For the longest time, Aisling hadn't known what she wanted to do when she was older. She knew from listening to the Caretakers that she would have to pick some sort of job, because all reliable Nightmares (or Daydreams, she remembered from her classes) had jobs. She wanted to be "reliable" (which meant someone who always helped their friends.) However, first she wanted to be someone that had friends that she could help!
At first, it seemed impossible. No one seemed to want to talk to her in the Playroom. The caretakers were always patient and friendly, but Aisling longed for someone her own age. When Haunted Hallows came around and with it, her big day, she was presented with a familiar to take care of. It was partially to introduce her to the concept of responsibility (though she didn't know it at the time) and also to give her someone she could talk to, since she'd been having a hard time connecting with the other Freshlings at the Academy. It had been the hope that this familiar-friend of hers, would be a conversation starter, but instead, Aisling would leave it in her dorm and always come back to it between and after her classes.
Pooka, as Aisling had dubbed it, was a Pumpka. Bright green and mischievous, Aisling had learned to blow out its light whenever she left it alone in her dorm, lest she want to come home to a messy room. When she lit it again, she would chatter on and on to her friend, disregarding any of the other Freshlings in favor of the magical squash. While she may not have been pursuing friendship in other Nightmares or Daydreams, she did begin to take a more active interest in familiars, not just Pooka, but all the different species and so the beginnings of an idea for her to-be job was planted in her mind.
When the Winter Solstice came around, Aisling had been eager to go out and play at all the booths. She had a wonderful and exciting time, coming back to her dorm with all manner of trinkets and Ginger, a Spectrefox that had followed her home! She'd also actually spoken to another Freshling! This girl was named Bridget, who was a Hallow like Aisling, but unlike Aisling, she had a large fluffy tail! She was amazing! Aisling was eager to see Bridget again, especially after hearing about the multitude of Flitterats that Bridget had in her own dorm. Clearly, a theme was emerging: she loved her familiars and all of her non-familiar friends had animal companions of their own, too!
The planted idea was growing until finally it had struck her one day while she lay on her bed, watching Ginger and Pooka play with each other, the latter more clumsily as it rolled around the paws and flailed in Ginger's direction.
"Guess what, you guys?" Aisling had said to get their attention. "I think I wanna work with familiars, just like you when I'm older! Bringing familiars to Nightmares, ya know? There's gotta be some sort of job like that, right? There has to be." She made a note of it to start pestering her teachers to find out if there was a job like the one she imagined. Then again, so long as she was working with familiars in some way or another, Aisling was certain she would be happy, one way or another.
