Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon

[Benjamin Tinker]

Benjamin was enjoying his new position greatly, it seemed to suit him quite perfectly and it paid well. It was an added bonus that he got to work alongside Dunny. The man was one of his youngest friends, perhaps, but that didn't matter too much to Benjamin. There had been something that he had wished to speak with him about so he had apparated to Lews when he had been informed that Dunny was there instead of the Wellingtonshire house.

Lews Castle was quite large and Benjamin was impressed as usual with the structure. We're be a lesser man, he'd be jealous of the more privileged way Dunny had been raised but he wasn't. As his friends lack of arm proved, a dragon didn't care if you were rich or poor. As he was allowed in and told where he might find his friend, Benjamin wandered along the hall before a portrait caught his attention. Amused slightly as the woman in the painting spoke with him, he wondered if she was an ancestor or something. Lost in thought a bit as he glanced at the surrounding portraits and decor, he was brought out of them by some sort of sound. Turning toward it, he gave a sheepish sort of smile as he recognized the woman.

"Miss Vina, hello. I see they found you," he stated in greeting, not entirely sure what to say. She also likely didn't like being reminded that she had been lost. And he was pretty sure she'd never liked it when he added 'miss' to her nickname as he often did when they crossed paths. It was something he couldn't help doing though.

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

Vina had been wandering as she was prone to doing lately. It was while she was wandering that she came across a man about the age of some of her brothers, not the older ones with children but the ones that were closer to Mungo in age. He was tall so he could easily have been a cousin but he didn’t have the look about him. She watched as he studied a portrait of some ancestor or another--she wondered if she’d ever known the name of the woman--and spoke with her. She continued to watch him as he looked around, seeming a bit awed and chuckled softly. She knew the feeling well. She might have grown up here but it was massive and unfamiliar though she found herself gawking less and less.

The small sound alerted him to her presence though and she froze, suddenly apprehensive as he turned to her and smiled. Crap! That usually meant that a person knew her. Wrapping her arms around herself, she seemed a bit wary but attempted a smile in return. Miss Vina. It was confirmed, he knew her. She had no idea who he was or how she knew him. “Yes, I suppose they did. It is good to see you Mister…?” She bit her lower lip and looked a bit troubled and more than a little embarrassed. Giving him a faint shrug, she lowered her gaze, or really just found anything else to look at. She didn’t want to say the words out loud, that she’d lost all memory of him, and only hoped that he had heard of it or was clever enough to figure out that she wasn’t trying to be rude.

  

[Benjamin Tinker]

Benjamin was not quite sure how to react to how Miss Vina reacted to his discovering her presence. This wasn't how he was used to seeing the woman. In the past she was always so self aware, independent, now she looked like a person that needed protecting. He wasn't used to seeing her in such a way so the moment was decidedly awkward for him.

"Oh," he said, not quite eloquent as he realized the woman had no memory of him. "Uh, I'm Benjamin Tinker. I'm a friend of Dunnys." He wanted to ask if she was all right as the troubled look passed over her features. She wasn't teasing or any of the sort, that much was obvious. He was sure that she must be sick of that question, it was probably asked constantly. "Don't worry. We didn't talk much so there isn't much you need to remember about me." He hoped the loss of the pressure to remember what she couldn't would help her relax.

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

She knew the exact moment he seemed to realize that she wasn’t who she was supposed to be. That she didn’t remember him or even herself. She waited; this was usually the part where people tried to tell her stories to see if they could make her remember. To see if for some unknown reason they would be the one to put her mind back together. But all he said was that he was a friend of her brother’s. A Mister Benjamin Tinker. He even went on to more or less absolve her of any guilt that she couldn’t remember him.

She looked wary and skeptical for several seconds before she finally seemed to relax. Her smile was a bit more genuine now that she was fairly certain that he wasn’t going to bombard her with things that she couldn’t possibly remember. “Yes, of course you are. How are you Mister Tinker?”

Dunny...he was the brother with one arm. She could keep at least that much straight. Apparently he’d lost it at the same time she’d gotten the scar that had so concerned her. She’d gotten it from a dragon a little more than two years ago. She couldn’t even remember that; that her own brother had been maimed in order to protect her. What kind of family did that? Apparently that was how her youngest brother had died as well, protecting a friend. “Were you looking for your friend?”

  

[Benjamin Tinker]

Benjamin was slightly alarmed when she got a wary and skeptical look on her face. He didn't want to accidentally undo any progress that might have been made, whether with her memory or her getting comfortable at Lews. Dunny would tan his hide as he was sure the other MacBros would. And their Ma, well, he shuddered to think what she would do.

He couldn't help a proud grin at her question as there hadn't been many people he had told of his new position before. "Quite well, got me a new job as a dragon restraint officer. Working for your pa, in fact," he informed her. As she mentioned if he was looking for his friend, he realized he couldn't remember why he had come. The run in with Miss Vina had waylaid him from his original reason for being in Lews. "Yes, I was. But he can wait if you'd rather some company you don't need to remember." He was just going with what he'd prefer were he the one with no memories.

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

“Congratulations. He’s a verra nice man.” Her smile grew, the friendly sort though she was still a bit hesitant. It was silly and sad but there weren’t many people she trusted--well no, that wasn’t entirely right...perhaps enjoyed?--lately. But if he didn’t push her to remember things that she couldn’t then she’d give him a chance. If he was willing to get to know Mary Scott and not compare her too much to Malvina MacFusty then she would give him a chance. Besides, he seemed perceptive enough to have the right of the situation.

“Aye, tha’ woulds be nice.” It really would be nice to have someone around, even if only rarely, aside from little Angharad who wasn’t constantly looking at her as if they expected her to suddenly remember at any moment. “So ye like dragons?”

  

[Benjamin Tinker]

"Thank you, I reckon he is giving a farm boy a good job like that," well, he'd worked for the beast division for years now so the change was a welcome one. He also had trouble seeing himself as little else than a farm boy. Not that he was ashamed of it or anything. He felt oddly pleased to have done something to make her smile change to a more friendly one. It wouldn't bode well for her health if she felt constantly defensive of her inability to remember things so hopefully she felt some sort of reprieve.

"I like them well enough if they ain't trying to have me in their belly. Or like what happened to your pa," it was honest truth and he saw no other way to put it. Besides, she had been a women of strength before, she likely still was. She had just forgotten, that was all. All the same, he subtly shifted the topic to the positive side of dragons. "Majestic creatures, they are. Strong and fiery," like she used to be.

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

“Well, he doesnae seem th’ sort t’ hire someone tha’ isnae qualified.” And really, he didn’t. He was a strong, resilient and seemed to take good care of the family. He’d nearly crushed her in a hug when her brothers had brought her back to Lews. She laughed briefly before he mentioned her father again. Well she had asked. But yes, she imagined that dragons were quite fine when they weren’t trying to eat a person.

“They are quite beautiful. I’ve only seen em from afar since I came here. So free.” Her voice was wistful and she rather envied them their flight. She’d been told she used to ride broomsticks before...something. She assumed it was before she lost her memory. That she’d played Quidditch in school. “I wish I could fly like a dragon.” She’d fly away from here. She’d fly back to the Goode house or the Grimaldi house in Bartonburg. She’d go somewhere that she felt she belonged. But no, she couldn’t just leave. Her family would be hurt; not that they weren’t hurt that she couldn’t remember them.

  

[Benjamin Tinker]

Benjamin smiled a little at hearing her laugh though the moment didn't last nearly long enough. "That they are," he agreed, and dangerous, but that was precisely why the new dragon bureau had been put into place. Hopefully, they could lessen the danger while also protecting the large beasts.

He considered her statement about wishing to fly like a dragon before making a suggestion. "Have you tried seeing if you're able to fly a broom? Maybe your brain don't remember but perhaps your body would?" He was thinking that flying was kinda like sex, it didn't matter how long it had been, when the moment came, things just happened. Not that he could express that analogy to a woman. "Then again, that could be dangerous. But what's a life without a little danger?" He asked, unable to help laughing a little.

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

“Ah’d thought of it, but I dinnae want t’ bother anyone. They seem t’ have enough goin’ on without me fallin’ off a broom.” She seemed to relax a bit more. She’d watched a time or two as her brothers and cousins put together a pickup game of quidditch to burn off some energy though it seemed to dissolve into drunken madness not long after it started. It made her smile and wish a little that she could join it, but she wasn’t sure that it was something they would allow or not. Besides, she doubted she could keep up.

“I suppose it would be worth it t’ try. It could be like writin’. I dinnae remember learnin’ t’ write but I ken how t’ write. An’ read.” Shrugging, she moved a little closer, finding that she was a bit more comfortable around Mister Tinker. “Do ye fly, Mister Tinker?”

  

[Benjamin Tinker]

Benjamin was sure her brothers would jump at the chance to have her do something she used to do so well in the past. Would it feel like pressure to her if he said so? He hoped not because it was an honest truth, he felt. "I'm sure they would not find it a bother. I ain't around here often since Dunny mostly lives in Hogsmeade but MacFustys seem to love one another a whole lot," he had not had much in the way of familial love growing up so he couldn't help a slightly wistful tone. He'd never have that sort of thing in his life and he'd accepted that fact long ago.

"That, it might be though it would be worlds safer to try it with one of your kin or such about," it would also give whoever she asked to assist her, bonding time with her. He was guessing that was something any of the MacFustys would enjoy. Benjamin noticed her slight move closer and supposed she wasn't feeling as wary as she had been when they first ran into each other. "I dare say, I do. Never played Quidditch in school though," there'd never been time for it if he wanted to keep his scholarships. "But yes, I fly. It's handy when the beast division has to deal with flying critters. And exhilarating."

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

She supposed that was true. Aside from a few brothers who lived away from the castle, and even then, her family did seem quite close and there were cousins everywhere. If she never got her memory back, she could certainly have had a much worse family to end up with. In fact both she and Mister Goode had been all but convinced that she’d come from a rather nasty family before her brothers had stormed through the slums like an angry mob of giants. Tilting her head, she regarded Mister Tinker and his tone. Perhaps he wished that he could have a family like hers? She supposed it did seem a bit fantastic, living in a castle with magic and dragons and all sorts of things that your average witch or wizard might not encounter in their lifetime. She was certainly in awe of her own life.

“Yes, I suppose it would come in handy.” She paused and looked pensive for a moment. Uncertain, even. “I was wondering, Mister Tinker, if yer ever ‘round...might ye show me t’ fly? I dinnae want t’ bother my brothers, they have dragons t’ worry ‘bout.” And she still wasn’t sure how to approach them. They were huge and loud and they made her nervous after months with a soft spoken, well mannered man and his sisters. Though Mister Tinker was every bit as large as her brothers, he didn’t seem quite so intimidating. Probably because she wasn’t trying to force herself to remember him.

  

[Benjamin Tinker]

Benjamin wondered what she was thinking as she got a pensive look on her face. He was a tad taken aback by the request. He'd supposed she would ask one of her brothers, not him. Still, he couldn't say no, not when her flying was something from her past that she needn't struggle to remember. Besides, the small step could turn into bigger ones that would benefit them all. Plus it might be something she could find solace in.

"Yes, I reckon I can do that. It's no problem for me to do so but I might tell Dunny about it so they don't think I'm trying to take advantage or something. Would that be okay?" The last thing he wanted was for people to think such things of him.

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

Almost instantly she became alarmed and tense. What if her asking this of Mister Tinker got him assaulted like Mister Goode had been?! She didn’t want to get another man hurt for trying to help her. Her eyes darted around, worried that one of her brothers would suddenly materialize and take offense. No, she didn’t want Mister Tinker to be hurt. He seemed nice enough and he was friends with Mungo, what if her next oldest brother turned on him.

“I...maybe I shouldnae have asked ye. I dinnae want ye t’ get in trouble.” She fidgeted and took a step back. “Nevermind, Mister Tinker. I dinnae need t’ fly.”

  

[Benjamin Tinker]

Benjamin was mildly surprised at her reaction. It was quite alarming and worrying. "Miss Vina, I ain't never been in trouble my whole life. If I get in it, it might as well be from helpin' you. Sides, Dunny knows I'm a good guy," well, he hoped he did by now. Either way, it seemed important to grant the woman her small wish. And if it helped her to be more relaxed in Lews, that would be even better. "Tell me truly, Miss Vina, do ya wanna fly and feel the wind in your hair again?"

  

[Malvina MacFusty]

She didn’t seem convinced. In fact her brow furrowed and her mouth twisted, pulling to one side as she wrapped her arms around her middle once more, fingers moving subconsciously over the spot on her gown that covered her scars. She didn’t want anyone to get in trouble for helping her. Not again. She especially didn’t want one of her brothers to get upset with his friend because of her. Mister Goode was a good and kind man but that hadn’t stopped her brothers from tearing into him.

When he asked her if she wished to fly, she shook her head quickly; too quickly but it was there in her eyes. Longing, a tiny bit of hope amongst the apprehension and fear. “Nae, I’ll be fine on the ground. Honest.”