What? He was a Ravenclaw?! The first one she had met!!! "Really? Do you like it? Is it fun? Is the common room really pretty? What's your name?" He seemed... kind of old. Maybe old enough that Max might've mentioned him in his stories. She didn't recognize him, though. Though... if he had been young in one of Max's team pictures, he could've just grown up a lot. Sophie peered at him curiously and probably came close to breaching personal space.

But then she just snatched up the pink gumball from his hand in exchange for her blue one, toasted merrily with him, and popped the pink one into her mouth delightedly.

"'anks." Chomp chomp chomp.

Gumballs.

Ella didn't exactly know how she'd ended up at the gumball machines but she hadn't had gum in ages and cavities weren't really a concern so why not, right?

The blonde placed her money in the slots and twisted, waiting for the gumballs to fall out. ... ... ... HUH?

"Stupid machine, give me my gumballs. ...Please."

She did sort of feel bad for calling the machine stupid.

She narrowed her her eyes at Zippy. Perhaps counting her money would have been a good idea, but there was absolutely no way Fay was going to admit that, especially to the likes of this boy. Besides, all of her knuts were back in the back and there was nothing to worry about.

Faylinn gasped as the boy spat back at her with a nickname of his own. Frownyface! "I do NOT have a frownyface!" She said scowling at the boy, "And I'll have you know Zippy that my name is Faylinn" At most first encounters Faylinn would express her dislike towards her name, but at this moment she was quiet proud of it. Because anything was better than frownyface.

After that was settled. Fay turned back towards the gumball machine and dropped in two more knuts, collecting her second gumball. After all, she was here before the boy...

Stan didn't like candy much but he decided to stop at Sugarplums anyway. The boy had heard a lot about it and besides, he could pick up some candy for his siblings. Gosh. How they'd love this place. There was candy EVERYWHERE.

After wandering about for a while, he somehow found himself near the gumball machines. Yeah, no. He didn't like gum at all. The boy was about to leave when..

"Do you need help?" Stan smiled at the blonde girl. Yeah.. always chivalrous, this boy was.

"Yeah, you sorta do frownyface," Benzi laughed, sitting back on his ankles. She was actually proving his point with all her frowning and stuff, and he found that it was kind of really fun to take the mickey.

But he had a red line, and that was at his name. He could NOT let this girl walk around calling him Zippy - it sounded like a DOG'S name. At least frownyface sounded good. Before he had a chance to interject into her words, Frownyface said that her name was actually Faylinn.

FAYLINN.

"What sort of name is that? Oh, HEY, it starts with an 'F'! You're Frownyface Faylinn!" he laughed out loud, genuinely amused by himself.

... Wheels in Benzi's brain turned as he saw her go to the gumball machine and put in two knuts. It was only when the gumball began rolling down that he put two and two together. Eyes wide, Benzi scrambled to stand and marched over to her. "Are you ACTUALLY going to stand here and use ALL THESE KNUTS?!"

She was insane. Frownyface Faylinn was actually off her rocker.

So staring at the gumball machine with a disdainful look on her face didn't seem to be helping Ella any. The blonde just wanted some gum, okay? Was that so much to ask for? Tough times at Sugarplum's.

And then she wasn't alone. The sixteen year old glanced over her shoulder and smiled sheepishly at the boy she saw there, turning to face him completely. "Oh I...well it's just that the machine took my money." And if the guy detected a bit of heartbreak in her tone, he was totally correct. She felt swindled.

"I'm not sure there's anything you can do, though. Maybe it's busted or something." Shrug.

Fleeing from its previous location and still in search of water, the tiny creature scurried up the back of one of the gumball machines and began licking furiously at the top of the machine. Pink saliva trickled down the side as it went at the gumball machine like it were one gigantic lollipop. A low hissing noise could be heard as the saliva began to eat away at it.

*PLOP*

The creature fell inside the machine from the hole it had created.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grangerfn1

What? He was a Ravenclaw?! The first one she had met!!! "Really? Do you like it? Is it fun? Is the common room really pretty? What's your name?" He seemed... kind of old. Maybe old enough that Max might've mentioned him in his stories. She didn't recognize him, though. Though... if he had been young in one of Max's team pictures, he could've just grown up a lot. Sophie peered at him curiously and probably came close to breaching personal space.

But then she just snatched up the pink gumball from his hand in exchange for her blue one, toasted merrily with him, and popped the pink one into her mouth delightedly.

"'anks." Chomp chomp chomp.

Blink.

This girl certainly did not need to be in a candy shop. But luckily, Aidan's best friend was a candy fiend, so he was used to the fast talking and picking out what REALLY mattered in all that. Although Lex could function more normally on candy nowadays. Must've gotten used to it or something.

But anyway...After taking a small step back from her, he answered, "It's alright." Shrug. "And I'm Aidan," he bro!nodded.

Would she supply her name? If not.......he wasn't all that interested to learn, actually. She was probably a first year. Lotus would NEVER get off his back for hanging out around a first year.

Also, don't worry about the gumball exchange, kid. No problem.

"Oh? Well.. yeah. I don't think I can really help you with that. Sorry." Stan suddenly felt rather silly. It sucked that the girl lost her money though. And she seemed rather upset too. And Stan didn't like it when girls were sad. Nope, not at all.

He ran a hand through his rather messy hair and flashed a small smile at her. But then, he was suddenly distracted..

o____O

WHAT ON EARTH!?!? Stan stared as a really creepy-looking little creature started to lick the broken gumball machine and ended up creating a massive hole in it.

.... It was kinda cool though, if you think about it.

"Did you just see that?" After a couple of more minutes of staring at the machine, he couldn't help but grin. "It looks like you can have your gum, after all." Heh.

Hazel walked up to the gumball machine. "Knut, knut," she said, trying to remember which coins they were. I should've paid more attention to Mum and Dad when them used money, she thought. After a few minutes of failed attempts with sickles and galleons, she was finally ready for her candy.

She twisted the handle and grabbed the falling candy. As she popped it in her mouth, she said, to no one in particular, "I love candy!"

There were sooooo many people at the shop Cornelius thought it was his cue to go around and eat as many sweets as he wanted and blame other kids for it. He hopped off his mini stool next to his father's at the counter and ran directly to his favorite machine. The gumball machine, of course! Then he'd attack the jumping gummy bears and chocolate frogs.

The youngest Baltazar took out a Knut from his pocket...when he saw it.



What was that? It was bald.

AND IT WAS INSIDE HIS DADDY'S GUMBALL MACHINE!



The five-year-old gaped at it. "Who did that?!" he demanded, pointing at the bald-rat-thing-that-should-be-clubbed-out-of-his-daddy's-shop. He gazed at everyone around him suspiciously. "I'm TELLING! DAD! DAD! DADDYYYYY!"

Some evil kid put a rat inside the gumball machine!!!!

"Don't apologize." Ella said with a smile, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "It's not your fault at all." And Ella would live without a gumball. Hey, maybe this was some kind of crazy sign from her dentist or something? Seemed legit.

She was about to ask the boy's name and thank him for offering to help when... WHAT.WAS.THAT?

O___O

It looked...sort of like a wrinkly weird rat and yet it couldn't be a rat because whatever it had in its mouth was causing a giant hole to appear and WHATTTT?

STARE.

"Yeah, I...that...uh." What could you say about that, really? It was just plain weird. At stranger!boy's comment, though, the blonde cracked a smile. "I guess you're right."

And then a little boy was yelling for his Dad and Ella raised an eyebrow, watching him curiously. "Uh-oh, somebodies in trouble." Grin.

But really...was that thing safe to be around?

OKAY.

It had been a while and the weird rat looking creature was still inside. What on earth was it doing in there? Eating all the gum!?

"Maybe we should just.. you know.. move away a little." Stan said, backing away from the machine. Because honestly, he was a little creeped out. And the fact that he didn't even know what that thing was, scared him a little more. Although he couldn't help but look slightly amused when a kid started to yell for his dad. Maybe the dad could throw the creepy thing out.

He finally turned to look at the girl standing beside him with a grin and extended a hand. "I'm Stan. Stan Hastings." Yeah. No, he really didn't want people knowing his full name.

Ella had been watching the creature with a mixture of shock and awe as it continued to just...be inside the gumball machine. So she definitely wasn't getting her gumballs now, yeah? Yeah.

The blonde glanced over at stranger!boy when he suggested they move away and nodded in agreement. Best not to get too close. She took a few steps back and just continued watching, hoping someone was going to come and take the creature away soon. The animal lover in her felt a bit bad for the poor thing. Dangerous or not, it must be scared. It clearly didn't belong inside a gumball machine and maybe it was just trying to find some safe place to hide or something. Maybe.

Oh, introductions. Ella turned to face the boy and took his hand, smiling up at him. "Nice to meet you, Stan. I'm Ella Bishop." Grin. "Where do you go to school?" Cause she didn't recognize him and he had nice hair. That meant he probably wasn't a Hogwartian. Just saying.

She glared at the boy, and not just any glare. This was the most ferocious glare the girl could must. Her eyes were tiny slits and her lips formed a tight light. If looks could kill...

Fay's glare turned into a smirk when the boy realized what she was doing. "Well duh! What else am I going to do with them..." She said rolling her eyes. She turned her back to him and popped in another pair of knuts, and another, and another... "I would have let her cut in front of me but I've changed my mind. Now you have to wait!" Of course if she let him go in front of her she might be able to get rid of him quicker, but Fay was out for revenge... no one messes with her gumballs. No one.

Ooh. That was actually sort of scary.

Benzi glared back, trying to make up for his slight fear of this monster face by making it as INTENSE as he could. Turns out he didn't really need to fake it all that much because he sure was GLARING when she confirmed that she was, in fact, going to stand here and actually buy five hundred million gumballs.

... Benzi was sort of jealous.

Eyeing her small frame, the eleven year old did the only logical thing in this situation - he squeezed in front of the gumball machines himself and shoved gently nudged Frownyface Faylinn away. "My turn now." MWAHA.

SPOILER!!: humans

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubbles

There were sooooo many people at the shop Cornelius thought it was his cue to go around and eat as many sweets as he wanted and blame other kids for it. He hopped off his mini stool next to his father's at the counter and ran directly to his favorite machine. The gumball machine, of course! Then he'd attack the jumping gummy bears and chocolate frogs.

The youngest Baltazar took out a Knut from his pocket...when he saw it.



What was that? It was bald.

AND IT WAS INSIDE HIS DADDY'S GUMBALL MACHINE!



The five-year-old gaped at it. "Who did that?!" he demanded, pointing at the bald-rat-thing-that-should-be-clubbed-out-of-his-daddy's-shop. He gazed at everyone around him suspiciously. "I'm TELLING! DAD! DAD! DADDYYYYY!"

Some evil kid put a rat inside the gumball machine!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

"Don't apologize." Ella said with a smile, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "It's not your fault at all." And Ella would live without a gumball. Hey, maybe this was some kind of crazy sign from her dentist or something? Seemed legit.

She was about to ask the boy's name and thank him for offering to help when... WHAT.WAS.THAT?

O___O

It looked...sort of like a wrinkly weird rat and yet it couldn't be a rat because whatever it had in its mouth was causing a giant hole to appear and WHATTTT?

STARE.

"Yeah, I...that...uh." What could you say about that, really? It was just plain weird. At stranger!boy's comment, though, the blonde cracked a smile. "I guess you're right."

And then a little boy was yelling for his Dad and Ella raised an eyebrow, watching him curiously. "Uh-oh, somebodies in trouble." Grin.

But really...was that thing safe to be around?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

OKAY.

It had been a while and the weird rat looking creature was still inside. What on earth was it doing in there? Eating all the gum!?

"Maybe we should just.. you know.. move away a little." Stan said, backing away from the machine. Because honestly, he was a little creeped out. And the fact that he didn't even know what that thing was, scared him a little more. Although he couldn't help but look slightly amused when a kid started to yell for his dad. Maybe the dad could throw the creepy thing out.

He finally turned to look at the girl standing beside him with a grin and extended a hand. "I'm Stan. Stan Hastings." Yeah. No, he really didn't want people knowing his full name.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Ella had been watching the creature with a mixture of shock and awe as it continued to just...be inside the gumball machine. So she definitely wasn't getting her gumballs now, yeah? Yeah.

The blonde glanced over at stranger!boy when he suggested they move away and nodded in agreement. Best not to get too close. She took a few steps back and just continued watching, hoping someone was going to come and take the creature away soon. The animal lover in her felt a bit bad for the poor thing. Dangerous or not, it must be scared. It clearly didn't belong inside a gumball machine and maybe it was just trying to find some safe place to hide or something. Maybe.

Oh, introductions. Ella turned to face the boy and took his hand, smiling up at him. "Nice to meet you, Stan. I'm Ella Bishop." Grin. "Where do you go to school?" Cause she didn't recognize him and he had nice hair. That meant he probably wasn't a Hogwartian. Just saying.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle droooooooooooooooooooool wiggle wiggle droooooooooool liiiiiiiiiiiiiick.

The creature continued to lick and wiggle around inside the gumball machine as human things gathered around and stared. Stares. Confinement. While the creature did not have the best memory, the situation was far too familiar for it to not notice. Letting out an ear piercing SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEK it thrashed around inside the machine. Gum balls flew in every which direction, hitting humans and rolling down the cobbled streets.

"HEY!" Faylinn shrieked as she was pushed out of the way, falling onto the floor. Again. Grrrrr.... What was this boys problem! and why couldnt he accept the fact that Fay was here first! Which means he has to wait until after she was done... At least this time she didn't loose her knuts.

Fay scrunched up her nose and her eye twitched with annoyance. "That wasn't nice Zippy..." She growled quietly. This was the last straw! The small blonde girl scrambled to her feet and brushed off her dress, which was brand new by the way, and composed herself. Then she walk over to Zippy she still didn't know his name but it didn't matter and kicked his leg as hard and she could.

She took a step back and crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. That ought to show him not to mess with Faylinn Diana Hadaway!

LOOK!

Was everyone watching this? Cornelius stood with wide eyes. What was the thing doing? He tilted his head sideways. Come to think of it, the bald rat looked interesting.

"Step away!" Cornelius shouted, trying to use his daddy's tone, which totally failed. "I call dibs!" That's what you say when you want something, right? That's what his big sister Peyton said, anyway.

Xavier could have sworn he'd seen some fishy looking kids -- and no, they didn't look like fishes -- but when he heard his son screaming for him, Xavier turned on his heels toward the gumball machine.

Was someone kicking it again?

That was getting old. Seriously.

"Corn--"

Waaaahaaa!

What in the name of Merlin was that thing inside his precious machine? How'd it break in? Xavier scooped up Cornelius and held his wand in his free hand. Did...was that...did that THING drool its way into his machine?

"Who does this creature belong to?" he demanded. He wasn't a very happy candy man at the moment. If a kid was playing a prank in HIS shop he was so contacting their parents. "Hmm?" he pressed, eyeing everyone around.

He frowned at the thing as it threw gumballs everyone. Oh yeah. Someone was paying for that.

Okay, now she was exaggerating. He hadn't pushed her THAT hard. Perhaps Frownyface just liked the floor. He knew a lot of kids like that, especially in school. During football he would take the ball from them and they'd fall - it really wasn't his fault!

Benzi suddenly wondered if Quidditch players fell off their brooms. Mummy said that at Hogwarts they don't play football, only Quidditch. ... It was highly disappointed. He was GOOD at football.

Having almost forgotten about Frownyface by now, Benzi was about to insert his own knut into the machine when he heard her get up. "My name isn't ZIPPY. Gosh, you're so annoying," he rolled his eyes, and was about to tell her his REAL name when he felt a sudden VOLCANIC ERUPTION OF PAIN from his shin.

"YEEEAEAAAAAAOOUUUCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"WHAT IS WRONG YOU WITH YOU, YOU MEAN GIRL THAT HURTS YOU CAN'T JUST KICK PEOPLE LIKE THAT," Benzi yelled at her from his position on the floor, clutching his leg with everything he had. He didn't even see her, since thing sheet of tears had coated his eyes.

.. Not that he was going to cry. NOPE. Nuh uh. No way. Benzi didn't cry, especially not in front of stupid mean girls who KICKED people just because she wanted gumballs!!

Mitchell was busy looking for school related things when he came across a candy store. Perfect! He couldn't be blamed for coming home with lots of candy if he trieeeeeed to look for his textbooks.

So with a mischievous smirk he headed inside and wandered around. Soon he found himself at a gumball machine. He ran a thumb along the coin clot. Those didn't look like quarter sized holes.

...

Oh wait. England. Right. What was British money called again? Or did it want the British magic money?

This was a crisis, it was. Caterina had run out of Sugarquills and she was in desperate need of her most favorite candy. What was better than pure sugar, anyway? Nothing. Not a single thing.

She hadn't even waited to leave the shop after making her purchase, to open one. She gave it a lick as she headed out, pausing and back tracking when she spotted a boy looking quite puzzled at the gumball machine. "Did it eat your coins?" She asked curiously, eyeing the machine with interest.

Mitchell was still looking at the coin slot with great interest when a girl stopped. "No." he said slowly. Mustn't talk in his typical accent among these people. He needed to work on that.

"British money is weird. It took me awhile to realize why this slot didn't look like a quarter." Siiiigh. Maybe moving wasn't a good idea. People were driving on the wrong side of the road... they called trash 'rubbish' and their money made no sense. New York was so much better. Was it too late to beg his mom to let him move back?

... Probably. Considering she just signed a lease for an apartment. NOT a FLAT. Stupid real estate guy. What was a flat anyway? Houses certainly weren't.

Mmm. Mm. Mmm. Mmmm. Mmm. Sugar Quill. Cat held the sugary treat in her mouth as she dug in her pocket for a few spare coins. "You need knuts." She said around the quill. After she'd rescued them from her pocket, she took the quill out of her mouth again and grinned. "Do you have any? I have some if you need them."

She couldn't let him go without candy, after all. She wasn't cruel. "I'm from Italy." Though that was rather obvious since she certainly sounded the part. "Our money looks different from British money too, but Wizarding currency is the same, I'd think." Then again, she'd never really thought about it before. It wasn't like she went to other countries and tried to buy things.

Mitchell turned his head and looked at the girl. "Nuts? I've met a lot of those kind of people here already. I don't think they're much help in this situation."

Just sayin'.

"Italy. Fancy. We had a little one of those back home." Little Italy. There was fantastic pasta there.

"Dad gave me some money. I've never used 'em before. I've always paid for things in cash." Maybe that was just a New York thing though? He dug in his pocket and held out a few of each kind of coin he'd been given. "So... it looks like the nickel looking thing would work..." Maybe?