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WHO: Marshall Lee and Arthur Kirkland
TONE: Mostly lighthearted
RATING: R for Marshall swearing
WHEN: Friday
WHERE: Marshall's not-so-creepy apartment that happens to be under a graveyard.
WHAT: Hanging out and possibly getting Marshall new furniture.
STATUS: Ongoing

Marshall sat on a bench outside the platform of the train station in the Fens. Pushing his sunglasses up his nose, he lounged back and people watched. Arthur's train would be getting in any moment and he was still wondering on how to tell Arthur that his "basement level apartment" was actually underneath a graveyard. Sure, the location was weird but once you got inside it looked like a normal modern day bachelor pad.
Besides, Marshall just loved the irony of it's location. He'd built the place there on purpose after all.

Arthur was a particularly observant guy too. He had a feeling he'd have to explain quite a few other things as well, like how he managed to get utilities and other things into the place. It was weird that he was going to be opening up his home to a living person.

He sat there and got lost in thought at suddenly realizing that he now had to actually buy groceries and he'd get to finally use his kitchen.

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Arthur hated Muggle trains. He really did. The only plus point to this particular train was that it was heading so far out into the back end of nowhere that there was barely anyone else on it. He'd watched the view out of the window until it had become little more than miles of marshland as far as he could see.

It was possible he'd fallen asleep for a little while.

When he finally stepped off the train and onto the platform, a bag slung over one shoulder, he spotted Marshall waiting and lifted one hand in greeting. The journey hadn't been terrible, all things considered, but parts of him were numb that had no business being numb.

The train finally rumbled up to the station snapping Marshall's attention to the present. He slid the sunglasses up onto his forehead and watched the train until he spotted Arthur coming towards him. Answering the other boys wave he stood up and headed over. With a grin he asked

"So..was this train as bad as the other ones?"

He rolled his eyes slightly, shaking his head and glancing over his shoulder as the train pulled out of the station. "On a sliding scale, it ranks near the top in terms of trips I've been able to tolerate with the least amount of personal irritation."

Arthur flashed a quick, crooked smile in return to the grin. "Shall we?"

Marshall laughed. "Yeah, it's usually pretty empty on trains heading in and out of here."
He nodded. "Yep. We'll have to get groceries first though. I had no idea what you liked so I figured I should wait until you got here." He pointed down the street from the train station. "There's a few little shops down that way. We can get supplies first and then take a cab or we can head out to my place first and do the shopping thing later. I'll leave it up to you since you're the one who'll be doing the actual eating."

"Hm? Why don't- Oh. Never mind that, I lost my head for a moment there." Marshall was a vampire, of course he wouldn't have to eat anything.

"Dropping my things off first might be a good place to start, this bag is heavier than it looks." Mostly because there was more in it than there would first appear to be. Arthur wasn't a terribly fussy eater, and nor did he particularly relish the idea of using a Muggle store, but these things were necessary sometimes.

Marshall smiled. "It's okay. I'm actually kind of glad you forgot." And it did feel good to be thought of as normal by someone who knew about him. "I'm set up okay..I know how to make the potion I use at school. Surprisingly it's not too hard to make."

"That's fine. We can get you settled in first then." He headed to the front of the station and hailed a taxi. Giving the driver an address, he opened the back door to the cab and got in. "Luckily it's not a very far ride."

He shot Marshall a faintly awkward smile - he had forgotten, though it was always going to be in the back of his mind that his schoolmate was more than he appeared. It hadn't ever really been something he was meant to know, but it had all turned out for the best, hadn't it?

Sigh. More Muggle transport. He ducked into the taxi and slid down in the seat, letting his bag drop down between his feet. "You're going to have to give me a few pointers in this bloody shop, you know," he said, settling back. "I'd like to do this without ending up looking like a tourist."

The cab pulled away with a jolt and began zipping down the street.
He chuckled. "Well, it's not that different from shopping anywhere else. You just kinda grab a basket and grab things that look good. It's the paying part that usually messes Wizards up. Muggle money is odd to them. Luckily I'll be taking care of that so you don't have to." He shrugged. "Besides, teenagers probably look weird getting groceries by default."

He settled back into his seat and looked out the window. "Not too far now. It's only about five miles from town." Lowering his voice he muttered "And with the way this guy is driving we'll be lucky to get there in one piece." The cab suddenly screeched to a stop at a light and Marshall fell forward smashing his nose up against the seat in front of him. Rubbing his nose he swore a little he then laughed. "I guess he heard me."

"Hm, I suppose you have a point." Teenagers shopping for real food was always going to look strange. He was thrown forwards too at the sudden stop, though the seat belt caught him sharply around the chest and kept him from the same fate as Marshall.

"Bloody HELL," he exclaimed sharply. "You see! This is why I don't use Muggle transport."

Marshall smirked. "Oh come on, it's no worse than the Knight Bus. That thing is more dangerous than anything. Have you ever watched from the window on it? It does all kinds of crazy shit. There were a few moments when I was pretty sure we were all gonna die. Not that it's a concern of mine but I'm pretty sure the other passengers would object."

The cab finally managed to navigate through the little town and was now making it's way outside of city limits. Houses start to become a little more sparse and widely spaced. Finally after about five more minutes of driving the cab pulls up to a small house that sits beside the entry gates to an older looking cemetery.
Marshall leans over and pays the cabbie,thanks him and begins getting out of the car.

"Well, we're here..ish"

"I try not to." He had once, and he'd spent the entire rest of the trip gripping the edge of his seat. As much as he was used to magic there was nothing quite like was nothing quite like watching a tree the height of a two storey house leap out of the way moments before you hit it.

He peered out of the window in curiosity, getting out after Marshall and pulling his bag after him, brushing himself off once he was stood.

"Ish? Is there something I ought to know?"

Marshall didn't say anything but instead made his way over to the gate, opened it and walked through.
"Oh, nothing too big..I just live in a graveyard. That's all."
He waited for a beat before turning around and giving Arthur a lopsided smile.
"Kidding! Well, sorto of..it's located more underneath it. I swear it's a normal apartment though."

He walked them down the path all the way back to the back of the graveyard andmade his way over to a small tomb-turned storage shed. A small electronic keypad was on the outside. Marshall tapped in a code and when it beeped he took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door manually.
He opened the door to reveal what appeared to be a normal looking storage shed (complete with gardening tools) but on the floor was a cellar door opening that was padlocked shut. Marshall reached down and unlocked that as well and opened the door to reveal a small set of stairs that led down. Flicking a small lightswitch to the side of the entry way it showed what looked like a normal basement entry.
"Well, now here we are. It looks super creepy but I promise it's normal looking downstairs. The location and all the doors is just my paranoia showing."
Marshall actually looked vaguely embarassed. He knew if he were Arthur he'd probably be running away screaming by now.

The beat was enough to have Arthur's eyes widening - not because he was scared, but rather surprised. One eyebrow lifted up when Marshall claimed he was joking, but the undeniable fact here was that they were certainly in a graveyard.

He leaned over Marshall's shoulder, peering down the staircase, then glanced at the other boy with an expression that just screamed 'you must be joking'. What he actually said, though, was completely different to what might have been expected.

"... So, what are we waiting for?"

Marshall gave a helpless shrug. Security was a good thing for his kind and so far Arthur was the first living person to ever grace his doorstep.
"Well, I was waiting to see if you would change your mind but we can go on ahead."
He headed down the steps and flipped a switch illuminating a small hallway where another door waited at the end. He waited for Arthur to go down the steps before shutting the cellar doors and deadbolting them shut from the inside.
Finally he made his way down the small hallway to the door. He entered a number code on a small keypad beside the door and then manually unlocked the two locks on it, opened the door and flipped a lightswitch.
"Here we go..my humble abode."

The apartment was completely normal looking and obviously a bachelor pad. The door opened up into a living room where a secondhand couch, coffee table and end tables with plain lamps resided. The only thing of major note was that the coffee table was littered with sheets of music, notebooks and pencils and a stray cd or two.
A small and obviously underused kitchen resided in the upper right hand section of the living room. The upper left had small loveseat and a television and various game systems and a rather huge sterio.
A glass case rested up against the kitchen wall outside of the hallway. Inside it was a really old guitar and various other small antique looking objects.
The walls were decorated with various band posters, some autographed and some were obviously pretty old.

He wasn't quite sure what he expected, but it wasn't that. It was so.. normal. Arthur moved a little way inside, not wanting to seem rude by charging in, and if it wasn't for the lack of windows he wouldn't have realised they were underground at all.

At least it was warm.

"It's recovered well from the flood damage," he commented, sniffing slightly and hefting his bag up higher onto his shoulder. Approaching the glass case, he leaned forwards slightly to peer at some of the smaller antiques. "Did you lose anything important?"

Marshall tossed his keys into a dish on the small table beside the door and moved further in.
"Yeah, I'm pretty happy it doesn't stink in here. Mildew smell never really goes away. I think getting the carpet up and sticking with the hard wood helped a lot."
He moved up beside Arthur and stared idly in the case as well. Along with the guitar was the locket with his mother's picture that Marceline had given him, a few signed concert tickets and other various small mementos.
"No, all of the really important things that can't be replaced were in here. The bottom of the case got a little wet but that's it."
He pointed inside the case at the guitar.
"Check it out, that's my very first guitar. It's probably as old as I am. It was given to me when I was still alive by the music teacher at Hogwarts at the time. I was a pretty crappy student but I always loved music class."

He noticed Arthur hefting the bag.
"Oh, I should probably show your to the spare room so you can put that down at least."
He headed down the hall and opened the door on the left and switched on a light.
"Here's the spare room. Marcy stays there when she visits so I hope you're okay with a black and purple room."
He gestured to the end of the hallway.
"Bathroom's there and spare towels are in the little closet in there. Feel free to use anything you need in there."

"I'm sure it doesn't matter what colour the room is as long as all I'm doing is sleeping in it."

It wasn't really to his taste, but he could definitely see how Marceline would like it in here. Still, they had things to do before he could settle down so for now he just dropped his bag at the end of the bed and headed back out, pulling the door closed behind him.

"Say, Marshall.. what was school like when you were.." A vague hand gesture followed. "... Alive."

Marshall thought about it. A lot had changed but a lot had stayed the same too.
"Well, teachers were a lot more strict and people in general were a lot more prim and proper and snooty. Wizard society has always been pretty classist but it's a bit more relaxed now."
He rolled his eyes at his next thought.
"The castle still did a lot of bullshit things back then though. Not quite as frequently as now but it still liked to have it's fun."
He chuckled to himself.
"One thing I will say for sure..cities and people are a hell of a lot cleaner now than back then."

That last comment got a bit of a laugh. Sometimes, even when he remembered what Marshall was it was easy to forget how old he really was.

"I suppose the history books do tend to romanticise the old days," he commented. It did depend on the book you got, of course, but it always seemed to be either making it seem better or far worse than it actually was.

"You know, I never thought to ask... why did you decide to come back?"

"Oh for sure. Most people focus on how glamourous the lives of the rich were. They'll never know how hard it was to be poor back then."

Marshall ran a hand through his hair and went to sit down on the couch.
"Well, that's..kind of a long story."
He gestured for Arthur to sit down.
"It wasn't really my idea to come back. It was more of a neccesity."
He paused for a moment as he thought about how to word things. Finally he began.

"You were right when you said I hadn't had my potion for as long as I've been a vampire. In fact, I've only had it for about a year now."

Leaning back on the couch he put his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.

"Last summer I was spotted by a Muggle while I was feeding on this guy who tried to snatch some lady's purse. They ran away freaking out and screaming about real vampires. Seeing as how popular vampires are in Muggle literature last night it caused a pretty big local sensation.
I had to hide because other vampires weren't exactly happy about me blowing our cover. I went to Diagon Alley to do some research on who could help me out and I was told Hogwarts was the safest place to be. So I wrote Dumbledore asking for asylum and he wrote back saying I could stay there but only if I finished my education."
He glanced at Arthur.
"When I was alive I was expelled for fighting. It was self defense but no one saw it that way at the time."

Edited 2013-07-19 16:48 (UTC)

He sat as he was told, thinking that no doubt this would be quite the story if he was being told to get off his feet for it. Sinking back against the cushions, he folded his arms loosely and kept his focus on Marshall (as much as he wanted to look around, this place was terribly interesting), one thick eyebrow twitching upwards as the vampire's previous history was related to him.

"Fighting? You?" It wasn't that hard to believe, but for it to be so bad that he ended up being expelled? That was what caught his attention. "Bloody hell, Marshall, what did you do? Hex their head off or something?"

Marshall was giving the short version without even going into some other things.
Yet.
He chuckled a little. "Well, it wasn't just one fight. I got into a lot of them. I never instigated them, I was just defending myself."
He shrugged.
"Like I said, times were different. Not only was I a Halfblood but I was a poor Halfblood. My mother was raising me on her own, I could barely afford to be here."
He wasn't expecting to tell his life story (or was it unlife? He wasn't even sure anymore) but he found it easy to talk to Arthur. He just kind of..took it all in without judgement.
"I was kicked out my fifth year and instead of going home and being a burden on my mother I went off on my own. I played music in taverns in exchange for room, board and food."
He gave a sad smile.
"That's how I met Ashlynne. She was the one who turned me."

Sometimes - perhaps because half his family was Muggleborn or Halfblood - Arthur did get his privileged upbringing thrown up in his face. His family weren't rich, but they were comfortable, and it was very easy to forget how easily he had it simply because of the purity of his bloodline.

Not that he was about to feel guilty about it, but still, it was something to think about...

Arthur had his own reasons for listening to Marshall like he did, but first and foremost was simply that he found him interesting. "You know.. you're not obligated to tell me any of this."

Marshall really doesn't care about who is what kind of blood. As long as someone is cool right? Money never entered his mind either. He was probably one of the wealthier people at Hogwarts but he honestly never even thought about it much.

He ran his hand through his hair awkwardly and chuckled. He didn't mean to just suddenly pile all of his life into Arthur's lap.
"Sorry! I can be long winded. I don't have company much, let alone someone that I don't have to hide from. I probably shouldn't just dump my life story onto you like that. I didn't mean to be rude."
He paused as he thought about something that just came to him.
"You could always tell me your life story. I still don't know that much about you."

It was a lot of life to hear about and Arthur got the impression that he'd only heard a fraction of it even in all that information. The fact that he was talking to someone who had lived for so long wasn't a wonder that escaped him, yet he still couldn't match up that large number of years with the youthful appearance.

"My life story? Well... it's rather uninteresting I'm afraid. I'm the youngest of four, my father and eldest brother work for the Ministry. I mostly do my best to keep out of everyone's way while I'm at home."

There was definitely a lot to Marshall's life. He's both seen and done a lot. Eternal life has rarely bored him. The world has changed so much in what is actually such a short period of time. In a weird way he's glad he's seen how the world's progressed.

"There's no such thing as an uninteresting life. It's cool to have siblings though. I was an only child. Are they the type of family that thinks you need to stay busy all the time?"

"Not exactly..." He shrugged. Talking about his family was a bit of an awkward topic, and Marshall had been in the school for long enough to have seen at least two of his three brothers. Phineas and William had only become worse when David was no longer around to knock their heads together for picking on their youngest sibling.

"My mother likes to keep busy, but my father's rather taken up in his work. With six of us it's a noisy house, there's no way around that."

Marshall had seen Arthur's brothers around. They had seemed pretty exuberant..he'd just never spoken to them personally.
"I can understand that. I like it quiet most of the time. Always have."

When he was alive it had always just been Marshall and his mother so it was usually quiet in their house. And after that..well, the life of a vampire was usually pretty solitary by default.
"Well, enough awkward family histories. We should probably go get you food before the shops close."

'Exuberant' was one way to put it. The last two years of school were set to be infinitely better than the first five with the two of them out of the picture. Of course, it didn't stop them attempting to prank him through the mail, but he was rather more sharp than he let on and he was yet to be caught out by that.

"Hm? Ah, yes, quite right." Shaking his head, he pushed himself to his feet. "I must thank you for being so accommodating."

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