thousand oceans wide ,, [ VARUN ]

[Vivienne Vaisey]

Vivienne blew a strand of ink-black hair out of her face as she stepped into the age-old establishment that guarded Diagon Alley from the rest of Muggle London. Almost stumbling as her shoe caught on some minute crack on the otherwise smooth stone floor, worn down by centuries and generations of wizards and witches, she managed to catch herself before crashing to the ground. Looking around, in case someone had managed to catch her slip, she let out a little 'pew' sound, before heading for a table a bit of a distance from the bar itself.

She'd wanted to get away from her family for a little bit - she'd had enough of her mother and sisters for the week. She couldn't wait to get the hell away from them all, run away to India and her grandparents and just away. She should have owled one of her friends before heading out, but it had all been a bit of an impulsive decision, one she was not ever going to regret. She just hoped someone she knew would come through the rather busy pub.

Brown eyes studied the bar, wondering if it was worth the trouble of getting up from her table to get herself a drink. Her thoughts were interrupted by a group's sudden entry, and her decision was made for her. She spared a quick glance around the pub, but there was no other space anywhere. If she stood up now, she might lose her table. Darn it, she thought. Now she'd have to wait for a waiter or something to come up to ask her what she'd like for a drink. She just wanted a Butterbeer.

Scowling a little at her sudden predicament. She drummed her wand on the table, eye on the bar, waiting for someone to come her way.

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(( sorry it's not as good as usual, lovely! i'm being distracted by my room-mates game of charades ))

[Varun Sharma]

Varun stood behind the bar on a particularly busy summer afternoon, sighing as people continued to file in. This was usually his day off, but he’d been called in to work earlier because the Leaky was short-staffed that week, and he couldn’t exactly refuse. He was only supposed to be working for another hour or so, which meant that not all hope was lost for the upcoming evening. He kept his eyes on the main entrance as he worked, since he had a direct view of it and had made a habit of people watching during slower times. He happened to look up just as a girl entered by herself and immediately almost fell, and he laughed out loud, turning partially serious when a nearby co-worker shot him a confused look, considering that his co-worker hadn't seen the girl and thus he appeared to be laughing at nothing. “It's nothing,” he said in response, trying to keep a straight face for approximately three seconds, after which he found himself smiling to himself at the way she’d glanced around to see if anyone had noticed her tripping.

He lost track of her, though, as another group entered and began to place their drink orders with him. He exhaled dramatically when this task was complete, wishing more customers would simply order Butterbeer or Firewhiskey so that his job would require minimal effort. He looked around the pub again, assessing all the occupied tables in his line of vision, and stopped abruptly upon spotting the same girl sitting alone at a table near the far wall. It didn’t look like anyone had taken her order yet, so he exhaled dramatically, abandoning his post and popping out on the other side of the counter to make his way over to her. As he approached, he noted amusedly how impatient she looked, tapping her wand on the table. “Hi, may I help you?” he asked once he was right by her table, the smile from a couple minutes prior appearing back onto his features and probably making his question sound like he was making fun of her, which was absurd, because he’d never seen her before and was just being polite.

(OOC - no worries, it’s all good!)

[Vivienne Vaisey]

Vivienne noticed a tall man who looked to be Indian coming towards her with a bit of a smirk on his face. She pondered his face idly, wondering if she knew him from somewhere. He was unfamiliar to her, but then again, she couldn't exactly claim to know every Indian witch or wizard in Britain. She'd not see him around before, although to be fair, the Leaky wasn't her usual haunt.

As she pondered his face, she noticed the smirk widening as he grew closer, and she really hated guys who smirked like that. She'd heard enough from her friends and their boy troubles to want nothing to do with them. And this man-boy looked exactly like their stories told of bad boys. She wished good luck to whoever was unfortunate enough to be in this particular man-boy's line of sight. She rolled her eyes and stared back at the bar, waiting for a damned waiter to notice her already.

She was in the middle of moistening her lips with her tongue - she'd forgotten her chapstick at home, oops - when the man-boy stopped right next to her. Confused, she looked up at him with a little bit of her tongue still peeking out. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, you're the waiter?"

Craning her head quickly to look behind her in case there was someone there who was egging the man-boy to prank her or something (there wasn't, it was just a group of pipe-smoking warlocks and the wall), she looked back up at him, bemused.

[Varun Sharma]

Varun's amusement grew as she spoke up in apparent confusion that he was the waiter, and he shrugged slightly, smirking down at her. "Yeah, I know, I really don't look like one. I'm too damn good for this job," he replied, shaking his head solemnly, "Why, do you think I'd just come up and talk to a complete stranger like this? Do I honestly look like that kind of guy?" he continued, feigning being insulted and failing to add, of course, that that he was that type of guy, as it was something he could probably see himself doing depending on the situation, because she didn't know that.

He almost opened his mouth to go on, but stopped himself at the last moment, considering he'd gotten into a fair amount of trouble with his boss in the past for allegedly joking too much with customers who, in turn, got easily offended. She appeared to be rather high-strung just from what he'd observed already, and didn't want her complaining about him - but then again, he was usually too quick to jump to inaccurate conclusions. It didn't escape his notice that she looked Indian and was pretty, though in a rather cute, girly kind of way that he didn't particularly care for, especially since she seemed to be about his sister's age. "So," he cleared his throat, "If you believe me, I can take your order. If not, I can just go..."

[Vivienne Vaisey]

His smirk deepened, and her dislike of him grew exponentially. Her left cheek scrunched a little at his words, disgust evident on her face. Oh, she must be so lucky to get him as her waiter for today. Her eyes did a quick once over of him in a way that her sister taught her as condescending, left eyebrow arched imperiously. "Yes, I do think you're that sort of guy to be desperate enough to drop cheesy lines at every given opportunity."

Vivi wasn't usually so mean - without a cause, anyway - but there was something about this man-boy that just really irked her. It had everything to do with her already bad day, and the fact that she hated that blasted smirk on his face. She saw out of the corner of her eye that he'd opened his mouth, probably to say something dastardly, and she braced herself. He may have been older than her, but Vivi liked to think that she could have as sharp a tongue as either of her sisters. She'd had a lifetime of practice, after all.

Upon hearing his words about ordering, she decided she might as well get something to drink. She looked up at him, grinning sarcastically and saying, "Butterbeer." She added a grudging thanks, realizing that he probably wasn't above spitting in her drink if he so chose.

[Varun Sharma]

Varun stared at her as she gave him a snarky reply and a raised eyebrow, willing himself to not burst into laughter on the spot. He knew he likely shouldn't have, but he found her demeanor funny, which was probably part of what was irking her, as he wasn't even trying to hide his amusement. There were various things he could have said in response that immediately crossed his mind, including a blunt You need to loosen up, but he simply smiled at her again, since she seemed so intent on shooting down everything that came out of his mouth, not to mention that he didn't really fancy losing his job today. "Well then," he said finally, tone still teasing as he was unable to stop himself, "That's a little aggressive, don't you think? I'm just being friendly. Haven't done anything wrong."

He mentally rejoiced when she ordered a Butterbeer, since that was an easy enough order. Telling her he'd be back in a minute with it, he hummed cheerfully to himself as he walked off, went back around the counter to grab her drink, returning with it moments later as promised. "Here you go," he set it down at the table in front of her, "And let me know if you need anything else." He took a small step back, pausing only to hear the condescending remark that, if she was following the pattern that he knew all too well, was surely coming.

[Vivienne Vaisey]

Because she was scrutinising the man-boy's face for his reaction to her words, she noticed that he was amused - amused, by Merlin! - at her irritation, and that fanned the fire slowly growing in her belly. She absolutely hated when people didn't take her seriously when she was mad, whether it was her mother or either of her sister or this completely idiotic, foolish, vain boy beside her. "No," she snapped back. "Just existing is something you've done that is completely wrong."

She quickly thought up a plan that he couldn't not go through without risking his job, but at the same time would hopefully piss him off as much as he'd pissed her off. Misery loved company, after all. "Actually," she replied to his comment about needing anything else, tapping a finger mock-thoughtfully on her chin, "I'd just love some chips." She smiled innocently up at him, using her best angelic look that always got her whatever she wanted from her grandparents.

[Varun Sharma]

“Like I said, you’re verging on being slightly aggressive right now,” he remarked, taking into account that the tone of her response was a clear confirmation that he was indeed irritating her, and more so than he'd originally thought. This should have stopped him from continuing on, as usually he didn’t try to intentionally upset anyone, but this girl was on a whole other level entirely - she seemed to react negatively to everything he said, which he found ridiculous, considering they’d never met before and he couldn’t fathom why she would immediately harbor such disdain for him. He was aware that over the years he’d formed many enemies this way - not that he necessarily felt badly towards them, but they were people who’d been put off by his overly easy-going attitude and ability to make a joke out of anything. The realization that she was probably one of those people only motivated him further, however, and he stifled a laugh again, jokingly adding, “Are you sure that you existing isn’t what you’ve done wrong instead? That might be the real problem here.”

When she told him she wanted some chips, he smiled back at her, noting that her smile was far too innocent to actually be innocent. He couldn’t take her sudden change of heart seriously, since only a few moments earlier she’d been snapping at him like he was personally responsible for taking every Christmas holiday for the rest of her life away from her or something equally as horrifying. She was still a customer, though, so he had to oblige, sighing as he went off to retrieve what she’d asked for. It struck him that she definitely hadn’t seemed like she wanted these chips at the start when she’d ordered a Butterbeer, but then again, he didn’t really care, as long as she didn’t think he was going to hang on every single one of her whims. He set the chips down on the table next to her drink, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “You’re welcome,” he said pointedly when she didn’t appear like she was going to thank him, and was about to walk off to his usual spot behind the bar counter when she spoke up again.

[Vivienne Vaisey]

Vivi was so irritated by that smirk still on his face, she made to stand up before re-evaluating her decision. She was just fifteen, about to go up and do Merlin knew what to a guy who looked to be at least twenty. He also happened to be a waiter, and incidentally, a trio of little old witches were watching them, clearly waiting to see something simply scandalous. The way they looked at her, Vi knew they knew about her or at least her family. They probably spent whole days pouring over gossip rags, so bored with their own lives that they had to find entertainment in others. Fudging busybodies.

She sat back down heavily, thinking quickly of a new plan and blowing that same strand of hair out of her face. Her jaw slackened and her head slowly moved so that she was looking back at the man-boy who towered next to her. He was just really asking for it, wasn't he? He must seriously enjoy pissing her off. She grinned at him in annoyance, baring her teeth. "Oh, cookie. Let's not point the blame at others for our own wrongdoings." She continued a little more to herself than to him, "Merlin, however were you hired to be a waiter?"

She stuck a chip in her mouth immediately after he set the plate down on her table, rolling her eyes at his sarcastic "you're welcome". She saw him about to walk away, and she couldn't have that, not when her fun was just about to start. "Wait!" she called out. Vi waited for him to turn around, before flashing that same angelic smile. "You forgot my sour cream. I want sour cream with the chips."

[Varun Sharma]

“It must have been my natural charm,” he informed her, as if this was an obvious fact that she should have been able to pick up on herself, “Waiters need to have that quality, you know. It typically works on everyone, too, except you seem like you’re being purposely difficult,” he went on bluntly, completely content with being honest about the situation, even though he was aware that he was toeing the line between keeping his job and going too far. He couldn’t help it, though - he had a strong tendency to speak his mind no matter what the situation, and that wasn’t about to change right now for this uptight girl who seemed so intent on trying to make his life difficult. The key word, of course, was ‘trying,’ because it would take a lot more than this to get him annoyed.

It was with this utterly composed attitude that he slowly turned around, the smile coming to his face automatically. “Sure,” he said amiably, convincing himself to refrain once again from laughing at how artificial her smile was. He began to hum to himself again as he went off to fetch her some sour cream, wishing she knew that so far she was just making his job easier instead of harder - it was either this game of running back and forth or standing idly behind a counter and hoping that customers would stop showing up, so he was oddly fine with doing this instead. Setting some sour cream down on the table in front of her a few minutes later, he stepped back, crossing his arms. “So, before you ask me to fetch you anything else, I have an obligatory question - how spoiled are you, exactly?”

(OOC - yo sorry I suck!)

[Vivienne Vaisey]

Rolling her eyes at the waiter's response, she pushed another chip into her mouth. He was infuriating her, and it seemed very deliberate, but she didn't want him to go away. She'd had a bad day, and she was intent on taking it out on someone - especially stuck up waiters like him. "Oh, you're just overflowing with natural charm," she replied sarcastically. She made a mock-baby face at him, lips pouting and eyes widening. Her head tilted as her fingers aimed for another chip, waving it nonchalantly in the air. "Aww, mad that your 'natural charm' doesn't work on everyone? Poor baby, not everybody likes him."

Vivi's eyes narrowed slightly as he went to fetch her sour cream. She couldn't be sure, but he seemed to not let her orders bother him so much. He was far better at ignoring annoyance than she was. Darn him, he must be used to this. She had to figure out a new game plan. When he arrived with her sour cream, her smile was saccharine. "Like being bossed around, do you?" She took a swig of her Butterbeer, before glancing at the setting before her, trying to think of something that would hopefully piss him off.

Her musings were interrupted by his question. She looked up, grinned, and replied, "Very. I always get everything I want. Speaking of, would you mind terribly if you could wipe down the table? You seem to have missed a spot, right there." She pointed with a long, delicate finger at an imaginary spot on the table. "Really, I'll have to have a talk with your boss. What do you do all day, charm people with your natural talents?"

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(( yours is fine; i'm sorry mine sucks! ))