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Post by Levi Sargent on Oct 11, 2009 21:20:15 GMT -5
The Leaky Cauldron was on Levi's way home and it was always his stop on his way home, unless he was too tired from work. Hands stuffed in his pockets, Levi walked in. Without having to order anything verbally, a mug of butterbeer was made for him.
Today, Levi didn't have to work. He had the off and he was going to get a few things done. Earlier, he had helped his father out with painting the kitchen for his mother. His hard work was evident by the paint that was splattered on his muggle jeans. The paint splatters that were on his shirt was covered by the light jacket that he wore.
Sitting at his usual table, Levi sighed as he sat down. It wasn't even three o'clock in the afternoon and he was already tired. Leaning back in his chair, he brought his mug up to his lips and took a drink.
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Dec 20, 2009 22:43:15 GMT -5
Maggie had just finished a rather busy day of shopping. Since moving to Hogsmeade, she needed a lot of supplies to furnish her little apartment. Now she was carrying five bags, which had all been charmed to feel light as a feather. That didn't mean that it wasn't difficult balancing all of these bags. She kept knocking into things, and one of the bags had ripped.
After repairing the ripped bag and recovering the lost items, Maggie was in desperate need of a break. She had intended to stop at the more wholesome ice cream parlor for her break, but she was so exhausted, and the closest place was a dodgy little pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Since it was also the exit into London, it only made sense to stop here for a drink.
But she hated pubs. And her last experience in a pub had hardly changed her mind about that. Hopefully, she could get a drink and get out without attracting any unwanted attention.
She entered the pub, her armful of bags rustling loudly with the movement. As she approached the center of the pub, the ripped bag suddenly split down the middle, causing the odd assortment of clothes, books, curtains, and various other items to spill all over the floor.
"Oh, for Salazar's sake," she grumbled, dropping to the floor and trying to gather up her things.
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Post by Levi Sargent on Dec 20, 2009 23:08:08 GMT -5
At this time of day, weren't too many witches and wizards inside the Leaky Cauldron. That was much to Levi's pleasure. There was always an older wizard, Matthew, that would always take a chair and talk to Levi for at least an hour about anything and everything. Today, he wouldn't see the older wizard. He would probably catch him tomorrow.
Just as Levi was taking a drink from his mug, he heard things hit the floor. One of the items even rolled right up to his foot and stopped as it touched his shoe. He looked up from the floor over to the woman who dropped her things. Without so much as a second thought, he reached down and started to help her pick up a few things. It was the least he could do. He couldn't just sit there and watch her just pick up her stuff on her own.
With his hands full, Levi cautiously approached the woman and bent down again. "Here you go miss," he said kindly.
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Dec 29, 2009 16:23:39 GMT -5
It was Maggie’s natural tendency to push people away and to decline all offers of help. Often she did this rather rudely. After all these years, she had not yet learned that not all men were out to get her.
But at the moment, Maggie was too tired to even muster up an indignant response. She looked up at the man and even managed a weak smile. “Thank you,” she said, accepting the items from him and attempting to redistribute them into the other two bags. “You didn’t have to do that.”
There were still things all over the floor, and she scrambled to gather them all up. “I suppose you think I’m just some typical girl who gets all giddy over shopping, right? That I have more money than brains?” She stopped and looked at the guy, who probably was thinking nothing of the sort. “Well, I’m not. Just in case you were wondering.”
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Post by Levi Sargent on Dec 29, 2009 20:18:35 GMT -5
Levi returned her weak smile. "It's alright, really." He waited until she took the items from his hands before reaching out and helping her pick up the rest. He helped her because well, she needed it.
Looking to the woman again, Levi looked at her somewhat puzzledly. "I didn't really think that at all," he replied. "I was thinking more of the lines of how bad it is to have your bags just break like that. I know from experience actually. Carrying groceries up to your apartment, only to have the bottom of the bag to tear and have all your items go rolling down the stairs after you reach the fourth floor, not fun at all." He gave her a smile. Realizing he still had a few items in his hands, he handed them over to her before reaching out and grabbing the curtains that laid off to his right.
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Feb 14, 2010 0:51:49 GMT -5
Maggie sighed. Sometimes she wished she didn't automatically see everything as a potential attack. In her head, she knew that this man had probably not been making any moral judgements on her and that he was probably not helping her with her things just so he could get something from her. But sometimes the paranoia would set in, especially in moments like this when she was already frazzled.
She sat up and rubbed her head. "I'm sorry. I'm just... it's been a really long day. And to be honest, I hate shopping, I hate moving, and I kind of hate London. So I guess I'm just a little on edge. Thanks again."
She took her things from him and carefully stowed them in her other bag, casting a spell on it to make it small and light enough to carry.
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Post by Levi Sargent on Feb 16, 2010 11:32:00 GMT -5
"It's alright, really," Levi stated, waving off her apology. "Everyone has their off days and once you hit bottom for the day, the only way to go is up, right?" He gave her a light smile. Levi could understand the hatred of shopping and moving and possibly the hatred of London. He could have asked her why she hated London but that wasn't any of his business. Besides, this woman was already on edge and he didn't want to be nosey and have her snap at him and get defensive.
Once all her things were picked up, Levi stood and then held out his hand. "Want me to help you up," he asked nicely.
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Feb 16, 2010 16:26:39 GMT -5
Maggie smiled tiredly. “Not true,” she said. “Unfortunately, sometimes there’s still more room to go down.”
It was a rather pessimistic point of view, but Maggie didn’t exactly have the best of luck most of the time. She never took for granted that things were going to get better, because many times, they did not. After all, she had lost the job she loved, lost her apartment in France, and was stuck back in this grey, rainy pit, and she still hadn’t found a paying job as of yet.
She waved off his offer to help her up. “No, thank you, I can do it myself,” she replied, but at least she was able to keep her tone polite.
Getting to her feet, she dusted herself off and gathered her bags. “Thanks again. I’m just going to get a drink.”
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Post by Levi Sargent on Feb 16, 2010 22:21:21 GMT -5
Once the woman waved off his offer, Levi looked to his hand. "Right," he muttered to himself as he put his hand in his jeans pocket. He didn't make a comment about her not accepting his help. After all, he was only trying to be nice and be somewhat of a gentleman. Her tone was polite when she declined his offer so Levi didn't say a word about it.
"Alright," he said looking at her. "Just be careful with that bag. Hopefully you won't have any more problems with it." Levi gave her a kind smile. He didn't know what else to do or what else to say. After she declined his offer to help her up, he got the impression that she didn't want to be really bothered and quite frankly, Levi didn't want to be yelled at today.
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Feb 22, 2010 17:16:15 GMT -5
Maggie sighed softly. She hadn’t meant to dismiss the guy so abruptly. She just wasn’t good at accepting help. She always felt like there was a price tag involved. But he backed down so easily, and it made her feel almost like she had just kicked a puppy.
“Hey… um, look. I’m sorry. I’m not good at accepting help from strangers. It was nice of you to help me out. Can… can I buy you a butterbeer or something?”
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Post by Levi Sargent on Feb 22, 2010 21:34:28 GMT -5
He wasn't expecting her to say anything else to him. He was expecting her to just go on her way and that was going to be it. Levi turned back around and looked at her again.
He wasn't sure what to say at first. It would be rude of him to turn her down. After all she was trying to apologize. "Um," he knew that he already had a mug, but if she wasn't good at accepting help from strangers, he could show her that all strangers weren't bad. "Alright, a butterbeer sounds good."
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Feb 23, 2010 17:10:36 GMT -5
Maggie smiled almost shyly. She was not good at this. She could talk to women easily enough, even ones that she didn’t know. But men… she just didn’t trust them. Sometimes she wondered if she was secretly a lesbian, but she had never actually felt an attraction to a woman. She could not say the same about men... but she never let them get close enough to explore that feeling.
“Two butterbeers, please,” she said to the bartender.
While they were waiting for their drinks, Maggie turned back to him. “I’m Maggie,” she said, holding her hand out to him.
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Post by Levi Sargent on Feb 23, 2010 22:18:03 GMT -5
Levi wasn't sure what to make of the situation at the moment, but he would take things as they came.
He extended his hand to shake hers. "Nice to meet you Maggie. I'm Levi." Levi didn't want to shake her hand for too long, but he didn't want to shake it for too short of a time either. He hadn't really met anyone like Maggie, so he wanted to make sure he didn't put her off and immediately push her away.
"Thanks for the butterbeer, by the way."
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Feb 26, 2010 16:04:36 GMT -5
Whether Maggie knew it or not, her body language was giving her away. She was sitting very straight and tense in her seat, her jaw was set, and when she shook his hand, she gripped a little too hard in an attempt to prove that she wasn’t weak. Why was this so hard for her? Other girls practically draped themselves all over guys. And this man was most clearly not her father, so she shouldn’t be so tense.
But even knowing all of that, it didn’t change the fact that she was uneasy. And usually when she was nervous, she lashed out. What was the saying? The best defense is a good offense.
“Hi, Levi,” she said, smiling shyly. “You’re welcome. It was the least I could do after I nearly bit off your head. I’m sorry about that, by the way. I just… I’m still not used to things here.”
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Post by Levi Sargent on Feb 28, 2010 17:33:02 GMT -5
"It's alright." Levi just brushed it off. After all, he couldn't hold it against her. There were just some people that weren't around comfortable around certain people. "There are some people that are the kind you want to stay away from, but I promise I'm not one of those creepy like people." Levi realized his words then looked away almost shyly. He looked up as their butterbeers were placed in front of them.
"Things will get easier," he said turning back to her. "It'll take time, but you'll eventually get used to being around here."
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Mar 9, 2010 15:40:48 GMT -5
Maggie took a sip of her butterbeer, watching him over the top of her glass. She actually felt a little guilty for getting defensive with him. It was really just her natural instinct to come out swinging whenever she felt threatened or stressed. Sometimes it was justified, but many times it was not, and she really needed to get better about knowing the right way to react.
Her smile was somewhat sheepish. “I was born in Ireland, but I’ve spent almost half of my life in France. I’m not used to people being nice… there are a lot of rude people in France.”
It was partially a joke, but she wasn’t laughing.
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Post by Levi Sargent on Mar 18, 2010 20:26:04 GMT -5
Immediately upon meeting her, Levi noticed that she was a tense person. She always seemed to be on the defense. Now, however, Maggie didn't seem as tense as she had been. She seemed a little more relaxed even if it was just a little bit.
"Can't say I've spent too much time in France. I've only been there for a couple days at most but I was meeting with a few people." Levi knew better than to just say what he did for a living. He didn't want to come off like he was a bragging type of person.
"There are a lot of rude people here too but I think there are more nice people here. You'll start seeing it more the longer you're here."
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on Mar 22, 2010 16:01:05 GMT -5
Maggie took a sip from her butterbeer while he was talking. Although her main reason for relocating to England was because she had been sacked from her job at Beaxbatons, she had another reason that she hadn’t really discussed with anyone. She was hoping to find her brother, Jack.. if he was even still alive. But she honestly had no idea where to look for him. Sooner or later, she was going to have to ask for help. It wasn’t likely that he’d just drop into her lap.
“I hope so,” she replied in a soft voice. “The last time I was in a bar, in Hogsmeade, this drunk guy was hitting on me and not taking no for an answer. I could do with a lot less of that. Right now, I’m just trying to get settled in and hopefully find a job. I’ve been volunteering at the Hogsmeade library, but it doesn’t exactly pay very well.”
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Post by Levi Sargent on May 10, 2010 18:53:09 GMT -5
"Yeah, the bars around here are not all that single female friendly if you just want to drink alone. There are a few in London that are not actually that bad. The Rusty Nail is one that you want to stay away from and probably Stu's. I'm not saying you can't handle your own because you seem like you can, but I'm just saying that those specific bars are not ones I recommend going to at certain times for a drink. During the week it seems to not be as bad." Levi caught himself rabbling a little. He stopped his words at a decent stopping point.
"Volunteering at the Hogsmeade Library? For the storytime sessions for the children or just in general?" Levi's questions were harmless and he hoped she didn't take it the wrong way. "The Ministry might be hiring in a few departments if you wanted to look there. If you're looking for a job in some sort of store, there's a few job openings in a couple of stores in London that I remember seeing Help Wanted signs in."
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Post by Maggie O'Neil on May 25, 2010 23:36:50 GMT -5
That was the trouble. There were always jobs that she could get. She just didn't want most of them. Maybe it was wrong for her to be so picky... but she couldn't help it. She knew what she wanted, but it wasn't exactly easy to come by.
"I help with the storytime sessions mostly... sometimes I help coordinate other events there, too. We have a book signing by Newt Scamander next week that I've been helping to organize." She sighed. "I just... Well, to be honest, I really don't like the Ministry. I was kind of... raised to not trust the government. And I'm not really a people person, as they say, so working in a store probably won't suit me, either. I'm much better with kids. I used to teach at Beauxbatons, but I had a disagreement with an administrator, and here I am."
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