The Southern boy was exhausted, but did not really feel like going home. His Quidditch success had brought with it some fame. Not enough to be that impressive, but enough to kind of ruin Diagon Alley. There was little chance he could visit the heart of Magical London without someone recognizing him and wanting something, whether it be an autograph or just a handout. Now, while Jax was a generous and friendly fellow, this evening he needed a reprieve. Hair still damp from his after practice shower, the brunet apparated to a place he had not been since he graduated: Hogsmeade. It was one of the only places he knew well in the wizarding world.

Strolling slowly up the main thoroughfare, Jaxpn smiled to see the place just as he had remembered it. He stopped at Honeydukes first, to get his mom some chocolate frogs and sugar quills--two candies not otherwise available to the muggle woman, before meandering towards the Three Broomsticks. He figured he could get a drink and a decent meal in his old stomping grounds before heading back to the cabin.

In the back of his mind, Jaxon had known coming to Hogsmeade would mean there was a chance of seeing a certain artistic academic. With some of his other past hookups that would have been reason enough to stay away, but coming was choosing to tempt fate...And when he turned and saw the wizard who had a few weeks prior shared his bed, a smirk appeared on his lips and he strolled over to the professor with casual confidence. "Evenin'," Jaxon drawled. His dark, warm eyes taking their time to settle on Oriel's face. "Fancy seein' you here-" He finished with a little grin, his dimple making a brief debut.

@oriel / Outfit sans scarf with the jacket off

Oriel had, about a week or two ago, gotten banned from the greenhouses. Minerva was sick of his experiments with the plants, which he was insistent on doing. It wasn't his fault that Neville had gotten the idea stuck in his head some time ago. With time, the idea had faded, but soon after he'd had to dust it off and obsess over it again. Because otherwise he wouldn't be able to get his head out of the gutter.

So when he'd gotten banned -after a few too many times of creating acid potent enough to bite to the dungeons- he'd bough his own plant. But now he'd gotten a bit burned lately, a bit too much, and that hurt. A lot. He'd decided, for his own good and after a long while of Callie's ranting, to bring the plants back to the shop he'd bought them at. They were rare plants so the shop was happy enough to have them back. 

So now, here he was, disappointed and wandering through Hogsmeade. Honestly, he should be getting back to Hogwarts. He didn't give class on Monday, sure, so there was really no reason for him to be there, but he wanted to get another few experiments done before turning in for the night. Lately he'd decided that not sleeping was bad for his health.

With a sigh he started to change his course back to the school, only to stand stock still at the sight of Jaxon. He knew he must have looked surprised at seeing the seeker there, blinking a few times as he got closer. As he was greeted, Oriel couldn't help but remember the manner of his departure. They'd spent the whole night together, but when Jaxon had dozed off he'd gathered his clothes and left. He'd supposed his presence come morning would be either unwanted or awkward. It was a onetime thing, after all, and he had no doubt he wouldn't hold the seeker's interest the next day.

Apparently that assumption had been wrong, so he just smiled in return. "Jaxon, what a surprise."

The man was every bit as stunning as he remembered, he was glad to see. Easy charm, grace, and an almost magnetic attraction that pulled everyone towards him. 

outfit

The last time the man had lain eyes on the photographer was through sleepy lashes drifting shut after a thoroughly exhausting night of deviance. Waking to an empty bed had been both a relief and somewhat of a disappointment. He could have gone for round two (okay really more like round four, but who was counting...) before his morning run, but settled for a bit of self service. Jaxon had not resented Oriel's leaving before he woke--in truth, the seeker had appreciated the consideration. He didn't like having to kick lovers out of his bed, but he rarely permitted sleepovers and even more rarely allowed for loitering after he woke. Not that he couldn't make a mean French toast, if one was to get lucky enough to merit breakfast the morning after--Jaxon had breakfast food down. The rest of his cooking still left something to be desired, but frying bacon and eggs he had mastered even before Hogwarts.

Oriel seemed to be both pleased and surprised to see him--judging on the expression and comment from the other man's lips (which despite having tasted aplenty, still enticed the seeker). "A pleasant one, though, I would hope," Jaxon commented, flashing his bright white smile at the academic as he spoke. Every word from the seeker came out slow and easy--drawled over time with no rush in his gravelly deep bass. The little Honeydukes bag swung in his hand, an idle repetitive rhythm that betrayed the excess of energy the man always seemed to possess.

He ran his other hand through his curly mess of damp hair, shaking out the moisture, but losing the battle he always seemed to be waging against the rambunctious locks, as ringlets immediately fell back into his eyes. "Ain't been here in awhile, but can't even believe how much it's the same after s'long." Jaxon mused aloud about the small town. It really was just like he remembered it.

"I guess you get down this way a bit, though, with the castle bein' so close and all." The seeker maintained that casual, but still devilish grin as he spoke, that dimple winking at Oriel as his full lips formed each word in his slow, melodic way. Jax just never seemed to be in a hurry. He knew the world would wait.

"I was just killin' a little time for I headed home--figured I'd get Ma so more frogs, she's been naggin' about it." Jaxon offered up the explanation for his own presence there. He was a talker. Conversation, even just small talk, came natural to him. He could have talked to wall and been happy as lark about it.

Oriel chuckled. Jaxon always seemed to be full of himself, but Oriel couldn't find it in himself to mind. He hadn't been in contact with the seeker often enough to be annoyed by it, so for now it just added to his charm. And those dimples definitely didn't hurt. Jaxon seemed to be in a good mood, while Oriel was in a somewhat downer mood. But it was improving, he wouldn't lie.

"Well, if you're so sure, how can I contradict you?" His tone was jokingly light, which was a definite contrast with what he'd been using lately. He maintained that he wasn't cut out for teaching.

Oriel moved as Jaxon started talking, figuring they might stay put for at least a few minutes, so he leaned against the wall of a nearby building. The other man seemed to be as hyped as always, practically vibrating and definitely not keeping still. Oriel's eye caught the movement of his hair for a second before looking back down and meeting Jax's eyes.

"Well, they've only opened a handful of shops since we went to school, I suppose. Though I don't know when the last time you were here was." He took a look around for a second before looking back at him. "But I don't come too often, just when I really need to."

His eyes flickered down to the back in Jaxon's hand, smiling fairly. Oriel's mother had passed a while ago, but he wasn't sore about it. Maybe his way of handling her cancer had been extreme -his whole love of alchemy had grown during the stages in which he wanted to create the serum of immortality for her- but now he was alright with it. Definitely.

That was why he smiled and said: "Well, what a dutiful son, you are." But he couldn't help the slight look of pain that passed through his eyes. Never mind, Jaxon didn't need to be bothered by his feelings or issues.

Jaxon laughed in response to the light teasing banter he and Oriel were exchanging. The sound embodied his usual happiness--wrapping itself around the duo, offering warmth in the fading afternoon. "Awe, now, you could," he declared with that country boy twang, "but I'd sure know you were lyin'. I am fantastic company."

Jaxon let his gaze follow Oriel's around the empty street. He actually hadn't even noticed anything new at all. Maybe that was how the mind worked--immediately identifying the familiar over exploration of the undiscovered. But now he was curious.

"Well, she is all I got over here," Jaxon admitted. He didn't catch the emotion in the other man's eyes---and truthfully even if he had, he likely wouldn't have known how to read it. Sadness was not something Jax knew how to deal with very well.

"So, what brings you down today?" he asked, not minding being nosey--or even thinking anything of the intrusion on the other man's privacy.

"Oh?" Oriel raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow teasingly. "Someone's sure of themselves. You don't know me well enough to know when I'm lying."

He felt a slight twinge of sympathy for Jaxon, recognising the situation he was in. One parent gone, apparently, and the remaining one a muggle who lived in a whole different world. Let it be said that Oriel's father was the accountant at the american embassy, it could barely get more different to alchemy professor slash photographer for the biggest fashion magazine in Britain. There were some things his father didn't understand, and Oriel didn't expect him too.

But Jaxon moved on, and Oriel knew it really wasn't any of his business to comment on the matter.

"Oh, bringing back some plants. I'd bought some when I got banned from the greenhouses but I decided that Minerva was right, it was for my own good as much as anyone else's." He drew up his sleeves slightly, revealing a few new scars. Acid burns, those had hurt like hell. "I blame Neville. He got the idea in my head. Alchemy hasn't been mixed with Herbology yet, and for good reason apparently."

"I know me well enough to know how wonderful I am to be around," the seeker countered. It was easy, light flirtation, punctuated by a wink.

"Ole Minny banned you from the greenhouse?" he echoed, laughter mingling with his slow diction. "Damn, that looks like it did," he shook his head, a hiss of bread pushed out between his teeth as he looked at the battle scars the other man had brought on himself since Jaxon's eyes were last on O's bare skin. "shit--alchemy sounds and looks like somethang I ain't gonna ever wanna mess with," the athlete declared rather firmly.

"Sheesh, dangerous other job you have," the seeker commented. He had no idea who Neville was, but context led him to believe the man must be who was in charge of Herbology up at the school now. Sprout had still been around in his day.

"You gotta be gettin' back, or you wanna join me over at the Broomsticks? I was headed that way before I spotted ya. Ain't had dinner yet, you'd be welcome company, if you fancy a bite."

"Ah, well, there's a reason it's almost never given at the school. Only if there's enough demand with NEWT students. Piss enough of them off and I might find myself without a job." He laughed lightly and ran a hand through his hair, he'd been considering cutting it before but it was such a hassle to find a proper salon. "So who knows? I might turn the photography into a permanent job at some point."

His eyes widened slightly in surprise at the invitation. Saying hi was one thing, another things was grabbing a bite to eat with someone he'd had a one-night stand with several weeks ago. Don't get him wrong, he liked Jaxon well enough, as strangers with amazing shoulders went, but this was unexpected. For a second a flash of memory of his nails digging into the seeker's back passed through his mind, but he stomped it down forcefully. The situation was weird enough; he'd expected to never see the man again.

"Oh, uhm, sure." He nodded. "I don't really need to be at school on Mondays anyway. I just came to have some proper space to work in."

The Broomsticks weren't far off, he knew, but the prospect had not only caught him by surprise, but it seemed a bit strange. Dinner was more than a drink and three rounds of screwing. Dinner was conversation, something they'd had but sparingly. Nevertheless, he was willing to go along.

Jaxon did not really know what else to say about Alchemy.  He knew next to nothing about the subject--except from what he had seen of the man before him's body, it was all kinds of dangerous.  

The Cole had not been thinking with his head or his sex drive when he invited Oriel to eat--but with his stomach.  The hunger that set in after a long practice was dominating his mind.  He was friendly and hungry--and so, he had thrown out the option to join him, mostly because he wanted to go eat right then.  There was no thought put into anything that the other man might read into it.  

Truly Jaxon did not care much for being alone. Even when he was avoiding crowds, he still liked people--he liked company.  He liked having someone to talk to, instead of spending another meal in silence with himself.  Maybe he'd suck it up and get a boyfriend or girlfriend again soon, but all the work of a relationship really did not appeal to him--especially with his were problem...and try as he might, he couldn't find another wolf to settle down with, which is really the only relationship he'd consider long-term...someone he couldn't hurt with his secret...someone who knew the weight of this affliction.  

Oriel agreed to join him and the seeker grinned. "Cool--let's go. I'm freakin' starved."  His stomach growled out an agreement to those words and Jaxon followed the intrusive sound with a warm round of laughter, "see!" he said, pointing to his stomach.  "Practically on the verge of death!"

Jaxon took off towards the restaurant; his long legs made quick work of the distance.  Soon, the gentleman was holding the door open to let Oriel enter before him.  Once inside, the scanned the nearly empty pub for a spot to sit--there was no shortage of options since the students were all confined to the castle.  "How about a booth by the window?"  He half suggested as he moved over to one and slid into the wooden seat.

A barmaid came along almost immediately--fluttering her lashes and pushing her breasts up as she inquired what she could do for the two handsome wizards.  Jaxon flashed her one of his cheeky wolfish grins and requested a water, whatever German beer they had on tap, and a large order of the Shepard's pie.  The girl turned her attention then to the professor, making eyes at him as she waited for his order.  

Oriel chuckled as he followed Jaxon down the street. The seeker was all kinds of spontaneous, it seemed, not paying mind to any of his actions or their effects. In a way, that was easy to deal with. As long as you rolled with the punches, that is, for Jaxon didn't seem to be the type of bloke who planned anything at all. Oriel was and wasn't like that. He improvised a lot, but that improvisation led to a short two or three step plan -mostly when it came to his experiments- which he followed.

"Well, we can't have you dying, now can we? What would the Arrows do without their seeker?" He joked as he walked inside, easily following the man to a booth by the window. It hadn't been a question, though it had been phrased as such, but Oriel didn't find the seating arrangements important enough to care.

Frankly, he wasn't really hungry, but his day hand't been overly pleasant so far. Some company might be nice, though he mostly did without.

He'd met the waitress before -he came often enough- but her name eluded him at the moment. Mindy or Cindy or something like that. They had a flirting thing whenever he came, but Oriel had never taken her home. She worked late so he'd never asked her, not that she hadn't dropped plenty hints. She was fun enough, pretty too, and persevering.

Oriel smiled at her, the usual flirty smile he always used with her. "Oh, you know my lunch order, love."

Pumpkin juice and a sandwich. Surprise him on the type of sandwich.

He winked at her before she left, enjoying the slight blush he caused. Well it was their usual behaviour, had been for the last few years. Ever since he started teaching. She always called him professor, so he doubted she knew his name either. Never mind, it was harmless. Except on weekends the students visited, then he steered clear of the Three Broomsticks.