Looking for a way

James smiled looking at her and said, "That's a good thing to hear." He took a drink of his water as he shifted slightly but couldn't help but wonder. He wondered what things she didn't want to forget but he didn't know if she wanted to tell him. "There anything specific you don't want to forget?" He asked he knew that he seemed like an idiot asking her about it.

James lifted his free hand and touched her rubbing his thumb along the back of her hand. He laughed softly at her words and said, "Yeah it is mental completely bonkers but it has it's good moments. I can show you something pretty amazing if you want to see it. Don't worry it's nothing weird just to let you know, it's just something I think might help you." He smiled with a faint blush along his cheeks. "Your welcome Hadley. I'll answer any questions you have, I know this is a weird question after everything I've said but. Are you hungry?" He knew that he probably sounded like an idiot but he wanted to make sure that she would get taken care of.

Hadley couldn't tell, but it felt like she was blushing all the way down to her roots. It felt silly, now, to say that she didn't want to forget him. He had just said the same thing to her, so it almost felt like stealing his idea or something. Instead of that, she just murmured, "Today, I suppose. So far, anyway. I have a feeling that things are only going to get more and more interesting, too."

James was almost rambling, and Hadley found that her smile widened, tugging at her cheeks. "I'm not entirely sure why," she replied, "but I trust you. So, yes. I'd like to see whatever it is."

When he asked about whether or not she wanted food, Hadley realized that she hadn't checked the time in ages. Her hand fell to his shoulder so she could look at her watch properly. And, as if her day hadn't been weird enough, she was already going to be late. "Two seconds," she mumbled, setting her hand atop his before she pulled both of them back. Hadley pulled out her phone and sent an email to the Minister's secretary, explaining that she needed to reschedule. He probably wouldn't mind much, considering she didn't usually work for him directly. Tucking her phone away, she turned to him and offered a smile.

"I actually just cleared my day. So food would probably be rather nice," she conceded. It didn't register until after she had said it, however, that he had changed the subject somewhat in asking the question. So she let her hands fall to her lap instead of reaching for his again. It would not have been sensible for her to do so. Offering a smaller smile than her earlier ones, Hadley admitted, "I'm not sure I would know what to order here, though, honestly."

James smiled and said, "Yeah more than likely it's going to get a lot more interesting. There are a few things that you'll find weird but it's actually normal for us. I'll go into specifics later I don't want to bombard you with too much at one time. It's not exactly good to have too many things to think about at once."

James laughed at her words and said, "Yeah I don't know either I mean I'm weird person. I mean look at how I'm dressed." He grinned mischievously at her and wondered if she would get his humor. "Sorry my attempt at humor probably needs some work." He said chuckling softly.

Seeing her pull out something his interest was peeked. Looking at it curiously before she put it away, "What is that? I've seen muggles using those but I've never seen one up close. What's it for?" He asked looking up at her with a look of curiosity as well confusion on his face.

"Ok, well we're going to leave here and find some where else to eat. I come here far too often for food," James said as he got out of the booth and waited for her to exit as well. "I work at the ministry so I tend to work early and leave around lunch time." He explained further as he looked around the pub which was not very full in the back. He furrowed his brows as he looked behind him and saw no one there either. "Wait right there," He said as he walked over to a wall and peeked around the corner. No one was out there either except the bartender. Walking back over to her he sighed and said, "We're going to go out the back just to be safe."

Hadley found herself laughing, both at his joke and his apparent uncertainty with his own comments. It was endearing to an extent, and she couldn't complain. She was surprised, though, when he asked about her mobile, so she pulled it back out. "Umm, so you can talk to people through it, or you can look up maps, or send people messages... Basically, it's an easy way to talk to someone without having to see them face-to-face, or send them a written letter. Just now," she explained, "I was writing an email, which is like a typed letter. It's a lot faster, and convenient. I guess I expected you lot to use technology like this, too."

He stood, so Hadley picked up her bag and scooted across the seat to stand next to him. She had just slung her bag over her shoulder when James moved away, seemingly to check for something. When he returned, her eyebrows lifted in surprise. "James, I'm not going to hide from this. If nobody is allowed to hurt me, then why would I? It isn't as though I'm going to make a big show about not being like you. About being average. Nobody has to know," she shrugged one shoulder half-heartedly. Being average didn't sound very fun anymore, despite her life-long goal to be just like everybody else, despite being adopted by her parents.

"I don't think anyone is going to try anything. Do you expect them to realize it without either of us saying something?" she added, realizing that perhaps she was obvious and just didn't know it. Aside from her clothes being slightly different, though, Hadley couldn't see why people would immediately judge her and know she was different.

James listened to her explain her device that she said was a phone. He looked at it then said, "No we use owls to deliver our letters. To us that's an effective form of travel or if it's a serious emergency of some sort we kinda just apparate to the person. As long as he have a visual of where they are and they don't have a spell that prevents it then that's what we do." He shook his head at the phone trying to wrap his mind around it. "That seems too small to do all those things you say." He said looking up at her confusion written across his face.

"Let's just say I'm overly cautious when it comes to things like this. Also the only people that are in here right now are us and the bartender." James said as he looked around as he talked trying to see if maybe he was just being too overly protective. Thinking things through he realized that going out the back would cause some red flags. "Your right, we need to go out the way we came otherwise we'll set off red flags. When we're heading out stick close to me and act like everything you see is normal." He said his voice pitched low so that only she could hear him.

"Yeah well if there's any questions directed at you that you don't know. I'll make sure that it get answered without causing any alarm. That's only if someone actually stops us." James said as he held out his hand for hers so he could keep her close to him.

(ooc: Do you want me to bring someone in to run into them or something? Maybe that's how James finds out about the meeting with Audriana or something. If they recognize him and bring it up, thinking Hadley is one of them and would agree? It'd be funny if it was Audriana, since the girls are related and have no clue.)

Hadley came to the conclusion that it was actually rather endearing that he was concerned, but she also decided that it wasn't worth the fight she had nearly initiated. He knew more than she did about his world, anyway, so she supposed it wouldn't help for her to question him.

She took James's hand, her spare hand reaching up so she could pull her bag farther up her shoulder. "I mean, I don't exactly dress like you guys do. But I'll try and fit in. I'm pretty good at fitting in..."

So she followed him through the front door again, wondering where he would take her next. She had very little idea of what she would have requested at an establishment in his world, so to speak, so Hadley could admit to being a bit nervous. "Where are we headed?" she asked after a bit, looking up at him. "And," she added quickly, curiosity taking over, "were you serious about showing me the... dragons?"

((OOC: Yeah that sounds great. Yeah I think making it be Audriana would be great to be brought into it.))

"Most of us dress like you do but I tend to have to stay in this because of my job. I work from the ministry as well as home, I have dragons in both places that I take care of." James said as he made sure that she was close to him as he walked towards the front. "I'm sure you'll do fine just don't stare too long at something unusual, something that muggles wouldn't normally see."

He walked to the front door after waving good bye to the bartender. He pushed open the door and walked out onto the pavement. "We're going to go get something to eat, I'm not going to let you go hungry. There's a good place to eat not far from here it's a muggle cafe but I sometimes go there when I don't want to go to the Leaky." James said as he looked around trying to figure out exactly where he was going. Going left as he held onto Hadley's hand keeping her close to him still. "Yeah but if you rather not see them I won't force you to. The one's I would show you are the two who won't survive in the wild by themselves. It's entirely up to you if you would like to see them, I'll keep you safe." He smiled at her softly as he looked back towards where they were going.

"Oh," she replied, embarrassed to have guessed wrong about how the people of his world dressed. Perhaps she had only noticed the strange parts and ignored the things that seemed normal to her. That, apparently, was the opposite of what James thought she should do to fit in. So she nodded, walking alongside him as he explained where they were going.

"Well," she offered with a gentle smile, "at least I'll have some idea what to order at a place like that. Muggles - I was told it's the word for people... like me. What an odd word," Hadley mused aloud, shaking her head. "I'm glad you like places like... well, like what we do. Makes it easier, I suppose."

He spoke about his dragons, and something in the way he talked about them led Hadley to believe that he cared quite a bit for them, and it was rather endearing, she had to admit. "I would actually really like to see them, I think. I mean, they are drawn and imagined and made characters in our movies, but to see a real one? That would be crazy! I would love that. Perhaps afterwards you'll have to watch a movie with a dragon in it so you can see what that's like!" Hadley offered brightly, squeezing his hand without thinking about it.

When they turned a corner, though, they were caught off guard by the brunette rushing in the opposite direction. Hadley flinched as the woman ran into her shoulder, shrinking into James's side instinctively. "Sorry!" the other woman uttered, seemingly out of breath. "I'm trying to avoid being late for lunch with someone," she explained to Hadley.

Looking up, though, the woman's eyes widened. "James, isn't it?" she asked, recognizing him from her time at the Ministry. When Elijah had become the Deputy Minister again, she had volunteered to try and keep him on his leash a bit, and have done lunch with Avery Ivanov now and again. So when she had met James at lunch one day, she was surprised to find that he actually kept his own dragons. At first, she had expected him to be a criminal. But he seemed quite alright as far as Audriana was concerned. "I'm a friend of Avery's," she added, realizing she hadn't spoken her explanation aloud. "I actually... That is, would you be free to meet me at the Leaky tomorrow afternoon?" she asked, taking a step towards them and causing Hadley's eyebrows to lift in confusion. "See, a group of us want to change things at the Ministry," Audriana went on, her voice a bit more hushed. "We want to change the system, and get a law passed that will allow Muggles and Wizards to integrate properly. If that's something you would be interested in, the meeting is open to whomever. It's tomorrow at two, in the farthest room back. The one with the big table."

"The rest of us dress in our traditional clothes which are rather odd looking to you." James said smiling softly at her. "Then there are those select few who don't know what Muggles where tend to wear outrageous outfits. I tend to try not to laugh but sometimes I can't help myself." He grinned at her as he looked around for the place he usually went to for lunch or sometimes dinner.

"I think I've seen some pictures of dragons some of them are pretty close to what they really look like. Dragon keepers have to be careful about where we are located because sometimes we get a very crafty dragon." He said as he turned his body to take an impact of a passer by who was carrying a briefcase. The case hit him in the side but James barely felt the impact considering what he was wearing. "You'll probably have to teach me whats normal in your world Hadley. I'm not really used to a world without magic in it, you might have to show me a thing or two."

When a woman knocked into Hadley he instinctively pulled her closer to him as she shrunk into him. Hearing the woman apologize he nodded then realized he recognized her from somewhere. "Yes my name's James, you work up near the minister don't you?" He asked as he looked at the woman trying to remember if he knew her name. "I'm sorry your name has escaped me," when she said she was a friend of Avery's he remembered seeing her with Avery a few times. "Yeah I remember you two going to lunch a few times together. Tomorrow afternoon? Yeah I just have to make sure the dragons are taken care of but other than that I'm free." He cocked his head when she said that they wanted to change a few things. "I'll make it, I know someone else would want to sit in on it. May I tell them about it?" He asked thinking of his sister who would love to know what they plan on changing. "I might be a little late coming in but I'll definitely be there for the meeting." He immediately thought of woman who stood right next to him. He definitely was going to make sure that he was going to the meeting. He wanted to see what changes they could make to the ministry to allow the muggles and Wizards to integrate.

"I wouldn't mind!" she replied, referring to his request that she explain bits of the Muggle world to him. "It would actually be fascinating to see what you thought of it."

Something about the brunette in front of her was familiar, but Hadley couldn't put her finger on it, so she just tried not to appear too nosey while the woman spoke to James. They, apparently, were not much more than acquaintances, but the conversation they had was interesting. Hadley had to keep herself from perking up at the mention of Muggles. She was starting to get the hang of their language, although she was confused a bit by the mention of The Ministry, which seemed to be a different government from the one she was used to.

"Anyone who wants to go is welcome to!" the brunette assured James, glancing towards Hadley briefly. The blonde apparently didn't seem interested, so Audriana didn't push it. "I've got to go, but I'll see you tomorrow."

So as Audriana hurried off, Hadley looked up at James and waited until he had started leading her off again before asking, "What's the problem?" Surely the Prime Minister would be interested in hearing about the problems. That was part of her job after all. To pretend she wasn't looking into things when she really was. Hadley only hoped that it wasn't something that James caught onto; so far she was really enjoying spending time with him, and she didn't want to think about the potential of his deciding he didn't like her.