make me over [Imani]

[MADDOX DENTON]

When the owl had arrived the day before Maddox had known to disregard his plans for the night not that he actually had any. Imani coming to visit wasn't unusual or much of a surprise, it was more the vague mention of his fashion sense that had put him on alert. He might love his daughter to pieces but he certainly didn't trust her with phrases like that. He'd grown an extra sense of awareness when it came to those youngsters over the past years. Add to that the fact that his daughter could be a complete force of nature when she put her mind to something and Maddox knew better than to expect just a sweet chat.

So, Maddox had tidied the house a bit (half tempted to toss his entire closet out but he doubted even that would save him) and tried not to let a slight uneasiness from settling in his gut. A very familiar uneasiness, if 'Ni's teenage years had been anything to go by. But he had grown used to playing her doll when she was young, now wasn't all that much different he had plenty of experience with pigtails sticking out of his head at various angles. At this point her fashion choices could only probably be more flattering than smeared makeup and an overabundance of hairspray and gel.

While his own fashion sense had always tended towards the most simple, sensible things never once had he denied Imani if she wanted to play dress up or make over or both. That wasn't a trend that he planned to change any time soon.

At the sound of the doorbell Maddox headed to the entryway and opened the door with a teasingly put upon sigh, "What's the damage going to be?" He asked, already reaching to hug his daughter. With every visit it really did feel like it had been too long since the last.

IMANI DENTION

[IMANI DENTION]

"Oh. So much. You have no idea." She was quick to retort back with a smug, mischievous smirk that she had sported with him from age four all the way to now. She didn't need to have a wand or a potion to make her adoptive father putty. Just a smile or a pout (whatever the moment called for) and the will (which she never had in short supply).

Hugging. They might not be blood-related but the two of them did enjoy a good snuggle and a cuddle. She snuck an opportunity to peer over his shoulder to steal a peek of his home. "Dad, no..." Freeing herself from his grasp she weaseled around him and entered the living room gesturing out at all of the framed photos with worry and dread. "There's only photos of me in here." Turning to face Maddox she frowned, already exasperated, both hands resting on her hips. "If you ever bring my future other dad here he'll think you're some creep or worse... straight! Then he'll be future never dad." Without waiting to hear what he had to say she was off, walking around the room briskly and snagging each framed photo from every shelf and wall gathering them in a stack in her arms.

"It's worse than I thought." She sighed heavily tucking all of the photos into a hideaway chest before quickly snapping it shut and looking back at her dad. "Next stop - your wardrobe. Should I prepare some smelling salts in case I faint at what I witness in there or would a shot of fire whiskey before be better?" Tilting her head at him she now rested one hand on her hip concerned. "Or is it just gonna be a bunch of..." Her brow wrinkled and she pointed at him, scanning his appearance up and down judgmentally with her index finger. "That utter travesty?" 

[MADDOX DENTON]

Maddox huffed lightly at Imani's assessment, already bending (as if he would have been able to put up a fight anyway). As he followed her into the living room his sense of foreboding grew just a touch, "There are pictures of the two of us, two," he protested, returning her frown and propping his hands on his hips in a mirror of her. "If your future dad is upset I have pictures of my sweet daughter up he's not going to be your future father." Maddox sighed, "And if I got him home I'd certainly hope he didn't think I was straight!" The only way they'd manage that was if they were an auditor of something. Doubtful.

Still, it seemed like he was fighting a losing battle as he watched as Imani collected all of the photos from the room and carried them off. As if he wouldn't immediately put them back up as soon as she left. That said, the absence of all of the photos left the walls of the room disturbingly bare. While he could imagine maybe hanging a few pieces of art as well, maybe 'Mani had a point, there was no way he imagined his home without a plethora of family pictures.

"It isn't that bad." Maddox grumbled lightly as he took note of where Imani had dumped all of the photos. For later. "Why don't you help me pick out a painting or two?" He asked, feeling rather hopeful that that might match with her plans, "Then we can put some of the pictures back too." He added with a grin for his daughter.

"Ah - my wardrobe." Maddox thought for a few moments before deflating slightly, "You might want both?" He hadn't had any use for clothes to go out in in years. So, yeah, his wardrobe was a whole lot of repeats of slightly scruffy jeans. "Well, my fashion sense hasn't changed much since you moved out," He sighed in resignation, "So yes."

[IMANI DENTION]

"Two too many." Imani was all too quick to lecture him, tossing a few more frames into the chest seemingly without a care in the world or an awareness that they might be fragile. Out of sight, out of mind. Besides, who wanted embarrassing photos of them in messy, different sized, poofy pigtails and braces anyways? Not her. Though, upon stealing a second glass of one of the pictures she was holding, she couldn't resist smiling a bit. "I was cute as fuck, wasn't I?" She asked Maddox holding up the photo of her cheesing something awful standing beside him in the backroom of Down the Hatch, washing glasses while standing on a stepstool.

"What?" Her smile faltered slightly at the look he gave her. "Oh. Right." She blinked, lowering the photo. Language. But who the fuck did he think she had learned those words from?! "Cute as heck. I said heck." Except she didn't and hadn't. Oh well. She'd win this one as well. Maddox was always putty in her hands. All she needed to do was say jump and he wouldn't ask how high, he would just do it. "I hear that on top of being sweet she is also very pretty, very smart, and very much a badass." She blinked again. Oh. Right. "Bad butt! I said bad butt!" Also nope.

"Be real pops if you opened your mouth and said hello he would know you weren't straight but these..." She held up one of the photos again. "Are needlessly misleading." And with that, the final photo joined the others in the bin. Despite her father's protests she knew from experience that he wasn't actually pissed at her. After all, how could he be? She was adorable and precocious as all heck! There was just no way anyone could dislike her, she was convinced of it. And if they somehow magically did they would certainly have to work at it. But who the hell had the time for that?

"You're right. It isn't bad. It's horrendous." She wasted no time delivering the sick burn in the most calmly blunt of ways. "Painting yes. Pictures no." She couldn't be tricked that easily. No sir. She was two steps ahead of her adoptive father and just about everyone. Always ahead of the curve, that was Imani Denton. "Dad, seriously?" Her sigh mirrored his but hers was accompanied by an unapologetic roll of the eyes. "I've given you gift cards for that muggle store, what's the one? Tom Ford, Ford Tom, whatever... They aren't to keep. Use them, for godsake!" Would he ever learn? Not likely. He was a man of habit. A man she loved very much. Even so she would try to teach him. Every single day. She had been trying since four years old.

Moving to the closet she opened the doors and began to thumb through the items, each more disheartening than the first. "Dad... not even a blazer?" It was worse than she had initially thought.

[MADDOX DENTON]

Maddox sighed and crossed his arms, still examining the empty walls and bereft shelves around the living room. He adored the pictures of them in sloppily tye-dyed shirts with huge grins. But then all of the silly ones were his favorite - all of the ones that showed the best, brightest moments. Almost always the ones with the biggest, cheesiest grins. Yeah, he was going to be redecorating later, "Well, what else should go up then?" He couldn't imagine much better than the pictures that Imani was taking down, but his little girl had always had a way with this sort of thing. Maybe he'd have to start scrapbooking.

Cute as fuck, Maddox's eyes rolled skyward at the curse, his face firming up as he gave Imani a look. Just because he had regularly cussed out certain patrons while she was sitting next to him behind the bar didn't mean he'd encourage her cussing. It was his responsibility as her father, that was what it said in the books. "Yeah, you were cute as heck." He commented, arching an eyebrow but not pushing it further - at least until the next sentence came out of her mouth, "Oh yes, I'm sure all the cool kids are saying bad butt these days." If anyone needed any proof that he was soft for his daughter this was probably it. He'd say he was tough on Imani growing up but that'd imply he had ever been particularly tough on her. She was a good kid. "She's grown into quite the lovely, intelligent young badbutt."

Maddox sighed, staring into the chest filled with pictures. Maybe Imani did have a point about his interior decorating skills, maybe he just needed a giant coffee table photo album. "Well, I would hope so." But the last time that he had been mistaken for straight had been, well, back when he first took custody of Imani. People had a tendency to coo over men taking care of their kids, so yeah the mistake had been common back then. "You might have a point there." As loath as he was to admit that it might be a good idea for him to take down any of those pictures. "You're the interior decorating expert, not me," Maddox added, holding up his hands and giving up on trying to save the pictures from being sentenced to the chest.

"It's not that bad," he murmured, but the fight was draining out of him - he knew better than to resist an unstoppable force. Maddox trailed after her into his bedroom and to his closet, already anticipating what was to come. "Oh those," His eyes widened and he gave a helpless shrug, "I still have them, I just must have forgotten." Of course, they were just about overflowing a cookie jar in the kitchen. A cookie jar that he always tried to remember to open but also almost always forgot about, be it deliberately or accidentally. He liked his comfortable black clothes and jeans.

Maddox hummed, "I think I might have a blazer." And maybe he was a bit pleased to have something she was looking for. He reached around her to pull out an old, ill-fitting blazer, "I haven't had to wear it in a while, I don't think it fits." Maybe he did need some help.

[IMANI DENTION]

"You know, you should be relieved that it's me in here and not Uncle Phil." Imani chided hum, hands resting on her hips looking very prim, proper, and very judgmental (playfully of course - but also seriously). "He wouldn't even find a place to hide these. He'd just chuck them out the window or draw on them or something." Words said flatly like a joke were anything but. That's exactly what the ex-famous Quidditch player turned bar owner/coach would do.

"I dunno. Maybe some recognition you got teaching at Hogwarts, notes from students that you save even though you lie to me and say you don't, heck photos of places that you haven't been that you steal from magazines. I dunno, dad! Just not me plastered everywhere. It looks like a shrine to my memory in here otherwise." Or just that her adoptive father loved her very much. Imani personally liked her delivery better (as did she always).

At his compliment, she cheesed hard waving her hand in an 'oh stop it' motion. "Aw shucks dad stop it." A beat. She leaned in. "No seriously keep going." A beat. Now catching her error she straightened blinking. "I mean, I'll tell your intelligent, fierce, and bad ass daughter if I see. Oh... And did I mention funny? So funny!" She laughed boisterously at her own joke before once again turning her attention to his closet.

She paused, they both did, for a long time after he casually admitted he had a blazer. "Well... get it, pops." She leaned inward, eyes widening in impatient. What was he waiting for anyways?! "We can tailor it or, you know, we do have this little thing called... magic. Maybe you've heard of it?" She rattled off to him following him around the room.

[MADDOX DENTON]

Maddox nearly shuddered at the thought of Phil helping reorganize his home. Never ever. An actual wrecking ball seemed like a better idea. "Oh, you're always better than him," Mads commented with a shrug, arching an eyebrow at Imani's pose. Boy, did that take him back. "It's a good thing I have so much practice handling him then." Or more like dealing with and working around him, he wasn't sure Phil actually could be handled.

"I don't know what notes you're talking about," Maddox replied, a slight flush rising to his cheeks. So he was sentimental. Didn't mean he wanted all of that up for the world to see. Best to keep them hidden in an album for the days he was feeling nostalgic. He hummed consideringly, "Maybe a few landscape photos," before adding, "As long as you don't make me take down the shrine in the closet," with a chuckle.

"My fierce, hilarious little girl all grown up," it was enough to bring a tear to his eye if he dwelled on it for too long. Seeing the little baby that used to sleep across his chest all grown up brought a whole lot of feelings. Granted, different ones to the mild exasperation he was feeling now.

Maddox rifled through the very back of his closet for a few moments before pulling out the ill-fitting blazer. It had definitely seen better days but it was perfectly serviceable, though certainly from enough years ago that he'd changed shape a fair bit. "I've heard of it, just not sure how much good it'd do this," at this point he was probably better off just buying a new one. When he eventually remembered to go out and do that, whenever that would be.

[IMANI DENTION]

"If you must have a shrine in your home I guess better make it a shrine to one of the best." Imani shrugged, sporting her signature toothy grin hands resting on both of her hips. There was a certain brightness that she tried to approach everything in her life (and in others). Her work was dark enough so perhaps she overcompensated but boy did she always make it look effortless. Maddox had done plenty right in his lifetime but in raising Imani Denton, he far outdid himself. She turned out alright. Better than, really.

"Landscape photos? Of where? The bar?" She looked at her father with a slightly baffled expression, impatiently waiting for his answer. "Pops, you barely go anywhere. You just work and bug me a lot." Her expression softened so he knew right away that she wasn't serious. She liked when he bugged her, it meant that he cared. "Which I know keeps you incredibly busy but it's time that we find you some other hobbies. Knitting, dating, postage stamps, dating, teas, dating..." Yes, dating for sure. Let him meddle and worry about someone else for a change. Or, better yet, have someone fret over his wellbeing. 

Imani watched with a concerned expression as he slowly forced the blazer on. Oh boy. This was going to be more work than she had anticipated. Reaching into her coat pocket, she drew her wand from its holster. "It's a start at least..." Walking around him inspecting how the clothing item sat and fit she then waved her wand providing some mild tailoring so at the very least it didn't fit so snug. "See? Give a little more room up top, a little snug at the waist... Show off your figure gurl." She gave him a playful little tap on the behind.

"Take a look." She gestured toward the mirror turning to face his reflection along with her dad. "If we just cinch here..." She squeezed his waist. "Add an accent here... and maybe tend to this business..." Going up on her tiptoes she ruffled his shaggy mane. "We may be in business." 

[MADDOX DENTON]

Maddox shrugged, "I'm not sure the bar would be the most appealing picture to hang on the wall," but she did have a point, he hadn't done much traveling even when he was young and spritely. The furthest he had ever gone back then was Knockturn Alley, and maybe France. "I could probably get a nice picture of the forbidden forest." That was about it, though, unless he wanted the great lake hanging on his wall. There really weren't that many options, and did he really want to be reminded of work at home?

The rather shocked look that came to Maddox's face at the mention of him and dating in the same sentence so enthusiastically was something to behold. He hadn't had the time and then well, life had just gotten away from him. "Is this you saying that you're planning to set me up on dates?" Maddox couldn't even begin to imagine how rusty he was in the romance department.

Pulling on his old blazer Maddox wasn't exactly surprised how tight it was in the shoulders and arms, it'd been years since he had occasion to even consider taking the thing out. It made sense that it had grown significantly tighter in that time. Maddox gave a half yelp at the tap on his behind, though he did do his best (terrible) strut to the mirror to see for himself. "That does look good." He couldn't stop himself from agreeing, though that didn't mean that he would be incorporating them into his daily wardrobe. Much.

Add the blazer to a pair of proper pants and a button up and he'd probably look like a real gentleman. He wasn't sure the last time he'd worn a full suit, even. "As long as you're not cutting all my hair off, I suppose you could give it a trim." Lengthwise his hair wasn't going anywhere, but he was willing to subject himself to tidying it up a bit. As long as he didn't end up looking like a shorn sheep.

[IMANI DENTION]

"No offense, Pops, but if he doesn't like Hatch I don't think it'll work out." As much as her dad liked to grumble (constantly) or complain about Uncle Phil, Imani knew that he loved the place. She did too. She had practically grown up there. It was a second home next to actual home, Hogwarts, and... well... that was about it.

"... The Forbidden Forrest?" She looked at her father in shock, jaw nearly dropping. The gall! "Dad. Seriously? Nobody wants to see pictures of that. The centaurs would even be bored out of their dang minds." She sighed exasperated. At least this time she didn't curse. "We'll hang up a picture of Hawaii or Costa Rica or something. Future daddio doesn't need to know that we've never been there. Maybe it's like a vision board photo or something..." She shrugged her shoulders unbothered as if that was that and that's all there was to the matter.

"You're sure as heck dragging your feet so someone's gotta do it." Imaini planned on signing Maddox up for more dates than he could handle. They had to make up for lost time after all and she needed a dad part deux STAT. And judging by the looks of how Maddox looked in his blazer... they might stand a chance! Moving about she pulled at the blazer and his fit trying to get it to rest on his frame even better. Not bad. Not bad at all. "Do you have your eye on anyone? Anyone at all? Someone who comes in to Down the Hatch? Please not one of my old teachers..."

[MADDOX DENTON]

Maddox sighed, of course whoever he ended up with would of course have to be alright with him working at the bar. It wasn't just a small part of his life, hadn't been for a while. The bar held too many memories for it to be something that Maddox could just give up. "You're right, of course," She usually was, more so now than when she was younger trying to convince him into whatever she wanted.

"Well, it could make a decent scenery picture." Mads argued feebly, though the Forbidden Forest did seem like it would make a more foreboding image than anything else. Maybe better to send someone running than to keep them around. "Yes, I think that might be the better idea. Maybe we could go somewhere warm some time, though," Though Maddox would more likely than not end up burning no matter how much sunscreen he used. Maybe not the best idea.

That was mildly terrifying, for all that he would be willing to go on whatever dates she would set up. There was something about the anticipation over a flood of dates that was a bit overwhelming. Did he even know how to talk to men anymore? He hadn't gone looking for years, let alone flirted with anyone. "No, I haven't had my eye on anyone Imani." It was as true as anything, and certainly none of his coworkers had caught his eye. "A lot of people come through Down the Hatch, I couldn't say." Certainly there had been people who tickled his fancy every once in a while but odds were he was too busy working.

[IMANI DENTION]

"Course I'm right. I'm always right." She responded confidently without missing a beat. Both hands rested on her hips as if she were a superhero and she kind of was. She was Imani Denton: Obliviator. Social Butterfly. Princess. Icon. If you didn't recognize that you might as well catch up or be left in the dust of what wiser people already knew.

"And because I'm always right I think now's as good of a time as any to ask you what dating apps you're going to sign up for." Yes. Seamless. Subtle. He couldn't get mad about that. There was just no way! Then again... "What?" She frowned, her brow furrowing slightly as she prepared to field both defense and offense at the same time with her single father. "Are you against dating muggle men or just against using muggle technology?" Don't give him any room to rebuttal. If he wits back you lose. "C'mon, dad. It's 2020-whatever. Catch up!" Yeah, sure. That solved everything.

"Well, if you don't want to use apps you have to pick someone we know to flex on but WHO." Now this was a fun little game. Imani loved games. She loved winning them all the more. "You have to like somebody. Not Uncle Phil though. Never Uncle Phil." Besides, she was pretty sure that Maddox would kill the bar owner the first date... and Phil didn't even swing that way (that she knew of). "What's your type even other than non existent?" She sighed in a huff, growing impatient. How was she supposed to make moves to lock down her dear old dad if she didn't even know where to start!?

[MADDOX DENTON]

Maddox blinked, squinting slightly at Imani at the mention of dating apps, "What are those? Like speed dating?" Imani might have mentioned them before, but he wasn't exactly on the up and up when it came to muggle media. "I have my phone somewhere, is it on that?" Probably, right? Everything had to do with the phones these days, at least that's what it felt like. He was certainly still getting used to his (when he remembered to bring it with him). Phones hadn't looked like that back when he had started teaching, that was for certain.

He crossed his arms and huffed a bit at Imani's comment, "I'm not against dating muggle men, or those dating apps or whatever they are." Gods, he felt like such an old fogey. "I'm plenty caught up!"

Maddox barely resisted covering his eyes as he saw Imani's resolve, could only anticipate her listing out every single man that they knew until she got some kind of reaction out of him. That name, though, he couldn't help the sound of disgust combined with horror that left him. "Ugh, no, never him." Maddox sighed and ran a hand through his hair. How to appropriately explain his type to his daughter? The last time he had dated had been in his thirties. It had been different then.

"Well, back before you were born I suppose it was bad boys. A bit off the beaten track. Fun." He felt ashamed to be admitting that. To his daughter. Oh, gods, he'd said that to his daughter.

[IMANI DENTION]

"Speed dating?" Imani repeated, pausing as the question sank in then giving a dramatic roll of the eyes that was so large her head tilted back from the force. "Why don't you just hop in your horse and carriage and get to the courthouse cause you're late to vote in the Salem Witch Trials." Maddox taught Muggle Studies at her former school. He would get the reference/burn. He probably just wouldn't like it - for a number of reasons.

"What? Too dark?" Eventually she released a sigh and a more subdued eye roll. "Fine. Fine. No pops. It's not like speed dating." She stood beside him looking over her shoulder at him with a mischievous smile. "Maybe speed dating on crack." Oh man. That was another slip up wasn't it? She could already tell from the look that he was giving her. "You know what I mean!" A beat. "Actually, ya don't. But you will. Don't worry." Reaching up, she patted her adoptive father on the shoulder like one might when soothing a finicky child. "You'll be ok." Could she be any more patronizing? Probably. She wasn't trying too hard right now.

"Gimme your phone. Wait-" Not even waiting for him she held up her hand that was already holding the cellular device with a cheeky grin. "Don't bother. Already got it." Imani wasn't just a sassy pants, she was also a gifted witch and, despite Maddox's protests, a skilled pickpocket. "You're so caught up you're actually somehow behind, Pops. So what's your password? Oh. let me guess." 1-2-3-4. "In." After a brief few moments of scrolling she then crinkled her brow looking up at him. "There's no gross photos in here like your you know what, or you and somebody else's you know what, or you with your shirt off?.." Not gross for the handsome men on the internet but for his daughter? Certainly.

"Bad boys?" She exclaimed. If she had water she would have spit it out. "Pops... One time I brought home a guy with rips in his jeans and you sewed them up for him before he even finished dinner!" Her hands once again rested on her hips as she awaited his explanation... though truthfully she wasn't sure she wanted one. Her dad? Bad boys? Yuck. That certainly made her habits a bit less fun to throw in his face (including a crush on a certain fumbling older man that Maddox would have surely blown a gasket over if he could figure out what a muggle gasket was).

"Uncle Phil is fun..." A smirk. She couldn't help it. She loved riling her dad up and she knew Phil was a good way to do it.

[MADDOX DENTON]

"Yes." Maddoxx replied, with all of the conviction of a man who knew he was already doomed by the question alone. He sighed, brushing a hand through his hair, "I'll have you know that I personally haven't seen the Salem Witch Trials, and we had to trade the horse for your Hogwarts books." There. That was a burn, right? It had to be a burn.

He narrowed his eyes at his daughter but sighed again, she was helping, she was helping. Maybe it really was like speed dating on crack, for all he knew. "I certainly don't feel like I'm going to be ok." Hopefully this whole thing didn't just crash and burn on him. He was just an old man who wanted peace, and maybe a little companionship. What Maddox didn't need was to accidentally cause an international incident while trying to start dating again. He was rusty enough after all, it could happen.

Maddox narrowed his eyes on Imani as she plucked his phone out of thin air, "You don't need to know my password." Anything to avoid this. But then she had his phone open and he announced, "I'm changing my password." You know, as soon as she left and he figured out how to change his password again. And remember a new password. "I don't have any pictures of you know whats on there." Maddox huffed, "But there might still be pictures from our last vacation," featuring him shirtless in swim trunks of course.

"Bad boys." Maddox confirmed, just a little bit ashamed to be admitting this to his daughter. "Not like your sort of bad boys, bad boys were different when I was growing up," He managed, "Less ripped jeans and more leather, I suppose," The look on his face turned considering, "Do they still make them like that?" Maddox certainly hadn't seen any men his age who fit that description anywhere near recently.

"Uncle Phil is not fun, he is a pain in my ass," Maddox said, crossing his arms across his chest with a huff.