Quote:
Originally Posted by
ArianaBlack 
This was incredibly excruciating. Not that he’d be willing to admit it. By no means, hell he’d sit here all day if he had to. If it meant proving a point, that is. Though it was one of the most uncomfortable meals he had ever had to sit through in his entire life. And there were countless points in his Hogwarts career when he was made to sit alone and eat in a private detention room. But this was even beyond that. At least then the silence had been forced upon him.
This was technically a choice. Even the weather talk. The weather talk that was absolutely ridiculous, he may add.
Yet he found himself nodding at her commentary on the foliage. To avoid looking like even more of a fool, he took a long sip out of his goblet before allowing himself to comment on anything else. As he set down the now-nearly-empty goblet, he again returned his gaze to the unknown space in front of the dais. If one didn’t know better it could’ve been mistaken for looking down at the other house tables, however, if one were paying attention it would be clear that the gaze was one of avoidance. Intentional. Forced.
”I prefer the winter,” he would have commented further on her preference for the spring and how anything could be worn in those months. However, given the opportunity he would have made a highly inappropriate remark concerning what he’d like to see her wear. So instead he coughed as if to cover up any physical sign of that very thought. ”The cold keeps me..... alert.” Was it clear to Nana that James was horrid at speaking about the weather?
And despite wanting so desperately to put them both out of their misery, James didn’t dare think about leaving. He made sure to eat his food slowly so that Nana would finish first and therefore have to be the first to excuse herself. It was all about keeping the advantage, the upper hand. The next topic took him slightly by surprise and hardly anything was capable of surprising him these days. ”It’s been… interesting” well, interesting was a nice way of putting it. ”Nothing like a foodfight to give a warm ‘welcome’ into the year.” Clearly not meaning a word of it. ”And yourself? Do you like it here?”
He was genuinely interested. Was she better adjusted than he was?
She felt like they were playing some
game. One in which the loser was the one who looked first, or flinched first- Nana wasn't exactly sure, but she didn't think she enjoyed it all that much. It felt dangerous, and Nana was no gryffindor, she did not court danger, or tease it, and she most certainly did not look it in the eye as they shared a very awkward meal. Tucking back her hair behind her ear, Nana turned her attention back to her plate. This was all absolutely ridiculous, and so was carrying on this conversation for longer than necessary, but now that the conversation had shifted... Well, Nana found herself keenly interested.
Not about the layers and the clothes, but about his opinion. "I do love winter... the snow, the freshness in the air." She nodded along with him, unaware of the murkier thoughts her fellow professor was fighting. "Summer... Has it's moments... I have a new bathing suit I purchased in fall that I've been quite keen to wear." Why was she telling him about her bathing suit? why was she still sitting there and discussing the weather? It was Hogwart's latest mystery.
The Professor Laughed. Honestly laughed, not a chuckle or simper, but a loud, surprised, bright laugh that caught the Japanese woman completely off guard. She cleared her throat, cheeks tinging. "No, not, certainly not... Just the welcome I'd been hoping for... " Nana snidely remarked, lips curved into an amused little sneer. Thank goodness he'd realized the insanity of the opening feast too, Nana had felt like the lone nurse in an insane asylum that night. "... It's been.. Very strange, but I find I'm getting used to it... You must admit, the castle is... quite something else." It was impossible not to fall in love with it, at least it was in Nana's eyes.