Intercultural (Snape/open)

[Irohahime Toya]

The Great Hall was a lot more pleasent when the bitter smell of melting wax wasn't invading her senses, that wretched translation spell wasn't humming in her head (praises be to Tsukuyomi, it had worn off; she spoke English), nobody was trying to help her eat, and nobody was staring at her like some vaguely fascinating bug. She'd warned Dumbledore to not welcome her to his school so publically; damned old man liked a show too much, and it would dishonor her mistress, Yoshiko, to disobey him. Iroha found herself forced to play by his rules for the time being, but she didn't have to be happy about it. She took spiteful joy in exploring the school instead of sitting and observing classes, banging the cane that she didn't need off of the walls. She might have been blind, but her other senses made up for that; she carried her ornate cane as a scabbard for her enchanted katana, Nasu. It was a small price to pay for being put on equal footing with Magical Folk, who looked down on her for being a Squib all the way up to the point that Nasu found its mark.

She ended her exploration of Hogwarts in the Great Hall, deciding to click around a little to get a better feel for the room. She already knew from the light filtering in that it had many windows, and that it was very large and airy. There were four rather long tables, and a fifth on a platform that dominated the front of the room, in plain view of the large doors. It all suited a very grandiose aesthetic that she'd found present through her investigation. Hearing a rustling of cloth behind her, she casually adjusted the sunglasses that covered her sightless eyes, trying to sense out the location of the other person. When more rustling sounded closer, she whirled around quickly and brought her cane up, tip against the person's sternum. Through the wood and steel, she heard their heartbeat hammering away and grinned.

"Can I help you?" she asked calmly.

[Severus Tobias Snape]

Severus Snape was brooding. Yes. Two years he went from Brooding Lover to Brooding Loner. Well, he wasn't always a loner. He had friends. But sometimes they weren't here, so he could brood about how he screwed up so badly at the end of the last year, and how Marissa would disappear for long times (though he did help with the excuses, really, he was still sad that she had to leave and he couldn't help too very much himself). Sev had delved deeper into his association with wannabe Death Eaters, because at least they didn't disappear on him, and they accepted him as Marissa, Vinny and the other Italians had. While Sev was a little bitter about being left alone, it did give him time to brood, so he didn't mind so much, and he still cared for them greatly, viewing them as better friends than his Death Eater wannabes. But he couldn't really do anything to help their war very much, and felt useless. Whereas with Voldemort he could go against those like his father, and be of great use to the Dark Lord.

So anyways... Sev was brooding, unsure of whether Mari or Vinny or anyone else were here, and found himself walking into the Great Hall. Sure, he'd seen the woman in the room, but otherwise it was empty, and then he could brood there about everything, and not care that only one was there. Heh. If he cared if just one person was there when he was wallowing, then he wouldn't be able to wallow just about anywhere. As long as Potter or his gang weren't there, nor his Death Eater friends, nor his Italian friends, then he would be just fine. So he walked down one of the aisles, and just before he passed the woman, something was held against his chest, and he stopped quickly, his reflexes warning him not to continue on.

"No, you can't," Sev replied, looking down at the cane against his chest. Her sunglasses, indoors. She was blind... probably. Could he not brood in peace?