Replacing Fury with Fudge

((OOC: Wow, okay, she's acting kinda like a teenager. You'll get to see her brilliant brains soon, I promise.))

Shite. If Rivah didn't know better, she'd be thinking that Cael was doing this on purpose. It was like he was trying to kill her. The worst part, was that everything the man had jokingly suggested sounded amazing.

"I'm not sure my sanity would survive spending 24 hours of every day with you," the blonde joked softy, cheeks flushing pink. The woman had never been a very good lier, but that was hardly a problem in this situation. She hadn't lied. Rivah probably would loose her marbles if she had to spend all her time with the brilliant man before her. Merlin, she really needed to cut it out with the flattering adjectives as far as her friend was concerned. They certainly weren't helping anything.

"How about Friday?" Rivah asked before stopping to think, "it's the only day next week I don't have some sort of dinner meeting. Probably because everyone wants to have Fridays free to go out-" on dates, the blonde finished silently. Hell, why had she felt the need to elaborate upon why she'd picked that particular day? She couldn't say that out loud to Cael! "With their mates," the Death Eater finished a moment later, after a little bit too much of a pause. There was a reason she didn't have many friends.

Rivah could feel her pulse speed up and start to flutter. "I suppose we could do Tuesday," the woman continued, starting to babble slightly, "I do have a meeting then, but it's at five thirty. It shouldn't take more than two hours, and I suppose seven thirty is a reasonable enough dinner time. I think, anyway. I tend to eat dinner around nine a lot since that's about when I get home, but I'm pretty sure that's far later than most people eat, right?"

Realizing that she really needed to just stop talking, Rivah reached forwards to grab and take a sip of her drink.

The corners of Cael’s eyes which had creased with his smile smoothed out a little bit as his smile lost some of its veracity. He soothed his expression to neutrality and watched Rivah openly, his eyes roving over her features as he spoke. There was a niggle in the back of his mind somewhere, one that had communed with his suddenly deflated body language and had run diagnostics on it. The tests came back for him quite quickly and he realised with a start that he was actually disappointed. He had honestly believed he had only been teasing her but it appeared as though he’d been quite open to the idea of dinner every day of the week.

In true Ivanov style, though, Cael recovered quickly and smirked at Rivah. He chuckled a little and shook his head, managing to bait her with a quip once he’d gotten his wits back about him, washing away the little discovery he’d made within himself and making a mental note at the same time to get himself a pet. Something, anything, to keep him from desiring after spending an inordinate amount of time with Rivah – the idea was far too appealing to him for him to really qualify, legitimise and accept.

“You love spending time with me,” he teased as a dogged grin lit up on his face. “I am fantastic company. Your sanity would be entirely preserved, even improved, my love.”

Cael’s brain had to quickly run another diagnostic when Rivah offered Friday as all systems seemed to go into an excited meltdown that he could neither explain nor really find it within him to dislike. His grin seemed to burst at the seams of his face and inexplicably widened when Tuesday also opened itself up as an option. He didn’t know what it was – the cooking or the company – that was drawing him like a hapless moth to Rivah’s flame

“Wednesday you’ll have dessert with me. Even if I have to come to the Ministry and steal you away to a park for an hour or so. I make pretty good desserts. I found a new recipe the other day, too, so I really want you to try. I’m not a bad cook at all, I don’t think. More time means more experimentation but no one is really willing to be my Guinea Pig. Rose can only take so much before she complains about putting on weight. You need a couple of good meals in you, Madame Department Head.”

Cael leaned forward and smiled at Rivah in a little calmer manner that was still a cross between a mischievous little boy and a half-flirtatious man who really was clueless to what he was doing and Rivah’s … condition.

“You know you can’t resist my company,” he teased.

Rivah found herself unable to speak for a moment, brain that was almost always filled with facts and statistics, unable to form a simple sentence. Pulling herself together, she leaned forwards just as Cael had done, their faces now far closer than they had been only moments previously. The witch couldn't help the tiny little flutter in her chest. Cael had unmistakably been flirting, he's called her my love, Rivah could feel her confidence boosting.

"You're right of course," the blonde stated, tone a cross between teasing and flirtatious, "I do love spending time with you, the very thought that I could resist your company is absurd. I'm also very willing to be your Guinea Pig, despite what it's sure to do to my sanity."

Brain finally catching up to her mouth, a new sensation as her brain was usually miles ahead, the woman shifted backwards to lean into her backrest. Taking a sip of her butterbeer, the blonde was about to look up to see exactly how her friend had reacted to the uncharacteristic boldness, when a letter hit her head.

Upon glancing backwards the witch spotted an owl sitting on the sill of the nearest window, and flipped the letter over to spot a Ministry seal. Releasing an exasperated sigh, she tore the envelope open and began to read. Rivah's expression morphed from irritation to disbelief to frustration, and back again. Flipping over the letter, the blonde drew a self-inking quill out of her bag and began to scribble away, informing the head of the beast division exactly how to fix his problem.

As she wrote, eyes narrowed in concentration, the female began to quietly murmur pieces of what she was writing, completely unaware that she was doing so. "Need to set a ward...containing charm...never read my notes...pull Mike from Beings...need to...just do the bloody calculations for you...power of...six, need seven...58,274...and 2,491...don't forget the backlash...need to teach you lot arithmancy...blow up the building before I get back..."

Holding up letter and catching the eye of the owl, Rivah smiled as the bird flew over and grasped the paper in its beak. Running the back of her hand over the top of the animal's head, she tapped it lightly on the back of one leg in a signal that it should take off. Taking another sip of her drink, the blond rubbed lightly at her temples. The complex calculations were always sure to give her a headache when she did them entirely in her head.

The parental installation of good dinner manners did make Cael Ivanov wince as he watched Rivah rattle off a quick reply to whomsoever if was that had chosen to interfere with the pattern of her day. His body language was notable in its adjustment yet still subtle enough to mask his slight irritation. His expression remained placid, regardless, and Cael took a sip of his Butterbeer, the drink suddenly savouring itself distastefully on his tongue. It was set down softly onto the table top, watching as Rivah scribbled onto the page before sending it off once more.

When she didn’t say anything, Cael decided perhaps that he’d interrupted her day enough. He cleared his throat absently and reached into his jacket pocket for his wallet. He removed a few notes, still bizarrely amused by the fact that the banks had moved on to paper money much like the Muggles, and set them down on the table before tucking it back into the pocket.

“You’ve got your hands full,” he began gently. “I had better leave you, eh? Let you get back to work. But dinner…dinner is most definitely still on.”

(Short post but would you like me to make the dinner thread? )

Rivah's head jerked up as Cael cleared his throat, thoughts having gotten lost in complex equations and challenging enchantments. The man made movements to leave, and Rivah's face fell. For the first time, the witch had been genuinely willing to take time away from her Department during work hours to lunch with Cael. He was far too much of a gentleman, that one.
 
"I'm sorry," Rivah said softly, tone practically bleeding with regret. She'd missed the man before her, and had been excited with the prospect of lunching together. It was her fault, she supposed, for answering the letter. It would've been better to just set it aside, but knowing her staff there may have been nothing to come back to by the time she was done dining. The Ministry budget cuts were really starting to cause problems.
 
Before Cael could have time to stand, Rivah's hand shot out and landed gently upon his forearm. "Dinner is definitely still on. I'm looking forward to it," she informed him, infinitely glad that he was still interested after she’d practically blown him over for her work. A smile crossed her face, despite the long work day that would certainly be ahead of her. Dinner with Cael sounded... nice.
 
((Sorry for taking so long, I'd love it if you made the dinner thread! ))