Wandering about the shop.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

Inara is doing her thing in the shop - inside the front window display to be precise, struggling with a bookshelf that is meant to be showing off all of the new stock that's been coming in the past couple of weeks.

Her skirts are long enough that nobody passing by is getting a show, but if they stand there for a while they may actually get to spot Inara huffing at the shelving units and swiping her hair out of her face - an uncharacteristic show of frustration for her.

[ooc: could still be played in Hogsmeade weekend if wanted for anyone.]

Comments

[will_scarlett]

Will's wandering and ends up watching her comes inside, "Do you need some help?"

Since he's early, having something to do will help pass the time.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Oof!"

Inara really should have been expecting someone to walk in, with all of this going on.

"Oh no, I'm quite alright. This is my job after all," Inara laughs lightly. "What good would I be if I made the customers do it?"

[will_scarlett]

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you can't ask for help. Anyway it looks like you don't have quite enough hands and I'm glad to offer mine,"

It will keep him from pacing outside.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"I suppose I could put you to use at that."

Inara steps down out of the window display and lands her fingertips at her sides to look at the set of crates she gets to sort through.

"Why don't we pick out the books and separate them? Non-fiction to fiction, then Hogwarts reading lists off to one side."

[will_scarlett]

"Good, I like being useful and I've got time before I meet up with someone,"

The crates don't look too daunting and he starts on the nearest one.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Oh yes?"

The first book in Inara's crate is How to Weave Your Web: Spider Magick. There's a pretty heavy temptation to leaf through it.

"Lady friend?"

[will_scarlett]

He blushes and looks down,

"Yes, sort of, she's a good friend and we're just going to the White Lotus."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I was there the day it opened. It's a lovely shop. A brilliant place for a nice, private moment."

[will_scarlett]

"Um, yes, and the tea's good,"

A private moment sounds wonderful and terrifying with Barbara.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

Inara's smiling to herself then, stacking the books she is unpacking into a pile so she can collapse the box.

"I would agree to that. What time is your meeting?"

[will_scarlett]

"In about half an hour. The weather's nice today so I wanted to be out,"

And if he keeps moving then he'll be less nervous. As he's been talking, he's been making piles of the books from the crate he's working on.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"And you ended up here, Mister...?"

[will_scarlett]

"Scarlett, Will Scarlett,"

He doesn't know if he should mention that he saw her at the Order meeting or not and decides probably not.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

He doesn't have to.

"Forgive me, Will. I remembered the hair, but the name escaped me."

[will_scarlett]

Will laughs and runs his hand through his hair, "It does make me memorable."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"If you ever decide on a life of crime," Inara notes dryly, "you may need to invest and pick up a hair dying charm."

Or seventy.

"I like it though. It's striking."

[will_scarlett]

"If it comes to that, hoods can be wonderfully useful as can shadows. Thank you."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Don't discount dying the hair. It can be fun. Like makeup for some, only...follicular?"

Laughing at herself, "Nevermind. Perhaps I've been staring at inventory numbers too long today."

[will_scarlett]

"I'm not sure I'd know myself with different colored hair,"

He's had times he's thought about it but he never followed through.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"I'd feel the same. It's akin to Polyjuice for me, with the level of difference."

[will_scarlett]

"I didn't know make up could do that much."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Sure. But hopefully most folk aren't all that interested in changing what they look like.




"Girls your age don't need to be wearing any."

[will_scarlett]

"I don't think most of them do,"

He's rarely had lipstick stains.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Know a lot of girls?"

With a look that might read a little too nosy, but hell - he's the only person that's walked in today. He asked for it.

[will_scarlett]

"A fair amount. I'm the captain of the Quidditch team and my best friend's Dinah,"

He talked with her before and after dates, and he's dated a number of girls.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"A ladies' man."

Quidditch captain? Of course he is.

"Then you should have nothing to be nervous about, Will."

[will_scarlett]

"In a way, yes. I hope not but it's different with her as it's not really a date."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Something more formal, then."

Just as Inara's tone drops, just half a step.

Something to pay attention to, with Will. Inara knows who Dinah is after all. What she represents.

[will_scarlett]

"Yes, no, I'm not sure. Do you know Barbara Gordon?"

Barbara's hard to explain and he cares for her and doesn't want to mess this up. So he neatens a stack of books that don't need it.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

Inara just shakes her head.

"Should I?"

[will_scarlett]

He rocks back on his heels and looks at Inara,

"If you know of Dinah then it's hard not to know Barbara, they're good friends. We all try to keep aware of what's going on in Hogwarts in our own ways."

All of this is the truth but there's much more that he's not saying.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"I am still fairly new at the finer points of being here," she offers by way of explanation.

But that's not all of it, is it now?

"You could fill me in, of course. Or let me guess awkwardly."

[will_scarlett]

"There's a tradition of fixing things in all of our families. More so in Dinah and Barbara's than mine but Nottingham has other ways of doing things. Their stories aren't mine to tell, but we watch out for our House and our home of Hogwarts,"

Will's very good at being honest but careful with what he says as he's a bad liar.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"And somehow, all these similarities have led you to be incredibly nervous and half an hour early to your teatime."

[will_scarlett]

"Yes, because I know and trust Barbara and having tea with her is different. I'm not explaining myself well, we're just trying something out and nothing will probably come of it."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"You don't actually have to explain yourself to me at all, you realize.

"But I hope it goes well all the same."

[will_scarlett]

"I know, but it helps to say it and I know you won't be gossiping in the Common Room,"

With how small Hogwarts is, this is an important consideration.

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

Leaning in conspiratorially:

"Do you want me to? I could -- "

[will_scarlett]

He blushes and shakes his head,

"No, I'd rather you didn't."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Not a problem, Will."

[will_scarlett]

"I should probably go and see if she's around. Thank you."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"Wait, before you go -- "

Inara stands up and walks over to the counter at the back end of the store, returning with a long, slender box.

"A quill on the house. For the help."

[will_scarlett]

He smiles and bows slightly to her as he slips the quill into his cloak pocket, "Thank you."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

"You are quite welcome."

With a presumptuous kind of smirk, "Have a lovely time with Barbara."

[will_scarlett]

(OOC: Thank you for a lovely thread. We need to do it more often.)

He smiles and heads out the door, "I will."

[veloxepistola.livejournal.com]

[OOC: <333]