The Leaky Cauldron [Hunter, OPEN]

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

Chase needed a get away from the castle for a few days, and when he needed one of those he always called on one of the two other people in his band. this time it happened to be Hunter. He decided to go out to lunch with him, maybe drink a few beers. Nothing huge, just something to get his mind off school work and on band stuff or something else. Anything else, didn't really matter to him.

So he owled Hunter a couple days ago and asked him to meet him at the Leaky Cauldron at noon today. He needed a distraction from Brent and school and the little demon child that runs around the castle that's named Ceil. He needed an escape, and Hunter was going to give it to him.

He walked in and looked around, Hunter wasn't there yet so he went and sat down at a table to wait for Hunter to show up. He was tapping on the table to the melody of Lying. One of his favorite songs the band did. He was trying to pass the time before Hunter showed up.

[hunterdiskin]

Hunter walked into the Leaky Cauldron. It was dark in the pub and the song Lying was playing. He smiled a bit while shrugging off his cloak and putting it up. It seemed like there was always a song of at least one of the band's favourites playing when he walked into the small pub.

Hunter spotted Chase rather quickly. He was sitting at a table, tapping his fingers on the table and humming, obviously trying to entertain himself while waiting. Hunter went up to the bartender first and pointed toward Chase. "Two drinks," he said quietly. The bartender nodded and handed Hunter the drinks without a word. "Five sickles," the bartender grunted. Hunter quickly paid and headed over to where Chase was sitting.

"Hey," he said, sitting down, across from his friend. He handed Chase one of the drinks and looked at him. Chase looked extremely tired like a lot had happened at the castle in the past few days. There were probably several stories to tell. Hunter drank a bit and waited patiently for his friend to start the conversation.

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

Chase didn't have to wait long before Hunter showed up, he sat down with only a hey and nothing elsem well, besides the drinks Chase didn't even think of getting. He really was out of it lately.

"Hey, hunty. How have you been? It totally sucks tjat you can't be at the castle Brent and I. Then again, that's probabky for the best seeing as we would more than likeky destroy the castke if the three of us were together. And I'm rambling, aren't I?" Chase took a deep breath after he realized what he was doing. He tended to ranble every time he was tired, overworked, or had something major on his mind. Something of which he knew Hunter woukd catch. There was a reason that boy was a Ravenclaw and now a healer. He's down right smart.

Chase took a long drink to try to hide the fact he was confused, tired, torn, and so many more emotions all in one. Part of him didn't want Hunter to pick up on it, and another part did. He just didn't know if Brent wanted Chase to tell Hunter anything. That was the problem.

[hunterdiskin]

Hunter blinked after Chase let out a long ramble. "Hey calm down," he said trying to help. He ignored the fact that Chase had called him Hunty. He hated that nickname so much but his fellow band members never seemed to let it go. Any other people, like co-workers, never were able to get away with that.

"First, you're rambling," he said, slightly amused but still concerned. Chase only rambled when he was stressed about anything. "I think we know each other well enough to know that I know something's up." He said that sentence intentionally confusing to try to calm his friend down. When Chase was stressed, his mind was all over the place so the best solution was to try to get him to focus on one thing, in this case, the sentence.

He let that sentence hang there so Chase could decipher it. He wasn't asking to know what was up but he was sure Chase knew that he was there to listen. They had known each other long enough. Hunter looked around at the pub quietly waiting. He'd found that being quiet and just letting the other person talk was the best way to help them. Once people started talking, they were able to get whatever they had on their mind out without someone constantly analyzing each sentence. It would take some time before Chase would calm down but Hunter wasn't in a hurry.

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

Chase didn't know what to tell Hunter. He wanted to confess to everything about himself and Brent and he might... He didn't know for sure. He was positive that if Brent had the option he would confess to Hunter about it. So why shouldn't he?

"Yeah yeah. I know I"m rambling. I'm just... stressed. But you could probably already tell that, couldn't you. I'm really horrible at hiding any kind of emotions when it comes to my friends. It's like they can just see through everything I try to hide. Oh well, I'd rather it be my friends than people I don't know. Right?" Chase had to stop himself because he ran out of breath. It was there that he realized he was rambling again. It really was a bad habit.

"I'm sorry. I rambled again. I'll stop now." Chase took a deep breath and sipped on his drink. Maybe if he kept drinking he wouldn't keep rambling.

[hunterdiskin]

Hunter cracked a bit of a smile at Chase's rambling. "Breathe, Chase. It's okay. You don't need to hide your emotions in front of us," he said seriously. He was sure Chase knew that but sometimes it helped for people to be reassured...he guessed. He wasn't a professional therapist or anything so he wouldn't actually know.

Hunter thought for a few moments. "You don't need to tell me what's up but is there any way I can help?" he asked. True, it would be harder to help without knowing what had happened to Chase the past week but if it made Chase feel more comfortable than it was fine with him. He liked to help his friends when he could, with the exception of drama between friends- he couldn't deal with that kind of stuff. He sat back and took a sip of his drink too, thinking a bit about what could bother his friend this much.

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

Chase did as Hunter suggested and took a deep breath. He hoped it would calm him down enough so he could tell him what was going on but he wasn't going to hold himself to it.

"It's Brent, Hunter." Chase said it slow, showing how much he was truly hurting from this. "You know how we dated before him and Maryn. Well... apparently he's not completely straight like he told me when he dumped me. And he still likes me. Enough to kiss me. Which was amazing, by the way. Just saying."

Chase stopped there. Brent was the main reason he was so torn up about life right now, but not the only reason.

"Not to mention Redpaw brought in these two little kids. Twins. And I swear something is up with them. But the little boy let my unicorns run loose, and they ran me over. Oh and the boy made me chase him around the castle because he ran."

Chase ran his fingers through his hair and put his face on the table. "I've just been extremely over stressed, Hunty."

[hunterdiskin]

"Um..." Hunter said thinking fast. He wasn't good with relationship problems. All of his relationships were pretty straight forward and he was still on good terms with all of his exes. There had never really been problems. Now, Chase was talking about his and Brent's relationship and he had no idea what to say.

"Let me think," he said thinking for a few more seconds. "What's the problem with Brent? Is he not acknowledging your kiss or is the fact that he lied that's the problem?" Hunter cringed internally. He sounded so stupid. Even Delia was better at helping out with these kinds of problems and she wasn't even half his age.

"As for the twin problem, talk to Redpaw," he suggested not sure what else to say, "Or you'll have to be much stricter with the twins. Set them straight. I don't know. I can talk to them if you really want...?" he ended the last part like a question. He wasn't good with kids. One of the reasons he wasn't teaching at Hogwarts was because he had never really interacted with younger kids unless they were his patients and usually they couldn't speak or were crying too much. It's not that he didn't like kids...he just had never really interacted with them. Hunter liked to think of himself as a more quiet analyzing kind of person rather than a person who's the heart of a party and constantly talking.

"Um... I mean, yeah. I can talk to Redpaw or the twins if you want. Maybe I can get them to behave better or something. Being this stressed isn't good for your health." He was about to talk more about how it could affect Chase but he made himself be quiet. His analyzing and intellectual side could shut up for now.

Hunter coughed and looked away waiting for Chase to crack a smile at how stupid he sounded or get angry because he was a crappy friend.

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

Chase smiled a bit at Hunter. Not because he didn't seem to know what to say or anything like that. But because his response what that like a mothers. Chase didn't need Hunter talking to Redpaw for him. And definitely not the little boy. It wouldn't have been too much of a problem if he could have just given the kid a detention and deduct points. But he couldn't, because he wasn't even a student yet.

"Oh, Hunty." Chase started with by shaking his head. "Brent's acknowledging it... I'm just afraid he's going to just end up going back to Maryn and leaving me in the dust again like last time. In which case it wouldn't be fair to me. But I know I'll end up staying friends with him and everything, but it'll just hurt me more in the end."

Chase looked down to the table again with a sad look in his eyes. He loved Brent. He knew he did. He even had a feeling Brent knew it too... From what he said at the Leaky Cauldron.

"I suppose everything with the boy and Redpaw will be sorted out eventually. Thanks, though. I appreciate it, Hunty."

[hunterdiskin]

Hunter sat back uncomfortably. He understood Chase's situation and where he was coming from but he had no idea how to respond to that. Was he supposed to just say que sera sera? He couldn't think of any advice and didn't really want to say anything that might cause Chase to get even more upset or give him an idea that he would actually carry out.

"I get what you mean," Hunter said trying to sound very caring although the only thing he really wanted to do was change the conversation topic, "Um...I hope things work out...." Now he just sounded extremely stupid. Hunter looked away awkwardly. "Sorry you know I suck at this." He exhaled. "I'm not sure what to say."

Hunter sat back and drank some of the drink. It was nearly at the bottom and he wondered at how long they'd been there. Not that he'd actually leave although this was a very awkward conversation for him...

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

Chase laughed at Hunter and his awkwardness. It was probably the first real laugh Chase had since the whole ordeal with Brent. He knew that Hunty didn't mind that Chase was Bisexual, and Brent in a clear trying to figure out stage. But it wasn't something he would necessarily be comfortable talking about. Most weren't. Hunter especially since he never was any good at advice or dealing with problems, yet that never stopped Chase or Brent from talking to him about their problems.

"Thanks for trying to help, Huntyyy. You know I always appreciate it. I say we just talk about something else. Get my mind off Brent for the afternoon. Maybe that will help." Chase smiled crookedly at Hunter before realizing they were out of drinks.

"I'll go get some more drinks." Chase said before taking their glasses up to the bar and asking for two refills. He waited a bit so the bartender could fill them up, he paid for them real quick and went back to the table.

"So. How's everything at St. Mungo's. Get any interesting patients lately?" Chase loved talking about the patients Hunter saw at St. Mungo's. It was so interesting. Especially the cases where they got hurt by different creatures. If only they had taken his Care of Magical Creatures class. Chase smiled at himself before waiting for Hunter to reply.

[hunterdiskin]

Hunter was grateful for Chase changing the subject. He probably should have been better at giving advise but he was just no good at it. Chase knew this too and sometimes it made Hunter wonder why Chase even bothered to talk about his problems if he knew Hunter couldn't ever give useful advise. But, pushing those thoughts aside, he focused on what Chase had just said.

"Thanks," he said, taking the drink. He took a sip and smiled a bit at the mention of the St. Mungo's patients. "It was ridiculous today. We had two muggles come in, having just been attacked by a Hippogriff. Their bones were showing and their faces were very scarred. They were scared to death and could barely talk." He rolled his eyes at the stupidness of Muggles although in all technicalities, it wasn't their fault. "Anyways, the hippogriff belonged to their neighbor, a wizard obviously. But he was extremely stubborn and wouldn't let us perform any spells on them that would make them calm down or anything. So we had to try to fix their bones with them awake as well as mend their cuts. It's not easy when they're shrieking so much." It had been hell. There had been so much shouting and yelling from them as well as other Healers arguing with the stupid wizard.

"On top of that, the wizard didn't want us to wipe their memories, as if that was even allowed," Hunter rolled his eyes. "But it worked out. We sent the wizard out and knocked out the muggles with a calming draught before healing them completely." Hunter sat back after the tale. He never usually talked that much but his area of work was exciting and it wasn't any fun telling a bland story that had obviously been much more.

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

Chase flinched at the details of the hippogryff attack. That had to hurt. And to think they were only muggles! Chase felt bad for them. To not even know wizards existed and then to suddenly get mauled by a giant beast would be a big step to take.

"You know. Hippogryffs aren't mean creatures. But people often think they are because of how many attacks they cause. It's not fair. If they had taken any proper Care of Magical Creatures class then they would know how to approach a hippogryff with caution." Chase hated when creatures were given a horrible name because the people didn't know how to deal with the animals. It wasn't fair to them.

Chase took a deep breath, replying to Hunter again. "I'm glad everything worked out though. Seems like the wizard was a fucking bastard. Had to be if he let the Hippogryff attack them in the first place. " Chase shook his head, that was a bad wizard right there.

[hunterdiskin]

Hunter nodded in agreement. "I agree with what you mean but they were muggles," he emphasized the word, "They couldn't have taken the class." He was glad to see that Chase's mind was being taken off of the drama. That much was good at least.

"The wizard was extremely stupid. He was hurting those Muggles more than he was helping them. Especially after an accident like that. They could be traumatized for life if they remembered that." Hunter loved his job but he couldn't stand some of the patients' family and friends. Some of the family problems he understood, like trying to keep them alive when clearly they were suffering. Those were attachment problems. But other times like this where the wizard was careless and was clearly interfering...those times were annoying.

Hunter took a sip of his drink. "Anyways, how has Hogwarts been?"

[Chase McKinney-Jackson]

"I know, Hunty. I was talking about the wizard block. He should have known better than to let the muggle get too close to the Hippogryff without knowing what it was or anything about the creature. It just makes me mad because now that poor creature will probably get the blame for that idiot wizard." Chase hated when poor little animals were blamed for stuff that was their owns thought. Maybe it was his animal lover side peaking in.

"Hogwarts is Hogwarts. Kids get bad grades, we yell at them, they sas us, we give them detention. They do it again. It's the never ending circle at hogwarts. You should know that." Chase laughed. When him and Brent were at school, that was them. They didn't really consider school to be of major importance. Mostly goofing off and getting by. It was how they handled everything. Now that they were teachers they hated those kind of kids. It was extremely ironic.