September 21st, 1894 - Lepidopterarium Opening, Podmore Zoo

This wasn't something Ang would typically would attend, but she felt the urge to get out of London and at least the inside of a lepidopterarium provided her with the humidity she loved about South America. Plus butterflies were innocuous enough. She'd dealt with far too many annoying insects in her travels (the only bad part really) to gain a distinct dislike, but this would be fine.

And it was quite glorious, in fact. She'd gotten there relatively early in the day, just before lunch and had wandered for a little while, seeing what it was the zoo had to offer on the muggle side to start, before heading into the conservatory itself. Inside was a splendid display of flora and water features, a giant tree in the middle of the center dome that went all of the way up to the glass panes at the top. She looked up, shielding her eyes from the sunlight with a fond smile. She could feel the damp and she felt, oddly enough, at home. With a long braid hanging over one shoulder and a deep blue bloomer suit on (jacket hanging over her arm in the heat), she could almost convince herself she was off in some tropical land and not stuck in Scotland.

She took her time wandering both sides of the glass structure, ambling with no rush nor plan in mind, until she thought she might like to get something to eat. As she headed toward the exit, she noticed somebody ahead of her about to do the same, but they had a rather large luna moth on their back. "Oh wait! You have a stowaway!" She announced, rushing forward so the person did not leave with the moth still attached.

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Viola didn't often come out to Irvingly--she didn't have much reason to--but one of her co-workers was apparently a budding (bugging?) enthusiast and had talked Vi into attending this opening at Podmore. Though, she had arrived some time ago and not seen hide nor hair of the woman, so she'd settled to wandering around the glass structure. She couldn't say it wasn't interesting, at least, even if it wasn't her personal cup of tea. Butterflies were surprisingly pretty, as far as insects went.

She had done a full turn around the exhibit and was heading toward the exit, thinking she might see what refreshments were on offer--and see if maybe her friend was lingering somewhere outside--when she heard someone speak behind. "Oh?" Vi turned her head to look over her shoulder. "Can you shoo it away?"

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Angie wasn't sure exactly how to shoo away a moth of that size, but she could try. It was sat there, delicately opening and closing its wings as if it was just leisurely observing the world and not attempting an escape. "I can try. Hang on." The last thing she wanted to do was damage the delicate creature and so she gently laid one hand under its feet and the other behind the long tails of its wings, hoping to coax it onto her hand.

It was a slow process, but once she had it on, she wasn't quite sure what to do with it next. The Luna moth was the size of her open hand, eclipsing her palm completely as she held it up. "There, no escaping for you today." She chuckled, holding it up for the other woman to see.

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Viola turned around when it was safe to and laughed when she saw her hitchhiker. "Well, that proves anything can be stealthy given enough motivation," she said. "Thank you for spotting that." Vi was sure it would have been awkward trying to explain what had happened if she'd made it outside and someone else noticed!

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"To be fair, it was in your blind spot." Angie didn't move too much as she held the moth aloft, getting a good look at it herself. "Its color certainly stands out." The bright green was hard to miss, if the sheer size of it wasn't noticeable. "I think I might be captive now." Angie chuckled. She was in no real rush anyway, still enjoying the heat of the lepidopterarium. Ang had arranged to stay in Britain until at least the new year and this might become her new haunt to keep the chill of the winter out of her bones. It had been a while since she'd wintered somewhere cold and she wasn't exactly looking forward it. Still there were bigger reasons for her staying home this winter and she could handle it.

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"Oh no," Viola said, laughing. "No good deed goes unpunished." It was a pretty specimen, though, she had to admit that. "At least it's not a terrible place to be trapped forever." She nodded sagely, her lips quirked up into a smile. "You'll have plenty of company."

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"I do love the warmth," Angie agreed with a smile, looking at her captor more closely. The scales on the wings were beautiful. "Reminds me of the rainforests in the southern hemisphere." Merlin she missed it, but not as much as she has missed being home and involved. This would be a nice place to visit when she needed some time somewhere warm in the dead of winter.

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"Rainforests, huh?" Viola asked curiously. "You've done a lot of traveling, then?" She must have done, of course. Vi had spent her entire life in Britain, and couldn't afford to go anywhere else. Not that she had an interest in travel, particularly, but then again, since it had never been an option, she hadn't given it much thought.

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"I'm a cursebreaker, comes with the territory." Though she wasn't sure for how much longer she could say that. It had been a good run, nearly ten years without loss of limb or life, which was more than some of her colleagues could say. Ang had her fair share of scars and had almost lost a finger that had thankfully been reattached magically, but other than that, aside from a little trauma, she had done well.

"I've spent quite a bit of time in Chile in the mountains, but also in Brazil in the rainforests." The climates, for two countries right to one another, could have wildly different climates. "I enjoy the heat of it all, but the better ruins were in the Andes." Chile was her favorite places to go of all, even if it was colder and dryer.

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Ah, that made sense. "I work at the Ministry," Viola said. "The only forests I have to contend with are the forests of paperwork that end up on my desk." Though sometimes she thought there wasn't much difference between the average ministry worker and jungle animals.

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"Oh? What department?" Angie had been investigating which departments she might be able to slide into. She was down to the Department of Mysteries, the Accidental Reversal Squad or Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Any of them would be a good use of her skills and experience. She needed something that would keep her engaged and not often stuck behind a desk for any length of time. Ang did not sit well and would go mad if she had to stay inside all of the time. Being an Unspeakable might be off the table, but the thought there was at least she would be mentally stimulated. The other two would be a good use of her problem-solving and transfiguration skills, if nothing else, and they were more hands on.

After giving the moth a moment, she attempted to get it to craw onto a nearby leaf, but to no avail.

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"Public Information," Viola answered. She smiled wryly. "Not the most glamorous department, but at least we're always busy." That was probably both a good thing and a bad thing, considering, At the very least, Vi wasn't bothered by a lack of glamor in her work.

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It took a lot of restraint not to sigh. Nothing against the public information department obviously, it was important, but not something Ang was remotely interested in. She really ought to get a move on investigating her options a little more. "Busy is good," she agreed with a smile, eyes on the moth still occupying her hand. "I was thinking about a career move to the ministry myself," she admitted, though she hadn't the foggiest idea why. "Still working on which department to go for." She added with a shrug. Giving up cursebreaking wasn't her first choice, but Angie needed to be home more permanently. She had people to take care of here and they were more important. She'd had her adventures and now she was going to take on the responsibilities she'd let slide for too long. "Hoping I can find something where my skills will be useful." There had to be something that would work.

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Viola couldn't imagine giving up an exciting job like cursebreaking for working at the Ministry, but she didn't say so. To be fair, she supposed some departments were more exciting than others, depending on what you were doing. "Accidents and Catastrophes might be the closest thing," Vi offered after a moment's thought. "As far as skills overlap goes, I mean."

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"It's on my list, I assume it's busy?" The thing Angie was struggling to reconcile about this career switch was that she was not built to work at a desk all of the time. Paperwork was a necessary evil, she knew, but she would much rather be away from the office as much as possible. Her skills were so wide and varied that she didn't want to be stagnant and stall out in everything that she'd worked hard to achieve.

"I also thought about the Department of Mysteries or the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad?" She was shying away from Mysteries for the desk concerns, but she knew that would challenge her the most intellectually. Merlin this was going to be harder than she thought.

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"Can't say much about the Department of Mysteries," Vi said, because of course, who even knew what they did down there? She thought a person probably had to be more curious than most to even contemplate a job that you couldn't know anything about before you were hired. Frankly, it was too mysterious for Viola's tastes. "But if the memos I get from Accidents and Catastrophes are anything to go by, they're always pretty busy."

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