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fantasticbeasts_kinkmeme) wrote2016-11-23 07:27 am
fantasticbeasts_kinkmeme) wrote2016-11-23 07:27 am
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Prompt Post #1
ROUND 1
FUCK IT WE'LL FIGURE OUT SPECIFICS LATER
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FILL: Graves/Newt - Soulmarks [1/?]
(Anonymous) 2016-12-27 04:14 pm (UTC)(link)------
Newton Artemis Fido Scamander couldn’t remember a day in his life when he didn’t have the name Percival Graves written in neat but sprawling script on the inside of his wrist- the signature of a man who spent hours practicing penmanship. As a boy Newt spent hours upon hours staring his wrist. He’d trace the lettering, fancying that maybe Percival Graves could feel the feather-light touch on his own skin, right where Newt’s name should be. (He hoped Percival didn’t have his full name. That would just be embarrassing.)
Percival’s was the second name Newt learned to say after Theseus’s, even when he still thought his parents were named ‘mum’ and ‘dad’. Once he learned it (he’d badgered his mother until she finally read it out to him; the name of a soulmate was supposed to be private, but his family had never kept to the same rules as anyone else.) he would sound out Percival’s name and try to imagine what Percival would be like when they met.
Newt imagined Percival as tall and he’d probably be very proper and correct in his behavior- he couldn’t imagine a Percival who wasn’t proper or maybe even distant. (Though as far as Newt was concerned pretty much all humans were distant- none of them ever wanted to communicate directly the way animals did.) But if they were meant for each other, Newt knew they’d manage. As long as Percival let Newt call him Percy, had a soft smile he’d turn fondly on Newt when they were in private, and liked animals, everything would be fine.
The summer before Hogwarts Newt spent ages practicing how to introduce himself to his soulmate, because surely they were going to meet at school and he was so bad at talking to humans for the most part. He wanted to be ready.
Newt waited impatiently as the Sorting Hat worked its way through the G’s, but it never called for Percival Graves. He later found out that there had never been a Percival Graves who’d attended Hogwarts; and throughout seven years of schooling a Percival Graves never came.
------
New York's downtown skyline towered ominously, Newt decided, and by the time he was ready to move on he would likely have permanent crick from all the looking up he was doing. The people bustling by him in all directions hardly seemed to notice unless it was to offer dirty looks because of his dawdling. Newt supposed growing up in such a city made one used to it. No matter, he just needed to find the train station so he could be on his way to Arizona and leave all the steel grey pillars behind…
Which station he supposed to leave from, again?
Newt stopped where he stood and rifled in his pockets for his map and written directions he'd been given by the muggle travel agent he'd visited in London before getting on the steamship. The travel agent’s directions said Pennsylvania Station. Right. (The problem with an undetectable expanding charmed suitcase full of creatures was that it was very hard to keep it all stable during Portkey travel and he wouldn’t dare try to Apparate with it over a long distance. Newt was not about to put his creatures in that sort of danger.)
The map told him the Woolworth building was on the way towards Pennsylvania Station if he wanted to try and meet his soulmate before moving on from New York.
Newt just wasn’t entirely sure that attempting to meet with Percival was quite what he should do.
It was getting harder to be on his own as more years went by, but he’d gone 29 years without meeting Percival Graves and his soulmate seemed content to keep him waiting. Percival was the one with the important and respected position, so Newt had always figured it wasn’t his place to try to push for them to meet. Percival had never tried to get in touch with Newt despite Theseus speaking of him during their friendship and frequent contact, so maybe… maybe he didn’t want Newt for a soulmate.
It wasn’t like Newt’s work with magical creatures was something wizarding society valued much- not like an appointment as the Director of Magical Security of MACUSA. Maybe Percival was content that his magizoologist soulmate was a constant wanderer because it meant that Newt wasn’t around to embarrass him.
Even while Newt debated with himself about whether or not he should try to meet Percival, his feet took him up Broadway towards the Woolworth building.
He twisted the cuff that hid Percival’s name from the world around his wrist absently. His skin was burning. It had done that several times over the last four months, or sometimes it went cold. Newt dug his fingers under the cuff and tried to soothe the burning skin. He’d been trying to understand it, but still had no idea why- neither his brother nor his parents had ever heard of anything like it and there wasn’t exactly a wealth of information on soulmate marks because people insisted on keeping everything private.
It made him nervous. It was one thing to have gone so many years without knowing what his soulmate would be like, but to have the writing on his wrist doing things his family had never heard of... what did that mean for Percival?
Newt was still trying to make up his mind as to what his course of action would be, so naturally his course of action wound up decided for him. He would have to be passing by a bank of all places when at the same time that a bloody muggle decided he was interesting enough to stop.
“You! Friend! Are you a seeker of the truth?”
“I’m… more of a chaser, really.”
(He thought it was really quite rude of the American witch Goldstein to treat Newt as though he was some sort of criminal- he’d gotten the Niffler to give back everything she’d stolen. Was it really Newt’s fault if getting through small spaces and security measures was a Niffler’s main evolutionary feature?)
------
If nothing else, Percival Graves was… extraordinarily handsome.
Newt had seen several photographs of Percival either through Theseus or in the newspapers over the years. But photographs, even moving ones, couldn’t capture the powerful air that commanded respect, or the intense gleam of his dark eyes, or the way he prowled silently like a giant cat on the hunt.
Newt kept his eyes down on the floor as much as possible. It looked like he would be meeting his soulmate after all- and while it wasn't the best of circumstances they'd be introduced under, they'd have to do. Even so, he couldn’t help but dart glances at Percival while Goldstein tried to make herself heard by a President who clearly had no time for her.
Percival looked back and forth between him and Goldstein several times and each time those dark eyes landed on him Newt’s chest swelled with hope. Each time Percival gave no indication of knowing who Newt was. To Goldstein he only showed a vague, condescending sort of amusement as Picquery sent Goldstein packing. It sent a shiver of unease up Newt’s spine.
When Goldstein finally gave in and dragged Newt out of the meeting room, and Newt went willingly enough. He needed time to recoup.
Goldstein set his suitcase on her desk in what must have been the darkest corner MACUSA had of offer. She began to rifle through wand permit papers, saying something he should probably be paying attention to. His attention kept wandering because he knew that his soulmate was somewhere over his head. His wrist burned. Newt wandered away from Tina at her desk, trying to ignore it. When it persisted he shoved a finger under his cuff, rubbing his skin.
“Somethin’ wrong?” Goldstein asked suddenly. She nodded at Newt’s hand. “That can’t mean anything good.”
“Hm? Oh, ah. No, no,” Newt said, “Nothing wrong. Not really. Habit, I suppose.”
Goldstein didn’t look like she believed him. Newt yanked his fingers out from under the cuff and forced his hands to stay at his sides. (He itched to have his suitcase in hand again- he’d hardly had a chance to check on them since the steamship.) The last thing he needed to do was tell Goldstein that his soulmate was her old boss before he’d even had a chance to talk to Percival face to face.
If he even should talk to Percival face to face. Something was so very wrong- maybe it was just how Americans were, but based on what he’d heard from his parents Newt was sure that Percival should have at least shown a glimmer of recognition when they’d been in the same room.
“You leave your mate somewhere? That what’s going on?” Goldstein asked.
“No, not that I’m aware of. We haven’t met yet, you see,” Newt darted a glance up at Goldstein and then looked back down at his hands. “Anyway it’s my first time in America.”
Goldstein looked up, surprised. Her hands paused on the papers she’d been shuffling. “Your mate is American?”
Newt nodded.
“How do you-”
“Goldstein.”
The witch cut herself off, gulped and looked around frantically. Then, seeing as they were in a corner with no escape, she threw herself under the desk. Newt swallowed thickly and stepped back into the shadows slowly, trying to make himself disappear. Even having heard it once, he knew that voice like he knew his own.
Percival approached Goldstein’s desk with barely a glance in Newt’s direction. Newt bit his lip and tried to ignore the stinging in his chest. Percival stopped at the corner of the desk and stared down as though he could see through the wood.
“Goldstein, I know you’re under there.”
Goldstein poked her head up with a smile not even Newt’s father would have accepted as real, and Newt’s father was very forgiving. “Oh, Mr. Graves.”
Newt forced himself to stay back, giving them distance to talk, despite everything in his being longing to be close to the one person who was supposed to help him be complete. But he couldn’t approach his soulmate like this. Not when the skin under his cuff was still burning. Unless… Maybe- maybe if they touched it would go away?
He had just gotten himself ready to approach when he realized Goldstein was opening his suitcase and his breath caught in his throat. Even if it was still under muggle-worthy what if they discovered the undetecable expanding charms? Surely the director of magical security would look for those first? Newt hurried up to them, standing between Percival and Goldstein, already reaching for his wand, ready to protect his- why was his suitcase full of pastries?
Percival said nothing. He shifted his weight back and reached for the pocket watch in his vest pocket, clearly making himself ready to leave. He turned right back into Newt, right as Newt was reaching towards the pastries in disbelief. Their hands brushed. Percival left with a tiny smile and a shake of his head.
Newt spun to watch Percival walk away. He frowned deeply and wrapped his arms tightly around himself, trying to ignore the cold that had settled in his blood.
He’d touched his soulmate.
He’d felt nothing.
Re: FILL: Graves/Newt - Soulmarks [1/?]
(Anonymous) 2016-12-27 04:22 pm (UTC)(link)Oh, does Grindelwald know that Newt is Percival's soulmate? Hmmmm, it wouldn't be too smart of him to let them touch then, right?
I can't wait for the next part, Anon :)
Re: FILL: Graves/Newt - Soulmarks [1/?]
(Anonymous) 2016-12-27 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)