L'été Éternal [Rhys]

[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Rhys couldn’t answer that question with a ‘yes’. The customer service facing part of the role he had disliked immensely. Though it seemed the only patrons that nevere gave him greif were the kids. ”It’s not as bad as it seems.” Dahlia was good with Amelia, patient as ever. Then again the two year old could get Rhys to do anything without question as well. People in Rhys’ life were certainly jealous of this, or so he was told. The only other suggestion Rhys could offer was teaching, but he already knew the answer to that.

Lightly shrugging, Rhys didn’t see how that was an issue. ”Shouldn’t matter as long as you’ve got a good story.” He responded. It seemed the troll had knocked Dahlia down a few pegs when it had gotten her with the club. ”What did the healers say?” Finally, Rhys caught the waitress’s attention, since he needed a refill. She nodded to acknowledged him before being stopped by another table first. Rhys’ last accident forced him to sober up briefly, though the worst of it he’d slept through. Stupidly, he’d mixed whiskey with some of his pills and landed himself back in St. Mungo’s much to the dismay of Sage and Vasilia at the time.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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If the museum was so great, why didn't Rhys work there? Dahlia kept that to herself though. Her grumbling staying internal today. She would consider it if there seemed like no way of ever getting back into the field as a cursebreaker. As of right now, she planned to keep working for the bank. Even if that meant moving into a lesser role that didn't involve tomb raiding anymore. "If I am not back in the field by the start of the year, I'll look," she relented. The voice of reason wasn't exactly what she expected to hear coming from Rhys, but alas, there it was. "Why haven't you gone there yet?" she added, because the more she thought about it, the more it made sense for him to do so. Especially in terms of safety and life expectancy.

"Yes, because pity will get me into bed," she rolled her eyes at hime. Unfortunately, it probably would. She just wasn't feeling it lately. The constant head buzz of being 'off' hadn't passed yet. Thankfully the only emotional change from the hit was being more subdued than usual, which she could accept. Being angry all the time had run it's course over the last few years. Most of that aggression had been diffused between work and having people to talk to that had similar experiences. Her former classmates would be amazed.

"I can drink as long as I am not taking the medicine they gave me...the headaches still happen sometimes," Dahlia said. She was staring deep into her almost empty cup, swirling the remaining liquid around in a circular motion. "It is what it is. I am fine doing these small tasks for the bank I guess. I wish the headaches were gone." The days where she had none felt amazing, like she was her old self. And then there were the days where it sucked. Today was a good day. So far.

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

Rhys paused, truly wondering if he had spoken about his time at the Museum. It had been less than a year, so it was relatively short but somewhat eventful at the same time. Perhaps because it had come at a time in his life when he had been so low and lost. In hindsight, he had reached out for anything to keep him from falling into what felt like some unknown abyss. Working a day job at the Museum and working to win back a girl he’d remained so desperately in love with had not turned out to be the answer. But hindsight always provided painful clarity, even as he never thought about that long-forgotten ring in his sock drawer.

”I did.” Rhys responded simply and rather casually. ”Worked there for almost a year.” Looks like that refill of whiskey would be required sooner rather than later. Maybe he should just ask for the bottle at this point, even if Dahlia couldn’t partake as much as she used to. Though he supposed she might ask why he left. ”I liked it. I guess I just missed the fieldwork.” That sort of answer would have gotten him in trouble in his relationships before as a ‘non-answer’. But the whole thing had been complicated.

”They’ll go away eventually.” Rhys responded, staring at his own glass. Unfortunately, these things took time, even with all the advanced healing magic. He didn’t want to wonder what muggles went through without their advantages. ”I had them for months last time.” Allegedly, having a stone tablet knock you in the head wasn’t quite the same as taking a swing from a troll. Rhys could relate a bit, he supposed. Then again, his memories haunted him more than any migraine ever would. But while they were on the topic of headaches. The waitress came by with fresh drinks as if watching the two patrons readily drink their whiskey like it was water. Rhys waited for her to leave before speaking. ”What do you make of this HOWL business?” While not the top headline of the papers, talk of it still emerged as it lingered on the front page.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Well, this was news to her. An entire year at the museum but it hadn’t been good enough to satiate the hunger for rare artifacts. That meant she didn’t even stand a chance. Especially if it was anything like the cataloguing she had been doing lately. A little voice in her head was screaming at her that it absolutely was. And while she could that in small doses, she was not made to be hunched over in a room the size of a broom closet with the only source of light being that of a decades old hanging bulb. More than once she had managed to smack her face into it while using the stepladder to reach the higher shelves. Why she was doing that instead of using magic or making Buford do it, she wasn’t sure. Her brain still wasn’t all there. It was a good excuse.

”I understand that,” Dahlia let out a long sigh. She desperately wanted to be back in the field. All of this was incredibly unfair, even if it was for her own safety. The fact that her symptoms hadn’t subsided yet were telling. Supposedly she would need months of no pain or headaches before the medical clearance was signed and sent off to Gringotts. Dahlia was positive that her assigned healer knew she was going to lie at some point to get back out there. Which she was planning to do. Just that her lie was more than likely going to be a white lie in a few months, when she was technically better. Holding back injured cursebreakers had to be one of the biggest pains in the ass for the hospital. Because they were all stubborn and foolhardy enough to go right back out there and get messed up again.

Dahlia didn’t think she could slink deeper into her chair, but she managed to do so, nonetheless. Even more months of this? ”Fuck me…” she swore. Just thinking about it made her head hurt, though not in the same way that the concussion headaches did. She was figuring out which ones were which now, and thankfully it was starting to slow down.

Rhys brought up the HOWL initiative that had been quietly floating around, and she shrugged. ”I haven’t really looked into it much. I am sure they want someone like me to go crazy and screw the rest of us over though.” She was the perfect candidate too. One bad actor pushing her buttons a bit too far while she was still out of it and everything would be ruined. ”I doubt it will be for our benefit though.”

rhys alexander greyback ● 438 ● song by artist

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[rhys alexander greyback]

i'll face my fear

of the sunrise

August 16, 2028
dahlia jade greyback

If only the reason were really that simple. Rhys recalled most of that time. The rest felt like a strange blur where he was missing details. In some cases, he couldn’t remember faces, and in others, voices, and sometimes he didn’t remember at all. Another cursebreaker commented on how going through types of events could mess with one’s memory. It seemed to fit, seeing as the entire year after Saffron died had been a constant uphill battle until he couldn’t take it anymore. But at the same time, Rhys wasn’t sure how much stock he put into that. He’d gone through arguably worse as a child already.

Dahlia didn’t seem settled by his response, but Rhys hadn’t expected it to settle her. There was no good answer for someone like them, itching to return to work and feel the sand or dirt beneath their boots. Rhys had felt the pull since his little teaching stint began at Hogwarts, though at this point in his life, other factors pulled him home. It had never been as strong as now, and Rhys knew it was because of his daughter. ”I think about the museum now and then.” Rhys admitted. ”I wouldn’t mind seeing Amelia more often.”

The other thing on his mind—HOWL. ”A Greyback would be perfect for what they want.” Rhys added, a bit of an edge to his tone. Something like that happening would only gift-wrap the votes and support these people needed. Rhys wasn’t keen on handing them that. ”I think it’ll die down. There hasn’t been an incident in years.” Nobody running amok in crowded areas, plus with the introduction of Aware Wolf to the market, things were supposedly looking up for their kind.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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Dahlia knew that everyone around Rhys probably wanted him to give up Cursebreaking to stay home more often. She disagreed, of course, because that would make her a hypocrite if she tried to force him like the rest. Their job paid well and gave opportunities that almost nothing else in the magical world could offer. She could never understand how others didn’t see it that way too. It almost always had to do with the ‘danger’, which was silly. If anything, she was proof that working in Diagon Alley was just as dangerous. That security troll didn’t give a damn who she was or what she did for work. Had she been a bank employee instead, the damage done would have been the same. Being a Cursebreaker had nothing to do with it. Plus, teaching at Hogwarts almost seemed more dangerous after these last few years. The same with the Ministry. Rhys’s option of the museum was a good one though. That actually did seem safe. But incredibly boring too.

She shrugged, ”I say do whatever you want to do. It is not like you can never go back to Cursebreaking once you stop. You know that the bank is always looking for people.” That was really the only downside to it. The frequent time away from home was a lot, and for someone with attachments, it had to kill Rhys sometimes. On the other hand, she almost preferred being off on work. It meant more money and free time when she got back to spend it. That and sleep. Sleep was nice. The head injury had led her to a lot of that, which was why she had become so stir crazy these last few months. Laying around too much also wasn’t a good thing.

Rhys agreed with her on how those trying to enact HOWL would enjoy it if one of them managed to fuck up. He added that he thought it would probably die down at some point. She figured as much. ”It does not help that they have the backing of those druids. What did we ever do to them?” she asked, rather disgruntled that some island nation of nature loving hippy witches got a say in how she lived her life. Dahlia was perfectly fine with never going to their silly little home.

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