Lexus held the cup of coffee with both hands, holding it close to her face. She hoped the steam and smooth aroma would keep her awake. She was nearing the end of a sixteen hour shift though she wasn't entirely eager to head home. In the past few months since transferring to the large London based Hospital she had devoted almost too much of herself to her work. She often volunteered for double shifts, any excuse really, not to go home. Even when she wasn't at the hospital, she was more likely to be at a pub than her small one bedroom apartment.

Her dark Raven hair was braided down her back and she had circles under her eyes. Her complexion was a little sickly, though that was to be expected only two days after a full moon. She was thankful that her new employers were understanding. The first thing she had done, before even finding an apartment was find the nearest Ministry Sanctioned Safe House. In the long run she was only ever away from work for the one day a month and managed to work her schedule around it well enough. Some make up and a couple of Pepper Up potions helped with most of the other days leading up to and coming off of the full moon.

She looked at the pastry she had grabbed and her stomach growled in protest. She hated eating at work, she was almost always on the go but there was no use in a Healer that didn't take care of themselves. She pushed it aside, preferring not to throw up either. She promised herself a rare steak if she ever made it home once her shift was through. 

"Is, is this seat f-free?" Sandy asked Lexus. "M-may I join you?" He touched the chair on the other side of the table. He drew it out. He sat down. "Is time going slower today or is it me?" He asked. He did not want to say anything but Healer Dale looked really tired. "How are you doing?" He was on his lunch break. Lunch at the wrong time of the day. Healers ate meals when they had time.

Lexus looked up at the voice and offered what passed for a smile. She nodded to his inquiry allowing him to take a seat at the table. She was oft times joined by other healers however brief the encounters were. Breaks were never long and almost always sporadic, you didn't really have time to be picky about who you spent them with and at the end of the day it was usually nice to have company that wasn't sick or dying on you.

Lexus covered a yawn with her hand and took a sip of her coffee. It was still blessedly hot, "Time never seems to move in this place." She smirked, her accent standing out in the crowd.

She gave him a shrug. She didn't try to use his name, she wasn't entirely sure she knew it. She had only been at the Hospital for about six months now. While she knew all the healers on her own floor she was still getting used to those that worked in the rest of the hospital. If she remembered correctly he was from the floor above; Spell Damage.

"Tired." She replied simply, "We had a toddler come in who had a full head of cabbage instead hair after drinking her mother's Evergrow Gardening Potion, three with burns from exploded cauldrons, two with allergic reactions to a new beauty potion and" She paused taking another long sip of her coffee, staring into its creamy surface instead of meeting the other healer's eyes, "We lost one, young guy, accidently mixed Water Hemlock into his Salad."

Losing a patient was always a part of the job but it always hit Lexus more when it was someone who still had so much life in them.

"We cannot win them all." Sandy consoled the other healer. "He brought that on himself." He looked sorry. He was imagining the toddler with cabbage hair. It probably hurt but would look funny. He pointed his wand at his camomile tea to stir it. He was too anxious to drink normal tea and coffee.

"I have spent the last two hours preserving the remains of a lady's foot. She blew it to pieces. She has not yet been able to tell us how. She will need a false one." Sandy's ham sandwich could wait until he thought about something else. "But I discharged a patient too. Full recovery. Not all bad." Sandy gave the other healer a little smile. He held out his hand. "Sandy Misslethorpe. Are you Dale?" He asked. "Your accent." He added. Sandy spoke with a bit of a posh English accent.

Despite the subject matter being discussed Lexus allowed herself a smile. She agreed and knew full well you couldn't save them all. Being twice widowed would teach anyone that lesson but there was a sort of calming notion when it came from other healers as well. At least they were on the same page.

She nodded along as he spoke of his own patients. She was happy in her specialty, though there were still some gruesome outcomes working in potions and plant poisonings she imagined that dealing with spell damage was a lot harder on the stomach. She admired his resolve.

She offered a smile, "Full recoveries help the day go by." She thought back to the toddler. The bouncy little beast would be perfectly fine, though their hair was likely to grow in green and white for the first little while.

She took his hand and gave it a quick yet friendly shake, "Yes, Lexus. You can call me Lex. Or Dale, whichever suits you." Being a healer with mostly Auror friends she was more used to being called by her last name than her first, "I suppose the accent is a bit of a tip off." She gave him another smile. She supposed once word got out that a foreign healer had transferred to the hospital it wasn't hard to track her down.

"Yes it was a bit." Sandy said. "Nice to hear something different." He added. He smiled. "How does it compare working here?" Sandy asked. "I have never worked in another hospital." He said. "We like to think we are the best. But I do not think we are the best at everything. I bet you do not have to go see dementors in Canada." Sandy shivered. He had been too close to dementors. He had them by his house all week. Now they were gone. He was very glad. He could not tell anyone why they were there. "I treat people who have got exposed." Sandy said.

Lexus smiled. She would have laughed is she hadn't been so tired. Canadian accents sounded all the same to her, not to mention most American Accents. Unless you were from The South or East, most sounded alike. Unlike coming to the UK, there were so many different accents all in one single area. It made her head spin for the first few weeks she had been working there. She had once needed a fellow Healer to help translate a Highlander accent for her.

She shrugged, "We certainly don't have as many Dementors, a few migrated over after the population here increased during the war. " She had still been in school when the Second Wizarding War broke out. It didn't entirely affect her overseas but an increase in Dementors was one of the side effects.

"We've got plenty of other problems you don't have here though. I worked my internship in Creature Attacks before finding my calling in Potions. Ice Gnome attack are not really any different than a Garden Gnome bite but the Wendigos and Loup Garou are the most dangerous, few survive the attacks and those that do. Well, Lycanthropy is never a pleasant affliction regardless of the source of the curse."

She averted his eyes for a moment when she talked of the were problems back home. It wasn't a subject she enjoyed talking about but it was just as pertinent a social issue back home as it was here. Perhaps even more so considering radical groups like WALI.

Lexus sipped from her coffee instead, "It's more or less the same. I think it's the cultural differences that get you. I've only been here about six months and I feel like I'm back doing my residency."

"I have never seen an ice gnome." Sandy said. He wondered what it looked like. "What do you mean. The cultural differences?" Sandy asked. He did not imagine Canada was extremely different. It was not like Japan or India. Lexus spoke English. "What is the biggest difference?"

She sipped her coffee with a sigh and gave him another sleepy smile. A bit of colour rose to her cheeks. She supposed it wasn't too different from home, after a while it would be harder and harder to tell the differences. Though it was the little things that reminded her she wasn't at home.

She gave a small shrug, "It's the little things really. Procedures,  policies. Certain expressions, the food. Room temperature beer." She chuckled a bit at that one, "I did my healer training with a Native tribe back home. I learned a lot that even my own schooling couldn't have taught me. There are spells and potions that are second nature to me that Healers here have never heard of."

She felt her stomach grumble again, this time a little more quizzical of the pastry in front of her. She took a tentative nibble.

"Are you from here?  London I mean?"

"I am from Bury St Edmunds." Sandy said. "It is in Suffolk. To the North East of here." He shrugged. "I live not far from there now. Near Lowestoft. On the coast. I would not like to live in London all the time. I like the space outside of the city. Do you live in London?" He asked. "You should share your native knowledge. It is good to learn something new." He said. He would like to learn something different.

Lexus politely nodded along. It wasn't necessary to let the older man know that she had no idea where he was talking about. She had always been rubbish with Geography even in her own country let alone one she had only lived in for a few months. She had become used to London itself, along with the magical side - Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley - but even places like Hogsmeade and Godric's Hollow were still hard for her to navigate whenever she had responded to a call. She knew the more time she spent there, the easier it would become though.

"Yes I'm currently living in Diagon." She had a quaint apartment, nothing lavish. She had enough for what she needed, simple comforts. She rarely spent any time at home though. She hated the silence. She spent more time either at the Hospital or at the local pubs. It was much easier to throw herself at her work than to face a bare kitchen, a lonely livingroom an empty bed . . . She knew it'd get better eventually. One day she'd learn to move along but right now, life without Hunter was hard enough. She didn't need the constant reminders that he was gone, "I have family here in London, my uncle helped me find a place when I got transferred."

She took another sip of her coffee, "I'd be happy to share. There's a lot of potion and talismen work that goes into it. Very little wand work."

"I would be very interested to learn." Sandy said. "Perhaps you could speak to Healer Deville. Make it official. New techniques should be very welcome here." Sandy's stomach gurgled. It was safe to eat his ham sandwich now. "Sometimes we use runes. But most of the time my healing is potions and spell work. And talking. The mind can heal itself if it knows where to go. It is slow but very worthy work." He bit into his sandwich. That was better. He had not thought about how hungry he was.

Lexus hadn't expected the smile that crossed her lips. Her Aunt had once said something similar about grief. She had mentioned not being able to think of Hunter and her Aunt had encouraged her to do otherwise. The mind was powerful, the more she avoided using it to her advantage the harder things would be for her. She still had a hard time taking the advice but nonetheless it was nice to hear it from someone else as well.

"There's a lot to be said about how powerful the mind is." She ate more of her pastry and washed it down with her coffee.

"I was never very good with Runes, which is rather funny considering how good I got with Talismans but you know, not exactly the same thing." She shrugged. Although she had been a Prefect and an Honour Roll student she didn't excel in every subject. Runes was one of those subjects she had a bit of difficulty with, though once she learned to make her own talismans, the same base of magic, she did better.

"I'll have to talk with Healer Deville then," And perhaps even Head Healer Storm, she thought to herself, "It's not hard but it's not widely taught. It took us months for the community to deem us worthy of learning and really I think the only reason they allowed us was because my Partner was a descendant of their tribe." Her expression saddened for a moment. Had their engagement gone through Lexus would be twice widowed. So many secrets had died with Will that night, which was a true shame considering how the community was dwindling and the horrible treatment they were receiving from the Muggle Government. The community she had lived with had gone off the grid completely, separating themselves from all other magic users in the country.

This was a nice chat. Sandy was glad he had talked. Too often healer would just eat and not talk to anyone. He would never know about Healer Dale's skills if he had done that. He would not be as hungry but he was used to being hungry at work.
"Send me a note if you get the green light." Sandy urged Healer Dale. He put down his sandwich quickly. He folded the paper bag back. He sighed. "Duty calls." He said with a sigh. "It was good to chat Lexus." He pushed the sandwiches into his pocket. His stomach rumbled again. "Good luck with Deville."