OTA

[fantasticnewt]

Newt sat on a bench in the park across from the building that housed the small flat that the Ministry had provided for him. He held his suitcase on his lap, still wary about having it out of his sight for even a moment. This was a step for him, being out in the world at all. Since he had arrived here a few weeks ago from 1927, everything was simply too much. Too much noise, too much crowd, too much that was unrecognizable, unexplainable...

Sometimes he'd felt as if the world was not all that welcoming to him at the best of times, and now he felt like even more of an outsider. He was an alien here. And not only this, but the shock of going to the Ministry for help and discovering that everyone knew who he was. There was a portrait of him there. A first edition of his book under glass.

He watched a squirrel scurry up a tree. Once safely on a branch, it paused and looked over at him. He offered a little wave.

The latch on his suitcase popped open.

"Quiet down, Dougal," he said gently as he closed the clasp again. "I am not letting you out, not here. If you thought New York was a different world, you've no idea what you might encounter in this place."

The latch popped open again, almost violently this time, and Newt practically flattened himself against the case to make sure it stayed closed, then glanced up and around him frantically, as if afraid he might be caught doing something bad.

[OOC: for the deets on brand new newt, here!">

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[fantasticnewt]

Newt smiled in response to that, and knelt down as he watched the fox. It tilted its head at him curiously as he set down his case in the grass next to him. And then after a moment, it made its way out of the bushes towards him.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique tried to remain quiet, but she knelt down in the grass as well when the fox came forward. How pretty it was, golden-orange with the sunlight gleaming off its fun! She wanted to say something, but feared spooking the beautiful creature. All that escaped her was a soft gasp of delight.

[fantasticnewt]

The fox moved directly to Newt, and sniffed curiously at his hand. Then it sniffed very curiously at his case. Newt smiled. "There now, aren't you clever," he said. "And don't you worry, there's nothing in there that means you any harm." That, perhaps, was not entirely true, but Newt had no reason to think that his creatures might escape again. And there were very few of them who would find a fox a tasty dinner anyway.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique noted that Newt spoke a good deal more to the animal than he had to her; another useful bit of information. She remained as quiet as she could, despite her deep curiosity. Watching Newt make friends with the fox was a small, glimmering droplet of wonder in a world too often devoid of it. "You're magic," she sighed very softly, though she clearly meant it metaphorically.

[fantasticnewt]

Nate glanced at her with a little smile still on his face, but then when he looked back at the fox... they had a visitor.

A bowtruckle was climbing out of the brush towards them, its attention entirely on Newt. And Newt knew that he should probably be alarmed by a magical creature revealing itself in front of a muggle, but he was also simply glad to see one.

"Hello there," he said.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique had been a city girl all her life, and knew very little about wildlife in general. She knew that insects that looked like sticks and even leaves existed, but... not one that appeared to have a face, too. Curious, she leaned forward, blinking as if she needed to clear her eyes, and that would somehow make the creature make more sense.

"What is it?" Angelique whispered, not wanting to disturb the... insect?