out of water
Location: Burlesque Club ‘L’Étoile’, Wizarding London Time: 1am, 5th of March Status: Closed, for @inconsolcble
Lu didn’t mind the hate-spewing conversation topics amongst their more generous patrons. After all, how did they affect Lu personally? And one had to remember that the regions of raging anger and lust sat quite closely in the brain, so really, just letting their patrons rage about Muggleborns was doing half the job already. But Ganymede’s wasn’t that big, and after a certain amount of nights spent there, you inevitably ran into the same people, all of which usually preferred to think you an exclusive shiny little item for their own private collection. So it came that every other night, Lu chose bars and clubs of lesser Pureblood prestige.
They were sitting at a table decorated with empty champagne coupes when a boy walked into L’Étoile who simply did not belong here. Not only wore he -- in Lu’s eyes -- rags, but he was also of such a demeanour it was as though he was scared to enjoy himself too much. “What does he fear? To be scooped up by one of our large-wigged ladies who’re serving the tables?” Lu asked, giving their seat neighbour a nudge and redirected her gaze towards the boy, now standing pressed against a wall. Clarissa cackled. “Should we go save him?” She placed a hand on Lu’s shoulder: ‘And you think you’d scare him less?’
Lu returned their attention to the stage where yet another number of terrible singing and even worse dancing began. There certainly were too many sequins and too few items of clothes; it was a divine night. And until then, they had quite enjoyed themselves, the thick air in the room making it impossible to escape the alcohol’s effect, the laughter bright and piercing into your chest, and the music -- albeit awful -- loud enough to make you forget about everything else. Well. Until then indeed. Now their mind was on the boy by the door -- ah, he had moved, a little closer to the bar, but he didn’t look any less terrified. What a poor creature. Who on earth had recommended him this place? Was this his first night out, ever? Was he looking for someone? Lu shook their head and decided it was none of their business.
About an hour later, the last poor girl had embarrassed herself on stage and the bar was ringing its last round. Something Lu would never get used to. It was hardly one in the morning and they were already sending people home… Nevertheless, Lu got up and, as so many, headed towards the bar. It was then that they saw that the boy was very much still there. He was sitting at an empty table at the back now, but looked no less lost and out of place. Was he perhaps a spy? Lu shook their head once more and … ended up buying two cocktails. Grand, pink, very sweet and adorned with a ridiculous amount of umbrellas and fruits. One they placed before him, the other they kept in their hand as they sat by his side. “So tell me, I’m burning to know, who of the Queens here is your mum?”
