[open] selective hearing? selective sight, please

[poppy]

Humming happily to herself, Poppy poured the contents of the glass measuring cup into the large bowl she was holding. The cup was placed on the counter and replaced in her hand with a thick wooden spoon that was then dipped into the very same bowl to stir its contents together. What little muscle Poppy had was put into this task, as the batter was getting quite a bit thicker than she had intended it to be. She shrugged and muttered a quick ‘oops’ before remedying the problem with a touch more water.

What was she baking exactly? Cupcakes. It was her friend’s birthday tomorrow, and she’d only remembered just now. So while everyone was upstairs studying in their dorm rooms like good students on a Sunday night, Poppy Longbottom was in the Hogwarts’ kitchens, making a birthday present. She’d probably stay up all night decorating them, so it was a good thing tomorrow morning she had Divination, so she could pass off her dozing as ‘going to the beyond’. As much as she liked the class, she knew she’d rather be down here, mixing cocoa and swirling it to make a nifty design so part of her creations would be chocolate, while the other half remained vanilla. It was a nifty little trick that her mother had taught her long ago; and it only took a tad of magic to keep them separated. Not being able to use magic at home, the only times she got to practice the little spells her mother showed her was at school. Thus, she became as common an occurrence to the house elves as dirty dishes.

Oddly enough, she had formed some very strong bonds of friendship with quite a few of them, and was polite and respectful regardless who was in her vicinity. Knowing what an intrusion it was when someone came and disrupted your daily tasks, especially those related to the kitchen, she always thanked them before and after the use of their facilities, and washed and cleaned her own messes. It was only fair, after all Hogwarts may have been her temporary home, but in this kitchen she was a guest. She hoped she was a good guest and that the house elves didn’t mind her little quirks of speaking to them incessantly, or dancing and singing as she was either following recipes or creating her own. Every time she left, they always asked her when she’d be back next, so she could only assume that they had a good time with her.

Most times she was just in here to have fun and relax which was when she’d bring down the small wireless and they’d crank it up and all the house elves would enjoy themselves. Even at times like this when she was determined and needed to get something done, she still hummed and danced as she worked, but less of her companions were involved in her celebrations. Her voice didn’t carry much, being naturally soft-spoken, but a few nearby house elves joined in her dancing as she mixed her enchanted cupcake batter, holding the bowl steadily in one hand and the spoon in another.

Just as she was about to complete a rather elaborate (at least to her) twirl, with the bowl, she stopped mid-way to face another figure that her eye had caught just in its corner. Out of surprise, she nearly dropped the large bowl, exclaiming a quick “Ah! Oops!” before catching it. “Didn’t uhm... see you there...” she said as she tried to gather her bearings.

tags; open
words; 592
outfit; click
notes; blah.. icky and all over the place... feel free to ask for clarifications...

[ewan]

Ewan was walking in a rather awkward manner as he headed for the general direction of the kitchen. His eyes were concentrated on his steps that fell in swift succession, only glancing up time to time cautiously at his surroundings. He had not so cleverly decided to neglect checking the time before he headed out. He found no compelling reason to, thinking the kitchen was but a short walk away. It was after all not the first time he had done this. His trips to the kitchen in fact occasionally happened every year, most notably in his early fourth year until his fifth. Standing in front of the portrait of a fruit bowl, he sent a last look behind him before letting his fingers graze the canvas lightly a few times.

As cliché as it sounded, time just flew too fast for him. It has been exactly a month after the first day of his sixth year. Gone were the relatively free nights as classes had soon moved past introductory topics which only meant more work. He had about four essays that needed to be done within this week. You could say that he’s over reacting and that four isn’t really a big number, but it’s not to him. He never does anything half-arsed, to put it crudely. It would take about four reference books on a subject to satisfy him into sitting down and get started on an essay. He relies on written work to give him that extra push so he could have better and above average grades, considering that he rarely talks in classes.

The catch is he can’t really stay too long inside the library. He would end up getting asked to head out after a few hours because his verbal tics would kick in. And you could only take out a couple of books, which didn’t help at all. Tonight, he checked out a good number of books to let him do one essay and hopefully half of a second one. He watched as the pear wriggled under his fingers and slowly morphed into a door knob. As he ducked inside the portrait, the usual bustling and clangs of pans and cutlery greeted him. Anyone would be surprised how he easily found his way through the busy room and opened the right cupboard to get what he needed. He muttered thanks to one house elf when he saw her putting a cup with warm water on the counter at his side.

He was rummaging through the cupboard to look for the tea his mother regularly sends to Hogwarts. Because of his Tourette’s, he couldn’t just have coffee or regular Earl Gray tea. Caffeine was actually bad for him if it was more than the dose needed to keep him awake and did nothing to calm his tics. They had found the right tea leaves in a Polish countryside with the assistance of his private Healer. He felt around the cupboard, his hands roaming over the contents until it clasped over a familiar box. Ewan held the cup carefully and dumped a single bag, he backed away to walk up to the counter opposite him for a cube of sugar.

Just as he turned to do so, he saw an odd sight in front of him. To be honest, it freaked him out a little for a second. He wasn’t sure if he had just gone mad or some of the house elves are actually singing and dancing. It didn’t take much time until he cracked a small smile because he rarely saw them having fun and he thought they deserved it. What soon made him wonder was how he missed the presence of another person inside the kitchen, especially since every occupant never really reached past his hips. The girl soon took notice of him though and suddenly felt unsure of what to do. “It’s okay. My bad,” he replied. He set his cup back down on the counter behind him as a precaution if his tic decided to embarrass him. “Sorry for spooking you.”

ooc ; wow, way to make a conversation emy. sorry for that!

[poppy]

Poppy was used to being embarrassed. She was naturally a clumsy, uncoordinated person who was all together awkward at moments, so after a while she’d come to accept it. Even enjoy it once in a while. It was not uncommon that something she did or an accident she caused entertained someone, and as long as it pleased someone else, she didn’t mind much. If it got a good laugh, a smile on someone’s face or had just generally made them seem in better humour, it wasn’t a bad situation wasted, and there really was no reason for Poppy to feel any shame. Never did she play things off as intentional, unless they were, because she just didn’t see the point. When she did something embarrassing, she admitted to it, not going through the trouble to hide it. Besides, it was already well-known throughout the castle that with Poppy Longbottom usually came a cyclone of chaos. Happy, bubbly chaos, but chaos nonetheless.

Once you put an apron on her though, all of her clumsiness and awkwardness seemed to disappear. She could twist and turn and she seemed to juggle in the kitchen without any problems at all. No one really knew why, but in any kitchen she came in contact with, she automatically knew where everything was and how to navigate it, contrary to everywhere else she went. That was probably why she could move about them so well. Or maybe she paid better attention to what she was doing because if she didn’t she could hurt herself, and even make someone sick if she did something wrong or use the wrong tools. Which was why she was surprised when she nearly dropped her bowl, foul ups like that were very few and far between for her while doing what she was.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said with one of her welcoming smiles. Like always, she was using her pearly whites to comfort someone; they were her best weapon against awkward situations and sad people. She really didn’t want him to worry about it. She was the type that forgave everything and left it in the past, and really, nothing bad had happened; she’d caught the bowl before it actually slipped from her hands. “I should have been paying better attention regardless.” It was true, she usually forgot about everything else when she was concentrated on whipping something up, especially if it was for someone else on a special occasion.

“Hey, no harm, no foul, alright?” she gave another bright grin and ran a hand through her hand, supporting the bowl against her side with the other hand at the same time. She mumbled an ‘oops’ once more as she realized she had a multitude of ingredients and some of the mixed batter, on her hands and has just transferred it to her half-pulled back hair. She laughed a bit at her forgetfulness and decided that if it was already on her hand, she may as well have a taste, and curiously licked her thumb before realizing that she was in the presence of another human.

“Uhmm... would you like to try it?” she stuck the bowl out, a little bit embarrassed. “It tastes fine so far to me, but I’d like a second opinion. It’s my friend’s birthday tomorrow and I’d forgotten about it until about an hour ago, and I had promised him that I’d make him a cake, or cupcakes, so now I’m going to be stuck here until early in the morning decorating these because I want him to like them... well, not only look good, but they have to taste good too, and I’ve never actually done this recipe alone... actually I have, just not the spell to separate the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry... and I just realized I’m rambling.. sorry....”

tags; ewan
words; 636
outfit; click
notes; blah.. short and eww..

[ewan]

Ewan, who always had been badly anxious of first conversations, merely nodded along in agreement. Still, her warm smile and the apparent good will she shared with the house elves admittedly had him put his guard down. After it had dawned on him only moments after his apology that he had indeed almost caused Poppy Longbottom to drop an almost full bowl, the girl’s genial side no longer came to him as much of a surprise. With her being the daughter of Professor Longbottom and the inevitable amount of gossip one could overhear in a house common room, he had a rough knowledge of her and her personality.

This wasn’t the first time he had walked on in someone who had already been inside but he wasn’t aware that a few people still dropped by at this time of the night. Although judging from the contents of her bowl and based on what little he knew about baking, she seemed to have been working about inside hours even before he arrived. “Right. Could’ve happened to anyone. The kitchen’s usually empty. Well, aside for the elves,” he said, returning her gesture with a small quirk of his lips. “Excuse me…” he muttered distractedly as he grabbed his cup and walked to his right.

He dumped two sugar cubes in his tea and gave it a little stir before bringing it up to his lips to take a small sip. The sound of her laughter caught his attention and reminded him that he was being a little bit obvious with his awkwardness. He motioned his free hand to his own head saying, “You… uh.” His voice trailed off when he saw her lick off the batter that didn’t stick to her hair off her thumb. Ewan raised his cup to his lips again and pretended to take another sip of the liquid as he hid his smile from her, his eyes sparkling with growing amusement.

Ewan’s eyebrows raised slightly in surprised when she offered him a taste of what she was making. He looked at the inviting contents of the bowl curiously, listening as she went on telling him why she decided to whip up something tonight. Clasping his tea cup securely with one hand, his other reached in the bowl at swiped a dollop of batter off the side. He popped his finger in his mouth, silently savoring the sweet taste of the mixture. “It’s good,” he nodded in approval. “Really good, actually. I’m sure he’ll love it," he added with a smile.

ooc ; life happens = late post. apologies for crappy post as well >.<