:: m y c r o f t d o g e :: (mycroftic) wrote in valesco,
@ 2008-10-04 16:54:00

Entry tags:

Marnie
Okay, for how calm he was over the journal to Marnie, Mycroft was pretty worried about this whole marriage quiz thing. He's been expecting something like it, so he'd come up with a plan. Multiple plans actually, but this one to begin with. Marnie coming back had certainly been a problem, Mycroft had thought it would be a short term thing, where whomever he married would just leave, but well, he couldn't think about that, he'd focus on what they had to get done. Except that Marnie was not here, she had other plans, and really, what was that all about? Mycroft seriously did not want to get into that train of thought, so he started reciting the fact pattern over and over again in his head, while throwing a tennis ball in the air as he laid back on his couch.

Of course he knew everything about Marnie that the ministry had, he had a copy of her file laying in front of him on the coffee table (he hadn't been stupid about getting married to some random woman) but there were bits missing, like about Marnie's childhood, her favorite foods, things that a file couldn't fill in. But he could make sure he knew at least ninety percent of things. That was all that mattered, getting to ninety. There were other plans, that Mycroft would set up - he just hoped that whatever room they were interviewed in, it didn't negate portkeys.

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avant
2008-10-04 11:31 pm UTC (link)

Marnie was no less riled up than she'd been when she'd left for her Russian lessons -- if anything, she was more concerned about everything. By the time that she arrived at the door of Mycroft's flat she was practically hyperventilating. She'd popped back to her own place to feed the rabbits and get some muffins for Mycroft (it was only fair, she'd reasoned, to make muffins for her fake-husband too if she was making them for some stranger planning to help her learn a foreign language) before coming over, but now ... well, here she was.

They were so royally fucked. Marnie shifted from foot-to-foot impatiently, twisting the handle of the bag in her hands while she waited for Mycroft to open the door. She'd gotten the distinct impression that something had been bothering him when she'd talked to him on the journals but she'd just dismissed that as being worried about the marriage test they were going to have to take.

Right? Right.

Admittedly, she was glad that he had a plan for this ... because she hadn't even thought the ministry might pull something terribly mean.

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mycroftic
2008-10-05 01:37 am UTC (link)

Mycroft shuffled to the door, tennis ball still in hand and pulled it open, fully expecting Berk to be there, with either a lot of alcohol to drink or that look on his face. He was (pleasantly) surprised to see Marnie there. "Oh hi, I thought you were at your Russian thing. Until late?" He checked his watch but stepped aside, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"Come in though. I've got drinks in the ice box..." Mycroft closed the door behind her and waved to the kitchen as he made his way down the hall to the living room where the stuff was ready. "I don't think you need anymore sugar right now, are those muffins? You look like you're about to pass out. If you puke, do it in the loo please. I don't think vomit likes to come out of carpet, even with cleaning charms," he said and then resumed his sitting in the middle of the couch in front of his plan.

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avant
2008-10-05 01:43 am UTC (link)

If Mycroft was surprised, Marnie was equally as surprised at how much it put her at ease just to see him. She shot him a relatively blank look and pursed her lips for a moment, frowning and stepping inside.

While she toed off her shoes, she spoke. "No -- well, yes, I was supposed to be, but I told you I'd make it short and yes I do feel like I'm going to puke, thanks, and I doubt I'd make it to the loo but I haven't really eaten anything anyway so you don't have to worry about that, I'd probably just dry-heave and then black out." Because that was a much more tolerable position to be in, of course. Muffins still in hand, she followed him to the living room and then flopped down unceremoniously on one of the couch next to him, tossing the bag of pastry onto the table in the middle.

She was minimally worried about the fact that her actions in the last few minutes hadn't been particularly lady-like -- it had never been her strong suit outside of being graceful in ballet.

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mycroftic
2008-10-05 05:31 am UTC (link)

Mycroft shifted on the couch as Marnie flopped down, mostly on him. He put his feet up on the table and considered getting popcorn, but then Marnie had brought muffins. He wondered how good of a cook she was and figured he'd find out tonight. It would certainly help make their story more realistic. And really, staying as close to the truth as possible was the best course of action. And realistcallity. Definitely needed to be realistic.

"Er yeah we'd rather not have you black out so eat a muffin and we'll get to work, yeah? I've got a plan and two back up plans. But we don't want to use those, because then we might both end up in Azkaban and with my first plan, neither of us does. So that is the plan we'll go with." Mycroft pulled the first sheet of paper off the top of the table and handed it to Marnie. "This is the timeline of our relationship. I've added about ten months to it."

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avant
2008-10-05 05:38 am UTC (link)

She was very aware that she should be listening intently to what Mycroft was saying, but the most she got out of what had come out of his mouth was 'muffin' and 'Azkaban'. Marnie nodded absently, shifting to grab a muffin from the bag. She unwrapped it from the little crinkly cover-thing and broke off a piece of the top, popping it into her mouth before offering Mycroft the same.

Hey, she had clean hands! Mostly. She took the paper with her other hand and half-balanced her muffin on her knee while she looked it over. Some of it ... well, it honestly looked like something that could happen and that was a good sign, right? But the fact that she had to memorize all of this by Monday ...

"We're doomed, you know. I'm going to screw all of this up."

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mycroftic
2008-10-05 06:23 pm UTC (link)

Mycroft took a bit of the muffin and shrugged, inspecting it carefully (without tipping Marnie off that he was checking to see if it still had powdered flour in it) before sticking it in his mouth. It was actually kind of decent. "That's just the first bit. But don't worry, I've got flashcards. A lot of it is natural stuff. And honestly, these ministry workers won't know how to conduct a real interview, so you can just start going off on a tangential story and they won't know how to get you back on track until you've calmed yourself down. Just use diversionary tactics, 'Oh sorry I was late ma'am, we got stuck in the subway because I hate sidealong apparating'. They aren't going to test us on the extra information, just on what the questions they have in front of them."

He reached over and pulled over a stack of smaller cards, "Plus, I have flashcards. Minimum detail without looking like you don't know it. Stick to the truth as much as possible without telling them that I advertized breaking the law just to help you get to Russia."

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avant
2008-10-05 06:27 pm UTC (link)

She'd started to actually listen now and was making a concentrated effort to continue to do so. It was only fair that she tried to learn the material since Mycroft had obviously gone to such lengths to make sure that this didn't blow up in their faces.

That much effort for this when they weren't even really ... hadn't even ... well. Suffice to say Marnie was pleasantly surprised that he'd even bothered. Marnie let out a half-nervous laugh and shook her head, popping another bit of muffin in her mouth. "I'm sure I'll just burst into tears or something like that and they'll have to give me a bloody sedating potion." Could she get out of it by crying? Probably not.

"I don't think I've ever actually used flash cards."

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mycroftic
2008-10-05 06:43 pm UTC (link)

"Maybe that could get us another day or two, you could plead a weak constitution for interrogation. Maybe they'd let me sit in with you after I take mine, but I don't think it would get us off. But if you do feel like you can't do it, do faint, that will get us a bit of time, yeah?" Mycroft thought the idea of her fainting in the middle of an interview would be sort of amusing. He'd definitely want a picture of the interviewer's face...

Mycroft shook off that idea and held up the first card that had his birthdate on it, "Flashcards are good. They are your friend. We have easy ones, with all the information and then they get subsequently harder, to help you compartmentalize the information. You don't need to memorize everything, you just need to have triggers. Like my birthdate? I share it with two other women in the MLE offices. Its international women's day. I am not a woman, but I was born on March 8th. Get it?" He flipped the card over to show three stick figures, two short girls (one blond) and a tall 'Mycroft' in the middle.

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avant
2008-10-05 06:46 pm UTC (link)

See, these 'pictures by association' things ... weren't her forte. She furrowed her brows at the card and then sighed. "March 8th. Got it." Not that she wouldn't be going over the flashcards to the point of exhaustion for at least tonight and tomorrow night -- then she figured it was probably like a ballet concert -- you didn't want to be too tired to stand the day-of, so she'd try to get some sleep before hand.

Maybe she'd take a potion. Marnie seriously considered pulling out the fainting card if she could manage to do it convincingly, but it would probably just make the interviewers more suspicious in the long-run, right? Right. She sighed, settling against him a little more thoroughly since this was probably going to take hours.

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mycroftic
2008-10-06 06:20 am UTC (link)

"And you have to tell me if you don't get something or you're getting too tired, because it won't do you any good to go over this if you're not in full concentration mode, right? I don't know how you learn but if you're more words or auditory, just let me know. You'll have to memorize some stuff about my flat as well, but I've got pictures for you to take as well, so don't worry too much about that," Mycroft gave her a (hopefully) reassuring smile.

"Um, so we met mid-December, last year, at a dance recital. Do you remember what you danced as last year? Or did you help or something along those lines? I can make up fantastic stories, but its best if you have input so you can make them seem more real to you."

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avant
2008-10-06 06:24 am UTC (link)

"Well," she though back to the last year or so. What had she done? Merlin, if she'd known she'd have to recall things that far back... "Oh!" She paused. "I was -- well, Estella and I were -- running a recital about that time last year. The girls from our class were doing a simplified version of the Nutcracker. I spent most of the time running about trying to make sure that nylons didn't have tears in them and that everyone's shoes were tied up correctly."

The last thing you wanted as a teacher was a student hurting themselves. She half-laughed. "I broke my ankle a week before the actual show falling off the stage," because most of the time she was graceful but when she was trying to do too many things at once she got distracted, and when she got distracted disaster struck, "so that was a bit of a fit. I can't even count how many people I ran into because my balance was shot."

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mycroftic
2008-10-10 01:55 am UTC (link)

"Alright, we can put that in," Mycroft grabbed a quill off the table and licked the tip of it just enough to wet it lightly, and scribbled a bit onto the parchment. "Did you have a cast on, done the muggle way or was it still sore from the bone growth potions from the St. Mungo's? We can say the girl I was on a date with liked ballet or knew Estella and you and I bumped into each other afterward, when she was off backstage or something."

Mycroft nodded and then looked over at her, "Does that sound right?"

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avant
2008-10-10 02:12 am UTC (link)

"Just soreness from the bone growth potions," she murmured, nodding thoughtfully as she could manage to while he spoke. "And that sounds good, yeah." She knew she should be paying attention, but her mind kept wandering and she ended up half-staring at Mycroft's chin, eyes relatively unfocused.

Not that Mycroft was boring, of course. It was just that she was concerned with how the exam would go even if she did study with him. At least he was willing to put in the effort -- that was something, right?

Right. "Erm, so. Should I review the flashcards? If you need stuff on me, I can ... jot it down somewhere."

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