L'été Éternal [Rhys]

[dahlia jade greyback]

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August 16th, 2028

Her first job since the concussion via security troll was finally done, though it had been far from an extraordinary return to work. A month of training and observation had preceded it to make sure everything was the way it was supposed to be, which included very minimal action, and then this mission of hers. Sorting through the cordoned off basement of a non-magique museum in Paris with trainee cursebreaker, Buford Goldfinch. Supposedly this was part of their training program through LIFE at Hogwarts. And she was lucky enough to get the second worst job and stuck with a child that wasn't even sure if he wanted to be a cursebreaker yet, but was 'simply trying it out to see if it was his thing'. Dahlia had heard of this before - this indecision. American non-magique did it at their universities all the time. Spending their parents' money to go to school, just to end up never following through on a career in their field.

Buford was a nice enough kid, but still had the mindset that he was in class and that she was his professor or something. A million questions and only a few gruff answers in response later, and their job was done. Digging through half empty boxes looking for cursed artifacts wasn't nearly as thrilling of a return to work as she'd hoped, but she found enough cool items to satiate her hunger for the job. Most dives produced nothing, so seeing objects that had already been found - and getting to handle them - was worth it in the end.

After they finished, Buford, who was either a really gentlemanly lad or smitten after only two days of working together, handed her a bouquet of roses. Dahlia was fairly certain she understood the message, hoping at first that it was only because she'd briefly mentioned having a small interest in botany, but realizing it probably wasn't that. Buford was Buford though, and Dahlia was not only not interested in that way, but also could only imagine how many ethical violations that would cause by shagging what was essentially her intern. She still took the roses though, feeling that it would be disingenuous to throw them out. With everything over the last few months health-wise, it was a nice gesture. And she did have a nice vase they could be put into back home.

Before that could happen though, she was to meet up with Rhys at the Leaky Cauldron. Mainly for dinner, but also because she had to report to him how the last two days had gone. As she apparated to Diagon Alley, she thought about how the bank was more than likely going to slap her with a few more weeks of work like this. It was probably in her best interest despite disliking how boring sifting through boxes was. Entering the pub, she found an empty table and took a seat, placing the bouquet on the edge of it. She needed a drink, and hadn't had one since the concussion in March. This was easily the most sober she'd ever been. It was horrible.

rhys alexander greyback ● 522 ● song by artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Summer’s end was fast approaching, which included Rhys’ birthday. Not that he kept much track. In fact, the thought merely left a sinking feeling in his stomach. After qualifying the new Cursebreakers, Rhys’ work was technically done unless the school called upon him again the following year, or Juniper convinced him again. He hoped Gringotts would not make this mandatory and use whoever was available. He couldn’t see the goblins putting anything before their potential profits. However, rather than immediately return to work, Rhys extended his time home (with a handful of short jobs), telling himself it was because Amelia’s birthday was also fast approaching.

Two years old—time really did fly. It was merely coincidental that Dahlia was also spending more time with the family due to her injury in the springtime. Rhys couldn’t say much due to his injuries while working, including at least two potentially life-threatening ones, but he’d managed to avoid a concussion via troll. Fortunately, she was slowly getting back to work. Which seemed like a good idea for all their sanity and before Amelia’s vocabulary could become entirely composed of swearwords. But as much as Rhys wanted to spend more time with his daughter and family, he was itching to return to full-time work. Still, there was this pull home he couldn’t ignore.

”You shouldn’t have.” Rhys commented dryly as he sat across from Dahlia, his eyes lingering on the bouquet of flowers. He had expected a drink before her rather than flowers, but he wasn’t even sure if she was allowed to drink yet. Though it was safe to say Rhys had drunk enough for the both of them the past five months, especially after Vasilia dumped him in May. Maybe that’s why time seemed to fly. He’d simply been inebriated or otherwise occupied by a pretty face. ”How’d it go?” Rhys recalled the details of her assigned work. It was far beneath her skill level as far as he was concerned, but Rhys knew firsthand the importance of not jumping back in when it came to health.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Rhys appeared soon after she took her seat, and she laughed dryly at his comment about the flowers. The problem with brain injuries was that everything seemed to slow down at times. She knew she was better, but also realized that she was extremely lucky. Surviving a slugging from a troll was no easy feat. While she wasted away in her bed at Mungo’s, she contemplated changing careers to being a Beater. She was perfect for it now that she really knew how to use her head. Needless to say, her reaction time wasn’t fully back yet, and moving the bouquet of roses to the side of the table didn’t happen until Rhys mentioned them. ”Buford is a nice boy…I may have been too impressive with my French,” she shrugged, giving the roses a long side-eye. Thankfully the concussion hadn’t effected any of her language capabilities. Those were basically all she had going for her, aside from the lack of fear for tomb raiding.

”Found a few things…a ring with an emerald inlay that is still stuck to the finger it was put on. I am hoping it gets removed because I believe there is an inscription on the inside.” Having held the finger up to the light, there was a gap in the bones where she was fairly certain she saw something scratched along the interior. Buford was amazed by this observation of course, despite it being standard procedure for non-lethal cursed objects. ”I want to get back out…but it is exhausting still,” she said honestly. ”I am still frustrated that they did not let me punch the troll back after I was released. That’s only fair, no?” And then the troll, not realizing the context, would hit her right back again. Dahlia knew she’d burned most of her good luck already. It wouldn’t happen the same way twice.

Catching the eye of one of the waiters, Dahlia motioned that she wanted to order, putting in for whatever meat they had, and as rare as possible. Ever since the punch, she’d wanted it more and more. Clearly something in her brain chemistry had triggered the werewolf to want it, but Merlin did it taste good. ”And a firewhiskey,” she added at the end before waiting for her brother to order. ”Are there other trainees at Hogwarts I should be careful of? I don’t think I want flowers every time I take one on a job…”

rhys alexander greyback ● 406 ● song by artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Rhys raised a curious eyebrow. Dahlia was his sister, but there wasn’t really anything about her behavior that should have indicated to a trainee that she was remotely interested in anything outside of merely work. Still, it was funny. It was like the confusion he faced the first time Archer pointed out that one of the female trainees blushed around Rhys. Naturally, Rhys had not noticed, for he was hardly friendly to any of this last trainee group. ”Maybe he just likes being bossed around.” Rhys shrugged. Some were happy letting someone else take charge.

Nodding as he listened, Rhys felt it all sounded standard. Naturally, appendages were removed as quickly as possible as they were hardly valuable, like the objects retrieved. Once they did, Dahlia would do the final check of the item before signing it off for the bank. ”Sure, if you want to end up in St. Mungo’s again.” Before Rhys could continue, the waitress Dahlia flagged approached their table. ”The same.” Whiskey might as well have been water for Rhys these days. ”I don’t know…” Rhys remarked with a shrug. He’d hardly sat down and gotten anyone’s life story. And that was on purpose.

Cursebreaking was high risk for a high reward, but Merlin was that cost high when things went wrong. The last thing Rhys needed was to feel that kind of loss again. He’d had enough for a lifetime. ”Flowers are hardly the worst thing in the world, as long as you end up with one that isn’t paying attention.” He remembered Kirk, who fortunately was not in the field anymore, and that last accident. With a sigh, he looked around for their waitress, the craving for alcoholic relief strong in his core. It was dangerous what he did every day. ”Merlin knows I’ve ended up in St. Mungos plenty of times, but twice…twice I was almost taken out.” It was not a topic Rhys took lightly. ”I’d rather have flowers from—whatever his name is—than the bloody idiot trainee I worked with last time.”

But Rhys said these things for a reason. ”Dahlia—I know you know what you’re doing, but just do me a favor and take it slow and avoid trolls.” Finally, their whiskey arrived, and this train of thought left Rhys wondering if they should tell the waitress to leave the bottle.

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Dahlia was vain enough to know that Buford was probably interested in more than 13th century pottery excavated from a long-lost Roman city. But he was also a student and still a few years too young for her. There had to be a cut off somewhere. While she may have contemplated such a thing at the start of her career, when she was barely out of school herself, there was now a power imbalance. And she did not want to muck everything up for herself more than it already was. ”He is like an eager puppy,” she said in response. Maybe being bossed around was the correct way to put it after all, now that she thought about it a little more.

”It won’t be my last time there,” she said in a straight-forward manner. The inevitable truth about cursebreaking was that they would all end up in St. Mungo’s at one time or another for various aches, pains, and near-death experiences. And that not all of them would make it out unscathed. Since she had started, a few of her early trainers had already retired due to injuries or close calls. The trick to lasting long in this field was taking easier jobs or getting out early. It was quite amazing that her most severe injury in her four years of working came not from a collapsed tunnel or cursed object, but by a troll doing its job a little too well.

Rhys seemed to mimic her thoughts, albeit out loud, mentioning how his own trips to the hospital had gone. All of the cursebreakers had as many great stories about injuries as they did finds. They were collectively fucked up, to put it nicely. ”Buford,” she filled in the kid’s name, as if it mattered. It really didn’t.

She listened to Rhys’s warnings about moving slowly back into work and staying away from trolls. As much as she wanted to argue about it, and it was difficult to hold back her tongue, she knew he was right. ”I know,” she admitted with a long sigh. Their drinks arrived, and she took a normal sip, only to realize how out of practice she was after so long. It almost gagged her at first, turning into a solid cough as it hit the back of her throat. ”So…you are teaching or something now? How is that?”

rhys alexander greyback ● 396 ● song by artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Rhys rolled his eyes. Of course, Buford was. He saw it among the young trainees and fresh cursebreakers when encountering their older peers. And Rhys would be lying if he said an older woman or two didn’t make him blush once or twice in those days. But he’d never acted or reciprocated anything. Only anger seemed to provoke a response from him. Pausing a moment, Rhys considered his younger sibling. ”I’ll see if I can find someone else for next time.” It wasn’t an issue. Plus, it was best for Buford to get experience with different personalities. Maybe Rhys would drag him to a job, let him get lost in the dark for a few minutes, and perhaps warn him to think twice about whom he brought flowers to.

He sighed, frowning slightly. ”No, it won’t.” A cursebreaker who didn’t end up in St. Mungos at some point was hardly considered one. Fortunately, it didn’t mean the injury had to be life-threatening. Curses and cursed objects left all kinds of different effects on the human body. ”Seems we have a knack for getting hit in the head.” Dahlia, by angering a troll, and Rhys merely by bad luck. ”Merlin willing, you don’t end up cursed or something.” There were worse things than physical injuries. Rhys didn’t think his own curse was anything to brag about. When he did, it was physically draining and painful on all levels, so it was used sparingly. And really, he was far too scared of what he would see at times.

Dahlia reminded him of his classmates during his school days when they tried their first glass of whiskey at fifteen. On the other hand, Rhys drank half his glass without so much as wincing. ”Till the end of summer.” Somehow, he’d survived these past six months without strangling a trainee. Honestly, he was ready to get back out there. But he had to admit, there had been pros to staying home this long. But he shrugged at the question. ”It's less risky to train them this way.” Most of the other temporary staff also seemed to like it, but whether Hogwarts would make this a regular thing? He didn’t know.

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”If there is no one else, Buford is not the worst in the world…he is just young. And probably horny,” Dahlia stated rather bluntly. ”I won’t sleep with the trainees,” she quickly added on. As if she actually had any morals. Those sorts of things didn’t matter while abroad, but she felt it necessary to keep working relationships as professional as possible. Feelings didn’t need to get in the way of a dangerous job. Which was also why she and Rhys didn’t get assigned together much anymore, their specialized fields being in different parts of the world aside. It was better this way anyways. They worked better bouncing stories off one another and had already spent plenty of time working with one another when he was training her.

She silently scoffed at the idea of getting cursed. That was a given in this line of work. As long as it wasn’t a nasty one, she was totally fine with sitting the hospital again. Or losing a pinky or something. The concussion was particularly annoying because she didn’t feel like herself for months. Who needed all of their fingers? ”When will they start requiring us to wear helmets? It makes sense, no?” They were always underground or in caves, and half the jobs ended up with falling of some sort, whether it was down a pitfall or newly opened shaft. She could definitely benefit from wearing one now. A second concussion so soon after the first was supposedly not good at all. Obviously.

Dahlia matched her brother’s drinking, wincing slightly at it because of how long it had been since she’d had any sort of alcohol. It still tasted better than some of the painkiller potions the healers had forced her to drink. Those were absolutely rancid despite helping her get better. ”No, I see why they do it. That means they’ll be going to the training tomb soon…so I will get them next.” It was one of her new ‘jobs’ because it had zero risk. Running the trainees through the practice pyramid was super easy, and she could walk through it with her eyes closed now. When Buford got there, she was going to make his way harder than the rest. For fun, of course.

rhys alexander greyback ● 375 ● song by artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Rhys looked unamused. He was not interested in talking about young horny cursebreakers or his younger sister sleeping with any of them. ”Please don’t.” He felt the need to add. They all acted like a bunch of giggling school girls in the classrooms, as it were, let alone they think they caught the favor of an older Cursebreaker. ”Just imagine how many flowers he’d send you.” Rhys also added sarcastically, if only to give her another good reason to leave them alone. But he wouldn’t dig into that subject further despite all his own adventures and traveling. Rhys had managed to keep his trainees at arm's length and his liaisons with women who were not his coworkers.

Merlin knew Rhys could’ve gotten a drink and more with another Cursebreaker or some other woman in the bank, and the knowledge traveled up Diagon Alley and down Horizont to Vasilia’s ears. Rhys pushed that thought in his mind. It didn’t matter anymore anyway. ”A helmet isn’t going to stop a curse.” Rhys responded with a light chuckle, already finishing his glass. ”Trust me.” Surviving two curse-related incidents, where one was actually a Purifier attack, was all the proof Rhys needed. ”They’d just get in the way. Nothing beats a strong and well-timed shield charm.” When Rhys accepted a teaching position, he offered a course in this area. After losing Saffron, Rhys never wanted to be in that boat again, and he’d worked hard to ensure it didn’t. He’d put in years of study in that area of charms alone, among other areas he needed for work.

Rhys nodded. They were all graduates now and had traveled as part of that training, but they weren’t going to be allowed to run headfirst into their first tomb just yet. Rhys and Dahlia’s training had gone much differently, but he supposed each approach had pros and cons. Sitting in a classroom for two years with limited traveling might have also driven him nuts, though it would have meant more time at home. ”They’re technically not trainees anymore, but they still need to get through the practice tombs in the Americas, Mediterranean, and a couple other places.” Ancient artifacts littered the world, with each area containing its own risks and challenges. Rhys sort of looked forward to it.

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”I do like flowers…” Dahlia trailed off. But not that much that she wanted a perpetual flow of them from Buford of all people. Her flat could use some extra color. The only problem being that she was almost never home. Things had been nice during her recovery period though that was about to come to an end. She imagined that there would be more encounters with her new protégé over the next several years, assuming he stuck with it. Trying to imagine young Buford actually traversing a tomb was sort of a hilarious picture in her head. The training pyramid was waiting for him, after all.

Sure, a helmet wouldn’t work against curses or most traps, but the additional coverage from a fall or low ceiling would be amazing. ”What about a shield charm on a helmet then?” Dahlia had no idea how charmed objects actually came to be, as her specialty was deactivating that sort of thing instead of the opposite. Either way, she knew it was an absurd request and that something like that would never actually be passed by the bank. For being expensive assets, cursebreakers were still easy to find and train.

”I feel like I had to wait forever because of the sickness,” Dahlia groaned, referring to her time abroad where she’d been physically prevented from returning to England due to Hag’s Fever. She was still frustrated by that all these years later, because it quite literally kept her from making money for months. The bank had essentially forgotten about her right as she was figuring out how to be a full-fledged cursebreaker. Staying in France wasn’t the worst, but she had better things to do.

She took another sip of her drink, already forgetting the sting it had provided her the first time. Merlin, she really was out of practice. ”Did I miss anything else? Everyone alive still?” A dark joke, but she was also somewhat seriously asking. News spread fast in their field when one of them croaked. She was very close to being the next one for a minute there.

rhys alexander greyback ● 349 ● song by artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Rhys raised an eyebrow. He didn’t particularly feel like continuing to discuss Buford. Not that he would ever look at the young Cursebreaker the same. That was one thing Rhys had to learn how to contend with. His feelings as an older brother of younger sisters. Even if their relationships hadn’t spanned their entire lives, it felt like it had, without the typical childhood memories many siblings might share. Rhys still remembered how his heart had stopped an entire beat when hearing Dahlia was in St. Mungo’s, and he'd assumed the worst. But he quickly received the story of what had occurred and switched to disbelief rather than panic.

”You do that, and let me know how it goes.” He responded dryly. He wouldn’t be caught dead wearing some kind of helmet. And Rhys didn’t want to hear comments from his colleagues, especially with a decade on the job now. It's not like it would have helped him in any of his accidents so far. Plus, Rhys didn’t want his Cursebreakers to let their guard down for any reason. Helmets and other things would make them lazy when they needed the highest awareness and vigilance. Rhys nodded. The quarantine had messed up everybody’s plans. Sometimes Rhys wondered, had he not been trapped on the British Isles with so much idle time, would he have ended up so tightly in Sage Grimstone’s orbit, but that was neither here nor there now.

He didn’t flinch at her question. Cursebreakers joked as such to get through their difficult work. Between the physical part, the constant traveling, and the danger, it was the easiest coping mechanism, especially when they were required to be sober while working. ”So far.” Rhys waved the waitress down for another drink. ”Unfortunately, we couldn’t deal with the more difficult trainees while on campus.” The waitress quickly returned, another drink for both. ”But we’ll see who learns to shut up when they go abroad.” Officially, any hazing was not allowed, but some left training with too big of a chip on their shoulder. And the more experienced Cursebreakers, such as Rhys and the other instructors, knew how to humble a new Cursebreaker without serious danger. Rhys knew how humbling it could be as a recipient of such an act. His temper had gotten him into more trouble than it should have in the early days.

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Dahlia supposed she should stop with the helmets. They seemed like a great idea, but Rhys was most likely right about them being in the way. Whether or not a shield charm was a quicker cast against falling rubble was yet to be decided, but she knew for a fact that a helmet would help. Rhys didn't seem to want to talk about it any longer though, so she let it go.

Despite the off-color joke about the potential deaths of her colleagues, it was nice to hear that they were all fine. It took the edge off, since they all knew what they had signed up for. Dahlia had another drink in front of her as Rhys talked, not having finished off her first one yet. She quickly corrected that, knocking back the rest of it and passing over the empty glass to the waitress. "More difficult than me?" she inquired as she stared into the amber liquid of her new drink. Dealing with her couldn't have been the easiest at times, personal connections aside. Dahlia tried to not let her will for independence override what her superiors wanted her to do, but it was often times hard to follow through with. Especially after being sidelined twice in her relatively short career so far.

Obviously, she wasn't the best person to be out with recruits and trainees. Buford was an odd exception, as he seemingly deflected her iciness effectively. Somehow she viewed that as admirable. The others didn't stand a chance with her though. "I look forward to getting them into shape." As if she was one to talk. She was basically a rookie still, barely two years in and even less time actually working. Her seniority came from being the rude French girl, which worked well sometimes. "But we shall see how long they keep me like this...I understand that it's for safety, but it is annoying," she groaned before knocking back her second drink all in one go. Now was the time for getting drunk.

rhys alexander greyback ● 339 ● song by artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Rhys had a thought that perhaps a helmet for the more difficult trainees might not be a bad idea. Something bright and flashy so they stood out among their peers. But whenever Rhys had these brilliant ideas, his memories gave him perspective. Begrudgingly, he didn’t want to turn into those that tormented him in his younger years. One might say it was one of the few areas where he held an incredible amount of self-awareness, whether he knew it or not. And maybe because he never thought twice about it, was he speaking to a struggling trainee, an arrogant colleague, a house elf or whoever he came across.

With a light shrug, Rhys responded after a sip of whiskey. ”You’re stubborn but you know what you’re doing.” Difficult was measured by the imbalance between confidence and competence. And the couple of times Dahlia had ruffled the goblin’s feathers fell more into the ‘misunderstanding’ category to him. Drinking more whiskey, that nostalgic feeling lingered. ”I went through several trainers before one really sat me down and told me to get it together.” Cas Karkaroff, while not as tall as Rhys, had somehow lifted the trainee by his shirt collar and spoke some sense into him. He didn’t know why Cas had proven effective, when he merely repeated what others had told him. But, infamous fathers aside, maybe he just understood Rhys in a way others couldn’t.

But those first few years had been difficult in hindsight. Grueling work hours and schedules and constant injuries going unreported. While he didn’t miss the grunt work, he missed the people. Retrospection always felt cruel, especially when Rhys could see what he had let go. And since Rhys finally checked off ‘getting cursed’ off his Cursebreaker bingo card, his relationship with the past was only more difficult. ”This lot has plenty of knowledge, but the classroom won’t teach them to respect the work.” A few stood out who Rhys had mentally made a note to work with at some point, others would find humbling one way or another. ”Probably not for long, you have experience and these new Cursebreakers can’t go on their own yet.” Rhys finished his second drink. ”But, its not worth making it worse.” Rhys warned again, trying to find that pretty waitress again.

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Right, stubborn. She saw it more as doing what she wanted but supposed that was an apt word for it as well. It didn’t really matter either way not because she was far past the training period. Any problems the bank had at this point; it was basically too late. Not even their troll could put her down despite trying its best. Rhys described his own training, about how he’d gone through a few different trainers as well, and she sort of nodded in agreement at him. There were still times where she wondered if maybe someone needed to have a heart to heart with him, but she very rarely saw any problem with that. They had a job to do after all. Normal people simply didn’t understand how important cursebreaking was, and that they all had to be intense otherwise it meant death. "Anyways..." she took a long sip of her drink. The first was already starting to make its way to her head, the months of sobriety making the fuzzy warmth remind her how much she’d missed drinking.

The repeated warnings about going back to work too early from everyone had been frustrating at first. Dahlia liked moving at her own pace. This was about as equal of an annoyance as being stuck in France during the sickness outbreak. Now that she wasn’t a helpless trainee, it angered her even more. ”I know, I know,” she rolled her eyes at him before watching his gaze wander off into the bar. He was drinking much faster than she was able to right now, and definitely trying to catch the eye of their waitress again.

”Do they ever give you free drinks for being here so much?” Dahlia asked as she also started to look around. The Leaky Cauldron always seemed sort of strict about prices and keeping things orderly. She had certainly never gotten anything for free from the bar. ”Because if you do not try it with the waitress, I will.” That was how Dahlia knew she was feeling better.

rhys alexander greyback ● 342 ● song by artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Dahlia’s response felt like Déjà vu, if only because the words had left Rhys’ mouth more times than he could count. One word that spoke volumes, if only the recipient was aware enough to catch it. Rhys didn’t push the topic. There wasn’t a need to. Training Dahlia had been relatively easy compared to other trainees who were less respective to Rhys’ preferred method of speaking directly and getting to the point. And two drinks in, Rhys wished he could feel the whiskey. He was acutely aware of his tolerance and how much he needed to drink these days. But it was just a part of his routine. He was still able to stay sober for work and do whatever he needed to do.

Rhys recalled his own injuries and recoveries. Ignoring the more minor injuries often made it worse, not to mention the emotional strain it caused in his relationships as well. And not even nearly meeting his maker had kept Rhys away from his work. He paused, ignoring Dahlia’s response. ”Have you thought about working at the Museum?” They often targeted Cursebreakers for their archival work. Ensuring items were safe for the public and investigating them in general. Cursebreaking without all the risk. Rhys sometimes wondered how different things might have been had he thought before reacting in just that one instance all those years ago. ”Its work pays well.” The one upside, he supposed.

Glancing at the waitress, who spoke to another patron, Rhys looked back at Dahlia. Unsurprisingly, Rhys had a similar thought. And she was a newer waitress, so she was less likely to already know Rhys. Finishing his glass, Rhys glanced at the waitress again as she made her way to the bar. Thinking, Rhys drummed his fingers a few times. ”Sometimes.” Rhys had spent so much time in Vasilia’s pub that all those connections had whithered. Not to mention, even he was stupid enough to pick up a waitress from a pub in London with Vasilia’s proximity at the time. He raised an eyebrow at the challenge. ”By all means.” He invited sarcastically. ”But drinks are on you if it doesn’t work.” Not that Rhys ever wanted his sister to fail, but this was also an area he always felt confident in.

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Right, the museum. She had been there once, though was thoroughly disappointed in the section on magic in Egypt. It figured. The same could honestly be said about the muggle museums both here in London and in France. The irony about stolen artifacts in museums being that she held that exact same profession, albeit with objects that were a little more…spicy. But to answer Rhys’s question, ”Not really…can you see me working there?” Pay be damned, if she had to corral screaming children before they stabbed themselves on some ancient Roman soldier’s sword that had once been cursed with a rubber charm, she would rather just stay in this weird limbo with the bank. Maybe the only silver lining was that she knew how to swear in three languages, and most children didn’t even know the ones in English at that young an age. It would function as a great way to vent pent up anger…

Dahlia suddenly felt less confident in herself once the challenge was posed. ”I have not worked in five months,” she said almost incredulously. Nicolas Flamel’s scraggly nose hair, that sounded lame coming out of her mouth. How on earth was she going to smooth talk the waitress with that hanging over her head. Nervously shooting a look at the girl, Dahlia felt bad because she was staring at their table, probably trying to see more. And Dahlia’s face was almost perpetually stuck in some sort of scowl.

”Nevermind,” she slunk down in her chair a little bit while turning back to face her brother. ”I would just make myself look stupid.” More stupid than she probably already did. ”And I don’t think I should be drinking so much still…” If one of her headaches came on and she had to take the medicine for it, she absolutely could not be mixing the two.

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