"Don't let it eat you too much, seen a lot of good people have a hard time there." Admete took another swig of her drink, her thoughts wandering off for a second or two.  The last war had thrown a lot of wrenches into some peoples' schooling, and how that mucked with recruitment and everything else had come up back in those days. Committees.

"Yep, in charge of the whole Department. Not directly of course, plenty of offices there. It's good. Still getting used to it, it keeps me busy." She drained the cup of hot chocolate and stared down into the dregs a little. "Hadn't gone out for drinks for a while, though." Not even celebratory ones, but she wasn't sure she wanted too much of those with Luthas about. Family didn't let you forget.

“Well, that's something,” Bethan remarked, seeming to look the woman over with a new respect – but not without a huge old grin on her face. “I reckon you'd be too busy to go out for drinks much, but you probably need one worse than anybody, isn't it?” she teased, though she was sure there was some truth to her little jab. Because of the barmaid's unpredictable nature, there probably wasn't a very good chance that she'd ever find herself in charge of others in her future. As soon as she'd come to the realization that she really (...really, really, really) wanted to become an auror, she'd been able to convince herself that she'd been born to do it. She'd never given any thought to advancing through the ranks at all – which was probably a good thing, because she still had getting her foot through the door to worry about.

“Drinking anymore tonight?” she asked, noticing that the former auror had drained her cup since they'd started talking. “If I'm hearing you right, you're out for the first time in ages. Might as well have another, if you ask me – and that's off the record. I'm not trying to sell you anything or nothing – and it seems like you enjoyed the cocoa enough, so you know I give good advice, like.” The barmaid wouldn't have minded keeping the witch around so she might pick her brain, but if she was planning on taking off then there was nothing she could do but hope that cocoa haunted her in her dreams and she came back for another cup sometime soon.

"Yes, think I'm due for some drinks. Had a whole bunch of second years to show about yesterday. Nother few years and some of them might be baby-faced trainees." She looked down into her mug and sighed. Yep, that thought called for a drink.

"And you're right. So I'll have another one. Or two. Might as well drink properly while I'm at it." She lifted her head enough to smile at the barmaid, and pushed the empty mug in her direction. "So, pour me another-actually, I didn't catch your name. I'm Admete."

Her chin came to rest on her hands, and she set her elbows on the counter in front of her. "Just don't let anyone buy me a drink. Had enough of trying to be set up these days." Luthas had to have been in on that, Merlin. She'd have to repay him for it sometime.

“Second years?” Beth asked, grinning, “Is that a fact? I would have lost my mind, if I were one of them, seeing aurors up close and that,” she laughed. The truth was, she'd probably lose her mind if she'd taken a tour of the department today, let alone when she was thirteen and still too dumb to know what she wanted to do with her life. Heck, she'd been starstruck at the sight of one ginger haired auror, when Bailey had been poking around the pub. The very thought of actually being there, occupying the space that she dreamed of finding herself one day – it was just a very neat thought. Inexplicably, she found herself feeling jealous of a bunch of twelve and thirteen year olds. “Who brought them there? Not Storm? Makes sense that he'd wait until I was gone to do anything good,” she grumbled good naturedly, giving her head a small shake, a smirk of a smile upon her lips.

”And you're right. So I'll have another one. Or two. Might as well drink properly while I'm at it. So, pour me another-actually, I didn't catch your name. I'm Admete.”

“Beth,” she said, sticking out her hand to shake. She cleared the mug off of the counter, setting it in the bin to be sent back to the kitchen for proper cleaning. “You want another cocoa, or can I get you something different this time?” she asked. Hot chocolate was a bit savory, and even Bethan, with her notorious sweet tooth, wasn't entirely sure she could finish more than one in such a short period of time.

”Just don't let anyone buy me a drink. Had enough of trying to be set up these days.”

Merlin, this witch just kept getting cooler. Completely bad ass and single? The smiley barmaid couldn't have kept that silly expression off of her face if she'd tried. “I understand that, let me tell you,” she admitted, rolling her eyes. “I don't know why everyone's so concerned with whether or not I've got a boyfriend or not. I sure as hell don't care about anybody else's boyfriend, like.”

"Can't blame them for excitement, but our people have to keep working, too. And yes, was Storm. Might be setting up a visit to the school later this year, see if I can talk to some of the NEWT students, since they're looking at internships and all that a lot more seriously." That'd require some planning, they could also be more trouble.

She took Beth's hand and gave it a firm shake. "Glad to meet you. And I'll take something stronger, trust your judgment there. Been making good calls so far." Hot chocolate with alcohol wasn't something she would have bet on. Turned out, though.

"My grandmother fusses over it, every time the family gets together. Cousin even tried to set me up at that St. Mungo's Gala." Well, she was sure Luthas had been involved somehow. He would be. "Didn't work out, but I've got plenty of other things to handle now. Managed without someone for this long." Not that she'd never gotten involved, but never quite worked out that way.

“Well, alright, I'll see what I can come up with,” Beth spoke, looking a little too comfortable, and definitely too happy, with the free reign she'd been afforded. She could do her job well enough, but the more it felt like she was playing restaurant, the more fun she tended to have while on the clock. The girl only stopped and thought for a moment, glancing at the book that contained the list of ingredients for every single off-the-wall drink someone might come in and order, but didn't have to go as far as opening it before she was reaching for a squat little glass and setting to work mixing up an extra strong white russian. This Admete clearly didn't mind sweet, heavy drinks, since she'd downed that hard cocoa like it was nothing but water, so Beth figured something in the same spirit might hit the spot.

 It didn't take her long to gather all the correct bottles and prepare the drink and, after only a short wait, she was setting a tannish, milky concoction on the bar in front of the older witch. Beth crossed her arms and loomed expectantly, as if offering up a gift she'd made herself and daring her not to like it. Actually, she looked the slightest bit giddy. Bethan liked getting things right. In this largely monotonous line of work, she had to get her thrills wherever she could find them. She really hoped she'd made a halfway decent choice. This lady was cool, and only getting cooler, and she wanted her to stick around a bit.

”My grandmother fusses over it, every time the family gets together. Cousin even tried to set me up at that St. Mungo's Gala.”

“Huh. Did you get dragged to that, too, like?” Bethan asked, distracted momentarily by mention of the Hell-Gala. “Bleeding auction bullshit,” she grumbled bitterly, sucking her teeth and looking surly in response to the mere mention of that horrid date auction. The barmaid gave her head a disgusted shake as her lips contorted into a grumpy pucker. She still hadn't done anything about that ridiculously expensive date someone – likely Sam, the elderly arse - had won for her, and she really didn't plan to. Who said she wanted to go hiking with some cocky bloke she'd never even met? For one thing, she didn't care about hiking. It was just what people called walking around when they wanted to feel like they'd accomplished something. For another thing, who said she wanted to go on a date? She'd never been on a date in her life and she didn't want the first one to be with some highfaluting stranger vain enough to put themselves up for auction. Why couldn't people just leave her alone?! She didn't want a boyfriend. She wanted a puppy.

”Didn't work out, but I've got plenty of other things to handle now. Managed without someone for this long.”

“See, with me, it's this,” Beth launched in. “I've got a brother, right? Older brother, a lot older than I am, like, and, he's already married and that. He's got babies and everything, whole package. That's great for him, but it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of us, since everyone's expecting we'll be getting married any day now, which is daft as hell because Owen wasn't married 'til he was maybe twenty five,” she ranted, not even pausing to take a breath. She didn't seem to need to. “Maybe twenty six, but definitely not any younger than twenty five. I don't know. But he was older than I am now, I'll tell you that!”

“And my sister dates, so nobody bothers her, because they know she's trying and all. Boys like Brynn.  But with me – I'm not trying, and they know I'm not trying, cause I tell them I'm not, just like I'm telling you, and it pisses them off, like. They think there's something wrong with me. And hell, maybe there is, but they don't have to go rubbing it in, isn't it?” she concluded, rolling her eyes at the whole frustrating ordeal.

Merlin, she'd have to come here more often. These drinks were good. Though Admete forced herself to take this one a little slower, though, didn't need to rush back into it by herself.

"Not dragged. Was one of the duelists, and would have been there to support it either way. Rosier'd set a bit of it up, couldn't leave it hanging. And I've wound up in St. Mungo's a bit. Glad it hasn't been recently." With any luck she wouldn't be getting back there for a while. Department Heads didn't go gallivanting around in dangerous situations as much as Aurors did.

That's what the bodyguard was for, too. "Wasn't planning on someone buying me a date, though. Glad I didn't hear about til after the duels, needed my focus." She'd put on a good show, of course, even with how far dueling could be from an actual fight.

She nodded as Bethan went on about her brother. "Sounds like family. My cousin's the heir, he's got two kids. Don't have any siblings myself, so I get all Mum's focus on that front. Swear one of these days she'd going to give me a bird trained to constantly ask me about my relationship status."

It was difficult for Bethan to express just how much she despised hospitals and healers and medical garbage in general, so she didn't even try. She settled for producing an agitated sort of grunting noise that was either in response to Admete's statement about being glad she hadn't needed medical attention recently, or just a general, non-specific response to her feelings about St. Mungo's. It had been pure torture dragging herself there for a party of all things. She'd already been grumpy enough, having been forced into wearing a dress, which was enough to make her wish she was dead. The open bar had loosened her up, but the lack of good food had pissed her off, and the pint sized, empty stomached witch had been halfway to comatose by the time anything exciting had happened. The most thrilling part of her evening had involved a deluge of vomit that tasted of rancid fruit cocktail and regret. It didn't matter what charity it had all been for. The evening was irredeemably shit.

“Its been a while since I've had a good duel,” Bethan admitted, unable to keep herself from reaching for the wand in her apron pocket and wrapping her fingers around the handle. “That was the one thing school was good for – they let you fling hexes around and called it an extra curricular activity. If I tried that now I reckon I'd get arrested,” she snorted, rolling her eyes. “I miss it, though, dueling. It kept me sharp, like. I always felt great afterward, even when I got my arse handed to me, isn't it?” She laughed at the memory. It felt like she'd been in school a million years ago, but it also felt like last week. Sometimes, when things were slow, she wondered what would happen if she walked in there and pretended like she belonged for a while. Would anybody notice? Would anybody care? Seventh year hadn't been the best year of her life. She'd ruined good friendships, and then she'd gone on to mess up her grades and destroy her employment prospects. It had left a taste in her mouth that was too bitter to swallow. Even so, she thought she would have returned in a heartbeat. Real life sucked. Even the parties were bad.

”Sounds like family. My cousin's the heir, he's got two kids. Don't have any siblings myself, so I get all Mum's focus on that front. Swear one of these days she'd going to give me a bird trained to constantly ask me about my relationship status.”

“I don't know about any of this heir business, but I know that everyone seems to have ideas about what I should be doing with myself,” she went on to explain, blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face as she loosened her grip on her wand handle and crossed her arms again. “They're all so sure I'm going to change my mind about things. I don't want kids, and I don't really want to be married, and I don't care. That's the truth, no matter who has something to say about it.” She was grumpy now, but also thrilled that she had someone to commiserate with. It was a strange sort of conflict. People never wanted to accept that not everybody wanted the same things they wanted, and finding someone who was able to validate her traditionally unpopular choices felt good. “I want to be an auror, like I said. I don't want to be half an auror. If you want to know what I think, well, I think what I'm doing is responsible, like. I'm not gonna have a baby and then die. Can you imagine? The kid would hate me.”

"There are places you can duel. Bit of sport, after all. Mostly do it with the other Aurors, myself, or some of the hitwizards."  One hitwizard in particular, these days, but then he was around most of the time. She took a bit too long of a sip of her drink, better to think about that instead.

Admete was nodding along to the comments about family interference, at least til it got to the topic of Aurors dying. At that, she downed what was left of her drink in one gulp and gave Bethan a stern look. "If we're talking 'bout that sort of thing, I'll need a damn lot more drinks."

And stronger ones, probably. Merlin. Youth forgot things so quick, seemed like. She rubbed a hand across her forehead and groaned a little, could feel the headache coming already.

“I've got drinks,” Bethan retorted boldly – perhaps a bit too boldly considering the subject matter at hand. “I've got a whole bar. And I'm not really talking about that sort of thing, like. I'm talking about me.” It was true, at least in her own mind. Beth had always had trouble thinking of herself as old. She'd never seen herself as a mother, or even necessarily a wife, and definitely not some geezer like her old pal Hector. It was a sick sort of dream, really, to go out in a blaze of glory, but she had always held tight to the feeling that her life might be worth more if she spent it on something noble. Life just seemed so pointless otherwise, and she hated that. In the moment, it was often difficult to tell the difference between fear and excitement, and it was possible that Bethan had confused the two. Merlin, she so badly wanted to be good for something!

She got the point, though. Nobody was as interested in Beth's blaze of glory as Beth herself. It was just another part of her that everyone said should be different, another part that wasn't entirely normal. She'd been deluded for a moment. The girl was so hungry to find a kindred spirit that whenever she came close she filled in the blanks for herself, hoping that the other person might live up to her high and delusional expectations. She'd been proven wrong, as usual. Clearly a change of subject was in order before she managed to make herself feel any more isolated and defective than she already did.

“Drinking something else?” she asked, just as the bell over the front door tinkled and a rowdy looking crowd walked in. As she'd suspected, the late night rush was beginning in earnest. This was likely Admete's last chance to have Beth all to herself. “If you want it quick you should order it quick,” she suggested, knowing full well that she was about to get busy.

"Another of the same, then," Admete said, jerking her head to side at the ring of the bell. She couldn't blame the kid too much, people did tend to get wrapped up in ideas and stories of heroics. Didn't stop her from getting her hackles up a little, though, with that sort of thing having hit some of the other Aurors hard.

She propped her head back up straight and looked at Bethan. "You don't want to have kids, do it for you. Not cause you're all worried bout what might happened. Not like the wars ignored everyone but the Aurors anyways."

Least her family'd come out safe. Her dad, mostly, mum had the old blood thing going for her. "Cousin's an Auror too. Can't say it surprised me, after he made it through that damn battle."  Long time back, now, though this barkeep would have been, what, all of six? Seven?

“Beth!” the voice of one of her regulars boomed above the din, “Look who it is! Beth's pulling tonight!” the fellow bellowed. It was more than possible he already had a few drinks in him. It was Friday night, after all, and by Friday just about anybody could come up with something worth drinking over.

“Don't act like you're good and chuffed to see me. I see your mates heading for the tables, like,” she taunted with amusement, shaking her head as the tipsy patron weaved through the chairs to join his pals and take advantage of the waitress service. He turned to blow her a kiss and nearly stumbled over his own feet, catching himself on the back of an occupied chair. He began apologizing to its occupant – loudly – and Beth just sorted. This job was always good for a chuckle.

”Another of the same, then.”

“You got it,” Beth promised as she ambled off to mix up another white russian for the witch at the bar. As soon as the blokes in the back were settled she imagined she'd be pulling a round, and she'd only get busier from there. She liked it when they kept her busy, honestly – more to do, more people to chat with, more tipsy wizards tumbling over chairs. When it was busy, this gig was a thrill a minute. She set the drink down in front of Admete just as the waitress put the drink order in.

“Alright, well, it was real nice chatting with you, but looks like I've got to do my job or something,” Beth smirked. “I'll be back around if you need another. I reckon it won't be long before you've got company sitting beside you. You won't miss me,” she promised as she dashed down the bar to fill some glasses and get on with her shift.   

"Miss the drinks, at least." Admete smirked back a bit, letting the alcohol kick in and pull her thoughts away from old issues. "And don't forget that one for yourself."

Whatever else came out of the evening, she'd found herself reminded that sometimes she really did need a night off.

Next time she'd drag Luthas along. But for now she'd be content to nurse her drink and possibly fend off some advances. Didn't have time for that, yet.

End