Boyd MacFusty agrees that everything is ALRIGHT (![]() ![]() @ 2009-07-13 16:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | adelaide macfusty, boyd macfusty, caradoc dearborn |
RP Log: Boyd & Addie
Who: Adelaide Banges, Boyd MacFusty (with special guest star, Caradoc Dearborn!)
When: Friday evening.
Where: Hogs Head Inn.
What: When Addie met "John Smith".
Rating: PG-13 for language.
Status: Complete!
"Oh, Greta," Addie laughed to herself, curling a hand over her mouth and trying to surreptitiously check out the situation with Bones and her best friend. It was difficult, given that she'd have to completely turn around to witness any of it, and while she wasn't above shoving her friend off on some poor, defenceless bloke, she wasn't going to ruin it for her. Adelaide honestly wasn't expecting Benjy Fenwick to sweep Greta Catchlove off her feet, but maybe Greta would wear a goofy smile for the rest of the evening. She considered herself a do-gooder. With a sage nod at her own good deed, she raised a finger to Doc. "Can I get a bourbon on the rocks?" Say what you wanted about Adelaide Banges, but the girl had good taste in liquor. Doc returned the request with a nod. Enough years behind the counter had given him a mental map of where everything was located such that his motions blended into one as he reached, grabbed, poured, and slid the drink over just in time for someone else to flag him down. Maybe Addie's view of her friend chatting to Benjy Fenwick was somewhat at a poor angle, but from behind the bar, nearly everything was within sight. Of course, on a busy night, a lot of the socialising circles slipped past Doc's notice. He was working, after all. Boyd MacFusty, on the other hand, had found something -- someone, actually -- of interest across the Hog's Head Inn. Just his luck, too, because his drink was right about drained. It was a perfect excuse to sidle up next to the blonde that appeared to be in her own company at the moment. In fact, he had enough of his approach planned that once he reached the bar, it was with a casual confidence that he pointed to the open seat beside the young girl. "This seat taken?" For good measure, he'd thrown in a smile that tried not to look like it was trying. Oh, come ON. That's not even original, Addie thought, staring straight ahead at Doc's impervious features. While she could take care of herself, she caught her glance flickering back to Doc. You know, just in case. She didn't even bother removing her hand from her chin as she turned to look at the visitor, and when she saw him, her eyebrows shot up. Oh, he was cute. A little on the dorky side with that floppy hair, but definitely cute. "It is if you plant your rear end in it, isn't it?" Though it was barely a move, she gestured with her eyebrows (and eyeballs) to the chair, indicating that he should have a seat. Boyd caught the small glance to the barkeep, but with the lack of reaction from the straight-faced man (save for looking up as was instinctive when someone approached, Boyd supposed), he decided it couldn't have been any cause for worry. To his advantage, he wasn't pissed out of his wits, slurring something obscene, and flinging his arm over her shoulder. That usually helped whenever trying to start a conversation, didn't it? "Fair point," Boyd returned, planting his rear end down. He ought to have expected that sassy sort of remark; even from across the room, she stood out with that choice of a hair colour. Had to be charmed. Or dyed. Either way, it was a bold statement, and judging by the few words he'd gotten in reply, she didn't sound like the shy type, either. "Couldnae done with taking it and not askin', though." He shrugged and gave her a mild grin. "You'll grant a bloke that much, at least?" "You're not a rude arse," she replied, noting that he was Scottish. Her own accent was thick, but Merlin's beard, his was much thicker than hers. Must be from much further North. He was also really tall and really skinny. Did they not feed him where he came from? "Well done you!" Boyd bowed his head slightly, accepting the congratulations with a decent sense of humour about it. Uh huh. Definitely could consider that whoever she was, she was keen on the sarcasm. Somehow it only made him more eager to keep the conversation going. For a man who spent his days lunging into dangerous situations with dragons, he fancied that he could stand to try his luck with her. "I do try," he assured her. As the barkeep had sauntered back over, he slid his empty glass forward. "'Nother whisky, mate, thanks." Sarcasm to Adelaide Banges was like breathing; it just came naturally. She wouldn't be alive if she hadn't some amount of sarcasm behind her words. Addie already had a nickname for this bloke, though she knew that a few scant sentences wasn't enough time to tell him what it was: The Thin Man. "Thick accent," she commented, taking a sip from her glass and narrowing one of her eyes. "Trying to place it, but I've not been that far North." It was never a surprise to Boyd when people remarked on his accent. Living out on some isolated island with only his family had taken its damage, and being branded as an undeniable Scot whenever he opened his mouth was expected by now. Even attending Hogwarts hadn't been able to shake much of that out of him. "Bit northern, I s'pose." He couldn't help grinning over at at the near stranger beside him. She might be a complete stranger if only he didn't have the sinking feeling that somewhere he'd met her before, but hell if he knew where other than that she likely went to Hogwarts. That was usually the safe bet. "Probably more's the truth that it's off the mainland. I'd give a name but..." Where was the fun in laying everything all out? "Wouldn't be half as fun as lettin' ye guess." "Shetland's too far North, I think, and you've definitely no Scandinavian about you. Definitely all Scottish with the hair and the freckles." Addie was a fan of parlour games; she was pretty much a whiz at them, but Scotland had 92 islands surrounding it. She was positive that she did not know the name of all of them. A longer gulp was taken from her cup, and she gave a glance over to Greta and Bones. She really hoped her friend wasn't getting too serious in the first conversation. "Fuck if I know. Do I get a hint?" Boyd lifted his brows as he looked at the young woman from over the rim of his glass. Placing the glass down, he turned his eyes up thoughtfully, as if the question honestly took that much consideration. "Right so far -- at any rate..." He turned his focus back to her, still maintaining the expression of a man contending with his own thoughts. "Try west." For a brief moment, she had to fight the urge to snap, the game's not really that cute. Just sodding tell me. That would shove him off that stool pretty fast, and no matter, he was still cute. It also kept her from eyeing Greta too much. "All right, all right. I'll think it over for as long as you're here, and then when I come up with one I think might actually work, I'll say it. How's that?" "Deal," Boyd agreed amicably, taking some pride in the small victory. She hadn't told him to shove off, and the phrasing made it sound like it would be his call when to say a farewell. "Came with friends, then?" he asked, pulling together the minor details he'd picked up on. She was sneaking a looks off to the side, and that probably meant she knew someone else that was standing in that direction. The last thing he needed was to find out too late she had a boyfriend wising up to the other man talking to his girl. "Sorry -- figured I might get all the bloody stupid questions out of the way first. Y'don't mind?" Addie snorted. He could not have been a Ravenclaw with that subtlety. Smirking, she instantly thought to toy around him. He was clearly interested, and thank bloody Merlin he hadn't beaten around the bush. "You mean: did I come here with a boyfriend? Well, I have a boys who are my friends around, but no boyfriend. I do, however, have that -- " she turned and pointed at Greta who was deep in conversation with a "boy" much older than she was "-- lump with me." He had to smile at that. "Right about what I was gettin' at." Boyd pivoted his rump around on the seat to see where she was pointing, narrowing his eyes and trying to lean in close enough to follow her finger without getting too close. He sighted the other girl across the way, and nodded as he straightened back to his own cut of the bar area. "Yeah, came myself with company," He waved vaguely to the back of the bar room, not even trying to find Marlene in the midst of the crowd. "A relation," he added, shrugging and downing a good amount his drink straight after. "'Least that's what I've been told." "I get that. Well, my brother and sister get that anyway. They just can't fathom how I popped out instead of whoever it is they think is their sister out there. If I wasn't a home birth, they'd think there was a switch-up at Mungos," Addie chirped with a snicker. Her entire family had been placed in Gryffindor, and then loud-mouth Adelaide Banges came along and shattered the dreams of an all-Gryffindor household. "Who is that anyway? She looks familiar..." Boyd returned with a snicker of sorts; it would've been an outright laugh had he not taken that moment to raise his glass for another drain. "And the picture's just paintin' itself. A brother and a sister..." He paused for a moment. "You'd be the... youngest, then. I'll bet on that one. And she's --" Boyd tossed a thumb jerk over his shoulder dismissively. "Just my cousin. Marlene McKinnon." "You'd win that bet. I'm the baby. Woe," Addie replied. It was sort of funny, but he was surprisingly easy to talk to. He didn't seem at all put out by her sarcasm-as-second-nature. That was usually a turn off for most blokes. "Take it then that you're not. Hmm. Eldest?" "Oldest of six," Boyd informed her, slouching in his seat with a feigned exasperation. "I'll have some of that woe for m'self, thanks." He lifted his glass to her for the full circle of an act. "Good start we're off to, though, I think." There was a certain ease of conversation Boyd felt, especially now that the sarcasm seemed to have gone off of being directed straight at him. "Me, not a rude arse. You, no boyfriend. Seems like there's a --" Only, the barkeep had walked back over, distracting Boyd momentarily from finishing. Seeing the break in the conversation, Doc looked to Addie, nodding toward her drink that was distinctly lacking of a drink. "Another of the same, Addie?" he asked. Hmm. Addie mulled it over for a moment. Pros: it was Friday evening so it wasn't like she had anywhere to be in the morning, she could hold her liquor, and it gave her a reason to keep sitting at the bar. Cons: she might come across as looking like a drunkard. Finally she shrugged. "Why not? Who can resist Bartender Doc's smile?" Clearly a joke since the bartender was mostly definitely not smiling. Turning, she added, "What about you -- I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?" Doc's return was a small lift of his brows, a smile by his own standards. Whatever impression anyone got of him, he did have a sense of humour that was in working order. Boyd rather didn't hold any opinion of the bartender, but that was only because his attention had been distracted for most of the evening. He didn't notice the other man awaiting some indication to refill the glass for a brief moment before deciding the answer wasn't coming and moving along. "Addie?" Boyd repeated. No. Oh, no. No, there had to be several of those around. That's all. It was probably just some weird coincidence that Addie was short for Adelaide, and there just so happened to be an Adelaide on the journals with a rotten attitude. This Addie in front of him was nothing like her, he was certain of that. "Yeah, Addie. Adelaide, actually. Adelaide's too hard to yell in a fit, so my parents started calling me Addie when I was younger. As in, 'Addie!!!!'" she snorted, doing what she considered a pretty good impression of her father in a tiff. Sort of reminded her of a hippopotamus, even went purple like one when she really upset him. All he really needed was the corkscrew tail and enormous ears. It hadn't escaped her notice that he hadn't answered her question, and until that point, it hadn't bothered her. But for Merlin's sake, she knew he came from one of the Scottish Islands -- west to be precise -- and was the eldest of six children. Yet, he couldn't even be bothered to tell her his name? "Adelaide Banges," she said, perhaps a little slowly as if he were a child. She stuck out her hand to shake his. "Nice to meet you, and you are...?" He would've laughed, he really would have. It was the timing that threw Boyd off from doing so, for he was too busy gaping to do much more than blink at her. Any laugh now would be at the utter irony romping about the universe and how he'd gotten caught squarely in its tracks. Adelaide Banges? Shite. "John," Boyd blurted out. It was the first name that came to mind, and like hell he was going to give her his real name now. "...Smith. John Smith." And, Boyd decided, what John Smith needed now was a clean exit from the conversation before he was pressed for anything else. Something in his attitude had suddenly changed, and Addie had the sneaking suspicion that insanely cute and overwhelmingly Scottish bloke was not called John Smith. That was a little too boring, and well... Not Scottish. At all. Maybe his parents were English? Or trying to be ironic? "Nice to meet you, er, John," she said, frowning a little and pulling an enormous gulp from he refreshened drink. There. Nice and polite, and would give him his Out. "Yeah, likewise," Boyd echoed, looking down at his once-again empty glass. He set it down on the counter-top to stop himself from toying with it as a means of stalling for time. Right, well, better make quick work of leaving. There wasn't any use in trying to explain why he had to suddenly go. He didn't have any reason he could tell her, anyway, but he tried for a friendly smile as he he pulled out his wallet and put up enough money to cover his own tab, the tip, and -- just because he felt it was only right -- a bit extra, which he was sure she'd pick up on. "Take one on me. For keepin' a bloke company for a bit. Won't hear a 'no', now." And, before she could refuse it, Boyd slid off the chair. He meant to say something along the lines of 'Take care, Addie', but the most he mustered up was a loose shrug. God damnit. Well...! There was nothing positively more deflating than rejection, which is exactly what Adelaide figured this was. Must have been the additional booze... Or possibly the rude impression of her father. Oops. Oh well, shite happened, didn't it? Win some, you lose some. Addie wasn't willing to compromise who she was for anyone. Best to deflate a little now rather than find out later on down the road that he didn't like it. "Yeah, see you around, John." A fake name, though. That was a bit of a bummer, though. Whatever, meant he was a coward in the end, but damnit, it had started out so promising. |