The Divine You (Honey)

[Deleted]

Bethany was sitting at the tea room & shop of St mungo's hospital in London. She was sitting upright in her chair, the perfect picture of poise that she had trained herself to be. She did not come from a wealthy family, well, scratch that. She was born from two very wealthy families, but she was raised by a poor family in Chicago. Her air of entitlement came despite this fact, it must just be in her blood. The past few years she had spent with her real family in China anyway, and she fit in rather quickly do to this air about her.

She had ordered a cup of tea from the little shop girl, and was eyeing her occasionally while sitting. She had been sent here to scope out the hospital as best she could, and find some sort of way to get the Purifiers hands deeper in that space. They had a junior healer but he was currently in America, and wasn't around to help out. They had a few more healers here and there, but she really thought it would be useful to have someone who wasn't a healer. Someone who could overhear conversations and see the comings and goings of the guests at the hospital. It came down to the tea room or the cafeteria, and the tea room seemed the more likely choice. At least, the less suspicious choice

She didn't know much about the imperius curse, but she tried to learn the basics of it from her family. Ambrosia barely even needed it to control people, she had her own way of doing things, something Bethany was jealous of. Having only started to really learn magic a few years ago, she was nowhere near as skilled as she would like to be. Still she wanted to give it a try. She pointed her wand at the girl from under the table, wanted to spell, and felt nothing. She cursed under her breath. Did it even work? She really shouldn't even be trying this in a public place. She couldn't really muster up the emotion for an illegal spell here. Plus there was this whole getting caught issue. She raised a hand, beckoning the tea maker.

honey satheesh varma

[honey satheesh varma]

It was another day at work for Honey, with nothing too exciting or different about it from most other days. Things had been calm at the hospital for a while, and she was glad not to have to worry much about what had happened to Azkaban. She didn't live off the beaten path, and a hospital was too obvious a target, she felt, if anyone was going to do anything.

At the moment, there was only one customer seated in the tea room, a woman who had seemed very polite when ordering. It seemed, however, that her little business—if Honey could call it that—was perpetually short-staffed, so she had taken over filling the woman's order.

She had just begun to heat the water for the woman's tea when Honey looked and saw that she had raised a hand to call her over. It wouldn't take her but a minute to see what she needed, so there was no problem in stepping aside and walking over to her for as long as it would take to resolve whatever issue that the woman had.

"Hi, sorry," Honey started as she approached the customer, toying with the hem of her apron. Had she forgotten a sandwich order or something in there? "How can I help you?"

@bethany

[Deleted]

The waitress approached her, and Bethany offered a sweet, if almost a little flirtacious smile. "Don't you fret," she encouraged, "I'm not changing my order or anything, I appreciate you working on it so swiftly." Her tone was polite, confident, and a little bit airy. "I was just wondering if you might suggest an appetizer to go with the tea as well? All I can think of that looks familiar to me is a coffee cake, but I'm sure there is something much more fitting on the menu?" She asked, as she let the girl think of the question and her answer, she assessed the girls eyes the best she could without seeming to be doing so. She didn't hold anything deeper than what was on the surface as far as Bethany could tell, but Bethany wasn't as good as reading people as ambrosia was. Still, she was scoping out the target. This Honey would be a good choice.

Bethany could try the spell on her again, especially since she realized there was no one else in the shop, but she wasn't quite ready to try yet. She'd been taught by her family that one of the keys to getting into someone's mind is to try and understand it a little bit beforehand. It was a lot easier to control someone if you understood how their will worked.

honey satheesh varma

[honey satheesh varma]

The customer was unfailingly polite, asking for her recommendations for an appetizer to go along with the tea. Honey thought that it was sort of amusing; she had an assortment of sandwiches and cakes and things, but it wasn't as though she was running a full-service restaurant out of the hospital. It was impractical, for one, and, second, it wasn't as though she would have been able to afford it. Nine times out of ten, she was responsible for everything that went on in the tea room. She was good at running what was typically a one-woman show, but she wasn't that good.

"Er, well," Honey thought, wondering what the woman was expecting, "we've got sandwiches, pastries, soups, salads…" There really wasn't much more that she could do than that. There was a set selection of what she had available, and most visitors to the hospital were just content to have something to eat.

@bethany

[Deleted]

Honey spoke, and Bethany focused her eyes on her with unfailing attention. She smiled softly, her mind working through the spell over and over as she watched the girl behave. She listed the treats and Bethany tilted her head to the side, "my dear, I didn't ask what you had. I asked what you recommend." She gave a light, wistful laugh at that, as if the girls inability to answer her question was just a sweet, charming thing rather than an inconvenience. Perhaps this would be easy. The waitress didn't seem the type who made much of a fuss about her own opinions. At least, not now. Without that trait someone would be very easy to control. Will was the biggest enemy to the imperius curse and it seemed the girl wasn't incredibly willful.

honey satheesh varma

[honey satheesh varma]

The customer suddenly corrected her. She hadn't asked what she had available, she stated; she had asked what she recommended.

"Oh," Honey realized, clearly embarrassed. She knew that she must have looked awfully silly. She didn't want to lose a customer, and she didn't want to seem inattentive. Most of her menu—at least the vegetarian options on it—was good, she thought; she always hoped that everything the tearoom served was to her customers' liking.

"I'm vegetarian, personally," she prefaced, "so I'd recommend one of our salads or maybe a pastry… Maybe a croissant?" She didn't really "do" full-course meals; it was a hospital. "I've heard good things about our bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich? Or the coronation chicken sandwich?"

@bethany

[Deleted]

The girl was embarrassed, which made Bethany smirk. She waited, then Honey continued to explain that she was a vegetarian and still couldn't decide on one recommendation. She at least narrowed down two sandwiches, but she couldn't seem to make a confident choice. As irritating as that was, it was good for Bethanys purposes.

Now, it was time to try. Bethany, wand hidden in her sleeve on her lap, turned it toward the girl. All the while, holding Honeys gaze and leaning in to speak. "Vegetarian. I respect that," then, she did the spell non verbally, which was something she had been practicing non stop. "But maybe you wanted to suggest the strawberry croissant with cream?" she suggested, testing her spell out.

honey satheesh varma

[honey satheesh varma]

"Vegetarian," said the woman. "I respect that," although she did not seem to have decided upon any of the suggestions that she had made so far. That was a very good thing, thought Honey suddenly, because she had almost left out one of her menu items that she had intended to suggest to the woman.

"But maybe you wanted to suggest the strawberry croissant with cream?"

That was it! Merlin's beard, was her customer a Legilimens? "Yes, that's right!" Honey smiled pleasantly, and any hesitation that she had had before had disappeared. She wasn't actually aware of it, however, and neither was she aware of the curse under which she had been placed non-verbally. In fact, she felt completely at peace. It would have been odd to her under any other circumstances, but Honey had not a care in the world. What was more, it now felt perfectly normal. "How about the strawberry croissant with cream?"

@bethany

[Deleted]

It either worked, or the girl was just an incredible pushover. Bethany smiled, nodding. "That would be perfect," now time to try a little more. "I think free of charge would be best as well, considering the circumstances. Don't you?" of course there weren't any circumstances, but that wouldn't matter if Honey was truly under the curse. If I didn't actually work then Bethany could just duck out, no harm done. Customers probably made stupid requests all the time, and Honey would just write her off as one those, right? But she had the feeling... That magical pull between them... She knew it was working.

honey satheesh varma

[honey satheesh varma]

That would be perfect," said her customer about the strawberry croissant with cream that she had just offered her. "I think free of charge would be best as well, considering the circumstances. Don't you?"

Honey nodded sincerely. Even without the Imperius Curse, she was someone who wasn't opposed to doing favors for people. She liked making her customers' days a little bit brighter when she could, so anyone else probably wouldn't have thought too much about her agreement with the woman's question. (Besides, it was a croissant. How much would it have actually cost?) "Oh, of course," Honey answered the woman, oblivious to what she was saying. "Don't worry. That's not a problem, either."

@bethany

[Deleted]

She agreed to not make her pay, which convinced Bethany that it had worked. She was so ecstatic, that she smiled incredibly wide and contained a happy sound. "Great, I look forward to the meal," Bethany said, her tone laced with happiness she couldn't contain. "Go ahead," she prompted, waving a hand. Bethany probably would end up paying anyway, if she wanted to release the girl before she walked out, otherwise she'd have to do it from a distance and she wasn't sure that she was ready for that yet. Doing it nonverbally was hard enough, but doing it with some distance between them was a feat that Beth wasn't sure she was ready for. She definitely would need to practice more, but even this small moment meant big things for her.

honey satheesh varma

[honey satheesh varma]

"Great, I look forward to the meal."

Honey was inexplicably pleased at how happy her customer was, which made her happy, too. It was why she still worked at St. Mungo's, above all: She was able to give back and make a difference when it really mattered.

"Go ahead," the woman dismissed her, at which Honey smiled and nodded.

Upon the wave of her customer's hand, she walked back through the maze of tables and behind the counter to prepare the woman's food, a spring in her step as she moved. It would only take her a few minutes, at maximum, to have the woman's revised order ready for her.

@bethany

[Deleted]

Honey happily went on her way, and Bethany couldn't help but giggle with glee. She held it back as she waited for the girl to return, though. Once the food was in front of her she'd release her from the spell. She shifted her gaze to watch Honey move and make the food, smiling stupidly at how giddy Honey seemed, too. She was cute, despite the fact that she was completely daft as far as Bethany could tell so far. Either way, looking at Honey now symbolized a big magical step for Bethany, considering what she had just accomplished. That would always cause a good feeling.


honey satheesh varma

[honey satheesh varma]

A few minutes passed. Honey prepared the croissant for the customer just as she had ordered it, the cream in a small ramekin to the side of the pastry.

While, ordinarily, she would have just set it at the counter for the customer to pick up, Honey saw no problem with returning the croissant to the woman's table so that she didn't have to get up to get it herself. She carried it out with a friendly smile upon her face, setting it down in front of the woman at her place.

"One strawberry croissant with cream, miss," Honey acknowledged, standing there in anticipation of the customer's reaction to it.

@bethany

[Deleted]

Honey returned, and handed her the croissant. Bethany smiled up at her, ”thank you,” she said,
reaching out up to actually tap Honey on the tip of her nose. She was like her little plaything now. She was cute enough, Bethany could admit that. She pulled her hand back and pointed her wand at Honey
once again. ”I think I'll be getting it to go,” she suggested, holding a hand up, ”don't worry about getting a box for me. I can take it as is.” Immediately she stood and was putting the money in Honeys hand, while releasing her from the spell with the other one. ”I'll see you again soon,” she muttered, taking her croissant with a napkin and immediately exiting, her tea still half full.

honey satheesh varma
(the end on my end, feel free to react!)