Days of Distraction | Archie

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

you got a new horizon,

its ephemeral style

February 2028
Esther Garnet

Unlike in previous stages of his life, Archie had no urge to change anything. Sure, he was tired more often and spent less time away from the school, but the fulfillment was there. It was a cliché thing to say about teaching, but he supposed it was cliché for a reason. Archie chuckled, the wine easing into his system and brain. ”Next time I’m overcome with the urge, I’ll find you so you can talk me out of it.” He only hoped Esther stayed as well. Benefits aside, they got along well, and Archie never shied away from socializing with people he liked.

With a shrug, he didn’t think too deeply about wine and the entire academic field that seemed to come with it. It was wine. To prove his point, Archie drank a significant amount from his glass. Fortunately, it went down much smoother than whiskey or tequila could ever. Without thinking, Archie sighed—the parent-teacher conferences were something he did not enjoy all that much. The unpleasant parents ruined it for him every time.

”Unfortunately.” Suddenly, he had the urge to finish his glass of wine completely. ”Some of these parents…” He trailed off. The last thing he needed was a Ravenclaw student’s parents at the table next to them overhearing his comments. Archie shook his head disapprovingly. ”My Aunt was never like that. If I got in trouble, she wasn’t blaming anybody but me.” Fortunately, he didn’t get caught all those times. His Aunt was always on top of him, seeing as his father wouldn’t show up for conferences. ”That will be an interesting day with the event and everything.”

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[Esther Garnet]

Esther smiled at Archie amusedly, observing the way that his pace had escalated with his drinking. She mirrored him by doing the same, downing a good portion of her glass without breaking eye contact, only stopping so that she wouldn’t make herself laugh with a mouthful of wine. Esther was a playful person, and maybe a little bit adolescent in her demeanour sometimes, but Archie was easy to be around and seemed to accept her for who she was so she was comfortable to be herself in front of him.

She grimaced as his lack of enthusiasm for parent-teacher conferences became pretty obvious. She didn’t envy him, that was for sure. Esther was lucky that most of the students in the Hospital Wing were adults, and so there weren’t a whole lot of parents banging down her door to get the scoop on their precious little pookies. “Well, I’m with your Aunt,” she said keenly, almost to the point where it sounded like a joke, but it definitely wasn’t. Archie mentioned that the event itself should be interesting and Esther actually had to pause to think for a moment to get on the same page. She must have been starting to get tipsy.

Oh right… Valentine's Day. Esther had never been a Valentine’s Day kinda person, despite receiving her fair share of gimmicky gestures from various suitors over the years. “Ahhhh. Valentine’s Day,” Esther hummed dramatically. “Interesting, how so? You gonna hit up the speed dating afterwards?” Her eyes lit up as she realised just how entertaining that would be. 

octavian archimedes vector jr.

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

you got a new horizon,

its ephemeral style

February 2028
Esther Garnet

Archie had never been shy but didn’t toe the line between confident and arrogant. However, enough wine apparently increased the number of words leaving his mouth. Fortunately, he was in good company. Over his many years, Archie rarely found someone he didn’t get along with. The boy was born easy-going, but rolling with the punches was also survival until his sister came along. It hurt less that way. But it stuck, and he supposed there were benefits to it as well.

He couldn’t help but make a face. Speed dating? No, thank you. Plus, Archie generally avoided things that contained far too many individuals near the ages of his former students. It was a little weird at some point, but their age gap wasn’t that large. Maybe it was just anyone near his younger sister’s age. ”No. That’s not for me.” That was the polite way to put it, in any case. The thought alone pushed Archie to finish his glass. Two people might have a spark, but there was something about letting something happen organically, at least for him.

The holiday itself wasn’t anything special for Archie, nor did he hate it. It did seem silly that someone waited for that day to tell someone how they felt, whether with words or a gesture. What about all the other days of the year? ”Is it another Blishwick thing?” It would make sense, but Archie hadn’t honestly looked up the details.

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[Esther Garnet]

Esther couldn’t help but give a hearty chuckle at the face Archie made as he dismissed the idea of participating in a speed dating event. She knew him well enough to know that would be his answer, but it was fun to tease about it anyway.

She also noted the pace at which they were both drinking. For her it was a force of habit, especially at the end of a long work week. Esther had always been a social drinker - a joyous, Viking drinker - but sometimes it was more of an avoidance technique: the kind of drinking that starts early and explosive, then feels like a slow slide down into darkness. On a good day, she seemed to drink to make the world bigger, the night longer, the stories brighter. She drank to fly. Then other times, she drank to drown. What might have started one way was now turning out the other. Esther was having a good time, thanks to Archie’s company.

She nodded when he asked about it being a Blishwick thing. She nodded with so much confidence that it might appear she was some kind of expert on the topic and all of its finer details, but there was a good reason for her harnessing this knowledge. “A couple of the trainee nurses have been going on about it all week,” she told him. “It’s going to be quite the spectacle, I’m sure.”

Esther stopped to refill their glasses which were already getting low and then paused when the bottle was empty. She held it in mid-air, clenched her teeth comically in a brief expression of guilt which then quickly turned to amusement and said “Now that’s what I call taking care of business…”

octavian archimedes vector jr.

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

you got a new horizon,

its ephemeral style

February 2028
Esther Garnet

Archie noted the empty bottle when Esther pointed it out. Merlin, he probably took a drink anytime anything love related got mentioned. It was a wonder he was sober at all this month. The older he got, the more willing he was to try a new drink, take a shot, or do the social thing. In his youth, he’d avoided the smuggled fire whiskey, not that he didn’t have his other vices, but that had never been one of them. Even now, whiskey wasn’t something preferable for him. His father had drunk quite a bit of whiskey. On the rare occasion, he did keep his word and visited his oldest son and daughter, there was always a hint in his breath.

He shrugged. ”I guess it works for some people.” Archie mused aloud. ”For me, I supposed it feels awkward and forced.” The confession slipped out easily, no that it was an intensely private fact. There was something about a connection building organically, even in the realm of platonic relationships. His mind also went to numbers—of course. ”And statistically, of course, these things don’t last.” He could already see his sister rolling her eyes at such a statement, as she always did when Archie brought up numbers. Like a true Vector, she was good with numbers but was secondary to everything else.

”That wasn’t a very big bottle, was it?” Archie’s eyes went from the bottle to their glasses. That went by far too quickly, or he just hadn’t noticed. Again, he shrugged. They could drink more, or they could stop. He didn’t care either way.

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[Esther Garnet]

Esther sat back in her seat and listened to Archie describing the potentially awkward nature of a speed dating event and it was pretty entertaining to her. Grinning, she nodded along as if to agree with his sentiments, which she absolutely did, but it was still funny to hear him express it. “Statistically!” she echoed amusedly, curiously pressing her lips together and brows arching comically as if she’d learned something today about the mathematical science of dating-related data. 

Then he commented on the size of the wine bottle and the blonde sighed. “No, it was definitely tiny.” Esther shrugged, knowing both of them knew full well that it was indeed perfectly normally sized they were just drinking at an accelerated drinking pace. That being said, she wasn’t exactly keen to head home yet by any measure. “What do you think? Do you want to get another one?” She put the ball in his court given she felt like he was the one doing her a favour right now and she didn’t want him to feel like he had to stick around all night on account of her having to flee her own home for matters outside of her control.

“You know, statistically, the more wine we drink, the more likely it is that you’ll invite me back to your place.” She added very matter-of-factly holding a straight face.

octavian archimedes vector jr.

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

you got a new horizon,

its ephemeral style

February 2028
Esther Garnet

It was definitely the wine. Not that Archie was ashamed at all by his fascination with numbers, but he’d tempered how often it was brought up in conversation. Or he tried, but his head was buzzing now. He always forgot how quickly wine seeped into one’s system. But at least he got the size of the bottle right. Definitely too small. Esther offered up the idea of another bottle, an excellent idea, he thought. But she wasn’t done with her proposal just yet.

Using his words against him, he couldn’t help but grin. ”An interesting theory, Ms. Garnet.” Archie responded casually. ”Historically, wine was not a required element.” He corrected her, pretending to think deeply. ”But I don’t see why we can’t put this theory to the test.” He wasn’t much thinking about the past, but a sober Archie would know that what he said was true. Looking around, he caught the waiter’s attention. The wine was merely an extra element that night. In all likelihood, he would’ve suggested a relocation at some point. But he had to admit he was enjoying himself.

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[Esther Garnet]

Esther laughed when Archie bought up that it hadn’t taken a bunch of alcohol to encourage them other times they had ended up alone together engaged in a heated hook up. It was true, but every glass of wine just made her flirtier and more playful if that were even possible. She appreciated the back and forth, and his ability to give back as much as he got in the banter department. That just made it more fun.

“Touche!” she replied, narrowing her eyes at him. She tipped her glass at him slightly as a way to demonstrate he had won this one. He suggested that they could test her theory anyway. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.” She grinned and slid her empty glass across the table to him prompting him to fill it again. Because in this moment it definitely felt like a good idea to get publically sozzled and end up stumbling out onto the streets of Hogsmeade with her handsome male colleague in tow. Not unprofessional at all!

Just as she’d said it, her gaze flashed over Archie’s shoulder and caught the attention of some 7th years a couple of booths behind them looking their way and snickering amongst each other. Esther’s grin fell flat as the students quickly averted their stares away from the couple, and she sighed exhaling through her nose. “Oh, great…” she drawled. “Don’t look, but a bunch of your students are over there giggling at us.”

octavian archimedes vector jr.

[octavian archimedes vector jr.]

you got a new horizon,

its ephemeral style

February 2028
Esther Garnet

Archie thought back. Alcohol had definitely not played a significant part in their history. It was really after some time of casual flirting that anything happened. And the story was pretty simple after that. The waiter returned promptly, and Archie nodded at him as he received the new bottle. There was something about how she sometimes looked at him that literally made his brain stop functioning, and with wine in his system, the effect felt even stronger.

Obediently he refilled her glass before attending to his own. But her demeanor changed, and he resisted the urge to turn around as she stated. He wasn’t a stranger to students gossiping or jumping to conclusions. But most of the staff were friendly with one another, so as far as Archie was concerned, this was just a drink between two colleagues. ”Should I give them detention?” Archie wondered out loud. He’d never been that kind of Professor, but his first few years of teaching were spent ensuring he wasn’t a pushover. Archie sipped from his glass. ”It appears to be in our best interest to find somewhere more private.” He suggested casually.

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[Esther Garnet]

Despite advising Archie not to look over his shoulder at the gossiping, giggling students, Esther’s eye line barely tore away from them for the next few moments. She appeared more amused than annoyed though, even with the straight face she currently displayed. One of the boys was uncontrollably gawking at her, jaw on the floor like he’d never seen a beautiful woman before. Esther was used to that, but it was much more forgiving - and entertaining - when it was some poor young kid hurtling through puberty like a bus with no brakes on it.

“Go on then,” she replied as the Head of House asked if he should give them detention. She finally looked back at him again, resuming their back and forth, her eyes sparkling cheerfully at the thought of him actually doing it. “I dare ya,” she added with a smirk, knowing full well that he wouldn't, nor was it necessary, but a funny thought nonetheless.

Her colleague took a sip and Esther followed suit before he suggested it was in their best interest to go somewhere more private. Her shoulders relaxed and angled in towards him, and she stuck her finger out loosely pointing at him in mock triumph. “There it is!’ she exclaimed, her tone implying she had been waiting for it. “I thought you’d never ask, Professor,” she joked, knocking back the rest of her glass.

Esther stood up from the booth and stealthily shoved the remainder of the bottle into her bag for later. She resisted the urge to feed her arm through his on their way out now that inhibitions were low because they had an audience. It was taken on the assumption that they would head back to his flat, since her’s was currently occupied - not that she’d actually even thought about that whole scenario for a good while now, thanks to Archie. The distraction technique was clearly still the most effective and superior of all the avoidance tactics, Esther should know.

(esther out)
octavian archimedes vector jr.