Backdated (Because I am an idiot and put it in journals)
Who: Jason and Megan What: Lunch 2 When: May 6 Where: Punta Ala Status: incomplete
The World Cup had been wonderful for Megan. Despite the interesting run-ins around the villages she’s visited. The residents were all kind and helpful, except for the fact that they all seemed to be convinced she was Italian as well. More often than not, they would begin babbling on in their native language and she would have to look at her new friend Elisa to help explain that she does not speak their language. It worked out well enough, but there were times when she really wished she knew what was going on directly. Other times, even Elisa was not able to help as it was not Spanish or Italian. Now was one of those times. She had attended the Russian match in Punta Ala to see Jason’s team play again. Of course, he was not one of the players, but she still wanted to show him support if nothing else. She had asked if he wanted to meet up after the match, which was a late one all things considered, and was now awkwardly standing at the bar with her long curls down her back and wearing a peach dress and wedges. Her seat was marked with her sunhat and she was swirling her wine in her glass as she looked over to the door and realized that there were some Russian players walking in. She began scanning the group for Jason when she realized one of them had stood to her other side and started talking at her.
Megan figured he was talking to the bartender and just ignored it, looking for her friend. It wasn’t until the hand on the back caught her attention that she turned and saw the tall man looking down at her. he was saying something in a harsh tone, but he looked like he was smiling. Megan blinked up at him and took a small step away with her mouth hanging open slightly. She was not sure what he was saying or if he was mad about something. Was he asking her to leave? Did he think she was going to be able to understand him? Did he care? “Uhm, I’m sorry I don’t speak-” he cut her off, almost sounding gentle, but that voice still sounded harsh. “I’m sorry, I can leave if you want. I cannot understand you,” she repeated, taking another step back and his hand pressed firmly against her back again. Her face heated up when she noticed over her shoulder that there were more Russian members coming in. She prayed that Jason was part of the group and looking back at her new “friend” awkwardly.
“Jason Bradley, here?” she asked and tried to back away again. “He’s my friend,” she added, looking back at the groups.
---
Jason was running a little bit late, he hadn't meant to, but he had a little more work to do once the match was over making sure that all of his players were well taken care of. And while it hadn’t been a brutal match, it had been just enough so where he was finishing up some paper work a little later than he would have liked. He walked swiftly into the bar, just hating being late for anything when he spotted Constantine talking with Megan. He’d asked his seeker to go find her and assure her that Jason was still coming and to talk with her for a little bit. Constantine was one of the more friendly people on the team and actually spoke a little bit of English. But, judging by the look of things...he’d forgotten the English part and had assumed that Jason’s friend was Russian. Problem with being half-Scot and half-Russian. Jason spoke the language so well that most of his team had forgotten he was from Scotland. He walked up to the other man and put his hand on his back with a grin on his face and then gave Megan a little wave before a quick back and forth of Russian was exchanged between the two men. And then, clearly the light bulb went off in Constantine's head.
“Hope this lug, wasn’t being too much of a bother.” Jason said with a bit of a laugh as he patted the slightly shorter man’s shoulder a bit. Truth was Jason didn’t let that playful side of him show too much any more. But it had come out again and again once he took this job. He couldn’t quite pinpoint as to why, something that was driving him slightly mental, but he was just trying to enjoy it anyway. “Had to finish up some paper work for fixing them all up after the match, I asked him to come over and find you and keep you company until I could get here.” he said with a little bit of a smile on his face. He didn’t often smile widely, it just the way he was, so a little bit of was usually the equivalent of someone else larger smile.
-----
Seeing Jason was a relief. Megan meekly waved back, still quietly eying the pair as they conversed. It was clear she had been right in assuming J knew the other man. She watched them as they talked amongst each other, unsure quite what to do about this, but she was glad his hand was no longer on her back. The woman took that chance to take a step back and away from her new… friend and compose herself while contemplating her wine. She was suddenly feeling guilty about acting so scared of this man, when it was entirely possible he thought he was being friendly and kind to her. There was no real way he could have known she would be this shy, right? All the same, hearing Jason’s voice brought a more shy look from her, and she looked down for a moment before shaking her head and looking back at the two men. “No, really, I was just taken by surprise is all.” She left it at that, knowing full-well there was no need for her to tell him about why someone that close to her caused shock and alarm.
There was simply something about that small smirk and his voice that came with his comment. It was different from the few times they had spent together chatting, but in a good way. It was nice to see him look a bit happier. Feel happier, even, than he did a few months ago. Whatever this place was doing for him, it was nice to see and Megan wanted him to hold onto it. “You don’t have to explain, love, honestly. I am all-too aware of paperwork cutting into having a life,” she replied with a light voice. “Thank-you,” she told Constantine in a small tone before shyly smiling at the ground and adjusting the hem of her skirt. Megan looked up and then to the bar. “While we’re standing here, can I offer you anything? Either of you, that is?”
--- “Good to know that he wasn’t being a di-jerk.” he stopped himself from saying a word that he normally would have. He was normally a little better than that, watching his language around women, and just people in general. But, when you spend most of your time in or near a locker room your vocabulary tends to shift a little. He wasn’t so naive to think that women didn’t swear either, but, he liked to think that despite some of his upbringing, his mother still managed to get some gentlemanly lessons to stick in his head. “Besides, he’s pretty harmless off the pitch.” he shrugged a little. On the pitch, was another matter, but off of it, Constantine reminded him of a puppy. If he noticed something off, or that she was acting a little shier than usual, he didn’t make mention of it. Jason never really saw how that would help situations, unless it got terribly bad that is, so if he noticed he just kept on acting like normal. He’d had practice growing up with his youngest brother, Eddie, but that was a very long time ago.
“Uh, you know what, I could go for a stout about now. They’ve got me drinking this vodka, and my system needs a break. You want anything?” he turned to Constantine to ask, but after a short interchange, the other man smiled brightly and then turned to Megan and bowed a bit with a large grin and replied in a heavy accent and in broken English that it was “...very nice to meet Jason’s dark eyed friend” adding in a wink before excusing himself politely. Jason just shook his head a bit and rolled his eyes. “Forgive him. I’d claim it was poor healing from a bludger to the head, but I’d be shooting myself in my own foot, yeah?” he said laying down some money on the bar for the both of them, thinking it was what he could do to make up for being a little late. “Yeah, I hoped you’d get it, since I’m half sure you see more paperwork than I do.” he said in a friendly tone now that they were alone, not thinking much of it, since he’d enjoyed just talking with her. It was a nice change of pace from the people he usually talked to on a daily basis. A little bit of the familiar, kept him grounded in an odd sort of way.
*****
Megan kept her smirk to herself when he almost slipped out a curse word. She was used to that language around the pitch, and it bothered her a lot less than it used to. And a great deal less than it did others like Posey. But she made no real note of it. Merely nodded and assured him that it was not the case, and that the woman was sure he was perfectly fine off the pitch. She had learned that most of the people in the Quidditch world. They were aggressive and harsh during the game, but for the most part were nice, or at least tolerable off the pitch. That was just how people were when they played aggressive sports, perhaps. Or Megan liked to think. Some people never seemed to get it all out, though. They were the people who she tended to stay away from. And whether he noticed or not was better left unstated between them. She didn’t want to make it weird. She knew she enjoyed having him around, but there was a need to keep that to herself. Mostly because the woman knew he was with someone-someone they worked with.
When he agreed to have a drink, Megan looked up at Constantine, wondering if he would be staying as well. But, instead, they had a small interaction in Russian. It left the woman blinking and looking at them, waiting for the response. But what the other man replied with caught Megan off guard. She was not entirely sure how to take his response, but weakly said goodbye, blinking and then looking at Jason, feeling her face heat up a little. That was. Odd. Slightly flustered, she shook her head for a moment then smiling. “I know your work too well to believe you anyway,” she replied still flustered. She turned to pay, but noticed he had already put money on the bar top and smiled to herself. Megan bit her lip and made eye contact with the bartender before picking up her wine and took a sip. “Depends on the day. Sometimes it’s rather dull at work, but the moment the Cup is over, I’ll be working more than I’d like for training camp. Goodness forbid we get any new players on the team. With Michael getting someone to run daily operations, I need to draft up that release,” she paused, realizing a lot of what she was probably made no sense to Jason, or he really didn’t care. She tucked her curls behind her ear and shrugged. “Of course, the press of our players being part of the teams here, we may get to hide behind the press conferences until training camp is half-finished, yeah?”
******
Jason let out a little bit of an embarrassed chuckle at that, he wasn’t used to hearing his work praised or anything. He just did what he did. Players came in hurt, Jason fixed them. Simple as that. It was still stimulating work for him, though, at a much better pace for the most part than when he’d worked at the Hospital, or even more so in the field when he was still a Medi-Wizard. He just never learned how to not work hard. But, that was easy to do when lives depend upon it. Granted, it fixing hammies wasn’t exactly life threatening, but it could very well impact a career, so he just kept doing what he was doing. “What can I say, I like what I do.” he shrugged a bit, knowing it was a bit of an understatement. He read medical journals for fun on his time off. He was a giant nerd obsessed with being the best he could be and being on the forefront of what was up and coming in magical medicine.
He picked up his stout and drank a little from it as she started to talk, and he started to listen about what she was talking about. There were a few things he didn’t understand now, and there was a lot more he was sure of it, but he had a vague grasp on it. His older brother, Ross, made his living as a lawyer. Granted, he worked of the Ministry, but legal concepts weren’t totally lost on him. Ross may be a screw up in every other area of his life, but, he was good at what he did. “That sound exhausting. For me anyway, bet you can get it done rather quickly though.” he said adding that last part in, meaning it, but it was still the truth anyway. Jason nodded deeply at the hiding from the press part. “Dear sweet Merlin, I hope so.” he said rubbing his face a bit. “I’m not good with the press. I think they get mad at me because I never elaborate more than I have to. But...now that I have an intern...I might just train her to do it all for me. She’s much...” he paused for a moment searching for the right word to use. “more people friendly than I am.” he let out another little chuckle at that. It was true. He wasn’t anti-people, he just...was very factual and upfront about things. Speaking of which.
“Want to grab a table somewhere so we can sit and talk?” he said nodding towards some free tables, figuring it might be easier than standing near the bar and having people shouting over them.
****
At his chuckle, Megan offered him a gentle, warm smile and tilted her head to the side to look up at him. It was nice to see a smile on his face. He always seemed so focused and stoic-more so now than before. Slowly it was all changing, and it was nice to see. Whether it was something everyone was able to watch unfold or just the Russian team and those he called friends, Megan wasn’t going to wonder or ask, but she could help but feel her face heat up. He had a wonderful smile and almost too-perfect teeth. Just that realization alone made her words come out softer when she replied with, “Well, fortunately for all of us on the Pride you are also very good at it, yes?” She left it at that, realizing that maybe he was simply not used to someone, or even comfortable with, commenting on his work. Instead she shyly smiled down at her wine and took another sip.
She nearly choked on that sip, however, when Jason commented on her efficiency in her work. She could feel her face heating up and she knew she was now a deep shade of red on her cheeks. She hoped he would pay no mind to it as she tried to hide for a moment behind her curls before looking upset him and shrugging, hoping she had gained composure. “It’s not that horrible, really, it’s just a matter of organization is all. Have some blanket-statements we alter here and there, but it’s mostly a job of trying to be proactive rather than reactive like Public Relations, I guess.” But his comment actually made her giggle a little and she covered her mouth. “Yes, dear Posey is a bit more enthusiastic and animated in responses, isn’t she.” She knew what he meant. He was more withdrawn and to the point, which was not all that bad. For the most part, Megan herself was very timid and more than happy to be in the supporting role unless it had something to do with her job. She simply lived in the small moments and the subtleties. “Oh, yes, that’s a better idea than” her hand pointed to the large gaggles of people surrounding them. “All of this, yeah?”
She surveyed the room and spotted a place by the far wall and pointed it out to him before heading over and sitting down. She took the sun hat and put it on the back of her new chair before locking her ankles and leaning forward to talk to him, knowing full-well her voice was often too soft to be heard in large rooms. “So, have you been able to do anything exciting, then? I know you’re busy with the team, but surely you’ve had some time to explore.”
-----
Jason had a slightly thoughtful look on his face as he listened to her explain a little bit and gave a slight nod with his head. He had noticed how red her face had went. As a testament to where his head had been the several months, Jason’s first thought was that maybe it was a bit too warm in here, and that she needed to get some fresh air. Along with a thousand other thoughts about what might be happening, results of alcoholic and nonalcoholic alike. It was funny how fast his mind worked sometimes, all of those thoughts went by rather quickly in his head when it dawned on him that maybe what he said had caused it. Ooops? He thought? Truth was...Jason wasn’t actually sure, so he was afraid to say something about it and make the situation worse. On the other hand, she had kept talking, albeit in a quieter tone, but kept talking so it couldn’t have been that bad right? Right. “Never hurts to be proactive about those sorts of things. And, lets be honest here, as far as the teams in the league go...the Prides have to be one of the lower maintenance teams out there.” he said with a small sort of grin. Honestly, he wasn’t sure how some people did it with some of the higher strung players in the league. “Aye, that she is. But it works out well for the both of us. Makes us a pretty good team at the end of the day.” he shrugged slightly. He was actually rather surprised by it, not that he doubted the younger woman. It had just been a long time since he’d worked with a partner, and this was the first time that he’d really been allowed to train.
“Sadly, haven’t really had too much time to explore.” he said once he was settled into his chair, looking much more relaxed and ready just to have a good conversation with the other woman. He’d been looking forward to it all day in fact. “I plan on going to Venice eventually. Maybe getting lost in Rome for a day or two. But that’ll all depend on team stuff, you know?” he said with a slight sigh. “You’re self? Gone off on your own adventure?” he asked before taking a solid drink of his stout.
****
It had been a long while since a man had made her blush like that, it was both a nice and confusing feeling. But, for the most part, Megan kept the comment about it to herself. yes, he had caused it, and it was surely not the heat or the wine (as for some reason, she thrived in this weather apparently and it was only glass two). But the conversation continued, and the woman was quite content with the fact that he seemed to not want to make it worse. he was sweet, so really it was not much of a surprise that he had been respectful of it. Instead, she focused on what was being said, and gave a laugh and agreed at the fact that they did, in fact, work for the least worrisome team of the lot. When the conversation turned to him confirming that the healer trainee and he made a good team, she nodded. Megan agreed entirely that the pair seemed to balance each other. And as he was not normally one to talk about his work, the fact that he even mentioned that meant that he did like the small girl, regardless of how… excitable she was with her puffy dresses and singing in the halls. “Well, the important thing is the fact that you two work well together and not against each other. And if she is learning the trade quickly then that speaks quite highly of the both of you,”
“Oh that’s unfortunate,” she replied softly as he stated he had not had the chance to explore. She watched him, eyes on his. It was an unfortunate habit built from being a lawyer, and it often made people uncomfortable, but she liked to see eyes, even in such a simple setting. Megan was one of the weird people who never seemed to wear sunglasses if she was out with others, and often didn’t converse if others did. Excluding, of course the few of her girlfriends she could read like a book. “Oh, I finally got to look at some of the islands and spent a bit of time in Florence when the signing events were there. Rome was once more put off, as was Venice because of the flowers and well, the other day,” She subconsciously adjusted the skirt of her dress, remembering in horror how she had lost her skirt abruptly in public and spent the rest of the day mortified in her room. “I have been meaning to go to both, but I haven’t found the time, now that matches are more frequent.”
----
After taking another drink from his glass and half realizing that he needed to slow down, he nodded a little bit. “Aye, it really is a shame.” he said with a slight look on his face. Truth was, this was the farthest Jason had ever been from home, and while he knew that he’d be working a lot on it, he had thought that he’d have more time to himself than he actually had. Granted, some of that was by his own hand since he seemed to keep on making excuses to be around the team so he could find out more about them, or decide that he really wasn’t organized enough for the next day. All of which played a bigger hand in the fact that he was now very sure that his long-lost cousin was a chaser for the Russians. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it, and with his parents arriving soon...he was running out of time and options. But, right now he was trying to make it from the furthest thing from his mind at the moment. Jason did not think that Megan would appreciate him sitting there brooding over something she didn’t know about. So, instead, he just kept on with the conversation as if those thoughts hadn’t really passed through his brain rather quickly. “Yeah, speaking of those flowers...did you get hit with anything odd?” he tilted his head slightly thinking. “Because I spent a good hour trying to pry Constantine off of a tree.” he said shaking his head a little. Yeah, that had been fun...except not. And top it off, they’d been late to a team meeting...granted it didn’t turn out so bad since other people seemed to have flower-related problems as well, but Jason hated being late. With a passion.
“So I assume that you want to see the canals in Venice then?” he inquired since he was interested to figure out what she’d be interested in looking at. To him it spoke about that person a little bit and right now, he was interested in getting to know the team lawyer a little bit more. The eye contact thing didn’t really bother him all that much. Growing up with three brothers...well...honestly not much phased him. Which was probably one of the reasons that Jason wasn’t all that excitable, and tended to be a little more stoic than not. But, it wasn’t all such a bad thing...one of them just had to be the reasonable one. And Edmund had always been too young to really been that person. “Or Rome for that matter...there’s so much to see there. Anything in particular that you’re going to explore when you finally get there?” He knew what was on his list, he was just curious about what might be on hers.