Geoffrey Wagtail. (geoffster) wrote in daysthatwere, @ 2012-10-22 22:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | geoff wagtail, jo savage |
Who: Geoff Wagtail & Jo Savage
When: October 18, noon
Where: Muggle London!
What: Geoff provides a much needed distraction for his new bff and asks a few questions.
Warnings: Language!
Jo had never been inside of Hex-Mex -- least of all during the lunch rush -- and so the riot of noise, colour and a thousand other variables took her off her guards. Manech would claim too much solitude and too much wine would make anyone sensitive to the riot of life. She could feel the hair prickle at the back of her neck and the sweat pop out along her brow. A patron coming through the door inadvertently trucked her in the shoulder and after a vaguely hostile apology, she stepped aside and let the back wall support her. A count (one, two …) and a deep breath suddenly reminded her of her purpose before she opened her eyes to scan for Geoff, head and shoulders above the crowd. She cleared her throat and then: “Here I am. We are not staying.” Truthfully, Geoff had completely forgotten that he'd told Jo to stop by. Between his talk with Tamsin the night before, the bottle of whisky he'd finished and taking care of Hex-Mex that morning, it'd slipped his mind, left somewhere underneath a pile of bills and pay cheques that he'd been looking over. Miraculously, the place was still standing. Geoff honestly had no idea why or how. It had no right to be when so many other shops and cafes were going out of business., and especially not when Victor wasn't even around. But there they were. Addie deserved all of the credit, as far as Geoff was concerned. She was there every day, and he could only stop in a few days a week. Jo's voice pulled his attention up from the counter, and he found himself grinning despite his low mood. "The smell of Mexican not doing it for you?" he asked, teasing her lightly. "Just -- let me tell everyone I'm leaving, yeah?" It didn't take long -- he checked in with Addie to make sure everything was all right, helped answer a few questions from one of the other employees, stopped to talk to a customer -- before he was by her side again. One hand reached out to touch her back gently and steer her back to the door. "What's the plan?" “It’s not that. It smells nice, just --” A pause. “I didn’t know this was your place,” she said quietly, allowing him to lead her through the door. When they reached the street and she felt golden bars of sunlight stripe her back and warm her neck, she stopped to take his hand and pull him forward. “I know this little park.” He could fill in the blanks well enough -- too public, he assumed, too crowded -- and he couldn't blame her. "It's not. It's my best mate's, Victor. He fucked off, left it behind for me and one of the girls to look after." Although there was still a hint of bitterness in his voice over the added responsibility, it faded more with each letter from Victor. If Victor was happy, Geoff could do this one thing for him. "All right." He gave her hand a squeeze, hoping it was comforting. "Lead the way." It was. She hated that she needed it but felt, in the absence of Fabian or Manech or any familiar presence that Geoff was both new and old. Maybe it was that quiet rock-solid consistency which hid the rapier wit. Maybe it was that he took her teasing with a good will -- but really, she knew, it was because he was there. And he dared to continue to be there. Sliding through a few knots of wizards in peaked hats, she finally wound through the alleys to Muggle London and stood on the brink of a small alcove. A few trees dotted the green space surrounded by old brick buildings and warehouses. To the left, beneath a portico, were tiles inscribed to the memory of several individuals. Then, she stepped inside and motioned toward a corner bench. “Back to the wall, you can see the entire park and watch the entrance. There’s a hot dog vendor outside if you’re hungry.” This - little secrets tucked away in alleyways, a sliver of peace and quiet in a big city - was why he loved London so much. "How'd you find this?" he asked, surprised. His eyes scanned the small park, taking it in. "I had no idea this was here, and I've lived in London my whole life." Different neighbourhoods, but he knew it well all the same. "I can see why you like it. Good view of the exit..." He grinned. "Once an Auror, always an Auror?" “Surprise?” After he spoke she realized, suddenly, that she was still holding onto his hand. She let it go slowly, sheepishly aware of herself for an instant before her sigh settled her shoulders back with a sigh. “It’s good for a break on night patrol when you want away from wizards.” Her smile was crooked as she sat, one leg curled beneath her on the bench. “Not that I generally admit that.” "Hey, we all need a break sometimes," he said, settling in beside her. "I like getting away too. My favourite pubs are Muggle." Though he'd noticed how she hadn't let go right away, he didn't comment on it; he just draped an arm over the back of the bench, behind her shoulders. "More variety. Music, and beer too. And people. I like watchin' them." For all of the wonderment of her newfound magic and the freedom from her parents’ miserable lives it afforded to her, her time in Britain found her with moments in which she wished that she could break her wand and live as the Muggles did -- “Yes,” she said quietly. “Me too.” Asking if she was okay would have been stupid. Geoff knew she wasn't. How could she be, after what she'd been through? It was getting easier to figure her out after the night she'd spent over at his house. He lowered his arm slightly and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "What's on your mind?" He had a hundred questions to ask her about Fabian, but he wanted to see how much she'd offer up before throwing it at her. “Everything,” she said. “Nothing.” She sat back and let her shoulders lean against his arm before she thought better of it (weakness, Josette) and stooped forward. With her chin in the palm of her hand, she turned her shoulders to offer him up a crooked smile. “I guess I just wish I’d get back to fucking work, you know?” "Yeah, I know." He'd never suffered a loss like hers, but that didn't mean he didn't understand at all. "I was eager to get back after Georgie died. I hated sitting around doing nothing, not when I could be useful. That's when I started bothering everyone about moving to Homicide. I couldn't be an Auror, but I could do something." Funny how it hadn't really given him any hope in the end at all. People still died, there were still no suspects sometimes. "You could come work at Hex-Mex," he suggested with a smirk. "If you're bored." “ -- why couldn’t you be an Auror? I mean, I always thought Hitwizards had it harder than Aurors but still. Why?” She cleared her throat and leaned toward him, brushing her shoulder against his arm. “Bringing them in would be nice but killing them, oh. Killing every mother-loving son of a Death Eating bitch would be so completely pleasurable. I just --” Then, a pause. She grinned -- a brilliant, self-effacing smile. “Probably not unless you’d like a burrito chucked at your customers’ heads.” "Could be entertaining," Geoff conceded with a laugh and a shake of his head, "but probably not the best for business." He didn't have an excuse for why he couldn't join the Auror force instead. He'd never tried, so he didn't know what his superiors and what the leadership of the Auror Office would say. "And I didn't think they'd let me," he admitted, looking a touch embarrassed for being insecure. "It was a fight just to get on Homicide. But it's all right. Thanks for giving us that credit. Not a lot of people do sometimes. Just because your lot gets to fight the dark wizards." “That’s why you’ve got it harder. We concentrate on Dark Wizards - by the way, Narcissa Malfoy is a bint for trying to extol Dark Magic - but you get everybody else. Your skills have to be --” she snapped her fingers. “Like that.” After a breath -- “Listen, Geoff. I know you want to talk about something. You’d better have it out before we both get tired of dancing.” "Yeah… yeah, they do." Not everyone saw that, unfortunately, but Geoff appreciated that at least one person did. "It's bloody hard. Especially all the werewolves and vampires. It's bloody hard." Geoff rolled his eyes at her comment -- and, truthfully, at how well she'd seen through him asking to see her -- but he kept his posture casual. "How come you think I have something in particular to talk about? Why can't I just want to talk to you in general?" There was the issue with Tamsin that was still nagging at the back of his mind, but that he didn't want to talk about. “The first time you came to get me out of the Morgue we talked like -- well, there wasn’t this got a spare moment and this trying to take care of me business.” Her lips pursed. “It’s not that I’m complaining, alright? It’s rather nice, really. But eggshells crack, pretty boy.” Then -- “So what of it.” "Did you ever stop to consider maybe I just wanted to see you?" he countered, eyebrows lifting skyward as he looked at her. There was some truth in that, too, and he remembered admitting that to Tamsin one night several weeks before. Several of his friends were dead now, and his brother and his best friend were both in South America. There were few people left, and while that was his own fault, he felt the loneliness even more now that he couldn't call upon Tamsin for company. He sighed. "But fine, the truth." If it'd help her relax and open up, he'd put himself out there first. "Tamsin got tired of me, and you're the extent of what's left of my social circle these days. And," he continued slowly, carefully, "I was worried about you after everything that's happened this week. So there you go.” Her pronouncement: “Tamsin’s a baby British fool for getting tired of you with all your rugged handsome and inner sensitivity. She’ll come to realize it sooner or later -- but there it is. You are also the extent of my social circle so it’s good to have one --” she gestured between them slowly. “You know. Friend, I guess.” Then, an arched brow: “Well, I’m not going to go all to pieces and snot everywhere.” Geoff saw her at her lowest, unable to will herself to move from the floor. He had to be allowed to see behind the bravado, past the tight lipped stranger most of the rest knew. “I’m holding it together -- barely -- he left me a letter, trying to absolve me of all guilt. It didn’t work so well.” "Or she won't," Geoff pointed out. That felt more like a real possibility to him than Tamsin changing her mind. Either way, it -- whatever it had been -- was over, and he was going to accept that. One positive thing to come out of it already was that he'd gotten Jo to admit that she was just as pathetically alone as he was. At least they had that. Her next confession was more than he'd expected. After how she'd jumped on him, he hadn't expected much disclosure at all. "What did it -- what did he say?" “It’s a risk, isn’t it?” With a deep breath, she rubbed her palms together slowly to bring the blood to the surface and warm them. She shook her head -- “He told me to let him go and to live my bloody life without him so that I could find someone else to love. Given the fact that he knew of my parents and my situation, I’m sure he was attempting to impart some great final wisdom in the sad, short story that was us.” The ring he gave her -- the sweet, delicate set of emeralds -- lay heavy on the long gold chain, the metal a talisman pressed to her breast. “That’s what he said.” It was a risk -- and at that specific moment, it was one Geoff didn't want to make. There was a reason he hadn't wanted a relationship, after all. As she explained what was in the letter, he pulled his arm back to himself and crossed both over his chest. It was ridiculous, he thought, to ask something so huge of someone you loved so shortly after you passed away. That wasn't when one's partner would be in the frame of mind to even consider moving on, not when they needed to grieve the loss. How long had it taken his brother to look at Anne in a different light, after all? Geoff had honestly doubted Aaron would ever look at another woman in a romantic way again. He breathed out a short, dry sort of laugh. "It's bloody easy to say that sort of shit when you're not the one being left behind. Like it's just a matter of flicking your wand. Bam, now you're over it. That's not how it fucking works." No longer mourn for me when I am dead then you shall hear the surly sullen bell. Instinctively, her fingertips went to the gold chain around her neck and slid down to press against the ring which lay nestled just beneath her collar. She stood and turned to him, placing one fist on either hip as she regarded him. “It was a grand gesture -- incomparably sweet.” The ring was her secret. “He surely meant well.” "I'm sure he did," Geoff agreed, looking up at her with gentle suspicion. He didn't know Fabian well enough to say for sure, but he had a feeling the man wouldn't have done something like that to be vindictive. It didn't fit. "And it's nice. It just doesn't chance anything, does it? You're here, and you're still going to hate yourself when you find someone else." But maybe it would've helped Aaron. There was no way to know. "No one ever says go find someone new because I love you and want you to be happy when they just break up. No, then they want you to be miserable. Alone. And either way, that's where you end up. Alone." “I think he was hoping I would --” finally, she grinned and perched next to him on the bench, knocking shoulders. “However, I’m quite sure that he was a hopeless optimist. If I could bring him back to life long enough to choke him, I would. But until then, I’m alone, sure. Except for you, my favourite bottle of wine and the long list of potential Dark Wizards to keep me warm at night.” Geoff laughed. "Except only one of those is keeping you company at night, and it isn't me or those Dark Wizards." Well, minus that one night. He hoped she was right about Fabian, otherwise she'd be sitting up feeling guilty for a long, long time. It'd be worse once she found someone else, if she ever let herself. He bumped her shoulder back. "So do I need to be worried that they'll be knockin' on my door next?" he asked, his voice casual and not at all like he was running an interrogation. Just one friend worried about another, just a man looking out for himself and those closest to him. "Just so I can be ready. Maybe the DMLE'll let me switch if I bring one of them in?" “I’ve got a very nice collection of wine and I’m generous, pretty boy. You needn’t be jealous.” A smirk fluttered briefly at the corners of her lips before she let her cheek rest lightly on his shoulder. “What -- a Dark Wizard? Do you think I’m some sort of vigilante harbinger of doom, Geoff? I’m sure you can draw their fire well enough on your own without my help.” "I'll be jealous until you start sharing," he countered, matching her smirk with one of his own. It faded as she leaned in, turning more wistful. It struck him as a bit funny and a bit alarming just how easily they'd come to be so comfortable around each other. For the most part, Geoff considered it a good sign. He knew he could trust his instincts, and they were only saying good things about Jo. "I'm sure I can draw attention from their dark army at least, but not so sure about them." He paused, considering how to ask the questions he wanted to ask so desperately. "You'd tell me if you were, wouldn't you? I know we -- we don't know each other that well, but would you? I can't help if I don't know shit about what's going on." “ -- the last thing I am is a vigilante,” was a mutter. Geoff was warm; he was strong and imposing but comfortable in all the right ways. He cared. And better than Fabian or Manech or even Rufus? He was there. He continued to be there. “I swear.” Geoff was tempted to sit up straighter and pull away enough to look at her, but that'd involve disrupting her and he wasn't sure he could do that. Instead, he had to take her at her word, and trust what little he could see of her expression. He inhaled slowly, then exhaled. "Okay." There was no real way of knowing if she was being honest without giving her a dose of Veritaserum, so he'd just have to trust her. Somehow. "I'm not either." If she was being honest, it'd throw the investigation off slightly -- but Geoff felt more relieved than anything else. “I didn’t smell Muggleborn hating vigilante on you so cheers, you’re not one of the others, either.” A pause. “If your department is worried about the note, have me tracked. I’m no vigilante and really, you’ve probably got better things to do. I listen to a lot of bad music, drink a lot of wine and work. So, I guess, it will be very easy …” Although that was part of his department's current duties, Geoff knew he couldn't admit that to Jo. She was smart enough to guess what they were doing, but he still had to do his part to keep it quiet until his bosses officially took her off the suspect list. "You sound like me, you know. Bad music, drinking, working…" It was a sad story when he really thought about it, but it would make it easier for the rest of the team to track her. The only downside was that someone might be watching them right now, and he wasn't looking forward to the eyes turning on him next. "Everyone would be so disappointed if they knew this was what our lives were really like, instead of like on the wireless." “If our lives are like the wireless, I had better start wearing much sexier dresses to work.” She stood again, this time offering him her arm to use pulling up. “I’ve got to go back and see about changing my wardrobe to fit the expectations of our adoring public. If I’m going to be a Muggleborn with the touch of doom, at least I ought to try looking good doing it.” Geoff took her arm and pulled himself up, letting go once he was on his feet. "This is where I'm supposed to say something about how your dresses are already sexy, and if you go shopping, you'd distract everyone, right?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive and playful manner. While his expression was certainly a touch flirtatious, Geoff didn't think much of it. "But hey, if you want to go shopping, it wouldn't be right for me to keep you from it. You're a Muggleborn with the touch of doom, and what would that make me…?" “That’d make you a man standing between a girl and her self-medication. And no, I don’t mean burritos.” She paused for a moment, then, and squeezed his hand. “You’re too good, Geoff, and I hope Tamsin realizes her mistake.” She held him fast for another moment before releasing him and stepping back to smile. “Tell your department that I’m actually flattered to be listed at all. It means I ruffled the right Death Eaters in all their sexy places.” A wink, then, she turned to walk out. His mouth fell open as he started to ask her what exactly she meant by self-medication, but after a moment, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what she meant. Looking out for her was -- well, it wasn't quite a burden, just as looking out for his brother hadn't been, but it did weigh on his shoulders all the same. Maybe it was better to stay ignorant, lest he worry more. The mention of Tamsin had him closing his mouth in a tight line, his discomfort showing but that he ignored too. It wasn't what he and Tamsin had agreed to, the emotions, a real relationship. "Poor Death Eaters," he muttered. "Hey -- you just going to leave me here alone? At least let me buy you a hot dog or something." “I didn’t think you wanted to go dress shopping -- or --” she narrowed her eyes as she spun around and placed a hand on her hip -- “Maybe you do. But still; hot dogs, ahoy.” "You'll need someone to carry your bags, yeah? That's all I'm interested in, I swear it." He didn't have a reason to go back to Hex-Mex yet, and he didn't want to go home yet either. Why not follow her around instead? No, he told himself. That wasn't sad at all. "Can't think of anything better to do." And that was the honest truth, whether he liked it or not. As he tugged gently on her arm to turn her back around in the direction of the exit, he felt sure that it sounded like just the distraction he needed. |