InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "how you doern?"

The double-date had surprisingly gone well and hadn't really been very awkward at all. Not that she ever found dating to be awkward - except for the few times she'd been set up on dates with ill-suited men - but after learning from Lex what Lennox was like she was maybe a teeny bit worried he wouldn't really be up for it. Yet even though he was rather shy Chuck thought he definitely tried very well, and even though there were a couple quiet moments it hadn't turned out that badly really. After all they were now having a drink together... on their own. Though Chuck had a slight suspicion that Lennox might've agreed partly so as not to offend her when she'd made the original suggestion.

That in itself hadn't gone exactly 100% well, and to be fair Chuck should've remembered (from what little Lex had told her) that almost any pub she'd have come up with wasn't going to be one that Lennox would be in favour of. However, she'd certainly remember for next time! Thankfully her alternative idea for somewhere quieter had gone well, and was where they found themselves at the moment.

Chuck just currently had a slight issue of wanting to ask him anything but at the same time having no real idea what to say. And why she very nearly winced when the next words out of her mouth were: "Sorry if the double-date was kind of a surprise out of nowhere for you."

Lennox almost choked in surprise at the abruptness of the question, still not quite sure how they'd come to this point. Truth be told, he’d just assumed that it was a group dinner of sorts, and he hadn't really had much desire to go. The wording of ‘date’ had certainly thrown him, too. The manner of his agreement to being here was something he would have to reflect on in coming days.

It was as he had this thought that he realised he hadn't actually answered her question.

“Oh, um, it was, kind of,” he admitted, looking sheepishly at his shoes. “I don't really go out much,” he confessed, secretly adding ‘not unless someone drags me’ in his head.

Noting the way he looked at his shoes, Chuck felt a little bad that it had been a surprise to Lennox but still she was glad he'd still come along anyway. "Nothing wrong with that. Plenty of people don't like going out for whatever reason," she said, smiling reassuringly - or at least she hoped it looked that way. "I'm glad you decided to come along though, surprise or not. It would've been a bit weird being the third wheel to Lex and Micah for the evening even if I am friends with them."

"Just like I'm glad you agreed to having a drink - although I would've understood if you'd preferred not to," she commented. "I wasn't actually sure what your answer would be but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask and... sorry, I'm talking a lot aren't I?"

Lennox looked up briefly, trying to decide if she was nervous too, or if she really did talk as much as she appeared to worry about doing. It certainly was overwhelming, to have lots of chatter fired at you at once, and it took a little while to process exactly what was being said. “As long as places aren’t too busy, I don’t mind being out,” he said, hands in his pockets as he looked around the unfamiliar place. “And you think you talk a lot, but, I don’t talk much so at least you’re not talking over me…”

Chuck wasn't nervous exactly - not in general anyway - but she was maybe a little nervous when it came to wanting Lennox to not think poorly of her. Most people she knew didn't mind her chatter, or at least she'd never been told otherwise... then again most people she knew, as far as she knew, weren't introverted types and were probably a lot more used to it than others might be. "That makes sense. Though I guess it's not easy finding many places like that?" she asked. "No, I'm not as horrible as that. Still if I do talk too much for you feel free to stop me. Last thing I'd want is for you to feel uncomfortable or anything by it."

“Well, it’s one reason I don’t really go out much,” he admitted as he sat down at the little table they’d been shown to, a corner space in a quiet wee Muggle bar just outside the wizarding district of Montrose. He’d been there before, and being a Muggle space, they weren’t going to be approached by anyone wanting to chat or take pictures. “And it’s not about being ungrateful, though some people probably think that. It’s quite…” he paused for a moment, trying to think of the right word. “I feel like it’d disappoint people if I got caught by surprise, anyway. So places like this -” a coded reference to the fact it was a Muggle place - “just let me recharge. If that makes sense.”

Chuck's smile was gentle as she nodded in understanding. "It does make sense. I mean, people are less likely to recognise you here than they would elsewhere," she said. It was clear Lennox had been before since aside from the fact it was outside of the wizarding district it was probably as quiet as she'd seen any Muggle bar before - and she'd been to a few to know they could be just as loud as any wizarding pub. "I'll have to try and remember that... uh, that is if there's a next time..."

It might not have been the best sentence to end with since she was just trying to get to know Lennox better right now, and even though she was definitely interested she certainly didn't want to cause any possible panic or make him feel as if he had to answer in the affirmative.

"So are you looking forward to Christmas at all?" she asked, since that at least seemed a safe subject. "What with the eleventy billion relatives descending and all."

Lennox relaxed just slightly as she seemed to get it. He wasn’t arrogant enough to assume that people would definitely want to approach him, but it would be unrealistic to assume that people definitely wouldn’t. At this point of the season, after all, he was still the only Seeker to make all of their catches, and he played for the most successful team in the league’s history. It was a large cross to bear sometimes.

He tried to ignore the slight awkwardness of her remark about the future, feeling that replying on it would drag out the unpleasant sense of impending embarrassment. They could, if this evening wasn’t a complete fail - and for all he knew, it still could be - cross that bridge when they came to it.

“I always find a quiet spot, but really, with all the kids around I find things are less tense anyway,” he added, responding to the question that was simpler by far. He felt kids were a lot less difficult to deal with than adults. “How about you? Are you going away, or..?”

At least questions like this couldn’t be too awful, right?

Chuck didn't mind or blame Lennox skipping over what she'd said; if she'd been in his shoes she'd probably have done the same to avoid any awkwardness or unpleasantness. "Oh? Why's that?" she asked. She could see them being easier to deal with, but to her knowledge it was sometimes questionable as to whether kids or adults were the louder of the two. "Well, I'll be heading to my parents probably late Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with them and my younger sister, and then as a family we'll probably visit both grandparents for a couple days starting from Boxing Day. It's a bit of hopping here and there but should still be fun, and I haven't seen some of them for months now so it'll be great catching up. Oh, I wonder if jiji will let me fly one of the petrels..."

“Kids have an excuse to be excited at Christmas. And they wear themselves out eventually… plus, our nieces and nephews tend to accept what their told at their ages, for the most part, so they’re pretty easy to deal with. It’s adults who are more difficult to deal with,” he replied, his eyes glancing over to a barman who looked about ready to approach.

Lennox vaguely remembered some of what he’d been told about Char’s family situation. “They’re in the States, right?” he asked, referring to her parents.

"Makes sense. And I'd say I have experience with that, but most of my relatives that are kids belong to my cousins, and they're still at the stage of learning to walk," she commented, a laughing smile on her lips. "Though I will say my sister and I were pretty easy on our parents when we were younger and easily distracted by even the slightest thing that was interesting."

Chuck smiled brightly, feeling pleased that Lennox had remembered a little of what she'd babbled at him. "Yeah, they are; and thankfully I've already put in the paperwork for an international portkey - so that's one less hassle," she replied. Chuck had finally noticed the barman coming over. "What would you like?" she asked, turning to Lennox. "First round's my treat."

Lennox made a “phew” face as she referred to the age of the little ones, thinking of his own nieces and nephews. “A few of ours are just off Hogwarts age, actually, so not at that age where you’ve got toddlers running rampant everywhere… just the odd one or two from the siblings nearest to us,” he went on.

Part of his chest seemed to tighten at her smile, pleased as she was that he remembered. It had been a while since he’d felt that, he recalled. “I don’t think you told me whereabouts…” he began, before they were interrupted by the barman’s arrival and he had to think about what he actually wanted. Slipping into a stronger accent as he conversed with a fellow Scotsman, he ordered a beer and looked over at Charlotte. “I’ll get the next ones in, yeah?”

"That's fortunate then," she chuckled. "Although there's quite a few of them I really only ever see them when I visit; which is probably just as well, even I find it easier to deal with toddlers in short bursts. The few slightly older kids are pretty okay though, easily excitable but quite a bit easier to deal with or distract."

Chuck shook her head, and if it wasn't for needing give their drink order she'd have replied then. Well, there was certainly something... pleasant at hearing Lennox's accent becomes stronger as he talked to the barman. Though she made a note not to say as such any time soon, even if she was just a teensy bit curious to see if saying she liked it would make him blush. "Mhmm, of course," she replied, before ordering a beer for herself. Since living over here she'd gotten a taste for what most of her friends in the country had told her was far better beer than she'd ever find back home.

"And to give you an answer to before, they live in upstate New York in a small wizarding area there," she told Lennox while they waited for their drinks. "Not that anyone usually guesses that if they meet them, since their accents are different to mine and my sister's."

Lennox’s eyes flicked towards the ceiling in concentration, trying to picture whereabouts Char might be talking about. He wasn’t hugely familiar with her home country, but he had a vague idea of where some of the larger population centres were… but in terms of accents, at least, he was definitely stumped.

“You’ve just got the one sibling, then?” he asked, directing the conversation back to her, which seemed to be the safest option.

"Yeah, it's just me and Grete. She's back in the US as a reserve for the Fitchburg Finches," she replied, smiling since she was usually quite happy to talk about her sister. "More siblings would've been interesting, I think. Although I guess for my parents it's probably just as well it was just me and my sister - they'd have had a time of it trying to portkey with a bunch of kids."

Although she was more than happy to talk about herself, or her family, Chuck didn't want the sole focus to be on her since that was hardly going to be conducive in learning more about Lennox. "What about you? I know Angus, but do you have any other siblings?" she asked, hoping that maybe family was a relatively safe subject for him.

This was not something that Lennox had been aware of, and his Seekers curiosity was piqued. “Oh? Which position?” he asked, momentarily lifting his head to accept his drink as the barman brought it back.

“Oh, there's seven of us,” he replied casually, because of course, it was normal to him.

Chuck thanked the barman when he'd brought over her drink as well before turning her attention back to Lennox. "Seeker, actually. She enjoys it, and of course it makes opa happy that one of us is actually playing," she replied, before chuckling slightly at the memory of when opa found out. "Plus he's still fairly smug about it to grandmum since it's what he played with the Heidelberg Harriers."

"Seven?" she parroted, not quite able to stop the slightly disbelieving tone from her voice. Although with 'eleventy billion' relatives it maybe shouldn't have been all that surprising. "Must've made for a bit of a full house growing up?"

“Seekers and their obsession with legacy,” Lennox replied, rolling his eyes slightly in amusement. It was nothing like a dig at the absent man, of course, but more a nod to the fact that even the most private of players in that position seemed to be the most determined people on the pitch with regards to making an impact. It came with the territory of the number of points available to them, he supposed.

He blinked a little in surprise at her surprise, taking a sip of his beer as he composed himself. “Seven, yes,” he replied. “Five boys, two girls. And not so much full,” - with his father having been on the council of Clan Campbell, growing up they’d always had a sizeable home in order to accommodate various visitors - “but always someone around, I guess.”

Chuck couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped. She put the back of her hand to her mouth trying to stop the giggle from continuing. "Sorry... sorry. It's just it reminded me of something similar my grandmum said when they were visiting and Grete had told them the news," she explained once she'd herself under control a little more. "Though I'm pretty sure opa would've been just as happy if she'd gone for any other position since she'd be playing Quidditch either way."

Chuck smiled softly as she listened. She couldn't really imagine what it must've been like except to think Lennox was right in that at least there'd always be someone around, and she at least had had Grete even with the small age difference between them. "Must've at least been interesting growing up," she commented, before taking a small drink of her own beer. "So what did you like doing when you were growing up? Before Hogwarts and Quidditch that is."

Lennox blinked owlishly this time, unsure what he’d said that was so amusing, though less disconcerted by it than he would have been before. “Oh?” he enquired simply, hoping that Chuck would at least partially elaborate on her own question of family dynamics.

“Island, country life - so pretty outdoorsy, you know?” he shrugged a little, sipping his beer. When there were no huge population centres, one had to make one’s own entertainment to a point. “Lots of stuff involving running around with the local kids, rugby, all of that,” he went on, looking up at her, still a little shyly. “How about you guys?” He had no idea how people grew up on the opposite side of the pond.

"Well, for starters, my opa's been hoping for another player in the family since only one other of my cousins on that side actually plays, and they're a Beater. So when Grete came home and announced her news you can probably imagine his reaction at hearing that not only was my sister playing but she was a Seeker to boot," she replied, smiling as she told the familiar story. Chuck certainly didn't mind talking about her family at any length, and only hoped that Lennox didn't mind her talking too much as a result. "At which point, after having congratulated my sister, my grandmum rolled her yes and teased him by saying she hoped he was happy with his wish for another Seeker even if it was a generation late... or something like that. Grandmum enjoys Quidditch and still supports the Harpies but she doesn't take things quite so serious like opa does at times."

Chuck nodded. Perhaps she might not know completely since growing up she was always pretty close to civilisation, or at least certainly not as far from it as she might've been had she grown up on an island like Lennox. She smiled, it was nice getting to hear a little more about him. "No island life for me, unless I can count the times I stayed with my other grandparents over in Japan? Though I still spent plenty of time outdoors growing up, either at home or when we travelled," she responded. "There was always something to go see or do, either with local kids or my cousins. I think my favourite thing ever though was when I was still little, about eight or so I think, and my jiji - my mum's dad - let me fly on one of the giant storm petrels that the Mahoutokoro students use." Chuck sounded almost wistful as remembered that first time on the giant petrels. It was kind of funny since before then she'd almost been terrified of the oversized birds. "Though I enjoyed doing other not-quite-so exciting and utterly normal activities as well," she said with a slight chuckle.

Lennox nodded as he listened, more to show that he was paying attention as much as anything else. It was easy to listen to her, rather than to talk himself, in part due to her speech pattern and the fact that there was no malice or self centredness in her conversation, something that scared him off from the more forward people that hung around Quidditch teams when they headed out en masse.

As the evening drew on, neither of them really noticed when the small bar got quieter, with customers gradually heading out to go to clubs or their own homes. One dark head and one blond instead tilted closer together, shutting out the rest of the world.