Mihai would have said that it was a long day at work, but truth be told, all the days were long. And that was the way he preferred it. He was not an idle man, and knew very well that he would work until he was halfway into the grave. After checking up on the status of some muggles who had gotten a hold of cursed artifacts and dealing with the hospital and interdepartmental politics, he was ready to unwind with some good company.

Elixa seemed to have the right idea-- she had approached him and said something along the lines of:  "I feel like drinking good wine and not thinking about the day job. Are you with me?"

And when did Mihai ever turn down an opportunity to drink wine and not think about work with a gorgeous woman. He liked her style and her confidence. He was certain that she would provide amusing conversation, and perhaps some banter. They apparated  outside of his home, expensive bottle of red wine tucked under his arm. The interior of his home was immaculately clean-- a combination of disuse and a meticulous house elf. She did not greet them; Heeby knew that Mihai didn't want to be bothered when he got home unless something happened that he needed to know about. She was good at keeping to herself.

"I promise that I do not have any nosy housemates," Mihai said. Especially none with skunk hair, he resisted adding, a faint smile the only indication of his thoughts. Mihai had not met Elixa's flatmate, but he had heard enough from a drunken Balfour. Mihai was certain that any interaction between them would be uncomfortable at best, and tonight he did not feel like being uncomfortable. Or interrupted.

The decorations were minimal, with very few family portraits.

Mihai led Elixa up the stairs, pausing halfway up the staircase. He ran his fingers over a portion of a wall, tapped his wand and pressed until a door materialized. "I promise, I won't murder you." He teased beforeleading her to his little haven within the large home. Here, he could sit and relax when he was certain that he did needed space to unsort his scrambled mind.

The room was, clearly, much more lived in--with some book clutter and a couple older copies of The Daily Prophet, as well as some unopened letters on a table. The color scheme was warmer, with rich brown tones, deep reds, and dark hardwood floors. In the corner was a bar, as well as a radio, bookshelves, and a fancy wizard's chess set. The basics for any wizarding man cave.

He allowed Elixa to do whatever she wanted-- poking around, making herself comfortable-- while he procured wine glasses and opened the bottle of wine.

"What are we drinking to tonight?" He asked, handing her a glass before settling on the couch.

Mihai's face amongst the crowds at St Mungo's had been more than well-timed. After the day and a half at work, she was faced with an empty flat. Arc was off to do some last-minute preparations for their joint birthday outing the following day. Since they weren't setting off to the afternoon, she didn't think twice about taking up Mihai's offer to share a bottle of wine and spend at least the evening together.

The Zamperia house in St Albans was spotless. Lix didn't notice it at first, but as she followed Mihai through his home, it slowly dawned on the healer in training. Arc was a very tidy housemate generally, but Mihai's place looked like it was ready for some estate agent photography. Either he was barely here, or he had an army of house elves.

"I promise that I do not have any nosy housemates," Mihai assured her. Lix chuckled to herself.
"He'd only be jealous of us, and he's not that nosy." She shrugged and followed Mihai up the stairs, gathering her hair and straightening out the shoulders of her dress with the other hand. She'd felt like making a bit of effort since she didn't often get to spend time with Mihai these days, and she'd spent most of her waking hours in healer's robes for the past month.

They paused on the stairs and she tilted her head questionably, eyes running over their surroundings.
"I promise, I won't murder you."
"That's what they all say…" She put her hands on her hips and watched him reveal a door with curiosity. Then at once the incredibly tidy house was somewhat explained. Beyond here was homely, a preferred space. With a property so big, it was not surprising that Mihai preferred to confine his mess to one place out of common view.

She followed him in, her boots crossing the dark wood floors in his wake with shorter strides. Spotting her host was off to uncork the wine she did a brief circuit of the room, fingertips roaming along edges of bookshelves, bottom lip caught gently between her teeth. Whereas some of her closer friends might draw conclusions on Mihai's temperament, interests and history from what was in the room, Lix was more interested to glean some conversation interests and spy out if there were any sweet photographs of Mihai and perhaps a little Juni.

"Ooh. To Friday?" The witch replied, somewhat uninspired and attention distracted by pondering what she wanted to achieve out of the night. Distraction. Companionship…. fun if the mood took them of course. "To an early birthday with a wizard I should see more of." She revised, turning away. Elixa headed towards Mihai with an easy smile. "But don't be asking a lady how old she is - that'd be rude." Lowering her voice, she leaned over, not realising she gave Mihai a somewhat pleasing view with the cut of her dress, and added, "I stopped counting." She stepped back after a second or two of invading his space and turned on the spot.

"This is cosy. I was expecting some grand living room from the size of your place from the outside." She hummed to herself gently, "What made you move?" Elixa had gleaned from conversation and friends that Mihai had relocated in the not so distant past.

"To Friday?" Mihai interjected with amused skepticism, but he allowed her to finish her thought.

"To an early birthday with a wizard I should see more of."

To be frank, Mihai had absolutely no idea who she was going on about. Was her birthday coming up? It was safest to agree, so-- "To an early birthday." He said, his voice smoother than he felt. It clicked later than it should've. To be fair, her breasts were a distraction-- a welcome distraction. Mihai didn't flush like he would have when he was a young man, but he still had to play the careful game of looking without actually looking.

He took a sip of his wine-- bold and dense, but not too acidic. 

"I retired." Mihai replied easily, "And I wanted to be close to my daughter. I realized she was no longer a child, and I didn't know her as well as I wanted to. I'm not good at retirement, so I found a job."  He rubbed his temple, "It's not as much work as before-- but I can always find more to do." His eyes met hers.  "I heard you're training to be a healer now. Why?"

"Why not?" She countered his direct question, fingers lacing round her wine glass as she raised an eyebrow. "I almost was one about a decade ago, and then decided to be an apothecary. But the time is right now. Elliot's given me a chance I can't turn down."

She set off on a wander again, letting her eyes roam Mihai's den of sorts. It was clear a bloke lived here, she thought to herself, and not quite as anal about keeping things tidy like Arcturus was at their place. Her slightly messy approach to living originally drove him mad, especially as she had lived on her own before that and only herself to irritate. She could see herself being alright with this sort of room though, but undoubtedly she'd find a way of making it messy to irritate Mihai. From what they knew of each other, he had certain preferences that had to be maintained for his surroundings, and potentially his company.

"Why be an obliviator?" She asked, looking back at him with a narrowing of her eyes, studying him curiously. Her left arm looped across her waist, an amused smile curling the corner of her lips as a good natured laugh began, "To let people forget all your mistakes?"

The time was right. That answer was as good as any, and good enough to satiate his curiosity. If there was something that Mihai admired, it was ambition. And chasing after the career you desired was ambitious. Judging by her accent, she most definitely was not from the UK. There was something to be admired about people who worked and lived far away from their home countries. It could be isolating, especially when it meant being separated from your family.

Although Mihai himself had a heart full of wanderlust, home to him meant being with his parents, his siblings,his child-- all under one roof and enjoying each other's company.

"Why be an obliviator? To let people forget all your mistakes? "

"I'm good at it." He replied easily, letting out a small laugh.  He didn't want to touch on the sort of work he used to do. "I would rather keep my skills sharp instead of letting them die. And sometimes being an obliviator means giving somebody a fresh start when they needed it most. I erase their mistakes more than my own. Obliviators can;'t afford to make mistakes." He bowed his head a little, "And neither can healers." 

Curiously, he leaned forward-- elbows resting on his knees as his cradled the wine glass between his fingers.  "Where are you from? I can't place your accent." Mihai admitted. It was familiar-- one he had heard before. However, his ear for accents had always been terrible, and he spoke each language he knew with a Portuguese one.

"We just have to be perfectionists." Lix replied in a low voice, though the thought of giving someone a fresh start without their memory baggage was rather curious indeed.

"Jag är svenska - I'm Swedish." Lix explained, "You're not from here either though, if I say Spanish I fear you're going to hex me for saying a dirty word." She grinned mischievously. "My surname is a distraction, father's English, mother's Italian. I just popped out in Sweden and grew up there." She shrugged and settled, folding her legs over, ignoring the fact her dress left little to the imagination above her knee.

"You know, we offer to look after people's memories to help them heal." She posed to Mihai, looking thoughtful. "But how liberating that must be - if done properly. Those muck-ups from years past that rise to the surface of your thoughts when you least need them. How liberating and yet it might make one arrogant, a perfectly remembered life with the mistakes erased. How very odd."

Suddenly the healer in training sat bolt upright, hand extended towards Mihai, eyes wide, "Sh - sorry, I am rambling about work - both our work. This wasn't the object of coming here to drink wine. Let's talk crap about people we know or nonsense," she suggested, settling back and slipping off her shoes.

M-Language

Perfectionists. Yes. In his line of work, he had to be a perfectionist, and so did she. That was an apt way to put it.

Swedish. Sweden was a nice country, he'd been once-- ten years ago. It was for work, so there were mostly meetings, tracking people down, interrogations, and memory altering. There hadn't been much room for tourism, but Mihai had managed to find some down time, get a few drinks and meet some interesting people. His brothers teased him, saying that he had drunk and fucked his way around the world. Well, they weren't wrong.

"I'm Portuguese." He explained, "My family is in Aveiro. There's a large wizarding population there, though purist views aren't... Tolerated there. Not like here, or in many other parts of Portugal." Mihai didn't mention the Romani part of his heritage-- although he was proud, the Romani population was not treated favorably throughout the world.

"It's interesting to see how people change when parts of their memory are altered. Experiences help us define ourselves-- and when we forget that, we forget part of who we are. The more your mind is altered, the more... Mixed up you get. Even the best obliviators leave their magical mark." Mihai tried his best to focus on her words, rather than her exposed skin (even if the view was delightful.)

She was right though, they were talking work (and magical theory, really) when they could have been talking about literally anything else. This course of conversation was natural, however, between two people who dove into and prioritized their work. "Let's talk crap?" Mihai chuckled, taking out his wand and tapping their wine glasses to top off the wine. He was a secret keeper more often than someone who spread gossip. That didn't mean he enjoyed it any less.

"I heard a rumor..." He grinned, "That last year, Miranda Elliot forced all the male healers to participate in some sort of strange, sexy calendar to raise funds for the hospital." That was true, he had seen them himself at the fundraiser.  Mihai raised his glass to his lips, "My daughter claims it was Elliot's harem of men." Knowing Miranda Elliot, that was a ridiculous claim. But amusing.

"I heard a rumour…"
"A rumour?" Lix echoed, intrigued,
"… Miranda Elliot forced all the male healers to participate in some sort of strange, sexy calendar to raise funds for the hospital." She laughed at the description - she had a copy of it from the event in June last year.

"My daughter claims it was Elliot's harem of men." The laugh became more of a hoot.
"Harem of men! Oh my days." Lix replied, "That's a beautiful thought. You know she's married - I know that doesn't stop a woman, but I don't think the poor men of St Mungo's would appreciate being called Miranda's harem. Even if they were auctioned off." She tapped her lips with her fingertip in thought.

"I've hung my copy in the kitchen in the flat, we've got Flynn reclining with roses and love potion at the moment. Arc pretends it's not there, but you know…" She winked knowingly, "… hard to miss a good looking guy in the kitchen. Don't tell me," she pointed to Mihai, smirking, "you did and obliviator calendar, but no-one can remember." She recrossed her legs and narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at Mihai.

"Now, what month would you be - and what pose… hrmm. Are you a flowers sort of man or perhaps you'd be the sort to not go for props, perhaps from behind, hands on hips boldly staring out a garden door in a summer month…"

He knew very well about that calendar. Healer Hughes had boasted about being "Mr. February" quite loudly to anybody he could talk to. Mihai himself, included. Hughes was an odd man. He supposed it ran in the family-- after all, Auror Hughes was just as, if not more, peculiar.

Healer Hollingbury was not somebody that Mihai had actually met, though he was close friends with Balfour. As somebody who enjoyed taking sides and causing trouble, he actively wanted to dislike Healer Hollingbury. He seemed so... Uptight. Boring. Controlling. Like healers could be. The idea of a calendar unnerving him was amusing, and Mihai let out a hearty laugh.

Then, Elixa-- clever witch she was-- turned the conversation onto what kind of sexy-calendar-man he would be. Mihai was both flattered and just a little bit uncomfortable, shifting in his seat. His dark eyes widened in surprise, though he quickly reined himself in and relaxed, "Or on a chair, legs crossed-- with a cigar in one hand and a glass of bourbon in the other."  He suggested, thankful that his face did not blush easily. 

In truth, Mihai did not spend time looking at sexy photographs, regardless of whether or not they were on a calendar, and he struggled to think of a response to Elixa. She had imagined him in a scenario-- it was his turn.

And he was drawing a blank.

"And in your calendar..."  He said, more confidently than he felt, "Potions."  Potions? Potions?!  "A beautiful witch, in a cauldron."  Mihai amended, eyes crinkling as he smiled. There. That was better than 'potions.'

"Or on a chair, legs crossed-- with a cigar in one hand and a glass of bourbon in the other.” Mihai suggested. Lix’s eyebrows shot up, her eyes wide. Her wine glass found a home on a nearby surface so she could use both hands.
“Yes! I can picture that - though maybe, maybe I might need to just have you demonstrate and then frame it, just so save it up here…” she extended both hands towards Mihai as she spoke, mimicking the edges of a photo frame with her fingers. She tapped the side of her head with a wink. There were more than a few images saved up there for opportune private moments.

"And in your calendar… Potions.” Lix licked her lips and caught the bottom one between her teeth, eyebrows heading towards each other in thought as he tried to explain, "A beautiful witch, in a cauldron.”
“Am I being cooked alive?” Elixa cackled, amused but not directly poking fun of Mihai. “Perhaps like Aphrodite - Botticelli’s Birth of Venus[1] only with a cauldron not a sea shell. Charm my hair a little longer,” she pulled her hair around her neck and placed a hand across her bosom and the other down to her legs in the pose from the painting.

“Uhhh,” Lix sighed deeply, scooping up her wineglass. “I’m going on an adventure tomorrow[2] with two geeks,” she explained to Mihai, “I don’t know where we’re going, but I know we’re ice skating and having dinner in Slandermouth if we get back from wherever we’re going. I picked the ice skating you see, Johann got the where - so could be Japan for all I know. You ever been there? I can’t help but imagine I might fit in there - what with the average height…”

Lix swigged her wine and curled a lock of hair around her finger, eyes not leaving Mihai.
“Where’s the craziest place you’ve travelled?”

1.	The Birth of Venus
2.	5 February 2011 You Don’t Get Older You Get Better II

Cooked alive?! He hoped not!

Her laugh was infectious, and he couldn't help but chortle along with her, shoulders shaking. Once he settled down, she posed like the Botticelli painting. Cheeks still tinted red from the laughter (and the wine), he admired her little miniature rendition of it.

"Like Aphrodite." He agreed, "A perfect fit for you."  But she was ready to move on to a different subject. She was going on a trip, with two geeks. Johann, obviously. He was the geekiest person Mihai knew. Then, who, was the other one? Balfour? Possibly, if Joh was there. Maybe the skunk-haired flatmate of hers. There was some awkward history there, between him and Joh. Mihai had heard from Bal that they were trying to be friends. He lukewarmly wished them the best of luck with that.  Even with that ridiculous healer-ex situation.

The evil part of him hoped that the trip was awkward enough to make a funny story to tell later.

"The craziest place I've ever travelled?" There were many he could remember, and many that he couldn't. The difficulty here was figuring out what her definition of 'crazy' was. There were also some places he simply, was not allowed to talk about. Unbreakable vows were not worth breaking.

"Canada." He replied easily, "A moose attacked me." Mihai paused to explain. "My brother, Andres and I were in Canada to get a cousin out of trouble with... Ah, some of the aurors there. Later, we got drunk and decided that it was a good idea to wander. We got lost. We found a territorial moose." Mihai's smile reached his eyes, "Or, the moose found us. It had knocked the three of us to the ground and kicked the shit out of us for longer than necessary." He hung his head in mock shame. "We had our wands. But an unarmed, non-magical beast nearly killed us. Took our pride with it, too." Mihai's eyes met Elixa's, "But not for long." Zamperias were proud people.

"We joke, that Emlian has fucked around the world. Andres drank around the world. " Him? He did both. He took a sip of his wine before setting it back down on the coffee table.

"Is there any place you want to go?" Mihai asked, "Excluding Canada?" He had half a mind to take her there, wherever it was.

”Canada.”
“Canada?"
"A moose attacked me.”

Lix’s eyes momentarily boggled at Mihai. Canada?! That didn’t seem all that crazy to her, but clearly there was more to the story to back up this claim. Mihai seemed a very well travelled person to her - something about the way he spoke and the house. Canada wasn’t what she was expecting him to say at all.

She leaned forward, wine cradled in her fingers as he recounted the tale of the moose. It sounded vicious - three wizards with their wands and it took them out. Either they were as bad as the elk or they weren’t in a state to deal with it.
“And you?” She asked, raising an eyebrow - Mihai’s silence on the matter and the way his expression changed suggested he had just as much fun, if not more so. For a moment, she wasn’t entirely sure she believed the story about the moose, or this. Mihai was being polite? Or something else, she couldn’t put her finger on it, but her gut told her not to press further.

"Is there any place you want to go?”

“South America - I’ve read about this place in Bolivia, the world’s largest salt flat - so large you can’t see where the sky ends and the ground begins - it looks like you’re walking in the sky. Salar de Uyuni -“ Lix tried to phonetically sound it out. “And there’s Machu Picchu - and so much more. I just haven’t ever been there, and whenever I see photographs of it - it is so different and the healing knowledge that comes out of the Amazon and- uuuh. It’s like a whole other world.” Her gaze had dropped to the coffee table between them as she gesticulated, but raised again to Mihai the other side. “You’re going to tell me you’ve been and it’s awful now aren’t you?"

She seemed suprised that his story was about Canada of all places. "We were drunk. Very drunk. There's not much to do in Canada except explore the woods and drink." Mihai added. His brother hadn't learned his lesson. The very same thing happened to him not two months later, but in Alaska. Andres wasn't always a smart man.

"There's very few places in the world that I think are not worth visiting." Mihai admitted, "But Salar de Uyuni is gorgeous. Everybody should visit, if they have the chance. But, one of the best sights I've ever seen is the aurora borealis. Up in Canada, if you're in a remote area on a clear night, you get to see these beautiful lights in the sky." It was then that he realized that Elixa had likely seen similar sights-- in Scandinavian countries, the aurora borelalis was also visible. He wondered how differently they looked in Sweden.

Mihai gave Elixa a slow smile, "How about we go to Bolivia and you can see Salar de Uyuni yourself? If you want to go, then go." He felt the tug of adventure, the world calling out to him to discover its' secrets and hidden gems. It brought the beginning to one of his favorite poems to mind:

Beyond  the East the sunrise, beyond the West the sea,
And East and West the wander-thirst that will not let me be.

”… one of the best sights I've ever seen is the aurora borealis. Up in Canada, if you're in a remote area on a clear night, you get to see these beautiful lights in the sky.”
“Now those I can agree with -“ Lix replied with a wide grin. “I never grow tired to watching the Northern lights, well, until I am actually tired and fall asleep on someone. My family always loved to head north at home for winter to enjoy the snow and the skies.”

"How about we go to Bolivia and you can see Salar de Uyuni yourself? If you want to go, then go.”

Elixa was taken aback, mostly because MIhai wasn’t just suggesting she went to Bolivia, but that they went. Fair enough she’d gone abroad with friends with Durmstrang (one of them being Johann) after they finished their studies, but it had been a big group of guys and they’d planned it in their final year. Her travel since had mostly been professional and the odd spontaneous visit to see friends beyond holidaying. She’d never had a particular travel companion, what with her ever changing romantic and non-romantic partners. It wasn’t as if Mihai had suggested they go for dinner, or nip up to Edinburgh or something, it was Bolivia. Admittedly with the international floo, for magical people it wasn’t quite such a time to travel, but still, Bolivia!

“I-“ she began, trying to find the words, the reasons, “you’re right, I should. But what’s holding me back is a sense of obligation - I’ve got one last chance in Britain to be a healer, and I need to make that my priority - in terms of time and location I mean. But as soon as I can take a break - hell yes. I would love that, Mihai. You strike me as a very world-wise sort, even if you’ve never elaborated, but well, this may be the wine and your charming self-confidence, but I feel we’d have more than a good time.” She sipped her wine and ran the tip of her tongue over her lips, gaze lingering with Mihai’s as she pictured it.

“But no great fun going where you’ve been, we should go somewhere you haven’t too.”

He understood obligation holding her back. She wanted to make something of herself, as a healer. And that took dedication. Mihai's own dedication to his previous career was the reason he got to travel so much-- but working at St. Mungo's didn't exactly offer that opportunity.

"As soon as you can take a break then." Mihai replied, a devilish grin reaching his eyes as he sipped at his wine. Charming self-confidence. She flattered him, and fed his ego. Not that he necessarily needed it. His friends could make the case that perhaps, Mihai was more arrogant than confident. He didn't find any reason that arrogance was a bad trait unless it was undeserved. He believed that he earned his arrogance (despite what his sister said).

"Travelling with me is never boring." He insisted, though she moved on to places he'd never been.

He raised a dark brow and let out a short laugh, "Alright then, after we go to Boliva... Let's see Vaadhoo Island. I hear their ocean is full of lights." Mihai tilted his head towards Elixa inquisitively, "Have you been?"