It was his day off, and so giving up his free time to the needy was something which Digby Darcy did on the daily. Most probably because every day was his day off and he was unemployed, but also because he was THE most giving individual he knew. If giving meant blessing others with his existence. Money wasn't a problem for him, but his parents were always hounding him to start earning on his own. And this thing could offer MONEY, so he had heard. That totally wasn't why he was here. Definitely here to provide assistance in the education of dedicated students. AND THE MONEY.

Pah, this was going to be stupid. But stupid is as stupid does, and his grandmother always said that it was better to be stupid than to be boring. Cough, cough, Lincoln Darcy being cooped up with a wife and a kid. Booooooooring. Nonetheless, the 23 year old was here and he was being led somewhere... huh. "I went to one of these dating in the dark things before. Do you guys let goblins in?" Oh ho bad experience. Hah. More huh.

This was a dingy room..

Today was a perfect day to win 500 galleons. Sure' he'd have to split it with a partner afterward but 250 galleons was a whole lot more than a typical day at the diner and would definitely help his 'send Jamie to university fund' that was constantly tapped when he found he had other expenses that needed taking care of. Growing up was hard. At 20, the young man still found himself missing Grammy's cooking and making frequent trips back to theirs when his galleons weren't quite adding up the way they needed to in order to keep him fed and sheltered--holy kneazle, if he won this his rent would be covered for like....at least 4 months!!!

Time to get your head in the game Malloy. Sending in all those duplicated copies of his application was well worth it and now all he had to do was win.

Jamie felt particularly lucky as he swaggered in behind the guys leading him and it might have had a lot to do with the new shirt and jeans he'd ...temporarily borrowed from the muggle clothing store just the day before. Had to look presentable. This was far more presentable than most things he owned.

Entering the dimly lit room, he could tell there was already another contestant. "Reckon I'd take a potion for a troll if it got me the galleons." He said, by way of both greeting and injecting himself into the conversation. His hand extended forward. "James Malloy. Jamie works."

"I'll pass on the trolls and the goblins, thanks."

The only reason she was here was because she'd been low on cash as of late and the experiment did speak to a rather interesting human interest piece she'd been thinking of doing. It had to do with love and dating culture in the wizarding world. This little opportunity could certainly make for some interesting anecdotal portions and provide entertainment, so it was a win-win, really. A triple win if she won the cash.

"Ava Hirsch. Not quite the scenery I was expecting for this." Like, she was here for a love potion experiment, yes?

...She'd just make sure she knew where the exits were at all times.

Khara was here, but she wasn't here for the money or the potential to find new people from an experiment, no, Khara had lost a bet with friends. One that had come when the advertisement for this experiment was found. Her best friends and her had decided to play a game and loser went to this. She lost and now she was standing in a room nervous as can be.

The twenty-five-year-old had her eyes widen when someone said about trolls and then the other said about goblins. She did not sign up for goblins or trolls. Though the zookeeper did like creatures, those were creatures she didn't want to cross the wrong way. As she walked more into the room and looked around she headed to a corner. She hated to be nervous, but she was afraid to do something really dumb once the potion was given.

Was this something that Sabi needed to be doing? Definitely not. She knew she didn’t need help finding amusement, and she most certainly wasn’t desperate for a relationship. Nor was she particularly in need of cash, although she may have already figured out what she’d do with it if she won. When she won. Sabi Carraro didn’t lose. She wasn’t about to let herself lose, even if her main reason for seeing what this challenge was all about was simply for amusement’s sake. Just as her usual poking around to see what her cousin was up to now that he’d left his job at Hogwarts was for the sake of amusement. Besides, this was going to be a definite change from her usual university assignments.

“I’d hardly think they would allow trolls or goblins in,” the Brazilian drawled, her accent a mix between her native cadence and a London one from her time there, as she came into the room to hear the topic of discussion. She’d charm her way into a goblin’s good side if she absolutely had to. If anything, it would be a source of funding, if she played it right. She just felt like that wasn’t going to be necessary this time around.

Moments after realising that he was alone in here, Digby was joined by people one by one and immediately grinned at the recognition for his troll comment. "The genetic possibilities are sure to be blinded by love potion, yeah, true." He took the extended hand (James) and gave it a shake, although his mind had taken a dive to the first of the females to walk in. And then every other one that did after. H to the E to the L to the other L to the O. "Yeah, Digby Darcy." And he had officially not even listened to the other persons name. That was what assistants were for, yeah? Would he even need his name? Psh.

Bypassing James, Digby stepped in front of him and went for giving all three of the girls now in there kisses on the cheeks. A complete gentleman was he, honestly. If he didn't say anything. That was what his younger brother said. "Digby, ladies. But you can call me whatever you want. No need for last names, because I'm sure one of you will have it for your own one day." Suaaaaave as. Smoooooooooth as. Oh yes, Digby of the Darcy clan. He had complete class. Complete confidence.

And man oh man was this a good picking of people.

Helllllllllllllooooooooooooooo.

Keely may have been running late, but it wasn't because she was having any second thoughts or qualms about this experiment. Nope. Even though she could care less about the "love" aspect, she was always up for a challenge and fully intended on winning this prize. Plus she was technically single, so she could do what she wanted without someone having hurt feelings or whatever.

She only caught the end of some sort of conversation about trolls and goblins, so of course she didn't find the need to comment. Who did that sort of thing when they didn't know the context? The 21 year old did catch the name of one of the men as she walked in, though she couldn't help but to raise an amused eyebrow. Did he think this was going to lead to marriage one day? How fun.

"I'm Keely, if we're making introductions," she contributed with a pleasant enough smile as she gave a cursory glance around the room. Appeared to be a little... uneven, if someone asked her. She wondered if that was part of the challenge or if there was more to come.

Gag.

Was this guy real life? "On second thought, maybe the goblins wouldn't be so bad..." In comparison to this one-Digby, was it? Ava was not impressed. She was, however, making mental notes. For her story, you know.

"You're just in time, Keely. Digby, here, is planning on wifing one of us. Or husbanding-" She gave a nod to the Jamie guy, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. "Depending on how this little experiment plays out." She sure was curious to see.

As people began to arrive, the students behind the glass paid close attention to the conversation. The experiment was soon to begin. A woman with a clipboard, glasses, and her wand held aloft led an enormous table behind her. She walked into the middle of the room, ignoring the group congregating there for the time behind. She set the table down with a heavy rattle and turned to face them with a smile. She was older, her hair had begun to pepper, and she held her clipboard to her heart as one would a child.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to School of Divine Art's senior student psychology experiment! They've been working hard all term--" which, she thought this experiment was very haphazardly put together, but she couldn't say anything. She was grading them. nO HELP. "And have put this together for their final grade to graduate from our very open-minded school." Ahem. "SO...we have provided some food for you all in case you're hungry..." she gestured at the table. There were grilled chicken paninis, cheese and crackers, fruit, and brownies for dessert. "You may eat as much as you want, but keep in mind...the challenges might call for some...physical stamina," she smiled more.

At one end of the table there six champagne glasses that, unfortunately held something less tasty. The love potions were housed in the glasses. In front of each glass was a place card with one of the participants names. Digby, James, Ava, Sabi, Keely, and Khara.

"The glasses are where your love potions are. We would live you to take your potions before you begin eating. I will ALSO announce your teams!" she held her clipboard up for her to read. "Digby and Khara!" she called out first, expecting the pairs to, you know, pair up. "Keely and James!" Anddddd last but not least, "Sabi and Ava!" she nodded. "So...take your potion. Eat. Get to know each other. We will be starting in thirty minutes." The love potions took about that long to hit.

"I will be back in a bit. Enjoy!" and she gave them one last smile before disappearing through a door.




OOC: I will be PMing who has a love potion for whom shortly. There a few different kinds of love potions in the mix Have fun guys! Your characters were probably asked for a piece of their hair a week ago or so.

There was a lot of blinking going on from this one. Her green eyes couldn't keep up with how many times her eyelids shut and opened. What in the high heavens did her friends get her into? She would rather pick up hippogriff dung at the moment. Maybe she could say she had an emergency at the zoo and get to head out... nope, the man was coming over. She tried to keep calm, but she could feel her palms sweating. Did he just say about someone taking his last name?

OH MERLIN!

"Nice.. nice to meet you, Digby." Her eyes moved to Keely as she came in and Khara gave the shyest smile. Her attention went to the woman as she spoke of teams and the potions. So she was being paired up with the Digby fellow. Her feet didn't want to move, but she forced them towards him.

Once the lady was finished she looked to the entire group. The food looked good, but she was so nervous she thought she might puke. Moving towards the glasses she took the one with her name and drank it quickly before she could change her mind.

Holy kneazle they'd be feeding them too???? This day just kept getting better and better, didn't it?

Sorta made the fact the guy had brushed him off once the girls arrived seem inconsequential in the grander scheme of things. Girls were pouring in one behind the other and there was a table full of FOOD. Girls were super important, in fact, Jamie took the time to shake each of their hands after the Digby guy was done leaving his saliva on them but it was hard to...ignore...the very very VERY brilliant layout of food over there.

The boy gave an uneasy sort of laugh at Ava's mention of the bloke husbanding someone given he was apparently the only other male here, making it obvious the joke was aimed at him. Four girls to two boys was a brilliant ratio if things played out right. If not...he'd worry about that later. Right now, a decent meal was in order. Merlin knew how long it'd been since he'd had the last one of comparable size and quality.

Not needing to be told twice, and clearly not as anxious as the Khara person seemed to be, Jamie gulped his champagne then made a beeline for the table of other goodies. Didn't matter how much physical exertion was needed, he was gonna eat himself full--starting with these tasty chicken paninis. Mmmmmm. His partner he would properly greet in a moment but right now the young man was in heaven and might actually have forgotten all about the love potion he'd just ingested. "You guys have to try these. Grade O, amazing." Nom nom nom.

If there had been any doubt as to the amusement aspect of this whole challenge, the incident that was Digby had gotten rid of it. As it was, Sabi had only turned an amused little smile to the male. “Good to know some of us have an ego,” she said idly, returning his little cheek kiss greeting as if it wasn’t unusual. For her, actually, it wasn’t, but the response it had gotten from some of the other girls told her they didn’t share that belief. “Sabina, although friends call me Sabi,” she continued, directing the introduction to the entire group. She hardly cared what they called her, but since others were establishing things like that she figured she might as well. Besides, she assumed not everyone already knew her. She was fairly certain the others weren’t all fellow university students, or at least she wasn’t familiar with them before now.

Nor did she have to be concerned about the detail that only half of them had officially introduced themselves, since the woman who had bustled in with the food and drink had taken care of the rest. Although she got the sensation that said woman didn’t think much of the experiment itself, or perhaps it was merely the students who put it together. As long as she didn’t end up poisoned, she hardly cared. She’d made a mental note of the other names that had been announced, though. She could put the names to the faces later, aside from Keely and Digby who she’d already been able to match up. So to speak.

She figured she’d get along fine with Ava, too, if just from her little response to Digby’s performance. In any case, she had nodded in the blonde’s direction once she’d collected her champagne glass along with a strawberry, sending another amused glance toward James shoveling the paninis into his mouth. She’d taken a bite of said berry after drinking half the glass, rules or no rules. They could hardly expect her to drink that entire thing without something to counteract the taste.

"Oh.. well, aren't we lucky.." Keely laughed lightly at Ava's words, then glanced at the other man in the room. Or maybe he was the lucky one. Though she was rather amused at the thought of anyone thinking this experiment could also be used to get dates. Not why she was here at all. "No offense, but I'm more interested in the prize money."

The sudden clattering of the table slightly startled her and she turned to snap her eyes to the older woman who was clearly in charge here. Right.. right.. She was ready for this and she listened intently to the first set of instructions. So she was being paired up with James. Keely watched him for a moment as he headed straight for the food after downing his champagne.

She sort of wished she knew that they were being fed because truthfully she wasn't all that hungry. But first Keely took the champagne glass clearly marked for her and drank it all quickly in one swig. Ugh, that tasted terrible. She wrinkled her nose a bit then headed for the food herself to get the taste out of her mouth. "So, it looks like we're partners.." she mentioned as she stood next to the man who quite obviously was enjoying the free meal. "I suppose we should get to know each other a little then," she added with a smile. She added a few things to her plate before taking a bite of the panini. Mm, yes, much better.

Husbanding? Sure! "I have no problems with 'husbanding'." Or wifing. Was it really such a problem? "You do know that if I end up husbanding today, you'll all end up wifing." And that was something else that he had no problem with. Pft. These lot were definitely all here for the money.. Which was totally what he was here for and not just to see if any girl other than his mother could stand being in the same room as him for longer than twenty minutes. nOOOOOOO not at all.

He was about to get offended at his suaaaaaaaaaave moves being shot down when an older woman joined them. "I like my women like I like my wine. Mature." And so he offered a wink....and then she left. "I've got that in the bag. She's soooooooooo mine after all of this." But he was actually just deflecting from the fact he had no idea who his partner was. Who on Earth was Khara? Did these girls even have names??? He'd just scored them out of five and was hoping to go from that. Couldn't he have chosen his partner?? He'd have chosen James, of course. Because then they could sit back and watch the girls frolic.

Blissful.

Schmoooooooooozying on over to the table properly, Digby looked closely at the glasses until the one that had his partner's name was picked up and drank from. Immediately, he downed the contents of his own glass and threw his arm over Khara's shoulders. "If we don't win this, then I won't be taking you out for dinner tonight..." He was serious! "Maybe next week though." Maybe he'd eat... Maybe he'd just wait... Maybe he'd think about how two of the girls had been paired together.

YES.

The arrival of the woman in charge was welcome as it meant they were getting started with the competition. It also meant ego boy had someone else to chat up, if only for a brief period of time. Ava let out a little sort at his comment about liking mature women and shook her head. Of course he did.

After downing her drink and selecting a few things to pick on, the blonde moved closer to her partner, eyes on the James guy shoveling food into his mouth. Must be gearing up for the physical challenges, she decided. "We'll need to look out for each other now, try our best to keep on track." Breaking off a piece of brownie, the twenty two year old took a bite and closed her eyes, enjoying the taste. "We got this." And the money would be extremely helpful, so her focus was on the win...until this potion kicked in fully.

So maybe, just maybe, he should have been acting as casual as everyone else when it came to the offered meal--y'know, showing some cool...some tact...but at the same time, Merlin his compliments to the chef.

He thought the Ava one had a point on partners sticking together. As far as he thought, your partner was likely the one you got the potion for which meant he'd soon have all his attention and affection set on....ah, Keely, there she was. She made sense too on the getting to know each other thing, even if it ultimately wouldn't matter once the potion did kick in. "Sure thing. You can just call me Jamie, work at a diner and do photography in my spare time. Out of a camera though. Last one got busted on a run." If only the police hadn't been chasing him. It wouldn't have fallen and shattered the way it did. You think they'd let a guy breathe every now and then, sheesh.

"What's your story?" And.....um....even though they weren't on the same team, would that Digby guy take HIM out for dinner? Like...all of them? Was that a thing? Could it be?

She took a few deep breaths. The potion wasn't all that great tasting, but it wasn't horrible either. Her nerves were just getting the best of her and soon she heard about the food from Jamie or at least she thought that was his name. She was just about to walk toward the table when her partner spoke to her. Looking up at Digby she gave him a shy smile.

If the cheek kiss didn't have her blushing the wifing thing did. She wasn't here to be a wife, though at 25 she had been thinking about at least relationships would be nice. Her nifflers at the zoo were fun company, but they weren't what she wanted to go home to every night. "Well you never know what will happen throughout this experiment." Things were possible she guessed.

OH WOW!

Was he hitting on the older woman? Her eyes grew big as she watched it go down, but tried to keep her composure as he turned his attention to her. Of course he did they were teammates. "Dinner?" Was he joking? She moved a bit before giving him a nod, "I'll do my best." Oh Merlin help her get through this. "So maybe we should get to know each other since we are teammates and things. I'm Khara and I'm a zookeeper." She reached over and grabbed a cookie to have something to do with her hands.

Reaching across to the table, Digby grabbed something to eat and began shovelling it into his mouth as his partner talked. Yada yada zookeeper. Oh. Wait. His turn. Uh... He drove himself to chew at an enhanced pace to finish what was in his mouth so he could talk. And be suave. And amazing, as always. "Oh, so you deal with animals? Hot." HE could be an animal. Rawr. Hah. Digby gave Khara's shoulder a squeeze and glanced at the others in the room. "What animal do you think the others look like? Let's give them animal names. I don't remember their actual ones." All was said quietly so that he didn't get a fist swipe across the face.....that had happened way too much.

"I'm Digby. And I'm a Darcy." Unemployed and living on his parents money. But she would know of his family, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?

Darcy.

As the moments passed, things had only gotten more hilarious. Just the fact that Digby kept bouncing between women, acting as if the woman who was overseeing this little experiment had any interest in him whatsoever, amused Sabi to no end, slightly leaning against the edge of the food table with another strawberry. She’d finished her champagne glass of potion, but so far she didn’t feel any different. It made her wonder if she’d gotten a defective potion, since she knew for a fact half a strawberry wouldn’t have affected the potency. Either that or there was some sort of time lapse. Either way, she’d already decided that the only conclusion that made sense given what she’d seen so far was that Digby under a love potion was going to be infinitely more amusing than he had been so far.

She’d glanced over as Ava had joined her, giving her a half-smile. “Oh, of course we will,” she agreed, “I’ll stop you from doing anything utterly ridiculous if you do the same.” That was a big if. Sabi was determined not to do anything she’d regret later on, and honestly there wasn’t much she regretted in the past. She was willing to make a bet that Khara regretted her decision to join the experiment though. Just as she’d already decided that James was there for the food. Keely was a bit harder to read, even with the earlier comment about just being there for the money. She wouldn’t know until she’d had more time to come to her conclusions. To decide exactly how entertaining this was going to be.

Oh, and she honestly dared Digby to give her an animal name. She was curious what he’d come up with.

As she ate her panini and turned her attention to James, Keely vaguely wondered when this love potion would begin to take effect and what the challenges regarding it would be. She certainly didn't feel any different yet and, while she would admit that James - or Jamie rather - was at least attractive, but as for being head over heels for him... nah. Seemed like an alright guy though.

"Oh, you're a photographer?" Maybe it was only in his spare time, but that was what interested her most about what he said. She did like the creative sorts. "Well, that's a shame... what kind of photographs do you take?" If she wasn't so intent on winning, she'd suggest that if he won he could purchase a new camera with the cash. "I work in fashion for a design company." She didn't find the need to mention that she worked for her mother's company as it was still a viable job. "We hire some freelance photographers too."

While she kept much of her focus on her partner, Keely did make a point to be at least aware of the others in the room. It might prove to be to her advantage once the challenges were revealed. She particularly noted Khara who looked like she was afraid she was going to be eaten alive which was positively hilarious. Cute.

Has it been thirty minutes already? Perhaps.

Regardless, the older woman with the neat bun and the clipboard appeared once more. With a wave of her wand, the table with the food disappeared, and any food that the participants were holding was also gone.

Time to go, kiddos.

She cleared her throat. "I hope you are all ready for challenge #1." And a crew of people suddenly ran through the doors, muttered incantations, waved their wands, and... a 50 foot high wall separating the room into halves appeared. All of the participants were on one side. "There is a special box on the other side. The box cannot be summoned. Both participants need to get to the other side and touch the box. The first team with both members touching the box will WIN the box. There is a very special prize inside. There is no way to get around the wall---the only way to go is UP. "

Have fun, participants!" She grinned. "Any and all magic permitted..besides unforgivable curses and serious curses that might maim other humans. You will be disqualified for willingly harming any of the other contestants. Thank you," she bowed her head. "When you hear a loud sound, like an alarm, it means you can begin."

And she was exiting the room once more. No need to be injured during the impending rodeo that would most likely occur.

A few minutes later, after the participants got their bearings slightly, an alarm LOUDLY RANG.

BOMP. BOMP. BOMP. BOMP.

Was it already that time? Ava just barely finished the snacks she was enjoying when everything disappeared. Poor Jamie would be so sad about this, wouldn't he? She glanced over in his direction and felt something like butterflies in her stomach. He...was very attractive. Did Sabi think he was attractive? She was blind if she didn't.

Looping her arm through her partner's, the blonde forced her gaze away from the guy and over to the wall. It was impossibly tall and she wished they had brooms at their disposal, as that was the first thing that came to mind in order to conquer this obstacle. Did Jamie like Quidditch? Hmm...

"What about Ascendio? One of us could get up using that, maybe send a rope down for the other, or levitate them up." She paused, then glanced once more across the room. "What do you think Jamie will do?" Probably something brilliant. Siiiigh.

Khara munched on her cookie as she watched the man in front of her. He was very... interesting. Dealing with animals was hot? She thought that was the very first time she had ever heard that. A blush pulled at her cheeks as she awkwardly laughed, "oh yes, the tan uniform truly brings out the hottness." She couldn't help but giggle at the ridiculousness that statement was.

He didn't remember their names? Well that was understandable, but she wasn't sure about the naming them animals, wasn't that kind of mean? Her eyes did search the group though trying to decide. Her eyes lingering on one individual for longer than the rest. This one was very attractive, had she noticed that before? "I think he could be..."

Oh the woman was back and she was talking about a challenge that they had to go up. Khara stared at the wall. "Should we put a stick charm to our shoes to climb?" What was his thoughts for this?

Continuing to observe the others, Sabi had been almost disappointed when, in one swoop, the woman had reappeared and the food table she’d still been leaning against had disappeared. She’d managed to finish the strawberry in her hand before that had disappeared, but otherwise that was rather rude. The food hadn’t been distracting her, after all. Besides, she was also nearly disappointed by the fact she hadn’t gotten to hear the end of that little conversation going on regarding giving everyone animal nicknames. That would have been infinitely amusing to hear, and given her something to argue against had the result been unflattering.

But it was time to pay attention to her teammate, noticing Ava’s gaze toward James and Keely and tempted to roll her eyes. Except something had stopped her, and given certain things the blonde who’d linked arms with her had said, she was certain it wasn’t the same thing. “Ascendio might work,” she agreed in a half-whisper, intending to keep their plan away from the others. She wasn’t about to lose due to something as idiotic as giving away information too soon. “Would you like to go first, or should I?” At least she’d chosen to wear pants, and relatively comfortable shoes. Thinking head without actually having planned to.

“Well, he can’t build a ladder out of his precious paninis,” she continued, glancing back toward the man in question. “I hope he isn’t planning on using Keely as a ladder.” The other girl didn’t deserve that. Not at all.