is this weird? (Marilyn)

Marilyn never had too much ambitions. Her family wasn't even the most posh of the wealthy half-bloods, but the Daily Prophet funds allowed for a rather comfortable life. She had gone through the singular dream of following in the footsteps of her mother and becoming a journalist. Although her name had actually become decently respected among the general public, it didn't come without some controversies, especially accusations of nepotism and stories from her Hogwarts days bubbling up to the surface.

She cringed quite often when her mind drifts back to the days of less responsibility. All of those years had been spent desperately trying to earn her mother's validation in the practice of yellow journalism when she could've used all that energy to foster genuine connections and give herself the space to enjoy life before worrying about making an income. Why did she have to be so cruel? Marilyn still lacked a filter, but she's learned tact over the past few years of being an actual, serious journalist. She couldn't rely on her parentage forever.

This wasn't one of the most important interviews she'd ever give, but it was stressful enough knowing the subject in question. They were in the same house and year and their relationship was tumultuous. Marilyn was the victim of his immature antics, especially with the infamous notepad incident where she was almost branded a whore for not wanting to lose one of the objects she had kept dear to her heart. She couldn't stand him! Yet, at night, she'd think about him. She'd try to steal glances while in the common room and Great Hall. Behind the scenes, she almost dropped the interview to give to somebody else at the Daily Prophet as she feared confronting her feelings. After all, Marilyn didn't want the past to cloud her judgment, especially when his reputation was already shaky enough in the sphere of public relations.

It was frightening to get so up close and personal to Wade MacKenna after hardly speaking since graduation, but she needed to be mature about it and face her fears. Marilyn just wanted to do her job well and show him in the fairest light possible instead of prying for the sake of sensationalism like she would've ten years ago. She arrived to the location of the interview and mustered a smile. Be professional. Be professional.

"Hello, Mr. MacKenna. I'm Marilyn Grayson from The Daily Prophet, and I'm here to interview you." Her hands slightly shook with sweat as she held onto her notepad.

@Wade MacKenna

He was crunching through the ice at the bottom of the glass when she'd entered the room, and had to suffer the unpleasantness of swallowing it down quickly. He put the glass down gently on the table and made solid eye contact with her, although there was a slight narrow of his eyes where the cold still stung at his sensitive teeth. Hopefully she put two and two together and didn't think that his expression was contorting due to her arrival.

For a while he was silent and... drank it all in. The situation. He remembered all the time and effort he'd devoted to making her school life as difficult as possible, and that at the time it was his way of punishing her invasiveness. She was a woman now. Her hair had been blow-dried and put through rollers to give it a lift from her scalp, or do he presumed. Having had some experience of women and their tedious beauty regimes, he could tell. She still had those pale, doll-like eyes that hadn't fatigued. He'd always liked her eyes.

"Hi," He said finally, and laughed a little. "I know who you are, Marilyn." The staunch professionalism was very alluring. "You're going to call me Wade though, aren't ya? You're makin' me sound like an insurance salesman. Mr MacKenna..." His laughter didn't have that cruel mockery that it once did. It was actually good-natured.

@Marilyn Grayson

It was odd seeing him for the first time in years. Sure, they were likely in places such as Diagon or Hogsmeade at the same time within floods of people, but Marilyn had gotten so focused on trying to make it that she didn't pay too much mind on who was around her. It made her realize just how short and meaningless school was. Everyone she sat in lectures with were all living a life of their own whether they stayed within Britain or went away. Wade actually looked cleaned up. As cleaned up as a quidditch player could be. She was rather impressed although his ruggedness from their youth was actually quite cute. He was definitely a complete man now, but she needed to keep her cool.

"Okay, then, Wade," Marilyn replied with a small giggle not unlike the one she's had whenever she heard something especially juicy. Her priorities have shifted, but she still got some sort of joy from coming across new information. "I have to say, you really proved those prefects, professors, and the Head Boy and Girl wrong..." She was jubilant that he did. It was always nice watching him fly around on the pitch during school games...

Pulling out a pen, Marilyn stuck it behind her ear in the meantime. It was important that her subject had gotten comfortable first before starting the interview.

@Wade MacKenna

That was it, that was the playful little giggle. He remembered hearing it ring in the common room and complaining to the nearest person that it was shrill. But it wasn't, it wasn't the least bit unenjoyable. It stirred something within him that he'd mistook for annoyance (so many things back then did), but he knew now that he'd wanted to hear that girlish giggling whenever he did something particularly stupid. She'd giggle and say he was silly, whilst sat in his lap...

These weren't the types of things he wanted to be thinking right now. The bridge of his nose threatened to pull into a frown, but it merely twitched.

Running my fingers through her hair while she laughs--

Stop. Stop... this was ridiculous. He wasn't some teen with a school crush.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, there's some satisfaction in that," He admitted, "But I'd prefer they remember me as I was. At least I gave them a challenge. There's just other ways of keeping people on their toes now."

He grinned. He wanted to ask about her, but felt the so how have you been line was redundant at this point.

"And you did exactly what you set out to do, which I always thought was pretty cool about you," He admitted, flicking a stray piece of parchment across the table. Some habits never left him. It was actually a nervous habit. A way of not having to look someone in the eye for a while.

He did look up at her again, though. "Enjoying the perks?"

@Marilyn Grayson

"I honestly wish I did behave a bit better when I was younger, but I guess I was able to get the pettiness out of my system sooner..." Marilyn wondered why her mother was so ruthless in the papers; was she compensating for something? Or was she taking out her anger from settling down young on everybody else? Why couldn't she have shown more kindness to her sister all those years ago?

She smiled when she heard him say that. "Well, it was the only thing I've known my entire life." Her mother gave her no other choice. Well, it was hard not to when both sides were full of writers and journalists. It was fortunate that it was something she genuinely enjoyed even if her intents back then were more malicious. She had felt it was the only way to earn her mother's approval. Now, Marilyn just cared about doing a good job.

"I suppose if you consider the perks to be traveling and receiving media passes to events... It's actually tough and competitive." If anything, Marilyn was lucky to have been born in the family she was. It made going into this field much easier. "What about you?"

Marilyn had to stay professional. There was no way she was going to act how she was feeling internally. So many feelings pulsated through her veins as her brain periodically reminded her of how Wade used to act like such a bad boy all those years ago. It was rare when they had ended up in detention together. While she was stuck cleaning some equipment for Day Gone, her heart would flutter seeing Wade put his muscles to work.

Merlin, she was such a school-girl still.

@Wade MacKenna

If she was misbehaving at school, he was a nuclear warhead. Although she was extremely nosy and enjoyed making a mockery of everyone, he enjoyed making a mockery of everyone by being the most abhorrent brute he could possibly be. Part of it was his upbringing, part of it was a way of defending himself. He liked to entertain the idea of having no regrets, but secretly he did. It took courage to admit to regret.

"I don't know anythin' about being tough and competitive," He jested, speaking first of his reputation as a teen and secondly of his position as a sports player. "Let's just say we stuck to what we're good at. I just learnt that you can smash 'em up whilst sticking to the rules."

Wade had completely left his family behind. It had been several years since he'd contacted any of them, and he preferred it that way.

"... it's hard to tell with you if this interview has actually started or not, y'know."

@Marilyn Grayson

She supposed that explained his approach to life. Even though her family didn't have pure blood, there was still the many expectations those born within wizarding society had. Part of Wade's appeal must've been that he didn't have to answer to that. Being born outside of it, he could do whatever that pleased him. Marilyn wished there was more of that flexibility. Oh well.

"It hasn't yet. Are you ready to start it?"

@Wade MacKenna