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When Christmas hols roll around, everyone goes home.
And Renée makes a suggestion and Miranda sends some owls, all with the same underlying invitation:
Mum wants to go shopping in Muggle Edinburgh and said I should invite some friends. You can Floo in or she can pick you up by Apparition, as you like, and we'll get lunch and she'll have you home in time for supper. Want to come?
She invites Karen and Jenny and Emma and Alli, and as an afterthought also Vivian, since she and Karen have been friendly and another muggleborn might ease Karen's jitters.
chanuphis
planetarium
"They're surprising, people dare each other to eat them, and the good ones are really good! And you don't sit down and have them for dinner as a main course."
slythervivian
"Those... are actually really good points, if you remember that earwax exists," she laughs. "I think haggis was probably a thing about food options, though? 'This is what we have to eat and we are hungry so we will eat it', that kind."
slythervivian
That was like... half a smile! Vivian will be collapsing in a heap of crushed hopes later. For now, she has one goal: distracting an unhappy Karen. They are going to have the best day.
They continue on towards the monument, chattering about Scots and dredging up increasingly obscure and improbable stereotypes. Maybe, if Vivian's very lucky and very sneaky, she can keep Karen's shadowed frown from returning. She much prefers Karen's face lit up by a smile.
(Oh, she is in so much trouble.)
They continue on towards the monument, chattering about Scots and dredging up increasingly obscure and improbable stereotypes. Maybe, if Vivian's very lucky and very sneaky, she can keep Karen's shadowed frown from returning. She much prefers Karen's face lit up by a smile.
(Oh, she is in so much trouble.)
witch_please
"Right about where 'learning all the Quidditch jerseys' is, I expect," Alli says airily, digging through another bin. "At least I only have to keep track of three!"
So far, she's managed to locate a cap, a scarf, and a kilt that she likes. None of them are the same plaid, and she's wearing all three at once. Locals may be picked out of the passersby from the pained faces they are giving her.
So far, she's managed to locate a cap, a scarf, and a kilt that she likes. None of them are the same plaid, and she's wearing all three at once. Locals may be picked out of the passersby from the pained faces they are giving her.
chanuphis
"You're hilariously mismatched. You could probably start a clan war if you traveled to the wrong era."
witch_please
"Hey, if people are fighting over me, I'm doing it right," she informs Miranda loftily, striking a pose in her plaid. Behind Miranda, the shopkeeper fails to be subtle enough as he makes a face. Alli talks herself out of cursing him- points for honesty, or something- and sticks out her tongue instead, then heads for the door. "I give up, I fail at shopping. Onwards!"
chanuphis
"All right, what else do you wanna do? Ooh, bookstore. You probably don't want to go in the bookstore."
chanuphis
"All right. You can amuse yourself with the fantasy section, maybe. Or look at pictures of space."
witch_please
"I can see the sky just fine from down here, thanks!" Alli tells her with a smirk. "Besides, pictures that don't move? Creepy. Very creepy."
But she, as promised, follows Miranda to the bookstore willingly enough. She picks up the first book at random and holds it up to Miranda. "Lookit his chest," she cackles, eying the shirtless man on the cover. "He looks unreal."
But she, as promised, follows Miranda to the bookstore willingly enough. She picks up the first book at random and holds it up to Miranda. "Lookit his chest," she cackles, eying the shirtless man on the cover. "He looks unreal."
witch_please
"But if they did, how could we laugh at these?" Alli asks, waving the book at Miranda more vehemently. "Miranda. He is holding a sword. Look at where he is holding his sword. Merlin's beard, people must buy these just for the covers!"
witch_please
"Well, good on them, then. The world needs more ridiculous covers." She puts down the book in her hands and prowls towards the nearest bookshelf. "There's gotta be more covers this ridiculous. And I will find them."
witch_please
Alli plops herself down in the indicated section and gets to browsing. It's not nearly as large as she would like, and she ends up branching out into nearby sections, wandering back and forth between the shelves and accumulating small piles next to her as she goes. Whenever Miranda seems to have a lull in her browsing, Alli will pop over and wave a random book from one of her piles in Miranda's face, accompanied by random asides- "how does she even get that dress on?!" or "look what they named it, it's absurd" and so on. She knows it's not exactly the usual way to amuse yourself in a bookstore, but hey. She's having fun.
chanuphis
"I'm glad you're so entertained. Mum will probably complain if you want to buy any, they have smut in them usually."
witch_please
Alli eyes them consideringly, but shakes her head. "I already have enough bloody reading to do for school," she says decisively. "And anything with a cover like that can't be good. Hysterically bad, maybe." She ignores the shop owner's attempts to direct her to some author named Heyer; that is missing the point of no books. "And anyway, your mum is nice. I suppose I can spare her. This time."
chanuphis
"There's a saying, don't judge a book by its cover, but you're probably actually right about those."
witch_please
"...is that a Muggle thing? Because whoever came up with that saying? They've definitely never heard of Edwardus Lima."