you got me wrapped up [tag: amanj]

Well manicured hands rose to card through the long dark locks of her hair as the woman moved along the street, purse awkwardly handing at her elbow as she placed her hair in a bun. She made quick work of it as she moved along, grey eyes drifting from window to window. She was a woman on a mission. Maurie hated to have to leave the shop midday to complain. What she hated more was that her order had not been fully shipped. Now she was forced to be the shopkeeper who complained. She missed having Declan around to handle such things. It was strange having him absent doing Merlin only knows what. The Irishwoman moved to open the door, the small chime echoed around her as she entered. Her face was set to show her annoyance with the service she had been provided. Of all the days for her to have to do such ludicrous things. She would surely have a glass of wine and a good book when she was done with her day, it was the least she could do to relax after a long day.

Neatly arched brows rose as she was approached. "Yes, I'm here because my standing order was not complete. O'Dwyer. O'Dwyer's of Dublin. Please do check and see why I've not received everything." She gave a small smile though the edge to her voice showed she felt otherwise. She hated incompetence more then she hated laziness. It was strange that a person could fail at the single job they were assigned to do. Her heels bounced off the tile floors as she moved around the rather small space. The shelf were overly stocked and things threatened to fall to the ground. There were boxes in every free corner as far as she could tell, no doubt waiting to be delivered. A hand reached out to run along a dust ridden shelf, shaking her head. "Do no one have the time to dust, seriously.." She mumbled softly to herself, glancing up as the door chimed again.

Grey eyes watched as a man enter, taking him in fully. Her brow arched and her head tilted. Maureen O'Dwyer found herself staring at this man as if it was something normal people did. She was curious, which was strange for her to be with someone she didn't know. Her foot steps touched the air again as she moved towards the other side of the room staring at shelves as she did. The boy who she'd spoken to early came out and she looked up. He looked conflicted as if he didn't know who toe help first. "If you haven't figured out my problem please do not come to me with an update." She was stern as she spoke, looking away as the boy moved towards the man. The potioneer found herself glancing back at the man wanting to ask one simple question about his hair. Strange the thing she most wanted to ask and she could clearly look and have her own answer. She wanted to start a conversation but how was she to do that.

"Do you come here often?" She asked as the boy once more vanished to the back. There that was better then asking about his hair.

@Amanj Namdar

Amanj was not fond of London in the summer. Too hot, too crowded, too everything. The air was think, like tapioca pudding. The Iranian wizard was quite content to keep away from the city during the warm months but he had been given the opportunity to visit his beloved cousin Étain and his adorable nephew. It didn't happen often and it was a chance he simply couldn't pass up. He was leaving in a few days to return to the circus but he'd run out of a few potion ingredients and he'd decided to stock up now, rather than later. Dressed casually for the heat, he walked down the street, his staff in hand and a faint smile on his lips. He could practically feel the heads turning as he passed. He liked to think it was due to his tanned and well-muscled body or charming face but was more likely that they were staring at his mohawk. It was a sight today, a little shorter than he normally had his hair, but dyed a deep blue at the base, moving through a rich teal, then finally white-tipped at the ends, like an ocean wave frozen on his head.

He walked into the cool interior of the shop, the bell above his head chiming merrily. There was someone already waiting inside. It was hard for him to distinguish gender with his strange perception, but when someone emerged from the back, the first individual spoke, sounding quite put upon and pleasantly feminine. As she directed the worker to help Amanj, he gave her a charming grin and a slight bow. "I'd like some herbs," he said to the person working the shop. "Za'atar. Origanum syriacum. Oregano, but Middle Eastern not European. It's hard to find here, but I heard you have more exotic ingredients."

The boy, Amanj was almost certain he was a boy, scurried into the back of the shop to see what he could find. When the other customer spoke to him, he smiled in the way his cousin said was pure charm and mischief. "Not often. I am traveling and today I am in London. I could wait til I am home again, but I do not know when exactly that would be and the Za'atar could not wait." His accent was fairly pronounced, although his pronunciation was clear, it was obvious that English was a second language although a very well learned one. He offered a hand to shake. "Amanj Namdar."

Her piercing grey eyes were glued to him as he spoke to the young boy from the back. She was intrigued, finding that she had moved closer. All the while her eyes rose to his hair every now and then. Her head tilted to the side and loose strand of hair dropped into her face. “This is the best place I know of…when I run out of supplies I always order from here.” Her lips pursed a bit. “Though they did mess up my order this week.” Which she was still not happy about but she could be calmed by the fact that it was being sorted now.

“Maureen O’Dwyer.” Her hand rose to shake his and she found herself smiling. Maybe he would recognize her last name, maybe not. She was going to go ahead and ask, to be bold enough to step out of her comfort zone. She was to know and there was no harm in asking now was there? “Can I ask you something and I am not trying to be rude.” Her voice was soft as she spoke, nicer then before when she spoke to the young man who worked there. She seemed to be in a better mood, which she hoped wasn’t ruined by bad news.

“Why blue?” She had seen a few colors before there was something about the way the colors of his hair blended together. It reminded her of something she just couldn’t remember exactly what it was. She missed her tea dates with Hilde. This would definitely be something the two would speak on. This tall, rather good looking man with brightly colored blue hair. “I could swear it reminds me of something…” When she would never have done it before she asked a personal question of a stranger and to her surprise the world didn’t end. She wanted to get out of the hell she’d been trapped in; she wanted to meet new people. “Are you traveling for work or pleasure?” She’d always wanted to travel.

He arched an eyebrow at her name. "O'Dwyer?" He inquired, unfeigned interest in his voice. "Of the O'Dwyer's of Dublin?" Amanj had frequented their establishment before, on those occasions where he had lived for short periods of time in the UK. He had looked a lot less wild then. It had been years since he patronized their establishment. "I could see why you'd be unhappy to have to come out here to pick up your supplies. My... family runs a potion shop back home. I remember well having to run errands and pick up needed things."

Amanj inclined his head, giving her permission to ask whatever question she wished. He had long since stopped being offended by questions about himself, rude or polite. Looking like he did, and being blind besides, he was used to people asking questions that ranged from innocent to invasive. The most frequently asked question usually centered around his vision: how long he'd been blind, what caused it, was he really blind, and things like that. Her inquiry into his hair color was a much more pleasant topic of discussion for him.

"It's blue!?" He put his hand over his heart in what was clearly playfully exaggerated shock. His smile was broad as he responded in his normal voice. "I wanted something more eye-catching than my usual colors," he told her pleasantly. "And a friend recently said that my hair reminded him of a wave."

Amanj chuckled. "I travel for both," he replied with a smile, "but to England, it was pleasure. My favorite cousin lives here, and it is rare that I get visit her. Both our schedules are busy ones. As for my other travels, I work for Eldrich circus, so I am on the move more than I am still."

“Yes.” The smile was clear in her voice as her lips curved. It wasn’t often someone readily put two and two together. “Yes, the worse. I would hope that by now they’ve tired of my constant presence. “ She glanced over her shoulder as she said this as if by doing so someone would magically appear with her things. “Oh?” Her attention shifted back to him, suddenly curious. “If it’s not too intrusive…where is back home?” It was the first time in a long time that she had actually wanted to have a conversation with someone. She had been so focused on rebuilding her life that she lost the spare moments she used to enjoy.

She gave a laugh, shaking her head a bit as she did. “It is very eye-catching.” It had been the first thing she’d seen and the only thing she focused on. She hadn’t noticed his staff yet because her eyes had been glued to his hair. Her tilted to the side before she moved to step around him to see from the side. “Well, your friend would be right.” She wanted to reach out and touch it, just run her fingertips through the ocean of his hair. “It does remind you of a wave.” As she looked at his hair her eyes traced the lines of his face slowly.

Grey eyes dropped to his lips as he spoke, before drifting to one of the many shelves around the room. “Do you enjoy the traveling?” She had always wanted to travel, to have the freedom of a bird. She wanted to see the world but she wanted to share it with another person. “I can’t imagine you get lonely, traveling with so many others.” But there were different kinds of lonely, of that much the witch knew.

Amanj smiled broadly at her polite questions. He liked this Maureen, and how she didn't seem fixated on his blindness but instead was asking intelligent questions about him and his history and his tastes. It wasn't something that happened often, which gave him a penchant for answering such questions with openness and honesty. "Home is Iran, or Egypt, depending on my mood. My immediate family is in Iran. Mother, father, younger brothers. But my extended family lives in Egypt, and I spent many happy summers there as a child." He indicated his intricately carved staff. "I also went to school in Egypt as well, so many friends are there for me."

"I live for traveling," he admitted. "I've never been one to play it safe or let life move past me. Going out, doing, seeing, being... It has always made me feel more alive and real." He gestured grandly with his hand, almost like he was taking in the whole world that existed outside of the shop. "There is so much world out there! I walked on an island that had been thought lost to the ocean, and I have talked with strange sorceresses and mysterious wizards." He smirked. "I even worked on a pirate ship for a little while, at a cousin's request." Well, it had really been a brothel ship, and Amanj was a bouncer, but that might be too scandalous for his new friend.

Amanj considered for a moment. "The circus has been very good to me," he conceded, "and the people are very nice. But being so far from the places that I grew up in, with no one near who speaks my language, it can sometimes feel more lonesome that I would have expected."

“Egypt.” Her voice was curious. She always wanted to go and see the pyramids. She was told that in some places the sand was as red as the setting up on the horizon. She wondered of the beauty the land may hold. She wondered so much about the world. Ireland had been all she had ever really known. She was rooted to Dublin and at times she wished she went to the call of the world around her. The blue ocean of his hair drew her eyes again. “That must still be nice to have family in both places..” She only had her family here and it was rare now for her to see any of them.

“I’ve always wanted to travel; I just…responsibly tends to root you down to a place.” He made traveling seem so wonderfully beautiful.  Her charcoal gray eyes dropped to the staff in his hand and then back up at his face. She wondered vaguely if he could see her, but instead of asking she said instead. “That must have been an experience. Did you sick from the water? I hear that is a common thing.” She had never been on a boat, though she would have surely gotten sick if she had. Maurie had yet to truly experience the world as he had. She had yet to live.


“I’m sorry you’ve ever had to feel that kind of loneliness.” She had felt her own brand of the emotion and it was nowhere near fun. Her hand moved out to rest on his, where his staff was held. “Will you be in London long or are you set to travel after you gather what you came for?” She wanted to sit and pick his brain. How curious a thing.

Amanj shrugged. "Sometimes family is nice. Other times, not as much. But I am grateful to have them when I need something to give me roots, and hold a place in the world for me." Some people might consider that a strange sentiment but it felt perfectly normal to Amanj. He could be as free and weightless as feather, but the thought of his family always gave him an anchor he could hold on to when he felt like a strong breeze would be enough to float him away.

His smile was positively infectious. "I'd leave the responsibilities to others," he advised. "Every day, the world is waiting for you just beyond the things you know. There is no bad time to go seek it out." Amanj was a big proponent of adventure and travel. "Our ship was large, so the sea sickness was not so bad. But you should have seen me trying to walk on solid land after months at sea." He chuckled. "I looked like a newborn pup, tumbling over my own legs." He was lucky that he was able to use his strange ability to figure out any obstacles in his way or he would have some some serious injury to himself, others, and loose property.

Maureen's words sounded sincere, and Amanj thought maybe he heard understanding there as well. His smile softened. "It is a good kind of sorrow. The kind that reminds you that you are real, that you feel. I do like to travel with a companion, though. To show someone else wondrous sights, to share that with another soul is a beautiful magic." He felt the touch to his hand, cooler than he'd expected, and he leaned in ever so slightly to share the woman's personal space. "I have time," he murmured, "and no one to share it with. Would you care to keep me company? I would love to talk more, to tell you stories of my travels and to hear about your life as well."