Savannah Davies (jot_it_down) wrote in valesco,
@ 2011-03-15 22:46:00

Entry tags:

Geoffery
Savannah couldn't think of the last time she had been as nervous as she was now, waiting at the bar for her date to arrive. It didn't help that she couldn't think of the last time she had been on a date, either, let alone a blind date. True, she knew whose face she was supposed to be looking for, but that didn't mean she knew anything about the man behind the name; that name being Geoffery Brand. Half of Europe knew who the man was, and how incredibly handsome he was (gah, those eyes...), yet he had absolutely no idea who he was coming to meet. All he knew was that her name was Savannah Davies, and that was all due to the fact that they had been communicating through journals. It wasn't like her picture was ever published with any of the articles she wrote, so how could he know what she looked like?

True, she did used to be married to the at the time captain of the Montrose Magpies, and had gone on a few dates with the captain of Puddlemere United before that, so her picture was floating around in articles here and there, but Geoff hadn't been on either of the teams during those points in time. She couldn't see why he would have paid any attention to who Seth or Finn were seeing a few years ago.

God, had it really been that long? She had gotten her divorce a little over a year ago, January of '81, and hadn't been with anyone since. The thought was incredibly depressing, and just made her all the more antsy, like a school girl who was going on her first date with the cute boy from class - the one who had been in all her classes but didn't even know her name.

It felt sort of like that, as she tapped her neutral colored nails against her glass, her lips rolling under to catch the droplets of white wine that lingered there after her last sip. Her shoulder lifted and fell again with the deep breath that was preceded by a heavy sigh, one of her hands lifting up to self consciously rub at the spot on her forehead were a bump had once been. Thankfully the swelling had gone down with help of some ice and potions, but it felt like there was still a phantom bruise there. Once she was done touching the still sensitive area of her face, she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, and turned to look towards the door as she heard some commotion.

It wasn’t Geoff.

Savannah let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, turning back to her glass of wine, taking another long, slow sip as her leg bobbed, one crossed over the other, smoothing down the fabric of her dress - another nervous habit as she waited for Geoff to arrive.

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gavins
2011-03-16 01:14 am UTC (link)

Truth be told, Geoff was strongly debating not showing up to this dinner at all. It wasn't that he was nervous (as far as he would admit to anyone), but that he had somehow managed to convince himself, after her announcement as a reporter, that he was probably being set-up. Still, if he was going to get made a fool of, he'd have to dress appropriately. He'd chosen a loose green button-down, contrasting and yet matching with his eyes. Vain, sure, but that was what happened when you spent most of your teenage life letting your little sister dress you.

He'd had a date or two in the past year, but everything with his sister and Quidditch and his little Problem with the Death Eaters had more or less consumed the last six to eight months of it. He'd managed to slip right past the last bloke who'd caused some ruckus with the other patrons and spot the girl with the blue flower in her hair.

Well. She certainly wasn't a hunchback, that was for sure. She looked vaguely familiar, but not in a way that he could place. Geoff brushed off the thought and managed a charming smile, sliding into the seat across from Savannah in what was, he hoped, a smooth motion.

"Now, this is going to be really embarrassing if there turns out to be more than one girl with a blue flower in her hair..."

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jot_it_down
2011-03-16 01:31 am UTC (link)

Her lips twisted to the side, her pointer finger circling the top of her glass to get it to make that wonky noise that crystal made. She used to know how to play songs with water glasses, silly little things like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but she was out of practice. It was one of her less impressive talents, but it was the first thing Geoff would be introduced to as he took a seat beside her without her realizing it, turning with a jump when she heard his voice.

Large hazel eyes focused in on the pair of crystal blues that were looking at her, letting out a soft, almost bashful laugh when he addressed the flower in her hair. Her fingers touched the petals as she looked away from him for a moment, her other hand dropping from the top of the glass to rest against the bar as she turned to look at him with a gentle smile.

“I’m the only one here, as far as I know.”

It was her way of letting him know that he had found the right girl. The hand that had been playing with the flower dropped down to her lap, turning herself in the seat so that she was facing him, her other hand extending out towards him, offering another smile.

“Savannah Davies.”

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gavins
2011-03-16 01:38 am UTC (link)

Oh, she was offering him her hand. That meant she definitely was the girl from the journals, or at least someone who stalked his posts on the journals, and -- well, what was he supposed to do with it? He was so very out of practice with this.

Geoff was inwardly panicking, whether it was apparent outwardly or not (it wasn't). He plastered on a wider smile as she introduced herself, opting to do what he did in most of these situations: do what he thought Maggie would tell him to. He took her hand lightly in his and brought her knuckles up to his lips for a brief kiss before dropping it again, only a little awkwardly. It was the thought that counted, right?

"Geoff Brand, but apparently you already know that." He half-expected there to be cameras flashing when he said his name, but so far the media was blissfully absent.

"Should we get a more comfortable table? I'm sure the bar is lovely, but..." A table was more intimate, right? Better for personal conversation.

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jot_it_down
2011-03-16 02:03 am UTC (link)

Savannah blinked when he lifted her hand to his lips, and she felt heat rush to her cheeks, knowing that her face was now a little more pink than it had been a few moments ago. She used her other hand to tuck some more hair behind her ear, trying not to rub at her forehead even though she half expected him to somehow see something that was no longer there. It would have been her luck, to think the mark above her eyebrows was gone, just to have it be sticking out like a sore thumb in front of Geoffery, or ‘Geoff’ as he introduced himself.

Her fingers curled around his hand before he let it go, allowing her to reach for her drink, just to give her something to do, though she didn’t get to take a sip before she heard his voice. Her brows hiked up a bit at his suggestion, and she found herself staring at him for a moment before she finally snapped back to reality when he trailed off.

“Oh! Oh, yes, absolutely.” She smiled again, hoping he didn’t think she was a total flake. She cleared her throat, placed down her drink again in order to balance herself better as she uncrossed her legs and hopped down from the tall seat. She pushed down the fabric of her dress against her thighs, draped her jacket that was on the back of the chair over her arm, and then grabbed her clutch before grabbing hold of her drink again.

“I made a reservation already. We have a seat in the back. I figured you’d want as much privacy as possible. For your benefit, of course. To prevent flocking and all that. I didn’t mean you would want privacy for us or anything, I just-…” She looked away, realizing she had been babbling, and gnawed at her lower lip before she turned her eyes up to look at him again, giving a sheepish smirk. “It’s over here.”

Turning around, she mentally kicked herself for acting like an idiot, and once she was sure he was ready, she lead the way towards the back area she had mentioned. A waiter met them and lead them the rest of the way, sitting them down at a table in the back room. Once they were all situated, she gave the waiter a ‘thank you’ before she left them alone with their menus and each other. She looked across the dimly lit table at Geoff, shifting her weight in her seat before she reached out for her wine.

“I apologize in advance if I seem a little…twitchy.” She took a small sip, and then placed the glass back down, folding her hands in her lap. “I just haven’t been on a date in quite some time.” She hoped, in the back of her mind, she wasn’t letting him in on too much information, or making him feel uncomfortable somehow by mentioning he was the first person she had gone out with in a while. Again she would clear her throat, and then reached out for her menu to try and distract herself from feeling like an idiot.

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gavins
2011-03-16 03:57 am UTC (link)

He let her lead them to the table, since she seemed to know where it was. Considerate of her to try and keep them in the back of the place -- the Brands did like to stay out of the media as much as they could. It was harder for Maggie being on the Magpies, but it was still something that Geoff thought about.

So far she was doing well, as far as Geoff was concerned ... especially if she hadn't been on any dates for a while. "I'm surprised," he replied easily enough, waving a hand, "About you not being on many dates. I mean, I know that you said you send decent blokes running the other way, but..." He waved his hand. "I don't see any unicorn horn, and you're a pretty girl." And she didn't seem to have any glaringly obvious annoying traits, like awkward giggling or severe bitchiness about his being two and a half minutes late.

Seriously, he'd dated those girls. He shrugged his shoulders easily.

"With everything that's been going on with Maggie and her -- boyfriend," whatever crock that was or was not, since he wasn't sure anymore, "and the baby, I've not really had a lot of time to do anything except Quidditch either. So consider us in the same boat." And now ... what were they going to talk about?

"You said you're a reporter, right? Any reason you got into that line of work?" Someone being 'good at Quidditch' basically made them a shoe-in for the professional leagues, but actually working toward something like journalism had to have come from a different path, right?

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jot_it_down
2011-03-16 05:11 am UTC (link)

Again she would wind up blushing at his compliment, unnecessarily tucking some imaginary loose strands of hair behind her ear before using that hand to hold open her menu again. Savannah was always a modest creature, though she did have the awareness that she was attractive. “If I can be so bold, I don’t believe it’s ever been my looks that send them running off. I don’t really know what it is, to be honest…which is what makes it such a problem. At least if I knew, I could try to fix it.” She paused, realizing that she might have been sounding self deprecating, and looked up to him again with a smile. “I wish I could blame the unicorn horn, but alas…it’s nothing more than a memory, now.” She was trying to show that she wasn’t as uptight as she might have seemed at the moment – that she was able to make fun of herself, even though the subject of making men run away from her was extremely sensitive.

She let her eyes scan over some of the items on the menu before her eyes met his again, intent on showing that she was paying attention to what he was saying. The mention of his sister made her very curious, though what peeked her curiosity even more was the way he paused before he mentioned the word ‘boyfriend’. She let out a commiserative hum, understanding all too well how complicated things could get, especially when a baby was involved with everything.

When the conversation switched around to focus in on her, she shifted in her seat again, and twisted her mouth to the side as she tried to think about how she should answer. “Well…I suppose there were a few reasons why I decided to go into that line of work. For starters, I’ve always loved to write. I’ve been writing things for as long as I can remember – poetry, short stories, grocery lists…you name it.” She smiled a little easier now that they were getting into the flow of talking. “I used to dream about being a reporter for the ministry – one of the lucky few who got to sit down with the Minister and ask him all the questions everyone wanted to know the answers to, you know?” She sighed a little as she looked back to her menu, giving a small shrug. “Things just…didn’t work out that way. I got accepted to Witch Weekly fresh out of Hogwarts, though I was only a secretary at first.” Again she looked up to him. “It was only supposed to be a temporary job, one of those things that look really good on a résumé. Then, I got the job as a reporter, and that was only supposed to be the next stepping stone…but I’ve been there for such a long time. I’ve become very comfortable there, even though the last thing I want to be writing about is celebrity gossip, or asking Gilderoy Lockhart which shade of green is ‘in’ this Spring…”

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gavins
2011-03-16 05:09 pm UTC (link)

It wasn't hard for Geoff to pay attention to Savannah's story. Maggie had always told him that a woman could tell when you were faking trying to pay attention, anyway, and that it just tended to piss women off when you did that. He tried not to get into the habit of not paying attention to what people said to him anyway, since they seemed to like to quiz him about it later on. He nodded, watching the way her mouth moved while she thought about her answer. It was ... cute.

"Ah, but I hear that all the women love Gilderoy Lockhart. I'm sure that you can at least just watch his dreamy, golden locks while you ask him questions." He laughed, though, and then tried for a more serious face. "Have you ever thought of quitting and trying to get into the ministry again? I mean, I'm sure they'd take all your experience into account." Sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone could end well. Geoff hadn't at all been confident he'd enjoy the Professional Quidditch world, but it had turned out all right in the long run and it had even helped him get closer to Maggie. Being on separate teams just made the sibling rivalry all the more exciting.

He nodded. "And I'm sure your writing has improved overall, even if you are mostly doing stories to do with what colours are in. It's the experience that counts, right?"

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jot_it_down
2011-03-16 05:38 pm UTC (link)

She let out a giggle at the mention of Gilderoy Lockhart’s ‘dreamy golden locks’, finding his laugh and smile to be contagious. “Oh, he makes sure you notice his hair within the first 5 seconds of an interview. ‘Isn’t my hair fabulous?’ ‘Don’t you just love the way it waves so gently and glistens in the sunlight?’” She rolled her eyes. “The man is handsome, I can’t deny him that, but he has the personality of a wet sponge…completely self absorbed.” Her eyes went back to looking at the menu, but his question brought her attention back to him. Her shoulders shrugged a little, and her fingertips played with the laminated page of the menu, eventually giving him an appreciative smirk.

“I suppose you’re right…” She gnawed at her lower lip again as she lowered her eyes away from his, thinking over all the reasons why she hadn’t tried to get away from Witch Weekly and enter a more prestigious form of journalism. “I’ve thought about it – leaving my job to do what I’ve always wanted…” Her eyes lifted again to meet his. Something about his gaze was calming, making her feel less antsy and jittery about the fact that they were on a date.

“I was prepared to pack up my things and leave a few years ago, but…I hit a few road blocks. New laws were passed, making it a bit more difficult for me to get a new job, let alone keep the one I already had. Now, I just have no excuse other than being afraid to take that next leap.” She shrugged again, and then flipped the page of her menu, even though she wasn’t done looking through everything. After that, she reached forward for her glass of water, took a small sip, and then placed it back down before turning to look back up at him.

“So, was playing professional Quidditch always your dream?” She didn’t want to monopolize the conversation and have it all be about her - partially because that felt rude, and partially because there were too many things she wasn’t sure he’d want to hear about on a first date, let alone the first time he was ever meeting her.

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gavins
2011-03-18 02:51 pm UTC (link)

"Some women are into wet sponges, though. You never know when you'll need one to soak up some of your own personal life messes." Whether he was suggesting that Lockhart might be persuaded to take on someone else's responsiblities because he seemed like a stupid, naive kind of prat was ... up for debate. Really, he'd just been trying for a joke that ended up going horribly awry. He cleared his throat, nodding.

"Well, I'm sure they'd take you on -- and an entry-level job at the Ministry probably wouldn't be too much of a pay cut, I'd think." He wasn't going to be rude and ask her how much she made, of course, but the Ministry was well-funded and reporters who didn't blow things out of proportion were really hard to find. When she asked him about Quidditch, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Honestly? It was something I've been good at since I was young, along with Maggie -- and it's kind of expected of us, I'd think. I mean, can you imagine the family disappointment? I actually thought I'd hate it, but the teams I've been on have been pretty solid. No drama, just good sportsmanship -- at least when I've been on the teams." United had had its rough patches, after all.

"If nothing else, it's been a great way to see most of the rest of the Wizarding world."

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jot_it_down
2011-03-19 02:10 am UTC (link)

She thought it was endearing, the way he was trying to make a joke which bombed so terribly. She smiled, and then canted her head a little to the side. “I suppose…but an already saturated sponge isn’t exactly the best thing to use to clean up other messes. I’d consider that a little counter productive, wouldn’t you?” Her smile got a little broader, and she shifted her weight as her ankles crossed under her chair. She gnawed at the corner of her lip again as he sounded optimistic about her chances of getting into the ministry, and appreciated how delicately he approached the subject of a pay cut. Compared to him, she made considerably less, though she did have a lot of money in her account thanks to certain unfortunate circumstances: her divorce.

Savannah had to let out a small snicker at the mention of ‘no drama’, but tried to pass it off as her clearing her throat, rolling her lips under. “Sorry, it’s just…hearing the words ‘no drama’ while talking about Quidditch isn’t necessarily what I’m used to….” In her experience, the Quidditch world was full of nothing but drama. Her eyes disconnected from his, reaching out to grab her glass of wine, taking a much needed sip before the waiter sidled up to their table. He asked her if they were interested in any appetizers, or drinks – Savannah, who was still set with her wine, dismissed the offer with a ‘no thank you’, but waited for Geoff to speak up before the two of them were left by themselves again.

Her eyes were back on his. “Your sister plays for the Magpies, if I remember correctly?” Of course she did – how could she forget any of the players who were on that team? “They were fantastic during the playoffs. It’s a shame what happened to them on the way back to the locker room, though…”

Or, what happened to most of them, at least…

The bitter thoughts were kept in her head, and she continued on.

“Is your sister alright? I mean…I know the hex wasn’t necessarily harmful on a physical level, but I’m sure it must have been damaging to a person’s self esteem, at least….even after such a win.” She twisted her lips again, emoting genuine sympathy towards Maggie and the other player’s situation.

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gavins
2011-03-19 02:25 am UTC (link)

Geoff would have argued vehemently that Savannah being single wasn't a bad thing, especially if he'd known about the circumstances of her divorce. He listened as she spoke, though, muffling a laugh into his hand and trying to pass it off as a cough. Maggie was so sensitive about it.

"I honestly think she got the best deal out of the whole darn team, really. That Canadian girl got a pair of floppy ears, and Maggie just got a cute little tail -- you can cover that sort of thing up with a new pair of robes. I guess it did get her pretty upset, though." He shrugged his shoulders and then managed a little laugh. "I kind of have to cheer for her right now anyway." With his own team out of the running and all.

"I'll pass along your concerns, though. I'm sure the sympathy will do good in nursing her ego back to its fully ballooned health." He nodded the waiter away himself, shifting forward a little in his seat and bumping her foot with his.

Purely accidental, of course, but he didn't draw it back. In fact, he gave the side of her foot another small, playful tap.

Footsies wasn't too fifth year, right?

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