The Best of Both Worlds PV Mamori Anezaki Closed

When Mamori mentioned his dad was a Magizoologist, Mahlioz's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Wait, seriously?" This was kind of crazy! The third year had never met someone else with a Magizoologist parent before. Perhaps she could ask her mother if she knew anyone with a pink-haired kid in the business. That is, if Mahlioz decided herself to actually talk to her at one point.

"My mom is a Magizoologist too! She uses pencils though when she's sketching animals, because our house is full of muggle devices and using magic would mess it all up. I don't know if she uses ink when she's at work, or for final results, though. But I guess it would look more refined." Mahlioz had never really been all that interested in animals, so they'd never asked to visit Alarian's job, but now they were curious.

Sculpture, painting, music and photography. Photography sounded weird, actually, now, mixed in with the other rather old-fashioned art forms. The Slytherin wondered how on earth wizards had accepted to use a muggle technology turned magical. She'd seen so many moving photographs without wondering. But that wasn't the point. Sculpture, painting, music and photography were such a small part of the art world, and it was sad to hear wizards hadn't thought to go much further. "What about theater? What are wizard plays like?" Straying a bit from the topic of pencils, but Mahlioz had suddenly realized how much knowledge she lacked in wizarding topics, especially for a halfblood. They had to catch up.

"Oh right!" Mahlioz had spent... a significant amount of time on the internet over the past summer, and she'd gotten so used to obsessing over amazing digital artists that she'd forgotten that they were not only relatively new for muggles, but completely unknown for wizards. "Yeah, that's the idea. It's..." hmm, it was weirdly hard to explain. "Well, it's like the paper is in your screen, I guess. Usually people draw with a special pencil called a stylus, which is made for screens, but you can also do it with your finger, it's just harder. But you don't need to switch pencils to switch mediums - everything is in the device. You can change the texture of your lines, you can fill in spaces with one click, you can add layers on top of each other... and it looks really good."
They paused, taking a breath. "Sorry, hah, I guess I'm a little bit obsessed. I just find it really cool. Ooh also, there's an undo button! So if you mess up you can just go back!"

They listened with interest when he told them he probably would change his hair color from time to time. Having pink or purple or green hair sounded kind of awesome. Maybe Mahlioz would have to try it. They'd never really thought about it until then, because it was Hyltwis' thing, but maybe they'd like it. "You... dye it yourself? Like, the muggle way? You don't get someone to use Colorvaria or something?" Another pause. "What's it like, dying it? Is it hard?" So many questions. Perhaps Mahlioz should feel bad for bombarding this poor guy with not only random art facts but also questions about his hair.

But then, he was the one who'd walked up to her. So it was only fair.

Clearly Mamori was just as surprised as Mahlioz that their parents were both magizoologists. When he asked what her background was like, she half smiled. So many times she had wanted to ask that question but had been scared to - people took blood status so seriously. But it was nice to talk to someone who was just interested, had no hidden motives and respected muggles just as they would wizards. She hoped one day the question of one's blood status never held any judgement from or for anyone. What a better world that would be.

"Oh, I'm a half-blood! I grew up in the muggle world, because my dad's a muggle and I guess it was easier that way. Couldn't do magic at home because of the technology. It's because my dad works from home, so he needs his computer to work. But half of my family are wizards and my mom still works in the wizarding world, so I know my way around it fairly well." Mamori's father was a Muggleborn, he'd said, but he really didn't know much about Muggles himself. "I take it you're a bit the opposite? Do you have Muggle family?"

The whole magical theater thing, Mahlioz listened to with interest. "Ooh, okay. That makes sense." It wasn't really a passion of theirs, but now they knew what Hyltwis wanted to do... Would she go to W.A.D.A.? Or was there a different drama academy in France?

Mamori did not seem to mind in the least her little rant about digital art. In fact, it fuelled their own spiel, and they sounded just as excited as Mahlioz was, with perhaps a little more wonder. The Slytherin couldn't stop grinning at his blatant enthusiasm. It reminded her a bit of Irina. "No, yeah, you got that right! That's exactly how it works. It's such a shame magic messes with technology, I wish I could have brought you my computer for you to try out!"

"Oh, right, that exists!" Mahlioz had only heard of hair-dyeing potion once or twice. She didn't even know what it looked like. Did you drink it or put it in your hair? They'd used the word "applying" which didn't sound very drinkable, so it was probably to put in your hair. It sounded easier than Muggle dye, at least. "That's really cool. Are there different potions for different colors? Or do you get to choose it when you apply it?" It was rather difficult to tell which of the two of them were more curious about the other. Bird boy would be proud.

"Yeah, I learned Colorvaria last year in Transfiguration! I think there was an actual specific spell for changing your hair color, actually, now that I think about it... can't remember the name now. Um... it starts with cr, I think." Ach, they really had to get back on top of things for schoolwork - Transfiguration was their favorite subject! She couldn't start forgetting spells now. "You think?" she asked when he suggested she try it out herself. "What color do you think would work best?" They were partial to green, of course, but Hyltwis already had green hair and they couldn't possibly copy their older sister.

When Mamori apologized for taking too much, Mahlioz just laughed. "If you hadn't noticed, I happen to be doing the same thing." Actually, it was rather astonishing that they had gotten her to speak so much. It was a rare sight to see, especially after last summer. "You're all good. This is the most interesting conversation I've had in a good while." They checked their watch and grimaced. "Actually, dinner is starting pretty soon, but we've still got some time. I'd love to go down to the Great Hall with you, though."