RP Log: Ted and Andromeda Characters: Ted and Andromeda Tonks Setting: The Tonks House, Tuesday night Summary: Ted and Andromeda talk about Malcolm, Dora, and the Wireless. Rating: PG
Nights at the Tonks household were busy affairs these days. Adding a few extra people in the shifts on their wireless station helped, at least. All of their new recruits seemed to be getting the hang of the practice with ease, and this was the first night that neither Ted nor Andromeda had anything to do with it for the night. The vampires were having a blast arguing with each other and playing music in the basement, Betty had the Broadcaster out at Location 17, Dora was in bed and sleeping soundly, and Ted and Andy had a rare moment to relax.
They'd had their usual somewhat-late dinner when Ted got home from work, and after reading a couple of stories to Dora they had gone to their own room for a little private time before coming back downstairs to grab a bowl of ice cream each. It was a good night - a very good night. Ted almost didn't want to disturb it with anything but light, pleasant chitchat. He didn't know when he'd get another opportunity to talk to Andromeda about serious things, though, so finally he took the plunge.
"I'm worried about Malcolm," he said, and took a thoughtful bite of strawberry.
Andromeda looked up from her bowl, where she had been expertly swirling her ice cream around with her spoon to make it the "proper" consistency. Her brow furrowed as she thought about Malcolm for a moment, her spoon still mixing slowly. As she thought about it, she couldn't recall the last time that she had actually seen Malcolm. Surely it hadn't been terribly long ago, but the fact she had to ponder it was a testament in and of itself.
"He's been rather distant, hasn't he?" Andromeda asked slowly, her gaze dropping from Ted to her bowl again. "It's rather odd."
"That, and he asked me a weird question in the journals the other day," Ted said. "He asked if I ever felt guilty about you and Dora. I told him no, I don't, and if I had it to do over I'd take the very same road. But...I mean, where the hell would that kind of question even come from, right? So I asked him what was going on, of course, and I get basically a "can't talk about it here," which I also don't really know what to make of."
Which meant, obviously, that he needed to have a talk with Malcolm. Malcolm was tough to track down for a talk, though, and between the two wireless stations Ted had a hard time finding the time for anybody but his wife, too. Nonetheless, the situation was starting to appear rather dire.
"Oh," Andromeda replied simply, looking up again in surprise. This time she looked even more concerned than before. It seemed like a rather random question to ask, seeing as it had been what felt like forever since everything had happened. And to follow it up with a "can't talk about it here" made it even worse. She quickly forgot about her ice cream. "Well, that's...that's rather ominous of him."
"Extremely ominous," Ted agreed. "And he's not usually one given to melodrama, you know? If it were Gretchen or Betty, I'd figure it was just their usual antics. But Malcolm?"
Malcolm didn't do drama. Malcolm was their calm, steady rock who kept them out of most major trouble. This kind of cloak and dagger business was highly out of character.
"Yes, that's...that's incredibly strange," Andromeda said slowly, taking a slow bite of ice cream as she thought about it. She tried to figure out exactly what might be going on with their friend, but it was all so odd that it wasn't something that could just magically come to her. Normally she was good at that sort of thing, but this wasn't one of those times.
"I think you're just going to have to talk to him, sweetheart," she decided, her spoon dropping into the bowl. "Otherwise you're just going to wonder."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking too," Ted agreed. "I'm gonna try my luck at tracking him down for a conversation this week. God knows it's tough to pin any of us down for long lately, but it seems like he actually does want to talk about it. Gotta give 'im the chance."
"Only thing you can do," Andromeda nodded, setting her bowl down on the ground to let Mopsa lick it clean. She paused just a moment to scratch the top of the dog's head before turning back to the matter at hand.
"Honestly, I just want to know what brought on such a question," she admitted, looking up at Ted. "It's been such a long time and it feels as though it's coming out of nowhere."
"It does, but obviously it can't be," Ted agreed. "There's no way that was completely random, given that he's never been anything but totally supportive of us. Do you think he's seeing somebody, maybe?" he theorized, beginning to go back over some of the ideas he'd had as he'd begun to think it over himself. "Somebody whose family wouldn't approve, or something? Not that I can imagine what family wouldn't approve of Malcolm..."
"I couldn't either," Andromeda admitted thoughtfully. "He's really quite the package." But, that made her wonder. "Or, perhaps it's the other way around? What if he's afraid that his brothers wouldn't approve of whoever it is that he could be seeing?" That was a thought that she could understand and sympathize with far too well.
"Seeing somebody would definitely make his frequent absences make sense," Ted concurred, mulling it over. "So what kind of woman would Malcolm possibly date that his family would be up in arms about? And even if they would be, why wouldn't he tell us about her? It's not as if we're majorly judgmental."
"No idea," Andromeda sighed truthfully, leaning back into the sofa. She reached down for the now licked clean bowl and set it on the coffee table. This whole conversation was incredibly heavy, which seemed incredibly off given their entire night thus far. Deciding to attempt to lighten the mood just a bit, she gave Ted just the smallest of teasing smiles. "Perhaps she's some sort of alien. Like that furry fellow in Star Wars."
"Chewbacca," Ted said with a chuckle, recognizing her need for a shift in topics. "If Malcolm is dating a Wookiee, he is definitely forgiven for keeping it from us. Or any other form of alien. That would be fair."
"Definitely fair," Andromeda agreed, nodding seriously. Well, as serious as one could nod when discussing something like this. "I can understand his being wary in that case. I reckon that we'd just have to be the bigger people, though, and accept their love."
"Yeah, 'cause we're generous and open-minded," Ted agreed, giving her a grin before taking another chomp at his ice cream. "So...anything else we need to make sure we get on the table in this rare moment while the kid's asleep and the vampires are in the basement?"
"Now that is a phrase I never thought that we would be able to utter," Andromeda laughed, shaking her head. She leaned over a bit, peering into Ted's bowl of ice cream. "'The vampires are in the basement.'"
But, that's probably not what he meant. "The whole underground wireless is going well. Have you heard anything at work that people might be disapprovingly listening?"
"Most of the disapprovers seem to just be exhibiting their disapproval by not listening and by whinging," Ted answered, offering her a spoonful of his ice cream since she'd been eying it. "So far, we seem to just be attracting the attention of a bunch of people who missed their music. In other words, so far, so good."
Andromeda happily took the spoonful of ice cream and smiled. "Well, that's good. I have to admit that it's sort of flattering to see people talking about it in the journals now and again, even if we can't take credit for it. The fact that they're even listening is neat in and of itself."
"It is," Ted agreed. It felt like they were genuinely making a difference in people's lives, even if it wasn't a big one. "We need to find a way to let people make requests. Do you think we could buy a journal anonymously and use it that way?"
"That's a good idea," Andromeda said thoughtfully, nodding. She wasn't entirely sure of what the logistics were of the journals as her own had been purchased so long ago by her mother and she hadn't questioned it. It seemed logical that they would be able to buy one that was anonymous. People could do anonymous wards, after all. "A really good idea, actually. It's better than one of us just asking what everyone's favorite songs are."
"A little less suspicious, I'd say." Ted took another bite of ice cream. "Sirius, Doris, and the vampires seem to be picking it right up, which is good. I figured Doris would, but the others've really impressed me and even surprised me just a little." He chuckled, shaking his head as the last of his ice cream was finished off. "The recording of them while we were at the wedding was hilarious. I think the vampires were born to be wireless personalities."
"They were definitely a good idea," Andromeda agreed, chuckling to herself. She almost wanted to get up and turn the wireless on right now to listen to them, but that would be a distraction in an otherwise perfect night with her husband. "It's also nice that their helping has allowed a whole evening of mostly alone time. I was beginning to forget we lived together."
"Yeah, being all "damn the man" is a lot harder now than when I was seventeen," Ted replied with a wry smile. "I just...kind of feel like we've got to do whatever we can, you know? We can't fight the Death Eaters, but we can do this. In the grand scheme of sacrifices, ours is pretty small. Still," he allowed as he began to smile again, "I'm glad we've got a little more help now. And if we can get just a little more help after this bunch gets settled in, maybe we can have something sort of approaching a normal life again."
"No, you're absolutely right," Andromeda agreed, leaning in for a gentle kiss. When she backed away, she leaned her head against the back of the sofa with a smile. "It feels good to know that we're at least doing something. We might not be out there fighting and throwing around curses, but at least we're making someone out there happy."
"Between the music and our daughter being determined that her dance card remain perpetually filled, I think we're doing doubletime on maintaining the world's happiness," Ted said, grinning. With his ice cream finished, he flipped onto his back and rested his head on Andromeda's lap, looking up at her. "I mean, was she the world's most adorable flower girl or what?"
Andromeda smiled, her fingers running through Ted's hair and pushing it back. "She really was. I feel as though we did the world such a service by producing such adorable offspring." She smiled teasingly, her fingers idly pulling through his hair again and again. "I think I'm going to have to talk to Molly, though. We really need to seriously consider conditioning Dora and Charlie so they can live happily ever after together. Did you see them dancing?"
"I did!" Ted laughed. "And they were cute. No arranged marriage, but we can definitely just start just...making sure they hang out. Eventually they will realize that they're perfect for each other, and then our families can have Christmas together forever. Brilliant plan, love."
"It's all in the power of suggestion," Andromeda nodded as if she knew how that sort of thing worked. She fell silent then, her pleased smile fading into a simple one as she looked down at her husband and recalled something he had said earlier on in their conversation.
"By the way," she said quietly, her smile twitching. "I probably don't have to tell you this, but I would do it all over again, too."
Ted bent his arm up, linking his hand with hers and giving a slight smile back. "Never doubted it for a second."