Mealtime Yapping Open

Normally, Avery didn't hang around the Great Hall during meals. He didn't eat any kind of traditional breakfast or dinner, always preferring an eating schedule that was ruled by actual hunger rather than "appropriate" dining times. Most of the time he ended up avoiding the Great Hall altogether and just headed to the kitchens when he was hungry. He had always enjoyed the house elves and it was nice to interact with them again.

He did try to eat actually eat lunch on time though and at least pop into the Great Hall, but he usually cobbled together something portable and ran back to his work.

The new caretaker had spent the better part of his first days here setting up his office and familiarizing himself with the job so, while definitely on his list, interacting with the students or even the other faculty members was not high up on his priorities just yet. He also was having a strange "where do I sit?" situation.

He had spent seven years of his life at the Hufflepuff table, but were staff allowed to sit at the student tables? Would it say something he didn't intend if he only sat at the Hufflepuff table? He thought all the houses had good qualities and bad, but he couldn't deny partiality to his "home house". Additionally, four years out of school and longer than that working for his mother, he still didn't exactly feel "adult" enough to sit at the staff table unless he was required to. Everyone except Sauber, whom had attended Hogwarts at the same time as he, and the Divination professor, um, N-something, Nemoska? He was awful at names. Anyway, those were the only two staff that were close to his age.

Truly, he was still settling into feeling "too old" for the students and "too young" for the staff.

Today, Avery had made himself a ham sandwich and was heading out the door, past the Hufflepuff table, when a conversation caught his ear. The mountain of a man that was the Transfiguration professor (Avery didn't remember his name either, except that it was islandy, with an M and a K) was apparently talking to a small group of students: Two Gryffindors and a Ravenclaw. Well, if sitting with the students wasn't allowed, this man obviously didn't care. It sounded like they were talking about mud and cannibalism.

Well... his work could wait for an interesting conversation and maybe it was time to start interacting with the other people in the castle, rather than just the portraits.

"I didn't peg you for a man eater, Professor, but Grandmaster Lear has hired stranger people." He said with a smile, approaching the group just as the Gryffindor boy lost it. He held his sandwich up over his head with a small laugh to avoid the orange spray coming out of the boy's mouth and nose.

"Bless you." He said as the boy whipped out his wand, cleaned up the mess, and offer to clean the muddy girl up, only to be accused by the last child of the group.

"I mean, if you really think him that incapable after wand work like that, the professor or I could do it instead." He said with a shrug, placing the sandwich on his head for lack of a better place to put it. It was wrapped in a napkin, so it wasn't like his hair was going to get dirty.

"I mean, maybe it is, but it's a weird thing for Muggles to wear robes and come to a magical castle by train to learn magic. So I think he has his own reasons. Or maybe he just likes wearing armor."

After Tori spoke, she was about to continue eating when the boy she had just answered squirted orange juice out of his nose and mouth, and Tori had to avoid the orange juice spilling on her or splashing onto her food. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw that her mouse, Vick, had gotten rid of her orange juice because it had gotten into her hair.

When Tori brought up the idea of ​​the boy cleaning herself again, she wasn't too keen on it, especially after what Lillian had said and the orange incident. He was able to get out of this situation thanks to Avery, the Caretaker's suggestion.

"Of course. I'd be happy to. Mud can be a bit of a problem when it dries. It'd be easier to clean it with magic. This way, someone who knows more about the job can do it. This way, the probability of the job going wrong is reduced."

Tori said her last words, trying to hint at the child a little. She handed Vick to Lilian.

"Well, can you hold Vick while this is happening? It would be nice if you were careful.

OOC note: I'm so so so sorry for not doing it for a long time. My exam is over so I'll be active throughout the summer.

^{@Ellie Randensmith}
@Makaio Kāne
@Victoria Lena Jones
@Finnegan Connor
and
@Avery Phineas Finch
All the boldness was catching up to Lillian. As soon as Mr. Finch, the caretaker addressed her she felt shy. For some reason she wasn't sure exactly what to say. Mabie the presence now of two adults made Lillian feel that she had been a bit bad. Lillian deliberately didn't look at Mr. Finch or Finnegan Connor as she closely examined her plate of food.
After she took a few bites the other girl, Victoria, asked her to hold her rat gently, while either Professor Kāne or Mr. Finch cleaned her up. Lillian was relieved that someone responsible would be performing the spell. Also, getting to hold the rat also cheered her up a little. She, after all, liked all kinds of animals. That was primarily the reason why she still didn't know what pet to pick. "Sure, Of course I'll be very careful with him; I like animals," Lillian said accepting the rat whom she thought was called Vick. And even if I didn't I'd sill be very careful. she thought-continued, but didn't say because it would be too weird.
She held the rat in the center of her hands, with just enough room for the rat's head to peek out. The rat wiggled in her hands and his whiskers were tickling her, but she made sure he couldn't get out. Lillian was responsible, and she didn't want the girl that she just met to hate her forever, because Lillian let her pet escape. She tensed up, determined that Vick wouldn't get free when the loud sound of a spell and/or bright light scared him, and distracted her.

Makaio continued to slurp up his stew as he watched the students interact. His question now having fallen on deaf ears not only once but twice. Typically when he sat down he had to listen to student after student complain how hard Transfiguration. Honestly, the drama unfolding thanks to the comedic timing of Finnegan Connor was a breath of fresh air to the most common ailments of his interaction with students.

Another man though joined the table, one Mr. Finch, the new caretaker. Makaio smiled at the interloper, was there something more mischievous in the look? Maybe. Or maybe it was the food slop still in her beard. “Please sit down, Mr. Finch,” Makaio offered before Mt. Finn exploded all over the table. Orange juice now all over his food and sprayed all over his face.

The mountain of a man closed his eyes, took a deep breath and with a flick of his wand, “evanesco.” The food in front of him vanished, his voice was mildly annoyed now but he tried not to let it bother him. He was really looking forward to finishing that, but somehow no longer had the stomach to continue. Mr. Finch made some remark about cleaning up the girl. Makaio was already on it though. “Tergeo,” came his next muttered reply as the spilt, or rather sprayed, liquid started to siphon and clear off the remain bits off the table and off the girls, leaving everything as if it wasn’t soaking wet with snot orange juice.

He left the mud caked on the girl though. “Mr. Connor,” Makaio said wryly, giving his student a side eye. “If you wanted to behave like a pig, I can arrange to see to it that you are one.” Once again, the big man took a calloused hand and wiped off the mess on him with it and wiped it on the napkin on the table. “I’m suddenly in the mood for barbecue.” Makaio said, his moment of irritation dissipated and the mirth returning to his voice.

“I don’t often see you eating here, Mr. Finch, please join us. Pray tell, as my students, save Ms. McMason, won’t, what are your plans this summer?” He asked…giving one very last chance at a decent conversation, but he was sure by now Mr. Connor had at least one more thing up his sleeve.

@Finnegan Connor @Lillian McMason @Victoria Lena Jones @Avery Phineas Finch

Note: For the sake of keeping up with everyone, please be patient and maintain posting order.

The lingering sting in his nose from the orange juice was just starting to fade when the Professor vanished his entire plate of food. Finnegan stared at the now empty space on the table, a flicker of genuine dismay crossing his face. His toast! Gone! He'd been looking forward to eating the crunchy, crusty bits last and now it was all gone. Still, he supposed it was fair punishment for sneezing citrusy snot halfway across the table.

A little bothered, he watched as another flick of Kāne's wand cleaned the final remnants of juice from the table and wherever else it had landed, but noted that the Professor pointedly left the Ravenclaw girl caked in mud. A small, vindicated smile touched his lips. His offer to help had been genuine but Lillian's sharp defence had pricked his pride. What did she mean 'you can't trust him'? Honestly, the nerve of some firsties. He was a third-year, for crying out loud, he'd learnt and mastered Scourgify ages ago.

Then, a new voice sounded. Finnegan looked up to see a man with hair the mossy hair and too-broad smile. Finnegan had seen the caretaker around, enough to file the man as a bit of an oddity, though perhaps not in a bad way. As if to prove his point, the man did something so profoundly bizarre and unusual that Finnegan's brain needed several moments to process it. Avery placed his ham sandwich directly on top of his head.

His head.

Moving staircases, talking portraits, ghosts, it had all become normal to him, but this peculiar move by the caretaker forced his brain into a shutdown and reboot.

He blinked a few times, looking between the man's head and the empty spot at the table, where his plate had been before it had been vanished.

That sandwich was a challenge. An invitation. A silent, desperate plea from the universe for someone to fix its odd placement and make things right again.

"Mr. Connor," Professor Kāne's voice sounded, cutting through Finnegan's thoughts. He looked up, wiping a stray bit of moisture from under his nose with his sleeve.

"Sir?"

"If you wanted to behave like a pig, I can arrange to see to it that you are one."

Finnegan didn't miss a beat. "Oh, I wouldn't bother sir. Honestly, you'd hardly notice a difference." He offered a wide, cheeky grin while a plan began to form in his head. The Professor's follow-up about being in the mood for barbecue only widened it. "I'm quite hungry too, sir." He said in a too innocent, almost sing-song voice.

When Kāne then turned his attention to the caretaker, asking about his summer, Finnegan made his move. It was the perfect diversion. In that split second, while the Professor's gaze was elsewhere, Finnegan jumped up, stood on the bench and reached out to Avery's head.

There was no thought, only instinct. It was the same swift, fluid motion he used to snatch Quaffles out of the air, his hand shot out rabbit-quick, and his fingers closed around the napkin-wrapped prize.


Unless he was stopped, the sandwich would be gone from Avery's head in the blink of an eye, and Finnegan would leap down from the bench, smirking, ready to bolt. As for summer plans? His summer plan was currently all about eating a delicious, stolen ham sandwich and so far, it was going smashingly.

@Lillian McMason @Victoria Lena Jones @Makaio Kāne @Avery Phineas Finch Sorry for the late reply!

For Makaio: Finnegan had already cleared the mess with scourgify, so I don't think the tergeo was needed, but I rolled with it as we can just pretend Finn's scourgify didn't work all that well, and that works fine in the story as far as I am concerned.

Secondly, I wasn't clear on whether Makaio vanished just his own plate or Finn's plate, or both. I went with what I thought the funniest scenario was, and that's that Makaio vanished both his own plate and Finn's. If you'd like me to change that, let me know, but I think this scenario works nicely because it helps justify stealing Avery's sandwich (trying to, anyway), which, let's be honest, was just begging to be taken!

Avery watched the scene with a raised eyebrow as various messes were cleaned and recleaned and the Professor and the boy had a playful banter. The girls seemed to be rather along for the ride of the conversation and a little bit the vehicle for the barest male power struggle between the Professor and the boy Gryffindor. Avery waved a hand and cleaned the muddy girl, before catching the quick movement to standing of the Mr. Connor in the corner of his eye. His wide grin merely twisted in amusement as the sandwich was snatched from his noggin.

"Awe Professor Kane, I was joking about the cannibalism but I didn't think you were really prepared to be the next Circe. Leave the boy and his piggy nose be." He said, almost completely ignoring the theft of his sandwich aside from a playful poke to Finnegan's side as the boy reached up to grab the food and then sat back down. Not that the boy really needed to stand on the bench to get the sandwich. He wasn't too much shorter than Avery simply sitting. "Especially since you snatched his food and he is clearly starving."

Avery wasn't the type to be territorial about anything, especially food in a giant hall full of food. He could just as easily grab anything in front of him and eat that instead and he found it rather amusing that the boy didn't do the same.

"As far as my summer, I intend to go back to Whitstable and work for my mother as always. What about you, Professor?" He said, turning to the girls. "Or you lovely ladies? Are they still doing camp or did they shut it down?"