moving on up (tag: sanjay)

[HADLEY DRAKE]

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Moving boxes? Check. Sore arms? Check. Beer in hand? Check.

Moving house was a pain.

A chimpanzee of slightly-above-average intelligence could do it with ease, which made it significantly more difficult for her.

Hadley sat on the floor of their (their!) new home, taking a break from her hauling duties to rifle through some of the boxes encircling her. A thinking man would have labeled things better. The type of person Hadley sometimes longed to be would have dutifully written helpful and organized notes on the boxes. Things like, “kitchen - open immediately” and “books - history - 879 BC to 100 AD,” maybe even a helpful little “living room TV setup” written neatly on the side. However, that was the type of person who got up at 5am to do sunrise yoga and drink purified water with herbs and fruits from mason jars. Hadley rolled out of bed and ate a morning (afternoon) pickle and, as such, was decidedly not the type to write anything useful on her boxes. No, hers just had “STUFF” scrawled haphazardly on the top. And that was if she was lucky. It made it difficult to find a spoon amongst the piles of things thrown into each box.

“Cool rock,” she muttered, taking a stone from the current box in hand before, unhelpfully, putting it right back in so she could inevitably grab it again on her next rifling. This box seemed, so far, to consist mostly of neat rocks, toy cars, pocket journals (originally for work-related note taking, but each one devolving into a place to stick cool beer bottle labels almost immediately), 3 kitchen knives, and a VHS tape of the 1999 women’s World Cup final match. She did not have a VHS player. All in all, incredibly important items. No spoon, though. Not even a fork. Please, she just wanted some cereal.

It wasn’t entirely her fault. Hadley only moved once as an adult. If she went anywhere to work for an extended time, she’d rent a place and live minimally, always intending to return to her home base at some point. When she collected things like cool rocks, it wasn’t with the thought that she might have to move it someday. How was she to know that one day she would find a lovely lad with which she would buy a nice little house with a lot of natural light and, honestly, some very fine wood floors. Or, maybe slats that looked like nifty wood floors. Whatever. It did the trick. The important part here is that they bought a house.

There was rustling from behind as a box was set down with care, which told her that it was not Sanjay. “Sparky said he needs you outside,” Dev said, pulling out the nickname she’d given Sanjay after watching him try to jury-rig something that resulted in a large zap and a screeching Jay. Dev enjoyed being a little shit and throwing around whatever nicknames they gave each other. Nothing was sacred. “Alright,” she wasn’t really paying attention, still digging through the box. “Oh! Hey bud,” she started, pulling the item she found earlier out again and holding it towards the boy. “Check out this cool rock!” Dev hinged at the hips and leaned forward to get a better look. He made an approving whistling sound, exclaimed “cool!” and spun on his heel to march back out of the room without another word. She would have to work on his passion for very neato rocks later.

All thoughts of rocks (and the missing spoons) left her mind as she made her way back to the moving van parked in front of the house and heard Sanjay’s high pitched struggle noises. She approached with amusement, which she didn’t bother hiding, as he wrestled with one of the heavier boxes. Hadley draped her arm across the top of the box, casually adding more weight. “Whatcha doin’, babe?”

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TAG: SANJAY DAYAL
NOTES: i don't know what i'm doing

[SANJAY DAYAL]

Moving day. MOVING DAY!

Sanjay and Hadley. Moving in together. Not just one of them moving to the other’s place, but they had actually gotten a place together, a whole ass house up north. Hadley wanted to live near a beach and Sanjay would happily go anywhere she wanted to go but also ‘please somewhere there is fun stuff to do’ so the decision fell on Newcastle upon Tyne - not pretentious like London, near water, and also known for having a vibrant nightlife. Perfect.

Of course Dev got to have a say as a resident of the Dayal/Drake household, but he didn’t have many requests besides having his bedroom be as far away from the master bedroom as possible to minimize socialization (okay buddy but don't come running to us next time you have a nightmare about taxes) and free access to the garage (a bit odd but they could worry about that one later). Both easily arranged.

So they were all up for the move.

Now, moving was a time consuming and tiresome ordeal for people that were unable to just wave their wands about and have all their belongings just pack and move themselves. But Hadley and Sanjay were both magic so the move was going smoothly, right? Right? Wrong.

The reason it was taking 84 years was because of a tiny little mishap during Sanjay's shift the previous day. He was never attempting to do 'parkour' again. Probably. Not if he didn't want any more broken wands, in any case.

How it happened?

He had been chasing an agile little pickpocket through Diagon Alley, watching the kid jump over obstacles and hop fences like it was nothing. Sanjay, trying to catch up, had attempted to copy his moves. Problem was, Sanjay was not agile. He was also not tall.

The old man whose cart Sanjay had tried to leap over like a pommel horse hadn't been too happy about his cabbages spilling into the cobbled street when Sanjay barreled into the cart like a spooked deer. "Your cabbages?! What about my wand! Look at it!" Sanjay had shouted back like it had been the man's fault (to be fair, it was to a degree - don't park your cabbage cart in the middle of the street, lads) and held it up, the broken bits dangling by the thin unicorn hair in the middle.

Sanjay hadn't had time to replace it yet and history has taught us that broken wands lead to slug projectiles so here he was, hauling boxes the muggle way. He was tired, thirsty and sore, but at least he wasn't suffering alone; Hadley, being the amazing, solidary woman that she was had decided to not use her wand during the move and suffer with him. It somehow led to a bet about who could carry the most boxes but honestly, there were no winners here; they would have been done hours ago if they had just used Hadley's wand. Still, it was a sweet sentiment so Sanjay said nothing about it. Dev was saying plenty for the both of them anyway.

"Why are you complaining, we're not making you do any of the work,” Sanjay pointed out after the fifth sigh from Dev.

"I'm supervising."

Sanjay snorted and went to grab another box but stopped when he caught a glimpse of something black in the corner of the van they had rented. Upon closer inspection he realized that he was looking at a dead rat. Grimacing, he took a quick step back.

Ok, he really needed to say something now.

"Dev, please go get Hadley."

While Dev went to fetch her, Sanjay moved some boxes out of the way, struggling with a particularly heavy one labeled 'Garage shit' that could contain anything from cinder blocks to a bowling ball.

He felt Hadley's presence before he heard her, and let out a big "Oooph" when she added more weight to the box. "Buckling under all this weight, what about you?" he replied, taking a step to the side to dislodge her arm so he could put the box down. "What's in this box anyway? Actually never mind, I'm getting distracted. There's a dead rat in the van. Can you please magic it away?" He looked up at her and blinked his big brown eyes in his version of the puppy face. "I really don't fancy getting dead rat gunk on my hands."

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Tag: HADLEY DRAKE

[HADLEY DRAKE]

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She was being, like, so supportive.

How many people would decide not to use magic to make their wandless boyfriend feel better? Not many, she figured. Probably because not as many people were that stupid, but that’s neither here nor there. To her, using magic to finish their work would have just been showboating and not at all the humble and honorable thing to do. She was extremely good at being humble, obviously. Like, top ten in the world probably. Dev didn’t appreciate any of this, evidenced by his hourly sighs.

Honestly, Sanjay had looked so dejected when he showed her the splintered mess that she actually felt bad for him. Wands were special and she clutched hers a little more protectively as a reflex to seeing his so mangled. You’d think someone would have come up with carbon fiber or titanium wands by now. Something with some longevity. Kevlar wands. She should have been an inventor.

“Oh, you know, hanging around,” she said, letting her arm fall limply as he moved the box. Hadley caught a glimpse of the writing on the box and only mildly remembered what it contained. 'Garage shit' could be anything, really. Distinct possibility that it was bricks and a beer can collection. And perhaps a circular saw, but that wasn’t her business. She was bad at packing. Again, Hadley never expected to move. Especially not in with a nice lad and a kid. Here she was, though, hauling boxes with her makeshift little family into their new home. Really warmed the ol’ blood pumper.

If there was a moment of silent introspection to be had there, it was immediately cast into the ditch by the mention of a dead rat. Hadley started to give him an incredulous look, as if to say, “really? You pulled me out of the house for a rat?” but was stopped mid-expression by the pleading eyes looking up at her. Unfortunately, Sanjay could play her like a fiddle. Wrapped around his finger and such. Same as it ever was. She tried to save her dignity just a little with a sigh and quick, “you owe me,” before climbing into the van. He wasn’t lying. In the back corner, behind more unhelpfully labeled boxes, was the unfortunate rat himself. She’d call him Diego. Hadley bowed her head and whispered, “godspeed, brother,” before flicking her wand and zapping Diego out of existence. May his journey be easy and the halls of the next life filled with laughter and mead and so on and so forth.

She climbed back out of the van to Sanjay, wiping her palms against each other like she’d just put in a hard day of physical labor. “There you go. Rat free, just for you,” she gave him a smile before lifting the ‘garage shit’ box he’d discarded and hoisting it onto her shoulder. “You wanna take a break for food? Maybe some noodles will make Dev happy.” They’d make her happy, anyway. “We could order some takeaway.”

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TAG: SANJAY DAYAL
NOTES: all that waiting and it was for whatever this is. good luck

[SANJAY DAYAL]

Listen. Rats were disgusting, disease-riddled little creatures and Sanjay wanted nothing to do with them, alive or otherwise. He didn’t mind owing Hadley a favor if it meant they could avoid another bubonic plague. Especially if he didn’t have to be the one to take care of it.

Sanjay sighed theatrically and raised his hands in defeat. “Fine.” When Hadley climbed into the van Sanjay grinned like the cat that got the cream. Take that, Jerry!

It only took a minute for Hadley to take care of the rat problem, emerging from the van like she had just saved the universe. In true Sanjay fashion he threw himself at her, pretending to be swooning at her feet. “Oh Hadley! My hero!”

Dev, who had to watch that embarrassing display made a retching sound and muttered under his breath, “Someone please kill me.” He stepped forward, arms crossed, looking up at them with a surly expression on his little face like a disapproving librarian. Please may he never get glasses. “Guys, we literally just moved here. Think of the neighbors. Is this really the kind of impression you want to make?”

Well, he had a point.

Sanjay laughed, pecking Hadley on the cheek before stepping back. “A food break sounds great. Let’s throw in some ice cream as well; I don’t think noodles will cut it today. Dev is in a mood.”

Where could they get noodles and ice cream around here?

“Are we going to order in or should we just find a restaurant? All the restaurants I know of are in London and I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say they probably don’t deliver this far out.”

A plan formed in his mind: he would take Hadley to a restaurant and use the power of food and drinks to convince her to use magic to unpack the rest of the boxes. It would mean Sanjay would lose the bet but honestly, it was an L he was willing to take at this point. His arms were aching. The ‘garage shit’ had defeated him.

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Tag: HADLEY DRAKE