Open Castle in the Clouds

[Amara Vayne]

Amara's mother was intent about showing her all of the wonderfully magical places in New Zealand, and she knew it was an attempt to get the girl's mind off the fact that she was no longer in England. She'd been to New Zealand a few times, and it was a lovely country, but that was to visit her mum's family for holidays. Now it was her home. At least Brightstone had a lovely park, and after a few moments of puppy dog eyes and pouting, her mum caved and let Amara run off to play in the park while she shopped.

It didn't take long for the young girl to sprawl out in the grass near a tree and stare up at the blue sky filled with fluffy clouds. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a couple of squirrels scampering about a tree and smiled. She hoped that there would be some good climbing trees at school once she got there. As her eyes shifted back to the clouds, she giggled. "That one looks like a giant bunny rabbit," she said to the squirrels, pointing up to the cloud in the sky.

 

[Mirim Park]

Mirim had spent a few months playing and taking care of Sock, her pet bat. And although she had spent almost all of her time hanging out with her, Mirim wasn’t sure if Sock would stay with her if they were to go outside. It was a pretty nice day, and so she let Sock in her pet carrier and decided to go around the park with her.

Mirim continued to walk around, carrying Sock’s carrier in her arms to her chest when she heard giggling. Mirim peered and eavesdroped around a tree and found a girl, seemingly talking to herself. “What looks like a giant bunny rabbit?” She asked, curious. “And who are you talking to?”

 

[Amara Vayne]

For a brief second, Amara's gaze darted up to the squirrels, thinking that they were talking back to her. She'd never met a talking squirrel before, but in the magical world, she was hardly going to put anything out of the realm of possibility. Unfortunately, she happened to notice a figure out of the corner of her eyes who seemed to be the one asking the questions.

Amara tried not to let her disappointment show as she pointed first to the clouds. "The clouds look like a big, fluffy rabbit. See that one right there?" Then she pointed to the squirrels who were currently sitting on adjacent branches nibbling away at something scrumptious. "And I was talking to them. They're not much for conversation, but they're not bad listeners." Grinning, she sat up and turned around to better see who she was talking with. Instantly her eyes were drawn to the carrier in the girl's arms.

"Oooh what do you have there?"

 

[Mirim Park]

Mirim looked up at the sky and had to look for the cloud for a good second before spotting it. Low and behold was a bunny shaped cloud. “Oh, you’re right! It does look like a rabbit!” She exclaimed. Mirim’s gaze moved towards where the girl was now pointing. She spotted a few squirrels munching on whatever squirrels ate. She grinned, “Critters are the best of listeners.” Mirim decided to sit down in front of the girl, carefully. She didn’t want Sock to be jumbled up inside the carrier.

Once settled, she carefully peered inside and made sure Sock was okay and started to open the carrier carefully. “Inside, is the bringer of terror! Master of the night! Lord of vengeance! And most importantly.... MY FRIEND!” Out from the carrier, emerged a small little creature, peaking out from Mirim’s hands. Mirim’s bat was wrapped like a burrito in a blanket. “Socrates!” (Pronounced “so-creits”) The creature was borderline adorable, and under the shade of the tree, it’s eyes seemed to sparkle. “I like to call her, Sock, though.”

 

[Amara Vayne]

Critters were indeed the best listeners. As an only child, she didn't have many options for daily conversation other than her parents or the random wildlife in her yard. And as the wildlife couldn't punish her for talking back, she preferred their company.

Amara's curiosity increased as the girl sat down in front of her and carefully opened the carrier. Large hazel eyes widened at the grand introduction, and Amara was leaning forward to get a peek at what was inside. A small gasp escaped at the sight of the small bat, and her fingers began to twitch at the desire to pet and cuddle the tiny creature. "Oh, hello Sock! I'm Amara. It's so nice to meet you," she cooed at the tiny creature. "Aren't you just the cutest thing I've ever seen?"

The young girl was beaming as she looked up to Sock's owner. "I don't think I've ever been this close to a bat before." She'd seen women carrying tiny dogs in their purses around town, but she'd never seen anyone taking their pet bat for a stroll. "Does she turn into a vampire on a full moon?" Amara had heard stories of such creatures back in England, though she wasn't sure how much she trusted her friend's older brother to tell them the truth.

 

[Mirim Park]

Mirim uncharacteristically giggled before clearing her throat. "It's nice to meet you too Amara. And no. I am not cute, I am dangerous! I'm the bringer of terror!!" She said in her deepest voice possible, pretending to talk as Sock. Then soon realising that they technically haven't introduced themselves yet. "This is Mirim, my friend." She added in her extremely deep voice.

In her normal voice, Mirim replied, "They're much friendlier than most people think. Or at least, Sock is." She said with affection in her voice. "Isn't that right, Sock?" The bat made a sound close to a chirp and she raised her hand to pet her, supporting the blanket covered sock with her other hand. Mirim thought for a while when she asked about vampires, continuing to pet Sock. "Hmm...I don't think so. I think there are people that do turn in to animal-ish creatures, but they're usually human most of the time.. It would be really cool though!" She looked up at the girl who Mirim now knew was called Amara. "Do you wanna pet her?" She asked.

 

[Amara Vayne]

Amara had to bite her lip to keep from bursting into giggles as the girl dropped her voice to speak as the bat. "Oh, why yes, I do apologize. You are most fearsome, Sock. The scariest of all bats!" And also the cutest. Finally letting out her laughter, she looked up at the creature's owner. "It's nice to meet you as well, Mirim." If everyone was as nice and fun as this girl, perhaps moving to New Zealand wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"Oh, I have heard of those people! How cool would that be to be able to change into an animal. Would you want to be a bat, too?" Amara asked the girl, pausing for a second to think about what she would be. "I think I'd want to be a fox. They're really pretty but also super fast and sneaky." Her eyes widened at the invitation to pet Sock. She loved animals, and they usually loved her, but she wasn't so familiar with bats.

"I'd love to!" With the goofiest grin on her face, she slowly reached out her hand as if she were offering it to a cat or dog to sniff. Could bats smell? Hoping the creature wouldn't bite her, she closed the distance to pet it. "You are very terrifying," she said matter-of-factly, before dropping her voice to a whisper for Mirim, "but also insanely cute."

 

[Mirim Park]

Mirim grinned as the girl infront of her burst into laughter. "It's very nice to meet you too." She responded. Mirim was excited to make her first friend ㅡor technically first human friend, that's not her sister's. Maybe they'd do fun things together, she wasn't really sure what normal friends did but she'd find out soon enough.

"Hmm.. Probably. But I think I'd want to be a dinosaur!" She wondered if people could turn into creatures that were well extinct. "Oh that'd be cool! You could probably sneak into people's houses or something and steal their grapes." She chuckled and held Sock out for Amara to pet. Sock sniffed Amara a little and soon let the girl pet her. Mirim giggled when Amara whispered. "Make sure she doesn't hear you say that. She'll get very angry ㅡor maybe even turn into a vampire, and suck your blood!" She joked.

 

[Georgina Wallace]

Georgina was relieved to get away from her annoying step-mother by claiming she wanted to go to the park she had heard about from other perspective Hogwarts students. What was more surprising was that Georgina actually found herself in that same park despite having very little intention of actually finding her way there. Still, she wanted in further only to see two people and a bat talking. How peculiar these Kiwis were to have bats as pets, she thought. Without being able to control herself she said loud enough for them both to hear, "Is that your familiar?" Georgina thought that a witches pet was a very important choice and said what sort of person they were more than most things. The red head had a cat since the day she was born and although the cat was a little older it truly was the sweetest creature and looked after her. She really didn't think a bat had the emotional capabilities to do the same tasks while also being a friend.​

 

[Mirim Park]

Mirim looked up to see another girl had approached them, asking about Sock. “Familiar? Do witches in New Zealand need familiars?” She asked. None of the witches or wizards in Korea had familiars. Pets, maybe but not familiars, it was a foreign concept to her. “She’s my friend, does that count?” She asked and glanced at Amara. Possibly the girl knew something about this.

 

[Amara Vayne]

Amara's eyes widened when Mirim mentioned wanting to be a dinosaur. "Oh wow! That would be so cool! You could rule the world!" Practicality had no place in their current conversation. Being a dinosaur sounded like so much fun, and there was so much variety with the choice. Would she be one of the big herbivores? Or maybe a T-Rex or raptor!

As she pet the bat, she giggled. "Oh, absolutely. She won't hear a peep out of me." She motioned to zipping her lips as if to double down on her silence. She didn't want the creature sucking her blood, unless it would turn her into a vampire in the process. Now that would be cool! Though she would likely miss days like today sprawled out on the lush, green grass on a sunny day.

When a third voice sounded out of the blue, Amara looked up and smiled at the newcomer. She wasn't that familiar with, well, familiars, but she didn't see why the bat couldn't be Mirim's. "I imagine familiars would be friends, so I think it counts," she shrugged before addressing the new girl. "I'm Amara by the way. That's Mirim, and that most terrifying creature is Sock." She hoped Mirim didn't mind her introducing the group.