November 12, 2009
Eveningtime


Every now and then, Maiko preferred to either make her own dinner or eat dinner elsewhere. Tonight, she wasn’t in the mood to spend time with her colleagues; she enjoyed them, yes—but she didn’t always want to be around them. So, instead of eating in the great hall or making her own meal, she decided to go out and get some dinner at The Three Broomsticks. Eating alone would have been sad and awkward, but she would do it if necessary. Cillian didn’t appear to be around, which was unfortunate. He would have been one of the people she’d actually want to talk to.

She looked around the pub, not seeing any particularly familiar faces—until she saw Atash’s cute blonde girlfriend. She looked about as weary as Maiko felt; her back was to the wall, a perfect spot to people watch. In such a position, it would be difficult for anybody to sneak up on her. Though, after meeting Raizel, the counselor doubted it would be very wise to sneak up on the blonde dynamo. She hesitated for a moment, unsure if she should talk to the woman or not-- in fact, she wasn’t even sure if Raizel was dating Atash, it was just an assumption based on the fact that they had lunch together and she was seemingly defensive of him. (Granted, that was probably partially because Maiko had expressed that he was annoying her at that moment.)

After a few more seconds of hesitation, she decided that it couldn’t hurt to ask. The brunette approached Raizel quietly and gave the other woman a smile. “Bonsoir.” She greeted, “May I sit down with you?” Maiko certainly was not going to force her presence on Raizel. The woman was interesting, and Mai knew she would have liked to get to know her better, under less hostile circumstances. Mai wasn’t planning on talking about divination or visions, unless Raizel brought it up. No, she would probably want to discuss more minor topics that hopefully, wouldn’t lead to conflict.

The cheerful, cozy atmosphere of the Three Broomsticks felt a bazillion times warmer than the unbearably frigid autumn evening outside.  For the life of her, Raizel couldn't understand how the people here in the United Kingdom could stand the freezing temperatures that they suffered, day in and day out -- and it wasn't even really winter yet.  The past few weeks had given her plenty of practice with her warming charms, but even so, she felt as if she were wearing ten times the number of layers as any of the British witches or wizards.

She had spent another long day at the beck and call of Gringott's establishment.  Apparently the appropriate punishment for being a nuisance -- or colluding with the Aurors, or whatever her latest offense happened to be -- was to be sent across the countryside on every single meaningless errand that the goblins could invent. 

Her last assignment for the day had left her in Hogsmeade again.  Even if she didn't want to admit it out loud, after five months,  living in a tiny London hotel room was starting to get a little wearing.  She missed being home, missed having a kitchen, missed sleeping in her own bed, missed keeping her things in something other than a tiny suitcase.  With Tel Aviv too far to travel back and forth regularly, even for a mage, her options for meals were limited -- and so, with her choices limited to getting takeout back in London again, showing up uninvited at a friend's house (which was usually completely out of the question, just in case it looked like she was too invested in any particular friendship), or trying one of the other restaurants in Hogsmeade, she had opted tonight for the latter.

She had been to the Three Broomsticks with Atash once before, and it had seemed like a quiet, amiable place, not the sort where she was likely to be bothered.  Her food had just arrived when a voice interrupted, cutting her off just as she had been about to lay into her meal.  Raizel looked up quickly, an obviously wary look on her face.  It was the Seer woman, the counselor witch from Hogwarts, whom she had met here in Hogsmeade only a couple of weeks before.

Raizel eyed her suspiciously, as if trying to determine what ulterior motive the other woman might have for following her into the pub tonight.  But she was too tired to escalate a fight right away.  Letting the Hogwarts counselor join her couldn't be too bad.  If the other woman was unpleasant or overly nosy, she would simply eat quickly and then depart.

Raizel gave a nonchalant shrug, her eyes flicking quickly to the empty chair across from her and then back to Maiko.  "Yeh, you can sit," she said noncommittally.  "I might not be here long, though."

“Thank you.” She replied, pulling out a chair and sitting down. She scooted forward and smiled to herself; it seemed like the mages were always in a hurry to be somewhere else. She felt like they rarely allowed themselves the time to sit back and relax—but maybe Raizel was just saying such things so she could avoid staying to chat if Mai was being a bit too annoying for her tastes. Maiko unbuttoned her heavy wool jacket, though she did not take it off.  Maiko wasn’t a huge fan of layers, but she knew she’d be too cold if she took her jacket off—her dress had short sleeves, and the idea of bare arms was not exactly appealing.

Mai nodded in acknowledgement to Raizel’s comment. At least she was polite enough to say that she might not stay.

“Your name is Raizel Cohen, correct?” Maiko furrowed her eyebrows together, hoping that she got the name right; sometimes foreign names were very difficult to remember. “What do you prefer that I call you?” Maiko hated calling people by their surnames; it was too impersonal and too formal for her tastes. If that is what the mage wanted though, Mai would call her by ‘Miss Cohen’ out of respect. At least it was easier to say than ‘Hendurabi.’ She hated having to concentrate to pronounce her H sounds in order to address him without sounding challenged.

The counselor took a quick glance at the menu and found that she didn’t want anything to heavy; soup and perhaps some water would suffice. Hogwarts was full of heavy meals, like shepherd’s pie, different sorts of puddings, and simply meat everywhere. It was a vegetarian’s nightmare. Although Mai wasn’t a vegetarian, she didn’t enjoy eating large amounts of meat. 

The blonde Cursebreaker cast a suspicious glance at the other woman.  "Raizel is fine," she said shortly, giving a dismissive shrug as she picked up her fork in her left hand.  She immediately returned her attention to her plate, beginning the process of dissecting the shepherd's pie to discover what was inside it.

She did not particularly want to launch into a discussion with the other witch.  The only other time that they had interacted, Maiko of the long surname had backed down far too quickly; she reminded Raizel a good deal of Akiva Eleor, who had simpered and surrendered during their first few encounters.  The pattern was enough to make her think that it might be a trait of British women, except Maiko didn't sound entirely British, and not all of the witches that she met here were like that.  Josephine St. Just certainly wasn't, for all that Raizel didn't like her, and the English-born Hestia Eleor could silence both of her formidable sons with a mere look.

But the mess of potatoes, carrots, peas, and meat could only keep her attention for so long.  Soon, Raizel was eyeing the witch again, peering across the table as she regarded her in between bites.

Searching for conversation topics when she did not feel like talking had never been her strong point; all of her remaining fingers weren't enough to count the number of times that she'd talked to Akiva Eleor about her 'nice' kitchen before she'd finally gotten comfortable with the other woman.  Sitting here now, she was at a loss.  She didn't want to ask about Maiko's day, or her job, because that might open the door for a reciprocal inquiry.  She didn't want to say anything nice and come across as too friendly, because that might make it seem like she wanted to talk.  Her knowledge of Maiko started and ended with the fact that she was a Seer and she had some job at Hogwarts; Raizel had not bothered to ask what it was that a counselor did.  Since the former was clearly out of the question, the latter was clearly her only option to bring up in discussion.

"I hear that Hogwarts is very busy," she said curtly, returning her attention to her food.  "You must be very busy, too."

She ordered some soup and tea and looked at Raizel inquisitively. Honestly, she didn’t expect the other woman to ask any questions, but she was pleased that she was. The seer would have been perfectly comfortable with silence—though some people often felt like they had to fill the silence with some form of conversation. She felt like she didn’t know Raizel well enough to understand whether or not the blonde was comfortable in silence or not. “The school is always busy. The teachers get too emotionally involved with their students, and that only adds to their workload.” She said simply, “I am… Moderately busy.” She cared about the students that came in, but there was a fine line between caring about the student, and becoming so emotionally involved and invested that it saps energy and clouds the facts.  Maiko was quiet for a little bit longer, “I’m sorry. I cannot talk about individual cases that I see.” She explained, “My counseling sessions are confidential, unless I ‘ave reason to believe that the student is involved in self ‘arm or may be a danger to others.”

Mai thanked the person who brought her the soup and sighed. “I’m not fitting in too well with some of my other colleagues.” She wasn’t close friends with any of them—though she could definitely see how close many of them were to each other. It was an awkward transition for her, and though she generally liked the people she worked with, it was beginning to frustrate her. “I come on strong; it may scare them off a bit. Or irritate them, probably the latter.” She took a sip of her tea and smiled—it was scalding, unsweetened, and bitter. Just the way she liked it.
She left room for Raizel to inquire further if the woman wanted to, but left off at a point where she felt comfortable if the mage did not feel like talking anymore. Her body language was open, her shoulders relaxed. There was no tenseness in the muscles along her jawline, and Mai leaned back into her chair; a sign that she was completely comfortable in this surrounding. As she leaned back, she held the cup of tea in her hands, allowing it to warm the sore joints in her fingers.

The counselor wondered what Raizel was thinking, how she was enjoying her time in London—or if she even enjoyed it at all. She wondered if she enjoyed her job (whatever it was, if she even had a job), and she wondered how comfortable she was sitting here in this very pub, with someone whose first impression was rather tense at best.

Apparently, even that simple statement -- the very vaguest of inquiries -- had been enough to unleash whatever lid Maiko the Counselor was keeping on her thoughts.  The thoughts poured out of her, and it was information that Raizel couldn't say that she particularly wanted to know.  The last five months here in London had been miserable, at least where work was concerned, but she hadn't even voiced those worries and frustrations to Adon or Akiva. 

That wasn't quite what was meant by having a thick skin.  But she didn't need to complain, at least not to everyone who asked.  Gringotts was tolerated.  The goblins were, too.  If someone she didn't know well -- even if one of her friends -- had asked how things were going, she would have waved a hand and said that they were fine.  You complained about unimportant things, like former school friends who happened to be extremely annoying or the weather.  Real trouble, she much preferred to keep to herself.

At least Maiko seemed to have a clear idea of where her problem lay.  Raizel nodded along with the self assessment.

"Yes," she said simply.  Far be it for her to disagree.  The other witch did come on strong, and it wasn't because she was being clear and upfront. "Also, you're not very polite when you say things about people.  And sometimes you talk too much."

That last bit deserved some clarification.  "Not by talking," Raizel added, gesturing vaguely with her hand.  "I mean, it isn't too many words.  But you share more than you should."  She gave the other woman a firm look, though it was more evaluating than harsh.  "Like just now.  I didn't ask you about individual cases," she said sternly.  "Or about what you thought was wrong at the school.  I was just being polite.  You can answer and be honest without talking about everything."

She smiled at Raizel’s criticism—it wasn’t too harsh, but it was honest. Maiko found it almost amusing that the other woman felt this way; after all, during their last meeting she was quick to find any reason for confrontation, taking small things and making them bigger than they really were intended to be. It wasn’t unusual for people to pick up on traits of others that they themselves had. Some may view such criticism as hypocritical, but Maiko viewed it as natural and human. That observation didn’t hurt Mai in any way; she didn’t find any offense in it. No harm done.

“Is it when I say things about people, or to people?” Maiko inquired, wanting a bit more clarification.  “You don’t need to say anything in order to be polite. I may 'ave elaborated too much. Malheureusement, that wasn't everything I could 'ave said." Her eyes sparkled with slight amusement. She silently thought about what the mage had said, watching her closely, and examining her. Raizel was very different from many of the European women that Mai knew, and it was refreshing. She was direct, and if something rubbed her the wrong way, she wasn’t afraid to speak up or act on it. It was much better, Mai thought, than people who felt like they had to keep everything inside.

Those were the people that Mai felt were the most risky ones—the ones who were silently unstable, ready to snap at a moment’s notice. Many times, no one could see it coming. Especially in those whose personalities were already naturally introverted and quiet.

“What do you think would be a more polite way to express my opinions of people, negative, positive or otherwise? Do you think that it’s more polite not to say anything at all?” She raised an eyebrow. She had plenty of nice things to say about others—in fact, she had many more nice things to say about other people, especially in proportion to the negative ones. She wasn’t even sure if her ‘negative’ opinions were truly negative, because the traits that she may not find desirable in a working professional may be the very same traits that person values in his or herself.

At least the other witch was direct.  Raizel listened intently to what she had to say, and then gave a snort, shaking her head.

"I think it is more polite not to talk about people when they are standing there listening," she said bluntly.  "That was rude.  I wouldn't talk about you to someone else if you were there. I would talk to you. That is polite," she added emphatically.  "And there is a difference between being honest and complaining.  People here in Britain talk about things even less.  If you're complaining to them, I can see why maybe you wouldn't fit in."

Giving another disapproving huff, she returned her attention momentarily to her food.  For all the brutal honesty, she felt considerably kinder toward the witch than she had a few moments before.  That was something that she knew how to relate to -- direct questions and blunt statements of fact.  And as much as the woman had annoyed her before, she couldn't help but feel a little more sympathetic towards her now. 

"But I'm...sorry that you're having a hard time," she added cautiously, her eyes flicking to meet Maiko's gaze.  "It isn't easy, coming into a new place."  That, she could attest to first-hand.  If it hadn't been for her interests outside of work -- starting lessons with Akiva, getting reacquainted with the Eleors and their circle -- if Adon had never owled and asked for her help in the first place -- the past few months would have been utterly unbearable.  Not that she would ever willingly admit it.

"I don't know any of the people at Hogwarts," she admitted.  Aside from Atash -- she waved a half-hearted, dismissive hand.  "You didn't go there?" she asked the witch curiously.  Her accent certainly didn't fit, and she sprinkled French words into her speech. Beauxbatons seemed the most likely. "They seem very close knit -- British witches and wizards."  She huffed a sigh.  "But I guess that mages are like that anywhere."

“Hogwarts isn’t new to me, it’s my alma matter. I was in ‘ufflepuff.” She shook her head. The school itself wasn’t new, it was actually very familiar. She supposed that  part of the reason she wasn’t part of the close knit group was because she had spent so much time outside of the wizarding community. She never had completely left it, and she did keep in contact with a few people. They weren’t staff members at Hogwarts though. Tulojow was always easy to get along with, but she was almost motherly. It wasn’t quite the same.

She nodded at Raizel in agreement, British people were very close knit—you could say that about most cultures, and she was glad that Raizel was intelligent enough and observant enough about human behavior to notice. If you didn’t fit into a certain group, or if you were new, it could be difficult. With all the new staff at Hogwarts, Maiko doubted that many of them felt like they did fit in, but there were a certain few groups of tightly knit individuals. “The school isn’t new,  but the staff—the people there—they’re new to me.” She explained,  “The staff from the other schools are also.. Difficult.”

Maiko looked at Raizel seriously, “May I ask you for advice on ‘ow to interact better with Atash Hendurabi?” She inquired, leaning over the table slightly. That would make things easier. She felt like she absolutely needed to be on good terms with him, partially because he had mentioned a Japanese contact that she would be able to get ahold of at some point. Beside from his valuable contact, Mai was sure that he was somebody who was worth listening to, when he had anything to say. She would hate to miss out on that.

Raizel frowned at the pronouncement that the other witch had attended Hogwarts.  Hufflepuff didn't mean very much -- it was one of the vague houses that didn't really have an equivalent at Beit Gaddol, which meant that she'd never paid attention to it.  She wouldn't pretend that she understood the European magical school system or what determined who would go where.  It all seemed far, far too complicated.  Adon and Dreogan were both lucky that their parents had sent them to Beit Gaddol.

She was sympathetic to Maiko's plight -- new places and new people were always hard to adjust to, although if the counselor was from England, she had fewer excuses.  If one old school friend had made London tolerable, then a whole mess of them should have relieved any hardship at Hogwarts. 

She liked giving advice, but then the conversation took a sudden turn toward the more personal.  Talking about foreign colleagues was much different than talking about foreign colleagues that she knew.  Raizel eyed her uninvited dinner companion, her mouth pressed firmly shut.

"How to interact better?" she pressed, giving Maiko a severe look.  She shrugged, watching the other witch warily out of the corner of her eye as she picked up her drink.  "How do you interact with him now?  I would start by not saying that he is irritating," she added sternly, raising the glass to take a drink.  "That was not polite."

“Well, my strategy is usually to find ‘im and chat with ‘im and feed ‘im. After our last.. Meeting, he was uncomfortable around me—and the way I dealt with that certainly didn’t ‘elp.” She didn’t want to speak further about it, though she would have if Raizel had pryed further. It was one of her faults- it was difficult for Maiko to mask who she was or what her thoughts were around others. She had to train herself heavily to learn how to in counseling settings, but she didn’t want to counsel Atash. She didn’t want to view him as a client—she wanted to see him as a colleague, or an ally. Simply put, Mai wanted to be on good terms with him.

Maiko smiled slightly, “I agree, it wasn’t polite. It was blunt and rude. It’s a shortcoming of mine that I’m going to change.” Going to change. Not trying. If she told herself she was going to try, she knew it left herself room to fail. If she told herself that she was going to do something, it was much more likely to happen.   She considered mentioning the fact that he had a contact that she would like to write to, though she decided that would be giving more information than was necessary.

"Yes," Raizel agreed with ready abandon.  It had been blunt and rude, and she was more than happy to point out the failings of others.  Maiko with the long last name was nothing if not direct -- surprisingly so for someone who had apparently attended the British Hogwarts. She had less of a filter than Adon did, which was saying something.

She shrugged, picking up her fork to begin sifting through her meal once more.  "Who knows?" she asked dismissively.  "Men.  They never say what they are thinking anyway, and they don't listen to what you say until you hurt their feelings or you pay attention to someone else."  And then, just when you were ready to get completely fed up with them, they decided to unexpectedly show that maybe they cared after all.  It was exasperating in its contradiction.  Sometimes she wondered why she wasted her time.

She took a bite of something that looked suspiciously like peas and potatoes, and then shrugged again in Maiko's direction.  Normally, she did not like giving away information that pertained to allies or friends, but this was not anything that the witch shouldn't be able to realize by herself.  It did not feel so much like spying as telling Maiko what she should already know.

"He doesn't like being cornered," Raizel said bluntly.  "And you were rude.  If he doesn't want to talk, he will just be polite and avoid you.  If you want to interact better, then you should apologize."  She took another bite, and then added matter-of-factly, "Apologizing always helps, as long as you mean it."

She had already planned on apologizing, but she was wondering how to best approach it. Should she wait for him to talk to her first, or should she find him and talk to him again? Would he view that as being cornered? She hoped not, for that was the last thing she wanted to do. She would mean it if she apologized—Maiko didn’t ever apologize unless she meant it. She thought that apologizing to someone without meaning it was an insult to the other person’s intelligence. “I will apologize, yes.” She replied, agreeing that it was the best course of action. “Should I apologize as soon as possible or should I wait until I see ‘im next without seeking ‘im out?” Her eyebrows furrowed together, a small crease forming between them.

Mai stared at her food and shook her head. She felt like she was being so stupid. She’d apologize when it was natural, otherwise it wouldn’t seem genuine. Fake apologies were the worst.

She was about to open her mouth to tell Raizel that if she was being annoying, to point it out. But then again, Mai was confident that Raizel would point out the things that annoyed her whether or not Mai wanted her to. Though, even if for some bizarre reason Mai did not Raizel to be bluntly honest, she would still appreciate it eventually. Mai appreciated bluntly honest people more than she appreciated sneaky, secretive types. Yes, even the most blunt person in the world could have heavy secrets-- but that didn’t mean it was anyone’s business to pry.

“Thank you for listening.” She said earnestly, giving Raizel a small smile.

Raizel huffed out a loud sigh, raising her shoulders and dropping them again in an exaggerated shrug.  "If you need me to tell you that, then you'll need me to make the apology, too," she said matter-of-factly, as she continued to pick through her plate.  "You need to fix it, not someone else.  Talk to him when you think it is best."

Not that she had an inordinate amount of faith in the other woman's people skills right now, but Raizel had no inclination to solve the situation for her.  Fixing it now wouldn't stop the same offense from occurring again.  This was the counselor's business, not her own.  Once she'd given her opinion, it was up to the witch to act on it.

Still, she had to admit she was feeling much more kindly toward Maiko than she had during their last encounter.  At least the counselor was willing to own up to her mistakes, and she had the good taste to ask Raizel for her opinion.  The mage considered, regarding the other woman a little warily as she chewed.  There had been another topic of conversation that had come up during their last encounter, but Maiko had pushed and pushed.  If she was being more reluctant now, then maybe it was safe to bring it up again.

"So."  She eyed her cautiously from across the table, doing her best to look as if she was still engrossed in her dinner and this was only an idle reflection.  "You are a Seer.  That means that you have visions?"

Maiko looked at Raizel in acknowledgement, and she decided that she would apologize to Atash Hendurabi tomorrow, that is, if he wasn’t avoiding her. She was going to be content in silence, but then the blonde decided to ask a question—a question that had caught Maiko off guard. She hadn’t expected the mage to approach the topic so soon, if ever. She raised her eyebrows and nodded, “Yes I am a seer.” She said, “And yes, it means that I do ‘ave visions.” She wasn’t sure if Raizel needed the obvious pointed out to her, or what. It was a strange question, but Mai had heard many strange questions in her life and decided to let that one go.

Granted, visions weren’t the only things that many seers did. There were many who were quite skilled when it came to divination. Although she was very hesitant and skeptical about non-seers using tools to predict the future, she wasn’t as uncertain when it came to seers using tools. From what she knew of Raizel, she was a bit of a dynamo who was quick to come to other’s defense. In their last meeting, Mai very clearly remembered that Rai wanted to go to a divination store. And now she was bringing up seers and visions.  “Do you ‘ave any other questions about my…” She couldn’t think of the right word, so she smiled at herself due to her ridiculousness “About my seer-ness?”