Like Fire and Oil [Bianca]

[Deleted]

March 20, 2026
Bianca Alia Rivera

It was the first weekend Sacha had off in around a week. That was the unfortunate thing about working for an orchestra that was currently performing with an opera, it meant very late nights as the show was going. But to be honest? It wasn't like he had anything better to do... Or anything he'd rather do. Those that knew him knew he was not exactly a social butterfly. Though you couldn't exactly call him shy either. More like he just found socializing with most people uninteresting... So why talk to people that couldn't hold his attention? Likewise, he had very specific hobbies and interests, and he rarely tried anything new. None of them really involving going out either. Though he did enjoy going to get a few drinks. That was what he settled on tonight.

He'd chosen the pub purely on a whim, with no real rhyme or reason to it. As he settled on a stool at the bar he realized that it was a somewhat busier night so it took the bartender a few minutes to finally get to him and get his order. Sacha didn't much care, and just ordered a Daisyroot Draught, the first bottle he'd spotted. The bartender was off fixing the drink when Sacha spotted someone out of the corner of his eye taking the stool next to him. He raised an eyebrow, though was reminded it was a busy night so there might not be any other seats for a solo drinker. With a slight shrug and ran a hand through his hair to clear it from his eyes and leaned an elbow on the bar as he waited, eyeing the person who'd sat next to him out of the corner of his eye.

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

20 March 2026

The career fair had finally ended, and Bianca could take one more thing off her to-do list. It should have been a relief, something to celebrate – especially because she was so overworked these days. Minister Krum seemed utterly uninterested in taking a personal interest in any of the Ministry’s affairs, whether there were day-to-day questions to handle or unresolved larger problems like Yrisle. So beyond the vast duties typically assigned to Law Enforcement, Bianca had been taking on extra work for months. The knowledge that she had more work waiting for her at the office took the edge off the good news that the career fair had concluded without any issues, or the hopeful expectation that students would walk away with their futures decided.

Beyond her work problems, the events of the last two days…were weighing on her mind. She couldn’t stop thinking about Cade, and her heart was doing that odd fluttering whenever she lingered on the subject too long. It was unlike her, incredibly unlike her, and Bianca needed a distraction from the strange thought that she was caught up on a guy. Considering what had happened yesterday, it was no use shutting herself in her office to work. She couldn’t force herself to focus on any one task and she’d run out of whisky. That had been the final straw, and Bianca had decided to take the rest of the night off. Part of her wondered if she should text Leo – it had been some time since their last real hangout – but she was too distracted and he would notice something was off. So she found herself alone in a bar she didn’t spend so much time in; the Violet Hound was her usual haunt, but there was too high a chance that she’d run into someone she knew there. “Double scotch, straight up,” she grumbled as she slid into one of the last empty stools at the bar. Felix was definitely on to something with this order, and she made a sound of appreciation as the bartender swiftly placed the glass in front of her. As an Auror, Bianca had highly-developed instincts, one of which was being able to quickly tell when she was being watched. She straightened and turned her gaze on the person next to her, noticing him for the first time as he studied her out of the corner of his eye. Bianca raised an eyebrow as she asked crossly, “Something to comment?”

@sacha

[Deleted]

March 20, 2026
Bianca Alia Rivera

The bartender had finally gotten Sacha his drink. It seemed Sacha was the last of the rush though, because when the woman who'd taken the stool next to him order, the drink was quick to come out. He only vaguely paid attention, enough to silently approve of her drink choice. Then, he raised his own glass to his lips to take a sip, testing the strength. Sacha was a heavy drinker, though mostly because he tended to hang out with heavy drinkers for some strange reason. Though, you'd never know when he was drunk. He held his liquor well, and he was actually pretty good about slowing down when he felt his inhibitions lowering to a dangerous level. Though, as he sipped he casually eyed the woman out of the corner of his eye again. He wasn't really curious, what was there to be curious about? It was a woman. Nothing particularly intriguing about her.

Of course, then she opened her mouth. He supposed how quickly her voice had come from casually ordering a drink to calling him out on looking at her was a little interesting. She didn't seem to have much in ways of manners, either. But, to be honest? Neither did he. Manners were pointless and dull. "I only comment when something's particularly interesting," he finally answered before raising his glass and taking a longer sip. No one would accuse Sacha of being a polite person. So far, the only interesting thing about this woman was her drink choice and her boldness in calling him out. But those traits were dime-a-dozen at a pub. Why should he be particularly impressed?

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Due to the nature of her job, Bianca had to be quick at reading people. At least to know whether they were a threat or not. Someone nursing a drink at the bar for ages to keep a clear head – suspicious. Signs of a hand hovering near a pocket for easy access to a wand – suspicious. A man several drinks in who thinks himself the most clever thing to have walked through the door? Just another monotonous day at a bar after work hours. Bianca didn’t care much about those kinds of people. After the career criminals she’d spent her decade at the Ministry putting behind bars and the dragons she wrestled with at the political level now, they were hardly a blip on her radar. She had discovered that the higher she climbed on the career ladder, the less she cared what others thought of her. She hadn’t made it as a Department Head because she was particularly delicate or gentle, and certainly not because she was embarrassed to be who she was.

Bianca stared disinterestedly at her glass now, swirling the liquid slightly as she took her eyes off the man with the sharp tongue besides her. Not a threat, not a dark wizard lurking in the shadows and waiting to take revenge for this or that. In the end, that assessment was all that mattered to her – everything else was just semantics. “Shut your trap then,” she replied without missing a beat, bringing the glass to her lips and emptying it. There was something gratifying about the way her throat burned – a way to remind her that despite the mental disconnect she forced at work, she was still human. Still felt things. She motioned to catch the bartender’s attention, who quickly moved to their corner of the counter and refilled her glass. Some part of her registered she was still technically in a conversation with her stool neighbor, but she didn’t return to look at him immediately. “Your staring says more than anything you could, at any rate.”

@sacha

[Deleted]

March 20, 2026
Bianca Alia Rivera

There was one thing you didn't do with Sacha. Telling him what/what not to do. He was the type of person that did exactly what he wanted, when he wanted, with no regard for others. Particularly when you told him not to do something it only made him want to do the opposite. So, as this woman told him to "shut his trap", Sacha raised an eyebrow. Though it seemed to cause him to want to talk, despite his disinterest. He just had to go against orders. "You're the one that started the conversation, you don't dictate what I do or don't say," he answered with a shrug. He still didn't find her interesting enough for any real attention. In fact, he looked as if he was only half listening to the conversation now, as if she wasn't worth more then half his attention.

The woman finished her drink in one go, and was already ordering a second. A little impressive, but not enough to warrant much more attention. He was still sipping at his own drink, as if in no rush. Then, she spoke to him again and he looked at her, this time turning his head just a little, though still not full on looking at her. "And what does my staring say?" He wasn't one of many words when it didn't benefit him, so staring was a fairly common practice of his.

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Bianca rolled her eyes slightly as she accepted the new drink, although she didn’t lift the glass right away. He was one of those kinds, was he? Stubborn, independent, the sort of child on the playground who would do the exact opposite of what he was told. She could understand being stubborn in certain circumstances. When she knew she was right, Bianca dug her heels in and refused to change her position. Why would she when it was the other side being an idiot? Even if she was rough around the edges, it was one of the reasons she had risen so quickly through the ranks of the Ministry. Her instincts were good, and she had the backbone to stand by them. But stubbornness for the sake of it, only because one couldn’t take orders…there was no room in her department for those kinds of troublemakers. No room in her life for it, either.

“You seem to have trouble making up your mind,” Bianca said in a detached tone. He was like a kneazle, pretending he wasn’t interested when – if that was the case – this conversation should have ended immediately. But his pride seemed to insist they continue anyway. He asked another question, and Bianca picked up her glass instead of answering. After a contemplative sip, she shrugged. “I thought we were done talking,” she remarked dryly. Still, as much as he could make the lofty claim that nothing interested him, Bianca didn’t bother to try. She did find conversations in bars with strangers interesting – they often led to the kinds of conversations she couldn’t find anywhere else. Sometimes new connections too, if the way things had gone with Felix was any indication. “Your staring,” Bianca started, still refusing to look over, “says what you don’t seem to have the balls to. If you don’t find this interesting, you can leave.” She snorted into her glass as she took another long sip. “And that was not an order.”

@sacha

[Deleted]

March 20, 2026
Bianca Alia Rivera

Sacha raised an eyebrow. It was often for him to meet someone so.... prickly. Someone that would get all riled up with little or no provocation. All he'd done was look at her and it had severely ruffled her feathers. At least, something seemed to catch his interest. Just knowing how little it had taken to get a reaction out of her. Perhaps this chance meeting wasn't nearly as boring as he'd initially thought. "No, my interest simply changed," he said. He swirled the contents of his glass before knocking down the rest and motioning the bar tender for another. It took only a few moments for a fresh glass to be placed in front of him.

This woman really was a spitfire. He brushed his hair off his shoulder, now amused by her reminder that the conversation was done. "It's done when we stop talking," he reminded. "If you find it so bothersome, just stop responding." Likewise, he'd do the same. Manners and etiquette aside, if he was done with a conversation he'd just simply not respond to someone speaking to him.

Her explanation of what his staring said was amusing. Finally he cracked a smirk. "I have no problem saying when a complete stranger lacks any interesting characteristics," he started to answer. He didn't bother with sugar coating the words. "I just simply don't bother most the time because it's a waste of time." He shrugged as he took a longer sip from his drink.

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

They seemed to be going through their drinks at an alarming rate. Bianca was close to draining her second glass since sitting down, and the man next to her only just polished off his. And who knows how long he had been here before she had wandered into the bar? She was more disciplined than this, more regulated with the amount she drank. Whisky took the edge off increasingly long and difficult days, but Bianca wasn’t sloppy. Still, ever since her promotion, drinking had become a way to deal with the radical change to her lifestyle. She didn’t spend so much time in the field anymore, didn’t see her friends so much either. The whole fiasco with Felix had deeply hurt her, and this…thing that was blooming now with Cade spooked her. At least whisky could be her constant companion through all this.

“So you aren’t indecisive,” Bianca said with a shrug as he countered that he had no trouble making up his mind, only that his interest had changed. “You’re easily distracted instead. Congratulations.” Her tone was monotonous, the same style she might use when standing in line at the bank or critiquing a report from one of the trainees in her department. Bored, maybe – but disinterested was a better word. She liked the mystery that surrounded random encounters with random strangers at a bar. There was something to it that was interesting beyond a doubt, the possibility of a new insight she wouldn’t find in her daily life. But so far, all she had found in this man was a mirror. Her own level of cold and impolite behavior reflected back at her in an unflattering picture. She didn’t mind it – she knew who she was -- but he had not captured her imagination yet.

Bianca tapped her fingers on the bar and finally turned back to look over the man next to her. He was smirking now, as if she’d finally said something interesting, but his eyes still looked cold. There was no warmth present in his face or his words, and Bianca got the sense that that kind of display would be hard-won. She couldn’t imagine who would bother putting in the effort. “One could argue that the most interesting aspect of a stranger usually isn’t skin-deep,” she suggested, playing with the glass in her hands instead of taking another sip, “So maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to make that judgment. Life just passes you by, doesn’t it?”

@sacha

[Deleted]

March 20, 2026
Bianca Alia Rivera

Easily distracted? That caught Sacha's attention and he tilted his head just a little as he eyed this total stranger. Anyone that new him well would never accuse him of such a thing. In fact, he was the polar opposite. Once he was focused on something there was little that could distract him or break his focus. He stared at her without blinking. "That's presumptuous for you to assume," he answered smugly. "Being distracted would require something being worth focusing on." He took a large gulp from his glass and swallowed, taking the moment to savor the burn at the back of his throat. Perhaps his next drink he should request it be a little stronger...

She turned back to him and their eyes met, the smirk on his lips remained as he waited for her reaction to his comments. To his mild surprise though, she didn't take his words as an insult. So she wasn't as predictable as she'd been leading him to believe. Her words were also almost philosophic. He took a sip from his glass as he mulled over her words, his gaze never breaking away from hers. "If a stranger has anything worth my attention it'll present itself sooner or later. Why bother until that happens?" he asked. Why should he waste his time letting people try to convince them they were worth his time? Why should he have to wait for them to present a noteworthy feature? If people wanted his attention it was on them to convince him of that, not the other way around. She was right about life passing him by though. It didn't bother him, however. "Life is exactly what I want it to be," was his simple answer as he shrugged. "I focus on what I want, and don't bother with things I don't."

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Bianca finally returned to her glass and took a measured sip, willing herself to make this one last longer than the previous. The golden liquid swirled in the glass, catching the light from the dim bar, and Bianca watched it a moment longer before an unwilling laugh escaped her at the man’s accusation that she was presumptuous. Yes, she was, incredibly so. It had been getting her in trouble since her school days (for a future Auror, she'd still received a remarkable amount of detention in school), but she liked the kind of trouble she found herself in because of it. Playing it safe wasn’t her style, and she couldn’t say she liked the idea of missing out on all the most meaningful experiences of her life because she’d been too afraid to say something or act. “Maybe it is,” she acknowledged, draining her glass and setting it on the bar. It was quickly filled again, although she left it where it was as she continued, “But it seems to have done the trick. You’ve been looking at me instead of your glass, haven’t you?”

The conversation had taken a turn away from the concrete insults of a few minutes ago into more philosophic territory. Bianca could only have Felix to thank for that – they’d spent an inordinate amount of time together since New Year’s, and his mind always inevitably wandered back to the philosophy of life, love, and the universe. It was becoming a habit of hers (a bad habit, in her opinion) to become equally contemplative about these things after a few drinks, although her feet had always been planted firmly on the ground, unlike Felix whose mind tended to wander in the clouds. She missed the days when she could freely insult people without wondering about their world views or perspective on life. This stranger seemed, if possible, even more aloof. Why should he bother putting any effort in? Either things would become known to him, or they wouldn’t. Bianca rolled her eyes at his assertion that life was exactly what he wanted it to be. “Of course it is,” she responded quickly, “You’ve been living in a cave, watching the shadows flicker on the wall. You feel like you have everything you need there, but the most interesting things in life are outside the cave. They won’t come to you – you need to go searching for them.” A thought occurred to her, and Bianca picked up her glass as she observed, “It’s the same with strangers. Most treasure is buried, isn’t it?” She gave him a challenging smirk as she took a long sip from her new drink.

@sacha

[Deleted]

March 20, 2026
Bianca Alia Rivera

Well. Color Sacha officially curious. This woman openly acknowledged his accusations but also had the audacity to call him out for looking at her instead of his liquor glass. He stared at her in total silence for a suspenseful ten seconds... before he started to laugh. Well, this nameless woman was actually quite interesting. He was sure she hadn't actually wanted his attention, but this conversation must have given her the drive to do exactly that, just to prove him wrong. He found himself grinned as he leaned forward, elbows on the bar top as he ran a hand through his hair. As if just to prove her right, his head was tilted in her direction, eyes laser focused on her. "Are you sure you want my attention? People like me tend to get obsessive when we find something of interest," he warned, grinning like a fox.

Sacha downed the rest of his drink, closing his eyes as his throat burned. Usually, he tried to savor the flavor of the alcohol, but today he was more in the mood to get drunk. If he drank at his usual pace he'd never get more then a buzz. He opened his eyes and motioned for the bartender to bring him another. As the bartender went about fixing the drink he listened to the woman's words. At least now he was more invested in the conversation.

The woman's words were... interesting. Comparing his disinterest with living in a cave, and how things that might actually pique his curiosity wouldn't come to him. He ran a hand through his hair, actually pondering the idea. His upbringing was a comfortable one. Well... more then comfortable. His parents were exceptionally wealthy and given Sacha whatever he wanted. He'd just have to ask and it was handed to him. "Who says there even is any treasure to begin with? Many men have gone mad searching for treasures that didn't even exist in the first place. Perhaps I'm protecting my own sanity?" His new drink had arrived and he took that moment to take a slow sip, this time savoring it just a little. "Or perhaps I'm simply a good judge of character and can sort the trash from the treasure quickly." Sacha smirked. He was sure it wasn't that, though the idea amused him.

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Bianca could never resist a challenge. Her curiosity was a double-edged sword – it was that quality that had made her so successful at work, always pushing the boundaries of how far she could take a case until it inevitably ended in an arrest. She was sure that she could thank her endless drive for such an early promotion to Department Head. But there was always a drawback, and her inability to back down had gotten her in trouble before. The scars lining her side could attest to that, but it had also led to so many other confrontations – with bullies, or people who couldn’t leave well enough alone. And with Felix too…whiskey always loosened her up, and the heartbreak of the last few months was no doubt because Felix had gotten her curious and then the attraction had turned into something deeper. But she was done with that now, wasn’t she?

This stranger was challenging her now, and Bianca was faced with the dual instincts to engage, and to back down. To rise to his challenge, or to back away slowly. Damn it, Felix. His gaze was sharp and heavy as his eyes bored into hers, and Bianca scoffed slightly at his warning. “Nothing I haven’t seen before,” she responded slowly, speaking each word clearly and purposefully as she let her gaze wander down before turning back to her glass. She laughed into the golden liquid as she sipped at her whiskey, then removed her Auror badge from her belt so she could tilt it in his direction and run her fingers over it idly. “But are you saying you find me interesting?” she asked, not turning back to see how he would take her question, or seeing her badge. If it was going to scare him away, better to do it now before she got too invested in the conversation. She clipped it back on without looking, a motion she’d done a thousand times before in all different kinds of circumstances. Truly, there was very little that could surprise her anymore.

Whatever his background was, or reason for being there, he seemed willing to think about the more philosophical side of things. That was unusual, at least for the patrons of this bar. Bianca listened quietly as he wondered if treasure could exist at all, and if it was worth engaging with the unknown to go looking for it. He wasn’t wrong, and she usually thought the same way. People weren’t worth bothering with, and opening yourself to someone new could only end in tragedy. But...her chest felt warm as she thought about her encounter with Cade yesterday, and the way he’d looked at her in the low light of her office. She couldn’t help the smile that threatened to emerge, more genuine than any of her previous smirks of the night. “Maybe I want to be a little insane,” she murmured, taking a measured sip and then putting the glass back down. But she hadn’t forgotten where she was, and she turned her head slightly to eye the stranger sitting next to her. “So which am I? Surely you don’t need more than a minute to decide what you’ve found.”

@sacha