W&W Kitchen Trips

[MrE]

The Kitchens - Martin

Martin enters the famous Hogwarts kitchens and is confronted with a flurry of activity. There are dozens of little elves rushing about the place in what could charitably be described as 'organised chaos': washing, cooking, cleaning and cooking some more. Still despite the frenzy of activity, two elves spring up to greet Martin when he enters.

"Hello young sir. How can wes be helping you?" The first younger elf asks, casting a glance at his companion as though to check he had got his introduction right.

[SirMoogle]

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm assuming this is the first time Martin's gone to the kitchens, a day or two after the Sorting.

The day after the Sorting, an older Hufflepuff student mentioned to Martin that if he's ever feeling peckish, he should stand in front of the painting of the fruit bowl by the entrance to their common room and give the pear a tickle. Martin was a little perplexed; he had somewhat gotten used to the moving inhabitants, but physically interacting with them was an alien thought. When he approached the painting, he leaned forward and lightly scratched the pear on the right-hand side. He jumped a little when it giggled and morphed into a doorknob.

Opening the door, he went in and was immediately greeted by two creatures. They... they speak English?! he thought to himself. "Hello," he replied in awe. "I've seen some magical creatures before but never any that speak English. What are you?"

[MrE]

Spoiler

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I had intended it to be post Herbology, but am happy for it to be earlier than that - consider it changed!

"Oh yes sir," the younger elf squeaked. "All House Elves is learning English when we is very young Sir." But whilst the younger elf was happy to gabble at Martin, the other looked curious. "Is sir saying that he does not know what House Elves is?" she asked, surprised.

[SirMoogle]

"Never!" Martin exclaimed. "My mum thought it'd be more rewarding for me if I came across magical creatures like yourself without telling me what to expect." He wasn't sure how to properly introduce himself to a house elf; his dad always told him about a good handshake, so he stuck his hand out, not knowing what to do. "I'm Martin Kimble. And you are?" he asked the young elf.

[MrE]

"Oh sir is shaking our hands!" The boy elf squeaked. "I is Cursy. Will you be wanting some food Master Kimble?"

"Master Kimble's mother liked a mystery?" the second elf asked, intrigued. "I is Mull."

Cursy offered Martin a platter of pastries that seemed to have been made for just such an eventuality, whilst Mull watched the pair of them hawkishly.

[SirMoogle]

"Yeah," said Martin. "Mum never said anything about Hogwarts until I got the letter. Thanks, Cursy!" He took the pastries and popped one into his mouth. He could catch a hint of blueberry within the sweetness. "This is delicious!" As he settled down he made more small talk with the House Elves. "Are there more magical beings like you here in the castle? I've only really seen ghosts during the first dinner, and I'm fairly certain the armour moving in the hallways don't count."

[MrE]

"Oh no, we're the only Beings here," Cursy answered, "There used to be a poltergeist here, but-"

Mull cuts Cursy off with a sharp look. "We don't want to scare a young student with that. But master Hagrid knows many of the Beings in the forest. They are not all nice though. Very dangerous for a student." Mull seems interested to see how Martin replies to this information.

[SirMoogle]

Martin had a brief struggle between his curiosity of asking further and his better judgment of ending this line of conversation here before the former won out. "What kinds of other Beings live in the Forest?" he asked. "And who's Hagrid?"

Spoiler: OOC

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An Insight check into why Mull "seems interested": (1d20+2)[8]

[MrE]

Mull squeaks and vanishes with a pop! Cursy looks shocked and starts to make apologies for Mull, but he seems none the wiser about this Hagrid character. "Oh centaurs of course, but other things too. The forest goblins, and erklings, and some hags Cursy thinks. But Mull would know more. She is often out exploring."

"I is hoping Cursy is not tongue wagging!" A matronly house elf shouts at this point, hobbling over despite her aged frame and gesturing with a rolling pin. "Does the young master have everything he came for?" she asked directly as she guided Martin towards the door.

[SirMoogle]

"Oh, I've got some snacks but—" Martin started to say but he was shooed out by the older House Elf. Martin stood in front of the fruit bowl painting for a few seconds before walking off to the Hufflepuff common room.

I should come back to learn more about these Beings, thought Martin. Maybe I'll get a chance to head into the Forbidden Forest soon.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'm good to move onto the visit after double Herbology.

[MrE]

The next time Martin visits the elves, it seems somehow even busier than before: there is a swarm of cooking as the elves prepare that evening's dinner, and all sorts of delicious smells are wafting around the kitchen.

This time Martin finds another student sat with the elves, a Gryffindor boy by his robes, from his year. The boy is playing gobstones with Cursy and two other young-looking elves whilst the older ones looked on worriedly. The younger elves giggled and cried out with joy everytime one of the stones sprayed a losing contestant.

Cursy glanced up when Martin entered and waved to him. "Master Kimble is back! How can wes be helping you sir?"

[SirMoogle]

Martin grins. "Hi Cursy! I just came back from Herbology," he says. "Don't suppose you've got any snacks to spare for the moment?" He feels the warmth of the kitchen pressing on his skin as he gets a bit of food. "We got to go into the Forbidden Forest to collect herbs! Got a tiny scratch from a bat, though." He holds up his arm where one of the bats attacked him. "I didn't see any centaurs or other beings though. I guess they're deeper in the Forest? Do you know what they like to have or talk about?"

After a while he notices the other boy in the kitchens. "Who's that?" he asks.

[MrE]

"Of course master Kimble!" Cursy chirps and is back in a flash with with a tray of cookies. "That sounds very dangerous sir, but at least you is having professor Polsworth there. He is a great wizard." Cursy seems satisfied that with a teacher around, none of you could have come to any real harm.

When the conversation moves on to the other Beings in the forest, Cursy just shakes his head. "Cursy is never having met these centaurs. Cursy is sorry. Master Kimble is wanting Mull: she will know. But Mull is... away right now."

He seems happy when the conversation moves to more mundane matters. "Oh that is master Darvy. He is new as well and has been teaching us games!"

[SirMoogle]

"Oh. Where did Mull go?" Martin asks. "Is she coming back soon?" His focus shifts over to the boy playing with the House Elves. Come to think of it, he hadn't really interacted with many students outside of his house. Well, might as well go over there and see what's going on. He walks over to him just as a Gobstone sends a spray of foul-smelling liquid into another player's face, which causes Martin to wrinkle his nose.

"Hi there. I'm Martin Kimble from Hufflepuff," he introduces to the boy. "Are you a first-year as well?"

[MrE]

Cursy looks nervous. "Er, she is..." Then lets out a little cry and jumps away from Martin. "Cursy should not have said anything. Cursy is a bad elf." And with a pop! vanishes.

After that strange encounter, Martin approaches the other student whose genuine smile at his antics with the house elves, turns to something more guarded. "Yeah, the name's Roger." He seems hesitant to offer a seat at their, though the other elves are already welcoming Martin into the fold. "Did you want something?"

[SirMoogle]

Martin is briefly taken aback by the sudden change in Roger's demeanour. "Never seen this game before," he replies. "Definitely looks interesting. Mind if I join in?" He sits down and examines the gobstones, wary of whatever liquid would shoot out from them. He smells something like... skunk?

Spoiler: OOC

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An Insight check into the sudden turnabout in behaviour: (1d20+2)[11]

[MrE]

Martin senses that Roger is uncomfortable with Martin's presence, though whether that is due to Martin himself or just having another student there, he can't tell.

Roger shrugs and lets Martin join in for a few rounds, but quickly begins to make excuses to leave the table.

[SirMoogle]

"Oh, okay," says Martin as Roger begins to look for a way to leave. "You seem to have a problem with me. Why is that?" He thought it was strange that someone who he had just met had suddenly wanted to leave; did people normally do that?

[MrE]

Darvy looks embarrassed, caught off-guard and shrugs. "No problem with you mate, just don't want to be here. Got stuff to do, you know."

He waves at the house elves as he leaves: "I'll tell her you said hi." Then he brushes past Martin, his usual arrogant demeanour back in place.

[SirMoogle]

Well, that was odd, Martin thinks to himself. I wonder who told him how to get in here? As far as he knew, Hufflepuffs didn't seem to tell other Houses about how to get in, but it wasn't like a closely-guarded secret either. Well now that Roger's left, there's no way he's going to learn how play Gobstones now. He makes some more small talk with the House Elves and grabs a few more snacks before leaving.