Politics? Politics!

[Samual Kaster]

Samual waited on a bench in obsidian Harbour, planning to run into his cousin whom he had not seen in many years. Carter had been in New Zealand for over a year, apparently, yet Sammy had been unable to see him because the curly-haired boy had not been in New Zealand for most of last year, but that was not so recently. Now he had a job, and he even got back with Hazel. Just thinking of himself as engaged brought butterflies to his stomach as he absent-mindedly played with the band on his finger. He was already planning the wedding - even if Hazel said that they would wait. He was waiting, and making sure that they were super prepared. He'd had it narrowed down to three destinations, but knew that he couldn't out-right ask Hazel, other wise he could upset her. He had to be sneaky. He was thinking a nice September wedding. September was such a great month - and he was already looking at dresses that'd look nice on Hazel and he was already thinking about the menu for the food, and where all the guests would sit. He wasn't sure if Justin or Kiara should come, but Justin was Hazel's cousin and Kiara was Justin's girlfriend. They had to come, even if they were horrid. Then again, they had (somewhat) graciously allowed he and Hazel to stay with them, but now Sammy was looking for a new place for them, somewhere closer to his work.

Deciding to not dwindle on Hazel, for fear that he would miss Carter, Samual decided to look around to see what others were doing. Being an adult, this meant that Samual was trying to get more involved in politics than previously, even if it seemed really complicated and more than just a little bit boring. But the young auror was amazed at himself, finding the possibility of a new Minister to be incredibly exciting. Sammy felt he had been bitten by the election bug - and he didn't even know the candidates yet! He just wanted all the campaigning to start, campaigns always looked like a lot of fun.it was so great to just watch people talking and sharing their opinions and trying to make a difference. Being Minister was so important, he was interested in who wanted to take on the role. He knew nothing about the past Minister, Seraphina? Seraphine? It was something Snow? His priority in school was certainly not politics, and even now the names slipped his mind, but once campaigning started, he hoped he'd get the jist of everything. He also wondered if he would have to do anything. He was just the new kid on the block in the aurors, finding himself to be really nervous whenever he saw some of the older aurors. He wasn't sure if they liked him, he was perhaps a little too excitable and nice, but he had a heart as strong as anyones. And he felt that was the important thing.

Sammy released a sigh as the sun warmed him up. It had been overcast as of late, and the sun coming out was the reason why he invited Carter to join him here. The curly-haired Kaster needed the sun on his back when he met his cousin, otherwise it just wouldn't be a good day.
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[Carter Kaster]

Carter was a relatively relaxed kind of person normally. He really enjoyed his job, that was a major part of his lifestyle right now. If he wasn't at work, he was at home, reading by the fire or some other such thing. At the moment however Carter was on a rather long lunch break as he planned to meet up with his young cousin. Carter had not seen Gregory's side of the family for many years. Whilst they did on occasion hear from Lisa, who was now the head of this branch, and by extension technically his superior in both age and title, it wasn't very often and had been nonexistent for the past five or six years. He liked to think he was here for a change of scenery, but honestly he was pretty sure his father and grandfather only agreed so that he would one, get away from his mother and stop fighting and two, reconnect with the New Zealand branch of the family. He had been here off and on for about two years before getting a transfer a year and a half ago. He was glad that he was here, no doubt, but he did think that some of the laws and regulations here were a bit lax. Not that he would every tell the Minister or anyone how to do their job, he just had some ideas that he thought could be good.

Coming up to where he remembered Samual mentioning they could meet, Carter pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants as he looked around for his cousin. It was kind of ridiculous. He was a grown man and he was feeling apprehensive about seeing his little cousin. What was he now, like thirteen? Carter shook his head and was soon upon the agreed upon area. Looking around, he nearly fell over when he saw the exact spitting image of his Uncle leaning against the wall, curls and all. Shaking his head, he realised that this was obviously Samual. Who else could it be. He didn't look much different to the Samual he had met when the kid was still only in diapers. Smiling politely and more then a little nervous about all of this, mostly because it was Samual who approached him, Carter made his presence known. Despite the fact that he was sure the kid was still supposed to be in school, Carter nodded. "Hey Kid." Was that okay? Not too familiar or unfamiliar was it. Was he supposed to hug the boy? He couldn't do that, he hardly knew him. Not to mention the fact that Carter was not very affectionate, specially not with members of his family or of the same gender. That was weird.​

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual was beginning to become worried. Perhaps Carter had become lost? He had been here for a year or so, surely he would know his way around. The brunette's shoulders slumped ever-so-slightly. Perhaps he should have gone to pick his dear older cousin up and taken him somewhere, instead of meeting up. Maybe Carter was running late? He did all that Minister law stuff. It was law, right? Definitely something with paperwork and the Ministry. He ran his fingers through his curls in order to get himself to stop worrying. Carter was a grown man - he was older than Sammy was himself by a far few years. The young man was certain that his cousin would be capable of finding him. If not, then Samual would just have to go hunting for his cousin himself. He knew the area well. If Carter was here, Sam would surely find him. He was sure of it.

Fortunately, Samual's attention was captured by a man nearing his late twenties at least, maybe early thirties. He had dark blond hair and blue-grey eyes that Samual found particularly familiar. This was definitely Carter, and his thoughts were realised when he was greeted. Although not as warmly as Sammy was expecting, he just put it down to how long it had been since they had actually seen each other. Unlike his cousin, Sam was not reserved in any way, and did not hesitate to give his family member a warm hug in welcome. "Carter!" he cheered, releasing the older man and giving him a huge, bright grin. "You look great! How've you been? What've you been doing lately?" He looked around momentarily for fun things to do, and inclined his head over to the main fountain. "Hey, wanna go for a walk? We've got lots to talk about," he explained, linking his arm with his cousin, "Come on!"
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[Carter Kaster]

Carter nearly jumped back in surprise when the smaller boy attacked him with a hug. Carter was not used to this kind of treatment from someone he barely knew. What were they teaching the kids in these schools?! Carter could have been anyone. Just because he said hi was no reason for Samual to hug him like a long lost twin. Carter quickly pulled away from the hug with all the awkwardness that he felt completely out in the open. This was not the first time he had been made to feel awkward by any means, he was just not a very affectionate person. Mostly, because he was a loner, Carter preferred to stay in his office and review his files. Regulating the Laws of an entire country was hard work, but Carter never complained, because he quite enjoyed hard work. Biting his lip slightly and stepping as far away from his cousin as was polite, Carter calmed himself down slightly. The sudden bombardment had unsettled him a little. He liked to control his environment with a small degree when he could. He was also rather stubborn and meticulous, but that was not the issue here.

"Yeah, I've been alright. Working a lot, but what else would you expect from a member of the Ministry, right?" He asked, relaxing a little more as he spoke about his work. Carter liked talking about work, it was a safe and easy subject and he could relax easily with his well figured answers. Not that he was a stranger to thinking or making up answers on the spot, he just preferred to know the answer readily. "A lot of my time has been taken up with work I'm afraid. I do a lot of overtime and paperwork for my job so getting out and being social is less and less likely to happen." Just as he finished speaking, Samual had linked their arms and asked if he wanted to go for a walk, before taking off without Carter even answering him. It occurred to Carter that he had not thought this meeting too. It seemed that this young man had a lot more energy then Carter had given him credit for. "What about you then? Anything new? How's the family on this side?"
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[Samual Kaster]

Samual frowned slightly at the awkwardness of his cousin. It was hard to see a family member not being as excited as himself. He knew it was naive to believe that everyone could be as genuinely happy as he was, but the least Carter could do was relax a little. He was surely going to give himself a heart attack if he kept jumping around like that, surely. At least he had his work, that was something. Sammy wasn't sure if he had anyone he cared about, and it was a shame. People shouldn't be alone with only a job to serve as a distraction. Sure, working a lot was to be expected from someone in the Ministry, as there was a lot of paperwork, but still, a personal life was just as important. Possibly even more important! "Oh, that's good," he said, trying to show his support for his cousin's work-first attitude, as it was better than him having nothing to do with his life. That would be such a waste. Overall, Samual was pleased to know that he could now show Carter to loosen up a little, and get out in the sunshine - he looked a little pasty, presumably from being indoors. He needed to get some fresh air into his lungs.

He had taken Carter by surprise, this he knew, but the best things in life were surprises, Sammy found. Things had to be spontaneous and random sometimes, otherwise life gets stuffy. Carter spoke as Samual enjoyed to scenery, soaking in all the sunshine his skin could manage. Samual lent down a little to run his fingers through the fountain as he guided them both through the area, finding the chilled water to be a pleasant surprise to his fingertips. "I don't know if you've spoken to Jack, but he's had his third child," Sammy explained, grinning at the memory of holding little Cian for the first time. He looked a lot like his mother, Danika, which was not that surprising. Aleksandra also looked like her mother, while Benjamin was sort of in between - looking more like Rafaelle if Samual had to guess. "Tess is still running her shop - we can go there later. And... and Amanra's travelling, I think in Egypt for now, but she's coming back really soon. Hamish is nearly starting school soon. He's pretty nervous about it." He paused to gather himself for his own news, in an attempt to not talk Carter's ear off over his impending wedding. "And... I'm engaged!" He jumped, tugging on Carter's arm slightly in his enthusiasm. He had only been waiting for this moment since birth, so he was overly enthusiastic about his wedding. "I can't wait until my wedding - I'm thinking September, because that's always nice. Oh! You can be there too! It'll be fantabulous!" He gushed, getting ahead of himself. "And then we can adopt and get a house - I'm so excited!" However, he and Hazel had not spoken about children just yet, but Samual really wanted to adopt a child, as he wasn't sure he could wait nine months for a child, and it would be nice to introduce someone into their home and make their life better, effectively giving the child a second chance.
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[Carter Kaster]

Carter was still really put off by his cousin. Physical affection such as this, in public, was usually not something he liked. He would consider it if he were with a woman and if they were dating, but otherwise it was just really strange for him. He often thought it was because his mother had been so affectionate with them as children, but then pulled away as soon as they reached learning age, because from that point on there were no sweet hugs and loving kisses on the cheek at night, it was just a strict regime of bed, learning, food and bed again. Not that Carter could complain really, it was all he knew and it had worked for him, though he wasn't sure he would ever like to subject his own children to such treatment. He nodded to his cousin and shrugged. He definitely thought that it was good he was getting so much work done, what with the Minister stepping down as she had, things had to be kept in order so the Ministry wouldn't be in shambles. He did very much like his job and paperwork and reading were parts of his life, so he never found anything to be particularly hard or anything like that he liked his work. "Yeah, I quite like my work, so it makes sense."

Carter listened to his cousin as he spoke about their mutual family, well, mutual in that it was Carter's extended family, but Samual's immediate family. He was glad to hear that they all seemed to be well, he didn't associate much with them because of the distance, and other factors as well, but he didn't go into that, it wasn't his place. Hearing that one of Samual's older sisters, at least he was assuming she was older, he sometimes got them mixed up, but he was pretty sure that Samual was the youngest apart from that little brother of his. "Oh, I'm glad they all seem to be doing so well." Carter smiled and was about to continue when he was nearly blown over by the biggest news the boy had. Carter's eyes grew wide as he looked over the boy. This, sugarhyper, unconventional, hugging machine of a young man... was engaged? Carter shook his head of the shock and smiled. "Really? Who's the lucky guy? Does he work in the Ministry?" Carter wasn't sure if he was excited or not, he honestly thought he was a bit young, but, who knew, maybe the guy was older.

"Honestly, adoption is all well and good, but you need to be financially secure and make sure you will have the time and energy. You don't want to overexert yourselves."
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[Samual Kaster]

Obviously, Samual had been raised very differently to his cousin, who still looked very awkward as they walked together. He was sure the older man would get over that. But hey, he had his work and if that was Carter's thing, Sammy was completely fine with it. The world needed hard-workers! And it someone loved their job, regardless of what it was, it had to be a good thing - for them, anyway. Sammy grinned as Carter made a polite comment about his siblings. They were going well - the ones mentioned, anyway. He couldn't very well say that Tamalia had been expelled and then later arrest in the Muggle world and then dumped by her boyfriend, now could he? That really would not be the sort of news to open up with. Besides, Tamalia would kill him if he told Carter all of that, he was quite sure. "Yeah!" As he continued, however, it became obvious that Carter was quite surprised about Samual's news - and it was such happy news.

Samual remained silent as Carter commented on his engagement. Had he heard him correctly? Did Carter say 'Who's the lucky guy?' There was no lucky guy - well, Sammy thought of himself as the lucky guy. Hazel was a girl. He had no idea that Carter thought he was gay. He wasn't insuted by the idea, but he was a little saddened by the fact that his own cousin didn't know who he was madly in love with. It just highlighted the distance that had grown, and Samual was trying to hard to keep the family all close knit and full of love and understanding. Also, Hazel didn't work in the Ministry, she worked in a Muggle school. He chewed on his lip as Carter continued about the adoption thing, and he shuffled his feet as his cousin finally finished. Now, how could he say that he wasn't marrying a man without making Carter feel bad? Was it possible? He didn't want Carter to feel bad, but if he was going to go to Sammy and Hazel's wedding, he had to know that Hazel was a woman, it was kind of important. "Umm... her name is Hazel, and she works in a Muggle school," he explained, trying to be delicate. "And we won't adopt straight away. We need to wait 'til we're a little older before we're eligible. But I just think it'd be great. Babies are so nice and I think adoptions really good. I can totally take care of a baby." Samual loved babies. He absolutely adored them, but unfortunately, babies grew up - he liked young children and such, but he adored babies. There was a difference.
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[Carter Kaster]

Carter Kaster was a grade A fool. He was a complete and total idiot. Not only was he an idiot and a fool he was embarrassed and annoyed. It was not normal for him to jump to conclusions such as that, normally he would take a much more methodical approach then that, but for some reason, one look at his cousin had instantly told him that they boy was gay. Of course there was nothing wrong with that and Carter had thought he was being supportive with what he said, but as it turned out, he had been completely wrong. He was a little surprised, but most of all he was annoyed at himself. For someone who prided himself on being quite observant, Carter was appalled that he had been wrong and he hoped his cousin could forgive him, it wasn't generally something people liked being seen as. Most people were okay with it, but some people weren't. It was kind of depressing that Carter had to admit, that for a while, his own brother, Philip, had been walking a thin line. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to assume anything. I don't usually do that." He said, shaking his head in annoyance. Samual was making him say things, he didn't like it. He was too easy going and relaxed for Carter to be comfortable around, after all, most Kaster were uptight, like him, Samual was different, obviously like his mother.

Bowing his head to his cousin, Carter thought about the reason why he had thought Samual was into men. Perhaps it was the fact that he was so innocent? He didn't seem the type that a woman would like. Of course Carter also had to admit that he only knew one type of woman, the types of women his mother kept contracting him too, though that had stopped now, at least for the mean time, his mother was conniving, stubborn and persistant, three very annoying traits in a person. Combined, they were even worse. Though Carter didn't mind the stubborness of his mother, as he and every Kaster that ever lived posessed this trait, in his mother it was formulated into an easy trait to use for her matchmaking and marriage arrangement purposes. He had moved to New Zealand to escape her; the whole other side of the world, yet still she was able to influence him. Would he never escape her? "Have you actually spoken to your fiance about this? I think she would like to be told."
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