lunch break

Ophelia sighed and relaxed her wand arm as the trainer finally called an end to the session. The blonde ran a hand through her hand and tugged on her ponytail as she tucked her wand into her pocket with the other, and began to walk to the door with the other Auror trainees. The teacher was shouting about sending each trainee a personal parchment soon, detailing the mistakes he'd noticed with each individual's performance today. Ophelia was only half listening; her growling stomach was her main priority right now. 

Today was simple Memory Charms, a required component of Auror training due to the fact that there was a high chance that their magic could be accidentally seen by bystander Muggles; casting a Memory Charm was thereby an important task of an Auror, apparently. It was mostly review for Ophelia on the actual charm, but acting fast and casting the spell without it being unintentionally potent was what made the whole training a mental workout. She supposed it just took practice. 

Ophelia knew she had an exam coming up soon, one of the most important ones that may or may not determine her graduating from the program; three years was coming to a close and she couldn't wait until she was promoted to the position of an actual Auror and was sent into the field, but right now she still had to focus on tests and practice, unfortunately. 

She had an hour for lunch, and she wasn't exactly keen to eat alone today. So she found herself wandering down the halls of the Parliament until she arrived at the Hit Wizard sector, and knocked on the door of the room she knew Mikayla Prescott to be in. She was a girl she'd ran into a couple days ago, and although she barely knew her it was worth a shot to try and make a new friend in this endless pit that was the Parliament. 

Words: 323
Tags: Mikayla Prescott

Training was proving to be just as long and tiresome as it had the day before. Though wands were their usual weapon, it was insisted upon that all trainees who wished to become part of the Hit Wizard squad be proficient in hand to hand combat as well. Many found it to be an antiquated and mundane means of engaging in a fight, but Mickey had a nasty feeling that this training wasn’t originally part of the program. It was likely something that had been added afterward, to try and account for the fact that it had happened in the field and the wizards had found themselves to be at a major disadvantage.

Sweat beaded at her brow, rolling down her back and chest as Mickey moved toward the bench at the far side of the training room and collected her towel. She rubbed it at the back of her neck, working at removing the perspiration from her skin. She was definitely going to need a shower by the time she returned home tonight. And perhaps she ought to stop in to see Luben, to get some healing potions from him. Goodness knew that she would likely be sporting some bruises tomorrow thanks to the beating she had taken from her sparring partner earlier in the day.

Mickey moved toward the locker room, grabbing at her water bottle as she took a few careful swigs of the cool liquid inside. Her stomach began to rumble. Evidently, she needed to eat something before she continued.

It didn’t take her too long to get herself cleaned up and presentable, thanks largely to her own skills with a wand. At the very least, she could make herself look like she had only just walked in the door...and eliminate the smell of her workout so that she didn’t repulse the people around her. That certainly wouldn’t earn her any friends at Parliament.

As she wandered out onto the main floor of the area, Mickey found herself looking curiously across the room. She was fairly certain she recognized the blonde who had wandered inside, now standing inside as if she was looking for someone. ”Are you lost, Renard?” Mickey found herself asking as she approached the girl with a raised brow. ”You’re in the wrong neck of the woods for an Auror, aren’t you?” Unless of course, she really was looking for someone specific. In which case, Mickey wasn't sure if she would be any help at all.

WORD COUNT: 420
TAGGED: @ophelia

"Are you lost, Renard?" a voice said. ”You’re in the wrong neck of the woods for an Auror, aren’t you?”

Well, Ophelia had been looking for the very girl who now stood in front of her, and smirked a little, leaning against the doorway of the room that would lead into the Hit Wizards' corridors. Mikayla Prescott looked decently dressed; supposedly they-- meaning the Hit Wizards, the younger siblings of the Aurors, as some of Ophelia's program mates liked to tease-- had to go through some kind of training of similar rigor. She knew that Hit Wizards focused a lot on hand-to-hand combat, more than the Aurors did. Dark wizards were unlikely to let go of their wands; it was their ultimate power. Still, Ophelia liked to think that she could punch someone in the face. Maybe. 

"I like to think I know where I go everyday to train," she sniped back a little, her eyes sparkling as a crooked grin took over the simper she'd had on before. 

"I was looking for you, actually," she confessed, straightening up. "My own training just finished up, and it's lunch break before I have to get back for more of that shit. Was wondering if you'd like to get something to eat together? You look good, by the way." 

Words: 217
Tags: Mikayla Prescott

The blonde raised a brow a little at the way in which Ophelia seemed to attack her words. Was she simply in a bad mood or was she just getting used to the fact that people in the Auror Department were always giving her a hard time? Unfortunately, it was something that Mickey knew she could relate to a little. She was a young woman trying to get into a field that was very heavily male dominated. People razed her all the time about whether or not she could handle the pressures of the job, often insinuating that she would fall apart in a panic the first time she headed out into the field.

To say that it was annoying would have been a major understatement.

But it seemed that her comment was only meant to be snarky at the first. What she said afterward was done in a much more pleasant tone. And it seemed, from reading her body language a little, that the offer was rather genuine. As was the compliment that followed.

”Thanks,” Mickey said with a small smirk, shrugging one of her shoulders. ”One of the perks of being pretty decent with charms, I suppose. I can clean up a bit after training so that I don’t smell like the rest of the guys in there.”

She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the training rooms. Mickey wandered by the main door of the locker room that the men used, and on the worst days she was insanely glad that she didn’t have to venture any further than that. How the other guys didn’t die from the stench when they wandered into that room was truly a mystery. Or perhaps they had simply lost their sense of smell as time wore on. She wasn’t entirely sure, but she certainly wasn’t about to ask either.

Grey eyes looked the other girl over, a hand reaching up to tuck that troublesome tendril of hair away from her eyes. ”I wouldn’t mind the company. Especially from someone who isn’t in my face yelling at me to try harder all day.” She supposed that was the biggest benefit to this work relationship that seemed to be developing. They could appreciate where the other person came from without necessarily seeing one another all day long. Mickey didn’t expect that it was going to become a blossoming friendship, but...stranger things had happened, right?

”Did you want to grab a bite down the street? There’s a food vendor who sells giant hot dogs on the corner. Then we can just camp out on a park bench or something.”

WORD COUNT: 447
TAGGED: @ophelia

"Thanks." the other blonde woman smirked.  ”One of the perks of being pretty decent with charms, I suppose. I can clean up a bit after training so that I don’t smell like the rest of the guys in there.”

"True," Ophelia agreed, with a smile on her own face as she leaned against the doorway, "at some point I ask, 'do they even care anymore?' It's the same situation with the men in the Auror ward. And some of the girls, mind you." she sighed as she rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Indeed, there was a lot of physical training to go through for the program, and Ophelia always dreaded the end where everyone was drenched in sweat and too tired to actually clean themselves up properly. Sometimes, she herself was tempted to just throw something on and leave, and then she remembered that she had dignity and would force herself to hop into the shower. 

Problem was, once she was in the shower under the hot water it was quite hard to leave. She personally believed that magic wasn't the best replacement for a physical cleanse but she was known to slack, too. She was only human. Especially if they had a break in between and would have to get back to those sprints and weight lifts afterwards. 

”Did you want to grab a bite down the street? There’s a food vendor who sells giant hot dogs on the corner. Then we can just camp out on a park bench or something.”

"Sounds good." Ophelia stood up straight and waited for her friend to lead the way, pocketing her wand as she threw on the light jacket she'd brought. "I haven't had hot dogs in a long time, forgot they existed." she barked out a laugh. "How is hit-witch training? I'd be surprised, to be honest, if you said you weren't the only girl in the program." 

Words: 319
Tags: Mikayla Prescott

It was strange to think that so many things around them were modernized, and yet their respective departments were still so male dominated. Was that because the women had a harder time getting into such a physical field? Or was it because there just wasn’t a genuine interest from other females? Mickey supposed she would never truly know the answer, since it was such an individual one to share.

Grey eyes looked over at the other blonde. Evidently her suggestion wasn’t one that was going to be snubbed, though apparently Ophelia had forgone hotdogs for so long that she had forgotten the street food even existed. Was that possible? Goodness knew that Mickey ate them with Luben all the time…

She quickly gave her head a shake, trying to rid the thought from her mind before it became too prominent. If she let herself get in too deep her cheeks would flush and Ophelia would likely take notice. That was a can of worms that Mickey couldn’t handle dealing with right now, not when she was already facing the battle every month with Marco. Her workplace needed to be separate from her home life. For the sake of her sanity, it just had to be.

”I step out to grab one every now and again when I don’t feel like bringing a lunch. It’s the same vendor all the time, and his hotdogs are really good. You won’t regret it.”

Mickey stepped out of the room, leading the way as she reached up to ruffle her blonde locks a little. Even with magic, she still couldn’t wait to take a shower tonight when she got home. Stepping under that hot water was going to be the best thing in the whole world until it came time to get out. But at that point she was fairly certain that she would be jumping into a warm set of pajamas and heading to bed. The full moon was fast approaching, and that meant that her days at work were numbered. She would get a few days off when she went to spend the time with Luben.

The blonde glanced over her shoulder at the other girl. ”How long do you have before you have to be back?” She knew that she had an hour before she was expected back at the office. Whether or not she was going to have to hit the training mats again though, she wasn't entirely sure.

WORD COUNT: 416
TAGGED: @ophelia