London again. Alla Artyomovna Chaikovskaya could not deny that she rather liked the British capital. However, she was reluctant to admit it. After all, she was a proud Russian, a proud Muscovite. Liking Britain and London did not really fit her image. Nonetheless her visits to the English city had become more and more frequent. She had some obligations here, after all she had been borrowing an interesting book about Necromancy which she had to return every few weeks but that was not the sole reason for her visits. The young witch actually enjoyed the flair in wizarding London and although she still struggled with the English language she found it rather interesting to try and speak a different language once in a while. It gave her a confidence boost of some sort. She loved the Russian language, deemed it more beautiful and worthy than any other language but being able to communicate with people who had never learned Russian was not only a challenge but also a very satisfying thing to do.
The girl was dressed all in black with her comfortable boots and a fur jacket. Her make up today was rather dark as well and she liked the looks people gave her or maybe rather her companion. As usual Alla had not been able to resist the temptation to bring her animated pet skeleton Burmin to London. She was so skilled at controlling the human skeleton by now that she could easily take walk with him marching in lockstep. It was exhausting to constantly focus on controlling her bony servant, but it was worth it. Alla enjoyed the attention she attracted that way. People probably thought of her as a dark witch but she didn't really see herself like that. The blonde actually didn't see Necromancy as a solely dark type of magic. What was dark about having a skeleton as a servant anyway? Wasn't it much nicer than having a house elf as a servant?
Click, clack, click, clack...
One thing was certain, with Burmin as a companion Alla could hardly approach anyone without them noticing her. It didn't matter, of course. The girl did not intend to sneak upon anyone. However, her plan was to visit an old school friend today. Leonie and Alla had been friends from their third to seventh year at Durmstrang but hadn't really kept in touch after graduation. Their paths had been different. As far as Alla was aware her old friend owned a shoe shop now... that was pretty different from the Russian's life. Alla's job at the funeral parlour and her intensive studies of Necromancy had changed her world view. She was not the girly kind of person, not one of these young women who wasted all their money on clothes and pretty accessories.
When she approached the shop, Alla was suddenly hesitant. Should she really enter or rather leave it? She did not have many friends these days so maybe reconnecting with Leonie might be a good thing. Nonetheless she feared that they had nothing in common anymore. Leonie designed shoes and Alla worked with people who did not need shoes anymore and who would hardly be able to appreciate a nice pair of shoes she wore...
"Come on, Burmin, we'll see what our old friend has in store for us," she muttered to her companion, took a deep breath and then pushed the door open.
It was odd to step into the small shop that Leonie owned. Life was certainly easier when you had a rich family supporting your ideas... "Hello Leonie," she said, offering the German witch a slight smile while Burmin came to a halt right next to her. "You remember Burmin, I guess?!" As she said that Burmin made a deep bow to her friend. After all, she had to demonstrate how proficiently she could control him now.
