3pm, Knockturn Alley

Aaric Kronin, in all his drunken glory, stumbled a bit as he walked out of a small bar, having already drunk plenty for today. It wasn't uncommon for the criminal to be seen with a bottle of Firewhiskey in his hand, aimlessly walking down the dark streets of Knockturn Alley. But today, it was different. Maybe it was the fact the Aaric hadn't committed some sort of crime lately, or something entirely different, but he had the urge to start drinking at such an early hour. He wasn't totally smashed, but he felt the effects of the alcohol in his system, warming his insides and making his head spin.

Taking a deep breath, Aaric leaned against an old building and ran his hand across the wood panel under the window. His fingers twitched as images of the wood crackling and burning entered his mind. No, not now. He thought, stopping himself from going too far. Fires were always best when it was dark and no one was around. When the flames  licked up the sides of the building and made the whole street glow with an orange light. Taking another deep breath, Aaric straightened his black pea coat and slid down the side of the building, leaving him now sitting on the cold curb.

His eyes scanned over the people in the area, watching as shady looking men and women stalked around the Alley, some keeping their heads low and walking briskly, while others were more confident, or had less to lose. Whichever, didn't matter, because Aaric stared at them all. Analysing their every movement and deciding if they were a threat or not. Of course, there were not many people that Aaric considered a threat, but, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Mid afternoon seemed like a reasonable time to venture down the dangerous and disreputable Knockturn Alley.  Chaz looked over his shoulder as the last bright canopy and advertisement of Diagon vanished around a corner while he walked quickly into the shadows.  N0rmally he preferred to go before noon because the worst offenders were either still bunkered down or sleeping off last night's activities.  Not that he knew all that much about seedy parts of town.  Any town.  He'd absolutely never gone anywhere less than perfectly safe in Paris without Malcolm beside him.  The wand at his side, while a comfort for dealing with muggles, was  not a guarantee of anything when dealing with other wizards.

He was never particularly good at things like dueling, having preferred to spend his free time designing and daydreaming instead.  And so the wand tucked securely in the holster across his lower back was merely a warm, if misleading comfort as he got started after his late start. 

Knockturn Alley, despite giving him a crawling sensation beneath his sweater, had a certain allure for him when he sought out places in the wizarding world to sketch.  It was closed in and a bit ramshackle, dark and dank.  Unlike Diagon, which seemed to cling to its antiquity as some kind of cheerful expression of the ever-present past, Knockturn seemed to bear it like an unwanted burden that it would shun the moment it had the means. 

Chaz was too much a realist to ever believe that Knockturn would be able to pull such a thing off but he loved to capture the heavy resignation and dissatisfaction whenever he was feeling particularly disenfranchised with the world.  This is how he found himself standing self-consciously on the side of the street with his sketchbook in his hands.  He didn't conjure his traditional chair and he hadn't even brought a coffee.  He just wanted to do his drawing and get out of here as quickly as possible.  So, eyeing the street to either side of him cautiously, he began to lightly sketch in the construction lines of a man sitting against a dilapidated old building, determined to capture the weariness of life in that bleak moment.

Thrumming his fingers against the pavement, Aaric continued to look around, surveying his environment that was shifting slightly under his influence of alcohol. He blinked his eyes lazily as he glanced at a nervous looking man that looked totally out of place in the dreary ally. Furrowing his eyebrows slightly, Aaric took in the mans appearance. No way was he a usual to Knockturn Alley. It wasn't only his sense of dress and how clean-cut he looked, but the way he stood and looked around. He didn't belong here, at all. After casting the man a short, but dangerous looking scowl, Aaric almost looked away, but caught sight of something in the persons hands.

A book of sorts, and he appeared to be writing on the paper, perhaps drawing. Aaric could have just ignored him, perhaps sent him another evil stare, he wasn't doing any harm. Though, he did appear to be looking in the general direction of Aaric, that was more than enough reason to hex the man. Really, it wouldn't be the greatest thing to have a picture with himself in it floating around, no matter how unlike himself the picture looked, or if only his arm was in it. A picture was still a picture, and pictures told a thousand words. Not only was it a risk for Aaric, but he didn't really have a good feeling about the man.

Quicker than any drunk man could manage, Aaric launched to his feet and started to walk towards the man, gritting his teeth as he did so. As he approached, he called out, his Irish accent carrying down the street. "Oi, what ye doin'?" The statement was harmless enough, but the viciousness that coated each and every syllable showed the real danger that Aaric presented. Normally, Aaric wouldn't approach someone for a reason such as this, but then again, alcohol really managed to loosen the tongue.

Chaz jumped when a rough, Irish voice broke through the silence of the Knockturn's daytime routine.  The man he'd been sketching quickly and furtively had jumped up and was now striding towards him quite purposefully.  Chaz looked up and down the street, hoping to see some witnesses to this at least but there was no one and he was alone with this man for the moment.  Tucking the pencil into the seam of the book, he closed his sketchbook and let it hang in his hand by his side.

"I'm sketching," Chaz replied with a nervous smile.  "I'm just drawing the buildings here in Knockturn.  I'm an architect, you see.  Just drawing buildings."  With a nod towards the other man, Chaz reopened his sketchbook and began to work once more on the building.  He was trying not to show too much fear, when all he really wanted to do was hightail it back to Diagon where there were people, where it was safe. 

So, he stood his ground, however nervously, and tried to sketch in a few more details.  The man didn't go away though, so Chaz looked up and asked, "Was there something you needed?"