He didn't believe her. Not that he thought she had any reason to lie to him, but it was just too implausible for him to seriously believe that she was here by accident. Halfway across the world, on the one night that he was in port, in the same pub at the same time — and so soon after that stupid letter. This was the very next time when she possibly could have run into him, and the whole thing seemed too — convenient wasn't the word, but whatever the opposite of convenient was. This was the sort of thing that could only reasonably be explained by a curse, but he hadn't gone messing with any unfamiliar magical items lately. So he couldn't help but think that she wasn't being entirely honest, and that she'd wanted to run into him here, to talk.
On second thought that was no less improbable, though. What would she have had to do to make that happen? It wasn't as though he'd furnished her with an itinerary of his journey before he left; he didn't think he'd even mentioned which direction they were sailing. So she would have had to get the information from someone, and there was a very limited pool of people who would have known his travel arrangements with any degree of detail and who would know who Jo was. It was probably just Zelda, as a matter of fact, and it wasn't as though she would have approached Zelda. What would she have said? I want to ambush your husband abroad so we can discuss a letter he sent me while he was drunk would not have been a very convincing argument. Even if she had somehow figured out where he would be and when, she would have had to arrange a portkey to get her here, which probably wasn't feasible on such short notice. He'd only sent the damn letter a little over a week ago. It took longer than that to requisition a portkey, unless she was going to get one off the black market, but that was absurd. So maybe she was here by chance, but... fuck, what a ill turn of fate this was. Some Eastern religions believed that all actions, good or bad, had consequences sooner or later; this was almost enough to make him think they were on to something. It felt like a punishment for his behavior the last time they'd been in port.
He started to let her leave. She'd already apologized and said goodbye and then apologized again, already turned away, before he decided he couldn't let her just walk off. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, rubbing one hand heavily against his forehead as though steeling himself before he continued. "Jo, wait." He waited for her to turn back towards him, then gestured to the empty stool with a sigh. "It's not like we're allergic to each other."
On second thought that was no less improbable, though. What would she have had to do to make that happen? It wasn't as though he'd furnished her with an itinerary of his journey before he left; he didn't think he'd even mentioned which direction they were sailing. So she would have had to get the information from someone, and there was a very limited pool of people who would have known his travel arrangements with any degree of detail and who would know who Jo was. It was probably just Zelda, as a matter of fact, and it wasn't as though she would have approached Zelda. What would she have said? I want to ambush your husband abroad so we can discuss a letter he sent me while he was drunk would not have been a very convincing argument. Even if she had somehow figured out where he would be and when, she would have had to arrange a portkey to get her here, which probably wasn't feasible on such short notice. He'd only sent the damn letter a little over a week ago. It took longer than that to requisition a portkey, unless she was going to get one off the black market, but that was absurd. So maybe she was here by chance, but... fuck, what a ill turn of fate this was. Some Eastern religions believed that all actions, good or bad, had consequences sooner or later; this was almost enough to make him think they were on to something. It felt like a punishment for his behavior the last time they'd been in port.
He started to let her leave. She'd already apologized and said goodbye and then apologized again, already turned away, before he decided he couldn't let her just walk off. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, rubbing one hand heavily against his forehead as though steeling himself before he continued. "Jo, wait." He waited for her to turn back towards him, then gestured to the empty stool with a sigh. "It's not like we're allergic to each other."
MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER