On the Town (open)

[Phoebe Payne]

"More's the pity for her then, I guess."

It wasn't that Phoebe felt bad for her prank. It was just that she felt sorry for the person that so obviously didn't know how to laugh at themselves. What kind of life was it when you couldn't laugh at yourself? A sorry one, that's what. A wicked grin bloomed at the man's mention of muggle-style removal.

"Don't temp me," she said with a wink. It was good advice at that. For the longest time she hadn't been allowed in the kitchen. Too many sharp objects in there.

"Pleasure, Aiden. Name's Phoebe Payne." She offered her hand. She suddenly realized her folly in not having brought her hand buzzer. What a shame.

[Aiden Flynn]

“Ah, my dear, speaking on behalf of the lookers I feel compelled to lament the tragedy of that fact. You be sure to let me know if anything ever happens that changes that,” Aiden said to Luna as she turned to get back to actually running her bar.

With a sad shake of his head he replied, “It really is very sad. It’s always tragic when someone is so uptight that they aren’t able to let themselves go; and she had a magazine... in a bar... on Friday night... I don’t think it gets too much more uptight than that.”

“I get that we don’t really know each other, but if you’re not looking to be tempted you should probably move off down the bar. It’s kind of my thing.”

Her name surprised a bark of laughter out of him, “Of course your name is Pain, why would I ever think anything otherwise. It’s nice to meet you Phoebe.”

When she held out her hand he checked it briefly to make sure he hadn’t spit in it or something and then reached out and shook it firmly.

[Phoebe Payne]

Phoebe's eyes rolled so hard, of their own accord, that it hurt. "She wouldn't know what fun is if it up and bit her on the arse. A terrible waste, I say. Maybe she'd be better if she got laid."

Her colorful head tilted to one side as she looked back over the path the blonde had taken on her way out. After a moment she shook her head. She was pretty certain it wouldn't help at all. She'd have to remember to avoid that one. People like that were a drain on life and nothing anyone could say would convince her otherwise.

Turning back to Aiden, she shot him with her most winning and most mischievous grin. "Oh, but I'm always looking to be tempted. Temptation is the spice of life."

"Yes, I've always thought it fit quite well. My mum told me often enough that at least my Da had the proper last name to give me. Ach, but she loves me nonetheless."

Oh how many times had she heard those words? From her mum, her family, her best friends. And yet they were always said with the spark of laughter in their eyes. At least life with Phoebe wasn't boring. No, Sir. It was anything but that.

"Thank you, and I must say... so far I've found it quite a pleasure to have made your acquaintance."

[Aiden Flynn]

“You could be on to something, and it would seem that a bar on a Friday night would be a good place to see about doing something about it. Almost makes it a shame that she packed up and left since I’m sure somebody here would have been willing to help her out with that.”

Aiden grinned, “I say almost, because the fact that she buggered off means you’re sitting here now so I’m not really all that upset about it.”

“I’m sure,” he replied with a bark of laughter, “that your name fits you to a T.”

“And you as well, this evening has already turned out to be far superior than what I’d expected. So, tell me a little bit about yourself. I can take part in awkward small talk with the best of them but I think I’d rather get to know you a little bit more in depth.”

[Phoebe Payne]

Phoebe made a little bit of a show of looking around the bar. Her gaze lingered on each man that was there and seemingly unattached. Shrugging she turned back to Aiden. "There are quite a number of decent looking blokes here too. Pity she doesn't seem to understand or make use of her wiles. No doubt one of them fine gentlemen would have assisted her in her need."

Phoebe's grin matched his watt for watt. "That's a good thing then. I'm far less uptight. I know how to have fun. And I didn't bring a magazine into a bar on a Friday night, so that just proves it."

She didn't bother to respond verbally. Her smug grin was answer enough. Yes, her name fit her. The only thing that would have made it better was if her mother really had given her 'Trouble' as a middle name. Alas, that wasn't the case.

"Pleasure to be of service then. I do like when I'm able to improve people's nights. Perhaps that's why I'm an entertainer. Or working on it anyway, if the manager would get off his duff. What would you like to know then? Should I start at the very beginning? Or would you rather I stick with the stories after I hit my legal majority?"

[Aiden Flynn]

After her comment, Aiden scanned the room as well before replying, “I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it; none of these fellows do anything for me. Maybe that was the issue though, maybe nobody ever taught her how to properly use her wiles.”

“Those are all very good signs that this is apt to be a good evening.”

He arched an eyebrow at her, “An entertainer you say? What sort of entertaining is it that you do?”

“I wouldn’t think we’d need to go back to the very beginning,” he said with a laugh, “after all I can’t imagine there are all that many great stories about cell division and all that jazz.”

[Phoebe Payne]

A wide smile crossed Phoebe's face. She had decided that she definitely liked this Aiden fellow. He was proving to be quite entertaining.

"As you well should. I have marvelous taste. Though I do find it a shame that none of them seem to do anything for you. Perhaps some of the birds are more to your liking."

This time she didn't even bother to try to swallow her laughter. Shaking her head she told him, "I'm not sure she can be taught. If she hasn't learned by now..."

"Indeed, though perhaps not the kind you'd prefer," she said with a saucy smile. "I'm the Payne in Payne River, if you've heard of us. The drummer."

Even as she nodded solemnly, her eyes sparkled with mirth. "Wonderful, I can't say I remember quite that far back. So I guess I'll just start with saying that I went to Rynham Academy where I met Q and Lita, my besties and band mates. We kind of goofed around with the whole band idea in school and as soon as we graduated, it solidified. Hopefully we'll start seeing some gigs soon. You should come out and see us."

[Aiden Flynn]

“To be honest I haven’t looked; checking out the other birds at this point seems a bit redundant, wouldn’t you agree? I seem to have already caught the eye of the one that fascinates me most.”

Aiden grinned as she burst into laughter. He joined her in shaking his head sadly, though the smile on his face and the laughter in his eyes didn’t go anywhere so the effect was essentially lost. “That doesn’t bode well for her.”

“I don’t know, as a drummer you’d have to have a pretty good sense of rhythm and that can always come in handy. Unfortunately, no – I’ve never heard of you. Where do you play? I’ll have to come see you.”

After a moment’s thought he shook his head, “Never heard of Rynham Academy; where is that?”

[Phoebe Payne]

Pheebs' eyes narrowed slightly and she regarded Aiden quite closely. When she next spoke, her words started out sounding suspicious then quickly reverted to her usual happy bubble. "Just how would you know that I'm the one that most interests you if you haven't even looked at the others? Hmm? Unless it's just because of me bright feathers drawing your attention."

As always, she was pleased when someone agreed with her. It wasn't an uncommon thing, having someone see her point of view, but it wasn't exactly common either. "But enough talk about her. Let her deal with her own issues, or subscriptions as the case may be. Wouldn't want this kind of talk to ruin the fun that could be had this evening."

"Oh, a wise one you are. I do have an amazing sense of rhythm if I do say so myself," she said with a rather smug smirk. "That's not terribly surprising. We haven't really gotten any huge gigs yet, but we're working on it. Usually ickle pubs and things when they're in a need for a music night."

Phoebe couldn't say that it surprised her that not many had heard of her Alma Mater. "It's where all the trouble makers go after they're expelled from Hogwarts and the like. Of course, I never spent a day at Hogwarts. I guess Mum and the ol' Step Da knew better than all of that."

There she was doing all the talking it seemed. She couldn't have that, as much as she didn't mind the sound of her own voice. "What about you, then?"

[Aiden Flynn]

“Well, I could go on about how your prank on blondie made me laugh, and then how I’ve enjoyed our conversation since as to why you’re the one I’m most interested in. But it probably has a lot more to do with the fact that you showed an interest in me and I’m a sucker for people that pay attention to me,” he replied with a grin to her frown.

“That’s right,” he said with a nod and a chuckle, “the brilliant plumage isn’t hurting anything either.”

She had a point, spending the evening focused on the odd woman with the magazine when he could be concentrating on the bird next to him was well past silly and into stupid. He nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything before continuing on with the rest of their conversation.

Her response forced a chuckle out of him – if she was the drummer of her group and she had a terrible sense of rhythm he’d probably still want to see them play but for a completely different reason. “That’s unfortunate – I hope that your business picks up soon. On the other hand, it’s great that you’ve got places you can play.”

Hogwarts had been a defining period in Aiden’s life but it hadn’t actually been a very good one. He’d met a lot of people but for the most part he’d spent seven years learning that the fact that he came from a muggle family meant he just wasn’t ever going to be good enough. “You really didn’t miss out on much – Hogwarts isn’t all that it’s built up to be.”

He shrugged and said, “Ah, my life isn’t very interesting for the most part – I work in Floo travel at the Ministry. It’s ridiculously boring work but it pays the bills and gives me a fair bit of free time and disposable income. As far as jobs go it’s sort of hard to complain about it.”

“I’ll grant you, it’s no ‘rock star.’”