Darkmatter PV Frogge

Polonius had always had a soft spot for Kelsey. He was a good nurse. Even in many ways that Polonius was not. While Frogge was many years Brumby's senior, he had long accepted his colleague as an equal in all professional regards. An unending font of positivity, Kelsey was loved by all - a necessary associate for a healer who was as socially inept as Polonius Frogge. While he was saddened that he would no longer have the opportunity to work with him, Polonius agreed that the position of Hogwarts Nurse suited Kelsey perfectly. Which was why it was so strange when his old associate contacted him encouraging him to apply for the post instead.

The sound of twigs cracking underneath Polonius' shoes could be heard from some ways away as he approached the fishing spot. He'd seen Kelsey scarcely since their careers brought them apart, and was excited to be able to spend time together again. His fishing gear was one of his most prized muggle machines, and he was very excited to get the chance to break it out with someone who actually knew how to use it.

"Hello Kelsey!" he said, as he came into view at the pond's edge. He was wearing the same glasses he had been wearing for about a decade, and his jeans and jumper did not look that much younger. Still, he wore them with pride, even stopping to prop his boot up on a nearby tree so he could re-tie his laces. "Denim," said Polonius, gesturing down at his leg, quite pleased with himself. "I never really bought into jeans, but they really do get more comfortable when you start to wear them out."

This pair even had fashionably frayed holes at the knee, likely worn in from heavy use. Polonius' muggle wardrobe was incredibly limited, as he was very picky about what he liked to wear, but when he found something he loved he wore it out proper. He marched over to stand beside Brumby and hefted his bag over and onto the ground. Then, he stared out at the water. For a significant time. Kelsey would be very familiar with Polonius' regular 'departures' from awareness, from which he normally needed to be roused. In this instance he was able to rise out of it on his own. He blinked and looked to Kelsey, finally realizing where his mind had been leading him.

"It seems I forgot to bring somewhere to sit," he observed. But no matter - just as soon as he had said it, he sat down in the dirt, adding more grass stains to his well-loved jeans. "It's such a pleasure to see you again. I mean- really- it is just such a pleasure. How have you been? You look healthy. And your mother seemed well."

Kelsey remembered what it was like when he started talking about taking the job at Hogwarts as school nurse. To him, he was craving the feeling of being in his old haunt again, remembering all the good times, and settling down in one spot for a while. To his other colleagues, they warned him of the school's reputation for danger, and of the rapid turnover rate among other things. Pollo had been one of the only people who had actually encouraged him, with a genuine smile and hope for his future. Kels loved that optimism of his, even if he was totally wrong in the end. It wasn't like he would ever regret his last two years, or the students he met and cared about. If anything, he wished he could have stayed and done more. Instead, he would be relying on Pollo's blind optimism again.

When he heard the familiar crunch of footsteps, Kels would turn around swiftly, and flash a big smile with an enthusiastic wave of his free hand. "Pollo! Come here! Gimmie a hug, man!" If willing, Kels would hop up from his seat and bear hug the lanky tower, the diminutive Kels nearly a foot shorter. The awkward Englander showed off his denim, for a remarkably tangential ice breaker. This kind of absurdity was what made him and Pollo perfect friends. "You gotta get those uhh-- the jeans you gotta wash weird and break in. They make these perfect jeans that are supposed t'be amazing."

Whether that conversation continued before Pollo's pause, Kels would be preoccupied sitting back down in his chair with old man grunts to notice. It wasn't as though silence was unwelcome at times, not everything had to be constant noise. This far out into the fen, the diverse sound of wildlife was a veritable orchestra in full swing, so it wasn't like there wasn't plenty to draw one's attention. Once he had looked over, interested to see what kind of gear he brought along, he noticed the distracted stare. He could practically hear the sound of gears clicking, amused at Pollo's ability to peace out. It was probably that skill of slowing down that kept him sane through all the things they had seen out there.

He snooped in Pollo's bag, letting him come out of it on his own, since he didn't really need his permission to rifle around in his stuff. Living as a weasel off and on for a while had Kelsey grow a deep fondness for tight spaces he could burrow into, so he would dig with his theiving little fingers and check out all his little baubles. Eventually, he piped up again, this time greeting him like a person he had not seen in a while. Kels would beam at him, his heart warmed in the presence of someone so genuinely kind and caring. He realized just how much he had needed to see his friend.

"Yeah, bro, I'm pretty good." Kels' smile would falter a bit, but he scratched his stubble in an attempt to downplay it. He didn't really like being in the position where he couldn't just come out and say his honest feelings, it wasn't him. "Mum is always great, that's not impressive. I don't think she's ever been sick in her life."

Kels would throw up his hands, giving Pollo back custody of his own bag, and return to his own gear. He fished often enough that it was a quick process to rig the line up and connect the pieces. When he was a preteen, he used to try to make all kinds of fishing rods of his own invention using materials from the fen... to varying success.

"How about you? Changin' jobs, huh? What's t'family think of that?" Kels would be available to help Pollo set up his rod as well if needed. "D'ya got any pictures of Otto? I got pictures of Little Kelsey."

@Polonius Frogge

There was never any doubt in Polonius' mind that Brumby was one of the best healers of his generation, and that Hogwarts was lucky to have such a talented nurse. One that could not only straighten teeth and fix up a broken arm for the quidditch players, but even break a curse, reverse a jinx, and soothe dragon pox with the best of them.

"Of course!" he replied, his face breaking out into an unrestrained grin as he was called to come give a hug. He would never refuse that invitation, although it wasn't always freely given to him. Even his wife would admit that it felt a bit like hugging the skeleton of an extraordinarily tall man. Still, he was warm, and gave his heart in every hug, patting Kelsey on the back until he parted from his much shorter companion. The talk of jeans that you wash weird and break in prompted a nod from Pollo. "Oh, yes! Yes- I'll have to ask Talia about that..."

Talia, Polonius' wife, was his bridge to the muggle world. He had a quirk that many older, pure-blooded wizards of his generation had, which made learning the new tricks of the muggle world almost entirely impossible. He understood how to live in a muggle household, now, as it had become habit... though there were still times he was caught wandering around in the dark, forgetting that candles were not necessary when one could simply flip the "lights witch".

The bag that Polo had brought was indeed full of precious baubles. A Rubik's cube, completely rearranged and not even aligned in a cube shape as the top layer was part-twisted. Several credit and debit cards, mixed among paper money and coins, all loosely laid around in one section of the bag. A cell phone, the battery dead. A box of band-aids, nearly empty. And of course - his fishing gear! His worms were contained in a small Styrofoam container, awaiting their fate.

"That's fantastic to hear!" Polonius said, keeping up his broad, white smile. He would never notice the faltering in Kelsey's smile. The sudden departure from the School Nurse's post at Hogwarts did prompt worry, of course... but it was easy to soothe him with false assurances. "That's good, still. Always good to be well..."

It struck him that he still needed to get his rod out if he wanted to fish, so he squat down beside his bag to begin assembling his gear. With some patient assistance from Kelsey, he managed it, finding the hook at the end of the line and baiting it with a worm without injuring himself at all. All in all, the day was going marvelously.

"Oh, you know. They're a bit disappointed, since I suppose it's nice having me around- but frankly, since I can't drive anymore, I am not really that much use around the house," he said. Kelsey would likely remember an incident where Polonius proudly presented his drivers license to his colleague as a sign of his integration with the muggle world before a bus stop in Hastings was totaled by a blue Ford. The driver was never caught, and the license never made an appearance again. "And I've been talking about how I wanted to go back into healing, and Hogwarts is perfect where it's not too close, and not too far, and I'm really - frankly - I'm really excited just to go back and see the place, you know, see how it's going."

When prompted about pictures of Otto, he broke out his wallet. As Kelsey may have noticed, all of his money and cards were in his bag. It seemed that his wallet was completely dedicated to wallet-sized photos of him and his family members. All of Otto's school pictures were present, as well as several of Polo with his entire family. He sorted through them to pick out the most recent - a smiling young lad, quite resembling Polonius, smiling in front of a standard blue backdrop.

"Yes, he's fourteen, now," Polonius said, beaming down at the picture. He tapped on it a bit, as if trying to wake up the image inside. "I really need to take some to get developed with proper photo solution - you can get moving pictures now, on the little phones, but I can't figure mine out."

The phone that Polonius was unable to use had to cost near a thousand pounds and was entirely useless in his hands - but was at least a sign that his wife loved him very, very truly, to not only put up with him but attempt to spoil him with fancy Muggle-tech which he loved so much.

"Down to business," he said, winding up for a cast and swinging his rod out to send the hook flying out to lay in wait for them fish. He'd never had much luck - but his luck was usually much better with Kelsey around. "Oh! Have you got a phone? I was meant to take a picture, but mine isn't working."

Kelsey would enthusiastically partake in the hug, getting out some of his worries and frustration by squeezing his friend's guts. He'd release from it feeling a small relief, and like the two of them had never parted. As they settled in, he also set a reminder for himself in his head to send his wife a link to the kind of pants he was talking about. It was better that way, if he tried to give instructions to Pollo, there would no doubt be complications.

"No worries bud, I'll give her an electronic mail." For a brief moment, Kels realized how nice it was that a spouse could compensate for one's shortcomings, besides all the complications living with another person brought along with it.

After going through his things and helping him with his fishing line, Kels would return to his own propped-up pole he had leaned on his seat. He listened to the banter, delighted about memories of the crew they used to work together with, and feeling a swell of pride when he heard him talk about going to Hogwarts. Kels was really lucky that Frogge felt that way, and his biggest worries about the awkward situation he was put in were waylaid with a hefty sigh. "That's awesome, dude."

The main event, of course, were the kid pictures. Kels had known Otto as a baby, but he had been at home with Talia, and Kels was not exactly the dinner party type. He reeled back and shrieked when he saw the picture, nabbing Pollo's wallet out of his hand to look at it closer. "FOURTEEN? Holy heck, he's almost all grown up already!"

It wouldn't be a new sensation to him-- the feeling of time disappearing in the blink of an eye, of the world turning around him while he got lost in his research. Kels would shake his head and hand the wallet back over, "These pictures mus' be doctored. No way he's that old."

As Kels ruminated a bit about the passage of time, Frogge cast his own line and continued on the subject of the cell phones. Kels admittedly didn't know too much more than Pollo did, he and his mom were out in the middle of nowhere and had a landline. His mom was too old for technology, or so she said, and Kels didn't have much of a chance to get well acquainted with them either what with his constant travel, time spent in the wizarding world, and how often the technology in them seemed to change. Even still, he certainly knew how to take these 'moving pictures.'

"Yeah, hard t'be without one, chummin' it with modern Muggles." Kels would grin and pull out one from his pocket, also currently off, but not dead. He'd hold down the button to power it up. "Here, I'll take'a pic an' send it to Talia right now!"

Once Kels fumbled with the phone again, plucking at the buttons carefully, he would hold it out in front of him, with the image of the two of them on the flipped view screen. Kels would make a deranged face, the kind that 'jokesters' make whenever their picture is being taken, and would click the capture button without giving Pollo much warning. A few times, with a variety of silly faces, to be sure.

Once he managed that, he would be in quite the chipper mood. He needed to remember that was even a thing, that those bricks could actually take pictures. Certainly if he had the same fascination with technology as Polonius did, he would have discovered the dark web by now, but there were only so many things a man child could hyperfixate on at once. While he did sincerely want to catch up with his old friend, there was another reason Kels was insistant on seeing him again before he sent him off to the slaughter house school job.

"Y'know, Hogwarts is a great place to work, but uh..." Kels scratched at his chin stubble again, it always itched when he had to think of how to say something right. It was so much easier to not have a filter, but filters were important when it could mean the difference between life and death. "Don't jes' go trustin' everybody y'work with there. Y'know how it's had a history... y'never know when some tricky people will try t'mess with you."

It wasn't much, but it was an attempt at warning him. The least he could do was introduce a healthy dose of skeptisim to the ever-trusting old man.

@Polonius Frogge

"Oh, alright," Polonius said as the thought departed from his mind. Talia was good at sorting things like that out, and Polonius had never been able to interface with the muggle world well enough to communicate with Kelsey by any means other than the occasional broken text message. But thankfully, Kelsey was a man of both words, and could be reached just as easily by owl. "Yes, I'm quite pleased."

It was not easily to part Mr. Frogge from his wallet, and he happily offered it to Kelsey while the other man reeled at the sight of the baby he had seen years ago finally starting to look like a young man. Fourteen was practically grown up, as any fourth-year student would tell you, and Otto certainly seemed to think he was grown up with how smartly dressed he appeared in his pictures. He looked a lot like Polonius, though they were unlike in several important ways - not least of all the lack of magic in his son. "Yes! He'll be graduated in a few years... it's incredible!"

A lack of magic did not lead to a lack of pride in Mr. Frogge, of course. He loved his son just as much as he would in any other circumstance, with the added benefit of being impressed by whatever he did that involved anything invented after the year 1800. "No, no, not doctored," Polonius insisted. "Talia got them from the computer. They can give them to you right through the computer, at Muggle schools. They haven't even got to mail them to you."

What a marvel! The older man smiled as Kelsey offered to send a photograph to Polo's wife, already prepared with a broad, forced grimace of a smile, even before Kelsey had the camera ready. It was not that he was uncomfortable - he simply had trouble summoning false emotions, like those required for a good picture. The evidence was evident in all those little family photos from his photo wallet. Each picture that Kelsey snapped pictured him with a fresh new face, and Polonius, still frozen, petrified in a half-cringing smile like the last thing he had seen was a basilisk doing something embarrassing.

The scratching of the chin stubble was meaningful in some way. This, Polonius knew. It always seemed to precede bad news, when it was done to a patient in their care. It was an omen when done to him, as well, though it just as often meant a simple problem had occurred. The older healer turned the statement over in his head for a few moments. Don't trust everybody? "I see," he said, though he wasn't sure he could. "I suspect there has been significant turnover since I attended. That level of quality is not likely to be present today. I heard there was some news about Hogwarts, what with the Hexwizard and everything. I met a friend of mine at the pub and he said they would let squibs attend soon, but I told him I did not think they would."

Perhaps Polonius' pub friends were, like many of Polonius 'friends', simply people who he had been around for too long, and could not recognize as toxic presences in his life. "I suspect they might have need of a second nurse with the tournament coming up. I will make sure to have an owl at the ready in case I need to summon you!"