Millie smiled at Drew, "you're right, there's nothing wrong with snakes but it's a problem when you're trying to draw a hippogriff." she laughed

Millie turned to Rain () "your dad is a Curse Breaker? That's awesome. That's actually what my boyfriend and I want to be when we finish school. We're hoping to go to South America or Asia at some point."

"I'm glad to hear your parents are happy, Magnus. I'm sure it's a big adjustment. I'll have to check when we get back to Hogwarts"

(rain is Bitterlimeparakeet's char, River is mine.))

River's smile faded. "Yeah," she said with sadness, "its so awesome." She sighed. "Hope you enjoy it."

"Yeah, it really is," Magnus agreed. "E gets a lot of attention too. Named 'im Tegan."

(( whoops, sorry. I wasn't even paying attention. I have a new kitty who keeps luring my attention away lol))

Millie could feel a change in River's mood when she mentioned becoming a curse breaker. She thought about asking about it but decided against it. She gave a warm smile and let it drop

"Aw, what a super cute name. I won't lie, I don't know how well I'd handle my parents having another baby. I'm used to being an only child. I doubt they would. Mum and dad are too focused on work and travel. They're considering buying a flat in southern Spain or France"

((lol no worries. Distracta-kitties XD how old? What kind? Get for Christmas? lol I love cats))

"Sorry..." River said. "Its just my dad...well he travels all over the place and he's obsessed with the ruins and treasure. He kinda never pays any attention to me at all. He barely even writes. I stay with someone else, a guardian."

"Ooh I ain't ever been to Spain before. France, yes. We went to the Musée d'Orsay, oh it's brilliant! I could live there." Magnus eyes beamed. He loved art.

"Good to know, mate, good to know," Drew grinned at Magnus. ()

Laughing at Millie's () answer, Drew nodded. "I see your point," he agreed. "which is why I stick to writing and just watch Mags and Fade."

When the talk turned to the Lee's new baby, Drew said to Magnus, "You know Mum is chomping at the bit to come visit. And Aunt Ally and the girls will probably want to come too, if it's okay."

"Mum would like that," Magnus said, "just 'ave your mum drop 'er an owl and pop 'round. She's loving showing of the baby too."

(( - I think she is about 3-4. I adopted her from someone. She was a stray and this lady was taking care of her. The lady fell in love with her because she's really sweet. She posted on a mutual friend's facebook (the mutual friend runs a dog rescue) asking if she knew where she could take this cat to be adopted. I saw it and decided to adopt her. I adopted yesterday. Her name is Princess Sophie Von Pierce LOL. Sophie for short. She's named after Catherine the Great, just with my last night lol. She's gray and white and super sweet))

"I'm sorry to hear that River. It's a shame. I think if I have kids, I'd come back to stay put in one place and work either in a Gringotts or a Wizarding Hospital. I know St. Mungos employs Curse Breakers in case of a bad spell. But I'm looking forward to getting out and working and exploring the ruins. So is Emmett."

"You would love southern Spain. The food is amazing and the people are really friendly. I love France too. I haven't been to Musée d'Orsay but I love the Palace of Versailles and exploring Paris. Emmett wants to go exploring in the catacombs but I don't think I'm brave enough for that. We'd get lost"

Millie laughed at Drew ( ), "Yeah, I'll stick with baking, reading, and learning these ancient languages for Ancient Studies class. I wish I could draw though."

((aww, she sounds perfect :) congrats on the adoption XD and great name))

"Yeah. I wished he'd pay more attention," River said with a sigh. "I moved here because thats where my guardian lives. I was living in Egypt. I've explored so many pyramids and tombs. There's a lot of adventure in curse breaking."

"I've not gone there," MAgnus said, "but we did go to Japan in the summer. I liked the monastery we visited. The monks were super cool. Oooh catacombs would be awesome."

(( - Thanks! I've lucked out. She is super sweet. And I'm glad I was able to help out. I'm happy she will never be cold and hungry again))

"I know how you feel. My dad spends most of his time at St. Mungos and my mum at her bakery. If I want to spend time with my mum, I have to go down to the bakery and I'm always put to work. I mean, I like working at the bakery but I don't want to be stuck there my whole break"

"Ohh, Japan. I'd love to go there. The farthest east I've been is Croatia. The Ancient Roman ruins were amazing."

((that's awesome. All our pets are rescues too XD))

"That's gotta be tough, though I wish I could help him with work or something. Does your mum use magic for baking?"

"It was awesome," Magnus said, "I enjoyed it a lot. The food was very different. THey got Roman ruins in so many places, I'd like to see 'em."

, Mallowsweet laughed good naturedly. "I think they're going to help themselves regardless of my opinion" She plucked a few strands from her mane as well as a couple of coarser, but equally shiny ones from her tail and dangled them over the side of the bus. Two of the plump birds immediately began to squabble over them. She laughed again as the bus transformed. "Good thing we're moving on." she said" I'd be bald before they were happy." (ooc, sorry I'm so slow to respond. My online time is really limited lately, and on top of that I seem to be getting this flu going around)

"Aah! They ate it!" Jona laughed and clapped his hands together excitedly. "And, well, considering you got me Duncan, the least I could do was buy you a pair of glasses. Jona started laughing hysterically now at the thought of one of the diricawls, perched on Zoe's glasses. Holding his sides together, he gasped for air, unable to say a word because the laughing fit struck such a cord for him. He had finally begun to calm down when he choked on his spit and was sent into another round of laughter. He manage to muffle his incessant giggling, however once the bus began to move. His eyes went wide as the glass roof appeared; wondering what might be next, it was sure to be good. Then he saw the Occamy.

"It's beautiful," he said, though not meaning for it to be aloud. Jona jumped up in his seat, having already forgotten his embarrassment from earlier and threw his hand into the air.

"'Scuse me! What is the general life span of an occamy? Also, do you know the recorded smallest and largest cases of size for the occamy?"

Niamh finished making notes in her notebook just as the bus started moving on. She gasped as she spotted the Occamy flying overhead, partly in fear as large flying things seemed totally unnatural to her. Owls were fine, but her cousins had told her stories of evil dragons when she was a youngster and since then she'd been fearful around anything large that could fly. She wasn't sure if she should keep watching it, or just make more notes. Taking a deep breath, she figured that the roof of the bus was more than strong enough to keep them all safe, and started trying to sketch the landscape in her notebook.

Paddy wasn't really that struck with the Diricawl. There was nothing 'wrong' with it, it just wasn't her kind of creature. As the bus moved on to the next location, she stared out of the windows, trying to see what the next creature was.... but there was nothing there. As she looked over at Irwin, she realised he was pointing to the glass roof, and stared in awe as the giant Occamy flew overhead. "Now that's more my kind of creature," she said to nobody in particular, as she watch it fly surprisingly gracefully given its size.

Drew’s attention was drawn back to Irwin as he spoke and the bus began transforming again. The new addition of the glass dome roof was a surprise and had Drew wondering what they would see next. Obviously it would be something in the air and his excitement rose as the bus did until he gave a soft gasp of admiration at the view of the mountains. But the snowy splendor seemed to melt away as Drew got his first glimpse of the Occamy. He stood up, neck craned back and eyes on the creature as it flew in spirals over their bus. “That’s amazing!” he said. If only he had a camera or the ability to draw!

With his eyes still on the creature, Drew called, “Irwin? Is it a male or female or can you tell? You mentioned eggs so I’m guessing it’s a girl? Do the males have longer and brighter feathers? How do you tell them apart?” He then took his eyes off the rippling, shimmery Occamy long enough to look at the guide, wondering if he’d just bombarded the poor man with too many questions.

( ....and anyone/everyone else :) )

Keet grinned, "Whatever works best! That is a really cute top, and it looks nice and lightweight for this steamy climate," she said, fanning herself. Rain piped up when Millie mentioned not being great at drawing, "Don't feel bad, I'm terrible at drawing too," she consoled. "At least I have a friend who can do nice sketches for me," she laughed, nudging Keet with her elbow. Keet rolled her eyes good-naturedly and continued sketching the diricawls.

"Oh yay, I'd love to see her," Rain beamed. "Ooo, what other pets did you get? I'm curious! Yeah, Aureus is pretty awesome, he's very similar to a hummingbird in a lot of ways. He gets along swimmingly with the ones we have," she grinned. "Oh, I'm glad!" Keet smiled. "I love their iridescent feathers, they look like little flying jewels. She likes birds, too? That's great!" She laughed, "that's true, but I'm such a goody-goody, I don't like to do things that would purposely get me into trouble. I know, boring Keet," she chuckled.

Keet and Rain got settled as the bus began to move again. They were fascinated by the new glass roof, hoping that meant the next animal would be a flying creature. Keet gasped in awe and excitement as the occamy flew overhead. She was seriously regretting forgetting her pair of omnioculars in the trunk under her four-poster bed. Luckily, Rain had brought a pair that she was more than willing to share. "Look Keet, I think I see the eggs Irwin was telling us about!" She pointed to one of the trees and handed Keet the omnioculars so that she could take a look. Keet zoomed in with the lenses, and sure enough, there were the silver eggs, gleaming brightly at the top of one of the trees. "I see them!" she exclaimed happily, "They're beautiful." She turned the omnioculars back towards the occamy overhead to get a better look, before handing them back to Rain. She took out her sketchbook and began to draw it quickly. The occamy kept moving, so she had to work fast!

(and anyone else )

Iriwn chuckled along with Mallowsweet. She was good natured about it, which was great.

Zoe smiled. But was giggling as Jona laughed hysterically over her comment. This was nice—this talking. It seemed easier, more natural. She was glad to have a friend. When she the Occamy, she agreed with Jona’s words. “Aye, tis gorgeous!”

“Their average lifespan is about 60 years old. Well for the most part they don’t generally exceed fifteen feet long. But since they can magical alter size for space, they can get very small—I’m not sure we’d have accurate data for a conclusive answer on that since if it chooses to, it can remain smaller,” Irwin replied.
((occ: going off the average age of a boa constrictor and adding a two decades since its magical.))

River was grateful she didn’t bring her pet monkey Max, though there was the glass roof. Still she found the creature mesmerizing to watch fly. “Isn’t it lovely,” she asked Niamh.

Magnus chuckled when Paddy said the large Occamy was more her creature. He agreed, then he tended to like magical animals that had a bit more danger to them. “I agree Paddy, they are really cool!”

Irwin shook his head. “Nope, can’t tell. Well, okay actually you can if you could look under its tail for bumps near its vent like with snakes. But since they are really aggressive you’d never get the chance. Both mothers and fathers care for their nests so just because its close doesn’t mean it’s a female.”

River smiled speaking of her pets. “Well my guardian and his girlfriend gave me a thunderbird. Her cousin brought it with him from America. It requires a very special skill so best to stay in the dragon sanctuary. The toucan of course, and I got the griffin too—well just before Christmas but it was close enough. I’m sure my guardian will try putting a ban on pets soon but I’m hoping to collect more before he does.” She giggled. “Aww I’m so glad he gets along with the other hummingbirds.” River nodded. “She does. Pretty much everyone I know loves animals so it’s a major plus.” River giggled. “Well guess it makes up for me, cos I’m always trying to get into trouble.”

(( - rescues are the best. All our other pets are rescues as well))

"No" Millie said to River. "She's a muggle. She does have two witches who work for her and they run the magical side. There are certain hours wizards and witches can go in. She's thinking of opening a second shop just for magical treats, so that way the two worlds can stay separate. She does a good job at keeping them separate though."

Millie smiled at Keet () "Thanks! I got it in Croatia last summer. It's really soft"

She laughed when she heard Rain speak up. "That's a good idea. I need someone who can draw for me. My boyfriend, Emmett, is even worse than I am. I can at least draw a snake and stick figure. He just drops ink all over the place. He is a mess".

She sat and admired the beauty of the Occamy. She had no interest in getting closer to it but it was still a beautiful creature nonetheless. She thought about snapping a picture but decided against it because pictures never showed the true beauty.

"Oh right you told me this before," River said, "sorry I forgot. Sounds complicated."

An Occamy! Lysandra tried to stay clear of hyperventilating. One of her secret wishes coming true at the very moment! How beautiful these dangerous creatures were! And how protective of their hatch.

Studying the dragon-like magic animals, thousand ideas and questions rushed through her mind. „Mister Irv….. I mean, Irvin.“ Lys piped up, blushing. „Are the eggs of real silver? Are the Occamies intelligent in general and are we able to communicate with them?“ The young girl paced up and down, excited, twisting a streak of her long black hair around her fingers.