Morning, 15 February, 1890 — Garden of the Prewett Home, London

Thank Merlin for floo powder, because if Ben had had to walk through the neighborhood and come in through the front door, someone definitely would have noticed and started to talk. His clothes were the same ones from the night before, which might not have been obvious except they were rumpled from having been hastily discarded on the floor, and he himself looked a bit out of sorts — he hadn't shaved, or even combed his hair. He looked hungover, in short, even though he wasn't. Luckily, the only person to see him was the surprised servant in the parlor when he arrived.

"I'm meeting Felix for breakfast in the garden. He's expecting me," Ben said, before walking off without another word. Felix wasn't expecting him, but hopefully he'd have the grace to play along. Ben needed a friend right now — possibly a friend with a connection to the Prophet, but hopefully things weren't that bad yet — and he needed that friend to not jump to any conclusions about what he'd been up to the night before, which ruled Art out. Art knew him too well; he'd guess what had happened, or at least pieces of it, from Ben's facial expression alone, and Ben wasn't ready for that. Not when he wasn't sure what had happened, yet, himself.

"Oh, and bring me a copy of today's Prophet, will you?" he called back as he continued towards the garden — selected due to the unlikelihood, he hoped, of running into any of the other Prewetts that way. He took up a patio chair and was given a cup of tea and a newspaper quite promptly, given that he knew the servants had no prior knowledge of his visit (not that they would want to let on that they hadn't known). He browsed the first few pages while he waited for Felix, and didn't see his name or face anywhere, which was as good a start as one could hope for.

Felix Prewett

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   Melody Crouch

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Felix suppressed a yawn as he entered the garden, it was rather an early morning for someone who had attended a ball until the early hours of the morning. But when the servant had told him Ben had shown up, Felix had easily played along, intrigued by the very nature of such a call.

He’d seen Ben last night at the ball but lost track of him at some point or other as was the way of such events. One look at his friend and he was willing to bet that the man had yet to return home from the ball. There had to be a story in this one. “Morning.” Felix greeted as he took a seat on a nearby patio chair. A servant was quick to bring him a glass of tea and to tell him they were sending breakfast up soon.

“You’re up rather early.” He commented easily as the servant retreated from hearing distance. There was no judgement in his tone, nor surprise, only simple observation. Felix, afterall, prided himself on his observative skills.

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   Reuben Crouch

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"Not by choice," he joked. Getting ribbed about looking out of sorts the morning after a long night was so routine that the remark came easily to his mouth, although he wasn't in a joking mood. Wouldn't it be nice if he was just here to shoot the shit about some hangover? Not that he would have interrupted Felix's morning to do it, or that the garden at the Prewett house would have been his first choice. He didn't mind Felix's family, necessarily, but they didn't seem to be the sort who would encourage or even tolerate some of his antics, so Ben figured they were best avoided, generally speaking. Then they had no particular, specific reasons to dislike him, and he didn't have to weather any awkward conversations.

Unfortunately, without knowing what had happened last night and who knew about it, exactly, he didn't have many safer options at the moment. Felix had been at the party, though, and he was the sort to be in on gossip, if there was any to be had, so Ben was sure that if there was something being whispered about, Felix would know about it.

But he couldn't just come right out and ask. If there was still a chance that they could get this annulled — if people didn't know that the two of them had left together — the last thing he wanted to do was go sharing the news. He trusted Felix not to tell anyone, but after last night he was too paranoid to think Felix would be the only one who heard it.

"Some party last night, huh?" he asked nonchalantly, hoping that Felix would broach the subject without further prompting.

  

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Did they ever have a choice in being awake this early, Felix wondered ruefully. There was always a host of responsibilities that pulled one from bed much earlier than one might like, even after nights like last night. He gave a noise of amusement as he quickly began to drank his own tea. Black with nothing in it. Best way to wake a soul up.

“Indeed.” Felix nodded, thinking back to the evening before. He had the most distinct impression that he’d learned the most interesting bit of news but could not for the life of him recall what it was. Odd, seeing as he typically had a mind for such things. It’d come back to him later.

“You disappeared fairly early. I assume you had a good time?” He could only recall seeing Ben at the beginning of the evening, after that he’d lost track of his friend. Likely this was exactly as Ben intended as he did have a reputation to uphold.

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   Reuben Crouch

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Ben was listening more intently than he wanted to let on, trying to find any hint of hidden meaning in his friend's words. With something as sensitive as this, it was hard to know whether Felix would have come right out and said something, if he had something on his mind, or whether he would dance around it. Either way, he had to be prepared to pick up on those cues and figure out what, if anything, the other man actually knew. Well, more importantly, what everyone else knew or didn't know.

There didn't seem to be anything suggestive behind the phrase good time, which was a good sign, but he still felt he should tread carefully until he knew more of what had come out.

"Always do," Ben said with mock easiness. In light of what he'd learned this morning, he would hardly call anything that had happened last night a good time, but he wasn't going to reveal anything that wasn't already known — not, at least, if there was still a chance of reversing it.

"I hope I didn't miss anything too exciting after I left?" he asked, one eyebrow raised as he took another drink of tea. If there was anything to be said, surely this would provoke Felix into saying it.

  

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Typical of Ben to shrug such a comment of. Ah well, perhaps Felix would one day learn the details of this particular adventure. But as Ben often had plenty of adventures, of more aptly misadventures, Felix knew if anything important came from it he’d hear of it - whether through Ben or the grapevine.

“Funny you should mention it, I have the oddest feeling that I heard the most interesting tidbit last night,” Felix admitted before taking another sip of his tea. “But I haven’t the foggiest notion what it was.” His brow furrowed in thought as he considered it, but instead shrugged it off with a nonchalance of someone who knew most gossip would filter to him.

  

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Ben raised an eyebrow at Felix's response. He hadn't been expecting to hear something so non-committal, and for a moment he wondered if this was some sort of tease. Felix wouldn't have any motivation that he was aware of for not being upfront with him, though. To the contrary, if he had heard something scandalous, particularly something scandalous about Ben, he'd doubtless be clamoring for details, not being coy about it.

"That's not like you," Ben observed, eyeing the man over his tea. He didn't think Felix was lying, but it really was out of character. He hadn't become a reporter because he had a habit of forgetting things he heard, after all. His whole career was basically the appropriate, masculine version of the stereotype given to women who read Witch Weekly. Even if he was ostensibly focused on crime and politics, Ben knew there was a fine line between politics and society — which meant there was an equally fine line between a valid source and just a bit of gossip. Felix wasn't likely to forget either.

  

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It really wasn't like him. Felix had an almost uncanny ability to remember the most interesting pieces of news. Once he heard something he followed it until he learned as much as possible about it. Rather a hunting dog on a scent in that way. His friends certainly weren't blind to that fact. "I suppose it has something to do with the drink." Felix gestured to his head, knowing he'd had rather a bit last night. "But I'm sure it will come back to me." He shrugged.

"Besides, it's not like you to come around for an early morning breakfast." Felix looked at his friend with a bit of appraisal and most especially looking for gossip. Ben often was the cause of gossip not the hound of it.

  

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While Felix had been responding, Ben had managed to convince himself that it was incredibly unlikely that his friend was hiding anything from him. The relief that afforded him was enough to make him almost not care about the strangeness of how he'd responded. Felix hadn't heard anything about Ben and Miss Finch, and if Felix hadn't heard it, probably no one had. At the very least, no one who could not be dealt with; a story from one person could be discounted as having been mistaken, or lying, or anything at all. As long as it wasn't considered common knowledge yet, there was hope that they could still pursue and annulment and fix this whole blasted thing.

What he wanted to do right at the moment was rush back to Melody and get the process started, but he was conscious that he needed to stay at least long enough at breakfast that Felix wouldn't think it suspicious that he'd dropped by. "I guess we're both off our game," he joked with an easy shrug. "Hope I didn't interrupt your beauty sleep."

  

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Felix nodded, it did seem they were both off a bit. Nothing a bit of breakfast and some sleep wouldn't help with though. A pair of servants came into the garden bearing the wafting smells of much needed food. "Oh you certainly did." Felix replied back with a chuckle, standing on very little cermony with his friend. "But come, you've gotten me awake. May as well tuck in." He gestured to the steaming plates of food that had been set before them.

  

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