The wizarding world had always been strange, so to speak. Odd things happening was part of the charm, but Cuaditch Town seemed to take it to another level with the strange things that happened in this wizarding town. Alicia enjoyed some of it, not all of it, but some of it. The latest Rainforest was a mixed bag. It was exciting to wake up and see a completely different world but it was also a little difficult navigating. The day before she’d been stuck between two warring clans of monkeys for thirty minutes and ended up late to meet her brother.
Today she was walking down what usually was Stoogging Dr when she heard a sound from behind her, turn swiftly with her wand out she found herself face to face with Silas Capper.
“Bloody hell!” She snapped at him. “What are you doing sneaking around right now?” It reminded her of another time he’d scared her.
Waking up in the middle of a rainforest was a new experience for Silas. He’d woken up in some strange, dangerous, and unusual places during his travels but never anything quite like this. Especially when he was supposed to be in Cuaditch.
He had to admit it was pretty cool though. This was definitely better than some of the other odd things that happened here. He’d left that morning for a walk and ended up staying out for a while, exploring. There were all sorts of sounds around him, and wild animals lurked behind and in the trees. One person that wasn’t a wild animal - or at least not in species - was Alicia Spinnet walking along not far ahead of him.
Silas smiled to himself and crept towards her. He didn’t want to spook her, but he didn’t make himself known at first either. He must have stepped on a twig or something because all of a sudden she spun around with her wand in his face. “Woah there, Alicia,” he said, holding up his hands. His wand was stored in his pocket for the time being.
“I’m out taking a stroll in the bloody rainforest. What are you doing sneaking around right now?”
Lowering her wand, she put it away, her heart still racing a little bit. She narrowed her eyes at him trying to decide if he'd meant to startle her or not. Alicia wouldn't have put it past him, but she decided to take a deep breath in instead.
"I was meeting Rocco in a bit and didn't want to be late this time," she said. "Hardly sneaking about," she answered. Of course, she could have flooed or gotten here several other magical ways, but who could turn down walking? Even when the town was normal, and it was far from normal right now.
Crossing her arms, she tilted her head slightly looking at him. "Enjoying startling people today?"
He hadn’t tried startling her on purpose, but he hadn’t gone out of his way to make himself known either. “It’s hard not to look like you’re sneaking about in the middle of a random rainforest,” he offered, not really answering her question one way or the other. “Better to stay quiet than to become a meal for the tigers and jaguars.”
“And what a lucky coincidence. I wasn’t going to stop by until later today, but since you’re headed his way; I needed to check in with Roc about something. We can traipse through… whatever this is together then.” A small smile played on his lips. It was true that he needed to see Rocco, but it was hardly urgent and could have been handled by an owl or text. He didn’t mind Alicia’s company on most days though.
“I wouldn’t want you to get eaten on the way. “Silas looked down at her. “Just another day in Cuaditch, isn’t it?”
Alicia took his non-answer as a yes. Not many people were good at sneaking up on her, but Silas seemed to have an art form to it and somehow bugged Alicia a little bit.
She laughed softly. "And what are you and Rocco up to this time?" She asked before looking at the path if you could call it that ahead of them. "He isn't trying to talk you into anything mad is he?" She added as she stepped over a snake.
"Are you saying I need your big strong arms to protect me?" Alicia scoffed. "I'm pretty sure I can manage a jungle." She wasn't going to say she didn't mind the company and only shrugged at his comment about the town.
“Oh you know. Little this, little that.” Silas was a little evasive at first but grinned while ducking underneath a low-hanging vine. “He’s considering a few updates to the restaurant and wanted to see what I thought about some of them.” Some were purely cosmetic and some upgrades to the kitchen. Nothing over the top from what it sounded like during their first conversation.
“You think my arms are big and strong? Now you’re gonna make me blush.” He was about to say something else, but a dark shadow caught his eye up in the trees. “Can you survive jungle cats?” He asked her and with a slight move of his hand, pointed up to where a black panther was tiptoeing across a branch, stalking them.
“If I see a singing bear named Baloo, I’m going home.”
"Let me guess he wants an updated oven?" Alicia ventured. She was a very, very silent investor. Alicia tended to help her siblings as best she could, well all but Elle.
Alicia reached out quickly and slapped his shoulder lightly, shaking her head before looking up to the dark shadow. Narrowing her eyes she tilted her head. "I'll take Baloo over warring monkeys. The Howler monkeys are a bit intense." She admitted.
"You're not planning on trying to find a big cat are you?" Not that she wouldn't be equally as interested in seeing one.
"Oven may be one of the items on his list," Silas answered. "My guess is that he's whittled down all of the upgrades and changes from his wish list to his realistic list." With one or two wish list items added in here or there. The fun part is watching and listening to him go on about how much he'll be able to do with it."
Silas nodded silently in agreement. True, he'd rather have a singing Baloo than warring monkeys. He was still looking up in the trees trying to figure out if the panther was following them or more or less doing its own thing and keeping a curious eye to the humans on the ground.
"Hey, it'd be cool to see one up close." He paused for a moment and added, "But not too close." The last thing he wanted was to get mauled by a big cat on his way to meet one of his mates.
Alicia chuckled lightly. "We've all got to have dreams," she told him, smiling. It didn't surprise her that two of her siblings ended up in the restaurant business; she was glad she wasn't one of them though. "He was on about some new tabletop distilleries, but I think that was more for fun and he was reading about molecular gastronomy, something about doing it the muggle way." She shrugged. "That was on the dream side."
Alicia followed his line of sight again before looking ahead of her. "Well, I suppose they aren't on the list for a dinner party in that case."
Silas laughed at the image. “Molecular gastronomy and the muggle way. Yeah, that’s on the big dream side.” He wouldn’t pretend to understand exactly what that involved or what the finished product would look like, though he was sure probably pretty cool.
“Unless we’re the dinner,” he said, teasing a little. Mostly. As much as seeing a panther up close would be, he also didn’t want to get too personal with the experience. They walked at a normal pace for the most part, but his eyes drifted up every once in a while to see their feline friend’s status.
“It’s a little hard to tell what part of town we’re in.” With the new jungle decor, most of the streets looked the same or similar enough to be confusing. Turning a corner, though, Silas thought he recognized a few of the buildings. “Oh hey, there it is.” The restaurant was just a few blocks further down the street.
“Are you planning to stay long? You should stick around for lunch. Roc usually tries to butter me up with a nice lunch before the main pitch. It’s not usually needed, but it’s still fun for me -- and free lunch.”
"Oh, shut it!" She laughed, hitting his arm playfully. "If that were to happen, I'd have to rescue you, and you'd completely fail at the whole strong arms thing."
She thought for a moment as they headed towards the restaurant. "I was mostly planning to come give him shit," she shrugged. "But if he's working on trying to fatten you up, can't miss whatever he's got planned." Besides, she might be a good cook herself, but it was nice not having to cook sometimes. What pretty much no one knew, Alicia was a very, very silent investor so she'd probably have to hear the pitch anyways even though she never weighed in much.
“So, we’re back to my strong arms. You keep bringing those up.” He laughed and leaned out of the way for another possible hit that might come his way. “But you’re right. I think I might be the damsel in this situation. I could play the part well though.”
He gave a nod. “Good. Maybe you can help translate some of his chef-talk. He gets excited when he talks ovens, and I just can’t bear to tell him they all look the same to me.” He’d only planned spending part of the day with one of the Spinnet siblings, but hey now he was getting two-for-one.
“Besides, you giving him shit is one of my most favorite past times.”
"Might have to charm your hair to grow quickly, style it in one of those princess sort of looks," she looked over at him picturing it, she had to bite her lower lip to keep from laughing. "It'd look very fetching. Might even make your hair blond for it."
Laughing, she sighed. "You've spent this much time listening about ovens and you still can't tell the difference?" She teased. "Alright, alright, I'll translate for you." She pointed at him. "You owe me." Even though she knew she'd be getting a fantastic meal out of it anyway.
"Well, can't let him get too big of a head, can I?"
“Only if you promise to climb up my long, princess hair and rescue me if I’m ever locked up in a tower.” Silas shrugged. “What? We’re in the middle of a rainforest. Muggle fairy tales are definitely within the scope of what could happen here.” He wouldn’t put any odd instance past this place after what had been going on in just a short amount of time lately.
“Exactly. I like my Rocco sweet, rambly, and semi-modest.” Approaching the restaurant, he held the door open for her and followed in after.