Unexpected Houseguests

He had gotten her owl only last night. It has been written neatly and elegantly on a piece of customized parchment, the whole envelope smelling faintly of Mira's lilac perfume. The entire ensemble had been neat and put together. In fact, if it weren't for the undertones of hurricane-force anger in her writing Robin wouldn't have understood why she needed a place to stay at all. The letter had been vague but he had understood what he needed to know - she had been matched and it had not been with Elijah Krum.

Mira had arrived on his doorstep not an hour after he had sent his response (about midnight or so), carrying with her several suitcases that weighed about a ton each when he had tried to lift them without magical help. Aside from her expression the blonde had looked quite alright and Robin had pulled out some extra pillows and blankets for her to sleep on the couch with. His extra bedroom was overflowing with odd furniture, a libraries worth of books, and treasures from around the globe. He would clean it later if she meant to stay long, which hadn't really been established since her arrival.

The night had passed uneventfully and he woke early, heading downstairs to brew a pot of coffee and wait for Mira to wake. Robin had even gotten dressed upon rising from bed, an early preparation for the day to come. Mira and Robin had eaten breakfast together with a distinct lack of conversation. She was grumpy and sour, giving snappish responses every time he asked a question about the events leading up to her arrival.

Later that morning he had come upon her crying in the bathroom. It had ended in a long embrace, her tears soaking the shoulder of his shirt as she clung to him like a lifeline. After Mira had pulled away she had wiped the water from her cheeks and gotten in the shower. Robin had gone and changed his shirt.

Now the young man sat at the kitchen counter, listening to the water in the shower fall in a steady patter and staring at the picture on the wall of Elijah and himself arm in arm, brooms in hand and a laugh on their faces. He worried slightly about leaving Mira here alone as he went out but at the same time he was childishly excited for the lunch date with Avery. Combined, the two blondes raced through his mind at hyper speed, filling his thoughts and worrying him endlessly. Robin liked to keep his life drama free and he was doing a terrible job at it.

Avery was expected at Robin's home in time to meet up and head out for lunch - as she had requested, more than suggested when they had last met under the guise of become friends for Keiran. Now she wasn't sure what Robin's goal was in getting to know her, but she wasn't going to complain.

For someone she had just met, Robin was very appealing - as a friend and perhaps as something more. Avery wasn't sure yet. What she did know was that after their lunch, she might have to talk to her few girl friends who would bring out the more girly side of her.

After changing and checking her appearance in the mirror - something she always did, mostly without thinking - Avery turned on her heel and apparated to the location which Robin had sent to her via owl the day before.

Very much one to take charge of situations once she knew someone - especially in situations involving potentially important males that she didn't want to look at her and think she was weak. Avery's job was taking care of Dragons, after all.

Brushing herself off briefly, she marched up to the door and tested the handle to find it openable, and let herself inside. Robin didn't seem like the type who would be annoyed by something like that - he seemed fairly easy going from what she had seen.

"Robin?" She called out lightly, shutting the door behind her and leaning against it casually. "You around?" Avery could practically laugh at herself for acting like this when she was so reserved in other situations. Perhaps it was Robin that made her act like that. Few others were able to draw it out of her.

Robin heard the door open and a female voice call out. He had only met Avery once but had talked to her enough to recognize her tone and cadence. "In here! It's all open." He called out to her, knowing very well that she had already opened the door. What was it about his house the seemed to invite young women in without knocking? Not that he was going to complain.

Robin stood up from his chair and moved towards the door to greet Avery. When he caught sight of her he grinned, distracted momentarily from the events of the morning. "Come on in" he offered as they came face to face. While Robin was not overly enthusiastic about staying in the apartment for any more time than was needed he knew it would be quite strange of him to immediately run out the door.

Robin moved into the main area of the house, allowing for Avery to follow him. The space was like a breadbox compared to the family home in Moscow but he would never apologize for it. The house was his pride and joy, his sanctuary, and his home. It might be messy and odd in places but everything was exactly how Robin preferred it and he couldn't complain in the slightest. "Living room, dining room, kitchen." He mapped out, scanning his hand across the horizon of the large space.

Only as he looked at the couch did he realize that the shower had been turned off. Robin turned back to Avery, hoping desperately they could leave for lunch in a timely fashion.

Avery sent Robin a rather subtle smile when he came into view. He didn't seem at all surprised by her letting herself in - perhaps it was a common occurrence in his home. Either way, she walked over to him as he suggested she came further inside.

As Avery stood beside him and he pointed out parts of the house, she smiled up at him. "It's lovely, Robin." The house was rather impressive compared to her flat, truly. A dragon trainer and Ministry employee such as herself didn't exactly make the kind of money it seemed. "I'm impressed." She admitted lightly, resting a hand on his arm.

"So." She started, leaving the doorway to seat herself on his couch - she knew she shouldn't have been acting so calm about all of this, but didn't want to show the usual vulnerability everyone saw from her. "What is it you want for lunch?"

Robin smiled at her presence beside him and the gentle touch to his arm. He was pleased that she liked the house, though of course he saw no reason she wouldn't. As Avery sat down he admired the ease at which she settled in to the new environment and the confidence she showed coming into his home. It made sense that a girl like this would have befriended Keiran. It made less sense that Keiran would introduce Robin to her.

"I was thinking somewhere local" He suggested. "There are some great places downtown if you don't mind taking a little walk." even though Robin's all time favorite place to eat was in Venice, it would be impossible to get there without magical transport and that was a battle he was not planning on fighting today. The walk into downtown didn't take more than a half hour and the weather was pleasantly chilly with bright sunshine. Besides, it would be more time to get to know her.

"Robin where did you put my -" Mira had entered the room suddenly from the stairwell. "Oh! Sorry." she apologized, seeing the guest on the sofa. With surprise she pulled her white bath towel more tightly under her arms. The red eyes and snotty nose of her tears had disappeared and it was now impossible to tell they had ever been there at all. She looked positively chipper and put together, as much of a lady as the day Robin had met her.

Robin's mouth opened slightly and he turned to Avery, completely without a proper explanation as to why she was there. It was a long story.

It was odd, Avery mused, that she let herself act so very different from her usual self. Perhaps Robin just brought it out in her in ways that people couldn't most times. She definitely acted more naturally around Keiran than anyone, probably. Keiran, for example, was the only one she had openly talked about her sister with. Not that the girls acted like sisters, though.

"I don't mind walking," Avery shrugged with a light smile, "I'm wearing good shoes for it." Though she was mostly joking, it was true. For someone who didn't mind wearing heels, she was particularly glad she wasn't that morning.

Just about the moment the last word left her lips, her mouth fell open and she sat up straighter on the couch. Mira? What in the world had Avery just walked into? Robin seemed so calm, and Mira didn't seem to feel odd about Avery's being there.

When Robin looked at her, Avery couldn't exactly give him any words either, noting his lack of comments on the sudden appearance of the under-dressed girl in his hallway. She suddenly felt like she shouldn't have been there - this had been a very bad idea, clearly.

Standing, Avery looked between the two of them, brow furrowed. "I don't.." She attempted before closing her mouth and shaking her head, letting her curls fall over her shoulders. Why did she avoid men? For reasons just like this. That was a bummer. ((OOC: See signature))

She had been under the impression that Mira was her best friend. This meeting hadn't exactly changed her mind about that - Avery was just very confused and annoyed at herself for thinking that maybe she was interested in Robin.

Robin restrained from moving towards his liquor cabinet. While the young man was normally quite liberal when it came to his drinking habits he knew it would be a terrible idea if he were to succumb to the temptation. He had a full day ahead of him and although a drink would probably make this situation momentarily more pleasant, it would make everything more difficult in the future.

Avery's face changed instantaneously with the arrival of Mira. Robin wasn't sure why but he felt he owed her an explanation for the other blonde's appearance. This was a new and unfamiliar feeling for the young man, never needing to genuinely explain himself to a woman in a situation like this. Whenever an awkward event of this nature occurred Robin tended to just leave the room and wait for everything to sort itself out. But that was clearly not an option.

Eventually it was Mira who came to Robin's rescue.

"What are you doing here? I didn't know you knew Robin." The blonde continued to stand at the bottom of the stairs, quickly forgetting her state of clothing from the shock of seeing her best friend so unexpectedly. It was a bit of a relief to see the other girl and Mira was reminded how much she needed to talk to her. In the chaos of the last 36 hours Mira had retreated into her own mind and forgotten how desperately she needed girl time. The only problem was that Avery's expression looked far from pleased, for reasons that Mira couldn't quite grasp.

"I meant to write you last night, actually."

If Avery had to guess, she would have said she thought Robin was having a very serious mental debate. When he had seemed to give up, she frowned and considered leaving if just to make things less awkward. That, or she thought about raiding his kitchen for wherever he might keep his liquor. He already knew she could handle her drinks. It probably wouldn't even be very surprising.

Instead, Mira saved the situation by asking why Avery was at Robin's. Of all of the questions anyone could ask about the situation, Avery figured it was the easiest to deal with or answer.

"We didn't know each other until this past week. Robin and I met through a friend, and were going to do lunch.." She replied. It wasn't so strange, Avery thought, to be telling her friend about this. But it was weird, however, to be talking about it in front of the guy in question.

When Mira changed topics, more or less, Avery frowned. "Really? Did you.. need to talk about something?" She asked finally, not sure, still, what was going on. Mira obviously knew Robin fairly well. Her eyes flicked between the two, wondering how long Mira was going to stand there without a care of what she was wearing.

"Look," She turned to Robin after a bit, standing up from the couch to do so. "If today isn't good, I can always come back later."

Mira glanced in-between Robin and Avery, a bit of understanding finally lighting up her eyes. Lunch? Never in all the time she had known the Russian boy had she seen him go out to lunch with a girl. It always took a battle to get him to go out with even her and Elijah if they wanted to meet up before seven. Once this connection was drawn Mira smiled - everything had just gotten much more entertaining.

"No, stay." Mira said, "It's completely fine." she glanced down at herself. Oh. That was quite a bit of skin, wasn't it? Once again she looked in-between the other two people in the room to assess the situation. The longer she observed the more clear it became that she needed to explain her presence there. Avery's expression was uncomfortable at least, pained at most and Mira realized she had never seen her friend look quite that way before.

The lunch.. the look.. Something strange was happening.

"Robin, go get me a shirt." Mira demanded. The silence-stricken boy raised his eyebrows and suddenly found his voice. "Not your housekeeper!" he called out, but he was already walking out of the room, towards her suitcases stored upstairs. Under any other circumstances he would have flatly refused to fetch things for her but now he was desperate for any excuse to get out of the room. Besides, the look that Mira gave him made it clear that she needed a moment alone.

Robin hadn't realized that the two girls knew each other. It made sense when he thought about it, but the parts of his life intertwining even more made things stranger.

As soon as Robin was out of the room, Mira moved towards where Avery sat on the couch. "I was planning on telling you, honestly. This has just been all very sudden." she attempted to explain, knowing how little sense she was making even as she spoke. "Robin's letting me stay for a couple of days, just until I can find my own place. He's been such a help, even with him always being closer to Elijah than me." She knew that her explanation wasn't really an explanation but couldn't quite bring herself to say her situation outright. The wound was still too fresh.

Avery could hardly believe the situation she had managed to fall into. Oh gods, would Keiran be getting an earful about this one if things weren't resolved quickly. Mira was eyeing Robin and Avery, making the latter extremely uncomfortable – which was saying quite a bit considering how very awkward she felt already. Her best friend's smile made her wary, so Avery glanced over to Robin again as her hands toyed with the hem of her shirt.

The girl hadn't particularly wanted to dress up to any large extent, and kept her outfit fairly simple – something that she didn't often manage. A look over at Mira lifted her opinion of her own appearance, however unfortunate the idea seemed after she thought it, and Avery found that she felt a bit less awkward. This didn't last too very long, for then Mira was saying she should stay. The dragon trainer had nearly been hoping to take her leave and write him an apology later.

Avery sank back down onto the couch, watching with amazement as Robin was so easily persuaded to get her a shirt, regardless of his reply as he made to get one. Mira's words were doing nothing to appease her, either.

Sudden? What was sudden about being in someone else's home? Avery refused to accept that something inside her was jealous, even if only briefly, at the idea of Mira having someone to feel so very comfortable with. Her friend's words made less and less sense as Avery listened, though she accepted the fact that part of her was blocking out the sensible side of her brain.

“I don't understand. What happened with Elijah? And why did you come to Robin's? You must know I would have you stay at mine if you needed it.” Avery pointed out, raising an eyebrow in concern before her brow furrowed entirely.  “Mira, what's going on?” Something was completely wrong, and Avery couldn't figure what it was.