The Thread In Which Things Happen

[Lucy Odair]

This is why kids were annoying. They wandered about and got lost and didn't know what the fuck they were doing. And they acted all annoyingly, and talked annoyingly.

"They're usually in the living room." Lucy explained as she made her way towards the back door. "But the weather is nice so they might be outside instead." Those McKinnons, they spent way too much time in the garden for her liking. "Come on-" she was leading a kid, a real life actual kid that hadn't been forced up on her, through the house because he had shown up looking for Willow and Lucy decided from the kindness of her heart - not really, she just wanted to see how William would feel if she brought a stranger into the house and claimed he was friends with Willow - to bring him to her.

She had been right, the McKinnon lot was indeed hanging around in the garden (go figure) and Lucy smiled brightly as she made her way over to them, pulling the kid after her. "Hey you all! I brought a street rat for Willow to play with!"

[Ginny Weasley]

Willow loved the garden. It was nice and outside, but still attached to her house and closed off so no one could get in. Outside was a lot less nice these days if it wasn't in the safety of her garden, or while gripping to someone's hand very tightly. Inside was better where you were safe and inside and couldn't accidentally fall into any side-streets.

She was happily playing away with her frog when someone entered the garden, looking up to see two people there. Two familiar faces. One more so than the other. She was about to greet them when Lucy spoke and threw her off-guard.

"A-a what? A street rat?" Willow repeated, feeling slightly confused. "I don't get it..."

[William McKinnon]

The weather was nice and Will was sober and not at all hungover. So he had decided to go outside and spend time in the sun, a rare thing. He'd just popped inside for a drink, though he was keeping a trained eye on Willow. His sister hadn't quite recovered, not that he could blame her. The idea itself made him seeth.

He frowned however as he heard voices, and then saw two figures emerge into the garden. For a moment there was a small tense feeling that these were people who were going to kill Willow or something, but then he recognised the taller figure and clenched his jaw.

"Let yourself in, why don't you, Odair," Will snapped as he entered the garden. "Any particular reason you're here? And who's your friend?"

[Odette McKinnon]

Odtte had been sitting on the porch for a while now, playing with her Lego's, or rather building the tallest tower she had ever built, but when that required her standing up, she had lost interest and smashed the tower down.

Then she noticed someone entering the garden, a strange girl, dragging a boy behind her. She recognized the girl as their next door neighbour, even though she had never really met her, or talked to her, she had seen her around. She had never seen the boy though.

When Will entered the garden Odette forced herself to stand up and ran towards where he wast standing, she stood silently by his side for a moment, waiting for him to notice her, but gave up on the quickly and decided just to tug on his sleeve.

"Will," She said. "Who are they? And what's a 'street rat?" She asked curiously.

[Malachi Matthews]

Malachi had been trying to find the McKinnon's house so he could play with Willow. He'd only seen her once, at the junkyard. But she'd been fun, and his siblings were boring and never wanted to participate in his fantasies. So Malachi had gone on his own adventure to try and find the McKinnon Mansion, seeing as that was where Willow lived. He knew it wasn't far from his own house, so he went by foot.

A girl had picked him up from the street, when he'd asked her if she knew where Willow McKinnon lived. She said she did and he'd followed her, blatantly ignoring the fact his mother told him not to talk or listen to strangers. She had pretty hair, surely she was speaking the truth?

They made their way through the house, and the girl was talking, but Malachi didn't really listen because he wasn't very interested. Instead he pretended to be a ninja, breaking into a big house. Because it was huge. At least twice as large as his own house. They reached the garden, and Malachi's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, it was huge. He would certainly like to play in there.

The girl started talking again, and Malachi glared. "I'm not a rat! I'm Malachi, and I came here for Ninja Willow!" he said, getting down on the floor and rolling over the ground towards the girl. "Hi!" he greeted her cheerfully.

[Lucy Odair]

Lucy forced up a loud, heavy and dreamy sigh. "Oh, McKinnon!" she exclaimed. "Your happiness shines through each word and makes everyone in here feel welcome and wanted and so happy!" she said, smiling sweetly at the boy. "I'm here because I love it here, obviously. What's not to love? Your happiness filling up the place with rainbows!"

She turned to wink at Willow. "I was just kidding around, sweetheart! He's not a rat, but he was looking for you." she winked again, lowering her voice just a tiny bit. "Tell me, is he a secret boyfriend?" Yes, her day had definitely been too dull and needed some spicing up. She really couldn't be blamed if all hell broke lose. She just wanted a fun day.

Lucy watched with amusement - even if she was slightly afraid, this was a kid after all and a strange one - as the kid rolled over the floor, claiming that he was a ninja. Lucy crossed her arms, turning to William, eyebrows raised but a grin in place. "Your sisters sure know how to pick'em, don't they?"

[Ginny Weasley]

Willow watched as her brother Will joined them, snapping at Lucy. She stopped trying to figure out if they were friends or not a while ago. They didn't seem to be either. They spent a lot of time together for two people who didn't like each other. She imagined it was one of those adult things she wasn't going to get.

Then Odette left her legos and went to stand with Will, and Willow felt a little obligated to pick Freddie up and pay attention like everyone else, standing up so she wasn't the only one sat. She flustered at what Lucy said to her, shaking her head wildly. "He-he's my friend, from the junkyard," she explained.

She didn't have much chance to say anything else before Malachi was rolling on the ground as a ninja and stopping in front of her. She couldn't help the smile that cracked on her face, feeling herself begin to cheer up at the prospect of more adventures. She felt much safer when she was being someone else. Her voice was still very quiet. "H-hi," Willow held out her frog on impulse. "Can Freddie be a ninja too? He'd make a very good ninja. He's nice and small."

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