Playdate Open Mini-Event Closed

Today would be great, he could already feel it! This day was a must for anyone interested in pets or animals, which is why he had sent both @George Henry and @Jake Morris a note per owl, telling them to have a look at the school's bulletin board where he had attached a flyer. It was up to them if they were planning to come to this small event as he knew that a lot of students were busy due to it being the last few days of school. For Alan this fact, the time that was the most busy, made it perfect to organize such a day. Too much had happened these past few weeks, months and perhaps years even. It frankly had been quite chaotic and in some situations scary. Everyone's stress levels were way up and this made a day like today's much more needed. Because who did not like pets? They were there whenever you needed them and they were the best companions one could wish for.

With the help of some house elves he had organized a small buffet, two big tables sat on the ground with a white tablecloth draped over them. On one of the tables were a lot of snacks like sandwiches, hand pies, some veggies and fruits as finger-food and even scones and tea people could serve themselves with if they wished to. The other table was much smaller and had a variety of foods for the furry and feathery and perhaps slimy companions. Well he actually had no idea what a toad would eat so they did not really have any option of food provided and he truly hoped that the little hoppers did not feel excluded because of this. For the owls there would be crackers as he knew that Cadmus absolutely loved them. For the cats there were a few plates with different meets such as boiled chicken and salmon that was cut into stripes among other little treats that one could buy in the menagerie. He did not know anyone who owned a rat but in case of that there was a small bowl filled with seeds and small options of fruits and little small bits of cheese as he had read once that they should not eat too much of it due to cheese being quite fatty for such a small animal. On this table there were also a few toys, especially for the cats since that's the only ones Alan really owned which is also why he mentioned that people should bring their game ideas with them. There would be little felt balls with bells inside of them among other simple cat toys.

As Alan waited for any more people to arrive he was sitting on the ground, playing with Tiger as Lady, the cat from @Scott Alexander was laying lazily in the afternoon sun as it warmed her pelt. He did not know her to be any different from this, as she probably felt too mighty to be going around playing with the toy that resembled a fishing rod with little fish dangling at the fishing line. Alan kind of kidnapped Lady in the hopes that she might find some new friends but so far she dod not show any interest in showing any social competence. He would have liked if Scott could have joined him and help him plan but lately he was not feeling too well and Alan wondered if it had to do with the announcement the professors had made a few days ago. However Scott did not seem like he would like to talk about it and Alan did not want to pressure him into giving him answer.

Interacting with @Alan Vanes

Reducio

Boomerang was a handful. When she had finally scrounged up enough money to purchase a pet, she had barely thought about how much effort it took to take care of them. Luckily, her small orange feline was pretty easy to maintain. She had a litterbox that she cleaned morning and night and normally had a can of food for him in the morning and crunchy cat food at night if he hadn't managed to catch a bird or a squirrel. Besides necessities, she was always brushing his fur to keep it from matting and had to clip his nails at least once every two weeks so he wouldn't completely tear up her skin when he walked on her. Boomerang may be low maintenance, but she always felt bad that she couldn't let him run outside much (even though she knew he probably did).

Boomerang was probably the best thing that had happened to her. He could always tell when she needed a cuddle or when she needed to see a friendly face. When she forgot to clean his box or give him dinner he never complained much, simply reminded her gently. He was always a bright spot in a dark day for her. It had come as a surprise when she found out that it was impossible to keep him in her dorm. He always found ways to sneak out and say hello to her even if he had been locked in a room with a closed door and closed windows. Thankfully he hadn't gotten her in trouble yet but she was sure that at some point he would end up landing her in detention.

So, when Katrina saw a flyer on the school's bulletin board for a pet playdate, she knew that that would be a great way to say a thank you to her wonderful familiar. It only took Katrina moments to call her feline, a click of her tongue and a call of 'Here kitty, kitty' and he was racing down the stairs and leaping into her arms. He may be a cat, but he was well trained.

Her little furball of orange was in a perky mood today. His eyes were bright and curious and his nose was happily sniffing the smells of outside. Katrina let him trot along beside her as her arms were full of some spare kitten toys and bags of treats. The flyer had said that foods and drinks were provided but she would rather be extra prepared.

Boomerang saw or heard something before the second year did and went racing off. As Katrina crested a small hill she saw that there were already two people, several pets, and a table of food already set up. Boomerang was instantly searching for attention. He wound around a girl's legs, purring furiously and looking up at her with pleading eyes, @Opeila Seilun before noticing the kitten in her arms, his tail quirked with calm fascination.

Katrina walked up to the girl with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him, he's a bit needy," The lioness stifled a chuckle and pulled out a small mouse toy. "Here, have one of these, I have plenty," Katrina looked down at her hand stuffed with at least a dozen of the toys she had purchased from her last adventure in London.

Katrina smiled and took out another mouse toy, seeing Boomerang eye her. She leaned down tossed the toy, letting her pet run off excitedly after it.

Interacting with: @Opeila Seilun
Mentioning: @Alan Vanes
Open to Interactions

There had been a flyer up in the small hall, off the Great Hall, advertising a pet playdate. That's how she found herself, standing about a pitch's distance away from a small group she saw gathering out on the grounds with their cats. She rubbed her left arm sheepishly, trying to get up the courage to walk over to yet another group of complete strangers. The thing about not socializing her first year was that it turns out you can't bypass getting to know people when you're ready to hang out with them. Instead, she'd prolonged the inevitable and now had the joy of being the new one out when everyone had already built relationships, instead of being one in a sea of new people at the beginning of the year. Would they look at her funny for just barging into the event? Did they all actually know each other, and even though it was advertised there was some secret subtext she hadn't picked up on that clearly meant the event was for older students who'd always known each other? Elspeth sighed. Being this nervous was exhausting.

The other hang up she had was that she didn't have a pet. She was a lover of animals and also interested in maybe getting a pet for her second year. The problem was she couldn't decide if she'd rather have a rat or a toad - both incredibly cute, small, and relatively easy to care for. Going and hanging out with these kids might give her a chance to play with both types of animals up close and help her make the decision. But in order to play with them, you have to actually walk over there, y'know? You can't just stand here creepily staring at them from a distance forever. Someone's bound to notice eventually. Elspeth rotated her head around, looking out over the grounds, trying to appear natural and also take in the views that generally calmed her down. But, today, her nerves got the best of her. She just couldn't get herself to walk over.

Sighing in resignation, Elspeth turned around and started to walk back toward the entrance to the castle. Yeah, this is for the best. You would have just annoyed them anyways. Maybe now you can go relax in your dorm some more. Of course, she'd spent most of her first year locked up in her dorm room, afraid to meet people, and that hadn't exactly gotten her anywhere. NO. Her internal monologue stopped her in her tracks, as if some higher galaxy brain had taken over. This is stupid. They're not going to hurt you. Just walk over there. DONT THINK JUST DO IT. Elspeth turned around and started walking toward the group. If she didn't acknowledge how nervous she was, and just acted like she was supposed to be there, maybe everyone would believe her.

As she got closer, it was clear that the group was still small and gathering. But, wonderfully, there was at least one person she'd actually met before. A month ago, the sight of Katrina Walker would have been enough to send her turning in the other direction. But now that they'd silently agreed to pretend their initial meeting had never happened, Elspeth was actually relieved at her presence. Someone she'd talked to before. She waved her hand a little as she got close to the group. "Hey! Is this the animal play date?" A definitely older Gryffindor and possibly close to her age Slytherin were here, she assumed with their cats as well. "I'm Elspeth. Is it cool that I didn't bring a pet with me? I kind of just wanted a chance to meet other people's pets..." The nerves felt like they were going to creep back, so to help her feel like she really did deserve to be with them she turned to Katrina and added, "Hi Katrina! I didn't know you had a cat."

Elspeth took her robes off and laid them on the ground to sit on in her school uniform. Her family didn't have pets while she was growing up, so the cat heavy scene was a bit overwhelming to her - each of them so adorable and clearly needing her immediate attention. She reached her hand out tentatively, giving the orange cat (Boomerang) closest to her a chance to sniff her hand. He appeared much more interested in trying to toss around a small mouse toy, though.

Interacting with @Katrina Walker, @Alan Vanes, and @Opeila Seilun

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INTERACTION: @Alan Vanes | open to interactions
MENTIONS: @Scott Alexander also pretty much everyone but generally not by name

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𝓐madea had seen the poster for this animal get together a few days prior to the event and had been contemplating attending for the entire time. She had gotten to the point where she had to make a list in her notebook in order to decide whether or not to attend. On the one hand, she had enjoyed the encounter where she had returned Alan's cat to him and then had a nice conversation. It would be nice to see both Alan and Tiger again. Plus, Amadea knew that she had to do some more socializing before she left for the summer. After being gone for almost the entire year, she hadn't been able to meet any new people. Plus, the little socializing she had done was almost completely with people she already knew. She hadn't branched out much at all. This would be the perfect opportunity for some socializing. On the other hand, Amadea despised socializing. Even before...that had happened, she hated going to events and she was horrible at small talk. She also was fairly certain that this was directed toward cat owners, which she confirmed as she looked around her and saw everyone and their cats. However, she did see a few familiar faces besides Alan, including Scott Alexander and his lovely cat Lady. If she freaked out, at least she could just huddle beside Alan and Scott the entire time.

Taking a deep breath, Amadea walked over to where everyone was. She felt quite out of place, not just because she didn't know many people, but also because she was the only one with an owl. Everyone else had cats that were rolling around having fun while Amadea had Nova perched on her shoulder. She reached up and patted Nova's soft feathers, reassuring not only her lovely owl but also herself. Everything was fine; sure she stuck out with an owl at this pet event, but there was no pet specified on the invitation...Amadea shook her head, trying to make the bad thoughts leave her head. She wasn't going to let her new negative self take over at this event. She didn't need to make this a disaster. Amadea stopped in front of Alan, where there were a few other people standing as well. She didn't recognize anyone else and decided to just say hi to Alan and then stand off to the side. Maybe Nova would interact with someone and allow for the conversation to start.

"Hi Alan," Amadea said quietly, hesitantly smiling at him. "Thanks for hosting this; it's pretty cool." Amadea surveyed the area; while there weren't that many people there, it seemed like Alan had a good turnout of people.

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"Hey Opeila!", he would great the girl back in a similar, if not more enthusiastic fashion as he showed her a toothy grin and looked up from where he was playing with Tiger who took the chance of Alan's distraction, to tackle the fish and gnaw on it with his pointy teeth. "Oh, yeah th-the house elves helped with the food and some stuff I got from Hogsmeade," he let her know in response to the asked question. He would watch the cat in her arms and smiled softly, before raising his gaze to look her in the eyes again. "I didn't know you had a cat".

Another familiar face joined them, a girl he would recognize as Katrina. He had seen her a couple of times but mostly knew her from their shared club activities which were usually quite enjoyable even if they happened to go horribly wrong at times. "Hello, you have a cat as well!", he called out, which was an obvious observation but an observation nonetheless. A cute little creature if he dares say so, with a personality that seemed to match Tiger's in the way they both seemed needy and attention-seeking and perhaps even un-tamable.

"Hey, yeah, it is! My name is Alan and I am kinda hosting th-this," he would explain to the unfamiliar girl who introduced herself as Elspeth. She looked nice, at least her first impression did. "And sure! Do you th-think you will get a pet eventually?", he wondered curiously, never losing the warm smile that got carried on by that calming presence of his.

"Hi Amadea, th-thanks for showing up! How are you doing?", he greeted the familiar face and would invite her to sit with him if she wanted to. Lady was still watching on from the sideline, judging all the excited kittens. Scott was probably in the dorms but Alan hoped that he was doing well.

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Interacting with @Alan Vanes

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𝓐madea smiled at Alan and awkwardly pushed her hair behind her ear. It seemed like everyone else here knew Alan, but didn't know Amadea so she wasn't sure if she should introduce herself or say anything. Her owl was still perched on her shoulder and Amadea absentmindedly reached up and stroked her feathers. Even though Nova wasn't human, Amadea was glad to have someone here with her that she was comfortable with; besides Ami and Cecily, Nova was her best friend.

"I'm doing pretty well," Amadea said in response to Alan's question. "How about you?" She decided to step away from all the people and let Alan talk with all of the other people that were there. She didn't want to interrupt or make the conversation awkward so she went off to the side and set Nova down in the grass so she could do some exploring.

As Amadea sat down in the grass, she noticed a cat approaching her; it was Lady Madeleine, Scott's cat. Amadea had only met the cat once before when she was having her meltdown and spilled her guts to Scott, but Amadea loved that cat. Even though cats weren't her favorite animal in the world (thanks Leo), she was realizing that there were more good cats in the world than bad. She rubbed her hand over the cat's soft fur. "Hey girl, how are you?" she said with a smile. "Where's your owner, huh?"

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@Alan Vanes @Katrina Walker @Elspeth Gollens

Boomerang - One Year

Red Classic Tabby

Katrina watched Boomerang bound off and a smile pulled at her lips. Alan noticed she had a cat as well and Katrina smiled and nodded. "His name is Boomerang. Also, sorry in advance for any chaos he causes!"

Katrina's attention went back to the girl that Boomerang had wound himself around. Opeila? Was it? Her cat seemed more than happy to meet Boomerang. Boomerang greeted her cat with bright eyes and a crooked tail. His small frame was a bit comical beside Opelia's cat's large frame. Boomerang hadn't really grown out of the kitten phase even though he was already nearing one year.

"Yep, it's Katrina. And you are Opelia, right?" Katrina said her name a bit slowly, hoping that she was pronouncing it right. At her comment about her cat, Katrina laughed, "Yeah, Boomerang definitely shows love, when he's not out getting into trouble," Opelia took the mouse with a 'thank you' and Boomerang raced off after the one Katrina threw.

Elspeth came in and commented on Boomerang, "Yeah, his name is Boomerang," Katrina managed a smile and watched as Boomerang clamped the mouse toy in his jaws and walked over to Elspeth's outstretched hand. He rubbed against her hand, allowing a few moments if she wanted to pet him before dropping the toy and kicking it so he could continue to chase it.

Boomerang raced towards a girl with an owl that Katrina sort of recognized. He dropped the toy and froze, arching his back and poofing his tail. He took a few hesitant steps back before relaxing into his normal playful self. His expression clearly said, 'there is a huge bird up there!' Katrina laughed, thankful that he was simply curious. There was no way that he hadn't seen an owl before. Was there?

Katrina walked over closer to Alan and sat down on the grass. "I brought some cat treats and toys," she looked over to Alan since he was the coordinator after all. She laid the toys down for anyone to use before grabbing a fishing rod and clicking her tongue to call Boomerang. He raced over and had his attention locked onto the fishing rod toy instantly.

Katrina Interacting With: @Alan Vanes @Opeila Winters @Elspeth Gollens
Boomerang Interacting With: @Opeila Winters @Elspeth Gollens @Amadea Campbell