Broom Polish

[Torquil MacFusty]

No matter what it might look like from outside the clan, Tor didn't ride around on dragons. He flew on a broomstick, just like everyone else. Brooms required maintenance, and Tor needed to pick up some supplies. He needed broom polish, for one, as well as other supplies for his broom care kit.



Dressed in his customary leathers and kilt with his claymore slung across his back, Tor towered over most of the shoppers at the broom shop. He stood still and quiet. inspecting a bottle of broom polish to see if it was a quality that he found acceptable.

  

[Cadence MacFusty]

William's birthday was coming up soon and Cadence was at a complete loss as to what to buy him. In the years past, Cady would've gotten him something exotic from whatever country she was in, send him a short note, and that would be the end of that. However, this year was different. She was home, for one, and they'd recently lost the sole parental figure they had left. She could technically not get him anything and be justified in it, but she wasn't that cruel. She wasn't Will.

She'd barely noticed the abnormally sized man standing by the broom polish. It wasn't due to anything on his part, no, she'd just been so distracted in her thoughts that she was barely able to focus on much else.

When she did notice Tor, she had the mental battle of "do I say hi? Or do I not say hi?" He hadn't returned her last letter, and as much as she'd like to continue their drink she'd hate to make him think of her as a stalker. But he was by the broom polish, which was something she needed to complete the new broom set she decided to get Will. So technically she wasn't stalking, she was shopping.

"Hello Mr. Torquil." She said warmly as she moved to stand beside him. (Her chaperone was a row over looking at different brooms for her nephew) "I trust your work is going well?"

  

[Torquil MacFusty]

The little lady from several nights before slid up next to Tor, and he blinked down at her in confusion. He was not exactly how she had mistaken his words for anything other than civility, especially when he had rejected her advances as politely as possible when she wrote to him.



"Miss Honeysett," he said stiffly. He rather liked her surname — the feel and sound of it — but he was not at all willing to chase after a girl who was in all likelihood an ex-lover of his younger brother. "Things are going well, yes."



The broom polish that he had would do, because whatever she was doing was completely inappropriate. Tor did not even have to know what she was doing in order to know that it was inappropriate! He was a man, she was a woman, and he did not see her chaperone from earlier in the week anywhere in the immediate vicinity. That did not mean that the woman was gone, just that Cady Honeysett was farther from her than she should be.



"I beg your pardon, but I really must pay for this and be going." He lifted the broom polish in his hand slightly to indicate that was what he was talking about and offered the redhead an awkward smile.

  

[Cadence MacFusty]

He used her last name, something that made her somewhat uneasy but she wouldn't question it. Perhaps she'd succeeded in scaring him off, probably did in fact. She was far too aggressive at times, and she knew it. Maybe she should just forget the attractive, tall man. but he was nice to her, and Cady wasn't quite ready to give up.

"Have you gotten the dragons out of the caves near town?" She asked, not even looking at him. Cadence was scanning the rows of broom polish, trying (and failing) to distinguish the difference between them all. Really, what was the difference between them? And would Will even know it?

Picking up one of the jars, Cady frowned slightly as he turned to leave. The store clerk was busy with her chaperon and was unavailable to help her now. "Wait, before you go, would you'd just help me with these polishes? My brother's birthday is next week and I don't understand the differences between these all." She pointed towards the different brands and looked towards him with a small smile. "I understand if you have to go, it's just the store clerk is busy right now..."

  

[Torquil MacFusty]

She wanted his help choosing broom polish? Tor hesitated briefly, but she was right. The clerk was busy, so he could not exactly pay at the moment anyway. Either he could leave empty handed, or he could wait. Waiting would obviously involve some sort of discourse with Miss Honeysett.



"The dragons in the mountains are still there, at least as far as we can tell." Some had been exterminated, but there was no telling how many had bred in the new mountains. They were a non-native species, and so there was no guarantee that they would follow their normal patterns.



"As for the broom polish," he said, "there are really two ways to tell. You can either trust the label" — not a good idea, generally, since one could just write whatever they wanted on their labels if they even used them — "or you can judge by smell." He popped the stopper out of the bottle he had chosen and held it out to the redhead. "This is a good one, if you have a nose to tell."

  

[Cadence MacFusty]

"Are we safe here then?" She asked quickly -- too quickly -- and immediately blushed some. "I mean, we're not going to be randomly attacked if they're still in the mountains, are we?" Cady tried to clarify but just ended up mentally smacking herself in the face. She didn't mean to doubt his work, she just didn't want to fear walking down the street like she sometimes did at home.

Recovering somewhat from her self-made embarrassment, she stepped forward to smell the polish. Though she wasn't overly familiar with what other polishes would smell like, she liked the rather smell radiating from the bottle. "So if it smells woodsy it's better than say, salt water?" The redhead asked as she regained the distance between them that she'd put. The last thing Cadence wanted was to scare him off like a frightened puppy again.

  

[Torquil MacFusty]

"Of course," Tor said, feeling slightly affronted. "They have been up there for quite some time, possibly longer than Hogsmeade has been here. I do not expect them to cause any problems for anyone down in the village." He was not certain why, seeing as Peruvian Vipertooths were particularly fond of human flesh. Maybe this group had not feasted on humans in so long that they were unfamiliar with the flavor?



Shaking his head slightly, Tor turned his attention back to the broom polish. "You never want anything that smells salty; salt will destroy the finish and damage the wood." He corked the bottle again, turning back to the shelf. "Anything that smells of citrus is good, but it will be more expensive. Other than that, woody is also good."

  

[Cadence MacFusty]

She nodded and put the broom that she was holding down. It was getting to be too heavy and really Cady just didn't want to hold it anymore. "And if they do attack, you'll be here to save us all?" Cadence asked in a hopeful attempt to redeem herself. Dragons were feared creatures, at least ones that were rogue and not native to this particular area. She wasn't sure why she was so concerned anyway, it wasn't like she was staying in Hogsmeade.

"Nothing salty, but anything woody or citrus smelling? Thanks, I'll remember that." Cady smiled and picked up a corked bottle identical to his. If this one was apparently the best one then it'd be the one that Cady decided to go with. "Got any other tips for me? I'm really out of my league here." She gestured toward the broom (which was just advertised as being the best so she'd picked it up. "I very much prefer apparating over any other transportation method."

  

[Torquil MacFusty]

Tor shifted uncomfortably at her ... fawning. He was pretty sure that it was fawning, and it was especially uncomfortable because even though he would not dream of taking advantage of a woman impressed by his work she was off limits even if he wanted to break that rule. He was quite certain that she had been involved with Mac, and so she might as well be a potted plant that happened to be good at holding up a conversation.



"That is right, wood and citrus. I also find that I prefer waxes to oils, but that is really a matter of preference." He could apparate, or floo, or take portkeys; for the most part, Tor got places however he had to. Brooms, he found, were especially useful because he could scout the land under him while he moved.

  

[Cadence MacFusty]

Waxes to oils, and woody and citrus smells. Cadence could remember that, it'd make shopping easier in the future. Well, for brooms at least. She wanted to keep talking to him, but the clerk was finishing up and Cady knew she had seconds to spare before Tor disappeared on her again.

Her mind moved quickly as to what to say that might possibly get him to linger for a moment more. Nothing, she couldn't think of a damn thing to say that might retain his interest in her. Not a damn thing.

"Waxes to oils, I can understand that. Oils would generally make things hard to handle." She said mindlessly as her hand lingered on her broom handle. She wanted to smack herself, this was just bad. Bad, bad, bad. "I...I didn't...I...nevermind."

  

[Torquil MacFusty]

"Not if you rub it in properly," Tor said, completely missing the reason that she was uncomfortable with what she had said. "Some people prefer oil because it creates a higher shine, but I find that the finish wax provides holds up longer." When you did what Tor did, you had to vote for substance over flash.



The clerk was available now. "Do you have any other questions, Miss Honeysett?" he asked. There was, he supposed, no problem in being friendly to the girl, so long as she was not being ... well, overly interested in men who fought dragons. That was the only thing that he and Mac really had in common; Mac was friendly and outgoing, and Tor might as well be a bear or a large hairy rock.

  

[Cadence MacFusty]

This time Cadence wasn't going to write him a letter like some desperate child. She was a grown woman, almost to the age of spinsterhood, and Torquil clearly wasn't as interested in her as she was in him. She'd basically had to beg him to stay, and the only reason he'd probably had was because of the fact that the clerk was busy. No, this time if he wanted to talk to her he could write.

Not that Cady very much expected he would.

"No, no further questions. Thanks for all your help, Mr. Macfusty. I would've been truly confused if not for you. I probably would've bought some flowery oil for my brother to maintain his broom with." Cady offered and began to move away from him. Her chaperone had finally finished looking at the brooms and was now making her way towards Cadence. "It was nice seeing you again."

  

[Torquil MacFusty]

"It was lovely to see you again as well, Miss Honeysett," Tor said. Surprisingly, he found that he meant it. She was attractive, attentive (if sometimes a little too attentive) ... and completely off limits. Not that Tor was looking, but it might have been nice to —



Well. That hardly mattered.



Giving the young lady a slight bow, Tor turned and went to purchase his broom polish. There was lots to do, always. There was no telling how much longer it would take to eradicate the dragons in the mountains, and there was his normal work besides. He probably wouldn't run into her again anyway.