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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 2, 2019 18:32:48 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2019 18:32:48 GMT -7
"I am sure. He is an eagle owl," Dmitri assured her in reply to her Hippogriff question. Luckily, he didn't walk off with some dead fawn for his owl while in her company, though he did purchase a sizable rat instead. Tamatha knew that even Cameron's little friends, the Kolstads—though not so little anymore, she granted them—had always had an interest in hunting and No-Maj weapons and things like that. Not her; compared to her sister, she had always been the "princess"… and the description wasn't unfounded.
"They are one of the largest owl species in the world," Dmitri explained further as he held the door open for her and they left the shop, for which Tamatha was glad. She didn't really know too much about owls, if she was honest. She wasn't oblivious to them, given their prevalence, but it wasn't as though she could just rattle off fun facts about them.
"Where would you like to visit next?"
Somewhere without dead stuff, maybe? Tamatha thought about it. They weren't far at all from Flourish and Blotts. It was just across from them and two doors up ahead. "Flourish and Blotts?" she suggested, though that was where Dmitri had told her that he had been before. "Or we could walk to the south side of the alley? There are some cafés and things down that way?"
@dmitri
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 3, 2019 17:34:23 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2019 17:34:23 GMT -7
Dmitri felt a little bad choosing to go into the owl shop. His training had told him to always make the other person happy and comfortable. Making them squirm a little bit was alright, but not to the extend of bringing them around things that were dead, and/or going to be killed by a creature that you owned. He had asked her where she wanted to go next, and she said Flourish and Blotts as a response. He had been there once before, but still he looked around, spotting the shop. It was on the other side of the path that they were now on once again, and not too far away from where they were. Though, the place was quite compact for the number of shops that were there. As he surveyed the area, she also suggested a cafe. "How about we go to a cafe and get something to eat, then we go to Flourish and Blotts." Dmitri wasn't famished, but he could eat something.
@tamatha
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 3, 2019 22:45:15 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2019 22:45:15 GMT -7
"How about we go to a cafe and get something to eat, then we go to Flourish and Blotts?" Dmitri proposed to her.
It didn't sound like a bad idea to Tamatha, either, even if they chatted over coffee and pastries or something. They could work their way down to the cafés, hang around there, walk back up to Flourish and Blotts, and check it out. She nodded. "Yeah," she agreed. "That sounds like a good idea." She didn't think that it would be too crowded at any of the cafés; it really wasn't the season to sit around outside, and the cold had probably turned off some of the potential customers.
@dmitri
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 5, 2019 17:07:48 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2019 17:07:48 GMT -7
Dmitri didn't mind being outside at this time. It was nice. But seeing how the walk way of Diagon alley was practically empty, and the inside of the stores seemed to be suffering from the same condition as the street. It was cold, to the natives, and was after the season most known for shopping. Tammy agreed to getting some food, "What do they have that's good" He said as he motioned for her to lead the way.
@tamatha
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 6, 2019 14:42:23 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2019 14:42:23 GMT -7
"What do they have that's good?" Dmitri asked her as he motioned for her to lead the way to the cafés.
In Tamatha's experience, the cafés' menus had all been fairly standard for Diagon Alley—and for England in general, really. There wasn't anything of note, in her mind; it was really just the location (and the lack of alcohol) that seemed to be the differentiating factor between them and someplace like the Leaky Cauldron.
"Well, I don't think you'll find any borscht," Tamatha joked. Maybe someday, if the cafés' managers were feeling adventurous. "Some of them have some decent pastries and sandwiches, though?" she offered as a suggestion. "I mean, they're not quite to the level of French pastries, but they're not bad…" Tamatha shrugged slightly as she walked. She'd had worse.
@dmitri
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 8, 2019 17:22:55 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2019 17:22:55 GMT -7
"Well, I don't think you'll find any borscht," she had said, and Dmitri gave a chuckle. He hadn't expected food like that to be served here. Dmitri did enjoy borscht, along with other food from home. To be honest, food from home made him miss home. Well not all of home, there was plenty that he would never miss. Did she say pastries? Dmitri had a sweet tooth, and seemed to intensify his attention at the word. "I think you should choose your favorite place, and we will eat there." He had mentioned as they walked past the bookstore, Dmitri glanced inside. They would be back. "I'll have to try some for myself. Though I have not been to France."
@tamatha
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 8, 2019 18:49:53 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2019 18:49:53 GMT -7
“I think you should choose your favorite place, and we will eat there.”
“Great,” Tamatha nodded, not really knowing how to toe the line between wanting to thank him profusely for not creating another “standing around in the company of however many dead and decaying critters” and keeping things cool. Really, it was perfect that he had suggested that they go to somewhere she enjoyed. She trusted her own judgment… most of the time. Scratch that. She trusted her judgment at least where not ending up with yet another mediocre order of fish and chips was concerned. She could work with that.
As they passed by Flourish and Blotts, Dmitri took a glance inside of the place. Tamatha wished that she were capable of Legilimency, because it would have been really helpful to her. She couldn’t quite read Dmitri or anticipate what might have been running through his mind, which made him that much more interesting to her.
“I'll have to try some for myself. Though I have not been to France.”
Okay, maybe Tamatha shouldn’t have been so shocked that Dmitri hadn’t been to France if he hadn’t really even been to Diagon Alley before. She couldn’t say that she had ever been to Russia, but—considering France’s proximity to the United Kingdom—it was practically next-door. “Basically, I can’t promise you fine dining,” she noted. There really wasn’t any of that kind of thing in Diagon Alley, though it would have been convenient. “Or anything fancier than maybe a croissant.” Maybe sometimes they’d get creative and offer something that vaguely resembled a millefeuille, but that was about it.
@dmitri
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 9, 2019 17:28:12 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2019 17:28:12 GMT -7
They had headed off, and Dmitri could see hints of relief as they headed away from owl shop. He did feel bad about making her enter it, but he had learned what the shop had now, which was beneficial for him. Seeing the book store once more was great. Dmitri enjoyed learning, and a store full of knowledge like that, how could he resist? Perhaps he could find a potions book that focused on the Love Potion. If they did, he wouldn't purchase it now. It might bring across the wrong message. And he physically was unable to speak about his work, which would make things quite awkward. What would the girl think? On second thought, he could use it as away to draw closer. It had been a while since he had spent time like that with another.
No. Not now, Dmitri had a bit too much going on. He was working on acclimating to the area, and he had a teenage girl that was struggling to do the same. Then he had work. He had co-workers who were...strange. And he had just received a proposal to work with someone else in the department on some strange devise. It could be a short lived thing, but he was much to preoccupied to give too much energy in that. He contemplated stockily as they walked.
“Basically, I can’t promise you fine dining,” Tammy had said. Dmitri hadn't even considered the chance of fine dining in this area. Though there could be some nicer establishments, it was just a shopping area for all sorts of people. And, while he could act the part of the person who only ate fine dining, it was rare that he did. He didn't exactly grow up rich. "I'm sure the food will be great" He reassured her with a smile
@tamatha
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 10, 2019 9:37:01 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2019 9:37:01 GMT -7
Dmitri assured her that he was sure that the food would still be great. As far as her own tastes, Tamatha wasn't exceptionally picky, but she had also grown up with the expectation that she was supposed to have a taste for the finer things in life—something that maybe hadn't worked out quite so well for her when she had been uprooted to Canada at first and hated every minute of it. In spite of her mother's being a model, she hadn't gone without "home cooking", either. Sure, it was probably less greasy than some of the food that she had come across—and in Canada and America as well as in Britain—but she also wasn't one to shy away from dishes like poutine. French fries covered in cheese curds and brown gravy weren't exactly "health food".
"A lot of the time, I'm just grabbing whatever's convenient," Tamatha added. She didn't have time—or, really, the money, without asking her parents—to make gourmet meals from scratch each evening. Maybe that was how she had pictured her life as an adult once, when she went to Beauxbatons and that was essentially how she lived there, but it really wasn't how things had played out for her. "It's really not like I go to those No-Maj places with however many ratings because they happen to—I don't know—serve food in vials or dip it in pure gold before they serve it," she clarified.
@dmitri
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 10, 2019 19:32:56 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2019 19:32:56 GMT -7
As a child, the only home cooked meals came from their neighbor and his tutor. The sweet old woman took pity on the children, and taught him and his sister magic. During the days, he spent all his time out on the street of Moscow, trying to make enough money, so that their father wouldn't beat them when the had to go back to their apartment. Spending any of the money that he had collected was considered an unforgivable sin to his father, and so they had to use alternative methods for getting food. The kids were usually able to con something out of some people. And if there wasn't enough, Dmitri always made sure his sisters ate first. Dmitri was far from a picky eater. He did have things he really liked, like sweets. But he would use happily eat just about anything.
Not having time, Dmitri understood that. That was one of the main reasons he had never seen London, or Diagon Alley for that matter. He just didn't have time. "I am the same way." He smiled again at her. It was nice to know that they had more things in common. She further clarified and stopped to think for a moment "No-Maj" He only had to think for a second, and he seemed to understand better. It was quite simple really. "Would that be short for no magic?" He had heard that people from America, and probably Canada had different English terminologies. But he hadn't had too many experiences with people form those countries.
@tamatha
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 10, 2019 19:54:51 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2019 19:54:51 GMT -7
"I am the same way," Dmitri said of his food habits. It was strange to think that some people actually had time or money to dine out for every meal. It had to be said that Tamatha had definitely used her Veela charm to aid in that in the past, but she hadn't done so for a while. There had been a certain rush from it, especially when she had first moved to London and craved freedom from everything going on in her life. It had been a good escape, finding herself lost in men for a night—sometimes meeting up again, usually not—in a way that she had never been able to do in her little community back in Canada.
"No-Maj."
What? Tamatha paused. She had just mentioned No-Majes, but she hadn't thought too much about her use of the term until Dmitri had repeated it aloud.
"Would that be short for no magic?"
Tamatha laughed softly at the realization that she had only tripped Dmitri up with her vocabulary for a moment and that that was all. "Yeah," she nodded. "No-Maj. No magic. Non-magical. Muggle." They were all different ways of describing the same thing. "That's what they call them in America." Merlin, had she forgotten to mention that she'd gone to Ilvermorny? She gave an awkward laugh. "I, um, went to Ilvermorny, so some of their slang kind of… It slips out."
@dmitri
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 12, 2019 20:02:04 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2019 20:02:04 GMT -7
The girl had said a word that Dmitri didn't fully understand. He did something that just came naturally to him. He had thought it out. Dmitri was a thinker. He naturally thought fairly quickly. Thinking things out was a specialty of Dmitri. The girl laughed after he had mad a guess at what the term No-Maj meant. Had he been wrong? No, he wasn't wrong. It as the only explanation. It was the only thing that made sense.
Tammy confirmed Dmitri's thoughts were correct. "No-Maj. No magic. Non-magical. Muggle." It was the only logical outcome of the term. But it was nice to hear the girl confirm it. He didn't pretend to know everything. But he certainly knew a lot. "That's what they call them in America." she had clarified. That made perfect sense. American's had their own words for everything. He knew that mostly from the American tourists he used to con as a boy. "I wondered what they would call Muggles."
The girl mentioned the school that she had tone to. He had heard it once, but he couldn't place where. The name was vaguely familiar to him. But based off of the girls accent, and the slang that she identified to be American, it must have been the American school. But it didn't hurt to check. "Ilvermorney? In America right? What was that like." To be honest, one thing that Dmitri had never experienced, was going to school. The witch who taught him, nearly begged his father to allow him to go to a rewarding school. This was mostly because of his potential.
@tamatha
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 13, 2019 16:54:41 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2019 16:54:41 GMT -7
Tamatha smiled as Dmitri commented that he had wondered what the Americans called Muggles. "Muggle" itself was definitely a very British word, in Tamatha's view, though it was one to which she was used from having lived in Britain and worked around Britons for years.
When she mentioned Ilvermorny, though, Dmitri seemed curious as he repeated the name of her alma mater. He asked if it was in America and what it was like, and Tamatha nodded briefly in response to his first question about the school.
"That's the one," she confirmed. As for how it was, her initial thoughts about how Ilvermorny would be hadn't matched up with reality. The same had gone for Canada, too, in the beginning, though that had turned out alright enough. "I was kind of sure that I would hate it because it wasn't Beauxbatons," Tamatha admitted in embarrassment as she continued to walk in the direction of the cafés. "But I didn't, and… I think I'm a better person for having gone there." By the time that she had graduated, she hadn't been the insufferable brat that she had once been. Being at Beauxbatons, on the other hand, probably would have just fed into her behavior.
@dmitri
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 13, 2019 18:52:54 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2019 18:52:54 GMT -7
So he was right about the location. It wasn't a hard conclusion to come to, based off of what had been said. Figuring things out was something that Dmitri loved to do. It was why he had joined the unspeakables. He could do research on one of the most forbidden subject and actually be paid to do it. On top of that, he was required not to talk about it with others. What could be better?
Tammy then mentioned Beauxbatons. That one was easy. It was clearly a french word, and Dmitri could hear the accent as she said the school's name. That was one name that was hard not to have at least a little accent when saying it. "It is good that you became better from the experience." Experiences were something to help one grow. If a person didn't grow form a hard experience. They would never grow.
As they talked, the two continued to walk, and as they rounded the corner, Dmitri could see a lign of cafe's.
@tamatha
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last online May 5, 2024 6:36:05 GMT -7
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Jul 14, 2019 9:57:27 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2019 9:57:27 GMT -7
"It is good that you became better from the experience."
"Yeah, I was… kind of a brat when I was a kid." There were more than a few events in her life that had bettered her, Tamatha thought. That she had had such a good experience at Ilvermorny had been one of them. It was one of the factors that had led her to decide to stay in Canada, with her proximity to the Americans she had known in school. She'd gotten her first job in journalism out there, and things had been good.
But her decision to stay in Canada was also bittersweet. She obviously didn't live there anymore, and half of her was waiting for Dmitri to pry into why she had left. If she hadn't stayed, though, she wouldn't have known her little brother for the short while that he was alive, even if she hadn't been able to save him. She might have also been able to help Cameron with her problems sooner, had she stayed.
Even with those regrets, maybe it was better that she had distanced herself. It still hurt sometimes to think about it too much, but she had to remind herself that she couldn't change the past. She could only work towards fixing the future—and hopefully not regretting her actions another few years down the line.
Tamatha knew that she would have to dwell on that later. She and Dmitri were already coming upon the row of cafés—their next destination on his tour.
@dmitri
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