Chatter

Black coffee, the dark roast please, was Cass' beverage of choice - its scent infiltrated the air and was simply too much to resist. She relinquished a few crumpled Muggle bills (from her mum's secret stash) from her pocket for the pleasure. Cass draped her arms across the counter as she waited, always taking up too much space for her lithe form but never really noticing it herself. When she felt a bump against her, she turned her head and smiled at her newly arrived blonde friend. "Hola," she greeted, nudging her back. Cass' coffee came out about the same time Ashley put her order in, and Cass wrapped her hands around the warmth of her cup while nodding approvingly of the other girl's choice. That sounded good; she may have to sneak a bite or three of that muffin.

Ashley's quip turned Cass' smile into a grin. She wrinkled her nose at her friend and raised her cup in the air. "Can't have me falling off my-," she caught herself short, casting a glance around. Muggles. Right. Any eavesdroppers probably wouldn't quite understand why Cass would be falling off a broomstick. "My game," she finished fantastically, with a wink. Before she could really miff up until they found somewhere a bit more private to chat, Cass turned most of her attention back to the counter, watching the barista make Ashley's order. She tilted her head toward her friend and eyed the girl scrupulously. "You doing alright? Been a hell of a month, huh?"

"Oh, probably all the rest of the Cannons." Ah, rivalry. Cass wrinkled her nose at her friend, grinning toothily. She loved the competition, and she loved even more that she and Ashley could talk smack to one another all the livelong day and still be friends at the end of it. Cass couldn't deny that the way many people felt about her team was true, but at least Ashley was witty about it.

With the turn of the conversation, Cass watched her friend carefully, frowning in solidarity with her. She didn't know how the girl did it. Ashley was just as dedicated to Quidditch as she was, plus she was a Healer. How did she possibly have the time? Exhausted couldn't have been a good enough word for what she was feeling, especially now. "I bet. You didn't get...hurt, or anything, did you?" Cass cast a cursory glance over the blonde, no obvious signs of injury that she could see. She probably would have heard about any said injuries, anyway. Injury didn't bode well for Quidditch players. "Oh my goblins, me too," Cass empathized quickly, and dramatically, with a long exhale of air. She was absolutely ready for the world to just get its shit together and get along. If she and Ashley, two rival chasers, could do it - surely anyone could. Maybe Cass' worldview was a little boxed in by her obsession with Quidditch, but still. It made sense to her. She returned to grinning at her friend, waving a hand at her question. "I'm fine, fine. Everyone's cool." None of her family was really associated with the hospital or any Muggle tourist attractions, thank Merlin. Her boyfriend was, but he was thankfully fine, too.

Ashley received her purchases and scouted a place to sit. Cass turned and looked with her, eyeing a table over by a sunny row of windows with no one else really close by. "There?" She pointed with her coffee.

"Oh, come on. We're nothing if not fast," Cass laughed, throwing in a wink. Truth be told, if Quidditch was a broom race, the Cannons might have a chance. Unfortunately, the sport required a bit more skill than just zipping around the pitch, and that is where the problem lay. "If you would just drop that iron grip on the ball every once in a while..." They might be able to catch up with Ashley, but they wouldn't have a clue what to do when they got there (or maybe the clue, just not quite the skill). The little buggers; and oh, how Cass adored them.

She adored her friend Ashley, too, and was very happy to find that the girl seemed generally okay. She said was okay, but what Slytherin would ever admit when they weren't? Cass made sure to look her over carefully before believing her; she examined the girl's words, too, for anything hidden there. Ashley was candid enough to satisfy Cass, so eventually Cass relaxed back into a smile. "Good; I'm glad you're okay. I don't need any unfair advantage on the pitch." There, that was more their speed. That, and looking upon the world with that especially critical eye bestowed upon Slytherins. Cass shook her head at Ashley's observations, sighing. "I really think it is. Who raised these people?" She smiled knowingly at her friend, that being more of a jab at the pair of them than the world at large. Neither Ashley nor Cass' upbringing had exactly been helpful - but they'd both turned out alright anyway, in Cass' humble opinion.

Cass followed Ashley over to their table, snuggling into the warm sunshine as she sat down and got settled. Her coffee was cooling marvelously, and she sipped as Ashley got settled, too. She grinned at the girl over the lip of her cup when she suddenly got very muffin-protective. "No Bludgers around to protect you now, are there?" She giggled and shot her hand out, feigning going for the muffin much like she would a Quaffle. She wouldn't actually just steal someone's food right out of their hand - she had a proper upbringing, remember?

"And here I thought friends were supposed to help each other out," Cass said in mock hurt, laying a dramatic hand over her heart and ruining the whole thing by not being quite able to drop her smile. She tried not to speak ill of her teammates, even in jest, because really they were trying their best and that's all she could ask - but that didn't mean one bit that Ashley didn't have a good point. Having some semblance of aim was just as important as hitting the ball hard enough, and her lovely Beaters struggled quite a bit with that still. Cass wrinkled her nose up at her friend, poking her tongue out. "That's right. And don't forget it. Fancy a race later?" She raised her own eyebrow, still grinning. Cass wasn't as horrendous a player as her team affiliation might suggest. She was at least average, just young. She matched up pretty well with Ashley in some aspects, and if there was one thing she liked more than teasing the dickens out of the girl, it was competing with her.

Cass rolled her eyes at the thought of advantage, laughing. "Please. Don't let the reporters hear you say that, now. I can already see the headlines: 'Chudley Cannon Cheaters'. It has too good of a ring to it not to lead." Cass considered one of her biggest problems to be the media. She loved seeing herself on the pages of Quidditch Quarterly, to be sure, but the pictures were usually accompanied by not so nice words. Bad for morale, that was. How could her players get better if the people watching were always tearing them down? Cass laughed again at Ashley's comment on parenting, nodding her head and sending curls bouncing. "Seriously seriously."

"Oho, I see!" Cass exclaimed after Ashley threw away her best Quidditch threat, her tone in itself challenging. She placed her hands on the edge of the table and eyed the muffin, looking between it and Ashley's face like she was waiting for her moment to strike. Good things came to those who waited, though, and eventually Ashley acquiesced and tore the muffin in half. Cass smiled and looked up. "Even with one hand, bet I could fly circles around you." She was really pushing for that race. The itch to get on her broom was always there, and it grew whenever Quidditch came up in conversation. Which was pretty much always, around Cass. She took a bite of muffin and chewed thoughtfully while she thought of how to answer Ashley's question. "Not too bad. I've got everybody convinced practice is actually an important event to attend now, at least. Mostly. Now I've just got to figure out what to do with them now they're all there." Cass tapped her chin, formations and charts crowding her brain. There was one team in particular Cass was always eager to scheme about with Ashley. "Got anything good on what Puddlemere's up to lately?"

"Good point, good point," Cass finally conceded, winking at her friend and nudging her back. She supposed they sort of had to be pretty darn good, helpful friends if they were on rival Quidditch teams and still scheming together to take down the big guys. They also had to be pretty darn good friends to challenge one another so incessantly and get away with it. That was one of Cass' favorite things about Ashley, really. She always kept Cass on her toes, ready to prove herself. Ashley fed her competitive spirit something wonderful. "I'll make you eat those words, Avery. If you're so sure, how about later today?" The competitiveness in her voice stretched all the way from her wide grin to her arched eyebrows.

Ashley was full of good points today. Cass couldn't help but laugh even harder at her musings about the Cannons and any possible cheating. "Well, there's an idea...," she tapped her chin and looked thoughtful for all of one second before dropping it to grin again. Cass would never cheat. As a former Slytherin she supposed it was somewhat expected of her to bend the world to her will, but such behavior reminded her far too much of her mother and Cass worked actively to be everything Mama Myers was not. The dedication and desire to be the best she couldn't deny from the woman, but by principle she aspired to be half the goodhearted person her father was. Even if it did make her look like a bloody Gryffindor sometimes.

There she was again! Ashley was three for three by this point, always ready to bring Cass' grandstanding challenges back to reality. Cass giggled at Ashley's look of triumph, shrugging and also indulging once more in a bite of muffin. "Like I said," she chewed, "We'll see who's right on the pitch." With that settled - with as much teasing as they were doing, they were bound to have a competition of skill soon enough - the conversation took a turn toward the more serious. Maybe not serious for most people, but for two people very dedicated to their sport, this was the meat of the conversation for Ashley and Cass. She nodded enthusiastically at Ashley's musings. "Definitely. I've got a good feeling about them this year, really. They're certainly shaping up into something." Cass found optimism looked much better on her as a captain than anything else the magazines and reporters suggested she might be.

Cass was happy to see Ashley perk up at the mention of Puddlemere, their reasons for excitement quite different from those of PU's fans. Cass would do just about anything to knock Puddlemere from the top, and she knew Ashley probably would too. Still...there was the matter of Addy Stark, as Ashley quickly reminded her. Cass liked the girl, and it was so tragic what happened. It almost felt wrong to scheme against her and her team right this very moment. "Poor Addy," Cass sighed. She nodded at Ashley. "She needs Quidditch, probably now more than ever. We should do something nice for her." Cass chewed at her lip and stared into her coffee, pondering what two rival players could do for a third. Maybe she would write the girl sometime at least...Leaving that thought to hang for now, Cass looked back up at Ashley at her question, grin returning slightly. "Not really. Just the usual about Wayland. Working extra hard, reaping the benefits, blah blah blah." Cass actually admired the captain of PU, but never in a million years would she let anyone else know that.

It was on, so on. Ashley stepped up to Cass' challenge beautifully, so it looked like there was going to be some broom racing later on in the day. Good. Already, Cass was getting restless from sitting still too long. She loved to talk and gossip with the best of them, to be sure, but she usually needed to be doing something else while doing so - jogging, yoga, whatever. The coffee probably wasn't helping either. Honestly, people like Cass didn't need caffeine - she was pretty much always ready to go. "See you on the pitch," Cass said, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out, the whole tough-girl thing she always tried to pull off always ruined by proclivity for childish mannerisms and giggles. She couldn't help it that competition was just fun for her. That included smack-talking her own team - she nodded and laughed once more when Ashley suggested the Cannons definitely needed some sort of shape to aspire to now.

Ashley didn't seem so enthusiastic to talk about Stark, and even less so to actually do something for the girl. Cass shrugged it off and smiled at her friend, shaking her head. "No, we don't have to." She took another sip of coffee and glanced out the window, mind still wandering for a moment as she thought of what exactly she could do for Addy, at least. Maybe a workout, or something..."I'll think of something." Her attentions turned back to Ashley a moment later - or rather back to Alec Wayland, the bugger. She too rolled her eyes, hard, when it was brought to her attention that he had yet again been deemed Most Eligible (really, Cass already knew that, Witch Weekly was her favorite magazine and that picture of Wayland was a pretty good one...). "I'm sure we'll be hearing all about that at the games this year."