In Need of Food! ((Marie))

[Ivy Tunstall]

In the café of Catalina’s Cubby, two cloths wrung themselves out over a bowl of soapy water and began scrubbing down the nearby surfaces, a trickle of white soapy liquid running down the front of the glass food display cabinet. Ivy, giving a bit of a stir to the contents of a sizzling pan, watched them idly, thinking nothing of their autonomy. It wasn’t autonomy, after all – she’d just flicked her wand at them.

“About time, too,” she remarked in a none-too-friendly tone to a pretty dark-haired girl who had just joined her, still fastening her apron and looking far too pleased with herself. Ivy followed her comment up with a pointed look. The Ravenclaw girl was half an hour for the beginning of her shift and, in the circumstances, it was very inconvenient for Ivy. The girl who was supposed to be bussing the tables today had taken the day off sick, and the other girl with the same job was busy being amorous towards today’s manager, not something that Ivy was appreciative of either but she had been too busy serving food and wiping tables to write an owl to Catalina complaining about the situation. She’d make sure she did so eventually, though. She’d been working here a long time and it had rarely been so disorganised, and never for such a silly reason. At least she could finally have her lunch now the other server had arrived… even if it was almost three o’ clock in the afternoon.

A little bit of not-entirely-friendly banter later, she tipped the contents of the sizzling pan onto a plate, adding to them a couple of pitta breads that had just finished toasting, and headed out into the main seating area of the café. It was very busy. Ivy had already realised that it was busy from the number of customers she had served, but the fact hit her anew as she searched for somewhere to sit. Normally she’d eat in the back room, but that was out of the question today thanks to the manager occupying it. There really weren’t many free tables, so in the end she approached a table where a younger girl was already sitting, absorbed in a book and hopefully enjoying the drink that she was sipping as she read. Ivy cleared her throat to get the girl’s attention.

“Hi, would you mind if I sat here?” she asked, sitting as she spoke. “I really hope you don’t… I’m absolutely ravenous, if I don’t sit down and eat soon I think I’ll keel over from lack of food.” She smiled, trying, as far as she could when her mind was fuzzy from hunger, to be friendly. After all, she was intruding on the girl’s space. “I’m Ivy,” she said, feeling it only polite to introduce herself. “What’re you reading? You seem to be enjoying it… or at least you seemed to be enjoying it until I came and interrupted you.”

[Marie-Rose Delarue G4]

Marie-Rose was not in the best mood. She was at the over-crowded Catalina’s Cubby, and how was she supposed to get anything done when it was so loud.

Frusterated, she put down her notebook and grabbed her free reading book. Campivated, she didn't notice someone ask her, "Hi, would you mind if I sit here?" They sat down, "I really hope you don't...I’m absolutely ravenous, if I don’t sit down and eat soon I think I’ll keel over from lack of food.”

Marie-Rose blinked a few times and finally noticed someone was sitting across from her. "I'm Ivy... What’re you reading? You seem to be enjoying it… or at least you seemed to be enjoying it until I came and interrupted you."

"I'm Marie-Rose," she said, looking up from her book to talk to Ivy. "I'm reading Une Beauté Grande et Terrible, or to those who speek English, A Great and Terrible Beauty. It's not a French book, it's just the French translation. And yes, I am enjoying it. I don't mind if you sit here, there are no other available seats." Ivy looked releived at that.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Her companion was a little slow to respond, and Ivy began to worry that she was building up to a customer complaint about slow service and lack of privacy once one had been served in this cafe, but when she did speak she was friendly enough. Ivy smiled gratefully at the other girl, glad that her apprehensions had been misplaced. Once Marie-Rose had introduced herself, Ivy concentrated on getting her food eaten as quickly as possible while the younger girl talked - not because she wasn't interested in having a conversation but simply because she was aware that she needed to get the food eaten to start benefitting from its energy. She had been working without any break for far too long and the intensity had taken its toll - she would be more equal to conversation once she had eaten.

Marie-Rose did pique her curiosity when she spoke French without any hesitation over the pronounciation. It was obviously a language that she knew well, although the fact that she was reading a book in that language was even better testimony than her good French accent. She looked up, her curiosity obvious on her face.
"I don't think I've heard of that one before. Who's it by? Do you mind if I take a look?" she asked, reaching out her hand tentatively to take the book from Marie-Rose. She flipped it open at a random page, and saw that yes, indeed, it was in French. Her knowledge of the language was good enough that she understood some of the individual words at a glance, but couldn't decipher the sentences in the short time she looked at the page for. She closed the book again and examined the front cover. "Libba Bray," she said, reading the name of the author off the front of the book. "No, I don't think I've heard of her," she said, repeating her admission of ignorance of this piece of literature. She handed the book back.

"So how come you're reading a book in French?" she asked, hoping that she wasn't being too pressing for information. She was simply curious - it was quite unusual to find someone reading a book in a different language, especially if it wasn't someone doing Ancient Runes homework. "Are you French yourself, or are you trying to learn the language and reading the book to improve your French? I've heard that's a very good way to learn languages."

[Marie-Rose Delarue G4]

After Ivy finished eating, she said curiously, "I don't think I've heard of that one before. Who's it by? Do you mind if I take a look?" With that she grabbed the book and flipped to a random page looking confused because it was in French. Then Ivy flipped to the cover to see who it was by. "Libba Bray. No, I don't think I've heard of her. So how come you're reading a book in French? Are you French yourself, or are you trying to learn the language and reading the book to improve your French? I've heard that's a very good way to learn languages."

Marie-Rose simply smiled, "Yes, I am French. Well, only half, but I've lived in Paris most of my life. I only just moved back to Ireland when I was invited to Hogwarts. It was quite a surprise actually. Luckyly, my father, who's Irish, came to visit on his breaks from his constant working, so I learned to speak both English and French, but French is just more natural to me."

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy listened as Marie-Rose explained her background, giving the girl a friendly smile as she made a reply to keep the conversation running.
"So you've got a bit of both cultures, then? That must be interesting. All of my family are English... I don't know whether there's anything particularly interesting about our culture though. I suppose we've got a lot of history behind everything. And we've got Hogwarts. Other countries' cultures always seem more interesting to me, but that might be because I know less about them..."

She trailed off into her own thoughts a little, sipping at her water as silence ensued. Uncomfortable at the thought of being bad company when she'd invaded the girl's reading space, she gave an apologetic smile and attempted to start the conversation up again.
"So you're at Hogwarts then? I've just graduated, I'm doing a Charms apprenticeship now and I work here at the weekends. Bills have to be paid," she explained smilingly. “What house are you in?” she asked. “I don’t think I remember seeing you around. I was in Hufflepuff.” And Marie-Rose wasn't, Ivy concluded - she was definitely older than first year and Ivy had known almost all of Hufflepuff house by the time she left, having considered it her duty as a Prefect to know who people in her house were. But it didn't do to guess at people's houses; she would wait for Marie-Rose to tell her.