Open Scouting Out the Place

[Elijah Thompson]

Open after Marijke replies with Kiara

Elijah usually wasn't in the mood to accompany his dads and siblings on their little trips through the village or Obsidian Harbour, but with Hogwarts only just a few months away, he decided that perhaps now was the right time to come along. He'd never gone to the shopping area whilst the streets were bustling with activity because it frightened him a little, all those people and all the noise they were making. But he knew he would have to come and buy his school supplies at some point, so when his pa told him that he was going out with Kiara for a bit, Elijah figured that now would be as good a time as any to see where he'd need to buy all his supplies come the end of the holidays. As they walked across the cobbled streets to one of the shops their pa needed to get something from, the boy thought that everything seemed a lot bigger than how he remembered it from his previous visit. ''How many shops do you think we need to go to for our school supplies?'' Elijah asked Kiara timidly once they were left alone outside the shop, glancing around him at many, many magical shops.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara loved tagging along with either of their dads when they had to go somewhere like Obsidian Harbour. Especially now that her first year at hogwarts was creeping closer and closer. So far, things had been going pretty well and as if by some strike of luck she had already managed to make some friends. Possible friends at the very least, she'd just have to wait and see if the other girls would still want to hang out with her when they were at school. Maybe they had already forgotten her, who knew. What was even better today though was that Elijah had finally decided he would tag along as well. Kiara loved both of her brothers, but there was no denying they were pretty much polar opposites. "Probably all of them." She joked softly, a lot more comfortable around her own family than around strangers. "I mean there's books and clothes and quills and all.." She started summing up things she knew they would need before getting a little excited at her next thought. "Oh and maybe we'll even get a pet like Zay did!"

 

[Elijah Thompson]

Elijah stared wide-eyed at Kiara. All of them was a lot and no doubt it would be swarming with wizards and witches when the family would come back to buy their things. The thought alone made him already wish that he could skip the whole thing and buy his things the Muggle way. Luckily for him, the thought that made him stop panicking so much was that he wasn't alone in this and that he'd have his sister there along for the ride. And then once at the school itself, Zay and their cousins would be there to keep him company as well. He would never have to be alone if he didn't want to be, which was a very comforting thought to have, especially since Hogwarts was such an enormous school. ''Do you think that they'll give us a pet? I was thinking of maybe asking if I could get a cat since Zay already has an owl,'' he said, under the impression that surely their brother would let them use his owl whenever they wanted to write to their dads. And even if they weren't allowed to use Zay's owl, there were plenty of owls at the school, so they really didn't need another one. ''Do you want to go look for pets now? Pa will probably take ages so we've got some time.'' Elijah was already looking around for the pets shop.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara giggled softly at Elijah's reaction to her mentioning all of the stores. Obviously, they didn't have to visit all of them. At least she didn't think they had to? And otherwise she was sure they would be fine. They'd probably have both their dads with them when they went school shopping anyways. And maybe Zay as well, although she wasn't sure if that would be efficient since he'd often run around like a headless chicken. "Probably." She nodded a little more confident than she was about the fact. She didn't want to think her dads owed her something but they had promised Zay a pet once he'd go to school so it would be a tiny bit unfair if they didn't get one. Not that she would ever voice that thought out loud. "What kind of cat?" Kiara asked curiously, wondering what Elijah had in mind. She wasn't sure what pet she'd even want but she didn't think she would want a cat. Or an owl. There had to be something cuter out there. "I- we can't just run off, right..? Wouldn't we have to ask first?" She said softly, feeling a little anxious about the idea even if the pet shop was just a few doors down.

 

[Elijah Thompson]

Elijah shrugged at the question. He had not thought about what kind of cat he wanted if he was given one, as long as he could get one he'd be more than happy. ''I don't know,'' he said, ''A ginger one perhaps? Or a tabby one.'' He would have to see them before knowing what kind of cat he wanted, which was partially why he wanted to go to the pet shop further down the street. It was also a good way to scope the entire street out now that it wasn't so busy. ''I doubt Pa would even notice it if we were gone for a few minutes,'' Elijah said as convincingly as possible. He couldn't know that for certain, of course, but Kiara had often talked about how long their dads could take when out shopping for things, so thought that it was safe to assume that they could sneak away for just a couple of minutes. ''We don't even have to go inside the shop if you don't want to, we can just stand outside and watch through the windows.''

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara listened on curiously as Elijah answered her question before realizing she had little to no knowledge of what types of cats there even were herself. It did make her think about what sort of pet she would want though since it wouldn't be a cat. Or an owl. Maybe she could find something a lot more.. fluffy. "Ooh, do you think they'd let me get a pygmy puff?" Kiara beamed when she realized exactly what she would get if their dads would let them get a pet just like they had their older brother, already imagining herself wandering the school hallways with a little ball of fuzz on her shoulder. "Yeah, no, you're right." She nodded in agreement, trying to convince herself that it would be fine. Especially if they stayed outside. "C'mon then." She smiled after taking a peak inside the shop they were currently in front of to see if their pa was still busy before heading straight towards the menagerie. Once she had reached the shop Kiara almost pressed her nose to the glass, looking around to see if she could spot the pygmy puffs when her eye fell on a Munchkin cat at which she couldn't help but giggle. "Look at it's little legs! You should get that one."

 

[Elijah Thompson]

Elijah smiled mischievously when Kiara agreed to his idea. It wasn't as if they were going to do something their pa had forbidden them to do, on the contrary, they were only going to stand in front of the windows and take a peek inside. There was no harm in simply looking, not yet anyway. And so he followed her down the cobbled streets until they were standing in front of the windows of the Magical Menagerie. He turned his attention to the munchkin cat his sister had spotted. ''Don't you think that it looks a bit odd?'' he asked, taking in the cat's features. There was something about the furry feline that was very off-putting. Perhaps it was the fact that this breed seemed to have little legs. ''No, I think I'd go for that one,'' Elijah said as his eyes wandered over the other cats they could see through the window, pointing his finger at one of the black ones that was cleaning itself. ''What about you, spotted any pygmy puffs already?''. He hadn't seen any himself but that was no doubt because of how small they were. Maybe it was better for them to step inside the shop if she wanted to see the pygmy puffs.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara confidently shook her head when Elijah questioned whether the cat she had spotted was a little odd looking. "No, it's so cute!" She beamed, scrunching her nose as she watched the cat waggle along on its little legs. Did its legs look too short for its body? Sure. But that didn't make it odd. It just made it even cuter. "That one's definitely not as much fun." She responded, shaking her head again when her brother pointed at one of the black cats. "But it's very pretty." Kiara added quickly. If Elijah really wanted to get a cat like that she didn't want to talk negative about it just because she thought it didn't look as fun as the other one. "I can't see any." She pouted when he asked about the pygmy puffs, standing up on her tiptoes as she tried to get a better look of what was going on inside the shop. There was so much going on that it was hard to distinguish all of the creatures and maybe she had been a bit too optimistic to think she could spot the puffs from outside. "Maybe when pa's finished we can go inside." She shrugged as she lowered herself down onto her feet again.

 

[Elijah Thompson]

Whether or not the cat was a little odd looking didn't matter much in the end, as it was his decision which one to choose, and he already had his mind set on the black cat the moment he laid his eyes upon it. If only he could see it from up close though. Elijah only needed to find a way to convince his dads that he too could take care of an animal whilst at Hogwarts. Which wasn't going to be very difficult if he could apply logic to his reasoning. If Zay had gotten an owl then why couldn't he get a cat? It wouldn't take him a lot of time and effort to take care of one since there was plenty of food and plenty of space for it at the school. When Kiara told him that she couldn't see any either, Elijah reckoned that he could possibly convince his sister to go with him into the Magical Menagerie. ''Why don't we go inside to look for them?'' he asked as convincingly as possible, again. ''I think that it would be smart if we already knew what kind of animal we wanted if we have to convince dad and pa to give us pets too, don't you think? It would show them that we've thought long and hard about it. Shows them that we took some responsibility already, right?'' Who could fault them for wanting to take a look at the cute animals inside the shop anyway, they were only kids after all, and kids loved animals. Pa certainly couldn't hold it against them, so likely wasn't going to be that angry at them about it.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara was ready to turn around and head back to the shop their pa was in when Elijah suggested they could just head inside to look for the pygmy puffs. It made her look at her brother for a second, wondering what his plan was. Heading inside sounded a lot more fun than trying to spot all of the creatures through her spot in front of the window, but at the same time it worried her a little that their pa might walk out onto the street and not know where they were. Then again, Kiara was highly influenceable. Even more so when it came to her brothers. "I guess that makes sense." She responded with a little nod, feeling like Elijah's words contained some form of logic. Or maybe she just needed a little something to convince herself their pa wouldn't get mad or be disappointed. "I'll follow you, you're taller anyways." Kiara said, glancing towards the shop they had come from before giving her brother a little nudge towards the door of the menagerie. It had his idea to head in after all, so he least he could do was lead the way. She wasn't much of a leader anyways.

 

[Elijah Thompson]

Elijah smirked, almost feeling bad about how easy it was to get his sister to come along with him. Even though it was always rather easy to convince Kiara to do what he wanted to do, he never meant any harm. Usually, it was just childish japes with Zay or convincing her to take out the dog instead of him. And going into the Magical Menagerie to take a closer look at some of the pets was as harmless as could be even if it could potentially end up in their pa getting angry at them for walking away from him. ''I'm not much taller than you,'' he replied, stepping over the threshold of the shop. It didn't matter much though because he had already convinced her to come along. The inside of the shop smelled like wet dogs and cat poo and for some reason, it reminded him a lot of their grandparent's house. He bee-lined towards the black cat he had spotted from the outside and was reaching out towards it with his right hand so that it could smell it. When it licked his hand, Elijah turned around to Kiara. ''See, it likes me, too,'' he said smiling. He gave it a couple of pets before turning his attention away from it, they had come inside to look for the pygmy puffs after all. ''So what do they look like again? Was it blue or pink?''

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara shrugged when Elijah said he wasn't much taller than her. It didn't really matter anyways. But he was a little taller and a little older. Perhaps a bit more daring than she was as well, which made it easier for her to follow him in than to be the one to go first. Even for something as innocent as going into a shop without telling their pa where they went. She quickly followed her brother when he headed for the cats, reaching out to pet the one with the little legs while Elijah headed straight for the black cat he had pointed at. "Now you just need to get pa or dad in here." Kiara giggled. Admittedly, she was a little impressed the cat he had put his sights on seemed to like him too. Especially since with cats that wasn't a given. "Pink." She responded enthusiastically to Elijah's question. "Or purple. And extremely fluffy." She continued as she started to move away from the cats to look around the shop. There were a lot more animals in there than she had anticipated and she just happened to be looking for some that were potentially some of the smallest. Kiara hurriedly made her way past the reptiles towards the other end of the shop. "I see them!" She squealed as she made her way to the pen, squatting down to get a better look at them through the glass. "See, they're so cute!"

 

[Elijah Thompson]

If they could convince their pa to come and have a look at the pets as well then surely Elijah would be able to convince him to give them pets too. The only problem was that their pa would know that they had left him to walk off somewhere by themselves, which could get them into trouble. At least they had both seen the animals they wanted to see. That would be good. ''They're definitely fluffy,'' Elijah said as he squatted down next to his sister to get a better look at them as well. He had never been that interested in pygmy puffs but since Kiara seemed to be quite taken by them, so the boy figured that he should show some interest in them for her sake. ''Do you know much about them already?'' he asked.

 

[Kiara Thompson]

Kiara couldn't help but to smile as she watched the pygmy puffs move around, wondering if she'd be tall enough to pet them if she got up and leaned over the glass. If she was even allowed to, but she was sure she was. Otherwise there'd be a sign or something and she didn't see any. She grinned at her brother when he squatted down next to her, face faltering just the slightest at his question. "Well, uh.. they're tiny and fluffy?" She answered innocently, giving a small shrug. "I think they eat, like, small insects." Kiara added, knowing very little about the creatures other than that she liked them. Surely they couldn't be too hard to take care of though, given their size. "I don't think there's a lot to know about them really.." She added quietly, looking around to see if any of the employees were nearby. She didn't want to say something that might be wrong if it would mean a stranger ended up correcting her.