Just Another Day in Paradise (Antonia)

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For the first time in what felt like ages, Logan was just walking around Diagon Alley without any plans. Kat was busy at work ... at least, he was pretty sure she was. He'd checked her apartment and she wasn't there, so he couldn't really think of anyplace else she'd be without him. He had the day off and had already slept for most of the morning, recovering from the last few night shifts. He had no jobs from Elaine, so now he really didn't have anything to do. That meant that he was just going to make some friends. He was pretty good at that. First he just needed to find someone that needed help or looked like they wanted to talk or something like that. He kept his eyes peeled as he walked down the street, looking for something interesting to happen.

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Antonia had had plans for the day. Buying some potion ingredients mostly, because damned if she wouldn't have a fully stocked brewing laboratory at all times. But it wasn't much, and she wasn't used to not having something to do - between the Purifiers, her potions experiments, and excessively long hours at work - so she was feeling a little unmoored at this free time.

Until she spotted Logan Hartridge in the street. She'd heard of him, of course, one of the Purifiers, but had precious little reason to talk to him before. But she was bored, and this was the perfect opportunity. She smiled and waved slightly from a little bit down the road, and hoped he'd be able to stop a while.

@logan

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Logan was starting to get a slightly annoyed. Really, how could absolutely nothing be happening on this street! Things always happened. People dropped books and other items they carried or they ran into one another, but no. Nothing of the sort was happening today and he couldn't believe his rotten luck. So he started looking around for people he knew or had come into contact with at one point or another. He was very good at faces, so this shouldn't be difficult either. Apparently it was. What were the chances that everyone on the street would be a stranger to him?

Then Logan saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw someone waving. A girl ... Antonia Rookwood? He was pretty sure that was her name, though he had never spoken to her before. Still, he made a point of being able to recognize as many members of the Purifiers as possible, so he knew her. Smiling, he strode down the road in her direction. "Antonia, right?" he said as he drew near. "What can I do for you today?" He didn't know why she waved at him, but hopefully they could do something. In the very least talk. He was still so bored.

@antonia

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Antonia smiled when Logan came walking her way. ”Hello Logan,” she said, not second-guessing who it was she’d waved over. ”Yes, that’s right,” she answered, when he confirmed her name.

And as for what he could do for her - the answer to that was simple. ”I was hoping we could chat – we haven’t had the chance before.” She smiled a little bit, knowing that they both knew perfectly well where they knew each other from, and added, ”and I’m done my shopping, and I was a little bit bored.” Antonia wasn’t like some people, who being bored would resort to torture, but when she was bored, the things she found to do were often a little bit wicked, and she didn’t much fancy getting into legal trouble again any time soon.

@logan

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Logan nodded, glad that he got her name right. He did make a point of knowing people's names and was proud of himself for still doing so well at that. It was a little thing that he enjoyed doing. 

He smirked when she said she wanted to chat. "Sure thing," he answered easily. "You wanna chat here or go to the Leaky Cauldron or something?" Logan asked. He didn't really care where they talked, since it would give him the distraction he was looking for. If she had a preference he would go along with that. He laughed when she added on to that. "I can understand that. I myself was starting to get a little bored over there," he gestured to where he'd been moments before. "I'm sure we'll be able to stave off the boredom now." Since that was all he wanted, Logan was entirely content now.

@antonia

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Logan suggested that they could chat at the Leaky Cauldron instead of standing in the middle of the street, and Antonia paused to consider. "The Leaky Cauldron," she said decisively. "I can't say standing around with my bags appeals."

"I should hope so!" she said, laughing, when Logan said that he was sure they could stave off the boredom between the two of them. She was sure they could too, and she smoothly moved the conversation on to make sure of it. "How have things been for you of late? You're at the Ministry, correct?"

@logan

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Logan smiled when she decided on the Leaky Cauldron, using her bags as a reason for it. "Sounds good to me," he agreed as he started walking towards the place. He was sure that Antonia would follow along with him. The Leaky Cauldron was only a short distance away, after all, and he was ready to sit down for a bit and chat. He and Antonia hadn't ever done so before, so it would definitely be interesting. 

As they walked, he started to answer her questions. "Things are smooth, as always. Yes, I work on the Invisibility Task Force, though as a general rule I'm instructing others on what they should be doing instead of actually doing the work." He smirked at her. "It's not officially a change of rank, but everyone does what I say so I figure I'll just keep going with it." Which was one of the benefits of being so cheerful and outgoing. Almost everyone was happy to do what you asked. "How about you at ... St. Mungo's, right? Are things working out there well?"

@antonia

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They headed for the Leaky Cauldron, Logan leading and Antonia half a step behind, as he answered her questions about his work in the Invisibility Task Force. "Smooth is nice, as is being in charge," she agreed with a smirk. It sounded like he had the situation completely under control, and a woman had to admire that.

He asked about her own, and she "Yes, St. Mungo's. Creature-Induced Injuries floor. I can't say it's smooth, and that's not why I'm in Healing in the first place, but it is fairly cyclical." She paused, and then added by way of clarification, "full moons are always a bit of an event for us." That wasn't something that needed more elaboration for any but the most clueless, and Antonia was certain that Logan was not clueless at all.

@logan

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Antonia followed him into the Leaky Cauldron, telling him that smooth is nice. Brandon chuckled and nodded. "It is when you do it right." He shrugged, "When I first took the lead position, the person ahead of me in rank did not do what they were supposed to, which made my job harder. I figured it out fast enough though." Really, it was annoying when people pretended to do their job and let other people handle their incompetence later. He had no patience for those kinds of people. 

Logan listened when she started explaining what it was that she did. He nodded and a small smile covered his face when she mentioned the full moon. "Well it sounds like both of us have quite interesting jobs," he told her. "What do you like most about yours?" Logan didn't know why he was still talking about this, but he was. Huh. Interesting.

@antonia

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"Incompetence is inexcusable," Antonia said firmly, as Logan discussed his previous supervisor. It wasn't necessarily a popular opinion, certainly not as firmly as she believed it, but Antonia was not prepared to put up with things being done poorly, under any circumstances. At least Logan seemed to hold the same priorities.

When asked what her favourite part of her job, Antonia didn't hesitate. "Cutting edge research," she said immediately. "Transitions such as the ones I deal with are difficult to study, so there's always things to be learned, new treatments, new techniques. The mundane stuff takes up most of my hours, but the research and experimentation is why I chose Healing. So much so, that I do it in my spare time as well." Unspoken was the fact that her spare time included for the benefit of Elaine Dupree and the Purifiers.

@logan

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Logan merely nodded when Antonia said that incompetence was inexcusable. Obviously he agreed with that, but it was nice to know that he was not alone in that opinion. He knew a few people that felt similarly, but none of them seemed to feel about it as strongly as he did.

She started to explain what she liked about working at Mungos and Logan listened intently. He smirked when she mentioned experimentation. Healing never was one of his strong suits, but he could understand the desire to experiment and not get into trouble for it ... not that he ever had. Besides, if he had there would be absolutely no indication of it. Logan was secretive this way. "Sounds fascinating," he replied. "Are there any things you've discovered recently that are different or, for lack of a better word, interesting?" Logan asked because he lived knowing the latest info, not necessarily so he could use it against people. He liked knowledge and tried to collect as much as he could.

@antonia

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Logan seemed to be genuinely interested in Antonia's work at St. Mungo's, asking if there was anything she'd worked on recently that was interesting. Well, she was happy to talk about that at any point. "Of course! One of the most recent discoveries was that werewolf blood drawn at the full moon can still be infectious at different phases of the moon cycle. It's quite promising for making future research easier, and has had some impacts on safety protocols." It was also useful knowledge for potioneering and reeking havoc, but those were less legal and couldn't be explicitly stated. But here she was talking about her job, and Logan had barely had a word in edgewise. "Do you get much of a chance to make new discoveries yourself?"

@logan

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Getting other people to talk about things they cared about was kind of Logan's specialty. Not that he was interrogating or investigating Antonia. It was kind of second-nature to him now, getting to know people and small quirks about them. If Elaine asked for information on anyone, Logan would give it to her in a heartbeat, but he wasn't always gathering it for her. A part of him just found people fascinating. He liked to study about them and learn, much as he was with Antonia as she explained a bit more about the properties of werewolf blood. That was interesting. He nodded as she spoke. "It definitely sounds intriguing," he agreed easily. Then she asked about him and whether or not he made discoveries. Logan laughed. "Not the same kind as you. My job is to make sure we keep things from the muggles, so I mostly just focus on finding new ways to keep secrets or to trick people into thinking what I want. If that doesn't work, we obliviate them."It was a simple enough description and most people probably thought his job was boring, but Logan enjoyed it. He liked finding new ways to do things and he enjoyed the freedom he felt he had with his job. "Does that answer your question?"

@antonia