i'm not really looking for another mistake [sarah]

[Deleted]

Imogen was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, trying to figure out what to do with her life now that the school year was over. She had been looking forward to the summer for months now, but now that it was here, and the circumstances surrounding it, Imogen couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. She was taking a page from Mina's book and trying to forget her problems by drinking until she couldn't walk straight. The only problem was that Imogen didn't quite have enough fortitude to knock back shots the way Mina could. She was nursing a firewhiskey, but at the rate she was drinking it, she'd never get even a buzz, let alone enough alcohol in her system to forget everything that had happened the day the foreign students had left Hogwarts. Trauma was a stupid thing, begging to be forgotten but also demanding to be remembered. Imogen was also people-watching, which was difficult to do since it was a weekday afternoon and only pathetic people like her came to the pub at this hour, except for to cross over into Diagon Alley, and even then... Imogen sighed and returned to swirling her glass, as if that would somehow reduce the amount of liquid in it.

sarah jane oliveira
(i hate us.)

[Deleted]

Sarah was bored. She was off today and Sebastian was with her sister. Not because she couldn't have spent the time with him but because she just really wasn't in the mood. But it was an awkward hour. To early for any sort of clubbing or night life. But late enough for people to be getting off work. Most of the actual bars she frequented would be dreadfully boring at the hour and the busy ones would be packed with people that really weren't her crowd. So... she found herself entering th Leaky Cauldron. Despite being a main hub to Diagon Alley the place wasn't the most popular stop for drinks. Not like the Three Broomsticks. And you could get a good mix of good and sketchy folks alike. It's hopefully keep her attention until where more excited started to pick up.

Sarah wasn't really paying much attention to the patrons as she approached the bar and ordered a shot of almost straight vodka. But while she was waiting for the alcohol she noticed the woman next to her. Or rather the sigh caught her attention. Sarah's gaze moved from the drink, to the woman's face as she leaned against the counter.. before smiling. "What ever you're trying to drown out won't work with that. Bartender, on second thought make that two." she spoke up, first to this stranger and then to the bar tender who merely nodded and added a second shot glass to the mix. Soon the pair of glasses were set in front of her. To which Sarah immediately held one out to the stranger with that same smile. "Trust me, this'll work much better." Was Sarah flirting with this stranger? Maybe, but why not? They were attractive and she was bored.

@imogen
(Pfft. You know this is brilliant)

[Deleted]

Imogen, for all of her declarations about people watching, hadn’t even noticed when the woman had sat down at the bar beside her, too occupied with her drink to look up. The voice caught her attention, though, declaring that whatever sorrows she wanted to drown out wouldn’t disappear with the firewhiskey. “Is it really that obvious?” Imogen asked with another sigh. She supposed that drinking during the day was probably a good indication that there was something wrong, but she hated that anyone walking by would see her sorrows as plainly as if she was shouting about them. Imogen turned to face the other woman, observing her neutrally. She was pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes that tugged on the edges of Im’s consciousness, like she should know the face, but the professor brushed the thought away. She saw so many faces at the school that every face started to look familiar after a while.

The other woman slid Imogen a glass of something – Im hadn’t heard the order – and said that it would work much better at getting her drunk. Imogen sniffed at the glass, and the only thing she could detect was the burn of alcohol. “Cheers.” Imogen said with a grimace, not wanting to argue with the stranger’s generosity. Maybe she just needed someone else to coax her into doing what she already wanted to do herself. After swallowing the entire shot, Imogen looked back at the woman, wishing that she was drunk enough that flirting would come easy. “You know your alcohol.” Im said, wiggling her fingers a little as the shot began to make its way, hot and slick, through her bloodstream.

sarah jane oliveira

[Deleted]

To be fair, Sarah was very good at sneaking about and avoiding detection. She hadn't meant to sneak today, but the woman at the bar didn't seem to notice her presence until she'd spoken. To which Sarah smiled even wider. It wasn't her usual 'Beware; I bite' smile. It was actually... normal. "Beautiful woman sitting alone at the bar, just staring down into her drink?" She asked, intentionally speaking just a little slower when she called the woman beautiful. "Plus, it gave me a great opportunity to approach you." Might as well keep the conversation light, especially with the woman's slightly sullen mood, but also make her intentions at least a little more clear. Sure, if the woman wanted to just drink fine with her, but if the woman wanted anything more? Well, why not make it a little more clear that she was open to ideas.

Sarah lifted her own shot glass in sync with the woman, smiling and offering her own silent 'cheers' in response before downing the shot. Unlike this woman, Sarah didn't grimace. She had a pretty high alcohol tolerance level. But, to be fair, Sarah had been drinking regularly for years so she'd had plenty of time to build her endurance. "Mmm." Sarah agreed to the statement. Setting the shot glass down she turning on the bar stool just a little so she was almost entirely facing the other woman. "It all depends on what outcome you want, and how quickly you want to get there. You look like the sort who's had a very rough day and needs a distraction fast." She answered casually.

@imogen

[Deleted]

Imogen tried not to flush when the other woman called her beautiful. She had never seen herself as pretty, which was silly considering she could change her appearance to be whatever she wanted it to be. Being pretty still felt more like a pipe dream, and Imogen shifted uncomfortably at the thought of being thought of that way. The woman said that the drinks were a good way to approach her, and Im offered her a soft smile. “Drinking brings people together?” She teased. Mina would probably have a conniption if she heard what Imogen was saying now.

“I teach at Hogwarts.” Imogen explained. “So this past week hasn’t been fun.” The explosions, and then hurrying graduation, and just the emotional fallout that came with knowing that people she had seen in the corridors of the school had died… It was a lot for Imogen, and it wasn’t like the rest of the year had been a walk in the park, either. There had been the Tournament, and Ophelia’s pregnancy and subsequent child loss, and… way too many other things. Imogen just wanted a little bit of peace, but it seemed unlikely that she was going to get any anytime soon, unless she made it for herself.

sarah jane oliveira

[Deleted]

Sarah leaned an elbow on the counter, her smile remaining as she finally got a more desirable reaction from the other woman. A small smile was a good start. "In this moment, it definitely does." Sarah would be the first to admit that sometimes she liked to drink alone. But she wanted company today. And why not have that company be a pretty face? Maybe she was coming off a little to strong though, toning it down a touch wouldn't hurt.

Ah, teacher. Sarah gave the woman a sympathetic look. Not because of the whole explosions and the way the school year ended, she couldn't care less about those. But teaching teenagers full time? Sounded like torture. Thankfully her expression didn't give away what the sympathy was for so it would likely be understood to mean the explosion. Waving a hand to the bar tender, he knew to refill the shots. As he fixed the next round, Sarah looked back at the woman with that same sympathetic look. "How about this then. We both pretend to be someone else, and I buy drinks until we're both drunk enough to believe it and forget about all of our real hardships."

@imogen

[Deleted]

Imogen smiled when the woman said that in this case, drinking did bring people together. That sent something warm fluttering through her stomach, though the professor pushed that off as a side effect of downing a shot so recently. The woman at the bar suggested that they both pretend to be someone else, sympathy written on her face, and Imogen nodded. She wasn’t much good at change, despite it being in her nature to be fluid – she was born able to transform into anything, and yet she insisted on staying the same. Sadly, Imogen still wasn’t quite up to changing her appearance at will, and she wasn’t sure that she would even if she could – revealing that she was a Metamorphmagus sometimes gave people ideas, and hardly any of them were good ones. Being able to take a break, become someone else until all of her problems melted away, was attractive. Im suddenly understood why Mina enjoyed drinking so much. “Call me Anya.” Imogen said after a moment. The way of getting from her real name to her alias was slightly convoluted – the last letters of Imogen’s middle name were ‘ania’, which was similar enough to the name that she had given that it wasn’t entirely a lie. “What can I call you?” Imogen asked. If she was braver, she probably would have added a pet name to the end of the question, but she wasn’t brave. She just hoped that her lack of flirting skills wouldn’t make the woman less likely to follow through on her offer to get drunk together.

sarah jane oliveira

[Deleted]

A pair of shots were placed in front of the pair and Sarah picked up both, one in each hand, holding out one to her company. "That is a very pretty name." Sarah complimented. Unique, for these parts too. Of course, Sarah didn't believe for a momen that this was the woman's real name, but she had said to pretend to be someone else. It would make things fun and exciting. Now to only decide what she herself would be called... The woman was asking quickly though, so the first name that came to mind popped out, smooth as butter. "You can call me whatever your heart desires." She purred, before tipping the shot glass she'd kept to her lips and downed the shot. "Shay." Sarah added after a moment. She'd used the name as an alias once. It was close enough to her real name that it wouldn't confuse her too much, but far enough that no one would make the jump from Shay to Sarah.

@imogen

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Imogen managed a small smile when the woman said her name – her pseudonym – was pretty. Imogen had thought so, and that was part of the reason why she had chosen it. She had an inexplicable urge to make the woman like her, and think of her as pretty. Imogen took a deep breath, and tried not to flinch away when the woman gave a name of her own – Shay. It probably was about as real as Imogen’s own name, but she didn’t really care. She was still too hung up on the comment about calling the woman whatever her heart desired. How could she explain that what she desired wasn’t what people typically came to bars for? Trying to explain that what she wanted was to get to know Shay better and then fall into bed with her was just weird, so Imogen just gestured for the bartender to pour her another shot. “Nice to meet you, Shay.” Im said before downing her drink. “Where do we go from here?” Imogen asked, desperately searching for direction in a situation she was painfully unfamiliar with.

sarah jane oliveira

[Deleted]

This woman, Anya, seemed just a little out of place. Not uncomfortable, but maybe… out of practice? Sarah couldn’t quite put her finger on it though. It was a little endearing though. Sarah had been coming onto this woman quite strong. And while she wasn’t receiving the same in return she also wasn’t being rejected. Maybe the woman in general just wasn’t that great at flirting. She’d met plenty of people that were interested and just unpracticed, or too shy to be as confident and forward as they wanted. That, and the question of ‘where do we go from here’ made it clear enough to her that Anya was interested. Because it left the door open to continuing the fun. ”Have you had dinner yet?” Sarah asked in return, answering the question with her own. She could be forceful and have one night stands when she wanted, but sometimes it was much more interesting to keep things a little slower. It made the ending worth it.

@imogen

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It seemed that Shay was much more adept at this than she was, which did not surprise Imogen in the slightest. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had flirted with anyone, and it was practically unheard of for her to be this interested in someone at their first meeting. Normally it took her much longer to decide that someone was wroth pursuing, and then she had the problem of not wanting to ruin their friendship with her feelings, et cetera. It was kind of nice, the idea of having just one relationship that didn’t have any strings attached. Shay asked if she had had dinner yet, in response to her question about where they went next, no less, and Imogen shook her head. “Shall I close our tab?” She asked smoothly - or as smoothly as she could. Imogen assumed that having a dinner at the Cauldron wasn’t what Shay had in mind, though she would gladly stay either way.

sarah jane oliveira