Anyway You Want It

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's stomach didn't rumble with approval as they walked into the Great Hall, but at least it didn't seize up. He'd made quick work of getting his toast this morning. Now, he turned to look down at Anna. "Where do you want to sit?" he asked. It'd be pretty ridiculous to sequester themselves at separate tables.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna looked around the hall, noticing that most of the tables were still pretty empty. She had a vision of Chase seeing her sitting with Markise at the Hufflepuff table, and immediately decided she wouldn't want to deal with the mess that might cause. Even if they didn't have a relationship, Chase meant something to her and she didn't want to screw things up. "Um, there's plenty of room at the Ravenclaw table." She gestured over to where she normally sat with a sheepish smile. Chase might still raise an eyebrow if he got a good look at Markise, but at least it wouldn't look as bad as her going to another table to eat with a guy.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise didn't have a preference, so he easily agreed, and before long they were seated side by side. He got a glass of water, then started scanning the dishes laid out for the ones that looked the least artery-clogging. He'd learned that the British seemed to like very fattening foods, though he couldn't see how they weren't all fat for it.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna sat down and took in the wonderful smells of the food. She hadn't realized just how hungry she was from missing lunch until the aroma had hit her nostrils. She filled her plate with small helpings of most of her favorite dishes, making sure she left room for desert. Out of curiosity, she glanced over at Markise and raised her eyebrows at his near-empty plate. "Still not used to the food?" She inquired before taking a bite of her haggis.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise had no clue what Anna was eating, but it looked both foul and heart-attack-inducing. "Not yet," he said, forcing a slight smile to his lips. "I've never eaten food this... rich before," he said, hoping it sounded polite, and not like a snub. Really, though. Everything was either smothered in gravy or tasteless without it, and he hated that feeling on his tongue when he was done. Still, somehow he managed to gather enough food. Less difficult this time only because his stomach still wasn't up to par.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna shrugged, never really thinking of the food as really rich since she'd eaten it all her life. "I'd probably feel the same way if I went over to America. I'm so used to a good fry-up, I don't know if you do anything similar. All I know that you Yankees have is your burgers and chips." All the movies always showed such a wide variety of foods from all over the world, but she couldn't say what exactly was normal American food.

[Markise Sterling]

A good fry-up, Markise mentally repeated. Not only that, but had she just said you Yankees? Every time he thought he was getting used to British slang he got thrown again. "Believe me, Americans have plenty of... fried stuff," he said, not at all sure whether she'd been literal or not. He'd started getting used to laughter and a half-assed explanation, at least when he was out.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle was used to that look when talking about muggle things, but it took her a minute to figure out that she'd used words he didn't know. "Oh! Sorry, I guess you don't use that. A Fry-up is basically a big breakfast with all the trimmings. Fried eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, you know, that sort of thing. My mum's a good cook, sometimes better than the house elves." She loved her mom's cooking and if the food at Hogwarts hadn't been so good, she knew she'd have been homesick much more often than she was. Finishing the last bite of her Haggis, Anna moved on to her mashed potatoes smothered in gravy.

[Markise Sterling]

How in hell Anna kept so slender when she ate like that Markise had no clue, but he didn't comment. Rather, he turned his attention back to his own plate, with as few starches as possible, as well as a couple things that he hadn't covered in the accompanying gravy. "We call that a farmer's breakfast," Markise said, though he tried not to think on any part of it in specifics. "My family never had heavy breakfasts though." He gave a light shrug. "Everyone's different.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Oh, so what DO you normally eat?" Anna asked, curious since it was obvious that he didn't eat many of the things laid out before them. She played in her gravy, dipping her potatoes in and swirling them around. Now that her initial hunger was satisfied, she took to the much slower pace of eating that she normally used. She glanced up at the door when she heard some students coming in, then turned her focus back to Markise. Part of her was glad that it wasn't Chase, but another part of her missed him and wanted to see him again.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise paused a moment, until Anna's attention had returned and it was obvious her train of thought had moved on. Then he gave her the briefest description he could of the types of food he tended to eat, making sure to add that his family wasn't one to represent Americans, either Wizarding or otherwise. "Brindle's still a vegetarian," he said, wrapping it up. "I don't know how she does it. At least she didn't go vegan."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Brindle's your.....sister?" Anna asked, not recognizing the name but assuming the connection based on their conversation. She didn't think he would call him mum by her first name so that only left his sister. She tried to think back along their conversations to remember what all she knew about her. "How old is she? She goes here too right?" Anna knew she was asking a lot of questions, but it was better than the other direction her thoughts had been about to stray.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise could have sworn he'd mentioned Brindle by name before, but apparently not. "Yeah, she's my sister. She's fifteen and a total Gryffindor." The sorting hat had pegged her with very little effort. "You won't run into her in the library," he said, trying to describe her. "She's smart and everything, but she's a tomboy. If the weather's up to it, she'll be outside."

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"That's probably why I haven't met her then, although I did run into you outside, so I'm not a total recluse." Anna's lips curved into a smile at the jab to herself. She knew she was a bookworm and would be the first to admit it, but she liked other things too. "My sister's not nearly old enough to come here yet. My parents had us a ways apart, and we just barely found out she's a witch." She knew that the concept of not knowing if a child was magical was odd for some families, but since she had squibs and muggles in her family tree it had been a real concern.

[Markise Sterling]

"How old is she?" Markise asked. He didn't know enough Purebloods to count, and with all the mixed-blood wizarding families he knew, there wasn't really a set age for powers to start showing up. All he really knew was that Anna's sister was under eleven.