(Untitled)

[usethecompany]

The good news for the patrons of the Winchester was that Archie had gotten better with his cooking. The bad news was that for a space of time, he had had to sacrifice his eaters to the pursuit of learning. Nothing had ever been inedible, and certainly nothing had ever caused one harm, but a regular patron with middling intelligence would have

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[quite_a_delight]

Marshall didn't spend a lot of time at the Winchester.

The food could be really great, but it was a long walk, well out of his way, and while he didn't spend all his time in the Compound, he wasn't really a hike in the jungle kind of guy.

But that morning, he got up early and headed for the beach, just for a change, and when he smelled food and saw the small crowd gathering, he couldn't really justify walking by without stopping.

He stepped inside, immediately seeking out a familiar face, but truthfully, it wouldn't have surprised him if he didn't find one.

[dancin_maxxie]

"Hey, Marshall!" Maxxie called from his seat, throwing an arm up into the air to make sure the other boy saw him. He'd spent the early hours of the morning in the dance studio, working up a sweat, and then had plunged straight into the ocean, because he could. It had all left him a bit salt-tinged and starving, making breakfast in his swim trunks at the Winchester the best possible idea ever. Add Marshall's company to the mix and you had a wicked morning.

[quite_a_delight]

One corner of his mouth twitched, but otherwise his expression stayed the same, his eyes flickering across Maxxie's bare shoulders and chest before he could stop himself.

Maxxie seemed to have some kind of prejudice against shirts, but it wasn't like Marshall was going to complain about it.

"Hey," he said, sliding into the empty chair next to him. "Is there coffee?"

[dancin_maxxie]

"Yeah, but it's really strong," Maxxie warned lightly. His own he had just cut with milk and gotten by, but he didn't know how Marshall liked it. "They also do a decent fry-up, if you're hungry." Maxxie's own plate was half-demolished, but he paused and took up his coffee once Marshall sat down. "So how're you?"

[quite_a_delight]

"I'm okay with strong." He'd been drinking coffee regularly since he was about twelve years old, so his stomach lining was already scarred enough that it could handle it.

"I'm good. It's weird, I never really come here." The I'm glad I caught you, was pretty heavily implied.

[dancin_maxxie]

"No? Well, me either, actually," Maxxie admitted. "But I've only been here a month. Though I guess it's kind of hard when the kitchen's right there in the Compound." He paused to take a sip of his coffee, his plate half demolished. "I'm only up this way for the dance studio. It's weird, the random stuff all around."

[quite_a_delight]

"Yeah. I mean, it makes sense, people wanting to transplant things they remember from home, but stumbling on a baseball diamond in the middle of the jungle is kind of surreal," he said, pausing to ask for a cup of coffee when a waitress wandered past.

"So, um... you were dancing?" he asked, by way of awkward segue.

[dancin_maxxie]

"Or a Quidditch pitch," Maxxie volunteered with a laugh. It had taken him a good ten minutes to figure out what that had been. It looked different in real life.

"Yup," he replied to Marshall's question. "Gotta keep up my skills, even on a magic island. Plus I.. don't really know what else to do with myself," he admitted. "I've been dancing since I was 5. Hard habit to break."

[quite_a_delight]

"I know, right?" Which wasn't made any less surreal by the fact that his sister was kind of dating Harry Potter. Or going on dates with him, if she was so adamant about making the distinction.

"You're good. I mean, from what I remember," he said, busying himself with adding cream to the coffee that had been put in front of him.