Once upon.... (Sev)

[Deleted]

Xantha had recently discovered that her father had sent her younger sister off to a boarding school somewhere in Scotland. She was highly irritated because for some insane reason she'd hoped that their moving back to London meant she'd have more of a chance to spend time with her younger sister. It seemed her father was hell bent on even denying her that little bit of comfort. She'd received word from the care facility where their mom lived a few days ago that she was declining and getting worse. It was still possible that she'd recover but Xantha knew it was equally possible she'd pass away. She'd gone out that night, just trying to wash her mind clear of the idea that she'd have nowhere to go soon enough. Her father had already proven he didn't want her around and well, Xena was hardly old enough and wouldn't be able to afford any better than she herself did. Plus, Xantha hated being dependant on others. She didn't want to trust somebody again, only to end up on the street, struggling to survive.

She sighed deeply as she stared at her emtpy glass on the bar. It was about all she could afford and it was a quiet evening. Where the busy ones often meant a guy tried to hit on her and bought her drinks the quiet evenings meant it was a drink, maybe two, and then back off home. Today Xantha was considering wasting a lot of money out of pure stress. She couldn't stand the idea of losing her mother. As the door opened and a cold breeze swept across her bare shoulders she turned to see a patron she didn't know enter. He carried himself in a very distinct way and looked like candy. She pursed her lips for a moment, eyeing him before turning her attention back to her glass. To flirt or to keep her empty glass company for a few more minutes. She sighed, shaking her head. She ordered herself another drink, figuring it was better to let him be.

As her second glass arrived she was feeling restless. She glanced over at the stranger again and bit her lip for a moment before picking the glass up and walking over to this table. She smiled a little nervously at him. "Hey, care for some company?" She asked him in a casual tone. It wasn't really all that much of a flirting manner, as it wasn't really something she felt that strongly about today. If she really needed company of that nature she knew she could always see if Teddy, Emrys or one of her other friends was bored. The problem was they'd probably notice something was up and while it was possible that Emrys would ignore it, she didn't expect Teddy to. Not to mention that both of them were highly aware that she was still covering from that encounter with her neighbour a while ago. The wound had closed up but she'd managed to tear it open at least four times already, which did slow down the healing part. She tried to take a bit easier now, at least until it was doing better. This stranger knew nothing about that though, which meant she had the freedom to just make a new friend without all sorts of questions she wanted to avoid.

@severus

[Deleted]

If there was one thing that the wizarding world was sorely lacking in it was good bars. Sure, there were pubs a plenty but those establishments Severus associated with old men that smelled of stale urine and flatulence or teenagers that thought they'd managed to pass as an adult when instead the publican really couldn't give a flying murtlap as long as the authorities were not present at the time. No, a good bar was a place to get mildly intoxicated with an alcoholic beverage before sipping from the sweeter juices of...

A young lady appeared standing at the table that Severus had claimed only a moment before. His dark eyes took in her doe-eyed features that seemed to positively glow beneath the poor lighting. It took only a second for the young man to take note of her plump, luscious lips and the way that they moved as she enquired if he wanted company. Severus wasn't an old fashioned wizard, he'd seen "Pretty Woman" and knew exactly what the girl before him was offering. She looked... sad, but then he couldn't imagine why she would be anything less seeing as she was resorting to the oldest profession in the world just go get by.

Severus flashed Xantha a smile that was made even brighter than usual from the lighting and pushed a chair out from the table with his foot. "Of course. I was just about to have a glance at the drinks menu but perhaps you can tell me what best to order here?" he let his eyes fall from those pretty little lips and down her bare shoulders, very lazily ending up at looking to her almost empty glass. The journey there was quite visually appealing, Severus could easily admit. Was it really worth paying for though? Well, a gentleman such as himself could afford the girl the dignity at least of purchasing her a good drink or two. That was not crossing any moral boundary, surely.

"I'm surprised a pretty woman like yourself is alone on a Friday night, though I guess that is my good fortune," he said with a hint of mischief, making a point to glance around the rather barren bar. To think he'd dressed in one of his finer muggle suits for the occasion. Oh well, it was only relatively early in the evening.

@xantha

[Deleted]

Xantha wasn't exactly above selling her body for money, she'd done it when she was short on cash and hadn't eaten properly in about a week. Sometimes even for just a few hours on a less hard and rough surface to lay on. Yet it was more like an emergency plan, and well, she hadn't even considered it this time. The man was attractive and would probably make better conversation without trying to get in her pants from the first second. Or well, she hoped that was the case. Her mind wasn't exactly on that sort of fun in the moment. The fact her mother had gotten a lot worse was far too much on the forefront of her mind to consider that sort of entertainment as main pursuit. He just looked... nice, and Xantha really wanted to be around a nice person right now that wouldn't ask too much or try to get her to share a lot.

She sat down on the chair he'd pushed out for her and sat down, putting the glass on the table almost absently. By now he had her almost undivided attention, both because she wanted the distraction and well, he was pleasing to the eyes. She smiled slightly as he asked for her recommendation and she motioned to her glass. "The cider isn't that bad, though I'm hardly an expert. I usually just order water. I'm not exactly a heavy drinker." She admitted. She'd never even been drunk before since she often quit drinking after one or maybe two glasses of anything alcoholic. She wasn't about to poison her body for the sake of getting dizzy. If she really wanted that she'd end up practisinging her spot turns until she got dizzy from those. It was far healthier and actually useful. Plus it didn't end in a hangover that she couldn't afford to cure, which maybe factored in just a little bit.

He remarked that he was surprised to see a girl like herself alone on a Friday night and she smiled, the faint hint of a smirk touching her lips. "What can I say? Sometimes talking to a stranger is far more soothing to the soul than conversations with a friend would be. And there always is the appeal that said strangers will turn out to be friends you just hadn't met yet." She said with a bit of a grin, feeling a little less weighed down. He was nice, which meant he'd probably be willing to talk with her a while and unknowingly help her forget the cloud of doom that seemed to hang over the future ever since that phone call. Maybe it'd get better this time, or maybe it was finally the end of the road. Well, where one door closed, another would open. If that wasn't actually the case she figured she needed to believe in it enough, because the alternative just seemed demoralising.

@severus

[Deleted]

It was always nice when someone was ready to sit down and have a good chat, so Severus watched with a happy smile pushing his cheeks up into his eyes. No doubt if Deva had been there, he'd be teased for the lines that were beginning to show at the corner of his eyes - only because he'd recently teased her about her age. "Cider sounds like a good idea, I haven't had a cider in - goodness knows when," Severus said as he rubbed at the stubble on his chin, as if that would bring the answer to the forefront of his mind. It didn't. "Oh well, would you like another cider or a drink of water? Please don't feel obliged to imbibe if you don't want to, especially if it's because of some kind of... program?" although, he mused, she probably wasn't doing so well on the program having already had a drink. Severus internally sighed at his stupid comment - if only he had a time turner to stop the words coming out of his mouth. "I don't like to drink in excess, but it's a Friday night so it's fun to get a light buzz."

When Severus had asked the young lady what she was doing alone on this night, he listened intently to her reply. It was remarkably sage for a woman of the night... although, perhaps she had many friends she'd only met the night they were a stranger. Poor darling. "Oh? And your soul needs soothing does it? I can't imagine what's ruffled your soul's feathers but I am looking forward to listening, if you like, when I return with the drinks," Severus gave the table a couple of rhythmic pats, as if it were a drum, and went to the bar to order cider and water for the table. "Thank you, maybe some nuts for the table?"

When he returned, Severus took his seat once more and began to pour himself a long drink of cider and placed the jug back on the table. "So, what's troubling you miss...?"

@xantha

[Deleted]

It was interesting as his suggestion to her not accepting alcohol due to some program suggested he thought she might be in the AA or something. It was funny, considering she took very good care of her body, or at least as much as possible within her budget. She was quite slender but underneath the clothes she was well trained from the hours upon hours of dancing she did every single day. She didn't drink because she kept herself in shape. Had she been an alcoholic she certainly wouldn't have been able to land or keep the job she currently had, although he obviously couldn't know. She knew how she looked, a poor girl that clearly had very little to her name. She wasn't exactly in the mood to correct him that much, but she stored this suggestion of his for future reference. He clearly had his opinion ready rather fast, which was fine. People usually did where she was concerned. "I'll take you up on the water, unless I can indulge in orange juice rather than cider? It's been a while and it's a lot healthier." She said with a slight smile and a playful wink, her problems already slowly dissipating to the back of her mind.

He mentioned the Friday night Buzz and well, Xantha was very familiar with that phenomenon. It had made certain things a lot easier in the past. Stealing, amongst other things, were easier when people were somewhat impaired by the alcohol consumption. Since it tended to make the wits dribble out of the brains of the consumers, Xantha had never been too tempted to go for the same kind of buzz. Yet the mention of her problems soon faded the smile of her face, which was fine, since he'd gone for drinks either way. She briefly looked at the glass that was not yet empty as he was gone. Interesting drink, cider. Didn't taste too bad either. At the very least it was much better than beer or wine was. Still, it would never be her first choice.

He returned and got straight to the point about what was troubling her. Well, she certainly wasn't planning to talk about all of that. That beehive wasn't one she wanted opened up, not even around her friends. If she'd wanted to talk about it she'd have gone home to Mavis. The girl was her best friend and would have comforted her, without a doubt. She wasn't out here looking to share but to forget. It was perhaps that question that led her to let out a slightly wry smile as he in the same question asked her name. "Jane, junior." It was both because he knew how to ask all the wrong questions and as tribute to her sick mother. She then twisted the glass a few times before she drained it and shrugged. "Family problems, to keep a far too long story as brief as possible. I'm not much of the sharing type I'm afraid. I've found a lot of people see a tragic backstory as a reason to look on others with much pity, which is something I tend to avoid. I'm not my problems and I'd rather have people get to know my utterly charming personality." She said with a certain level of sarcasm to her words. She didn't exactly have the energy to waste on being nice or keeping up appearances. "And whom do I have the pleasure of sharing drinks with, Mr..?" She asked, a devious glint to her eyes as she asked the question. If nothing else, she'd play his little game of mental chess. It was entertaining enough to pass the time.

@severus

[Deleted]

"Oh, some orange juice too!" Severus could hardly believe that he hadn't organised for the drink of choice for his newest companion. He gave the young lady a sheepish, apologetic smile when he had returned to the table and nodded his thank you to the bar tender who obliged after bringing over some nuts for the table. "My apologies - I can't even blame the Friday night buzz for my poor memory," Severus laughed lightly as he began to sip on his new pint of cider. It was then that Jane supplied her name and Severus' dark eyes looked the girl up and down briefly. He didn't know how these things work, but he realised too late that he'd probably been very naive expecting her to use her actual name. "Lovely to meet you, Miss Jane Junior," Severus said sweetly, extending his hand to shake hers gently.

Family problems. That was something Severus was horribly, acutely aware of. He had lived a charmed life for so many wonderful years until his father was murdered, followed shortly by the kidnap of one sister, the murder of the other and the desertion of the first sister. It was a story that could have been written by Shakespeare, he was sure of it. His face contorted into one of pain as Jane's words brought the sadness of his family situation bubble to the top. After the moment passed, Severus squared his shoulders, cleared his throat and took a well deserved drink of his cider. "Ahhh, yes, family - I've yet to meet a person who doesn't have some family issue keeping them awake at night," Severus said with a thoughtful sigh. "Maybe it's not pity, but empathy? But if you would prefer not to discuss it with a stranger - I'm Rus. Shall we be friends? I could always do with more friends with utterly charming personalities." He smiled, the kind of smile that showed that her sarcasm wasn't lost on him. "How about, if you do not like sharing - we do a quid pro quo arrangement? You ask me a question and I'll answer truthfully, then I will ask the same of you? Or, alternatively, we can weave some completely fictitious story about ourselves and see just how crazy our personas can really get."

@xantha

[Deleted]

Xantha was a bit amused at his manners. They were great, which was almost confusing. Not that she minded much, as she sipped the orange juice contently, savouring the moment as she had something healthy that wasn't water for a change. Much better than the cider, although he seemed to enjoy his. He extended his hand after her introduction and she shook it politely. He was a little odd and out of place but not in a bad way. At least he didn't treat her poorly, which was quite a lot more than she'd come to expect.

He seemed to know about family problems at least, although Xantha had some doubts they had the same type of problems in their history. Either that or he'd been a lot luckier in his fortunes after being kicked out of the house. Her time would come, eventually. He suggested empathy and she chuckled without much amusement. "Empathy is usually people feeling sorry for you but not wanting to admit it after you said you don't need their pity. Empathy doesn't change anything, except people are more likely to help out, in their own perception. It's usually some shape or form of guilt for having had more luck in the parent department, I suppose. They buy off their guilt and get to feel better and no longer concern their minds with the poor girl on the street, even though they otherwise would have forgotten just as quickly and slept as nicely and their goose feathered beds." She said with a bit of an eye roll.

He suggested an information trade off and she momentarily narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. There wasn't much to be lost. She then leaned back in her seat, playing with her glass of orange juice almost absently. Yet she was clearly very focussed on the situation, as she wasn't sure if she could trust it. "Fine, honesty for honesty." She said slowly, taking a short sip as she considered her question. "Since you invited me to start asking, what do you do for a living? If I don't believe you I'm lying on my next question though so if you do plan to lie, do so better than my father does." She said with a twinkle in her eyes. If he made it too obvious he was going to lie they could exchange fake stories, but somehow she was intrigued to see what an exchange of true information might be like with this particular gentleman.

@severus

[Deleted]

The way that his companion sipped at her orange drink was curious to Severus. This was... had he mistaken the venue? He casually let his eyes wander from watching Jane drink to the bar. Maybe it was a juice bar that also stocked ... alcohol? Merlin only knew, he'd learned years ago that muggles were always - what was the term? 'Mixing it up'? This was one of the reasons he found them utterly delightful. They kept him on his toes. "Is the orange juice nice? I didn't think to ask if they had fresh or store bought, I am terribly sorry," he apologized, only belatedly realising his social faux pas.

When she made her rebuttal of his empathy theory, Severus took the time to listen with the rim of his cider bottle resting on his plump lower lip. "It is a shame, I do not think I can dissuade you from your current beliefs tonight, though perhaps in further happy-chance meetings I can slowly chip away at your armour. I can understand you probably need it though, being... From what you said, though please do not be offended if I am wrong ... on the street. From what I understand, though my experience is extremely limited, that is one heck of a hard life to live."

He knew he would do almost all things short of grand theft, kidnap and murder (here's looking at you, pirate buddies of his best friend) to get himself off the streets and into a warm shower and goose feathered blankets. He might draw the line at servicing a giant though.

As Jane pondered on Severus' proposal, he finished his cider and hailed for another. With her decision to join in, Severus' easy, bright smile flashed beneath the dim lights of the establishment. "I am currently employed as a high school teacher. The kids are pretty good, I have to say," Severus replied with ease. He didn't feel the need to acknowledge the fact that he was the teacher of an elective class - so his students didn't have to choose it nor to continue it the next year if they didn't like it the first. It was a big reason for behaviour being so good - they wanted to be in his class.

"What's your favourite colour?"

@xantha

[Deleted]

This man was polite to the point of messy. It was hilarious to Xantha, although she easily contained her amusement at his polite questions. She shrugged. "I don't care too much, although fresh is always nicer. I'm pretty sure this isn't fresh, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable to me. You gotta take what you get." She said, an amused smile playing on her lips at his peculiarities. It was, above all else, his apology for something like not asking the origin of the orange juice. She'd never heard of anybody that did that to begin with.

His next words, based on her theory of empathy, almost had her believing him and his theory, but her heart had been hardened too much. It just sounded so nice that she wanted to believe in it. Not to mention his words suggested he was interested in meeting up to talk more than just this once, which also didn't sound too bad. He was weird but so far he seemed utterly harmless. The chipping away at her armour was something she was confident would take him far longer than he'd have patience for, or at least such was what she commonly knew men to be like. The chase either took too long for them or they wanted to own her, regardless of them knowing her. None had ever really broken through the walls she'd put up, but sometimes it was entertaining to watch them try, even more so if they knew she was a liar and a deceptive person by nature, no matter how innocent and cute she could make herself look if needed. He hit the pin right on the head in terms of her living on the streets. He was also right that is was difficult to live like that. She pursed her lips for a moment and then shrugged. "You're almost right. I got a job a few months back, so I was lucky enough to secure a small apartment near the end of last year. It's got one room and a bathroom and I'm fairly sure it violates most health and safety codes. It's in a horrible neighbourhood and people actually get stabbed. Sometimes the cops care and show up, usually they don't. It's better than the streets though. There's a roof, no matter how leaky and the draft isn't too bad. It's more shelter and no metal pins because they want to keep the homeless away." She shrugged carelessly. "But it's on to the next project soon, which means a new round of auditions and a fair chance that I won't be able to pay the bills so unless my roommate has a bit of a crazy amount of luck in selling her paintings we'll likely end up back where we started. Couch surfing for her and a different building to squat in every night for me." She said, though there was a level of cold detachment and carelessness in her voice that said she was used to it, and had been for several years now. If you refuse to accept the new reality, you simply died.

She chuckled and scoffed at his place of employment and then couldn't help but laugh a small little laugh of disbelief. "Well that isn't my old school or you're oddly good at your craft. Teenagers don't generally care about school where I grew up." She said, although perhaps it was a bit less bad than she remembered it. Until her dad moved out she'd been in a decent school. After that they'd ended up moving to a far less prosperous neighbourhood and well, a far less decent school, although Xantha had noticed those teachers either cared a lot about the kids, or not at all. The difference in attitudes between two teachers had been the most confusing. Naturally Xena had been lucky dad had taken her and sent her off to fancy boarding school. Xantha had attempted art school but well, that hadn't lasted long. No money and no place to sleep just didn't match with any type of schooling. Not that she needed it for her career, but it might have helped.

Him asking what her favourite colour was threw her off completely. She frowned and blinked a few times. Of all the questions he could have asked he asked her favourite colour? She raised and eyebrow and eyed him suspiciously for a moment. "Not a strong preference, but if I have to pick I'd go with white. I like the duality of it. In painting it's absence of other colours and in light it's all other colours combined. That and the cultural aspect. Some people use white for purity and weddings where others wear it as a colour of grief. Plus, snow is white and I really love winter landscapes. Put me in an untouched snow field in winter and one song later you have a very different kind of art. Snow captures movement that is normally lost because it doesn't leave an impression on the ground." She smiled, a strange kind of twinkle in her eyes. "Nothing quite beats messing up the pure and untouched landscape people rave about. It's like saying a blank canvas is better." She rolled her eyes and then looked at him again, pursing her lips for a moment as she considered her next question. "What is your favourite type of art?" She asked him. If he was going with strange questions, she'd join that game. It was a lot safer than talking about her life, even if he'd managed to guess her living on the streets. She didn't need his pity after all. She had all she needed, even if not all she wanted.

@severus

[Deleted]

"Oh yes, I definitely agree - fresh is best," the wizard agreed whole-heartedly, "same with pretty much anything home-made. Except for the ale my father tried to make one time. Something went wrong and ... eh, that's a story for another time," Severus caught himself just before he seriously over-shared a story about his deceased father getting a humungous beer baby belly because the fermentation didn't go to plan and then he let off the longest, loudest fart Hollow End had ever seen. It had made the papers, 'Mysterious Explosion - no damage, terrible smell. Suspected sewer line malfunction.'

Severus listened intently as the young woman opened up about her life situation. He was careful not to let the heart break he felt for her slip into his face or body language - he was very good at tempering himself when he wanted to. He did lie professionaly to muggles before his change in career and he knew this muggle would not appreciate any kind of 'sorry for you' look to even flash across his features.

He was sorry for her, though. Her life sounded unreasonably rough. When she paused to take a breath, though, Severus decided to interject with, "congratulations on the new job," and an easy smile. He even offered his glass as an informal and quick 'cheers!' moment and then again, for the new apartment. For a brief moment, her story sounded as if it were headed on the right path.

"It sounds like, with the amount of crime in your neighbourhood, that the cops are incredibly busy. I know it sounds like a convenient excuse, but just being the Devil's advocate here... maybe they do care, they're just under resourced," Severus chimed in. He was protective of law enforcement officers, even the 'cops' as the muggles called their version of aurors. His parents had been them, his parents' friends and close acquaintances... they were all good people. There was, unfortunately, only a set amount of them and every single person born on the planet had a general aptitude for criminal activity. "Stabbing should definitely be a priority investigation though, after a trip to the hospital."

At the mention of auditions, Severus let his dark eyes drop from the lady's face to peruse her figure. It was lithe and she could definitely pull off being a ballerina in his opinion. Or perhaps she was an actress? That would probably help her work in the red-light district, making men believe that she was actually enjoying what they were doing was certainly an... artform.

He imagined.

Severus would like to take a moment here to assure everyone that he had no idea what a woman sounded like when she faked her enjoyment.

........ wow his mind had side-tracked quickly. Severus snapped his eyes back up to the deceptively innocent face and took a deep drink of his cider.

"Oh! You like surfing? I've never seen someone use a couch for that, though. Surely it wouldn't float long enough to 'catch a wave'?" he had clearly only focused on those two words in that sentence, otherwise the master of muggle-speak would have realised that she wasn't talking about surfing on a couch simply from context... He wasn't exactly Alix is blind drunk kind of stupid.

When he told Jane what he did for a living now, the little lady actually laughed at him. He blinked and then returned the chuckle, though it was a little unsure because... Maybe she thought he was just too young? He had no idea why it was funny. "yeah, newly graduated. It's been an interesting ... I can assure you that teenagers at every school are generally disinterested in learning. Didn't you know that they downloaded all the knowledge in the universe the moment they turned 13?" Severus joked. He found it quite amusing and loved when any student tried to win at a battle of wits with him in the classroom. It kept him.. sharp.

Severus did not miss the fact that he had the young Jane on the backfoot, if only for a moment. He raised a challenging brow at her playfully and sat to listen to her reply. He was about to interject with the rebuttal that 'white is a tone, not a colour itself' when she first began, but he was glad that he didn't. Her response was interesting.

"So you're an educated rebel, then, Jane?" the professor surmised before finishing his pint of cider and quickly motioning for a refill. "I will have to use that on a student next time they want to get Smart in class - go out and ruin nature's art and then write me an essay about it afterwards." He used his teacher voice for a moment, which was a lot more stern than his usual, conversational one.

"My favourite type of art, hmm?" Severus responded, tapping his fingers on his beard as he took a moment to think. "The performing arts; I love to visit the West End and see what shows are on or visit Coventry Gardens to watch the buskers do their thing. They have such charisma and can really work their crowds well, usually. I once watched a man produce an amazing piece of drum music ... With naught but some painting buckets!" the creativity and ingenuity of the human race left Severus in awe a lot of the time and it clearly showed on his face and in his voice as he spoke.

"When's your next birthday?"

@xantha

[Deleted]

She found herself intrigued by his story, maybe because he stopped it before it started. Fresh was best. She smiled slightly and leaned in a little to enjoy his voice. It was smooth and soothing to her. "Reminds me of camping. That one time my dad undercooked the chicken. It was messy and we ended up cutting the trip short." She didn't expand on the details, mostly because nobody wanted those details.

All credit to him, for he didn't show any pity as she dryly told her story. He remained neutral and congratulated her on her achievements in stead. It was nice to receive credit rather than pity. She smiled, glad for the welcome change.

She smiled politely as he excused the lack of policing in the area. She shrugged then and took a sip of her orange juice. "That is certain. The problem is that when a girl like me...." she paused, frowned and then corrected herself, ".. a girl like my neighbour or roommate gets stabbed, nobody cares much, because nobody is looking out for them. Nobody with power or influence will move the earth to ensure due process so their cases are snowed under until they are forgotten." She said. She'd heard the stories from her dad. It was all politics and she knew that he'd do his best to raise hell if he knew she'd gotten stabbed, if only to overcompensate for abandoning her. It was predictable like that and she hated it. She laughed a little scornful laugh at his mention of the hospital. "Oh no, no hospital visits if you have a neighbour that can work with a needle. I know plenty of my neighbours would prefer to bleed out over living a life of debt. Once it begins there's little chance to escape the neighbourhood. If they already have the debts they're far more likely to go." She herself had opted out and recovered better than she expected. Without thinking about it she touched the nearly recovered wound on her ribs, as if to ensure it hadn't started bleeding again. That had ever been her concern.

She wondered what he was thinking as she noticed his eyes scan her body. It was a pleasant sensation, although it made her curious. What was he thinking about? The way his eyes snapped back to her face gave plenty suggestions and she gave a small knowing smile. She could guess, even if she wasn't going to mention it.

Then he got lost somewhere as he suggested surfing on water with a couch. She looked at him utterly dumfounded for a moment as she considered just how insane the mere idea was. She blinked a few times, opening her mouth to speak before closing it and shaking her head laughing. "You almost had me there. For a moment I thought you were serious." She said, laughing and taking another sip. It was crazy, but not everybody could manage to throw her for a loop like that so she had to give him credit for that.

She grinned at his downloading of knowledge and nodded sagely. "Naturally.  I got my chip implanted when I was twelve. I had some trouble oicking subjects to download and the drives back then just weren't as big as they are now. I've been meaning to buy different knowledge but I lack the funds." She joked easily, smiling as she did. It was amusing to think back on some of her school days, as long as she didn't consider her cheating ex or the fact she dated his brother. The brother had clearly been the better choice. Oh the woes of her teen tears.

She chuckled as he named her an educated rebel. It was hardly accurate. "Not really. I dropped out of art school in the first year." She said cheerfully. Despite all the mess of the last while the conversation was cheering her up immensely. The suggestion he'd use her words against his students made her eyes twinkle in mischief. "Oh what I'd give to read those assays." She said with a cheerful twinkle in her eyes. She wondered what kind of nonsense they'd write on something she enjoyed doing so much and what kind of appraoch they'd take in completing the assigment itself.

He said the performing arts were his favourite and she felt her heart skip a beat. She loved people that could appreciate her job, if only because they paid for the shows that kept her in business. He seemed to have seen more than just the broadway shows as well, mentioninh far more niche kinds of art and she found herself smiling in appreciation. She couldn't help but be curious if he happened to have seen the show she was in currently. "Did you happen to see the Fever of Saints show? It's a dance show that plays in the theatre down the street." She was dying to know, but without mentioning she was actually dancing in it. That would only ruin the fun of it.

Then he asked her birthday and she knew that was never dangerous. With her penchant for lying people didn't always believe her when she truthfully told them it was on Aprils fools. They seemed to think she was trying to make a fool of them. She wasn't going to be that obvious this time though. "Next week." She replied with a small smile. Then she knew it was her turn for asking questions again and she wondered what to ask him next. She took a very brief moment to consider before asking the first decent question that jumped to mind. "What is your favourite fairy tale?" She asked him with a smile. "And disney or grimm version, you need to specify."

@severus

[Deleted]

That was a good sign. The fact that Jane was leaning in and then sharing a comparable experience from their younger years. Severus' lips pulled into a pained smile, though it was clear that it was only because he was attempting to contain a burst of laughter at the camping story. "Messy - never a more diplomatic term has been uttered for the aftermath of consuming under cooked chicken," the young man chuckled, tilting his glass to her in a good one! fashion.

Sorry to say, Jane, Severus may have drunk a pint or so by now but he did catch that which you attempted to correct. His dark brow raised inquisitively, a mark to his companion that he heard and was not convinced of her friend, but that he would not press her for the real truth of the matter. "Yes, prioritising is always a very subjective matter," Severus concluded solemnly. He could never work in law enforcement because how could someone make decisions about what was more important? The job had far more ethical and philosophical aspects to it than people realised. Do you steer the truck towards a group of five sick adults in order to save a single child? Or do you go for the less loss of life option? He personally hoped he'd never have to choose. He knew that his father and mother had made decisions like that in their working life and it weighed on them.

"You should tell your friends that emergency care is actually free, thanks to the NHS unless your friends are all tourists? Although sometimes there's a charge for an ambulance," Severus countered, as the access to medical assistance in the U.K. was one if its many good points. "Your friend with their needle is doing you a serious disservice than insisting you attend an actual medical professional," Severus' teacher tone began to creep in there. "Though again, with access to any public service - there is a wait and often that whole prioritisation problem comes into play - but no debt, I promise." His eyes followed her movement for a brief second and it was impossible for him to continue the charade. The big brother in him couldn't help himself, "your friend should get herself looked at." He held her gaze steadily, just so that she knew that he very definitely did not mean her friend.

On a more positive note, Severus had made the young lady laugh - even if he hadn't been joking. He broke into laughter easily enough along with her, shaking his head because phew that was close. He grinned and gave her a playful wink as she said he almost had her. "Damn, I was so close," he replied easily. Severus made a mental note to make sure that he found out what this 'couch-surfing' business was that she spoke about. Apparently nothing to do with actual surfing. "Implanted at 12! No wonder I couldn't fool you," Sev laughed, "an early starter. Just my luck." Severus' smile was a little less friendly and a little more.. carnal. What was the difference, one might ask? Well, it had to do with how much of the smile reached the eyes - a carnal smile ensured that a person could gaze on more of the person of desire than a friendly one did. "You're right though - I swear each update of the teenage software becomes more and more KnowItAll. And they forget that we, too, once had the faulty software." He hadn't missed that she mentioned she couldn't afford knew knowledge and he lifted one shoulder in a casual part-shrug. "Never underestimate the valuable knowledge you get from the every-day living."

"I imagine that had more to do with your life circumstances than it did with your academic or artistic abilities, though?" Severus replied when Jane said she'd dropped out of Art School. He smirked when she said that she'd like to read those essays, "what would you give, Jane?" he dared her to elaborate. In his mind, he was making the task even that more dififcult for his magical students; write it so that it passes the Statute of Secrecy. Or, in other terms, so a muggle can read it. It was becoming more perfect in his mind with every sip of his cider.

"No, I can't say that I have. Do you recommend it?" the wizard asked, his interest piqued in the show she'd mentioned. "Perhaps, if you're interested, we could go see it together?" he asked casually. Even if she didn't, the mere fact that Jane had brought it up signalled to him that he should probably watch the show - he loved even amateur productions as the actors and dancers put in such marvellous efforts - it was their passion and it usually shone through so brightly. "Your birthday is next week!" Sev exclaimed, a little louder than he'd expected. "I won't say happy birthday just yet. Far too premature," he said with a cheeky smile. "If I'm lucky enough, I'll be able to say it on your actual birthday, Jane."

Favourite fairy-tale? Severus' fingers rubbed at his stubbly beard in thought. His father had been an avid story-teller in his youth and his mother would join in to fill the gaps. They were mostly true stories though. "I've always been partial to The Snow Queen. For two reasons: both the Hans Christian Anderson version, with everlasting and true friendship and the beautiful sibling bond showcased in the Disney adaptation in their Frozen. It makes a nice departure from the typical girl falls for boy and they live happily ever after trope that Disney had relied on until then. It shows that we aren't alone and there's always someone to go the distance for us. Plus, it makes a really good piece of theatre, doesn't it?" Thank MERLIN his colleagues were not around for this conversation. He clearly had thought far too hard on a Disney movie by muggles.

"Alright - what is your favourite random fact? Surprise me."

@xantha

[Deleted]

He seemed to think prioritising was usually subjective, which she guessed was partially true. He also seemed to have caught her slip up but he said nothing. "It's equally often political. Some lives just matter more to the cops than others." It was a sad but painful truth. She was lucky, in theory, that her dad was the commissioner of police in London but it didn't make her feel lucky. Just more... monitored.

She pulled a face as he mentioned it was free, apart from possible ambulance fees. "I'm sure insurance will find a way to wiggle out of as many bills as possible. Plus ambulance fees can get very high very fast." She then sighed in near irritation as his teacher tone crept in and he stopped pretending it wasn't about her. "It's almost fully healed, free of charge now. Saves me and the hospital precious time. Plus by now it's certainly not an emergency unless I get stabbed in the same place again. At least now the cops prioritised the right thing because there was no evidence of a stabbing so they could focus on the more important situation in stead. I'm alive, the person I got stabbed for is better off and the person that did the stabbing is... well probably in jail. I have no clue really. I prefer not to know." There. Done. No more need for him to pry or her to elaborate on the situation. Or she just wouldn't. He already had a more accurate account of events than she gave her father. She clearly needed to be careful around him, for he was a cunning and devious man.

His smile changed to a more familiar one. She could easily read his expression since it carried resemblance to the one she most commonly saw on Emrys. One that suggested a certain kind of desire. He was certainly attractive enough, though it wasn't exactly what she had in mind going into this conversation. At least it'd be a distraction.

She smiled slightly and shrugged. "It's the most popular brand, clearly. I considered some other option but the investment seemed worth it back then." Teenagers and choices. Day to day life certainly expanded her knowledge significantly, though mostly in ways she had not intended. She nodded in agreement. "Every day has a new lesson for those willing to listen, yet hardly is the melody of life sweet in sound to the keenest of ears." If one wasn't rich or priviledged they most commonly heard the tragedies and surviving just lacked the beauty when one lived such a life. It was inspiring if you could watch it from a distance but romanticising the struggle of the poor only really served the rich in the end.

She shrugged as he mentioned life. "Life hasn't always been kind or easy but I get by without a fancy degree. There are other ways to thrive." She said, as an art degree did not guarantee a job at all. It was one of the more fickle professions in that sense.

What she'd give? She smiled and then shrugged. "Name your price. If it's not monetary I'm fairly certain I can manage to pay. I'm a naturally gibing person in some ways so I'd prefer to meet demands over offering something of little interest to the other party." She said casually, but it was clear she could be quite shrewd in her negotiations if she needed to be. There was a reason she lasted so long on the streets despite some disadvantages.

He hadn't seen her show and she wasn't sure if she was excited because it could mean a fun second encounter or a little disappointed because it meant he hadn't seen it. She was a little surprised he invited her along and she smiled slightly at the idea of going to the production she normally danced in as audience. Perhaps not quite as fun as it seemed.  She knew she could see every tiny detail that was imperfect and it really ruined the magic. "Maybe not that specific show. I've seen it so many times I could point out every single misstep. Might not be as fun to have me sitting with you to ruin the magic of the show. It is quite a good one, in my humble opinion." If only because she was part of the cast. She also did enjoy the production as a whole, including the storytelling.

He seemed surprised her birthday was so close, which made sense considering the odds. She smiled slightly as he suggested a second time that they ought to meet again. Possibly on her birthday. She wondered if that sentiment endured after he learned it was on April's fools. "Are you asking me on a date, sir?" She asked with a pointed and coy little smile. She wasn't exactly opposed to the idea, but it sounded like a really strange thing. She was more the type to sleep around than date, that was obvious. Yet indulging in the fantasy every once in a while? Not a horrible thing.

He mentioned the Snow Queen and the disney version of Frozen. Clearly he liked happy stories as those were the aspect he opted to highlight. She smiled slightly. "I liked that yes. I haven't been too lucky in love so it's nice not all stories depend on romantic love. It's nice to see familial love getting more attention, although I personally favour the treason of prince Hans in that itteration. I'm not familiar with the original work so I'll need to read up on that." She said with a smile. A frozen heart, thawed by true loves kiss. Disgusting. It was kind of adorable that he liked happy endings that much though. Not what she'd expected, though she guessed the thought people as cynical as she herself was. Not always true it seemed.

Favourite random fact? She pulled a face as she tried to think of any random facts at all. She wasn't really a factoid kind of person. "Luxumbourgh decided to quit Eurovision when they couldn't participate in the following year due to bad a performance after which they remained so salty they never returned to the competition?" She said, almost as if asking if the fact was good enough for him. "What is your favourite or your least favourite animal?" If his least favourite was cats she was going to have to cancel any ideas he might have about seeing her again. If Spot didn't like somebody they were out, but even more so if they didn't like cats because Spot was her cat and nobody mattered enough to pick them over her adopted cat. The poor thing had been through so much after his previous owners had been murdered. He'd adopted her as his owner and she'd made her dad let her keep him to buy her silence about his cheating, even though he ran off with the woman later on anyway. Not that she knew Spot was actually a kneazle rather than a cat. She just figured him a bit of an ugly but very smart and loveable cat.

@severus

[Deleted]

Shacklebolt could barely hide the rise of his brow as the pretty little white girl sat in front of him and spoke of how some lives mattered more to law enforcement than others. His father had been in the top position of the Magical Ministry of Britain and even he had come across issues. Deciding not to get into a conversation, at this time, about the politics and apparent life-worth of various demographics, he cleared his throat and drank at his cider. "Indeed," he replied simply.

Severus did have to chuckle at the look on her face as they dropped the momentary pretense of her neighbour being the injured person. "Alright, you clearly know what is best for you and I shall leave my big nose out of it," he shook his head slowly. Then her following word made him frown because... it just didn't make any sense. "There was no evidence of a stabbing? I mean, a big old hole in someone's body is pretty good evidence, surely?" Severus asked with furrowed brow. "You don't want to know if the person is in jail? I... cannot even fathom." He had been willing to leave the questions to the hypothetical, so she only had herself to blame by divulging more information about the situation.

On the subject of life-lessons, a dark cloud passed over his expression for a moment as she spoke about how hard life could be. "Trust me, life isn't all that glorious sometimes even with a fancy degree," Severus replied, because not a bit of his education could have prepared him nor stopped what fate had in store for his family. His father was one of the best aurors he knew, yet he still fell prey to a criminal. "It does seem though that things are on the rise for you, which is the important thing to focus on, it's great to hear that you're thriving," he said with a genuinely encouraging smile. The language was important after all and she herself had said that there were other ways to thrive.

Whilst Severus had family money that he knew he could always fall back on, he had striven to live by his independent means since he had graduated from Hogwarts. Needless to say, he understood the value of money and appreciated that the young woman wanted to clarify it was not a favour of monetary value. "And I'm a naturally generous person - do not worry I would not ask anything untoward of you," Severus replied, an easy smile crossing his face. "Besides - you may not get to read them, because I'm sure that they'll all be such little angels in class this semester that...." he couldn't keep a straight face at that. He was already trying not to laugh through the sentence.

A look of disappointment washed over him as he mistook her polite decline of his invitation as a rejection on a date. Then she explained why and he smirked slightly, "ah you're one of those girls? Well, I'm one of those guys that enjoys being swept away by the magic, so I appreciate that you're at least up front about that particular character flaw," Severus had a bit of a tongue-in-cheek moment there, his tone light so that his new friend hopefully took the comment as banter. He was about to point out that the show must be free, or cheap as chips, for her to have seen it many times but then thought the better of it at the last minute. "Is there another show that you would like to see, but have not? So that we can indulge in the magic of the performing arts at the same time?"

On the topic of the young lady's imminent birthday, Jane asked him if he had asked her on a date without... having been actually so bold. Her company was charming and she hadn't offered him services for money yet so perhaps he'd misjudged her when they first met this evening. He wondered briefly if he should play innocent, but then smiled wide. "Yes, I think I've now attempted to ask you on two separate dates, if we're being completely candid," Severus replied smoothly, his finger tracing the rim of his glass to make sure that he had some nervous outlet. "What say you, Jane? It could be at a show that you've not seen, another drink here or perhaps a slightly nicer place, like a restaurant. I'll bring the fresh orange juice either way."

As they discussed the merits of Frozen, Severus tilted his head. "Oh really? It was certainly an interesting twist," and as a grown man, he'd never admit how hurt he had been for Anna when the treachery was revealed. "It can really show kids that people aren't always trustworthy," though Severus knew that life itself would teach them that fast enough. "So do you identify more as the Hanz or the Anna character - or Elsa who's standing in the background going what the...?" Severus made the best 'you're crazy' face as he could - which, between the reader, the writer and Severus was pretty damned good because he dealt with teenagers on the daily - and smiled. "The Snow Queen is the villain in the story, although I feel like she's a metaphor for life in general rather than a true villain."

The pureblood wizard blinked as the muggle came up with a random fact that was about a country that he knew was real and the rest of it sounded really bizarre. Merlin on a merry-ground, how was he going to bluff his way through this one? Severus blew his cheeks up slightly, blinked and let the air out of his plump lips. "Yeah. Yep, that is random," he laughed. His favourite animal? "The lion," Severus decided, mostly because it reminded him so very much of his own father. Proud, strong, looking after everyone as if they were his pride. "But it is up to you to figure out if it is my favourite or most disliked," he said with a cheeky grin. "That's your question."

@xantha

[Deleted]

Right, preaching to the choir. It was a frustration kind of thing. She was simply too used to being around richer or at least more well off folk that made positive presumptions. Since her dad was an officer of the law and by now even higher up on the ladder she'd mostly been exposed to folk with very positive views on law enforcement. In her youth she'd been completely blind to the realities of the world because she'd just been so shielded from it. Now she was mostly frustrated and angry at the entire world. She didn't really believe in happy ending any more and those that did were more often met with scorn than anything else. Frozen heart? Check.

She shrugged and the smug smile on her face was quite evident. "I had a friend over that gave me some stitches and I'm quite the expert at cleaning up evidence it seems. Besides, if it's one thing I'm really good at it's lying." Well, specifically to her father but it made the skill in general much better when one constantly lied to ones parents. She also constantly told lies to her mother about her financial state and her state of living. There were very few situations in which she was by nature an honest person because she'd learned it was better not to be. So while it wasn't really much of an attractive feature, she felt no need to pretend or lie about that. If he wanted to spend more time with her it was probably best he knew ahead of time that she wasn't any sort of saintly maiden. As for knowing..... "I have very little trust in the police. All the nitty gritty stuff usually means they walk. I can not know or care and live normally or I can try my best to figure it out, find out he walked since they usually do and live in near constant fear he'll stop by to finish what he started. I'd rather be stabbed without prior knowledge." She said with a rather careless shrug. "Knowledge is a different kind of curse. Ignorance of the things I choose makes my life a lot easier."

She chuckled. "Life isn't glorious for anybody, I think. No money gives you the wonderful advantage that you don't have to worry about long term. I'm not that likely to make it to thirty so why worry about old age? I get to enjoy life as much as possible since I'll probably be dead before you even retire." She shrugged completely carelessly. "The rich get their social anxiety and the concerns of no longer being able to afford their fifth vacation abroad this year or their inevitable fall from social grace while I get my anxiety over the likelyhood I'll be able to eat tomorrow. On the bright side I'm not really interesting enough for any sort of statement terrorism and there's bigger value in my dead than alive. At least my kidneys are still worth something." She laughed freely at that. For somebody as cynical as she was, she had a weird bright side to things, although it was most commonly quite sinister.

She chuckled and shrugged. "There's no such thing as magic. I can just appreciate the choreography, not to mention the techincal side. It's all a very well mixed blend of technical tricks to support the science of beautiful mixed with just a little instinct from the people creating it. It's a lot of hard work from a lot of people. I like reminding people of that because so many component of a good show are just underappreciated." She said with a wistful sigh as she remembered a few moments she managed to ruined the so called magic by pointing out it was done with some good rigs or lighting effects. To her it was fun, but nobody ever really thanked her for ruining the moment for them. She considered shows she wanted to see but nothing jumped to mind all that quickly. There were so many things that she longed to see, but she was usually busy. Not to mention she didn't have the money for them. She was quiet as she considered, but it just felt over indulgent. "There are a few shows...." She admitted with a slight reluctance. "But they're too expensive." She said and she shrugged. She was the type to demand to pay her own ticket at the very least. She didn't want to owe anybody anything.

He admitted that he'd asked her on two different dates and she almost felt sorry for the fact he was trying to put up with her. She knew she was a difficult person at best and so she felt mildly confused. Still, it wasn't a bad thing, she guessed. Still she had half a mind to reject him out of bitterness towards love and relationships themselves but she thought better of it. He'd learn soon enough that she wasn't that girl for anybody. She was just a fun way to pass the time but not something long term. It was part of why she didn't like people paying things for her. It wasn't a good investment. She scrunched up her nose a moment, pursed her lips and then nodded. "Fine. We can go for another drink. I'm fine with a different place, although not some fancy restaurant. That sort of stuff is for trying to impress people and I'm too cynical. The harder you try, the less likely it is to work." She admitted in full honesty.

"Elsa." She said without a moments thought, although a smirk crept up on her lips soon after. "Although when they revealed the betrayal I cheered, which seemed to be the wrong reaction. He was just disgustingly perfect. I liked Kristoff better because he's utterly flawed. Then of course he has to be an idiot and fall in love and whatnot. Kind of ruined the entire premise they started off with but it's disney, I guess." She wasn't overly interested in romance arcs but had a soft spot for the stories they told at Disney either way. They had their own shape and form of entertainment simply because there was nothing realistic about them. In a universe where magic was real it made sense that weddings could actually make it to the end. She almost burst out laughing as he called Elsa the villain and metaphor for life. "Well at least that villain is easy to defeat. All it takes is dying and you can do that without help." She said sarcastically.

He mentioned the lion as his animal and Xantha nodded approvingly. Felines were great in all shames and sizes. But then he said it was up to her to figure out if it was his least or most favourite. She snorted. "If it's not your favourite you have a really weird story somewhere in your past or you somehow dislike felines, in which case I cancel on the date. I happen to have a cat and he's the most precious creature in the universe to me." She told him rather bluntly. Then she considered her next question for a moment. "If you were forced to change jobs, what kind of a career would you prefer to have?" It ought to give her some sort of clue on what subject he taught, which she just didn't really want to know but it was an easy enough question. Not to mention it told her something about what kind of a guy he was. He was in a position of authority as a teacher so she wondered if he'd go for a different kind of authority or if he'd seek out something else to do with shaping the young minds of the future. Or supposedly helping people. Those tended to be some pretty normal reasons for going into education after all.

@severus