It had been a while since his last trivia night, but after popular demand it was back. Frankly Freddie was grateful. He'd stopped doing it years ago because Alfie's mates were a bunch of flobberworms and trivia didn't work on them. Now that the Artful Dodger was somehow a bustling hub of business-y things, Freddie decided it was time to try again.

Dressed to the nines for the occasion, Freddie looked in the mirror and adjusted his shirt one last time before walking out to the pub section of his house. It all became the pub, really. The entire lower half of his house was free hangout space. Tonight, though, the guests were gathered in the basement. There were several tables set up with chairs and a stage with a large scoreboard.

"Welcome, welcome," Freddie said graciously, in true game show host style, tipping his hat at the few people who had gathered at the tables. "So you've all come here for the human sacrifice, have you?" He looked at them seriously a moment before goofily laughing. "Using your wands, put your team name up on the board here. Nuffin stodgy, mind you, I want you to make arses of yourselves."


[Make teams of about 3 and come up with a name. After a bit I'll start the quiz!]

In James hunt for a new watering hole, he had stumbled upon this place.  Far from an intellectual, trivia tuesdays did not really appeal to him, but he really needed some place new to hang out.  He also had the distinct feeling their host was certainly colorful, at least compared to James standard gray robes.  He had no idea if he would come back to this place or not, but he knew it would not be boring.  Whether it was not boring, like comeback in a week in a half or not boring like a unique form of torture, he had yet to know. 

James did not exactly have a dearth of other players with him, but he lazily cast a spell to write My drinking friends have a trivia problem.  Admittedly, James did not know anyone here, but he was sure that a catchy enough name would persuade a few people, and by people - James meant attractive witches - to his team.  Still, it was rather early, and he had been monitoring what he drank as usual.  Though he did not particularly like it, he always had to watch how much he drank and what he ate.  He really couldn't afford to go crazy like that last time out with Elixa.  Still, that did not mean he could not drink anything.

"Firewhiskey, please" James orderd to the bartender.  James did not know what would happen here, but figured firewhiskey made everything better.

Andromeda entered the bar and looked about herself to see if she recognised anyone. It had been a long day at work, and she was on an early shift, but she liked visiting on Tuesdays. Freddie was fun, he dressed a bit funny, but he was fun.
"Drinking yourself clever?" She asked a familiar wizard at the bar. He was a quidditch player, Andromeda remembered as she looked at him properly. Quidditch was rough, but in her eyes a quidditch player did not contribute that much to society unlike being an auror. She respected them for their guts to fly so fast.
"Are you in a team?" She asked directly, noticing he was not with anybody.

"Drinking yourself clever"

"Not yet.  Though I wish I was.  Every idea I have becomes brilliant when I'm intoxicated.  I'm James by the way.  And you are," James offered his hand, happy that a lady had decided to join him.  The lass followed up with a question about teams.  James actually had to think for a second before he remembered he was at a bar on a trivia night.  He was about to respond with a sarcastic remark, but stopped himself. 

"You know, I actually have to think about the answer to that question.  My answer used to be Tutshill, but now its Falmouth.  As far as the trivia game is concerned, you can see how full the roster is.  Haven't actually been here before, though the bartender seems colorful enough." James responded to her queries.

"Anyways, I'm more here for the drinking  and the fish than the trivia.  I did not even realize that this was a trivia Tuesday until I sat down at the bar.  But when in Rome..." James trailed off,  Taking a sip of his firewhiskey before addressing the young lady once more, he let the warmth of the drink flow through him before he said anything. 

"So did you come here tonight from the trivia?  Or did you just have a rough day at the office like I did?" James asked, wondering what brought her here.

"Andromeda." She shook his hand. He was trying to be smart. She meant was he in a quiz team. "I come by sometimes to play. Just fancied company tonight. Yeah, you could call Dodger 'colourful'. He would probably like that description." Andromeda shook her head. "He would wear some rainbow poncho or something to prove it." She put her hands in her pockets to find some money for a drink. "Depends what you count as a rough day. Did you get knocked off your broom?"

"The pleasure is mine Andromeda," he said, receiving her shake.

"As far company, I am always willing to converse with a pretty lady.  I do have to warn you I have some bad tendencies.  Fun, but bad," James smiled.  James would always try to hit on the prettiest woman at a place.  Right now, she was the only woman James saw, so he felt obligated to flirt.  Still, he did not want to seem eager, so he changed topics rather quickly.  "So the barkeep's name is Dodger.  I'll have to remember that.  I have never seen a rainbow poncho, but I guess everyone has their own tastes." James commented, keeping the conversation flowing.  He waited for her to finish talking before responding to her last query.

"Hah! I wish I was flying.  Alas, it was a rough day because we did nothing but weights and calisthenics all day.  Pays off in the long run, but no one signed up to run twenty kilos and do pushups and situps till we puked.  Still, quidditch is not all glitz and glamour, but it is a living.  And a fun one at that," James smiled.

"I would ask about your office, but honestly most people go to a bar to forget the office....not talk about it.  How about we discuss fun things.  Like flying - oh wait bad example. " James started, but then felt immediately foolish.

"So, you play trivia games.  How'd you get started  doing that?" James asked, assuming that she probably played at least one other if she was here intentionally. 

(((OMG sorryyyyy I thought I replied!)))

His compliment about her being pretty went past her unnoticed as far as it looked to James. Andromeda was used to crude comments and flirting from criminals so often ignored such comments. But when she was off duty she had to remember not all of them were meant to hurt her. When he spoke out loud about the poncho, Andromeda looked away. She feared she had blushed so she pretended to think about what to drink. It felt like it has passed as he described his sit ups. She couldn't help but cast an eye over his physique. It would be rude not to.
"Hah, I don't need to fly very much. But I do a lot of tackling." Andromeda smirked. "Even big guys like you." She caught the eye of the person behind the bar. A pint of the guest ale, a new taste to go with the new company. "Accidental. Here at the right time. Keeps my mind off the day job. And," she reached over with her money, "you never know who you meet, James." She shuffled round on her stool to face him a little better. "What brings you here, on a Tuesday, if it isn't the trivia?"

As the young girl blatantly checked him out, James smirked.  Apparently all those calisthenics were good for something.  He was going to let his previous train of thought go, but then she mentioned tackling and guys like him.  James could not help but smile a little at that.

"Really?  You tackle guys like me.  We could have some real fun with that later," James flirted, mind happily in the gutter.  She seemed to switch gears quickly enough though, which made James wonder if he should or should not be hitting on her.  She did not seem to mind the flirting, but she did not seem to want to flirt yet she clearly checked him out.  James chalked it up to one of those things men do not understand about girls.

"Well, I used to have a  watering hole that I really liked down in Knockturn.  I've been searching for a new one for sometime, but have not had much luck.  I really liked that one cause it had nice company and a shepherd pie that had really nice nutrition...but it seems to be the odd one out.  I'm almost ready to say enough, but I do need to get out more.  And it lets you meet interesting people as well.  I admit, I never thought I would be looking at a bar for a particular form of weight gainer, but the lives we lead are stranger than fiction," James commented.

"They can be." Andromeda nodded once. She sipped her pint. "Knockturn to Hogsmeade. That is the contrast. All for shepherd's pie. Someone told me The Rover's Return in Diagon did good pie." She sipped again. She was thirstier than she thought. "I meet all sorts of interesting people at work. Not necessarily people I want to hold a conversation with though." She leaned forward and spoke quietly. "Depending on how this turns out," she pointed at James and then at herself quickly, "depends on how I tackle you later. If, at all." She sat up and grinned briefly. Andromeda recrossed her legs. Her boots almost grazed his legs. "If you have to eat like a horse to play quidditch, I would not guess you were a seeker." She looked at him again. She put down her ale and reached over. Her hands ran over his shoulders and squeezed his upper arms. "Glory seeker?" She asked, "Chaser?" 

"Huh.  I'll have to check it out then.  Yeah, I've ingested more things than I've cared to admit in my career.  Its actually gotten to the point where I correspond with some healers regularly regarding nutrition and other various things.  The league prevents me from experimenting too much, but I actually had drinks with a healer at St. Mungo's the other night.  Did not even think about trying the pie," James commented.

 As the blatant flirting conituned, James decided his advice about not talking about work was probably a good idea.  Especially since she did not like the people she ran into there. 

"I play both chaser and seeker actually.  You'd actually be surprised at how much some professional athletes eat.  As far as seeker, you actually do make it slightly larger target for bludgers, but I can usually out-muscle most seekers at the position, which is useful when seeking a hot snitch.  In the reverse sense, most male chasers will generally outplay me physically, so I have learned to play a bit more finesse at the position.  Beaters are the ones who are usually built like the great wall, though occasionally you will see a female one with really good technique to compensate.  But I could bore you with quidditch all day.  Tell me about yourself," James asked.

"No way. Not at the same time." Andromeda looked at James sceptically. Of course not at the same time. She just was trying to massage his ego. It was fun. He was good looking. She had no company. Why not? She drank her ale and nodded at his explanation.
"Me? I'm not a quidditch player. You can't guess? Phew. Sometimes I think it must be written across my forehead in big black ink letters." She pointed across her forehead and rolled her eyes. "I'm an auror. Don't worry. Off duty." She put a hand over her eyes. She smiled, taking her hand away again. "I'm faster with my wand than my broom."