Arran Higgs (silverbroom) wrote in lazarustheic, @ 2017-03-09 20:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | !thread, character: arran higgs, character: jareth dorny, character: marlene mckinnon |
who ? Arran Higgs, Marlene McKinnon & Jareth Dorney.
when ? Thursday 9th March, after the 6.10 showing of Kong: Skull Island.
where ? Leicester Square.
what ? Awkward x3.
warnings/rating ? SFW.
status ? Completed in gdocs.
There hadn't been time for much more than hellos and introductions on their way from the Leaky Cauldron to the cinema, so Marlene, Arran and Jareth hadn't really spoken yet. Arran didn't know what to expect. He'd wanted to go out with Marlene, even if it wasn't as a date, because he'd wanted to spend time with her. When she'd invited her friend along, he'd been unable to find a polite way to say no. So now it was the three of them, and Arran had the distinct impression they'd rather he wasn't there. Maybe that was just his mind playing tricks on him. Neither of them had done anything to suggest he should shove off, expect that they both seemed far more interested in talking to each other than to Arran.
The evening was warm - the first really warm evening of the year, in fact - so Arran lead them from the cinema to the raised kerb around Leicester Square itself, skirting a band clapping along to a busker as he did so. "So do you want to go for a drink or something?" he asked, interrupting their conversation. "We could go back to the Leaky, or find somewhere else nearby." It took an effort not just to offer to leave the two of them alone, but Arran was trying.
--
Marlene felt that the whole ordeal so far was going quite a lot less awkwardly that she’d expected. Albeit, Marlene did also know that she hadn’t helped that at all by bringing Jareth, but frankly, Marlene felt justified in that. She had no idea why Arran had specified that they’d go out as friends but Marlene, more or less, did feel that she could be friends with Arran. They’d had a nice time (or so she’d thought) on their date and if he didn’t fancy her, well, that was fine. Hurtful, but fine. Marlene had liked talking to Arran about films, so it was hardly like they didn’t have enough for a friends-not-a-date conversations. Still, Marlene was glad she’d brought Jareth.
The film had been... odd. It had looked amazing and Marlene had never seen CGI before (and yes, she had asked what CGI meant), not the way it had looked in the film, at least. Once they’d come outside she’d asked Jareth what he’d made of the score and it wasn’t until Arran interrupted them that Marlene realised that they’d kind of locked him out in their music-geekiness. Blushing slightly at the realisation, Marlene offered Arran a smile. “Sorry, we were just talking about the music in the film. But yes, drinks sound lovely?” She said looking at Jareth for confirmation.
--
Jareth hadn’t really minded being dragged along on Marlene’s not-a-date at the cinema, since he liked hanging out with Marlene, and he liked movies, so it was a winning situation in his mind, even if he still wasn’t entirely certain what to make of Arran. The man hadn’t done anything extremely out of the ordinary, or at least not that he had seen yet, so he was waiting on making the rest of his judgements about him until later.
He had enjoyed explaining CGI to Marlene - had been thrilled that going out to see a movie meant they were in a Muggle part of London where his iPhone actually worked so he could Google anything he wanted. And then he had gotten into a discussion about the score of the film with Marlene and promptly zoned out anything else. Blinking at Arran’s suggestion and Marlene’s agreement, he realized that the other man hadn’t had any input to the musical discussion, which he figured was something worth noting.
With a shrug of his shoulders to indicate his lack of preference, Jareth asked, “Can there be food along with these drinks? Cause I am starving.” Popcorn and other assorted movie theater food was not filling in his opinion, and he was far more interested in eating real food than anything else at this point.
--
"It's fine," Arran said, when Marlene apologised. He wasn't really convinced their excluding him hadn't been deliberate, but he wasn't going to make a fuss about it. "The Leaky has food, and it'll be cheaper than anywhere else this central." Not that the price of drinks would really be an issue for Arran, but he didn't enjoy spending more money than he had to. He paused, glancing at Marlene. "Unless you'd rather go somewhere muggle, there's less chance of being spotted by a reporter." Not no chance, but at least somewhat less. Arran had many years experience of trying to remember he was likely to draw attention in magical places - though he did frequently manage to forget.
Checking his pocket, Arran was satisfied he had enough muggle money for a few drinks and some food. Though possibly not for all three of them. "It might depend how much muggle money you've got on you," he said. If they were going to go all the way back to Diagon Alley to exchange money, they might just as well go and drink there instead.
--
Marlene gave a small laugh when Jareth asked if they could go somewhere with food. “You’re always hungry,” she commented because as far as Marlene could tell, Jareth really was. She gave Arran a soft smile when he said they could go somewhere Muggle in case the Leaky meant Marlene would get unwanted attention. It was a very sweet consideration and she gave a small shake of her head. “No, it’s okay,” she assured not wanting to be inconvenient. “We can just sit in one of the booths or something?” Presumably there were plenty of seats that wouldn’t put them right in the centre of everyone’s view.
Once they started walking back towards Diagon, Marlene turned slightly to Arran, not wanting to accidentally leave him out of a conversation again, since it really was unnecessarily rude. “Do you like music?” She asked before nodding between herself and Jareth. “We’ve just joined a band,” she explained. “It’s very exciting, isn’t it?” Marlene said giving Jareth a wide smile.
--
“I really am,” Jareth agreed with a nod when Marlene commented that he was always hungry, but it was true, even if it was kind of annoying at times. “Side effect of still being a teenager,” he commented with a shrug, because there wasn’t anything he could really do about that fact.
He wasn’t really sure what the context was for Arran and Marlene’s conversation about reporters and Muggle places, so he didn’t comment - if it was in anyway important, or something he needed to know about, he figured Marlene could explain it later.
Returning her grin with one of his own at the mention of the band, Jareth nodded enthusiastically as he said, “It’s awesome.” He was interested to hear Arran’s answer to Marlene’s question about music, if only because it would probably color his whole opinion of the man.
--
Arran nodded when Marlene said she didn't mind going to the Leaky. "It shouldn't be too busy," he agreed, "I'm sure we can find somewhere to sit. If not, you're both welcome to come back to mine via an off license." Living so close to Diagon Alley was very convenient, sometimes, and Arran was glad he'd chosen it, and chosen not to leave it after Cariad moved out.
The question was unexpected. So much so that Arran hesitated. "Sure, I guess," he agreed. Who disliked music? Arran wasn't particularly interested in music, nor did he ever feel he'd really got a handle on whether something was rock or pop or some other genre he'd never heard of. Nonetheless, he did listen to music, even if he was terrible at identifying what was sung by who. "What kind of band?"
--
Marlene was sure they’d be okay, but she did also appreciate the fact that Arran had offered. She did suppose that he probably recognised the wish to avoid press, since he played professional quidditch and Marlene doubted the way media wanted to know everything about players had in any way improved since she’d died. ‘Sure, I guess’ was not necessarily the kind of answer Marlene would hope for when asking about music and did briefly glance at Jareth, presuming he felt similarly, but perhaps it just wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea (for some bizarre reason).
“Have you heard of Gulliver’s Dragons?” She asked instead. “I’ve been assured they’re quite famous,” she added with a grin since Andrew hadn’t said quite that, but from what Marlene had gathered in asking around, they really had been. “Andrew, their drummer, he’s put together a new band and Jareth and I have joined it. I guess we haven’t quite decided what style exactly it is that we’re going for,” Marlene explained. “Do you think we have a style?” Marlene asked turning to Jareth.
--
Jareth raised an eyebrow slightly at Arran’s hesitation and then his answer, because that was not a shining endorsement of anything music-related. It was definitely something to keep in mind at least. He chuckled a little when Marlene made the comment about Andrew’s last band having been famous, because he knew it was true - he had even been able to Google them, since some of their songs had actually hit even the Muggle radio, which he thought was pretty impressive.
“Not quite yet,” he said to Marlene’s question about the band’s style. “But we’ve only really had one practice, so we’re still figuring everything out.” Which was more than fine with him, because musical experimentation, especially with other people, was one of his favorite things. And it was fun, working with Marlene and Andrew, particularly since they both seemed to take his near-obsession with music in stride.
“So, what do you do?” Jareth asked Arran, since Marlene hadn’t mentioned and he was curious.
--
Arran had to think about it for a moment, but he nodded. "Yeah, one of them used to be on the journals a lot." Maybe he still was and Arran had just got used to it, or maybe the output had slowed down now that the band had broken up - or so Arran had heard, and it seemed confirmed when Marlene said the drummer was putting together a new band. "That's exciting," he said genuinely, since he assumed it was. "I didn't know you were musical," he added, to Marlene. He hadn't asked, because he wasn't particularly musically inclined himself. "What do you both play?"
He nodded when Jareth added that they'd only had one practice. That seemed fair, if they'd just put the band together. "Well, what kind of music do you like?" he asked, knowing he would have only a vague understanding of the answer, but feeling it was still polite to express an interest.
"I'm keeper for the Chudley Cannons," he said, in answer to Jareth's question. "Moved from the Montrose Magpies a couple of years ago now." They'd reached the pub, so Arran lead the way inside and found them a booth, waiting for Jareth and Marlene to sit down. "What does everybody want to drink?" he asked. "I'll get the first round in while you look at menus."
--
“It is exciting!” Marlene agreed with an energetic nod. Of course, Jareth was right and they had only had one practice, but even so, Marlene really was excited. She loved music and hadn’t really ever considered a career that might involve it, but then she also hadn’t really considered a career at all, so this was mostly just excellent. “Oh, well, I can play the guitar, but probably not fantastically,” she offered when Arran asked. “Jareth pays both the guitar and the keyboard very well,” she added with a grin at Jareth, before turning back to Arran. “I sing,” Marlene explained.
As for what kind of music Marlene liked, the answer was probably ‘most of it’ but she recognised that as not very specific. “Rock? Pop? Pop rock?” Marlene answered with a small laugh. “I’m not terribly picky,” she admitted, before giving a nod when Arran said he’d get the first round of drinks. Once they’d told Arran what they’d like and he’d gone off to the bar, Marlene gave Jareth a look. “You don’t like him,” she observed.
--
“That’s a Quidditch thing, right?” Jareth asked when Arran answered his question - he was pretty sure he was right about that, and if he wasn’t, well, it would be funny to see the reaction to that.
Returning Marlene’s grin with one of his own, he chuckled a little at her praise. “She sings amazingly well,” he added for Arran’s benefit, since Marlene didn’t seem to be giving herself enough credit on that front.
“He didn’t make a very good first impression, especially after the first thing I knew was that you went on one date with him and the next time you go out it is specifically ‘as friends’,” Jareth said with a shrug. “I will give you that he’s kinda hot, if a little old for my tastes, but I can understand why you’d be okay with seeing him again, if only for the eye-candy value?” he added, sounding somewhat unsure, but he also wasn’t going to lie to Marlene about his reaction. “It’s fine though, I don’t mind hanging out,” he said with another shrug. “Maybe he gets better with more exposure?”
--
Marlene couldn’t disagree that from what she’d told Jareth, which albeit wasn’t much, Arran probably hadn’t come across great. Truthfully, he hadn’t come across great to her over it either. Perhaps if Marlene hadn’t invited Jareth to come to the cinema with them, she might’ve asked Arran why he’d been so specific about this being a friends outing rather than a date. Nonetheless, Marlene was hardly going to ask now. She did also frown slightly when Jareth said that he agreed that Arran was hot, even if too old for Jareth.
“I’ve probably made this unnecessarily awkward for him,” Marlene said with a shrug. It definitely was her fault, too, because Marlene had done so almost spitefully, but in retrospect she could see how perhaps that had been a bit unfair. Marlene wasn’t always excellent at not acting impulsively. Before she could offer much else, Arran was returning with their drinks and Marlene offered him a thanks and a smile.
Once Arran had settled, Marlene took a sip of her drink. “I was just explaining to Jareth how Cannon’s didn’t used to be a very good team, but how now they’re top of the league, which is still very impressive to me,” Marlene lied completely and utterly confidently.
--
Arran felt much the same way about Jareth's uncertain response to quidditch terminology as Jareth had about his lack of passion for music. Arran could get on perfectly well with people who knew nothing about quidditch, but he wasn't exactly primed to think the best of Jareth just now. Still, he was working on trying, so he nodded. "Yeah," he offered, "it's like the goalie in football, if that means anything to you." He had no idea whether it would, because some people - to Arran's confusion - weren't interested in any sports.
"So how long will it take to get… comfortable enough together to do gigs?" Arran asked, because he had really no idea how the world of music worked. If you were good enough, could you play with anyone, or was it more like quidditch where if you wanted to play as a team you had to have strategy meetings and know one another's techniques and preferences? "Do you have to write the music first?"
He handed the drinks out, with a spare menu he'd pinched from the bar, then slid into the seat. "Yeah," he said, confirming Marlene's version of the Cannons history, "and now the Ministry's asking for voluntary drug tests because they think we're cheating."
--
“Gotcha,” Jareth said with a nod when Arran offered the metaphor with football, because growing up Muggle meant he could make that association pretty easily, even if he wasn’t sure if he necessarily cared for Quidditch. Elbowing Marlene in the side lightly, he commented, “Maybe we should go see a match sometime, cause I can’t remember the last time I saw one.”
Jareth did give Arran a little credit for asking about the band and when they would be doing gigs. “It depends,” he answered, “But probably a few weeks.” At least, that was his initial thought, though they had all meshed well together their first time, so who knew, maybe they could be ready faster than that. He chuckled as he said, “We do, but writing the music isn’t the hardest part.” Not in Jareth’s mind, though he was aware that there were people who disagreed.
He could feel his face contorting just a little at the information that Arran provided. “That doesn’t make sense to me. If they thought you were cheating - like, actually believed it, rather than I don’t know, some stupid rumor or something - why would the drug tests be voluntary? If there was true suspicion, then shouldn’t everyone just automatically be subject to testing?” he asked, because the idea of voluntary-but-not-required-testing didn’t really make sense to him, and he didn’t think this was one of those times when it was the ‘having-been-dead’ that was making things not make sense.
--
Marlene gave Jareth a wide smile when he said they should go see a game. “Yes, definitely,” she nodded. “Arran already suggested this,” she said giving a small wave towards Arran since he had. “My mum used to play quidditch professionally,” she explained to Jareth. “So my family was always super into it. I’d love to go to a game,” which reminded Marlene she still needed to get tickets since she had turned down Arran’s offer to get her some. She was sure she could, though, so there was no reason not to do so herself.
When Jareth said that when they had a gig would depend, Marlene gave a nod. “I imagine we might give some smaller pubs a go first, maybe? To try our material out when we have material to try out,” she explained. “You should come,” Marlene commented giving Arran a smile. “Bring a friend,” she added with nothing but seriousness in her voice.
Marlene did also nod in agreement when Jareth said how it seemed ridiculous to say that the Cannons had cheated and have the tests be voluntary. “I’m surprised they’re not just making everyone take them,” she admitted. “It seems that would be fairer, no?” A lot of it, from what Marlene had gathered, and truthfully, she still struggled to follow the news because it was just so different, was a media hype more than anything concrete.
--
Seeing as how he'd already offered Marlene tickets, Arran didn't repeat himself. "Games are on Wednesday and Saturdays," he said instead, having no clue whether that had been the case back when Marlene's mum had been playing. "Saturday games are busier, obviously. Wednesday games risk running late into the night when everyone's got work in the morning." Or most people, anyway.
A few weeks was somewhat shorter than Arran would have expected, coming from his position of total ignorance. "So what's the hardest part?" he asked Jareth, since he'd said it wasn't writing the music. Presumably they all already knew how to play their instruments, or to sing, so he wasn't really sure what else there was. His smile when Marlene invited him to come didn't quite reach his eyes, not sure whether she was genuine or not. "Of course," he agreed anyway. He tried to think if he had any musical friends who might enjoy such a thing, but he'd probably just end up taking Roger.
"Mandatory testing's never been done," Arran offered, by way of explanation. It wasn't much of one, he knew that, but it was what there was. If he looked at it objectively, he could see that the introduction of testing might be a good thing for the sport, but because this had all been triggered by people accusing his team of cheating, he couldn't exactly look at it impersonally. "It's bullshit," he said, a little too loudly. "Any other team in the league, they'd just be writing about what a success story it is, how great the new players and the new management are, but because it's the Cannons they insist it has to be something suspicious."
--
Nodding at the information from both of them regarding Quidditch, he tried to make a mental note of all it, but he was pretty sure that later on he would only remember bits and pieces of it. “Whenever you want,” he told Marlene, because he didn’t exactly have an extremely active social life so he was free almost all the time.
“It’s the…” Jareth paused, searching for the right word. “Cohesion, I guess. Yeah, we have to write the songs, after we agree on what we want, and practice to make sure we can perform, but it’s also, like, getting everyone on the same page in order to write the same music and work towards the same end-goal.” He shrugged, and looked at Marlene for help, because, “I’m probably not explaining it well.”
At Arran’s outburst, Jareth actually found himself a little impressed, if somewhat taken aback. But it was interesting to see some sort of actual emotion out of the man, rather than the almost-robotic motions he seemed to have been going through earlier. “So the media is making your life difficult,” he stated calmly. “That really kinda sucks.”
--
Marlene nodded at Jareth’s explanation since she felt it did mostly explain the way they had to work. It wasn’t just song writing, it was sort of getting all of it right. “We need to click,” Marlene said. “I guess, it’s sort of like how you have to know where all of your team’s players are at any time during the game?” She offered turning to Arran. “And you do, but it takes a while, right? It’s kind of like that just instead of a pitch, we have music.” Marlene wasn’t sure if that really explained it, but it made sense to her. Of course, that might not mean it did for Arran, too.
The way Arran’s voice rose wasn’t, perhaps, as surprising to Marlene who had experienced a lot of passionate opinions about quidditch in her life. Also, knowing quidditch, she did see Arran’s point in saying that no other team would have the same kind of accusations throw their way. “But the other teams are being ‘voluntarily’ tested, too, right? I suppose you never know what the results of that might be,” Marene commented thoughtfully. “I’m sure it will show that your team is just very good,” she rushed in to add, not wanting to make it sound like she thought that the Cannons were cheating.
--
Marlene's explanation did make sense, so Arran nodded. "It takes a little longer than a few weeks to really get it right in quidditch," he said. "It's why the Cannons were still bottom of the league last year, even though we'd got everything in place that we wanted to, we hadn't figured out how to… be a team, really." It had improved steadily, of course, but too late to really have much effect on the end results. "But now we've had a year, and the off-season, and we're as good as any other team out there." He sipped his drink, pushing the menu away, having already decided what he wanted to eat. "Have you been in a band before?" he asked, with a gesture which was meant to imply the question was for both of them. Jareth looked young, but Arran didn't want to assume.
It was true that other teams were doing voluntary testing, but Arran couldn't help feel at least some of them - not Gemma, or any of his friends - were doing it in the expectation it would prove they were clean while the Cannons were not. The Cannons ownership hadn't 'volunteered' their players yet, which also frustrated Arran because he was sure that was the quickest way to prove they were just good. "I don't hate the idea," he said, more calmly, "I just hate the way it's come about. If they'd announced at the beginning of the season that they were encouraging this, or even making it mandatory, I wouldn't care. But this is in reaction to us doing well."
--
With his lack of knowledge on anything Quidditch-related, all Jareth could really do was listen as Arran and Marlene talked through it, but that was fine by him. He could store the new information away for later, and hey, maybe it would come up helpful at some point in the future.
“Andrew - the drummer, the one who is really putting this whole thing together - and I played together for a while at Hogwarts,” Jareth answered for himself when Arran asked about having been in a band before, and then added, “Which is another one of those mind-fuck things, cause for me that was only like two years ago, whereas for him, and the rest of the world, I guess, it’s been like a decade.” Maybe one day the strangeness of that would stop impacting how he thought about his own past, but today was not that day.
“Can’t you just take their tests, and then when everything comes back normal, use it as ‘screw you’ sort of moment?” Jareth asked, though he was aware that he didn’t actually know anything about Quidditch to know if that was even possible. “Since you’ve got nothing to hide, wouldn’t that be the easiest way to prove it?”
--
Pleased that her explanation had been sufficient, Marlene smiled. “I’ve never been in a band,” Marlene replied once Jareth had explained how him and Andrew had been in a band together before, back in school. “I used to sing in the Hogwarts choir, but that’s hardly the same,” she added with another small smile. Marlene had certainly enjoyed singing in the choir, but she did also look forward to performing with Andrew and Jareth, and perhaps whoever might join them.
Jareth had a point, Marlene was sure, but she did also think that the whole situation was probably just very frustrating. It also seemed, to her, like this conversation held the potential of escalating really quickly into something rather unpleasant. “Why don’t we talk about the movie instead?” She suggested. “I thought it was really cool, the way they’d shot it. I know a lot of it is computer generated, which I don’t really get, but even so. Is this typical of what films look like now?” Marlene asked to both Jareth and Arran.