New Robes (open)

Oliver walked into Madam Malkin's, he needed to order himself some new work robes. The Obliviator robes that he was currently using were starting to get a bit shabby, so he decided it was time he replace them. Also, since it had been a while, he'd decided on finding one nice pair of dress robes for special occasions. Usually he didn't have any, his current set of dress robes was from his Hogwarts days and were too small. It was high time that he find some new ones.

Asking one of the workers there for some help, he started browsing the store. Pretty soon a worker came up and asked what he needed help with. "Yes, I would like three Obliviator work robes, as well as one set of dress robes. I am thinking this plain black with the green trim." he informed her, pointing to a robe. The robe wasn't flashy, but it had just enough color to qualify as dressy. He didn't like being flashy, so it suited him very well. Simple, imposing, just his kind of thing. The worker nodded and began measuring him, she finished before he knew it.

In another five minutes, he had tried on all his robes and was headed out of the shop when he bumped into a brunette woman. "Oh, my apologies miss. These robes got in the way of my seeing you." he said, not really looking very apologetic at all. She had walked right into him when he was carrying a bundle of robes, it was as much her fault as his.

Another banquet with 'the Iceman' Aria thought with a roll of her eyes.

She hated moments like these, where she was forced to revert back to the child she once was just for her father's benefit. Her father was the most instrumental in making her the way she was, so..."quirky". Her brothers on the other hand manage to integrate themselves and faked their way to the top, acting like the idiots around them, but behind those false cheery eyes laid the same calculative look that many of her other family members had.

Sighing, she flipped through more, some where too flashy, other's too long, too squarish, and too gaudy. Honestly who in their right mind would even think about purchasing these. She felt a vibration and looked down at her phone. Despite her being so into the society, her father had allowed her to purchase a phone, for him to contact her whenever he needed her to do something.


"Ugh" she mumbled.

Looking back at the flashy one she wondered how her father and brothers would react to her showing up in something so hideous. She grinned at the thought, that is until she crashed into someone. All the robes fell atop of her and she blinked wondering why she was so clumsy today.

"No need" she said picking her self up and wrinkling her nose as she languidly picked up the robes that were definitely not a waste of money. She lifted her head and walked towards the cashier.

"Ah, Miss Song, the items ordered are in the back I'll get them in a second"

Aria nodded and leaned against the cashier's desk casually waiting for those robes.

Oliver noticed that the girl didn't seem to be upset at all. Most people it would have bothered a lot, but she just took it in stride. He almost wanted to help her up, then decided against it when she was already picking up her robes. For some reason, he was getting the feeling she would not appreciate his help, she put off an independent woman vibe.

"Those are quite a few robes. I don't know, would you mind taking a look at mine? This is one area where I really have no clue what I am doing. The work robes are boring, but I wanted one set of nice new dress robes. Could you help me find something that works for me, fashion is not my forte?" he asked her.

"I don't mean to impose, I just really have no clue what I'm doing." he admitted to her. It was humbling to tell her this, but she seemed like somebody who was much more fashionable than himself.

Aria turned her gaze lazily towards him and raised her brow at his suggestion. Shouldn't a man his age know how to pick a robe out? She stretched out lazily on the counter, almost as a cat and shrugged.

"And you would assume it was my forte?" she asked curiously.

If anything, she was the laziest person ever, all her clothing was bought by her mother, if it was in her decision she'd be in her pajamas for her whole life, but her mother didn't want her shaming them. She had to admit though, she did know what social norms asked from a person.

She looked down at herself and in business pants and purple blouse, and trench coat, she figured it made sense of his simple deduction. Sighing she noticed how he seemed somewhat unsure.

"Well, based on your clothing choice as of now, you look as if you are casual, normal really in a man in his mid-twenties? I would guess. Anyways, the first robe, would be too short, honestly, please notice the tailoring. Secondly the other one makes you look sickly, the third one is simple enough where it won't contrast too much."

She waved it off as if it was nothing. Honestly, men were helpless sometimes.

Oliver knew it was pathetic, but he'd never had a woman around long enough to teach him what was fashionable. I mean, sure, he tried to look good every once in a while. His appearance though, was never something very high on his priority list. For some reason, after he had met Taylor, he wanted to at least have a couple fashionable things to wear. Maybe if he saw her again, which he planned on doing by going back to the pub she worked at, she would find him attractive.

"Well no, but you seem to be dressed well enough. I just thought...well it would be nice if you could help me. There's a...girl I want to impress. I'm lost on how to make myself look good, I need a woman's opinion." he told her, laying out the facts. "You don't have to, but I would owe you one. Also...you don't want to get on my bad side." he said in a deadly tone of voice.

If using intimidation was good for anything, maybe it would help him here. Perhaps he didn't need to use it, which he realized after he didn't; but, he would use all his options to get what he wanted. Right now he wanted to appeal to Taylor, if that meant scaring some innocent person at Madam Malkin's then so be it. He knew it wasn't healthy, he really couldn't care less though.

Eyeing her wardrobe, he wondered if she even liked fashion. Maybe it was a gift or something like that. The logical explanation was that she did though, and he was hoping that it wasn't some fluke she looked like she knew how to dress well.

"Yes, I am generally casual." he agreed. "Correct about the age." Then he listened as she talked about how each was a bad choice for him except perhaps the last one. "Umm, well could you pick some ones for me to try on. I don't want to look sickly if I'm trying to catch a lady's eye now do I." Oliver said, his sarcasm a bit thick. Looking at her, he gave a small grin. "Thanks for the help...Miss Song. I don't remember hearing your first name."

Aria rolled her eyes. Of course it was a women. Simpletons, all of them, falling for one another, stressing materialistic things, so vein they all were. As if an article of clothing could cover some insecurity. Silly notions really.

She snorted at him warning her. So what if he worked for the Ministry in some way (obvious from the fact that he carried himself in a nearly arrogant manner), she didn't fear him. He didn't know real fear unless he dealt with pure heartlessness.

"I may not be an expert on social protocol, but I doubt you ask for someone's help AND warn them to do it."

Her gaze was cold, colder than before, especially at his tone. She didn't appreciate being intimidated and if her father couldn't get her to back down, this stranger wasn't going to do it either.

"I don't remember hearing your name at all, so it seems you have the upper hand" she replied snidely.

She tapped her fingers on the counter as the salesclerk was late. Honestly the service here was horrible.

Oliver could tell she was irritated by the fact he just wanted to impress a girl. It was that simple, and she had probably been hoping for a more interesting reason. Normally he wouldn't even have cared, but he wanted to become friends and more with Taylor; so, if he couldn't even be nice to some stranger how could he expect himself to be nice to her. Politeness and being kind to people was so hard for him, honestly he didn't understand how people could stomach it.

To her credit, this Song lady didn't show any fear despite the threat. Not many people would be that tough, and he grinned wickedly at her. She may not be an average person like he at first thought, maybe she had learned some tough lessons of her own. Most people were so soft, but there was a toughness about this girl.

"Well I'm sure I am less of an expert on social protocol than you are. Honestly, i couldn't care less what the protocol is. I don't want to hurt you, but I accomplish my goals by all means necessary. Just help me out, please, and let us part ways without me having to use force." he said, pleading a bit with her.

He really did not want to hurt her, occasionally he wanted to hurt people, but not now. Getting in a nice frame of mind, a slightly more normal state of mind would be useful when talking to Taylor. So causing harm to this person would not be a good start.

"Oliver Lanier, Obliviator." he said, offering his hand. It wouldn't do to draw attention to them. "I must admit, you are tougher than you first appear. For that I respect you Miss Song, most people are so soft these days..." Oliver trailed off.

Aria snorted and actually let out some laughter at his comments. Honestly, was this man so desperate to impress a simple woman to warn another one. He had no idea who she was, and if the surname wasn't obvious enough she was not going to even want to deal with him.

As he offered his hand she simply looked at him, not really wanting to be too kind. His aggression wasn't that pleasing nor tolerable to her really.

"There's a difference between aggression and quiet strength Mr. Lanier"

Oliver was making an idiot of himself, looking back on his actions he could see that. His usually logical brain wasn't functioning the same way as it usually did. He never got flustered, and was one to be cunningly aggressive, not straight out threatening. Perhaps his conversation with Taylor had affected him in an odd way. He'd certainly never acted like this before.

When she refused his handshake he frowned a bit. For some reason her not shaking his hand bugged him, which was just ridiculous. Since when did he care what others thought about him?

"Yes, you are right. I apologize for my behavior. I....I'm not myself today. Perhaps I should leave before I embarrass myself further." he stated simply. Oliver wasn't trying to sound like he was being hard on himself, he was just stating the fact in a detached way. It was an oddity that often made people uncomfortable for some reason.

Aria hummed not really knowing exactly what was wrong with him. She let out a lazy smirk as the salesclerk finally arrived with her cloaks and she sighing seeing them. Her mother would be pleased at the look, and her father would enjoy knowing how much she loathed the delicate piece of dress robes.

"Thank you" she muttered.

Knowing that there was nothing left to do she picked them up gingerly and shrunk them, knowing that the dressing robes would be safer in her pocket than her carrying them. Turning to face him she smirked before walking out.

"Aria Song, lovely to make your acquaintance" she called out before leaving the shop.

Oliver talked to the cashier, and returned his robes that didn't look good according to Aria. He wasn't sure exactly what to consider her, friend, acquaintance, he didn't know. All he did know was that a random person had done a genuinely nice thing she didn't have to do. Somehow, the random act of kindness didn't make him think that it was pathetic, he actually appreciated it.

"Honestly, I want to genuinely thank you Aria. If I ever see you again, come say hi okay." he told her before she left. Watching as she left, he shrugged at how unusual it all was. Meeting a nice person, and not being a jerk to them, it was rare for Oliver Lanier.

Thanking the clerk, he shrunk the robes in their bags and left. Before long he was wondering how Taylor would think when she saw him in Obliviator Robes that actually fit. Also, he wondered if he would ever have an occasion to wear the dress robes where she would see him, and he smiled just a little bit.