[Grimli] To know me is hardly golden (Amaranth)

Seva woke that morning with the strangest feeling in her chest that she couldn’t quite place, it was unidentifiable but it was crushing and felt like there was a gaping hole where her heart should be. It was apprehension and perhaps a little fear that had Seva in such a state, she wasn’t sure what the day would bring and didn’t like the feeling of uncertainty. Her stomach clenched for a moment as she dressed quickly and the room spun a little bit before she steadied herself on her bedpost. A cold sweat settled on the back of her neck and on her upper lip but she ignored it and toddled over to her fridge to grab a quick bite to eat. That day, she was going to an important meeting that her contact, Edmond Wright had arranged for her at a shop on Knockturn Alley. All communications were brief and to the point but what she garnered from them was that he had secured a position for her at this shop and that she was to speak to one of the associates. Seva had no idea what to expect and the feeling bothered her, she didn’t like the fact that Edmond hadn’t been clearer; especially about a strange shop in the seedy part of town. Seva thought about changing her outfit at least a dozen times, in the end deciding to stick with what she’d chosen originally.

Seva left home with a half hour to spare and set off toward Knockturn, choosing to walk instead of floo because she preferred not to enter a strange place without scoping it out first. Her heels were clacking against the pavement as she strode through the streets, bumping into shoppers and getting jostled just the same. On her back she carried a black and red plaid backpack with a few essentials – a knife, a pair of flats, makeup and a few protein bars. She was hoping she didn’t need to use the knife but one never knew. Turning down the dark alley, Seva couldn’t have been gladder that Edmond had made the meeting during the day. Dressed as she was and a young witch at that, Seva made for easy prey in such a place. Granted, she had worked there for some time but most of the time she came in her work robes and didn’t attract as much attention. She could feel eyes on her as she clopped on by and several times had the audacity to stare back at the passerby.

Her eyes were scanning the store fronts for Grimli, hoping she wouldn’t miss it among the dank and gloomy exteriors of its neighbors. Edmond told her it was easy to miss if she didn’t pay enough attention, so she was straining her eyes and looking from one side of the alley to the other. Finally, she came upon number 11 and stopped in front of the building, taking it in. The structure was dilapidated and ramshackle but the building was large as it had two stories and judging from the small rectangular windows on the street level, a basement. Seva nodded slowly to herself and pondered for a moment as to whether she really wanted to go through with this meeting. Her eyes flit around the alleyway, looking for all the possible ways she could find an escape down the alley and back towards home and safety. There were several possible avenues by which to flee and Seva was memorizing all of them. She didn’t know who would be waiting for her on the other side of the door and what kind of reception she would receive there.

Shrugging off her apprehension, Seva reached out to open the door and stepped inside. The interior matched the exterior well and Seva was not impressed in the least. The display in the window was large and at the moment housed an old leather scabbard that was nondescript and bore no meaning to Seva, although she did wonder over the quality and make of the blade it used to house. All around the shop there were books and other odds and ends that seemed to have no real purpose but to simply gather dust. Seva had half a mind to do a glove test to see just how much grime and dust accumulated on the shelves and the items themselves. Seva stood in the open doorway for a moment, letting the morning sun drift in and catch the stream of dust and debris that hung in the air around her.

Reaching back, Seva closed the door behind her and turned back around when she heard the click that meant it was secure. She took a few steps in front of her and glanced around the shop, letting her eyes adjust to the light in the room. It was dimly lit and Seva nearly ran into the large table stacked with stuff that was right in front of her. In the back of the room was a large, ornate desk that she assumed was where the business was conducted. She glanced at the desk, then at the table in front of her to see if there was perhaps a bell that she could ring to gain assistance from whoever she was supposed to meet.

Seva smoothed down her skirt and tugged at a loose curl, twisting it around her finger in a nervous tick. Her eyes were still darting around the room as if she half expected someone to jump out at her from behind a wall. She was early, perhaps that was why no one was there yet. Seva always tried to arrive early for important meetings and tried her best to look presentable. Still regretting her outfit, she contemplated charming her blouse and skirt into a dress and Transfiguring her backpack into a cardigan. It was chilly, after all. Her mind was running with a string of useless information that she did her best to dismiss. She was nervous and it was showing, despite her trying her best for it to remain hidden. Her fists clenched and unclenched and she stood dutifully by the large table, her eyes on the door of the shop.

Amaranth sat behind the desk, her little bare feet swinging a few inches above the floor as she hummed softly to herself. The quill in her hand made a soft skrit skrat sound as she signed the bottom of the invoice, using her other hand to trace over the raised ink to make sure she was signing in the right place. Amaranth didn't mind doing paperwork, but Niska only had her do it sometimes, which did make a lot of sense. But today Niska was out of town, visiting Adelei and dealing with some family business. Amaranth pouted and bit the tip of her quill feather, grating it between her little dinosaur teeth. She wanted to go. She hadn't seen Adelei in almost five months. Well, she had never really seen him but she missed him nonetheless.

So Amaranth was in charge of the shop today. There wasn't a fight tonight so mostly all she had to do was read through some invoices and catalogue the last few items sold. Oh, and someone was supposed to be coming by later. Niska wanted her to conduct an interview for another mediwizard or the club. They already had two, but another hand wouldn't hurt, especially considering how often people were geting hurt. Yes, another doctor would set Niska at ease. Well, a good doctor.

She was sitting in the back room, rapidly going through a few scrolls of paperwork. Titus, her massive burmese python, was sleeping on the floor beside her, his head resting on her lap. Amaranth put the quill down and laid back in the chair, stretching her back and rolling the last scroll up for Niska to take care of later. She rested her hand on Titus's head and scratched his neck. The person was supposed to be here soon. Amaranth had already decided she was going to conduct this interview a little differently than Niska would. She was a little more like Adelei, The Grinning Death, than Niska. Apparently he used to be super cool, but now he was like a big teddy bear, and whenever she asked about it he would just tell her to forget it.

Amaranth heard footsteps outside the shop, then the familiar sound of the door opening. More footsteps, this time on the wooden floor, heading toward Niska's desk. This was either the person who was here for an interview, or a robber. Oddly enough, even in Knockturn Alley Amaranth wasn't very afraid of the people around here. In fact, she moved through them like a fog, another wicked and twisted soul just trying to get somewhere. But cooler. She wasn't scared when she walked down the street. As long as she had a snake around her neck no one bothered her. And inside Grimli she was always safe. That was something she liked.

The footsteps stopped in front of Niska's desk. Amaranth hopped down from the freakishly tall chair and opened the door, hearing Titus slither along behind her. The moment she opened the door her nose was assaulted by a familiar scent.Except, she'd kinda forgotten who it was. Um. Um. Had she met this person before? Either way, Amaranth came up behind the desk. "Welcome to Grimli. How can I help you today?"

Several minutes ago, Seva’s eyes had left the door and instead wandered to the objects piled on the table by the door. She crossed the store and went to stand in front of the table that was so burdened with odds and ends that it looked like it might buckle under the weight. She found herself going through the old books, opening them slowly lest they be cursed or booby trapped. One never knew, especially in a shop such as this. Seva picked up several old cuckoo clocks and played with the clock faces’, trying to get the mechanisms to discharge whatever was living inside. All of them stopped mysteriously at --:59, as if they were determined to not let their inhabitants escape. Seva set the last one down, frowning ever so slightly because she was curious and ended up disappointed.

Just then, Seva heard an inner door open and she clicked and clacked her way back to the desk just in time for a little person to enter the room and stand behind the desk. Once again, Seva found herself looking in the mirror with the exception of the several inches that Seva now had on Amaranth in her current shoes. Seva was so shocked she felt her breath catch in her chest and hoped that Amaranth couldn’t sense the harshness of her intake of air. Seva held it there as if the extra oxygen might help her nerves calm. What should she do? Amaranth would surely hear if Seva turned around and exited the shop, her heels would give her away. Did Amaranth recognize her scent? It was a possibility.

Seva felt the corners of her mouth curling into a wicked smile as the thought of the things that Seva could get away with before Amaranth could figure out her identity. She contemplated just coming out and announcing herself to Amaranth, knowing full well the other would know the sound of her voice right away. She thought for several moments, her mind weighing all the possibilities but the scale kept tipping in the direction of playing it safe for the time being. Seva suddenly had an idea and immediately turned and crossed the room to pick up one of the cuckoo clocks. It was a particularly ornate mahogany one with cornices and actual plate glass windows in the little house. Seva clopped her way back over to the desk and set the clock down on it.

“I’m interested in this clock,” she offered, laying her brogue on thick and hoping it disguised her voice. “There seems to be a problem with it, though. It stops a minute to the hour. All of them do actually…d’ye think ye might consider a discount of sorts? Or is there someone who can repair it, d’ye think?”

So Seva could also act if she wanted to, she thought to herself. She wasn’t sure if Amaranth would buy it but at least she thought it was convincing. Her eyes crinkled with mirth and she resisted the urge to break into laughter. That would be unwise for one and very rude on the other. It would most certainly give her away, but come to think of it she hadn’t really been in the right place of mind to laugh at their last meeting; especially not when she was getting throttled. Seva looked down at Amaranth and smiled to herself, thinking how cute it was that at least for today, Seva towered over her. Seva smiled to herself and resisted the urge to ruffle Amaranth’s hair. Instead, she twisted an unruly strand around her finger.

“Actually, is there a manager I could speak to perchance? I’d like to buy the whole set, if I could. I can pay up front, for the whole lot of them.” 

The woman who had entered the shop laid a clock on the table and asked to buy it. Amaranth put her hands out, feeling the clock's edges and surfaces, trying to figure out which one of the infernal ticking devices it was. Some of them were broken, some of them were cursed-- if she sold a cursed one Niska would probably be really mad. As she touched the clock's face she considered the woman's voice. It was very, very familiar but the accent was too thick for her to hear. Or understand. It sounded a little too forced, like she was trying to hide something Maybe she was really a man, or she was trying to hide her identity.

Well, that wouldn't do. People who hid things were the most suspicious of sorts and she wouldn't have that type getting anywhere closer to her. After identifying the clock as Not Cursed and Not Broken and Not An Expensive Part of Wizarding History, she turned back in the woman's direction. "I'm sorry, the manager isn't here today but I am in charge. If you'd like to buy the whole set, I am authorized to sell it." Amaranth sniffed the air experimentally. Yes, that was such a familiar scent, as was the voice. She tried hard to place it but her brain hadn't cataloged this particular person somewhere important.

If they had met, Amaranth didn't remember. On top of that, Amaranth didn't know anyone who would walk into a place like Grimli during the day. It occurred to her that this might be an assassin, come to skin her alive and show it to her boss. She knew there was a man who was dead set on doing that to her after a job that she pulled three months back. Or it could be someone after Niska. He had a much larger price on his head and in three times as many countries. Either way, Amaranth was inclined to be suspicious of this person. "Yes," she said casually. "Some of them are broken, it's unfortunate. But as far as repairs go, I can try my hand."

Amaranth opened one of the drawers in Niska's desk and rummaged around until her hand closed on what she was looking for. She unsheathed Niska's boot knife and stabbed it into the wood of the clock. A wooden bird burst out of the doors, screaming its hourly alarm as if it was trying to escape the stiletto knife. After it squealed a few more times it retreated into the geared recesses. Amaranth pulled the knife out and placed the clock nicely on the table. "All fixed." She held out the knife, pointing right at the woman's heart area. "Now state your real business or I'll make a lovely cuckoo clock out of you, and the little bird will be coming out between your teeth."

Merlin’s beard, I think I made a mistake…. Amaranth was literally sniffing the air and it struck Seva then that Amaranth’s sense of smell was probably twice that of her own. It was only a matter of time before her double realized who she was. Or was it? It seemed as if, at least from her reaction, Amaranth hadn’t arrived at the conclusion that the woman standing in front of her was indeed Seva. She heaved a sigh of relief and lowered her wand hand, stopping its attempt to reach back in her bag for the hilt of her wand. Amaranth made her jumpy and it was definitely justifiable considering the first time she met the woman, she’d ended up unconscious; that usually tended to put a sour taste in Seva’s mouth, and just about anyone else’s for that matter.

“Then I feel as if my purchase will be in…excellent hands.”

Seva stepped back as Amaranth moved to open a drawer in the desk, she was getting more and more anxious with each passing second; the grime and the deafening silence around them closing in on her, she could hear their breathing and as cliché as it seemed, she felt one could cut the tension in the room with a knife. It seemed fitting, then, that Amaranth pulled out a knife at the exact moment as that thought crossed her mind. Oh, the ironyShite. Seva’s pulse quickened and she took another step back, but her fears were assuaged for a moment as Amaranth instead pointed the knife at the clock and stabbed it forcibly. Seva still winced, however, imagining what it would feel like if that knife were being plunged into her chest. As if on cue, Amaranth drew out the knife and Seva found it in quite the precarious position, the tip of the blade flush with the fabric of her shirt and pointed square at her heart.

“Amaranth!”

Seva flinched and took the slightest step backward, not daring to move too quickly lest she trip in her ridiculous shoes. I knew I should have worn friggindamn flats. She felt all too hindered in her movement now and too vulnerable. Her heart and mind were racing, even her breath quickened. Why was it that she and Amaranth always ended up in a life or death situation? Both her hands were raised as if she were being cornered by a band of aurors after committing a crime and in a way she had, the crime of ultimate stupidity. Seva should have known better than to try to pull the wool over Amaranth’s eyes. Even with her disability, Amaranth’s sharp mind rivaled the obvious sharpness of the blade pointed at Seva’s heart. Suddenly, Seva did something very bold and this time, she did reach back and grab for her wand and kept it lowered at her side, not daring to point it at Amaranth’s chest. Then, Amaranth might just kill her.

“It’s me, Seva.” She said, trying to keep her voice from sounding as if she were pleading with Amaranth. “I was called here by a contact of mine about a job, I didn’t know I’d find you here. Say the word and I’ll leave.”

Seva?

The name rung a bell and all at once Amaranth remembered their run in not that long ago when the two of them had engaged in one of the most surprisingly existential conversations Amaranth had ever had with a stranger. Then again, that did end with Seva unconscious and bleeding a little bit, which was less surprising. Unfortunately, Seva's voice had a sort of sticky quality to it and Amaranth had been mulling over her words for a few hours after their meeting. It made Amaranth extremely uncomfortable to be around Seva, and somehow she knew it wasn't just because they looked alike. They were alike. It was almost as if Seva was a doppelganger, a version of who Amaranth could have been, how she could have turned out, if things hadn't gone so terribly wrong all those years ago. Perhaps this was why Amaranth had tried to forget her.

Amaranth decided not to follow this train of thought for much longer, lest she become comatose waxing on and about what things could have been like. She let out a sigh, this one without her usual hint of condescending and derision. Even to her it felt sort of defeated. "I didn't think we'd be running into each other again." She put the knife back in Niska's secret drawer and wiped the stray strand of hair out of her face. "Although, what could have possibly possessed you to put on that fake accent? It was, in a word, awful. You're lucky I didn't decided to gut you just for that. I thought you'd have grown some sense since we last met but I can't say I'm terribly surprised." As Amaranth smoothed her dress out something clicked with what the other girl has said and she she realized that Seva must be here for the mediwizard position.

She turned her eyes to Seva, despite the fact that it was a useless gesture. "I didn't know you were a mediwizard. Weren't you working in a pet shop last time we saw each other? Then again, I suppose there are all sorts of jobs aren't there. Money is tight these days, even after the war. Welp, can't be helped, I guess. Niska ordered me to interview you so I guess we'll be playing together again." As Amaranth rambled on she flicked her wrist and the windows were suddenly blacked out, the bookshelves and tables shuffling toward the walls until there was only a large empty space where the two of them stood. As the last of the trinkets chased after the shelves and cleared the area, Amaranth wiped her dusty feet on the floor.

"I don't know what kind of interview you were promised but I take part in these fights and I don't want any hack doctor messing around with my insides. So this will be a three part interview: two parts practicum, one part actual talking. This job is all about being on your feet. We've got no St. Mungos and no equipment nearby so it's all on you. This first part will test if you are even cut out to be in this environment." She flicked her wand again, this time at the cuckoo clock she had just stabbed. The minute hand moved back to the 12, waiting patiently. "If you can last 60 seconds against me, you pass the first part." The minute hand begun ticking toward the 1 and Amaranth turned on Seva.

"Expelliarmus! Confringo! Stupefy!

“Funny, I could never imagine seeing you again, either.”

The air came back into the room again the exact millisecond that Amaranth placed the knife back in the drawer of the desk. She could finally breathe now that it wasn’t pointed at her heart. Seva ignored the question about her working at the menagerie for two reasons; Amaranth couldn’t possibly care about the answer to that question and the feeling of impending doom was slowly seeping into Seva’s consciousness, punctuated by Amaranth’s use of the word play. Somehow that word being uttered by Amaranth was like some sort of cosmic joke to Seva, the irony of it was laughable and to her horror, a laugh did escape her lips before she could choke it back. Seva was much too distracted by what was going on around her to care if her laughter was out of place; Amaranth was up to something. Why else would she need so much room? Seva’s grip tightened on her wand and she couldnt help but fall into a very subtle defensive stance that harkened back to her days in the DA. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was doing her best to stop her breath from coming out like a death rattle.

“I wasn’t promised anything, I didn’t even speak directly to anyone from this establishment. I’m not confident I would have c-come if I knew that you would be here.”

Seva spoke only after Amaranth stopped speaking and she watched as Amaranth flicked her wand at the clock, watching with a mix of fear and curiosity as the minute hand moved to the twelve. A countdown. Seva shook just as her voice had done a moment ago and she wondered why she’d ever even thought about coming to this place. Nothing had even happened yet and she was terrified. Despite her pounding heart, Seva’s face belied nothing and her eyes were so fixed on Amaranth’s that could the other woman see, Seva hoped that she’d be shaking just as hard.

Seva swallowed hard, all the same, trying to strike a balance between pure terror and stone faced courage. Neither was really coming across very strongly and instead she stood there a jumbled mess, sweat pouring down her neck and wetting her palms, making her wand hand slick. If you can last sixty seconds against me, you pass the first part. What!? Seva barely had time to react as her wand was pulled out of her hand by Amaranth’s disarming jinx. She stood for a millisecond in dumfounded silence before the second jinx was uttered by Amaranth. With surprising fluidity for someone in Seva’s footwear, she dived out of the way of the blasting curse and didn’t even bat an eye when the jet of red light intended for her careened into one of the tables along the wall and blasted it to smithereens. No, she was too busy hurtling toward Amaranth as fast as her short legs in their spike heels could take her and as soon as she was within reach, she wound up her wiry arm. Her eyes were wild as she let her balled up fist fly and it collided with Amaranth’s jaw with a muffled thwack. With her other hand she reached up and coiled Amaranth’s hair in her fingers, bringing the woman’s face close to her own.

“Are you finished.” She hissed, her eyes so fierce that sparks could have been shooting out of them. “I already knew you were bat shit crazy, but do you have to prove it by trying to kill me!” Seva’d been unintentionally shaking Amaranth’s head with every emphasized syllable and realizing that, she released the woman and stepped back, dusting off her blouse with a sheepish expression on her face. “Now then…if it was a duel you wanted, you could have at least been fair…”