Noonish


Mihai was enjoying his work—it was much more laid back and dependable than his previous jobs, and it was a relaxing retirement. Although he was the sort who was likely to work until he could no longer, he appreciated the consistent breaks and days off that allowed for time to unwind and let his mind settle. His breaks were sometimes spent alone, though they were sometimes spent in good company, with coworkers or old friends. Today, his lunch took place at a little café with the lovely Aisling Knight. He didn’t know too much about her—just the basics. However, he did appreciate that his daughter (though older than Sophia), was in the same house as Aisling’s.

He took a bite of his beef stew and looked up at the witch. “It’s good.” He commented, motioning towards his food. It was nothing like homemade cooking, but it was close enough. He wasn’t much of a cook, so he didn’t feel like he had the right to complain about food that didn’t taste as good as it did when his mother made it. “How are your girls? Do they like Hogwarts?” Mihai had been very skeptical about Hogwarts, as he had wanted Juni to attend his alma matter, Beauxbatons. Unfortunately, Juni did not speak French and was not eligible.

“Did they go to the Yule Ball?” He thought Juni had sent him a letter mentioning that the younger years could go. He shook his head. “Juni had a date. Some sort of Todd boy. She’s too young for this.” Or maybe he was just not ready to face the fact that his daughter was a teenager, and going to dances with boys was something that was going to happen whether he liked it or not.

Aisling looked up from her salad-a rather light thing topped with croutons and berries-and offered her new coworker a reassuring smile. With the weather of the season, a warm stew seemed rather comforting. But the selection of holiday festivities also forced her to be a bit more particular about some of her diet. "They're well. I don't think the fact that this is schooling has quite sunk in yet, but it's good to see they're still excited to be there."

A slight crunch as she nibbled on one of the croutons. "And yes, all of the students were invited to the Yule Ball, along with a few dignitaries from the Ministry and such." Including Tarron of course. Despite the fuss and weight of such events, to see her daughters a little early-and to meet their professors, had made it quite worthwhile. "They seemed so excited about their dresses. More so than I had expected from Rowena."

Though Rowena hadn't had any opportunity to display enthusiasm for such events before. "A date? I hope he behaved himself. I hope that my daughters are at least a couple of years away from that prospect. Tarron is already rather concerned about it." She took another bite of the salad, careful to get a bit of the berries along with the greens.

“Juni’s at the age where my parents want her to look for a husband!” Mihai shook his head. They were still pestering him to get married, especially now that he was in a job that didn’t require him to travel as much. “I can’t think about her having a boyfriend, let alone getting married.” His parents would be pleased if they knew that their granddaughter went to the ball with a nice halfblood. However, he had convinced her not to tell them, so they wouldn’t contact the poor boy’s family to arrange an engagement.

“As far as I know, the Todd boy has behaved himself.” Not that Juni would be likely to tell him otherwise. But whatever soothed Mihai’s thoughts was what he preferred to know. “Tarron should be concerned! He and I were kids once. We remember how they think, and now we’re old enough to be uncomfortable with it.” He took a bite of his stew and stirred it around. “It feels like Juni’s still the little girl who wanted to ride on my shoulders all the time and have me tell her stories.” And now she was fourteen, obsessed with boys, and just as obsessed with schoolwork. She didn’t have time for stories or piggyback rides. She was too ‘mature’ for that.

“Enjoy your kids while they’re still kids, Aisling. At eleven they  can change so much.” Sometimes parenthood made him feel so old.

"I can remember that I was hardly in a state to consider marriage at that age, or for some time afterwards," Aisling said, with a light shake of her head. "Haven't quite forgotten what it was like, though. Or so I prefer to think, though my daughters would probably disagree." If they were anything like her at that age, it wasn't the boys whose pursuits would require concern.

And her childhood had been a darker thing, separated and torn at by war. Not that these years didn't have their own hardships for children. It seemed that they all did. "They're twelve already, even. So quickly, even with how the time drags on while they're away."

She looked down at her plate. "I hope they'll want to stay around over the summer, at least this year. It's far too quiet without them." The estate still was not quite the sort of home she was used to. It helped to have some noise, some movement and laughter about.

“Juni didn’t want to stay around for the holidays. I don’t think the summer will be much different.” He stirred his stew around, “I think I’m going to convince her to invite some friends over. That way, I’ll actually be able to see my daughter.” And then there were also her grandparents on both sides, who would likely want to see their only granddaughter.  That would be a pain. He so detested having to interact with Lovise’s parents. They always tried to feed him lutefisk. He disliked it, but Juni didn’t seem too opposed. The thought of eating it made him shudder. Jellied fish. Gross.  And he wasn’t someone who shied away from strange food.

“Have your girls made any friends yet? Do you think they’ll be visiting your home this summer?” He took a bite of stew and looked down—already, he was halfway done with his meal. He thought about ordering more, or dessert. He was a man with a hefty appetite who ate quickly. His food was always gone long before he was ready for it to be. Mihai sighed, “Would you judge me if I ordered more stew?” He asked.

"They've made a few friends-perhaps not as many as they had hoped. I think that with how used they are to each other, it has been a bit difficult. I'm still a bit surprised that they did not choose to be in the same house together." Even with how different the two of them could be from each other. And how alike.

Her own food was disappearing slowly, a consequence of her trying to savor it. "Judge you? Not at all. I would hate to see you starve on my watch. Order whatever you'd like." She set her fork down for a moment and gave him an encouraging look. "And yes, I do hope they'll have friends over during the summer.  The house is large enough, and it's better than having them gone most of the time."

Well, even with summer they were gone so often, a thought which brought rather a shadow to her face. "Hopefully Juni will be easily convinced to do the same." Somehow she thoughts Mihai could manage it, even if it required the application of parental guilt. She lifted her fork and started on her salad again.

He waved the waitress over and ordered some more stew, smiling thankfully at Aisling. Good, she wouldn’t judge him! He was a man with a healthy appetite, and he didn’t like it to be restricted. He had gained just a little bit of weight since settling in a different job, but no one could say that he wasn’t in good shape.

“Juni’s stubborn. Like her mother and I. She had no choice but to be stubborn with us as parents.  It’ll be difficult to convince her.” Mihai sighed, finishing off the last of his first bowl of stew. As if on cue, the waitress came back with his second bowl. He thanked her and looked back at Aisling. “Sometimes I feel like my daughter takes after me too much for her own good. But kids do that, I guess.” Children definitely had a tendency to pick up traits from one parent or the other, usually both. Mihai wondered how much of it was in their blood, and how much of it was from the way they were raised.

“Do your girls take after you and Mr. Knight?”

Aisling made somewhat quicker work of her salad then she had been, occasionally nodded to Mihai to punctuate the point that she was still attentive to his words. His comment about stubbornness even brought forth a small, sharp laugh.

“Do your girls take after you and Mr. Knight?”

"Oh, very much so. More than we'd like, sometimes. Sophia has a knack of going around whatever we tell her; in that way just so where it is hard to condemn it. And Rowena has a particular stubbornness about the way things should be that she most certainly received from Tarron." Her expression had rather lost itself in thought, and she looked away at something, somewhere, that could not be quite placed. "They're usually quite well behaved, though."

She shifted her eyes down, and back onto her coworker. "Though they did learn quite early that asking me to read to them  usually allowed them to stay up a few minutes late. Sophia's fonder of romances than I like." But, from her voice, she'd rather resigned herself to that. Children moved on to such thoughts in time.

“You’re lucky. We’re both lucky. We have good kids.” He rubbed his temple. Sometimes he wondered though, what Juni’s life would be like without him as a father. He wasn’t sure why a werewolf attacked Juni’s mother, but he felt like he needed to take some blame for that. He had made enemies in his past, even if he didn’t or couldn’t remember who they were and what he did. Juni’s life would be less complicated, yes, but would she really be the person she was? So many of her traits were some that he had.

Mihai finished his last bowl of stew and looked down at his watch. He let out a heavy sigh and glanced at Aisling. “I need to get back to work. Lunchtime is just about over.” The oblivator put some money on the table, more than enough to cover his meal and Aisling's. He stood up and shook her hand politely. “We need to do this again. It was… Nice.” He was grateful for the social interaction, no matter how brief it was.

-endscene-