Meredith and Tom were back at The Werewolf's Howl once again, albeit without Felicity this time. And, once again, it was Werebeast Night. Tom had been swept away by a variety of male werebeasts so as to be both congratulated and offered sympathy, gaining drinks from both styles of folks.

Meredith, meanwhile, had been swarmed by more female werewolves than she'd known about on her first experience at Werefolk Night and had mostly been offered condolences and a not small amount of pats on the back for what she'd done to Fenrir ("If anyone's earned a trip to Azkaban minus an eye it's him)". And, of course, free drinks.

Eventually, though, Sara U had managed to get hold of both of them.

"So have you started to think about full moon plans?" she asked as they started in on a wizarding stout.

"Someone from British special forces came by and made us an offer about the full moon a few days ago," said Meredith, who'd not quite stopped mulling over Captain Lupin's offer ("Join up and we'll train you so that you can retain your reason even in the deepest full moon instead of going howling mad").

Sara U barked a laugh. "They sent you that smooth talker? They must really want you. Did he mention the vaccine?"

Meredith nodded. "It seemed a little morbid, but he said it was harmless enough."

"And now I'm part wereMeredith. Weredith. Something," said Tom, rubbing the spot on his arm where they'd inoculated him.

"And thus immune to therianthropy of all sorts. It also gets you out of the radar on nights of the full moon, which is a nifty bonus," said Ashton from the other side of the bar, where he was helping bartender Sara pour drinks for excitable werefolks.

"Are you vaccinated?" asked Tom, staring at Ashton for a moment.

Ashton shrugged. "It seemed like the smart thing to do. I'm," and he glanced at Sara U, who nodded, "a wereSaraU. Which reminds me, my Sara, Meredith here gets a free drink at some point for donating to the vaccination cause. Tom, you get one free drink for getting vaccinated."

"What, are you bribing folks with alcohol to get vaccinated?" asked Meredith as she sipped at a Firewhiskey.

Ashton nodded at another patron and began to mix a cocktail. "Hey, if it works it works. I've got notes as to who got vaccinated and it's a larger number of witches and wizards than you'd think it'd be, considering how much stupid there is on the subject."

"You keep notes about that?" asked Sara U, sitting a bit more upright in her chair than she'd been.

Ashton stopped mixing the drink he was making and looked away. "I mean, yeah. Keeping track of who got vaccinated just felt like the right thing to do, considering that the military only tracks folks they vaccinate. Should … should I not?"

Sara U threw her hands up. "No! No, I mean, no that's fine! That's great. Documentation is good. I just … I didn't think you cared that much."

Ashton nodded and went back to mixing the drink. "Health matters, and I know that this sort of thing is important in the community. I just want to do my part."

"Speaking of, it'd be safe enough to get our girls vaccinated as well, right? Captain Lupin didn't mention anything about it and we didn't think to ask while he was there. Kind of kicking myself about it now, to be honest," said Meredith before taking another drink. She'd had to speak up a bit as the music had just gotten louder.

Sara U nodded. "Oh sure. You'd have to reach back to Captain Lupin or someone to get it done, since you'd need to get a tooth pulled to do it. Well, you don't Need to, but if you want it pulled properly then you'll need a tooth expert or something."

Tom brightened at that. "We're both dentists, and it didn't seem beyond what we might do normally. The tooth restoration potionwork would be a bit of a chore, but I bet we could figure that out too."

Sara U stared at them for a moment, then broke out into a broad grin. "That's probably the greatest thing I've ever heard. If you're willing to actually provide the means to do the vaccine, I'm sure we could find someone in the community to help with the potionwork. We don't exactly have very many professional folks in the community who haven't been enlisted."

Meredith shuddered. "I don't know if I'd be able to donate that many teeth to the vaccination effort, so I don't know how helpful I could really be there."

Sara laughed. "I'm sure that we could find willing donors in that department. Two doctors in the community. Wow. That's … really big. Like, really big."

"Well, dentists," muttered Tom. Not loudly, as he still grinned at the praise.

"That's still a pretty big medical professional," said Ashton from behind the bar, who'd long since finished and passed over the drink he'd been mixing. "Better than me, that's for sure."

"Better than you?" asked Meredith, raising an eyebrow at him as she pushed her empty glass his way.

Ashton waved a dismissive hand. "I play doctor for folks who can't really turn to wizarding healers. Turns out if you work with enough dead bodies people start to think you can work with living ones too," Then he reached out, took her empty glass, and began to mix up a cocktail for her in its place ("You'll love it, I promise").

"But isn't the wizarding hospital free for magic folks?" asked Tom, nursing his own beer. The song had changed and folks were drifting away from the dance floor and over to the bar.

Sara U laughed a bitter laugh. "They don't really like werebeasts or any other unsavories showing up for treatment there."

"Well, you have us on your side. Hell, you have me in your corner, now," said Meredith, and she clinked drinks with Sara U before taking a sip of her own.