Astoria; I Need A Vacation

[travis_briggs]

His office was still buzzing with the latest Prophet article. Travis couldn't leave his desk with out somebody coming up to his, asking if he knew Lavender or any of the previous victims. That was the downside of being one of the youngest members of firm. Everyone assumed he knew what was going on in the world. Didn't they know Travis kept a much

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[so_astoria]

It was one of the rare occasions in which Astoria was not only awake and out of bed before the afternoon had started to lean into the evening, she was actually dressed, made up, and out of the house

[travis_briggs]

Travis had let himself zone out almost completely, enjoying the shift from his noisy office to the calm alley outside the bar. It took him a minute to get his bearings once he had been knocked into, cigarette balancing between his lips.

"Suppose I am?" he responded, noticing the stockings that peaked out from the bottom of her coat. Travis raised an eyebrow as he met her gaze. He had not been exacting this at all.

He looked behind, realizing that this alley was just connected to a dead end. Which, of course, could only mean one thing. Witch.

"Haven't you heard? Allies have just become much more dangerous. Good thing I was here or something terrible could have happened."

[so_astoria]

Not a Muggle, then. Astoria couldn't help the small burst of laughter that escaped her, a reaction that had become her typical response to anyone showing concern with regards to her supposed vulnerability or questioning the general safety of the environments she frequented.

"Believe me, sugar, I can take care of myself." She tipped her head up at him, her chin indicating the smoke between his lips. "Think you could spare one of those, though?"

[travis_briggs]

"Oh, I never said you couldn't," he grinned, giving her a very obvious once over. She was much more braisen than Travis thought. Then again, the stockings and trench coat should have been a tip off.

Then he reached into his inside coat pocket and pulled out his pack. A long time ago he had charmed it to replenish the supply. Travis held it out for her.

"Help yourself. If you need a good spot to lean, I can attest to this wall," Travis told her, nodding over to the spot next to him.

[so_astoria]

The boy certainly wasn't shy with his looks, she'd give him that. She'd gotten used to subtle, side-eye, pretend-not-stare looks she tended to draw when she went about town in her work get ups, but this obvious borderline-staring was rather refreshing.

She plucked a cigarette from the offered pack and nodded her thanks, placing it deftly between her red-stained lips and pulling the tip of her wand out just past the edge of her sleeve for a light.

She ignored his offer for a lean on the wall, keeping firmly to re spot standing directly in front of him, hips swaying slightly as she watched him with barely-just-narrowed eyes. Smoke trailed from her lips as the corner of her mouth twitched up to a tiny smirk. "You don't usually come here, do you?"

[travis_briggs]

Travis took a nice long drag, closing his eyes as he inhaled. A bit of tension lifted from his shoulders when he let go. Smoke drifted from his lips when he looked back over to her.

"No, I don't actually," he told her, smiling for the first time since she approached. "I sort of walk out of work for lunch and just...well, starting wandering."

[so_astoria]

Astoria raised a questioning eyebrow, flicking the ash from the tip of her smoke, brushing off the bit of it that the light breeze had blown back to land on the shiny leather of her packed handbag. The smile was a nice addition to his face, all straight teeth and dimples. Cute as a damn button, that one.

"Ditching out early, are we? Any particular reason for playing hookie?"

[travis_briggs]

"I hate when too many people talk to me," he said simply, as if it made sense to avoid people by always keeping his office door closed. Travis took another drag, shrugging his shoulders as he did so.

"Seriously. Everyone kept asking me about the attacks and who I knew and blah blah blah," Travis groaned, shaking his head slowly from side to side, rolling his eyes. "Really, it's exhausting dealing with morons all day."

[so_astoria]

While she had her own opinions about morons, 'exhausting' wasn't really the word she'd have used. 'Entertaining', perhaps. 'Hilarious', at times. Or 'brilliantly easy'.

She shrugged, dragged on her cigarette. "People do seem to have developed a morbid fascination with rooting out people who knew them. It's human nature to get a kick out of poking at fresh wounds and anguish, apparently." Herself, she couldn't honestly care less. She had certainly not been affiliated with any of the deceased Gryffindors, had hardly even been able to recall their faces upon reading about their consecutive demises in the Prophet.

Her only annoyances following the trail of murders had stemmed from the fact that it had started to poke its head into her business - after a very nervous last session and two subsequent cancellations, she was even starting to think that one of her more skittish clients suspected she was this silly Burning Man psychopath.

[travis_briggs]

"Idiotic," he muttered, taking one last pull of his cigarette before flicking it into the deserted alley. Travis watched as the smoke twisted into the air, getting carried away into the street by the subtle wind.

"I walked a few blocks and ended up at this spot. Never imagined running into a witch this far from Diagon Alley," he noted, looking back over at her. Really, he was wondering what a girl like her was doing in a dank alley in the first place - any alley. While he didn't like to talk about the Burning Man attacks, he was taking his own precautions.

[so_astoria]

"There's more to London than that crawling tourist hub," Astoria shrugged by way of explanation. Honestly, unless she was shopping for something specifically magical or meeting one of her less local clients who prefered to Apparate where it was safe to, she generally prefered to stay away from the Alley - too many screaming children and bustling old witches, not enough bars or general debauchery.

Besides, she took a certain pleasure from wandering around Muggle London and mingling with their poor, innocently stupid sort, watching them go about their plain and tedious lives with no idea what sort of mindblowing realities were literally staring back at them from just blocks away.

"Also, the bartender here mixes the best Manhattan."

[travis_briggs]

Travis raised an eyebrow. It would seem she had a taste for the good drinks, not just overly sweet vodka drinks watered down with juice.

"How are the Tom Collins?" he asked, sounding much more interested than he had before. Maybe it was the lack of tobacco he was inhaling or that his headache from earlier had subsided. Though, it was probably due to gorgeous witch that seemed to be in need of a drink.

[so_astoria]

Astoria's fingers brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen from her messily gathered bun (the hairstyle required for that evening's appointment would be sculpted later - the stern-and-slicked-back thing tended to give her a headache after a few hours), sucking a final drag from her smoke before pinching the butt between two perfectly-manicured fingers and flicking away down the length of the alley.

"Equally on point," she assured him, nodding towards the door. "Shall we, then?"

[travis_briggs]

Travis nodded, turning to reach for the door. He pulled it open and stepped aside for her to enter first. Nobody could say that Travis Briggs didn't have manors.

"I'm Travis, by the way," he told her, finally introducing himself. He felt rather lame, actually, as if it was a line from a movie.

[so_astoria]

Astoria strutted through the door ahead of him, her eyes quickly and expertly adjusting to the just-short-of-too-dark lighting of the familiar bar. She returned the nod of recognition and acknowledment that the white-shirt-and-bow-tie-clad young man currently gathering up empty glasses from the newly-cleared table just to the right of the entrance threw her way, adding a last minute wink in response to the vaguely dreamy look on the poor kid's face. She did quite like this place...

"Astoria," she replied, barely even turning to accept the introduction as she led him towards the bar. "Pleasure."

[travis_briggs]

Travis let the door swing shut behind them as he followed her through to the bar. He remembered the pact he had made with Jake just the night before but he was going to compromise. If he watched the bartender the entire time, while making their drinks, he should be safe.

"They seem to know you here," he commented, noticing the small greetings as they made their way through. There was a good enough crowd for a Tuesday afternoon, mostly smaller groups or happy hour goers. It had an entirely different feel than the Drunk Piano, much sleeker and more refined.

"Do you make a habit of hanging out in bars this time of day, mid-week?"