Shot of Sanity [open]

[dante.emlen.deluca]

Despite only being twenty-five years old, Dante De Luca felt a hell of a lot older. Taking in a deep breath of the chilly air, he sighed once before opening the door to the Hog's Head pub and heading inside. Perhaps most people would have looked around for someone they knew, or even a secret lover to share one of the rather dingy rooms above with, but he just headed straight for the bar. It was the only thing he had any particular desire for at this present moment in time... other than taking his wand to the head. It wasn't even this normal for the wizard to have such morbid thoughts, ones that he wasn't even sure were possible. (Perhaps later he'd have one of his students do a study on wizarding suicides; could one even kill themself with their own wand? Would it work?) But that was later. For now, all the needed was a shot of the strongest stuff this particular pub had to offer.

Nodding at the bartender and a few faces who looked vaguely familiar, Dante took the first empty stool he spotted which was luckily in between two blokes. He didn't want to deal with females tonight, no matter how attractive they may or may not be. No matter how talented they may or may not be. In fact, females were the very last damned thing he wanted to encounter tonight. The mere thought of them brought an abnormal amount of irritation to his state of being. And he thought his reason was pretty damned well reasonable: He'd been matched. He'd made it this far in life without being forced into a relationship but apparently, he just couldn't escape. It was just one of the many factors in the entire problem that was driving him mad. He supposed he should be grateful that it was one of his colleagues rather than a student, someone his own age and a Slytherin like himself; he should be thankful to the love god. But instead he was just fucking miserable. It was taking away the man's freedom, it was!

"What can I get ye?" The man running the bar asked him as he wiped out a freshly rinsed mug. "Ye look like hell." Dante couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes childishly, instead allowing a smirk to naturally come across his features. "If you only knew, mate. If you only knew." He didn't bother looking at the man's hands to see if he was married or not, didn't really matter to him either way. The wizard was old enough to have chosen his bride before Cupid had taken over everyone's marriage rights. "Let me get a shot of the strongest stuff you've got." The barkeep nodded as he began to pour, ignoring Dante as he rubbed his eyes and muttered to himself: "I'm going to need it."




Tag;; Open
Word Count;; About 520 before this section

[faye.louise.harper]

Faye was in an amazing mood. She'd just traveled back from a Irish National Team match. She didn't get out much to see Quidditch matches. She'd asked guys to accompany her before but then there was the shooting down in all it's variants. Faye didn't care though, she was wonderfully ecstatic being on her own. Women seriously needed to stop acting like men were the full point of existing. Her poor sister had got matched recently though, so Faye had the greatest sympathies for people that were put in matches against their wills. Especially since her sister was still in school. It made no sense why Cupid would want people in relationships so soon. Eve stranger was that Faye was 21 and unmatched. She supposed some people just had more time than others, a sad truth about life.

Stretching her arms out she could feel all her muscles uncoiling after the awkward standing she'd had to do for the Quidditch match. With a convinced grin that she wanted a drink she visited the Hog's head. She was wearing a blouse that hugged her skin slightly but not something that screamed look-at-my-boobs. It was tiger print and her legs were covered by jet black leggings. She happily shuffled up to the bar and asked for a butterbeer. She understood that some people wanted stronger stuff but she didn't drink alone. What if she threw up? Who would hold her hair? What if she couldn't get home? No, drinking alone would never do.

Her lips pursed a little as she noticed the fellow teacher at the pub muttering to himself. "Rough day?" Faye inquired, her long straight hair hanging past her shoulders. Faye never looked at colleagues in terms of their compatibility with her. Faye could get along with some teachers completely different from her and argue with someone that you'd presume was just the same. Though she had to admit it'd never occured to her to make small talk with Professor Deluca. Perhaps because she got a vibe that he didn't want to be spoken to.

[dante.emlen.deluca]

Fate, it seemed, was destined to make him miserable tonight. Even the shot he'd already downed didn't seem to be helping his mood at all. There was a part of him that wanted another, and then another, and then just enough to get completely and horribly wasted. Completely out of his mind. But his duty to the school was the only thing holding him back. Of course, that was part of what had gotten him into this mess in the first place: the damned bloody school. He didn't understand why the Ministry of Magic had allowed Cupid to take over, but he had little choice in the matter. Perhaps in a little while, he'd allow himself a pint of ale, but for now, he was oddly content in glaring mindlessly into his empty shot glass. But that wasn't going to happen.

The young and, though at this particular moment he detested to admit it, beautiful Miss Faye Harper had somehow managed to sneak up on him while waiting for her own drink. He hadn't heard what she ordered and he didn't particularly care to know, either. All females were a complete waste of time and an irritant in his life now that they were all off limits. "Rough day?" He heard her ask, which surprised him, he had to admit. The Flying professor had never said much more than a brief greeting to him since they became colleagues, and he had never went out of his way to talk to her either. Dante had no particular reason why, either; it wasn't as though he didn't want to. Mentally he knew that they had practically been students together, with her being only a few years younger than he was. But being as she was what seemed so much younger than he was back in those days and not in his own house of Slytherin, the girl had been no where near on his radar.

However, there was (or rather, had been, before he received his match notification) a part of him which definitely wanted to get to know the brunette more; she seemed like an interesting enough person. But it simply hadn't happened. Of course, as these things tended to go, she had picked one of the worst possible moments to talk to him as he was wallowing in his self-pity. "You could say that." He responded with a bit of a grumble, likely giving off an air that he didn't want to be bothered. It couldn't be helped; Dante was just a miserable person at the moment. Looking over at her, he noticed that she wasn't in her robes and wondered what she had been up to. "You look...nice." That was the alcohol talking, entering his system enough to loosen up his lips.

[faye.louise.harper]

At his words Faye looked down at herself then her eyes returned to his. She hoped he didn't feel obligated to pay her a compliment. They were so much nicer when they were genuine. "I do?" her smile was youthful, full of the playfulness. Bad moods didn't faze her but only because she rarely felt the sting of one. Life was far too short to be sad. Her eyes wandered to her clothes several times, she really looked nice? Faye always deemed herself just as good-looking as any other girl and her fashion sense no different. She was happy to take the compliment though, and willing to re-think this outfit in the future if it bode as appealing to someone like Mr Deluca, who she'd very scarcely seen him deliver a compliment to anybody. "Thank you, that's kind of you to say." she responded with contentment.

Then her butterbeer arrived, it gave her great pleasure to drink it. Her throat felt like carpet after all the cheering she did at the Quidditch match. Every single goal attained by the Irish nationals took another several bottles of water to keep herself from hurting her voice. The music alone sometimes was deafening. It had given her such a buzz that day, she felt slightly guilty that she had approached Mr Deluca in this mood. After all he looked anything but happy, perhaps she was an annoyance? She considered the option of returning a compliment and leaving him be. After all there were plenty of things about Mr Deluca to compliment. Externally anyway, she didn't know much about him and therefore she was unable to judge on his internal qualities. And it wasn't like her to judge even if she did know. However something about his impression told her to leave him be.

She went into autopilot while she was sipping her drink. She thought about her poor sister again and sighed slightly to herself. It wasn't fair on her, her sister didn't want to be matched. Cupid hadn't struck her yet. That was the part that Faye didn't understand. Faye was older, had more life experience, had twelve O.W.Ls behind her and had more maturity for a relationship than her sister did. Granted, Faye wasn't spending her nights longing to be matched anytime soon, but she'd rather it happened to her than her younger sister. Cupid had strange logic.

[dante.emlen.deluca]

Had it really been that long since he'd been drunk that it was already affecting him? The compliment had been true, of course, as he had never been the type of guy to say something he didn't mean (without it having some sort of benefit for him, which this did not). He was a bit surprised that the words had made their way out of his mouth at all, truth be told, but he had no intention of admitting that to her. Perhaps he wouldn't need another shot after all if the one was already causing him to behave in such a way. "I do?" She responded with a smile, one that showed every bit of her age. Dante nodded, wondering why she looked slightly surprised by it. A witch like her was certain to get plenty of compliments, he was sure. But as he couldn't think of any other words to say, the nod was the only form of response he gave her.

"Thank you, that's kind of you to say." He nearly snorted, and might have, if he were raised with less manners. A moment later her drink arrived, and it rather surprised him to see she was only having a butterbeer, a child's drink really. He said nothing, though he arched an eyebrow as he turned back to the barkeep, deciding on having another drink. "Pint of ale, please." He said with a nod towards the older man, who merely nodded in response. It was obvious that Miss Harper was lost in her own little world, standing beside him in the surprisingly crowded, dingy little pub. He took a moment to observe her; he'd never had the chance to do so close up before. She was rather beautiful, unfortunate as it was. Mentally he cursed Cupid for matching him once more, a slight scowl passing over his features momentarily, before he glanced back at her.

Then, of course, his manners kicked in once more. "Would you like to sit down?" He asked, offering up his stool to her. It was obvious that the scruffy looking wizard next to them was not going to move. Granted, he didn't want to give up his chair, but he had been raised better than that. Part of him, a very small part at the moment, was glad for the opportunity to get to know the other professor, even if he had yet to strike up an actual conversation. While his rotten mood hadn't been completely erased, it had been alleviated, slightly, and perhaps the night would not be a waste of his time after all.

[faye.louise.harper]

"Oh no I couldn't take your seat, it'd feel like theft. I'm a loyal follower of the idea that 'finders keepers'." she beamed thankfully, resting her arms against the counter of the bar. It was slightly sticky, she'd live though. Faye was trying to record his facial expressions, he was a very difficult man to read. Perhaps it was because they knew virtually nothing about each other. Faye was always working hard and wouldn't even call in sick because if she did they had the nastiest substitute teacher filling in. The first and only time she called in ill the substitute had made several of her students do constant laps around the pitch, not allowed to participate just because they were speaking whilst he was. Butterbeer had a small amount of alcohol in it and that was usually all she wanted; unless she was with friends or something.

She exchanged the two sickles for the butterbeer to the man, since it would most likely be her only drink. She couldn't help but wonder if Mr Deluca came here a lot, unfortunately the words she wanted to say were 'come here often?' which sounded far too much like a pick-up line. Or so she'd heard, she was a traditional girl, she didn't pick guys up. "Is this where you usually spend your time when your not working?" she inquired, tucking her hair behind her ears, her calm eyes were scanning his own. Her smile was still present, there really was no need to question that. She always smiled and the corners of her lips hadn't hastened to fall since she saw the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

On a separate note, the Hogs Head was starting to clear out a little. Which Faye was thankful for, she'd been getting a lot of strange stares. Did women not tend to come into the Hogs Head? From the look of the place, maybe it was just odd to see someone clean there. Her and Mr Deluca seemed like the only intelligible beings in there.