Lexus rubbed at her eyes as she entered the Tearoom. She had finally stepped away from her work and was surprised to see the sun had come up. She wasn't even sure how long she had been working in the Potions lab. She had been throwing herself into her work so much lately that she was more and more frequently losing track of time. She didn't mind though, it wasn't as though she had anyone waiting for her back home and keeping busy helped keep her sane. Besides even three to four months into the project, her Department was still new and the Hospital needed fresh potions on a daily basis. It wasn't as if she had any lack of work.

She came up to the counter and ordered a tea and a donut. She wasn't likely to eat again for several hours and the boost of sugar was sure to keep her awake. She didn't even bother entertaining the notion of sleeping. You can sleep when you're dead, wasn't that how the expression went?

She thanked the clerk as she was handed her order and scanned the small eatery to see if there was any place to sit. This early in the morning it was mostly staff taking up the tables. A few witches and wizards in street clothes were likely those who had family in the Hospital for 'extended' visits. Part of her missed the daily grind of treating patients but she felt she was better suited to where she was now. Brewing potions had always been her specialty and she was still saving lives. She also had time every so often while the potions sat to consult on cases when she was needed.

Lexus took a bite of her donut, there didn't seem to be anywhere free, not that she was against standing to eat in all fairness.

Tia had only come into the hospital this morning to collect her monthly order of Wolfsbane - she was not a skilled enough Potioneer to risk making it on her own and (outside of last year's poisonings) St.Mungo's was always reliable! Still, she didn't really like being in hospitals. With her sunglasses propped up in her hair, Adrestia wasn't exactly dressed for a hospital visit.

But it wasn't her fault that today was supposed to be a warm day! Plus, no talks to give at the museum later, so Casual Wednesday it was.

Or it would be after she quickly grabbed something at the tearoom. "Coffee to go aaaaand that last pain au chocolat?" she paid at the counter, chipper. Mm. Chocolate for breakfast. She turned to find somewhere to sit but it was super crowded. Tia gravitated towards another witch in the same predicament.

"Is it always like this in the mornings?" she asked, biting into her pastry and smiling at the Healer. "I'mf Tfia Gampf." the introduction came out muffled by chewing.

Lexus glanced over at the woman that had addressed her. She certainly wasn't staff but she also seemed to be in too good of spirits to be visiting a patient. At least not this early. Most of those not in healer robes spread through the tearoom looked tired and run down as if the weight of the world was sitting on their shoulders. Tia's lack of such intrigued her.

"Most mornings. You just have to catch it at the right time." Lexus spoke in her natural accent, insinuating that this was not the right time to catch a free table.

She simply nodded in regards to the greeting, "Dale." She offered in return. Had her hands not been full with her breakfast she would have offered a shake.

"Visiting a patient Tiffia?" She inquired, doing her best to copy Tia' s own mispronounciation of her name.

            "Visiting a patient Tiffia?"

Adrestia laughed, glad she had swallowed her big bite of pastry. She forgot that most people in this room were either Healers, patients, or visiting patients. It was weird being a healthy person in a hospital!

"No. Just here to collect some Wolfsbane," she answered with a shrug. "Or I'm going to be royally screwed on Saturday. Nothing like a bad transformation to ruin a weekend, you know what I mean?" There was no easy way to out yourself as a werewolf to anyone but Tia tried to be casual about it. Not like lying was a better option in this case anyway.

She took a healthy sip of her coffee, careful not to burn her lips, and then considered Dale. "You working around the clock? You got panda eyes."

Lexus nodded ignoring the pickling hairs on the back of her neck. Despite the many years she had been afflicted Lexus didn't spend much time around other werewolves. She hadn't exactly been avoiding them and it wasn't as if she had never met another, she simply moved in different circles.

"I know that feeling all too well." She gave the woman a quick once over. The look she was used to receiving herself when others learned of her condition. It was the look to see if there were any visible scars or any other indications of the person being different.

"Are you not being supplied by a safe house?" Lexus had been using a Ministry Approved safe house since moving overseas. Being registered could be tricky business though - especially when immigrating to another country. Lexus however had been brewing her own Wolfsbane for years and didn't think much on how others got their supply. The batches she had made for the hospital itself were usually used in house.

She rubbed at her face, "Life of a healer I suppose. I just recently got transferred to a new department. Suppose I'm just trying to make a good impression."

She sipped her drink before offering, "I could likely help you though. Shouldn't be too hard since I'm one of the ones making the potions." She gave a soft smile, feeling rusty with her social skills.

Tia recognised the way Lexus was appraising her - she was looking for a scar, although she wouldn't find one. Hers was on her hip and she only let it show when the weather was really warm. Crop-top warm. For now, she only smiled at the other werewolf to show her that she didn't mind the once-over.

            "Are you not being supplied by a safe house?"

"No, I started taking Wolfsbane before my safe house introduced suppliers." Adrestia shrugged drinking her coffee. "Kind of used to the routine anyway. I actually got my supply for this month with last month's, but there was a fire accident with my potions cabinet so..." she trailed off guiltily and bit into her pastry.

Wolfsbane had to be taken every day of the week leading up to the full moon. Tia had accidentally destroyed her supply in a fire-juggling attempt and only had enough for the first few days. Hence, hospital. Her expression brightened up when Lexus mentioned she was the hospital brewer.

"Oh wow, that must be super handy." Tia grinned, wishing she was skilled enough to make her own. "Would you mind helping? I could just go down to the apothecary like usual if you're too tired."

Lexus eyes widened at the mention of a fire, "Fire?! Are you okay?!" Panic was evident in her voice but she was both a potioneer and a healer. Fires were dangerous on their own but having your potion supply go up in flames was like dousing it in alcohol. There was a surprising amount of potions that were flammable even if their individual ingredients weren't. Fire and Magic didn't always mix.

Judging by the guilty expression the other girl gave however it seemed it may have been more than just a simple 'accident'. Thankfully she appeared unharmed. Or perhaps she had already been treated and she preferred to not think about the incident. Lexus could sympathize to an extent. Before securing the position on the Potions team, she had worked in the Potions and Poisonings department. Burns were an everyday injury she had dealt with.

She waved her off, sipping her coffee, "It's no worry at all. I could use the friendly company after All." Lexus wasn't the most social person herself but when the main other potioneer she worked with was the severely anti-social Draco Malfoy, well it was safe to say not much talking was done.

"Was there anything else you needed? How much did you lose in the Fire?"

            "Fire?! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine!" Tia laughed, touched by the concern, "Fire juggling accident. You know how it is."

Healer Dale seemed really nice and willing to help her, even. It was sweet when people actually wanted to help when it came to these things - sometimes they just ignored her when she talked or complained about werewolf stuff, because it made them uncomfortable. Which was a stupid excuse.

"I only lost what I need until the next moon," she replied with a blush. "So, today's dose up until the weekend. Thank you so much for helping, I was worried they were going to ask a bunch of questions."

Legislation and Wolfsbane potion use still had its snags. They had to be careful, to make sure registered werewolves weren't pretending to lose stock so that they could sell or supply it to unregistered werewolves. Adrestia didn't approve of selling the stuff illegally but she always thought that Wolsfbane should go where Wolfsbane was needed, regardless.

Lexus looked at her sceptically. The witch talked as if Fire Juggling was an everyday thing that most people engaged in. She couldn't think of any point in her life it was a activity she (or any others, for that matter) casually engaged in. Then again, to each their own? She wasn't really in a position to scold the witch about it. She wasn't her healer and so long as no one got hurt . . . perhaps she could simply warn against doing it near her potions and supplies in the future.

Lexus gave a soft smile and began to lead her out of the small tea room, "No need to worry. Shouldn't be much of a problem. Especially if I'm helping." She gave a sympathetic look as the other witch was worried about being asked too many questions. She had learned that registration here was highly monitored with several consequences for those that were unregistered. However it was still better than back home.

As she led Adestria to the Potion rooms she added, "Questions we can deal with. They're much easier than where I come from. Nearly every werewolf is treated like a criminal, regardless of how they become infected and what they do with it. You're assigned an officer from the MLE for life - they're the only ones allowed to administer your wolfsbane, and they're responsible for getting you to a safehouse each month." She looked back to Adestria, "At least they finally outlawed Pelt Hunting."

Adrestia felt like the day was beginning under a lucky star - the Healer wasn't full of questions and seemed eager to help her! She followed the other woman away from the tea room, stuffing the last of the pain au chocolat into her mouth as they walked. Tia was washing this down with coffee when Lexus started talking about Werewolf legislation in her country of origin.

            "At least they finally outlawed Pelt Hunting."

What in Merlin's name?? She felt her food go down like a cold block of ice in her stomach. That sounded hellish. The idea of having everything about her Lycantrophy monitored and administered....

"Where are you from?" Adrestia asked, concerned. "You sound American," she added with a frown. America was a big country and although it was a huge part of pop culture, she didn't exactly know a lot about how they ran things over there. They even had different names for muggles and things.

Lexus looked to the other witch as she navigated through the halls of the Hospital until they came to a lift, "Not far off. I'm from Canada." Once they were in the lift she pressed a button to take them to the floor that housed their potions.

"Werewolves aren't native to Canada, so to speak. They came over with the European Witches and Wizards while Settling and have a long and bloody history there. We're treated like an invasive species." There were many tales of the Loup-Garou terrorizing early settlers of Muggles. Lexus had even read legends about Wizards offering their services to muggles as Werewolf killers. It was suspected that those early hunters were the ones that had started the 'tradition' of pelt hunting. While fascinating to learn about it all made her stomach turn.

"I moved here last October." She offered as a way to change the subject, even though the circumstances of why she had immigrated was just as bloody, "My uncle works for the Ministry here. He helped make the transfer possible." Though she didn't doubt she could have found a job under her own merits, it didn't hurt having family in high places.

Canada! But.... Canadians were so nice. Adrestia felt a bit naive thinking that. Maybe they had better manners in Canada but that didn't mean they were any less cruel when it came to prejudice and discrimination. Cruelty was a species-wide trait. Every society practiced it in some form or another.

Luckily, Lexus changed the subject as they entered the lift that would take them down. "Last October? So you haven't been here for long." Tia sipped her coffee, mulling this over.

It was super hard to move to a different country and start over. Even harder if you're a werewolf! She wondered if the Healer had many friends or much of a social life - London was great but finding a place to settle down was tricky, especially when it came to making a new social circle.

"I work at the museum," she offered - the lift made a soft ding! and they got off at the potions floor. "Mostly with cartography. But I'm also a werewolf mentor for level four."

Tia smiled a little shyly, because it wasn't a fact she advertised to people who worked outside of the Ministry. "Do you know about our mentorship program and support groups? Not to sound like a walking advertisement or anything," she laughed.

"Not too long but thankfully work has kept me busy." She offered another smile and exited the lift as the doors opened. She started to head down the hall to their final destination, "the museum must be fascinating to work in." Though it hadn't been her best subject, History had always fascinated her and she fondly remembered visiting Museums with her parents as a child before learning about her Magical abilities.

She shrugged slightly, "Can't say I have, to be honest. I don't do too much outside the Hospital. I have friends on Level Two though. Hunter, my uh Husband," she hesitated slightly, "he used to be an Auror here before we first met. I've been working with their IDREAD division." Lexus had become a first responder Healer not long after moving overseas.

"What does your program do?"

Working with I.D.R.E.AD sounded super serious, so Tia was appropriately impressed. Lexus and her husband sounded like an ideal pair: Auror and Healer couple! One to hunt and the other to heal. Except she said he used to be. That sounded ominous. If someone used to be an auror they either quit because of something bad, were fired, or.... or they never really stopped until their last breath.

            "What does your program do?"

"Oh! A bunch of things," she forced herself back into the conversation and away from her grim suspicion. "We do support groups and one-to-one sessions, just making sure new werewolves know there are people who care. Lots of resources too. The Remus Lupin library, if you've heard of it?" Tia explained cheerfully as they came to stop in front of a door. "And we try to help people find jobs in werewolf friendly establishments."

There were more and more of those popping up, thanks to their case workers. Tia found that it was tricker for vampires to find jobs, on account of their fluctuating daytime hours and morbid food source.

She glanced at Lexus as the Healer let them into the potions room. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry but - your husband. Is he... is he not around anymore?" Tia had to ask, before she put her foot in her mouth at a later point.

Lexus gave a brightened smile, "that sounds like fantastic work. I only wish something had existed when I was first infected." Though Lycanthropy was a magical affliction Lexus had a hard time not thinking of it in more muggle terms. There was plenty of Muggle folklore about it being a curse but as the legends modernized it was now looked at like an infectious disease. Which to be fair, especially as a healer, was easier to process than a magical curse.

As they entered the potions store room she gave a wave and smile to the worker inside before checking the shelves for what they had come in for. She was slightly taken aback by Tia's question. She had a far away look to her as she paused. Though it was coming up on a year, it still felt raw. She finally turned back to her companion and gave a soft smile that didn't do enough to hide her grief, "Comes with the territory I'm afraid." Even though Hunter had all but retired and had become an instructor for the next generation of Aurors, there was always the threat that something would go wrong and he'd be called into action once more, "He died a hero Though." There was small comfort in that but she had been reminded of it time and again. Had he not been There, there would have been far more casualties.

She turned back to the shelves and grabbed a bottle of Wolfsbane, "Ah, here we are. How much did you need again?"