Coincidences

[Shiloh Armstead]

Shiloh had seldom left the house since the sudden death of his niece. He'd taken care of Prudence since she was a pre-teen and losing her had taken a toll on his mind. He often found himself praying now, rosery beads in between his fingers rubbed down to the string nearly looking for an answer - finding piece in simplicity. Work still went on around the young man, and while Hand Modeling had gotten boring, Shi was now finding interest in another field - a professional bridesmaid. The more unconventional the wedding, the more they paid, and the more likely they were to look for a guy to be in the wedding party. He had lately tended to weddings of the same sex - but girls often booked him when they had no other friends and needed a wedding planner helper as well. It made no difference to Shiloh, it kept him busy and around happy people. The brunette was coming back now from a meeting, and before heading home he had decided to stop for a small amount of coffee, maybe a bite to eat. He was starving if he were honest.

The muggle restaurant was packed. Muggle - such a strange word. The man hadn't had any contact with the magical community since Prudence had left. Occasionally Saveli - her half sister - would stop by and make sure he was okay, see if he needed anything, but that was some time ago. Before she had the baby. Perhaps he should check in on her and the child - after all he always did love kids. The man looked around at the bakery shelf, adn decided on something small, then offered to pay for whatever the gentleman behind him wanted by leaving a twenty on the counter. Then Shiloh took a window seat, something where the sun might beat down on him, as he quietly pondered where to go next to help his latest bride find her unusual request of bears' teeth.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy didn't often spend time in the Muggle parts of New Zealand. He'd grown up in a wizarding town and his parents had always encouraged their children to remain with their own kind, whatever that meant. So, Jeremy's interest in Muggles was odd to them. It was odd to him too. He had no Muggle friends and hardly knew any muggleborns, but now he had Hattie in his life, and he felt a need to learn about what her life had been like before him. She knew she was adopted, knew he wasn't her biological father (at least he assumed she did), but he knew that one day she might ask him questions, and ever the Ravenclaw, he wanted to know the answers.

So he'd begun these small excursions on his days off, small trips to the city to see what the Muggles did. And he'd discovered they had remarkable ingenuity. Hed known, of course, with airplanes being a thing. But seeing sliding things that sent food from the back in place of a summoning charm and watching as they used extremely loud machines to help erect buildings, Jeremy was in awe. Heading into a small cafe he'd passed by on his past several trips into this city, the Healer waited in line, nervous that he didn't have the right amounts of money. He had one marked with a five and several coins that he wasn't exactly sure he'd figured out. So, it was with a huge sense of relief when he was told that the person just ahead of him had paid for his treat. Taking hold of his coffee and pastry, Jeremy headed right for the guy. "Excuse me" he began when he drew nearer, not able to see the man all that well with the sun in his face, "I...thank you for paying for my things. That was awfully nice of you" he smiled.

 

[Shiloh Armstead]

Shiloh absentmindedly rubbed his finger over a small pencil drawing on the table where a child had sat. It was a stick figure, with straight locks and an abnormally long right arm, and extremely short left arm. He laughed, a picture with just as horrible inaccuracies sat in a box gathering dust in his attic. Prudence's dad's had left those things from her childhood behind. He'd gone through and given Saveli some of the clothing articles and such, anything she wanted to take. It was an emotional day for the both of them. Shiloh was brought from his thoughts though when a voice carried softly over to him. The brown eyed man looked up and smiled at the gentleman before him. "oh yeah!" Shiloh grinned. "Oh course. pay it forward right?" The Aussie man asked with a grin, though the question was rhetorical. He then realized something suddenly, and while he wasn't generally a person who was social he inquired, "You have an interesting accent?" He said, the ending with an upward inflection, obviously inquiring about where he was from. Shiloh then realized that the man was standing. "Would you like to sit?" he inquired, unsure on where he needed to be that day.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Cities weren't always kind, and their occupants were sometimes even less so. The man's words were like a breath of fresh air, and he nodded though he'd never participated in a pay-it-forward type event. As the man quickly shifted gears, Jeremy didn't have enough time to voice his thoughts on the other matter. His lips quirked, a shy smile appearing on his face. Nodding, Jeremy slipped into the seat that had been offered to him and placed his pastry down on the table.

"I've been in New Zealand now longer than I spent where I grew up, and I don't think I'll ever fully get rid of my accent" he stated, the shy smile remaining. "I'm originally from New England. Maine" he stated. His accent had morphed from what it once had been, taking on some of the tone of his new home but there was no mistaking that he was not from here. "You have a good ear" he added, taking a sip of coffee. It was perfect, a dash of cream and one sugar.

 

[Shiloh Armstead]

The brunette smiled in response to the man's own. Shiloh hadn't particularly made many friends in New Zealand outside of his industry. His brother had always been the more outgoing between the siblings, always the kind of person to go and get what he wanted. Shiloh was more of a follower, and was ushered into popularity by his older brother; even now he was still learning social skills such as making sure he responded when someone said something. "Thank you." he remarked. "I've heard a lot of different accents in my line of work." He mused, before sipping at his drink. "So what caused you to move to New Zealand, it's definitely a hop skip and a jump away from where you were before." Shiloh's New Zealand accent was thick in comparison to the man's mixed accents, but he didn't mind. He was proud of his homeland. The man's brown eyes darted over the drink the man was sipping from, and wondered if it was something sweet or bitter. Shi always thought someone could tell a lot about someone by what they were drinking. "What did you decide on?" he asked, nodding toward the cup.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

The man was friendly, and Jeremy couldn't help but feel at ease with his demeanor. He pinched off a piece of his pastry. bringing it to his mouth as he listened. "Oh, just a regular cup of coffee" he said, knowing some people went for elaborate drinks that left Jeremy wondering if there was any coffee in them. "Nearly black but not quite" he added. He took another sip as he mulled over his other question. "As for your other question, my parents wanted me to attend school outside of the United States, and I was offered a scholarship to a school in New Zealand. I couldn't turn down the offer, and by the time I finished school, New Zealand felt more like home than anywhere else" he stated. He'd used that story before. It held enough truth that Jeremy didn't feel too badly about telling it that way. "What is it that you do, if you don't mind my asking?" he asked as he continued to drink.

 

[Shiloh Armstead]

Shiloh grinned. "Couldn't imagine how you drink it, but to each their own." He remarked in an almost teasing fashion. However his teasing demeanor shifted, and it was obvious that the question about his work had embarrassed him slightly. Most of Shiloh's embarrassment that surrounded his work was due to the fact that he felt he was in a feminine field, most of the people that he worked with were dainty women. "I am... a uh hand model." He spoke, before laughing for a second, quietly and more to ease the nerves than anything else. "But honestly I am so much more interested in your schooling, mate. Full ride must have been hard, what kind of school?" He asked, trying to move quickly past the subject. He toyed with his cup before taking another drink, the froth at least pleasant, the warmth of the drinking causing his body to match his face in heat - because he realized that perhaps that wasn't a good thing.

 

[Jeremy Thorne]

Jeremy grinned in reply, knowing he took his coffee in a quite unpopular way. He was fine with it, often getting his drinks far faster than those who went for machiwhatevers. Hearing that the man was a model, Jeremy sighed inwardly. Every now and then he thought about Henri who had also been a model and...truth be told, Jeremy had never known how to describe their relationship but he mourned its loss anyway, knowing he missed the man more than he cared to admit. "Ah, really?" Jeremy replied, a bit surprised at the man's interest and a bit caught off guard by it. He'd been lost in thought, a road he'd thought shut way down. "Oh, just a boarding school. They're all about the same though, right? It had a great library and a nice lake" he added with a shrug. Jeremy hoped he'd given enough details to sate the muggle's curiosity. "Would you like some? I really shouldn't have this all myself" he chuckled, pushing his pastry in the man's direction. "You do have great hands" he added absent mindedly as he watched the man drink, ducking his head, an embarrassed smile on his face as he realized he'd said that aloud.