Serenity

[Vrael Graves]

Vrael Graves sat inside a small, cosy and secluded coffee shop in Brooklyn. He had frequented this particular shop many a time before, as it was peaceful and always welcoming. He sat at a booth at the back of the shop, a caramel chai latte in front of him, and a magazine in his hands. Today was a particularly miserable day. The rain had been howling for the past few days and the cold seeped in from every direction. Vrael sat by the first, warm and comfortable inside the shop, his eyes focused on the articles inside. This was a musical magazine, and he was presently reading through an article on his own band. For once in what seemed like weeks, the man had finally managed to take a day off from tours and shows. To say it was a much needed day would have been an understatement as his voice was starting to give out under the strain of their busy tour schedule. Today it was recovering, but it was still slightly sore and croaky. The weather didnt at all aid his problem, as the cold tended to make him sick, which in turn made his throat worst. Luckily, however, he had managed to avoid coming down with anything so far.

Vraels eyes popped up and had a quick search around the coffee shop. It was still practically empty, with only two staff on and only one other customer in the room. He was thankful. It was starting to wear down on him, not being able to go anywhere without being approached by fans or haters. For once, he was more than happy to just sit and enjoy the peace and quiet. Though, he did at point feel like company would be appreciated. The rest of his band were come seeing their families and friends. Vrael however was a tad short of friends, as he had never really had time to make friends besides his band or bands they toured with, and his family were all but gone. His father was off with his new family, and his mother had forsaken him years ago. So, here he was, alone in the peace. Taking his coffee in his hand, he sipped it. The warm, welcome liquid coursed through his body and he sighed to himself. "It doesnt get better than this." he said to himself, as he flicked the page in the magazine.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire ran into the coffee house when the rain started. If she looked like the day after partying well that was pretty much the story. She hadn't gone to bed yet. She had been caught by a friend in Brookleyn who had gotten her into a wizarding club that she was not quite famous enough to get into in by herself. She needed to be in a book singing in a few hours so she needed coffee and maybe a bathroom. She had done this kind of thing before so it wasn't that big of a deal. She ordered a black coffee with three sugars. This was not quite bad enough for her to go for straight coffee but not causal enough for her to order something sweeter and loaded with cream. Sapphire took a seat and removed her jacket to show a tight long sleeve that she had underneath. She had been warned about what the weather would likely be like. Sapphire was glad to be in the muggle world at the moment. If any of her fans saw her like this especially the younger ones. She got her coffee put on her table and she smiled at the Batista sweetly. She took out a compact to see the damage of the night before that she would have to fix. It wasn't bad. She didn't have major bags under her eyes which she could fix with make up and her hair was still wavy instead of heavily curly.

She was about to start with the make up fix in the compact when she noticed someone else entering the shop. At first she just thought he was cool looking but with another scan she realized who it was. Even though she lived mostly in the wizarding world she had been following muggle music from time to time and she was, at the moment looking at a member of her fave band. Well currently, she tended to find new music every other week but still it it was not everyday she met someone that she had listened to first. Sapphire realized what she was doing here herself and slid down hiding slightly as she rubbed the concealer stick under her eyes. She quickly rubbed the substance in, careful of the tattoos around the corner of her right eye then popped back up with the tube in her hand making it look like she had reached for it when it had fallen. She tucked both the compact make up tube into her bag and crossed her legs trying to look casual just sitting there but inside she was fangirling hard.

 

[Vrael Graves]

Vrael had finally reached the end of the article. It had been an interesting read, that was for sure. The writer had done a great job, and hadnt slandered or overplayed the band at all. This left the travelling musician very pleased with himself. He liked reading good reviews and articles. There were too many writers out there trying to get famous on a good slander story, and Vrael found it to be the lowest act to deliberately try and bring someone down with lies and twisted words. Placing the magazine on the table, he once again sipped on his coffee. The warm sensation made him smile. He was enjoying today. Just as his mind wondered to thoughts of what he would do next, he felt eyes on him. It was a strange sensation, considering he always had eyes on him when he was on stage, but as he looked up and glanced around the room, he spotted someone staring at him. It was, in fact, a girl. And an attractive one at that. Studying her features, he noted her tattoos. It was a very stupid observation to make, but he wondered if she was influenced by his genre of music. The stereotype itself was one that Vrael had always hated. Just because one had tattoos and dressed a certain way, didnt make them any different from other people. But alas, there the stereotype was anyways. He considered to himself for a moment if he knew the girl, or had at least seen her before, but he didnt recognise her at all. Studying her a bit deeper, he noticed that she was tensed slightly. He frowned to himself. It was slightly strange to see someone tensing whilst they are supposed to be relaxing in a coffee store. He noted the crossed legs and the ever so eager notion of trying to seem normal. And then there was the eyes, still trained on him. Then it hit him, and seemed extremely stupid that he hadnt considered it earlier. Maybe she had recognised him.

He considered to himself for a moment what he should do. He didnt particularly feel like sitting by himself for the rest of the day, and as he studied her, she didnt seem like the type of fan girl that would stalk him or act inappropriately. It was decided then. He grabbed his magazine and coffee and stood from his booth. Making his way over to the girl, he smiled at her and gestured to the seat in front of her that was unoccupied. "Hello. Is this seat taken at all?" he asked, his tone gentle and welcoming. He was a very good people person, and his dashing charms always had a way with women.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire tried her best to look cool though her internal dialog ran along the lines of Oh my gods! oh my gods, oh my gods. Vrael Graves is talking to me! "No I'm not here with anyone so you're free to take the seat if you want." She said in what she hoped was not an overly eager voice. She had her own level of fame in the Wizarding world but that didn't mean that she couldn't be star struck every once in a while. She did how ever know what it was like to be mauled while doing every day things and how annoying it could get. Sapphire grind and nodded towards the magazine in his hands. "Reading about yourself then?" She asked a joking edge to her voice. Good, very good Sapphire now keep yourself from spazing too hard and you may just making it out of here with him thinking you're cool. She thought fighting every instinct to do just that, spazz.

Sapphire had been following his band for a while now and had half way fallen in love with the singer in a 'I will never meet him but a girl can hope' sort of way. Herself and about a dosed other girls that was she was sure about that one. He didn't know it but Sapphire had been nursing a ticket to the show in town for the last week. "Oh well dua I'm slow. I'm Sapphire by the way." She giggled softly hoping that he would not think her humor for the inherent geekyness that she could never get rid of no matter how much she encased herself in the leather she adored.

 

[Vrael Graves]

Vrael smiled at her as he took the seat across from the girl. He could tell he had placed her in a rather awkward situation and he was hoping that he could find a way to fix that. He hated the fact that people couldnt just feel relaxed and chill out around him. Everyone always had to be tense and watch everyone word they said for some reason, and he hated it. It wasnt like he was a bomb going to explode any minute. He was just a person who liked to sing and scream at people. He sipped the remainder of his latte and placed the empty mug on the table. He signalled to the waitress to come over to the table and watched her plod her way over to him. "Hi, can i have another large caramel chair latte please?" he ordered, pulling his wallet out. He noted that the girl across from him had already ordered a drink, so instead he said "And i'll also have two slices of the chocolate fudge cheese cake and some melting moments, thankyou." he said, handing the girl the money for the drink and food and tipping her generously. Looking back to the girl across from him, and smiled again. "I hope you're hungry and in the mood for sweets. Im quite partial to the cheesecake here. It is to die for." he chuckled, raising his hand up to his hair to check if it was all still in place. Running a hand through his right sided comb over, and admired the girl. She was definitely attractive. He noticed she was still tense, and raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not going to bite you. You can relax." he said to her jokingly, hoping to easy her obvious awkwardness.

Her next statement confirmed without a doubt that she knew who he was. The fact that she had known the magazine also told him that she was as he had stereotyped her earlier, and was someone knowledgeable in the music scene. He laughed softly and motioned toward the magazine. "Yes, as a matter of fact. There is a new article up that i was catching up on." he explained to the girl, grinning gently. He was glad that she could crack some witty jokes. Any worry of he being a psychotic fan girl disappeared. 'Sapphire,' he thought to himself. What a lovely name that as. It was slightly captivating, like it held some form of mystery that he just longed to know more about. But he kept it cool and continued smiling dashingly. "Well, i am Vrael. Though i guess you know that..." he said, raising his eyebrow at her playfully. Just then, the cakes arrived, one placed in front of him and one in front of Sapphire. He nodded thanks to the waitress and picked up one of the two spoons she had left for them. Scooping a piece of the fudge cheesecake up the plate, he ate it and rolled his eyes. His taste buds burst with life and he chuckled to himself. "Just as i said, marvellous." he said after following the glorious sweet.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire covered her mouth with her hand and bend down over the table in defeat dramatically. "I'm that obvious right? I am so, so, so sorry but I am a major fan of the Traitors and am having a trying really hard not to have a major fan girl moment because I know what that's like. I'm a comic book artist and novelist with popular work so you'd think I'd be able play it cooler no?" She said gesturing with her hand a bit. It was a habit from when she had been cursed into not talking and had to sign for a large portion of her life something that she didn't think she would ever be able to change about herself. The fact that she was moving her hands while talking was a mark that she was getting a bit more relaxed around him. "I'm search out beats to set my stories so yeah I know who you are." Sapphire added with a small laugh. She still felt so silly for acting the way she was but she couldn't help it, this was just too exciting. She watched the cheesecake being delivered and she started to eat her own portion.

"Your right it's awesome!" She nearly squeaked. "I think I will make this a destination when I'm around whether that be on a book signing tour or a convention." She added with a bright smile. She reached out for the mag, the tattoos on her hands clearly visible. Sapphire had never been one for hiding them really even when she had started to get them at Hogwarts and got teased over them. She was cool now though she was already crafting what she was going to tell Ruby the next time she saw her. Her eyes glittered brightly in the shade of her namesake as beamed. "May I?" She asked referring the article She guessed that it would be about the show that would be starting with in the next few days so she really wanted to see.

 

[Vrael Graves]

Vrael fidgeted with his watch as the girl apologised. He couldn't help but give her a warm smile. "There is really no need to apologise." he reassured her. It wasnt something that bothered him all too much. He acted the same way sometimes when he was able to meet bands and people that had inspired him. It was just the way things were. He was interested when she mentioned what poop did as a profession. "Comic books you say?" he asked curiously. He found that greatly attractive in a girl. Any female that could play video games and read comic books whilst listening to heavy music gained brownie points in his book. He read books quite a bit whilst travelling on tour, and had always loved comic books from when he was a child. He nodded when she admitted to knowing who he is. He had figured as much anyway. It was getting hard to go out in public without people knowing him. "Well, thankyou for following my band. I'm very grateful." he said, truly humbled that she enjoyed and followed his music. Vrael loved meeting fans. He was always a bit put off but the extremely pshycotic ones, but he genuinely loved hanging out with fans and supporters of his bands. It was just on the very rare days that he had off that he preferred to take a little time away from them.

When she mentioned the book tours, he because intrigued again. "So you're a writer then? Anything i might know?" he asked. He usually followed a few muggle authors. Though, he had never followed or read any wizard authors, as no one in the muggle world knew he was a wizard. When she asked for the magazine, he nodded gently and handed it to her. He had finished with it. Taking his coffee, he sipped on it and pulled one of the melting moments out of the bag on the table, and bit into it, smiling at the sweet taste. He often had too big a sweet tooth.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire looked through the magazine for a moment thinking of how she would phrase what came next. She assumed, naturally seeing as Traitors was Muggle band, that all the members where Muggle. "I'm followed by a very select crowd. Don't know if you're into dystropian steampunk either." She said finally coming up with the idea. She scanned the article and appreciated the writer for their work. "Looks like you got a good one. there are some real monsters with a camera out there." She commented after putting the mag on the table. She hated tabloids sometimes but was fortunate enough not to get caught up in them after Hogwarts, for as much as she liked to hang out at both Wizarding and Muggle clubs. She had waived off his thanks for following them. "Trust me if some of my fans knew what your work has done they'd follow you as well. I drew the entire Battle of the Northern Lights to the beat of one your songs." She said with a wide grin. She had loved working on that particular set of panels, she was good at getting action down on paper as well as still, she had a friend do background and proper shading.

Sapphire looked up. "I had to, the stories I write translate well into pure words so once the comic got far enough I put a couple of novels out and everything sort of snowballed from there." She said with a sky grin. She really had not expected it to get this far. A few new fans plus the kids that read her work along with the Adventures of the Mad Muggle was what she had been aiming for but her life had gotten nuts over the last couple of months. She finished off cheesecake and slipped her coffee started to feel fully wired and ready for a new day. Not an entirely healthy lifestyle but it was not like she was doing stuff like this every weekend.

 

[Vrael Graves]

Vrael frowned to himself as he considered her term of writing. 'Dystropian Steampunk,' he thought to himself. He hadnt heard the term before. "No, i cant say i have heard of it." he admitted to the girl. he was extremely intrigued by her, and was becoming more and more eager to learn more about her. Vrael grinned and nodded at her review of the article. He had been quite pleased with it himself, and was glad to get a second option. "I thought the article was well presented. The photo however..." he said as he rolled his eyes. The photo was one of him laying on the floor of the stage at the last warped tour, sweaty and exhausted as he got emotional with the crowd. It wasn't one of his favourites, but he couldnt exactly judge he supposed. Suddenly he was more humbled then he had been in a while. "You wrote a comic to one of my songs?" he asked, eyebrow raised and voice curious. "That is actually probably the coolest thing. Where can i buy a copy?" he asked, actually quite excited, and slightly embarrassed. Vrael had never been the pig headed musician with an ego. He was humbled and shocked that people even liked his music, let alone wrote comic strips to it.

When she explained about how she had gotten into writing, he nodded his head in understanding. He had been through a similar situation. "I started out doing acoustic shows as a teen, and eventually ended up doing a guest vocal track on a mates band who flew up really big. I became more recognised then i had expected from it, and next thing i knew i was starting my own band and growing some fame. So i know what you mean by that," he explained to her. He was quite enjoying hanging out with Sapphire. She was very easy to get along with, and despite the obvious attraction, he found himself picking more and more similarities between the two. Taking yet another sip of his coffee, and sat in awe at how life worked out some times.

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

That photo was one of the reasons that Sapphire was in fan girl love with the man. The passion in his voice, the emotion that he showed on stage made it all the easier for her to connect to him as an artist. She noted that he had said that he didn't know what dytorpian steampunk was. "It's a combination of a destroyed future and the Victorian aesthetic. Add clockwork, some pressure guns and some gear powered robots and you have Steampunk." She said blushing a bit because of now nerdy she just realized she sounded but there was nothing she could do about that now. Sapphire bit her lip when he said he wanted to buy a copy of the comic. "It's a back issue now so I'll find you a copy." She said with a bright smile, She looked at the clock at the wall and nearly choked. "Oh hell!" She cried before getting before gathering her bag. "I've got to get out of here for now. I've get book shop early to help with the set up." She said then thought about it a bit.

Without really thinking about it she took out a selfincking quill and card. She jotted down her mobile number and the name of the hotel that she was staying at. "Call me when you want that comic." She said with a bright grin on her face and slid the card to Vrael. The part of her that had warned her about being a spaz was yelling at her but she had not been able to help it. Verael Graves, her musical crush, was her in the flesh and talking with her she had to at least get a tiny flirt in before she had to go. The worst that could happen was that he never called with meant she got to see him at his next show and be done with it.

 

[Vrael Graves]

Vrael considered the type of comic that she had described for a moment. He hadn't heard of that particular style of comic but it interested him, so he made a mental note to himself to research it when he next had some spare time. "Well, it definitely sounds like something i would be interested in," he said reassuringly, noting the slightly embarrassed look on Sapphires face. He didnt find it something to be embarrassed about at all. "It will be a bit of a chance from my pokemon craze at the moment." he added, hoping to bolster the girls confidence. He could definitely be a child at heart some times. Vrael nodded when she stated that it was a back issue. He didnt mind having to wait for the copy, but he would definitely have liked one, especially if it was writing under influence of one of this songs. Suddenly, the girl jumped up and looked shocked. Before he realised what was happening, she was writing her phone number down and handing it to him. He smiled to her as he took it, and stood up to hug her and state a quick goodbye before she departed. As she walked out the door, and odd thought struck him. 'Had she just written her number down with a quill?' he thought to himself. Had this girl been magical?

 

[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire walked out to a small isolated ally where she apperated to the magical part Brooklyn. She was always all smiles when she was at these signing but because she was getting all this attention but because she loved meeting people that actually liked the work of her and her team. She signed and took pictures with people and even gave away a few of her novels to people that she saw where in costume, one had even dared to put on super high platforms to try and mimic the giant woman pilot called Switch. She wondered if she should get some costumes herself for events like this but then changed her mind about it. It was still so cool to see. All too soon the sighing was over and Sapphire, like she helped set up, helped break down and said her good byes to the owner of the Florish and Blotts.

Finally all the caffeine and sugar faded the moment she got back to her hotel room and she crashed hard. onto her couch. Her mobile lit up the moment she closed her eyes. She looked at who was calling and smiled. it looked like Kennedy had allowed Ruby to call her. She put waived her wand at the stereo near the wall, her own older one so it wouldn't clash with her magic, so that there would be some background noise as she recapped her day for her sister. The first song one the mix CD was one from the Traitors. That morning came back to her including the hug. Sapphire grinned "You will never guess who I ran into in a coffee shop here..." She said while running her hand over the copy of the comic she had remembered to pick up before coming back.