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Post by Faith Lehane on Nov 28, 2012 16:41:14 GMT -6
Faith walked into James Laurent’s office and unceremoniously flopped down into the chair on the side of his test and propped her muddy boots up onto his desk. “Hey Jimmy!” she drew out his nickname in a teasing annoying manner. She knew he hated it and so she gave it all the emphasis she could. “So I was wondering,” she tossed the busywork she had to do which involved a bunch of coding in front of him on top of whatever else he was working on. “Can you crack this? I mean, I know you’re a genius and all, or so says Andrew, but I don’t really believe it.” Sure, she could crack the code herself but what would be the fun in that! She preferred making James do the work for her.
((ooc: Blows dust off of Faith. Sorry this is rubbish, I forgot how to write her, lol.))
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Post by James Laurent on Nov 28, 2012 18:02:41 GMT -6
James Laurent was elbow-deep in research (quite literally) as he huddled over his crowded desk, tomes of books and paperwork stacked precariously either side of where he was working. He had rolled his shirt sleeves up, put on his reading glasses, brewed a fresh pot of Earl Grey and was concentrating intensely on what looked like a centuries’ old mouldy tome – all of which meant he was doing his usual work and had got far too into it, so much so that he’d pretty much ignored all his colleagues as they’d passed his office throughout that day. That was, until someone he was incapable of ignoring traipsed into his office and flopped down into the seat opposite him at the desk without so much as a courtesy knock on the door. He didn’t even need to look up to see it was his half-sister, Faith Lehane. “Faith, please…?” he looked up pleadingly, eyeing the muddy boots she’d placed on her desk. For all he thrived in what other people considered a messy working environment, it was actually quite clean (aside from dusty old books) in itself, it just looked chaotic, and he couldn’t abide mud or mess. Faith knew this, of course, from his horrified reaction when she’d trailed mud into his office the first time she’d came to bully, sorry talk to, him many moons ago.
“And please… I know it seems to be a stretch to call me Jamie as I prefer, but how about just James? That wouldn’t be too taxing, really, would it?” James countered hopefully, trying to argue his point calmly and logically, as if incredibly bored of such an attempt to bother him rather than appearing genuinely irritated by it. He knew by now that to show irritation at something his half-sibling did was the wrong move entirely, it only amused her and spurred her on to keep doing it. He finally looked up properly from the book he was poring over – he’d been giving her perhaps only 20% of his actual attention up until that point – as she mentioned cracking some coding and Andrew considering him a genius, which she apparently found it hard to believe. “I wouldn’t go so far as genius, I agree with you on that one,” he conceded modestly, slightly startled as she then proceeded to noisily dump the coding on top of his book. He purposely removed it and placed it deliberately back in front of where she was sat across from him, “I would argue you can probably solve it yourself if you put in even half of the effort which you expend on bothering me every day,” he continued dryly and then after a moment of pretending to get back to his own research he sighed, giving up as his natural curiosity won out, and he held his hand out for her to pass him back the code papers.
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Post by Faith Lehane on Nov 28, 2012 18:16:24 GMT -6
“Mmm let me think about it,” she paused briefly for effect, “No,” Faith answered simply and then grinned at him, her cocky, devious smile. She shrugged then, “I could but then I probably wouldn’t have as much fun with it as you would,” she said, a slow smile forming over her features as he relinquished. Faith handed him the papers.
She also removed her muddy boots from his desk and leaned over, tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair. After a few moments of waiting she asked impatiently, “So, what is it?”
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Post by James Laurent on Nov 28, 2012 18:50:20 GMT -6
((ooc: Random question but shall we say people don't know about them being related at all? Like they just assume he lets Faith bully him/she picks on him a little because he seems like a bit of a stuffy geek that would be smitten with the likes of her and so do everything she asked? Just thought it could be amusing if no one else knows and then they find out at some point in the future hehe.))
Eyeing her knowingly he nodded, "Yes, I supposed that would be your response. One of these days though... you might just surprise me by actually acquiescing to that request. Ah well, I do so live in hope," James murmured dryly, merely raising a critical eyebrow at the rather cocky smile she flashed. One would never, in a million years, think they were related, ever. It wasn't just the lack of physical resemblance, it was everything about their person and attitude towards life. Not that he wouldn't dream of having a bit of Faith's ability to cope with a lot of trouble like she'd suffered through and came out, if damaged, still fighting.
"What makes you think I'll have fun with it? If the rather alarmingly large book in front of me didn't give it away, I am actually quite busy myself at the moment," James pointed out sarcastically, purposely turning a page in the fragile tome as if to illustrate this. It wasn't long before he was holding his hand out for the papers though and he pushed his slipping glasses back up his nose and peered through them then, momentarily ignoring her while he focused his attention on the puzzle before him. "It ought to be quite a simple cipher, a simple substitution, but there's something slightly different..." James trailed off as he reached out blindly, not taking his gaze off the paper, for a pencil from the pot on his desk. Finally locating it after aimlessly grabbing at various objects on his desk, he scribbled down a few marks and rolled his eyes luxuriously at her impatience, "Give me a moment, won't you? How about you chatter on about something to amuse you whilst I work, I work better with noise around me anyway," he suggested with the tiniest hint of an amused smile twitching at the corners of his thinly-pressed-together lips.
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Post by Faith Lehane on Nov 30, 2012 14:10:14 GMT -6
A slow smile formed over her features, “Mmhmm sure you are,” she replied knowing he had to look up at her at some point and so she would simply wait him out. It wasn’t long before he acquiesced to her request and took the papers from her hands. She waited impatiently for him to finish. “Ha, what am I to you just noise?” her feathers seemed slightly ruffled by his remark. “You do know there are so many names I could call you that are far worse than noise don’t you Jimmy?” she smirked at him. “And I could spread them all around the Department.” ((ooc: Sounds good to me, hehe ))
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Post by James Laurent on Nov 30, 2012 16:07:18 GMT -6
((ooc: I was just thinking for future plot points, it might be more interesting that way. Side note: we could have Andrew and/or Martin wander into James' office at some point whilst Faith is there?))
James raised his eyebrow for a moment and then sighed, “Yes, I am, as a matter of fact. Look I know what I do might seem musty or boring in some way because I’m not out there hexing Deatheaters but what I do is worthwhile, in the end, too,” he argued – he wasn’t really sure why he was being so defensive about the value of his job as a researcher and techie, perhaps because he often thought the Aurors looked down a bit on those who weren’t ‘in the thick of it’, so to speak. He couldn’t let go of such an enticing opportunity though and he hated himself a little bit for not being able to say no to basically doing Faith’s work for her, no matter how hard he tried.
“Well,” he paused purposely and inclined his head, “I’d like to note that you suggested that, not I,” he concluded slightly mockingly, still not actually looking at her as he instead continued to scribble down various semi-intelligible notes as he spoke with her. “Though Jimmy is quite irritating enough, I’m sure there are and I’m sure that, on a bad day, they shall be spread regardless of whether or not I have upset or offended you in some manner. But, for the sake of amusement and the creation of meaningless chatter, please… do tell what these names might include,” he invited her to elaborate, her gaze shooting up to meet hers for a moment before he returned to his work.
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Post by Faith Lehane on Nov 30, 2012 20:01:11 GMT -6
“Tetchy,” Faith smiled, her slow smirky smile over at him as she picked up one of the various objects on his desk and tossed it about between her hands raising an eyebrow at it before setting it back down again noticing his irritation with her playing with his things. With that she went to pick up another one when he called her ‘noise.’ “Oh, I’d beg to differ, you implied that I was noise,” she countered glaring at him but smiled amused nonetheless. Then she made a faux-thoughtful expression, “Mmm, nah, I’d rather them be a surprise,” she said of his other less than complimentary nicknames, “But I love calling you Jimmy, I can’t really see why you dislike it Jimmy,” she said again. ((ooc: Yes Andrew and Martin should join them at some point! ))
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Post by James Laurent on Dec 1, 2012 11:07:09 GMT -6
“No, just one of that ever un-appreciated number of ‘tech guys’ in this department,” James muttered, merely raising an eyebrow at the smirk that slowly crept over her features. “Please, if you value your life, you will be very, very careful with that,” he warned as Faith seemed to find it amusing to play with the things on his desk, some of which were irreplaceable to say the least.
He countered insistently, “No, I do believe I implied that I work better with noise and then asked if you would like to chatter on, I did not technically say you were noise, I implied it, true, but I did not state you were. Very different things, Faith,” the man argued in a quiet, controlled manner, still focusing his gaze and mind 100% on the code rather than her. “A surprise? Well, perhaps I should keep this code a surprise then rather than let you have the solution if you are so into surprises,” James suggested with the smallest of smirks twitching at the corners of his lips as his gaze rose to meet hers, twisting the pencil he held between his long fingers casually. “I dislike ‘Jimmy’ because I dislike the name; it is as simple as that. My name is James, Jamie if you really must if you are a friend and I’m not sure if you would like to classify yourself as anywhere close to that, hmmm?”
((ooc: Would you like to have Andrew interrupt them at some point then? Or perhaps one of the Aurors could... Sarah or Lewis or Derek or something?))
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Post by Faith Lehane on Dec 1, 2012 11:21:48 GMT -6
Faith smirked. She had hit a nerve. Quite a few it seemed. “Sensitive today are we?” she teased. Then rolled her eyes at him and set the object back on the table where she had found it. “Said, implied, same thing, you meant it either way,” she argued with a sigh then at his next words she raised an eyebrow, “If you wish to keep that code a surprise I might just surprisingly drop this,” she said picking up one of the objects she noticed he seemed to care most about when she had plucked it from his desk not moments ago, and tossed it between her hands while she stared at him her gaze stony. No one threatened Faith; if they did they regretted it immediately. She was a volatile creature who would do almost anything to get what she wanted. James was right, she didn’t particularly like him or consider him her friend. She considered him the half-brother she took advantage of some of the time. “Really is that all? Well it doesn’t seem that extreme to warrant you disliking the nickname as much as any other nickname Jimmy, why this one in particular?” she repeated the name again with her smirky smile still tossing the object between her hands. ((ooc: Sounds good, want me to bring Andrew in after your next post or Sarah, Lewis, or Derek also sound good as well ))
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Post by James Laurent on Dec 1, 2012 14:18:38 GMT -6
He scoffed, “Pf, hardly,” James countered, yes a tad sensitively, but that was one way in which they were similar – they were both, at times, a bundle of raw nerves. James just tended to close up and burry his head in a book rather than lash out in bouts of aggression as his ever-lovely step-sister did. “Thank you,” he added quietly, sincerely even, as she placed the odd clock, with its transparent, complex mechanical pieces, back down on his desk. He’d rather she didn’t break it, funnily enough, as it was quite unique in its mechanism and he was in the middle of studying how it worked.
“Hmm, did I?” he asked, “Well you seem to know me surprisingly well, all things considered.” Sniffing slightly and continuing to twirl the pencil between his fingers he raised an eyebrow as she picked the clock back up, this time a tad more threateningly, “How about you put that down, carefully and I’ll slide this cipher over to you. We can both avoid a terrible Mexican standoff that way,” James suggested, holding the paper a tad teasingly between his fingers.
“Do you really want to know why I don’t like it, really?” he asked and then sighed, knowing she wouldn’t like the answer, “If you must know… my mother told me once that your father liked the name Jimmy. That’s why I’m not altogether fond of it,” he replied quite shortly and appeared uncharacteristically awkward at this admission before he pushed his chair away from his desk and stood up, turning away from her and pretending to look for a book in his bookshelf instead.
((ooc: Andrew would be nice I think! I could always bring Amy in after Andrew to add to the awks if you’d like?))
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Post by Faith Lehane on Dec 2, 2012 12:28:18 GMT -6
Faith’s eyes narrowed. “You give me the cypher first and then I’ll give you you’re precious clock,” she told him.
At the reasoning behind his answer at first Faith was angry, quietly so, and then it shifted into a smirky grin. “Really?” she replied thoughtfully, “Well then Jimmy, you just gave me more reason to continue calling you Jimmy,” she teased snatching the cypher from his hands and setting the clock down on his desk before he had a chance to stand up and look awkwardly at his bookshelf.
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Post by James Laurent on Dec 2, 2012 14:23:24 GMT -6
"Ha, it doesn't work like that, Faith," James shook his head, "I'm not altogether stupid, you know? We can both put down our respective treasures on the count of 1,2, 3?" he suggested, his left hand twitching below the desk, his wand at the ready to magically catch the clock in case she decided to drop it anyway out of spite.
He had turned away from her and pretended to peruse his bookshelves but at her reply he groaned silently. He really shouldn't have gave that away. He'd thought that maybe, since her father and mother had died tragically, she would be loathe to every drawn connections to her father because it was too painful. It turned out Faith didn't have those same emotional responses as he'd expected. "He was your father too," James muttered under his breath in irritation, turning round to face her then with a furrowed brow, "You might try remembering that sometimes. It's not my fault, you know, that I was the child of a married man. I'd rather not have been, I'd quite like to have had a 'normal' childhood and upbringing with a picture perfect mother and father but none of us get what we want in the end and holding me to some kind of account for your father's cheating isn't fair, it's ridiculous frankly," he argued with a heavy sigh as he removed his reading glasses to instead pinch the bridge of his nose to stop himself from getting a tension headache. It tended to happen whenever he and Faith argued which was more often that he'd like to admit.
((ooc: Maybe Andrew or someone could come in 'now', after hearing the tailend of James' comment about it being ridiculous but perhaps not the bit about her/their father? Or maybe this could be a point when Andrew finds out about them being half-siblings? Idk, I'm good for whatever if you'd like to bring Andrew into the fun hehe.))
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Post by Faith Lehane on Dec 5, 2012 12:50:55 GMT -6
Faith was standing, still holding the clock between her hands a smirk on her face as James turned around. Obviously she’d hit a nerve and it amused her.
“Yeah he was my father,” she emphasised. “No, we don’t get what we want do we,” she was still smiling, “Well your mum isn’t here so all I’ve got is you, and I’ve got to blame somebody,” she smirked still utterly amused by his reaction. He seemed more and more perturbed by the moment. She was going to enjoy this. “Aww, am I giving you a headache?” she asked teasingly watching him pinch the bridge of his nose. With that she set the clock down heavily onto his desk and snatched the papers from his hands. “Well I’ll leave you to your headache and your disappointing life,” she said turned to leave but someone was blocking her way, her eyes narrowed and she sighed.
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Post by Andrew Holloway on Dec 5, 2012 12:51:34 GMT -6
Andrew heard the voices of Faith and James as he was passing his doorway and backtracked. He couldn’t hear what they were saying really but as always he wanted to interrupt. He opened the door and entered unceremoniously, “Heya Faith, James.” Looking at James pinching the bridge of his nose he asked, “What happened to you? Did she punch you in the face again or something? Classic,” he chuckled remembering how Faith had punched James in the face that one time, crossing the room and taking a seat across from James. “So what is ridiculous?” he asked and ignored Faith’s muttered remark about ‘your face.’
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Post by James Laurent on Dec 5, 2012 13:26:37 GMT -6
“Yes, I see we agree. Although apart from the bare DNA, I wouldn’t call him a father otherwise, believe me,” James assured her dryly, shaking his head in a manner of scoffing at her next words, “Oh I see how it is. So, what, my mother was a complete hussy who lured men to depravity and your father was a saint who was wickedly tempted by the evil, evil harpy?” he suggested accusingly and then laughed darkly, “It takes two to tango, Faith, you might try remembering that next time you want to blame someone for the fact that I exist at all.”
Letting his hand fall back to his side he frowned, “Yes you bloody are annoying me, as you well know,” he snapped, equally as irritated as she simply snatched the papers back from him and made to storm off, if someone hadn’t blocked the doorway that is. “Andrew, someone nice, finally!” he greeted him with an overly dramatic show of relief at this before sighing, “No she did not, my reflexes have improved since that time. Besides, I thought you maintained that was ‘an accident’?” James mockingly asked Faith, making air quotes with his fingers around the word ‘accident’. That was the story she had told their superiors and he was certain if they hadn’t been altogether fearful of the prospect of physical harm enacted to themselves, they wouldn’t have bought it one little bit. He easily and smoothly lied to cover up what was almost a revelation of their shared parentage, “Faith’s persistent bullying is what is ridiculous. And I think we can all agree on that, hmm?” he proposed, looking to Andrew, expecting him to back him up and agree with this rightful statement.
((ooc: Yay for Andrew coming to his rescue... sort of, haha.))
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