Feb. 14th: Hogwarts Hobnob

[Null]

"It looks fairly malevolent to me. I think I need some answers. Keep an eye out for magic witchings..." the boy said, standing up, walking over to TeaMan, the Incredible Tea Reader.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Jez almost pushed Basil over in her rush after the Will-snitch... Witch? Because after the universe almost ending she was feeling like she didn't care what everyone else thought, she was going to have some fun. In only moments the others of herself had joined her, like a pack of dogs chasing a fox.

[Ian Quessaire]

Ian smiled toward the man as he approached, gesturing to the chair. "Please, have a seat. Looking for some answers? Of course you are, we all are. Perhaps we can find them together.

He paused for a moment. "Perhaps I'm mistaken, but... didn't you come by earlier?"

[Null]

"Yeah, that was the left fist. I'm the right," the boy said, not sitting down.

"What the fuck was in that tea?"

[Will Stanton]

Jez almost pushed Basil over in her rush after the Will-snitch... Witch? Because after the universe almost ending she was feeling like she didn't care what everyone else thought, she was going to have some fun. In only moments the others of herself had joined her, like a pack of dogs chasing a fox.

Will smashed through the closed window, leaving a tiny snitch-sized hole behind. Jez would have to go around the long way, and then try to find him again. Sneaky ballboy.

[Ian Quessaire]

"... tea leaves. And hot water. I take it that you're not British."

Ian wore the expression of a man who had just been asked what tea was made out of.

[Null]

"Uh-huh. Alcohol? Drugs? Something worse? Because Will doesn't act like that. He's too much of a pussy to volunteer himself to be the center of attention like that. So, spill it. What did you do to him?"

[Ian Quessaire]

Ian shook his head. "No no, they sell those in there." He lifted his hand to point toward the bar, just as a tiny gold ball breaks through the window, with a gaggle of identical nerds streaming through the door after it. "... must be some good stuff as well."

The man intertwined his long fingers, elbows on the table as he leaned forward. "All I did is what he asked. I provide the tea, the client provides the wishes, and I interpret the signs as they are presented to me. Your... lefty seemed rather pleased with what the future had in store for him."

[Null]

"He'd be pretty pleased if you dangled your keys over his head.

What do you mean, 'the client provides the wishes'?"

[Basil Benson]

"Jesus!" Basil exclaimed as Jez damn near knocked him on his ass. Basil himself had no reason to chase Will, and so he went to join his Madame at the snacks table and nibble for awhile.

As he went to get a plate, he swatted her on the backside.

He was acting so weird tonight. He'd never done that before, in public or otherwise.

[Ian Quessaire]

Ian reached into the jar that held the black tea, dropping a pinch into a cup. "The client has to concentrate on their wishes, or the future they wish to unfold. They have to take the reading seriously. If not, the reading won't be accurate. In other words, if you step into this wanting it to fail or being indifferent, then the reading will be muddled and inaccurate." He began to pour some hot water into the cup and let it steep.

"You are welcome to give it a try yourself, if you would like. All I ask is that you do it properly, and show it the respect it deserves."

[Null]

"And what causes....shit like this?" he asked, gesturing wildly at the broken window, the crazy flock of Jezzes, and horny Basil. "And did you explain that to them before you began your little charlatan routine?"

[Sookie Quessaire]

Sookie came around after she had finished with a client, shuffling up her cards to free them of any residual spiritual energy the last person may have placed upon them. She could tell the boy was agitated, and she didn't care for the way he was treating her brother.

She kept her response cool and measured.

"Alcohol probably. Or perhaps drugs. Like you said.

But not from us. They wouldn't need to look to us to get hold of such things. This is a party after all."

[Null]

"Yeah, no, I'm not buying what you're selling, sister. How come we've never seen you around here before?" the boy asked, getting up into Sookie's personal space.

[Sookie Quessaire]

Sookie tried not to grin too sarcastically. She failed.

"I would suspect because I am well beyond school age and my general distaste for schoolboy heroics would make me a terrible teacher for this institution. "

[Null]

"Who invited you? Who hired you? Why are you here?"

[Ian Quessaire]

"Yes, surely alcohol cannot explain why a man would be embracing a woman. In a bar. On Valentine's day."

Ian placed his hands on the table, taking his time in pushing himself to his feet to look down at Null. His voice deep and slow, shifting from warm caramel to as strong bourbon.

"We were invited, and hired, by a representative from the school. A representative whom, without their permission, we will not be naming to some random student as we value the privacy of our clients. We are here to provide entertainment for the students at this event, a service you are currently disrupting. If you have an issue with our presence here, I suggest you take the matter to one of the event organizers. If you do not want to participate in this activity, then I most kindly ask you to step aside. You are holding up the line." His voice was calm, though he emphasized certain phrases, and while he did not yell even these "hushed" words were loud enough to be heard by the next few students in line, who began to murmur to each other.

[Null]

"I'm not moving an inch from this spot until you give me an actual satisfactory answer as to what's going on. And if your next answer isn't to my liking, I'm going to punch you, really hard, in the face."

[Ian Quessaire]

"Very well." Ian stood up straight and looked out over Null's head.

"Security!"

[Null]

Two large mutants walked up to The Boy, who looked briefly like he wanted to give it a fight, and then he shrugged.

"Right. Go fuck yourselves, both of you," he muttered, as he was led out of the party.

[Narrator]

The Boy had fereted out more information for Sean than he may have been aware of, though how to interpret said information was a bit more muddled.

During the entire altercation neither Sookie nor Ian called upon magic to settle their quarrel for them, relying purely on their own wits to get them through it. This could mean one of two things.

Either these two weren't entirely awake to magic the same way in which Sean was and were merely dabbling in it, or they were playing their cards exceptionally close to their chests.

[Sean Hall]

"Well, that escalated quickly," Sean mutter to himself before walking over to the pair of possibly not magicians. "You two alright?"

[Ian Quessaire]

Ian brushed himself off and sat back down, collecting himself before offering Sean a tired-looking smile.

"Oh yeah, fine. This sort of thing happens more often than you'd think. Some people are just superstitious. I'm sure he'll find someone to discuss his flat earth theories with.

Are you interested in having a reading done?"

[Sean Hall]

"Oh, I think I know how often it happens," Sean smiled. "You use cards as your medium?"

Sean did move to sit with Ian, which was a sort of answer.

[Ian Quessaire]

"The cards speak to Sookie, the tea leaves speak to me" Ian got a fresh cup and gestured to the little jars between the two of them, offering for Sean to take his pick.

[Sean Hall]

"An older tradition reading tea leaves if you believe stories about Chinese emperors," Sean said picking the black tea. "How long have you been doing readings?"

[Ian Quessaire]

Ian plucked a pinch of black tea leaves and dropped them into the cup, pouring the hot water in on top of them and letting it steep. "Oh, about as long as I can remember. You have an interest in magic and mysticism? Or are you just a history buff?"

[Sean Hall]

Sean watched Ian closely as he went about his routine.

"Yes," Sean said wryly. "One cannot be one without the other."

"Are you self-taught? I've found that reading technique is a bit difficult to learn from books."

[Ian Quessaire]

"Fascinating stuff, myths and history. How some little fact can crop up and explain so much, or cast what you knew into doubt." Ian pushed the cup toward Sean. "Concentrate on your future, and how you wish it to unfold. Leave only a little left in the cup."

The man seemed amused by the idea of learning divination from a book. "Ohhhhh no. This kind of thing gets passed down from generation to generation, through practice and observation. Me ma taught us from an early age, starting when we would just watch her reading for others."

[Diego Zapata]

Diego padded in wearing a well-made wizard robe with Ravenclaw colors.

"Expecto Partyum!" he commanded with a wave of a wand.

[Chisaki Watanabe]

While not specifically with Diego, Chisaki was essentially right behind him. As per Colette's request, Chisaki had designed her own costume, to a fashion.

She wore a gymslip, the common element to all 1920s British schoolgirls uniforms. Under it was a crisp white shirt with a Peter Pan collar, and around her neck a huge hand tied bow that was in gold and black. She wore a black robe over it that had a bit of an older, fantasy wizard vibe to it in cut, which was left open to still show off the uniform underneath it.

Behind a pair of entirely fake glasses were blue contacts, and on her head, a blonde wig. Apparently she was hoping to look a bit less Japanese.

She giggled at his antics, and shoved her glasses up her nose.

"Do you like parties, Diego-Senpai?"

[Diego Zapata]

Diego turned around.

"Are you kidding? I love parties and holy shit that costume is amazing."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"Thank you Diego-Senpai." Such a compliment would probably cause most girls to blush. With Chisaki, it elicited one of those wide, Cheshire grins of her.

"I know it is meant to be a uniform, but I did not want to show up the same as everyone else. Colette-senpai gave me the idea if I am being perfectly honest. I just tried to theorize what the school uniform might have looked like in Newt Scamander's time."

[Diego Zapata]

"Well, it definitely works. All I did was get my mom to mail me an old Halloween costume."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"There is nothing wrong with that. You are unique enough on your own." Chisaki replied.

She looked around and noticed Basil and Colette were making out in some dark corner of the room. Good for her in a sense, but not something she wanted to or needed to hang around for. So long as Colette kept Basil busy, he didn't need to be actively watched.

But that also meant she had few people to hang around with save one other.

"What shall we do first?" Chisaki asked Diego, her only potential companion. She looked around at the assembled activities and party goers.

"It looks like there are drinks and snacks, a photo booth, crafts, a game... fortune-telling."

[Diego Zapata]

"Ooh! Fortune telling. One of my grandmothers does that so I kinda have a weakness for woo-woo stuff."

[Chisaki Watanabe]

"It seems the card-reader is not busy." Chisaki motioned her head towards the woman who was shuffling her cards again, having just finished up someone's read.

"Tea is thematic, so it must have the longer line because of it."

[Sean Hall]

"Fascinating stuff, myths and history. How some little fact can crop up and explain so much, or cast what you knew into doubt." Ian pushed the cup toward Sean. "Concentrate on your future, and how you wish it to unfold. Leave only a little left in the cup."

The man seemed amused by the idea of learning divination from a book. "Ohhhhh no. This kind of thing gets passed down from generation to generation, through practice and observation. Me ma taught us from an early age, starting when we would just watch her reading for others."

Sean touched the cup and considered the future. The dwarf, magic, what to do with a golem he'd made from a cliff-side, and what lies further ahead.

"You use the tools you have," Sean said, "Did she teach you other things?

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Jezabelles eventually returned the the bar in single file and in fewer numbers than when they left, looking a bit downtrodden and disheartened. Just a smidge. One of them went to check on the snacks while the other sat at the bar and ordered something "ridiculous and colourful."

[Ian Quessaire]

"Oh, Pauvre Maman taught us many things. Many things...." Ian's voice drifted off not unlike a freight train disappearing into a distant fog as he stared into the cup, considering it most intently. For Sean, a subtle trail between the consultant and the client was being bridged, energy being drawn toward the stranger.

He pointed to one symbol near the rim. "Ahh, the book is open. You desire knowledge and learning, your mind is always eager to find new understanding in things. Unusual and interesting things it seems." He clarified as his finger pointed to something that resembled a comet. Traveling a little further down he almost chuckled. "Now this is a funny one, the buffalo is almost sitting in the little chair. A most unexpected and unusual arrival I think, one that will cause agitation and uncertainty about how best to move forward." His finger circled around the cup for a moment, pausing near what looks like a lock and a key. "You will lose something of value to you, sometime in the near future."

About halfway down the cup he points to another little cluster, that looks like a man and... just a lump really. "I will spare you what this symbol is actually called, the term is frowned upon these days and for good reason. But suffice to say there is someone who appears eager to do you good turns and assist you. Be wary - they are far from trustworthy. They will try to do you a bad turn, but it will fail in its object and rather turn out as a benefit - if you keep your wits about you that is."

Next came the bottom of the cup, the pictures there easy to see; an anvil and a beehive. "Well well, monsur smarty-pants. You become a man of eloquence, great mental capacity, much strength and energy in forming new schemes and enterprises, and in carrying them through. You will attain great power, and maybe a little honour as a side effect."

With the conclusion of the reading there was a different pull on Sean. The energy was sapping at the man's inhibitions, though not seemingly through any active effort on Ian's part as he set the cup back down.

"Not much mention of love, I'm afraid. Though perhaps that is a future you can carve for yourself, no?"