May 4th, 1894 — Potts Flower Show

Emilia had spent the day at the flower show, feeling either much younger or much more romantic than she was. She wished Kit was here with her, or perhaps that her children were still young enough for her to drag to places like this — it was an enjoyable excursion, but one that would have been better if she had brought someone with her. Perhaps she should have taken Winnie.

They eventually turned the outdoor pavilion into a dance floor, with the garden on the ceiling. Emilia tilted her head up to look at it. She glanced at the man next to her; she recognized him as Mr. Podmore after a brief glance-over. "You've done good work here," Emilia said mildly.

Sydney Podmore Daffodil Grimstone

  

Syd would admit it again and again that the Potts ladies knew how to do events. There was very little required on his part other than making sure the animals were cared for and that the park was organized for them. From there it was follow the instructions of a very concise and forthright Mrs. Potts. She knew what she wanted and what needed to be done and Syd was more than happy to simply follow directions and do what he was told. There was nothing wrong with that.

The day was winding down, the pavilion turned into a dance floor for the final act of the evening and though Syd was ready for bed, he was not dismissed to do so. After fighting Hazel into her bed after a brief snuggle, Syd had changed into something that wasn't covered in dirt, just a clean linen shirt and trousers for the airy outdoor dancing. Despite his upbringing and previous work, Syd had slid quite comfortably into the more casual aspects of running the zoo.

Standing off to the side as things got underway, he reached for a glass of lemonade, content to watch for now. The voice next to him caught his attention and he smiled slowly. "I cannot claim credit, I simply opened up the space to the Potts ladies, they took it from there." Credit where credit was due, in his opinion. He recognized the woman's face as a relative of Eavan's, but couldn't quite put the puzzle pieces together fully. He was however, used to people knowing who he was by now, so instead asked, "Did you enjoy the events then?" He'd been trying to gauge how people were feeling to see if this was something they should do again. It had been a fantastic fundraiser for the zoo at the bottom of everything.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥
Podmore Zoological Gardens - Irvingly

Credit to the Potts ladies, then — Emilia nodded to accept his statement. It was not worth pointing out his contributions to the venue. There would be nothing to put together if there wasn't a zoo. She wished she had told Eavan she was coming today.

"I did enjoy it," Emilia said. She paused, trying to collect words on her tongue — she had to say more if she was going to speak to him and be interesting, but she was a naturally quiet person. "I particularly enjoyed the butterflies," she added, even though it made her feel silly.

Emilia took a glass of lemonade and looked at Mr. Podmore out of the corner of her eye. "Did you have a favorite?"

  

Pleased to hear she had enjoyed the day's events, Syd smiled a little wider. He was especially keen to hear about the butterflies. He had been toying with the idea of adding a permanent butterfly enclosure, lepidoptery was a common hobby around these parts and in many parts of the world; he could certainly afford to build another structure like the aviary to house it. "Yeah? It seems to be popular today. I've been wondering if I should add one to the zoo." Certainly the Potts ladies could help him with the correct flowers necessary to support such an endeavor. He would need to do some research on the matter, consult some experts to see what it would really take.

"I thought some of the more exotic flowers were a nice touch to the foreign animals." It made the zoo look very festive. "And the cactuses around Astra's— the thunderbird's enclosure. I've never seen any in person." Syd chuckled. He'd done a little traveling, mostly around the continent, but Astra was straight from the Arizona territory in the desert. Eavan had brought her back personally, along with another giant creature that she married.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥
Podmore Zoological Gardens - Irvingly

If he installed the butterfly exhibit, Emilia thought she would indulge herself. It was not as if she was an infrequent guest of the zoo — she visited Eavan and her brother-in-law Conall not-infrequently, and they loved the zoo — but the butterflies would be an exhibit she was also independently interested in.

''Eavan loved the cactuses,'' Emilia said, with a shy grin. She suspected he knew as much already. ''So she will certainly tell you to keep them. I suppose it's just keeping them from getting too much rain.'' Scotland, after all, was very different from the desert.

  

"To be honest, I'll probably leave everything up until it starts to die." The flowers were festive, they added some interesting dimension to the enclosures and the ambiance on the whole. Syd liked the dynamic of the flora and fauna from a specific region being together again. Many of their creatures had been born in or rescued from captivity, but not all. He'd noticed Astra had taken an interest in the cacti. Perhaps it would be good for some of those that had been brought in to have that sense of their natural habitat.[

"I'm afraid it'll be the cold that gets them, but I'll leave them for now." Perhaps they could be taken in somewhere during the colder months? Syd was familiar with winterizing the warm weather creatures, but adding plants into that? With the right charms, maybe these things could be combined. "I've got a lot to think about between the butterflies and the plants." He laughed and took a sip of his lemonade. "I seem to be at a disadvantage, you know who I am, but all I know is that you are related to Eva somehow?" She had given him quite a bit to think about, he might as well know her name too.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥
Podmore Zoological Gardens - Irvingly

The cold would likely get them eventually — she was sure a lot of work already went into keeping all the animals alive year-round. And she supposed that she ought to have known that eventually she would have to introduce herself.

"Eavan's late mother was my sister," Emilia provided, with a smile. (It seemed important to clarify that she was not related by blood to Conall, even though Emilia had over time become fond of the man, he was still mostly feral.) "I'm Emilia Moony. I work at the Ministry."

"Perhaps some weather charms?" she added, almost as an afterthought — she indicated some of the plants with a wave of her hand.

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   Sydney Podmore

That made sense, Syd supposed, though she hardly looked old enough to have a niece Eavan's age. Must have been quite the age gap. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Moony." Syd assured her. "Eva's been monumental in keeping this place running. Couldn't do it without her." He truly would have been sunk, even through her three pregnancies, Syd had relied on her to make sure he didn't screw anything up. Fortunately she didn't seem the type to suffer confinement very well either, and would work until her mountain man said otherwise.

"Mm, we do a little weather work in the enclosures, moving the plants inside might give them a chance." Obviously the Scottish winter was quite different than that of the southern States or Africa. It was certainly something to consider. "I'll have to see about getting somebody to advise on that, not my strong suit, but I'll have to keep it in mind." He could read up on it. Charms had always been something he'd had to work at, but eventually he got the hang of things.

"What do you do at the ministry?" He asked, figuring he'd done enough of the talking thus far.

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   Emilia Moony

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥
Podmore Zoological Gardens - Irvingly

It was easy for Emilia to believe that Eavan was integral to the zoo's operation; she was a quietly incredibly important part of whatever group she was ever in.

Emilia tilted her head as he talked about the weather charms — she was contemplating whether or not she ought to offer to help. Other people at the Ministry (like those in Magical Accidents & Catastrophes) interacted with them more frequently, but Emilia did know her way around a weather charm.

She smiled at Mr. Podmore's question. "I'm an Unspeakable, I'm afraid," she admitted, with a light laugh — not much elaboration was allowed there.

  

Syd chuckled at her answer. "And there goes that topic of conversation." He knew enough to acknowledge that was all she could probably say on the matter and he wasn't so curious as to pry about it. Syd had very limited interactions with most of the ministry, even while working at the hospital. Now all he really dealt with was the Regulation and Control for Magical Creatures and sometimes, in a pinch, the Reversal Squad. Mostly for policy work and taking in confiscated creatures, but sometimes the magizoologists advised on certain matters.

"I don't suppose you can recommend someone from the ministry to contact about the weather charms then?" Syd was pretty good at going with the flow of a conversation and pivoted back to their previous ideas. "I could use someone to check through everything and to bounce ideas off of if I want to keep the butterflies." It wasn't a bad idea, not by any stretch of the imagination, so he might as well pick her brain about it.

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥
Podmore Zoological Gardens - Irvingly

Emilia was pleased that he didn't pry; sometimes people did, and she never knew what to say when that happened, because she was a naturally quiet person and was not particularly well-suited for anything but avoidance in uncomfortable situations.

And she ought to recommend Magical Accidents & Catastrophes, because this was not her area of expertise — but he was friendly, and Emilia's children were older so she was not nearly as needed at home, and she had an Eavan-induced attachment to the zoo.

"I'm not an expert," Emilia said, "But I would be happy to take a look."

  

"I'll keep that in mind once I get things going then," the structure they had for this event was only temporary. He was going to have to construct something much sturdier and more permanent if he planned to open a true hot house for the butterflies. Merlin's beard he was going to have to employ a lepidopterist if it reached a point where he was too far out of his depth. He would have to get some books on the subject and read up. It was good, he needed a new project.

"Can never have too many solid exhibits." Though they only had so much space, Syd thought that he and the staff did a pretty good job of keeping up with everything. It helped that those he did employ really seemed to know what they were doing. 

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I wasn't sure it was possible, but he's even more yummy, by MJ ♥
Podmore Zoological Gardens - Irvingly

Emilia smiled at him. "If it's too much hassle, don't worry about it," she said — after all, she didn't run the zoo, so it was not as if she had a good sense of what would work for the exhibits. "But I'd rather like it."