Who: Ms. Spinnet and her very handsome date
What: Cuteness
Where: Londonish?
When: Last weekish?
Status: Finishing in comments.




Honestly, if it had been up to Delilah, she would have told Rich that she was free much sooner than today, but unfortunately she had competitions taking up all her time since she received the very lovely flowers from him. She hadn’t a clue what his note meant, or why on earth he would need another chance, being as from her point of view his first went over quite well. Obviously he didn’t see himself clearly, or didn’t know her well enough. Either way, she was determined to fix that.

She fretted over her outfit while she waited for him to come in pick her up. He insisted, and well, she really couldn’t turn him down. She wasn’t quite sure why she was so concerned, being as they were doing everything completely backwards. Delilah really couldn’t think of a single possible way for the night to end in disappointment. Unless he didn’t show up. The tattler did come out the other day, perhaps he figured out they were talking about her. Or maybe it was pointed out to him that she forgot about her last boyfriend and cheated on him. Oh there were hundreds of ways this could go wrong.

She pressed the heels of her hands to her temples as she paced her living room. She should have left well enough alone. Let it have been one fabulous night that she could just dream about without it being ruined by, well, her. Too late now, though as there was a knock at her door that pulled her from the beginnings of an anxiety attack. She took a deep breath and tugged at her sleeves of her top. Oh she should have worn one where the sleeves didn’t ride up so easily. She still hadn’t figured out get rid of the ugly teal splotchy mark left on her forearm from her last duel. It was so gross looking, but she didn’t have time go visit a healer before her date. She would just have to do her best not to let him see it. Easy enough.

“Hellooo” she greeted him with a grin as she open the door moments after she pulled herself together. “How are you today?”

Rich was standing outside Delilah’s door for a good fifteen minutes before he finally announced himself with a knock. He was all nerves and bashful tendencies. To be honest, he couldn’t believe this was still happening. While they were a quite nice gesture, he hadn’t expected anything to come of the flowers and note. It wasn’t that he thought ill of Delilah, it was that he thought so highly of her that he was certain she was entirely out of his league and surely, she would realize this. She had responded, though, and she wanted to spend the day with him. Why she did? He didn’t know, but he was going to try his best to not be a complete clod this time.

Dressed down in Muggle clothes -- a light grey button-up shirt over dark trousers with a light jacket -- Rich had checked himself in the mirror more times than he cared to count. He’d fussed over everything until he’d settled on some bland clothes since the plan was to take Delilah to London for the day and stay utterly tame and proper as they got to know each other a little better. All Rich knew about Delilah, he knew because of Ethan and well, Rich knew to take most of that with a grain of salt. Rich preferred to form his own opinion of people rather than believe what others told him. He didn’t keep up on pitch gossip or the rags, so he knew nothing of her past transgressions, but even if he did, Rich was a firm believer in second, third, and even fourth chances. People could change for the better and Rich was always willing to allow them that opportunity.

Rich tensed up in the moment of pause as he waited for Delilah to answer the door. There was always the possibility that she might not answer. For all his talk about wanting to make other people happy without anything in return, Rich was terrified of rejection. He managed to pull a fake smile as the door opened, though, but as soon as he saw Delilah, it became genuine, albeit a little shy.

“I’m fantastic, now,” he replied and took a step, readying to hug her, but he paused as he caught himself. He wasn’t sure if she wanted him to hug her and Rich was not one to take initiative -- not without six shots of alcohol in him, anyway. “And you?” he asked, unable to keep the flush from creeping up into his neck. “Been well, I hope?”

Delilah stuttered slightly at the door. There was this thing, she was sure there had to be a proper term for it, where the guys you snogged while sloshed were infinitely better looking than they were when sober. So she didn’t hold Rich to the expectation of her memory from the party. She should have though, because her memory didn’t do justice to the man standing in her doorway.

“Lovely.” she breathed, trying to compose herself. It was not possible for him to be better looking than she remembered. She was known for exaggeration and extrapolation from small details. All she really wanted to do was pull his face to hers and kiss him again, and he had only been there for moments. Instead she settled on just pulling his hand into hers as she stepped out into hall shutting her door behind her. “I’m excited, today should be fun.” she swung their linked hands between them before leaning in to kiss his cheek.

She rocked on her heels, unable to stand still. She was glad she hadn’t over dressed for whatever he had planned. “I’m so glad you owled. I was afraid I might have to track you down and look like a complete nutter. I tend to be a bit over zealous... and say things I probably shouldn’t... like everything I just said.” she laughed nervously.

Appreciative but shy, Rich gave Delilah a quick grin after she’d kissed his cheek and made his stomach do a little flop. Then she prattled and he couldn’t help the fact that it made him want to do something to show her that he didn’t mind her tendency to overshare. He also flustered a bit at the thought of Delilah randomly showing up on his doorstep and then he felt bad because he’d waited so long to send her that owl.

“I wasn’t sure how you’d react,” he admitted as he met her gaze with his. “And -- well -- I was terrified that you were going to turn me down. I almost didn’t send one at all, but...” he trailed off before rolling his eyes at himself. “I promise I’m not going to behave like an untamed troll this time,” Rich finished with a sigh as he laced their fingers and began to lead their walk. “I’m not usually that forward. At least, not right away. I’m too nervy for it.”

“Aww, does that mean you won’t be snogging me senseless then? Unfortunate.” Delilah half teased nudging her shoulder into his. “I don’t think you were being an ‘untamed troll’, actually you couldn’t be farther from one, if you ask me, in actions or looks. You didn’t offend me at all, believe me, you would know if you had. So don’t worry about it okay? It was fun and well, I would welcome a repeat, but we can save that for after our date.” She smiled up at him a bit mischievous. She mostly said the last bit to watch him blush. Obviously Delilah was forward enough for the both of them.

She swung their linked hands between them as she let him lead her. “So now that that’s been sorted, how about you tell me where we are going? Or is it a surprise? I do like surprises.”

Rich’s eyes widened the slightest bit when Delilah mentioned his aggressive kissing, which normally wouldn’t have happened, at least not right away. Of course, he had enjoyed the snog on the dance floor, the one on the couch, the one outside his apartment, the one inside his apartment before shagging, the one after shagging, and the one before breakfast the next morning after she’d convinced him to stop hiding. He’d really enjoyed that last one because at least he could recall it beyond brief flashes of memory that he wasn’t entirely sure were real or in the correct order. Of course he hadn’t been able to let her go after breakfast without at least a peck and he’d given her two before seeing her off with the promise that he’d owl.

Oh Gods why had he waited so long to owl? He was such a tosspot.

“Yeah, yeah -- definitely,” Rich replied, blushing deeper pink after he stirred out of his multitasking of listening to her talk and thinking about his lips on hers. “Well, that is if you still want me around afterward,” he clarified before frowning. “I’m not entirely sure how you feel about Muggle fire-eaters.”

Rich bit his lower lip, which upturned into a smile when she started to swing their hands. She was so bloody beautiful in appearance, action, and spirit. He felt fluttery and marginally at ease simultaneously. It was just weird, but he liked the feeling.

“Oh, it can be a surprise,” he offered with a slight shrug. He then glanced around, looking for an inconspicuous spot to disapparate from before he gave her a little tug over to the side of the building. “Stay close, obviously,” Rich said as gave her another slight tug and slung his arm around her with a smile before pop! and they were gone from Dublin, headed for London and a Muggle street fair.

“Muggle fire-eaters.” Delilah repeated intrigued. “Muggle! Muggles don’t eat fire! Do they? I mean I don’t see how they could.” She rambled on a bit, only being cut of when they apparated. She took in her surroundings once she was settled on her two feet again trying to see if she could figure out where he was taking her.

She did catch him saying it could be a surprise while she was still caught up on the whole fire eating thing. From where they were standing though, she couldn’t discern anything. Then again with how careful you had to be apparating, it wasn’t exactly surprising. She happily let him lead her up the alleyway to the street. “I bet I could figure out how to eat fire if I really wanted to. Although I’m sure that involves some pretty tricky charm work and I’m sort of rubbish at most charms. And if things went awry, well I can’t even manage basic healing spells. Probably safer if I don’t bother.”

She reached up to move a bit of her hair that had fallen in her face when she paused mid-motion. She was too busy trying to figure what was going on ahead to notice her sleeve sliding up her arm. Her eyes were caught on colorful lights and commotion just a ways up the street. She could hear music and whatever it was, it had fun written all over it. She grinned looking over at Rich assuming that this is where he was intending to take her, and if it wasn’t she was about to insist they detour to check it out. “Look at that! Looks like some sort of carnival is going on!”

Hearing the excitement in her voice made Rich smile wide. He’d hoped she’d enjoy a trip to the West End for one of the annual carnivals. Then he glanced to her as she fixed her hair and saw the nasty splotch on her skin, and everything came to a halt in his brain. His expression fell into concern and the arm he’d around her firmed its hold.

“What’s on your arm, there?” he asked quietly, though he knew for almost certain that he was the result of a hex. He’d seen such things quite often when he was a trainee in Spell Damage.

Frowning, he reached up with his free hand and gently took her arm by the elbow, bringing it down for closer inspection. “Haven’t seen one of these in awhile,” he said softly as his brow fretted in concern. “How long ago was the duel? You should have this healed,” he was getting earnest out of concern.

“I can do it, but not around the Muggles, you know?” he offered with a quick glance away, but his focus was then immediately back on Delilah. “Let me patch you up at my flat and then we’ll go to the carnival, yeah?” he said in a hopeful tone, brow still bent and he was now gently biting his lower lip. He didn’t like the idea of her just walking around with a random hex mark on her arm, no matter how harmless the hex might be.

Delilah’s eyes widened a bit when Rich asked what was on her arm. How did she forget already, it hadn’t even been twenty minutes. He had a hold of her elbow inspecting it before she had a chance to pull away. “It’s nothing,” she said turning a bright shade of red. “Really. No big deal.”

She watched as he worried at his lips when he wasn’t asking her questions about the stupid ugly splotch on her arm. “Er I am pretty sure it one of the duels yesterday. I meant to go to the healer but well I ran out of time. It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt or anything. It can wait til tomorrow.”

She gently pulled her elbow out of his hand and tugged on her sleeve a bit self consciously. “Um sure I guess you could. Although, the healer yelled at me last time I tried to heal myself, said I should leave it to the professionals... not that I’m saying you’re as terrible at it as I am I just...” Delilah pursed her lips, realizing she was talking to much again. Here Rich was trying to be nice and she was going on being rude. “What I mean to say is, I would really appreciate it if you would take care of it for me. But, if we never make it to the fair because we get sidetracked, well I really can’t be blamed. So maybe we should wait until after.”