There had been a time in her life when she’d been so far from modest that it truly was nearly embarrassing to think about how she was now. She hadn’t accepted his compliment—not because she was being modest, but because she knew that it wasn’t true. He might not have been messing with her… he had seemed to mean what he had said, actually, but she just couldn’t understand that. More than likely, he was just being kind—which was nice of him, but not necessary. That, or she supposed he might have honestly thought what he said was true, and in that case she’d question either his eye sight or his judgment, or perhaps the lack of proper lighting in the pub making her look better than she normally would. It might have been hiding the obvious circles under her eyes, her obvious scars… the still healing injuries from the last full moon that weren’t at all healing properly.

Perhaps he just had a hard time seeing in this atrocious lighting… that would be better, even. He could think that she looked like a halfway normal person and not a werewolf, if she could just learn to accept a compliment and move on. Instead, she had to say something without thinking about it, which clearly made him feel the need to press the point—a conversation that she could certainly go without having. Amaris took another long swig of her drink, the burn of the firewhiskey distracting her from the compliment that she didn’t know how to respond to for even the briefest of moments. “Well, thank you.” She answered, figuring that they could move on from this unfortunate direction that their conversation had turned toward the faster that she just accepted the compliment… the frown on his face had made it clear that he hadn’t liked how little she’d believed him—and it was odd for her to get compliments that weren’t lewd and obviously with the intentions of trying to get her on her back, which she was a bit more used to in this place.

She knew that Ares wasn’t going to fire her if she stopped moving for a bit. Hell, he had gotten mad, or at least mildly annoyed, at her more than once for her tendency to not stand still for even a fraction of a second. Since there was no one else around that needed a drink, and she didn’t even know if Ares was there to begin with, she didn’t think there was too much of a problem in talking to Jaxon until someone needed something else. “Can’t leave you sitting here bored, can I?” Amaris said, her voice joking. She truly didn’t know why he would choose this bar over the other options in London… he just looked like he should be just about anywhere else, but she supposed that really wasn’t any of her business.

Amaris had just been taking a sip of her drink when he spoke again and for a moment, she tensed—the rim of the glass still to her lips as he brought up school. He might not have meant it like that… might not have meant ‘we’ in any kind of way that implied that they went to school together, and even though she tried not to think about life before everything had changed, she couldn’t deny how familiar he looked. Amaris set her drink back down and stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. “I guess it has.” That was an understatement, really—there was pretty much nothing in her life now that was anything like it had been back the, with the exception of having Eric back… and in some ways, even that was different, with how guilty she felt about him being in her shit life to begin with.

"It'd be a damn shame if ye did. I ain't no good with bein' bored. Always seem to find myself gettin' into thangs I just shouldn't when I'm bored." Jaxon said languishly. He always took his time with everything he did--talking was obviously no exception to that. He liked keeping things slowed down when he could. Liked to believe that kept life from zooming by. Made it easier to hold on to the good memories when they were extended out over more minutes.

He didn't have anywhere else to be. Finding someone to take home for the night wasn't hard--but it wasn't something he looked forward to either. Having a bed that was basically a revolving door had lost its appeal many months ago. He didn't like to be alone though--and knew he wasn't any good for anyone long term--so, it had to be that way. But he'd rather linger in a conversation that he might be able to be a little bit real in than one that wouldn't be anything more than flirting and small talk.

It seemed the woman did not take too well to his bringing up of the past. He couldn't much blame her for the reaction. Life was a hell of a lot different now that they carried the weight of the were curse on their shoulders. It was hard not to just tell her the truth. He wanted to. He wanted to so badly. To tell her she wasn't a monster...or if she was, that was so he. He just wanted to help her in some way. Jax just didn't know how. So, he was trying to offer some kind company--and he always left a hefty tip to help her out financially. Whatever he could do--he wanted to do.

He didn't really know what to say now though---now that he felt sure that Amaris did not want to reflect back on what once was. They'd had a good time more than once as he could recall--not that they'd ever actually shagged...or shite, maybe they had, but it would have been a drunken good time after some Quidditch match, if they had. He didn't have any clear memory of bedding her. There were lots of maybes from back in his Hogwarts days. The Hufflepuff had really gotten around.

"I guess that ain't no surprise... kids ain't ever got any idea what life is gonna throw at 'em. Can't ever know what's gonna happen. Just gotta keep goin'--no matter what fate throws at ye. I ain't gotta doubt in my mind that you got it in ye to keep at it." Jaxon stared at his beer while he rambled on with his makeshit pep talk. It was hard to give a girl support when he couldn't come out and say any of the things he really wanted to say.

Amaris knew that it was a bit ridiculous to be as wary about conversations as she tended to be. There had been a time in her life when she had been talkative… bordering on overly chatty, really. Hell, she was sure that there had been people back in Hogwarts that hadn’t liked her because she talked too much, but she had simply been a friendly person that had liked to get to know the people that were around her. Her life had been simple back then—Merlin, it was almost atrocious to think about how simple it had been. She’d had no problems… nothing bigger than dealing with assignments and spats with friends or arguments with professors that she didn’t like. Her family had been fine; she hadn’t been all that close to her brother, but not in any kind of dramatic way. They were just too similar to get along that well, and their conversations had normally ended up with arguments. She never could have expected that her life could have ended up like it had, even if she did have Eric back in it now.

This regular, Jaxon, he had never been anything but nice to her anytime that he’d ever come in. He was a rarity. People that came to this bar were commonly unfriendly as a general rule, and that was at best. At worst, a night could go sour by a Death Eater’s foul mood or violent streak, and she could count on one hand the number of actual nice people that she had served at the White Wyvern on one hand, and he was one of them. She knew that meant that she should be drawn to his company when he was there—it was a fair bit better to talk to him than anyone else, and it was a nice change of pace from the patrons that she usually had to deal with. And yet, the fact that he looked so familiar to her worried her more than it should. She knew that didn’t really make sense. She was registered. If she had truly gone to school with her, if she had known him from back then as she was quite certain that she had, it would be all too easy for him to find out that she was a werewolf. There was no use in her avoiding talking to him to try to stop him from coming to that conclusion, when it was one so easy to conclude. Especially since her outfit didn’t leave much to the imagination as far as her scars were concerns, and she cursed the bloody dress code again, though she was starting to learn that Ares didn’t really give a damn what she wore as long as she showed up and didn’t suck at her job… so that was something, at least.

He would either find out, or he wouldn’t. He either knew, or he didn’t know, and there was no way for her to change that and no reason for her to get too torn up about it. It didn’t matter—or, at least, it didn’t need to matter. It was just rather difficult for her to convince herself of that, no matter how much she tried. Still, she was going to try to talk to him and be a normal bloody person… he had never been anything but nice to her. He left her more money in tips than she deserved and more than she had probably gotten combined from everyone else, not that she blamed them. It wasn’t like people had a lot of money to spare around here. The point was, he deserved conversation if he wanted it. It had been a long time since someone that didn’t know her well had been anywhere near nice to her. “Well that just sounds dangerous.” She answered, her voice still joking. It was true that getting into what he shouldn’t, especially in a place like this one, was dangerous, but it didn’t mean that she couldn’t make a joke about it… she supposed.

Amaris knew that it would probably just be easier if she admitted that she knew him from Hogwarts. It was better than skirting around the issue, and being cagey, because he knew that there was a decent chance that he remembered her. She remembered him, after all—they had been similar in ways that made them memorable, and she found that to be quite the problem now when it came to running into people that she knew. Still, she didn’t quite know what the harm in it was… he saw her in Knockturn Alley. He saw her scars, and surely, the man was no idiot. What she was, it was quite obvious, and yet he was still talking to her. “You’re quite the motivational speaker.” She replied, offhandedly, her eyebrows raised before she took another swig of her drink. She didn’t think he necessarily knew enough about her to know if she could keep at it, there had been plenty of times when she had contemplated giving up, after all. “Trust me, working here isn’t as bad as needing a pep talk.” Amaris reassured him, keeping her tone light and joking, though she wagered that it might actually be worse.