You’ve got my heart in a headlock

[Archie DeLevigne]

Archie sat outside St. Mungo’s dressed in his blue uniform distinguishing him from all the other Healers in their white robes. The lyrics streaming from his iPod flowed through him as he took another bite of his sandwich, and smiled at the sun peeking through the clouds and showering his surroundings in a faint gold light.

Give me the song and I'll sing it like I mean it, Give me the words and I'll say them like I mean it, Cause you've got my heart in a headlock, You've stopped the blood and made my head soft…

Having just gotten done with a double shift, Archie was officially on his day off… in the middle of the afternoon. Since he’d taken a lot of double shifts lately Archie had a three day weekend to look forward to, something he was considering taking full advantage of. His body felt exhausted but his brain was still buzzing with adrenaline. His mind was particularly focused on the golden sunlight rippling across the road that made him think of a certain blonde Healer. Suddenly a voice from behind him that didn’t sound like Oscar, or Oz his partner, for once tore his attention from the sunlight. “H-Hey,” he greeted them through a mouthful of sandwich.

((ooc: Anyone can join him.))

[Katarina Michalka]

Kat practically bounded outside of Mungo's as she headed off to her lunch break. Not that she'd be eating much lunch since she tended to get otherwise distracted by her other intentions for her break- song writing. With the weather in such an amiable mood, which was odd considering they were September already, the girl decided to sit outside in the hope the sunshine would inspire some lyrics she'd been working on for Andy. Notebook tucked under her arm she stepped into the sunlight and blinked against it with a grin, discerning as she held her hand up to shield her eyes that there was a figure sat a little way in front of her that she recognised, even from the back, as Archie.

Stepping towards him she suddenly spoke from near, "Boo," she said jokingly and then raised a hand in greeting as he turned to see her. "Hello to you too," Kat greeted Archie with a quick smile, "Nice sandwich?" she remarked conversationally before pointing to where he was sat, "You don't mind little old me invading your space by sitting beside you, do you?" she asked cheerfully as she looked down at him. This cheerfulness primarily came from the fact that a) the weather was amazing for once, b) she'd been hiking with her brother the day previously, and, c) she suspected her mum might be coming back home any day soon. How wrong she was, but Kat did not know this, and did not concern herself with such thoughts at that moment. Instead her attention was focused on the boy sat in front of her with a shy smile and the tell-tale hint of a blush.

[Archie DeLevigne]

Archie had a mind to count how many minutes, or seconds really, it took before the sun disappeared behind the clouds again and it started raining. But he couldn’t really be bothered to do anything other than eating his sandwich and simply enjoyed the fact that the rain had let up for now. Not paying any attention to anything other than the art of eating he jumped a little as Kat said “Boo” behind him. Archie knew it was Kat even before he turned around to greet her, from the tell-tale giggle.

“Yeah, good,” he mentioned after politely swallowing the mouthful realising he was being rude, and smiled impishly. “Sure, ‘course you can,” he told her sliding to the end of the bench to make room for her. “And you’re never invading my space,” he added with a cheeky grin. “You look happy,” he inquired, she hadn’t seemed very happy the other day and he was concerned as to why. “Speaking of happy things, I was thinking of getting a kitten. I have an owl, but I thought it would be nice for the house to, um, you know, have a pet… or something,” he shrugged his shoulders not wanting to look like a puff for thinking about getting a kitten. “But I was wondering if you were allergic? I know Jacques isn’t and I still have to ask Kal, but, yeah… and if you don’t want a kitten that’s fine, I just thought it might be nice for the house,” he finished his ramble.

[Katarina Michalka]

Smiling herself as Archie smiled impishly Kat nodded and happily sat down beside him on the bench. "I'm glad to hear it because if I was then I'd probably... well I don't know I'd probably have to move out and stuff wouldn't I?" she remarked jokingly as she got comfortable on the bench, sitting cross-legged beside him. "I really am, I think things are looking up with my parents now," she explained quickly- she'd told Archie her basic worries about her parents splitting up (however much her dad and Fiona denied it) because he'd returned home one evening to find her crying in the living room. Not one of her finer moments she had to admit, but she'd felt better telling Archie some of her concerns and he'd seemed to listen and actually care.

Looking curiously over at him as he spoke her smile grew, "A kitten?!" she asked excitedly before nodding, "You should absolutely get a kitten, I'm not allergic and I'd love for the house to have one, if Jacques and Kal agree of course," she added quickly. "Andy has a black cat, Eclipse, she got him when he was a kitten and he's honestly the nicest cat on earth so I think a pet like that would really be lovely for the house," she concluded with a smile before blushing slightly at how excited she'd got over the idea of a kitten.

[Archie DeLevigne]

“Nah, I’d just tape things off with labels saying, this is Archie’s space, don’t cross,” he joked good naturedly as she sat beside him. “Yeah? Good,” he applauded, happy for Kat’s good news. He never liked seeing her sad, and was probably more concerned for her than he should be (for obvious reasons), but was happy that things were looking up for her.

Amused by her excitement at getting a kitten, even more so at her blush- that really never would get old- he shrugged, “Well then, I guess I’ll get a kitten,” he said casually, “If Kal agrees that is, dunno if she’s allergic or not,” he mentioned his mind drifting momentarily to the very attractive, and very famous Quidditch player, “If I do get a kitten though what kind do you want, or colour or that?” he asked, hoping she didn’t say some weird type of feline he had to go look up. “Speaking of Andy, where is she living nowadays? ‘Cos you know, if she doesn’t have a place to say there are always more room in the house,” he suggested trying to be helpful. “So, how’s work been?” he asked after finishing another bite of his sandwich, “I haven’t seen you much lately since we’ve sort of chosen different paths,” he added.

[Katarina Michalka]

Kat giggled lightly and nodded, "That'd be a much better alternative... perhaps you could get some of that yellow police tape, you know, that says 'do not cross'," she suggested jokingly. Nodding enthusiastically she agreed, "Yeah I definitely think so, of course I could be totally wrong but... I'm selfish, so I'd quite like my parents to stay together forever basically," she explained simply.

Grinning as he decidedly announced they'd get the kitten she nodded, "In that case I can't wait..." she trailed off as he mentioned Kal and shrugged. "Oh, I don't know, I don't think she is but... you know... I don't really know her that well," she offered with an apologetic smile. The two girls were such opposites, such polar opposites in fact, that Kat and Kal didn't really... interact that much. At least not as much as her and Archie and/or Jacques did together, but she supposed that was because both herself and Archie worked in the same building so they at least saw each other (despite his slight career move) fairly regularly even if they didn't talk as much. Turning her attention from these thoughts back to him she smiled, "Ohh I don't know, I'm sorry I'm not being much help except being excited about it... Andy could probably help you more about that, she knows a lot more about cats and what kind would suit our household and stuff," she offered as she leaned back, shifting slightly to get into a comfortable position.

Gazing sideways at him she smiled, "Really?!" she asked excitedly, "I have no idea, I think she's still staying with her mum until she could sort out her own place. Do you think everyone else would be okay with that? Because I know Andy will freak and be so excited at the prospect of living with us... I mean she already comes over most weekends but... she would love to live with us all," she spoke enthusiastically. "Work has been... good, really good, thanks. Well you know me I love learning so everything about this experience has been great for me. I'm still being told to be more confident and vocal though... I tend to shy away from, like, sitting and talking to longer-staying patients. But I hope that'll become easier with time, Healer Binns assured me it would but he's so nice to all the interns that I'm sure he says it to everyone anyway," she spoke with a giggle.

"How about you? Are you enjoying your little change of direction?" she asked curiously, her eyes showing genuine interest in what he had to say because of course she was interested, she was pretty much 'head over heels' for him. She didn't think he'd realised that though and she couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing. Either way it made her blush even as she thought of it as she sat beside him then.

[Archie DeLevigne]

“Hmm… I’ve always liked the idea of having a roll of that stuff,” Archie mentioned absentmindedly as he thought about yellow police tape. Archie then shook his head at her comment, “Nah, you’re not selfish, you just want your mum and dad to stay together, that’s understandable.”

Shrugging, “Yeah, I noticed, you two are complete opposites, but you’d like Kal if you’d got to know her, she’s a pretty swell girl,” he recommended. “I’ll see if she’s allergic later tonight and then maybe tomorrow I’ll go get a kitten. You wanna come? Pick out a kitten with me for the house I mean?” he asked unsure if she had a day off or maybe during her break. Nodding then, “Oh, that would be a great help,” he mentioned about Andy helping him find a cat, he was more asking Kat because he wanted to spend more time with her, but he wouldn’t press it.

“It’s Jacques and Kal, how would they not be okay with it?” he chuckled. As she spoke he listened and tried to nod at the right intervals like he’d noticed girls did when they talked with each other. Though the listening and the nodding combined was more difficult than it looked. He’d also forgot to impute sounds like “Mmmhmm or Uh-hu” to demonstrate that he was listening. His sister had also explained to him that there were times when girls wanted to “talk” and when they wanted to “vent” at which time they didn’t want his impute, or solutions to their problems they just wanted to talk at you. Archie couldn’t quite figure out if this was one of those times so he simply stuck to agreeing with her. “I’m sure it will. If Healer Binns says it will, I’m sure he’s right. He’s been at this for a while now you know,” he finished teasingly.


“Very much so,” he said taking another bite of his sandwich, “It’s fun actually. I enjoy the adrenaline rush, and it’s a nice feeling making others feel calm and safe like everything’s going to be alright even when they’re bleeding or covered in slim or have some weird growth thingy,” he rambled, and then smiled a bit sheepishly at Kat as he saw her blush which he assumed was because he was babbling, and she was trying to keep from laughing, “Yeah… it’s umm… I enjoy it.”