Consejo de Amor (Gilderoy)

[camila calderón]

July 25, 2025

Signing herself up for a blind date through a matchmaking service was probably the sort of thing that would get her name in the gossip column of the next issue of Witch Weekly, but there were worse things that Camila could do with her time, by far. She was doing it for her own sake, rather than because it would give Blishwick Matchmaking a considerable amount of publicity if she were to talk about the company on Vibe or in an interview, but she could only hope that the person with whom she had been matched wouldn’t think that she was there for money or because her team was making her go on a date. She had given her manager the heads-up beforehand, just out of courtesy (and if anything actually came of the date itself), which had led to her practically begging not to have a security detail for the night. Having a third—or fourth or fifth—wheel on a first date didn’t seem like the most normal thing for anyone, and the bar turned out to be in a non-magical area of London anyway. If someone had plans to harm her, they would have been really idiotic to do it in a place that would require the Obliviation of multiple people.
 
After she had promised that she would be careful and wear something in which she could conceal her wand, Camila was relieved that she was permitted to go to the bar on her own. Besides, she knew that she didn’t really like or drink much alcohol, so she wasn’t too concerned about having some sort of contingency plan in the event that she ended up drunk. It had been a little bit of a challenge to find the place—called Four Quarters East—with public transportation at first, but she still had arrived earlier than the time stated in her correspondence with the matchmaking company.
 
The bar itself looked really cool. Dimly lit though it was, it was July, and the sun wouldn’t set until much later. There were a ton of vintage arcade games along the walls—the kind that you had to drop change into to get them to work—and there was sort of an industrial feel to it. It wouldn’t have been the sort of place that she would have picked of her own accord, Camila thought as she looked around, but she could understand why the matchmaker had chosen it. It was fun, or it had the potential to be.
 
Camila stepped further inside the bar and was greeted by a member of the staff. She was relieved that she wouldn’t be getting the “star treatment”, either, unless it turned out that her match was a fan of hers. Although she was slightly nervous as to what the night might bring, she smiled slightly. Smoothing out her sundress so that her wand’s being fastened to her leg wouldn’t be so obvious, she glanced around the place to check if there was anyone else who looked as though they were also searching for a stranger.

@lockhart
OOC: The actual bar looks super neat.

[Deleted]

July 25, 2025

This month has been one long nightmare for Gilderoy. It all started with a news article about his father. He was happy his father was in the news for a moment. At first he thought the claims that his father was a liar and had stolen peoples credit were just jealous fabrications. Yet, Gilderoy was curious, after some digging into some of his father old belongings and journals for proof other wise he was proven wrong. Gilderoy had always been so sure of who he was and who his father was. Now all of that was in question, he had spend so much time idolizing a man who was a fake just like everyone else had said. Who was he then? Another fake? No, Gilderoy refused that. His father might have been a fake but after days of questioning himself, Gilderoy was determined to be every bit the man his father lied about being. He was just going to have to work harder than he ever had for it.

Reading that Jimbo was running another blind date event Gilderoy signed up. A distraction is just what Gilderoy needed and Jimbo’s silly blind date event would do. Only thinking it was silly as the first two times Gilderoy signed up, he hadn’t been matched with anyone. He didn’t give much credit to the match maker but this time he actually was matched with someone. It was a surprise to Gilderoy, with the way this month was going he had expected the additional kick of not being matched once again. It was enough to laugh for a moment when he got his owl from the match maker on where and when to meet up. He had been so sure that it was going to happen again Gilderoy didn’t even expect the owl.

Gilderoy got ready and left his home early as he would need to find the muggle place first or else run the risk of being late. His father was just sitting in the chair in the living room zoning out. He hadn’t spoken much to his father since he learned the truth not like the silent treatment would even work on his father. It’s hard for anything to be effective on a man who couldn’t remember what he was doing an hour or minutes ago at times. Gilderoy wasn’t going to worry about him right now, tonight was about trying to ignore all that for a little bit. To feel a little more like his old self for a night if he could. It wasn’t hard for Gilderoy to find the place, having looked it up once he got his owl. That and muggle transport wasn’t too hard. It was just slower but all you had to do was tell the person driving where to go and you got there... eventually.

He arrived just as the date was suppose to start, thankful he left early. Traffic wasn’t something the magical world had too much of and Gilderoy was glad for that. As the first two blind date attempts didn’t even work he wasn’t too sure how to spot who his date was as he entered the bar. It had a number of arcade games which looked interesting. Some he had even played with his muggleborn friend, Fiona. Who had since moved away but it was good times none the less. He couldn’t exactly ask people as this was a muggle establishment about a magical business's blind date. He would just have to keep searching and look for anyone also looking he supposed. It didn’t take long till he found someone, the singer Camila Calderón. He doubted she was his date as why would she be doing a blind date of all people. Still he could greet her as it was an odd place to see someone like her before his date might have showed up.

“This is a strange place to run into someone of your caliber Ms. Calderón.” Gilderoy said with a smile as he walked closer to the singer. It wasn’t like they actually knew each other. He had heard a few of her songs and they weren’t bad as well as was following her on Vibe. Somehow a few of his Vibe messages went viral and the old Gilderoy was so sure of himself he assumed that would make him famous. Not anymore with the blow to his ego from the article about his father being true. “My names Gilderoy, doesn’t seem fair I would know your name and you not know mine.” He explained introducing himself finally.

camila calderón
OOC: We have something similar near where I live it's pretty cool.

[camila calderón]

July 25, 2025

A rather handsome young man who looked to be her own age approached her and addressed her by name, which took Camila by surprise when she first heard him say it. He had to have been a wizard—or at least in some way associated with the magical world—to know who she was. There was no way that he would have been able to guess her name out of the blue that well; she wasn't wearing a name tag or anything.

"Hi," she smiled back at him. Initially, she wasn't sure if he was just a fan who happened to be in the same place. (That would have been a coincidence, without a doubt.) Luckily, he didn't seem to freak out over who she was; Camila wasn't sure what she would have done if it turned out that she was stuck there with someone who was obsessed with her. Though she was there to meet her blind date and wouldn't have minded getting a relationship out of it, she couldn't see herself with a crazed fan, either.

The young man introduced himself as Gilderoy. Although it was an unusual name, it sounded really familiar to her, too. Maybe it would come to her.

"Gilderoy," Camila repeated, hoping that she had pronounced his name properly. She wasn't sure whether or not she should mention that she was meant to be there for a blind date. What if he wasn't her date but wanted her to believe that he was? That had the potential to be disastrous. But what if he was? She also didn't want him to get the wrong idea about her. "Camila," she introduced herself brightly, reaching out her right hand for a handshake. Even though he did already know who she was, it felt rude of her not to introduce herself to him more formally. "It is very nice to meet you."

@lockhart

[Deleted]

July 25, 2025

Camila introduced herself after he had spoke to her, saying it was nice to meet him. He doubted that even before the blow to his ego he would have said something like “of course it is” she was a celebrity in her own right. He was now more of just a joke to anyone who paid attention to the minor news of the daily prophet. “Like wise,” Gilderoy agreed with a nod. He highly doubted she would actually be his blind date. The chances of a singer being on a blind date seemed somewhat unlikely to him. Still there was a possibility. “So did Blishwick send you here or do you just enjoy old Muggle video games?” They were far enough away from most people that someone wouldn’t pick up on any of the words wizards or witches used. “Personally I’m pretty decent at Mac man or whatever it was. No, Pac man.” The name escaped him as he attempted to continue the small talk for a moment. Pac man being one of the few games he could remember playing with his muggle-born friend.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

July 25, 2025

Gilderoy agreed that it was nice to meet her, and Camila remained relieved about their interactions. It was so normal, and she began to understand why that might have been after what Gilderoy said next. "So did Blishwick send you here," he began, "or do you just enjoy old Muggle video games?"

"Blishwick, yes," Camila smiled. He was either a Seer or her date, but her bet was on the latter. That wasn't to say that she minded old Muggle video games, though. She might not have spent countless hours playing them, but she knew what they were and had played them. Her father wasn't magical, and she had exposure to the non-magical world and its technology, too.

"Personally," Gilderoy continued, "I'm pretty decent at Mac man or whatever it was. No, Pac man."

Camila knew what Gilderoy was talking about, the arcade game. It was older, sort of "retro". She turned her head in the direction of the arcade games at the bar to see if there was one there. There were a few different types of games, with different controllers: steering wheels and bright, plasticky fake guns tethered to the game for shooting at pixelated opponents. "Ah!" she laughed, seeing a Pac-Man game there. It was an almost painful shade of yellow, but it was there—joystick and all. "Look!" she pointed it out to Gilderoy. Had he already seen it?

@lockhart

[Deleted]

July 25, 2025

Camila confirmed with a smile that she was here for the Blishwick blinddating event going on. Which would seem to mean she would be his date for the evening. That or Blishwick planned multiple dates for the same location, which didn’t seem like the wisest idea. Granted, if no one knew who they were suppose to mean they would never know if the dates got mixed up. “Well unless there are other people sent here from Blishwick that must mean I’m here to meet with you. Which is certainly surprising to say the least.”

As Gilderoy spoke about Pac-man and how he use to play it Camila looked around the room. Mostly toward where the the arcade was. She made a quick laugh before pointing out of of them games. It seems she found the pac-man game first. “Great, you want to go play? Don’t know if it’s two players but we can take turns. I’ll try not to destroy your score too badly.” Gilderoy joked, unsure if she had ever even played pac-man or muggle games but it would be fun either way.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

July 25, 2025

From what she could tell, there didn't seem to be anybody else who was looking for their date at the bar—just the two of them. So when Gilderoy mentioned that they were likely each other's date, Camila nodded. He said that he found it surprising, and Camila knew that it must have been strange to walk into a Muggle bar and find out that your blind date just so happened to be a pop star. It was strange for her, in a way, because she didn't really see herself as a famous person. She wasn't unaware of it—because going anywhere magical reinforced it in about two seconds—but she hadn't ever viewed herself as any different than she had been prior to fame.

When she pointed out the Pac-Man arcade game, Gilderoy seemed similarly enthusiastic. "Great, you want to go play?" he asked. Although he wasn't sure if it was a two-player game, he mentioned that they could take turns. "I'll try not to destroy your score too badly," he teased her.

"Yes," Camila grinned, motioning for Gilderoy to follow her over to the game. "Let's go!"

@lockhart

[Deleted]

July 25, 2025

Camila gave him a smile before saying yes to wanting to go play pac-man. It was part of the reason they were sent here for their blind date. Not so much to play pac-man alone but to play the arcade games and get something to drink. She motioned for him to follow as she added saying to go. Gilderoy followed along toward the pac-man arcade game. It wasn’t new but for its age it was definitely well kept. Looking it over he noticed they took tokens to operate which made sense. “I’ll be right back.” Gilderoy said as he saw a machine nearby that exchanged money for tokens. Coming back with a hand full he handed half to Camila. “There we should be set for a little bit. You want to go first? Might as well offer as ladies first and all.”

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

July 25, 2025

When they reached the machine, Camila was surprised to find that it didn't take regular coins—non-magical coins, anyway—and that it took some sort of token as a form of payment instead. Gilderoy seemed to have noticed it a moment before her, though, because he said that he would be back in a moment.

Then, when he returned, it was with plenty of tokens. He had exchanged for more than enough for them to play that game and possibly some of the others, and he handed half of them to her. "Thank you." Camila took them and tried to straighten them out in the palm of her hand so that they wouldn't get in the way of playing the game, only to realize that that was pointless. She couldn't really play an arcade game with a fistful of tokens in one hand.

Gilderoy asked her if she wanted to go first, and she nodded, checking how many tokens the game needed in order to operate before putting the rest of the tokens in an easily accessible pocket of her purse. "Okay…" she began, putting in one token after the other into the little slot and checking to make sure that the game recognized that she had paid it. It hadn't malfunctioned or anything, so that was a promising sight.

The music the game was playing changed as she finished putting in the tokens, and Camila moved to the controls. The joystick was a little bit difficult to maneuver in the right direction, but she watched the screen intently as she began to make the little yellow dot that was Pac-Man move through the maze. It wasn't as easy as she remembered it; she kept getting Pac-Man stuck against the corners of the maze's route, and one unfortunate misstep allowed one of the ghosts to reach Pac-Man before she had the opportunity to move him away. Such was the nature of the game, though the "whomp-whomp" noise that the game made as Pac-Man lost a life in her hands was a little saddening.

Motivated to do even better, Camila tried determinedly—and failed even sooner than before. "Oh!" she laughed at her own mistake, as she was sent on her way to preserve Pac-Man's final life.

Carefully, she had Pac-Man chomp at the smaller dots, even managing to get a few of the ones that turned the ghosts dark blue. It was going better than it had, especially when she reached the point of getting Pac-Man to chomp one of the dark blue ghosts. And then—aha!—there were cherries in the middle of the maze, close enough for her to move Pac-Man to them. "La cereza… La cereza…" she muttered as she got Pac-Man closer. He was almost there, and then… He was intercepted by another ghost!

At that final mournful sound of Pac-Man's defeat, Camila laughed. "Noooooo!" she squealed. She had been so close! Shaking her head and stepping back from the machine, she looked to Gilderoy with a smile. "It is so difficult! Try!"

@lockhart
OOC: The translation is literally just "cherry" in Spanish. I actually did just play Pac-Man to write this.

[Deleted]

July 25, 2025

As Gilderoy offered Camila a number of the tokens she attempted to try to play the game with them in hand. Thinking now he probably should have put them in cups or something. A number of the machines had cup holders for that or drinks from the bar more likely. Camila was able to tuck the extra tokens into a pocket before starting to play pac-man. The music was all too familiar to Gilderoy. Muggle games weren’t something he played all too often nowadays but growing up he had a few Muggleborns friend he could play them with. A few of the Musical tones and chimes were burnt into his memories. Watching as she attempted her first try he remembered more and more of the game of the yellow dot eating all kinds of things.

After her first life was gone Camila seemed more determined but the second life was soon gone. Her third attempt lasted the longest. She said something he assumed in Spanish as she made her way for the cherry just under the center. Sadly she didn’t get it before a ghost got her. “Aw, so close.” Gilderoy spoke up finally while she squealed out a no. It was a solid attempt and he might not even do better or as well. He hadn’t played in forever. She looked up to him explaining how it was difficult and that he should give it a try. He just smiled as after watching her play he was excited to give it a shot himself now.

“Okay, we’ll see if I can get any further but I’m definitely rusty.” Gilderoy replied with a smile sitting down at the arcade game after Camila got up. He put in his tokens and it started just like it had for her. Gilderoy played with the joystick for a moment as he waited for the intro to finish. The same four directions as always. His first life had him get most of the top dots and two ghosts. Sadly the power up ran out while he was chasing a third and it turned around got him. “Jeez, I got greedy there.” Gilderoy said with a laugh, mostly just thinking out loud. His second life ended even quicker much like Camila. He got stuck going from one side to another with a ghost one both sides. His third life got him to the second level but he had to miss the cherry as there were too many ghosts around. He sadly didn’t get too far into the second level as he quickly died. “Well at least we got to see the second level.” He laughed out as he looked toward Camila now.

camila calderón

[camila calderón]

July 25, 2025

Gilderoy didn't seem overly competitive about the video game as Camila tried her hand at the first level and failed abysmally, which she appreciated. He could have been one of those guys who thought that they were automatically better at something that she was doing just because she was a girl, but Camila hadn't seen any of that sort of misogynistic behavior from him. It was nice, and it made her feel better about having failed so quickly into playing it. She had wasted no time in killing Pac-Man, three times over.

While she did want to redeem herself to prove that she could actually make some progress without having to listen to the sad noise of Pac-Man's digital demise, she was also curious to see how Gilderoy would do at the game. He got ready to play the game then, expressing that he didn't know how he would do, either. She watched, trying not to hover, as he put the tokens in the machine to begin his turn.

After the introduction had finished and the level had begun, Gilderoy appeared to be making much better progress on the first life than she had on her turn. He wasn't running Pac-Man into quite so many of the walls inside the maze, and he was successfully managing to get the dots and the ghosts throughout the level. Really, he was doing well. And then, right when he was about to consume a third ghost thanks to a power-up, the effect wore off. The ghost was able to get to Pac-Man first, marking the end of the first life.

"Jeez, I got greedy there," Gilderoy laughed at the misfortune. Camila laughed, but she didn't want to distract him.

It probably didn't matter much, though. The luck that Gilderoy had had with the first life ran out quickly with the second one. He somehow got Pac-Man stuck in one portion of the maze, which was almost painful to watch because of how well he'd done at first. A ghost inevitably reached Pac-Man before Gilderoy could navigate the little yellow dot to safety, and that was the end of that.

Luckily, there was still one life left. After a good first try and a not-so-great second try, Camila was curious to see how long Gilderoy would manage to remain in the game. The pressure was on, so she was careful to remain silent while he went through the level. Whatever his tactic was, it was working. Maybe it was luck. Regardless, Camila couldn't believe her eyes when Gilderoy not only kept Pac-Man alive but made it to the second level of gameplay.

It was exciting, but it wasn't meant to be. Although he had made it to the second level, Gilderoy didn't remain there for very long. The difficulty of the maze had visibly increased, which had made her nervous about it from the start. He had had to bypass the cherries, and then it was game over for Pac-Man. Again.

"Well," Gilderoy laughed, "at least we got to see the second level." With his attention no longer on the game and back on her, Camila smiled at him. That was true. He had made it to the second level, even if it hadn't lasted!

"Very good!" Camila exclaimed—and meant it. She guessed that she probably could have wasted a lot of money before making it that far. Still, a part of her wondered if he wanted to try one more time. "Do you want to play another time?" she asked him. "Or drinks?"

@lockhart