It was Friday! Thank Merlin! And by some miracle she was off early! Well, she had work to do, not a huge amount, it was due Monday so she figured it was okay to have an evening off, she hadn't been home for maybe...three days? Its a good thing she never got a pet, firstly her landlady didn't like pets being there, and then it was most pets wouldn't be good for being around, dogs would bark, birds would likely get eaten, same as mice and hamsters, turtles would turtles and cats weren't idea when she was also a cat. She had a houseplant! But that died, so she got a cactus...which also died of dehydration...so now she has a self watering cactus! And hopefully that will survive.

What she really wanted to do, was go to bed. She wanted a long relaxing bath, but that wasn't a great idea when she was tired, so long sleep, make food, eat it, have some gillyweed, get in a relaxing bath. She needed to take stock of her supply at some point...But that wasn't what she was doing, yet. She may still get to do that stuff tomorrow like baths and getting high, although she had a supply of catnip somewhere...she hid it to make it harder to find, then lost it.

But tonight just so happened both her and Tessa were free! So all that was on hold, it was rare for her and Tessa to be free together now, especially around the full moon, although that was a week or so ago now, and both of them were free! With Tessa off fighting Werewolves, and herself sitting in rooms and fetching coffee. So far Auror life had not been exactly as she thought, for a start there were less snacks.

Gris sat in a booth in Calaveras, perhaps not finely dressed, she was certain others would want her to dress more refined, but she had on a nice pair of jogging trousers, a good set of trainers and a hoodie sized mens large so that she could always be warm and comfy, even if her arms didn't always get all the way down the sleeve before being absorbed by the size of it.

She had already ordered a couple of drinks, not entirely sure what Tessa would like she just went for a couple rum and cokes for now, if Tessa didn't like it then she can have it so it was win-win either way. She kept glancing about the place as best she could, booths were hard but it gave them more privacy! And she figured both could do with a little break from everyone else.

She jumped up and waved at a blond person entering. "Teeeesssaaaaaa!" She cheered happily, then quickly ducked and hid in the booth again, pulling the hood over herself and enveloping in the soft embrace of the hoodie. "Not Tessa, was not Tessa." She muttered and glanced over, they seemed not to notice. She jumped up again upon seeing what she was pretty sure is actually her. "TESSIE!"

The first couple Fridays following a full moon were always fair game to leave early, and so Tessa had left the office a little early to head home and change before meeting her friend.  After the shock of December's full moon and the tragedy that had greeted them a month later in January, everyone on Level Four had been relieved that February lunar apex had been quiet.  Tessa even suspected that Bagnold, who usually only seemed happy when he had something to complain about, had been allayed by their uneventful patrol.

Gris was hardly the sort to dress up for a night out, even with friends, but Tessa hadn't been able to wait to shed her work robes and change into a black dress.  She'd barely said hello to her mother before she was on her way and out the door again, with a short apparition over to Calaveres.

The club was already starting to get crowded by the time she got there, but it didn't take long to spot Gris's gray hair tucked away in a booth.  Tessa hurried over, flashing her friend a fierce grin as she slid onto the seat opposite her.

"I can't believe it's finally the weekend!" she said elatedly, unfolding herself from her cloak and tossing it down onto the cushion next to her a bit melodramatically. 

There was plenty that she might have said -- it felt like forever since she'd seen her Hufflepuff housemate outside of a few passing moments in a Ministry hallway -- but the most important thing to start with was clearly getting a drink.  Luckily, her old classmate seemed to have already had that covered.

"Oh, is this for me?" she asked, not waiting for a response as she plucked the extra rum-and-coke up and extended it across the table to her friend, in an offer to clink glasses.  "Cheers, Gris.  To not letting the working world get in the way of us finally catching up again!"

Gris smiled warmly as Tessa arrived, having been correct at the second one, she thought she would be. She made herself at home quickly and started drinking immediately, slight disappointment at not having two drinks for herself now, but happy that Tessa did seem to like the drink, it made ordering easier, atleast until cocktails, they were going to have them right? She hoped so.

She nodded along with her statement, letting off a soft sigh in agreement, and a joking smirk at the question of the drink. "It is, however as a member of the law I may need to ID you." She rested back in the booth, all comfy in the hoodie and looking ready for a nap already. But certainly happy to be out and about, taking a sip of her own drink along with her, having used a charm on the straw she was given to extend it for just this occasion.

She was genuinely happy that Tess had made it, it would of looked creepy her by herself with lots of empty glasses otherwise, and it would of been upsetting for her friend to never show up. But more importantly just to hang out, she had some questions for her also, firstly to make sure she was still okay after the previous full moon, and to see if she had a good drink since then. As its seemed almost non stop at Level 4, and she's met some of her work colleagues, she felt the need to rescue Tess from them.

"I'm looking forwards to a weekend of nothing. You have plans?" She asked inbetween another sip through the straw. "Oh and how have you been? This month seems to have been smooth so far. If you don't include the fact your boss is a right dick." She was still terrified of visiting Level 4 after she got shouted out of the WCU office for 'using up valuable office time' or some such nonsense, it was Gris's coffee break!..maybe not Tessa's though.

She shuffled a bit to get into her pockets. Tessa should of joined the Auror's! Sure she would of joined earlier, but then she knew a couple of people from Hogwarts that had joined before her! She and Tess could of hung out more, but she joined the one with trendier outfits, the whole black leather look was rather good, especially compared with boring robes. Although she doesn't prefer Tess's boss at all so thats sort of a downside to the cool clothes.

"You're doing next round so savour the drink, I'm thinking Sex on the Beach.[1] You, me, we can knock it out quite easily." She gave a little smug look, proud of her dumb joke attempt as she added. "Pitcher, of course."

1.	Included recipe incase anyone doesn't know the best cocktail ever made but doubtful anyone doesn't.

Tessa laughed, flashing her friend a brilliant grin.  Bagnold's intimidation factor wore off once you'd spent enough time around him to get used to the constant griping, but Gris had never forgiven him for shouting at her after she'd pressed her luck and come down to visit one too many times.  Tessa was doubtful that there weren't any Aurors who were just as scary, but Gris was still a fairly green trainee.  Maybe she'd only had to deal with the nice ones so far.

"I've been all right," she said with a shrug, lifting her drink.  She pushed the straw out of the way with her pinky, choosing instead to sip directly from the glass.  "This full moon was much quieter than the last two.  I think Bagnold's just putting me out of the way now; I had to spend the whole time watching some safe house out in the middle of nowhere to make sure no one broke in."

It certainly felt like she'd been sidelined since December.  She'd even tried to question Gervais Bellingham about it, but the older Capture Unit member had made up some excuse and fled the conversation without giving her a real answer.  At least she could rest assured that it wasn't just her: she'd noticed that Charlie Harris and Fauna Blake, too, didn't seem to be getting the most exciting of assignments ever since they'd all been involved in the confrontation with Cináed Tawse at the London Zoo.[1].

That wasn't something that she needed to linger on now though, she thought as she sipped at the rum-and-coke.  She was here tonight to spend time with her friend and maybe get into an adequately-sized dose of trouble in the process.

At Gris's joke about her obligation to buy the next pitcher, Tessa gave an appreciative laugh, shooting her a smirk.  "I see how it is," she teased, as she set her glass down on the table.  "You should have been here with me last time, Gris.  There was a bloke at the bar who was must've practically emptied out his Gringotts vault, he bought so many rounds."

1.	December 11, 2011 - Cold Moon

Someone had emptied their Gringotts drinking? She understood people did, but surely Calaveras was not the place for that, that seemed more like a thing for Leaky Cauldron or Hogs Head, or atleast those seemed like the places for miserable people to spend their days away, or if not miserable atleast old, ancient almost...Like Knox maybe, or Bagnold, both were old. She was certain Mcgonagall was classy enough to have the occasional wine and just relax at home with a book, or sleeping all day. That was the life...

"Was he cute?" She asked gently, giving a look over Tessa for any sight of embarrassment, she doubted Tessa would go for anything like that, but she knew herself certainly would. Who doesn't love someone just buying everyone drinks left right and center? She'd listen to dirty comments or bad attempts to hit on her if she was given enough drinks to survive it all.

"Atleast you had an easy full moon, means don't have to be in life threatening danger." She took a further sip of her drink and smiled, Tessa is totally paying for a pitcher, she better order the right thing though, who knows what weird cocktails are here, or if she'll try giving her something disgusting that only Tess likes, she wouldn't put it past her at all and likely she deserved it. "Plus the attack was on a safehouse so risk of another one being hit is high."

"Sounds nicer then work I've been doing anyway.." She mumbled in slight annoyance as she set herself to sit up properly and lean forwards from her half sleep position. Most of her own work the past few weeks had been down to filing paperwork or getting coffees, she thinks she'd almost memorized the Alohomocha menu off by heart now.

Tessa's fair features didn't lend her much help when it came to concealing her emotions.  At Gris's question -- "Was she cute?" -- her face immediately turned red.  Pressing her lips together, she quickly scooped up her glass and took another, much longer drink.  Lochlainn O'Keeffe hadn't talked to her once since she'd awkwardly extracted herself from his flat the morning after.  Cute or not, she was still embarrassed enough that she didn't really want to talk about it.

But Gris had plowed on to another subject, and Tessa was eager to move the conversation along with her.

"What's that been, then?" she asked, with far more interest in her voice than there might have been if she weren't eager to change the subject.

It wasn't that it had surprised her when she'd heard that her friend had entered Auror training -- well, it had surprised her.  As much as she loved Gris, her laid-back friend didn't seem like she was cut out for the intensity of life as an Auror.  There was a reason that Gris had been voted Most Likely to Be Caught Cat Napping back when they'd been at Hogwarts, and it wasn't [I[only[/I] because she could turn into a cat.  (Then again, Fauna Blake was practically an Auror herself now, so maybe Level Two really did take all types.)

Either way, even if they'd hired her, it didn't seem as if Level Two had much trust in Gris.  From what Tessa had picked up on past conversations with her friend, most of her time was either spent learning or making coffee for Ed Pratt, whom Tessa had never really met but sounded like a bit like a sexist jerk.

"Has Pratt moved you on to full tea service yet?  Or are you still just the coffee witch?"  Tessa flashed her friend a bright smile, her tone teasing.  "You could always put in for a transfer to Level Four, you know.  At least they let us do more than just fetch quill and parchment all day long."

Tessa had seemed slightly uncomfortable with the topic of the drinks giver, so that was something she'd have to remember for later, she needed all the details, either they made a pass at her or something more happened and she had to know, just maybe not at this drinks stage, when Tess bought the pitcher maybe. Thinking of which, Gris drank down the last of her rum and coke before she settled back into her forward lean.

"I still don't think that would be a good idea, I don't have the same amount of muscle as you." She brought an arm up and flexed it to emphasize the point, she wasn't unhealthy or anything, she wasn't devouring a million sweets a day like she hears one of her family members have been, but she didn't think she could really manage all the exercise that is needed for WCU. "Also I don't think emo works works well with me." She stuck her tongue out briefly and settled back. "Oh and cause you know, when transformed they're big dogs and I can't handle dogs at all."

She gave a thought to being a tea maid, the chain tattoo around her neck giving a slight glow of interest before she gave a minor hmph. "So, I'm not a tea maid yet, haven't graduated Barista university. I thought to get a maid outfit and wear it to work for some fun." She took her wand and waved it idly at the ice in her drink to make it melt a little quicker. "The problem is, either they're far too expensive for a good one, or its just far too revealing for work." Although she didn't think it prudent to inform her that she had ordered a maid outfit and only realized after that it was too revealing for work and there was a no refunds policy over mail.

"Otherwise during the day, outside of one hundred trips to Alohomocha in the morning, I manage to get my sleep in." She wiggled inside her hoodie, the robes weren't as nice to sleep in, but she'd found a good few spots that a cat can sleep in, although she did have to put up with some pspspsps'ing now and then. She dreaded when there would be a Hogwarts visit with a 'bring your pets' idea to it, a Slytherin would try claiming they had a cat and that would be her napping plans ruined forever.

The way her friend told it, life as an Auror trainee consisted solely of stealing cat naps and fetching coffee orders.  Tessa was doubtful that was all there was to it -- during her patrol with Fauna Blake during the ill-fated December full moon, she and the mousy trainee had been swapping work stories -- but maybe Gris hadn't gotten to the part of her training regime where she got to duel the Head Auror in his office or chase down career criminals yet.  From what she'd seen and heard her own superiors grumble about, Level Two seemed to treat their newest recruits much more gently than Level Four did.

"Well, at least you'll be ready for a second career at Alohomocha if the Auror thing doesn't pan out."  Tessa laughed, bright and clear, as she raised her glass to her friend in a mock salute.  She took a sip again, keeping her hand pressed around it as she set it down on the table.

"So have you found any good spots for your cat naps, then?" she asked Gris, craning her neck to see over at the bar.  They were going through their first drinks fairly quickly, which meant that it would be time for her to fetch a pitcher soon, and it couldn't hurt to make sure that there weren't any brown-haired, blue-eyed Irishmen lurking by the bar this time.

"Well if my Auror career doesn't work out I can go to your office." She says as she leans back with a smirk on her, WCU would require to do more physical work, but Tessa can always help her with it. She'd need to find out how to hide from Kurby however. Maybe if she spent half her time as a cat and then Tessa has a cat to stroke over as she works. That seemed like a good role. Stress cat, oooh that works well as a job.

She had found a few good catnap spots, although they never tended to last long, and of course there were the people who wanted stuff from her during the day and she couldn't hide. They were investigators, so of course they could find her in her spots. Although so far she has a spot no one has found her in, and its lasted a couple of days. She just couldn't go often or people will find out it is her spot.

"I have a couple. One so far no one has found me in. But the others people always find me in. I do make sure to be a cat during it just so I don't make as much noise or use as much space." She shuddered and downed the last of her drink from the melted ice. "So one day someone comes in with a kid. Young kid. They find me sleeping and lift me up, start stroking me but they were not gentle and weren't clean and.." She stared at the empty glass. "Snot and..." She shuddered again. "I was let off for the day to shower."

"I need more alcohol." She says bluntly. "I am not yet drunk enough to do anything stupid and that is a travesty my dear Tessy." She waved her empty glass at her with a teasing grin.