January 29th, 1895 - Zoo's Birthday Party

Greer was not a particularly social person, this was not news to anyone who knew her, but she did enjoy the events at the zoo. Maybe it was because she had finally gotten over the homesickness the diricawls gave her and she purposefully went in search of them to bring a smile to her face. They seemed equally as enamored with the snow as she was at the moment, watching their little footprints sink into the fluffy white blanket that Greer only begrudgingly enjoyed, from the window, of her warm flat. Being out in it was still hit or miss.

She had on a thick cloak, a warm scarf and the mysterious mittens that had appeared her first winter here to battle the cold. Thankfully it seemed pretty mild, as long as the sun peeked out and there was no breeze. She wouldn't categorize it as warm at all, but it was bearable. She had a steaming mug of hot cider in her hands, which helped while she meandered between the stalls, following the diricawls.

They seemed to be allowed to roam, unperturbed by the snow (which was funny, given that they originated from far warmer climates) and Greer was too charmed by them to let it bother her. One stopped nearby and she reached out to waggle her fingers at him. Bastien, he was called, or so she'd gathered from the redhead that was often hollering at him. He was the largest by far and easy to pick out. He seemed interested, but what happened next sort of happened in slow motion. She felt the mitten slip from her fingers and then watched as the little beast ran away with it.

"Hey!" She squeaked, obviously dismayed; they were her favorite! "Get back here!" She added after a brief moment to give chase.

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   Elias Grimstone

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The zoo was a bittersweet symphony of cries and calls and Konstantin had spent much of the last twenty minutes wondering why he was doing this to himself. The fwoopers offered no answer, merely scowled back at him in their way. The augureys were mum on the subject; if the erumpents had any notion they were keeping it to themselves, along with their regard for the visitors today. The hippogriffs glanced at him mildly – from a distance – but Kons read in their ambivalence the permission to be at peace.

He took a deep, chilly breath and turned back towards the cider; it was definitely beckoning him and he had earned it. Pulling himself out of the dull doldrums of the Ministry – admittedly a deep chasm he had let himself fall into willingly – had not been an easy task but he had managed. Things were looking up. Or they would be if he could honestly say his nearest and dearest were hale and hearty.

He had only just realised he had spent as much of today worrying about Ari as he had missing Amelia when his thoughts were interrupted entirely by something treading on his foot. He looked down and locked eyes with a diricawl. For a moment he half-expected it to apologise for the misstep but instead it jumped a little, let out a muffled squawk and vanished with a slight pop.

“Erm…” He looked up at the young woman approaching him, clearly distressed, and who almost certainly had not made the odd sartorial choice to wear a single glove in January. “Has he taken something of yours by any chance?”