Meetin’ and Greetin’ and Eatin’ PV Professors Cl

私はとても空腹だ！= Watashi wa totemo kūfukuda! = I am quite hungry!
こんばんは = Konbanwa = Good Evening.

“Just to prove she could speak it! It’s like a hormone-crazed teenager that found a lot of aging potion and then promptly discovered fanservice. This is... ”

Mingling. Why did everywhere always insist on colleagues meeting and 'mingling' outside of work hours? She understood the benefits of getting along with some people but that did not mean she had to mix with everyone. A few useful connections were far better than plenty of useless ones. This was one of the reasons that she enjoyed her years in the Department of Mysteries the most, perhaps.  No one expected people to 'mingle'. They were free to work alone. They were encouraged, in fact, to be secretive and closed. It was the norm. It made things easier. Nonetheless, she had a mission today. Of course, she did. She rarely ever did anything without some motive behind it.

The Slytherin female left her dungeons shortly after the allocated meeting time. Hopefully, she had given people ample time to gather, so she could meet everyone, carry out her task and leave before long. Sadly, she did not. She reached the kitchens earlier than the majority of Professors had. A pity, that. Pushing the door open, she stepped inside and scanned the room. She recognised a few but the majority were strangers.

"Evening," She gave a singular nod as she entered the room in the general direction of Professor Risa, an older gentleman and a black haired lady that she did not know. "Nora Jensen." She introduced herself, using her middle name because no one could ever say her first name anyway. She had gone by her middle name since she was a child as a result, and it was a name that had a lot of meaning behind it. The grumpy man was simply ignored. She did not have the time or patience to deal with his issues. In the corner lurked another boy, who probably did not want to be there either. Moving towards the counter, Hjørdis lifted her hand and placed a bottle of Campbell's Finest Old Whiskey onto it that she had picked up from Hogsmeade as she was arriving. She cracked the cap open, "Can I get anyone a drink?" She asked the room, deciding she was going to pour herself one and she may as well offer. It was polite, apparently. She had a mission to complete, after all.

The time was a little past the curfew for Hogwarts. Well, it was for the students at least. There were any simple little things that made the young woman feel happy and 'sparkly' on the inside. The fact that she was old enough to not have to go to sleep early was one of them. Who said age was what made you an adult? It certainly wasn't Elaine. Heck, she was like a child in many ways. Still, it felt good to stay up past her 'bedtime'. 

As the castle was sleeping and it was dark, it felt very nice to feel like she was sneaking around at night. It was hard to comprehend that she was now a professor and some rules didn't apply to her. So many things felt like she was breaking the rules, but in reality, it really wasn't. It was almost as if her brain, wherever that microscopic thing was, was taking pity on her childishness and letting her believe she was being 'rebellious'. 

So, here she was, scampering around the hallways, making her way to the kitchen for what seemed to be a late night meeting for professors. Sometimes it even scared those around her how childish she was. Or at least she's been told so. But she had too much heart to ever let that change the way she did things. Elaine always just thought of herself to just know what her heart and spirit liked. And if it happened to be childish, immature, and not worthy of respect, then so be it. 

The doors of the kitchen would open just enough for her to slip through. The blonde wasn't very big in size, but she did make up for most of it with her height. It seemed like she wasn't the first to arrive. Which was good, who wanted to be the first anyway? They were supposed to meet here after all. Jen, the Head of Slytherin who was actually named Hjørdis Jensen, but Elaine's brain capacity was only so big, had some sort of alcohol and the Care of Magical Creatures professor, Griff, again, her brain was only so big, was asking for some.

The blonde had honestly never tried alcohol before, even though she was of age. So like a child, she was curious with her little 'grabby hands'. "Ooooh, is that alcohol? I wanna try," Elaine would almost squeak. It did seem like a bad idea. After all, she was basically a child still.

The school was a maze. When Cy had first arrived as a First Year a decade and a year ago, she’d thought as much, but back then she had her sight, poor as it was. She had been absent for four years now, and although she could navigate the corridors well enough, the moving stairs were another story.

Cypress had never visited the Kitchens. In fact, she’d never known where it was, not even now - not completely. A pair of House Elves had escorted her down the stairs, but the climb from the Sixth Floor to the Basement was long, and so they’d left five minutes earlier than necessary.

And so she was on time. The stairs had been stubborn, frustratingly so, but the House Elves’ patience seemed to have no end - so she thanked them with a dip of her chin, a smile, and gracious words at her arrival. She heard nothing in return from the little creatures, whose names she had learned for a few moments only to forget them, only hurried footsteps into the oncoming din of the Kitchen, and so the young professor entered as well… just in time to hear the elderly voice insulting her sister.

The woman had worried over her impression. She’d spent a long while debating whether or not to hide her off-looking eyes or leave them, but ultimately decided to blindfold herself - her impairment was part of her; it would need to be introduced alongside every other part of her, and it would not do to pretend it did not exist. A few swathes of thin, soft silk encircled her head, tied at the back in a simple knot with the loose ends dangling. The fabric was a simple sapphire blue, adorned with strands and circlets of copper beads wreathing her head over the silk. It had been bought by Aoi and gifted to her on the day of her graduation, five years after they’d met and four years from the present. The simple tapered cane in her hand swept back and forth gently as she walked.

She could have laughed! What was it that she was hearing? This old man, from the sound of his voice, calling her sister… an anime lover? The young woman choked on an incredulous giggle, stifling it behind her hand, and advanced a step further into the Kitchen, clearing her throat pointedly as she swept a small half-circle before her to ensure that she would not walk straight into someone or something. “Good day, Mister…?” she trailed off - she hadn’t caught his name, sadly. Her words were ever more powerful when they were addressed to a name. “It sounds to me like the only person here acting like a hormone-crazed teenager, as you so courteously put it, is yourself - with all due respect, of course. After all, only a child’s mind would be so quick to assume a correlation between a couple of words in a different language and something as lowly as anime, even without knowing anything about those words, yeah?”

She paused to chuckle. “I suppose I should be pleased to inform you that my sister is both Japan-born and Japan-raised, and to assure you that there’s more to the country than mere cartoons, but if cartoons are really all you know, then I guess I can’t say anything. You can see how frustrating it can be for me, of course - you must know the feeling, admonishing an unruly teenager, maybe, who is really not a teenager but who fooled you into thinking so from his immature actions.” A grin.

The smile was genuine. It was likely also why most did not feel offended at all by her smart mouth - she didn’t often mean them as hostile, only used them jokingly, even if the notion they encompassed was honest. The art of sass was one that she had perfected to her own liking, whether or not it was regarded as unjust or simply failing by others. Aoi could defend herself just fine - she had no need for Cy to step in, and oftentimes it was the opposite that happened, but it was such a waste to miss such a good chance.

“Cypresse Yu-Ling Lian, by the way,” she added, the innocent grin lessening down to a warm tilting up of her lips. “Or Cy, if it pleases you. Professor of Transfiguration.” No move was made to emphasize or even indicate her blindness - she was certain that the others would be able to guess from her blindfold and cane; if not, she had something to say about the teachers Hogwarts hired - and no move would be made unless she was asked explicitly.

Aoi was always far better at social subjects than Cy. The young woman was not so terribly timid as to avoid socialization, but she would still rather read a good book or get some work done than attend a concert or go shopping. And then, of course, there was her blindness. She did not mind the questions; in fact, inquiry was invited. What Cypresse hated was the obvious air of ignorance that most people treated her with. They would avoid the topic of her blindness at all costs, even if its mention was practically necessary in the conversation. They would change the subject, typically somewhat awkwardly, whenever it was brought up, so suddenly the it was obvious. Most vexingly, they would assume, assume that she needed help, that she should have everything done for her - frustrating was too small of a word for it.

Her sister was another story. The scarves hung in her office - all results of gifts, souvenirs from various travels and stores. She was not afraid to ask for help, and although Cy was well-practiced in the action, there was still a small not of hesitation before she did so, but the two had become close as sisters in the nine years that they had known each other despite their differences.

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