Odd Encounters

[Rose Holland]

Rose always enjoyed these events very much. She wasn't particularily interested in dancing with boys or dating, but she loved to be in the atmosphere of people having fun. The great hall was always beautiful, and everyone was having fun and looking incredible. Her own dress was simple, but she didn't feel like she was ready for a big ballgown. The risks of tripping and taking others down with her were too big.

One of the best things about a dance or ball was the fact that it was easy to meet new people. She grabbed a random drink as she walked around, looking for someone to talk to. As she took a sip, she pulled a face. It was... interesting. She had no idea what she had grabbed, but it wasn't to her taste. But it could be a great conversation starter. She tapped a random boy on the shoulder and offered the drink to him. "Hey, do you want this? I don't really like it." She said with a smile, not really registering this was sort of an odd thing to offer anyone she didn't know.

 

[Espen Manning]

Espen was not much a fan of these kind of events to say the least, most of the time he merely took a seat in the back to drink and eat from the beverages that were offered around by the employees that served the students alongside the house elves that wandered around the Great Hall that had been beautifully decorated in Christmas cheer. Nevertheless, he chose to stand a little bit closer to the middle where all things were happening; choosing to engage a little, at least more than he'd ever done.

Apart from trying to listen to the music a little, he remained wary of his surroundings. Raising an eyebrow when a girl came up to him and offered the drink she said she did not like herself. Being as suspicious as Espen was, or having a moral sense, nobody was going to take somebody's drink at the party. Who knows what she had done to it -- or anyone else for that matter. "I'd throw it in one of the flower decorations if I was you, who knows what some of the graduates might have done to it." His voice was a little harsh, but he meant no harm. Trying to soften the outcome of his rather stern advise, he forced a soft smile to plaster his face. To maybe lighten the mood again that might have been influenced negatively by his reckless behaviour like it normally did. "Have one of these." He signed before getting another glass of the platter that was left on the table next to him. "It's not too sweet, neither too.. bitter- it's good, without any weird liquids thrown into it for sure."

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose blinked in surprise at the boy's words. It had never occurted to her that anyone could have done something to the drink. She was fairly sure no one had, though. It just tasted gross. She peered at one of the decorations and then shrugged and placed the cup down on a nearby surface instead. "Why would someone do something to it, though?" She asked with a frown. When he offered her another, she eyed it warily all of a sudden. "And how do I know you didn't do anything to that? It was you who even came up with the idea that anyone might have done something to it." She scratched her head. "But if you had done something yourself, you wouldn't have warned me..." She added, thinking out loud. Then she sighed, shrugged, and decided to drop it. Thinking this deeply wasn't her strong suit. "Alright, I'll trust you." She said, taking one of the drinks he offered. "Have you tried any of the food yet? It's usually pretty good at these events." She said, eyeing the sweets laid out on the table. She took a sip of her new drink and smiled. "Oh, you were right! It is good." She paused. "Still could be a prank or something, but it is a tasty one if it is." She added with a grin. The boy was unfamiliar to her, though she was fairly sure he was older than she was by a bit. Maybe a fifth year? He was pretty big.

 

[Espen Manning]

"Believe it or not; people like to mess with people, see people have a bad time at these events for their own type of.. sadistic fun." Some traits he shared with those kind of people, but he would never do something to a person to see them suffer for his own pleasure. That was sick and he cringed at what went on in the Slytherin common room at times; just because their house had loads of bad people in it, didn't mean they'd have to be a ****head as well. Espen merely frowned yet again when she rambled on, presuming he must have done something to the drink he offered; and immediately shaking her head at thought, continuing about the fact he could not have done it since it would not be a realistic thing to do. "Sure." He retorted rather dryly. Suit yourself, he thought. Not really following everything that came out of the girl's mouth -- sometimes it was way too much what people rambled on about.

"I haven't- there's a lot of sugar in it, I might try a few things out.. but my stomach always gets upset when I eat too much of the sweetness. Believe me, Halloween is one of those times I punish my body with it- no matter how much trouble I will have the next day in trying to control the cramps." Then again, who was he trying to trick? Christmas was the second holiday he used as an excuse to eat buckets full of candy. "Told you it was good; might be the elven piss in it, they always said it was rather sweet." Giving the girl a teasing wink at that. For her to figure out if it was a joke or not. Of course it was, but it was fun to see someone have an inner dilemma with themselves.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose listened to the boy's explanation about why people would do that, and she felt somewhat shocked. She didn't know why anyone would do that to another person. Honestly, she thought the older boy was quite a pessimist. It wasn't any fun to assume other people were out to get you all the time, and it would probably be wrong most of the time.

She gasped in horror when he said he couldn't eat too much sweetness. "Oh no! That's horrible, especially now at Halloween." She said, looking distressed at the thought alone. "Does that mean you can't eat much cake?" She asked, looking now almost scared to hear the answer. His comment about the drink made her eyes widen, both from the unexpected twist and of the language he used. Gullible as she was, she hardly thought he could be lying at all. "Wait, really? Is it sweet?" She asked, giving the drink an odd look. She held it up to her eye and tried to judge if it had any elven... pee in it. Not that she even knew what that would look like. "The headmistress doesn't seem like the type to serve... anything like that." She said after a moment. "But is it truly sweet? How would anyone even find that out?" She pulled a face. "Nevermind. I don't want to think about that." She put the drink down, maybe it was time to focus on the food instead.

 

[Espen Manning]

Espen was definitely not the most joyful student of the bunch that resided in the castle during their studies, in contrary, he was very much the one that chose to sigh, hum and grunt whenever he would let out a complaint or announce one in advance before he would let them roll off his tongue.

Even with the gloomy aura that pretty much dripped off the awfully tall Scandinavian, he was able to enjoy himself and part of enjoying himself was watching people's responses whenever something as much as a common bluff left his lips. The girl's face was pretty damn priceless as she tried to figure out whether he was right or he was wrong about the drink's secret ingredient. Of course he was wrong, no teacher... or school for that matter would have the nerve to pull such a trick on their students. And when the Ministry would find out, the school would most likely be forced to close its doors for neglect and bad treatment of their students. "I do take my occasional.. cheat treat, or meal.. but I try to keep my hands off things with too many things in it that are unhealthy. It's hard, though, the food here at Hogwarts isn't always that clean- it's tasty, of course.. but with taste comes grease a lot and that's something that I try to avoid." It truly was an eternal fight to try and stay fit, healthy, while the food was perhaps a little too greasy or filled with juices and lacked a certain lightness that he was used to whenever he would head home during the holidays. His mother had a way of cooking, making the food incredibly light and not too tough on his stomach.

"You know that I was only trying to fool you, right? There's no urine in it." Espen said with a gleeful smirk, nodding at her glass that she had put down.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was enjoying her conversation with the blond older boy, even though he was saying odd things. Her face grew even more incredulous when the boy talked about how healthy he was and how the food at Hogwarts wasn't 'clean'. She had never stopped to think about that at all. Rose liked sweets and cake a lot, but she always figured the regular food was just healthy by default. "Why?" She asked him, truly curious. "Are you an athlete?" That was the only reason she could think of for being so healthy.

She scoffed when he told her it wasn't really urine. She had known that! For... the most part. "Obviously." She said quickly, though she wasn't sure it was very convincing. "I just happened to put it down. I knew the headmistress wouldn't do that. I said so." She crossed her arms. "What's your name, anyway? Or should I call you that guy that talks about elf pee a lot." She teased.