[Moscow] After the rain (Nessa)

Work was done for the day. Alla was relieved to get out now. While she quite liked her job it sometimes was a bit overwhelming to work at a funeral parlour. Dealing with the dead was not really a problem for her though. She could dress the bodies for the funeral and decorate everything. She liked it when she prepared a room to exhibit a dead body. Arranging flowers and candles to make the room look all festive and pretty was a nice task and nothing of this bothered her as she had no relation to the deceased person. However, her parents and her little sister were still appalled by her job but Alla could see nothing wrong in it. Especially not as she could practise some necromancy. She had to do that secretly though as her boss didn't approve of it. In his opinion it was bad for the business if rumours were spread about dead bodies being abused for dark magic. Alla didn't agree but knew better than to jeopardise her job by discussing this.

The hardest part of her work was dealing with the living. The mourning relatives of recently deceased people were hard to handle. Their grief was even affecting Alla sometimes. Losing a loved person was the worst thing that one could ever experience, that much was certain. Alla had today seen the body of a girl who died at a young age and it had made her think. The girl looked a little like her sister and since she hadn't seen Lyuda in a while she felt rather sad and guilty. They had been quite close during their time together at Durmstrang. Much of this closeness had been due to Lyudmila being rather clingy but Alla loved her sister dearly.

As she left the funeral parlour being dressed in a black pencil skirt and a white blouse, Alla's boots that didn't quite fit to the elegant outfit made slight smacking noise on the wet pavement. It had rained all day and the air was still humid. However, the sun had finally replaced the dark clouds and it was a lovely late afternoon. Having thought so much about Lyuda, Alla decided to go shopping. She would buy her sister something nice and then visit her again at Belushya Guba before the school year would end. Lyudmila would certainly like that.

The only problem was that they had no common interests and Alla had no idea what she could find for her little sister. In her opinion it was easy to find something for herself - she'd be happy if she got a nice new knife, a book about necromancy, living or even dead little mammals to experiment with... there so many interesting things that had to do with necromancy! However, if she gave a dead ferret to her sister she was bound to get into trouble. She thought about it some more. Lyuda liked knitting but Alla was absolutely clueless what kind of wool her sister would like. Clothes were something she could look for. Then again she didn't know if her sister had grown a lot lately and most things should be tried on anyway.

Lost in thought the Russian entered a store somewhere between the funeral parlour and her home. She remembered it from the past as one of the biggest Russian shops for wizarding robes and accessories. However, it appeared that the shop which had been advertised a lot in the past had changed its location. As she stepped over the threshold, Alla realised that this was a muggle store now, one that had only recently opened by the looks of it. There were special offers and red balloons all over the place. At first the girl wanted to turn around and leave, but she was strangely intrigued by the variety of different things she had never seen before. Being a pureblood, Alla never got around a lot in the muggle world. Curiously she walked further into the shop, eyes wide open and looking completely bewildered.

July 2000 

Diagon Alley was a great place to shop for robes but there were some things the shops in London just didn't carry. Nessa was a shopping professional so when she learned of an event coming up next month that she was being forced to go to she knew exactly where she could get the perfect set of robes from. The shop in Moscow always had a great selection and she could usually talk the price down a few sickles with not much work. Most of the things she had to go to were family events and she usually wore dresses to those but this was something entirely different. It was a potioneers guild event so it wasn't about having a good neckline, it was about looking sharp and professional. After all she was trying to get the next level qualifications from the guild, she had to make a good impression. After a quick apparition to a nearby wizarding district Nessa walked the rest of the way to the row of shops in Moscow. The street was nothing like Diagon Alley, it was a mixture of muggle and magical shops all squished in together but that was alright, Cork was partly the same way. Nessa knew what to look for to spot magical shops as they always had some kind of clue on the outside, so you could tell before you got close enough for the muggle glamour to fade away. She moved quickly, the heels of her boots clacking against the ground loudly.

The wind blew her long near black hair around her face as she crossed the street, aptly avoiding the muggle death contraptions that whizzed by her. Logically she understood the positives in being able to move around the world faster than by foot, after all muggles didn't have brooms and couldn't aparate, but driving around in steel boxes pumped full of flammable liquid didn't sound healthy. The witch huffed as she landed safely on the curb away from the vehicles and pushed her hair away from her cheeks. She knew where the shop she was looking for was so she didn't bother to check the sign before busting in the doorway. She'd been a bit of a regular here in the years past so she'd come to know a few of the shop workers over time. She looked down at the watch hanging off her wrist, checking the time as she moved into the shop. Following a familiar path she made her way a few feet inside to where there used to be a small measuring stand with three mirrors ran by a petite Russian witch. Without looking up from her watch she huffed again, realizing she was running late. "Alyona I need a new robe, something that'll impress the brewmasters at the ICW so they'll give me a damned gold cauldron already." She said, not that she actually thought she could woo the ICW with fancy clothing. She had been working on a new potion to help a friend and she was hoping she could kill two birds with one pot as it were. Her brown eyes moved from her watch to her bag as she flipped the top of the satchel open quickly. She dug around for a second before she pulled out the small pouch that held her wizarding money inside. She pulled it out, causing the coins in the pouch and the absurd amount of rings strung around her neck on a silver chain to jingle in tune with one another. It was then that she realized Alyona had not responded to her request yet, it was unlike her. The young seemstress-to-be worked on tips so customer attentiveness was a high priority.

Nessa's eyes flew up toward where she thought the mirrors would be but much to her suprise they were not there any longer. Her vision was assaulted by the strange looks of muggles shopping and bouncing red balloons claiming there was a sale going on. Her eyes grew wide as she spoke again, this time her Irish accent bleeding through with full force. "Oh bloody hell am I in the wrong effin' place?" It was unusual for her to make a mistake of this magnitude and she began to worry. Quickly she mentally went over what she had just announced to the store of muggles, had she said anything that might reveal the fact that there was a whole world of powerful beings living right under their naive noses? She took a deep breath, index finger pressing down on her stressed temple as she saw a small boy peeking out from behind a rack of mom jeans. His lips were blue and it was clear a gumball was hiding in his cheek. "What are you looking at?" She spat at him, not afraid to scare a child. Now where would she go for her robe? The small boy stuck out his blue tongue at her and waggled his hands near his face, which did nothing to soothe Nessa's temper. She looked down the aisle she was standing in and decided in the moment that it made sense to accuse the first woman she found of neglect. "Hey you should pay more attention to your child, he could choke on that gumball at any minute while your trying to figure out whether or not you would look better in winter or summer colors. Trust me, the color of the top won't change the fact that your arse was not meant to fit in those jeans." She placed a dramatic hand on her hip, making a scene like it was nobodies business because if there was one thing Nessa wasn't it was flexible. Her shop was gone, her trip was a waste of time, and she was in the beginning stages of hunger induced crankiness.

While Alla was taking a look at various muggle clothes, some of which she found truly atrocious, she heard a voice that did not only belong to a not Russian woman but apparently also to a witch. Alla made her way towards the fellow witch but kept a distance for now. She wanted to find out what kind of foreign witch made her way to this store. Apparently she had been looking for the same shop as Alla. While that didn't make her particularly interesting, the Russian was determined to get a little more open minded than she had been in the past. During her time at Durmstrang the daughter of the keepers of a Russian souvenir shop had barely accepted people from other states of the former Soviet Union.

When Alla heard the Irish woman swear though, she was not sure she wanted to get to know her. In fact the Klyk graduate barely understood the other woman as her Irish accent was so strong and the words she used were not any she had seen in her English textbook. A slight frown appeared on her face. It was one thing to have a textbook like conversation about the weather in English but quite another to deal with a swearing Irish woman. Quietly Alla went a little closer, torn between being appalled and fascinated by the behaviour of the other witch.

A soft giggle escaped her when she heard the comment about the jeans being too tight for the mother of a petulant child. Maybe she could just follow the other woman around the shop and thus be entertained and learn a little more English? For a moment this plan seemed like a good one. Then, however, Alla decided that she would not play the role of a pathetic stalker and instead see if her English was satisfactory. If the woman was as impolite to her as she was to the muggles in the store, she'd make her regret it.

"Hello," she said in English, her Russian accent alienating the sound of the word. "I believe you expected a different shop here too." So far so good. Alla thought that she was doing rather well although she was aware that English had to sound different than what she was able to articulate. Nonetheless she could feel how her cheeks had reddened. "Do you know anything about muggle things?" she asked in a low voice so people surrounding them could not overhear what she was saying. Maybe this witch knew more about the items on sale here and could help her find a present for her sister. Or if she was just as clueless as Alla they could maybe look at it as an adventure they could tackle together.

Nessa was having a bit of a break down in the middle of the store. Her stress levels were rising and seeping into her anger management and it wouldn't be long before it was all out war. She had a much harder time keeper her cool these days than she used to, the smallest things could set her off, like accidentally walking into a muggle clothing store. Previously she would of just left, thrown out some snide insults sure, but she wouldn't still be standing there. She was surprised when a woman approached her and Nessa could tell from her accent that English was not her first language. She eyed the other girl and listened for clues as to where she might of come from. When the blond hinted toward the fact that she too had been looking for something different here the corners of the Irish witches mouth turned up slightly. So she wasn't the only one to make the mistake, that made her feel better, but she was still irritated that the mistake was made in the first place.

She slipped her hands into the pockets of her cloak, listening to the girls question and then giving her an incredulous look. "I know about as much as I need to." Nessa was from a Pureblooded family, there was no doubt about that, but she hadn't lead an entirely sheltered life either. It was rare but sometimes she actually went into the muggle world for things, so she had to do her research. "Apparently they all let their children get fat." She said, nodding back toward the mother who was hurrying her child away from Nessa's volatile mouth. She shifted her weight from one boot to the other and stared at Alla, not particularly caring if she seemed rude or a little crazy. "Why are you so interested in them? Did you come in here on purpose?" Nessa wasn't bias toward wizards who loved muggles, Nessa was bias toward every one for everything. She had a tendency to put up a wall of judgement between her and other people. It was difficult, and not for the easily insulted, but the wall could be broken. Those who had done it quickly found a fiercely loyal friend in the enchantress.

Alla listened to what the other witch said, trying to understand all that the Irish said. It was tough though and the Russian had to focus. She was still not proficient in English and the Irish accent was rather different from what the girl had learned. When the other woman asked her questions, Alla bit her lower lip nervously. She hoped she had properly understood what the other witch wanted to know but she couldn't be sure. Anyway, apart from the challenge of understanding the questions, Alla was now facing the even bigger challenge of replying in English. For a moment Alla just stared at the young woman in front of her, trying to find the right words and build a whole sentence or more with them.

"I'm not interested in muggles," she began, carefully pronouncing every word. "I've never really been in touch with them. I didn't know this was a muggle shop now. Actually I'm looking for a present for my little sister but I guess I won't find anything here." She paused, feeling rather accomplished to have said so much in a language that was not Russian. She was aware that her English sounded more like Russian though as her pronunciation was rather poor no matter how hard she tried to make it sound right.

"Are muggle children usually fat?" She wondered, having thought some more about what the other witch had said. Alla couldn't say that she had made this observation but quite frankly the witch never really looked at muggles so intensely. They just weren't where she spent her time. It was only now that she was standing in the middle of a muggle shop that the girl really thought about them. "Do you think they eat more unhealthy food than wizards? I know so little about them..." Having witnessed the behaviour of the other woman earlier, Alla hoped that nothing she said would annoy her. If she was entirely honest she wouldn't swear that the things she had voiced were indeed the things she had intended to say. She didn't really want to be yelled at in a language she had trouble to understand and in which she could not really give a quick response. After all, she was not articulate in any other language than her own.

The other witch said she wasn't interested in muggles and Nessa nodded, not really caring if that was true or not. She wondered why the wizarding world would let this shop be bought out by a muggle department store though and that frustrated her more. "You could always get her a pair of tube socks, their on special?" Nessa said blankly  as her manicured fingers pointed to the big red clearance sign behind her. Muggles were so gaudy, everything had to be flashy to keep their attention, it was ridiculous and amusing. She shrugged when Alla asked if muggle children were usually fat because she didn't actually know the answer to that. She'd seen plenty of fat children both magical and muggle but to her it didn't matter if they were overweight or not all children were useless. There were only a few children she didn't entirely hate and that was partly because they had the Regan last name. "I don't know if statistically they are larger then our children but does it really matter? Theres a whole world living under their nose and some how even the most imaginative of their population don't figure it out?" Children were by far more open minded than adults but still the magical world remained hidden.

She moved down the aisle, picking at things that were on racks and eyeing them with a range of disapproval and ignorance. She came across an aisle of machines labelled 'appliances' and she felt drawn to it. There were boxes with doors on them and buttons and Nessa's head tilted to the side as she looked it over. She opened the door and a light on the inside turned on. She saw a tray inside and she wondered what it was for... maybe it was some kind of transfiguration device. "They cook everything in grease, so I'm pretty sure they eat worse than we do." She said over her shoulder, expecting Alla to still be near her. Shutting the door of the device she looked back toward the witch, "Do you know what this is?" She asked quickly before heading to the other side of the aisle and grabbing a pair of metal tongs from the aisle labelled barbecue. She came back to the device in question, put the metal tongs inside the box, closed the door and then waited... but nothing happened. Next she pressed the buttons on the front and all of a sudden the item came to live. Whirring and humming the plate inside the door seemed to rotate as the clock counted down five minutes. The sign on the item said microwave but seeing as Nessa had never seen one before she had no idea what would happen after she put something metal into it. It only took about thirty seconds before sparks began to fly.

Nessa backed away quickly as the microwave light went on and off and it seemed like it was going to blow. "Muggles..." She said shaking her head and turning toward Alla, "How is it supposed to transfigure something if it looks like its about to explode?"

"Tube socks?" Alla raised her eyebrows, not really thinking it was anything one would give as a gift to someone they held dear. Besides Lyuda liked knitting herself and had even made socks for Alla's pet skeleton, Burmin. It was very unlikely that she'd be happy with these. Nonetheless Alla looked at where Nessa pointed and wrinkled her nose. Flashy tube socks were on sale. Looking at the price tag, Alla realised that she had no clue about muggle money, never having held any in her hand. Therefore, she was not even sure if the amount the shop asked for was high or not.

"Hmm..." the Russian looked at the other witch thoughtfully. "Yeah, it's indeed strange that they are so oblivious to the existence of the magical world. Then again we all do our best to hide it and the ministry has officials who just deal with cases where magic was performed in front of muggles..." For a moment the blonde wondered what would have happened, had she brought Burmin here. She could imagine that the muggles would have been shocked and probably she would have got in trouble with the ministry. What kind of punishment would she get if she exposed her necromantic skills to muggles at this place? She felt almost tempted to try it out.

Since she had never really given muggle nutrition much thought and didn't know what they ate or didn't eat, Alla just shrugged when the other woman said that they cooked everything in grease, she really didn't know.

Alla gasped when she saw that the Irish witch had no qualms and touched the muggle items. Not knowing what they were, the Durmstrang graduate was reluctant to touch them. Who knew what these things were supposed for. Then again she was getting curious too. "No..." Alla responded, looking at the item in question curiously. She quite admired the confidence the other woman showed by experimenting with the device. The Russian would not have had the guts to put the metal tongs in the box and press some buttons. Taking a step backwards as the device lit up, counted five minutes down and rotated a plate inside, Alla wondered what would happen once the time was up.

However, it didn't last five minutes until sparks began to fly. Even the other witch backed away now and addressed her again. Alla frowned slightly. "Do you think that's how it's supposed to look? It does look a little dangerous, doesn't it?"

Noticing that a shopworker approached, the Russian figured it was probably best to leave the scene and she wanted to take the other witch along as she felt rather lost in these muggle surroundings. "There's someone coming, let's go away from this... thing." She eyed the microwave skeptically before heading into the other direction. However, after just a few steps, the young woman came to a halt and stared at the escalator. "I've seen these before but I've never really used them. Have you?" She looked at the witch, waiting for her response. Then, however, she saw a plan on which was written that on the next floor there were toys on sale. "Muggle toys..." she muttered more to herself than to her new companion. "I wonder what they let their children play with."