Faded [Mina]

[Deleted]

Long day. Really really long day. Addie really hated that job at the ministry and she wished she could leave it, especially after the torture she'd been put through today dealing with the idiots, coworkers and visitors alike, she had been forced to deal with. She really had been counting down the hours for her shift to end so she could run out of the department as fast as she could. It hadn't come soon enough. She'd had a run in with a particularly nasty woman who had been looking for documents about the most popular neighborhoods for wizarding families to live in. She was pregnant so she'd wanted to blame the snooty way the woman had addressed on nerves, maybe she was a new mother and was nervous about being one, who knows. It had ended with her boss reprimanding her about being kinder to visitors, always keeping a smile on her face and attempting to find the best solution to a visitors problem. Addie hadn't cared. This wasn't even supposed to be her real job.

Once her shift had ended she'd head straight to the bar. She didn't feel like going home and being fussed over by Royal. She didn't want to hear the door to her mother's room opening as Royal walked in and tried to console her or to at least get her to eat something. She didn't want to hear any of it. So she'd knocked back another nerve calming potion, for good measure, and she'd headed over to a muggle bar. It was her best bet as to not be recognized by any of her coworkers. She didn't feel like being bothered. She went up to the bar, grabbed a seat, and immediately ordered on of the beers that was displayed. It would all taste the same after a while, so why not.

Tag; mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@addie

Where were her muggles? Nowhere to be seen that was where. Mina had received the group text hours after it had been sent, mostly because good old Diagon Alley blocked her cell service, and that meant a late response on her end. They knew that they weren’t supposed to agree on where to meet up while she was at work. Plenty of times before she had been left behind of that simple rule, and yet they still messed up. At the end of the day though, it really didn’t matter to her. She was going to be drinking after work regardless, and being on her own for once would be nice. That meant she wouldn’t feel bad about ditching anyone if she found a new person to tag along with or if she became too…overbearing. That happened when she was drunk, and she knew it. Unfortunately there was no way to fix that, other than to cut out alcohol completely, and Merlin knew she couldn’t do that. Drinking was her only escape from everything. Losing that would mean losing at life. She didn’t want to be a loser. She didn’t want to be like her muggle friends, who clearly didn’t have the patience to wait for her shift to end before deciding what bar they were going to start at. She wasn’t upset at them. Not one bit.

Except she was, and the best way to fix that feeling was to drink and find someone new to talk to. That was really easy once she got bevved up enough. Pushing her way into a muggle bar, Mina slid up to the bar and took a seat next to a blonde woman. The crowd inside was okay, but nothing spectacular. Getting a few drinks in here before moving on sounded like a good course of action. Maybe if she was lucky, her muggle friends would eventually respond and try to get in contact her. She wouldn’t hold out hope for them though. Ordering a beer, Mina tapped the counter impatiently until it reached her. Giving the bartender a smile, she knocked back a decent amount of it. “I needed that,” she commented, mostly to herself, but also hoping that the woman next to her would take the bait and join the conversation.

[Deleted]

It didn't take long for the bartender to hand her the beer. The glass bottle slid a little bit across the wood towards her and she took a swig of it immediately. It didn't taste good. At all. But she wasn't really here for something that tasted good. She just wanted to sedate herself. Or numb herself just enough so she wasn't reminded of how much her job sucked. Or how terrible her life currently was. How much she didn't want to be home. Forgetting all of those things would suit her, actually. She forced the liquid down her throat and took a bigger swig of it, holding her breath so she wouldn't really taste it as it went down. It became a game, the less time the liquid spent on her tongue, the better she would feel. It went on until there was nothing left in the bottle. She set it on the counter and realized she didn't feel any different than when she walked in, still irritated. She needed something stronger.

Just as she went to signal to the bartender, a woman sat down next to her and called out to him first, beating on the bar until she got his attention. Addie flared her nostrils in annoyance at the noise. Either she was already drunk and showing off how much of an annoying drunk she could be, or she was feeling as good as she felt right then. She took a deep breath as the bartender swept away to fill the woman's order and upon return, Addie was finally able to get his attention. "Can I get something a bit stronger. Maybe something with... whiskey in it?" she spoke hesitantly, trying to remember the few things she knew about muggle spirits. She remembered one of her friends from school talking about the stuff and comparing it to firewhiskey. She'd never had it before but maybe it would taste the same. She was pulled from her thoughts as the woman spoke about needing the drink that she held in her hand. Addie turned and saw that she'd already drank most of the beer that she'd ordered already. Maybe she was having as bad a day as she. She'd said the words a little loudly, maybe attempting to invite conversation? Addie didn't know. She nodded, mostly to herself, and waited for the the bartender to return with her drink. What he brought back was a short glass wide glass with amber liquid in it and three cubes of ice. She raised it towards the woman sitting next to her before taking a sip. It was much stronger than she expected.And tasted worse than the beer. She held in her disgust, as well as her breath, and forced the liquid down. This would do.

Tag; mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@addie

The woman seated next to her had ordered a whiskey in the meantime. That was never a bad choice, in Mina’s own expert opinion. Personally, she would have gone straight for something with tequila in it. Depended on the person though, and tequila was a known offender of ruining many nights. For those wanting to roll through bars with no shame, beer was king in the stomach and kind to the wallet. For getting absolutely trashed in a split second? Tequila. Mina had never had an issue with the liquor, but had seen numerous friends and siblings fall to its allure. Too many fruity mixed drinks were tainted with tequila (or was it the other way around, with tequila being tainted by the additions?). She needed something that would keep the buzz going. Whiskey was a good starter when beer wasn’t readily available. The other woman had that down at least.

Mina took another sip of her drink, this one smaller than the first, as she watched the bartender scurry around to get the whiskey. If that had been her ordering it, she would have gone for two shots instead of messing around with the ice. It made her look like a brute, but when was the last time she actually cared what people in a bar thought of her? That would be never because she was always too busy trying to reel someone in or getting her drink on. By time the bartender returned with the woman’s whiskey, Mina had almost forgotten about her comment from earlier. The raised whiskey glass she saw out of the corner of her eye automatically had her picking her own bottle up as well. “Long day for you too?” she asked after setting her drink back on the bar.

[Deleted]

Once the whiskey had washed down, she took a deep breath and still tasted the dark liquor on her tongue. She'd finish it; she bought it and didn't want to waste it so of course she would finish it. She set her drink on the bar and heard the woman next to her ask her a question. Her question was a bit curious to her because she didn't think the woman next to her could have been having as nearly a rough day as she. She probably had had some muggle issue she was dealing with but she couldn't imagine there being anything in the muggle world quite like being forced to work a dead end job because you were in witness protection from a blood obsessed serial killing witch. Her apologies if so, though.

Before deciding to answer her, Addie picked up her drink again and took another large swig, holding her breath once again so at least she wouldn't taste it going down and gag. "Something like that. Customer service sucks," she commented as her glass hit the bar once again. "You?" Addie had never seen herself as the 'conversation with a stranger in a bar' type but she'd also never seen herself as blonde. And now that the woman had stopped pounding on the bar, she didn't seem so annoying. Or maybe that was the whiskey talking. She didn't really feel any different than when she walked in the door but she expected that to change soon. She didn't make a habit of drinking and the few times she'd drank in school she'd gotten tipsy rather quickly. Or maybe there was difference in magical and muggle spirits? She took a smaller sip of the whiskey this time.

Tag; mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@addie

Mina wasn’t sure if she should even expect a response from the other woman. It seemed like one of those situations where not much would be said, if anything was in the first place, and that silence would end up being a mutually agreed upon course of action. She couldn’t blame her though; not everyone wanted to chat about their day while at a bar. So many were there to forget, herself included at times. Instead of silence, which was expected in this instance, Mina let out a chuckle at the response she received. Customer service did suck. Oh how that was true. At least she didn’t have to answer blasted telephones all day like she saw in muggle tv shows. That would take the cake. She supposed this woman had something like that, or at least a job that led her to have to deal with customers and then drink about it at the end of the day. None of Mina’s crusty old bats ever reached that point, because she had convinced herself that they would all be dead soon anyways and they weren’t worth her time past helping them find their books.

“Usually it’s for the same reason,” Mina answered, after taking a sip of her own drink. “Though today I was supposed to go out with friends, and I didn’t see their plans until after I got off work. So, here I am,” she leaned back on her bar stool slightly, arms raised in a shrug. This place wasn’t all that bad, but she would have preferred being out partying right about now. Couldn’t win them all, she supposed. “I get the customer service thing though. Takes a lot of effort to not want to talk down to a customer when they’re clearly wrong. Because they’re always right apparently.” Shaking her head at that thought, she took another swig. At least Ursula was a good boss and understood how the customers could be. They were used to the old ways of how Flourish & Blotts was run. Having a new, young owner and younger staff was different for them. To the point where they thought they knew more. The one thing Mina hated the most was having a customer tell her how to do her job. She was incompetent with a lot things in life – her job was not one of those.

[Deleted]

One more, she could do this. She picked up the glass of whiskey and shook the melted down ice in the glass, trying to figure out how many more of these she had to fight through. The glass was almost empty, she leaned her head back with the rim of the glass to her mouth and swallowed the rest of it while holding her breath. The glass made a loud enough noise when it hit the bar that the bartender looked her way with a question of 'more?' on their face. "Surprise me," she called out just as the woman began to tell of her own reasons why she was in the bar alone. She said that she was supposed to be out with friends, though normally customer service issues was what brought her to the bar on more than one occasion. At least she had friends to go out with. her slate had practically been wiped clean because she was in witness protection. She had no friends. She had Royal, but he'd probably only end up worrying about her more if he saw her like this. As self-destructive as she seemed, she didn't want him to worry or get involved. She didn't want anyone to get involved really.

The bartender brought over her drink while the woman continued talking and she dived right into it. It was another wide glass but the drink inside was clear with a few more ice cubes in it. She took a sip and at first it went down smoothly, no taste for her to hate. The burn followed soon after and her eyes watered from pain. Pure alcohol. She didn't know what it was, she just knew that it was perfection in a glass for what she had planned. "Not only are the customers always right," her voice came out roughly, still recovering from the burn, "But you're guaranteed to always be wrong. No matter what it is. They know your policies better than you do. And if you allude to knowing more than they do, you're a bad employee." Because that was the way the world worked. Really, she was wasting her potential in that department. She'd had so much she'd wanted to do before she left school. At least she remembered wanting to do things, do more for the world. Yet here she was. She was starting to feel the buzz in her brain, just like that, and she assumed she had her drink to thank for that. "Sorry about your missed plans, by the way," she added as an after thought.

Tag; mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@addie

Mina waited for the woman’s response, watching her order another drink and go straight into it. That was ballsy, in her opinion. She preferred knowing what she was drinking. At least that way she could order another one without having to ask the bartender like an idiot. Whatever this one was, it was clear. Her mind immediately went to tequila, but it could have been any number of alcohols. They seemed to be able to make anything any color and any flavor these days. She grinned as the woman finally responded, basically saying exactly what Mina had wanted her to. This girl got it! “Exactly!” Mina exclaimed. “They aren’t all bad people. I’m sure I’m a pain in the ass at the super market sometimes too, and everyone has bad days. But there are certain ones that definitely have a propensity to be assholes over everyone else,” she stated, twirling her drink around, her gaze getting lost in the liquid swirling in circles, cresting at the sides of the glass. “They need me in the end though. Can’t exactly purchase what they want unless I’m there to cash them out.” Which meant all the power was in her hands. That and Ursula would always back her up if she happened to be in the store and a customer was yelling. No one messed with the boss.

The woman apologized for Mina’s plans falling through, and the former Slytherin laughed. “Totally not a big deal. Happens all the time. Can’t blame them for wanting to drink and have fun. I’ve left plenty of them behind in the past when they couldn’t make it or carry on.” They were only her drinking friends after all. She never really did anything with them outside of going out, so there were no other obligations to worry about. All any of them wanted to do was get shitfaced and have a good time. “So what kind of customer service has got you this unraveled?” Mina inquired, pointing at the glass that the woman had in her hand.

[Deleted]

Addie moved the clear liquid around the glass, trying to take a minute to let the last sip settle, just as the woman's excitement amped up a notch in their discussion. She nodded her head along in agreement with her words. No, they weren't all bad people, but it was enough of them that took their position as customer as some sort of step above hers that made her angry. She was there specifically for their help and thinking that she would do anything but help them didn't really make any sense. Addie blew out a quick breath at the woman's last bit of words about customers needing her to cash out and she took another sip, much smaller than the one before. They didn't exactly need her at the Public Services department. She was placed there at the word of the Minister but they had been doing fine before her. Her boss would probably fire her if they could and she wouldn't beg for forgiveness or want the job back. "What does your boss say?" she assumed that her boss would be the same way hers was, always in agreement with customers. Anything to make the department look good and in turn, themselves look good.

Addie, took another, bigger sip of the clear liquid in her glass and let it burn as the woman explained that she didn't really care about being left behind by her friends. Or maybe they weren't really friends after all? Acquaintances would probably be a better word. Drinking buddies? She didn't really have any of those things. She didn't really know if it mattered now. Addison Shacklebolt didn't exist to a lot of people any longer and therefore there were no 'friends of Addison Shacklebolt'. Claire didn't have any friends either though. Before that had been fine but now talking to a complete stranger in a bar, she figured maybe the company every once in a while wouldn't be so bad. She moved the liquid around again when the woman pointed it and thought about how best to answer her question without really getting herself into some trouble that the Minister wouldn't be able to pull her out of. "I'm a public servant. Handle public information and all of that." It was vague enough. Her words had a bit of slur on the end of them now. She was there to drown her annoyances but she didn't want to lose herself completely. "It's not fun but someone has to do it. What about you? What do you do?"

Tag; mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@addie

What did her boss say…that had Mina thinking for a second. Ursula was always so relaxed about everything all the time that it had taken her a few months to fully understand the owner’s intentions as a business owner. Sometimes she felt like she still didn’t get it, and opted to roll with it regardless. Ursula had yet to steer her wrong while on the job, so Mina was positive that she could trust her boss when it came to business decisions or dealing with customers. “She’ll yell at the really stupid ones. Only if they’re regulars though, because she knows they’ll still come in,” Mina took another sip of her drink. “I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong with putting a person in their place if they’re willing to let you do it. All depends on the customer though. An old guy will be fine with it because he probably doesn’t care. A middle-aged woman will be a straight up bitch though,” she sighed, stopping once again to drink. “I’ve done enough dead-end retail jobs to realize that it doesn’t matter if you’re over here, in America, working in a clothes store or a cashier. The middle-aged woman will always be the bitchiest one of them all.” Mina had plenty of other, dirtier ideas on why that was, but she wasn’t going to bring them up around a muggle girl in a muggle bar.

The woman explained that she was a public servant, and Mina opened her mouth as if to say ‘oooh’, but without actually vocalizing it. “So public information meaning what exactly? Is that like what the newspapers get about the royal family, or like, the laws?” It was a valid question. She had plenty of run-ins with law enforcement and legal practitioners while in America for the last few years. They were basically everywhere. A public servant couldn’t be that much different from them. Mina snorted as the question was then turned back around on her. “The most glorious job ever,” she started up, turning her whole body towards the woman so she could sell it more. “I’m a cashier at a bookstore.”

[Deleted]

Addie nodded and took another sip of her drink while she listened to the woman's answer. Her boss seemed like she handled people a lot more reasonably than her own. When it came to the people that entered the Public Information Services department, they were always treated as if they were fragile. Even if the department had the information they were looking, they couldn't always give it out. Approved for the public only. Yet their jobs weren't to come out and say that, it was to make sure they left satisfied with the information they received. Addie really hated that damned job. The woman went on to talk about how middle-aged women were the worst to deal with. Hearing it rubbed her the wrong way but she could admit that she'd had plenty of problems with older women demanding more information than they had to give. "Yours sounds better than mine. Nothing quite like a boss that tries to please every customer at the cost of their dignity." She took a bigger sip of her drink then before speaking again. "At least that's what mine does, anyway. Tries to look good at every turn. Possibly thinking that it will get them some kind of promotion or special award of some sort. All pointless of course but that doesn't stop them from trying.

She didn't even have to think long about her answer to the question she asked about what public information exactly. "If it's deemed public knowledge, we've got it. Laws, permits, news, health procedures and health code information, any threats of attack on the world, you name it, it's probably available in my office." Not to mention any threat of discovery by the muggle world, new spells being created everyday, magical creature regulation and so much more that she couldn't divulge. Addie turned her head to the side then, noticing that the woman had turned herself towards her. She'd lifted her eyebrow in curiosity before realized what she was doing. She was cashier at a bookstore. Addie chuckled a bit then and took another sip of her drink. "Definitely glorious. I like books though and go to book stores often. Maybe if every customer you had was like me, you'd have an easier time," she said through her chuckle. Addie much preferred getting in and out of the store as quickly as possible so she always knew what she was coming in for and only went when she was there for a particular book.

Tag; mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@addie

Mina made a disgusted face as the other woman explained that her boss was basically a suck up. She hadn’t said those exact words, but that was how she registered it in her head. Being a suck up was twofold – if it was to benefit oneself in the long run, then Mina was all for it. If it was for the sake of being a weak minded baboon who could only jump when they were told to and that was it, then she absolutely hated it. Working at the bookstore was great because that was exactly what Ursula was not. There were too many stores that she wandered into on her breaks to kill time where the manager was bending over backwards to be accommodating. That wasn’t technically a bad thing, but being a spineless fool was pretty obvious most of the time. “Nothing against your boss, but they sound like an idiot,” Mina said with a shake of her head. “Those are the type of people that will never have your back, even if you have theirs. No one has time for that.” Once upon a time, a much younger Mina had thought it was better to be a follower of those sorts of people. They weren’t real leaders, only hacks faking it until they made it, and then faking some more. That detracted from what the hard working little folk like her did a lot of the time. Companies and businesses couldn’t be run solely by supervisors and managers, as surprising as that was. She was most definitely a necessary cog in the wheel.

She listened as the woman responded quickly to her question about what constituted as public knowledge and what didn’t. There was a lot more there than Mina had intended to hear, so she nodded her head like she understood all of it. In actuality, she probably got the first half about laws and permits, and that was basically the extent of it. Even though she had asked the question, it was easier for her to sit and look pretty and listen instead of comprehending the information that was being sent back her way. That was exactly how she had gotten through school. “So are you the sort that has a plan from the start, wanders around aimlessly with no intentions of buying anything, or waits for that lightning bolt of interest while reading the back cover of a book?” Mina had all sorts show up in the store, and usually the first two were the most popular. She liked the ones that chatted with her and took suggestions the most though.

[Deleted]

Considering this was the first time she actually complained out loud to someone about the shortcomings of her boss, it was nice to have someone agree with her. Granted she was just a stranger in a bar and a muggle who knew nothing of her world, it was still pleasing. The disgusted look the woman gave was satisfying and the words she followed it up with made Addie snort. She took a deep breath before knocking back the rest of the clear liquid in her cup and setting it back on the bar. "I agree. I'm not worried about anyone having my back right now anyway." She knew who she could trust, not that she would ever lean on or depend on them. Everything was just.... muffled. Dark. Even though she was in this witness protection, she still felt the weight of everything on her. The loss of her twin, the trauma from the attack, all of it. "This drink, however, is what I'm worried about." She waved at the bartender, who brought her another of the same, clear liquid in the glass. She sniffed it and took a sip of it. It tasted like the last one. "Do you know what this is?" she lifted the glass over to the woman. She was feeling warmer now, a sign she knew as her getting closer to being drunk.

She was too glad to get away from discussions of her own work considering how dull her job was. Books were something she could talk about easily considering she actually liked them."I usually have a plan. Sometimes I get suggestions based on what I'm buying from the cashiers," she commented with a shrug. She thought back to the most recent trip to Flourish and Blotts she'd made. She had gotten a suggestion from the cashier that she still hadn't picked up yet. It had only been a couple of days since the trip though and the amount of books she had that she hadn't read yet was pretty big. She would get to it soon enough though since the woman had given it a pretty good review. Her Everheart book had been delightful though so that was a plus. "I'm guessing you read a lot too? Working in a book store and all I assume you've got access to them so why not..." her words came out only a little slurred. If she worked in a bookstore she'd do nothing but read. "Which one are you?

Tag; mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

@addie

Even though the other woman agreed with her, Mina wasn’t a huge fan of the second half of the sentence. She knew what it sounded like when someone was lonely, and the fact that the girl wasn’t worried about anyone having her back was definitely depressing sounding. And she was drinking even more! But that wasn’t her problem to deal with, so Mina kept her thoughts to herself. If she wanted to be a psychiatrist, she would have forsaken her magic years ago and integrated into muggle life. The odds of her ever seeing this woman again after tonight were slim to none, and anything she said to a drunk person would go unnoticed. She would know since she was an alcoholic, and people were always trying to tell her how to live her life. She hated it, and was sure that others like her were the same way. Mina sat there and sipped on her newest beer as she watched the woman sniff the clear liquid and take a sip, before lifting it in her direction. Moving her nose towards it, Mina didn’t have to get too close to know what it was. “Tequila?” Was her guess. There was an unmistakable smell to tequila that always gave her awful flashbacks of the last time she had drank too much of it. The next day had easily been one of her worst hangovers ever. Damn tequila. But if the woman wanted to get trashed fast, that was the alcohol to be drinking.

Mina nodded her head as the woman said she liked having a plan. Those were the customers she lived and died by, since they were a guaranteed sale and sometimes easily persuaded to get more. In her brief experience, it depended on the person at the end of it. There were plenty of regulars to Flourish and Blotts that came in, got what they needed, and left. The ones that perused were either inclined to buy what she suggested or not buy anything at all. More often than not, those were the customers that were in the shop the most. Indecisiveness always caught up them in the end, and caving a day or two later when it came to a certain book was almost inevitable. “If it’s a quiet day I’ll read during my shift,” she explained. “But I don’t really like doing it outside of work. Seems like too much of a chore, and I spend all day around books so I get tired of them.” She took another sip of her drink as she thought about what kind of customer she would be. Well that was easy. “I’m the type that wouldn’t go into a bookstore unless I absolutely needed to or was dragged by someone else.”

[Deleted]

Addie waited for the woman to catch the scent before she slowly pulled the glass back in front of her. The drink must have been stronger than she'd thought in smell because the woman hadn't even gotten close before she'd replied. Her answer was the name of a drink she hadn't heard before. Then again she didn't know many muggle spirits anyway so that didn't say much. "Hmm. Well Tequila has my back plenty tonight anyway. That's enough for me." Her comments followed another hefty sip of chilled alcohol and everything began to feel a lot lighter. The glass in her hand, her emotions, her head, even the stool she was sitting on felt like it would float into the air. She sat the drink on the counter then. Any moment now she would be drunk. Or maybe she was already drunk. She didn't know. What she did know was that she was where she wanted to be. Literally. "Have you had it before? Should I watch how much of it I drink?" she asked as she sat up a bit and feeling the room tilt just a little bit. She realized then that she may have overdone it a bit. She would be fine. She was a capable witch.

It was only getting a little bit harder to focus on the words she was saying. She furrowed her eyebrows as she focused; the woman was saying that she got tired of books and only read while she was at work. Addie could never be tired of them. It was her only source escape. Aside from the nerve calming potions and now the tequila she was drinking at the moment. She mentioned being dragged into a bookstore by someone and Addie remembered back to the times she'd dragged Abby in with her. "By a sibling?" she chuckled purely to block out the sadness she felt and to move from the path her thoughts were trying to take her. Focus. She needed to focus on what she was doing now. She reached out for the glass again though she didn't take a sip yet. "Or a friend or a boyfriend or someone? She felt the need to redirect and just hoped it would work.

Tag; mina pandora oliveira