arts magical

[occluminous]

Bella has been living in the dorms for two days when the term properly starts. The buses begin arriving and discharging the students who didn't need to arrive early just in time for them to join the early attendees for lunch. Bella is sitting at a half-full table, reading her Charms textbook and prodding at one of her notebooks with the hazel wand. The vine one is still in her hair; she uses it for most things (to the extent that there is a 'most things', but she's getting a jump on her assignments) but she's giving the hazel a try for this particular charm. It's supposed to make the notebook refuse to open for anyone but her. Poke. Poke. "Claudo!"

Her notebook snaps itself shut abruptly. She opens the cover, closes it, passes it to the girl on her right and gets her to try, observes that it does not open. She puts the hazel wand back in her sleeve.

Comments

[sparksflying]

"...Because that would be hilariously impractical?" she suggests.

[occluminous]

"Not so good for mass transit?"

[sparksflying]

"The latest in flying mass transit is still Thestral-drawn carriages," says Tony. "Those're flying winged horses you can only see if you've seen somebody die."

[occluminous]

"Why can you only see them if you've seen somebody die?"

[sparksflying]

"I dunno," she says, "because they're magic and that's how they work?"

[occluminous]

"Is there nobody who figures this stuff out?"

[sparksflying]

"Sure," says Tony, "but I am not that person."

[occluminous]

"Oh. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time in the library, I think. Can thestrals see each other? Can animals see them?"

[sparksflying]

"I'm pretty sure they can see each other or I have a hard time imagining how you'd get new Thestrals," she says. "No idea about other animals."

[occluminous]

"But you have to see a person die to get to see them, not, like, a spider."

[sparksflying]

"Yeah."

[occluminous]

"That is weird. Do people who aren't humans count?"

[sparksflying]

Tony shrugs helplessly.

[occluminous]

"Sorry," laughs Bella. "Just, you're there, and the librarian isn't back from vacation till tomorrow morning so I can't go look it up in the library right now."

[sparksflying]

"It's cool," she laughs.

[occluminous]

Bella writes all of her questions down for later. "It would be only fair if you interrogated me, but I suppose I don't even maybe know anything you really want to know."

[sparksflying]

"I don't really have that many pressing questions about, like, stuff," Tony admits.

[occluminous]

"Well, if you think of any, you can ask me," Bella says.

[sparksflying]

"Deal."

[occluminous]

"I'm going to go to the kitchen and see if there are house-elves in it, as long as I can't go to the library," says Bella. "You want to come?"

[sparksflying]

She hesitates, then shakes her head.

"Nah, go ahead, I better unpack. And I wanna be here in case Nike shows up."

[occluminous]

"Okay." Bella points at Euterpe. "You be friendly with her eagle, okay?"

Euterpe whinny-hoots.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." And she's off to the kitchens.

[pythbox]

The kitchens are moderately difficult to locate.

They do contain elves - small large-eyed floppy-eared personlike creatures wearing a ragged but meticulously clean assortment of (sometimes not very) clothing-like items.

They also contain one human, not very much older than Bella. He glances up once when she enters the room, and then goes right back to washing dishes by hand while the elves cluster around her.

"Is miss lost?"

"Does miss want something to eat?"

"There are lots of snacks for miss if she wants them!"

[occluminous]

"I'm Bella," Bella tells the elves. "I don't need a snack, I just wanted to meet some elves. I've never met any before, you see, and I only found out about you a little while ago." She peers at the human, but doesn't address him.

[pythbox]

"Now miss has met some elves!" says an elf.

"Would miss like a snack anyway?" asks another.

"There are lots of snacks for miss," a third reminds her.

The human boy continues to wash dishes; one of the elves who is at the fringe of the Bella-centric cluster darts away to help rinse and dry.