May 25th, 1891 - Chudley Cannons Stadium [Theo's Office]
Cash turned twenty-five today.
Appropriately, this had him feeling - jumpy, like he wanted to run, or like he was going to start hearing voices from around corners. If he had his way, no one would remember his birthday at all. It would just pass like another Tuesday, and then he could move on and remember with a little less clarity. Unfortunately for Cash, some of his teammates had known him for too long — namely, they'd known him back when he was still willing to advertise when his birthday was. He'd scarcely made it through a slightly stern conversation about chaser formation when they opened practice before one of said chasers pointed out: Aw, Lestrange, don't be so pissy, it's your birthday.
He'd managed to laugh it off but fuck, now people knew and they kept asking and he had to spend valuable mental energy on projecting the impression that he was just feeling weird about turning twenty-five. Which — he did. He did feel weird about turning twenty-five. It meant that he was older and closer to settling and closer to leaving Quidditch, and he needed to talk to Lucius before the end of this week, and he felt that at twenty-five he really ought to have more of a sense of what he wanted to do post-Quidditch than he did.
But also — Cash was turning twenty-five and Eli would always be twenty-one in his memory, always, and this was the anniversary of the worst thing that ever happened to him, and he felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. (An option for the other shoe — the letter he'd gotten from Greengrass, telling him to stay out of Hogsmeade. This was an easy enough thing to do, but Cash would have been curious about why on literally any other day. And rather than lie about how he was doing today, he'd just chosen to avoid the question.)
Honestly, he felt like he wanted to chain smoke, but the dementor had ruined chain smoking for him, because now he associated it with watching the smoke pool on the ceiling of the room in the inn. He hadn't entirely shaken the habit — had not tried to shake the habit — but he didn't think he was in the mindset for it.
He'd made it through practice without glaring incident but Cash had a strong suspicion that if he let his team catch him they would try to take him out, and he didn't think he could tolerate that. He showered as quickly as he could after practice and then slipped out of the locker room before anyone else could stop him, dressed in his normal clothes but still sort of damp — he hadn't bothered with his hair at all. And he — didn't want to go home but couldn't go to Hogsmeade, didn't want to wander London, didn't know what to do with himself.
So if he was trying to be alone but wasn't trying to be entirely alone, and he couldn't abide going home, and he couldn't go to Black's because it was in Hogsmeade, that really left him with — exactly one option. He wasn't sure if it was an option he liked, but it was the only option he had, and never mind that his hair was dripping water down his neck.
"I'm avoiding people," Cash confessed, letting the door to Gallivan’s office swing shut behind him.
Theodore Gallivan Elias Grimstone
Appropriately, this had him feeling - jumpy, like he wanted to run, or like he was going to start hearing voices from around corners. If he had his way, no one would remember his birthday at all. It would just pass like another Tuesday, and then he could move on and remember with a little less clarity. Unfortunately for Cash, some of his teammates had known him for too long — namely, they'd known him back when he was still willing to advertise when his birthday was. He'd scarcely made it through a slightly stern conversation about chaser formation when they opened practice before one of said chasers pointed out: Aw, Lestrange, don't be so pissy, it's your birthday.
He'd managed to laugh it off but fuck, now people knew and they kept asking and he had to spend valuable mental energy on projecting the impression that he was just feeling weird about turning twenty-five. Which — he did. He did feel weird about turning twenty-five. It meant that he was older and closer to settling and closer to leaving Quidditch, and he needed to talk to Lucius before the end of this week, and he felt that at twenty-five he really ought to have more of a sense of what he wanted to do post-Quidditch than he did.
But also — Cash was turning twenty-five and Eli would always be twenty-one in his memory, always, and this was the anniversary of the worst thing that ever happened to him, and he felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. (An option for the other shoe — the letter he'd gotten from Greengrass, telling him to stay out of Hogsmeade. This was an easy enough thing to do, but Cash would have been curious about why on literally any other day. And rather than lie about how he was doing today, he'd just chosen to avoid the question.)
Honestly, he felt like he wanted to chain smoke, but the dementor had ruined chain smoking for him, because now he associated it with watching the smoke pool on the ceiling of the room in the inn. He hadn't entirely shaken the habit — had not tried to shake the habit — but he didn't think he was in the mindset for it.
He'd made it through practice without glaring incident but Cash had a strong suspicion that if he let his team catch him they would try to take him out, and he didn't think he could tolerate that. He showered as quickly as he could after practice and then slipped out of the locker room before anyone else could stop him, dressed in his normal clothes but still sort of damp — he hadn't bothered with his hair at all. And he — didn't want to go home but couldn't go to Hogsmeade, didn't want to wander London, didn't know what to do with himself.
So if he was trying to be alone but wasn't trying to be entirely alone, and he couldn't abide going home, and he couldn't go to Black's because it was in Hogsmeade, that really left him with — exactly one option. He wasn't sure if it was an option he liked, but it was the only option he had, and never mind that his hair was dripping water down his neck.
"I'm avoiding people," Cash confessed, letting the door to Gallivan’s office swing shut behind him.
MJ made this!