InsaneJournal

Who: Ada Mulrine and Vicky Frobisher
What: Girl talk.
Where: The Leaky Cauldron
When: Friday after work
Status/Rating: Complete/G



Ada could hardly be unaware that Vicky had been under a fair bit of stress lately; much as she loved the Weasleys, they couldn’t be an easy family to be dating into, all things considered, even at the best of times. And mourning hardly equalled the best of times.

Sure, they saw each other every day at work, but the workplace was hardly a conducive setting for shooting the breeze or ranting about personal lives (or, at least the workplace Ada kept wasn’t; she was serious about the show, after all, and work was work even when it was fun.) A friendly drink- or a friendly round of pub food, in Ada’s case- was a different matter entirely.

“Do you have plans with Percy tonight?” she asked as they were tidying up after air time.

“Nothing concrete.” Of course, Percy and Vicky didn’t tend to make a lot of plans. Mostly, they just did whatever they felt like at the moment. Vicky was sure it would surprise anyone who didn’t know Percy the way she did, but it worked for them. There were plenty of planned moments too, naturally, but Percy was more spontaneous than most people thought. “I think he has a late shift at the shop today, so he won’t be off until late.”

“Good,” Ada said, glancing up to grin at Vicky. “Then we’re going to the Leaky. Grab your bag and let’s get out of here.”

She didn’t wait for an answer, since only one was acceptable or, she was fairly certain, forthcoming. Instead she picked up her own purse and charmed the lights off.

Vicky laughed. That sounded like an order from her boss, not an invitation from her friend, though she was fairly certain it was the latter. “Yes ma’am.” She slung her purse on her shoulder, patted her pockets to make sure she wasn’t forgetting anything she couldn’t do without, and turned to face Ada. “Meet you there?”

It was definitely the latter, although Ada would call it the former if that was what it took. “Last one there’s a hairless kneazle,” she agreed with a smirk, barely finishing the sentence before she Apparated.

It was early yet, which meant that it wasn’t hard to find a table even in the always-bustling Inn. Ada stopped to grab a menu before picking one of the ones toward the back, where it would be slightly less noisy as time went on.

Vicky popped into the Leakey just after Ada and followed her to the table. “That was cheating!” she protested as she slung her purse over the back of the chair and slipped into it with a sigh. She sat most of the day at work--in a chair that was more comfortable than the ones at the Leakey, honestly--but there was something about not being at work anymore that made her shoulders relax. “If you’re going to call unfair contests like that, you can buy the appetizers.”

“Mmm, you hang out with the twins regularly and you’re going to talk to me about cheating?” Ada teased as she sat down. “Fine, sure, I was already planning on buying, but if you insist.”

She looked at the menu quickly- not like she really needed the refresher- before handing it off to the younger woman.

Vicky didn’t need to look at the menu either, but she glanced at it quickly before handing it off to the young witch who had come over to take their orders. “Let’s start with the asparagus tarts. And I’ll have the chicken sandwich with chips and a butterbeer.”

She let Ada order too, and then when the server was gone, looked across the table at her friend and co-worker. “So, what’s up?” Clearly, something was. She and Ada hung out frequently outside of work, but it usually came from a spontaneous decision made during the work day or at a planned thing, not being ordered to come out at the end of the day.

Food ordered, Ada turned back to Vicky and gave a little shrug. “You seem down,” she explained, quirking a half-smile at her friend. “A lot is going on, lately, and I thought you might like to talk. So. Girl’s night, whether you like it or not.”

“Not down precisely. Just overwhelmed.” Though she supposed from an outside perspective, they probably looked about the same. They both meant she was not the happy, bouncy Vicky everyone had come to expect. She was getting back there now that the funeral and interment were over, but even the memory of all the time she’d spent with the entire mourning Weasley clan--not to mention all the Weasley relatives who had taken it upon themselves to vet her for Percy--was enough to make her tense up again.

She let her head fall forward onto her hands. “There are a lot of Weasleys. And I love Percy and I’m glad I was able to be there for him and Fred and George, but…” She trailed off, sighing.

“That may be the greatest understatement of our times,” Ada teased, reaching to pat Vicky’s shoulder comfortingly. “I expect that managing not to run screaming when confronted with all of them at once is an accomplishment you ought to be proud of, love. At least, when you’re the girlfriend. It’s probably a bit easier if you’re not romantically involved with one of the clan.”

“I felt like I was being evaluated the whole time. Well, after the first night, anyway. Bill took me to get coffee last week, which was awkward. Especially since I’d hardly met Bill until the night Gideon died.” She lifted her head and smiled as their drinks were delivered to the table. “Thanks.” She downed half her butterbeer in one go. “Sorry. I shouldn’t bitch. They had a really hard time. It wasn’t about me.”

“You absolutely should bitch,” Ada said, sipping her lemonade more sedately thank Vicky had her butterbeer. “That’s why we’re out. This is your opportunity to bitch without taking it out on your boyfriend and his family, who did have a very hard time, yes. Which doesn’t invalidate you feeling judged and maybe a little ganged up on.”

Just hearing the words were a relief. She wanted to be there for Percy, for Fred and George, but there had been so much going on with them that she'd hardly felt like she had time to breathe. "Yeah, all right. They're just... they're so different from my family. We would have had one day of family togetherness, not three official ones and several more unofficial ones. And they wouldn't have been so long. The wake was twelve hours long, Ada." Vicky was a social person, but twelve hours of awkwardly grieving family was too much for even her to handle.

Ada’s eyebrows shot up, because twelve hours was a really, really long time. “If I had to spend twelve hours with anyone’s family, I’d go mad,” she admitted, “and that includes my own. I don’t know how you did it. All I know is that you’re a better woman than me.”

"It was on the farm, so there were places to hide and animals to play with. I spent most of the day petting cats." Vicky finished the rest of her butterbeer and ordered another one as the food was delivered. "And Percy and I slipped away for a nap in the middle of the afternoon." She was fairly certain no one had noticed. If they had, they hadn't felt it significant enough to say anything, which had been a relief. Percy had worried what his family would think.

"The worst part was the interment. "The Prewetts are... set in their ways." She wasn't going to call Percy's grandparents bigoted arseholes even without him there, though she thought it. "They don't approve of me and I'm pretty sure they would rather I hadn't come."

Ada shrugged. "So? You were there for Percy, not for them. And if they had any sense at all, they'd be thrilled you're brill enough and care enough to sit through five days of mourning for their grandson's sake. If they're not, their good opinion isn't worth much to begin with."

“That’s why I went.” Vicky nodded thanks as her new butterbeer arrived and took a sip, rather than gulping it like she had the first one. She had no desire to get drunk tonight--not that she was sure she could on butterbeer alone. “I ignored what they said and the way they looked at me and just stuck to Percy’s side. His Uncle Fabian made sure I was welcomed properly, which was almost worse, you know?” Vicky had appreciated what Fabian was doing, and hadn’t said anything out of respect, but she wasn’t a damsel who needed rescuing. She was perfectly capable of handling bigoted arseholes all on her own.

Ada smirked a little and nodded. “I know. But, oi, the jerks don’t matter, and the rest of them will figure out you can take care of yourself just fine soon enough. The twins and Percy certainly know that, anyway.”

She finished off her own drink and signaled the waitress for a second lemonade, then glanced back to the other woman. “How are things with Percy, besides all of this? No more misunderstandings?”

"Things are good." Vicky grinned, flush with love as she thought about Percy. "Really good." She blushed a little as she thought about some of the things they'd gotten up to lately. "Not that you need details about that." Vicky rant the type to kiss and tell, anyway.

"He's back full time at the shop, though, and really looking for other work again. I think he's going to concentrate on the exporting part of stuff for a while since the twins are hiring Ron when he graduates." Vicky shrugged. She didn't really have all the details. "He's talking about taking a few trips, though." She wasn't sure how she felt about that. It was great for the twins and the shop and even Percy, but as nice as the idea of going to Greece with him had been, she could hardly take off and travel with him every time he erect to set up some export contacts.

"Normally, I'd make you tell me why you're blushing,"Ada teased, "but I'm not really sure I want those details about Percy. It might be hard to keep a straight face around the twins."

“The twins don’t want details either.” And that was fine with Vicky. She didn’t actually want to share all the intimate parts of her relationship with anyone but Percy. “It’s great fun to tease them, though. I can start telling a story about what Percy and I did, and if I so much as hint that we so much as kissed and they cover their ears and start singing.” She giggled at the thought. The twins were amazingly easy to rile up when it came to her relationship with Percy.

Ada laughed loudly enough that a few other patrons glanced over. "Do they sing an actual song, or just lalala? Is it the same song? Because if it's the smell song, they probably planned it and are teasing you right back, miss."

"No, it's lalala. They really don't want any details." Vicky grinned widely, then narrowed her gaze and gave Ada a mock-stern look. "And don't you go giving them any ideas, Ada Murline." She managed to hold the look for about ten seconds before she lost it and started giggling.

When she stopped, she took a sip of her butterbeer. "Thanks for this, by the way. I needed it."

"If you're telling me I can't suggest a singalong to them, you may be out of luck," Ada replied with a grin. "I'm the boss, Miss Frobisher."

She nodded, accepting the thanks. "I know. No problem, love."

"Technically, you're just the lead on the show. Caroline is the boss," Vicky teased, referring to the head of programming at WWN. "Asks it's not like the twins need ideas. You should help me figure out how to get George back for shrinking me instead." She put on her most innocent expression. "Please?"

“Well, that’s not a request I can turn down,” Ada agreed. “But if we’re plotting, it might take a while. Might want to owl Percy and let him know what you’re up to. Maybe get his input too, yes?”

Vicky pulled out her journal asks scribbled a quick ward to Percy. "Less obvious that way, since I think he's still in the shop. Wouldn't want the twins to intercept the owl and figure out what we're up to." Ward done, she flipped to a new page and leaned in. "So, here's my first thought..."