Asher Greengrass, Sweet Promiscuous Prince (sacredeight) wrote in cultureic, @ 2016-10-15 20:55:00 |
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Entry tags: | asher greengrass, jacob sloper |
I’ve always considered you a friend I don’t see why that has to end
WHO: Jacob Sloper & Asher Greengrass
WHAT: A heart-to-heart while filing.
WHEN: Backdated to Wednesday evening, Oct 12
WHERE: Critters Office
WARNINGS: None
Jacob didn't speak as he carefully sorted through each of the old, outdated files Asher had picked out, focusing on matching each to the new forms that would replace them. His mood stoic and dour… even for his typically laconic and surly temper. As they whiled away the time working on Asher's project, whatever ease and friendliness (however bizarre it might have been) that had formed between them in the last few months seemed to have disappeared. Finally, after a stretch of sullen silence that even he found uncomfortable, Jacob spoke up, "It's worked out well for you, hasn't it?" Asher was lost in thought when Jacob spoke, the words pulling him out of 'Cases from Ottery St Catchpole' and all the various ways he was considering organizing the cross referencing. He'd appreciated Jacob offering to help, even if things between then had been cold for quite some time now. It wasn't too different from most of the time he'd worked with the man, and after he'd noticed Jacob had started calling him 'Mr Greengrass,' he'd resigned himself to one more friendly type he'd lost. "Wha-?" He started. "Er, what's worked out well for me?" "Pip." Jacob stopped himself, trying to keep the contempt out of his voice, "Avery getting promoted to Head. It's all about who you know, right?" It was cruel. Probably crueller than he needed to be, but he had to know just how deep Greengrass was in with his old classmate. Setting down the paper he was filing, Asher looked over at Jacob, an unimpressed look on his face. "Yeah, it's fantastic," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "So glad my former best mate's a Death Eater so I can get this promotion." Asher stopped, realising what he had just said. Apparently all the feelings of the past month he'd pushed away had been just waiting under the surface for someone, anyone, to ask him about. He had to be more careful. "Best mate, I mean. Just best mate," he insisted. Jacob watched Asher in silence for a few moments, considering him. What he'd said. What it meant. Then, he cast a quick glance around the empty Department and let out a sigh, "So even his friends are starting to notice the little shit's rotten to the core…" "He not—" Asher stopped, realising he didn't really want to defend Pip, not this time. Instead he looked down, at the paper that he'd been holding moments before, and shoved it into a file. "You know," he said, picking up the next file, his voice cold. "It was pretty obvious after he got promoted, but he's still never even admitted it to me. Evan too. My best mates for over twenty years — Pip's my cousin even! — and they can't even say it to my face." Jacob watched Asher again, unsure of what to say. It was hard to reassure the kid when he knew that things weren't ever going to be 'alright'. Finally, he settled on, "You deserve better." "Not just the lying to your face. But the promotion. I know I give you shit, but things like this--" he gestured at the paperwork spread around them, Asher's project, "Thestral Thursday, they show that you could do a good job leading the division one day. But because of the way Pip did it, there's always going to be people doubting you. A friend wouldn't do that to you." "You deserve better, Asher." The file in his hand was forgotten and Asher turned himself around so he was sitting leaned against the wall. He leaned his head back and groaned, out of frustration, out of stress. "I don't really have it that bad," he tried to tell Jacob. It was how he rationalised it to himself. "I reckon plenty of folks have it a lot worse. Most people, if you run into a Death Eater, you're dead. For me, I just got yelled at for saying You-Know-Who's name, I guess — I don't remember because I was drunk — and the time before that…" Asher paused. He shouldn't be talking about this, but he had no one to talk to about it with. "He made me make an Unbreakable Vow with him so he wouldn't kill my girlfriend, but now he's dead so it's void." He shrugged. "I'm pretty lucky." Jacob frowned, "I wouldn't call that lucky, Asher. Horrific, more like." "It could be worse." That was his mantra lately, the not-very-encouraging thought the best thing he had found so far to keep him from slipping into it all. He was fine. It could be worse. It wasn't that bad. If he let the horror of it all sink in, he wouldn't be able to function. "And the promotion? I asked him for that." He shrugged. "Why not? I've lost all my mates to the Death Eaters, one way or another, might as well get the only thing out of it I can. Won't ever be like what it was before all this but… what else is there?" He was half talking to himself, but after a moment he looked up, looked Jacob in the eye and shook his head. "I'm so bloody stupid, you know? I wanted— I thought…" He paused, looking away. "I thought they were brilliant, once. Right after Hogwarts. I thought I'd get invited and it'd be cool and... "I didn't know shit." "Well now you know enough to know it's all bullshit," Jacob offered as a consolation, "That's something, at least." He went back to filing after that, not quite sure what else to say. It was a shitty situation. Things were shitty for almost everyone. "...did you tell Avery about us?" Asher frowned at that, with his forehead. "No," he said, dropping another file back into the drawer. He'd genuinely forgot about the day he and Jacob had talked about it while Pip was going through Remus Lupin's file. "He knows?" A pause. "Well, at least he can't afford to fire either of us. I think." "He knows," Jacob noted quietly, "Threatened me with it the other day, kind of." "And he can't not fire me. A Deputy who has two decades of experience on him? He can't keep that around too long. Either I'll get fired or there'll be some kind of… 'accident'." He thought it over and then shrugged, trying to seem casual about the idea. "My days here are numbered." "What? No!" Asher's surprise was genuine and full of concern. "But we've got barely anyone left, surely he wouldn't…" He stopped, realizing he didn't really know what Pip would or wouldn't do, not anymore. "You've gotta be careful, yeah?" "I'm gonna be as careful as I can be, at least," Jacob shrugged again. Then chuckled wryly, "Sure as hell not going to make it easy on the little shit. He wants me out, he'll get a fight." He let that dark joke hang between them for a few moments, leafing through a few more files. Across from him, the other man cringed. "Really though, Asher. You deserve better." The words hung in the air as Jacob continued to flip through files and Asher sat, unmoving. "I reckon," he begrudgingly agreed. "But what does that even mean? What's 'better'? What's left? I've got… what, two? Two friends who aren't Death Eaters. And this job. That's it." "Well, I still think you're alright. So that should count for something." Jacob suggested, "And you've got a knack for this job when you put your mind to it-- if it came to it, you could probably do the same somewhere else." The corner of Asher's mouth twitched into a smile, the first in days. "Yeah, well…" he said, suppressing the urge to brush it off. "I think you're all right too. I'd be…" He paused, not entirely wanting to think about the new reality Jacob had put into his head. "I'd be upset if Pi-- Avery tries to push you out." Hate if something happened to a friend. And then Asher reached his limit, unable to be serious any longer for fear of it drowning him. He forced a smirk. "This means we're going to get friendship bracelets, yeah?" "Oh yeah. And maybe I'll even teach you the secret Critter handshake." Jacob laughed quietly, "...maybe." |