hungry hearts [jeremy]

"No, no, I said they were rumpologists, not buttologists. And I didn't say I was one so even if I did touch your butt, I don't think I'd be able to tell you anything about the lottery," Senna said with a laugh that sounded like wind chimes as she climbed up yet another set of steps at Jeremy's.

She wasn't a new customer, but this was a new place for her to meet him at. Apparently he had moved or something. It seemed nice and she had offered to cleanse the energy with sage, but he hadn't seemed that concerned. She wasn't picking up anything particularly negative though. Maybe she would bring it over next time just in case.

"Wow, it is nicer than the last place," she added as they got to the next floor. It was cleaner at least. And that ugly futon that gave off bad vibes was nowhere to be seen so that was good. She glanced over her shoulder at him, the sleeves of her billowing blouse flowing around her like water, the pattern reminding her of both gypsy tents and ancient old lady rugs. It had been fun to play dress up this morning while she decided what to wear. Her eyes flicked over Jeremy's face for a moment as she tilted her head, his tan and white aura with leaves of green like grass sprouting up from the earth catching her attention.

"How do you like it?" she asked as the question came back to her.

@Jeremy Edwards

“Your loss,” Jeremy said with a smile, a little bit of cheese dust from the closest thing to vegetables Jeremy ate (potato crisps) staining the corners of his mouth. “We coulda’ been rich.” Jeremy often wondered what it would be like to be rich, but who didn’t? Right? Leading Senna up to the next floor, Jeremy waved goofily at old Miss Perkins as she used her shin to hold a cat inside her apartment door while reaching for the newspaper. “Wait,” He stopped, turning back to her abruptly, “But what is the difference between a rump and a butt?”

Jere was still reeling from finding out there was more than one version of the dictionary some months ago. A wordsmith, he was not.

“Yeah, it’s not too shabby,” Honestly, it was way better than the last place he’d shared with Danny, and Abs McGreg and Jeremy knew it, so he smiled sheepishly and continued up the stairs. “It’s great here.” The wizard answered her question, “More space, there is a balcony, and it’s not too far from the train station, which is a plus.” Though, the dingles tended to use the ZipZap service more often these days. “What do you think?” He asked as they reached the landing. Jeremy fished into his trouser pockets, checking the fronts, then the backs, then returning to the front pockets to finally produce the key to the door.

He leaned back from the door, waving his hands in front of him, fingers wiggling as he spoke again. “You know, like, how is the energy~ or whatever?”

"Money isn't everything, yknow," Sen told him with a smile and then reached out to brush some of the chip crumbs from his shirt as he turned back to her. She was busy trying to glance at the old woman peaking through the door because she thought she looked familiar, but the woman slammed the door shut and Senna raised her brows before glancing back at Jeremy. "Hmm?" she asked automatically before she ran his question back through her mind and then grinned as she pushed a hand against his chest playfully, laughing at his joke. "I think they're the same, but maybe we should find a rumpologist to feel us up so we can ask and know for sure," she told him with a wink before she sailed past him.

She tilted her head and swayed her billowing sleeves at her side as she waited for him to open the door and then slid in past him, glancing around, her hand trailing over the back of one of the armchairs that looked extremely cushy. Her silvery hair slid across her shoulders as she moved around the room and smiled at his finger wiggling, giving him an indulgent roll of her eyes. "It's actually quite nice. Feels fresh. Good light. No bad vibes," she told him as she gave into her whim and flounced into the armchair, her legs over one of the armrests, sinking pleasantly into the cushions as she glanced over at him.

"Is your roommate in? Or his sister? Freya, right?" Senna asked with a curious look around. The curly blonde was cute..

Senna was one of Jere’s favorite customers; she was fun to be around, easy to talk to, and pretty; it was the trifecta. Jere watched as she moved past him, and then his jaw fell a little as a realization smacked him in the face. “Wait, how do I become a rumpologist?” Get paid to deliver people’s mail or to look at butts? It wasn’t even a competition. “Is there like… a school for that or something?” Finally, a class Jeremy might be able to pay attention to. “Because you know… that is the sort of subject matter I could really get behind,” He said, his eyebrows wiggling as he waited for her to get the joke and hoped she would laugh.

Jere laughed either way and then moved into the apartment to ask about the energy. Senna said it was good vibes, and his smile grew brighter, not that he had been worried about ghosts or anything since they had watched that summer horror movie a few nights ago. (He had been). Jere half wanted to ask her to say “This House is Clean” but decided not to ask specifically.

And boy was he happy he hadn’t said anything because right at that very moment, Senna made absolute history by thinking Freya was Danny’s sister, and Jeremy burst out into laughter. “No, they aren’t siblings,” He said between bouts of laughter and holding his side, “Love that you said that, though, gonna' have to tell them that.” He continued as he dropped his keys on the counter (next to old take-out boxes, unopened mail, and an issue of Cat Fancy magazine that belonged to ‘no one’… some things never changed).

“Oh, hey, come with me,” He said suddenly after kicking one shoe off and forgetting about the other as he breezed past Senna and toward the balcony. “I have a new strain. Will you help me name it, or like, I dunno’ bless it or something?”

"I'm sure there's some sort of certification," she volunteered, never really having thought of it much, but amused nevertheless by how one-track-minded Jeremy seemed to be by it. Senna had really only thought about rumpologists so far as she'd be very curious to see what they had to say about her butt. And plus someone touching her butt and being able to tell her things about herself or her future? Senna would try almost anything at least once. She flicked her eyes to him, her brows going up at his waggling expression, and she was quiet for a beat before she said, "Terrible. Absolutely terrible," but it was light and playful and softened by her amused laughter.

She dangled her legs over the side of the chair, tilting her head, as he started laughing harder. "What?" she asked, her smile growing as she watched him, but didn't know what the joke was. "What? Tell me," Sen repeated, her eyes sparkling as he gripped his side. Of course, she was amusing, but she didn't think she had said anything that deserved such a response. Except.. oh. "They're not?" she asked, scrunching her nose as she tried to think back on if he had told her that or if she had assumed. They did look remarkably similar. "No, don't," she added quickly, swinging her legs off the arm of the chair, her eyes wide. "I didn't know," she shrugged innocently.

His request for her to come with him was met with an easy nod. "Ok, where," she agreed readily, standing back up and trailing after him toward the balcony before she rolled her eyes, amused. "I'm not a ship captain who needs to bless your boat, Jeremy," she told him, but then paused for a beat and added. "But I'm pretty good at naming things. Just last week, I named my new mini cactus plant Fluffy."

Senna was easy to talk to because even when he acted like a total fool, Jere was pretty sure she thought he was funny. Despite being an absolute goofball with very few marketable skills and a lack of responsibility that would disappoint Scooby-Doo himself, Jere had learned how to read people some. Enough to understand whether they found him funny or were utterly annoyed by him, at least, though it wasn’t like he changed his attitude much based on that reading. Senna laughed and called him terrible, and Jeremy smiled brightly back at her. It was a good joke, but then again, his repertoire of butt-jokes was pretty well-rounded (get it?).

The witch took a seat, and Jeremy tried to contain his excitement at the fact that she’d thought Freya and Danny were siblings. He supposed they weirdly did look-alike, but it was too bizarre to think about. “Okay, okay,” he said because she had asked (and because she was pretty); Jeremy resigned to leave her name out of it when he told his roommates about the mistake. Because he couldn’t not tell them about it, it was just too rich, and Jere knew it’d get a rise out of Danny, at least.

“Out to the balcony!” he replied with a lot more enthusiasm than was needed. He shot his hand forward, finger pointed toward the balcony, as if they were on some grand adventure. Jeremy pushed the screen door open with his foot; the latch was already broken; maybe he’d tell the landlord next week. (If he remembered, which was…. Unlikely) Waiting for her to head outside before he joined her, Jeremy smiled proudly at his lovely little greenhouse. “Fluffy is such a good name for a cactus; wow, I knew you were the witch for the job,” Jeremy said before laughing and guiding her toward the large plant growing in the best spot on the balcony. It got the most sunlight, but indirectly, of course, because this particular strand was a bit of a primadonna.

The redhead leaned against the railing of the balcony and waited for Senna to check out the plant. It was four feet tall, and the large leaves were already starting to bud. Jeremy was especially proud of the beautiful sticky bits at the top, it was going to be a good season. And then he asked, “So whatcha’ think of my girl?”

Sen smiled indulgently at his playfulness, liking the way his aura seemed to pulse with energy, and followed him out to the balcony. She slipped past him as her eyes widened just a bit as she took in the space. It was covered with greens and felt like a little oasis. Considering she had as many plants as someone might have outfits, most in varying states of being alive or not (not that that stopped her from getting more), she found it refreshing, lovely.

"Love the set up, I need a balcony like this," she said immediately as her hand trailed over the rim of a few pots, some soil getting on her fingertips before she brushed them against each other to wipe it off. Smiling at his compliment, she came over to the large plant he was showing off. She was waiting for a 'ta-da' from him, but he was right: she was pretty.

"She's got a great vibe," Senna said with a smile as she came closer, knowing Jeremy had got a kick out of the last time she had described auras. Like it was a cool party trick or something, but really it just felt as natural as breathing to her. Why didn't everyone else feel them? She didn't really get an aura from the plant, that's not the way it worked for her at least, but it did seem healthy and tall, and apparently in need of a name.

But what would be a great name for her? Senna tapped her foot as she gave some ideas. "Golden Goddess? Raspberry Kiss?" She shrugged, for all her bragging, she wasn't sure if the names were any good. She thought for a second then fought a smile as her honey eyes glittered mischievously. "Cannasutra?"

ell, you're welcome to hang on our balcony anytime," Jeremy said to Senna as he held his arms up on either side like a gracious host. "Mi balcony es su balcony," the redhead explained, but not because he was cultured or anything, but because he'd heard the saying enough times to hijack and destroy it.

As they moved further into the balcony and Jeremy began to show off his pride and joy, he couldn't help but smile. He loved having good friends; even if they were customers first, the wizard still considered them all his friends. And because of his side-job, Jeremy got to meet people from all different walks of life, including famous (and seriously pretty) people like Senna O'Shea.

Jeremy was super hopeful that Senna would help him name his current obsession; she seemed like the sort who would be good at that, and knowing about Fluffy made him even more sure. Golden Goddess was pretty good, but it reminded him of Freya for some reason. And because the first suggestion reminded him of Freya, of course, the second reminded him of Danny. And the wizard smiled to himself at the thought of comparing Danny to a raspberry kiss; the raspberry part at least made sense.

And then.

Senna dropped the most fantastic name for a strain of sticky that he had ever heard before, and Jeremy about fell over the balcony's railing as he backed up dramatically. Hand over his heart and eyes wide, he paused and then nodded excitedly. "That is…. Amazing…" It really was. Cannasutra, it was perfect. "That's even better than the Kush Who Lived!" he said, his hand falling to his thigh and slapping as he laughed. "For that! You get a free tenner when she's ready," It wouldn't be too long before he could start clipping and drying, but she wasn't quite there yet.

Jeremy waved Senna back inside the apartment and grabbed the marker from the whiteboard on the wall. "Gotta' write that down before I forget it," he explained. Jeremy had no idea how to spell Cannasutra, Scribbling on the board, so he sounded it out, out loud. When he'd finished, he spoke to Senna while still looking at the board. "So are you looking for the usual, or want something new today?"

"Oh, thanks," Senna replied brightly at his invitation. Then her grin turned wider with a hint of mischief, which she hid as she turned her back to him to look over some of the plants he was lovingly growing as she added, "Promise I won't sunbathe in the nude too much out here..." She snuck a look over her shoulder to see his reaction.

His dramatic reaction to her name suggestion was even better. She laughed and nodded. "Thought you might like that one," she replied innocently and then her eyes widened. "That's all I have to do to get free stuff? I'll come up with even better names," she told him, a dangerous glint to her eyes. "Promise," she added in a singsong voice.

Senna followed him back into the apartment, her hand trailing over a console against the wall with a few framed magical photos of Jeremy with his two friends in Hogwarts uniforms, where they were making silly faces or Freya was pulling the boys into frame her arms wrapped around their necks. Cute. It seemed happy, simple. She wandered away as she thought of photos she had from her school years and about the one person who mattered that wasn't around anymore to laugh at those old memories.

Tilting her head, she watched as he finished writing out her suggestion and then reached out to slide the marker out of his hand, bringing the marker up to her lips to pull off the cap as she signed her name under his writing as if adding her autograph. She looked at it, nodded, and then put the marker back in his hands before she shrugged. "Oh, I dunno. Something new maybe? Surprise me," she requested.

Jeremy had never been very good when it came to managing his sickles, but this side business had been rather lucrative regardless. Even though he tended to give out too many free samples, and he smoked away a lot of the profits, if it weren't for the side hustle, he probably wouldn't have had enough to cover his share of the rent each month. Jeremy made okay sickles working for the ministry, but he tended to use all that money on snacks and nonsense and never remembered to save anything for the end of the month. Luckily, there seemed to be no shortage of customers needing a fix, and Senna was one of his favorites.

He smiled as she reached for the marker and signed her name on the board, and then realized it was like an autograph, and the smile grew. Jeremy knew she was famous now, a big-time celebrity, part of a band he was pretty sure he had listened to, and he was excited to call her a friend. "Oh, you will not be disappointed," he cooed, rubbing his hands together as he moved through the living area and toward the hallway that led to his bedroom door. Jeremy only had the mind to invite a certain witch into his bedroom, so he motioned for Senna to hang out for a moment while he went to grab his box of smokeable goodies.

The redhead wasn't gone more than five minutes, but when he returned, Jeremy carried a wooden box that looked a bit like a smaller version of the sort of trunk for Quidditch balls. The well-worn box was small enough to carry with both hands but magically enchanted to be larger on the outside. He placed it on the table and pulled the lid open to reveal the impressively (and surprisingly) well-organized compartments inside. Each had a different strain of bud in pre-weighed bags ready for purchase. Jeremy was an irresponsible slacker with no life goals, he couldn't cook, he didn't clean, and he'd never met a nacho he would eat, but he kept his herbology business running like a well-oiled machine. And his pride in his work showed.

"So these will make you pretty chipper, you know, like talkative and stuff," He swept his hand over a row of the box, "And these are sleepier," His freckled hand continued to move, and then he looked up at her as he sat down on the couch. "Do you like a body buzz?" Jeremy planned to surprise her with something he'd thought she might like but he had to narrow it down a little. Not everyone liked the same things from smoking, so he was careful to ask qualifying questions first.

"Hope not," she called after him as he disappeared into a room down the hall before she clasped her hands in front of her and wandered about the room. The clutter and mess made it feel homey and lived-in, she nudged nosily through some owl mail on the counter, saw more photos of friends and family and the roommates that were apparently not siblings, a Puddlemere cap that she turned right side up and a Gryffindor Prefect's badge that she touched just to feel the shiny, cool enamel beneath her fingertips.

She heard him coming back just as she had taken a sandstone crystal from her purse and tucked it behind a photo frame to spread happiness and light before she turned and eyed the box he carried in with interest. She came closer, folding one leg beneath her as she sat next to him on the couch, taking in the array he had neatly organized. "Not sleepy," she said immediately and then smiled impishly. "I do like a good body buzz. Have anything that's chipper and body buzzy?" 

“I do indeed,” Jeremy said, trying to sound professional as he sat up a little straighter and flashed her another smile. It lasted a few moments, and then he slumped over the coffee table again as he rifled through the well-worn box. Jeremy had a lot more product than he probably needed at any given moment, but he liked to make sure he had whatever his customers wanted. He didn’t have a giant client list, so it was always essential to provide good service.

Jeremy lifted a little individually prepared baggie out of the box and turned back toward Senna. “So, this little cutie will do both, and the best part, it tastes like tangerines.” Jeremy always got a special kick out of the strains that had a good taste, and for whatever reason, anything citrus was always his favorite. “You got time for a trial run?” He asked as he pulled out a larger ag of the same weed.

Jeremy unzipped the top of the bag and pulled a pillow-shaped cluster from it carefully. Either way, Jeremy began breaking it up and getting ready to roll a joint as he waited.

Senna smiled back at him softly, her eyes running over his features, noting his dimple and the way his aura brightened a little with each grin. Cute. She leaned her arm against the back of the couch, her head pillowed in her hand as she watched his deft hands sort through his box, the familiar smell wafting up to greet her.

Oooh. "Tangerines?" she repeated, her eyes bright with interest as she reached out to touch the little baggie. "You read my mind," she answered his question with a wide smile and settled herself into the couch a little more, bringing up her other leg so both were folded under her.

"Do you come up with all of these different ones yourself?" she asked, ever curious as she watched him roll the joint, her fingers threading through her hair.

Jeremy made quick work of rolling a joint and grinned proudly when Senna asked him about the names. "Only the good ones," he offered, another cheeky smile blessing his freckled face. Senna seemed relaxed on the sofa, and Jeremy relaxed against the back of it too. He lit the joint with the end of his wand, and his skill in such matters was on clear display. Like an Auror performing a counter-curse, or a healer mending a broken bone, Jeremy's deft hands brought the end of the papered joint to life with ease.

He took a few quick inhales, really getting the oxygen going and the end burning, before he took a stiff breath and held it. Holding the joint out toward Senna, Jeremy kept the smoke in his lungs a few more moments. "Some of them are inherited names, though," he explained as the smoke billowed above them. Like a cat chasing a mouse, the cloud of tangerine haze swirled in a circle and dissipated. Jeremy watched it carefully.

"Is it true that you can read futures in the smoke? Like with tea leaves?" He asked, imagining his future, seeping into the ceiling tiles, and smiling.

A little laugh escaped her as she watched him grin. His aura was so nice, white like first light in spring and fresh-feeling.. even despite the state of the apartment around her. She wasn't a clean freak, far from it actually, but even she had standards.

She reached out to take the joint from him, sidling a little closer, the cushion dipping between them as she took a drag herself. The smoke settled in her lungs before she blew it out, curving her lips around and trying to do smoke circles. She almost got it on the last try but she soon gave up on it, leaning her head against the back cushion. "Inherited from what?" she asked as she turned her head to glance out at him. His red curls were so unique. She wanted to touch it.

His question distracted her though and she smiled as she gazed up, the smoke slowly drifting and curling toward the ceiling. "I think so. Think you can read my future?" she asked before taking another drag and handed it back to him. Then a thought occurred with a slight smile. "Do you think its more or less accurate than rumpologists though?"