Chocolate Coating Greetings. PV Nadège Closed

If there was one word that could be used to describe the newest Professor of Divination, eccentric would likely first come to most. However, the woman didn't mind this perception one bit - in fact, she was quite proud of it. From her slicked down and intricately styled hair, to her many piercings and interesting wardrobe, the woman stood out like a sore thumb, especially compared to the rest of her colleagues. Her oddities didn't cease just on her physical appearance alone but also clearly spilled into her interests, as Nadège was currently fiddling around with a model of a human skull, engraved with runes in its surface. With a quick exhale through pursed lips, she quickly blew dust out of its crannies and placed it on a shelf for display afterwards. The artifact was turned from side to side for a bit until she settled for a slanted angle facing a book, and after taking a step back to observe her work she nodded after deeming it acceptable with a smile. The new professor had a strange appreciation for the occult.

The petite woman had only been here for a day and had already made herself quite comfortable with the room, though some trunks still sat in the corner ready to be unloaded of their contents. Her own personal style was incorporated into the decor - Alluring, deep shades of purple cascaded over the largest classroom window in the form of draperies and soft, cushioned arm chairs sat arranged around their respective tables. Some of them needed restitching from the wear and tear of antsy students the previous year; many of their beads hung by on loose threads. Still, it was nothing a simple cast of Reparo couldn't fix, and the woman noted to do that later.

The round tables were bare besides the rich tablecloths adorning them. Benoit hadn't bothered to put any crystal balls or tea sets out for the moment, for it was still summer and the students wouldn't arrive for another month or so. Her dingy, London flat remained behind and for the next few months and Hogwarts would be her home. It was a bit hot in the room, but it wasn't anything she wasn't used to - after growing up in the Caribbean, British summers were a breeze.

Benoit then dusted off her hands and became aware of light footsteps treading up the stairs leading to her classroom. Turning around, the woman caught sight of a mass of dark hair as soon as it appeared through the trap door, which then revealed itself to belong to a dark-skinned woman in yellow that she had never seen before. Ah, must be a coworker. It was about time that she had finally met one of them. The woman wasn't expecting the visit at all, and her room was still not orderly, but she wouldn't turn away such a nice gesture and after all, the woman had brought chocolate!

The Divination professor flashed a smile through ruby red lips - rare considering her usually dreamy state. She reached a manicured hand out to take the offering.

"Hello, hello - " said the woman, her slight accent pronounced. "For me? Really, thank you." She flipped the treat over in her hands to read its red and gold wrapper. From Honeydukes. The shop was quite famous.

Benoit looked back up and took a moment to analyse the Herbology professor's features, a bit relieved that she appeared as young as she. Benoit had expected the rest of the adults here to be rather old and pompous (she'd seen enough of that after working in the Ministry), so it was a pleasant surprise to know that her worries were unjustified.

"Well, come on in - Sorrel, you said? I'm Nadège Benoit. It's nice to meet you," she continued after politely holding out her free hand to shake Sorrel's. "I'm sorry for the mess, it was an ordeal getting everything up here through the trap door."

The slight smile on Sorrel's face became a delighted beam at the sight of the woman's outfit, which was amazingly different than any of the black cloaks & dull turtlenecks that her colleagues sported every day and night. In fact, Sorrel had a feeling the staff of Hogwarts slept in their dull clothing. But this woman was delightfully different. Oh, how amazing! She had picked the right new professor to visit! This was lovely, an excellent escape from the doldrums of the end of summer, and the worries of school starting up again. Sorrel's curriculum was still in the works, and she had to admit that her first lesson of the second year would be a lesson to remember, even if Sorrel was adverse to the idea of watching the students do anything that could be considered dangerous. These children had a knack for hurting themselves, and most of the professors didn't seem to care about the children's alarming urges to hurt themselves.

Sorrel did care though, but that was not the point of the moment. She had come to greet a new professor, not to bore a potential friend before they had even become acquaintances. Sorrel's eyes roamed the room, eyes catching on trunks she hadn't noticed before, as well as changes in the decor she remembered from her last visit to the tower. It looked better now, clad in beautiful purple that amended the darkness of the room. Even if she wouldn't say it out loud, due to shyness, the room looked incredible.

It was crazy what curtains and a few eccentric shelf decorations could do to a place. It looked amazing, and had a distinct personality that Sorrel could feel, as the woman took her candy bar with a smile of her own. Sorrel had even gone down to Honeydukes just for that candy bar..totally. It wasn't like she had bought a whole home's worth of chocolate to eat at night, or anything silly like that. No, she was a grown woman, and could restrain herself at the candy store. Of course.

The woman's accent was charming, really. Faint enough that Sorrel could understand every word that she was stating, but strong enough to distinguish her as someone who wasn't English, which was rare, considering the majority of the adults in the castle were white with some varying European ancestry. It was another pleasant surprise for Sorrel, who found her smile growing even larger from before, a feat she hadn't thought was possible until now.

Still lingering in the centre of the room, it was lovely to be formally allowed in, even though Sorrel was technically in the room already. That little formality was irreverent, Sorrel decided, with a shrug, stepping closer to the dark haired woman. Before Sorrel could utter another word, she felt the woman's hand close around her's, and awkwardly, Sorrel shook back, completely at a loss for what to do.

Flustered from the rarity of human contact, Sorrel broke the handshake first, dropping her hand limply to her side. The woman's name was also delightfully strange, and Sorrel was grateful for the fact she was quick to pick up names, but even so, it took her a moment to say it right. The name sounded french. Nah-deh-j? Nah deh what? Oh god, this was hard. "Nadège! What a lovely name." Even so, Sorrel had probably butchered it. "Excuse me if I completely butchered your name, I swear it wasn't my intention." A nervous chuckle erupted from Sorrel, as she focused on the room instead of the name.

"It's not that bad a mess, to be quite honest. My room as a child looked much worse, but if you need help cleaning, I don't mind in the slightest! I can imagine how much of a struggle it is to get all the boxes up that small door. I can hardly get up that door, and I'm just carrying myself."

A warm smile crept up onto Nadège's features. She had expected to have to annoyingly repeat herself multiple times, or at the very least, have the other woman attempt to pry and ask her what the name meant after making jarring comments on its "foreignness." That had not happened, and the new professor was thankful for it. Minor pet peeve - avoided.

"Thank you," Nadège replied, flattered at her compliment. "And no, you didn't butcher it. Quite perfect in fact," she said in between a laugh, a little bit more at ease now that their initial introductions had gone so smoothly without any source of awkwardness or name mishaps. "Trust me, I've heard some very strange pronunciations from others."

Chocolate bar still in hand, she waved off the taller woman's offering to help her clean up. After who knows how far she travelled around the large school, just to welcome her and bring chocolate for her at that? No. She couldn't do that. "Oh no, I couldn't ask that of you! We've only just met, but I appreciate the offer, I assure you." Cleaning would be a simple task, but right now, Nadège wanted to do nothing more than get to know this kind professor. Freshly hired, it would be a good move to acquaint herself with the names of fellow staff and their positions. "Tell me, what do you teach here, Sorrel?"

Without pause, she went on to ask, "Hm, can I get you anything to drink? Coffee, tea?" Arm pointing behind her own shoulder, Nadège was about turned halfway to retrieve a cup for her if the woman wanted. The rest of the office may have been in a bit of disarray, but her tea set had been one of the first things she worked to settle first. With her other hand, the chocolate bar Sorrel had so kindly given to her was laid gently onto the round table nearby. The woman couldn't wait to unwrap it for later.

There were so many things that she couldn't wait to be informed of. Being so out of the loop was not a situation that Nadège felt comfortable in, especially when the safety of fellow wizards and children were involved. The woman had been hired not only to teach the unpopular and dwindling subject of Divination, but also to apply her talents and assist with a menace within the school. There were too many questions left unanswered still - and they all circled around events during the previous school year that she was, unfortunately, not present for.

Hopefully soon enough, she'd get a better picture, especially with the help of the pleasant woman before her. One step at a time...

The sound of a laugh escaping from the lovely professor’s lips was enough to make Sorrel beam from ear to ear, seemingly relaxing. The easy smile on Sorrel’s face only grew in size, as she let out a delighted laugh. Blushing earnestly, Sorrel unabashedly studied the lines of the woman’s face, looking to see if she could find any cruelty or shadows swirling in the woman’s eyes. Sorrel had learned the hard way, after Leonie, that people were not to be trusted at Hogwarts. Sorrel possessed a guileless grace and her ingenious nature towards other humans had lead to Sorrel being hurt too many times to count. Now that she was a teacher, expected to instruct and assist the newest generation of wizardkind, Sorrel had determined to be wiser. If being wiser means analyzing the people she was to speak to, so be it. That wasn’t quite an awful arrangement, considering how beautiful the woman in front of her was. Nadège made Sorrel keenly aware of all the vices and flaws in her appearance. Cursing herself for not attempting to clean the dirt off from where it hung to every pore of her skin, Sorrel wondered if it was socially acceptable to start cleaning yourself off in the midst of a conversation. Her wand was so close, and a simple muttered spell never hurt a person, did it?

Brushing her hands through her hair in an attempt to soothe the mangled curls that bounced irrationally, seemingly caught in their own flurry of wind, Sorrel’s yellow painted nails tugged at the raveled strands of brown hair, willing them to look presentable. Sorrel had heard her share of mangled and strange pronunciations throughout the course of her world travels and could relate to that small comment. Feeling a twinge of pride and childlike excitement at the fact she could relate, in a sense, to the divination professor, Sorrel had to stop her fidgeting with her hair to speak.

“Oh dear. Don’t get me started on strange pronunciations. Travelling the world leads to some astonishingly strange pronunciations of names. Even names as straightforward as mine. I’m glad I got your name right, it would be quite embarrassing if I was to say it wrong. I do fear my pride would be butchered, as well as your name.” Sorrel realized she was rambling and that she must have sounded quite strange to the other professor, so she fell silent, feeling the tell-tale sign of her cheeks heating up again.

Swaying on the balls of her feet, Sorrel looked down at her toes when told not not to bother with cleaning. It really wouldn’t be a bother to help untidy the office, but some people seemed to be protective over their objects. Or maybe the new professor just wanted to talk and clean later. Either way, Sorrel was fine with such matters, if it meant still enjoying time with the new professor and potential friend.

The sound of her name on Nadege’s lips reduced Sorrel to a to blushes and smiles again, just as it had done the first time. Oh, how lovely it felt to hear her name uttered by someone who wasn’t a child! “Oh, me?” It was just as exciting as it was shocking, and the absent minded herbology professor nearly staggered over in shock. She hadn’t been asked such a question by another staff member in ages. “I teach herbology, in the greenhouses, so believe it or not, I’m quite adept at cleaning clutter away. The offer still stands, if ever you need it.” Sorrel laughed, before answering Nadage’s question.

Sorrel smiled again, “Oh, tea would be lovely! Any type will do. I don’t have much of a preference.”