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Alli's school is not a terribly interesting school. It is, as far as Alli is concerned, a perfectly boring and average school in all possible respects. But some alumnus went and made themselves a bunch of money, and apparently they think it's a good idea to spend some of this money on "improving the cultural exposure of today's youth". (Alli has never met the alumnus in question, much less heard them speak, but she persists in picturing this spoken with a haughty British accent.) What this means for Alli is that she and a number of other 'deserving students' are being shipped over to France for free for a week. Alli's not quite sure why she counts as deserving- because her mom's single, maybe?- but she's hardly complaining. It's a free trip to France, after all.
In her usual style, Alli packs an hour before she has to leave and ultimately makes it out the door only ten minutes late after forgetting at least three vitally important items (her eyeliner!). But she makes it through Pearson security with plenty of time... well, more like barely enough time. But the important thing is, she's safely ensconced in her seat when they take off.
Once she's gotten her bag stowed and her legs rearranged in a doomed attempt at comfort and generally considers herself suitably settled, she turns to her seatmate. "Is your brain doing an Eeeeee France! thing too?"
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lyonhearted
lyonhearted
Alli stands up, wincing at the resulting chair noise, and waves goodbye to the equines. "Thanks for letting us crash your table, guys! See you around?"
lyonhearted
Alli fails to spot anyone else interesting on their way in search of books. The store's just across the square, and they arrive relatively quickly.
It has a striped blue and white awning proclaiming itself Vivien's Book Nook. The inside is, as might be expected, full of bookshelves; but there's a good few shelves that are only shoulder height, with two nooks containing lamps and large cushiony chairs, and the whole place is papered in light blue. It's obviously designed to be welcoming, insofar as large towering bookshelves will allow it to be so.
Behind the counter is a blond, middle aged woman with glasses, who beams when she sees them. "Well, if it isn't the littlest Lyon! Alli, dear, how are you? We don't see you around here much nowadays." She bustles out to envelop Alli in a hug, leaving a damp trail on the (helpfully linoleum) floor behind her.
Behind the counter is a blond, middle aged woman with glasses, who beams when she sees them. "Well, if it isn't the littlest Lyon! Alli, dear, how are you? We don't see you around here much nowadays." She bustles out to envelop Alli in a hug, leaving a damp trail on the (helpfully linoleum) floor behind her.
lyonhearted
Alli squirms. "Hi, Miss Viv," she mumbles into her shoulder. "I have school, and stuff."
"Well, that's hardly an excuse," Miss Viv retorts. "Books are good for the soul, you know." Her eyes light on May. "A new face! Hello there. I'm Miss Viv, it's lovely to meet you."
"Welcome, welcome. Can I help you find anything? Forgive me for supposing you're the one shopping, but this one-" she looks at Alli in amused exasperation- "is probably not the reason you're here."
maybeso
"I'm principally interested in two things. One, what-all kinds of critters there are - Alli's never seen one of me before - I might demonstrate, but, chair. I'm hoping to find a match in a book. Two, I want to learn magic."
Miss Viv's eyes brighten. "Not starting small, are we?" she says, sounding pleased. "Well now, what to start with... can you narrow it down at all? North American critters? Asian critters? Canine, feline, equine, bovine, avian...? Oh, and magic, so broad. Household spells? Defensive spells? We don't have much in the way of offensive spells," she warns.
maybeso
"I'm blue, I have claws, I don't seem to have fur or feathers," says May. She's not sure she wants to mention the wings; she'd like to go around with wings in the Avalon and learn to fly like that, but she doesn't want to constrain her search space too much. "I'm Asian, but I don't know how widespread any given critter population may have gotten, so I don't know how to direct you. General magical theory and introductory stuff would be great to start with, once I get more of an idea of what it can do I'll have more information on where I want to focus."
"There's not a lot in the way of introductory magic books," Miss Viv says doubtfully. "Most people come to it with a foundation, to brush up on their skills- well. I'll see what I can do. I suppose I'll have to grab some of the less detailed critter books for you as it is. 'Blue with claws', my word, that's not much to go on." She eyes Alli. "And anything for you, dear?" she asks dryly.
lyonhearted
"Sorry Miss Viv," Alli says innocently. "I have just too much reading to do already."
"Alli! Lying is beneath you," Miss Viv tells her sternly, but unbends enough to add, "though I suppose you do have your schoolwork, don't you."
To May, she says, "Hang on, dear, I'll be back in a trice."
It is not exactly a trice, but she is nevertheless reasonably quick about returning with a pile of books for May to inspect. She offers them to May with a, "Have a look and let me know if you see anything you like, won't you?"
To May, she says, "Hang on, dear, I'll be back in a trice."
It is not exactly a trice, but she is nevertheless reasonably quick about returning with a pile of books for May to inspect. She offers them to May with a, "Have a look and let me know if you see anything you like, won't you?"
maybeso
"Of course." May peers through them. "Where do people get their magical foundations?"
"Well... from their families or teachers, I would assume. Not a lot of people looking to learn magic without someone already there to learn from."
maybeso
"I didn't know magic or critters or anything existed until a few weeks ago. Where do you get a magic teacher?"
Miss Viv shrugs. "I've never tried to find one myself, dear, I'm afraid I won't be much help. Some Avalons have locals who know magic, I suppose you could ask one such, but we've no one to speak of in Toronto."
The books are all quite introductory, Miss Viv having not much to go on. Most are catalogs of critters, but there's also a couple magic books that at least attempt to cover the fundamentals. The critter books run a range of options, from a book claiming to contain "all of Canada's native critters" to a large but obviously old book focusing on the "critters of the Orient" and ending in a pile of books about "traditional Western critters." It's a reasonable variety, considering.