Easy Like Sunday Morning [MINA]

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia had been pleasantly surprised to receive Mina’s text suggesting they should go out to brunch sometime. In fact, the girl couldn’t have had better timing; she had been strolling the beautiful neighborhood of Notting Hill one morning, and she had found the most adorable cafe that served the widest variety of brunch she had ever seen. Pastries, doughnuts, crepes, waffles, pancakes, french toast, sausages, bacon, fruits, quiches….the menu seemed to stretch on and on, Ophelia could barely take it all in. She wondered if perhaps having such a large variety of menu choices would backfire on them, but upon glancing inside, she could see that people ordered something different from their dining partners each time, so that everyone could try a bit of everything. Knowing Mina also had a large appetite, Ophie made reservations for them here for the following Sunday, and that was before she had noticed the place boasted bottomless mimosas as well.

At eleven o’clock Sunday morning, Ophelia appeared at the restaurant. She had cut her hair short, just above shoulder length, to try something new. She had paired her new haircut with a red and white polka dotted shirtdress with short sleeves and black pumps. She had a white knit shawl draped around her elbows, in case the cafe was cold, but she didn’t think she’d end up needing it. She waited eagerly to spot Mina, and found it rather ironic that she was excited to have brunch with the girl. When she had been Dakota’s pregnant lover, she thought Mina had hated her. If only Dakota could see them now...wherever he was. She still worried after him of course, he had been a big part of his life. Hopefully, if something had happened to him someone would tell her.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

Ophelia Mae Teller

10.12.2024

The blaring alarm clock coming from her phone had Mina jolting awake, causing her dog to hop up and down on the bed a few times, excited for the sudden movement from her human. Pillow pulled over head to drown out the ringing, the snuffling of Titania’s nose under the edge of the pillow finally forced Mina to flail for her phone in order to turn the alarm off. Except it wasn’t an alarm, it was a notification. For brunch. With Ophelia. Swearing a few times under her breath, she groaned. This had sounded like a great idea earlier in the week, when she was starving at work and craving breakfast foods. The mere thought of food currently had her stomach reeling. The hangover was real, and feeling like it was not going to be going away any time soon. She had stumbled back into her apartment around four in the morning, which was only – looking at her phone’s clock – six hours ago. In an hour, she was expected to be cleaned up and meeting Ophelia, and before that could be done, she had to manage the pounding in her head and take the dog for a walk. Moving quickly was going to hurt a lot.

Lying in bed for another ten minutes, Mina finally forced herself up and out into the kitchen, downing two glasses of water and eyeing the bottle of whiskey sitting in their bar area. It was called a bar, but it was mostly bottles of Cal’s wine. If they were to ever compare how much alcohol the two of them consumed in a week period, Mina was positive her sister would be surprised by the outcome. Being a social alcoholic was far different from being a functioning alcoholic. Needless to say, Mina brewed a travel mug of coffee with her wand in a matter of seconds, filled the remaining quarter of the mug with the whiskey. Hair of the dog, or whatever it was they called it. People got trashed at brunch all the time, so if she could make it look like she was fine until that point, everything would go smoothly.

Forty-five minutes later, a concoction of coffee and whiskey in her stomach, a content pooch, and a still throbbing headache, Mina found herself at the agreed upon brunch place. Ophelia was easy to pick out, and Mina hoped desperately that the other woman wouldn’t yell in her direction or come running up to her for a hug. That was the last thing she needed right now. Making her way over, she raised her hand in a half-assed wave. “Morning,” Mina yawned, the action sending another throb through her head. This was one gnarly hangover.

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia smiled as Mina came over, smelling the whiskey before noticing the tell tale signs of a hangover. Ah, perhaps her newly minted friend would not be partaking in the bottomless mimosas today. In usual Ophelia standard, she stepped forward and gave Mina a quick hug. “Interesting night?” she asked as she stepped back, though she knew the answer was likely 'yes'. Brunch food would be good for her right now, she decided. A nice greasy bacon sandwich with more bacon on the side likely. Eggs and toast wouldn’t hurt too; carbs were much needed in a hungover state. “They have some wonderfully greasy options on the menu!” she exclaimed, trying to keep her voice at a low level so Mina’s obvious headache wouldn’t get much worse.

They entered the restaurant where Ophelia had made the reservation, and a maitre d led them towards the back corner of the room, which was mercifully more quiet than the front, where what looked like a small bridal shower had set up shop. They sat down, Ophelia giving Mina the booth seat which would likely be more comfortable to rest her head back up against than a chair, and pulled the menu closer to her. “To start, we’ll both have water, and I’ll do the bottomless mimosa,” she decided; she hadn’t had more than a glass of wine before settling into bed with a nice book last night, so she felt she was perfectly fine to indulge. She raised a brow towards Mina. “What are you thinking today?” she asked her, curious to see what direction she’d go in.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

Ophelia Mae Teller

10.12.2024

Mina let out a weak laugh at the concept of having an interesting night. “Can’t remember. I know I got back around four…and that’s about it,” she explained as she reciprocated Ophelia’s hug, her voice coming out in a harsh rasp. That was one clue right there – loss of voice meant she had been in a club for a significant amount of time, possibly screaming at the top of her lungs while ordering more booze at the bar. The sudden realization that this hangover was going to take the entire day to go away made her groan, eyes slowly dipping as she yawned. Work was going to suck tomorrow. She could already tell. A wasted Sunday like this meant sleep was bound to be miserable, even if her entire body was exhausted from recovering. It happened every single time, and she had yet to learn from her mistakes. “Good. I need grease and fat.” And more alcohol. The prospect of bottomless mimosas, which Ophelia ordered as they took their seats, Mina fluttering behind her the entire way there, was so enticing that she held up her index finger to the waiter to indicate that she wanted one as well. She was already a glass or two of whiskey in, mimosas wouldn’t hurt her at this point. “Honestly, sausages and bacon. Pancakes too, maybe.” Pulling the menu in front of her, Mina flipped from page to page, not really registering anything on it. Focusing on something only made the headache worse. “Yeah…the three pancakes with double sides of sausage links and bacon…” It hurt to walk, talk, and think. This sucked.

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia smiled and shook her head. That sounded about right; the last time she had ventured out with Mina they had gone to a diner around three in the morning for pancakes and cheese fries, and the other woman had mentioned that it wasn’t her first time in the diner that early. “Well I’m glad you were able to make it for brunch with little old me,” she said with a big smile. The first round of mimosas came, garnished with raspberries and signalled for the waiter to give them a moment as she lifted her glass to clink with Mina’s (gently of course). “To Sunday brunches with friends,” she toasted, taking a refreshing sip of the drink.

Once their food was ordered, a small basket of pastries was brought over to supplement them while they waited for their food. Ophelia lifted the baskets’ cloth cover and smiled a little. The pastries reminded her of her patient and new friend Aaron, whose mother had, according to him, owned the best bakery in Greece while she was alive. She decided on the currant scone, and plucked a pat of butter to spread on it before lowering the cloth back onto the basket. “I made a friend at work the other day, he came in for treatment but nobody was available so...I helped. IT wasn’t super tricky or anything...but anyway, his mum was a baker, so these sort of remind me of him.” She shrugged a little, then sombered up. “Sorry, it’s not like we’re dating or anything,” she said quickly, not wanting to insult Dakota even though he was a million miles away at that point. Why shouldn’t she date again? They had ended things after the miscarriage, and it wasn’t like she owed him a lifetime of chastity. She took another sip of her mimosa and ate her scone in silence. “How is Callisto?” she asked conversationally, deliberately steering the subject away from her ex-partner.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

Ophelia Mae Teller

10.12.2024

The most Mina could muster up was a weak smile in response to Ophelia thanking her for showing up, putting any more into it would only cause the headache to radiate through her jawline and up to her temples. She hated that the simplest of tasks became almost impossible to complete due to the pain. Waking up still drunk was way better, only because she could continue the drinking until she sobered up properly, avoiding the hangover altogether. All she could today was drink and drink, and drink some more, until it disappeared. She held her own glass up to Ophelia’s, tapping it in return before succumbing to the drink. “I needed this,” she sighed in relief as the faint taste of champagne hit her tongue. “If I hadn’t had this today, I would have been nursing a glass of whiskey already.” Unfortunately she was being honest about that, assuming Callisto didn’t forcibly remove the bottle from her hands first.

Food orders out of the way, Mina eyed the basket of pastries that were added to the table. Hopefully this place wasn’t the kind of restaurant that would take them away once the real food arrived. She hated that. She would go out of her way to hide all of the pastries (or bread) from the server if it came down to it. Even letting Ophelia go first was tough to do, Mina deciding to bide her time with a long sip of her mimosa. “Does the hospital know yet?” she asked as Ophelia finished her story. “About the thing?”

Mina’s hands dove into the basket, not really caring what it was that they pulled out. Most food was fine in her books, her iron stomach used to years of eating junk to soak up the inordinate amounts of alcohol. Random pastries were nothing compared to her cheese fries-pancake combo. “Cal is doing well. The guy she’s seeing is pretty funny. He’s a professor at Hogwarts,” she explained nonchalantly, biting down on her chosen pastry. She continued, through a mouthful, “Think he teaches Transfiguration or something…”

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia shook her head, still smiling at her new friend. “Champagne and orange juice is far better for a hangover than straight whiskey,” she commented casually, daintily sipping from her own glass. “Plus, the food here is so delicious, it’ll be sure to cure anything you have going on in your head,” she said brightly, propping up the menu. “Mmmm. It all looks just so delicious,” she said, wishing she could order everything on the menu and not vomit spectacularly on the pavement after. “I think I need to go with the sausage gravy and biscuits, they may look unappetizing but my word they’re to die for,” she decided, closing her menu with a sense of finality. She would also get a side of fruit and yogurt too, to balance out the calorie heavy laden meal she was about to consume.

Ophie gave the waitress her order and waited as Mina filed her own. She took another slow sip of her mimosa as the woman walked away, careful to pace herself so she could get home in one piece later. “Yes, the hospital knows about the ‘thing’, but they don't abuse it or anything of the sort.  I just sort of know when I'm needed and when I'm not,” she confirmed, making the quotation marks with her fingers and giggling.  She wasn't about to mention Brandon Fisher, the one person who had been less than amenable to her gift than she had thought.  She leaned her head to the side, mildly surprised to hear that Callisto was dating someone. Not that Callisto was undateable or anything like that. She was always kind to Ophelia, before, during and after everything that happened with Dakota. She did seem however to have a bit of a wall that went up sometimes; she was happy to hear that someone had made it through. “Transfiguration? Oh, hopefully he’s better than the professor we had during our time at Hogwarts eh?” she said with a chuckle. After McGonagall had moved up to Headmistress, they had had an interim professor, and while he had been an excellent Transfiguration pupil, his teaching skills had been...less than adequate. “What about you? Seeing anyone lately?” she asked Mina, eyebrow raised with the faintest trace of a smirk gracing her lips.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

Ophelia Mae Teller

10.12.2024

Mina wasn’t so sure that champagne was a better cure than whiskey was – the goal was to delay the hangover and she wanted to get it done quickly, not have to drink a lot for it. But today was different than normal and food was involved, so mimosas it was. A change of pace had yet to kill her, so there was that. Ophelia had the menu open and Mina mimicked her moves, not really caring what she put in her stomach. Food was food, and the heavier it was the better she was going to feel at the end of it. “You don’t say?” She mused, refusing to pull her eyes away from the menu. Her interest was piqued by the gravy biscuit thing, but the menu had a lot going on and she liked her options. In the end it would probably be whatever Ophelia picked, only because she had yet to steer Mina in the wrong direction when it came to food. “Yeah I guess I’ll do the same,” she said with a finality, snapping the menu closed and handing it over to the waitress. Callisto would be proud of her, taking care of her body after totally abusing it the night before.

Ophelia answered the question about the hospital, explaining that they were respectful of her using the power, or whatever it was. Mina didn’t really understand why things like they suddenly manifested, and why her only super power seemed to be the ability to drink way too much and still be alive the next day, usually only to repeat the process the following weekend. Her liver was going to kill her someday, if her sister didn’t first. “He’s the funny man in our comedy duo. I like him, but I had no idea Cal was into that. Apparently responsible funny is better than whatever I am,” Mina shrugged. Irresponsible, immature, immoral, and a lot of other things. That was what Mina was. She wouldn’t have it any other way though. “And no kidding! He was terrible. Like I wasn’t the best student in the world, but not knowing how to transfigure a bird into a quill until fifth year? We didn’t need to spend four years covering the basics.”

She let out a snort when the other woman asked her if she was seeing anyone. “To what degree?” Mina teased. “No, nobody. Cal has a hard time differentiating the random hook-ups, so I think she thought there was someone for a little while. But nope! I don’t have time for that sort of thing.” Commitment to her meant giving up things she liked in life. Would a significant other let her booze all weekend? Probably not. Settling down wasn’t her definition of fun in the slightest, nor was staying in when she could go out. Seeing someone wasn’t in the picture at all.

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia just smiled and took another sip of her drink as Mina ordered the same. "You won't regret it!" she promised.  She listened as Mina talked about Callisto's new beau.  She had to agree; while she hadn't known Callisto all that well before she started up with Dakota, she was a very serious, dry humor type of woman.  "Well they do say opposites attract you know," she commented with a small shrug.  A dose of the kind of humor Mina was talking about would do well for Callisto; she knew she had been taking care of Sebastian ever since Sarah had disappeared to who knows where, and Ophie...well, actually, she would be in the same position if it weren't for her miscarriage.  A cloud passed over Ophelia's eyes for a moment, then cleared up.  It wasn't worth bringing up the past; nothing could change what happened that day.  "I'm glad Cal has found someone to spend time with, especially if he makes her happy."  Ophelia meant it too; Callisto had always been supportive of her and Dakota, and she wasn't one to beat around the bush with anything.  Ophelia appreciated that there was someone in her life that would do that for her.  "And I'm glad he is a better than our old Professor, what an old toft he was," she added with a laugh.

Ophelia merely shook her head as Mina told her there was nobody in her life right now.  "Ah Mina, don't ever go changing and go all boring on me please," she said, raising her glass in a toast before finishing it off.  The waiter brought over their food and whisked off to get Ophelia another drink.  "Mmm, smells so good!" she declared, picking up her fork and knife.  She cut off a bit of the biscuit and blew on it a little to cool it off before popping it into her mouth.  "Oh, that hits the spot!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening at the savory sensation her tastebuds were feeling.  "So...hypothetical question," she began casually, taking a sip of her newly made mimosa.  "If...I started dating again...would you be okay with it?"  She wasn't going to mention Aaron; they weren't official or anything close.  But she did find herself wanting to spend more and more time with him, so who knew where this would lead.  She wanted to be respectful of Dakota and his family though; they had almost had a child together after all.  Koda probably had found someone else at this point anyway, so hopefully Mina wouldn't have a bad reaction.

mina pandora oliveira

[mina pandora oliveira]

Ophelia Mae Teller

10.12.2024

Maybe Ophelia was right and opposites did attract…or poor Callisto had a nasty case of Stockholm syndrome and only knew how to live when she was being stressed by a ridiculous person with a sense of humor. Mina like to think it was the latter, because then she felt better about herself. “Me too! Gets her off my back about a lot of things. She’s finally learning how to relax a bit.” Relaxation used to mean kicking her feet up and drinking a bottle of wine. Mina partook in that occasionally when her taste buds and stomach could handle the drink, but it was nice to see her sister actually becoming a human for once. Robo-Callisto was finally starting to disappear and it couldn’t have been for a better reason. “Next thing you know she’ll be kicking me out so she can have her space,” Mina laughed, only realizing after she said it that it would mean her having to locate and pay for her own apartment. That was a scary thought and she sort of liked having her sister to lean back on when things got tough. Being yelled at was fine in those situations.

“I’ll try not to,” she tossed a wink at Ophelia as their food was placed in front of them. They were extravagant dishes; laid out in a way that made her head spin while she tried to decide what to put in her stomach first. Food like this was made for idiots like her - the ones coming off of a hard night that wanted to keep drinking but socially had to disguise it as a reason to eat as much as possible so they didn’t come across as alcoholics. It was a perfect cover. She mumbled a few words of praise about the food through a full mouth, but didn’t say much else while consuming it, opting to listen to Ophelia’s question.

There was going to be a point where the other woman had to move on. Dakoda had abandoned her, if that was the right way to put it. He had abandoned all of them. Mina knew what being selfish looked like because she saw it staring back at her every morning in the bathroom mirror. Never in a million years did she think that her brother had the same bone in him. “Of course I’d be fine with it,” she said honestly. “You’re only young once. That’s my motto,” Mina offered before shoving another piece of food into her mouth.

[Ophelia Mae Teller]

Ophelia smiled, reassured by Mina’s words. “I know it’s silly to think that Dakota would be angry but what we had was ...passionate,” she said, delicately leaving out any details Mina would certainly NOT want to hear about her older brother. “I know I need to move on with my life though; I’m only twenty five after all, I’m not DEAD. I do seem to have a certain...affinity for wolves though, if you catch my meaning,” she said with a wry chuckle. She had no idea what it was about werewolves; perhaps it was the dangerous, almost bad boy vibe they gave off. Whatever it was, it drew Ophelia to them like a moth to a light. “Who knows where it may lead though, possibly nowhere, or a night of passion before saying farewell.” Ophelia shrugged again. Time would only tell what would happen.

The waiter came over with the check, which Ophelia promptly paid without a moment of hesitation. “This one is on me,” she declared, narrowing her eyes as if inviting Mina to challenge her. “I’m sure you’ll repay me when we go out clubbing again sometime soon,” she added with a smirk.

mina pandora oliveira

go ahead and end this it's long past its' time!

[mina pandora oliveira]

Ophelia Mae Teller

10.12.2024

If she had been taking a drink when Ophelia said that she had a thing for werewolves, she probably would have spit it out all over the table. That was the first she had ever heard of that kink. Like yeah, werewolves tended to be in better shape and all that, but Merlin’s beard she didn’t need to know that sort of information. “Well, they have that hotel or whatever in Horizon. I don’t think loitering around it trying to find your next piece is the best idea but…yeah,” Mina said as she slowly lifted her fork up to take a bite of her food. “Or if you ever get a hankering for the friendly long toothed pale people, they’re right next door.” She spent enough time in the shopping districts that there were definitely the usual suspects always wandering around the hotel and blood bank. “I like my muggles,” she suggested in between chewing. “Easy to avoid once you’re done.” Callisto probably hated hearing her talk like that, but it was better than having some undesirable hanging around all the time trying to get her attention. She had enough with weirdos sticking around the bookstore too much.

“Thanks. And you know I will,” Mina said as Ophelia paid for the meal. There would be more than a repayment at the clubs, since she tended to gravitate towards getting as many free drinks as possible. “Well, you know where to find me whenever you want to go out again. Before and after the holidays, please. Because we’re about to get slammed in the next month or so…” she shivered at the thought of the sales and crowds that Flourish & Blotts was about to be subjected to. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go sleep the rest of this hangover off,” Mina said as she gave the other woman a wave before leaving for home.

[The End]