Who: Noah Boot and Elliot Bishop
What: Ice cream catastrophes!
Where: Diagon Alley



What in the blue hell had England done to deserve such a heat wave?

Of course, this happened to be the week where the cooling spells had worn off on the planetarium (or, the heat and simply broken through them) and Lyssandra seemed to have gone off her rocker. Noah didn't know what was up with the woman, but he'd taken to avoiding her whenever possible (and her weird friends, who hangs out with three nerdy healers? That was just strange--) and now found himself on the outside patio of Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, looking for a place to sit. Which was much easier said than done, because it seemed that every wizard in the bloody United Kingdom had decided to stop by for some of the famous ice cream.

Well, fuck. Noah drank his vanilla milkshake thoughtfully, standing on the edge of the pavement and staring into the Magical Menagerie across the street at a cat that seemed to be glaring at him. Maybe it was a kneazle, those were supposed to be smart---"Watch it!"

Noah didn't bother biting back his groan as he'd managed to squeeze the cup holding his milkshake too hard, causing it to overflow in his hands. He glared rather hard at the girl who'd bumped into him (honestly, the street was busy so it may have not been her fault, but--now he was sticky), "Thanks ever so much."

Growing up on the east coast of the United States, Elliot was rather accustomed to hot summers. Or at least she thought she was, until she experienced this. This was just ungodly. Everywhere she looked witches and wizards trudged by, lazy with the heat and looking just as miserable as she felt. Why was it that, on what was undoubtedly one of the hottest days in the history of the world, every single person in the wizarding world had decided that Diagon Alley was the place to be?! Sure there were shops and restaurants, but it was, as the name suggested, an alley, and now it was an overcrowded one at that.

Groaning as she exited Flourish and Blott's, she pushed her damp bangs from her brow, exhaling through puckered lips as she cast her gaze around. She could scarcely see past the mob of people gathered at Fortescue's just across the way... she had never personally tried their famous ice cream, but she supposed if there was ever a day to experience it for the first time, then today would be that day.

Scooping her crimson hair from off her neck, she began to maneuver her way through the crowd, secretly hating every single sweaty body that accidentally nudged hers. Maybe this was a bad idea. She didn't need icecream, did she?

Who was she kidding. She could taste that mint chocolate chip already.

She finally emerged from the sea of slowly moving people when a bloke who was in quite a hurry nudged her, sending her stumbling from the throng. She would have considered this a sort of victory if the stupid tosser hadn't pushed her right into an innocent person standing just outside of the icecream parlor. When she finally gained enough composure to look at him, her apology momentarily froze on her lips. Oh no. He was covered in what had probably been a delicious and long-awaited shake.

"Ohmigosh," she blurted, "I am so sorry!" She felt like a fool, and probably looked like one too, fumbling quickly for her wand so that she could at the very least lift the stains from his clothes. "I really, really am so sorry. I can clean that up, I swear." She finally drew her wand, flourishing it with a timid, lopsided grin that oozed genuine remorse.

His cheeks puffed, feeling his ears heat up out of embarrassment. Not only had he managed to make quite a mess, but now he was being cleaned up like a toddler. Somewhere in his pessimistic mindset, he knew the girl was just being nice, but he'd never been keen on being the center of attention. Which--he probably wasn't, but Noah caught a few people staring, and that was enough.

"You know--it's all right," he said quickly, shaking his head and backing up. No need to start a big ruckus over spilled shake, right? Especially if that meant he could take the focus off of him and--yeah, okay. "Thanks, it's---fine. I was being a jerk."

See--that was an improvement, Martin would be proud. Instead of sulking off and bitching and complaining, he was going to take the light-hearted route and just deal with the mess. That was a definite improvement on the last, oh, twenty-one years of his life (nearly twenty-two, come July), so. Noah forced a grin and tossed the shake into the nearest rubbish bin.

"Were you--going in?" he jerked a thumb toward the parlor, "The Leaky Cauldron has some good ice cream too, it's probably not as packed."

She watched as his expression changed... he went from glaring at her like he wanted to hex her (which she supposed she couldn't really blame him for; it couldn't have been comfortable to stand in the middle of a crowded market wearing icecream) to grinning at her. And even though the grin was a little... shall we say, forced, it was still an improvement. Impatiently shoving her hair out of her face again, her brows furrowed as she offered him an uncertain glance. "Are you sure? I really feel horrible."

But even as she said it she was pocketing her wand again, jade orbs finally allowing themselves to observe more than just the enormous stain on his robes. Naturally, out of every other person in this stupid place, she had to go and humiliate herself in front of a younger, relatively good looking guy. But that was just her luck, wasn't it.

"Well, I was going to," she admitted, but at his suggestion she brightened a bit, glancing off in the direction his thumb had gestured to. "Really?" She scrunched her nose. The Cauldron was such a seedy looking place, she never would have thought to order icecream there. But she had never been to Fortescue's, so it wasn't like she was going to be dissapointed if the Leaky Caudlron's dessert wasn't as good. And besides, she really didn't think she was going to last much longer in this heat.

Bringing her attention back to him, she shrugged and made a face as though to say 'why not?'. "I guess I could check it out. Hey, why don't you let me buy you another shake? Or, you know, you could even get something else if you wanted. I just really feel like I have to do something."

Noah's mouth opened slightly as if ready--no, no he was sure he was going to say 'no, I'm heading back to work' but he stopped himself and shut his mouth. There really wasn't a real reason to head back to the planetarium, unless he wanted to deal with a nutty Lyssandra, a broody Deidra, and a panicked Donovan (the whole baby thing was still brand new and terrifying, of course). Mm. No, he'd rather get the shake he'd been aching for and was now splattered across his shirt.

"Yeah, all right," Noah said with a nod, pulling out his own wand and doing his best cleaning spell on his shirt. Which wasn't very good at all, but that was why he had Noël do his laundry on most days. At any rate, at least it was a vanilla shake and not some crazy color that would've made it look any more weird.

"It's down at the end, erm---" Hearing her accent made his mind go back to the journal entry he'd commented on a few days ago, and Noah looked over at her thoughtfully, "You're not from around here, are you? I'm--Noah."

She grinned when he finally accepted her offer (she was afraid for a moment there that he was going to turn her down) and fell into step beside him. Well, maybe on top of him would have been more appropriate, since the relentless crowd afforded little to no personal space

Grinning apologetically as her elbow jostled his arm, she broke into a full smile at his question, laughing and rolling her eyes a bit. "It's that obvious, huh?" It was the accent and she knew it. "I'm from the States, actually. Just moved here a few weeks ago," she said, and extended a hand to him even though there was very little room to do so before adding, "I'm Elliot. It's nice to meet you. Even though I wish my first impression had been a little better."

She quickly shook his hand before dodging out of the way of an older wizard haphazardly trying to transport a newly purchased owl through the alley. She only narrowly avoided getting clocked in the head by the gilded cage he carried, and offered her new companion a bewildered sort of stare and an incredulous giggle before moving onward. "So what brings you here on the most disgustingly humid day of the summer?" she asked, pucking her lips to blow the fringe of ruby hair that fell to obscure her left eye out of her face.

He shook her hand with another tight grin, once again puffing his cheeks as his tongue twisted in his mouth; he was forgetting why he was doing this. To act more like a human being than one of the aliens he was searching for, maybe. Or, at least, that's what he could hear Martin lecturing in the back of his head.

"It is actually hotter at my job than out here, if you can believe it," Noah said with a shrug, putting his hands out in a 'what can you do' sort of manner. Maybe it was all the spells keeping their planets aligned and the star show up in the sky, but something had counteracted with the failing cooling spells, and the inside of the Starky Planetarium was as hot as the surface of Mercury.

...how he had managed to sound so insanely nerdy in his head was beyond Noah, but all of his similes and descriptions got their point across. At least he hadn't said it out loud, letting Elliot know that he was for sure a dork.

"At the--planetarium, I'm an astronomer," he said with a nod, pulling his bottom lip in. Definitely not the most impressive of occupations, but it's what he loved to do, right? That was what you were supposed to do with your life? "Some of our cooling spells wore off and it's a bloody nightmare in there. All of our gift shop items are melting into their plastic, it's ridiculous."

She wondered briefly if he was as uncomfortable as he looked. He seemed like the type of guy who didn't get out much... kind of awkward and uncertain. It even showed in the way he spoke, the brief pauses he took in between his words, as though he were hesitant about verbalizing his thoughts. However, when he told her his profession, those peridot orbs widened somewhat. "Really? That's awesome!" And then, embarrassed about the excited outburst, she went on to explain her enthusiasm: "I've always been into that stuff. Kind of an inherited hobby, I guess. But the only planetarium we had by me growing up was a Muggle one." She made a face and laughed, quirking a brow. "I don't know if you've ever seen one, but they're not exactly impressive."

As they finally made their way up to the back entrance of the Leaky Cauldron, she giggled at his comment about the souveniers. "Well, then I really don't blame you for bailing. That sounds unbearable." Pulling open the door, she walked in and held it for him, blinking at the sudden darkness of the dimly lit tavern.

She took a moment to take in the new setting before making her way to one of the tables, glancing behind her to make sure Noah was still in tow. She was looking pretty doubtful that this place catered to ice cream lovers, her bottom lip pulled sideways between her teeth. "Are you sure they serve ice cream here? I mean, have you actually had it?"

Definitely not a reaction he'd been expecting, and his first honest smile of the encounter crossed his features.

"Yeah? Well--no, no, I've been to one, a few, actually. Sometimes," he lowered his voice a little, ducking his head as if it was a secret, "sometimes I go and buy equipment that the muggle ones use and, ah--tweak them. A bit."

It wasn't his fault that the way wizarding explored the stars was really boring. Honestly, who wanted to just stand around and look through a telescope? No, creating brightly lit star show with equipment that was already set up to do so, and making it do more with magic, well. Noah couldn't see the problem with that. His more 'pureblooded' friends didn't seem to appreciate the muggle mechanics, but it did make their planetarium quite the attraction, and Noah was proud of his work.

Of course, to the public eye, Mr. Starky was the one that made all of these marvelous changes and exhibits, but Noah didn't really mind. He was honestly quite content with just doing his job, no matter how his coworkers ribbed him about getting a raise or an official title.

"Oy, yeah, it's fine," Noah said with an odd look toward Elliot. The Leaky wasn't really a dingy place, it just got a lot of traffic and was hard to keep up; Noah spent a lot of his lunch breaks here instead of popping home. He lead Elliot to the bar and grinned at Tom, who he knew recognized him, "Vanilla milkshake and...?"

She raised her brows, looking rather impressed by his confession and thinking to herself that he looked much better when he smiled like that. "Tweak them?" she echoed, and her face took on a playful expression. "Well, maybe I'll stop by sometime and check it out. I can only imagine how it looks with the help of magic. I'll bet it's beautiful."

She either didn't notice or ignored the tilted look he gave her as she sidled up beside him at the bar. "Do you have Mint Chocolate Chip?" she asked, the hopeful question directed at Tom. "Because if you don't, I'll just have what he's having." She gestured to Noah with a jerk of her thumb, and once Tom had gone to retrieve their orders she turned back to face him, leaning against the bar and tugging her hair over one shoulder.

"It feels nice in here," she commented, tilting her head back for a moment to enjoy the reprieve from the merciless heat. That having been said, she turned the conversation back to Noah. "So have you always been into Astronomy, Noah?"

He lifted his chin in a slow nod, looking away from Elliot for a moment to take in her words. Ha--a bird that appreciated his line of work. Definitely didn't see that a lot. Well, you did, but from Noah's experience they were either insane or looked like they should be locked away in some dungeon---Elliot should not be hidden from anyone's sight, so he hoped that she wasn't crazy. Though, really. She was from the States.

"Er--yeah, not like, I didn't think about becoming an astronomer when I was little, cause who wants to make charts all day when they're eleven?" Noah rapped his fingers on the counter because of his nerves; he had no idea who this girl really was and here he was telling her his history. Next he'd be inviting her over to meet his family...haaa, yeah, he wasn't introducing Martin into any girlfriends until they were married with three kids. Maybe at the silver anniversary.

"But, I've always told people that there was life out...there," he waved his hand around, the tips of his ears burning, "so there really wasn't anything else for me to do--not like I could go and be a muggle astronaut or something," which is what he really wanted to do, walk in space, but he'd never admit that out loud, "What about---ohh, thank you Tom."

She watched him while he spoke, cupping her chin in her palm and hiding a grin behind the fan of her fingers. His nervous fidgeting was actually pretty adorable... it was like he'd never engaged in idle conversation before or something! And was he blushing? She discreetly turned her attention just in time to watch the tips of his ears ignite. She was finding his social ineptitude completely endearing.

"Well it's got to be more than making charts," she insisted, twisting briefly to receive her mint chocolate chip cone with a smile. "Thanks," she echoed, and placed the appropriate coins down on the counter before indulging in the pale green confectionary treat. That having been done, her focus was once again brought back to Noah, head tilting slightly so that she could lick a particularly melty bit if icecream from the side of the cone.

Her face lit up and she nodded in agreement. "Ohmigosh, me too," she admitted, though she wasn't really all that embarrassed about it like he was. "I always thought it was kind of, you know... egotistic for people to assume that we're the only form of intelligent life out there, you know?" She laughed and made a face, thoughtfully nipping a chocolate chip with her teeth. "I mean, not that I'm one of those people who walk around with tinfoil hats or anything. Like I said, it's just kind of something I got from my dad. He's always been into this kind of stuff. For my dad's birthday one year, my mom got him this huge telescope. He used to take me on the roof at night so we could look at the sky together."

She nodded at him, and in a slightly playful voice asked, "How's your shake?"

"It is quite satisfactory, thanks," he said with a laugh, nodding approvingly at the bartender who had been watching for his reaction. He listened to her talk while continuing to drink, always a very good listener. Mostly because people never really gave him time to talk, but this time he was actually interested in what she had to say.

"I used my Hogwarts telescope until I finished school, mostly because I didn't have room at home to need a bigger one." He tugged on the straw with his teeth for a moment, to move it from its clogged spot on the bottom of the cup, "But we've got this huge one at the planetarium, I mean--it's not open to guests other than a tour," which no one goes on, "but it's still pretty impressive."

He didn't notice his back straightening up or how proud he might have sounded about the telescope, but it had been quite a dream of his to run one of those. Noah had the fleeting thought that he should offer Elliot the chance to use the telescope (which he had dubbed Bessie--Milky Way, cow...get it?), but he didn't know her that well. "You should swing on by and take a look."

Noah's eyes flitted up to the clock behind the counter and his cheeks puffed lightly; he was supposed to meet Avery in twenty minutes and he couldn't exactly do that in his clothings' condition. "When it's not a bloody sauna---and I...have to go."

Cheeks still puffed, he sent an apologetic look toward Elliot, even though he wasn't sure why, it wasn't as if he'd bought her stuff---well. Ergh now he felt guilty about her buying his drink, he shouldn't have done that, but then it would be rude to say otherwise and---well. She did mess up his shirt.

She scrunched her face, bottom lip extended into a pout. "Aw, that stinks. But it'd be cool to see it anyway, I guess." She couldn't help but smile at the invitation, looping some hair behind her ear. But a brief expression of dissapointment crossed her features at his sudden declaration that he had to leave, from which she recovered with a slow nod of understanding. "Oh, right. Yea, of course. Listen, what days do you work? You know, at the planetarium... So I know when to come by, and all."

Was she flirting? Ok, maybe a little bit. But he was adorable in that uptight, weird kind of way. And she was sold by the way his entire demeanor changed while he was talking about that telescope. He was such a dork! She grinned and gestured sheepishly to the faint stain still visible on his shirt. "And I'm sorry again about the whole... milkshake fiasco."

Wiping one hand on the side of her thigh to rid it of some melted mint icecream, she extended it to him again. "It was really great meeting you. Hopefully I'll see you around."

She knocked him into a bit of shock, so Noah didn't answer her question until he had already taken her hands. She was asking what days he worked? Huh--well. That was more interest a female had shown in him in...well, no, he'd definitely gone home with one of the birds that bid on him and Martin, but that had been more of a drunken fling than anything. If Elliot was really showing interest like he thought she was (Noah could never be sure, he'd been burned before) then he should...at least...show that...oy, he had no idea. Women just needed to get to the point, that was all.

"Well---I'm there every day," he said with a smile, brow furrowing. Did that sound weird? No, it was his full-time job, why would that be weird? It sounded weird. If he said he worked 9-5 at the Ministry during the week, that wouldn't sound weird, right? Right, "So--whenever you want to drop by. Gift shop opens at ten."

He added that with a wink and a small wave of his hand before turning to leave, staring down at his shirt with mild interest, and not so much more disgust.