Even as he stood there, holding up his notebook and waiting for an answer, Daxton caught sight of another student. He looked at her automatically, reading her signs and at first not even registering the fact that this was the first person he had encountered in this world whod could communicate as such. Not counting Suri, of course, who only had a very basic grasp of the language.

The moment it did register, Daxton hesitated. Why did she want to help him? He didn't quite trust her, or her as-yet-unknown motives. But at the same time... she could sign, and so was potentially useful. He balanced these things up in his mind as he glanced back at the teachers. Especially the woman who... ignored him completely.

Well then.

Mood darkening, Daxton shoved his notebook forcefully back in his school bag and turned again to the girl who'd signed at him, before signing his response.

'I can hear fine. And I just want to leave.'

In fact, he could hear a little too well, but that was neither the point nor the current problem. Daxton had already made up his mind, in any case; he wouldn't be sticking around. He was uncomfortable and tired and, in his mind, the entire 'bonding' charade was totally pointless.

Hehe. The youngest Truebridge was good people. He couldn't remember when he had met the other boy, but Davie had been really little, and Kyroh had been littler, and he had instantly like him. He gave him one last good squish before letting go. "Yeah it is! It's also the best common room." The fifteen year old chuckled. He had been here for so long, sometimes he forgot to stop and admire just how cool the common room actually was.

It didn't have the view of the lake like the Slytherin one, but Kyroh always thought it was better. "Why not?" He asked with a grin. "It's not like there are rules against being blue. You should try it! You might like it." HE liked it. But he also liked walking around without a shirt so, yes, it made sense.

Toddles hears master callings Toddles. Toddles turns little head and sees little master calling Toddles. Toddles walks overs and bows to little master. "Toddles heres to helps studenties. Toddles knows to cooks. Toddles helps master." Toddles not knows what foods master wants. Master will tells Toddles.

Needless to say Riley was excited.

Since getting here it had been a non-stop whirlwind of adventures and new experiences for her. She'd been sorted into RAVENCLAW (the blue house) and had her first day full of lessons which were all even more amazing than she'd anticipated. She had her first night in her dorm with Ruby. There had been a FEAST. It was all so cool. And now there was a PARTY.

Hogwarts was the best, man. With a grin stretching across her face she made her way down from her dorm and into the common room. It looked like she was one of the last people to get there but she arrived while everyone was still chit chatting, so no harm done really. As she got herself comfortable by the fireplace (because it had S'MORE MAKING things) she heard an adult person speak up and introduce himself as Leobald Kitridge. So this was her Head of House? DANDY.

OOOOOOOOOOH BENZI AND SOPHIE. Riley tried to salute to both of them on the down-low. They were tall and had shiny badges and seemed wise and nice. She liked 'em already, yep.

But before she could think about talking to them or anything, the adult man was explaining a competition. A COOKING COMPETITION. This was fab. Riley watched and helped her mum cooking ALL the time and she'd been told she was a great cook. Whether or not that was the case was another question, but why not try? She had nothing to lose. WOO.

First though. Partner.

"I need a partner!" She called out into the sea of Ravenclaws.

Chris wandered down from his dorm rubbing his eyes with a yawn. Nap had been really nice and needed. There was far too much excitement lately with the start of term. Looking around he was very confused as to what was going on.

How had he slept through this noise??!! He heard someone call out they needed a partner and tried to go through the group to find the owner of the voice.

Squeezing his way through to the fireplace he grinned as he saw a girl there. "Hi! I'll be your partner. What are we doing?" See he could be helpful though with his track record of setting fires maybe being near the fireplace was not a good idea.

Tippin is happys that Little Masterss is happys, that Tippins cans have sum funs.

Its a gooo Tippins is in a groups he is, Tippin feels includiessssss. "All these fodds sounds so yumss" Tippin looks up at both of thems.

"Tippin knows how to makes thems!! yes theys so good!" Tippin loves foods and Empanada things.

"Tippin needs flours and eggies and salts.. yes he does! we needs to makes a doughs, thens makes stufs to puts into its." Tippins is getting hungryeeessssss.

In no time at all, Riley had a partner. That was easy. She grinned back at him and resisted the urge to high-five him -- she could save that for later when they'd actually done something more than agree to work together. "Our Head of House person," she started, pointing at Kitridge, "says we're doin' a bonding competition. Cooking." GRIN. "Can you cook? I've only really ever helped my Ma cook but she says I'm good so if we work together we'll be double good." Flawless logic.

Obviously she couldn't cook complicated things but that didn't matter. It was the THOUGHT that counted. Maybe if she drew a half-decent menu of their food they'd get extra effort points. Was that a thing? Could they do that? "The food that we can use is over there," she said, remembering that she should probably mention that, 'specially because the boy looked like he'd just woken up.

OH. "And I'm Riley, by th'way. What's your name?"

Chris looked at where she was pointing and nodded. Yup he knew who that was though again he hadn't talked to any of the adult people other than that one who spoke to him while he was hiding under the table last term. A competition? To cook? "I'm not allowed to cook," he said looking around. "I set things on fire when I do," he said chuckling. "Maybe I can get this though." There was a chance right? Or he'd set the whole castle on fire. Guess only way to see right?

And again she was pointing and seemed far too awake than he felt right now. He looked toward the food on the table and then back to the girl. "I'm Chris," he said with a smile.

"Sooooo....what are we going to make?" He was totally eyeing the pizza stuff though because that just looked good. "Do we get to eat what we make?" he asked as he realized his stomach was rumbling.

Good call. She approved of his answer. Rooney smiled fondly at the Head Girl, (Sophie Brown of Hogwarts) and properly looked over the array of things on the table. He wasn't positive on what he wanted to throw together and his face showed that. Contorted into confusion and the rubbing of his forehead. "My sister bakes." Brinlee, not Calliope. Lop was almost as useless in the kitchen as Mama was, which was surprising because Lop hadn't been in the house long enough for Mama to teach her her bad ways.

CHICKEN WINGS??

Rooney nodded eagerly. "The pineapple too. Lemon and herb chicken wings, spiced pineapple, mushroom and pepper on the side and..." Oh.. what could they put with this? He was considering every opportunity of explanation for this cooking choice. He had to have an explanation for it even if it hadn't been asked of them. Explanations were his thing. Wings, because of the house they had all been sorted into. The spiced mixture on the side because none of the Ravenclaws were at all the same and there was an in depth mixture of them just in this very room. He thought that spices contrasting the sweet and soft texture of the foods interesting.

Very.

WHAT ELSE.

Sabbath could see that Tippen was on top of things, he’d already got the pastry underway, “Tippen, you seem to know your empanadas, Have you ever been to Spain?” he asked the little elf

“Kate, maybe you’d like to chop the onion? Then, after that we can get sizzling”, Sabbath said with a smile while rifling through the packets of spices, pulling out cumin, cinnamon, paprika, nutmeg and cloves to season the meat. Quite frankly, he was glad to pass on the job of onion chopping, he really didn’t want to risk crying here in front of his new professors.

Once the pastry was kneaded and rested, Sabbath would be ready to help Tippen cut the pastry into discs. He was really looking forward to these empanadas, there were plenty of new tastes at Hogwarts, but already he missed the flavours of home. Sabbath glanced at Tippen and wondered, if he was able to befriend the little elf, would he be able to secure himself a steady supply of those homely flavours throughout his time here, hmmm?

Austin's nerves grew as he realized no one was going to come up to him to be his partner. He wanted to ask around, but it seemed that a lot of people had paired up already. Maybe if he got started, someone would want to join him. His cheeks reddened. He hoped that was the case.

Looking around on the table, he realized most of his peers were going to make a dinner, or some sort of appetizer dish. But to be honest, Austin had no clue how to cook chicken or saute vegetables. What he did know how to do was bake. It was something he had picked up after his mother died, and oddly enough, it came easily to him. Mixing the ingredients... it was almost like potion making. Everything had to be precise. He thought about making cupcakes... but making enough of those for everybody would be a struggle, and he didn't want to use all of the items. Maybe a pie? A pie was too simple. He wanted to think outside the box and impress his fellow Ravenclaws. He could make Cinnamon rolls. His mom used to make delicious cinnamon rolls with Strawberries inside every Christmas morning. Since his mother passed away, he tried to make them. They were never the same, but they were still delicious.

He pulled over a mixing bowl, a whisk, and the strawberries. He put the fruit in the bowl, and started mashing them together. As he was mixing, he decided to answer Prof. Tanners question. He might as well make himself known. "Haggis is made from Sheep. It's actually made inside the Sheep's stomach, isn't it?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaos.Doodles

Hehe. The youngest Truebridge was good people. He couldn't remember when he had met the other boy, but Davie had been really little, and Kyroh had been littler, and he had instantly like him. He gave him one last good squish before letting go. "Yeah it is! It's also the best common room." The fifteen year old chuckled. He had been here for so long, sometimes he forgot to stop and admire just how cool the common room actually was.

It didn't have the view of the lake like the Slytherin one, but Kyroh always thought it was better. "Why not?" He asked with a grin. "It's not like there are rules against being blue. You should try it! You might like it." HE liked it. But he also liked walking around without a shirt so, yes, it made sense.

This was DEFINITELY the best common room. Davie hadn't met a single Ravenclaw he didn't like, but he did know some obnoxious Gryffindors already. So. Best house on the block, this was. He grinned up at Kyroh in agreement.

"There's not?" Maybe being blue was an acceptable substitute for school robes. COOL. Davie's cheeks turned pink at the idea of walking around without a shirt on, though. He was not at all tall and cool like Kyroh. He'd look like a flobberworm on a piece of lettuce without his shirt. "M-m-maybe some other time," he conceded.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toddles

Toddles hears master callings Toddles. Toddles turns little head and sees little master calling Toddles. Toddles walks overs and bows to little master. "Toddles heres to helps studenties. Toddles knows to cooks. Toddles helps master." Toddles not knows what foods master wants. Master will tells Toddles.

But look, they'd gotten Toddles on their team! So now it was time to cook up a storm. "Alright, Toddles, what can you make with these ingredients here?" Davie pointed to the assortment of food Kitridge and Tanner had gathered. "Kyroh? Fancy anything?"

Fruit pizza, maybe? Was that too dorky a dish? He wanted to make something EPIC with Kyroh.

Ohhhh good! They did know! "Well done, Miss Valentine!"


Mumbling. Why were they always mumbling? She wasn't as old as Abraham, but she wasn't exactly a freshly reborn phoenix, either. Tiara couldn't help but shudder as she remembered the unfortunate aging incident that had sent her on a hiatus from Hogwarts. But she snapped herself out of her reverie and merely nodded to Rooney in an absentminded manner.

Mental note! She'd have to ensure Anastasia that her boy was indeed acclimating well. It appeared that he already had a friend!


Thank goodness for Rea. Tiara really had no clue what was going on. At all. He didn't appear to have trouble hearing, but maybe he had trouble with his speech somehow? Tiara resolved to speak with Rea and Leobald as soon as she could. But for now, she chose to simply introduce Rea to the boy. Taking a few steps in his direction, she indicated the older girl and said simply, "This is Rea, and I'm Professor Tanner. Let me know if you need anything." Then she backed away, not wishing to intrude on.. whatever it was they were saying to each other.


"Right you are, indeed!" Perhaps she needed to ask harder questions! But.. before she spent too much time thinking about that, that strawberry mixture looked delicious. She leaned over and sniffed. "I think I'll have to have some of that when you're done!" She loved strawberries!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Time for the next question! "Question two! What veggie is the main ingredient in stovies?" They had been on the menu just last night for the Feast, so hopefully that would help trigger some memories.



OOC: If you're still looking for a partner, it looks like keepmeclose22, Saz Hale, the fastest seeker, fire faerie, griffin, and Daydreamer11 could still use someone!

Stovies? What in the world were stoooaaahveeeees? And where did Professor Tanner get these questions? Maybe she had been raised by cooks. Muggle cooks. Scottish Muggle cooks. The thought made Davie laugh, internally, and he glanced at Kyroh with a shrug for an answer.

"Potatoes?" Maybe? But weren't potatoes more of an Irish thing???

Awww David's cheeks were getting all red! Why? Did he say something wrong? Or make him embarrassed? Did he just not like the idea of walking around without a shirt? Oops. "Maybe. You don't have to if you don't want to. I'll just do it more in honour of you, how about that?" More excuses not to wear a shirt? GOOD!

Kyroh was just about to say something else when the housefly spoke. Oooh Toddles! "Hi!!" He wiggled his fingers at the small elf. Another partner then?? Two little partners! Kyroh almost felt like a giant. Glancing at the ingredients he wrinkeled his nose. They all looked pretty out there. BUT they COULD make one thing that was a little different! "We can make meatball sandwiches maybe?" They had everything they needed for that!

Another question was thrown at them by Tanner and he was just about to answer when little David beat him too it.

LOOK! That was his awesome partner clearly. Good job!! He pat him on the shoulder. "I think we deserve the prize now Professor!"

Austin's face flushed as she sniffed the strawberries. He too loved the smell. It always smelt fresh and inviting. Once the berries were mashed, and had a slight jam consistancy, grabbed the cinnamon and sugar. In a smaller bowl, he put half of the cinnamon and half of the sugar in it, mixing it with a spoon.

The blue eyed boy was fine with not having a partner, although he was kind of sad no one confronted him. But the only one to blame was him, and he knew that. He hadn't made very many close friends over his past few years, and he usually kept to himself. Maybe this would be the year to change that. Although, if today was any indication, that plan may not go so well.

Once the cinnamon and sugar was mixed well, he added a small amount into the strawberries, and began stirring. Every so often he would add another amount of the cinnamon and sugar into his strawberries. Putting too much in at once could over power some of the berries, while the others were plain. Mixing in small amounts allowed every inch to be covered.

As he did this, he thought about the question? What was a Stovie? The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put his tongue on it. It wasn't anything his family ate on the usual, so maybe he had eaten it here at Hogwarts? Last night they had the usual amount of food. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Maybe it was the strange dish he had dared himself to try? He had never thought to try it in previous years, mainly because it looked rather un-appetizing. But he held his breath and tried it anyways. It wasn't exactly bad, but it did consist of a lot of potatoes. "Are potatoes the vegetable?" After getting the previous question right, he felt more confident that he wouldn't embarrass himself with this next one.

When the younger girl moved toward her. Sophie braced herself, but she didn't know what to expect - certainly not that, and all the kind things her friend was saying to her. Janelle was a good egg, did she know? While Sophie didn't exactly feel deserving of the support she was getting from her, the seventh year appreciated it immensely, and showed it by wrapping the girl up in the biggest hug she could manage.

Whether the girl was a hugger or not, Sophie Brown was a hugger, so Janelle was gonna get hugged.

"Thanks, Janelle," Soph replied just as quietly, scanning everyone in her line of sight to see if anyone was trying to listen in. "Means a lot that you'd say those things. You're a good friend, y'know?" Pulling back from the hug, Soph gave Janelle a very soft, genuine smile, and gave her a nod of... understanding, perhaps, or gratitude.

Maybe she would be a good Head Girl if she had the support of dynamite housemates like Janelle.


His sister baked, too? That was... not entirely helpful right now, but cute and good to know anyway because Rooney was adorable and she just liked to hear him talk. He could do more of that, if he wanted, and Sophie Brown would love it.

"Cool," Sophie chimed in reply, then was relieved that he DID go on to talk about cooking things. Lemon and herb chicken wings? Spiced pineapple, mushroom, and pepper on the side? That... was... a much more elaborate dish than Sophie Brown would've ever come up with on her own, and as a result, the Head Girl replied, her eyebrows raised in surprise, "You... are an impressive person, Rooney Bronwyn. I dunno how to do any of that, but if you tell me what to do, I'll get it done, how 'bout that? If y'need someone good at following directions, m'your girl." She felt pretty helpless and she was probably a disappointment to him, actually, and letting him down. But.

What was a kid to do. She would DO HER VERY BEST FOR HIM.

A cooking competition. Looked fun. Penelope wasn't great at cooking, but maybe it would be alright if she found a partner who knew stuff about cooking. The problem with finding a partner to work with was that most people had already picked one. "Does anyone still need a partner?" Did anyone else need a partner? Janelle? Abby? Firstie whose name she hadn't learned yet? Why was it so hard to find a partner?

What? They were already starting? She still didn't have a partner and she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do if she didn't find someone to work with! Stovies? What were stovies? How was she supposed to know what the main ingredient in stovies was if she didn't know what stovies were? It sounded like other people were saying potatoes. Was stovies the potato dish? Yep, definitely not going to win this competition, but she could still have fun trying to cook and getting to know her housemates.

What was that? "You're not ALLOWED?" Did the teachers say that, or his parents, or WHO? They couldn't be a team and work together if he wasn't going to cook. He could draw a menu, maybe. Did he look like the artist type? "We're magic remember. We can just put any fires out straight away," she assured him. Not that she knew a spell to do that. Maybe he did. "Do ya know the water spell?" The Head of House and other Professor person definitely would. It might actually be pretty cool to see a fire. Unless they lost points. That wouldn't be cool.

She grinned at him. "All anyone can do is try. It'll be fuuuun."

"Nice t'meet you." GRIN. Introductions over, she wasted NO time racing over to the table of food with Chris in tow. "We could make pizza. That's easy enough, right? Oooor chicken wings. They can be done on their own probably." Riley paused to take a closer look at the rest of the food but nothing particularly stood out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpluvr037

Time for the next question! "Question two! What veggie is the main ingredient in stovies?" They had been on the menu just last night for the Feast, so hopefully that would help trigger some memories.

OH. OHHH. THERE WAS A SECOND QUESTION.

Maybe she'd know this one.

Main ingredient of stovies? SHE'D HAD ONE LAST NIGHT. SHE KNEW THIS. In the bag, this was.

"POTATOES?!!"

Leo was watching the student's as they found themselves cooking partners and got started on making their dishes. He was about to give the correct answer to the trivia and ask a new question when a first year boy approached and showed him a question on page. A question Leo weren't expecting to get. "Hi, your name is Daxton right?" He had remembered that name from the feast sorting. "Why do you want to leave? Don't you want to take the chance to get to know your new house mates better?"



Reagan a approached just after the silent boy. Flashing his attention to her Leo asked the seventh year brunette. "What's wrong Reagan? Do you need help with something? A cooking partner?" Casting a glance over at Tiara he hoped that she'd continue asking questions while he talked to Daxton and Reagan about whatever it was that was troubling them. Leo had planned this with Tiara as a fun ice-breaking start of the year activity he didn't want anyone to not feel comfortable and okay.



Spotting Argyle Leo flashed her smile. "See if any of the students needs any cooking help. You'll get to feast with us later."



Turning to Janelle he smiled "My summer was lovely thank you. I think we all needed a break after the spider invasion and everything that happed during the end of last term. I'm glad you are eager to get back to your studies. Any favourite subjects?"


Looking over at Aldous he replied with a shake of his head. "We weren't planning to declare a best dish but if we were the house elves will be our judges." Smiling Leo added "Thank you for offering to help Aldous but let's get our dishes done first and the trivia."



Eyes flashing to David he smiled broadly "It sounds like you like reading a good variety of books. You should stop by and check out the books soon. We've got a 'new' section and one for recommended books as well as lots of muggle author titles."

****

"Potatoes is correct!" Leo announced. Now for the next question. "Question 3! What do you eat when you eat 'Bangers and Mash'?" Mash you could easily associate to Leo hoped.

Abby raised her hand and said "You eat Sausages and Mashed Potatoes sir"

Bangers and Mash? That was almost as easy as the Haggis. Bangers and mash was the one thing that his father could make. "Bangers and Mash is just sausage and mashed potatoes." Actually he grew rather sick of it, since it was the only thing his father made the summer after his mother died.

Austin had just finished making the jam stuff when he noticed that someone needed a partner still. He was almost finished, and could easily do it on his own, but he still wanted to have a partner. He put down his bowl and cleared his throat. "I still need a partner if you would like to help?" His cheeks flushed again, and he hoped she wouldn't turn him down. "I'm making strawberry cinnamon rolls. I've still got a few things I need help with, if you'd like."

Masters asks Toddles things. Toddles sees ingredients masters put out on tables. Toddles looks and sees them. Toddles thinks. "Master need tells Toddles meals masters likes." Toddles not knows what to cooks. Toddles heard other master says things. Toddles tilts little head and says, "Meatball sandwiches?" Toddles not hears of it. Toddles knows Stovies. Toddles knows ingredients.

Impressive person? She didn't call him kid. Rooney's smile grew wider and he just rocked back and forth on his feet. "You can cut peppers and mushrooms and pineapple and...maybe peel some potatoes?" If she wanted to, that was. He guessed she probably knew magic that could help her with all of that, and he didn't want to try something with his wand that he had only read about. Making a fool of himself in front of Sophie Brown (of Hogwarts) was not in his plans for this year. Or at any time in the future. Repeating what he had just offered his colleague the chance to do in his head, Roo left himself with the task of the chicken. The wings. The eagle.

Taste buds were going to SOAR.

If this all went to plan.

More questions had been asked though, and Rooney only offered an answer to the second. He was busy rubbing his hands clean on the back of his trousers. "Sausage and potato. Best served as a mash castle mound, a sausage turret and a moat of gravy." If they wanted his opinion on how that dish was best gifted to an individual. Uncle Braison made the BEST buildings with 'bangers'. "Miss Sophie Brown?" Of Hogwarts. "I'm not that impressive. I just read the cook books that Mama gets." As a joke. Uncle Braison also got the funniest presents for everyone. If Daddy Dex hadn't came along, then Uncle Braison was going to be his Daddy. Because he could cook, was funny and he knew what a pretty girl looked like.

Eagles. Soaring flavours.

Chloe was late.

She'd gotten lost on her way to the Common Room from the Great Hall and spent a good twenty minutes getting misdirected by ghosts before she had found the way back to Ravenclaw tower. And even after that the stairs were tricky. It was all going to take some getting used to...but she was here.

And she was very, very excited about it. Even if she didn't look it.

Cautious. She was very cautious.

Also a little small and lonely because first year problems. But she was keen to meet new people.