The bell chimed brightly as the door opened wide revealing the bustle of busy witches and wizards power-walking down the ever crowded Diagon Alley. Voices burst out from the crowds like a wall of sound that would only grow stronger with the commotion rather than crumble beneath it. A young girl, her face fresh with excitement and a slight twinge of exhaustion, practically fell through the threshold as though she had to push her way through the sound and into the relatively quieter shop. When the door snapped shut, it was almost impossible to hear the pandemonium outside, thank Merlin!

Gwynedd Cecil was far from a person to dislike such atmospheres but the heat that had sprawled through the city that day had snaked its way around her body, thick tendrils of humidity and overall sliminess made her feel almost claustrophobic in her own skin! A nice, cool shop was just what she needed to recuperate. Not to mention her school robes had become a bit too small over the summer and she was in need of some tailoring. But one look around the shop, its musky smell of fabric wafting past her nostrils, told her she would have to wait. Here and there were customers patiently waiting, and some impatiently, for their turns. Gwyn heaved a sigh as she took her place amongst them hoping for a speedy turn.

Skyler wasn't exactly thrilled to have been dragged out to go shopping, especially given that it felt awfully warm outside. But her mother had promised her a new broom, so naturally Skyler grumbled a bit less than she normally would. But it was probably too much to hope that she wouldn't be difficult about it at all. Skyler hated shopping, much to the annoyance of her mother, who loved to shop. And Skyler hated shopping with her mother twice as much as just shopping on her own because he mother always tried to talk her into things Skyler hated. Like dresses and other such nonsense.

However, today she gritted her teeth and tried to be peaceable, but there was only so much one 15 year old could take, and by the time they were heading to get her her robes for school, Skyler had had enough. Losing her final sliver of patience when her mother began talking about all the pretty dress robes they could get her, Skyler threw a pleading look at her father. He was normally her accomplice in these types of situations. He suggested that they allow Skyler to get her robes herself while they grabbed her books, and then meet at the broom shop. The Alley was getting really packed now, was his excuse. Skyler thanked her lucky stars when her mother agreed, and with more money than she needed, she headed to the robe shop. Maybe, if she got lucky again, she'd had enough time to hit Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

Skyler soon found she wasn't that lucky.

First off, it was a battle just getting to the shop. With people shoving and pushing, stepping on her toes. Finally, with a huff of annoyance, she stumbled through the door to the sound of a bell, and barely kept from colliding with someone. She couldn't contain her groan as her purple eyes took in the sea of kids, who like her, seemed to be here for school robes. "You've gotta be kiddin' me." She muttered to herself, shaking her head as she fought the urge to tap her foot impatiently. Patience may be a virtue, but it wasn't one Skyler usually possessed. Turning to the person closest to her, she questioned,not giving any thought to her American accent. Or maybe it was a lack there of? That was one thing she could never figure out. Did American's have accents? Or did they just lack one?  "How long have you been waiting?" Might as well get some kind of idea as to how long she'd be stuck there.

Gwyn had begun to revel as the cool air enveloped her. She lifted her thick, long brown hair from her neck feeling the heat as it left her body. It was without any doubt that she was not made for warmer weather and lacked any amount of tolerance to the heat. Winter was her favorite but hell she'd take autumn too over this mess any day of the week! The crowd that stood in front of her seemed to be unforgiving, offering no room for error. It was with pure luck that she took one last step forward as the door bell rang out again and another girl, appearing around her age it would seem, practically fell into the shop. Turning her head as the newcomer came up short of ramming into her, Gwyn's natural reaction had her almost looking down her nose at the girl. Not exactly an attractive expression but stopping just short of looking insulting. She turned her body and tried to make more room but it wasn't quite as simple as it seemed.

"How long have you been waiting?"

Two things caught her attention as the girl spoke up. One, that godawful American accent (she was never much of a fan of the American accent finding it to be almost arrogant sounding, though her bias was influenced due to a rather unpleasant experience as a child with an American muggle) and two, as she had turned to look at the girl more directly, found an unusual set of purple colored eyes. Was it a spell for aesthetic reasons? Maybe she was a metamorphmagus who preferred to stand out. "Interesting," she muttered all to herself. With a quick blink she stopped looking at the girl and focused on the question at hand. "I had barely made it through that door when you came in." Her lips sort of pursed together as her brow furrowed. How much longer would she have to wait? Well, she had to take a moment's pause and acknowledge that she hadn't been waiting for long. Impatience was her downfall in these situations.

Gwyn allowed her attention to return back to the girl who had spoken to her and hover a bit. She wasn't exactly a tactful person in most situations. Her overall mood was always very readable and obvious by her demeanor. As a result her interest and disinterest in things were for all to be privy to. "You seem to be about my age, are you an American student," she asked as her head tilted to the side in curiosity. In all honesty, Gwyn wasn't quite that interested in knowing who this girl was, but any distraction was a good distraction. Hopefully her inquiry wouldn't come across too blunt, but well, she tended to be blunt and weren't Americans overtly blunt all the time anyways? Not having spent too much time with any, she couldn't be sure. In any case, why would an American student be shopping for robes in London? Okay, perhaps she was more interested than she had led herself to believe.

Skyler, who had been busy muttering about the apparently long wait, and pulling her hair back and putting it up in a ponytail, had missed the look she had initially received from the girl she now realized she had questioned. Looking into the girl's face, Skyler could plainly see the look of utter disinterest, and if she had to guess Skyler would say the only reason she had received an answer in the first place was because the girl spoke just for something to do. Skyler might have been insulted by that fact, but giving the girl a once over, Skyler was merely mildly amused.

Shifting on her feet so she leaned her weight mostly on her right foot, Skyler cocked her hip slightly and slipped her hands into her jeans pockets, her trusty wand tucked behind her right ear in what was known to be her trademark. Her amusement grew as the other girl seemed uncomfortable with the situation. Purple eyes now dancing even as she arched a brow at the blunt question, she flashed a cheeky grin, answering the girl's question with one of her own. "Know a lot of Americans who come all this way to shop for school do you?"

Skyler could have done the polite thing and just answered the question, but where was the fun in that?

The tilt of her head straightened almost immediately with the girl's reply. Did her response mean she wasn't a student? Oh, perhaps she was just young-looking. If she was a metamorphmagus then that would mean she could look as young as she wanted, didn't it? How enviable! Not that Gwyn had much concern to look young at the moment. In fact, despite her growth spurt over the summer, she still looked every bit her age. Her head nodded slowly, not in agreement with the purple eyed girl but rather as a a physical indication of her brain working. It was a habit she inherited from her father, unfortunately, giving her the appearance of a slightly slower thinking individual despite any intelligence she may actually have. "Well, I have to be honest, I don't know many Americans period. Can't say whether many of you come here for school robes or not. Are robes more expensive in America?" Gwyn's tendency to ramble emerged fairly quickly as she voiced the questions that were bouncing around her head. Realizing that her response was probably far more literal than the girl was intending she lightly bit her tongue and reached up to scratch the side of her head "Ah, yes. I suppose I missed the point somewhere," she admitted sheepishly.

Skyler had to work from letting her disbelief from showing when the other girl began to nod her head in response to Skyler's question. Or at least that's how Skyler took it anyways, but it soon became apparent that this was not the case. She couldn't refrain from rolling her eyes, shaking her own head slightly, almost ruefully. Of all the ridiculous..., she thought mentally. Who does that? Who nods yes to a question when they really mean no? Skyler would never admit it aloud, but she was partly amused by it, even if somewhat perplexed.

But she gave no outward appearance as to what her thoughts might be, and instead decided to see how far she could go with this. It wasn't like she had much to do, waiting for the impossibly busy shop to become less busy. She thought it might be great fun to see how far she could push the other girl. It was her own fault anyways. What kind of question's were those? Unfortunately, the other girl seemed to have some sliver of common sense, because she caught herself before Skyler could respond, and Skyler felt like the wind had just been taken out of her sails. Huffing slightly in irritation, she rolled her eyes again, this time at the sheepish look the girl gave her. "Yea. It's most commonly referred to as having common sense."

It came out a little more harsh than she had intended, and Skyler offered a slightly apologetic grin, but mostly it was playful as she added on," Then again, maybe having common sense is also just an American thing?" She ended questioningly, tilting her head as she again arched a brow at the girl, smirking, purple eyes clearly showing what her entire demeanor portrayed. She was teasing the other girl. Taunting her, and this was something Skyler was good at. Especially when people put their own foot in their mouth, like this girl had.

Skyler wasn't a bully by any means. She simply had a sense of humor that some people couldn't handle. Which was fine by her, because she didn't make friends with people who couldn't take a joke. It wasn't personal. But considering Skyler spent a majority of her time causing trouble and about 90% of her comments or retorts were sarcastic in nature, she found it easier to just give people a taste of it. If nothing else, it was funny getting under people's skin.