(Untitled)

[lynnella]

Who: Ella & Emma Montgomery.
Where: Shopping for furniture and other important flat things.
When: May 24th, afternoon.
Why: Ella thinks they should decorate the whole place before they get a flatmate to disagree with their taste. ...Also, bonding!

Comments

[leighemma]

Emma was not the sort of person to care that they had the whole Ollivander fortune coming to them (well, to Ella, so she figured that counted for her as well). Money was not infinite, and she'd seen and heard too many tales of people who had ignored financial advice and managed to go bankrupt despite starting out with sizable fortunes. She certainly wasn't about to waste money on a couch she wasn't entirely certain on.

She had ideas of what she was looking for, though. She would prefer a sage shade of green, as the dark green often used in Slytherin would be much too dark for a reception room to look inviting. She wanted something soft, as Ella did, and she wanted it to look refined. Nothing too plain.

They'd gone through a lot of duds, as far as Emma was concerned, but this latest one was definitely showing promise.

"I like it, as well," she replied, "But I would be careful of that coffee if you don't want to be forced into buying it right now."

Emma pulled out a small pad of parchment where she'd been taking notes on all the previous couches and carefully added in the make and price of the one they were on, putting a star next to it.

"Should we continue and perhaps come back later?" she asked. When it came to large purchases, Emma was not the type to want to buy straight away and she was hoping that Ella would be willing to take their lists back home and discuss before coming back to make a final purchase of their top choice.

[lynnella]

Ella, for her part, had heard far too much from Emma to take money lightly - and she was not given to spending much to begin with. Most of her purchases were on behalf of the shop - base supplies for the wands. And Emma helped with that; while Ella checked the quality, and chose what was needed, her sister was best at making certain they had the best deal they could possibly get - and Ella saw no reason to pretend otherwise.

At Emma's comment on the coffee she raised it to her lips again - finishing off the last bit, although she was, by nature, cautious in her movements. Ella didn't particularly mind doing so; it was simply habitual to keep from fighting (even over something that would not, likely, turn into a fight).

Ella had been contributing to the lists in her own way - secure in the belief that Emma was noting down prices and makes, Ella had been making use of a camera to make certain they could compare the couches visually (although she had no doubt their memories were good, she preferred to be certain) as well as her thoughts on what groups of furniture or other things looked best together. Creating order, and harmony, was something she was good at; Emma would beat the numbers into place.

She was usually circumspect in any decision, so Ella did not have any trouble nodding at Emma's request. "Of course. We do have some time before our decisions need to be made - there is absolutely no reason to rush into anything."

And Ella really didn't think they were rushing. They had taken quite some time to decide on a flat, as well - in the end they'd chosen the new building for the pitch and the ability to have some (small) input on the flat they had leased.

[leighemma]

Emma nodded at approval to her sister's decision to move on. It was especially nice when they seemed to be in complete agreement of their thoughts (although they were still not the same person, thank you). It made shopping much easier for one thing.

"This should be enough couch and chair sets for now, don't you think? How about we move on to coffee tables? We can perhaps look at kitchen tables at the same time."

Truth be told, Emma was terribly excited about their new flat and being able to decorate it to their taste. Their furniture at home hadn't been updated in quite some time, mostly due to apathy on the part of their parents, which left too many ghosts in Emma's mind. She couldn't look at their couch at home, for instance, without at least fleetingly thinking of Eddie sitting there. But this was their chance for a brand new start - furniture without memories.

If this went well, maybe she'd talk to their parents about redecorating. She was pretty sure they didn't want to erase those memories of Eddie, but it was worth a try.

[lynnella]

Ella didn't see why agreeing with one another and working well together ever meant they were interchangeable; it didn't. They were two different people, even if they were similar in some ways. If they'd been a year older and younger more than technically, they probably wouldn't have such troubles: it was only that they were twins, and identical, and often in childhood people had not bothered to look beyond that.

"We have a good sample for now," Ella agreed. "Tables it is."

Ella didn't need their home or their old furniture to remember Eddie. Not really. Her father's name, the way she sometimes bought, without thinking of it, Eddie's favourite candy - Bertie's Botts, which Ella couldn't stand for the inability to know which flavour she would be tasting. Their mother's eyes; Emma's eyes, her eyes.

It would be nice, though, to be away from the house that seemed to have frozen in time with Eddie's passing. With no indication that time had passed since, Ella sometimes expected him to round the corner, flinging himself at her and Emma, before correcting herself.

She would forever be correcting herself about Eddie, she thought.

"I took a look through the journal - mine from the two we were sent - today." The older Montgomery said, briskly changing her thoughts. "I do not think they are at all being used for the purpose explained in the letter."

[leighemma]

Emma didn't either, but there were other people who certainly did. True, that sort of thing had happened with a bit less frequency when the sisters had changed their hair, but it still occurred from time to time.

Emma was never going to forget Eddie, either. How could she, when she loved him so much she didn't mind giving up her spot as baby of the family once she saw him? But she didn't need to live in a shrine dedicated to him, either. She kept a couple photos in her wallet along with those of others she was close to, but she didn't think keeping his bedsheets around or things of that nature would help. It certainly hadn't helped their parents move on, and while she would always miss her brother (sometimes desperately), she had a feeling he wouldn't like his family stuck in a rut.

"The kitchen already comes with stove, oven and some cabinets, right?" Emma asked her sister as she flipped to a new page of her parchment pad as they headed to the table section of the furniture store. "I think I wrote that we wouldn't have to buy those, and I think we should see if the cabinet doors are hideous before replacing them."

Spotting a couple coffee tables in a brown shade that Emma thought would go well with the colour paint they'd already picked out, "She knelt down to look at prices. "Any thoughts on these, Ella?"

[lynnella]

"Yes, it does. A kitchen island, as well - so we need stools. Although I don't believe we should buy the stools until we've seen the counter, and the cabinets - it wouldn't do to choose something that clashes terribly." Keeping step with her sister as they changed departments, Ella detoured to toss her empty cup in a trash can, before merging with Emma again a moment later. She referred to her own notes - a neatly written page in a small notebook - on what was included in the apartment, as well as all the measurements of the rooms. "We might be able to transfigure or charm the doors into something acceptable, if they're horrid."

It did not, after all, make any sense to buy something they could create on their own - although Ella assumed that the cabinet doors would have something to go off of. Making a table from nothing was quite silly, and therefore they would, of course, buy one, once they decided upon something.

Coming over to stand beside Emma, Ella considered the tables, picturing each one at the center of their living room - the design was in her mind's eye, as were the measurements. They had done away with the sales associates soon after arriving - Emma had a better mind for numbers and such concerns, in Ella's opinion, and they were quite firm about their decorating schemes (and the associate they'd gotten hadn't had the same styles, at all).

"They would go well with the paint - " Sometimes they did have the same thoughts, although they just as often had different ones, such as - "But perhaps a darker colour? It would set off the paint further, I think."

[leighemma]

"That's true, but we'd also have to remember to refresh the charms. Hopefully it will be a moot point and they'll suit us," Emma replied.

The associate they'd been given had had terrible decorating sense. While the sisters had different enough tastes that it would be evident in their bedrooms, the associate had thought the two smartly dressed witches were looking for something overtly modern. And really, zebra striped couches were not at all something either would want their parents to sit in when visiting.

"Did Mother say anything to you about us bringing some of the extra cooking utensils that are in storage?" Emma asked her Ella as she finished writing about the coffee tables there and moved on to the next ones, which were a few shades darker.

[lynnella]

"One can only hope," Ella agreed - it seemed likely, as they'd taken into account the suggested feel their new home was to have (as honestly, why would one live somewhere one - or two, in this case - could not, in fact, feel at home?). Still, it never hurt to make plans for possibilities.

Zebra striped couches were not something Ella would want to sit in, when it came down to it. She couldn't imagine how the girl had gotten a job - although she supposed (grudgingly) that someone, somewhere, must, in fact, like zebra striped couches. Merlin knew why.

"She hasn't said much of anything, really," Ella remarked, following her sister and snapping off a picture of the newest table (as she did with all of those they considered). "I mentioned it and she went vague. I think we should be able to, however, once they decide we are, in fact, going through with it."

[leighemma]

Zebra striped couches and horrid cabinets left Emma's mind when the conversation turned to their mother.

"Father hasn't said much to me, either," she admitted, circling the make of a table she especially liked, noting that it came in a matching set with end tables, "I know he knows we've signed the lease. I told him as much. But I think he's too hurt to want to believe it."

Emma pursed her lips and pushed a short blonde strand out of her eyes, "We're twenty-two now. They can't honestly expect us to live at home forever, can they?"

[lynnella]

The matching end tables caught Ella's fancy, as well; she dutifully took the picture before examining them more closely. It was easier to think of end tables and coffee tables than it was to think of their parents' current emotional states.

Their father in particular.

"I don't think they do, not really. They just wish it were so." And after Eddie, well - she didn't want to say that. To say out loud why the Montgomerys were so reluctant to let their daughters go. Ella kept her eyes on the furniture. "It won't last. Few things do."