to stay among eagles

Cassidy Turner & Faith Richards Ravenclaw Alumni --- Researcher at the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau & Marketing Assistant at QUABBLE

[thebluebirdhouse]

What’s your most embarrassing late night purchase?

"I brought a first edition copy of Alice in Wonderland and I've not touched it since I got it because I'm too afraid I'll damage it. It was £200 and it's still in its box."

"I once brought a whole crate's worth of Slinky toys—"

"—in my defence, there is a really good reason as to why I bought them, but it does involve me creating issues on the escalators on the Underground..."

[katiethxrne]

⏰ 16

Katie does a Flirt

or

She’s 16, she’s gay, she has no idea how to function. Send help.

Summer was dying, it was a slow death this year, each day just incrementally colder than the last until Katie was forced to put on a jacket during her days in the courtyard. Her runs by the Black Lake forced her into leggings and waking up was a study in warming charms on her blankets.

How she loathed when the heat of summer ended, it was bittersweet in its own way. To come to Hogwarts during her least favorite seasons and still be happy about it. 

But Katie couldn’t stop the seasons from changing and she wouldn’t want to either. Because it meant sneaking hot chocolate from the kitchens and trips to Hogsmeade Village on weekends.

Which was exactly where she was now, Eva had ditched her for the clothing shoppe, no amount of wrangling could get Katie to step foot in there since Eva spent nearly 150 galleons on a pair of spelled combat boots. Though the Gryffindor had to admit that being able to Spiderman up walls was great even if they got confiscated before the day was out. Her friends were split off for dates, and others staying up at the Castle to study. Probably what she ought to be doing since she hadn’t so much as cracked a book for her Transfiguration course and it was nearing the end of September now. 

So Katie hoofed it alone down to the Three Broomsticks, shoving past a few third years lined up at the door, no doubt trying to think of ways to wheedle someone to buy them Firewhiskey. 

Then she stumbled right into someone in a strong attempt to avoid being mowed by the Hufflepuff Quidditch team’s second string, loud and boisterous as ever. She didn’t need to get her feet lifted as if she was in the put for a Butterbeer. 

“Shit I’m sorry--” Katie reached a hand out to steady the figure, but then snatched it away as if it burned, and her cheeks flashed red. “I-- ahh didn’t look where I was going.”

Cassidy was shaking her head, red curls falling around her cheeks. Her lips were parting to say something but Katie was busy trying to remind herself how to breath.

“--llo? Katie?”

“Oh yeah, Hi. Sorry, I’m spacing today spent too much time doing Potions again, I’m just gonna--” she pointed her fingers towards the bar, where already the third years had jostled between the Hawkins kids. 

“Oh ok--” just corner of her mouth lifted and it made Katie want to press her up against the wall and see how it felt against her own lips. To run her fingers through her hair, feel how the curls twirled under her fingers. 

“Y-yea...” Katie turned, shoulders bunched with anticipation, and watched as Cassidy went off to join some of the other Ravenclaws. Olivia was giving her an unimpressed look, but the Gryffindor didn’t have the heart to correct her from across the room with a rude gesture. Katie shoved two of the weepy 3rd years from a chair and smooshed herself right between Helle and Glaucus, the werewolves playing some game with spelled marbles and had rigged up some plates as ramps. 

“Moonin’ again are ya Thorne,” Glaucus flicked the gold marble, “look at you, fuckin’ pathetic acting this way over a girl. Just talk to her like fuckin’ normal Moon knows you can talk the ear off anything and you’ve even charmed the damn poltergeist.” Helle growled when the marble hit her nose and threw it back at him.

“Glock is right, you’re a dumbass for that one Thorne, she wants you to talk to her.”

“Fuck off can’t I drink it peace.”

“You’re the one that dropped your skinny ass on the stool, shoulda known better than to come for us for anything but bulling. Or should we go grab Whitting to knock some sense into your airless head.” Helle wrinkled her nose, she loathed her roommate, to be expected from someone who refused to look past all of Whitting’s barbs. 

“I don’t need her to bully me either,” cause Eva was always yelling at her to get her shit together, or at the very least find ‘Someone truly more presentable and possibly worthly of your status, as low as you are’ which really was the highest of compliments one could probably get from her. 

“So what are you gonna do, give yourself a sugar rush from the Butterbeers and terrorize Flitwick again?”

It didn’t sound like a bad idea, but as Katie turned her head to spare a glance at Cassidy their eyes met, both widening comically and the teenager turned so fast that she knocked a plate to the ground.

Madame Rosemerta never needed an excuse to throw Katie out, and so Katie was already jumping off the stool when the women turned her gaze. She didn’t run but damn if she didn’t speedwalk with the howls of various classmates around her. It was theorized that only Madame Rosemerta could make Katie cow, in truth she was terrified of that woman’s wooden spoon and the power it wielded. Surely it had to be a wand, there was no reason it should move so fast to smack teenagers wandering fingers. 

Pushing past Cassidy’s table she stopped, even as the Bar Owner was already calling her back to pay for damages.

Olivia raised a brow, Rei was already snorting, Faith looked mildly interested but her entire focus was on Cassidy and Katie gulped, hoping it wasn’t audible.

“I-- uh...”

“Spit it out there Thorne,” Rei drawled, “before Madame comes and nabs your ass.”

“YoulookreallyprettytodayCassidyhaveaniceday.” came out in a sort of jarbled mess, her heart thumping against her thin chest, redness reaching up to her ears and expanding across the bridge of her nose, summer freckles already fading. But before Cassidy could answer or even have a second to formulate a reply, Katie was running from the pub and didn’t dare slow down until she reached the path.

So much for Gryffindor's courage. Jesus fuck.

Evangeline was already there, looking more than unimpressed and laden with bags, fancy french labels in gold embossed. 

“So, did you talk to her?”

“Hey, you know how you threaten to kill me sometimes?”

“Of course--”

“Could you, like right now?”

Eva’s pitying smile only served the purpose for Katie to groan and shuffled up the path, mocking barbs thrown at her back.

There was always next time, and this time she was going to ask Cassidy out right, and maybe not trip over her feet or forget to talk when their eyes met.

[thebluebirdhouse]

What’s the strangest thing someone would find in your web search history?

“Well, Cass told me it was counter-intuitive to search ‘How to use the internet’...”

“Which is why I’m teaching you how to use it. Mine would probably be... how to make a meal with spare ingredients? Nothing exciting, honestly.”

[thebluebirdhouse]

If you found out your ex was sleeping with the enemy, what would you think?

That would be entirely Katie’s prerogative and she’s entitled to be with whoever - or sleep with whoever - she likes. I mean, I would hope I knew her well enough to know she’d never do anything like that but, again... it’s her choice. We’re not together and haven’t been for a while. And I suppose people can change.

[thebluebirdhouse]

the-hobgoblins​:

If Maeko was disappointed by this answer, she didn’t show it, instead keeping her features cool and impassive as always. She gave one nod, one corner of her lips quirked up. “Thank you. That’d be great.” She handed the former Ravenclaw a quill and waited until she’d signed the petition, then took it back, tossing it back into place on the merch table. There was a moment of rather awkward silence that arose, and Maeko’s jaw clenched; Merlin, she hated smalltalk. But this was a former classmate—one who had actually, always been quite kind to her—and Maeko did feel vaguely like she should attempt not to be rude. 

She took a breath, and opened her mouth to say something more, but at that moment Oz and Faith spun back into their space, flushed and breathless and with big, matching smiles. Maeko gave them her own, smaller smile, too, relieved for the social buffer her sibling provided. “Make a new friend, then?” she teased Oz lightly as he gave the back of Faith’s hand a wet kiss.

“Mhm, an’ a marvelous dancer she is, to boot…” he replied as he moved behind Maeko and wrapped his long limbs around her like an octopus who’d been soaked in whiskey. 

Maeko rolled her eyes affectionately. “Well, why don’t you ask Barnabas the Barmy over there if she’ll sign the petition?” And while Oz was doing that, Maeko turned back to Cassidy and said, with the slightest air of uncharacteristic sincerity, “It was nice to see you, Cassidy—really. I’m glad you’re doing well. Give my regards to Grace and the others, will you?”

Taking the quill from Maeko, Cassidy hesitated. If this did get back to the Ministry, somehow, then would her job be in jeopardy? Would they see her name on the paper and take note? Sympathiser, they might call her, and monitor her henceforth? No, Cassidy thought, I need to stay under the radar. So she signed the petition, the half-familiar name of Anne Acker taking residence across one of the dotted lines, and handed it back to Maeko, quiet relief flooding her as she watched the woman toss it back to the table without so much as a glance. She offered a quiet smile in their shared silence, watching as Mae went to do something when Oz and Faith returned.

“Kind words from such a gentleman,” Faith said, giving Oz a small and playful curtsey and watched as he left. The sincerity from Maeko took her by surprise, but Cassidy softened and nodded gently, “And you, Maeko. I hope everything with the band goes well - no doubt Faith will be persuading me to go to another gig soon.”

“I certainly will,” Faith said with a firm nod. “Thank you both for entertaining us. I think the band are on soon and I want to get a good spot, so we’ll see you later?” she asked, a little rhetorically, before Faith tugged at Cassidy’s hand, dragging her away with a gentle wave to Mae.

[thebluebirdhouse]

What is your opinion on um, law enforcement?

“I mean... great if implemented fairly and correctly but terrible if used to further someone else’s agenda... This somehow feels like a trick question?”

[thebluebirdhouse]

Attention bluebirds!! What is the hardest you’ve ever partied in your life?

“Okay, great question! It was last year when us and the girls went to this incredible underground gig for The Bent-Winged Snitches in Horizont Alley -- I managed to get us tickets through work, since they played at the Quidditch final a few years ago. Anyway, the music was amazing, they had these dancing broomsticks and lit-up snitches flying about the place during the whole thing, and I think I nearly passed out by the end of it. The next hardest with the Cthulhu gig, but that was all thanks to Oz.”

“I think you and I remember that performance very differently, Faith... the hardiest I ever partied was... the end of year bonfire in Seventh Year?”

[thebluebirdhouse]

The Restrainers of the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau, housed in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic, London.

[L-R; Oren McArty - Head Restrainer (42), Jillian Richards - Deputy Head Restrainer (52), Clio Keylock-Turner - Restrainer and Romanian Dragon Sanctuary Liaison (45), Xiong Bao - Restrainer and Chinese Dragon Sanctuary Liaison & Representative (35), Ingrid Lindström - Restrainer and Swedish Dragon Sanctuary Liaison & Representative (37), Damon Hawkins - Dragon Keeper (21), Ruben Dowson - Junior Restrainer (26), Estelle "Estie" Gray - Junior Restrainer (21)].

The Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau consists most basically of two departments; the Researchers and the Restrainers. Running the Restraint department is Oren McArty, alongside long-term colleague Jillian Richards. The team in the Bureau are among the best in the magical world, with representatives from each key Dragon Sanctuary showcasing their skills. The crew aren’t without their rivalries, but all of them are friendly in an effort to keep them on their toes and maintain a strive for improvement. Restraining can be a dangerous job, but when the team get sent on assignments, they know the best of the best has their back.

[thebluebirdhouse]

How's your love life?

If you’re asking how my current “relationship” is going, then it’s fine. Ruben and I are getting along very well; we’re nothing serious and we’re both very happy with that.

[thebluebirdhouse]

The Researchers of the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau, housed in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic, London.

[L-R; Maria Goldfinch (47), Romi Morrison (29), Cassidy Turner (25), Field Otterel (22)].

The Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau consists most basically of two departments; the Researchers and the Restrainers. Running the Research department is Maria Goldfinch, a Horned Serpent alumni from Ilvermorny and a staunch manager of her three colleagues. The researchers she employs all range in age, but share the same enthusiasm and skill when it comes to their interest in dragons. Work at the Research and Restraint Bureau isn’t always an in-house job, with the four Researchers often being sent to investigations on-location across the globe, so to say they’re not a tight-knit bunch would be misleading.

[thebluebirdhouse]

the-hobgoblins​:

As if on cue, the opening riff of “Werewolves of London” thrummed through the pub, and Faith and Oz both squealed, genuinely, in enthusiastic unison. Oz gave the woman a deep bow and then grabbed her hand and spun her into a lively dance that was—by no means—proper.

Maeko rolled her eyes at his antics, and then moved her intense blue gaze back to Cassidy. She thought maybe it should have brought her some form of pleasure to see Cassidy nervous and sputtering at her presence—some retribution for Katie, perhaps—but it didn’t, really. Seeing Cassidy, hearing about all the former Ravenclaws in attendance at the gig, just made Maeko feel suddenly very nostalgic. She missed this, seeing people from Hogwarts; being away from Knockturn Alley, which so often felt like a prison of Maeko’s own design—worse than Azkaban because she could leave, if she wanted to. She just chose not to.

Her expression softened, a half-smile creeping up her face. “Yeah, sorta…my flatmate, Piper, she’s their manager. So we thought we’d help out…” Impulsively, Maeko grabbed the petition full of signatures from the merch table, and held it out toward Cassidy. Despite all that had happened between the woman and Katie, Maeko was certain Cassidy was still the same Ravenclaw with integrity that she’d always been in school. “…listen, Cass—you work for the Ministry, yeah? Any chance you could get this in front of someone there, who matters?”

Cassidy watched the lanky gentleman whisk Faith away with an eagerness of energy that she knew only Faith - and maybe Grace - was able to keep up with. She couldn’t help the small smile crease the corner of her mouth as she watched, but lost it as soon as she realised she and Maeko were now totally by themselves. The soft smile from the woman opposite eased her nervousness slightly, but it still tingled in the pit of her stomach.

“Oh, really? That’s actually... really cool,” she said with quiet surprise in her brows before taking a small sip of her drink. The paper thrust in her direction forced Cassidy to swallow quickly, and took it from Maeko’s grasp out purely out of reflex. Listening to her request as she assessed the sheet in her hand, Cassidy looked between Maeko and the petition with speed. “I-I just work as a researcher, I don’t have any connections or anything... the most I could do would be to hand it to the Being Division at the DRCMC, but that... could do more harm than good if it got onto the wrong desk...” she started, staring at the list of names and the quiet side of her brain ticking over in thought, trying to retain the information and work on a solution at the same time, before looking up, “I can sign it for you, though? I’m sure Faith will, and I could probably get Olivia and the others, so that’s maybe five extra already...”

[thebluebirdhouse]

xiomarawinters​:

Xiomara paused, raising a brow. She turned on her heel. “Listen here, tampon head. I couldn’t give a pixie fuck if you’re a Ministry employee- but what is interesting, is that was a potential direct threat from the ministry to the media. Now I may just be a freelancer, but I’m willing to bet the Prophet would pay big money to hear about how some poorly-dressed, rosy-cheeked administrative assistant decided to spend her spare time making politically-charged statements and then threatening a lowly, underpaid freelancer for disagreeing with her political opinions.” She flicked a dismissive gaze over the witch. “I have an appointment to keep. But by all means, continue. I’m sure it’ll make a thrilling story.”

And with that, Cassidy clamped her mouth shut and stared at the floor in front of her. Flashes of school was dredged from her memory, the faintest remnants of a cold sweat rushing across her back. She didn’t even have the gall to correct Xiomara -- she was a researcher, not an administrative assistant. She corrected her posture, pressing her lips together and gave a curt nod. “Good luck with your appointment,” she said weakly with a glance to the woman next to her. Cassidy really wasn’t cut out for boldness; that was always Katie’s department.

[connerys]

thrones cast appreciation: day 10 → favorite cast project outside of Game of Thrones → Lena Headey in Imagine Me & You (2005)

[thebluebirdhouse]

mele-kapule​:

“Oh I’ve heard of that! I’ve heard it’s awful I don’t want that.” Mele was pouting at the thought of having to go through a hangover when it was always said that it was awful. “Well if I’m gonna get a hangover anyways I might as well get another! Bartender please give me another of those delicious fruity drink things. Do you want something?”

“I’ll have the same, please. But only if you let me owe you a drink,” Cassidy said with a smile as she waggled a playful finger in Mele’s direction. She watched as the bartender went to work and considered quietly, asking, “So how come you’re out tonight? I don’t think I’ve run into you here before, let alone after having a couple of drinks.”

[thebluebirdhouse]

 katiethxrne​:

Katie spent her entire life under the thumb of love, it twisted into her wounds, rubbing salt in further and sometimes opening new ones. Cassidy was among the first to try and suture it up, to help pull her from beneath it to stand on her two feet, wounded by still able. It probably stood to reason that Cassidy would be the open to rip those careful sutures back open, each word like another snapped thread that kept Katie so carefully together, because Katie had always clung to that which kept her whole despite the fact she’d been fractured far before she ever stepped foot in Hogwarts. So Katie held her head up, jaw jutting out in a way that often go her knocked flat onto her face, her shit entirely rocked by whatever life decided to throw at her, figuratively and physically. 

“Don’t tell me what to wait around for,” Katie finally growled out, her teeth grinding as her own hands flexed on the thighs of her jeans. She would need to go to the dueling halls after this, to bleed off the poison she long thought she’d finally gotten the antidote to. It curled lowed in her stomach, heated and spiting fire, a sudden need to lash out. Katie would never dare touch Cassidy, Katie was far too familiar with the touch of love raining as blows, but it didn’t mean that her tongue wasn’t a sharpened knife, it didn’t mean that Katie wasn’t a walking weapon and not just because she was a trained Auror. “Don’t you dare tell me what to make of this. I have always lived my life as I’ve seen fit, whether you want to come back or not is up to you. Whether or not I’ll want you back is up to me, I just want you to look me in the eyes when you make a decision. You can do that little thing for me, right?” Katie almost cooed the last part, trying so hard to hold back the venom that was dripping off her teeth.

“I’ll live, I’ve lived through worse than you leaving Cassidy. I’ll live through worse after you go.” Katie might have been getting her shit rocked since before she could remember, but she always stood right back up again, rubbed her jaw and challenged them again. It was the only way she knew how to live, head down and moving forward and swinging at anything that swung on her. She watched as Cassidy retreated, pausing at the doorframe. 

“Go home, call me when you get there safe. I do want you safe, and happy, even if it’s far away from me.” 

It was the sudden intensity of it that shocked her. The ferocity sending shivers down her back that made her shoulders flinch and her heart pound against her chest. Cassidy clenched her teeth in preparation of the dark energy that flung its way towards her. 

And during the tirade of it all, each determined word from Katie’s mouth, Cassidy quietly supposed that this was one of the better outcomes. Ideal? No. But better. Better than Katie begged for her to stay and Cassidy having to refuse, better than Katie shutting down completely and not saying a single word. At least she knew how she felt, she supposed. And the Auror was right. She was strong and she would be okay, despite it all. She always was. Katie would do well in her job, Cassidy knew she would. She had every confidence in her and she knew she would have got in the way of what she really wanted to do.

Katie was good at doing something with her rage, so maybe it was better that Katie hated her.

So Cassidy placed her key to the apartment onto the counter beside the door, pressing it there firmly and letting the presence of it leave her entirely. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to call you; I’ll be fine,” she said with a quiet nod and a weak half smile, “See you, Katie.”

And with that, she stepped passed the threshold and into the corridor of the apartment building, shutting the door behind her. The sudden wave of fear and sadness that hit her as she left made her eyes well even more, and tears began to fall without a sign of stopping.

[mele-kapule]

“So I may have gotten a little drunk, but here’s the secret: I’ve never been drunk before!” Mele had gone out with some of the people from the show but now she was drunk and didn’t know what to do with herself.

[thebluebirdhouse]

“Okay, well... I have been, so I feel like you need to know you might have a bit of a hangover on its way in the morning,” Cassidy said with a smile and a laugh. The Leaky Cauldron was busy and the atmosphere was good. She’d been out with some friends from work and they’d ended up tucked away in their familiar corner. “Do you think you could manage another drink or were you looking to head home? I find a nice trip on the undergound is enough to help sober me up, and I know we live kind of close, so...”

[thebluebirdhouse]

xiomarawinters​:

“Please tell me that I don’t need to explain to a Ministry employee, why Being legislation, and lack of it, affects literally all of us?” She raised her brows, rather delighted to have ruffled the witch’s feathers so much. She looked down at her watch and then gave a heavy sigh. “As thrilling as this conversation is, I have an appointment to get to.” She took the parchment out of her pocket, unfolding it as she strolled past the redhead, going back into the building.

Cassidy couldn’t help but scowl involuntarily at Xi as she made to leave, a bubble of sudden rage rising in her stomach and her mouth reeling off before she could stop it. It wasn’t threatening in the slightest, but a quick burn of rage that she had failed to suppress. “You know you shouldn’t be so rude to Ministry employees. You don’t want to be losing potential sources and contacts,” she said suddenly, righting her posture before adding a side comment, “especially if you want to continue writing articles of the Prophet.”