Gonna like it here!

[morevacant]

Well, it's not much, but it's home. Lydia grimly shuts the door on the very basic looking student hall. It's right on the border of Lambeth and Lewisham, just about in the good side, the safe side, to keep her mother from fussing. On the other hand, what mothers don't know can't hurt them, and Lydia is quite thrilled to be living so close to the border. For her at least, it's a little bit edgy, a little bit exciting. Even if it's thoroughly grotty as well.

(Mid day, March 11th, Lost in Lambeth)
Lunch beckons. After a long morning of moving in, Lydia's finally rid herself of her mother and she is absolutely exhausted. And starving.

Except, she's not quite sure where she is. Or where to go to get to a Starbucks. But they're everywhere in London, right? Right. Suddenly, she wishes she'd paid a little bit more attention to her governess… there was a spell for this, she's sure. But, it's too late for that. Lydia slips on a fur collared leather coat and sets out for a wander.


( Morning, 13th March, down along the Thames in Lambeth and Westminster)

So ostentatiously, Lydia's moved to London to study at Kings. In reality, she's supposed to be learning her craft from the witches of Circle Daybreak. In reality, she's shopping.

After such a small town, London's shops are just amazing, and Lydia's debit card flashes in and out of her bag. Quite soon, her arms are laden with paper bags from the little boutiques that litter the edge of the Thames. It's a phone call from her mum that eventually distracts her from the shops, and she flops down on a bench looking out over the river.

"Yeh, mum. Yes, I'm studying? What? Oh, like the basics, you know. Like, I don't know. Charming makeup and making teapots sing…. Yes, it's a real thing. Why would I make something so silly up? Eurgh… Look, Mum, I've got to go.The next class is starting and these witches are mega intense. I'll talk to you later, right?"

She hangs up and grins sheepishly at whoever happened to be in earshot to witness that one.


(18th March, Shoreditch, 3AM)

It's late. Lydia's had way too much to drink and she's not entirely sure how to get back home. Though, she does live near the river. That much she knows.
She waits to sober up a bit, leaning against a wall as she watches other revellers fall into taxis. She's drunk her money away for the night, and lost her friends from her hall, but it doesn't matter, right? The walk can't be that far.
Feeling a bit better, she wanders off through the streets of Hackney. As soon as she finds the river, finds Tower Bridge, follows it all the way back, she'll be just fine.
Are those footsteps? She speeds up as much as her high heels will allow, drunken giggles all but ceased now.

Comments

[morevacant]

"Well, I've only just moved here." She rolls her eyes at the cat.
"You sound just like my father. Class, class, boring class! I much prefer the funner things in life!"
She has no intention of going. And really, how is a cat going to make her?

[bellbound]

She's a sulky workshy teenager. Typical.

"Well, so do I," the cat says, "but you don't see me shirking, do you? Shall I tell your assigned coven that you've no interest in meeting them?"

Hey, it's no skin off his nose if she goes off and does her own thing, never learns anything, then gets eaten by a vampire or something like that. He has to try and approach her, but he can't be blamed for failing, can he?

[morevacant]

Lydia herself doesn't care if she never meets her coven in all honesty. But her mother and her father will probably have something to say if she doesn't show up at some point.

"Snitch. You know it's a really unattractive quality? Even in a talking cat." She scowls. Lydia shakes her head. "Where are they then? Is this gonna take forever?"

[bellbound]

"Not forever. I'd say... fourteen minutes, if we go via the Tube. Check your messages."

He nods at her phone, where presumably she still has the invitation to join her next coven meeting. Their nearest station is close by the river and it's only a couple of stops away after that.

[morevacant]

Reluctantly, she opens the text she'd been ignoring. After scanning the brief message, she pushes her phone into her pocket, grabs her bags and stands up.

"Fine. Lead the way." She rolls her eyes.

"You may as well tell me your name though, or I might just have to make one up. Pussikins? That sounds good to me!"

[bellbound]

Mogget has heard his fair share of terrible nicknames in his time, but that has to rank among the worst. Pussikins? His eye roll is probably visible all the way across the Thames.

"Mogget, if you please."

He jumps down to the ground, tail in the air, and sets off in the right direction.

[morevacant]

So insults are the way to get answers out of the mangy old cat? Lydia grins triumphantly.
"As you wish," she chuckles as she follows him.
"Hey - do you want me to carry you? Guaranteed it'll be quicker!"

[bellbound]

It's a good thing he can't hear her calling him mangy. He wouldn't appreciate that. At her offer, the cat turns and pauses, tail swishing from side to side.

"Is that a trick?"

He doesn't know her and Mogget is suspicious of humans and their tendency to want to pick up cats and cuddle them. (Or worse, the ones that don't like cats and want to tie them up in sacks and throw them in the river. That almost happened once. He doesn't like to recall it.)

[morevacant]

"Well, if you wanna walk all that way?" She shrugs. Honestly, this stupid cat is harder work than what it's worth, as far as Lydia's concerned.

"And I'm gonna look ridiculous following a cat all over London. But if you really wanna walk…"

Lydia bends down even as she shoves shopping bags further up her arm. "I can dump you in one of these if you want?"

[bellbound]

She's going to have trouble carrying him and all those shopping bags. Mogget looks from her to the bags, still suspicious. But it would be more convenient to take a ride rather than have to navigate the city streets.

Fine.

But she's not dumping him in a bag. He'll pick one himself. After she bends down, the cat pads forward and sniffs delicately at each of the shopping bags before choosing a nice roomy one full of clothes that will act as a cushion for him. He climbs in and then sits up on his hind paws so that he can see over the top of the bag when she stands up.

There's now a small cat head poking out of one of the paper bags. "Keep going," he mews. They won't be long...

[morevacant]

This was not the plan.
"If you make those clothes stink, I swear I will find a well and drop you down it," she hisses. She follows Moggat's directions though. Perhaps leaning magic isn't high on Lydia's agenda, but who knows what the social side will be like. They better not be a bunch of stiffs.

"Are there many young witches?" She asks. "I swear, if I have to spend the afternoon with someone's wrinkly grandma, I will just die."

[bellbound]

"Of course there are," Mogget replies. This is London, it's home to the largest population of witches in the country. "Including young men."

She's a teenage girl who appears to have little interest in magic, but he's guessing she may be more interested in who she can meet at a gathering of witches than what she can do to improve her craft.

[morevacant]

"Young men?"
Consider her interest piqued. Mogget might be amused to feel her footsteps speeding up.

"Gosh. At home, it's just me and my sisters and my mum's friends, but they're all as ancient as her, and it's tea and cake stuffy boring total snoozefest! Boring. But boys…"

She frowns. "I should have dressed a bit better."

[bellbound]

Ah, that did the trick. He's quietly smug.

"You should have," Mogget agrees. "After all, this will be your first impression."

And he knows all about how humans like to make snap judgements.

[morevacant]

"I don't look good?" Lydia doesn't break her stride. "Shit. What am I gonna do?"

Why didn't she listen properly when her mum had banged on about the glamour spells?

"Can you remember the spell that lets you change clothes?"

[bellbound]

"Afraid not," says Mogget, who can't be bothered to remember. He's not the one who has to learn the spells. "Perhaps you should have paid attention when learning your craft."

And they've arrived outside the tube station now anyway, so there isn't really time to change.

[morevacant]

"Boring boring! That's all I've heard from Mary. 'Study your books. Study your spells.'"
She mimics her sister's voice, high pitched and cruel. "And she's not all that great at it. Fucking embarrassing when she tries to show off with all these fancy pants illusions that don't even work properly." She snorts as she heads into the station.

Okay, so she can totally do this. Obviously she's used a tube before now! She stares at the map, chewing on her lip.

"I need the.... the blue one?"

[bellbound]

"A talent that runs in the family, I imagine," says Mogget, but softly. Now they're in the station there are other people around and he can't draw too much attention to himself. "No, take the Bakerloo line. You have used the Tube before, haven't you?"

His tone makes it sound like he suspects she hasn't.

[morevacant]

She's not going to hear that bit. Instead, she's focused on the map.

"Of course I've used it," She answers distractedly. "Bakerloo, Bakerloo..." She spots the brown line and nods to herself, satisfied of a job well done. She heads off in the direction of the Bakerloo staircase, and ends up travelling deep down in the station. Still, her walk is bouncy and carefree. At least, it is until she reaches the bottom, and there are two ways to go.

"Left or right?" she hisses.

[bellbound]

There are signs, Lydia. Signs that tell them the right way to go. Mogget sighs and ducks down into the shopping bag lest another pedestrian spot them.

"Left," comes the muttered, grumpy reply. She can't go wrong after that, can she?