| Details for So Ravenclaw |
| Summary: | Cousins Rowle, with Elizabeth, visit the joke shop. |
| Date: | 1939-01-05 |
| Location: | Gambol and Japes Joke Shop |
| Related: | Black's Bash, Sweet Consequences. |
| Characters |
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Anthony looks around without great enthusiasm. He's clearly not a great japes person. "Goodness ONLY knows what we're doing here."
"Haven't you ever just wanted to look?" Andromena queries to both Anthony and Elizabeth. "It's the last day of break, there's still plenty of time to go elsewhere but…" She nudged Anthony's shoulder with a light bump of her fist. "I intend to indulge my curiosity if the pair of you would rather run along!" Her tone was clearly playful. The Rowle cousins had invited Elizabeth out for the day - or at least until Andromena had to get ready for the Sykes gala. (Was Anthony going, too?)
Elizabeth takes up the rear of the group as she enters, the chime of the bell on the door light in her wake as the door closes. Absently she reaches up to brush back the hood of her cloak, her pale eyes behind her frames silently speculative as she looking around, observing different sorts of merchandise. At least a little more interested than Anthony, but not by much. "Considering the occurrence at Black's party, it wouldn't hurt to at least look." It seams as if she's finally heard about the prank that had happened. "And I'm sure that's hardly the case."
Anthony looks at his cousin, "Well, yes, I've been curious." Quelle surprise there! "But not _very_. And what happened at the Party? I was there, but I was out on the balcony quite a bit, and missed quite a lot."
Andromena regards Elizabeth when she mentions the little stunt that was pulled at Alphard's party, and her nose crinkles at the thought. "I actually wasn't inspired to come here on account of them," she shared, walking further in, eyes roaming over this and that. "But be thankful you were ignorant of it, Tony." In the sense of: you weren't affected and didn't know anything, not: you didn't know and were affected! "Lucretia Black and Angus MacMillan slipped into the party and spread itching powder over several guest beds. One girl scratched herself bloody and her mother is furious. Not to mention it was Avery's flame to boot, so I hear he's out for blood as well." Andromena chose an aisle and started down it, musing aloud, "I wonder if they'd have puzzles or anything."
"I heard of the prank, but not the culprits." Elizabeth admits quietly as she continues to follow, idly arching a brow in thought for a pause. "Though I cannot say that I am all that surprised. They seem to cause mischief when they're together." She makes a note of that, for future reference, while they browse. "And I'm also certain that they will probably have more than just pranks here. Puzzles and games even."
Now THAT seems to interest Tony more. "Oh, now THAT sounds a good idea. I mean, I could always use a new Chess Set. And some puzzles might not be a bad idea. There's some puzzle locks that are supposed to be really difficult to open."
"I recognized Angus from the party - he almost collided into me as he fled. I hadn't known for certain it was Lucretia until the sweet shop yesterday." Andromena lowered her voice, but only somewhat, as the shop was reasonably loud so the truth was she was probably speaking in a normal tone! "I overheard the pair of them talking as I feigned ignorance." Silly little children. Trust a Ravenclaw to at least be cunning!
"Anyway, I thought it might be nice to pick up some puzzles for the Common Room." Because contrary to popular belief, their House did do other things aside from earn chronic neck and back pain due to having their faces continually buried in books. She withdrew a coupon from her pocket to show the pair of them. "Expires tomorrow, so…"
"I'm not surprised. I just hope that their pranks don't escalate to a dangerous level." Elizabeth murmurs. She reaches out to pick something off the shelf, rolling it over in her hand as she looks it over. The object in question is a Japanese Puzzle Box. As Andromena pulls out the coupon, she glances up. "How much is it for?"
Anthony glances at the coupon also, "Ah, that's actually a BRILLIANT idea. Not least, something complex will keep the firsties busy for WEEKS!" He gives a faint smile, "And lord knows I've been slightly frivolous with my learning this holiday."
"Time will tell," Andromena says to Elizabeth when she mentions a worry of possible escalation. Her personal opinion was that it probably wouldn't; Angus did not strike her as the malevolent type and she reasoned Lucretia would get hung up on being prim and lady-like at some point. Not that ever stopped someone from being wicked, but Andromena tried to view things in a positive light.
"It's a buy one get one deal. Uncle Siegfried gave it to me…" Andromena shared a quick look with Anthony. A silent message that conveyed an answer to what he may be thinking! "I think this is the first holiday that I've spent the majority of my time…socializing." Andromena sounded slightly perplexed. As if she did not know whether that as good or bad.
Elizabeth speculates a longer moment before setting the box on the shelf again. "This seems to be the holiday for change." she murmurs softly in agreement. Andromena socializing, Elizabeth throwing a New Year's Party. The corner of her lips tugs with a slight smirk. "Next thing you know one of us will suddenly be an Auror." she jokes.
Anthony laughs, "Sorry. Didn't take Defence against the Dark Arts for NEWT. So it won't be me!" There's a faint smile, "Oh! Look! There's that one where you have to practice healing wand movements, and if you get them wrong, the patient screams!"
"Very true, Elizabeth," Andromena agrees, reaching out to take the game Anthony had mentioned and looking it over. The cover depicted a cowering patient with various injuries, curses, and jinxes afflicting his rather rotund body while a couple maniacal looking Healers stood over him, wands out. "Oh, hey. Didn't we say we wanted to go to the Department of Mysteries?" Since Anthony can't be an Auror, well…Andromena knew where his heart lie!
Elizabeth blinks up at Andromena when she mentions the Department of Mysteries, blinking a second time. Had the other girl known? She's never really told anyone what her aspirations for her career would be. Not really. So perhaps it was just a guess? She pauses a moment before glancing to Anthony, watching his reaction.
Anthony laughs, "I wasn't just going to drop in on _them_. I was going to write a letter." Ah. So, she's serious. And so's he. "But I thought I might drop in on International Cooperation. With my languages, you know…" Ah. They were talking about HIS aspirations, were they?
"Why not drop in?" Andromena questions, setting aside the game in order to retrieve the Japanese puzzle box Elizebeth had showed an interest in earlier. Tucked under an arm, she was then able to grab another, this one involving dice that was meant to enhance ones critical thinking as well as improve upon keen eye sight and dexterity. "These two look good," she informs her companions as she heads toward the counter to pay.
"The worst that can happen is they can ask is to leave because we don't belong there. And then we can go to the I.M.C."
Anthony says, "Um, well, they just don't like people inviting themselves in. I don't know why, but they don't DO apprenticeships or anything."
"'Letter'?" Elizabeth asks. She knows as Anthony does about the apprenticeship opportunities, or lack thereof. There wasn't even a good idea what to study for in order to get a gob with that particular department. But did he know something that she hadn't? Something involving a letter? The puzzle she had set aside it picked up by Andromena, before the older girl turns to approach the counter. And she follows. Elizabeth shifts her attention only slightly as she glances back to Anthony. "How many are you up to now?"
"I just don't understand why inviting yourself in would be so awful. I get that there are no apprenticeships, though…" She shrugged, looking to Elizabeth for her opinion. Utterly oblivious that she shares that particular ambition as well. "I guess if I knew, the mystery part would be out of it - but it gnaws at me! You know?" She passes the coupon to the clerk and awaits to hear her total.
Anthony shrugs, "They let you 'register interest'." He shrugs a bit, "We could try, when we're in the Ministry for IMC, I suppose."
"It couldn't hurt to at least visit once. Then we have our answer of whether or not we can visit to begin with. Maybe even get a better idea what curriculum would be best for such a position, within the Department of Mysteries. Or perhaps they test potential candidates out in a real world environment, like the other departments." Obviously the girl's put some thought into this. Looking away, her gaze becomes distant as the corner of her lips tugs with a smile. "Personally? I view it to be a challenge, another puzzle, another mystery to be solved. And I think that's what they want us to believe, those that are genuinely interested in such a position within the Department. Separate those who are qualified from the rest." Elizabeth uses an elbow to gently nudge Anthony's arm. "I'm up to five, by the way. Including English." she smirks.
"Then register interest it is," Andromena says after paying, casually holding the bagged items over her shoulder. Were they flaunting their languages? They so were. Andromena smirked, and motioned for them to follow her to the door.
Anthony laughs, "That's brilliant! Can I ask which you've learned? I'm going to have to get going with General Flashman's book on Hindi, aren't I?" He turns to Andromena, and ceremoniously offers her an arm, and then he repeats the gesture with the other arm to Elizabeth. "And shall we go that way?"
Elizabeth begins to follow Andromena towards the door, but gently shakes her head in Anthony's offer of an arm. "You were already interested in Hindi, but I'm also not going to take it easy on you." She murmurs, the slight smirk still on her lips. "And you already know which ones. You suggested them to me." The door is opened, and Elizabeth steps through, pausing for him before continuing. "English of course. French and German I've spoken in front of you. And you're the one that suggested Ancient Greek and Latin, which I've mastered now." Indeed, she's not going to take it easy on him at all. Now that she's competing with him, in her mind, she's going to outshine him.
Anthony whistles, "That is impressive! Really quick!" He switches to German, «So, you are now confident in speaking and reading this tongue?»
Andromena, now outside, can only shake her head a the pair of them. She'd call them show-offs but they were…just Ravenclaws.