Kiara laughed at the "being enlisted into service" part. She squatted down in the sand between the two girls. "I'd love to help build a moat; I'm Kiara. What are your names?" She recognized them as being Slytherin students, but like most the people she seemed to be running into on this trip, she'd never talked to them before. She didn't really hang out with anyone outside of Ravenclaw usually; though somehow she seemed to be hanging out with a lot of Slytherins today. She knew the one girl was in the McGovern family, she was sure she'd seen her around outside of Hogwarts... when she wasn't at school, and of course before she was in school, she only ever really saw other pure-blood families, since those were the families that tended to be her parent's friends. Not that he parents had anything against half-blood families per-say... they just felt more comfortable around pure-bloods. Or at least, that's how Kiara's mother had said it, when she'd asked once.

Kiara peered around at all the intricate details. "I've never seen such a fancy sand castle!" she exclaimed, impressed. "How fancy is this moat going to be? I'm not sure if my spell work is up to the task!" she said with a laugh.

Toru finished building the tank and gently picked up the small cup with the betta. They did give Magnus a curious glance. "D-Does the meditation h-help?" They asked interested. The Hufflepuff had never heard of it being an option, but it would be a fascinating theory if it worked. They gave a small delicate smile. "I-I wouldn't mind b-being penfriends." Being a penpal was actually something they were good at. It required minimal actual social interaction and the scratching of a quill on parchment was almost soothing to them.

They set the tank up front and make sure the heater and water filters were working properly. They make sure the water temperature was the same as the betta fish's container before releasing them slowly into the tank. Toru quietly spelled the whole tank to be lighter and spill proof for travel when the shopkeeper turned away gave them their change for the tank, supplies and fish. They had just enough muggle money on hand to make the purchase, so their seahorse plushie dreams would have to wait. Perhaps they'd ask for one for Christmas since their birthday had already passed. Toru thanked the shopkeeper for the change, and asked if he could hold the tank until it was time to go.

and everyone else who is in the shop (OOC: Niamh is being unhelpfully quiet today! :P)

"That repelling spell could work," Niamh replied thoughtfully, as she picked out a small tank for herself as well. "What fish are you going to pick to go in yours, seeing as I don't want to pick identical ones for mine."

"I'm pleased you're used to Muggle money, Magnus. I don't want to look a complete prat," Paddy said with a laugh. "Spot anything that you'd really love to buy yet?"

"What like from shifting? No. But it's to 'elp keep me calmer. See sometimes I get really angry and 'ostile on the days of the full moon. So the meditation's supposed to 'elp keep me calmer. I ain't sure if it does help a lot though." He smiled. "I'll get there addresses for you then. I think you'd like both."

Magnus slipped over to the plushies deciding to buy one for Toru since the whale liked. He saw the cute seahorse and put two in his basket. He bought his mother a string of pearls and a pretty bracelet. For his dad he got a conch and a book about marine life. He picked up some bathbombs too.

Blade smiled happy to be of help. "I'm going to do one yellow clown goby, one clownfish, a Bicolor Dottyback, two pajama cardinalfish, and some dwarf blue leg hermit crabs. But you can get the same, they are gorgeous fish."

Magnus giggled. "It would be amusing to watch you work it out but I wouldn't do it to you." He shook his head. "Not yet. See anything you think I should 'ave? How about yourself?"

"That sounds like a lot to fit into that tank," Niamh replied in surprise, "I thought they'd need more space than that. Those pajama cardinalfish look too sweet to not get a couple though."

Paddy smiled, "I just have a feeling I'd be handing over Galleons rather than muggle money, and the sales assistant would be getting even more confused." She paused to look at the tanks of fish, "maybe another fish, or something for your tanks?"

“I’ve never studied runes,” Flora admitted. “Do you think you could teach me some?”

As Kiara joined them, Flora smiled and said, “Nice to meet you, Kiara. I’m Flora. I’m still trying to learn people because this is my first term here and I really haven’t gotten out of the common room much except for classes. What house are you in? I’m Slytherin and so is Lena. Then again if I’d been anything else Da would have pretended to die of embarrassment…which would have made ME want to die from embarrassment.” She rolled her eyes slightly with a typical pre-teen outlook on parents.

“Thanks!” Flora grinned at the comment about how fancy the castle was. “Lena and I have been having fun. And I don’t think you’ll need any spell work. We’re trying to do most of it by hand, but Lena added runes to make the candles light up. Isn’t it neat?!”

"I can show you some pretty cool ones, yeah. One of the ones I use the most sticks things in place. It's perfect on breezy days when I want to do homework outside."

Ready to introduce herself to the new girl, Kiara, Lena had to grin as Flora took off running with introductions and many important details. "It is a parent's job to embarrass us, I think." Turning to Kiara she smiled, "As you've already heard, I'm Lena. Short for Magdalena. If you want to grab one of the shovels from our tool bucket over there, you can start digging around the castle."

Looking over at Flora she shrugged with a question in her eyes as she spoke a little more slowly to Kiara, inviting Flora to interrupt if she was totally against it, "Or you can try a spell or two, if you think it will make things move faster." Now fully directing her comment to the first year, Lena went on, "I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little hungry. I don't want to leave the castle without a moat though."

As she waited for a decision, Lena finished the last window she was planning to put a light in before stashing her wand away.

"It's only five fish and some crabs. It'd be about 13 inches of fish or so. It should be okay since this is a twenty gallon. The typical rule is one gallon per inch of fish. With salt you wanna under stock it though, especially with the corals in it. But we can spell it a bit to expand the size inside as well." Blade blushed a little. He had looked at getting a tank for a long while and had done the research on the Wizard Web. "You should get some. I can help you care for them if you want." Was it just him or did that sound sappy? It wasn't supposed to sound that way. It was supposed to sound cool and helpful. He blushed. Suddenly he had an idea. He slipped off for a moment and picked out a necklace for Nimah. It was a pretty pendant that looked like the ocean and a little starfish on it. True she counted the conch but it was free. If he was going to get this amazing gift, he wanted to get something for her in return.

He paid for the necklace and the extras in his tank and was ready to head out. He would have to wait for him to have less of an audience before giving her the necklace though.

Magnus smiled. "Yeah but that'd be amusing too. Ooh now there's a thought. I do like those sea dragons."

Niamh stared at Blade, "you certainly know your stuff when it comes to tanks and fish!" She smiled at his eagerness for her to also get a tank, "it doesn't take much for me to be interested in getting more pets," she admitted, picking out some suitable fish plus a crab and heading to the till to pay for both tanks and her fish.

Paddy looked round to find the sea dragon tank, "surely those aren't Muggle fish," she said, entranced by the way they were swimming through the tank, "they've got to be magical creatures."

Blade ran his hands through his hair. "Er, well... I kinda've have been researching fish for a long time. I've always liked marine life and used the wizard web to learn more." He followed her to the till. "The clerk said we can leave them here till we leave... so we could... er, explore?"

"Nope, they ain't magical, but they are freaking neat. Part of the sea'orse family," Magnus said. "Wanna get yourself a tank and get some?"

"That sounds good to me," Niamh replied, "I was hoping we wouldn't have to lug these tanks around. I mean I know we can charm them to be lighter, but they're still quite bulky to carry!"

Paddy was still staring at the sea dragons, "do they like being in a group, or can they live on their own?" she asked, wondering what size tank she'd need, and if an Undetectable Extension charm would work to allow a greater number of fish in a relatively small tank.

Blade laughed. "Yeah it would kinda be a challenge. How about we grab a couple of pails and collect some shells?" Once outside and away from the other students enough he awkwardly held out his hand and said, "I wanted to thank you for the tank. It, er, means a lot to me and well I wanted you to have this." He handed her the necklace. He was blushing as deep red as his hair. It was the first gift he'd given someone outside of family.

"Group is better. And we can spell it so it is bigger on the inside of the tank," he said as if he read her mind.

"Sure thing, that sounds like fun," Niamh replied. As he handed over the necklace, she bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at his blush matching his hair colour. If anything, blushing made him look cuter.... she paused as she realised what she'd just thought, and hoped she hadn't said that out loud. "Whoa, that's a stunningly beautiful necklace," she said as she put it on and carefully did up the clasp, "thank you!" Before she could stop herself, she wrapped her arms around Blade and gave him a hug.

Mentally picking out a few sea dragons that she could add to a tank of her own, Paddy looked at the prices trying to convert it to galleons, "how about I buy you a couple of the sea dragons for your tank as well? That'll be my thank you for you getting me the wetsuit."

With their purchases bought and the temptation for a cute plushie too great, Toru slipped out of the shop while the others continued browsing. It was starting to get a little later in the day and they wanted to bask in the tropical weather a little longer before returning to Scotland. They found a small bit of warm sand and set down since everyone else seemed busy and decided to watch the other students. At least until someone invited them to participate in an activity.

((Ooc- hey everyone. Sorry for the silence. I’ve had some things going on the past few days and time has gotten away from me. I’m not sure I’ll be able to post anymore on this current adventure but I wanted to thank the admin for such a fun and creative RP))

“Cool,” Blade said. He was pleased she seemed to like the necklace and he watched her put it on. “It looks nice on you.” Suddenly he was enveloped in a hug. It took him by surprise. Now he had to be blushing harder. It was a nice hug. “You’re welcome,” he said awkwardly. He really had no idea how to act now but he grabbed two pails and offered her one so they could begin looking for shells. “So…er, what’s your favourite colour? I can look for shells that are that colour.”

Magnus knew Paddy was gonna buy them for herself and grinned. But the offer did stun him a bit. “Really? Yeah that’d be cool, thank you!” The clerk said for Magnus’ dragons he could get them bagged as it was time to go. Once the purchases were made, they headed outside where Magnus spotted Toru. “Hey Toru, got ya something.” He reached in his bag and pulled out the seahorse plushie. “I saw ‘ow much you liked the whale and for some reason I thought this one was perfect for you. But we can swap it out if you don’t like it. Wanna do something with us? We can make a sandcastle or walk the beach and look for shells…. Or swim or sit and chat…” He looked to Paddy and Toru to see what they’d say.

(( glad you enjoyed. hope things smooth out for you -snugs-))

Toru blushed excitedly seeing the seahorse and was unable to contain the absolute squeal of excitement as they snuggled it close. "T-Thank you, Magnus. S-Seahorses are my favorite..." They admitted with a bright blush. Toru took the seahorse and snuggled it happily. "I-I'm okay with d-doing whatever."

"I'm in Ravenclaw," Kiara said to Flora. "My parents were Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. They didn't really mind where I ended up." She admired the lit candles in the castle.

"Oh that's even more impressive if you did it all by hand! A moat should be easy enough though; until you let the water in, then it always seems to start melting everything," she said with a laugh.

(will drag paddy lol XD)) ((and all))

"Cool, then let's look for some shells," Magnus said.

Flora grinned. “Thanks, Lena. That one sounds really useful,” she said regarding the runes.

“My Aunt Laurel, Drew’s mum, was a Ravenclaw,” Flora told Kiara. “Do you know Drew? He’s one of the Slytherin prefects.”

“I’m getting kind of hungry too,” Flora agreed with Lena. “And I see Drew heading toward the buffet. There won’t be much left if he gets there first.” At the mention of using magic, Flora debated. On the one hand she wanted to finish as they had started, but then again she did want to have time to sample the food and maybe splash in the surf a bit and wash off the sand before they had to head back. Decisions, decisions!

When Kiara commented that the moat should be easy, Flora nodded. “Let’s do it by hand and then go wash off in the water before we eat.”

Together the three girls set to work scooping and packing the sand in the moat in an attempt to keep it from washing away as easily. Flora smiled as Lena performed a spell to harden the sand after they had packed it with their hands. When they added the water, it didn’t wash away. Happy with their work, the girls grinned at each other and Flora stood up, ready to make a run for the water.