toast to the setting sun [kendrick]

Edith was being awfully cagey about this, assuming a voice with the kind of studied nonchalance that said she was trying to be evasive but not really trying hard enough to be convincing. Kendrick smirked at her explanation of what had happened with Claudine. "Man, you can get rent discounts for being a woman? Life really is unfair," he teased. "Poor Claudine's son," he added, "he was probably not anticipating more regular drunk lectures from his mum just yet."

Kendrick squinted slightly at the mention of Elias. The younger German was, like Jon, one of the other guys around the Ministry who had roughly his height and coloring, although they weren't teased quite the way he and the junior Emerson were. Eli had much more regal-looking cheekbones and actually acted his age, or something like that. They weren't super close--he'd gotten to Britain the first time right about when Kendrick had joined the Order, and the second time when he was busy dealing with proposal and wedding things. Kendrick didn't go out as much as he had before he got married, so he hadn't quite gotten sucked into the same circle as him and Edith. But Eli played a lot of Quidditch, and Kendrick had showed up to a few pickup games featuring the guy, so he knew who he was.

"Ah," he started nodding with recognition as she went on, picturing the place, right up until he was pulled back to the pavement with 'same flat.' "Wait, what?" Kendrick's jaw dropped as the thought connected. "Oh yeah? Could've sworn you told me and everyone else at the office, huh?" he pointed out, crossing his arms with a raised brow. He suddenly felt less inebriated, faced with such interesting news. "Damn, that's a pretty good secret, though. Color me impressed." An annoying smirk began to steal over his face as he noticed the studied way she looked forward. He leaned over a little. "Isn't he a bit proper for you, Edith?" he needled. "Does he get that joke about the wizard and the bagpipes or d'you have to explain it to him?" He was thoroughly enjoying himself, aware that this might be his only chance ever to do this to his younger friend. "Does he like corgis? He looks like a German Shepherd kind of guy. And I'm not just trying to be racist." He grinned openly now.

Edith stared straight ahead again; it was easier to not react to Kendrick’s shock when she wasn’t looking at him. “Yup.” She gave herself leave for one quick smirk before she straightened her lips again, her cheeks starting to cool just a tad. “Could’ve sworn,” she reiterated, chancing a glance over now. It was a bit of a relief to tell him, to say the least, but she hadn’t given it the proper thought before spilling the beans. Of course she’d be expected to elaborate, at least a little bit, but the thought of having to say anything more than she already had had her cheeks warming again.

She smirked as he said he was impressed, but as soon as she saw his matching smirk, she dropped hers. “Oh, shove off.” Edith rolled her eyes and nudged Kendrick back into his own personal space. He wasn’t wrong; Elias was a bit proper. But she also wasn’t about to defend her choices -- or Elias’s choices -- or get anywhere close to feelings territory. This was mostly a ‘I guess I should finally tell you this’ sort of situation, nothing else. “Please, Kenny. He told me that joke,” she lied, knowing full well that was not the case -- but telling him that he understood it and even had some of his own seemed even less believable.

“That sounds a little racist.” Edith rolled her eyes one more time before she laughed. “Who doesn’t like corgis?” They were often the topic of her replacement memories because who doesn’t like corgis? “But I was thinking chocolate lab.” Not seriously. Well, not super seriously. Maybe once the whole mandatory community service news wasn’t quite so fresh and at the front of Elias’s mind. And quitting the Ministry. Moving in together. That usual rule of ‘one major life changing event at a time’ wasn’t really panning out too well. The thought of a dog in that perfectly neat flat was so tempting, though -- Kendrick would definitely have to let her dogsit to get it out of her system.

Turning a corner, Edith shrugged again. “It’s been like… six months. Not moving in, but y’know.” She shrugged again. It was an awfully quick turn around for moving in, especially considering everything, Elias being engaged, not being engaged, not talking to each other for months, but the timeline had been the least of her concerns. “So that was an even better secret.” Her facial temperatures were starting to return to normal again, and she laughed to keep herself from getting embarrassed again. “I’m quite a catch, y’know.”

Ken burst out laughing at Edith's utterance. It wasn't exactly indignant--it didn't have enough oomph--maybe more exasperated than anything. He wanted to point out that she was practically begging for this treatment, sitting on a secret for so long and failing to act as though it was normal when she finally revealed it. "Uh huh," he said, infusing it with as much skepticism as it warranted. "Okay, maybe a little racist, but at least they're nice dogs?" He tilted his head to one side, considering. "Well there was that one middle-aged dame who looked like she wanted to tell you something but didn't want to offend you after you had her think she was knocked over by a corgi instead of a small pack of Nifflers, but I digress. Awwww," he added, imagining Edith training a little brown puppy. "Maybe you can teach Bo some tricks as practice."

He nodded. Six months wasn't that long yet, but he supposed they were moving faster than he and Jo had. They hadn't moved in together for quite a while. He looked at her curiously. "Just don't want gossip at the office, or what? I mean, if you're serious enough to move in..." he trailed off. Ministry relationships were really fairly commonplace--the Ministry employed so many wizards that relationships that had started in Hogwarts broom closets often continued in Ministry corridors, and new ones blossomed at the water tank. He and Jo had never really been a secret. Kendrick snorted, but in an affectionate manner. "Don't make yourself sound like a trout, it's not flattering."

They had nearly reached Elias's street now and he stuck his thumbs in his back pocket. "So, any other bombs to drop tonight? You actually quit to join a traveling circus and have an uncommon talent for the flying trapeze? You're actually the weirdo who hates corgis?"

ooc: sorry this is short he wasn't cooperating and I gave up

“Yeah, well, that was her own fault for wearing so much jewelry on a stroll to the post office,” she reminded him; she hadn’t felt bad at all for that woman, giving her that less than fond corgi memory. She felt a little bad for enjoying the misfortune of a muggle whom she later obliviated, especially considering what she had tried to explain to Kendrick earlier, but she was allowing herself this one time. “I’m imagining Bo needs the most help learning how to pretend he likes your jokes, am I right?” She smiled in his direction before shrugging and looking back down at the pavement.

Edith ignored the thought that they should be telling everyone everything just because they were living together; she had convinced herself along the way that it was perfectly normal to keep this to themselves. “I dunno. Don’t need people knowing my business, y’know?” She had always been pretty vague about her life, her upbringing, really anything less superficial than her supported football team; was it really that hard to believe? There were the other things, the broken engagement, his parents remaining clueless about it all, the general ‘this is going to end horribly for one of us’ feeling, all those things that were much too close to knowing her business.

She smiled, not bothering to tell him that she hadn’t been trying to flatter herself. She assumed he, as well as the general population of London, could see the obvious disparity in her and Elias’s attractiveness. “Yes, and yes,” she said, confirming both of Kendrick’s guesses with a solemn nod. “How’d you know?” She caught his eye and grinned before paying attention again to where she was walking. “But, nope. I think I’ve covered the major points. Shacked up, quitting my job.” She shrugged as they turned onto Elias’s -- her -- street. “Just a regular Thursday, right?”

“Thanks,” she stopped walking for a minute and turned to face Kendrick, hanging back about a block from her front door. “For honoring the bet, I mean,” she finished, cramming all the hidden meaning behind it: thanks for being understanding about the job thing, for actually kind of talking about it rationally, for really trying to understand what the fuck she had been thinking. It hadn’t been perfect, but it was a start; that seemed to be her personal motto these days. She nodded quickly before taking a couple steps backwards. “I think I can handle it from here.” She offered him a little wave and turned towards the flat, feeling almost kind of good about things.

Kendrick snorted. "Maybe the jewelry was one of her coping mechanisms," he suggested. "She seemed pretty bored with life." His mouth curved into a mock pout. "And hey. As long as I say it in a cute voice he thinks they're all great. Works on dogs and sometimes on sleepy wives." His pout turned into a fleeting affectionate smile, his gaze drifting up and away from the street before he turned back to the younger woman. "Fair," he  shrugged. Kendrick was struck for a moment by Edith's age--at 22, he and a 19-year-old Jo were barely reconnecting after her last years of school. Of course, the war had complicated things, but he wondered where she would be by the time she was his age--or he did until he remembered that by the time she was his age he'd be nearly 40 years old, and, shuddering, gave up on the thought.

"Damn. I guess I must just be talented like that," he riffed, nodding to punctuate her major points. "I am assuming these things did not all happen on the same Thursday," he pointed out--rhetorically, because her quitting had definitely happened last week. They slowed to a stop on the street, and Kendrick cracked a crooked smile, folding his arms in front of him. "Sorry, can't get rid of me that easily," he joked, as though quitting the only job she'd held as an adult was that easy. "You're welcome, though," he responded in kind. He nearly offered her a hug, but it would make it seem like a big deal, and he supposed that was exactly what he was trying to avoid with that comment. "Kay. I'll bug you about dogsitting," he called as she turned. "You can even bring Elias," he teased. He was just looking to make a promise, he supposed--one about staying in touch, work be damned--before turning himself to find a good spot to Apparate back home.

[fin]