A well earned rest ((Kiyla))

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled at Kiyla, grateful to her for not pushing it further at this moment in time.

"Um... what are we playing?" Ivy asked. "Do you know Slam?"

Ivy smiled as Kiyla asked her a question to which she supposed the answer was not directly obvious.

"Ah, well that's the clever bit," Ivy said, smiling at Kiyla. She bent down to the floor and undid some clips.

"Feet up!" Ivy said, grinning. Once Kiyla had obliged, she pulled up the fold out table between them and busied herself adjusting it until she was satisfied.

"There we go," Ivy said, smiling at Kiyla.

[KiylaJohnson]

Kiyla laughed as Ivy "found" them a flat surface.

"You are indeed bloody brillant!" Kiyla said with a grin.

"Now, lets get this game started! Mind you, I am not all taht great at the game so..." Kiyla said with a small shrug.

[Ivy Tunstall]

((I am going to skip this post on a bit... playing card games is not all that interesting...))

Ivy laughed. "Not at all, not at all."

Ivy smiled and they started to play the game. It wasn't of much consequence who won it, although Ivy found that sometimes she could get surprisingly into the game, and subsequently, just a little violent.

After a while they tired of it, of course, and some of the passengers had started to throw them dirty looks because of the noise they were making.

They spent the remainder of the train journey chatting, playing little games and eating. Obviously none of the food was as scrumptious as that from the magical world, but some Muggle foods did have their advantages.

By the time they disembarked onto the open platform in Somerset, they were thoroughly bored. And really rather tired. Their surroundings were bathed in late afternoon sunlight. Ivy knew that they would have to get going if they wanted to be there before it went dark.

"Have you got everything?" Ivy asked Kiyla, as she turned to her, smiling.

[KiylaJohnson]

Kiyla never realized how much fun you can have on a train ride until then. They laughed and shouted and giggled and receive plenty of dissaproving looks from other muggle passengers. They didn't care though.

By the time they got off they train however, they both were tired. Kiyla lazily grabbed her things off the train and walked off follwing Ivy.

"I'm all set." Kiyla said with a small smile. She looked around and saw it would be dark soon. She shrugged. She didn't mind the night time much anyway.

[Ivy Tunstall]

"OK then!" Ivy said, and gestured for Kiyla to walk with her. They exited the station and started walking. At the moment they were in a fairly central area of the small town. Ivy wondered whether it would feel strange for Kiyla, being among the Muggles. After all, she had been raised by a witch. Personally, Ivy found it refreshing.

They walked for quite some time, into the greener, leafy suburbs. Finally they rounded the corner onto the street where Ivy's house was.

"We're just coming up to it now," Ivy told Kiyla with a smile. She pushed the gate open and looked up at the familiar terraced house with a smile. The garden had an unkempt lawn, fairly green, also fairly muddy, with a gravel path leading up to the front door. There were a few flower pots with later flowering plants in them. At least Mrs Gibbon seemed to have kept those up. Although maybe it had just been too wet to mow the lawn. Ivy would have to do that later - it was set to be quite fine weather.

Ivy looked to Kiyla beside her, smiled, and rang the doorbell. It would take a while for her father to come to the door, but he had probably been anxious all afternoon.

[KiylaJohnson]

Kiyla watched the muggles as they busied themselves with day to day things. Though she was muggle born she didn't see this day to day. She liked it though. She remembered when she was just a little girl her adoptive mum would bring her to places like this. She smiled happily. She felt right at home. She liked it.

Finally they arrived at Ivy's home. Kiyla liked it. It looked comfortable. Not over done... not to small, not to big. Perfect.

She smiled at Ivy as Ivy rang the doorbell. Kiyla began to grow slightly nervous. She had never met Ivy's father before. She looked around her nervously and bit her lip as she looked at the door waiting.

'What if he doesn't like me?' Kiyla thought to herself.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled at Kiyla's nervousness. "Don't worry, he doesn't bite," she said, her eyes dancing.

Ivy looked back to the red door as it opened. Behind it stood her father. He was a frail man, small, stooped, with wisps of white hair. Ivy's heart sank. He looked even worse than last time. Weary, as though he had no energy left to stay in the world.

Ivy beamed at her father. "Kiyla, this is my dad," she said, and "Dad, this is Kiyla."

Ivy stepped into the house, glancing at her watch. It was about five o' clock. That meant she would have to start cooking the dinner almost directly, but to satisfy her father she would have to sit down for a while. Ivy turned to Kiyla, smiling and ushered her into the house.

Her father was already pressing them through into the small sitting room. Ivy looked round at the familiar room. There was a small settee and an armchair, upholstered with floral fabric. There was a period fireplace, with a mantelpiece above it on which perched a clock and an assorted jumble of cards. A small television stood in the corner, in the centre of a large wooden stand that made its size even more apparent. It shared the stand with a vase of flowers, which added a splash of vibrant colour to the otherwise fairly dull room. The floor was carpeted pink - they still hadn't found the money or the time to change that - and was covered with woollen rugs. The wallpaper was faded, fairly plain with a few floral motifs. Ivy smiled, thinking the opposite. She had never liked the decor, finding it rather old fashioned, but she had not the heart to tell her father that. Besides, it was him who resided in it alone for most of the year, and there was no pressing need for it to be changed. It would merely be extra hassle.

Ivy took a seat on the settee, hoping that Kiyla would have the sense to follow. Her father sank into the armchair. He seemed relieved that his duty was over. He looked at both of them.

"Did you have a good journey?" he asked, smiling benevolently.

[KiylaJohnson]

Kiyla smiled at Ivy's father as he opened that door. She noticed that he looked nice only... weak.

Kiyla smiled softly at Ivy's father and said, "nice to meet you," softly. She followed Ivy into the house caustiosly and looked around.

"Cool," She thought. She saw Ivy look at her watch then she saw Ivy and her father both go into the dining room. Kiyla had half a mind to stay where she was but decided to go over.

She sat down across form Ivy quietly. She nodded at Ivy's father's question.

"It was fun." Kiyla said with a smile.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled at Kiyla as she sat down next to her.

"Good, good," her father said in response to Kiyla, "I'm glad to hear it." Ivy smiled at him.

"There weren't too many delays, it was absolutely fine and we kept each other company," she told him. Her father nodded at this, seeming satisfied.

Ivy looked across the street in the fading light. The Ashtons' children were playing in the road. Little Bob had his knee in plaster, while Olivia was playing with the wooden skipping rope that Ivy had given her for her seventh birthday. It was painted with bright colours, all lovely in red and blue and yellow. David and Jake were playing football. Ivy smiled, glad that not too much had changed. The wonderful people on her street were still there for her whenever she came here. They were so supportive, too.

Ivy looked to Kiyla, her ideas for conversation lagging. Her father seemed content to sit there in peace, with the faint laughs of the children outside and the steady ticking of the clock. But they couldn't sit here for too long - they had things to be getting on with. It would be rude if they didn't have a short conversation, but after that they really needed to have a frenzy of activity to get everything done.

[KiylaJohnson]

Kiyla sat in silence for a minute of two. She looked at Ivy. She could tell Ivy wanted her to keep talking.

"Um.. so Mr. Tunstall, how have you been today? I'm glad to be here. I couldn't wait until I finally got to meet you." Kiyla said. She smiled. She didn't really know what to say but she hoped that was good enough. She bit her bottom lip softly.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled at Kiyla. Her father beamed.

"Oh, that's kind of you," he said. "It's so nice that Ivy's actually brought a friend home at last, you know. I mean, the school is so far away, and so Ivy can't be here all the time. I think she's afraid her friends will find the train journey deathly dull."

Ivy gave her father a look, and then gave him a small smile. They made some conversation for a while. Ivy knew that this must be crucial for Kiyla. She must be trying to form some sort of idea of what Ivy's father was like. Ivy had never met any of Kiyla's family, actually. Kiyla seemed to get on well with her adoptive mum, but Kiyla's father? Ivy would never forget that hurtful letter. She hoped she never received anything that bad.

At last Ivy stood up slowly. She had let the conversation go on for slightly longer than intended, but they could manage. "Well then, shall we go and get on with things?" she asked.

They left her dad in the living room, where he seemed quite content. Ivy motioned to Kiyla to come upstairs, and picked up her own holdall.

They reached the tiny landing, off which were two rooms. Ivy went to the one on the left and pushed open the door. The room she led into was fairly small. It had a view of a side alley. There were two beds in it. One was a camper bed, seeing as usually this was just her bedroom. The second bed made the room rather small, but there was still a little space at the end of the room. The floor was carpeted in a rather tired looking blue carpet, while the walls were spoged with blue, yellow and white paint and were stencilled. The bedcovers were yellow and white, with embroidered flowers on them. It had quite a homespun look to it, really. Ivy flung her holdall under her bed and sat down on it to see whether Kiyla had followed.

"Come in!" she said. "I'm sorry, but space is at a bit of a premium here."