Here's Your Letter [Brandon]

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Brandon nodded when she said that this wasn't a good year to judge that by. "I suppose you're right with that." And with all the things that happened last year, that wouldn't have been a good year either. "Yeah, I like the greater variety, but I still spend almost all my time here when I get a break." Because this store made him feel like he did belong. It brought him where he felt most comfortable.

Abroad? Well that sounded interesting. "What were you doing abroad?" Brandon asked curiously. It was none of his business, but they seemed to just be in the kind of conversation where you asked questions and the other answered them, if they wanted to. "What do you want to do when you leave the shop?" If she had a plan, that was. He laughed when she asked if he was going to do music when he graduated. "Yes, I'm going to be doing music. A close friend and I were talking about starting a band with one another." And if that didn't work, Brandon could always go into a solo career. He'd enjoy it, even if no one else did.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@brandon

This guy was seriously invested in his music. Like, he was good, she had seen that already, but spending his free time here as well? Mina had never really gone that far with anything, aside from getting completely plastered as often as possible when she needed to forget everything. It was rather admirable that someone could be so ready to spend their entire life committed to one thing. At the same time, she felt a pang of jealousy and guilt towards Brandon. He had figured everything out already, and he was a few years younger than her. All she had managed in the years since she went to and finished school was screw up her life even more than anyone had thought possible. Sure, she was making strides to get back on track, but she was never going to be like her siblings. Except maybe Sarah, which wasn’t exactly anything to look up to. Being a single mother and a stripper wasn’t what Mina strived to be, though she was sure some would take bets that she’d be in the exact same position in a few years. Jokes on them because she’d never let herself get to that point, at least not unless her sister dropped even lower. “It’s definitely a fun store. I like listening to music, but have never managed to be able to play any instruments.” Nor tried for that matter. But what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. She technically wasn’t lying.

“Studying voodoo in Louisiana mostly,” Mina chimed. It had been fun, definitely fulfilling, but she liked being home as well. “Though I don’t think much of it is applicable to us. The voodoo queens weren’t exactly fond of me at first and it took a lot of coaxing to get them to teach me anything.” That and killing the rougarou gained their trust pretty fast. It was too bad that only the latter portion of her trip was spent in New Orleans, because she would have loved to have been there the entire year and a half. “At least I got a nice souvenir from them before I left,” she stated, removing her wand from her pocket and holding it out in front of Brandon. The wand was definitely different looking compared to what the European wand makers constructed. She was rather proud of its uniqueness, and how it responded much better to her than her former wand did. “Ironwood and rougarou hair. If you ask nicely, I might think about telling you that story too,” she teased.

That was a great question. What did she want to do after working at the bookstore? “Probably travel until I run out of money again. It worked once. Maybe the next time I can do research that’s actually useful instead of running errands to appease the voodoo gods,” she laughed loudly. “A band? Your friend must be pretty good too.”

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Brandon smiled when she said she liked the store, but didn't know how to play anything. "Well if you're ever interested in learning, I could try and help you." He didn't really expect her to take advantage of that offer, but he gave it nonetheless. When it came to music, Brandon didn't mind teaching others or just playing himself.

He didn't really know what to say when she explained what she'd been doing. Studying voodoo? What was that exactly? He wasn't sure, but he also didn't really want to ask. So he decided he'd look into it later, if he remembered ... and if he wanted to. Then she held out a wand and he looked at it curiously. It looked really different, but in a good way. Brandon smiled, "I'd love to hear about how you got that. It's a very ... unique wand. I like how it looks." That might not be enough to get her to tell him about it, but Brandon was okay with that. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

He nodded when she explained what she wanted to do. Sounded cool, but then again traveling always did. It was one of the things Brandon was excited for when he and Zander made their band. "Yeah, Zander Lloyd. His music is actually pretty popular at the moment. We recorded some songs together over the Christmas break." Not that he was bragging ... was giving information bragging? Brandon wasn't sure.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@brandon

Mina laughed lightly at Brandon’s offer to teach her how to play guitar. It wasn’t just that she wasn’t really interested in learning, but more the fact that it would absolutely drive her sister crazy if she was strumming on chords during every waking moment. Callisto was already going to deal with this boy as it was, the last thing Mina wanted to do was drive an even bigger wedge between the two of them. “That’s sweet, but I’ll have to pass. I don’t think I’m very musically inclined.” And for Callisto’s sanity. The last thing Mina needed was her sister refusing to talk to her over something silly like that. She already complained about the noise as it was. No need to make it even worse.

Perfect. He took the bait for the story. Mina loved telling people about her adventures in Louisiana. Especially about how the new wand came about. Her parents thought she had been clumsy and snapped it on her own, until she explained the full story to why she had spent the last of her money on the new one. “Remember those voodoo queens? Well they wanted me to get hair from some creature called a rougarou. Think of a werewolf, but not as big.” That was the best way she could explain it, considering they were only native to the states, and rarely were known of over here. “So off I went into the bayous looking for this thing. Took me about a week of tracking before I finally found it, and he put up a fight.” She pulled up her sleeve to show the long scar from where it had dragged one of its fangs down her arm. It wasn’t the most attractive thing in the world, but she had opted to keep it for the story’s sake. “I ended up, you know,” she motioned with her hand across her throat, “and brought back what the queens wanted. Old wand got snapped in the fight so they made me a new one out of some of the hair. Has some pretty quirky aspects to it, but it’s better than my old one.” Finishing her story, she gave Brandon a few solid seconds to look at the wand one last time before returning it to her pocket.

Zander Lloyd…last name definitely sounded familiar but she couldn’t recall who that was exactly. “Unless he was in Slytherin when I was, can’t say that I know who he is. Any idea where I can find some of this music?” She was mainly interested in terrorizing Callisto a little more with it. If she could manage to get a copy of a CD, or anything really, she could hide it somewhere in their apartment and play it. That would be hilarious.

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Brandon nodded when the girl said she wasn't musically inclined. He wasn't one to pressure people into doing things they didn't want to, but he thought he'd offer. "Well, if you ever change your mind, just let me know," he told her with a smile. In addition to being a musician, Brandon toyed with the idea of teaching others how to play instruments on the side. It wouldn't be great pay, but it would be a supplement, which was always a good idea. 

He listened carefully to her story as she described how she got the wand. "That's fascinating," he said, looking at the wand a little more closely before she put it away. Then he smiled at her, "It sounds like you had lots of fun down in Louisiana." It wasn't necessarily something Brandon would be good at, but he liked the idea of going to distant places.

Brandon laughed and shook his head, "No, he was in Hufflepuff. Graduated last year," which meant she probably wouldn't know him, but that was okay with Brandon. He didn't know plenty of people that went to Hogwarts now. Then he had to think a bit. "Umm ... well they might have something here," he admitted, looking toward the front of the store. He wasn't exactly sure if they would, but it was worth a try. If not, she'd had to be creative and find it somewhere else

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@brandon

She was starting to see why Callisto may have become entranced by this boy. There were certain things about him, the undeniable fact that he was a nice guy was the main reason though, amidst also being polite to a T. Mina had never pegged her sister as the type to be after guys that were rigidly fixed as good people, but maybe that was where she simply didn’t understand her at a fundamental level. That’s what made them different she supposed, but it was because of that reason that she was starting to put all the pieces together. “They have a lot of great music in Louisiana. I’d recommend going there at some point if you get the chance.” That was mainly where she got her interest in listening to live music. Hogwarts had never provided that chance, at least with muggle music, and the American south was a completely different story. It was like people lived and breathed it there. Here, not so much. There was small time talent in the bars and clubs, but nothing near rock star level. She had an inkling that it could always change though.

“A Hufflepuff? Then probably not. I’m sure I’d recognize him if I saw his face though,” she shrugged. Mina was positive that she was better with faces than names, typically remembering what someone looked like over who they actually were. That paid off quite a bit working at the bookstore, since all she had to do was greet regular customers with familiarity but never put forth the effort to remember their names. It wasn’t like they really cared about who she was anyways, and it was one of the reason that she hated wearing her name-tag all the time. When the boss wasn’t around, off it went. “I have a feeling that my sister would like it. Not sure why.” Mina stated, rather dramatically. She was sure Callisto would like it, somewhere along the way of kicking her out onto the street for meddling in her personal life. Mina wouldn’t be a good little sister if she didn’t do that though.

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She said that he would like the music in Louisiana and Brandon nodded. "I'll have to go there someday then," he told her, actually meaning it. Maybe once he graduated he would be able to convince Zander to go with him. They would have so much fun in the place she was describing. It would definitely be a good adventure. He'd have to reach out to his friend and talk with him about it.

Brandon grinned, "Well if you find his music, I'm sure you'll be able to find a picture of him," he told her casually. Normally musicians advertised their looks as another method of getting sales. Zander could use that to his advantage, but Brandon doubted that he did. He didn't need to, since he knew music so well. He smiled, "I hope she would like it," he said. Then he realized that he'd spent way too much time in the music store today. He had to meet some friends at Zonko's. "Sorry, but I've got to go," he apologized as he started walking toward the door. 

mina pandora oliveira (OOC: You want to end it? Or you can leave it here to end it?)

[mina pandora oliveira]

@brandon

“I know I’ve said it already, but it’s amazing,” Mina insisted. She couldn’t recommend it for anyone that liked to live a quiet life, like her sister, but it was definitely her kind of place. Parties, bars, wonderful people, food, parties…everything. Smiling, she remembered that she had to hide that side of her right now. She was supposed to be a ‘responsible adult’, whatever that was, around Brandon. Try to make an impression and wiggle little things out of him that she could torture Callisto with. Every little bit counted. “That would definitely help. People change quite a bit once they get out of school.” Except her. She hadn’t really changed. Just drank more. Though if she had to guess, most of her fellow Slytherins would have put a galleon or two on her committing a crime within the first year out of school. So far she had avoided anything illegal if she could help it. Laws were different in the States anyways. What happened there didn’t always translate over to what could be done here.

Mina nodded in agreement to hoping Callisto would like it. Finding this kid’s music and giving it to her sister would simultaneously be torture and probably the nicest thing Mina had ever done for her. Other than going abroad and not bugging her for a few years. She probably enjoyed the peace and quiet. “Ah, no problem.” Mina stated as she watched him start to leave. “Nice to meet you,” she added, waving as he left. Mysterious that Callisto would fall for someone like him. Apparently that’s what she was into though. Strolling up to the counter, she inquired about the boy’s music, and the Zander kid’s stuff too, but was met with a shake of the owner’s head. That was too bad. Maybe some things weren’t meant to be after all.

[THE END]