throw down [aurelia]

[LUNA LACHESIS TRELAWNEY]

Late September 2028

It had been an uneventful month for Luna Trelawney, but not a fruitless one. She’d spent the past month focusing on her own health and putting herself first. The facility obviously wasn’t her first choice as to where to spend her time, but she could now admit that it had been helpful. She’d had to start the relationship between her mind and her body from scratch, and had to carefully rebuild the shattered bits of her heart. Her mind healer had suggested socialising in a safe environment, and while Luna had tried that, it just wasn’t as fulfilling. She felt increasingly lonely, separated from her sisters and her family and those she’d once called friends. At first, she’d thought it was the right thing to do, to cut herself off from everyone so that she could heal. But it was draining, handling this burden herself.

Luna had been granted unlimited access to the WWWW, and an advert online had roused her interest. It was an offering from Jimbo Blishwick himself, and Luna couldn’t help but look up more information. She’d carefully worded her request to the mind healers at the facility, and they’d reluctantly agreed to give her a day pass based on good behaviour. Luna meticulously planned her day, throwing herself into the thrill of something new. She felt a bit like Phoebe in her excitement. It was the little things that made all the difference.

The morning dawned autumnal and crisp, and Luna dutifully took her allotted floo time to the Leaky Cauldron. She ventured out into muggle London, checking her phone for directions. At last, she pushed open the creaky wooden door to a rustic pottery studio off the beaten path in central London. It smelled like wet clay and damp wood. She looked around, but didn’t see the person she was meant to meet. Her palms were clammy with nerves, and Luna wondered wildly if she’d made a mistake jumping into this so quickly. She’d been so eager to feel something again, had she done something too reckless? No. No, the mind healer said she would be okay to socialise. And pottery was safe, right?

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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Jimbo Blishwick was at it again. Aurelia had sort of give up on telling her neighbor ‘no’ when it came to utilizing his services, seeing as she desperately wanted to fill some sort of gap in her life. She’d been doing that with some frequency over the last few months, though none of them really ended up being more than a date here or there, or a poor decision come the next morning. That was partly on her, as those were more done on her own than with the structure that Blishwick provided. So now she was looking to get a little bit of structure back into her life. Relying totally on a random date was definitely a choice, but they were usually fun enough even if nothing else came out of it.

Today’s date was a pottery making class in muggle London, something she’d never done before. Which, considering her chosen career of placing plants in various pots and containers, seemed like a bit of a weird thing. Even if the date itself turned out to be a bust, she figured learning a new skill would be useful. She was already thinking about how if she turned out to be good at this, she could make them on the side and sell pots at the store. There had to be a way to simplify the process with magic too, but she knew she’d have to learn all about it first.

Dashing all of those thoughts aside as she made her way to the location, Aurelia could feel a creeping nervousness starting to bubble up. The formality of this weighed down a lot more than the random hookups did. If her sister knew what she’d been doing over the last few months, she’d probably think Aurelia had completely lost it, or had her mind meddled with by a curse.

Aurelia hadn’t put two and two together when Blishwick had given her the name of her date: Luna. At least not until she’d walked into the classroom and immediately recognized her from the Quidditch section of the Daily Prophet. For not being a devout follower of the sport, still occasionally followed up on it. The younger players always stuck out the most to her, mainly because they were around the same age. To have such impressive talent at their age was admirable. Aurelia just had the skills to keep exotic, magical plants alive. That was about it.

“Hi. Luna, right?” Aurelia greeted her as she stepped further into the room. It sort of smelled like her greenhouse – earthy and moist. Somehow, she hadn’t thought about the similarities this had with potting plants. Blishwick apparently knew her better than she realized. Getting her hands dirty was second nature after all. “I’m Aurelia. I’m here for the…Blishwick thing,” she said a little quieter, because the muggles didn’t need to hear more than was necessary.

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[LUNA LACHESIS TRELAWNEY]

Luna surreptitiously wiped her clammy palms against her jeans as she looked around the pottery studio. It was nothing special, and Luna thought for a moment that the smell alone would send her mind into a slump. There was something earthy about it, but it wasn't all together unpleasant. She thought of her sisters - of Selene preparing bodies to be placed underground eternally, and Phoebe with the dirt under her nails from her newest herbology project. It had taken many month of mind healing for Luna to get to a comfortable relationship with her sisters - after having resented them for most of her life. But now, she looked back upon their memories with a sort of detached fondness. Pursing her lips, Luna looked around the pottery studio and settled herself into a station.

Not long after her arrival, a girl approached her and asked if she was Luna. She was vaguely familiar, as in Luna recognised her from the corridors of Hogwarts. She offered a smile. "Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you, Aurelia," she greeted with uncharacteristic quietness. "I've never done pottery before, have you?" she added after a moment, glancing from Aurelia to the shapeless lump of clay before her. "I worry I'll be dreadful, my sister is more of the creative one," said Luna, more to herself than anything.

Luna found it was quiet easy to be someone different from the girl she'd once been. To let go of her preconceptions and her former ideals. It seemed that the many mind healing sessions were actually working as promised. A secret smile of relief spread across Luna's face - she didn't even find herself worrying or wondering if Aurelia was more familiar with her. She didn't want to be that girl anymore. She had been weak of mind and soul, and this Luna, the new Luna, was concentrating on healing. "Have you ever done... have you ever done one of these Blishwick things before?" asked Luna as an afterthought, her voice lowering.

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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Aurelia had met quite a few professional Quidditch players in her time, but she had never viewed any of them as being as tame (if that was even the right word for it) as Luna was when introducing herself. In a way, that was reassuring. She wasn't positive she could handle the intensity that some seemed to bring. Then again, that kind of concentration would probably pay off when it came to pottery. A need to get everything done perfectly. Maybe. She more than likely had Quidditch players pegged completely wrong this whole time. "Err no, though so feel like I should have by now," Aurelia spoke her previous thoughts without explaining anything further. Word vomiting her career and all that without even knowing the other girl would be weird, right?

"A few," she answered the question about Blishwick blind dates. "He's sort of my neighbor, so occasionally I take up his offers to try the services..." Product testing was what Jimbo had called it, though that made her feel like she was a guinea pig being purposely led through a maze towards a reward at the end. Whether or not each of these dates was actually worth it, well, she couldn't decide. None of them had led to anything successful, her shop generating more potential interesting partners than Blishwick had thrown her way. "The activities are usually fun though...so at least we'll both walk out of here with a pot or something," Aurelia reasoned.

She grew quiet as she looked around the room, a few other people having entered since she had. It always made her slightly uneasy to be in muggle spaces whilst on these blind dates because it was hard to discuss what they did in their normal lives. Couldn't exactly bring up poisonous plants and quaffles whilst making oddly shaped pottery. "So...you play, yeah?" she asked as vaguely as possible about Luna's Quidditch career. "I've seen you in the paper before. Don't have a team myself, but still look at the section anyways." Filling the emptiness with awkward chitchat seemed to be her go-to these days. Every date turned out like this at some point, before she jumped into her usual spiel about running the florist shop.

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[LUNA LACHESIS TRELAWNEY]

Luna's brow crumpled in confusion. "You're his neighbour?" she repeated. "I thought he'd be the sort to have a sprawling estate on equally sprawling grounds..." said Luna thoughtfully. She glanced from Aurelia to the lump of clay before her, wondering how she was going to shape something out of... well, nothing. "You might," said Luna darkly, narrowing her eyes at the clay to see if that helped. It didn't. There was a beat of silence between them, but thankfully, Aurelia didn't let it grow uncomfortable. Even if her chosen topic of conversation made Luna want to crawl out of her skin.

"Er, yeah, sort of," said Luna evasively. She took a breath, then a second. "Well, I did. I'm on medical leave at the moment, had a... had a bad fall," said Luna after a moment. It was no secret, despite how uncomfortable it made her feel talking about it. The papers had all reported that she, the Harpies' star beater, had been injured and would return to play only after medical professionals deemed he fit. And she hadn't gotten that go ahead yet. "I've always loved the game, I'm a lifelong Cannons fan myself. But there's something different about going out there and doing it yourself," she added, loosening slightly. She wished there was wine, but she wasn't supposed to be drinking either.

"Have you ever -" Luna started to ask, but stopped when their instructor drew their attention. Luna offered Aurelia a quick smile before turning her attention to the austere looking woman before them. Her hair tumbled down her back in long dreadlocks, and Luna wondered if it was a fashion or a lifestyle choice. The woman explained how to work with the clay, how to shape it and bring out the art within, and Luna tuned out. Had she made a mistake? Her mind wandered to Simon, but she wanted to smack herself for it. Now was not the time to be thinking about him, or any of the parts of her life that had brought her to her knees.

Luna's focus returned to the woman when she was shot an expectant look. Luna blanched, looking over at Aurelia. "I wasn't paying attention - did she ask me something?" she mumbled under her breath, her cheeks colouring.

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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To be fair, Aurelia didn’t actually know where Jimbo lived. It seemed like he was almost always at the matchmaking office and when he wasn’t, he was at his restaurant in Hogsmeade. The only reason she knew that was because one evening a few months back she popped over to treat herself to a slice and he was working the register like some fresh out of Hogwarts graduate. Goofy uniform and all. The man was certainly the most interesting wizard she had met before. ”Well, sort neighbor. I live and work right across the street from his office…so more like work neighbors?” That’s how she had always interpreted it at least. There were plenty of different shopkeepers and workers in Horizont and Diagon. Aurelia sort of considered all of them her ‘neighbors’ to some degree. It kept things friendly at the very least.

She tried to ignore the weirdly negative comment about being the only one to leave with a piece of pottery, adjusting to the follow-up question about Luna being a Quidditch player. That seemed to lead down the same road though, as she hadn’t been aware that her date was currently on the injured list. So much for keeping up with the national sport. Plants had preoccupied most of her mind for the last few years. ”I’m sorry to hear that…hopefully your recovery is quick and you can get back out there,” Aurelia said empathetically. She knew how it felt to suddenly be pulled away from what you loved doing. There were several months of that after traveling to that blasted island…

Her attention was pulled away from their conversation as the class quieted down and the instructor began to speak. It was slightly too passionate of a lecture on the artistic value of pottery to a room full of beginners that probably wouldn’t even be able to get the clay into a molded shape. Nonetheless, she sort of understood where the teacher was coming from. A few of the points were exactly how Aurelia decided to create certain bouquets or arraignments. While she had personally never viewed her work as ‘art’, according to this woman, it was.

The teacher had finished and was going around the room, asking everyone what their goal of the day was. Sort of like a ‘what did they expect to accomplish or create’ question. Most answered simply, with either a cup or a small bowl, and eventually it came to their table. Luna was asked the question but had seemed to have completely zoned out. Aurelia waited for a moment, biting on her lower lip and not wanting to interject immediately. The awkward silence of the seconds that followed seemed to have got her attention though, but Aurelia was already answering for her. ”Flower vases. For both of us,” she said boldly, before turning back to Luna. Quietly, she responded, ”Just what you wanted to make. You’re fine.” She did her best to give her date a reassuring smile.

LUNA LACHESIS TRELAWNEY ● 497 ● song by artist

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[LUNA LACHESIS TRELAWNEY]

Luna smiled thinly. "Thank you," she said, unsure of if she actually meant it or not. Her injury had been all over the papers, something that had come with the territory of being a rising star. But something about the way people seemed so quick to pity and apologise, mostly to assuage their own sense of guilt for being completely healthy and whole while she was decidedly not. "I miss it very much," she added, glancing up to meet Aurelia's gaze. She held it for a moment before their conversation was interrupted by the instructor opening the lesson.

Luna's attention wavered easily these days without the precision of striking a bludger with her beaters bat to focus her. She found herself tuning out as the instructor went on about how they were to draw out the art within the lump of clay, which sounded ludicrous to Luna. But suddenly, the instructor was peering at her expectantly, and Luna started. Looking to Aurelia helplessly, she felt immense relief when she answered for her. "Yes," she added automatically, nodding at the instructor as she swept onto the next set of unsuspecting potters.

"Thank you," said Luna with a sheepish grin. "Flower vases..." she trained her gaze on Aurelia. "That's a lovely idea. I'll admit I haven't gotten flowers for myself for a long time..." she trailed off, biting the inside of her cheek. She refused to think about how she'd started associating flowers with unwanted attention - especially after the incident with that boy. She closed her eyes briefly and focused for a moment. Taking in the training that the mind healer had been working on with her - to acknowledge the memory, and replace it in the past. She blinked, and flushed scarlet. "Sorry. Er, what made you think of flowers? I suspected we'd be making a bowl or something equally... easy."

aurelia edith flint

[aurelia edith flint]

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In her own nervousness, Aurelia had realized that despite saying she lived and worked in Horizont Alley, she hadn’t actually told Luna what her job was. With so many stores, she could have been employed by any of them. There were times at the beginning where she surprised the other shopkeepers by her ability to run her own store. It hadn’t been easy at the start, and there were plenty of months where she thought shuttering was absolutely going to happen. To say Blishwick hadn’t thrown her a bone or two by making large orders would be an understatement. He’d definitely kept her lights on more than once, and testing his blind dates like this was the least she could do. She sort of liked going on them occasionally too.

”I own the florist shop in Horizont…” she said, her voice trailing off at the mention of the magical alley. One could never be too careful, especially around muggles. The infinite inquisitive questions that such a thing could generate. She didn’t want to run afoul of the Obliviators. They had always scared her. ”So flowers are on my mind all day,” Aurelia admitted. It was sort of embarrassing hearing herself say it out loud like that, despite it being true. The times where she wasn’t thinking about her work were few and far between. Obviously, it was happening right now too. Avoiding the work talk was impossible when it was such an important icebreaker during dates. Her work was a part of who she was, as much as Quidditch was to Luna. Without the shop, Aurelia wasn’t sure what she’d be doing. Research maybe? Solely being an herbologist wasn’t glamorous at all, unfortunately.

”Umm…but now you’ll have an excuse to get some,” she went back to Luna’s earlier comment about not getting flowers for herself. An empty vase was just sad. Sort of like the gaudy ‘art’ pieces that sat in the front windows of Harmony Vector’s gallery down the street from her. They all deserved flowers in them.

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