 Wowza!
Being a fairly lonely child, Nerissa was largely used to talking to herself and this time it was no different. Rhetorical questions, narrating her own thoughts, counting mooncalves until she fell asleep; in such ways she managed to keep herself entertained. So when the other girl supplied an answer, it took her two beats to notice the answer was not, in fact, coming from inside her own head.
It didn't help that that it had been a really quiet voice, too.
She turned, slowly, and a little confused and--well, she wasn't necessarily embarrassed to have been found talking to herself. And, besides, Flavia was not that far off; she could always claim to have been talking to her au pair, if it came to it. But she had the good sense to appear embarrassed, anyway. It was the expected thing, after all. A blush would have probably helped her case, but there was little to be done about the present lack of it; it's not like those could be extricated by sheer force of will. "Oh." She glued her nose to the glass again, trying to get a look at the creature's tail. "How interesting." Back to the kneazle. "Hello. Do turn around. I must see your tail." Nerissa frowned, watching the creature turn to look at them fully and effectively hiding its tail. She knocked on the glass, lightly, then remembered her ice cream and gave it one lick. And another. It looked ready to start properly melting.
"Are they often this contrary?" Contrary. Mama loved using that word, and she especially loved using to complain about papa under her breath. You're so contrary, Ralston. "Can they be trained?" It didn't occur to her that the other girl was, perhaps, not a reliable source of information. Or that it could be construed as rude to peddle perfect strangers with questions. "Oh! If I were to buy it--" or, gasp, help it get lost, "--would I be permitted to take it to Hogwarts?"
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