RP: Meet the Parent

[shh_katie]

Date: July 7, 2005
Characters: Katie Bell, Lucretia Diggory (Cedric Diggory)
Location: Stoatshead Hill Quidditch Pitch
Status: Private - though they are in public
Summary: Despite Cedric's wishes to the contrary, Lucy seeks out Katie on her own at Quidditch Day
Completion: Complete

Comments

[shh_katie]

"I'm not sure that would be my first choice either," she replied in amusement, "but it's part of it - at least with a good cushioning charm."

"Movies are art in their own way," Katie told her, "well, perhaps someone who sees some bloody horror movie with no logic would disagree, but even then, it has it's basis in art. It's a different kind of course than painting, but not worth less."

Contemplating Lucy's question, though not quite sure what she was asking, Katie finally answered, "I'm sure we could do it - if we wanted. Not with the charms and technology, but we have cameras modified to our magic. We would probably even improve on it, I'm sure, rather than having set films, we could.....

"Well, anyway, but beyond the tecnological and magical part, the storylines would be different in some ways beyond setting - but not really. Because yes, the underlying issues are all the same. A romance set in a dragon colony with people casting spells is the same, is the same as two people falling in love at a zoo, at least underneath. And it's those basic tennants of movies, and books, that we really read and watch them for, the underlying personal issues.""

[shh_cedric]

Lucy's eyes slid sideways, watching as Katie spoke. "Yes," she said. "In the end, art -- of any kind -- is after truth, don't you think? Perhaps we can talk most freely about the deep-down things via their fictional presentation."

There were, Lucy supposed, a lot of directions the conversation might go, but she had not wish, just yet, to get overly serious on a first meeting with her son's girlfriend.

"Tell me, if you could make your own movie, what story would you tell?"

[shh_katie]

"I would think so," Katie agreed, "though at the same time it would be a fine balance with trivializing those same things. Fictional presentation doesn't always give them the proper deference."

She'd certainly not expected to be having this deep a conversation about movies with Cedric's mum. "Yours perhaps," she told the older woman with a smile, "it's certainly got enough drama in it for a feature film, does it not? And, no, it's not just me 'sucking up', your life story really is fascinating. For a movie though - really, I don't know. The options are unlimited as no stories of our world have been told in that fashion, so no copycating."

"What would you find the most engaging to watch?" Katie asked curiously, "There are so many stories worth telling, or at least to base movies on. The first war. The many inventors. Specific Quidditch teams and their runs to glory. I could make some meaningless movie that only gives a wizarding setting, but I would - if I had the ability - make a movie more important than that. Tell a real story. Not neccessarily documentary, but yes, based on something more important to us."

[shh_cedric]

"Mine?" Both Lucy's eyebrows went up and she wondered if the girl was trying to flatter her despite the protestation to the contrary, or was serious. If she was serious ... that was ... not something Lucy would have expected. It wasn't that she couldn't see that her life might make an interesting story -- certainly numerous Wizarding publications had enjoyed making stories and speculating on her private life -- but that it was hers, and she found it rather odd to think anybody would honestly care. She had always been far more invested in her art than her personal relationships, living through it at times to what Amos (in his more irritated moments) called a pathological degree. Admittedly curious, she asked, "If you were to tell my life's story, how would you approach it?

"As for what I would watch ... well, to be honest, when I first came to the Muggle world, I watched a great deal of their television as I found it a useful way to avoid making a complete idiot of myself. As for what I enjoyed, I will admit to a certain fondness for 'detective shows,' particularly those that involved trying to understand the criminal mind, not just to solve the puzzle." Her eyebrow flickered again. "I have always been fascinated by the darker sides of human behavior; my son was constantly at me to take a Muggle course in criminal justice at his university. But that isn't really my interest -- to catch them, per se. But I think they do things that the rest of us might sometimes want to, but do not. We're too civilized. This is not, mind, to say that I advocate anarchy." Her smile was wry. "But that is also why I'm interested in myth. Myths tell what a culture most values -- and what it most fears in itself."

She snorted softly. "Were I still a student at Hogwarts, Professor Sinistra -- who taught astrology then as part of astronomy, not divination -- would no doubt have pointed to the fact I have Pluto both in and ruling my first house, and conjunct with Mercury, giving me an intellectual fascination with sex, depravity and death. But fortunately not really inclining me to go out and try my hand at murder."

Watching Katie from the corner of her eye to see how the young woman took that -- Lucy wasn't above shocking people even when she was mostly behaving herself -- she added, "Cedric, by the by, has the exact same aspect -- Mercury conjunct with Pluto, but not in his first house. It's in his eighth. Nonetheless -- according to the textbooks -- people with that aspect and house placement tend to spend a lot of time thinking about sex." The amusement slid off her face. "An 8th house Pluto can also lead to violence or murder done against the person."

She shook her head. "How did we get onto astrology, of all things?"

[shh_katie]

"How would I approach it?" Katie felt put on the spot, and unsure of how to answer, "Not being a filmmaker I would hardly know how to play it up to best interest for a film, or what to isolate, but yes, it would probably be most about the 'idea' of your life versus the reality. No way to say this without evading the truth - but if we ignored the divorce the early part of your life, even including up to Cedric's apparent death, it would make a good dramatic romance. But even a longitudinal view of your life would be interesting if handled by the right person who could flush out things."

"Though I've liked movies for movies sake," she told Lucy in agreement, "they're good as an educational tool. You should have seen me trying 'get' muggle things. I mean, I still don't entirely, but at least I don't look so ignorant of them now."

Katie placed no stock in astrology, even if it was a bit more scientific than divination. She didn't believe that people's personality's and traits were governed by planets alignments, and when they were born. She didn't judge Lucy's fascnations, but didn't believe they are those who did murder were governed by anything along that lines. Even if they other examples she cited for her and Cedric were true, they were conincidences that could be applied to pretty much anyone in some fashion.

"Spending time thinking about sex?" She replied in amusement, "I think that has more to do with him being male than having Mercury conjunct with Pluto in his eight house." But she too feel silent at mention of harm done to the person.

Pushing that aside, she responded, "Perhaps you have more in common with your son than either of you realize. He and I are quite good at going off on random tangents as well. Do you actually place stock in astrology?"

[shh_cedric]

"Cedric and Amos both took to Muggle things like a fish to water. I prefer the world I grew up in."

When Katie spoke of sex, and men, Lucy's smile was sly. "I'd say thinking about sex all the time is due to being male and being in a new relationship. But yes, men seem rather obsessed with it.

"Do I believe in astrology? Sometimes. I think that horary astrology -- the prediction of the future -- is very dodgy. There are simply too many elements to calculate. Too many different charts to analyze. But I've found a few who do individual horoscopes very well, which are simpler. It's a tricky business, and requires a good deal of intuitive assimilation. Although with Sibyll Trelawney as a teacher of Divination, I'm not surprised if you think little of it. There are far more people out there who think they have a talent for it than who do. I was never particularly good, but one of my housemates had a frightening ability. So I don't dismiss it, even if I don't actively pursue it.

"Yet like any 'system' it has useful symbols, and as a painter, I'm highly aware of the power of symbols."

[shh_katie]

"Trelawney aside - who I will admit caused me to have little respect for divination," Katie shrugged, "I'm afraid I'm not as open minded as you in terms of astrology. I believe more in the free choice of individuals to be as they are, versus it being based in the alignment of the stars, or what have you. But yet I suppose there are things that are effected in that way, so it can't be entirely dismissed. Like werewolves being affected by a full moon."

She added, "Though even if there was some truth in the prediction of the future, I wouldn't want to know. Again, it's that living life thing - I'd rather do that than be informed of how it will all be. Even if positive, it would change how you lived your life."

"Though recognizing the power of symbols......" she continued in curiosity, "do you ever use the power of runes in your painting then? Is that ever a part of it? Or is more potions and transfiguration entirely?"

[shh_cedric]

Lucy considered. "I think there are many things in life that give us advantages, or disadvantages. We have free will, yes, but I think we're also born with ... limited options. Call that fate if you will, or biology. But there are some things we can do, and others we can't.

"I have little patience for the artistic temperament. If one wants to be a painter, one must learn to work at it. A great deal of art is craft, things one can learn. And yet? There is some amount of talent -- a natural gift. We hone it, we perfect it ... but I have met young artists -- or those who wanted to be -- who simply lacked that talent and no matter what anybody taught them, they would never be great. Some are not even tolerably good. It does them no kindness to tell them they can learn when they lack the key ingredient. But I have also met those with talent and no drive, or no discipline, and they are just as doomed to failure.

"To me, that is all 'fate' entails -- those things we have as innate gifts. Children do not come into the world as blank slates. Raising Cedric taught me that. He was, almost from the beginning, his own unique person. Even in the womb, he had a personality. Mostly, he was calm, but if I put on any garment that was too tight across my abdomen, he began to KICK. He hated to feel penned in. And when he was born? It was the same. He never wanted blankets or such except in the coldest weather, and I can remember him taking off all his clothes at times to run around in nothing because clothing restricted him. Obviously, that has changed." She laughed. "And he eventually became fond of blankets, but I think he expresses his distaste for being hemmed in by other means -- his love for flight, his love for heights, his love for travel. None of this is anything I taught him, and nothing he chose, exactly. Although how he expresses it is something he chose."

Katie's question about Runes raised her eyebrows. "No, I don't use runes in particular, although I do sometimes utilize power symbols. But I think that, in painting, one must rely on the force of the image and the art to convey the magic. Actual spells and potions should only enhance, never compel."

Glancing at Katie again, she said, "I understand that my son has painted your portrait. I warned him about that -- spells should enhance, not compel. What did you think of it?"

[shh_katie]

"I won't deny we are born with talents, and without others," Katie told her, "but to me that has nothing to do with astrology, and it's use in prediction. I know I could never be a painter, or a great musician - though I think I could be a muggle football player if I really tried. I perhaps believe a little more that life's influences play a larger role than what's inherent, but you're right, that part is there. But it's more that fate of the 'future' that I simply would never want to know, those kind of prophecies or predictions."

At Lucy's comment she couldn't resist a smirk, and quickly explained at the other woman's raised eyebrows, "Your son just did a bit of an impromptu strip tease this afternoon. He took off his shirt as the 'favour' I was supposed to be racing for and hung it up." She wasn't going to get into with his mother how she saw it in other respects now. He often slept in the nude, and wandered around only partially clothed at home when it was hot out. She herself wasn't quite so carefree, so it was a trait unique to him.

"The portrait was lovely," Katie answered, quietly, "beautiful, perfect. A bit disconcerting, but perfect. And he used that magic in it. I felt a tug, but never forced, when I looked at it. I think he managed to straddle the fine line in between force and a simple nudge."

"He doesn't think a lot of it, as he's grown up under you, but he's got a lot of talent," her words were a little hesitant, though she meant them. Her lips curving into a smile then, she shrugged, "Yes, I know, rose coloured glasses, but he really does."

[shh_cedric]

"Ah, but do the stars cause these talents, or do them merely reflect them, like a map of the soul?" She shook her head. "I'm not arguing an answer, mind, but I understand that is a debate in astrological circles."

At Katie's assessment of Cedric's talents, Lucy found herself smiling more warmly. "Yes, he is talented. And yes, being my son is a problem. It's never easy, either as the child or the parent, when one's offspring follow too closely in your footsteps. I know that some wish it to be so, but I believe children blossom better if the acorn falls a bit further from the tree, so to speak. Otherwise, they can feel overshadowed -- and not only if their mother is a relatively famous Master Painter." She shorted.

"For most of us who go on to become artists or musicians or dancers or actors ... our tolerance for our faults diminishes even as our abilities grow. If one sees one's faults too soon, or expects to be better than one is sooner than one is able ... then it handicaps us. That happened to Cedric living with me. I'm not sure if there's any simple solution to that, or if it's inevitable.

"In any case, the other issue for Cedric is that -- unlike me -- he is moderately talented at too many things, and as happens with such people, he suffers from divided attention. I always only ever wanted to paint, and it was my one true talent. I was not athletic. I was no musician. I was a tolerable student, but primarily when the subject interested me. I rarely studied something merely from idle curiosity. When I make a study of something, I have a reason for it -- and that reason revolves around something I'm working on nine times out of ten. I was a painter from the time I was a child, and no matter what else I've done in my life, it all feeds back into painting.

"Cedric never had that sort of single-mindedness. Most people don't, I think -- which is perhaps a good thing. But the fact he could make a go of most things he tried made it harder for him to settle on one until he was older.

"His talent at painting is above average; I've suspected since he was very young that he had the true artist's eye. But whether or not he wants to pursue it enough to become a Master Painter is another matter. I think not, at least for a while. But with luck, he will have a long life and may one day decide to pursue it as more than a hobby -- probably once is mother is dead and gone for some years."

[shh_katie]

Katie would agree it wouldn't become his passion - not yet, he had too many things he seemed to want to do first - but at the same time he was focusing on art more than he apparently ever had before. She wasn't skilled at legilemency, so she couldn't really know.

She also didn't think his mother was the deciding factor - though circumstance would make it so.

"It's the curse of beeing to darn good at everything," she quipped with a smile, "Life's decisions are easier when you've only got one real skill." Casting a glance around, she saw Oliver and Cedric having their picnic - the one that should have been hers - not far away.

"If you'll excuse me," she told Lucy congenially, "I have someone I have to give a piece of my mind. It was nice to meet you - finally. If not before, I'll be around for your reception at the museum tomorrow."