Heart of Glass (Ophelia)

[felix valentin fortescue]

Late July, 2025

Glassblowing wasn't something that Felix Fortescue had done before, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to say that anymore after the day was over. He hadn't expected for the Blishwick date for which he had signed up to be something so creative, so he was pleasantly surprised in that regard. Although he wasn't sure how good he would be at blowing glass rather than, say, something culinary, Felix was eager to try his hand at it. If he turned out to be any good at it, it would make for an interesting hobby—and an interesting experience nevertheless.

Hopefully, he thought, he would feel equally positive about his date, whoever they were. Going into a blind date would be either excellent or horrible, and there didn't seem to be any possibility of an in-between. Being that Felix was transgender, there was always the apprehension related to how that information might be received, and that was without his elaborating that he was polyamorous, too. In an ideal world, who he was would have been a non-issue, though he knew that not everyone thought that way.

Felix arrived at the glassblowing studio a few minutes earlier than necessary, not wanting to leave his date waiting for him, and waited outside the entrance. Even though he knew that the activity for the date didn't lend itself as well to dressing up as something like going out for dinner, he had still put the effort into his appearance. He had slicked his hair back so that it wasn't in his face quite as much, and he had opted to wear a smart pair of trousers and a button-up shirt on which he had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and cuffed them to keep them from getting in the way.

Ophelia Mae Teller

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia didn’t really know why she had signed up for Blishwicks’; something to get her out of her funk she supposed. She didn’t really know if Blishwick was a way to find a new love, but she did enjoy trying new things, so even if it didn’t work out, she’d have fun. She’d never been glassblowing before, so it would certainly be a learning experience. She’d chosen a red and white polka dotted sundress, with a white cardigan draped over her shoulders lest she get cold, and let her blonde hair cascade down her back. A touch of red lipstick, and Ophelia felt ready to do this blind date thing.

Apparating to a safe space near the glassblowing studio, she walked down the street and spotted a younger man waiting outside the entrance, presumably for her. He seemed to be at least six or seven years younger than Ophie, but perhaps she’d at least make a new friend out of this. “Hello!” she called, smiling up at him. “You must be here for me, I’m Ophelia Teller,” she said, extending her hand to shake his. “Have you ever done...glassblowing before?” she asked, curious if she would be the only newbie to this class.

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

Late July, 2025

The next—and only—person to approach him looked to be a few years older than he was, but they introduced themselves as Ophelia Teller and said that he must have been there for them. Felix didn't know what the chances were that someone else would show up looking for somebody they hadn't met before, but he felt that it was safe to assume that he had found his date—or, really, his date had found him.

Why did Ophelia look so familiar to him? Felix wasn't sure at first, but he smiled and shook Ophelia's hand. "Pleased to meet you, Ophelia. I'm Felix Fortescue," he replied.

"Have you ever done… glassblowing before?"

Felix shook his head at Ophelia's question. "No, I haven't done." Glassblowing hadn't really crossed his mind as something to try, though of course he was interested to find out how it would go. It was also, he thought, something that would make for a unique experience, especially without the use of magic. "You?" he wondered, though it didn't seem that Ophelia had done glassblowing before, either.

Ophelia Mae Teller

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia’s smile didn’t leave her face. Perhaps he was quite a bit younger than her, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a lovely time together. “No, never,” she admitted with a light laugh. She had no idea who had come up with the glassblowing idea, whether it was Jimbo himself or if he delegated that particular task to an associate. Either way, it was quite unusual, and she was pleased Blishwick had at least not tried to place their customers on your typical run of the mill date.

They walked in and waited where the instructor pointed for them to stand while the rest of the small class showed up. In the meantime, Ophelia was interested in learning more from her date. “So what is it you do? I’m currently the Welcome Witch at St. Mungos, but I’ve been studying in my spare time to become a Mediwitch. After everything that’s happened in our community, I’ve decided to face my fears and do something more than just welcoming the sick and injured to the hospital,” she asked, adding in the bit about herself so he didn’t feel like he had to ask her. This way, the conversation could hopefully flow more naturally and the standard first date questions could be out of the way.

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

Late July, 2025

Ophelia's smile was radiant, and she told him that she was also new to blowing glass. It wasn't exactly a typical first date, but the bright side was that neither of them had done it before—and that it didn't seem like Ophelia would judge him if he were terrible at it, Felix thought.

After that, they entered the building itself, where an instructor indicated where they should stand while waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. To Felix, it seemed like something that would be difficult to do without magic, but he knew that he would have to wait and see. "So what is it you do?" Ophelia asked him, explaining that she was currently the Welcome Witch at St. Mungo's. That explained why she already looked familiar to him, though she added that she was training to become a Mediwitch instead. "After everything that’s happened in our community," she said, "I’ve decided to face my fears and do something more than just welcoming the sick and injured to the hospital."

Felix didn't want to bring down the mood by mentioning that his father was usually in and out of St. Mungo's himself, but it was also just a fact of life for him. "That's great," he nodded—not that the circumstances that had probably led to her making the decision to switch careers was great, but it was great that Ophelia had felt so compelled to care for people. "I work at my family's ice cream parlor." It likely didn't sound as interesting, but Felix enjoyed it. He also wondered if Ophelia might have picked up on that already because of his last name.

Ophelia Mae Teller

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia clasped her hands together in delight. “That’s wonderful! I’ve been to that ice cream parlor in Diagon Alley too many times to count,” she told him. She knew that his relative had been a casualty in the Second Wizarding War, as her father had told her when he took her for the first time, but she didn’t think it was necessary to bring that up. “What’s your favorite flavor, either by itself or mixed up with multiple flavors?” she asked curiously, wondering what a Fortescues’ favorite ice cream was, if he even had just one.

They were silenced then by their instructor for the day, who took her sweet time explaining glassblowing, how it works and how hot everything was. Ophelia wasn’t exactly the most exquisite artist but she did try to pay as much attention as she could, putting on her heat resistant gloves and goggles to ensure she didn’t actually burn herself in the process. Before going to the furnace however, they’d be able to pick out the colored glass they’d want to add to their creations to give them some color. “What is your favorite color?” she asked him, peering down at a collection of vibrant purple to consider.

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

Late July 2025

Truly, Felix was sort of relieved that Ophelia didn't seem to question whether or not he had aspirations beyond ice cream. That was sometimes how people reacted when he mentioned that he worked at the ice cream parlor, particularly strangers. It was as though some people really couldn't believe that working there wasn't just a stopover to the next thing that came along for him. He worked at the ice cream parlor because it was his family's business. It didn't matter to him how much potential he might have had in applying himself elsewhere; he wouldn't have traded it for anything else. Ophelia even asked him what his favorite flavor was, either by itself or mixed.

There were so many good flavors that it was hard to choose. Vasilia was always coming up with new ones, too. Felix guessed that he would have to go with something that was more standard for them, though that wasn't to say that he disliked Vas's innovation. "Maybe vanilla?" he offered, although that was all the more that he was able to get out before they were given their instructions on how to blow glass.

Felix listened intently, having been a Ravenclaw and all. Because the art was completely new to him, he wanted to make sure that he understood the process properly, too. It was obvious that it wasn't going to be easy, considering all of the protective equipment that they had to put on, but he hoped that it would be fun nevertheless.

Once they had enough gear on to rival the average Quidditch player, they were nearly ready to go, but they also had to choose a color for their final product. Felix wasn't too confident that his would look like much by the end, but he was still eager to try it out for the fun of it. Ophelia asked him what his favorite color was, and again he hesitated a little.

"Hmmm. Blue, maybe?" he answered. Blue was a good color, though Felix didn't think that he would be able to control the color enough to make anything that looked like the transgender flag. He noticed that Ophelia was looking at some purples, which also looked really nice. "Is purple your favorite, then?"

Ophelia Mae Teller

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia smiled. “Maybe?” she teased in a manner that was clearly intended to be in good fun. Most people knew what their favorite color was, so it was intriguing to her that Felix actually hesitated in his choice. “Blue is a wonderful color,” she agreed, then her eyes brightened when he asked if purple was her favorite color. “Oh yes, most definitely. Just a smidge higher than pink and orange,” she explained, knowing it sounded very girly of her to love pink and purple. That was simply how she was, and she never wanted to hide that aspect of herself. Other aspects, such as going after Sarah Oliviera for what she did to Koda and their unborn child, she would keep secret however. Felix didn’t need to know about that part of her life, at least right now he didn’t.

“Right then, let’s hope this works,” she said, giving Felix an anxious smile before sticking the long pole right into the flames. She tried turning it as best as she could, but it felt heavier than she expected. When she removed the glass from the fire, she noticed it had a very odd shape, and laughed. “I suppose….not bad for my first attempt?” she said sheepishly as the instructor clearly was holding back their own chuckle. “Your turn!” she added to Felix brightly, gingerly moving the misshapen mass of molten glass over to one side so Felix could get into the kiln without issue.

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

Late July 2025

"Maybe?" Ophelia teased him about his mention of vanilla earlier on. There were so many flavors on offer at the ice cream parlor; it was incredibly difficult to pick just one, though he usually wasn't one to get himself an ice cream cone with flavor after flavor piled high. When he was a kid, maybe, but not in years and years.

When he asked her if purple was her favorite color, given how easily she had gravitated towards it, she confirmed that it was "most definitely" her favorite. "Just a smidge higher than pink and orange," she added.

Felix nodded and watched as Ophelia tried her hand at blowing glass, though most of the process seem to be taking the glass and moving it back and forth from the fire. He was sort of relieved that he wasn't going first, but he kept his fingers crossed that Ophelia would have success with it. She seemed to be doing a pretty good job at it, from what he could tell, not that he could really see what was happening with the glass until she pulled it back out from the flames. It wasn't what he would have called excellent, either, but Ophelia seemed to take that in stride.

"I suppose… not bad for my first attempt?" she offered, which was true. Felix didn't want to get too far ahead of himself, either, and assume that he would be successful in actually making his glass look like something other than a blob on a stick. Ophelia was awfully cheerful when she reminded him that it was his turn after hers, and he laughed a little before preparing himself to end up with something that would look even worse than what Ophelia had just done.

"Let's hope this isn't too wonky," he smiled. Ideally, it was supposed to look sort of cylindrical, and he hoped that multiple years of making ice cream cones would carry over to blowing glass… just not blowing it up. He was cautious about the process, making sure that he was following the steps as exactly as possible and hoping that his precision wasn't going to ruin him. The furnace was sort of intimidating, admittedly, but he tried his best. The red-hot glass on the end of his pipe didn't look too great, but he went over to the marver and tried to get it to look a little bit better. Felix wasn't sure how well he had succeeded in that, but it did look close to symmetrical…

Ophelia Mae Teller
OOC: I'm learning more about this stuff than I ever cared to, and I'm kind of intimidated that our characters are doing this. Haha.

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia watched as Felix took his turn, smiling at his wonky quip. This was a rather unusual first date, and dangerous from a Muggle standpoint. Of course, dragonhide gloves would have been ideal in this situation, but as they were at a Muggle facility, they couldn’t exactly wear them without getting curious inquiries about the material. She knew Felix was part of the Fortescue family, and she inwardly wondered if rolling the glass back and forth was similar to scooping the ice cream. “Do you use magic for the ice cream shop or are you more of the old-fashioned Muggle scooper?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Their next step was to dip their hot glass into the crushed colors of their choices. Ophelia immediately gravitated to the purple shards, rolling her slightly misshapen molten glass to cover it completely. She was then directed to rolle the glass back over to the marvel, which had been used before to roll out the glass. As she was doing so, she looked over at Felix. “I think we’re almost to the blowing part,” she said with a giggle. She may be in her mid-twenties, but who doesn’t love a cheeky giggle every once in awhile?

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

Late July 2025

Gradually, they were making progress on their blown glass, even if it didn't look like much at a glance. The glass had already gone from being a bunch of bits and pieces to something that was slightly smoother and more glass-like, so that was something. And for being at a non-magical facility, too, Felix didn't think that he and Ophelia were doing too badly at dealing with glass and fire—two things that weren't typically a strength of his. The whole point of working with ice cream, in general, was in keeping it from melting, though there were a few elements in various flavors that required some form of heat to get them to how they needed to be. Oh, and waffle cones. Lots and lots of waffle cones.

On roughly the same subject, Ophelia had a question for him. "Do you use magic for the ice cream shop," she asked, "or are you more of the old-fashioned Muggle scooper?"

"Mostly the latter, yeah," he said, trying to keep the obvious "magic" talk to a minimum. It was partially because Vasilia was a Squib that the family ice cream parlor didn't go over the top with its creations from a magical standpoint, but simplicity was usually better. "The business has been in my family forever, so it's not always… modern?" Felix knew that that wasn't how he intended to put it. Really, he was pretty familiar with Muggle technology even before it had been permitted to be integrated into the magical world, since Vas couldn't exactly remain disconnected from the non-magical environment in which she had been partially raised.

Ophelia went on to begin the next step in the glass-blowing process, adding the purple pieces to what she had already formed. "I think we’re almost to the blowing part," she observed, giggling as she worked.

Felix didn't know if her innuendo had been intentional or if what she had said simply had happened to slip out that way, but it was amusing to him, too, especially because of how proper Ophelia had seemed to be. "I didn't expect you to be so forward," he teased her with a chuckle, not wanting to distract her too much while she was that close to a relatively open flame.

Ophelia Mae Teller

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia laughed at Felix’s comment. “Well I’m a few years older than you as we determined, and I’ve never let something as trivial as propriety get in the way of a good laugh,” she declared, the smile clear on her face. Gently, she leaned forward and blew, her eyes widening as the molten glass shaped in front of her as she rotated the rod. What a marvel to behold, she thought to herself, even if her innuendo from earlier seemed to be blaring in her ear. It was so similar to magic, but just simple physics in the end. When she had molded her molten glass into something similar to a bowl shape, she stepped back, gently removing it from the fire. A professional came over and with his gloves, helped remove the hot glass from its position, hurrying it over to the oven. Ophelia stepped back and watched Felix make his glass creation.

She looked back at the invitation Blishwick had sent them. “Looks like food and drinks are in the main hall,” she announced as the smell of fresh cooked food began to waft in their direction. “This has certainly made me hungry,” she added with a chuckle, then held out her arm. “Shall we?” she asked with a friendly grin.

felix valentin fortescue

[felix valentin fortescue]

Late July 2025

Though blowing glass was neither simple nor a particularly conventional first date, Felix had enjoyed the process. It made it easier that Ophelia herself seemed to be at ease with the whole thing. Felix knew that it must have been at least a little bit uncomfortable for her, and he wondered how much thought she had given to his identity. Not only was he younger than she was (as she noted, too), but he also didn't think that he "passed" for a cisgender guy in the way that most people would expect him to. Ophelia hadn't shown any discomfort, though—not one bit. Even if nothing really came of their date because of their age difference, at least Felix knew that that wasn't the worst dealbreaker.

Once they had finished up with the glass itself, Ophelia looked at their Blishwick invitation and mentioned that there were food and drinks off in the main hall. Felix, having forgotten about that until Ophelia brought it up—at which point he could smell the food for himself—nodded. Ophelia added that the glass-blowing had made her hungry, and she laughed and held out her arm to him. "Shall we?"

Felix, matching Ophelia's grin with one of his own, took her arm gently. He knew that he didn't have to, and maybe it was overkill, but he knew—and assumed that Ophelia knew—that he wasn't doing it to be creepy or some sort of "pick me" type. "Is this alright?" he checked with Ophelia about his having taken her arm, not wanting to overstep.

Ophelia Mae Teller