* . ∙ •✧ * JACKSON MITCHELL —
▵ — Suffice it to say that, for the first time, Adalind had no idea what she was in for. She hadn’t even had to insist on coming for this call - Rage had actually been the one to inform her about it in the first place. Of course, he had no reason to suspect that the poor no-majs who’d gotten caught up in the mess would be her childhood friends. Why would he? But the minute Ada heard about the story, she knew. Not just because of the general description - but who on Earth else would it have been? What other no-majs would get themselves into a situation like that?
She had considered not telling Rage at all, but both she and he knew that she was incapable of playing stupid. Fortunately, that only made his resolve into going ahead with her stronger.
Which boiled it down to a matter of what to say and how to say it. When Jack and Tommy first left, they’d asked her to come - and Adalind had seriously considered it. It didn’t sound so bad, leaving America and MACUSA and everything else behind, starting a new life with new people in a new place where everything could be forgotten. But there was no such thing as outrunning the past - that, Ada was sure of.
She was also sure that there would be a fair amount of “are you serious?” and “why didn’t you tell me?” and “hang on, what?” that came with the big reveal: “I’m a witch, like the girl you housed in your apartment and the girl that Tommy went on what sounds like a very dangerous adventure with”. Adalind didn’t bother rehearsing what she would really say, figuring it was better to let it come in the moment. Rehearsals were for her days at the Academy.
Ada approached the flat and didn’t allow herself to hesitate before she knocked. It hadn’t been that long since they’d left - Jack and Tommy would look just the same, she was sure of it - but she couldn’t help but wonder what would be different when they opened the door. It took her a moment to decipher why and then she remembered - things would be different because they’re one step closer to finding out about Katya Antipova.
Ada cleared her throat adopted a very false posh accent, a coy smile playing at her lips. “ I have a delivery for a Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Barnes? Do hurry, because it’s terribly heavy, if you don’t mind! ”
⎯ ✴︎ Jack wasn’t naive enough to not think the world was dangerous. He’d lived in a city all his life. It was just a part of being raised. You knew the world wasn’t a nice place. And try as anyone might in fairytales and children movies, he just knew that there would always be this underlying darkness everywhere. It didn’t mean he had no faith in humanity. He knew a lot of good people. He knew some of the best people. He saw good acts happen every day. But he wasn’t about to underestimate what the world threw at him.
So when he found about magic and the fact that basically World War II was happening in it’s world, he was maybe surprised, but didn’t find it unbelievable. Well, magic... it took him a bit to wrap his head around, but the fact that there were bad people doing bad things in that community was very easy to believe. And it made his daily life so much less confusing. He felt informed. When there was a story about how a family was randomly murdered without any trace how in the paper, he knew what happened there now.
And it made him angry. Not that that was really a surprise. People were dying and just because one group of them felt like they were better. He couldn’t name a single good person he knew that would think otherwise. Even if someone was “neutral” in the situation, he doubted that, if they really knew people were being murdered for sick reasons, they would be okay with it too. Still, he was angry because they felt they could get away with it, and even more angry because they actually were.
His thoughts went to this every time he read the paper. Because it seemed like there was always something new in it about something going wrong that no one knew the source of. This time it wasn’t really about deaths or even injuries, just that people everywhere were developing some sort of depressed state. He glanced to the prophet that sat on the coffee table too. Even if he couldn’t see them... he knew what the source of that problem was too thanks to someone managing to slip him and Thomas a copy.
Sighing, he dropped the actual, muggle, paper next to the magic one and shook his head. This was what shit creek felt like. Then there was a knock on the door that made him jump and by the time he’d turned his head to look in the direction of it, someone was talking in a fake accent ( though he assumed it was on purpose ) about some delivery. He couldn’t remember him or Thomas expecting anything, but whoever it was used their names. His heart pounded a little harder once when he thought of the possibility of it being someone after them.
But he reasoned, they probably wouldn’t knock so he got to his feet. “Coming,” he called, but got to the door before the person would probably turn around and leave. He opened it quickly and probably less cautiously than he should’ve. And he was caught in surprise by who was standing there.
He hadn’t seen her since he’d left for London. They’re been apart for a long period before, but this reuniting came as just as much of a shock. They’d managed to keep in good enough contact this time, but that’s why it didn’t make sense that she hadn’t said she was coming. Maybe it was just an all-around surprise.
An easy smile crossed his face before a not so easy statement came out, “Hey... you.” Then he shook his head at how awkward that was. “I mean hello... hi. It’s good to see you. I haven’t... I...” There were a lot of things he wanted to say about being apart. Things he’d thought about saying after he left that he should have said and told himself that if he saw her again he’d say them, but here they were and he felt like a thirteen year old. “How... how are you? I didn’t know you were coming. What are you doing here? Not that you need a reason. I’m happy to see you.” Just shit was hitting the fan there and it was probably the least safe time to be in England. “I missed you.”
