InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "GROUP HUG!"

Roger James Timothy Davies (rogeringdavies) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2014-09-17 22:17:00

Entry tags:

character: pansy parkinson, character: roger davies, status: complete

RP: Is this lunch or an inquisition?
Who: Pansy and Roger

What: Lunch

Where: Bella's Ristorante, London

When: Wednesday, 2pm sharp

Rating: SFW

Roger walked into the restaurant at ten to two, dressed with just the right amount of care and indifference to play the game correctly. At the mention of his name, he was whisked away by the maître d', past a group of shrill society women, to the best table in the house. Chuckling to himself, he undid the buttons of his jacket and sat down, content to wait for Parkinson's arrival - no doubt in at least fifteen minutes time. He didn't know what the hell this was about, but he was more than willing to see it out, especially if it turned out to be amusing as he thought it would.

A ubiquitous waiter appeared and offered him a drink. Pausing for a moment, Roger ordered a bucket of champagne to be brought out ten minutes past two. Chuckling, he settled down to wait.

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pans_parkinson_
2014-09-17 11:37 pm UTC (link)

Pansy was slightly later than she'd intended to be. She had no qualms about letting Roger wait, but she hadn't meant to be ten minutes behind schedule. Five, at the most, was as far as she'd push the limits of propriety. Waiting did a man good, kept him on his toes. Five minutes was expected, ten was impolite and gave the man an advantage. Pansy hated for anyone, especially anyone male, to have the advantage.

She'd needed the time, though, to calm down from her meeting with fucking Anthony Morgan. The fat prick thought he could fire her? Oh, he was going to regret the day he'd decided to cross Pansy Parkinson. She'd be sure of that. Fired. The word ate at her as she took calming breaths in her office. Nattie was cleaning up the shards of the vase that had been shattered at the height of Pansy's rage. It was an action she regretted now; she hated when she lost control of her emotions. Better to be cool and collected than angry.

"Mistress, you'll be late if you don't leave now," Nattie said, giving Pansy's hand a soothing pat. "Forget about the wretched man, yes listen to Nattie now. Beastly man, doesn't know how to treat a lady. You be better than him."

Pansy took another breath, then smoothed her hair back into the professional knot she'd twisted it into before her meeting with Nimbus. The meeting where she'd been fired. No, don't think of that now. She had to be cool when meeting with Roger Davies. She didn't know him, and couldn't let him know she was upset. That would give him the power, even if her emotional state had nothing to do with him. So she took another breath, studied herself in the mirror, and pushed everything down. Merlin knew she had years of practice at emotional repression; it was easy enough to fall back into the habit now.

"Thank you Nattie. I don't know what I'd do without you." Giving the elf an uncharacteristic kiss to the weathered cheek, Pansy grabbed her bag and headed out, heels clicking confidently on the pavement as she walked towards Bella's.

It only took a few minutes to reach the restaurant, and she was shown immediately to their table. She took her time studying him as she crossed the dining area, appreciating that he'd taken some effort, but not too much, with his appearance. He certainly was attraction, and she could see the appeal, but looks weren't everything. She'd see what he was made of, and deem him worthy or not of Marcus' friendship--or anything else.

"Mr. Davies, I'm sorry to keep you waiting," she said smoothly, giving him points for rising as she approached the table, and more for pulling out her chair. He had manners, or at least the ability to fake them. "Thank you for indulging me with this lunch. I admit, I have ulterior motives, but we'll get to those." More points for the bucked of chilled Champagne that arrived as soon as she did.

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rogeringdavies
2014-09-18 02:49 am UTC (link)

Roger watched as Pansy entered the restaurant and was shown past the now definitely shrill society women. He watched her studying him and forced down the gurgle of a laugh as he stood smoothly and walked around to pull her chair out for him. "Ms. Parkinson, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said, with a small quirk of his lips. "And a lady is never late, her companion is only early." He sat back and lifted an eyebrow at her. "I see, well I look forward to finding out exactly what those motives are."

He took a moment to study her as the champagne arrived, eliciting a nod of approval from her. This little meeting was about Roger's friendship with Marcus, that much was obvious. But the question that remained was what exactly about his friendship with Marcus did Pansy want to know? "Do you have any recommendations," he asked her, smiling prettily. "I tend to eat at Muggle restaurants, so I haven't been here in a while."

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pans_parkinson_
2014-09-18 03:12 am UTC (link)

She was not unaware of his amusement, he barely attempted to hide it, but decided to find it charming rather than annoying. It was better than fear; if he'd been afraid of her, he could hardly stand for Marcus should things grow beyond friendship for them. She had no patience for weak-willed men, unless their will went directly in counterpoint to her own.

"I assure you everything is delicious, but if you'd like a real treat the ravioli is unique. If you'd rather a meat, the lamb is my first choice." Pansy preferred Wizard dining to Muggle, but she had acclimated to Muggle over the years. One had to learn to be flexible to appeal to clients, but Bella's was a cut above the competition. Even in the new location.

She picked up the champagne flute, and sipped it, approved. "Very fine choice, Mr. Davies. Do you have an interest in wine?"

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rogeringdavies
2014-09-18 03:50 pm UTC (link)

Roger smiled at her, vastly amused by her manner and conduct. Here was a duchess if ever there'd been one. Idly he imagined what would happen if the woman in front of him met his grandmother, and nearly laughed out loud at the thought. "I think I'll try the raviolli then, thank you for suggesting it."

"Thank you, Ms. Parkinson. I must admit that I do have an appreciation of wine. My mother grew up rather modestly, but she definitely didn't. She taught me how to behave like a billionaire's grandchild, even if the billionaire in question didn't admit to my existence." He smiled at her pleasantly. When in doubt his mother had always told him to dazzle the competition with his smile and blast them with inane tidbits information. Not that Pansy Parkinson was precisely competition, but the advice still stood. "And you? I can guess that you probably have an appreciation for the finer things?"

He lifted his eyebrows at the waiter who rushed over to take their orders. "Ladies first," he said, nodding to Pansy.

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pans_parkinson_
2014-09-19 12:32 am UTC (link)

Pansy found herself smiling back, though she wasn't quite sure why. He was very charming, she'd give him that, and not sulking over being summoned to lunch with her. She was not unaware that most people found need to control everything off-putting; that he was willing to play along spoke in his favor. "You're welcome, and please, call me Pansy."

"Please, call my Pansy," she said, after another sip of the sparkling wine. She filed away the little bit about being a billionaire's grandson; she'd want to look into that herself in the future. "My father had an extensive wine collection, so I made it a point to learn all I could about the subject growing up." She'd wanted to impress him, and later Draco, by being able to pick the perfect wine for each course of a dinner party. "You'd be right about that. Life is all about the finer things."

She gave the menu a cursory once over. "I'll have the risotto, Gio, thank you."

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rogeringdavies
2014-09-19 02:03 pm UTC (link)

Roger relaxed slightly as she smiled at him. His charming demeanour combined with the fact he hadn't put on a performance of wounded masculinity at being ordered to lunch probably helped his cause. "Of course, Pansy. You can call me Roger if you'd like."

He smiled absently at her momentary focus on the detail of his antecedents. He'd more or less kept it out of the press - by any means necessary - in order to avoid having his background be more interesting than his abilities on the pitch. "An extensive wine collection and a knowledge of wine would definitely help the junior partner at Vector Advertising do her job I imagine?" He delivered the tidbit of information without any malice, merely presenting it as an indication that he wasn't the brainless Quidditch player that some liked to label him as in the press. "The finer things in life are excellent. Although the size of the wine cellar in my grandparent's villa in Skyros is truly obscene. I'm not even sure why someone would need that many millions of euros worth of wine."

"The ravioli di piselli, please," he said, flashing a grin at the waiter, who smiled back despite himself. Once he'd left, Roger turned and looked at the woman in front of him with a small smile. "So, as much as I'm sure you'd love to listen to my prattle about my grandparents, I'm sure you'd be interested in discussing something different?"

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pans_parkinson_
2014-09-25 12:39 am UTC (link)

"All right, Roger. Thank you." She smiled at him, eyes sparkling. He wasn't what she'd expected, but she thought that was a good thing. She could certainly see the appeal he'd present to Marcus, even if Marcus wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Hopefully Roger had as much patience as he had charm.

She inclined her head slightly in agreement. "It does come in handy on occasion." And wasn't he a font of unexpected information. "Your grandparents live in Skyros? I've been there, it's simply beautiful there. Do you get much chance to visit them?" She did wonder why he kept dropping such intriguing hints about his grandparent's wealth, but she'd tuck that question away for a later time.

Appreciating that Roger wasn't one to beat around the bush, she smiled at him. "You're the direct one, aren't you? As it happens, I do have an ulterior motive for asking you to lunch."

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rogeringdavies
2014-09-26 02:48 pm UTC (link)

Roger smiled at her cheekily. "You're welcome dear, always happy to kick things off well."

He nodded, "They live between homes in Skyros, Paris, and New York," he said with a smile. "I have been to their homes though, yes." It probably wasn't fair to generalise, but he'd found over the years that those with privileged backgrounds tended to be less patronising if he mentioned his family background.

He made an amused huffing sound and nodded. "I rather thought you might. May I query as to what those motives might be, Pansy?"

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pans_parkinson_
2014-09-30 11:02 pm UTC (link)

She arched a brow as he named off the various places his grandparents had homes in. She understood now that he was making a point of saying he was as wealthy as any of her acquaintance, and wondered at herself how she'd missed that the first go around. It was amusing, and not unwelcome. At least she didn't have to worry about Roger being interested in Marcus for his wealth, what there was of it.

"Paris is one of my favorite places, but there's just something about New York that's so exciting." Two could play this game, and it was one Pansy enjoyed.

Appreciating his bluntness, and that he didn't pretend not to know why she'd called him here, she leaned forward just slightly, still grinning. "Motives of friendship, of course. I always make a point to acquaint myself with those who my friends find...interesting."

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rogeringdavies
2014-10-02 04:09 pm UTC (link)

Roger felt a smile tug at he corners of his mouth as Pansy's eyes suddenly lit up with understanding. At least she was getting it. It made the whole conversation so much easier, particularly if this was some sort of odd screening process for... something.

He nodded and hummed slightly in agreement. "I quite like New York as well. I love being swallowed up in huge crowds of people going about their own business. It makes me feel insignificant and safe; which probably sounds bonkers but there it is."

"So this is some sort of screening process for my friendship with Marcus," he asked, expertly hiding his growing panic that somehow Pansy would know that Roger had feelings for Marcus. "Because if you're worried about anything, you should put your mind at ease. Marcus is one of my favourite people."

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pans_parkinson_
2014-10-02 11:00 pm UTC (link)

Pansy would be the first to admit that she was not a fan of feeling insignificant, but she thought she understood what he was saying. "Big cities are great for anonymity, which can certainly be beneficial from time to time."

She leaned forward slightly, her smile edged with the tiniest bit of a threat now. "He's one of my favorite people too." The fact that she'd hurt anyone who hurt him went unsaid, but she had a feeling Roger was savvy enough to get it. After a moment, she leaned back and this time there was no trace of a threat in her smile.

"Now, tell me about the Arrows chances this season. Aside from your injury, you've had a string of good games until now. Can the Arrows keep it going for the rest of the season?"

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rogeringdavies
2014-10-03 01:54 pm UTC (link)

Roger nodded and smiled at her. "Its the same reason I quite like walking around Muggle London. I don't get mobbed by fans, but more importantly I'm not followed by any of those idiotic twits who like to write lies in about the lives of Quidditch players in their columns."

"I'm glad," Roger said, a ghost of a smile hovering on his lips. So she was worried about her friend. That more than anything else led Roger to decide that he liked the woman sitting in front of him. Yes, she was cold and calculating, but she cared deeply for her friends and that was good enough for him. "I think you're smart enough to pick up that I'd do anything for him, Pansy."

He shrugged and spread his arms helplessly. "Our chasers are some of the best in the league, and our beaters are like battering rams. It's our keeper and seeker that cause me a bit of worry. Things are a bit inconsistent. I'd like to say we could make the finals, and I think we will... But I can't tell you if we'll get the cup."

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pans_parkinson_
2014-10-06 05:01 pm UTC (link)

Pansy was an avid reader of all things gossip-related, for business purposes of course, she knew just what sorts of things Roger was talking about. "Yes, I think I recall a few interesting tidbits from Rita Skeeter, involving you and an underage witch from Liverpool?" Rita Skeeter was always worth a look, even if it was to laugh at whatever she put in the paper.

She studied him closely for a minute, than gave him a small but genuine smile. "Yes, I suppose you would." She wasn't Marcus was at the point where he understood that, or if he did understand she didn't think he was ready to act on it, but it was enough that Roger was at that point.

"It's still early in the season, but if you keep on as you have been I think you have a good chance at that cup." They'd have to work hard, and keep Puddlemere on their toes, but it was certainly a high possibility.

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rogeringdavies
2014-10-07 01:43 pm UTC (link)

Roger rolled her eyes and nodded. "Did you read the one in the Oracle the other week, about how Marcus apparently got three different women pregnant then had an affair with the Dutch Minister for Magic? I mean it was impressive, but rage inducing. They don't seem to invent as crazy stuff with me, which always confuses me slightly."

He smiled at her sadly for a moment. "Believe me when I tell you this. I know he and I could never be together, but I'll always be his friend and I will always have his back."

"Thank you for you confidence," he said with a genuine smile. "I mean we have to keep Puddlemere on their toes, but we might just be able to do it." He gave her an arch little smile, "Though didn't you put Puddlemere on the map?"

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