The Baron leaves the sorting room (Open RP)

[i_am_harkonnen]

The Baron was exceptionally relieved to leave the sorting room, which had been getting rather cramped.  Although it had been a somewhat enlightening experience, he now found himself filled with a great deal of questions, such as where to find decent rooms, where that library was, and, how to find the Muggle Studies Department. The hat had left him

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[i_am_an_hero]

A had been in his garden when the house elf came to find him and hadn't stopped to change; his brightly-colored kitten t-shirt and cargo pants were both liberally smeared with newly turned earth, and while he'd washed his hands, there was still dirt on his forearms.

It was spring, after all.

"You're sorted, then?" he said in greeting. "Has someone shown you to where you'll be staying?"

[i_am_harkonnen]

The Baron was a bit surprised to see A arrive covered with dirt (as this would have been unthinkable at home), but, he realized this must have meant he came quickly, and, this he appreciated. He smiled at A, and said, "It is good to see you, my dear boy- I'm supposed to find somewhere, apparently. I need to find a few places, in fact. The talking hat put me in the house called Slytherin." The way he says "talking hat" suggests that he's still not quite over holding a conversation with sentient headwear.

[i_am_an_hero]

"I have friends that are in Slytherin, but they don't stay there. Mello is, he, he's with Near, and Kurama is with Kusuriyuri, and they're in Ravenclaw. Kusuriyuri and Kurama are both professors now, anyway." This was a clear source of pride. "I know where it is more or less, but I've never been there."

[i_am_harkonnen]

"I expect I'm likely to meet them, then." He considers A's remark a bit further, and asks, "Is there a reason they don't stay there? I did try and tell the hat that I needed adequate rooms and would prefer a good view, but, the hat was, hrm, eccentric. I've heard there's a bar."

[i_am_an_hero]

"Mello wanted to stay where Near was, and his friend Matt is in Ravenclaw too. I think Kurama was staying in Slytherin for a while, but he wanted to be with Kusuriyuri." He shrugged. "I haven't seen the rooms there but I'm sure they're fine. I don't think they will have much of a view, though, I'm pretty sure they're underground."

[i_am_harkonnen]

"Underground?" He sighed and looked mildly annoyed. "Hrm. . . they'd better be damn nice, if underground. I'll need at least a bedroom, and a bath, and a sitting room." He realized could probably send the house elves around to try and find something more tolerable, if need be. "So this school. . .it's not very organized then? Who's in charge of it? And which way do we need to go?" He smiled at A, gesturing for him to lead on wherever he saw fit.

[i_am_an_hero]

A looked around, trying to decide which corridor would lead them most directly to Slytherin.

"If it is like Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, there will be plenty of rooms you can, can look at, and choose from." Picking the one he eventually decided was best, he lead the Baron down the stone-lined hall. "It's not very organized, no. The Sorting Hat seems to be mostly in charge, although I know there is a headmistress as well."

[i_am_harkonnen]

The Baron looked around at the corridor, examining the stones with some interest. Genuine, not plasteel imitations. "The. . .hat's in charge?" Considering a moment, he asked, "So, who's in charge of the hat then? This headmistress?" It was always good to have a clear understanding of who was supposedly in charge. Whoever or whatever it was, that hat knew a couple of names he was quite familiar with.

[i_am_an_hero]

"I think her name is Kahnooloo," A told him. "She doesn't seem to intervene in the way things are run very often. I think the house elves are the ones who have the best knowledge of what's going on."

[i_am_harkonnen]

A strange name, that. At least it didn't sound like a Bene Gesserit name. "They are effective, apparently. The one I sent to get you seemed unusually fast." If he could get over the house elves' strangeness, perhaps he could ask them a few questions someday. They'd probably even answer without much in the way of threats, as they did seem unusually happy to comply. Although things appeared rather chaotic, this sign that order must exist somewhere within the unfamiliar structure was reassuring.

[i_am_an_hero]

"They can teleport," he said. "So it is easy for them to get one place to another. I think they walk most of the time, but they don't have to."

[i_am_harkonnen]

"Teleport? Like, bending space?" He'd never pictured Navigators as small and wrinkly, but, he'd never actually seen one. No one had, except the Guild. "And yet, they don't need Spice for it?" He recalled that A had waved a stick around when demonstrating small object summoning. "They use some other tools, perhaps?"

[i_am_an_hero]

A explained, "They have inherent magic. They don't need wands for what they do. It's an inborn ability, like moving and breathing."

[i_am_harkonnen]

The Baron considered a moment, pausing briefly to touch one of the stones that lined the corridor with a fat, glittering hand, before continuing, and turning his eyes to the carpeting, examining it. Details, it was always the little details that said so much about a place.

"So then, if I have understood properly, wizards. . . use wands. But, apparently, not all people are wizards." Wizards. . . not a word he'd ever expected to use seriously in a conversation. He still wasn't sure how it applied to him. "So then, is it because they don't have the wand technology, or, because they don't have the inherent ability?"

[i_am_an_hero]

"Wands, yes. It is rare to be able to cast a spell without them, and very taxing, but with a wand it is easy to start to learn basic spells. And not everyone has the ability to learn, but if you are here, you do." He paused briefly, considering his words. "But you will have to study on your own, or get help from someone, because there are very few classes."

[i_am_harkonnen]

Another important detail that kept coming up- an apparent lack of order. Now that was something he was very good at dealing with. Vacancies in the system were always good opportunities for self-advancement. "Is that part of the educational philosophy here, or, some sort of structural issue, do you think?" He paused momentarily, and stopped examining an ancient-looking bit of stonework to turn and look at A, confessing, "I haven't actually done any magic before. In fact, before today, I wouldn't have accepted its existence. However, I'm forced to now, as, the first law of mentat states that a process cannot be understood by stopping it. Whatever all this is, it is plainly happening, and a refusal to believe it won't change that. Still, it's a strange concept to get around."