OPEN THREAD - Please feel free to assume your character has been drinking with them for a little while, and you can assume you know Elixa from here or elsewhere if it helps.

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Friday night, just before 10pm, and Rover's Fancy in Diagon Alley was busy with drinkers and comings and goings. The music was thudding and twiddling away underneath a hubbub of chatter, laughter and the thud of feet, scrape of chairs as the patrons made their way back and forth to the bar. Above their heads a haze of pipe smoke hung beneath the ceiling, curling up from corners in the shapes of dragons and serpents.

In a group around a few mismatched tables, Elixa sat before a number of half-filled wine bottles, and continued with her story to those around her who she had introduced and greeted from new friends, to regular drinkers and the odd person from further afield who had caught them there, either by chance or from Elixa telling them to come along. Friday night was a night to go out if she could, and she adored having friends about.

"I tell you, artefact injuries must deal with about two wands up bums a day," she explained, gesticulating with her red wine glass, "and we all know that the whole excuse of 'I sat on it' isn't going to wash with those guys. They've seen it all. But this guy, he must have snapped it when it happened, and by Merlin, have you seen someone propelled face first to the other end of a hospital corridor and sparks out their arse? Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's exactly what I found when I got there this morning."

Since her promotion, Jules had less and less time to devote to herself. It had been quite some time since she went out and really let loose, and tonight seemed like the right night to do it. She'd been invited out, and was going to meet some people for drinks, a few of them her co-workers -- or now, her staff, she supposed. She wasn't really the sort to go out too often either, so it might be awkward, but as soon as she got a few drinks in her she knew she'd be a fun time. This would be a better setting.

And that was just what had happened. Jules could sense the tension but after two or three glasses of wine she was just as giggly and silly as the rest of the people she was with. Her words were a bit slurred and she wondered why she didn't do this more often, seemingly forgetting the fact that she was a very busy medical worker. It felt nice to get out.

She listened to Elixa's story, admiring the way that she could engage an entire room with her story. It was a good one, after all, and Jules had heard whisperings of the guy who'd blown himself straight across Artifacts but Elixa's retelling of the story was worth the listen. She laughed and took another drink of her wine. "Tazo must have been going bonkers," Jules laughed, referring to the Healer-in-Charge of the Artifact Accidents division. She decided to ask the question that she was sure was on everyone's mind: "Was the wand salvageable?.... Was his arse?!"

Margo met Elixa a bit back and it had been a crazy night.  She still had the handcuffs that they’d had to blast off of her wrists hanging in her apartment, a trophy of an evening well spent.  So, when she’d received an invitation, via owl, to recreate at least a part of it, Margo could not be held back. 

She had been in the field all day (for several weeks now), and the weather was improving steadily.  Her usually ruddy skin tone was returning – she could almost have been three years younger by the glow alone.  But, she was happy to be with the hatchlings and even if they weren’t doing particularly well (they’d lost another egg earlier this week through no fault of their own), at least she was outside. 

She might have had a burn on her arm (from herself…), but that wasn’t stopping her from enjoying a good drink – and story.  She downed the shot of whiskey that someone had handed her (like it mattered who they were) and then chased it with a sip of beer before she laughed out loud (a tiny sputter of beer may have landed on her shirt).

She certainly wasn't dressed as... fancy as some other people in the group, but she didn't mind.  It was her style and she needed to get a drink every once and a while.  Wiping her mouth with her arm (classy), Margo snorted at the other question that came up.  The purple haired woman asked about the wand being salvageable and Margo wrinkled her nose.  “Bloody hell – I’d just as well buy a new one after where that’d been anyway!”

James knew Elixa better through letters.  Over the course of his career, he had made a number of his own nutrient potions, and had probably drank, eaten, digested, ingested, injected, dermally planted, subdermally planted, or otherwise came into contact with a number of wizarding and muggle concoctions.  As thorough as James was in his quest to find the best potions/nutritional regime, even he could not try everything over the course of his long and rather lackluster (though profitable) career.  He was also somewhat restricted by various agencies rules.  He usually preferred a more professional communication with women older than he, but he very seldom got to see Elixa, and took the opportunity.  James regarded the other two witches as an unexpected bonus.  Ordinarily, James would try for menois a trois or something similar, but quidditch was one of the few things he put above women.  He was surprisingly well behaved given the fairness of his company.

"Oh comeon, did they at least charm it to play music too?  Fireworks isn't the same without it," though James was drinking with them, the aforementioned watching of his diet meant that he could never really go crazy with it.  Most of his calories were filled with something else, but he could nurse a firewhiskey or two over the course of the night.  Still, even though James was not trying to get laid, he found himself enjoying the company.  Taking a sip of firewhiskey, he found himself opening up a bit more than he meant to this group.

"Tazo must have been going bonkers," Jules interrupted, and Elixa nodded enthusiastically, "was the wand salvageable?.... Was his arse?!"

"I don't know, I wasn't sure I wanted to see, but I do know he had to have his arse on ice for a good long while."

"Bloody hell - I'd just as well buy a new one after where that'd been anyway!" Margo exclaimed, wiping her face.

"I know, right?" Elixa leaned towards Margo in agreement, "ain't nobody want to use that wand again." Her English was rapidly improving in terms of slang, but was still rather abrupt with the Swedish accent.

"Oh come on, did they at least charm it to play music too? Fireworks isn't the same without it." James protested and Elixa hooted, landing a hand on the quidditch player's knee as he sat beside her, leaving it there, and looked from him to Jules,

"Oh Merlin, that would have about finished Tazo off, wouldn't it?" Turning back to James, she squeezed his thigh and leaned over, eyes twinkling, "and this is why you're not a healer but a quidditch player, with that devious mind."

Leaning away again she rounded on Margo with a grin,
"But you must deal with flaming buttocks all the time, don't you, Margo? I did tell you what Margo does for a living didn't I?" She asked the others, and gestured for Margo to explain if not.

After Elixa answered her questions about the patient she'd once seen, Jules blanched and said "That's not right, is it?" before guzzling down the rest of her glass of wine. She filled it back up nearly to the brim, as she always did. To her, that was the most efficient and sensible way to fill up a wine glass. Why waste all the space at the top? You'd only have to head back to the bottle sooner. And this chardonnay was spectacular.

She watched as Elixa answered the rest of their questions, not paying much attention to the people or the answers themselves but mostly finding delight in Elixa's accent. Jules found it charming, more charming than she did without a few oversized glasses of wine. When Elixa gestured to the other girl, Margo, Jules snapped back to attention and looked over at the other woman.

"Flaming buttocks?" Jules asked, an entertained grin on her face. "I'm intrigued. Please, do tell." She took another long sip of the wine, happy she finally had the opportunity to have a night like this. And she was in good company, too -- she was happy her and Elixa had kept their word to go out one night.

There was certainly a lot of emphasis on arse in this conversation, not that Margo was averse to such conversation if it wasn't about something so... strange.  Wands and arses had very little to do with one another on a regular basis, and the combination, as it seemed today, was an unfortunate thing.  Of course, it seemed that fire and arses were not unlikely companions though. 

If Elixa had been anyone else, she might have been offended by the comment.  But, Elixa didn’t really know the extent of her injuries and how scarring made a person feel, plus Margo was just a little bit drunk at this point, so she laughed and raised her eyebrows to explain what she did. 

It might be a bit of an under statatement to say Margo liked to be the center of attention.   So, when it was her turn to talk about herself, Margo sat up taller in her chair and smirked.  “I mean, only the lucky ones in my line of work get a fire lit under their arse, literally.”  She snorted and put her elbows on the table. 

“But I work with dragons,” she explained, “I know it must be a pain in the arse for you now,” she motioned to the two healers, “What with the shortages, but damn,” she shook her head.  “To hell if we know what the hell is going on.  Still working on that one.”  She shrugged.  It was a mystery as of right now, and really, Margo only worked with the little ones.  But, no one else needed to know that. 

“I’ll keep you both updated,” she pointed the rim of her beer at them before she took another swig, sitting back in her chair. 

James did notice that there was a large amount of comments about bums.  He was halfway between the point where his devil may care attitude would override his professionalism, but James had the distinct feeling he would need at least two women here in a professional capacity sooner or later so he behaved himself, though he did not want to.  Still, dragons were fascinating.  In addition to that, practically every ingredient on them was magical in some form.

"Dragons?  Magnificent fliers.  Sometimes I am tempted to quit quidditch and just fly with them.  Also extremely useful in potions, which I'm sure everyone here is aware of.  I'm slightly jealous of you getting to work with them.  So, what do you enjoy most about them?" James asked.  He did not really like turning this into a professional conversation, but he had the distinct feeling if he was not careful that he would wind up going home with one of the witches here.  Not that he particularly minded that, but he preferred to sleep with witches he did not have to see again.

As much as he hated to admit it, he had also heard some rumours through the pureblood social calendar of a fundraiser for the cause.  He had planned on going to it, but apparently the idea fizzled.  The ongoing blight probably took precedence.  James did not have anything relative to add in that professional context, so he remained silent on the subject.

Elixa hadn't realised that her question to Margo about flaming buttocks had led the witch to think about her scars. This hasn't been the Swede's intention, and she would have regretted it if she had been sober enough to realise.

"To hell if we know what the hell is going on. Still working on that one." Margo explained regarding the strange illness the dragons were coming down with. it was causing shortages in supplies of dragon parts for the hospital, which were sourced overseas as fas as possible in the meantime.

"Ah yes, tricky that. I wish I knew more of magizoology to help," Elixa sympathised, but learning to heal humans was keeping her rather occupied.

"I'll keep you both updated."

"Dragons? Magnificent fliers. Sometimes I am tempted to quit quidditch and just fly with them.." James spoke from beside her.

"You can fly with them?" Elixa asked, "Don't they try to eat you?" She looked to the others for confirmation. "Have you heard that?" She looked to Jules too.

To be honest, Jules didn't know much about dragons, nor did she care to. Of course she knew the properties of their blood and knew that there were some species that carried multiple venoms. That was her job. She really had no desire to get anywhere near a live one, but was impressed that this woman (Margo, was her name?) had the guts to do it. Jules could deal with people covered in boils or with faces so swollen they looked like burnt-up marshmallows, but large beasts were something she never liked to mingle with.

Jules had heard about the Dragon pox, and listened to Elixa respond to Margo's comment while sipping on her wine. "Please do be careful," Jules advised, the healer side of herself showing for the time being. "Many times illnesses infect humans in strange ways." She gestured to Margo's burns, most of which were healed. An open wound could do the trick, though, and the last thing they needed was an epidemic on their hands. Margo was tough, that was certain -- but Jules had seen illnesses take down people much tougher.

It was time for a more cheerful topic. She raised her brow at the comment about flying with dragons, knowing that this was something she would never want to do. "If it's possible, I'm sure someone's charging money for it somewhere," Jules commented. "You could give it a go, but I can't envision a dragon wearing a saddle." Jules smirked at the idea and drank a bit more.

Margo loved when conversation turned to her career (the actually cool part.  If she was still in the office she’d be reticent to say anyting, but she was cool again and that made all the difference).  The dragon researcher sat up a little taller, prouder, and drank with gusto.   Her glass would need some refilling in the very near future. 

“I wouldn’t fly with a dragon,” Margo replied quite emphatically to both James and Elixa.  It would not work out well for anyone involved.  “You’d just as well douse yourself in ketchup before you did,” she added with a snort, “because you’d be roasted on the toothpick one would make out of your broom.”   

The image of a roasted human on a broom toothpick was not a pleasant one.  Margo had seen worse.  Of course, there had to be an actual healer in the room because she was being warned to be careful and Margo laughed.  “If they haven’t killed me yet, I’m fairly sure I’m invincible,” she smirked and winked and finished off the liquid in her glass, promptly licking her lips after. 

Looking around, Margo raised her very empty glass to flag over the girl who needed to come fill it up, preferably in about four seconds.  “Anyone else up for another round?” she looked around the table with a devious grin.  She was just starting to feel properly buzzed, which meant the evening was just starting to ramp up. 

“Or,” she pouted (ever the expressive facial displays), “are you all going to be a bunch of mandrakes?” she smirked and looked to the waitress who had come over.  “Another of these,” she tapped on the beer glass, “and… shots? Yes. Shots. Firewhiskey, Ogden’s.” She’d order them anyway.  If someone didn’t want theirs she’d make fun of them and then take it for them. 

As the lady commented on dragons, James thought it was sound advice.  Still, it was not like quidditch coaches were noted for their sanity.  He seemed to recall an event where one of his coaches wanted them to practice dodging their breath or something.  The sad thing was, James knew the ministry was corrupt enough to make it happen.  Fortunately, it seemed like saner heads prevailed most of the time, but James was never too sure when it came to witches and wizards.

Inwardly, James wondered where Margo was when he was trying to get laid.  This much alcohol, and he was going to be a mandrake, as she so aptly put it.  Still, he knew he was going to get some grief over his decision.  He did not think this crowd would care too much, and he was always more willing to drink spirits around witches anyway.  Still, he voiced his concern.

"Sorry - I am not as cute as the rest of you.  I have to watch my girlish figure - I'm going to turn into a mandrake this round.   That said, remind me to go out with you when I do not have to be at practice the next morning," James commented.  It was a well-rehearsed lie, but it served the purpose.

Rowan had met Elixa a while back, but she had to admit the rest of the people here were strangers to her. It was of course possible that she'd met a few of them here before, when she'd been stinking drunk, but she had a tendency to not remember who was who the following morning. Rowan didn't do this sort of drinking often, but her case had been going nowhere, and somehow she'd let Elixa talk her into showing up tonight.

She sipped at her...well, she wasn't really sure what number of drink she was on, so she tried to not worry about it too much.  "Oh Merlin's beard, not more Firewhisky" she whined under her breath. That stuff was potent as all hell.  But she didn't argue, not quite ready to give in and admit she was weak.

Rowan grinned at James' words, well, more at the image of the good looking Quidditch player turning into a mandrake. Perhaps she had had too much to drink, that idea was far more amusing than it should have been.

Jules offered valid caution, who knew what a dragon illness could do to a human body. Probably make it very seriously unwell indeed.

"A saddle?!" Elixa exclaimed at her colleague's suggestion, and looked even more amazed.

Margo, as expert in this conversation pointed out that it wouldn't be a good idea at all, and Elixa wouldn't hesitate to doubt her opinion. She clapped a hand to her face and giggled a little more loudly than she might usually at Margo's description of ketchup and toothpicks.

"Anyone else up for another round?" Margo was swiftly ordering shots of Ogden's firewhiskey.

"Sorry - am not as cute as the rest of you… mandrake this round…" James confessed.

"Aww, really?" Elixa asked, and turned round, her face suddenly a lot closer to James than she had anticipated - not realising that she'd been shuffling his way during their whole conversation.

"Oops, oh well, I could always prepare you an anti-hangover potion?" But as she hiccupped, she indicated quite rightly she was in no state to brew a fresh batch!

Lurching over to extend a hand towards her auror friend, Elixa appealed to her,

"Rowan, come on, you're with us aren't you? You can't leave me and Jules alone to drink with Margo… we don't surviiiiive. Honestly, I ended up on the floor over there last time. I need company!"

"There's never enough Firewhiskey"Arianne responded with a glint in her eyes and a sly sort of smile. "And we have two very competent potioneers in our midst, mais non? I am quite certain they couldn't possibly leave any of us to suffer the atrocities of a hangover" she added with a positively sheepish smile, looking at Lucrezia from the corner of her eyes, while playing absently with her pearl necklace.

"I still don't know why I'm here" Ezia responded with a scowl, looking as dour and stiff as ever. Quelle horreur. "I'm going to blame all those fumes you're around every day for your absolutely horrifying disposition" Arianne replied with a withering look. "Drink your wine, chérie" she sighed long and rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that" muttered the Potions Mistress with a glare, finding her fingers curled around her glass before even realizing it.

"We couldn't possibly have shots without a game of some sorts, could we?" Arianne inquired slyly, with the face of complete innocence. "Oh, Merlin here it goes" Ezia groaned shaking her head, just as Aria swatted at her shoulder with a glowering look.