bianca p. aubrey (persephones) wrote in valesco,
@ 2011-01-23 01:14:00

Entry tags:

bertram aubrey, bianca aubrey, heathcliff shimpling

Heathcliff/If someone else wants to wander past idk idk >>
Her face was in her hand as she laughed. Croissant-wrapped pickles had been quite delicious, if not a terribly messy endeavor, but reenacting the actual making of them was nearly too hysterical to discuss.

"Okay---okay, enough about the pickle drenched croissants," she let out, slightly short of breath as they moved down the lunch line. Bianca was glad for Heathcliff; he was a friend around the ministry that she'd been completely lacking. The boys in the hitwizard department were all lost in their own depressing little worlds, and while she had once had her own bubble of angst, she'd managed to burst out if it these past few months. It didn't mean she was suddenly Miss. Popular around the offices of the Ministry, but she was glad to have someone to have lunch with and not have to go home and rummage around her usually empty fridge.

Well...she'd had a boyfriend to go on lunch dates with up until recently, so it was nice to once again have something to do.

And he was nice! And smart, Heathcliff was really smart. Rather respected around the offices, too, so it wasn't as if she was just clinging to the first bloke/person who showed her some attention. Some part of her was slightly uneasy about spending time with a man who was not Bertram, therefore not the father of her unborn child, but a much bigger part told her that they were both adults and could have an adult relationship without any consequence. They absolutely could!

Bianca stared up at the ever changing menu, "All right, your pick." She hoped he managed to spot something that was both sugary and salty.

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pantsoptional
2011-01-24 06:21 pm UTC (link)

Bertram swore that the woman who'd got him fitted for his robes had made them just a little too tight around the neck on purpose. Really, he'd tried not to fidget and she'd assured him that they had some sort of charm put on them for comfort, but he didn't believe it for a minute. They itched.

Bianca had better appreciate the effort of this. He'd sent her all the thing she'd needed for her croissant and pickle abomination and he was perfectly willing to stay away from her if that was what she wanted right now. He was still trying to deal with things (one tended to deal with things slower when one didn't have much experience dealing with things at all) with his mother and moving out and finding his own place. Getting a job had seemed like one of the easier bits, since his mother had assured him months ago that he could find an entry level position at the Ministry in a second. Bertram was not at all convinced that his mother hadn't pulled some strings to get him here, but he couldn't very well complain about it. Bianca had wanted him to be an adult, so here he was, trying.

"Fancy seeing you here," Bertram strolled casually as he could up to Bianca's side, ignoring the man she was with. If she wasn't allowed to get jealous when he flirted with waitresses indavertently, he figured he probably ought to keep his mouth shut about someone she was having lunch with at work.

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indigo
2011-01-24 08:18 pm UTC (link)

Heathcliff laughed as she brushed off his teasing about the croissants and pickles, giving her a slightly cheeky grin before turning back to the menu - usually he brought a packed lunch including leftovers from whatever restaurant he'd eaten at or gotten takeaway from the night before. The ministry cafeteria really didn't appeal to him most days - it took time out of his break to come down here and deal with people when he could be spending it finishing some work. But his new interest in Bianca lead him to changing his schedule around a little bit, including spontaneous pickle sandwich making evenings. Which was nice. She was gorgeous and strong and all of that was rather attractive, even if it was slightly complicated given her situation.

He knew that there was complications further with The Ex and he was some sort of a placement in a game, but Heath was okay with that. He loved getting under people's skin, it was part of his appeal as a barrister, pushing people to their limits and getting them to bend to his will. Or at least, that's how he saw it. "How about the sandwich platter with a double order of crisps," Heathcliff offered, asking Bianca but really putting in the order with a slight nod to the counter worker. "It has a pickles and ham one, but also the butter and honey? Plus they come in quarters so we can just try it all. Honestly I've never eaten here. Did you want a pudding or something too?"

Heathcliff gave Bertram's sudden appearance very little outward note, he was expecting something along the lines of a confrontation from The Ex. Perhaps not today, but he could deal with it. Heathcliff watched him out of the side of his eye as he paid the worker, giving her a little extra. Despite it being Bianca offering for the lunch, there was no way he would let a lady pay for him. "And whatever he would like as well," Heathcliff smiled at her and indicated Bertram.

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persephones
2011-01-24 10:02 pm UTC (link)

She made to protest Heathcliff's paying, but Bertram's sudden appearance completely caught her by surprise.

"I work here," she blurted, coming out of her shocked state. Bianca's eyes narrowed in confusion and suddenly it clicked, "Wait, what are you doing here?"

Bianca stared at him, not bothering to hide her confusion. Was he visiting her? No, she hadn't told him when lunch was, so unless he had been hiding out in the cafeteria since this morning, Bertram was here...why? Her eyes blinked a few times as she took in his current state. His hair was definitely combed, and those robes...she had not seen him wear those before.

It occurred to her at the same time that Bertram seemed to have gotten a job here at the ministry, and that that she was being rude to Heathcliff. Before Bertram could respond she turned back to Heath and shoved him slightly in the arm, "I was going to get that!" she teased, putting a finger to her temple and then pointed at him, "I'll remember that."

That gave her a second to think about Bertram, and Bianca turned back to him, "Did you get a job?"

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pantsoptional
2011-01-24 10:22 pm UTC (link)

Bertram figured he had two real options when Heathcliff offered to pay for his lunch. Well, three options, but one of them seemed like something that would make Bianca sore at him. He thought more about that lately than he wanted to admit to anyone.

He shrugged his shoulders at Heathcliff. His mother had packed him a lunch (because that was what she did, despite his pleas for her to not do things like that) but he'd ended up eating it earlier this morning when he'd been ravenous from all the memorization they were expecting him to do, so he did need something to eat.

"No need to bend yourself backwards for me, mate. I'll grab a plate of chips or something." Because that seemed like the thing to do - accept, but not do anything extravagant and not take offense.

Once Bianca had turned back to him (had she dismissed him to talk to this bloke?) he flashed her a grin. It was well-meant, at least.

"I got a job here." He did not say 'Mum got me a job here', even though that was the case. "Something finally opened up that I was interested in." That wasn't altogether a lie - many of the entry-level jobs at the ministry seemed worse than going through school over again, so he hadn't asked after anything. "You know, something in Magical Games and Sports."

Sure, it was considered the most 'relaxed' of the departments, but it was really a place where Bertram's smart comments and loose lips wouldn't do anything but become an asset. Or that's what his mum seemed to think.

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indigo
2011-01-25 01:46 am UTC (link)

"Oh, it's nothing. I have an expense account for lunch meetings such as these," Heath added to Bertram but gave a winning smile to Biana, nudging her back a little. If he was going to get stuck eating lunch down here with a third wheel, he might as well get some fun out of it right? Though he was sure it was going to be painfully awkward from here on out. He was really trying not to get in the middle of things, but if Bertram was going to have his conversation right here, well Heathcliff couldn't help but overhear what was being said.

"And you said you would take me to lunch, here we are, the lunch room!" Heath said, picking up the offered tray of food with one hand and with a hand on Bianca's shoulder let her lead to the table. "You can get the next one, of course, we should do this more often, I hardly eat out of my office these days," Heath said, expecting Bertram to follow them and not indicating to the other man that he was unwelcome to join them.

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persephones
2011-02-05 01:01 am UTC (link)

Bianca did her best to smile and nod at both the men, wondering how she'd found herself in this situation. She'd never been one to deal with more than one boy at once, and it wasn't as if she was trying to have something more with Heathcliff she'd...he was a good person, he was funny, he was smart, he had a career and Bianca felt like an adult when around him. Was that wrong to want? It was what had been missing with Bertram, she'd found herself so stressed about him being stuck in the same routine he'd been in since Amissa was born (and pretty much all of his life---) that---

Ugh. She didn't know. Bianca figured though, that his getting a job was a step in the right direction, and could only assume that his motives behind the moves were to patch things up with her. Which, of course, she wouldn't let him know was making her feel really good inside.

"That's great!" she let out, not sounding too excited, because she didn't want to just go falling back into Bertram's arm over one decision he should have made years ago, "What will you be doing there?"

And---she didn't want to be rude to Heathcliff. Oh, this was getting awkward. Bianca hoped she had some grace as they settled into a table, glad they'd chosen one with chairs and not a booth, because then she'd have to figure out who to sit next to and....yeah, Bianca had no idea what she was thinking, starting to talk to another bloke while she was pregnant with another's kid. It was innocent, but it was really complicated.

"Our offices are too rowdy to eat at," she added to Heath's conversation, taking in a deep breath and looking over at Bertram with interest. Where was Mira when she needed her?

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pantsoptional
2011-02-05 01:13 am UTC (link)

Truthfully, Bertram had been hoping to weather the storm past the Death Eater debaucle that his family had thrown him into. Sure, they'd never actively pursued him, but his mother had constantly been worried, and he really had needed to take care of his daughter for a little while and ... okay, growing up was also hard and kind of lame, so there was that.

Bertram was about to mention something about how this didn't really qualify as a lunch meeting unless they were going to talk about boring work things, but he didn't want to give Heathcliff a good reason to try and dismiss him from their lunch, so he bit his tongue.

"Right now it's mostly grunt work," he admitted with a shrug, "Making sure that all the pitches are up to standards before Quidditch games, that sort of thing." He wasn't sure how he felt about some strange bloke's hand on Bianca's shoulder, but she didn't seem to notice ... so maybe he was just some kind of creepy over-toucher. Betram slid down into a chair calmly as he could manage and tried not to jerk at the collar of his robes.

Too tight.

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indigo
2011-02-06 05:15 pm UTC (link)

As fun as this little adventure was, Heathcliff could read the awkwardness on Bianca's face. He didn't imagine this was easy for her, being stuck here and it showed how nice and classy she was that Heath wasn't being asked to leave. It didn't really make him like Bertram much given that he was butting in on someone else's lunch, just an innocent one really, but that didn't mean he had to be rude and invite himself. Oh well. As they were sitting down, Heath set the tray on the table and grabbed a couple of the quarter sandwiches in a serviette and one of the orders of crisps, not making a move to sit down.

"I just remembered I have some more work to do on a motion, it's tough on the schedule sometimes, putting the bad guys away for good," Heathcliff flashed a meaningful look to Bertram but then turned to Bianca, leaning in and giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for the croissants last night, hopefully we can do this again, maybe somewhere out. I'll see you around," Heath said, not really expecting her to take him up on the offer, but if he could get one last kick in, well, that was only icing at this point. Heath didn't mind losing here, Bianca was in charge of her own life, but he was going to bow out gracefully at least and not make a big deal about it for her. Heath flashed her a smile before heading back up to his office.

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