Witch Weekly Annual Holiday Party (Thursday 12/19)

[daphne_x]

The Holidays were a cheerful and festive time. In fact, this season was Daphne Greengrass's favorite time of a year. Everyone seemed to be in a better mood around bright lights, wrapped presents, and the jingle bells. It was about the only time that she preferred to see snow on the ground rather than feel the sand between her toes

Comments

[reidinggg]

Reid wasn't nearly as subtle with his once (twice, thrice?) over, finding himself completely at a loss as to how anyone could possibly be subtle when it came to taking a proper a look at this man. He promptly, reflexively knocked the rest of his drink back, letting his empty glass clink and topple against the edge of the counter top.

He firmly stuck his own hands in his pockets - mostly, let's be honest, as a preventive measure to keep himself from accidentally reaching out to touch Sebastian's entirely too tempting arms or chest, a move that he had previously found to not be entirely welcome as far as relative strangers and their personal space were concerned.

"Hi," Reid offered lamely in return. He intended to turn his gaze back to Jemma in order to pierce her with a 'how dare you what is your game plan what have you dragged me into you scheming minx' glare. But then his eyes worked themselves away from the taunting, tell tale tightness of the jacket wrapping around Sebastian's upper arm and over his shoulder, flickering up to meet his eye-

Oh, was he ever in all sorts of trouble now...

[jemmadorny]

This was something.

She hardly knew Sebastian in a way where she could guarantee his reactions but his quiet greeting and flickering glances seemed in step with how she'd guessed. She also knew she'd receive some sort of grumpy lecture later, warning her of trying to impede on his leather jacket coolness and loner stance. She'd let it come and try and refrain from grinning too broadly.

But Reid.

Merlin, she hardly remembered the last time he was this quiet. Quiet. It just wasn't a thing that she ever put into the same sentence with Reid Chambers.

She glanced back and forth between the two, her lips quirking into a smirk.

"Bash is taking one for the team tonight," she said, offering the stoic man a sympathetic glance. "With Shacklebolt's election campaign, we're trying to edge out the public's feeling on him. But I figure it's high time you took a break, no? I don't want to work you too hard on your first night.."

She trailed off, looking back to Reid.

"Why don't you two grab a drink while I shake some of these wealthy bastards down for galleons?"

[daleysebastian]

He'd known this was useless. No one who knew a thing about Sebastian sent him anywhere to gauge what people were thinking if it involved actual interaction. Jemma was definitely in for a lecture. A lengthy lecture. One that could go on for days. Sebastian had had sisters once, he was familiar with how to lecture with the best of them. And he would have her known that he knew what she was doing. He could spot a set up when he was weirdly in the middle of one. He'd been back for a week; how was it possible for her to be so meddlesome so damn quickly?

Then again ... this might not be half bad. Reid was definitely nice to look at. Sebastian could have worse things to do - people to talk to - probably.

Nonetheless, he gave Jemma a stern glare that he had no doubt she would completely ignore.

"I think it's about time I give the whole thing up. But since you have suggestions handy and everything ..."

[reidinggg]

Reid finally did manage to tear his eyes away from Sebastian's entirely too distracting face, turning his gaze to Jemma just long enough to throw a few daggers her way. He was suddenly all to aware of what she had purposely done. He just wasn't sure how he felt about it just yet.

He threw another quick side glance at Sebastian's brooding profile.

...Alright, so maybe he wasn't all that upset about it. Still, she'd be needing a stern talking to when all this was said and done.

...Or perhaps a high five, or a present of sorts. It was still too early for him to know.

He finally shook himself out of the initial shock the sudden onslaught of shameless attractivenes had sent him into, clearing his throat and raising a questioning eyebrow as he turned his attention back to Sebastian.

"A drink, then?" he asked, jerking a thumb toward the bar, doing his best to keep himself from being too blatant about his helpless staring.

[jemmadorny]

She'd never felt so delighted to receive so many glares before in her life. She kept her face straight, however, as she looked back and forth between them. It had come to her so suddenly when she spotted Reid by the bar- and frankly, as she eyed them standing across from each other- they looked damn good together.

"I'm full of suggestions," she told Sebastian, her eyelashes fluttering playfully. "Go on, you two will have fun! Some of us should anyway, take advantage of the open bar and all that. I've got an election to win-"

And with that, she squeezed both their arms before leaving them to their own devices.

Shew knew lectures were going to follow but she hardly cared. They'd be thanking her soon enough.

[daleysebastian]

"Definitely a drink," Sebastian nodded after a couple beats of silence following Jemma's hasty retreat. He inclined his head toward the bar and headed that way, though not so quickly as to actually attempt to leave Reid behind. It was actually shocking. Sebastian was half-tempted to sulk the whole way, but he was trying this new polite thing.

At least when he was faced with someone that wore a suit that damn well.

"Is she always this clever and subtle?"

[reidinggg]

Reid couldn't help the laugh that escaped him as they reached the bar, shaking his head with a mix of admiration and frustration.

"Unfortunately, yes. Sneaky minx, that one," he said, the endearing affection clear in his tone despite his accusing words. "You should probably get used to it if you're meant to be working with her."

He paused, throwing another lingering side glance at Sebastian before leaning against the bar's counter, raising a hand to get one of the bustling bartenders' attention. Just from looking at him (and he really was thoroughly enjoying looking at him), he guessed that if there was anybody who could keep up with up Jemma and her ways, this one could certainly manage it.

[daleysebastian]

"I'm still not sure I am," Sebastian shook his head. He set his whiskey tumbler on the bar and gave the same bartender Reid had just flagged a short nod. He was reaching his cap of social interaction for the night - month - and couldn't expend additional energy on waitstaff.

"I haven't decided how temporary this is." For some reason, that seemed like a necessary point to make. Or it could be that Sebastian was just saying words for the sake of it, which didn't happen to him often. He was really thrown for a loop with relocating just in time to be tricked into a job and a party all in one go.

"Tell me she's at least better at tricking people with money into doing what she wants without looking so smug."

[reidinggg]

"Have you seen what she's wearing? With the crowd she's aiming for tonight, all she has to do is walk by and wave and the galleons will be piling up at her feet," he rolled his eyes, still with a hint of a 'get it, girl' smile on his lips.

"Rum and coke, double," Reid nodded to the bartender, turning a questioning eyebrow in Sebastian's direction, scrutinizing him stern (stupidly attractive) expression. He had, after all, been warned about his supposed grumpiness. His apparent lack of enthusiasm didn't exactly come as a shock.

A challenge, more like.

"Anyway, any particular reason why it should be temporary?" he asked, idly fingering the rim of his fresh drink.

[daleysebastian]

"Whiskey, straight," Sebastian added his order to Reid's. While he was at it, he considered Reid's assessment of Jemma's dress and the crowd. He had to admit how true it was. She definitely looked stunning and a bit above most of the rest. It spoke of money which always brought more money to it.

Sebastian was a realist - cynic - so the thought couldn't be helped.

Turning away from the bar, drink in hand, Sebastian weighed his options. How honest should he be? It was one thing with the people he'd known - or Jemma who apparently knew everything about him already - but someone new? Who was so stupidly nice to stare at?

Whatever, he was allowed to be stupid over a pretty face sometimes.

"I don't exactly spend much time in the country. Haven't for years. Didn't see much reason to change that now."

[reidinggg]

"Don't exactly see much of a reason not to change that, either," Reid countered with a shrug, leaning back against the bar, still trying to keep his sideglances down to a relatively subtle minimum.

He hadn't thought it possible, but Sebastian's profile was somehow even more enticing than his other angles, all strong brow, perfectly sloped nose, and sharp, tauntingly angled, stubble-covered jaw...

Reid bit down on his lip, casting a look of borderline concern down at his drink - a few more of these in this man's presence and he feared he might start embarrassing himself.

[daleysebastian]

Sebastian was a professional. He should be able to catch every sideways glance sent his way. Unfortunately, he was too busy alternating glancing at his drink and up through his eyelashes at Reid to actually catch much that was going on. On anyone else, Sebastian would call it bashful, on himself?

He called it self-preservation.

"Point, I guess," he nodded. It was a good point, if extremely simple. He couldn't even argue against it. "The are hasn't really been great to me so." He shrugged and pretended this man wasn't somehow ridiculously engaging. And the lip biting? Damn did he have to draw attention to his mouth like that?

[reidinggg]

"So-" Reid cleared his throat again, stubbornly set against letting the conversation flicker off (and if that was to keep from happening, he had a feeling he'd have to do most of the work) mostly for fear of what he would do should he be left with nothing to occupy himself other than his drink and the sight of Sebastian's face and, well, overall look. It really was all he could do to keep his hands to himself as it was already...

"-any particular reason for you to be back in the country to begin with? Or did Jems just manage to hunt you down and drag you in from wherever it was you'd been settled?" He certainly wouldn't have put it past Jemma to go around the world for something or someone if she'd really had her mind set on them.

Then again, it wasn't as if he was unfamiliar with Sebastian Daley's story. His family name had been sprawled across the papers for weeks following the well-publicized (the damned press did love a good tale of tragedy) attack on his family's home. Along with most people, he had always assumed that the older Slytherin, whose presence back at school had played a notable part in his never-ending frustrations and fantasies, had gone the same way as the rest of his family.

Leave it to Jemma to dig up the truth beneath the gossip.

[daleysebastian]

Sebastian laughed - sort of, it was an amused sound, more of a huff, really. "She would have been trying for a while, I never stayed in the same place long." Come to think of it, six months had probably been the longest he'd stayed in one place for very long since he'd unceremoniously been pulled out of Hogwarts and disappeared off the radar. It usually took that long for someone to catch onto the werewolf thing, though, so that probably had something to do with it. "If she'd been tracking me down, I wouldn't have come back. I don't take kindly to being stalked, even if I'm getting paid." Well, that was a shocking bit of disclosure.

There was no denying that Sebastian wasn't exactly a brilliant conversationalist - at least, not with people he didn't know or hadn't ever known. Typically, he just gave it up after about 30 seconds, but then again, most people let him let conversations die. Reid was definitely turning out to be wholly atypical.

Sebastian didn't know what to do with that but it was interesting.

"I came back to ... help an ... old friend. Sort of." No use saying it was to see if he had any luck finding a serial killer the Aurors were completely failing in catching. That was a little too dark for a party and even Sebastian had that much decorum. "It's not really that interesting."

[reidinggg]

Reid couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him. "Sort of. Right." He sipped slowly at his drink, glancing up at Sebastian through his eyelashes. "The whole 'brooding and mysterious' thing really works for you, doesn't it?"

Never mind that he also seemed like the type that could easily squish him under his boot if he so much as said the wrong thing, Reid had given up trying to hold his tongue in delicate situations. No matter how many times it landed him in trouble, there was nothing to be done as far as stopping himself from speaking his mind.

Not that this was meant as a slight of any kind. If patterns were anything to go by, he had absolutely nothing against the brooding and mysterious types, and this one was no exception.

[daleysebastian]

"The sort of is to have some sense of decorum. Even I have that." Sometimes. Most of the time, Sebastian didn't give two fucks who he offended - usually on accident - or otherwise irritated - generally on purpose.

"It hasn't failed me yet, actually," Sebastian said. Somehow - for some unknown reason - he actually smirked and took a long drink. "You want to pretend like it isn't working for you?"

He'd caught some of the looks - even though he'd been trying to be covert himself. Those were meaningful looks - impressed ones - and Sebastian could at least admit he appreciated it.