RP: Checking out the Market

[tt_ginny.insanejournal.com]

Date: 23 October 2001, afternoon-ish
Characters: Ginny Weasley, Adrian Pucey, open
Setting: Settlement 1, Marketplace
Content: PG
Status: Public : Complete



It would have been a lie to say she'd slept restfully. Not in a strange house, not even with Charlie a few feet away in his side of the duplex. There were none of the sounds she associated with the Burrow. Birds sang in the distance but it was altogether too quiet. She tossed most of the night, finally waking around 6 a.m. to have breakfast with Hermione and Charlie, both of whom looked like they had slept like babies. Charlie left for the Ark just after breakfast and Hermione had stayed for another hour, catching Ginny up on things around "one" as the other settlement folks referred to their area.

Her own 'fridge' was empty but Hermione had showed her where her datapad listed a month's worth of credits - something that happens to everyone once the datapad "syncs" up on this side of the portal. She didn't have to report to the medical center until tomorrow but Ginny found herself restless once Hermione had taken off for the portal. It figured that Hermione would be in charge of it since it had been her discovery.

There was a wicker basket by the door and Ginny picked it up on her way out, settling it on her arm. She was dressed in jeans and an old Cannon's t-shirt, along with hiking boots that Charlie had insisted she would want to be wearing. Although it had been late when Kingsley showed her around, Ginny knew her way back to the center of the compound so she followed the dirt paths until she came out near the grouping of white tents and carts. Priority number one would be to find tea and something in the cheese family. She brushed her hair back from her face and stopped at the first cart, looking over its wares.

Comments

[tt_ginny.insanejournal.com]

The second after she said it, Ginny realized what a mistake she'd made. Mentally kicking herself as his features tensed. Yup, she really stuffed that up. Merlin, he was explaining though and her heart broke for his situation. She put her hand on his arm, a sympathetic frown creasing her forehead. "I'm sure you did," Ginny said softly.

"They might be okay. Or they might come later, after the baby, right? You can't give up hope. Your sister, if things get worse back there, she'll come if only for her baby," she tried to reassure him, wondering if her words sounded as uncertain to him as they did to her. How could his family not come? It was impossible for her to even think about. When Charlie had called a family meeting, her parents had agreed right away and the rest of the siblings nearly as quick.

It was uncomfortable watching his expression waver from near sorrow to almost a cool neutrality. She mentally kicked herself again. "I'm sorry. That was dreadfully rude of me to ask you. Why don't we find out where the alcohol vendor is, yeah?" Ginny offered gently, wondering if she could have possibly put her foot in her mouth any further.

[tt_adrian.insanejournal.com]

Adrian sighed, feeling that'd he'd over stepped his own bounds and clearly hers by explaining. Waving off her concern - she couldn't actually care that much, right? She didn't even know him - he shook his head and said, "Don't be. I suppose with most people traveling with their families, I'll have to tell that story more than once now that I'm here. You simply... ripped the band-aid off, to use a Muggle phrase." He nodded encouragingly, hopefully letting her know that it really was ok. He'd process the knot in his stomach later, in the private of his home, no need for a near-stranger to worry about his problems.

Smiling at her suggestion - honestly relieved and genuinely excited - he said, "That sounds like a great idea. Maybe they'll have another bottle of Scotch, and perhaps a wine of some sort, made from cabbage, surely," he joked, and followed her lead through the crowds.

[tt_ginny.insanejournal.com]

"It was still rather rude of me. And, I didn't. Not really. My mum and dad are coming later in the week," Ginny pointed out, a slight edge of worry working into her voice. "And, its not like you're alone here. You know me, sort of."

When Ginny suggested looking for alcohol, the tea vendor spoke up in a gruff tone, gesturing over his shoulder. "Oi, you want Stan's cart. He's on the north side of the market."

"We're not looking for anything... you know, black market," Ginny said, shaking her head.

"Nothing like that, little miss. Its all on the up and up. Most inanimate stuff comes through the portal regularly. Got ourselves a supply line, even pay taxes, we do. All right and proper, we are, miss," the vendor sputtered.

Glancing up at Adrian, Ginny smirked. "There we go. All proper like." She didn't have a clue where this vendor was but there were little compass signs around so she led the way North. "I'd settle for a good pint of stout, myself."

[tt_adrian.insanejournal.com]

At Ginny's mention that he knew her, Adrian couldn't help but feel warmed, it was such a casual thing to think, and yet to hear her say it made him feel better somehow. "That I do, though I think we've exchanged more words today than in all the years we've been acquaintances," he smiled, and then laughed at her exchange with the vendor. As they walked away, he leaned down a bit and said in a lower voice, "The masses have only been here for 30 hours and you're worried about there already being a black market underground?" His eyes, he was sure, sparkled with amusement; Gryffindors really were as Slytherins had always assumed, it seemed.

"Oh, a pint would be nice, especially in this weather, can you believe we stepped from gray, cold Britain one minute into this soggy warmth the next?" He shook his and was grateful for the t-shirts he'd packed. "Though it does make me wonder if they'll set up any sort of social station or pub," he mused allowed as they made their way further North.

[tt_ginny.insanejournal.com]

"True, but that was yesterday and this is today," Ginny teased lightly, happy that he was smiling again. The last thing she wanted was to make someone else miserable, unless they did something to deserve it.

Adjusting her basket on her arm, she chuckled at his conspiratorial tone. "Charlie and most of his crew have been here for two months. I visited him a few times at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary and they had some kind of brewing contraption set up, so no, I wouldn't put it past anyone to do that if there wasn't any other supply of it. Admit it, even you were willing to give away your last credit for a shot of Scotch."

"It is hard to believe. Yesterday, I was hunting up my scarf and today I'm thinking about how nice it will be not to have to wear a robe at work," she admitted, nodding in agreement. The crowds were still all around but they were beginning to thin out a bit. "That would be nice, wouldn't it? Someplace you could try the new foods, too."

[tt_adrian.insanejournal.com]

"I bet Madam Rosmerta would make a mean sort-of-banana-not-quite-cream-pie. But it's probably not the best idea for us to be nostalgic just yet, yeah?"

When they reached the tent selling alcohol, Adrian introduced himself and bought a bottle of Scotch and a jug of a dark beer-like drink, that smelled a bit like a coffee-stout. It wasn't butterbeer, but he figured this way he'd at least have something to offer Ginny if she actually did let him cook her dinner sometime.

Looking up and across the way, he quickly bought a jug of that cabbage-grape's juice as well and then rejoined Ginny at the Scotch tent.

[tt_ginny.insanejournal.com]

"Probably not the best idea, no," Ginny replied solemnly. Her breath caught, tight in her throat. Everything. Everything she knew was gone. No, she told herself, now is not the time to think about this. Later. Charlie would understand. Or Bill, if he was back from wherever it was he'd gone. Bill. Damn, she missed Bill. Yeah, Charlie would understand, she told herself firmly.

At the tent, she watched Adrian make his own transactions, and, when he stepped out to go to the adjacent tent, she chose a bottle of whiskey and set it in her basket just as Adrian returned. A shot or two would keep the portal nightmare from coming back tonight. And sleeping on Charlie's couch. Just for tonight. Ginny flashed a smile as she looked over to Adrian and she opened her mouth to speak but her datapad beeped.

"Message from Charlie. Oh! He wants me to come out to the Ark," she exclaimed happily. Her expression softened and she quickly tapped a few keys on the datapad and then his beeped. "There, I sent you my address. Or you can find me at the med center. I'm so glad I ran into you. This place feels just a little less... weird now."

[tt_adrian.insanejournal.com]

Adrian's mood fell a little bit when she mentioned she'd be leaving but he smiled as she entered her information for him in the datapad. Smiling, he said, "It does, doesn't it? If you find any interesting samples at the Ark, you'll let me know, yeah?" He nodded toward her and added, "I think I'll actually head home and have myself a sip of this Scotch before heading out to check out the landscape." He looked around them and then back at Ginny, nodding in appreciation before heading his own way, hoping he'd see her soon, despite his near certainty that this meeting was a coincidence that wouldn't be repeated as things settled in their new home.