Since her mother left a year ago, Nikari hadn't had a whole lot of confidence.  Her natural confidence hadn't faltered one bit, but the confidence she had gained in her year abroad faltered.  She wasn't sure she could do this.  Nevertheless on the bright Tuesday morning she strode into the Auror Headquarters with her head held high.  She knew she would be behind most of the other first-year trainees, being that she just started, but she would quickly catch up.

In the back of her mind, as she made her way to the cubicles where the rest of the trainees were, she felt herself begin to get nervous.  Now, this wasn't new for her, she had been nervous before, mostly in her first couple of years at Hogwarts.  She had wanted to make friends her own way, not charm people into being her friend.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out the way she had planned and she only had acquaintances, and none she would call on if she needed to talk to someone.  Maybe she'd make some friends here.

If her mother were still around, she'd ask Nikari why she didn't just charm her way through training.  Nikari would answer quickly, that she wanted to do this without using her charm, unless it was a life-or-death situation.  She was determined to show people that Half-Veela's, even ones with more power than normal, could do things without charming their way through them. 

She found an empty desk and stood by it, unsure of what to do.  'I guess I'll just wait til someone gives me something to do', she thought.  It was her first day here, and although she could make it into a perfect day, she wasn't going to do that.  She'd have to get really frustrated to go back on that, after all, if she could make it through four years of Hogwarts without a single incident where she used her charm, then she could surely get through one day of Auror training.... right.

Fauna sipped at her coffee, trying to wake up as she chatted quietly with Dax in the cubicle area. Every once in a while she'd poke her head up to watch for incoming Aurors and their annoying catchphrase - if you've got time to be idle, you've got time to file!

So it was by pure luck that she happened to spot her first. Tall, blonde, and somehow familiar, the newcomer hesitated by an empty desk and glanced around. Fauna trailed off mid-sentence as she glanced at her, but she was prone to fumbling her words, and there was a fair chance Dax wouldn't catch it.

But she knew her! Most of the first-year trainees would. Fauna had only been a year younger than her, also a Hufflepuff, and in her shyness had paid the quiet student no mind. Judging by her uniform, she must be a trainee now, like them. Fauna set down her coffee, suddenly awake and chipper.

She casted a furtive glance at Dax. Her eyes narrowed very slightly. Then she moved forward into the hallway, knocking her hip on the desk corner.

Ow.
 
Ignoring the pain, Fauna smiled at the new trainee.

"Hi!" Her voice sounded a bit too bright for such an early hour.

"Um... Nikari, right? I'm Fauna. I remember you from school."

The instant she said it, she kind of regretted it. It wasn't until Fauna's seventh year that she'd really grown out of her shell. If Nikari remembered her at all, she likely remembered an awkward, mousy girl who spoke in mumbles and loved funny hats.

Nikari had noticed the other trainee coming towards her and checked herself to make sure that her charm was fully shut off.  She knew it wouldn't affect women as much as men, and it tended to make them angry instead of .. well, not angry, before she turned her face to greet the other woman and said, "Hello.. you are ... Faun right?" She hadn't known the girl well, and wasnt' aware that she had gotten her name wrong.

In school she hadn't paid attention to anyone.  Not that she felt she was above everyone, she just preferred to stay below the radar, out of everyone's eyesight.  It didn't work, but she tried to ignore everyone.  "I just started, I know I'm behind, but I couldn't sit at home anymore, my house is too empty." she rambled, still a tad nervous about the whole situation.

Dax strolled up behind Fauna, the tall blonde boy's eyes latching quickly onto the newcomer. He remembered her more than he assumed Fauna would - but, then, Dax had a bit of help there. The mere sight of her made him was to forget the uniform he had on (mostly, anyway - this being Dax, his buttons weren't on quite right and his uniform hadn't been in the same room as the iron in weeks) and brag away. Veelas!

"Hey, Avendale," he said, with a lopsided grin and his usual vaguely flirty drawl.  Hot girls were - well, they were common to the squad, so he wasn't about to complain. But girls who were hot like Avendale were rare. The Aurors tended to be a tough, combat boot kind of lot and the idea of a girl like Avendale even looking at combat boots seemed weird.

Dax, as usual, was not one to let a lovely lady be hurt by niceties, so he quickly drawled on. "I thought a girl like you'd be off modelling or somethin'. Aurors are a bit rough around the edges." He patted Fauna's shoulder. "Fauna here is throwing up left and right. You should see it."

Fauna tilted her head when Nikari rambled, wondering if she was usually nervous or just nervous because it was her first day here.  She opened her mouth to respond, but of course Dax appeared beside her in all his Norse god-esque glory. And of course he had a sexist, yet flirtatiously witty greeting up his sleeve.

Her chipper mood dimmed somewhat. Then it took a nosedive.

Face flushing, she widened her eyes at him. "Dax." Did he really need to mention her weak stomach! "It's only happened, you know, once." Maybe twice.

She glanced back at Nikari, trying to look reassuring. "I'm sure you'll catch up quick. We'll help, too."

Yes, she was sure Dax would!

Nikari smiled at Fauna, "I'm sure I will, thanks for your help though, I'm sure I'll need it." she said at first ignoring Dax's words.  But they struck a chord with Nikari and she turned to him, letting the barrier holding her charm back fall free and letting him experience the full brunt of it. 

"What makes you think I'm not rough around the edges?" she asked while picturing in her mind a thought of Dax professing his undying love to an inanimate object in the room, but she didn't much care which[1].  "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself thank you." she told him and turned back to Fauna.  "I'm just hoping that I can go through the training and ..." she trailed off, unsure if the other girl knew she was half-veela or whether or not she should tell her.

1.	I'm not quite sure how Veela charm works, but take this however you want.  I'll read up on it work with it better next time.

Dax patted Fauna on the shoulder, the gesture a vague 'there, there' type that his playful grin utterly offset. "Aw, c'mon, Fauna, I was only joking," he said, smirking. He resisted the urge to look at Nikari and make a 'vomiting' gesture, simply because teasing Fauna was far too entertaining.

Then he did look at Nikari and the world sort of...changed. She was suddenly very attractive - well, she had been before. But now! Now he found himself in awe at the way the dusty lighting of the office glimmered off her silver hair. The length of her eyelashes, and the movement of lips while she talked, the what her breasts fit in her jacket -

He smiled, his lazy grin turning quickly into something quite a bit more flirty, his grip on Fauna's shoulder subconsciously tightening and pulling the girl against his chest. The urge to brag was overpowering, and Dax being Dax, there was no way he could hide from this shimmering goddess any longer.

Without much ado, he started unbuttoning his uniform.

When Nikari smiled at her, Fauna smiled back shyly. Was the new trainee actually paying more attention to her than Dax at the moment? And did she really just tell him she could take care of herself? Fauna's smile widened. She shot Dax an incredulous, yet undeniably smug look. Bugger off now!

"Go through the training and...?" She repeated, trying not to make it sound like she was hanging onto her every word.

Wait. What was Dax doing? The friendly arm around her shoulders suddenly pulled her in until she was up against his chest. Startled, Fauna stared up at him with wide eyes.

Then he started unbuttoning his uniform.

"Dax! Dax!" She exclaimed with a shocked kind of embarrassment. Oh Merlin, he would stop any second now, wouldn't he?

Fauna threw a mortified glance back at the trainee, reasoning that her presence had something to do with this reaction, and vaguely remembering something from Hogwarts about her being related to a Veela, but she had no time to really think it through. She leaned away, pushing against Dax's chest and attempting to take his hand away from the buttons on his shirt. That worked about as well as a child pulling a chew toy away from a crup.

So she did the only thing she could think to do, and waved her wand over their heads.

"Aguamenti!"

Water rained down on them. Well, maybe they both needed a cold shower.[1]

1.	Haha, up to you all if this works or not!

As the cold water fell, Nikari realized that she had let her charm flow through her and quickly snapped her barrier back in place.  She hadn't even noticed that she did it.  She turned away from Fauna and Dax to face the cubicle and make sure that she was back to her human self.  Sometimes she really hated the veela side, especially around attractive men, it was so hard to keep it in check, but she'd had years of practice holding it in, so it wasn't so hard anymore, except when her temper rose, then it was harder.

Turning slowly back to Fauna she said, "Thanks, I needed that. I was saying I needed to get through training without that happening." she said with a sigh and pointing at Dax, "That's the last thing I need is to have all the guys hanging all over me."

The world had been silvery, beautiful and focused; his whole essence orbiting and depending on the silvery maid before him. This was not, strictly speaking, unusual for Dax. He tended to zero in on a nice pair of tits until he'd established what'd get him slapped. But the single minded force of this was unusual and, to the part of his brain not awash in hormones and charm, worrying.

Then the cold water hit and he sputtered in surprise, the charm's break and the water hitting at almost the same time. He found himself wet, with a half-open shirt, and quite confused. Of course, the shirt wasn't that unusual, but still -

"Bwuh?" he said, vaguely, and rubbed the side of his head. "Did you...do something?" He frowned, and the underused logical centers of his brain said something about Veelas. "Faunaaaa, I just washed this is thing two days ago! What the heck?"

Still flustered, Fauna gave Dax a look when he complained about the water. How was it that he was more high maintenance than she was? Well, actually it wasn’t that difficult. Fauna casted drying charms over her uniform and hair, accepting the fact that her hair was going to frizz and that Auror Pratt would likely crack a joke about how the mop had walked out of the storage cabinet to join the trainees this morning.

“Yeah, ok," she rolled her eyes up at him. "Next time I'll hex you or something.” That was a lie and they both knew it.

Though she guessed she couldn’t blame him completely. Nikari’s thanks sunk in and Fauna’s face flushed for the tenth time as she glanced at her. All the guys, and possibly a few girls. Unaware that Nikari's temper had triggered the Veela charm, and unaware that Nikari had directed it at Dax, Fauna silently thanked her lucky stars that she was made of stronger stuff than horndog Fayette over here.

“Um… so does this happen a lot?” Fauna wondered in a hesitant tone as she straightened her uniform. If it did, training would never be the same!

Nikari focused back on Fauna, "No, I'm pretty even-tempered most of the time, but when things rub me the wrong way ... " she shook her head, "I can't lie, yes, it happens quite alot.  I have a sort of barrier around it all the time, but it's flimsy and breaks whenever I dont' like what's being said, or I get upset... you get the picture." She glanced over at Dax once more before turning so she couldn't see him anymore. 

"So, what do you guys do all day?" she asked.  Since it was her first day here, she needed to get brought up to speed and fast, or else she was going to have trouble keeping up with all that was going on around her.

Dax muttered darkly as he started drying himself out with warming charms. Women! He made one comment, and got this? It wasn't like him being shirtless was a bad thing, right? Who could possibly complain?

Still, the effect of the directed Veela charm was a bit unsettling. He didn't see the point of turning it on him; it wasn't like he needed encouragement. Avendale was hot enough without needing the charm! He shook his head, sighing in a loud and rather pointed way...but having to wonder what that meant, really. Was she into him?

"Mostly we sit around and get ordered around to file paperwork," he said. "Or fetch coffee. If you don't know how to make good coffee...I'd suggest learning." He frowned. He still wasn't good at that - which meant people didn't ask him as much anymore. That might seem a good thing...except now he had to go get heavy stuff or run messages around the office. "Fast."

At Dax's muttering and sighing, Fauna nudged his arm and shot him another look. Avendale was new and not quite used to them yet. Fauna could understand her discomfort.

"And you already know I spend most of my time getting queasy. Or, um, annoying Dax."

After getting through such an embarrassing start to their day, she felt like she could joke around a bit.

Fauna gestured around the cubicles, "We could show you around the office? If you haven't seen all of it, I mean. Have you had your interview yet?"

It sounded like a dumb question, but the Aurors were nothing if not unpredictable.

Nikari completely ignored Dax for the moment and answered Fauna, "You can show me around if you want, and I'm not sure what you mean about the interview." she said honestly.  "I'm still on the edge of wondering why I'm here and wondering what I can do first." She briefly smiled before focusing back on Dax.

"Coffee is no problem, I made it for my mom every morning for four years." But she winked and added, "But that's our little secret now, isn't it handsome." She knew she probably was starting something but she didn't care, after the initial awkwardness of her losing control of her charm, she felt like she could be herself now, even if herself was a major flirt. She gave Dax her most winning smile that had absolutely no charm behind it and then turned back to Fauna, "Lead on dearie, I'm going to need to know my way around here so I won't get lost I think." and she waited for the other girls' reaction.