Surrounding Area

"Zee study of stars." A dreamy sigh left her as she leaned on the back of the bench for a moment just thinking about it. "Oh I know- well use to know zee Potions professor very well. Going zough hard times since zee death eaters attacked, but zingz are getting better slowly."

Olivia looked back to the woman beside her and shook her head. "It's a shame. One would think the ministry would be doing more than what they are." Olivia paused for a moment. "But then again no one knows where they are hiding...I guess there isn't really much they can do."

" I do not trust zem as far as I could zrow zem... terrible people zey are in general." Letting out a small sigh she looked up at the sky smiling slightly liking the sun on her skin. It did not feel this great from her office window.

"Yes." Olivia agreed looking down. "A determined lot they are though." She said raising her eyebrows. She looked up at the sky. "Astronomy huh?" She said hoping to change the subject to a lighter one. "What are the stars saying these days?" Olivia was curious about reading the stars. If they really could say things. She recalled reading about Centaurs being able to read the stars.

"Very well actually zings are forming into place venuse can be seen from our side of zee world as of late it will be a very nice year indeed." Turning to Olivia a little more she smiled brightly. "Zo what do you do for a living?"

Olivia smiled at Vafara. "I work with dragons. Study them and such. We've tried training a few but they're very head strong creatures." She said thoughtfully. Olivia loved to work with dragons and she was proud of every scar and burn that she ended up with over the years from her work.

Vafara clapped happily for her smiling a little wide eyed. "Wow... zat iz just simply amazing... zo cool. Do some of zee dragons like you?" Vafara was a bit of a flake and dumb at times though she did enjoy learning about others.

Vanity was sprawled out alone at a table, various empty glasses on the table around him. A few of the closer glasses were half-filled, steadily drained by the help of Vanity. The man had no problem drinking alone- he was having a party, he didn't need other people to have a good time.

"So then I was all- 'blow trees, get bitches'-" He conversed with an empty stool, beginning to stack the empty glasses in an intricate pyramid as he went through them.

Corbin was walking throughout the High Street when he saw a solitary body laying down on top of a table. Being the curious person he was, Corbin walked up to the person and realized it was Vanity, someone he had not seen in a long time. "....Vanity?" He asked, just to be sure

Vanity squinted up to Corbin, struggling to get his vision good enough to actually see the other correctly. Once he realized just who he was looking at he sat up.
A bit too fast.
He steadied himself, held back the vomit, then turned to the stool.

"get outta here."

He kicked the stool, then turned to Corbin. "We were just' havin' frien'ly chit-chat. She don't mean nuffin' to me."

It was difficult to understand what he was saying and Vanity seemed to realize this.
So he went a different way.

"Yer shexy." There was a pause, as he tried to reword himself. "No homo- but I'd totally bone ya."

( IM GON' MAKE ERRRYBODY UNCOMFORTABLE )

(WHAT THE FLYING FUCK IS WITH ALL THE CAPS LOCK?)

Corbin snorted and shook his head, 'yep, it's Vanity'.
"Don't worry Van, you aren't the only one who would" Corbin chuckled, sometimes, being half-veela was a good laugh

( BECAUSE IM EXCITED FOR SOME REASON. PROBABLY BECAUSE I JUST ATE A BUNCH OF MASHED POTATOES 8D )

Vanity motioned lazily over to a chair, returning to his drink. "Man, s'been--" He paused, trying to count the years off in his head. "Too long. I almos' fergot how shexy you were... Take a seat, shexy."

Vanity to call someone sexy probably wasn't the biggest accomplishment- he'd found shapely trees sexy before.

"Yeah, it's definitely been a few minutes" Corbin agreed, nodding his head and taking the seat Vanity was motioning to, "Want some water?.... Maybe a smack in the face?" He asked, thinking of a few ways to possibly sober up a bit

"Mmmm...Nu. I want Firewhishkey an' a stripper wid' daddy issues n'stead." Vanity murmured, giving Corbin a serious nod and dizzily reaching for his drained bottle of butterbeer. He missed and knocked it over instead.

"I think you're done with firewhiskey..... But strippers, no problem-o" Corbin laughed, knowing how easily he attracted the women of the night.

"Sheer-uh-shly...I wan'...like...the cheapest one you can find." Vanity murmured, flashing Corbin a grin. "'cause Imma pay 'er in loose change!"

"Or.... Would you rather have top of the line strippers..... For absolutely FREE?" Corbin asked, a devilish grin on his face

Vanity paused, thinking it over. "No..I just want one...I want it jus' so I can say...So I can say I did it!"

If there was one thing that Alexandra had forgotten from spending the last month or two cooped up indoors, it was how irritating going out was during winter. It had completely slipped her mind that it was snowing and bloody cold, so when she'd apparated here without so much as a spell to keep her warm, it had been an unpleasant shock.

It had taken her five minutes to get herself and Ouriel warm and completely dry again. Needless to say it may have been good practice for her in charms, but that didn't take away from the sheer tediousness of the task. The memories her spells conjured of their time in Siberia did little to sooth her mood.

Maybe meeting out here wasn't as great an idea as she had originally thought, but where else could she chat to Madison? Any pub they walked into, Alexandra would have to keep an eye on the people and out for any enchantments. The school wasn't ideal either, Madison needed a break from that. The Order's head-quarters and her home would be off limits as well since both places would make for an uncomfortable environment.
So here she cleared a small area of snow and sat on the ground, opening a flask of hot chocolate. After a minute, the griffin emerged from her cloak and sat next to her, disgruntled.

'No wonder you sought out Ogygia. This barren landscape has little to offer in comfort or joy.' Ouriel ruffled his feathers a bit to conserve more heat in his miniature form. It was the only way she could sneak him out without the other Order members finding out.
'I'd forgotten it could get this bad...' she refrained from mentioning Siberia. It was best left unsaid. 'You sure you don't want to try the hot chocolate?'
The griffin didn't even bother to turn and look at the proffered flask, preferring to look out for a certain witch instead, 'It smells disgustingly sweet. I will stay with my occasional cow or horse.'

Madison had taken the long way to Hogsmeade. Rather than through apparition or flew powder, she walked all the way from the school, down to the village. She was in animagus form, and was quite a petty sight at that. Fur was ruffled in patchy places, even though her fur was already course enough. Her whiskers were all bent and unkempt, and her claws were unsheathed despite there being no threat in her vicinity. In such a small form, the path was long, but it left time to her thoughts. Though those particular thoughts were like a horribly unorganized mound of paperwork in her head. So, she just focused on little things. A clump of dead plants sticking up out of the snow, or the sound of her own paws crunching into the white blanket that covered the path.

When she finally got to the village, she did not receive much attention, while in her form. She stuck to the far sides of the streets, keeping her distance from others around her. The less she was noticeable, the better. She was only here for one person, and one person alone.

By the time she grew near to the location Alexandra specified, her shoulder blades had grown sore, and her head low from fatigue, but it did not stop her from turning a corner into an alley and changing back to human form.

She looked just like the old Madison; perfectly curly hair reaching passed her shoulders, and her clothes well kept and ironed. The only small thing that was different, was the look in her eyes. In her eyes, there was a dead, uncaring look, rather than the old Madison's calm, intellectually cunning eyes.

She brushed off her coat, straightened up her scarf, and then stepped back out onto the street, approaching their meeting place. She saw the two, Alexandra and Ouriel, far before she was within hearing distance. When she approached them, she simply provided a curt nod and a kind smile- one that did not match her eyes- and greeted them, "Alexandra. Ouriel."

(err. So is she in the area now or still in the ally?)

(She's with you guys now. Srry xD)

Alexandra turned to Madison to smile up only to have the grin fade slightly upon seeing her expression. The professor had never seemed gleeful or the sort to take much joy in life, but a part of her had hoped to see something different from the last time she'd seen her friend.
That wasn't entirely fair though, Madison had improved her dress sense and even looked like she came into contact with baths and sunlight every day. And she wasn't jumping at anything and everything that moved. Even better, she didn't have alcohol in hand. Now that was definitely an improvement.

"Hey Madison, pull up some... dirt?" a hand patted the frozen ground beside her. Alexandra's own appearance had changed slightly as well - not unusual for a metamorphagus, she supposed. Her long black hair had now become a bob as she had less time for general maintenance of herself. But that, and her thicker cloak for the cold weather were the only noticeable things. Despite not having great sleep after occasionally falling asleep on piles of paperwork, her attitude was the same.
'Madison.' Ouriel's thoughts brushed across the surface of the witches mind briefly and lightly. Yet with that, the griffin noted the change as well. What little the creature knew in body language, he made up in instinctual legimancy.

She responded to the griffin's greeting with another nod as she sunk down onto her knees. Doing so made the soreness in her legs more apparent, just as her shoulder blades were. So, she adjusted to a more comfortable position, and then returned their attention back to Alexandra and her companion, "So how have you two been?" The smile faded, as she began the conversation.

"Very busy... Our contacts network is up and running again, so information is coming in about some suspicious muggle murders," before she continued, Alexandra flicked her arm to get her wand out of her sleeve, then with a quick wave, threw a muffling spell around their area. "Some Death Eater movements, the usual. But we haven't recruited anyone new or done much with the information we have... Between people being paranoid about letting in new members and Michelle not giving us much direction, we're stuck at the moment."

Ouriel sharply prodded her mind. Oh, right, Madison didn't want to rejoin the Order any time soon.
Perhaps less ranting on Alexandra's part would seem like less of a guilt-trip to her friend. He settled back on his haunches, watching the professor unblinkingly.
'The out-door area of the Orders are much improved. Keeping out the winter cold was not a feature the builders had in mind.' he commented, giving off a very satisfied mood.

"Sorry, I didn't come here to rant." she half-lied with a sheepish grin. "But all in all... There's a lot of work. How about you?"