RP: Talk about Business...

[anon_su]

Date: March 24, 2003
Characters: Su Li
Location: Barr's place
Status: Private
Summary: Su goes to Barr's talk talk about business. Sometimes the talk doesn't stay strictly on business, though.
Completion: incomplete

Comments

[anon_barr]

There was something to be said about a good night’s sleep. True, Barr Dunstan still didn’t sleep a lot, but now it was for less straining reasons than paranoid insomnia, which made her far better at waking up in the morning and actually feel like she had rested. Her morning had been spent in a deliciously languid speed, at least until Dean had left. There was never any hurry or stress when she was with him. It was just them, and though she still worked when he was around, it never became stressed.

After he had left, she had gotten dressed and made herself a pot of coffee, far stronger than she knew Dean liked it. It was her little guilty pleasure as she worked.

She had just been about to start writing some Owls, when a knock on her door let her know, that Su had taken her up on her offer of meeting her here. Who else would be knocking on her door? Everybody she knew would knock and then go inside.

Sure enough. When she opened the door, her eyes landed on Su, standing outside, looking for all the world like Su, with all the tension and business attitude that involved.

“Su!” she greeted her with a smile, before she leaned in and pressed the customary kiss to each of her cheeks like back home. “Dobrogo ranku (Good morning), come in, come in.”

[anon_su]

Su smiled. Barr always greeted everyone warmly, making them feel welcome or wanted the moment she seems them. It wasn't something Su already liked about her. She never could quite get that down. Her feelings of surprise, annoyance, or just being busy always showed no matter how had she tried.

"Hello, Barr!" she said warmly as she stepped inside. She smelled strong coffee the moment she was inside and wanted to laugh. That was just like Barr -- coffee first, everything else second. "I hope I'm not disturbing you. I know I should have owled back that I was coming, but it was too perfect not to skip half a day at work. If you're busy, just let me know please and we'll discuss another time I can come to talk over business."

[anon_barr]

“Nie, nie, I’m not busy,” Barr assured Su, “at least not something that can’t wait until later. I’m glad you came by.”

She held out her hand to take Su’s coat, before she gently ushered her into the living room area. “I was just going over a few things, and trying to decide on whether to Owl Professor Snape and Lily Potter, or seeking them out in person.”

Once Su’s coat was in the cabinet, she returned to her. She looked stressed, Barr noted, seeing the tension in her shoulders, despite the still straight posture. “Would you like some coffee? Tea? Water?” she offered, as she gestured for Su to take a seat. “And yes, I make regular coffee too.”

[anon_su]

Su smiled politely, sitting down. "Water would be lovely, thank you."

"Professor Snape?" Su had seen him in passing at the Quidditch match but hadn't even though of his since. "Have you already contacted him once about the hospital? Wait -- I'm sorry. I should jump to conclusions. There would be several things you are contacting him about." She bowed her head in apology.

"Lily Potter? Harry's mum?" Su said, lightening up with interest at the second name as if nothing was registering with her as fast as it should. She hadn't know the Potters, or at least one of them, had made it to Annwn. It was good to know that the good people did come here. The people who died fighting and didn't deserve their life to have end when it did.

Su immediately squashed the feeling of resentment and self-hatred for her inactivity during the war that always showed up when she even had a passing thought about it. She had been in school, and unlike Harry, bless his heart, the war wasn't thrust upon her. She had made the choice of a teenager. There was no use regretting it now. But that didn't stop her. When she thought of all the losses... the turmoil... Her heart twisted when the image of Charlie's pained look, that he was trying so hard to mask, popped in her face.

Shifting uncomfortable as she pushed the image and thoughts aside, she said, "Well, I'm sure an owl of warning would be nice," she grinned, though it wasn't a sincere one, "It would give them time to hide if they don't want to see you."

[anon_barr]

Barr looked at Su, the concern in her eyes now evident. Something was off, but she couldn’t figure out what. Su was a private person, always had been, and Barr didn’t want to pry, she just wanted to see her friend not so tense, and of course, she would listen if she needed to talk.

Bringing back a large glass of cold water, Barr handed it to Su. “Here you go,” she said with a smile, before she fetched her wand.

“I haven’t met Lily Potter yet, but Fleur Delacour…” she paused and looked at Su, before she summoned her folded up portable cot. “You know… it’s a long story, and I will bring you up to date on what has happened with the hospital, while I work on you. Dóbre (okay)?”

Before Su could answer, Barr summoned a huge, white, fluffy bath sheet from the cupboard, and handed it to Su. “The bathroom is the door right there, so while you get undressed, I’ll set up the cot. You need to relax a bit, and I can help you. It’ll make things easier for you as well.”

She sent Su a reassuring smile, hoping that she knew she could trust her on that one.

[anon_su]

Su drank greedily from the water for a moment as she listened to Barr. When her old house mate offered her a bath sheet, she eyed it suspiciously. She tried Barr, but did she trust her this much? The last time she did something impulsively -- and for Su, this was impulsive -- it had ended with a mess that she still couldn't figure out.

Charlie...

She snatched up Barr's offering and got to her feet. "That sounds good to me!" she announced. Her voice wasn't happy nor eager. It was a calm, almost apathetic tone that made Su want to scream. She was happy about all this, so Merlin's sake wasn't she acting like that?

"Thank you," she said politely as an afterthought. She went into the restroom. When she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror she flinched. She looked so... stressed and worn down.

[anon_barr]

While Su was in the bathroom, Barr set up the cot, before she summoned the cotton sheet that would make the leather surface more comfortable for Su to lie on. As she waited for her return, she raised the temperature in the room, and cast a subtle heating charm on the jar of oil she had fetched from her own bathroom.

Before long, she found herself standing by the window, looking out, as she was rubbing a few drops of massage oil into her hands, to keep it from running dry before she was done.

“If you just lie down on your stomach,” she told Su when she came back, “and try to relax. I promise you, nothing will hurt. This is what I was trained to do.”

[anon_su]

Su gave her a weak smile. She trusted Barr. She was trained to do this.

Cautiously, she laid on her stomach the way Barr instructed. She was easily swayed right now, and Barr wasn't someone to distrust. In fact, she was very trustworthy if her past was any indication.

Su closed her eyes, trying to relax before Barr started. "Alright," she said in a soft voice.

[anon_barr]

”Alright,” Barr echoed softly, before she carefully moved Su’s hair to the side, away from her back.

“Su, what I’m going to do, is solely to make you relax, so nothing is supposed to hurt,” her voice was calm and soft as she spoke, while folding down the white towel she had given Su to wrap herself into, leaving her back bare but her bottom still covered. “So please, if it does, let me know, if you get thirsty, don’t hesitate to ask for water, and if you want to stop, all you have to do, is let me know.”

When she stopped speaking, she put her oiled up hands on her shoulders, gently stroking downwards, only applying slight pressure, firstly to work oil into the skin and to allow Su to get used to her touch.

“Comfortable?”

[anon_su]

Immediately Su relaxed. Barr's hands were soft, warm, and trained. Barr obviously was trained well to do her job, and for some reason, Su got the feeling she enjoyed her job as well. Her touch was relaxing. Normally Su didn't normally enjoy massages, but she found herself calming under her touch.

The oil was warm and smoothing. Her tension wasn't exactly leaving her body yet, but her body's reaction was evident. She tried to force all thoughts of Charlie and her confusion out of her body.

"Comfortable," Su echoed in agreement, closing her eyes.

[anon_barr]

”Good,” Barr smiled, and began working her way down along the spine.

“I met Professor Snape right after I had moved here,” she began her bringing Su up to date, figuring that she might as well start from the beginning, so it wasn’t all too confusing. “I didn’t know it was his apothecary, but I needed help with a pain potion, and there he was. Found out that I could help him in return for helping me, ever the Slytherin, but that shouldn’t surprise anybody.”

Now using her full palms, she began working harder as she pushed the muscles outwards from the spine, making sure to keep her movements synchronous and well balanced to induce more calm into Su, even as she felt her magic create a slightly tingling feeling in her fingers.

“We were then…” she paused for a moment, not certain how to broach the topic of the kidnappings just yet. “We were forced under less than ideal circumstances to spend more time together, and as odd as it may sound, then… I trust him, and I trust his judgment. It’ll be a small hospital, but I’d like to have the best people possible working there, so even if he does not want to make potions for the hospital, I’d like his opinion on any potion master we might employ there.”

[anon_su]

Barr's movement made Su relax more and more as it continued. Don't get too relaxed, Su warned herself, tightening for just a second then relaxing again. She had heard that massages hurt if you were too tense.

"I always liked Professor Snape," Su said, "He's not the most easy man to... get to know and Merlin knows I wouldn't want to get to know him on a personal level, but he's trustworthy. I think almost everyone knew that all along..." her voice trailed off and she sighed heavily. "He's excellent at potions. A real asset to the hospital. Now about Lily Potter..."

She wanted to keep the conversation going. It was a lot easier that way.

[anon_barr]

Barr paused, but only for a moment, when Su tensed under her hands, making a mental note of where it had happened, knowing that she would have to come back to it later.

“I’ll get to Lily Potter,” she chuckled, “you’ll have to be patient.” She gave Su a teasing little squeeze to the rib.

“A couple of weeks ago, I met Fleur Delacour, well… Fleur Weasley, now,” she continued her tale. “Her daughter, Victoire… I’ve spent some time with her as well, and she recognized me one afternoon I was having coffee while working in the Twilight Tearoom. Fleur saw my papers and we got to talking about the hospital, and she has offered to do fundraising events and get the people of Annwn involved in general, to show their support.”

Her fingers were tingling now that she had begun really putting strength into her moves. She was kneading and manipulating the muscles, willing them to just let go, even if only for a moment.

“It was Fleur who suggested that I contact Lily Potter, after I mentioned that I still needed to find somebody who could be in charge of rounding up lower level Healers and mediwitches. She, with her name and her being a Healer herself, would be the brilliant for that. I just have to talk to her about it.”

[anon_su]

Su listen intently. Victoire recognized Barr? From where? Deciding not to pry, she just mulled over what Barr was saying.

"Well, I see you've been quite busy," she said evenly, breathing out a sigh, "Fleur seemed to know what she was talking about too. It seems like if you have a couple more... big names -- hopefully you know what I mean -- will help the hospital in the long and short run. Rounding up healers is quite a chore, though. I'll be happy to help in any way I can," she offered without thinking.

The moment she said the words she realized three things: that she wanted to help any way she could, that she knew Barr as doing a good job on her own and being so organized and professional about the whole thing that Su thought it couldn't fail, and mostly, that Annwn was not just about the man she encountered here. Her body probably tensed up at the fleeting though of Charlie, but she took a deep breath and realized again immediately.

Barr's hands were magic. It relaxed her, made her feel comfortable.

[anon_barr]

Although she tried, Barr failed at keeping her relieved sigh from being audible. “I’m so glad to hear that Su,” she burst. “Yes, it may be mostly administrative work, but I can guarantee you that you’ll be meeting some wonderful people.”

She could feel how Su was finally relaxed under her hands, and as she spoke, she began working harder, now focusing on easing up one muscle at a time.

“I don’t know anything about permits,” she admitted, “but I can’t imagine that you can just set up a hospital without permits or do fundraising events without permission, so if you could help out there, at least before the place is up and running, and then, if you’re still interested, I’m certain that you will be more than needed in the hospital. Rowena knows that Augustus Pye is an excellent Healer and a good leader, but his paperwork…” with a small sigh she shook her head.

“Really, Su,” she said softly, “anything you spot that you think could be done better or differently or more efficiently, any input is valuable and welcome, but please…” Stopping for a moment, she leaned down so she could see Su’s eyes, “please don’t work yourself so hard that you get this tense again, tak?”

[anon_su]

Su nodded. "All the paperwork will be easy. Well, I suppose I shouldn't say that. I'll go to the administrative building I saw here, to check up on their way of doing paperwork. I'm sure it will follow most, if not all, of the same protocols as I'm used to.

"I can't wait to meet people, to help more. The paperwork should come easy for me. I'm also a good people handler if it's needed."

When Barr looked into her eyes, she flickered them away immediately. "I work hard. I'm used to working. That's not what's making me tense," she confessed in a soft voice.