World Cultures Club: 1st Meeting Closed

Seeing the plate of treats, Dot couldn't resist trying one. Although to not be rude, she did ask permission before grabbing one chocolate-coated ball between two of her fingers. She took a small bite, almost a nibble, looking at other people.

Masika, the supposed leader of the group, only waved at Dot, and even that was a rather stiff wave. Dot didn't expect any more from her, though. Their meeting up in the dormitory was every bit of awkward, and Dot wasn't herself at ease with her.

When the blue eyed boy - looking closer, Dot noticed that only one of his eyes were blue - introduced himself, Dot grinned easily at him, ignoring the last part about germs (maybe he had mysophobia...). "Lu-ci-en. I've got it."

Dot took another bite of the baked good, which was bigger than before. It was sweet and creamy, and very delicious. The chocolate on top made the whole thing even better. She listened to Masika speak while continuing to eat the ball, small bite after big bite after small.

When Masika finished, Dot wanted to speak up, but Lucien did instead, so she just waited. He offered to be a vice president in a eerily calm voice, on condition that the people aren't unorganized or chaotic. Dot herself was very organized, and she never became too frenzied, so she was fit.

When Lucien was done, Dot spoke up. "Well, I guess I could be a treasurer in the future, 'cause I'm sorta honest - no boasting, really. But it's a future matter, so we'll see later, I guess." A short pause. "And yeah, I'd like to be a moderator kind of thing, if there is that. You know, the one who keeps things in line and makes sure rules aren't broken. Though not exactly a leader. I'm not leader material."

Dot realized that she was still standing, so she made her way to the nearest chair and sat down. Looking at the small leftover of the treat in her hand, she plopped it in her mouth and took out a tissue from her pocket, wiping her hands with it as she chewed on.

Another familiar face entered the room. Aurelia knew her as Dot, a girl who had recently joined the newspaper team, though Aurelia hadn’t talk to her much. She gave her a friendly smile as the girl greeted her.

A girl dark haired girl was the first to reach out for the container of Dutch Pasteries. She then handed it to Masika before introducing herself as Sariel Aurelia tried to hide her wince as she spoke with her mouthful, of chocolate. It didn’t really look polite, but maybe it’s what Aurelia was taught at home. After all, this was the world cultures club, people might have different... traditions and behaviors.

Aurelia watched as the plate of sweets were passed around the room. It was polite to let the rest take their share of sweets first before she took her serving, that was what she was taught at home. It was pleasing to see that everyone enjoyed her Bossche Bollen.

Aurelia took the container from Dot as soon as she picked one of the chocolate coated balls up. Finally, she could taste her own creation.

Masika then started about the club’s management. Aurelia sighed, she moved to the further corner of the room and sat one one of the many chairs. It wasn’t so noisy there, least she could eat in a bit of peace. The front of the room was getting a bit to loud than what she was comfortable with, too many people.

Aurelia wasn’t interested in any of the management roles, she just wanted to be a member of the club. Her schedule was a bit packed being a writer for the Gryffindor Newspaper and trying to finish all her stacks of assignments.

She took a bite of the chocolate coated balls. They were good. She has underestimated her baking skills.

Sariel chewed happily on her little snacks and rather than really pay much attention to the others for a moment, let her eyes roam around the dusty class room with the banner waving above them, caught in a slight draft. Masika was probably bound to hate that considering the girl had a constant complaint that she was cold. There was something a little lackluster about meeting in a lecture hall and she started to think of ideas for the club as she finished off the cake.

Listening to some of the offers for helping out with the club, Sariel nodded and bounded over to Masika. "So, even if we don't know who's going to be in charge, I think it would be fun if we tried a few things. Food was a great idea, but maybe we can make some costumes from different parts of the world and have a full blown party?" Sariel was practically rocking on her heels in excitement by this point. "I know that more students might show up if we made it a big party. Some people are just now getting used to being here and maybe might need some help getting to know each other. That would be a good way to do it."

Remembering that she was talking rather quick, and loud which Masika wasn't so much a fan of, Sariel curbed herself some then smiled. "I mean if you want to that is."

Masika's gaze trailed after Aurelia as the other girl made her way to the fringes of the group, and realized that if her body language was anything to go by that she wanted nothing to do with a leadership position. She sighed inwardly at the thought before Lucien spoke, and she turned her attention to him. He had been smiling at her when she spoke, she had noticed, and she wasn't entirely sure what to make of it after seeing the looks he had given some of the others enter the room.

Masika looked at him pensively as he spoke, his words somewhere between confident and... not arrogant exactly, but certainly self-assured despite how he had seemed similarly unnerved by the cluster of children when they entered the room. If she were going by tone alone, she might have simply assumed he was comfortable, but given his earlier reaction... she wasn't really sure what to think.

Masika nodded to Lucien in consideration, before turning to Dot as her dorm-mate spoke. Masika nodded at the other girl's mention of being the treasurer, then turned thoughtful when the other girl brought up the possibility of needing someone to enforce the rules. She was turning the thought over in her head when Sariel piped up, steamrolling over the necessity of leadership entirely.

A slight draft cut across the room, and a shiver worked its way up Masika's spine much to her displeasure. Perhaps she should have brought a blanket, judgemental looks be damned. Masika pulled her robe even more tightly around herself somehow, and barely refrained from rolling her eyes at the pale girl's bursting enthusiasm, musing that it was almost a miracle that the girl wasn't bouncing in place. When Sariel mentioned having a 'full blown party,' it took everything in Masika not to give the other girl a completely horrified look. Parties meant more people, and more people in a school meant more children, and more children meant...

Masika cut the train of thought off before she derailed herself further, she took a slow breath, trying to center herself back where she needed to be.

The meeting. Leadership. Rules being enforced.

She swallowed dryly.

And some sort of party.

It couldn't possibly that bad, right?

She forcefully redirected her attention to the group, only a few moments having passed, "Well if Lucien wishes tae be the Vice President, an' no one else has any objections, then that should be fine." She gestured to Dot, "An' someone tae moderate the rules wouldn' be out o' place either so long as everyone agrees." She pursed her lips, "It'd still be nice tae have someone as a secretary thought, tae keep track o' anythin' important an' summarize meetin's, but I c'n do it for now if no one wants tae."

Masika inwardly braced herself and turned to Sariel, "An' perhaps since you're so..." she hesitated, before she settled on a word, not wanting to accidentally sound like she was insulting the dark-haired girl, "...passionate, you could be somethin' o' an event planner or some such... Though I'd prefer if you had someone tae assist you with... organizing things." It wasn't that she didn't think the girl wasn't capable of being organized, she just didn't think it was something she did without significant effort. Perhaps with another person to assist her...

Masika returned her focus to the rest of the group, "So unless anyone else has any suggestions or questions... I think we should tell each other a bit about ourselves." She grimaced inwardly at herself, as she reminded herself far too much of a particular small-group leader that her Papi had once when he took her with him to a training class of some sort. "If you all don' mind, that is..." she added awkwardly.

Masika shifted slightly, then shrugged, her curls shifting with the motion, "I c'n go first. I was born in Dublin, an' I grew up with my two fathers. My Papi is from Spain, and my Baba is from Egypt, and we've been travelling since I was old 'nough tae join them. I grew up speaking English, Irish, Arabic, an' Spanish, an' that's where my accent comes from. Neither o' my parents are religious, but my Abuelos, my Spanish father's parents, are Catholic, and my Egyptian father was raised Muslim." Masika's lips quirked a bit into a crooked smirk, "Also, I am a half-blood, but I'll leave you all tae guess as tae how."

Lucien nearly choked at the mention of a full blown party. "A full blown party...like...like actual people?" He questioned a bit worried. Masika spoke up again gaining all of Lucien's attention. After all, it is rude not to listen fully when someone is speaking. Once she was done Lucien smiled. She then suggested they tell each other a little bit about themselves. He listened closely interested in what Masika was saying. So that's where the accent comes from He thought to himself.

"I suppose I'll go next. I was born in England to a Russian Father and a Dutch mother. I'm a pure-blood, so I know tons of languages, instruments, and useless things I won't bother you with. My mother actually died giving birth to my twin sister, so I don't exactly have much Dutch influence aside from my Aunt. You may have seen our family name in The Daily Prophet a few times but nothing in there is ever true. I do apologize if I seem a bit rude in any way, I don't exactly sleep so I'm basically eternally tired." He said smiling. Perhaps he said too much, or maybe not enough. He didn't say anything further however, but waited for the next person to speak while fidgeting with his left hand nervously.

It was clear that Masika was getting maybe a little nervous with the sudden flow of suggestions and offers from the members. She kept turning one person to other, listening all of them out, and then finally spoke. "Oh, I can help organize things as well, though I can only help, not take the lead of it." She offered, looking at Sariel for a second, then back to Masika.

After she completed giving out works, she started on her introduction, and Dot leaned in closer to hear well. She'd been wondering about the accent from some time now, and it would be good to know her origins.

When Masika completed, Lucien started about his own family. Some sort of metallic bitterness filled her mouth when she heard about him being a pureblood, but she sent the feeling down by thinking, Well, not all purebloods are purists. But wait. Maybe that was why he didn't want to shake her hand - because she was a muggleborn. Maybe he was trying to insult her. Maybe -

Dot shook her head, breaking the line of thoughts. Her doubts and assumptions never did any good to her.

Seeing Lucien nervous (maybe about saying more), Dot spoke up. "So, myself, if I can introduce next." A small pause. "Well, I don't know where I was born, or to whom, except that their last name was Dutt. I was raised in an orphanage, where among many orphans uncared for, I was given love by one nurse who cared for me deeply, for some reason. She named me Dot, supposedly because my nose was pretty much like a dot when I was a baby." She breathed out a small, awkward laugh, then continued. "Well, I'm adopted now, by the Saleh family. I got adopted when I was eight, and that's when I learned the language Urdu and different traditions of the Pakistani and Muslim people. And yeah, I'm a Muslim, so are my - adoptive - parents. That's all, I guess."