Open I'm Just Here For The Food

[Aine Thompson]

Aine didn't see the point of them making such a big deal over Valentine's day. Everyone knew it was just a capitalist construct in order to sell cards and flowers and chocolates and instill guilt in relationships. She'd witnessed her sisters crying over boys they liked forgetting to buy them flowers on Valentine's day and Aine honestly thought it was ridiculous. The best part about it was the supermarkets would have discounted chocolates the day after.

It wasn't that she didn't like romance - some of her favourite books and movies were love stories. But she was only twelve and as far as she was concerned the idea of kissing someone seemed kinda weird and gross. Schools usually seemed to want to put a stop to that kind of thing but Hogwarts was seemingly encouraging it. Weird, she'd thought - but she couldn't say no to cake.

While she would have happily avoided the event completely, her stomach had been grumbling, and so while she hadn't really dressed up beyond putting on her jeans and a nice shirt, she firmly planted herself next to a table, plate in one hand, glass of punch in another. It seemed she hadn't thought standing up through, however, as the glass of punch seemed rather precarious...perhaps likely to fall if she wasn't extremely careful.

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo wasn't sure if coming to the dance was a good idea or not. The chaos of roses seemed to be over which she was grateful for. She had forgotten to ask if her friends planned on going tonight and she had gone back and forth on her decision until she finally got the courage to make the trip down to the great hall. Once stepping inside she was glad she did. The place was stunning and she caught herself staring at all flowers. But she did quickly realize she had no one to talk to until she recognized one of her roommates also standing off the to the side. She hadn't spoken to the other girl much and Margo figured there was no better time than the present. "Hi!" she said, raising her voice to be heard over the music. "Are you waiting for anyone?" she asked, just in case she might be interrupting.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Aine precariously balanced her plate on her arm, taking a sip of her drink as she did so. She could've easily just had a seat, and somehow she did know that, but she kind of figured the tables were for couples and groups and she'd just come down here because there wasn't really anything better to do.

She recognized the girl who approached her from her house - Margo, wasn't it? She knew her name and face but not much beyond that, but she figured that was probably her own fault - and awkwardly rebalanced everything to give her a nod, swallowing her drink in order to say "hello" as brightly as she could. It was probably a good thing she'd swallowed the drink, as she would've spat it out at the question. "Waiting? Oh, God no," she admitted, a little too frankly. "I just heard there was cake here so I thought I'd make the most of it."

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo kept wringing her hands nervously and couldn't help but look around the room, scanning the area for her friends until Aine greeted her and seemed willing to talk to her. But her expression turned apologetic as her roommate seemed offended by her question and Margo felt instantly embarrassed. "Oh, sorry I didn't mean to imply anything." she said quickly with her hands up in defense, and nodded eagerly when she mentioned the cake. "That's...a good reason to come. Is it good?" she asked earnestly. She was always partial to the cakes her grandma made so she had been hesitant to try any tonight.

 

[Aine Thompson]

Great, now you've done it again, Aine, she reprimanded herself, seeing that her comment didn't quite come off right. It was a problem she often had, not least because people here were from all around the world and might not relate to her specific world view. It was a good learning experience, at least, but it didn't necessarily help with the idea of making friends.

"Oh, no, no, you're alright," she quickly added, by way of apology. "Sorry." It probably wasn't helping matters, but she could at least try to make sure everything was on the level. Or make it worse, as she could potentially do. "I'm not used to..." she vaguely gestured at the room around her. "This. The cake is pretty nice, though." She balanced the glass on the plate. She would've offered a cake from the plate, but she'd already taken a bite out of each of the couple she'd picked up in order to taste test. In saying that, the chocolate tart she'd taken one bite out of wobbled off the plate and toppled sadly on to the ground. "Ah, damn."

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo was starting to regret trying to talk to anyone that wasn't Isadora. It seemed tonight was not the night for trying new things. She smiled weakly as Aine seemed to apologize for reacting the way she did which was nice but she still felt like she had started it by asking at all. Margo looked at her closely when she didn't finish her thought for a moment and gestured to the hall around them. "You're not used to parties?" she asked, trying to clarify what she meant by that. She couldn't exactly blame her for that. Margo had never been around so many people before coming to Hogwarts. It wasn't like they were throwing events like this in the small town she lived in with her grandma. She smiled a bit more genuinely this time as Aine told her about the cake and couldn't help but gasp as one of the slices fell to the ground. "Oh let me help!"

 

[Aine Thompson]

Maybe she shouldn't have come, she thought a little glumly. She'd been to school dance parties after being forced to by her parents but had always found a place to hide, sometimes striking up conversation with bored tech guys who found the weird schoolkid funny and interesting to talk to - mostly about various video games. She was terrible at talking to people her own age, though, clearly.

"Yeah, I haven't really been to many. None this huge anyway. And its so weird they actually put on a huge thing for Valentine's Day? I thought teachers were meant to stop kids from doing stuff like kissing." She rambled, as she tended to when she got nervous - either ramble or shut down, either or. The cup tipped over on her plate, soaking the vanilla cupcake in raspberry punch. She was too focused on the tart, picking it up and putting it on a napkin. "Oh, its alright." She thought for a moment. "D'ya think wizards have the five second rule or something?"

 

[Margo Fox]

Margo listened to Aine's explanation about why she didn't like parties. Everything her roommate said made sense and she nodded along. "I'm not used to these either." she added to try and sound sympathetic. "I'm not sure there is a better holiday. And I've seen a lot of professors hovering around." she pointed out and tried to avoid stepping on the cake on the ground. She hesitated when Aine said it was alright and she frowned. "I'm not sure." she admitted. Margo had never thought about if wizards had a sense of germs. "I really wish we learned a cleaning charm by now." she said quietly, wishing she could use her magic to make things better.