A Noble Meeting

[Gabrielle Hanson]

Gabrielle Carmichael was not at all in a happy mood. She had just finished telling her parents how excited she was to be going to Medical school when they had no sooner told her off for being a bad girl and than insisting that she forgo her medical education and become a ministry official instead. She shook her head, no-way was she going to do that. She would hate working there all the time, just doing magic and filing reports for magical things. She didn't even want to be a healer, a magical doctor. she wanted to be a muggle doctor and no matter what her parents said she was going to do it. Whether they disowned her or not. That was just how it was going to be, and she did not care. She had even moved out of the house and into a student house at the university. She had been really keen on moving in to the house anyway, atleast to get away from her naggingly annoying parents if not anything else. Thankfully, she had made a smooth move and all had been well. That was what made her slightly more happy.

Gabrielle had gone shopping the day before and bought herself some nice new clothes which she now wore. She liked them, they made her feel like a normal eighteen year old girl. Though she had to admitt that she was happy to be out of classes for a while. They certainly were quite hard, she couldn't believe the degree of difficulty they had to them. It made her feel somewhat happy that she had been such a muggle obsessor when she was at Hogwarts, having read all those muggle books about various things really did make her feel quite good about the way she was handling things. Atleast she knew she could support herself in the muggle world. But who knew, maybe if she had the right reason, she would go back to the magical world to live. For now she liked just visiting.

As she walked past a nice shoe store, Gabrielle stopped to window shop. Man she could never afford to buy those types of shoes at such outrageous prices. Even on a doctors salary. It was ridiculous really. Why did they have to be so expensive?

 

[Noble Bishop]

More shopping was in order as his trip was coming to an end quicker than he was comfortable with at the moment but like everything else all good things must come to an end eventually and so his vacation was almost over which meant classes would start up soon. He had enjoyed his stay in New Zealand not to mention several people that he had met since he arrived who he could gladly call friends but he would be back before they had time to miss him. He had a good deal of money left and so he decided that he would do a little pre-packing shopping as he was enthralled with the eastern world's fashion which seemed more edgier than that of the more preppy style of the west. With money in pocket and goal in mind he decided that he would stop at a cool shoe store a little ways away from his hotel since he loved shoes more than any other article of clothing that he owned. He was not obsessed but rather he appreciated a good shoe not to mention it helped tie certain outfits that he had together were simple plain shoes could not. It was the most girly aspect about him though it was far from incriminating material considering shoes overall seemed to be one of those things that every one either owned or bought regularly.

As he approached the store he saw a ravishing young woman standing outside looking at something that he could not tell from this distance however as he got closer he saw what caught her eye. It was a window display with some rather beautiful looking women's shoe in the window by his expert guess he knew that shoes like them were designer and therefore rather expensive. From the hungry look in her eyes he also took another guess and would say that she wished she could own one of the pair of shoes but most likely did not have the coin for them at the moment. Noe did not want to buy the shoes for a complete stranger but if he knew the woman then maybe he would feel more comfortable with the purchase if it were for a friend. So with a cool demeanor he walked over to the woman who seemed to be lost in her train of thought and simply stood next to her with his arms across his chest and interested look on his brow. After a few moments with the woman not noticing he was there he decided to break the silence in his typical fashion.

"Sweet shoes eh?" Noe said as he cracked a smile but other than that remained glued to his spot and his eyes never leaving the shoes. If the woman did not notice him after that small comment he would find some other way of getting her attention which was between bumping into her or going inside and sitting in the window display. He hoped she noticed him as the other two options could lead to unwelcome attention from the locals which he hoped to avoid so as to not leave a bad first impression on anyone.

 

[Gabrielle Hanson]

Gabrielle continued to ignore the man beside her. I kid

---

Gabrielle bent down to see the shoes at the bottom of the display. They were all very nice and she was mentally calculating how many months salary she would have to save before she could even be near to affording a pair. However, after she got into about the fifth month she decided to call it quits. They were only shoes anyway. No sense making a huge fuss over them. Though as she turned to move away, a pair of grey boots caught her eye, they were ridiculously priced, but they were very very nice. She wanted them. They could go with anything, skirts, jeans, shorts, mini-skirts, skorts, swimmers... the list went on. The boots also had the power to make anyone look good, that was obvious because the mannequin ankles and feet that they sat on looked brilliant, in a weird sort of way. Gabrielle couldn't help but think that these boots would make Hitler look fabulous, this made her want them more. But that price... it was amazing how much boots could go for these days, Gabrielle didn't want to think about how many years it would take to pay for those on her salary, forget months. She sighed. She knew she could never have them, but she really did like them.

She soon heard a voice come from beside her and looked in that direction. Her eyes landed on the body of a man, probably about her age, and very good looking. He had just complimented the shoes in the window. And he was of course right. They are very nice shoes. "Yes, but unfortunately they are a bit out of my price range." She told him looking back at the shoes. The man was smiling at something. Perhaps the shoes? "That accent of yours," she started. Even though he had said few words, her hearing was extraordinary. Her friends used to joke that she should become a translator seeing as she picked up languages fairly well. But that was not what she wanted so she had become a med student instead. "It's not from around here... is it?" She asked as she turned to face him properly, so as not to be impolite.

---

I was actually tempted to say that she had either ignored him or not noticed him, just to see what would happen. But she is both observant and polite, so neither would have really happened. Your lucky. Noble coulda been climbing into that display

 

[Noble Bishop]

Noe smiled effortlessly as the girl fell right into his hands by commenting about the shoes which was the icebreaker that would ease the nervousness that loomed over most first encounter. He also noted that she picked up on his accent which was a clear indicator of interest as well as good observation skills that made the simple interaction a bit more interesting. He made no sudden movements nor did he show too much interested in the woman or the conversation as a whole which would reflect that he was not desperate for the conversation to continue. After all this was the game of cat and mouse that people played every day when they interacted especially when they were privileged to be in the company of such a beautiful person as the woman before him.

His calm demeanor and pearly white smile was in full swing as he turned and faced the woman squaring his body towards her which was a sign of attention and focus as well as confidence. "The price tag is a little upper there but I must admit that it would have made he who must not be named look fierce if he sported such a fine boot ,I mean it could have one him the war." Noble joked as he took one more glance at the shoes before locking eyes with the woman who he hoped found the small little joke lightly as most did not even after the event had long passed. He shifted his weight to his right leg as he ran one hand through his long and unruly hair before jumping once more into the conversation which by this time would have given the woman the chance to chime in if she wished or to walk away. "But to answer second question, no I am not from around here but rather I am a visitor from the states looking into New Zealand as my next home. I have heard nothing but good things about the area but now that I am here I realize that words can not even compare to this place for it is wonderfully beyond all forms of speech both native and foreign." Noble did not skip a beat as he killed the woman with kindness with every word and movement.

"Are you local or are you here for the amazing shopping?" Noe said as he pressed the conversation a little further hopping to get the woman to lower her natural guard a little more and relax.

 

[Gabrielle Hanson]

Gabrielle watched the man standing beside her out of the corner of her eye. She had no intention of letting him know that she found him physically attractive. Physically because he was definately good looking, but she didn't know if he was necessarily smart. Not that she thought he was dumb or anything, but she liked to be able to have a conversation with the people she was friends with. He also seemed to know his fashion, which just put another tick in his column. He seemed nice enough. Though she could tell that they were sort of surveying each other. Both appearing disinterested until the other made the first move. She giggled girlishly and quickly covered her mouth. That was really embarrassing. She looked at the man again, before turning slightly red from embarrassment. How could she have laughed. She couldn't believe this. She breathed deeply to calm herself down before looking back towards him. She couldn't believe his looks.

Gabrielle's old personality started to leak through and she started to become rather soft and alittle shy. She rolled her eyes. Why was she being like this all of a sudden. It was an old behaviour that she left behind when she graduated. Nevertheless she giggled slightly again and growled slightly because of it. "I'm sorry, I really have to apologise for the giggles. I really don't know why I am giggling. I haven't done it since I was fourteen." She told him as she twirled a piece of stray hair between her thumb and index finger. A nervous habit she picked up as a child. It had gotten her through many exams and awkward situations over the days. Back at Hogwarts it was her fall back option. Of course in Hogwarts, she had been blonde. She dyed her hair in her last year after getting sick and tired of all the stupid blonde jokes she would get. She was smarter then any of them anyway because she got outstanding marks in her exams. She shrugged it was in the past no need to bring it up again. She smirked slightly at his joke. It was kind of distasteful but still funny. "Clever. I would not have been game enough to try it."She complimented him on his comedic standing. Was he a professional? Or was he just normally funny? He seemed alittle nervous judging by the way he shifted his weight from foot to foot. He was good at hiding it. But then, so was she. Though she couldn't help but to crack a smile. It was quite a different situation than she was used to. Boys never spoke to her in school because she was a nerd. They definately hadn't seen her as attractive. But that had been in part her fault due to the fact that she used to be very self concious and naive about things. She used to have a thing for throwing herself into her work. She never wanted to do that again. She had nearly become an antisocial by never talking to people. These days she made sure she had a personal life seperate to her work and school life.

Gabby was of course not surprised to hear that the man she was speaking to was from the United States. His accent had told her as much, well sort of, he sounded as though he travelled alot because his accent was abit of a mix between different things. Though it was nice that he was looking to live in New Zealand. Gabby found it curious that she was beginnging to wonder what state he was born in and where he grew up. She was surprised at herself for taking so much interest. She smiled warmly at him and faced him as he continued to speak. It was sweet how he was talking about New Zealand as if he had lived here his whole life. Though she had to admitt. He was only praising it because they were currently in the nice part of New Zealand. More towards the inner cities and it got quite bad. She was happy with the fact that she lived in a nice quiet muggle area, and that it was so close to a magical area of New Zealand. Though of course it was fairly near the school, but not one of the combined student sections. This place was only for those who were not in school. She thought it was nice that he seemed to be speaking so effortlessly. Though of course anything she said was the gods honest truth. Honesty was one of her values. She hoped what he was saying was truthful. She wasn't sure she could accept it being a lie. When he asked whether or not she was a local. She snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head discreetly before answering. "Yes actually, I was born in Auckland and now I live about half an hours walk from here in the student dorms." She added as she smiled, white teeth showing. She was beginning to feel alittle more relaxed with this man. It was funny because she had never met any one that was able to even get close to getting her to drop her guard. Though she wasn't yet sure if it was a good or bad thing. "I'm Gabrielle by the way. Gabrielle Carmichael." She finished, hoping he wasn't some kind of crazy murderer.