Nona side-eye'd her friend, brow furrowed together as the other witch talked. Could it really have been that basic, that simple? Just missing the physical and not any of the rest of it? Had she twisted things around in her head? It was entirely possible of course, Nona could overstep on occasion (in the back of her mind she thought of the spat with Balfour and felt another pang). Sometimes in trying to imagine people complexly you could imagine too much maybe.

"If that's what it is," Nona spoke carefully, trying to find the words "then why don't you just do something about it"? The answer couldn't be that simple could it? Joni couldn't really think spending all her time working and learning would fill the gap of human contact, could she? Nona wasn't exactly sure what all the fuss was about then. If you had an itch the obvious answer was to just scratch it. Merlin knew she did, but then Nona had funny ideas about love in general maybe.

"I don't know what I want you to say! I thought there was this whole hidden depth to your suffering! If I had known you were just looking for a piece of ass I'd have ordered you a stripper," she was joking of course but maybe it wasn't the best time. Raking her fingers through her hair she sighed, "or at least worn a skirt so you could check me out". She couldn't seem to help herself, but this problem seemed so much more manageable than the quiet suffering she had thought Joni was dealing with. This problem involved wearing short skirts and going to Rover's Fancy. The other problem required talking and ice cream and crying. This was much preferable really.

There was more pain than just the loss of intimacy, but Jo had accepted that pain a long time ago – when it was fresh and raw and everything hurt – and it had all scabbed over by now. Every so often she picked at the scab and allowed herself to bleed in private, but it was very normal- not the repressed suffering that Nona was convincing herself was buried beneath the surface. Frankly, the most intense pain had come (and still came) from the belief that there was something rotting and horrible at her core that had turned her lover off once he knew her well enough to discover it. It wasn't an active hurt, however, and nothing that Nona said could transform a witch like Jonquil, who didn't put much stock in feelings, into an emotional fountain. She had other concerns. Other goals. If you fail at something, you move on to the next thing. That was how she'd always been, and since this was her first failed serious, long-term relationship, she didn't think there was any need to approach it differently than she had every other venture she'd undertaken over the course of her entire life. She'd done her crying already. Now it was time to fix the problem in front of her. That was all she could do. It was what she'd always done.

If fixing it was as easy as going out in public and spreading her legs, she would have done that by now – but it was still a very new breakup, and Jonquil was still a very young, very green healer who was having enough trouble being taken seriously without the addition of a reputation. She was an academic, and she was supposed to be a professional... and the wizarding world wasn't as large as it sometimes seemed. Not only that, but she liked having a committed partner.  It wasn't just sex she was looking for but, honest to god intimacy. “Casual sex, you mean?” she spoke at Nona's suggestion to do something about it. “I've thought about it,” she admitted, “And I've come close. When I was in the Netherlands the other week? But I didn't want casual Dutch sex. I want someone who's going to treat me right in the morning, and the morning after that.”

Nona's comment about the stripper earned her a wicked look... but the look she followed up with in response to her next comment was even wickeder. It was very clear, and had long been very clear, that the two thought about sex and relationships differently – only with one woman in a committed relationship and the other free to mingle, it had been a very long time since they were honestly on the same page. “If I could be in love with you, darling, I would in an instant,” she told her friend, “But you lack some of the assets I'm looking for in a partner.” With a sigh, she sought out her wine glass, taking it up and taking a generous sip.

“I've never really dated. I don't think I'd like it,” she admitted, “It seems time consuming.”