Gringotts, part 1
Error talking
Nightmare talking
Thinking/X talking
Error woke slowly, feeling movement next to him. He could hear childish giggling in the background. Opening his eyes, he ended up face to face with Blue, who was also just waking up. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before scrambling away from the other with bright red blushes. It looked as if during the night, they had started to cuddle, with Inky in the middle. Of course, their reactions to the revelation had just made Inky laugh harder from his spot at the foot of the bed. Blue's blush faded when he looked over at Error's young charge with a devilish glint in his eyes. Inky stopped laughing and started inching away from the maniacal-looking Blue, but alas, his fate was sealed.
"N-no, stop! B-blue, haha, stop!" Inky laughed breathlessly as Blue tickled him mercilessly. Error grinned and joined in, helping Blue tickle every part of Inky they could reach. After a few minutes, the two adults stopped so Inky could catch his breath. Getting up from the bed, Blue grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the small bathroom. After he closed the door, Error looked over at Inky, who was panting softly from the earlier tickle attack. "So kiddo, have any ideas on what to do here, since we won't be able to leave for a while?" he asked, since at the moment Inky was the expert on this AU. Inky thought and asked, "Can we maybe find the mages here? I want to see what they're like. Besides, the guy we're looking for is a mage too, so it should hopefully make it easier."
"Sure we can, kiddo." Blue chirped brightly from his spot in the bathroom doorway. He smiled at Error when the other raised his brow questioningly; apparently he had heard the whole conversation. Just then, the sound of growling filled the air. Inky looked embarrassed and said, "I think I'm hungry." This prompted laughter from Error and Blue. Still chuckling, Error reached over for his coat, which he had deposited on a chair the night before. "Let's find a good spot to eat guys. I don't know about you, but coffee sounds good at the moment." "Wait, since when do you drink coffee?" Blue asked, confused. Error chuckled again. "Since Reaper introduced me to it a few years ago, I just didn't really take it with me anywhere or anything. With how often I was attacked outside the Anti-Void, I decided it wasn't worth the effort." he replied softly, making certain that the distracted Inky didn't hear. Blue nodded in reply, realizing that Error didn't want to talk about it at the moment.
After checking out, the trio wandered outside, looking around. It appeared that even so early in the morning, the city was busy. Doing some quick investigating, Error discovered that they were in London, England and it was June 16, 1996. Blue had bought the group some doughnuts and coffee for him and Error, while Inky got orange juice. While wandering, Inky was looking around when he suddenly pulled on Error's hand, forcing him to stop. When Error looked at the boy questioningly, Inky just pointed to a shabby looking pub not too far away. The pub had an old wooden sign that proudly proclaimed "The Leaky Cauldron" that was swinging in the slight breeze. "I know this place." Inky said quietly. "It's the entrance. We have to go through here to get to the Alley." he continued, starting to walk forward. Error pulled him back quickly, snapping Inky out of his trance. Blushing lightly, Inky muttered an apology softly.
The trio entered the pub, blinking in the dim lighting. It was dark and dingy looking, though it appeared to be very welcoming all the same. There were small tables that were spread out around the main area, and Error saw the well-stocked bar up front, with a large book next to the ancient-looking till. An older man behind the bar looked up when they had entered, not pausing in his task of cleaning glass.
"Hello there!" The man exclaimed cheerfully. Error and Blue focused on the man while Inky continued to gaze around curiously. "Not from around here, ain't ya?" he asked, looking over the group knowingly. "Ah, no, we aren't. Do you mind helping us? We're trying to figure out how to access the Alley, you see." Blue said brightly, remembering what Inky said about the place being an entrance to the Alley. The man nodded and put down the glass he had been cleaning. "I figured as much. Name's Tom, by the way. What's yours?" he asked as he led the group through the dining room and out through the back door. "I'm Blue, and the quiet guy next to me is Error. And the kiddo is Inky." Blue replied, watching in interest as Tom tapped the bricks on the wall in front of them in a specific sequence.
"Odd names, but not the oddest I've heard. Musta made growing up fun, eh?" Tom said wisely. "I don't know. Don't remember any of it." Error replied before Blue could. Tom looked a little startled at the sound of Error's gravelly sounding voice, but shook it off."Now, do you folks need anything else?" Tom asked them. Blue shook his head and said, "Thank you for your help, sir!" Tom just laughed and said, "Not a problem, young'un. Stay safe, now!" The barman and innkeeper walked back inside, closing the door behind him. Error looked over at Blue, then at the Alley in front of them. And what a sight it was.
It was a small cobblestone street, with buildings that seemed to lean over it. The buildings were mostly two stories tall, though there was a large white marble building at the end of the alley that towered over the rest. All the buildings had an old, quaint feel to them, and the people in the street certainly looked as if they belonged! Most of them were wearing robes in many colors, though brown, black and green seemed to be the most favored. It wasn't too busy thankfully, but it was busy enough that Error had to take a few breaths, and pray that his haphephobia didn't act up around so many unknowns.
Inky looked dead ahead at the marble building. "We need to go there, that's the bank." he said firmly, looking up at Error. Error nodded and started walking forward, holding Inky's hand tightly. Even though they were walking quickly, Error couldn't help but notice things about the stores they were passing.
"Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions? Ok, not the oddest thing. Wait, was that a gold cauldron? Why the hell would you need a gold cauldron? And a shop for quills? Why not use pens, there's way less of a mess that way. And of course they sell flying broomsticks. Eeylops Owl Emporium, how the hell do you pronounce that?" Error dragged himself out of his thoughts when Blue grabbed him by the shoulder. Looking up, he saw that they had reached the bank. He saw that the sign up top said in gold letters "GRINGOTTS". As they walked up the steps, he noted the guards. They weren't human, but were obviously not monsters. Shrugging, Error ignored them and focused on the poem on the door instead.
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
Error scoffed and looked over at Blue. "They're practically daring someone to steal from them with that." he said, looking scornfully at the poem. Blue sighed and said, "Well, at least they can say they warned any would-be thieves that there would be consequences." Shaking his head, they walked over to one of the tellers, waiting patiently for him to be finished with what he was doing. While they waited, a man with pale blond hair strode in, looking around. He walked up to the trio and said with a sneer, "I have business to attend to. Move out of my way at once."
Blue looked at the man disbelievingly and said, "No, we were here first. It can't be that much of a hardship to wait a few minutes." The man growled and tried again. "No, you don't understand, I have business to attend to and you WILL move at once, you filthy mudblood. If you don't, I can have you arrested." Blue smirked and looked at the man properly. "On what charge? My friend and I are minding our own business; YOU are the one that started this." he said, his smirk growing larger. The man turned red and went to grab Inky by the arm, possibly to pull him out of the way, but before he could, dark blue strings wrapped around his wrist tightly, making him freeze in pain.
"I don't know who you are, and quite frankly, I don't give a flying FUCK. But you just went to grab MY kid, and that's not something I can let go unpunished." Error growled out darkly, more strings wrapping around the man, to prevent escape. "Have fun with the rest of the trash." Error continued as he opened a portal to a trash dump in this AU and dumped the man through. He jumped when he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat and flushed when he realized that the teller had noticed the whole thing. Thankfully, the bank was fairly empty, and the other that were there didn't notice the quiet confrontation or the portal opening.
"That was somewhat entertaining, Mr...?" the teller said, clearly waiting for an answer. "Error. Just Error. The one beside me is Blue, and the kid is Inky." Error replied. The teller nodded and asked, "What can Gringotts do for you today, sir?" Inky piped up. "Can you do blood checks and stuff, to see what a person can inherit?" The teller looked down at the curious young lad and decided to humor him by answering the question. It wasn't every day that the human children were interested in this type of thing, after all. "Yes we can, it is quite simple actually. A mere seven drops of blood into a special type of ink made only by goblins, which is then used with a quill made with the feather of a hippogriff, so the family tree can be certified as truthful." Blue and Error looked at each other, then Blue spoke up. "Can Inky take that test?" The teller looked up at the white-haired young man. "Certainly, but I don't think anything will show up." Walking around the counter, he beckoned for the trio to follow him deeper inside the bank.
Inky led the trio cheerfully as they walked. Error only sighed. "Something tells me that we're in for a lot of surprises today..."