Smell Of Coffee (open)

[Keres Devyle]

Steam rose slowly from the cup in her hand, twisting and curling under her face as she inhaled deeply. The smell of coffee filled her lungs and relaxed her. It wasn't her favorite drink but it helped to calm her and was a good drink to relax to. She licked her lips and moved away from the shop and down the muggle street. It was a warmish day, so she was had not bothered to dress to heavily. She dodged several cars as she darted across the road, shivering slightly as the rush of wind caught her back as a car whooshed past her. She was not very fond of the muggle world, although she did like the clothes. But it was so dangerous with all the cars and the strange shops that lined the high streets. She was glad for her Auror training, where she had to been instructed on how to deal with encounters with the muggle world.

She glanced around then quickly headed down an alley. In the wizarding world it was known for being a good place to slip down if you wanted to do a bit of magic. Muggles rarely looked down alleyways and the magic that lingered in the air around it was protected by weak, but useful shielding charms. She relaxed against the wall, slipping her wand out and breathing out softly. She was about to start dealing with the report she quickly had to file against a supposed dark wizard who was hiding in the muggle world. She glanced round, tensing up as she released she was not alone.

outfit

[scabior]

The alleys were the best place to be if you didn't want to be found or would do better staying unseen. For someone like him it was only natural to keep in them. Scabior squinted out at the passing Muggles and bright sunlight, safely hidden in darkness. True, he had done his time in Azkaban and been released fair and square. It wasn't like he was on the run from anything in particular, just wanting to stay that way. Old habits won out.

He both smelled and heard the newcomer at the same time. Of course he had to turn and look. The beautiful smell of coffee, along with a woman that wasn't exactly bad looking herself. However it was the sight of her pulling out a wand that drew him to move towards her; she hadn't noticed him when she entered the alleyway. The young man's eyes narrowed tensely as he wondered who she was and what she was doing here. Let her be just some innocent stranger, and not any trouble.

Looking her over gave her no identity, other than that she had nice clothes. Scabior himself was dressed in his usual ragged dark coat and plaid pants, long and slightly tangled brown and red streaked hair not entirely contained in its tie. He strode toward her calmly, but inwardly alert as ever just in case. "Hello there. What'cha doin down here, hmm? And where did yeh get that?" This part of town was pretty unfamiliar to him. As such he couldn't help the last bit, seeing the cup in her hand. Jynx LOOVED coffee. Seriously, it was the best thing in the world.

[Keres Devyle]

Her sharp instincts kicked in and she spun sharply, her wand pointing at the man who was approaching her. She could only guess he was a wizard as she had never seen him before, and it was rare to find a muggle in such odd clothes. Her sharp eyes looked him up and down, but did not find anything particularly threatening about him. Nevertheless she kept her wand up, knowing from experience that dark wizards didn't also announce themselves as such, rather waited for a surprise attack.
"Who are you? What is your name?"

She kept her voice steady, falling back into old Auror techniques as she kept staring at him, her wand trained at his chest in case he tried anything.
"What do you want? And what do you mean?"
The last sentence was in response to his rather odd question. She had seen him look at the coffee, so assumed he could mean that. It was still in her hand, her fingers clenched tightly around the hot cup.

[scabior]

His eyes fixed on the wand pointed at him for a moment. She was a feisty one, eh? Scabior tried to look nonthreatening, but stayed quite conscious of his own wand in his pocket in case he needed to pull it out for a quick escape. He wasn't going to be the one to attack her. He wasn't looking for any trouble, and anyway if he had been going to he would've done it when she wasn't looking instead of trying to talk to her. Still.. best not to say anything one might later regret.

"Me? I'm nobody. I'm just wanting some coffee is all." He met her stare nonchalantly. In case she didn't accept that answer he couldn't resist adding on, "But I asked you first, didn't I? Who are you?" It was true. Scabior had been in the alley first and asked her questions first, none of which had she answered. He was not pleased with her tone of authority or barrage of suspicious questions.

[Keres Devyle]

She didn't like his tone. She found it very rude and a lot more challenging than she would have liked. However, she considered, he did not know she was an auror, and he could be an innocent, if eccentric, wizard who she had just pointed her wand at.
She lowered her wand, but did not put it away, instead she kept it held loosely in her hand.
She gave him a tight smile and looked down at the cup of coffee.
"You can have it, I have never been a fan of it."
She extended the cup to him, offering it to him.
Keres was considering not answering his question, but it did seem unfair for her to demand his name without giving hers, and he was right, he had asked first.
She ran a hand through her short hair and answered.
Keres Devyle, Auror.
Come on now, it is only fair you answer my question, since I have answered yours and given you coffee."
She smiled at him, her trademark grin.

[scabior]

An Auror. He didn't like Aurors. Right lot of trouble they could be, and the past three years in Azkaban, that total hell of a place, were ones he would never forget. If it was up to him they would all spend some time in there and then decide how fair it really was. Point being there was no way he was trusting her. True she wouldn't send him back or anything just for existing if she had any decency. And he doubted she would have heard of him; he wasn't too much of a notorious criminal.

At the moment she was being nice on the outside, but Scabior was too cynical to really believe it. Or maybe he just didn't want to ruin that. When she offered up the coffee he took it. Keres had been drinking it but that didn't matter, coffee was coffee. He sniffed it just in case, and only after he had finished taking a sip did he remember that she was there and wanted some answers. Well, an answer she would get. It didn't have to be the correct one.

"Well, thank you. I'm Alex Jenkins. I'm.. a traveler." The name was made up and pulled at random but he showed no sign of lying. If he made up a job she could look into it, so best to say he didn't have one. He half-smiled at her in return.

[Keres Devyle]

She looked at him as he spoke, trying to see if he was lying. There was not trace of it on his face, in fact he looked as though it was the most natural thing anyone could have said, as though the name belonged to him. But her heart was telling her differently. Her instincts told her it was a lie and her instincts were almost always right. It just felt wrong to her, like something was not quite right about the picture. Alex Jenkins. It was so normal, and this man was far from it.
However she couldn't simply interrogate people because her instincts told her something, even if she wanted to.
So she accepted it, smiling at him, though there was more distance in her eyes at this point.
"So, what brings you down here, Alex? And what's with the coffee addiction?"
The last question was accompanied by a raised eyebrow.

[scabior]

That she had accepted everything he said thus far was a relief, but he'd be glad when she had moved on out of his sight. The question seemed friendly and harmless, but it could be suspicion in disguise. Aurors were trained to do that, to know everything. He'd made mistakes in the past, but he had learned now. He knew to lay low and wait for his time to come, how to stay out of trouble, how to outsmart them. In doing so he had to act like one of them. And so he acted as though nothing was off about this chance meeting at all.

"Oh, just passing through. Having a look around. What about you?" he tried to keep the conversation light and normal, as though there was no reason he shouldn't be there. Which brought up a good question, what exactly was the true reason for being right there at this moment. He wasn't quite sure, but he had been looking out for people and things to deal with. Watching the street. But to the Auror he'd stay innocent. He licked his lips and took another sip from the cup she had given him.

"And I dunno, I just love coffee, I do." He twirled a loose few strands of long hair around one finger, looking down into the murky brown swirls of the liquid. It was a Muggle drink and like any of his background, he didn't like Muggles much, but it was just great. Call it a guilty pleasure to the extreme; he loved the taste. Maybe it had a magic all to its own. Addicted, yes. Definitely. But hey, it was better than an alcohol addiction, which one would think much more likely if they knew him. The coffee.. it was one more thing that made him stand out. Scabior half smiled in a sheepish way without fully looking up.

[Keres Devyle]

She stared at him, taking in his features. He was strangely attractive, not that it changed her opinion of the man, but she did note it.
There was something odd about him, something dodgy, something that made him think that she should be looking at him sitting in a prison cell.
"So...You said your name was Alex. You look familiar, have I met you before. Have you ever been in some trouble with the law."
It was a less than subtle attempt at gaining knowledge, but Keres was a less than subtle girl. She was blocking his only exit and he looked kinda scrawny, not to mention that fact that she was a highly trained Auror with plenty of skill under her belt.

[scabior]

He tilted his head a little, eyeing her over the rim of the coffee cup. Damn it, those Aurors. Always being suspicious. He knew it would be better to just admit who he was and get on with it should she find out later, because then she would think he was up to something when he wasn't. But he didn't feel like it. He also knew full well that he should tone down his appearance and look less distinctive if that was the case. He couldn't help it though; that was just him, and he liked the way he looked. Scabior was not an indistinct, average person. Not at all.

"Nope, I don't think you 'ave. I try to stay out of trouble, an' I follow the law like any good citizen should." he put on a confused and mildly curious expression. There must be some mistake.

[Keres Devyle]

She smiled, still feeling that something was wrong, but realizing that this guy was not as weak as others, he wouldn't cave by simply asking him things. She had already decided that he was guilty of something, Keres wasn't very good at innocent until proven guilty, at least not with petty criminals.
She looked him up and down, her eyes finally resting on the coffee. The steam was barely rising from the cup now, just a slight, weak silver twirl twisting away from the cup.
"You know, I'll get you another cup of coffee if you want. That one's going cold...not nice."

[scabior]

Scabior smiled back in his own way. Auror or not, she wasn't exactly bad company. He wouldn't mind spending more time around her at all. The coffee cooling he did not mind either; he was almost done with it anyway. But one of his philosophies was that one could never have too much coffee, and so he was about to accept her offer when he remembered something that other people had. Manners. He couldn't let her pay when he had enough money for that at least.

"Actually, I think it's I that should be getting you another coffee, seeing as this was yours." he said with bit of a crooked smile, hoping she'd accept.

[Shendeth Potter]

(Hey guys. This is your lovely friend Scarlett on our lovely Shendeth's account....so yeah, in case you thought Shen was rping with Jynx...who Shen owns)

Keres blinked in shock. Well... She hadn't seen that coming.
Not that she minded, she had enough money for another coffee but she did have to try and get home by muggle transport and that could cost a fortune these days. Of course it would be all to easy to trick a machine into letting her through with a little magic, but recently Kingsley had been more strict on rules and regulations. Evert since Matty Harober got arrested by muggle police for magic and the auror squad had to obliviate around 20 police officers and track down 7 witnesses to obliviate.
She looked him up and down, considered her options and decided that she could look after herself and that, while she was right to be cautious, she did have a life.
"Sure...That would be cool. Where do you wanna go?"
She responded with her own small smile, looking up at him with her dark eyes.

[Shendeth Potter]

Well, that was good he supposed. A change of pace. However, the reason he had asked her for the coffee she had given him in the first place was that he didn't know where the coffee shop was. Or anything in this area at all. Maybe they could just walk or something until they found a place. Tilting the cup upwards, he drained the last sip still remaining and tossed it on a pile of garbage that was already in the alley.

"Anywhere you want to, but let's get out of here." Anywhere that wasn't the Ministry that is. They were still standing in a dark alley after all. The way to survive was to trust nobody, and as a bonus to leaving he wouldn't be cornered in there anymore. Scabior walked out and stopped in the sunlight a few steps beyond the alley's entrance, waiting for her to follow. Just because he was a rather eccentric petty criminal didn't mean he couldn't pretend to act normal sometimes. Of course there could be hell to pay, but so what. He was young, and such was life. He didn't care.