had gone for him for that very reason. "Take it easy," He waved her off with a hearty laugh. "He's a lovely lad, but I don't think he's quite there." Bran grinned, though the consideration did stay with him. "He's only just after setting the mooncalves off." Or, so Bran had heard. In reality, from observing Aidan, he had a way with the creatures on the reservation. It was admirable, but he didn't tell Brigh that - where was the fun in that? 

"Don't I look well?" Bran asked instead of answering, pawing at the scorch mark on his blazer as he tried to look offended - unsuccessfully. Brigh had a way of worrying. Though she seemed ever enthusiastic and full of positivity, Brigh could pick a part a mere flush to Bran's cheeks and think him unhappy. He reached across the space between then and ruffled the crown of her red head. "I love it here," He told her, though he missed the vicious excitement of travel. "I'm settled fine, how are you?" He drawled sarcastically. Reaching over to prod his finger into her thinning cheek and quickly flicking her nose before he leaned away from the inevitable snap. 

BRÍGH ENNIS O'DALAIGH

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!