Carol of the Bells (Katia/Adala/Desirée)

Desirée hated all customers today. They all seemed to be snobby "I'm-going-to-spill-my-cappuccino-all-over-the-floor-and-there's-nothing-you-can-do-about-it-so-bite-me" customers, and she hated every single one of them. Once she had finished mopping up the sick of a man who should have known better than to turn up there and heave all over the floor before leaving promptly, she glanced across the room. There was another waitress over there, Katia, she thought. She didn't really know her, but today she had liking for no-one.

"Excuse me," she called over, narrowing her eyes at Katia. She was pretty. How dare she be pretty when Des was covered in old man vomit? She threw her tea towel down on a nearby counter and moved towards her. "Have you seen my wand at all? It would have been really useful to use it to clean up the sick." She wondered if that was hint enough that she thought this girl wasn't pulling her weight enough (despite the fact that she hadn't been watching her recently and had no idea what she had been up to today.)

The bell on the door chinkled and Des span around on her heel, cursing silently. Today was really testing, and she couldn't face another customer with any politeness at all. However, her heart lifted when she realised she recognised this one. "Adala!" she greeted cheerfully. "Ever the perfect timing, dearest sister." She smiled and pushed herself onto the counter.

Adala had been having a rather boring emtpy day, she was always bored when she wasn't teaching - or maybe not bored exactly, but it was dangerous for her to have nothing to do, because her mind wandered and thoughts she shouldn't be thinking filled her mind and she formed plans that she shouldn't be planning.

So she had decided to go somewhere, somewhere she could talk to someone and not think about stuff she shouldn't think about, and she hadn't seen Des, her sister, for some time. And Desirée was now working at the Black Swan (which used to be their mothers favorite restaurant) and Adala had never actually visited her sister while she was working there, though she had been to the Black Swan rather often before her mother died.

The brunette woman had hardly pushed the door open when a smell met her nose and she coughed.
Adala frowned, wondering what stench that was but seconds later she heard her sister voice and looked up, noticing her younger sister. "Who puked on you?" she asked teasingly, before she winked and walked towards her sister.

Adala look around at the costumers, the place wasn't very full, but it still had some costumers, the Black Swan always had costumers.
"Having fun at work?" her eyebrows rose slightly as she placed her purse on the counter next to where her sister sat and leaned against it herself.

Katia was beginning to get very tired of the patrons to The Black Swan. They grated on her nerves, and it was becoming difficult to serve them with a smile. She took a moment to take rein of her anger, encouraging herself to calm down. She needed to remember why she was here, doing this job, placing a hand on the counter and steading herself.

Katia's nose scrunched up as she caught a wiff of something foul, turning in time to see the other waitress, Desirée she believed, call over to her, narrowing her eyes slightly at the woman's words, sucking in a breath to keep herself calm again.

The sound of the bell ringing caught her attention however, snapping her dark eyes towards the door, raising a brow as her co-worker greeted the woman, cheering up significantly. Sisters. Adala.

She turned her attention from the sisters and headed to clear up the towel that Desirée had tossed to the side, cleaning it quickly before spelling away the rest of the mess. Katia turned to give the other woman a look, glancing between her and her sister. "Perhaps you should keep better track of your wand," she said, despite her remark being late. "And take some time to calm down. I'd hate to think of you upsetting our wonderful costumers," Katia added lowly, voice laced with sarcasm.

"Perhaps you should keep a better hold of your tongue," snapped Des, glaring at the woman in front of her. "Then I wouldn't get so angry." She paused a second, frowning at the woman, before she had to laugh a little. Why the hell was she so worked up? It made no sense.

She looked back at her sister and sighed heavily. "Basically, this old fart showed up, puked and scarpered. I had to clean it up. And it's disgusting." She wrinkled her nose, then widened her eyes. "Oh no, what if it's in my hair?" she moaned, putting her head in her hands.

Sliding over the bar, she looked around for her wand, before finding it shoved between two bottles of premium firewhiskey. She shrugged and cast a cleaning charm on her clothes and one at her hair. It wouldn't stop her going for a long soak as soon as she returned home, however. Her hair needed rapid tending to.

She looked back up. "Adala, this is a girl I work with, Katia. Katia, this is a girl I succeeded in the womb, Adala." She sighed, leaning against the counter and examining her nails. When a woman so much as looked in her direction, she hissed.

Adala rolled her eyes at her sister, when it downed on the younger girl that some of the puke may have gotten into her hair. "Merlin forbid that anything ever touches your hair unless someone has a shampoo bottle in their back pocket ready for you to use." she frowned, but then chuckled silently.

The brunette then looked up and down the other woman that Desirée had introduced as Katia. "Pleasure to meet you," she said shortly, before turning her attention back to her sister. "You're seriously working here, Des?" she smiled slightly. "You should've joined me at Durmstrang." Adala nodded her head, fiddling with the zipper on her purse.

Adala's eyes then found Katia again. "If my sister is taking break, do me a favor and get me something to drink, fire whiskey will do." she finally managed to tear the zipper open and pulled up her wallet. It was maybe more normal for costumers to find a table to sit at, at place like this but Adala liked to catch up with her sister (and stand out from a crowd.)

Katia frowned back at her co-worker, not really seeing how she was to blame when the woman was angry before they began to talk, and Katia didn't even say the first word, but was stopped from voicing this when Desirée laughed slightly. She wasn't sure if she wanted to drop it or be more annoyed. "Yes, because you were in such a good mood before you started a conversation with me," she said dryly, returning to the bar, her face clearly saying that she wasn't happy, but she wasn't going to start a fight about it. It would be unproductive if she had to watch her back for her co-worker.

The dark haired girl watched the sisters interact as she continued to work behind the bar, finding them much more interesting than the other patrons in The Black Swan. She'd been watching them come in and out and treat her like she was lower than them all day. Katia couldn't help but find it slightly amusing that the younger sister was so concerned with her hair.

Katia resisted the urge to bristle and glare at Adala as the girl ordered a fire whiskey, smiling slightly and nodding instead, pouring the drink and reminding herself of where she was. She had more important things to do than protect her pride. There was a reason she was here and she needed to remember that.

She passed the drink along the counter, repeating the amount that it cost, waiting patiently for Adala to give her the change, not looking forward to continuing the work on her own while the other woman was on break. A workmate who was happy and doing their job properly would make her job easier however.

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Desirée said with a small laugh. She turned to Katia and smiled. "I'm sorry I flew off the handle at you. I didn't enjoy having old man reflux in my hair." She wrinkled her nose, before turning to her sister. "Don't boss her about, I don't have a break at the moment and she'd be entitled to dob me in." She glanced up at Katia, thinking.

"Pour you and me a drink too, on my sister. Come join us." She smiled as warmly as she could. "The place'll survive and God knows we need a rest. What do they think we are? Animals? Mudbloods?" She thought for a second. What if Katia was a mudblood? That wouldn't go down well. "That was a terrible thing to say." True though.

Adala couldn't stop from smirking a little when the woman handed her her drink, she pulled the money from her wallet and laid it on the counter instead of handing it to her, turning back to her sister again, she cocked her eyebrow before taking a sip. "I don't boss people around," she replied, resisting the urge to pout by taking another sip from the drink.

Adala then scowled slightly, as her sister spoke again, wondering if she could just say right out 'No' and refuse to pay for the drinks, but meeting her sister's eye, the older brunette sighed and lowered her glass. "You're most surely not an animal sister dear," Adala rolled her eyes. "Animals could handle getting a little messy and dirty." she gave her sister a look and a hollow laughter, but then let her eyes wander back to Katia.

Sighing for the second time, Adala pulled up more money and let it drop on the counter, like she had done earlier. "This should cover whatever you guys will be drinking."

Katia couldn't help but smirk slightly at Desirée's apology, ignoring the small voice still telling her to lash out slightly. "No, I can't imagine that's very pleasant," Katia agreed, chuckling as Desirée told her sister to stop bossing her about.

She hesitated slightly at the invitation to join them. At the mention of mudbloods in that sentence with that tone, she knew she couldn't say no. Katia let amusement shine in her eyes, pouring another two drinks and taking the money that Adala gave her, wondering if she should've declined the offer for the womn to pay for her drink. "Sometimes the truth is a terrible thing," she replied half-heartedly, noting that the sudden change in attitude was odd. They must've been close. "And you have a point. We're not slaves. And today's been such a miserable day."

"You mentioned you worked at Durmstrang, Adala," Katia said, turning her curious gaze towards the woman. "Are you a Professor, then?"

Desirée beamed at her sister as she gave them the money to buy drinks. "Thanks, darling!" she said cheerfully. "Don't be sad. I'll buy you a drink some other time. We should go out." She winked. It would be good to have a night out with Adala some time.

Desirée smiled at Katia slightly as she agreed with her statement. She leant back in her seat, sipping delicately at her drink as she waited for Adala to answer the other woman, musing over what had just happened.

Adala frowned at her sister, but cheered up a little at the mention of going out. "I'm okay with that." she said, grinning. "When I have time to get away from the little bastards at school." she pushed some hair out of her face, before turning to Katia to answer her question.

"Yes, I'm a teacher at Durmstrang." She responded, in a little snappier voice than she had intended. Sighing to herself she made a mental note to at least try to be nicer. "I'm the flying Professor," she started again, this time slowly and her voice softer. "It's amazing how the children there can be a pain in my ass." she shook her head at the memories, before downing the rest of her drink.

Adala couldn't help but laughing slightly as she thought about some of her crazy lessons. "Durmstrang is known for their crazy students, and kids that never shut up and their main goal in life seems to be to cause chaos." a small grin spread over her face and her tongue trailed over the tip of the glass, licking the small drops of fire whiskey that had she had left behind. "Not that I don't enjoy that sometimes."

Katia merely smiled as the woman replied with a slightly snappy voice, having calmed down from earlier now that she wasn't working as hard. The two sisters seem to vary from warm to snappy very easily, whether it was because they weren't used to being warm to others or because they were quite sensitive she didn't know.

"Flying, that sounds like it might be fun," Katia said lightly with a hint of amusment. "At least children could keep you on your toes. I've never been a massive fan of small kids," she scrunched her nose up slightly, playing up the feelings she would show on her face. "They can be hard to control, and confusing. At least they keep you on your toes," she joked. "What made you want to become a Professor?"

She needed a Professor. It was one of the first things she had listed. Though she was unsure how many students a flying instructor would have, she had heard it was only a few. Katia had never had a flying instructor, so she wouldn't know how well one would get on with her students.

"And you, Desirée, have you worked here for long?" Katia asked her co-worker, hoping that her questions were simple enough to appear like simple friendly questions, keeping her tone light and her face friendly enough.

"This used to be our mother's favourite restaurant," Des told Katia with a smile. "When she died we started eating here on her birthday each year." She gestured to her sister to explain who "we" were. "But then economic times came round and I had to work here, which is kind of ironic considering." She smiled.

"What about you?" Des frowned. "I'm sorry, that sounds like I pay no attention to anyone but myself. That's partially true." She sipped at her drink again, before turning to grin at her sister. "Little bastards?" she said with a giggle. "If the highmaster could hear you, he'd have you sacked. Honestly, Dala."

Adala couldn't decide if she liked or didn't like this woman, so she watched her; her eyes trailing up and down Katia as she talked, trying to decide what she thought about her.

She cringed slightly when Katia said she had never been a fan of 'small babies'.
Adala wasn't really happy with her students at times, but she loved kids - which was very weird for someone like her, but she had always wanted to have a daughter or a son and she had been planning to have children with Sasha, but that wasn't really possible anymore, so that was just another shattered dream.

Adala's fingers clenched around the empty glass at the thought of her dead husband and her other hand went like out of impulse up to her neck to touch the chain around her neck. Her fingers tightened even more when the subject changed to her mother.

Sighing in relief, Adala was most happy when her sister changed the subject again and she gave away a slightly strained laughter as she tried to shake the earlier feeling off and pull her hand from her neck and used it to push the empty glass towards Desirée instead. "I'm sure Sacha wont ever fire me." Adala grinned. "I'm probably the best professor he has ever had!" she smiled somewhat cockily. "Pour me another glass, sister dear?"

Katia nodded as she listened to Desirée explain their history with the restaurant, smiling sympathetically at the mention of their mother's death. She understood how much one could care for a mother, even if she never quite had the same connection. "I imagine it helps if you care about the place you work," she said, hoping that it was fondness she had caught in the woman's voice.

She noticed Adala's discomfort out the corner of her eye, the woman gripping a chain round her neck, eyes flickering to it curiously. Katia assumed it was some kind of defence mechanism, that the chain was supposed to be significant somehow. She made a note about what had seemed to make the woman turn unusually quiet and sombre, about her mother, and about children? Or why she decided to work at Durmstrang, perhaps?

Not dwelling on it too long she turned her attention back to the younger of the sisters, smile widening as she was asked a question. "Oh, just happened upon the job, you know? It seemed like an interesting place to work. I like simple things," she said, hoping she wasn't being too vague. It was true, she did find it an interesting place to work, and the simplicity allowed her mind to focus on more important things.

Katia chuckled as the sisters talked, finding them more amusing than she thought she would. "I'll pour the drink for you, if you'd like? Give you both some time to talk while I go make sure nothing's falling apart in our absence," she said, taking the glass from Adala and finishing her own in one large gulp. "Would you like a top up, Desirée?" she offered as politely as she could.

Des smiled. "That's very kind of you. Thank you." She passed her glass to Katia and turned back to her sister.

Leaning forwards, she whispered in her sister's ear, "What do you think? Is she worth making friends with?" She couldn't quite grasp whether her sister approved of Katia or not, and although Des thought she seemed okay, she was curious to know her sister's opinion, more for conversation than for anything else. She gave her sister's hand a quick squeeze, just to try and be of some comfort to her.

Adala was rather surprised when Katia offered to get her another drink, her eyebrows rose slightly but she just nodded her head and then turned back to her sister, frowning.
"Meh." she replied to Desirée's question. "I can't really figure her out..." she pouted slightly.

Adala was rather used to being able to read people, and it bothered her very much when she came across people she couldn't read. "We don't really know her." she said, licking the inside of her teeth as she wondered. "What do you think?" she raised her eyebrows at her sister - Desirée seemed rather intrested in Katia, but Adala always had doubts. Always.

Katia took the drinks and headed towards the bar, noting that the sisters were now speaking too quietly for her to hear. She turned to fill the drinks, face away from the woman and allowing her friendly mask to drop, returning to its usual passive expression, looking like a mixture of boredem and coldness. This friendly attitude was going to be the death of her, it felt so foriegn. But disgusing probing questions as friendly small-talk was much easier than forcing people to talk with her. She needed people who would be obedient and work with her, not people who would fear her and revolt.

She glanced around the restaurant, seeing no one look like they needed more food or top ups on drinks or anything, turning back to the glasses and filling them with firewhiskey, taking a moment to compose herself. This job was beginning to tire her, and Katia knew there was limited time before she had to start doing things outside of sociable places.

Putting the small smile back on her face she turned to head back to the girls, taking the fact that they were stood so close as a sign they were discussing something private. Perhaps her. "Here you are," Katia said as she handed the drinks back, giving Adala an amused smirk. "This one's on me this time. For you both."

Des shrugged and smiled at her sister. "She's okay." She nudged her sister. "Of course we don't know her yet. That's why we're meeting her." She beamed as if that obviously made perfect sense.

Turning back to look at Katia, who returned, she raised her eyebrows a little as she offered to pay for the drinks. "Why, thank you, Katia," she said, throwing a pointed look at her sister, smile on her face. "You two make me look awful. The next round is mine."

She leant her chin on her hand and pouted. "I do wish the day wouldn't go so slow."

Adala frowned once again, her finger trailing patterns on the counter absent minded. "I don't know." she groaned, pouting a little at the end. "I dont know if I have a good or a bad feeling about her yet." her pout grow larger, but she was forced to turn it into some-what a smile when Katia arrived again.

"Thanks." Adala forced out, her voice a little low as she received her drink and took a large gulp from it. Adala turned to her sister, grinning a bit again. "Can we order something uber expensive next round then?" she grinned, playfully jabbing her sister in the side with her elbow.

After a minute of silence Adala coughed, eyeing Katia again she decided to suck it up and try talking to the woman. "So... Katia," she started, taking another sip so she could think of what to ask for a longer time "Have you been here in Russia all your life? Or well, for a long period?" her mind frowned at her, but she really didn't know what else to say, so she shrugged it off and waited for an answer.

(OOC: Uno dos tres cuatro cinco sies siete ocho nueve diez)

Katia chuckled at Desirée's response, pleased to see that the woman seemed to be in a much better mood than before. She couldn't help but agree with the idea of the day going slowly however.

She noted that Adala was less cheerful while thanking her, though when the woman talked to her sister she was much more playful. Katia's lips tugged upwards slightly, though she didn't comment on it, just watching the sisters talk, amused at their interaction.

Her mind was distracted as a couple's discussion began to heat up slightly, her ears prickling as she strained to pay more attention. Judging by the expressions on their faces, they were probably having an argument about something. While the dark haired woman didn't think it was important in the grand scheme of things, she made a note of it in the back of her mind, though she doubted she'd see the couple ever again. But it was important to train one's observational skills and memory.

Adala's question snapped her back to reality, turning her attention from the couple, surprised at the question. Katia allowed a small, polite smile to grace her features. "Yes, I grew up here. I travelled about a lot in my late teens however, I imagine I crossed a border at some point," she explained. "What about yourselves? Have you lived here for a long time?" she would assume so, if this was a restaurant they regularly visited. They'd described it like it had been in their life a long while.

Des stuck her tongue out at her sister. "Listen, I'm a poor, nineteen year old waitress, up to my neck in debt, struggling to look after dear old daddy on my own. I can't afford anything more than a glass of tapwater." She winked at both of them, putting her hands onto the table in front of them and spreading her fingers wide and admiring her nails as Katia and Dala spoke.

She looked up at Katia's question and nodded. "All our lives. I've never stepped out of it. I wish I could though, it's so... drab. The opportunity to travel would be accepted very quickly." She thought of places she'd read about; China, Norway, France, and that mystical land that she assumed was made of ice, else what would it's namesake be that for? "Adala might have been outside though." She dug an elbow in her sister's ribs and smiled.

Adala frowned once again, making a mental note to stop doing that she nodded, still a little strained before answering. "I lived in Slovakia for three months over the summer with my-" she struggled a bit "-husband, during the summer few years ago. Other then that I havent travelled much, just around the country." she shrugged.

Adla stared at her glass before she took another large gulp. "I think we might need that second round soon-ish." she said, smiling a bit at her sister and even throwing Katia a small smile "Even though you are a poor nineteen year old wittle waitress, I'm just a professor that spends all her money on a new broom each year." she grinned a little, taking another sip. "I own like 11 brooms now."

Adala really loved broomsticks and she collected them, she had both old and new brooms that she kept either in her house or in her office at Durmstrang. But the brunette loved her broomstick number three the most and always used that one when she was teaching and had to do some flying herself, even though she had much newer models to use, she liked the old ones better.

Katia glanced from one sister to the other as she listened to their answers, brow twitching curiously as Adala struggled over her words, specifically at the mention of her husand. She shot a cautious look at Desirée before speaking again, senarios of why the woman would be so reluctant to mention her husband running through her mind in seconds before she spoke again. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of visiting Slovakia, is it nice?" Katia asked, before moving quickly on to her next question.

As much as she wanted to know, she imagined there was a better time and place to learn why there was that hesitation. "And at nineteen you have plenty of time to raise the funds to travel the world, Desirée," she said. "Do you know where you'd start?"

She wasn't surprised when she saw Adala had almost finished her drink, chuckling at the teasing tone she spoke to her sister with. Katia certainly was impressed with the amount of brooms the woman owned. "Do you use all of your brooms?" she asked curiously, for once not really thinking as she spoke. "I've never ridden a broom before," Katia admitted absentmindedly. "I imagine it must be interesting."

"I have a lot of the world to see, yes," Des said with a smile, "but I'm pretty sure I know where to start. I start in Lithuania, because it's close by. Work my way around Europe. Move back across to Asia and then onto Oceania. I have it all planned and I don't even have to get my nails dirty." She grinned smugly at them both and leaned back.