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Tweak says, "Loud. Electronic. Ferocious."

Hestia Jones can charm the pants off of you. (hastyhestia) wrote in wished,
@ 2010-04-10 12:15:00

Entry tags:

!1998: 04, !incomplete, argus pyrites, hestia jones

Who: Hestia Jones & Argus Pyrites
When: Saturday afternoon, among the lunch rush
Where: Diagon Alley
What: A bit difficult to murder each other in broad daylight, yeah?
Rating/Status: PG-13, Closed

It had been exactly six months, three weeks and four days since the last time the pocket of Hestia's robes had been weighed down by a small silver cigarette case. It had been a milestone, the longest she'd ever been able to go without smoking. She had been pretty proud of herself, even taking to rubbing it in Alexander's face every time she saw him. He was pretty devout himself, which never made sense to his older sister - shouldn't athletes know better than to smoke?

Shouldn't Healers, too?

Hestia grimaced as she leaned against the side of Twilfitt and Tatting's after a small intake of breath. She was damn ashamed of herself. The idea that people could have possibly seen her name in conjunction with the witch hunt put out by Angelina and Verity was a bit upsetting, to say the least. However, she knew that with everything going on now, that ought to really be the last of her worries.

Taking one last drag, Hestia let the smoke escape from her lips as she dropped the rest of it on the ground. A small group of children, glaringly oblivious to Hestia's form, rushed past her filling the already incredibly loud Diagon Alley with louder, more noticeable laughs and giggles. Her eyes followed them, an odd sort of smile affecting her lips, before she took a step toward the street. Her body collided with a hard, unmistakeably human body.

"Oh, bullocks, I'm terribly-"

Her eyes took in the sight of the nearly magnificent robes and traveled up to a face she certainly expected not to see. Argus.

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silkensailed
2010-04-11 02:53 am UTC (link)

When Argus was feeling stressed, he had a bad habit of handling it by going shopping. This was not something he made public knowledge, but anyone who knew him well - which really was not very many people, if any, by now - picked up on the fact that in times of difficulty, Argus' already expansive wardrobe tended to expand. Though he knew that he was not truly at risk for imprisonment given the nature of things at the moment, the fact that the wrong people knew of his involvement with the Death Eaters had not been sitting well with him.

Today would be a day to take some therapeutic action. A trip to Twilfitt and Tatting's never disappointed. It was as he was about to make a beeline for the shop entrance that Argus was shaken out of his reveries of silks and velvets and shiny things by someone bumping clumsily up against him. It surprised him, but he didn't make as though he'd been ruffled. If anything, Argus smiled pleasantly and gestured to assure the offender that all was forgiven.

"Not at all, it's perfectly -"

Until he realized who it was. Hestia Jones was the last person he expected to run into, and, now, one of the last he wanted to run into. He would not deny that he found the young woman oddly attractive, and that he had greatly enjoyed their limited meetings prior to recent events. Still, attraction or no, Argus' priorities in regards to her had changed drastically.

"Ah. Miss Jones. How...fortuitous." He smiled as if greeting a friend, meeting her eyes and stopping in front of her. His hand moved almost imperceptibly to where he knew his wand was stowed away. Not that he expected her to challenge him to a duel in the middle of a public street, but one could never be too careful.

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hastyhestia
2010-04-11 06:12 pm UTC (link)

To think that it was nearly four months ago that she had met Argus Pyrites for the first time and now, she was looking up at a Death Eater. Almost as soon as she realized who it was, she slipped her wand from her sleeve. Although she was not exactly pointing it as his chest, she had to be prepared for the unexpected. Her eyes glanced around briefly at the crowds filling the street.

"Indeed," she replied, her eyes catching his. That smile was hard to ignore and for a moment, she found herself almost wanting to smile back.

An image of his masked by that of the typical Death Eater garb flashed before her eyes and her brows furrowed.

"Out for a lovely Saturday afternoon shopping spree?" she questioned, taking note of just how close he was to her.

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silkensailed
2010-04-12 01:37 am UTC (link)

Argus seemed to think about her question before answering, even though they both knew any interaction to come would be entirely farcical. But what else could be done? It was clear he had noticed Hestia going for her wand, as he had done, and found it amusing. Only a fool would start throwing hexes right now. And he was quite positive she was no fool.

But neither was Argus.

"That's exactly it. Twilfitt and Tatting's always has a good selection." His smile only grew wider, if that were possible.

Based on the relaxed posture Argus was assuming, a passerby would never guess at what was actually going on. He seemed as though he were talking to an old friend.

"And you?" His eyes briefly swept her face. "You're looking well."

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hastyhestia
2010-04-12 02:28 am UTC (link)

It seemed that there was a reason Argus' alliances came as such a surprise to her when she had first found out. If one could truly judge based on looks alone, who she was staring at could never actually be a Death Eater. But real life didn't work like that, clearly. A gust of wind came at that moment and Hestia did her best to brush the loose strands falling from her ponytail out of her eyes.

Looking well after a twelve hour shift at the hospital seemed absolutely impossible to Hestia at that moment and so she managed a polite smile.

"How kind of you to say," she told him, feeling suddenly very aggravated at herself. "I've just gotten off of work at the hospital. Long shift last night."

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silkensailed
2010-04-12 05:02 am UTC (link)

"Oh, so sorry to hear that," Argus said in a vaguely simpering tone.

Though his compliment to her had not been empty of sincerity, now that he looked at her more intently he could see that she looked tired. A faint whiff of cigarette smoke made him cough quietly. He wasn't sure if it had been her, or a passerby. Horrible habit, either way. Feeling quite secure by now, Argus abandoned his wand and let his arms hang loosely by his sides.

"I hope there were no serious cases?" He thought it highly likely that he'd been partially responsible for several of the more troublesome injuries showing up at Mungo's, lately. It amused him a bit that perhaps Hestia had been the one to aid the victims.

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hastyhestia
2010-04-12 05:35 am UTC (link)

"Cases are nearly always serious in the ward," she said, a mere matter-of-fact sort of smile tugging at the edges of her lips. She grabbed at the bag resting on her shoulder, adjusting the strap. It was digging into her shoulder and starting to itch. She tilted her head slightly to the side.

"You don't spend very much time at the hosptial, do you?" she ventured, already knowing the answer to that question. She would find it rather strange, actually, for someone to spend their free time among the ill and wounded. "No- you just send people there, no use in actually visiting."

Although perhaps it was not a smart idea to physically duel in the crowded streets of Diagon Alley, there was no denying that a verbal sparring could be possible.

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silkensailed
2010-04-13 03:04 am UTC (link)

The smile dimmed, though didn't disappear entirely. Hestia had dared to broach the topic of their mutual discovery of one another's opposing loyalties. Which was a flagrant understatement. It was probably more accurate to say that, had this conversation been more secluded, it would have been a high-stakes duel.

In all, Argus was amused. It was so rare to have an opportunity to converse, civilly, with one's enemy. Never mind that he fleetingly wondered what it would be like to cast the Cruciatus on her.

"It's not usually their recovery I'm interested in." He said this as though he were commenting on the latest Quidditch stats. "But how nice of you to be there to pick up where I leave off."

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hastyhestia
2010-04-14 12:59 pm UTC (link)

She had made a hit. She could see that damn look on his face falter slightly and she couldn't help but smile wider. If in fact it would not have caused an unneeded scene, she would have greatly enjoyed firing a few hexes at him. But at this moment, she knew it wasn't the right time. Not so early in the game.

"Merely doing my job," she told him, and with a little wave of her hand she gave him a modest shrug of her shoulders. "And how about yours? How is Shalott?"

She wondered what it would do to business if his little hobby had gotten out to the rest of the public.

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