June 11th, 1890 — Ministry dining hall

So there was this boy.

Having been a proud member of the British Ministry for two months now, the Danish ex-pat was beginning to recognise more and more familiar faces around his new workplace. Including him. Bragi didn't know his name, but he had mahogany hair from a distance, and a kind of distracted quality about him, and a heart-stopping smile, and he was probably about five foot eleven and three quarters and Bragi had no idea what his eye colour was or even his name, because they'd never even spoken, and AHHHH.

Sigh.

The red-haired lad picked at his salad. One of the leaves was kind of brown. Perhaps he should've opted for stew. Bragi pushed the plate away from himself, and looked around the Ministry dining hall. It was fairly empty, but it was only twelve o'clock; quite early for lunch. White sunlight was streaming in from the enchanted "windows", and a few colleagues sat or wandered around, chatting sleepily or picking up the Prophet from a stack of newspapers. Bragi gazed at his own stack of papers; some busywork he'd brought with him, intending to take advantage of the quiet hour. But his mind kept... wandering.

Still, he'd planned to get some work done over lunch, so he would at least try. So Bragi ran a fussy hand through his hair, turned to extract his quill from his bag, and in doing so elbowed the plate of salad he'd pushed aside — and before he could stop it, it clattered clamorously to the floor.

Eugene Scamander

  

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Eugene, though his life had been turned upside down in the last year, had come to realize a schedule was important. It was important for his son, it was important for work and apparently his stomach had also realized that he operated loosely on the same eating times, because by noon, his stomach was growling so loud even Ginger was looking at him funny. He'd gotten up late after being up a couple times with Theseus in the night- poor lad had some teeth coming in according to Nan and to give her a bit of rest, he'd gotten up a couple times instead of her. He simply couldn't have the Nanny overworked because he relied on her heavily.

With Ginger on his shoulder, Eugene made his way into the cafeteria intent on piling up a plate with as much as he could sweet talk out of the staff there- and some veggies for the niffler too, if he could manage it. The niffler, though sometimes irksome, was now a staple of the office and when she was on good behavior, often got to venture around with Eugene as he worked. It was a nice little perk of his position his supposed.

Securing the plate of his lunchtime dreams, Eugene parked himself at an empty table and handed Ginger a carrot to nibble on- but she'd taken off before he even heard the clatter of a plate to the floor, Ginger was on top of it, stealing both the shiny fork and the leftover lettuce in the blink of an eye. "Oy! Ginger!" He chastised, up and moving toward the wayward pet with a chuckle. The irony of this situation, similar to one of the times he'd run into Miss MacFusty, while he was calling out to the niffler and also managing to encounter a redhead at the same time. "Sorry- the niffler, she's a pest!" He offered the other man a wry smile before attempting to wrangle his creature.

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With a cringe of embarrassment (not that there were witnesses afoot), Bragi exasperatedly retrieved his wand to clear up the mess. But when he leaned down to do so, there was a little creature seizing his fork and gathering handfuls of lettuce! A niffler of all things!

He felt like he'd seen it before.

"Hullo, little bean", he chuckled as he put his wand aside and smiled down at the furry blighter. "Where did you —"

"Oy! Ginger!"

Slightly affronted at being nicknamed this in such a manner, Bragi touched his ginger hair self-consciously, looked up, and —

Oh gosh. It was him.

Sure enough, Bragi had seen this niffler around the handsome stranger before, but he'd been too busy focussed on other areas of his crush to clock what a peculiar pet he had.

"That's... that's okay", the young intern stammered shyly, blinking down at the niffler as the charismatic fellow crouched to prize her from her prize.

"She's welcome to the salad if she wants, but it's... it's really not very nice."

Wait, what if this chap was the one who'd made the salad?! Anything was possible...

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"Kind of you," Eugene smiled sympathetically. "I can't fight her for the lettuce, but I can for the fork." He'd be getting in trouble if he let her just make off with a fork from the kitchen. That was probably some kind of unprofessional. Oh unless it was the other guys and not one from the kitchen. Whoops.

Of course Ging wasn't going to give it up without a fight, he suspected. Once she did manage to her her little paws on something shiny, she rarely let it go. "Ginger doesn't take kindly to me taking her shinies." Eugene chuckled. She might be persuaded with some more tasty food though. The salad had a bit of radish on it, which was one of her favorites, he might be able to make the trade.

Pulling a slice from the pile on the floor, he offered it to her and held out his other hand expectantly. "Come on now, give the nice man back his fork." He raised an expectant eyebrow while she continued to much a piece of lettuce and look at him warily.

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With a glance, Bragi was able to glean (with quite some relief) that Mr Cute had not in fact prepared the salad lovingly by hand. At this, Bragi felt himself wondering what he did do here in the Ministry... something high-up, perhaps. He was evidently young, but charming enough to have connections that could secure him a senior role.

... Then the fey Dane realised it was a waste of time to speculate about someone who was standing right there, so he pulled his mind back to the present with a lurch of his heart.

Despite his nerves, Bragi ("the nice man"!!!) smiled at the niffler's antics and her master's commentary. "Oh, I might have something to trade", he realised brightly, and reached into his pocket to withdraw a shiny silver coat button.

  

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With the radish offered, Ginger looked between it and Eugene with either interest or disdain- it was hard to tell with her cute little face sometimes. Eugene was leaning toward the latter as she continued to sit there with her lettuce, still very obviously poised to make a run for it if he tried to take the fork. Just the end of it stuck out of her pouch like she was daring him to make a move for it. Cheeky bugger.

Fortunately his co-worker seemed to have something better to offer and Eugene couldn't help but to chuckle when Ginger's head turned on a swivel toward the redhead. Shiny silver buttons were much more intriguing and alluring to a niffler than a radish, that was for sure.

"Oh good on yeh, she'll like that, if yeh can part with it, she won't be giving that back." For some reason Ginger really liked buttons. Her treasure trove under Eugene's bed was full of them.

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"She's welcome to it", he breathed with a smile, holding out the button carefully to the niffler. Ginger was such a floofy little thing, for all her mischievousness. Almost as cute as her owner.

Almost.

"Erm, my name's Bragi Holm, by the way", he introduced himself a little timidly, shooting a glance up at the fellow before returning his watchful gaze to the beastie. "From the International department." Perhaps he could've guessed that by Bragi's light Danish accent.

But he already slightly regretted extending the courtesy of introduction, for surely he should be trying to distance himself from the chap, not trying to get to know him better. For Bragi's interest in him did not feel very healthy. Besides, the thought of finally having a name for his crush was alarmingly realist, when it was far nicer to perpetuate harmless fantasy.

  

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Well that had worked out better than he could have imagined. Ginger was more than happy to take the offered button, leaving Eugene to swipe the fork back and toss it on the table behind him. "Just what the collection needs, eh, Ging?" Eugene chuckled as he picked her up and put her on his shoulder- which was her usual haunt, when she was behaving.

"Cheers, Holm. Eugene Scamander, Beast Division." He extended a hand to shake before remembering there was still a mess of salad on the floor and that if he valued his ability to come to the cafe on his break, he should probably get to cleaning it up. "I hope yeh were done with this." There was definitely no saving in now.

Ginger stayed put on her perch, examining her button while Eugene moved about picking up the mess to toss out. It was a balancing act they'd perfected over their time together. Half the time he forgot she was there and must moved accordingly. Sometimes she curled up on the magically expanded inside pocket of his robes, but she usually liked to be where the action was.

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Ginger's teeny claws prized away the button with adorable delicacy, and Bragi smiled as he watched her being plonked gently on the gentleman's shoulder. A gentleman named Eugene Scamander, Beast Division. It suited him perfectly, the name and job both. They shook hands, and Scamander's was a bigger, stronger hand than his, but lightly warm, as friendly as his rich brown eyes...

Crikey, Bragi needed to snap out of this. He'd been noticing this fellow more and more for the past few weeks, and for that to culminate in a truly charming meeting like this would move his crush in the wrong direction. Bragi knew he had to shake this off... somehow.

Scamander was not being helpful. At least not in reversing Bragi's sparky feelings. The Niffler master was now helping him tidy up the spilled salad. "Oh — thank you, but you needn't do that, this was all my own clumsiness", he gushed, and took his wand from his robe pocket to start vanishing some of the scattered leaves and tomatoes.

"So, erm — do you enjoy Beast Division?", Bragi asked a little awkwardly, hoping that he would somehow find something to dislike about the impeccable Eugene Scamander.

Perhaps he only worked at the Ministry to feed a debilitating addiction to Euphoria Elixir. Or... or perhaps he only liked beasts because his Patronus was a Flobberworm.

  

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It was truly a wonder sometimes, how Eugene rarely thought to fix problems with magic. It would make more sense to clean the mess up that way, but there he was bent down to the floor doing it by hand. What a dolt. Well at least one of them had their wits about them.

"I do," He chuckled a little, handing the piece of carrot in his hand to Ginger to sniffed it once before stuffing half of it in her mouth. "Keeps me on my toes, rarely boring, get to help out animals like Ging here. She was a confiscation from an illegal breeder." How she'd come to be his was quite the amusing story. "I always liked working with creatures, but the Ministry was kind of expected as the only boy in my family, so it seemed like a natural fit." Quidditch had really been the only other option, but it wouldn't have been the responsible choice in the long run.

"How did you wind up in Britain?" International department, the accent, Eugene couldn't quite place the origin, but he supposed somewhere Scandinavian, maybe?

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There was no admission of foul deeds or unpleasant habits — just a continuous, oblivious wave of charm. It looked like Bragi would not discover anything pointedly unattractive about Eugene Scamander, so he'd have to try a new tact. And he had one in mind:

Just... act... normal.

"Well, she's certainly landed on her paws", he observed warmly as Mr Scamander told him Ginger's backstory; from a breeder's illegal possession to little Ministry tyke with a friendly shoulder for a perch.

"Oh, I've always wanted to live in Britain", Bragi enthused in response to the question, tucking away his wand as he finished vanishing the last of the salad (it was no great loss). "Denmark is very nice, but I grew up reading British literature and dreamed of being inside those books. From the Yorkshire moors of Wuthering Heights to Walter Scott's lochs and mountains."

  

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Eugene appreciated the joke and showed it with a generous chuckle. "She certainly has. I rehomed her siblings, but we see them every once in a while." It was quite the adorable little cuddle puddle when it happened.

Unfortunately Holm's references were lost on Eugene as he was not much of a reader, but he could certainly envision why literature would lead one to a foreign country. It was always the pleasant things depicted in books, not the hustle and bustle and crowded streets of London. Though the city itself had its own hidden gems, Eugene wasn't so sure he could live here full time. Hogsmeade was much more his speed to live in.

"London is a far cry form the moors, I trust you've been able to venture out to see them since you relocated at least?" What a pity it would be if he had to yet.

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Seeing that Mr Scamander liked nifflers so much, Bragi was suddenly very tempted to go out and get one of the little devils himself. Ginger was ever so cute, after all, and maybe — just maybe — Mr Scamander would think Bragi ever so cute if he acquired one of Ginger's second cousins or something.

Bragi would later realise this was nonsense and put this "clever plan" to rest — something that his cat, Maid Marian, would be grateful for.

"Yes, absolutely", he responded with the same enthusiasm he'd expressed about Britain a moment ago. "I live up in Hogsmeade — plenty of space for riding and walking through the moors and mountains. Do you... live here in London?"

  

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Ahh, yes Hogsmeade would rather fit the bill better than London. "Hogsmeade is a gem, I live there myself, with my young son." Plenty of room for the boys to be boys and with his sisters and mother nearby, perfectly kept under a watchful eye of all of the ladies in his life that deemed him required supervision. It worked. Plus he had hep with Theseus when he needed it. It was a nice balance of convenient, with its size and rural with the lake and forest nearby. Eugene had very few qualms about it these days.

Hoisting Ginger onto his shoulder, which was her favorite spot, aside from the magically expanded pocket inside his robes, Eugene rather thought he ought to get back to work. "Was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Holm, certain we'll see you around." He gave a nod and a wave before circling back to his own plate of uneaten food. He'd have to finish up at his desk between reports. Hopefully he wouldn't get called out any time soon.

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wrap?

  

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OOC: Wrap <3

At the news that Mr Scamander had a son, and therefore likely a wife, Bragi felt his heart sink — but was immediately furious with himself for such a feeling. What difference did it make if the handsome Mr Scamander was single or not? It made absolutely no difference, Bragi told himself firmly. There was simply no such thing as boys liking boys. There was Bragi fancying half of Hogsmeade, and then there was the impossible miracle that was Mr Sterling and his male lover Ari.

Realising that his mind had gotten away from itself in a matter of seconds, Bragi forced his attentions back to the here and now, and gave a pleasant smile. "Nice to meet you too, Mr Scamander. Bye bye, Ginger", he added, giving the shouldered niffler a tiny, pointless wave.

He watched the young man go for a beat, then gazed back down at his stack of unfinished paperwork, fiery hair falling half over his eyes. He had only ten minutes left of lunch to get some of his busywork done; and he would spend every second of those ten minutes resolutely forcing himself to think of absolutely nothing but the parchments in front of him.

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