Absit Omen RPG

Liam shook the wizard's hand with a crooked grin as he stood up to properly greet the man. "Wedding gift you say." Liam thought for a minute while dropping the hand he was shaking.  "Anything in particular you had in mind?"

He stepped out from behind his desk and led the way over to the side of his shop that had all kinds of things.  "I have all kinds of unusual things over here." He slipped his wand out of his back pocket and dried his shirt off with a quick spell and then put it back in his pocket.

Liam was just putting the last dish away into his cabinet in his flat when he heard the bell from his store signaling that someone had entered.  He was getting used to being alone almost all day, no one really came into his shop anymore, other than the die hard book readers.  He grabbed a dish towel and walked down the stairs into his shop, wiping his hands off as he came downstairs.

"Hello." he said, noticing someone was in his shop, but not recognizing who it was.  "May I help you?" he smiled.  Then he realized that he hadn't changed his shirt after washing his dishes from lunch.  His t-shirt was soaked in the front. 

He moved to the desk in the middle of the bookstore side of his shop and tossed the dish towel under the desk and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the desk and pulling at the wet part of his shirt and frowning.

Even though Liam was the one to make the suggestion for Mr. Malfoy to come to his home/business to talk about the man's idea.  Once the letter had been sent off, Liam got nervous.  Truthfully, no one had actually been in his flat, but himself, an owl or two, Johann was there maybe once, but no one else. 

So here he was, after making sure that no one was downstairs, he was in his flat obsessively going over things to make sure they were clean, or put in their rightful place.  Liam knew that it was weird, but at this point he didn't care.  He was going to try and make a good impression upon a potential business partner.

After he had gotten things the way he wanted them, he looked in his small kitchen and briefly wondered if Malfoy would drink tea or coffee, before making some of each, realizing that he was going a bit too far by the time he had fixed a plate full of small finger sandwiches, and poured out the boiling water for the tea in the sink and placed the sandwiches in the fridge.

He kept the coffee, Liam felt like he was going to need it as he heard the telltale sound of someone apparating and with one final glance around his flat, he descended the stairs to greet his new - maybe - business partner.

After seeing that no one was in his shop at the moment, he headed upstairs to his flat to get something to munch on and to check and see if any owls had delivered mail. 

Sure enough, there on his kitchen table was a reply from Draco Malfoy.

Mr. Darrow,

Thank you for the opportunity to come and speak with you about the proposition.  I'll be round your shop in a bout an hour, and while I do thank you for the offer to use your apparition spot, I'll come in the front door of your shop just like everyone else.

Malfoy.

Now all he had to do was wait.

Liam sat back down and finished drinking his coffee while thinking about what Malfoy was proposing. He didn't really know a lot about him, other than what he'd heard from gossips around Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.

He went to his desk and wrote out a quick letter to Johann Storm, really the only person he knew to ask about someone's reputation.

Although, unlike the last time he sent a letter, this time he made sure the address was legible..

J. Storm
Spectre Estate
Edinburgh

Hello Joh,

I recently got offered a business propostiion by someone that I have only heard bad things about.

Is there any way you could let me know if I can trust him or not?

The proposition would be very interesting to say the least and I think it might bring more people into my shop.

The person is Draco Malfoy. Let me know anything you can.

Liam

Liam sent the letter off with his eagle owl and then went downstairs to open the shop.

Liam had just sat down at his kitchen table with his morning coffee when an unknown owl dropped a letter on his empty plate. He picked up the envelope and told the owl that there were treats and water on the counter. Opening the letter he read it quickly before deciding to send a reply back.

He went into his bedroom and quickly penned a reply at the desk and went back to the kitchen. "Can you take this reply to your owner?" he asked the owl. Seeming to answer him, the owl finished it's treat and grabbed the letter and took off out the window.

The owl made quick time towards his owner's home, and dropped letter on the desk in the study.

Draco found the letter when he made his way to his study after finishing brewing a batch of Pain Reliever potion.


Mr. Malfoy,

While I am still unsure why you chose my shop of all places to conduct your business, I am also honored that you chose to do so.

I have never thought to sell discounted potions in my shop, my fondness centers around rare and obscure, or old books, but I'm always open to new things coming in.

Maybe a trial run is best to start. A month or so, just to see if anyone actually seems interested. I'd hate to agree to our partnership, and then nothing moves. I did remember that you didn't want anyone knowing that you were involved in the actual selling, I do not know how that will work, but in the future maybe we can figure that out.

Give me a few days to think about it, and I'll get back to you.

Darrow
The Yelling Compass



Draco understood that the man would need some time to consider it. He just hoped it wouldn't take too long.

Liam took a deep breath, "It's not really about the money.  I like books, old books, rare books.  The junk part of the store just has some interesting surprises in it.  Nothing that would hurt anybody though."

He looked at her, "What about you?  Much money in the newspaper business?" he asked.

Briefly he wondered if he should be straight with her, or should play with her a bit and then just started talking without thinking much at all.

"Well a typical day in the Yelling Compass starts when I wake up in the morning a make myself breakfast.  Usually I'll go for a quick pastry and some coffee, but sometimes I'll make a full breakfast with sausages and toast and the works.  I'll still have to have my coffee though."

He took a drink.

"Then of course I go and get dressed, because what's the point of getting dressed for breakfast when I live alone."  He turned towards her, "That doesn't take very long, so I fix myself another cup of coffee and go downstairs to open the shop. Is that what you want to hear?"

He listened to her talk about how the fact that the only thing she could think connected everything was that they all happened and he nodded in all the right places.

He couldn't really help out in that area, if he wasn't inside his shop or his flat, he frequented muggle London or a random pub. 

"I'm afraid I can't help you love, the only fishy thing I saw that night was the salmon I cooked myself for dinner."

He took a deep breath.

"Not really, I mean I've heard rumors, but no one wants a bunch of old junk and I keep all my rare and expensive books in my vault, so there's nothing really worrying for me going on."

Liam turned to look at her, "Any ideas what's going on?"

He thought for a moment, "I don't remember it, so it must of either been on a day I didn't open the shop, or a day I went to visit nieces and nephews, I have quite a few now."

"I was kinda short back then wasn't I?" he asked, "Of course, I'm not so little anymore." he said with a wink.  He made himself remember she was a friend - sort of... he could be himself around her.

Not like that situation would ever happen again, it was one of the reasons he'd kept people at arms length since.

He took a drink and before he could stop himself he joked, "The poor creature, you sure it didn't have a stomach ache afterwards?"

Taking a breath after saying that he immediately said after, "I'm sorry, that must of hurt." 

The bartender brought her drink just then and Liam moved it from in front of himself to in front of her. 

"No regrets at all." he said to her as he ordered a whiskey for her as well.  Sometimes it was nice to catch up with someone you hadn't talked to in a while.

"So, done any body-altering things lately?"

He shook his head, "Sorry, I'm a bit awkward, I don't really talk to many people anymore..." he trailed off.  She would probably ask him why, but he wasn't sure he'd like to get into the reason why.

"I'm a bit of a hermit now."

"Yeah, well, I was 14 and a cute girl had her shirt up. Why wouldn't I remember the circumstances around that?"  He grinned at her. 

He saw that his glass had been refilled, "Would you like a drink?" 

Inwardly he shook his head, "Or not..." he turned towards the bar and sipped at his whiskey.

Normally he wouldn't of said something like that, now he felt awkward.  He wished he could go back to the carefree way he acted while he was in school.