March 3rd, 1893 — The Crow & Kite Pub, London

There was an event at the end of the month that Ben had been prepping for, which meant it was easy to slip away without having to make excuses. He'd written ahead to Art and asked him to meet him here for a drink. It was a perfectly mundane magical pub — maybe half-magical, Ben wasn't really sure if the spells kept Muggles out or not, but the bartender took sickles and stocked Jewell behind the bar, which was good enough for him. It wasn't one of their regular haunts, but it was within walking distance of the townhome that Ben had toured that afternoon. The townhome that might be home in a week or two, if he decided he was ready to pull the trigger on this.

He hadn't told Art yet. He hadn't told anyone yet. This was part of following his sister's advice; he was keeping his cards close to his chest, so that there was no way Melody could figure him out, until he was entirely decided on what happened next. It had to be considered from every angle, so that he didn't make a hasty decision and later regret it, but he thought he was nearly ready now. The rooms he'd toured today hadn't felt like home, but they might. It was more space than he needed; three bedrooms upstairs. One to sleep in, one to work from, one for Nora when she came to visit. He didn't know that he'd ever use the downstairs half of the house. Did he intend to have a cook who would keep the kitchen stocked and make meals for him, or would he resort to bachelor-style accommodations of eating out at pubs most nights? Would he ever host a guest in the parlor? He couldn't imagine doing so, but — presumably life would go on, after he left Melody, so maybe.

Even with the tour just before this he'd arrived at the pub before Art did. He ordered himself a pint and claimed a booth near a window, from which he could see one corner of the house he was maybe going to live in. There was a flower box hanging on one of the windows, with nothing growing in it. He'd have to take that down; he didn't know anything about caring for plants. Art arrived and Ben rose to greet him, then settled back into the booth. "You ever been here before?" he asked, with a vague motion towards the bar.

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@Cassius Lestrange @Arthur Pettigrew

  

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MJ made this <3

Historically, when one of them asked the other to go to a bar, things weren't going well for Ben and Art. So Art had a bad feeling about tonight, but he was still running a few minutes late — because when he was at home, it was hard to get himself back out of the house. He knew he was feeling guilty about Selwyn, but he that didn't mean he wanted to stop it.

So he was a few minutes late, and Ben was already there. He grinned, raised a hand at the bartender and ordered a pint, and then walked over to the booth with it in hand. Art dropped into the booth casually.

"I don't think so," Art said, with a shrug of his shoulders. It looked familiar, but all bars looked a little familiar after a while, and the last time he'd spun out in London he'd been to most of them. "Looks like they've got Jewell, though, so should be alright." (When he wasn't with Ben, Arthur didn't care much about whiskey brands. When he was with Ben, he stuck to Jewell, and that made up for it.)

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set by MJ <3

Ben nodded in response to the comment about Jewell. "I probably wouldn't even know it existed if it weren't for the contract we've got here," he admitted. It was a quiet pub, from all appearances. Not the sort that would host raucous after-parties that started when the last balls of the evening ended, or card nights with stakes high enough to be interesting, or fill a spot on an Excalibur's pub crawl. But that was fine — Ben wasn't a member of Excalibur anymore, and he didn't need that kind of entertainment close at hand. Maybe quiet was better, even.

"It was in the neighborhood," he said, without specifying in the neighborhood of what. "So I wanted to check it out."

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MJ made this <3