1995-02-01: Meeting of Minds

Participants:

Chase_icon.gif Holly_icon.gif

Scene Title Meeting of Minds
Synopsis After the events at the Ministry, Chase comes to seek out her new employer!
Location Holly's House
Date Feb 01, 1995
Watch For FRICK!
Logger Holly

Chase has managed to find temporary accommodation in London, the people offering her places to stay were nice and all but she's not the type to be comfortable sleeping on the sofas of the unfamiliar. Settled in, she finally decides it is time to report for duty - she gave her new boss enough time to recover and stuff, right? Oh well, let's see! She taps on the door with her knuckles. Tap tap.

—-

There's a calendar in her kitchen. One in her living room. A battery-powered moon phase calendar in the bathroom, and various reminders around the house that she will eventually become exceptionally dangerous.

She's living here now, though not everyone wants her here, of course. People don't just change their opinions of werewolves overnight because the one in their back yard was created by the evil of a demented, power-hungry Minister of Magic. Some people have shown her sympathy, but others won't even talk to her. When there's a knock on the door, Holly's not sure if it's one of the people who are okay with her, or one of the people who want to lynch her, so she opens the door a crack and peeks out. "Rowena," she says, surprised, and opens the door the rest of the way. "Hey. Been settling in?"

—-

"Yeah," Chase says with a nod, waiting patiently on the doorstep and wringing her hands before herself, "It's been alright. I'm staying at this place in London called the Drippy Cauldron or somethin' like that. The Ministry are paying for me because of all the trouble they gave me getting over here."

—-

Holly would have had a much more friendly greeting before she was bitten. Maybe even a hug, an offer of coffee, a chatty account of how things have been going over here in the UK since the trial started… But now, she just looks uneasy. She was able to fight her own predjudices, but she isn't blind to the fact that they exist, and she has to wonder what people think of her. "You— Uh, right. You wanna come in?" She gestures into the house - a combination of earthtones and greys. Sensible and comfortable, even if Holly is a nervous wreck herself - and looks it. Her hair's tied back in a hasty ponytail, and her robes are wrinkled, as if she was just sleeping in them when Chase arrived. "So you heard what— What happened to me."

—-

"I did."

Chase's voice is quieter now as she swallows heavily, hands still wringing in front of her as she steps inside. Even if she is a little scared, she isn't so scared that she won't enter Holly's house. She looks around to get an idea of the layout of the place - out of human survival instinct, it seems.

"I'm sorry. But … they have the Wolfsbane for it now."

—-

She's still leaning on the cane, though not quite as heavily as she was at the Ministry. "I know this wasn't part of the job description," Holly says. It seems that lately, she's finding the capacity to inject a little humour into her statements, though she's still having trouble smiling. Finding herself is difficult after last month's events. There are still the nightmares to contend with, and the constant pain of wounds that won't heal. "Yeah, they do. Tastes a lot like old socks. You want some coffee or somethin'? I'll tell you what we're up against here."

—-

"Sure," Chase says with a smile, settling down on a chair and folding her hands in her lap, "I read the brief on the stopover in the Azores but something tells me it isn't extremely relevant anymore."

—-

Holly heads to the kitchen. It's a good-sized room that looks out into the living room, so she can still see Chase while she makes coffee. She leans on the counter as the water heats up, and relays the entire story… How when she came to the country, Sirius was still in hiding, the start of the trial, Umbridge's use of Dementors to flush them out of the safehouse and into fugitive status, and finally, her own capture and infection. By the time she's finished with that, the coffee's ready, and she brings a couple mugs back into the living room. One is offered to Chase.

"So there's a lot going on here, and now that I'm…" Holly still can't say it. "I'm going to need a lot more help in the court. Essentially, there'll be some days I just can't be there. I'm sorry to throw all this at you, but as you can see, the wizarding world in Britain is pretty… Well. Backwards. I'd like to try to change things, if you're up for the challenge."

—-

"Of course," Chase agrees with a smile, attempting to look as reassuring as she can as she takes the coffee that is offered to her, "Thanks. You know me, though - advocacy, advocacy, advocacy!" She laughs a little and accidently spills a little coffee onto her robes, "Frick!"

—-

A little too excited, Holly thinks to herself, as she takes her wand from her pocket and cleans the coffee from Chase's robes. See? all better. "You have to understand what you're fighting for," she says, voice cracking just a little. "You can't really picture what a werewolf is until…" Shaking her head before she gets lost in that thought, Holly goes in a different direction. "They're people, too. They deserve everything anyone else has. But this is just as much about educating werewolves as it is about helping them fit into society." Taking a seat across from Chase, Holly sets down her coffee and leaves it untouched. She hasn't really been hungry since the incident, and coffee isn't exactly a necessity. She can go without it. "I'd like you to stay here. I don't know if I'll always be here, but someone should be."

—-

"Here like in England?" Chase quirks an eyebrow, she certainly has plans back at home but she did agree to come over here and help for the duration.

—-

"No, here, as in here, in this house," Holly says, and there's a brief moment where there's a smile. "Though I hope you stay in England, too. It'd be hard for you to get any work done if we had to correspond with owls all the time."

—-

"Alright." Chase nods her head - she can do that, "When did you want me to move in?"

—-

"Whenever you like," Holly says. "This week, if you want. I'll have the extra room ready." It's kind of nice to know that Chase isn't terrified of her because of what she is. Heartening, actually. Then again, she's from the United States, where leaps and bounds have been made in equality with werewolves. Now they just have to attempt to start the same thing here.

—-

Chase is a little scared, yes, but she is also very concerned with not showing that and as such appears quite comfortable. She nods and smiles, "I'll get my stuff together then."

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