@Camille Pruitt, @Xiomara Torres, @Akerrah Koné, @Kaito Dresden
Tent: Magical Menagerie [Summer's Wings]
(name credit to Akerrah Koné)
August 11th, Some time after the Welcome Feast

This was not the farthest Aislin had ever been from home, but if felt like it. It was the farthest she'd even been without her mam or one of the other adults in the family. She hadn't had time to be scared yet, her cousins keeping the energy level too high and running almost everywhere while she trailed on shorter legs, her trunk knocking into her knees and shins. After eating at the feast, they dragged her on a rapid-fire exploration of as much of the fairgrounds as they could see on their way over and then through each of their own tents. A few of their friends exchanged quick hellos, and Aislin felt unusually shy. She kind of wished they could have all stuck together, falling asleep after loud whispers and barely stifled laughter, but she was only a few tents down. They walked her to it, Daphne carrying her trunk the last stretch, and dropped her off with promises to see her at the welcome feast and waves goodbye. Any tentmates arriving about the same time would see them running off, similar enough in appearance to Aislin to guess at their relation but with lankier limbs and lighter eyes.

Now Aislin was staring at a dragon. Not a real one, and not an accurate representation of one's full size, she was pretty sure. Or maybe she'd only seen pictures of big dragons and this was the correct proportions for some other, much smaller species, minus the parts that were clearly the flaps and stakes of a tent. The shyness around her cousins' friends had mostly faded and did not apply to approaching the dragon tent, even though it mimicked breathing; she walked straight in and stared at the expanded space.

Aislin knew, of course, that most wizard things were bigger on the inside than they looked to her on the outside. This was not her first magic tent, but it was far prettier than anything she'd encountered before, warm lantern lighting and the sky projected on the ceiling. She wondered what the limit was: ten times bigger? Twenty? A hundred? This was nowhere near that, just enough to fit eight kids comfortably. More than comfortably, really, because who had ever slept in beds that looked like this? Like they were fit for far more interesting creatures, so far from what home was like that you might even forget to miss it. Picking the right one felt important, felt like it said something, so Aislin didn't set her trunk down at any of them just yet. She instead circled the room slowly, drifting her fingertips over the frames of the assorted sleeping places, feeling the different textures and temperatures, and trying to guess what creature they represented. Phoenix, niffler, kelpie. Others she wasn't quite sure about.

She'd forgotten to watch the entrance and consider the tentmates that couldn't be far behind, only lagging because they probably hadn't run and sentenced themselves to bruise-covered legs visible below weather-appropriate shorts. Whoever came in next would have first pick of the beds, Aislin hovering noncommittally by the niffler burrow, and a question to try to answer. She'd remember to introduce herself in a minute, when the puzzle pieces had been fit together, but the first thing she'd greet the next few people with was some variation of, "What do you think they're all meant to be?"

There was something slightly unsettling about walking into the mouth of a dragon. Despite the strings on the side that made it clear it was a tent, Akerrah shifted her feet several times as she considered going to see a counselor to ensure this was correct (and not insane). Well, it all went badly, it wasn't like she had very many earthly possessions anyway.

With a breath, she gripped the lone bag in her hand, and stepped inside.

And inside the beast, she blinked before allowing herself to experience the reality—no, the wonder. Above her, it seemed like a wide sky while underneath her feet it was a dark, wooden floor. The whole space was filled with vintage lanterns that she didn't dare touch lest they break. Stepping further in there were these weird tuffs of feathers and twigs. Her eyebrows scrunched together. Were these...no, they couldn't be where they were sleeping, could they?

Rather than checking one of the nests/beds out, Akerrah moved towards the central table. Her fingers traced the animal carvings at the edge as she considered this space—and a companion. She hadn't really noticed the girl standing by one of the nests until she spoke, seemingly also somewhat perplexed. "Je ne sais pas," she said under her breath before correcting herself to English, "I don't know. Is it where we sleep? Is that safe?"

She timidly placed her small fabric bag on the table, unsure which of the beds seemed the least dangerous.

Interacting with @Aislin Darragh

─────After their time school shopping in Diagon Alley, Kaito was incredibly surprised to learn that there were many, many things that were still a mystery to them. The wizarding world seemed to have more and more surprises as time went on, and it only baffled the young wand-holder’s mind. Perhaps that was why it took them a lot longer than all the other witches and wizards to find their tent.

Kaito had been walking around for what felt like an hour (though surely it hadn’t been that long, as it was hardly dark yet), when they came across the large dragon-shaped tent that matched the description they had been given earlier. With a good amount of anxiety, a deep breath, and a good amount of force to drag their duffle bag, Kaito walked through the entrance of the tent.

Tent was almost the wrong word to describe it. Kaito looked around in wonder at the sparkling sky above them, then to the stunning lanterns, marveling at the furniture as they did a full 360. They almost jumped upon realizing that there were already three girls her age within the structure. ”Oh,” they mumbled, quickly pulling all emotion from their face. They didn’t need to seem like a complete idiot around the witches that would be spending time with them in the coming days.

“They look like they’re meant for creatures,” the young wand-holder said quietly, answering the questions of the bed/nests. “Surely they’re safe enough.” Kaito doubted anyone would put a whole group of campers in danger in their very own tent. Although, perhaps wizarding adults were different to muggle adults when it came to safety regulations.

“I’m Kaito. Sorry I’m late,” they added before anyone else could talk. They didn’t want to seem rude in any capacity. Hopefully regardless, they could make a good impression at some point.