Kinsay didn't spend too much time by the dungeons. The only real reason why she ever found herself in the area was for when she wanted to meet up with Matty (which was all of the time, but usually he ended up climbing to the towers seeing as the majority of his people were Gryffindors anyway). But she wasn't here for Matty today (or for Moose, or for Benjee or for Noah or for... how come so many of her boySPACEfriends and her one boyfriend were Slytherins?)

Today she was here for slugs!

Because the last time she had come looking for Matty, she had found the gooey pit and the rest was history! Actually, it was future history because Kinsay had all the ideas and she was only here just now to execute them. So of course she came prepared with a GIANT jar that she had acquired from the kitchens (it used to hold pickles but pickles are gross so she just threw those into the bin—no one would miss them anyway).

Kizzy skipped over to the pit and got down on her knees just beside it, setting her jar down next to her and stared. This was the part where she'd come up with her plan of action, of course.

Quinn was actually on his way to the kitchens himself—he'd learned from previous trial and error the way to the kitchen and what people meant when they said "tickling the pear." It was, in fact, tickling a pear. On his first trip down, he actually ended up in front of the pit of slugs himself—luckily he didn't actually have to go through it to get to the kitchens, but he thought he would have to for a moment.

So, when he passed the corridor and saw a girl kneeling next to the slimy disgustingness that was The Pit™, he thought she was in a similar predicament. Who actually wanted to go near that thing, anyway? Quinn made his way down towards the girl, stopping a bit behind her.

"Oh, um, you know you don't have to go through there to get to the kitchens. Or anywhere, really. There's probably some better way to get wherever it is you're going."

Of course she could just reach into the pit and grab the slugs with her hands, which is likely what she would end up doing. But the idea of trying to scoop them directly into the jar was just as appealing. Only.... She didn't want to get her jar all gooey, so maybe the first idea was the best one afterall. Hm. She considered these things for a moment longer only to be interrupted.

"I know," she replied immediately before looking up to see who was speaking. Kinsay gave him a good stare. He was a first year. Maybe he knew Teddy and Cooper and Sammy and Tavie. Those were her favorite Ravenclaws. "I'm not going to the kitchens." She had already acquired the jar, see? "I'm catching slugs," she explained as if it were obvious.

Hm. Maybe she needed a net. That would make this WAY easier.

Quinn shifted under her gaze. He could tell this was a strong personality from the small interaction. Strong personalities were scary.

He glanced between her, the jar and the pit, then nodded a bit. "Okaaayyy. S-so, you're just... waiting for them to get in the jar..?" he asked skeptically.

Fortunately for the younger Ravenclaw, Kinsay was only a moderately strong personality. In her own opinion, anyway. And strong in the sense of 'can stand up for herself' and 'GIRLPOWER'. Not strong in the sense of being overpowering. Had he met Emmerson or Emma yet? They were the strongest personalities of all AND happened to be Kizzy's best friends. Maybe she was a strong personality by association. There's a lot to think about here.

Other things to think about? How she was going to acquire a jar full of slugs.

Again, there were many good ways to go about this, but... the Ravenclaw's suggestion was not one of them. Kinsay sort of just stared at him again, wondering if he thought before he said things out loud. "That would take too long," she finally answered. "It's easier to grab them." Turning back to the slug pit, Kinsay reaaaaached with her hand before quickly making a grab for one of the gooey slugs. "See? Easy." She struggled with the slimy creature, but managed to dangle it right in front of the first year's face anyway. Just to show him. Ewwwww, so slimy.

She kind of loved it.

Quinn had not, in fact, met Emmerson or Emma properly, but he had seen them in class and was aware of their... dispositions, in a word. He had seen this girl with them before, so he knew she probably shared some traits.

Quinn averted his eyes from her stare. He didn't think she liked him much, as of now. He let out a disappointed "Oh..." as he watched her pick up a slug with her bare hands. Quinn wouldn't even dream of touching one of those icky, squirmy things. Just thinking about the slime being on his hand made him shudder.

Quinn exclaimed in surprise and disgust as the slug was dangled in front of his face. He took a couple steps back. "Th-that's lovely, you can, um, put it in the jar now." A grimace spread across his face as he watched the slug squirming between her fingers. "Isn't it gross to hold? It's all slimy and stuff. You could just as easily Leviosa them into the jar, right?"

If it helped make matters any better, Kinsay didn't usually take to people quickly. It had very little to do with who Quinn was as a person and far more to do with the way Kizzy was. She'd come around eventually, but the staring probably wouldn't stop. Unless, of course, she realized that it was unnerving. But until then, she'd keep with the staring.

Kinsay didn't understand why Quinn looked so distressed. "Isn't it so cute!" Instead of putting in the jar like he had said, Kinsay flattened her palm and held it out like that instead, giving it little back rubs with her finger. Maybe she'd even keep one as a pet. "No, it's so squishy and slimy. Super fun to hold. Do you want to try?" And because she was feeling generous, Kiz offered him her slug.

Also. She decided to ignore his question about using leviosa because she was bad at magic and didn't like to admit to it. There's no way she'd try a spell when someone else was around! What if it didn't work and then she looked silly?

Quinn's frown deepened as he eyed the slug in her hand. "Uh, well... I'm glad you can find something cute about... that." He watched as she... gave it back rubs..? Why..? A slug..? He shook his head. "Um... no, no thanks. I would really rather not..." he chuckled awkwardly. "Um... thanks for the offer..?"

Quinn was trying to think of a reason for her to not pick up slugs with her bare hands. "Um, you're going to have to... wash your hands. A lot. I think, um, some people will think that picking up slugs is... really, really gross."

Soooooooo cute. Kinsay continued to give it little rubs with her finger. "Do you think it's a boy slug or a girl slug?" And more importantly, was there a way to tell? Did slugs even care?

She also didn't seem to notice Quinn's hesitance and thought he was just being polite, so she moved her hand even closer to him. "Are you sure? It won't bite you, they're friendly creatures." Actually, Kinsay did not have the extensive knoweldge of slugs required to prove this claim. But they seemed like friendly enough creatures and this one hadn't bitten her yet, so it was probably true.

"I know," she replied, seemingly unbothered by his worries of hand washing. She wasn't going to walk around with goopy hands, that'd be disgusting. "People who think that don't know how to have fun." Mhm. Straight facts. "....." It was only then that she looked up to eye him thoroughly. "Do YOU think it's gross?"

Quinn did not know or care whether the slug was a boy or a girl. "Uh... I don't really know."

Quinn took two more steps back. "Yes, thank you, I'm sure I'm fine, really, thanks for the offer, though, but no, no thanks." When Quinn got nervous, he tended to ramble, and this made him nervous—he didn't want to upset her, but he really, really did not want to hold the slug. Whenever he saw a slug in his garden, he always just let them be. He felt no desire to touch them. And those were the little tiny garden slugs with the clear slime, these were much bigger with green slime, and Quinn had no intention of ever coming into direct physical contact with one. Eh. Ver.

Quinn reddened a bit, averting his eyes. "Uh, w-well, I, um..." he trailed off, then was silent for a beat. "Y-yes..."

Kinsay didn't find this to be surprising. Was there anything that Quinn did know? Kiz squinted at him.

A squint that persisted through all his rambling. Until. Oh wait. Was he ... scared? The thought had only JUST occurred to Kinsay James and her whole face went all soft as a result. Kizzy felt scared sometimes. More than she wanted to admit because Gryffindors weren't supposed to get scared and yet here she was. Cried on the first day back this year. Almost cried in multiple DADA lessons. Cried during a Jarvey's funeral. Bravery wasn't something Kinsay felt a lot of these days, so she could relate to the feeling.

It actually made her feel a little guilty for having been all sorts of judgey before (even though her judgments hadn't been shared out loud). She didn't want Quinn feel embarrassed.

So when she spoke again, she spoke even softer than usual. "It's just a slug." She assured him with an easy nod. "It won't bite you. Promise." She even held up her gooey pinky. Pinky promises are sacred. If you break the promise you have to break your finger, did he know? And she'd never be willing to break her own pinky, so she was extremely confident that the slug wouldn't be biting him. See? Nothing to be 'fraid of. That's what this was, right?

Quinn was, in fact, not scared of touching the slug, he just thought it would be really, really gross. What he was scared of was upsetting Kinsay—he thought she might be the type to hold a grudge, which could go over badly. And he could tell from the shift in Kinsay's tone that she was trying to console him, which made the situation ten times worse. If Quinn still said no then she would probably get sad, but if he said I'm not scared, I just think that touching the slug will be gross and would make me want to throw up, she would get offended. And it would sting even worse because she's being genuinely nice. And then she wouldn't like him, and she would tell her friends, and those friends would tell their friends, until ultimately the whole school would hate him because he said he thought slugs were gross.

He was stuck.

Quinn eyed her pinky. Her icky, gooey pinky. And he knew what he had to do. For the future of his social peace... he needed to touch the slug.

Quinn did his best to seem like he was relaxing into the idea when he was very much not relaxed, he wanted to die. He gave a wary smile and took her pinky with his own, feeling the slime get squished on his finger. He grimaced. "O-okay... I trust you...

Kinsay James? Completely misreading a situation? More likely than you think.

"Sometimes I get scared too even though Gryffindors are supposed to be brave," she didn't know why she was telling him this, but it felt important to share. Maybe incase he felt embarrassed. Being embarrassed was one of the worst kinds of feelings and if roles were reversed, Kinsay would've hated feeling that way. So she tried to give him another reassuring look. The best way to conquer a fear was to go face to face with it, that's what people typically said anyway. And it helped when you go to face it with someone else, so Kizzy was glad she could be here with him to help.

She wrapped her gooey pink around his clean one and gave it a firm shake. "I'd never break a pinky promise. Those are sacred." They had a magic of their own, did he know? She felt like it needed saying just in case.

Letting go of his pinky now, Kizzy extended her other hand (with slug) to give to him. "I think it's a baby one because it's so small." Which meant that hopefully Quinn would be doubly unafraid to touch it. She looked up at him expectantly.

Oh, Quinn felt really bad now. She was really being so nice, wasn't she? And here he was, just wanting to absolutely die. He nodded at her comment, trying to do his best impression of a scared-but-now-consoled person. Was it working? He hoped it was working.

Quinn winced as he felt her pinky tighten, the slime squishing between them even more. He nodded. Quinn did know about the sacredness of pinky-promises—he made one with Atlas at the beginning of the term. That was such a nice moment between them, and it honestly cemented their friendship. This felt like some sick reimagining of that moment, making pinky promises all around disgusting. Quinn thought to separate it by hands: this pinky, his left pinky, would only be used for those pinky promises he didn't mean. Slippery slug slime promises, this pinky. Other pinky, his right pinky, would be used for the good pinky promises. The Atlas pinky promises.

When Kinsay held out the slug to him, Quinn eyed it warily. He really really really really didn't want to touch it. But sacrifices must be made. He held up his already slime-covered pinky and gingerly brushed the slug along its back.

Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew

"V-very nice baby slug..." he forced out, stopping his pets. He held his gooey pinky out, not wanting it to touch the rest of his hand. He had done it now, very well, and he didn't have to touch another slug ever again. Quinn forced a smile. "Thanks, Kinsay, you... really helped..."

He looked a little funny, but Kinsay just assumed that because he was just nervous. He would've said if something else was the matter, right?

Kizzy watched Quinn and gave him an encouraging sort of smile, trying her very best to be reassuring and kind and the way Teddy always was with her when he was trying to help her step out of her comfort zone. It must've worked too because he was going for it!!! Except... How come he was petting the baby slug with his pinky? Well. Small steps towards bravery, at least.

"You're welcome!" She was, evidently, quite appeased. "See? Told you it wouldn't be that bad. Isn't he squishy?"

Quinn gave a small not. "Oh, yes, very squishy..." he laughed awkwardly. It was squishy and slimy and nasty and all of those things. How did Kinsay like holding that thing?

Quinn exhaled a bit, looking at his pinky, now covered in icky green slug slime. This was... the opposite of how Quinn wanted his day to go. He looked back up at Kinsay. "Ah, well... I was actually on my way to the kitchens to do some baking, so... I'm going to go rinse off my pinky and then, uh.... get to it." He gave a small nod. "Good luck with your... slug... catching..?"

His laugh sounded a little forced, but sometimes people laughed when they didn't know what else to say. Kinsay could respect that. Maybe. Either way, she didn't think much of it because she was super excited to have helped the first year get over his fear of slugs. That's exactly what happened just now, obviously.

"Thanks!" She grinned, throwing the one she currently had in her hands right into the jar. "See you," she waved a goopy hand at him before sticking it back into the slug pit for her next catch. See? Super fun!

He eyed her hand as she waved, noticing all the ooze on it. He gave a small wave. "Yeah, see you..!" He gagged as he watched her stick her hand back into the pit.

Quinn turned on his heel, holding his goopy pinky out in front of him as he speed walked away. Bathroom. Bathroom. Where's the nearest bathroom?

Eden was tired. No, she was exhausted. Her hair was a very out-of-character mess, her knees were covered in dirt, her was face dirty and she'd had to use a hair scrunchie to try and clean up the slime from her chin and chest. And she was sad about Quinn.

And it wasn't even eleven in the morning!

It had taken her over an hour of hard work to clean up the slugs. She'd considered just dumping them in a hidden spot on the grounds, but then she'd remembered how tall and scary Williamson had been.

So here she was, as originally planned, totally not getting war flashbacks from the sheer number of slugs in front of her. With a deep sigh, the first year opened her bulging, magically-extended fanny pack. There were easily over 50 slugs inside. She gently placed the bag on the steps and watched as the slugs slooooooooooooooooowly began their exodus.