Gasoline [Ana]

[lancelot ray linley]

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June 25th, 2025

Being out of school and actually having pocket change had its benefits. Lance was back in the UK, now that the borders were open again, and finally had a chance to explore the magical parts of London that he had never been able to before. Like, there was a shop dedicated solely to lamps, magical and not. What kind of person needed to go to a specific lamp shop? It seemed completely absurd to him until he realized that he needed one for his apartment and the proceeded to buy a set that would look good with his furniture. The fact that he was matching things and spending ridiculous amounts of money that he barely had was scary. Apparently that was what being an adult was all about, or something.

Today’s adventure though was a little more laid back and relaxed. He had shot Ana an invite to join him at The Violet Hound Pub, which was a quaint little establishment that tugged at his southern heartstrings. He had gotten lunch there a few days earlier during his explorations, and it had unbelievably good food. Despite not being home in the US for over a decade, he still knew what decent comfort food tasted like, and this place was the real deal as far as he could tell.

Arriving a little earlier than what they had agreed on, Lance made sure to grab a booth from where he could see the front entrance. The bar had a solid selection of non-European beers and liquors too, which was far from the norm from the few he had been to in the last few days. Telling the waiter to hold off until Ana showed, Lance twirled the menu in his hands to try and figure out what he wanted to eat today.

@iliana ● 300 ● On To The NExt One by Escape The Fate

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high-flyer.

STILL DRESSED IN HER GEAR FROM FOOTBALL practise, Ana almost forgot about her OWL invitation from Lance. She was, unfortunately, still pretending to go to practise. Leaving in gear and lapping around the local park with her duffel on her shoulder until she ran out of breath and started sweating. Ever since the Quidditch explosion, Ana's ambition and motivation for her dreams had... vanished. Every time she tried to go to practise, her chest seized and she felt so sick she had to lay down. But, to avoid suspicion, she kept up appearances.

This went so far as Ana turning up to meet her friend still dressed in her training shorts, knee socks and a baggy football jumper. Her hair hanging in unkempt pigtails, tired eyes and smiling far too tightly to match her plump faces. But, she certainly wasn't the oddest thing to walk the streets of Horizon Alley. A number 3 emblazoned on her back in her teams black and yellow colours. In fact, she felt positively stylish as she shouldered in to the pub in a flurry of movement, horribly aware that she was late. But, then again, Ana was late to everything. Lance ought to understand at this point.

"Hey-" She gasped, her cheeks blazing red and eyes gleaming over dark circles. She found Lance waiting at a booth, looking considerably sour. Ana could never tell if that was part of his rockstar persona, or if it was just his face. "I'm late, I know." She rolled her eyes in anticipation for a scathing remark. Kicking the duffel under the table, she grabbed her stomach and stuck out her tongue. "I could eat a scabby troll, I swear." She groaned, reaching over and snatching a drinks menu from between the tables. "You better not have ordered." She warned him, raising one daring brow over the lip of her menu. 

lancelot ray linley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[lancelot ray linley]

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The waiter was annoyingly persistent with seeing if Lance needed anything, so he eventually ordered a drink just to hold both of them over until Ana showed up. He didn’t mind quality service, and he understood that the bar was dead right now, but there was a point where it started to become a little annoying. Lance could only blame himself for being cordial with the girl, and he knew that if he had been around the rest of the band, they wouldn’t have given her the time of day after their orders were taken. He was still learning where the line was on niceties. While it wasn’t wrong to kill people with kindness, he couldn’t take looking like a push-over anymore. Spending the last year as Prefect taught him better than that. Thankfully by the time his beer was being placed on the table and the first droplet of perspiration hit the coaster below, Ana stepped through the door of the pub.

“I was early,” he responded as he watched her throw her bag under the table and hop into the booth across from him. Judging from her outfit, she had just finished with soccer (Football? He still refused to call it that, because American Football was the only one he knew) practice. And from her comment on being hungry, that confirmed that was where she had been. “Just the drink. Waitress is a bit aggressive with takin’ orders,” Lance warned her as he watched the young woman start heading back towards the table the second Ana was seated. She was like a vulture waiting for roadkill to finally keel over.

He grabbed his own menu, mimicking Ana, and gave it a quick look. The pub burger was what he normally went with, and it was pretty good at that... “How’s practice going?” he asked Ana from the other side of his menu, folding it neatly once he officially decided on the burger.

@iliana ● 324 ● Until The World Goes Cold by Trivium

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[Deleted]

high-flyer.

ANA OFTEN THOUGHT THAT LANCE WAS A BIT softer than he looked. She smiled at him, shaking her head slightly as she dropped her chin. "You can just tell them to give you time, you know that, right?" She said obviously, just in time for a shadow to loom over her, a little quick note hover in the air in front of her, quill at the ready. So, maybe Lance was right after all. "I just sat down." Ana said, eyes wide. The waitresses overly friendly face soured and she backed away, the notebook chasing her.

"Jeez." Ana whistled, laying her menu down to laugh over the table at Lance. "You weren't joking." She made a show of shivering before she let her finger run down the menu, finding a list of fruity cocktails with barbaric names take her interest. She did not readily acknowledge Lance's question about practise, mostly because she did not feel like lying to him so soon. She rarely got to see him as it was.

"How's your practise," She said instead. "Thrown any TV's out of any windows?" With a familiar smirk. "And when am I getting an invite, by the way-" She crossed her arms, but was minutely interrupted as the waitress had appeared once again. "Oh... my god, get me a... purple pixie drop!" She exclaimed, holding out her hands with a harried expression. The waitress backed away, satisfied for the time being, the floating quill scribbling her order down furiously.

"Okay, what was I saying..." Ana rolled her eyes, blowing a strand of hair out from her face. "Right! Practise..." She dashed her tongue out over her bottom lip and resumed smiling. "When do I get to be the groupie I was... destined to be." She pressed a hand to her chest, batting her lashes expectantly. 

lancelot ray linley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[lancelot ray linley]

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He had opened his mouth to argue with her, but immediately closed it when he realized that she was right: he should have told the waitress that he wasn’t ready yet, and that he was waiting on Ana to get there. Obviously ordering a drink was one thing, but the hawkish nature of the waitress had sort of gotten under his skin right from the start. Barely being able to settle into the seat before being pestered with a menu and greetings was annoying. Even that tested his southern hospitality to its limits. Ana got a taste of within seconds of trying to make her point, and even went as far as to prove it by telling the girl off. “Told you,” he muttered, feeling weirdly victorious over the whole thing. There was good service, and then there was over service. This was the latter by a long shot.

The waitress must have seen him set his menu down, and took that as an invitation to come back over and hassle them for orders again. Ana had barely asked him how his band practice had been going before she was interrupted by the waitress’ shadow looming on the table. Containing a chuckle as Ana made her drink order. Lance shook his head horizontally that he wasn’t ready to order food yet, because if they did now the food would be in the way of the catch-up they were trying to do. “The only thing we’ve broken so far are the hearts of our fans,” Lance responded with a cheesy sigh. “Because we can’t play shows with this whole quarantine thing.” Not like that was really stopping people from going out and doing what they wanted to do. The seriousness of the whole situation was really lacking in London. And playing for muggles could only get them so far.

“McCloud says groupies have to come to a minimum of five shows and own all of the demo tapes we’ve recorded so far,” he added in a matter of fact tone, as if that was how all bands did things. “Luckily for you, I’ve got a few.” He reached into his jacket pocket and produced two CDs. Having these things out in the open was like carrying driving a car through Diagon Alley, and he had felt awkward carrying them around all day with eyes wandering on him. It was one thing to have CDs in 2025, it was another to have them in magical London.

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[Deleted]

high-flyer.

SO HE HADN'T BEEN EXAGGERATING. THAT MUCH became abundantly clear. But, as soon as she had an order to fulfil she backed off and Ana sighed, trying to remember what she had ordered exactly. Something about a Pixie... She'd have to wait and see, after all she hadn't come for the drinks or the service. She turned back to her friend with a shocked laugh, shaking her head at the whole ordeal. "Hopefully that's gotten rid of her for a bit." She said with a cringing mouth, though doubtful as it was.

"Oh, how the masses weep!" Ana exclaimed, shaking her fist dramatically as she unfolded a napkin with her free hand. "However will the teenage population cope?" She tilted her head, pouting her lips sadly. She was teasing, but Lance was actually a really talented musician. If anybody was going to have a horde of fans, it'd be him. She believed that more than she believed in the band itself.

"I'm working as normal," Ana shrugged, except she definitely wasn't. "Doesn't really concern the Muggles," She snickered, looking around to see if she could find the waitress before the waitress found them. Lance's reaching hand caught her attention anew and she snatched the CD's eagerly. "Is this... exclusive access?" Ana said, wide eyes and mouth agape. "I really am a lucky, lucky girl." She turned the CD, checking out the set list on the back. "Vintage." She said in comment to the old style media. "Witches and wizards'll love that." She tucked the CD carefully in to her own bag, as if it were precious. "They eat that shit up." 

lancelot ray linley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[lancelot ray linley]

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“Drugs and sex, I’d hazard,” Lance figured, pushing around the ice in his untouched glass of water that he had forgotten about. Aside from the menu, that was the only thing the aggressive waitress had managed to get him. Turning down water seemed a bit too much, especially when he had an image to uphold now. While virtually no one knew of the band, he hoped that would eventually change. Plus it was a huge turnoff being hunted down by overly eager wait staff. It wasn’t like the woman was lacking in other customers to take care of – there were plenty of other people in the pub. “But once you take the rock-n-roll out, who do you go blamin’ for all that? I haven’t found any magical folk pinning it all on Satan like the no-maj did back in the eighties.” The band would probably take the brunt of it, since they would be seen as the bad influence. It always worked out that way. Sometimes it was hard to refute, because they certainly did things on purpose from time to time. Making a name for themselves had to come with some antagonizing. Any rock outfit worth their weight had to do that. It was like a rite of passage into stardom.

Lance frowned slightly when Ana seemed to brush off the current problem. Sure, it didn’t affect the no-maj at all, but she was far from being the same as they were. There was still a chance that she could catch the thing and get knocked out for a few weeks. He wouldn’t have been stuck outside of the country for as long as he was if people weren’t trying to take it seriously. “Considering it’s from the source, yeah, something like that.” He laughed when she called the CDs vintage. She wasn’t really far off the mark. But it was easier to use them to transfer than trying to teach a wizard how to use a computer to download the songs. “They aren’t the best cuts of the songs because we had to record in some German dude’s basement that we were crashing at, but I think it gets the point across. They’ll be polished up one day.” McCloud had promised at least that. If they weren’t able to play shows because of lockdowns and quarantines, then recording was all they had left. And what better time than to throw new music at people?

@iliana ● 406 ● Stay With Me by Roo Panes

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

high-flyer.

WITH A QUIRK OF HER BROWS AND A SMIRK, Ana cast her friend a look from under her lashes. She was teasing him, of course. The fact that Lance was a talented musician was besides the point. He'd still be her awkward, shy Puff school friend. Even when he wasn't around. He'd never be too rock and roll for her. "Sounds like a blast." She said after a moment, though Lance looked remarkably unfazed. Part of his new image, Ana reckoned.

"Magical folk just blame it on bad blood." Ana shrugged, having grown up in a household heavily influenced by magic their odd behaviour no longer phased her. "It's all about the bloodlines, baby." She drawled, her cheek hiked in a crooked smirk before she snorted. Just because she'd grown up with it didn't mean she agreed, but he made an interesting point. Quarantine was messing up a lot of people's day to day lives. Secretly, Ana wished it would mess up hers. She was sick of pretending she was totally fine.

Ana turned the CD over in her hand as Lance spoke. He always had an almost uninterested air about him, like he was holding back. Ana tried to recall whether or not she'd ever seen him excited before. "This is exciting!" She told him animatedly, tucking the CD in to her bag carefully. "I'm your number one fan," She said with a hand to her chest, grinning widely at him. "It's more authentic like that," Ana assured him, crossing her legs and casting her gaze sideways as the waitress rushed across the floor towards them. Ana slid down in her chair slightly.

"Here she comes," Ana muttered, widening her eyes marginally as the drinks were plunked down on the table. Dusty purple booze sloshed over one side and Ana reached for it to steady the cocktail glass. "Thanks," She muttered, cringing slightly as she hunched her shoulders forward, her fingers sticky. "You've got edge." Ana said, smiling as the waitress left them without a word. She leaned over the table to sip the edge of her drink. It was a burst of overwhelming sweetness, her lips dusted with an iridescent powder. Ana licked it off and grinned. "It's good!" She declared, triumphant. 

lancelot ray linley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[lancelot ray linley]

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Right. The age old blood debate. He assumed there was something similar to that in the US too, but had never really had the chance to experience it first-hand. From the way the Ilvermorny students had acted throughout the last school year, it seemed like that sort of thing, if it did exist like it did in England, was minimal at best and barely talked about anymore. Which was sort of ironic considering what the rest of the United States was like at times. “Glad all y’all could poke fun at me with was my accent,” he chuckled. And after a while, it didn’t even bother him anymore. There were times where he almost preferred to lay on the ‘y’alls’ and other words from home because it retained his identity while at Hogwarts. And then that was all wiped out during the last year of school. At least he sort of got a picture of what could have been.

Watching Ana look over the CD was worth the literal blood, sweat, and tears that went into it. There had been plenty of times throughout the tour and recording process that Lance had questioned whether it was the right thing to do. He was still thinking it over, but clearly making music is what he was made to do. Whether it was with McCloud and the band or not was the real question. “I’m sure if you go into any no-maj electronics store, you can find a CD player or something,” he mused. Or found an old car. He was pretty sure models in the 2000s still had CD players. It wasn’t like everything was digital now. “If not, I bet I could bum one off of a band member.”

Lance followed Ana’s gaze towards the waitress, who was fast approaching their table again with their drinks. At least she had a purpose this time. Being bugged endlessly was annoying. He quickly grabbed his drink as Ana did the same with hers, nodding at the waitress as she lingered longer than was necessary at the table. Turning away from her as Ana mentioned that the drink was good, Lance took a sip of his beer. “I don’t know how you can drink that,” he grimaced as he watched purple liquid drip down one side of the glass.

@iliana ● 386 ● Born On The Bayou by Creedence Clearwater Revival

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[Deleted]

high-flyer.

SOMETIMES ANA FORGOT THAT HER FRIEND WAS an American transplant. He'd fitted in so seamlessly, if it hadn't been for his yankie doodle accent, she wouldn't have known any better. Ana understood, though, she was something of a transplant herself. The Bulgarian mountains offering a thrilling playground for Ana's childhood. She'd been distraught when they'd moved, hiding under her bed as if from a monster. She wondered, as she laughed at Lance's exaggerated accent, if he ever missed home himself.

"Sorry, partner." Ana drawled in a poorly constructed Southern drawl. Her nose wrinkling at the sound of it. "Mines's better." She said with confidence. While in her hands, the CD was like a precious artefact, tucked away carefully for a later viewing. "It's okay." Ana shrugged, the thought of finding a CD to play it part of the fun of it. "I'll get my own." She said with faux pride. "I want one I can keep." She thought, surely it couldn't be so hard. They were still selling record players in Muggle society. "Vintage is in."

The drink, though ordered from her in desperation, wasn't half as bad as it seemed. Sweet, but still alcoholic enough to feel worth it. Her tongue numbing gently as she took another sip, lifting the glass this time. The dust tickling her nose gently. "Oh, I'm sorry cocktails are not good enough for you." Ana mimed theatrically, grinning as she set the glass down and licked sweet sugar from her thumb. "'I only drink room temperature, yeasty beer with foreign labels'." Ana quaked her fingers teasingly, but still pushed the glass towards him. "Dare you..." 

lancelot ray linley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[lancelot ray linley]

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Lance gave her a sympathetic smile at her attempt at a southern accent. To him, it sounded like if John Wayne tried to act as a Brit trying to pretend to be a southerner. But it was a lot better than having someone say ‘howdy’ to him whenever they heard he was American. It would have been funnier if he was from anywhere other than a southern state, but that was just how it went, he supposed. “I think you need to watch a couple more western flicks before you perfect it,” Lance admitted. “But you’re getting there.” Maybe she’d nail by the time he ultimately lost his from living abroad for too long. He tried his best to not let it go, and it was easier when he was around Georgie, but he sometimes worried it would disappear completely. That was one of his only connections to home anymore.

As for finding Ana a CD player, she seemed to want to do it on her own. “Dang right it is. I’ve got myself a growin’ collection of vinyl now.” A lot of records had been dirt cheap when he had been traveling Europe, and it was tempting to grab a dozen or so every time he went to a music store. He wasn’t sure if CDs would ever fully make a comeback, but they were still a viable option, in his opinion. “You should come over and check some of them out some time. I need requests for new ones too.”

He didn’t see anything wrong with beer. It was more American than whatever it was she was drinking. Or eating. It was hard to tell with all the frothy garnishes on it. But at the same time, it was hard to turn down her dare. Because he wanted to prove that he could drink anything, whether it was ‘yeasty’ beer or this ridiculous thing. “Fine. But if I drink all of it, you have to go flirt with that guy over there,” he pointed at the man sitting at the bar. He looked like a mannequin for a leather clothes store.

(I think this leads perfectly into her exclamation at the start of the Mickey thread. Then we can pick this up after that convo is finished?)

@iliana ● 353 ● Good Golly Miss Molly by Creedence Clearwater Revival

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