dylan morgan

beater. 28.

[barkeepamberfonesca-blog]

“I’d certainly hope you haven’t. You’re a Beater, after all; you’re supposed to be sending the Bludgers at others, not taking them to your head yourself.” She did miss flying, she found herself realizing once again. The bitterness she tended to harbor toward those that made it professionally, thankfully, didn’t apply to Dylan as it did to most. There were a rare few, she supposed, that she didn’t want to watch crash and burn for her own inabilities. “The mixed bag bit is why you would it in perfectly,” she returned with a laugh. “I need another mellow personality to balance the team out a bit this off-season, I think. Plus, it’s always more fun when you’re in a scrimmage than in a real game.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Well, you’ve got me there. It is still an occupational hazard, though. I’ve just got lucky, although my nose is still a little lumpy from when it was broken in my second year at Kenmare, see?” He pointed to the offending bump, barely noticable after the healers had handled it, and hardly a problem compared to some lasting injuries he’d seen. It was still a reminder, though, that he was in a dangerous game - one that only got more dangerous the older he got. “Well, I’m happy to mellow things out as much as I can. I haven’t been in a good scrimmage in years, actually. Things got busy, after Aoife, and...” He trailed off, a half smile on his face that seemed sadder than no smile at all. “That’d be great, sign me up.”

[holyheadangelburke-blog]

“It’s insanity, really.” He allowed a laugh, and then a slight shrug. “It’s been interesting so far. Fun, certainly, but… different, I suppose, than I expected. It’s far, far more attention than I ever thought I would get. It’s getting easier now, though, that I’m getting used to it.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“It does get easier, but the insanity never really wears off completely. Although maybe that’s just the case with me, because some people seem to adjust to it quite well. You’ve definitely got the actual sport part of things down, though. I came to one of your matches a few weeks back, when we weren’t playing - you flew really well.”

[photographermaritzaruiz-blog]

“Fair point, but I maintain my accuracy nonetheless. You sell yourself too short, I think.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“It’s been said before. I should probably work on that, but I think a lifetime of modesty might be hard to overcome.”

[ballycastlepyxistravers-blog]

Dylan’s admission made Pyxis pause for a moment, even as he brushed it off just as Pyxis brushed off his own. It was a bit of an odd shift, to go from casual banter as long time competitors to something deeper, something more personal. But, Pyxis couldn’t help but think, it was something of a nice change. Pyxis had such a tendency to keep his teammates at arms length, even the ones that he’d known for ages now, that letting it delve a touch deeper was a comfortable action. Plus, he thought, Dylan could use a friend now. “The lost feeling eases with time,” he offered. “It did for me, anyway. It’s always a raw nerve, there’s little avoiding that, but you find your way. Friends are good for helping with that. Even just a casual one can offer a little foundation to build yourself back up from.”

And again, he let them drift away, allowing a little laugh at the suggestive nature of Dylan’s response. “What can I say? I’m all for a social visit with a pretty girl,” he joked in return, though he suspected they both knew how shallow and reputation-preserving a statement that was. Pyxis had always built his reputation up well, enough that even some of his teammates weren’t quite as certain it was false as they should have been, but it was still false nonetheless. “I’m definitely keeping track of it, though. Rory Webster, yep. So easy to fluster, it’s adorable, but she’s got a damn good brain for healing. She did more for my shoulder than the last two healers could already, so I trust her pretty well.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Thanks, mate.” Dylan didn’t have much more to say than that. There was an unspoken agreement in that, obvious at least to him, that Pyxis was that friend. He hadn’t had many friends at Kenmare, except James, and that relationship had started way before the team, so it went further than that. Dylan got the feeling, though, that Pyxis wasn’t just befriending him as a captain trying to ensure a good team relationship. 

“I should have known you’d be one to enjoy getting people flustered. Poor girl, how does she cope?” Again, Dylan slipped easily from the more serious topics to a lighter one, the teasing tone returning. “Well, she always knows what she’s doing with me, so you’ve got my approval. Both as a healer and... anything else.” He said it in a way that suggested skepticism, almost disapproval - Rory was the same age as one of his sisters, and he didn’t dare to imagine how he’d feel if one of them was involved with Pyxis. The lighthearted tone returned to his next comment, though, clearing any awkwardness lingering in the air. “Just don’t break her heart, or anything. I’d be guilty by association, and finding a new healer mid-season is a right pain.”

[barkeepamberfonesca-blog]

“Ah, but the free ones are certainly a plus, aren’t they?” she joked in return, easy and light. “I miss it sometimes. There’s nothing quite like a proper flight, you know? And the rush of avoiding a Bludger while you’re scoring a goal is irreplaceable. But the bar’s almost as good. I still get to mingle with you lot, even if I’m not playing up against you, and I’ve talked a few players into playing a scrimmage game with me during off-season. You should play with us when the season’s done – Davidson plays sometimes, and Sofia, sometimes I can get Travers or Shafiq to come along, and I got Dodderidge from the Arrows to come last year. It’s a fun mix, you’d fit right in.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Of course. You’d have to be daft to turn down a free drink, and I’ve not had that many bludgers to the head yet, don’t you worry.” An almost wistful smile crossed Dylan’s face hearing Amber describe flight - after years of constant press attention, and everything that had gone on recently, he’d almost forgotten why he’d wanted to play in the first place. “Scrimmage would be great, actually. Although I don’t know how I feel about fitting in with that lot. Bit of a mixed bag, that.”

[holyheadangelburke-blog]

“I suppose there’s a benefit to having the money to show off that way in the end. It does go to a good cause, agreed. It’s just a touch mental, I mean. Even the team owners have placed insane bids, I noticed, and there wasn’t even a reason for them to.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Yeah, they could quite easily force a Quidditch player to spend the day with them, and for a lot less money. It is all a bit mental. How are you finding your first season, anyway?”

[photographermaritzaruiz-blog]

“I don’t think those two have ever even heard the word humble, if we’re being honest. It would just be strange on them. On you, though, it’s sweet.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Nah, they just make me look good. You only have to be half-decent next to them to look like a saint.”

[ballycastlepyxistravers-blog]

Pyxis caught the joke as much as he knew there was a serious undertone to it. He knew that feeling quite well, though at least he hadn’t wound up pushed away from his best friend in the same vein as he had his former wife. But then, Pyxis hadn’t really had friends then. He had teammates, and those were so new at the time that they barely counted. “You learn to handle all the things you’re not used to pretty quickly,” he offered, a casual tone to his words despite the commiserating nature of them. “When Char left and went to the States, I didn’t even know how much upkeep a flat took. It’s easy to figure everything out when you’ve little choice in it.” He shrugged the share off quite quickly, though, and offered a laugh.

“No dropping dead, I can promise you that. It’s… somewhat a social visit, somewhat a business one. My shoulder’s rough. The right one.” He lifted a hand up, patting it twice and rolling it back as an afterthought. “Dunno if you remember it or not, it was kind of a throwaway game at the end of Seventh Year, but I’d overworked it all year without getting it looked at, so when I took a Bludger to it during that last Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game of the year, it did a number on me.” A number meaning, of course, that Pyxis had gone down for the first and only time he’d ever had to back out of a Quidditch match, and magical surgeries even had only done so much. “It’s not bad off,” he added quickly. “Not enough to keep me from playing, for sure. Not bad enough that the media’s noticed it either. But upkeep for it means a check-in with Rory almost every Saturday during the season, just to be safe.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Good to know. I don’t think I could handle feeling this lost all the time.” It was a personal admission, almost a confession, but he brushed it off in the same casual way Pyxis had. There previous conversations had always been light teasing between competitors, so it felt as if neither of them quite knew how to handle the more serious subject matter. Despite that, Dylan felt compelled to talk to him. Their situations weren’t that similar - they were both divorced with children, but that was where the comparison ended. It was more the feeling he got from Pyxis, that regardless of his reputation, he was a sound guy.

“Social visit, got you.” He raised his eyebrow suggestively, matching his tone of voice, although he was mostly joking. The more he got to know his captain, the more Dylan doubted the truth of his constantly changing relationship status. “That’s rough, mate, but it obviously hasn’t stopped you yet. And at least you’re keeping an eye on it, a lot of players wouldn’t do that sort of thing. Rory Webster, right? She’s a good healer, too. Bit all over the place, and obviously mad about Quidditch, but she knows what she’s doing.”

[barkeepamberfonesca-blog]

Have A Good Time | Amber + Dylan

[barkeepamberfonesca-blog]

There wasn’t much going on that morning – a few people making posts about their dates with different Quidditchers, a few others moaning over their lack of a winning bid – but it was enough to occupy Amber until the sound of Dylan approaching with the host came. She looked up as he sat, offering her sweetest smile; it was an easy look, a habit that came from too many hours behind the bar and too much motivation to put him into the best spirits she could manage. 

“No worries,” she returned, waving a hand lightly. “There’s coffee coming, if you want that, and cola for myself, but I’ve not ordered food yet. You’re not terribly late, don’t worry. I’ve only been here a few minutes now.” It was an easy reassurance, accompanied by a playful wink and a laugh, and Amber lounged back in her seat comfortably, nudging one of the two menus on the table over toward his side.

“Get anything you’d like, it’s on me,” she offered. She knew what she was getting already – she always got the same thing here, a Continental breakfast, and so she hadn’t looked over the menu at all. “Everything’s good, really. The full English is brilliant, and their danishes are to die for. If you eat anything like Besset did before he retired, I’m guessing you’ll want quite a bit, so don’t worry about prices. I’ve got plenty.”

She paused at the end of her offer as a waitress came over with her requested coffee and cola, offering up an easy smile and requesting another minute to let Dylan look over the menu before they ordered. Once the girl stepped away, going to another table to check on them, she leaned forward and took a sip of her drink, resting her chin on her palm afterward. “You dressed up pretty to come out today, hmm?” she observed in an easy tease. “I knew I should have gone for a skirt. Damn jeans are just too tempting.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Coffee's perfect, thanks.” The smile on his face was persistent, but not forced. Amber was usually able to make him smile easily, but he tended to put that down to her doing her job well. He was reminded again how lucky he was to have got her, someone he was familiar and almost comfortable with. The alternatives could have been so much worse - when he’d signed up for the auction, he’d been steeling himself for a day of interrogation about his personal life and the move from Kenmare.

“I think I might have to go for the Full English, then. I’m not supposed to eat that much fried stuff, but since you’re paying, I might as well.” There was an amused lilt to his voice, a slight smirk on his face, disguising the discomfort he felt about her paying for his meal. He took a sip of the cofffee when it arrived, remembering how often Ella would tell him not to drink it and feeling the same freedom he often did these days. Once he’d got over the initial adjustments, he found there were a few things being married had stopped him from - spending time with a beautiful woman like Amber being one of them. It may just have been his optimistic side desperately searching for an upside, but it made him feel better.

“Well, you paid good money, thought I might as well make an effort.” He’d ditched his usual t-shirt and scruffy jeans - Ella had called them ‘dad jeans’, which he’d always scoffed at but secretly liked - in favour of something smarter and more tailored. “Yeah, but you can wear jeans without looking like you spent the night on a park bench, which is what I normally look like, according to several sources.” 

[holyheadangelburke-blog]

“I think the weirdest thing so far is just people actually being this interested in talking to me. I mean, have you seen how high the bids are? And they’re blind bids. How does anyone know they’re going to end up with someone they’ll actually want to spend time with? It’s mental.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Yeah, it isn’t half weird. They’ll say it’s because it’s for charity, but it’s actually a status thing, showing off, like. But the money goes to a good cause regardless, so I’m not about to stop participating.”

[photographermaritzaruiz-blog]

“You’re a more humble man than half of the Quidditchers playing now, I swear. The ones that model seem to love nothing more than seeing their face everywhere.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“I’d say it comes with age, but Pyxis and Shafiq are both older than me and I don’t think either of them know the meaning of the word.”

[barkeepamberfonesca-blog]

Really, Amber hadn’t quite expected the agreement from him, the easy little flirt – assuming he was flirting just the same as she was, that was. It drew a laugh from her, though, and she ducked her head with it briefly, lifting it with a wide grin. “I like to think I’d be lucky enough not to have my face aimed at, but I suppose we can call that a blessing in disguise. I’m better suited for the pretty barkeep role than I am for the Chaser role anyway, I like to think. I doubt I’d get such a smile from you if we were competitors and all.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“I don’t take the rivalries that seriously, to be fair, and I doubt I would in your case. Still, I’d rather have you getting me drinks - and that’s not just because you’ve promised me some free ones, honest.” He was still surprised by how easy he was finding this conversation, and that he’d actually managed to make her laugh. “Do you ever miss playing?”

[laurienshafiq-blog]

“Of course we can win! You have to keep your head in the game, Morgan. Come on!”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Got it. I won’t let you down, mate.”

[holyheadangelburke-blog]

“Oh. Oh, that’s not too bad, then. All of this is still just… strange. I feel like I should have paid way more attention to all these press event type things before I made the team, but you know. Hindsight.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“You’ll pick it up, don’t worry. The first year is always a bit mental, but things will seem a bit less weird after that. They’ll always be strange, but you get used to the strangeness.”

[barkeepamberfonesca-blog]

She liked that she could make him laugh. Amber always liked the sound of it, but especially now, knowing that those were probably few and far between since things had fallen apart with his wife. And so she offered a laugh of her own in return, shrugging a shoulder. “I have a wonderful talent on my side, you see, called a pretty face. It’s a curse, really. Even if I wanted to get in a brawl, I couldn’t – no one wants to damage the pretty one, after all.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“You do, at that.” Dylan felt strangely liberated - here he was, able to compliment a woman without having to clarify that he didn’t want or expect anything in return. That feeling cancelled out any sort of discomfort he might have felt about flirting (were they flirting?), something Dylan had no experience of except with Ella. “It would be a terrible shame, really, if someone were to damage it. It’s a good job you don’t play Quidditch any more, else a Bludger might mess it up.”

[photographermaritzaruiz-blog]

“Many of them do small jobs, at least – an ad here and there and whatnot – but you know, the Quidditch physique is better desired than the standard modeling one. Besides, you’re plenty handsome enough for something like that. It just strikes me that it would bore you. It does most people, I think.”

“If only an editor believed that as well. One day, that’ll be the case. One day.”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“It would drive me insane. It’s bad enough seeing my face all over Quidditch stuff, I don’t think I could cope with it being anywhere else.”

“If I ever get the chance to vouch for you, I will do.”

[bevinjonesy-blog]

Bevin nodded. He was positive that the best way for Dylan to get through his feelings that moment in time would be to take some frustration out on a Bludger, and there was the added advantage of getting some decent practice in. “Extra practice is never a bad thing,” he agreed. “We can go and get what we need and meet at the pitch in, say, half an hour?”

[ballycastlebeater-blog]

“Yeah, sounds good.” Dylan had started to walk away when he turned back, a strained expression on his face. “Hey, thanks, man. I know I’m not great company at the minute, and I haven’t been since I joined the team, but I really appreciate everything you’re doing. And I’ll try not to be such a miserable git all the time.”