Enjoying the Spring

[Irene Finch]

Irene had barely had a day off since becoming the owner of the Makutu Dinette. She certainly loved working there, but today she knew she had needed to take a day to herself. So, after leaving her assistant with clear instructions to owl her in case of emergency, Irene had left.

The day was beautiful and although Irene was wearing a small coat, she had left it open. Not wanting to be inside, Irene walked over to one of the benches that overlooked the village and took a seat. The breeze whipped her hair around slightly, but it wasn't unpleasant. Opening up her purse, Irene pulled out a copy of the daily prophet and began to read it.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari strolled down the street, a smile over his lips, a strut in his walk. He had just seen his girl Sarah, and was happier than he had been in a long time. The spring sun felt good, though it was a bit chilly in his tastes. He was use to the desert sands, and beautiful sea ports of Australia. He sighed, feeling slightly home sick. He looked up at the bright sky, a branch obscuering his view every so often.

Stopping he looked for a place to rest and saw a bench nearby. He sat besides a woman, reading something. He read over her shoulder to see what it was. Seeing it as the Daily Prophate he leaned back. Clearing his throat softly, he spoke, his accent showing. "Anything good happening?"

(Sorry It took so long))

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene turned slowly as she heard a guy say something to her. She shrugged her shoulders. "Depends which team you support..." she began because she had been looking at the sports page, "I support Bulgaria and they crushed Ireland last week." She took a good look at the guy before her. He had platinum blond hair and had a slight accent, though she couldn't place it, but he did look pretty friendly.

(don't worry about it )

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari fained a frown and sighed. Shaking his head he said, "My poor Irish." Then raising his head he winked at her. Truth be told he wasn't really a big fan of anyone, being that it was impossible for him to fly and all. With a smile he introduced himself. "I'm Kari, its nice to meet someone with such impecable tastes." He looked around at the bench they were sitting, liking the lay of the land.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene smiled as he winked at her. She listened as he introduced himself and then complimented her. "Thanks. I'm Irene" she said easily. "I love the color of your hair" she added out of nowhere and then fingered some of her own, "It makes mine look so boring."she complained jokingly.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari laughed with his deep baritone, that rolled with his accent. He held up a lock of his dried out platinum blonde hair and wrinkled his nose. "My hair is boring. All one color and very dead." He laughed again then his face took on a look of insight. Gently he held up a lock of her hair and dangled it in front of her eyes. "Yours is very much alive, very soft, with deep colors of brown. Its not just one, and it is very beautiful." He dropped the lock of hair and smiled.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene shook her head, clearly disagreeing with Kari's opinion of his hair. "I guess" she said as he looked at her own hair. The way he described it didn't make it sound pretty nice. "So, where are you from Kari?" she asked because his accent didn't sound like one she had come across before.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari leaned back, happy with her answer. He smiled, looking at the sky. He thought of his homeland. "I come from a place of both desert and ocean, Both pleasure and pain, both beauty and a beast. Australia mate." His smile grew cocky.

 

[Irene Finch]

She listened to him describe his homeland. It sounded like he really missed it. "You're Aussie. How cool! I knew it sounded kind of familiar, but at the same time it didn't."

She grinned. "Bet you can't tell where I'm from?" she teased in a sing-song voice. She did have an accent herself but it wasn't very heavy and really only happened when she said certain words.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari smiled. "Quick! I will use my psycic powers!" He put his hand to his forehead and stared at her. A look of mass concentration on his face, He squinted his eyes, his tongue poking just barely out of his lips. "Wait! Wait!" Then dramatically he said, "I got nothing," With a smile he asked. "SO where are you from?"

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene smiled as she watched Kari try to guess and then finally admit he had nothing. "Too bad...I guess you'll never know then" she said swiftly and stood silent for a few moments.

After another moment, she finally decided to spill. "I can't describe my home as beautifully as you did yours...I'm from Romania" she admitted.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari smiled when she told him. He had never been anywhere but home and here. It sounded very exotic and mysterious to him. He tried to think what it would be like but came up with a blank. "Do you have snow there?" He asked, his voice having an innocent quality."

 

[Irene Finch]

She giggled as she heard Kari's question. It was obvious to her then that he had probably never been there. "Does it!" she laughed, "The answer is a big fat yes, Kari. We get so much that the muggles even dare to come near our village. They come on these wood looking things." Irene looked confused for a moment as if she were struggling to think of something. "They call it...skying...no, no, no" she said with a shake of her head, "Skiing. That's what they call it. Have you heard of that?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Irene had grown up in a magical household and wasn't allowed to interact with people who weren't wizards as well, so that was why she didn't know what it was.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari nodded. He could tell she didn't know much about muggle society. 'Okay, leave out the little fact about you being a squib and you'll be fine.' He smiled, though any one who really knew him would see it was fake. He clear is throat. "My little sister and I used to watch the winter olympics on the tele. We've never seen snow in person."

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene shrugged. "You're not missing much. I mean the first snow is always the best because everything is so white and untouched, but then it gets messy." She didn't like when too many people walked over the snow because it ruined everything. "And, when it snows nearly everyday for a week, you get over it really fast."

Irene leaned one elbow on the back of the bench and turned toward Kari. "Did you leave near the beach in Australia? I just went to one for the first time last month. It was so great!" she exclaimed, remembering how huge the ocean looked from the beach.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari nodded. "I lived in a suburd of Sydney. We were about 30 mins away from the beach. My sister spent a lot of time there." He smiled, Remebering Kala when she was little. She always filled him with such joy. "She used to beg me all the time to take her to the beach. She only went there once with Dad and her Mom. From that moment she fell in love the sea." His smile grew. "It can do that to you."

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene nodding in agreement. "I know what you mean. I've only been the one time and I can't wait to go back." Listening to Kari talk about his sister, she smiled. It was clear that he loved her very much. A shot of sadness quickly went into and out of Irene as she recalled the time when her brother talked about her that way. It had been a long time ago though.

"How old is she?" she asked curiously, eager to hear about a happy family.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari looked toward her and smiled big. "Kala is eleven this year." His smile turned into a frown. "She is at Hogwarts right now. I miss her very much." He side. "It gets pretty lonely at the apartment with out her." He forced a smile but it was a very sad one.

 

[Irene Finch]

"Aww...so she's just getting started in our world" she said with a small smile, remembering when she had started school. Things had been good then. As she continued to think about what he had said, Irene looked at Kari confused. "Are you raising her?" he asked. She had heard him mention Kari's parents, but from what he just said, it seemed as if he were the one who were taking care of her.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari nodded. "Our father and her mother died when she turned 3. Luckily I had turned 18 that very year so I got a job and battled the authorities for the right to raise her." He sighed, then gave her a smile, a happy one this time. "Its been hard, and I've had to struggle for many years but there was no way I was letting anyone take her from me."

 

[Irene Finch]

"Wow. I'm sorry to hear about your dad." Irene said, in awe of how selfless an act it was for Kari to raise his sister. "That's...wow. It's easy to see how much you care for her. I hope she knows how lucky she is to have you." Irene couldn't imagine having a baby right now, let alone having to raise a near teen.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari shrugged. He didn't really see why most people thought it was a big deal. They had needed each other. Any one else would have done that would they? He looked away for a moment, remembering when he was trying to make little Kala understand that mommy and daddy weren't coming back. He didn't get it till she turned 5. Two years of her waiting at the beach to see them. He sighed to himself, then decided it would be a good ideal to change the subject. "So do you have any siblings of your own?"

 

[Irene Finch]

Seeing how Kari downplayed the whole thing made Irene like him even more. When he asked her whether she had any siblings, it was her turn to sigh. "Yes. I've got an older brother...but I haven't seen him since I was 16" she shrugged, not knowing what to say. She didn't really talk about it very often. For the most part she was over the hurt of his abandonment, or at least she thought she was. Sixteen had been a difficult year for her though. Irene had been very close with her mother and Ioan, and losing them both in a sense during the same year had really been hard to deal with.

 

[Kari Kelly]

Kari shook his head. He could only imagine how awful of a thing that must be to go through. He and Kala always had each other. But Irene didn't have an older brother to look out for her anymore. He reached out and gave her hand a small squeeze before releasing it. "I'm sorry. I'm sure someday things can be resolved?" Though he had meant it to be a statement it ended up being a question. Kari couldn't quite say everything would be alright if there was a chance it wouldn't.

 

[Irene Finch]

The squeeze from Kari's hands to hers although an attempt to make her feel better made Irene feel worse. She felt bad that she was burdening this person she had just met with her problems, but she had no one else to turn to. Irene gave Kari a small smile and shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I don't think he'd even know where to find me" she said with a sigh. Deep down, she knew that if her brother had wanted to find her or be found himself, he would've. Since he hadn't, she assumed he wanted to disappear though she couldn't understand why.

"It is nice of you to listen to me talk about my problems" she added, realizing how depressing the conversation had just gotten. Looking at a tree blowing in the wind, Irene took a deep breath and relaxed. Smiling again, she turned to Kari and hastily changed the subject. "So, what do you like to do for fun, Kari?"she asked.