Center of Attention (open)

Nights out were few and far between for Quinn. When he did go out it was usually because his mates wanted to go out and find some hot piece to hook up with for the night. Quinn admitted he needed his releases too but not nearly as often as his friends. Quinn preferred to pour himself into his art, to pour his time and energy into something he was proud of. If he didn't like it then he'd start all over again, paint over the piece with white paint and starting again, building on the foundations of failure rather than clearing the canvas magically or starting with a new piece. It was cathartic.

Having not slept for almost three day, Quinn crashed almost literally in his armchair, falling into it gently opposite his latest piece. It wasn't complete but he'd fallen to the sandman. There was still so much to do with it. Quinn wasn't sure what he was going for with the piece - he never did - but he knew there was still a lot more to do. Waking and knowing his mother would be disappointed with him if he didn't at least eat right, Quinn rubbed his eyes, looking around his studio. It was the spare room in his apartment but he never had people over to stay and he'd needed a place for his art. With a few swishes of his wand his art supplies could disappear and the spare room put back to its usual self to appease his mother when she came for visits, at least that wasn't too often.

Getting himself up off the chair was no easy task. His back was aching and he wasn't sure how long he'd been sleep. The last thing he remembered was that it was the early hours of Monday morning, now it seemed like evening but was it still Monday? Quinn would question the day and time later, for now he needed a bath. And a drink. And definitely food, he was starving and his stomach was growling at him.

The bath was good and the heat certainly helped his back. Once he was done he got himself dressed and took himself out for dinner, he didn't much fancy cooking. At dinner he asked for the date and time as his wine arrived and he was surprised to discover it was Tuesday. He'd slept well apparently.

Food and drink only put him in a better mood, he had energy to burn and his art could wait. It was only when he was away from it that he could see how much it was overtaking him. It wasn't unusual for Quinn but sometimes even he had to admit he took things a little too far. A break would be good for the muse. A night out would help inspire and nurture that creative streak of his, people and music were calling out to his soul and Quinn found himself in the heavy beat of music, dancing alone in the middle of a crowd, crushed up against various people while he enjoyed himself, letting loose. He felt so much better after resting, eating and getting a few drinks into him. He'd moved on to a few harder drinks now that he was at a club and with a scotch neat in hand as he moved about the dance floor, foll of energy, he stepped back, his foot falling on another. He turned about, still dancing and yelled out to the blonde before him, "SORRY!" He was still grinning, bouncing up and down, moving side to side, enjoying one hell of a night!

Tag: Lyra Ophelia Genevieve Burke !
Words: 602
Notes: <3
Outfit: A little hyped up

He could be such a klutz sometimes. He wasn't purposefully trying to upset people but Quinn did have trouble moving his body properly after he'd rested it for so long, even if he wanted to paint right now, his mind probably wouldn't have let him coordinate enough to do anything productive. If he'd made a mistake he'd have tried to cover it up but if he made mistake after mistake, as he'd done a few times in the past, then there was nothing he could do than to cover what he'd done and just start again. He wasn't a perfectionist in any other area of his life but when it came to his art he felt it was a part of him, it was an expression of himself that he was placing into the world, representing who he was as a person, and so for that, it had to be perfect. He himself, however, was far from perfect, as he was proving tonight as he stomped on some poor woman's foot.

Quinn had apologised, loudly, to the woman and once she was turned around, Quinn's smile grew a couple of sizes. Man she was beautiful! It was pretty dark and there were a lot of bodies and loud noises and flashing lights but she was a gorgeous inspiration. Quinn recognised her, too. She was one of the Burke lot, if he wasn't mistaken. That was definitely a positive spin for the evening and what was more, she didn't seem to bothered that she'd had her foot trampled by an elephant such as himself. "Honestly, I should be more careful," She was a stunner and while he had her attention, he was going to try and take advantage of that, "Let me buy you a drink, my way of properly apologising." He said loudly. The music was loud, it pounded through his body keeping him hyped up but he had to try and get a chat in with a lovely lady while he could, especially given the way the lights played off her shiny blonde hair, the way her dress clung to her body and the way the red just popped in the sea of dark colours around them.

Tag: Lyra Ophelia Genevieve Burke!
Words: 368
Notes: <3
Outfit: A little hyped up

Everything was exceedingly loud and dark and bright all at once. There were so many elements to this night that absolutely flooded Quinn's senses and he loved every one of them. However it did make talking to a beautiful young lady rather more difficult than usual but she was worth the effort, he thought. As a Burke she was probably betrothed to someone of good standing, he had been at the wedding of one of the Burke sisters to Rabastan and it had been a damn good bash. He recalled seeing this one as one of the bridesmaids, standing beside her sister as she got married. Perhaps she had thought at the time of how one day it would be her, perhaps she had gazed out at the crowd to her fiance and wondered if he was the real love of her life. Quinn could only imagine what thoughts ran through a woman's mind at a wedding and he was certain he was absolutely wrong about it all. The female mind was a complexity that Quinn would never willing try and understand because he did not have the means, that was to say it took something extra special to be able to think like a woman and he most certainly lacked it. Thank Merlin!

Not really able to hear what the lovely young lady had said, Quinn mimicked drinking with his hand. He had knocked into her and while he'd usually apologise and move on, he rather liked the look of her and once he'd made the connection to her being a Burke, he couldn't very well pass up the opportunity to get to know her a little better. Once his awful miming skill was done, he nodded his head towards the bar, taking a step towards it, looking back at the beautiful blonde and then continuing making his way to the bar, hoping that she would follow, but he honestly didn't want to be one of those blokes that came off as too pushy. He'd probably see her again some time if she didn't fancy a drink now, and he could apologise to her then, introduce himself better and start all over again. He probably really needed to start all over because he was making himself out to be a bit of a twat and he was very aware of that fact, though if she did follow behind he hoped she'd forgive his lack sophistication tonight. As he stopped at the bar he turned his head to see if the hot blonde had followed or if she'd stayed with her friends.

Tag: Lyra Ophelia Genevieve Burke!
Words: 432
Notes: <3
Outfit: A little hyped up

The hot blonde Quinn thought he recognised followed him across the dance floor and to the bar. A genuine smile spread across his face knowing that she'd decided to join him rather than run in the opposite direction with her mates like he was some kind of crazed lunatic. She opened with a line he'd heard a lot of blokes use on beautiful women, such as herself, and he looked a little surprised and chuckled, "Are you hitting on me?" He asked, his accent lingering, his lips smirking as he drank in her beauty. "Y'know, I've heard that one a thousand times before, you'll have to do more than that to impress a lad like me." His accent was much more apparent with the longer sentence. "Here, let my buy you a drink to make up for me being a klutz and meanwhile you can think of a better chat up line, deal?" Of course Quinn knew that Lyra wasn't hitting on him, he really did recognise her and she seemed to recognise him which cemented the idea in his mind that she was indeed one of the Burke daughters. He just hoped she wouldn't think of him as a giant, uncoordinated arse this evening.

Tag: Lyra Ophelia Genevieve Burke!
Words: 205
Notes: <3
Outfit: A little hyped up

Quinn was drawn in by the woman's beauty. The sway of her blonde hair was almost hypnotic as she moved. It held such a beautiful lustre and her features were simply alight with her wit which was way off point. Him? Use such a chat up line? Merlin no! That was way too tacky and Quinn barely ever spoke to women. It was amazing he was even able to maintain eye-contact with this lovely creature but he was putting it down to the alcohol he'd consumed this evening. A little liquid ... well not courage, he didn't need courage, but it was certainly something to loosen him up a little. Quinn wasn't much of a drinker usually but he'd been dragged out for the night and if he was in a space he was uncomfortable with, then he was damn well going to drink until he felt comfortable. Apparently he was at that level. "What! Pft. Never." He said with a bit of a sarcastic tone to imply that perhaps he had used such a line although truly he'd never. He'd never used chat up lines in his life because how would you even do that? There was no walking up to a woman and just talking to her, Quinn would probably say the wrong thing if he tried that with anyone other than a friend.

She ordered herself a drink and then asked a question which left him with a quizzical look which he was certain made him look absolutely stupid while she seemed to be checking him out, then she finished the chat up line, one he'd known other blokes to use a million times over, and he groaned, rolling his eyes. Quinn smirked, laughing, almost in disbelief, "Wow," He chuckled, grinning, unable to believe the dauntlessness of this woman, "Do you seriously think I'm the devil, the fallen angel Lucifer?" He asked, his mind racing, "I suppose it's an easy mistake to make, I'm quite Heavenly." He said, putting on an exceedingly pompous kind of smile for play. "I should introduce myself, so there's no further confusion." He clarified, his face returning to it's normal smile, "Quinn Blackwood." He did a little bow, just his head moving forward slightly and the tops of his shoulders. "It's my absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance tonight, Miss." And it was. Genuinely. This woman was fun to be around, more fun than half of his friends, and he'd spent probably less than five minutes in her company so far and he hoped once he'd got her a drink, that she'd be up for spending a bit more time together.

Tag: Lyra Ophelia Genevieve Burke !
Words: 438
Notes: <3
Outfit: A little hyped up

Quinn had been looking to let off a little steam, he had bundles of energy after having slept for practically two days straight, and he was looking forward to dancing some of that energy off, but his carelessness had taken him in another direction. He was now in a role reversal situation of flirting with an attractive blonde he vaguely recognised and now she had his name and he had hers. Quinn had had no intentions of hooking up tonight but with the way things were going with the lovely Lyra, he wouldn't say 'no' if she was up for something a little more than her creative take on pick up lines. The pick up line itself was awful, just terrible, and certainly not the sort he'd ever use on a woman because he was sure it would earn him a slap, or in the very least a severe eye roll, but the fact that she'd flipped the whole come on line notion on its head and gone with the usually male role. He'd not seen a woman do that before and it was highly entertaining, and Quinn liked a woman that could hold her own against a man. In wits at least.

"The pleasure is mine, Lyra." He told her, fully meaning it, too. She mentioned their mothers and a wand illuminated in his mind. His mouth opened a little in realisation and a soft 'Ahh' noise escaped him, although over the heavy music of the club it couldn't quite be heard. Still the realisation was written all over his face and he felt a bit like a knob in not realising he was talking to the Lyra Burke. She was a literal star and he'd not recognised her. He felt like he needed to make that up to her without making it obvious that he should have recognised her from her plays, "That's right, yeah, yeah." He said, his head nodding as he spoke, going through the long line of Burke children. "From what I understand your mum is a crafty witch, always hogging the best numbers." He chuckled, "Bet she takes home some lovely prizes. A basket of meat, perhaps, I don't really know what gets won at bingo," he confessed with a chuckle as the drinks they'd ordered arrived. Quinn put down the coin, not bothering with a tab tonight, and then picked up the drinks handing Lyra's over to her, "To cheesy chat up lines and bingo mums." He said, his glass raised offering up one of the worst toasts in history. It could have been worse, he could have spilt her drink again and toasted to 'bingo meat', which had been about to come out before he'd thought better of it and toasted their mums instead. Bloody hell that was lame of him!

Tag: Lyra Ophelia Genevieve Burke !
Words: 469
Notes: <3
Outfit: A little hyped up