bet on it [aerick]

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The club was dark, and loud, and a little bit suffocating. Imogen normally wouldn't find herself caught dead anywhere near this place, but she had thought that she and Mina had made plans to go out together, and she hadn't been able to find Mina at any of her usual haunts. Since this was the next place Imogen could think of that had alcohol, Club Indigo was the place she searched. The problem was that, since it was a Saturday night, there was a crush of people on the dance floor, so even if Mina had been inside the club, the chances that Im was going to be able to find her amidst all of the other bodies were low. Now that she was here, though, Imogen saw no point in leaving the club, and making poor use of the one night she had requested to be out of the castle. It had been so long since she had gone to a party of any sort that the professor found herself a little out of her depth. She was wearing a black dress that was definitely less conservative than her normal garb, but other than that, she looked plain. Well, first things first: she didn't have any makeup on. Imogen added a slight flush to her cheeks and closed her eyes so that she could concentrate on coloring her eyelids to look like they had a smokey eye, complete with winged eyeliner. Being a Metamorphmagus did have its perks. To finish the look off, she changed her hair from its boring brunette to bright violet, and lightened her eyes from chocolate brown to hazel - it went better with the makeup colors she had chosen. Now suitably done up, Imogen was ready to head to the bar. She sat down on one of the stools, surprised to find that, for how crowded the club was, the bar was almost empty. Strange.

@aerick
#sorrynotsorry

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The club was busy that night, but surprisingly Aerick didn't feel the stress he typically did with that many people squished into one place.  People would come up, buy drinks, and if they were female attempt to flirt, but tonight he didn't pay them much mind.  His thoughts were on someone else, a petite dark haired girl who was still mostly a mystery to him.  Clodagh Fitzpatrick wouldn't be caught dead in a club like this; not only was it not her scene, but she never seemed to be free at night.  Aerick didn't really understand that, and he didn't think he'd seen her once after it got dark out.  He supposed she just didn't like the nighttime, but still something didn't sit quite right with him.

Aerick knew he needed to focus on the patrons; Elaine wouldn't be happy if revenue was short that night, and he needed the money anyway.  Elaine had promised him information regarding his father next week, and he needed to stay in her good books to get it.  He smiled at the next woman who came up to the bar; he was impressed with her bright violet hair, as not many people could pull of that sort of look.  With the way she'd done up her face,it suited her nicely.  "Need something to drink?" he asked, setting a glass in front of her, waiting patiently for her to reply.

@imogen

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The bartender didn’t take long to come see Imogen, which was to be expected due to the rather barren state of the bar. He approached her, smiling, and Imogen just gave him a polite smile back. She knew enough about bartenders to know that most of them were charming simply because that was what got them the most tips. She was a good tipper anyways, so she’d prefer if she didn’t get a heavy dose of the fake charm. But there was no nice way to say that, and Im was already out of her element in the part scene, so she just kept the polite smile on her face when he asked if she needed something to drink. “Can I have some spiced mead, please?” She asked. Her voice was clear and somehow sounded higher than usual. She cleared her throat a little. All of these people – all of these drunk, happy, alive people were making her feel a little dizzy, but the good kind of dizzy. Maybe she would go out a dance after she got a drink. “And would you have happened to see a dark-haired girl, about yay high,” Im gestured to about the same height as her, “Probably incredibly drunk already?” If anyone would know if Mina was here, it would be the bartender.

@aerick

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It was clear to Aerick that the girl was not here to flirt and try and get free drinks out of him. Not like that routine worked much on him anyway. He poured her a glass of the spiced mead and slid it over to her, naming the price as he did so. “Good choice on a night like tonight,” he commented casually, glancing through the small windows to the outside. He hadn’t been out in a few hours, but when he’d left his flat that afternoon it had been rather blustery and he was glad to be in the warmth of the club.

He frowned slightly at her question, trying to think of the girl in question. “There are plenty of drunk girls here most nights,” he admitted with a wry chuckle, then smirked. “From the rest of your description though, you must be talking about Mina,” he added. “Mina’s not here yet; she’ll usually roll in and make a beeline to me in about-” Aerick checked his watch. “An hours time.” He looked at her again. “Forgive me for saying so, but you don’t exactly seem to be in your comfort zone here. Did Mina insist on meeting here then forget the time?” he asked curiously; that was something the Mina he had come to be acquainted with would do.

@imogen

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Imogen pulled the coins out of the purse to pay for the drink, being sure to include a generous tip. Teaching at Hogwarts wasn’t a lucrative career when it came to pay, but once one considered that Im didn’t have to pay for her own room and board or for her own meals, the school’s paycheck suddenly seemed much more substantial. “Sometimes I only order drinks because my brain shuts off and it’s the only thing I can remember.” Imogen confided to the barkeeper. That hadn’t been what had happened this particular night, but Im didn’t see any point in mentioning that – she was just trying to make polite chitchat.

Imogen gave an awkward smile when the bartender said that there were plenty of drunk girls there most nights. That didn’t surprise Im in the slightest, given that it was a club, and people didn’t generally go there if they weren’t intending on getting at least a little tipsy. Imogen smacked her forehead when the bartender recognized Mina by name. Of course anyone who served alcohol would know her friend. “I spend my days around teenagers. I think it would be a little worrisome if the club was in my comfort zone.” Imogen said with a wry smile. “But yes, Mina was supposed to meet me here. Or at least, I thought she was.” Who knew – maybe Im was the confused one. There was a first time for everything.

@aerick

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Aerick flicked his eyes down briefly to check Imogen had given the correct amount; he smiled as he scooped the money into one hand and dropped it into the till. Being the only one working the bar, he would check the register at the end of the night and whatever was over the amount charged was his tip money. It was a much more simple process than having to check on another bartenders progress. “We all have different reasons for ordering drinks; there isn’t just one way to behave at a bar,” he empathized, though he only partially agreed with that. There were certainly ways NOT to behave at a bar, and he had to admit he’d seen Imogens friend engage in that sort of behavior before. He had the feeling the woman in front of him knew what Mina could get into though, so he didn’t bother to bring that up.

“You’d be surprised; I’ve had to kick out a few underaged kids in the few years I’ve been here,” Aerick admitted with a wry chuckle. There had been more when he first started; over-confident cocky kids who thought they could order drinks and Aerick wouldn’t bother carding them. How wrong they had been. “If Mina meant to meet you here, she’ll be here eventually. Don’t take this the wrong way, but if Mina has an….arrangement to be at the bar, she’s not the type to miss that,” he said carefully, not wanting to offend Imogen. Then again, Imogen likely already knew this. “Teacher?” he asked while filling a clean glass with cold water and taking a sip.

@imogen

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Imogen nodded when the bartender said that there were different reasons for ordering drinks, and that there wasn’t a way that everyone had to behave at a bar. It seemed like in movies, there were only two types of people at bars: the ones that wanted to get horrible drunk and go dancing and have fun, and the ones who wanted to get horribly drunk to forget their problems (normally by nursing several scotches, or whiskey). Imogen wished there was a popular reason to go to a bar that didn’t involve getting horribly drunk (or being the escort to someone who was horribly drunk), but that seemed to be a far-fetched hope.

“Oh, goodness.” Imogen muttered under her breath when Aerick said that he had had to kick underage kids out of the club before. She did another quick scan of the crowd, but didn’t see any students in the clot of people. Good. “I don’t imagine they took that well.” Any teenager who would try to get into the club in the first place would probably not have any qualms with telling the bouncer (or bartender, in this case) how they felt about being evicted, and it was likely not pretty. The bartender said that if Mina had an appointment at the bar, she’d be there, and Imogen snorted. “She’s my best friend. Trust me, I know.” She had seen the results of Mina’s “arrangements” many, many times. “Professor at Hogwarts, yes.” Imogen asked in return to the bartender’s question about her occupation. “I teach Charms.” She elaborated, even though it hadn’t been asked.

@aerick

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Aerick let out a full fledge laugh as Imogen commented that the underaged kids he kicked out hadn't liked it. "That's...one way to put it, and lightly at that," he said, still chuckling a bit.  "A lot of them were in here with their older siblings' IDs or some clever fake identification cards.  They couldn't understand when I recognized them for what they were."  All Aerick had to do was perform a revealing charm nonverbally, his wand carefully hidden under the bar, and he'd see if they were telling the truth or not.  If he was feeling particularly venomous, he'd serve them a glass of water with Veritaseurum in it; they didn't have the choice on whether or not they wanted to say their age.  The confused looks were priceless when Aerick was in a foul mood.  "Some of them are pretty shocked when they get asked to leave; I think the bars they're used to getting into with the fake identifications were far more lax than I am," he added with a small shrug.

"Charms, interesting."  Aerick had been rather good at Charms; he had excelled in Transfiguration and that had been his favorite subject at Ilvermorny, but Charms had been a good, solid class.  "How are you liking it?" he asked her cuiously.  He poured himself a glass of water and took a sip. Imogen, if she was best friends with Mina, was obviously on the younger side for Professors; most of his Ilvermorny teachers were at least in their thirties, so he imagined she hadn't been teaching that long.  Still, with what Elaine had accomplished last year and was currently planning, there had to be some stories.

@imogen

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Imogen nodded when Aerick said that some students used their older siblings’ identifications. She would never give her younger sister anything of the sort, but then again, there was a possibility the older siblings hadn’t been aware of the fact that their identity was nabbed in the first place. “Muggle bars might be slightly more forgiving.” Imogen suggested. Since there was a year in between the age of majority for wizards and Muggles, it was possible that wizards who were underaged to drink simply used their magic to Confund the bouncer or bartender into not asking any questions. Personally, Imogen had never had a problem in bars, partially because she had never tried to get into one when underage. Even if she had, she definitely would have succeeded, since her ability allowed her to take whatever appearance she chose – it was possible for her to appear to be well above the legal age limit, if she wanted, and then only her behavior would place her as underage.

“Most people expect I’d want to teach Transfiguration, but I don’t have as much of an aptitude for it as one would expect.” Imogen had been passable at Transfiguration, but most of the self-Transfiguration had been difficult to learn, because she could cheat her way out of it if she wanted – there was no way for her professor to tell whether it was a spell that had changed Imogen’s hair color or her Metamorphmagus ability. “Teaching isn’t something I ever saw myself doing, so that considered, it’s going very well.” Imogen was still wondering what she was going to do the next school year, but she couldn’t really see herself leaving Hogwarts. There wasn’t another place she could do as much good as she could do at the school.

@aerick

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Aerick looked at her curiously. Outwardly, Imogen looked like a pretty normal woman, so he was a little confused as to why people automatically assumed she would teach Transfiguration over Charms. “Out of curiosity, why Transfiguration? I’m guessing if you didn’t have an affinity for it it’s not because you’re an Animagus,” he asked, tilting his head to one side as he looked at her. The tinkling of glass broke his concentration, and he looked away. He groaned inwardly as two skinny men were glaring at each other menacingly, the shards of a broken beer mug between them. “Excuse me a moment Imogen,” he said, before walking over to them, rolling back his shoulders. He had to remind himself that though Club Indigo was owned by a wizard, its’ patrons were typically Muggles wanting to spend their money, and his python form would not be treated well here. A few choice words though, and the impending fight was dissipated, with one of the men leaving with the group he had come in with.

“Gotta love nights like this,” Aerick said casually as he retook his position by the bar. Ignoring his normal policy, Aerick poured a fingers worth of bourbon in a glass and knocked it back. “Promise not to tell,” he said with a wink, taking a sip of water. It wasn’t like Alastor cared; Aerick brought in good money for the club, so if he snuck a drink in during a shift, it wasn’t the end of the world.

@imogen

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Imogen had opened her mouth to answer Aerick’s question (even though a visual demonstration probably would have been better) but was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. She turned around to see what was happening, but it appeared as if Aerick was already on his way to intervene, excusing himself to go deal with the fight. Imogen watched, morbidly curious as to how the fight would be split up. She was glad that it wasn’t her job to deal with bar patrons – she already could barely handle teenagers, and they weren’t drunk. Well, most of them weren’t, but that was a different story for a different time. Aerick returned to the bar, and Imogen gave him a sympathetic smile when he said that he had to love nights like this. She almost thought a night with fights would be better, because that meant there were more people, and therefore more tips, but she knew that everything was different when you were the one actually dealing with it, so she wasn’t going to say as much to Aerick.

The bartender poured himself a drink, and Imogen put her finger against her lips when he asked her to promise not to tell, assuring her silence. “As we were saying…” Imogen began, not so subtly nudging their conversation back to what it had been before Aerick had had to leave, “I’m a Metamorphmagus.” She would have thought the bright purple hair would have given it away, but there were other spells to achieve the same effect without having Imogen’s gift, so it was possible that the Charms professor was just jumping to biased conclusions.

@aerick

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Aerick was grateful that Imogen promised not to tell anyone he had snuck a quick shot behind the bar, though he doubted she cared enough to find someone to tell. The bar did have a bit of a reputation behind it; obviously no one knew it was owned by the Purifiers except for members of the organization, but it wasn’t a place to take someone you fancied on a first date. “Thank you,” he said with a small smile. His eyebrows raised as Imogen admitted she was a Metamorphmagus. “Interesting, I figured that that wasn’t your natural hair color,” he commented, inclining his head towards her vividly purple hair. He leaned in a bit to continue their conversation. “I would have expected it to be charmed that color from a Charms professor truth be told,” he admitted, chuckling a little.

He moved back as he spotted someone approach the bar, waving cash to get him to take his order. He filled their drinks and they went back off to whatever dark spot they had crawled out from, and he moved back over towards Imogen. “Well Ms. Imogen, if Mina’s coming tonight, she won’t be here for another hour. Did you want to stay here, or do you want a few suggestions of places where the crowd isn’t...well, quite like this,” he asked with a wry chuckle.


@imogen

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Imogen nodded when Aerick said that he figured her purple hair wasn’t natural. Even in the Wizarding world that sort of thing wasn’t possible, which was probably good – if children were seen walking around London with brightly colored hair there would probably be some sort of mention of it in the Muggle newspapers, and someone would figure out that no hairstylist remembered dying any child’s hair bright blue, and, well, that would be the end of wizards being a secret. “I was rather rubbish at anything that involved changing my own appearance using a spell, truth be told.” Imogen said, musing out loud what her meandering train of thought had already been stuck on. “I cheated a little, not that my professors could tell.” She knew everything that she needed to know to be a successful professor, of course – she wouldn’t have been hired if that wasn’t the truth – but there were areas she was lacking.

The bartender said that if Mina was coming, she wouldn’t be there for another hour, and Imogen sighed. She had messed that one up rather horribly. At Aerick’s question about whether she wanted to stay or go someplace else, Imogen hesitated. She had gotten dressed up rather nicely for this, but she wasn’t really cut out for this sort of atmosphere, especially not when she was alone. “Other places might be better for me.” She admitted with a rueful smile. “I shouldn’t monopolize your time any longer.” He had other patrons, ones that were probably more pushy than she and would appreciate the extra time and attention that they could have if Imogen stopped talking to Aerick.

@aerick

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Aerick smiled. “I promise I won’t tell another soul,” he told Imogen, crossing his heart with his finger. He had not met any other professor at Hogwarts, having not attended the school nor gone to the castle for any reason - what reason would a bartender have to go to Hogwarts? Elaine had her followers at the castle; mostly students but rumor had it there was a professor now in the mix. He wondered briefly if it was Imogen, but he didn’t think so, and he wasn’t about to ask in a crowded bar. If he was wrong, there would be dire consequences for him and anyone else Elaine could find that was dear to him. He gulped; if Elaine found out about his daughter Olive or about Clodagh..he wouldn’t risk fact-checking a rumor for their well-being.

Aerick opened his mouth to protest that he didn’t mind chatting with her and didn’t view it as monopolizing at all when a group of guys shuffled their way to the bar to order several rounds of shots, beer and cocktails for the girls at the table closest to the back of the room. Aerick grinned sheepishly and held up a finger so she’d wait a moment. He moved through the drink order with surprising ease, with some under bar help from his wand. He had had a lot of practice using this nifty trick over the past few years; nobody ever noticed. After the group was gone, yelling about shots, Aerick whipped out a small pad of paper and pencil. He jotted down the name of a bar that was nearby, way more classy than Club Indigo. “When Mina st..I mean gets here I’ll send her over to you,” he promised, then paused. “I’d...maybe reconsider the purple hair though, here it's normal but that place you might get a few scandalized looks,” Aerick told her with a small chuckle. Luckily Imogen could easily change her hair color, so it wouldn’t be too much trouble.

@imogen

end on your next post? unless mina pandora oliveira wants to make a stumbling guest spot

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Imogen couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the pack of people that all arrived at the bar at the same time. There was nothing wrong with going to a club with a few of your friends, but really, why did everyone need to go up to order drinks at the same time. Imogen waited for Aerick to return, glancing around the club as she did so, as if she would find anything interesting. She would have waited even without Aerick’s gesture, but she still appreciated that he thought of her. When the bartender was done serving the group, he returned to Imogen, writing the name of someplace else on a piece of paper he produced. Imogen studied the paper, nodding once – she thought she recognized the name. “I’ll do my hair later.” She said with a nod, not wanting to change colors for the sake of the Muggles in the crowd. “Thanks for all your help.” Imogen added as she stood up from the bar. “Good luck for the rest of the night.” Hopefully no one too crazy would show up – but you never could know for sure, at a bar. With that, Imogen was off, ready to (hopefully) find someplace more her speed where she could meet with Mina.

@aerick
(le end)