(Untitled)

[alotofgood]

James is cheerfully sitting at a table with a tall glass of Coca Cola (and ice), and what looks to be an actual school textbook in front of him.

(Guide to Advanced Transfiguration, if we want to be specific

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[claudiometer]

Claudia, ever a nosy bugger, has a look at the spine of the book. "Advanced transfiguration, huh?"

[alotofgood]

"That's right," says James with a smile. "You know anything about it?"

[claudiometer]

"Nope. Well, unless you count turning one kind of techy thing into another, but I doubt that's what they mean."
She's still damn proud of the hologram projector, though.

[alotofgood]

James shakes his head.

"Unfortunately not," he says. "This one's more about turning objects into other objects. With magic. Not so much with 'techy'."

Or tech.

Or whatever the word is.

"All right? Claudia, isn't it?"

[claudiometer]

"Magic's not me, so much." Yes, okay, Clarke's Law and all that, but that's more for the stuff the Warehouse already has. After all, she can explain her own work.
Claudia smiles. "Yep. I'm... not bad, but if the other shoe doesn't drop at home soon, it's gonna be Imelda Marcos' entire collection, at this rate."
(...They probably have at least a few pairs of hers in inventory. That's how they roll.)

[alotofgood]

James laughs.

"Right," he says. "I'm sorry, I haven't got a clue who Imelda Marcos is."

[claudiometer]

"I... don't even know if she's still alive, honestly. Her husband ran... I think it was the Philippines? And eventually people ran him out of power and found out that while most of the country was living in poverty, she had herself a massive shoe collection. Probably among other ridiculous excesses on their part, that's how dictators roll."
She's shaky on the facts, but the only fact necessary for shoe-dropping analogies is that Imelda Marcos had lots of them.

[alotofgood]

"Ah. Hence the reference about the shoes," James says, nodding in understanding.

He grins.

"That's clever.

"Honestly though, I'll never understand why girls need that many shoes."

[claudiometer]

Claudia shrugs. "I'm probably not the girl to ask. Never did get the hang of heels, and at this point I don't think I ever will."
She does have a few pairs of sneakers, and heavy boots for winter, but that's tame.

[alotofgood]

Yeah.

That's probably the extent of James' own shoe collection, really.

"This girl I knew in Fourth Year ... she really liked shoes. And clothes and all that sort of thing. It was a bit mad, really.

"Especially when you're dragged about Diagon Alley for the whole day shopping for nothing but that."

[claudiometer]

Considering her boss has described Claudia's style as 'dresses like a thrift store fell on her,' it's safe to say she'll never be that girl.
"Diagon Alley?"

[alotofgood]

James nods.

"That's right.

"It's a shopping area in London, just for wizards. So, you know, there'll be shops for things like broomsticks, quills, cauldrons, magic books - that sort of thing."

[claudiometer]

"So... why would anyone want to spend all their time shopping for clothes there with so much other cool stuff? Says someone who was one of the least typical teenage girls on the planet, which might be why I don't get it, but still."
There's gotta be something else that merits a little time, even if it's just the ice cream.

[alotofgood]

"Your guess is as good as mine," James says, laughing cheerfully. "I'd pick spending an afternoon at Quality Quidditch Supplies any day."

[claudiometer]

"And if I'm doing that epic of a shop, I'd rather go to town in an electronics store. So clearly the phenomenon's lost on both of us." It's not like she can ask Myka for a frame of reference. Leena, maybe, but her interests seem to lay elsewhere, as far as Claudia can tell.
(Mrs. F is just plain out of the question; for one thing, most of her clothes seem to be from the '50s.)
"Quidditch?"

[alotofgood]

"A sport on broomsticks," James answers automatically.

He's met enough people here who are unaware of Quidditch to know that mentioning the sport usually means an explanation as well.

He doesn't mind, really. He could go on about Quidditch forever, if prompted.

"There are seven players on each team, and the goal is to put a ball called a Quaffle through a set of hoops for points."