Beth nodded as Layla proceeded to laud Zeke on his level of skill. She was particularly interested in hearing that he experimented, because it gave her the hope that he might be willing to give a crispy-skinned lobster girl like her a shot. A grin found its way to the very edge of her lips and she grew a bit dreamy eyed, wondering if she might have found the best man for the job completely by accident. She didn't imagine that it would be easy to maneuver a needle of any size over skin with as many craters and snags as hers had, or to work on skin with so much discoloration – but she needed someone who would try. They'd have to be a little bit wily, and believe in her project and the reasons for it – not someone who was going to take one look at her and say 'nope, we don't do that here.' She needed someone who could experiment, and that little comment may have been enough to sell her on Zeke. She'd have to meet with him first, of course, but that was a given.

”"If ye want we can swing by together when you have some time? I'll have something sketched out for you by Sunday, probably...”

“Well, if it's alright with you, I wouldn't mind heading down there on my own and having a bit of a chat with him before we do anything else. He's still at the... the... whatsis... Hopping Pot, right? Down that way?” she asked, gesturing off to the side, as if London was just down the street. Beth was usually the brazen sort, but this wasn't something she wanted to jump into with both feet. She'd spent years and years of her life hiding behind toilet stalls so people wouldn't think she was gross or contagious – she wasn't going to recover from a lifetime of poor body image in an afternoon. The fewer people she involved right away, the better. She'd never trust girls not to gossip – especially girls with mouths as big as (or bigger than!) her own. For the moment she wanted her secret to stay secret – maybe not forever, but for now.

“You can always come back here on Sunday and show me what you've got. Or, well, any day you like.... any day but Tuesday, that is, because I don't work Tuesdays. In fact, I reckon I'll go see Zeke on a Tuesday, assuming he's tending that day, like. Can't get off before then, anyway,” she explained. It seemed, for once, that Beth was actually making progress. She didn't often get this far when it came to the things she wanted and dreamed about. Usually things were ' a year down the road' or 'when I've got the money' – but here they were talking Tuesday! It felt good, and she was excited to accomplish something for a change.

"Yep, still at the Pot. And sure, I understand" she said smiling sweetly. Tattoos were an intimate business, unless they were the sort of thing you had to flip your days since last bast decision chart back to zero over... That was just sad. Drunken tattoos, and spurs of the moment where the sort of thing you ended up regretting your entire life. Sort of like waking up next to that guy— the one you swore on your mum's life you wouldn't get near with a ten foot pole. Lala cringed. She'd been there one too many times

"Sundays I'm usually in a state that renders me incapable of moving too much without spinning away with the room" she said with dead seriousness. "I shouldn't be let out in public on Sundays, but I can mail—well, owl you whatever I come up with" she said with a big smile. "You seem really excited for this" she mused with a tiny little smile. "I've never seen you this set out on something. I'll make sure to give it my best with the sketches" she nodded and let out a small huff. She'd take her duty seriously, Beth seemed really into this whole tattoo thing and it was lovely to see her this dedicated - she supposed - to the endeavor.

"How've you been otherwise? And when's your next night off?" Lala asked with a big grin. "We should go out sometime, when I get paid maybe, so I can buy you a drink" she continued batting her eyelashes innocently. Out of all her friends, except for Broody McBrooderson, Beth could do with a girl's night out, she thought.

“Me?” Bethan asked incredulously, looking Layla straight in the eyes like she was certain that she must have misheard her, her eyebrows arching upward and into her forehead. “You've never seen me this set out on something? What do you mean by that?” she asked, taken slightly aback. She'd never seen herself as someone who was unexcited by the world and the things she could do in it, and she always felt like she was pushing herself, even if others didn't see it. After all, how long had she been harping about becoming an auror, pushing herself well beyond where many of her professors thought she ought to be academically in pursuit of her wild and ambitious dream? How long had she been talking about the puppy she planned to get? Granted, she still wasn't an auror (but, as everyone was telling her, resitting her NEWTs was both insane and commendable, and she was excited about her second chance), and she didn't actually have a puppy (her stray in Diagon didn't actually count), but everyone who knew her had heard her going on about one or both of those things over time. She had lots of ideas like that – things she envisioned herself having or doing or becoming – and this tattoo was only one of them. It was also the one thing she was the closest to accomplishing so far. She didn't think she was doing so badly. After all, she'd only been living amongst adults for what? Six months? Seven? Accomplishing one lifelong dream per year seemed pretty good to her – but, then again, she had't been in Slytherin, and their standards may have been different.

”How've you been otherwise? And when's your next night off?”

“Tuesday, like I said. Every Tuesday. You been listening?” Beth laughed, giving her head a subtle shake. She'd only just said so, hadn't she? Then again, she'd said a lot of words just then, and it wasn't uncommon for people to tune out all or some of her verbiage when she started rambling. After all, she'd been doing the same thing to Layla earlier when she'd been talking about... well, she didn't know what she'd been talking about. That was sort of the point. She was very involved with muggles, this girl, and while Beth had some experience with them, she didn't have enough to follow her rapid one sided talk of zombies and shoguns or whatever it was she liked. They also seemed to be on slightly different wavelengths when it came to what they considered fun. Beth, despite her current occupation, wasn't so in love with alcohol that she felt the need to court it every chance she got, and she tried to stay as far away from drunk as she possibly could. The girls were both the daring sorts, but in very different ways, which made making plans slightly tricky – and not only because Beth had a full time job including up to six closing shifts a week and Layla had a liquor consumption quota to fill.

”We should go out sometime, when I get paid maybe, so I can buy you a drink.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright, and when will that be? Next year sometime?” she smirked, “I might have a different schedule by then! Besides, I have standing plans on Tuesdays, like. Not during the day or nothing, but nights I see a mate in London, at least usually - and I feed this dog down that way, which sounds dumb when I say it like that, but, you know, what can I say? I like dogs,” she explained with an unpretentious shrug. She probably sounded like a nutter, especially when talking to someone who seemed like she always had a party to go to, but everyone's definition of fun was different. Beth, personally, liked two or three drinks and a game of fetch followed by a moderately early bedtime.

"Well, I mean... actually set on something. With a proper finality to it. Sure, you get wrapped up in plans and ideas, but this must be the first I've seen you this dead set on seeing it through, setting dates, planning ahead and bla" she said squirming in her seat, really hoping she wouldn't be turning this into something awkward. Like Beth, Lala talked about doing this and that, everything, but never really actually pulling through with it. On few occasions, yes, but mostly it was just voicing out a dream of sorts or making promises to herself, she'd never actually intended to keep.

"Yes, I've been listening, but Tuesday doesn't count" Lala whined petulantly. "Tuesdays are like virgin cocktails: you think you can somehow lie to yourself that you're getting the real deal but in the end you just end up with a huge check and the start of a depression. And sometimes a girl needs four shots of whiskey in her diet coke at almost five in the afternoon and I feel no shame in admitting that girl is me" she added completely randomly while rubbing her temples remembering her meeting earlier today.

"I'm actually getting paid next week. In full, too. Just finished with a kiddy book" she smiled dangerously, the second she'd have her hands on those money a three night long party was in the schedule. "But what is this about a mate and a... dog" she said with a bit of a frown. Lala was a cat person through and through, and while she didn't hate dogs, she wasn't a dog person either.

“Listen,” Beth said firmly, her expression growing harder, “Listen, we're not that close that you get to say things about what I usually do or don't do,” she informed the girl. “Coming in here begging doesn't make us best mates, and if you think you know everything about my life then you're out of your mind,” she snapped. Bitterly, she turned her back on the witch at the bar, taking a few steps toward the back counter so she could snarl and feel indignant in peace. She didn't like people she barely knew making sweeping remarks about how she usually acted, because she didn't know what she was talking about. There were people in her life who did have that kind of authority, because they were there for her and knew all sorts of intimate details regarding how she functioned, and Layla was not one of those people. She didn't get to decide that Beth was a lazy do nothing, and she didn't get to say so to her face without consequences. That wasn't alright with her.

She was no longer interested in sitting there and entertaining a leech. Usually it wouldn't matter whether or not Beth was interested. Usually she had to humor people because they were paying customers. That was a fact. Layla, however, wasn't a paying customer, and this wasn't the sort of establishment she frequented even when she did have gold to spend. She didn't have to feel guilty about walking away. “Well, it's sure as hell not my day off today, and I've got to do my job,” she informed the girl as she stalked back toward the kitchen, where her hot chocolate had gone cold and a giant tureen of half-burnt pea soup needed to be scourgifyed and tergeoed until her fingers went numb. If you wanted to talk like a friend then you had to be a friend, and Beth just wasn't willing to give those privileges away to someone who hadn't earned them. It rubbed her the wrong way.

"Yeesh, dude" Lala muttered once Beth was finished with her tantrum. Maybe they weren't that close, but that wasn't something to flip a scene over. It was something, that she, as not even a very close friend to Beth, noticed. The blonde sure didn't take to criticism very well, and Lala frowned and put her hands up in a sort of I come in peace gesture. Talk about issues...

She watched the waitress storm off back to the kitchen with a confused expression on her face, mouth open in shock until Lala decided she couldn't be arsed with everyone's problems and started packing up her sketchbook. "What the actual hell" she muttered under her breath as she slipped down from the stool and hoisted her bag up her shoulder. "Okay, uhmm, so, uh, thanks for the soup" she said louder, trying for a happy-happy-joy-joy tone, her confusion still slipping through.

"So... I'm gonna go now" she added when nothing came in response. "Have a great day!" she chirped turning around for the door and scowling, adding a silent, muttered why have a great day as well, Layla, before opening the door with a bit more force than necessary.