Once [Jamie]

[Deleted]

@jamie

Constant tinkering meant needing materials to do so. Harper had learned her lesson with that years ago – school had always been an antagonizing period of time for her since there was little to nothing for her hands to work on whilst there. She could only spin springs and gears around so many times before getting bored. Summer had always been her favorite season because that meant she was home free for a few months to do whatever she pleased. Having been graduated for a little over a year, and working at an awesome job that fed her addiction, days like today didn’t happen all that often. Typically there was an unlimited supply of muggle things between left over ‘junk’ at work and her grandfather’s garage. But a nifty breakthrough on what the metal charmers had been slaving away at for months meant she couldn’t take anything home in case it was needed for work. That was both a positive and a negative for her. As for going to the Burrow…she knew it would mean getting stuck catching up with whatever family members were there and probably never going on her expedition of the garage. While she loved everyone in the family, it did take a lot of energy to stop from being dragged away from the task at hand (another reason why she steered clear of Uncle George and the joke shop).

So Harper was in the muggle end of London, close to an entrance to Diagon Alley, trying to find a hobby shop or electronics store. She didn’t need anything specific. Staring at shiny muggle technology was enough to have her in awe for a few hours. If something did catch her eye, then came the debate on whether or not she would be able to charm it for use at home or in magical zones that limited electronic usage. Radios were fairly simple, but coming across one of those in the muggle world was basically impossible these days. Most of the ones she had worked on over the years were practically ancient, and always covered in a thick layer of dust to boot. The conditions of a piece of technology never bothered her though; that was part of the fun of it. Fighting with missing pieces or faulty wiring was what made it all worth it in the end.

Unfortunately one of the stores she had stopped into didn’t have anything of interest, and playing twenty questions with the clerk didn’t seem to grant her any insight on what they might have in storage in the back. Slightly disappointed that nothing had come out of the brief expedition, she decided to head towards Diagon Alley and see what the stores there had to offer. The magic district was always a last resort and never seemed to produce results, but at least she wouldn’t look like too much of an idiot inside stores like she did around muggles.

While on her way over, the store front of a jewelry shop caught her eye. Jewelry had never really fit her all that well, mostly because she spent all day working with her hands and especially when it came to her motorcycle. The last thing she needed was a ring to get lost somewhere inside the machine, or pop off while cleaning her hands. Still, Harper parked herself in front of the shop window and peered in at the pieces on display. Maybe one day she would have an occupation that would allow her to reasonably wear something…

[Deleted]

Jewelry was strange. The only jewelry that Jamie wore was a charm bracelet that she had been given by her sister, and she mainly wore that for sentimental value. It was a nice bracelet, but Jamie had never understood wanting baubles just for the sake of baubles. She preferred it when her decorations meant something – hence why the charm bracelet was the only piece of jewelry that she wore. Now that Jamie was in a good financial situation for the first time in a year, she had decided to visit a jewelry store, only to realize her qualms about buying jewelry in the first place. She had decided halfway her visit that instead of finding something that she wanted to buy for herself, she was going to find a gift for someone else. Two of her favorite people – Andy and Max – had had birthdays in June, so it wasn’t like she had a shortage of people to give gifts to. Jamie was, quite honestly, wandering around in circles. She didn’t have a clue of what she wanted, and the longer she walked, the more out of place she felt in the shop. She was younger than the other people browsing by at least a decade, and maybe it was paranoia, but she thought that the person behind the counter was keeping a particularly close eye on her. Jamie was about to do another circuit when she spotted a familiar face behind the glass display window. The blonde departed the jewelry shop as quickly as she could without being suspicious, smiling as she came out of the door. “Harper! Hey!” She greeted her ex-girlfriend happily. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?” Jamie asked, unsure why Harper would be looking at the displays in a Muggle jewelry store, unless it was for her work or something.

@harper

[Deleted]

@jamie

Getting lost in her own little world happened all too often, and staring at the items on display for the jewelry store was just another one of those moments. She enjoyed being able to do what she wanted without criticism, something that was hard to do while at home, and at work depending on who was heading the experiments for the day. If Ondina was with her, there would be a never ending slew of comments about how all the necklaces and bracelets were gaudy and cheap, and that even being in the same space as them would mean they were the same way as people. Harper hated thinking like that, but it was difficult to escape it when she knew that would be the situation she would walk into upon arriving at home without fail.

The jingle of the shop door opening barely meant a thing to her, if anything it was just another background noise lost amidst the drone of passersby and the roars of cars. Her name, however, was not one of the sounds she could ignore. Blinking a few times to snap herself out of her staring stupor in order to find the source of the voice, she turned her head to see Jamie exiting the store and heading towards her. Why was Jamie here? Sure, it was close to Diagon Alley, but not that close. And she didn’t think this jewelry store was exceptional by any means. “Hi,” she responded, smiling at the blonde. As for why she was out here herself, “Rummaging through electronics stores,” she admitted, scrunching her nose up. “But they didn’t have anything interesting. So here I am,” she raised her hands in a shrug. “How’ve you uhh…how have you been?” Why did she have to go and make it sound awkward? This was Jamie! Sure, it had been a little while since they had last talked in person, but Jamie as still Jamie regardless of that. And she had definitely not changed at all lately, so there shouldn’t have been a problem. Sometimes she hated her brain.