Shop Staff
Three Broomsticks Bartender
Werewolf
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21 years old
Ilvermorny Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ash
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Post by Danielle 'Dani' Carson on Oct 15, 2016 20:00:29 GMT
October 12 - The Three Broomsticks
Dani and Rosa both come to work shortly after the full moon and become suspicious about each other.
Dani was wiped out. The full moon had gone off better than it could have. No self-inflicted scratches eating up her meager supply silver and dittany. But any full moon was painful. And not just from the transformation or sleep deprivation. Dani had broken one of her arms this time around (shattered might be a more accurate verb), and while magic had set it mostly to rights, it was still sore two days later. The rest of her body ached from being slammed into furniture in her small apartment. No matter how many cushioning charms she used, the wolf always seemed to find the objects she had forgotten to protect. Sadly, she was rather used to that after a year of it.
Today it was the loss of sleep that was truly hitting her. People said lack of sleep didn’t really show up until the second day, and Dani could absolutely confirm that. The first day after a full moon all she noticed were the bruises. The second day it was the mountain of exhaustion. There were dark circles forming under her eyes and she was trying in vain to stifle a yawn as she let herself in through the back door of the Three Broomsticks. Maybe someone had put the coffeepot on. But it was still early, and there didn’t seem to be anyone around yet but @winter. Who, mercifully enough, had yet to remember knowing Dani before all this. “Morning,” Dani mumbled around another fierce yawn as she headed for the coffeepot which had thankfully been turned on. It looked almost done. Dani picked up one of the disposable cups and turned to ask Rosa if she wanted some too. Probably since she must have been the one to turn it on. But getting a solid look at her coworker drew a worried frown across Dani’s face. Rosa didn’t look so good. Like a cross between a used up rag and a kicked puppy. “You okay?” Dan asked carefully, voice quiet and concerned.
She reached up to the cabinet to pull down some creamer while she waited for an answer, and the motion of stretching it so far sent a jolt of pain down her arm. Dani winced as she quickly pulled her arm back down. “Ow!” She ran the fingers of her other hand very carefully over her arm in search of any breaks she might have missed. But it seemed to just be sore. Probably part of it had decided not to heal properly. Wouldn’t be the first time. Seeing Rosa watching, Dani shrugged. “I slept on it wrong. Strained one of the muscles.” Although she probably looked like she hadn’t slept at all. And it was a little worrisome how easy the lies were coming now. But Dani had to cover somehow.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2016 15:06:26 GMT
Rosa shouldn't have been at work. She didn't technically need a job - she still lived with her parents and they were constantly saying how happy they were to pay for anything she needed. But Rosa hated leaning on them, and if she wasn't taking from them, she needed this money. So here she was. She'd come early as usual, which had been a little bit of a stretch considering how tired she was. But she'd hardly slept anyway, so she supposed having something to do was better than laying in bed not sleeping. The gash across her stomach wasn't too bad, she knew. But it hurt, and bending over was going to be a bit of a challenge. Rosa was certain she'd never been more grateful that she had a wand. So her self-inflicted wound kept her awake - plus the fact that she could hardly close her eyes without a memory of the excruciating pain of the transformation hitting her with full force. And her mind kept wandering back to her encounter with the girl in Hogsmeade - Addy. Who in their right mind helped a monster?
Especially a new, volatile one whose emotions had gone haywire. Being a quiet person, Rosabella made a habit of not displaying her feelings, but the full moon and general werewolf thing had been messing with that, and yesterday she had been a puddle. A puddle of thick gooey emotion. And she hated it. She had been so vulnerable and it had felt terrible. Today she was trying harder, but running on a huge lack of sleep wasn't exactly helping. She wasn't one for coffee - more of a hot chocolate person, but she needed a strong hit of caffeine to make it through the day, so on went the coffee pot. She'd just sweeten it with lots of sugar.
Danielle wandered in, and that added another train of thought to Rosa's active mind. The feeling that she knew her co-worker from somewhere had been growing stronger and stronger since the conversation they'd had a while ago. Rosabella was observant, and it wasn't often she missed something. The fact that she couldn't figure it out was frustrating her far more than perhaps it should have. Rosa watched her co-worker as she headed over to the coffee pot, immediately taking in the obvious exhaustion of the other woman. Dani turned around and her own eyes studied Rosa right back. She looked at least as bad as Rosa was sure she did, if not worse. "I…" Gods, it was much harder to say she was okay with the pain digging into her gut. She was going to have to get better at lying on the spot. "Yeah. Just tired. I– I didn't sleep well." She paused, her eyes studying Dani again. But before she could say a word, the bartender had yelped in pain - after simply reaching for the creamer.
"A-are you?" she asked, continuing the conversation. Her exhaustion was allowing a rare part of Rosa to shine through, and a hint of compassion and worry touched her tone. Dani gave a confident excuse, but there was something about the way she said it that seemed off. It sounded somewhat similar to the excuse Rosa had used only a minute ago. An idea tugged at the corner of her mind, but she wasn't sure how to bring it up. Besides, sleeping on something funny wasn't exactly uncommon. She could be totally off target. But still… "Are you sleeping okay?" she asked. "You– you look tired."
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Shop Staff
Three Broomsticks Bartender
Werewolf
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21 years old
Ilvermorny Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ash
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Post by Danielle 'Dani' Carson on Oct 17, 2016 7:46:37 GMT
Rosa was definitely not okay. She looked about as worn out as Dani felt. That was a little weird. Rosa could be skittish, sure, but she rarely looked so bone-tired. Lack of sleep would certainly explain that. Although her delivery wasn’t at all convincing. She kept hesitating like she wasn’t sure of her own story. That immediately put Dani on alert. She was about to ask if Rosa was sure she was okay, give the girl another chance to open up about whatever was bothering her, but that effort was stopped by Dani’s own arm betraying her. Damn. She should’ve known better than to reach it that far. But she’d gotten distracted, and now Rosa was staring at her in concern. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
“Yeah, it’s nothing. I’m fine.” Meg probably wouldn’t have bought that. But Rosa was even less observant, so hopefully Dani’s confident tone would sell the act. Satisfied that her offending appendage really was okay, she forced herself to stop cradling it before Rosa got suspicious. It was just sore. Nothing she couldn’t handle. She’d gotten far injuries in the last year, and she’d even managed to get by for a fair bit without Meg noticing. A sore arm was a piece of cake. Dani turned to lean against the counter so she was facing Rosa, her weight braced by her good arm behind her. As long as she was careful, no one else would notice the other one. But Rosa had, and now she was starting to notice other things too. Dani shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “I haven’t slept too well lately,” she admitted. Better to go with the assumption Rosa seemed to have already made. Although it wouldn’t really explain away why her face was still a bit paler than usual. “I was feeling a little under the weather. But I’m okay now.”
Although Rosa didn’t seem to be. Come to think of it, she looked a little pale herself. And tired. Not just a lack of sleep sort of tired. No, this was the sort of tiredness that dulled a person’s eyes and seeped into their posture. The sort of tiredness sleep wouldn’t fix. It was a look Dani knew all too well. She saw it on her own face in the mirror around this time ever month. The familiarity was what caught her attention. A lightbulb in her brain flickered, trying to turn itself on as that expression tugged at her mind like cloth caught on a nail. “So do you.” Her tone was careful, almost unsure. “Are you sleeping okay?” The more she looked at Rosa, the more she felt like she was staring at herself. The weary expression, the guarded tone, the posture that looked for all the world like someone scared trying to protect themselves. Wait. Was it just Dani, or was Rosa’s stance off somehow? “Are you hurt?” Her sounded as much confused as concerned now. In Dani’s world, a person tired and hurt after a full moon only meant one thing.
The lightbulb was getting brighter as the flickering became more pronounced. Her mind was starting to race, darting quickly back to the last full moon. Had Rosa seemed sick? Dani hardly remembered. She had been too busy worrying about the server remembering her. But come to think of it, the girl had definitely seemed upset. Maybe… No. It couldn’t be. Could it? Another werewolf here? It wasn’t totally implausible. Dani was still pretty sure Graham was one. But Rosa was Dani’s age. And she seemed relatively free of scars, which would mean she had to be pretty new at this. For them to both be in the same boat felt far too coincidental to believe. Dani fell silent, her eyes studying Rosa. How could she know for sure? “There was a full moon the other night. You see it?” The words were seemingly casual, but her eyes were watching her co-worker intently. If Rosa really was like her... Well, that would change everything.
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2016 14:58:52 GMT
Rosa's mind was exceptionally alert, which was odd, considering her lack of sleep. But there was so much on her mind. The pain, the hazy memory of that night, the girl who had helped her, the fact that she was certain she knew Dani from somewhere, and now there was concern at the edges. Danielle's reply was far more convincing than Rosa's, but something felt off about it. Rosa's eyes stared at Dani cautiously.
"You're not fine." she said before she realised what she was saying. "W-what happened to your arm?" Rosabella wasn't usually a nosy person, but her instincts were telling her that this was significant - that it was important. There was something resting just out of her reach, she was certain. And though it seemed rather big, she couldn't put her finger on it.
Rosabella wasn't very good at predicting the way conversations would go, and Dani sending her question back at her caught her by surprise. "I–" How did she answer that? No, of course she wasn't sleeping okay. Two months ago her life had been normal, and now she turned into a monster once a month. Who could sleep with such knowledge? "Not that well, I guess," she settled with, looking away from Dani, but managing to keep her tone steady. She wanted to say more, make up some story to convince her co-worker, but nothing came to mind, and she stared out the window instead. Which lead to another question. How had this gone from her being concerned for Dani to Dani being the one asking all the questions? Rosa felt overwhelmed and a little panicked and she answered just as she had the first time. "Just tired. I didn't sleep well." Rosa hated lying, and especially to someone she thought she might just be able to be friends with. She forced herself to pull her gaze back to Dani, watching her curiously, trying to seem as though there was no sense behind Dani asking such a question. But Rosa knew there was. She'd seen herself in the mirror before work. She'd hardly slept, and the person staring back at her had been pale with dark circles under their eyes. It had been like a ghostly reflection of Rosabella Elwood, barely recognisable.
And looking at Dani, watching her study Rosa, everything suddenly fell into place. Dani was avoiding questions, she looked as exhausted as Rosa, and she was hurt. Right after the full moon. And now she was asking about the full moon. "No," Rosa said a little too quickly, her mind ahead of itself. "I mean, yes. Well, not exactly. I—" Rosa stopped, wondering if she dare ask. If it was possible that Dani was actually like her. It seemed rather selfish, but she almost hoped that she was. Maybe getting through this with someone by her side wouldn't be so hard. "The full moon– a-are you– are you a…?" She couldn't bring herself to say the word, and her voice had dropped to an emotional whisper. She'd heard the word so much over the last few months, and yet she had never said it, not once.
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Shop Staff
Three Broomsticks Bartender
Werewolf
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21 years old
Ilvermorny Alumnus
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PLAYED BY OOC NAME
PLAYED BY Ash
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Post by Danielle 'Dani' Carson on Oct 23, 2016 0:05:19 GMT
This conversation was staring to remind Dani of a dance. One of them would press forward as the other retreated only for the positions to reverse as the questioning switched sides. And right now Rosa had Dani on defense. The young American shrugged again as if the matter was unimportant. “I broke it. Long story. But it’s fine. Magic can fix just about anything.” Aside from werewolf scratches. Those took silver, dittany and a hell of a long time. But that wasn’t a topic Dani was keen on discussing.
The question of sleep let Dani turn the tables, and now Rosa was the one retreating. She wasn’t doing it very well either. It was painfully obvious she was making this up as she went along. Dani just almost felt bad enough for her to let it go. Almost. But the lightbulb in her brain was flickering madly as it tried desperately to fit the seemingly unrelated pieces together into a coherent image. She was on the edge of something here. Something important. If she could only figure out what it was…
And then she knew. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she waited for Rosa to answer. It wasn’t fair to wish this on anyone. But if Dani was right, that would mean there was someone else in her world who would understand. (Technically there was Graham, but he kept to himself too much for it matter.) Rosa’s stumbling attempts at deflecting froze Dani’s lungs. Was it really possible? And then the server seemed to be making the same mental leap, drawing herself up just short of saying that awful word. But she didn’t have to. The hope in her eyes gave it away. She was. She had to be.
For a painfully long moment Dani just stared. And then she burst out laughing. She couldn’t explain why at first. Being a werewolf was a terrible thing. But the more she thought about the situation, the funnier it got. “I’m sorry,” she said, doing her best to rein in her chuckles. “It’s really not funny. It’s just that I’ve been so worried about you finding out about me, and this whole time… this whole time you were hiding the same thing.” She shook her head as she pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The smile on her face was warm enough to light up the room, although it dimmed as she answered the unfinished question. “Yeah. I’m a…” She had to swallow before getting the word out. “… a werewolf.” Merlin, she hated that word. She didn’t really know what to say here. This was the first werewolf she had met who had figured her out. Although to be fair, she’d only met one besides the creature that attacked her. But taking in Rosa’s scared face and remembering Meg handling her own revelation right in this very room, Dani suddenly knew what needed saying. “You’re not alone.”
The coffeepot beeped to signal it was done, and Dani jumped. She had forgotten it was still on. Right. From the looks of things, they could both use the coffee. She reached up into the cabinet (with her other arm this time) and pulled down the creamer and sugar. “You want some caffeine?” she asked as she grabbed a mug. “This conversation might take a bit.” There was certainly a lot to tell. It was like an entire world had been opened up in front of Dani. How had Rosa been turned? How long ago? How was she handling it? Did she know anyone else? Not to mention it was finally safe to tell her they had been at the same school. Dani poured herself a mug of coffee and stepped to the side so Rosa could get at the coffeepot. “Can I ask how long?” she asked carefully as she dumped a bit of sugar in her coffee. “How long have you been… you know?” Even knowing they were the same, she didn’t want to use that word. Not if she could help it. It just hurt too much.
(OOC - Apparently the Dani muse is strong lately.)
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