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CHARACTERS: Severus Snape and anyone foolish enough to approach him.
LOCATION: The kitchen closest to his room.
WARNINGS: General arseholery.
SUMMARY: Someone is hungry. And curious as well, but hungry first.

According to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, 'food cannot be outright created from nothing, it can be multiplied if one already has some food to multiply, it can also be enlarged by using the Engorgement Charm, or it can be summoned if one knows the rough location and is fairly sure the food will still be there,' and it was with that last bit in mind that Snape eventually ventured forth from his room, purposefully but cautiously; his wand easily accessible tucked up inside his sleeve and his black eyes darting side-to-side, taking everything in. He'd heard a few disconcerting transmissions over the comm device recently and he wasn't taking any chances (not that he ever did, in any event). Once he found the source of the food, then magical room service might be a preferable option in the future, depending on (potentially life-threatening) circumstances, what kind of people he encountered and whether or not he wished to see them on a regular basis. He was not especially optimistic regarding that.

All in all, he didn't look too bad for a man who had just recently almost bled to death, now that the shock of that, plus waking up on a spaceship had leveled out to some extent. His hair didn't even appear to be quite as greasy and lank as usual—perhaps stasis fluid had hitherto unknown conditioning properties? Which will be a plus if he has to endure it on a regular basis (not that he was actively considering or appreciating that prospect, or its apparent follicle-enhancing results). His new clothing however, was not much of an improvement on his old. While a form-fitting black jumpsuit might actually be sexy on a lot of people, Snape managed to look just as severe and clerical as he did in his wizard-slash-academic robes (although decidedly less bat-like), but then it's entirely possible that he could make a pink tutu look severe and clerical, such was the power of his demeanor. If he had a preference, he'd much rather be wearing his usual robes, but alas, clothing is another one of those exceptions to Gamp's Law, so presumably he'll have to wait until such time as he can procure something suitable in the regular fashion (although he doubted very much that he'd find a shop, even on a ship purported to be as large as this one). But it was just as well, as he had no desire currently to look at all conspicuous.

It did not prove especially difficult to find a kitchen, nor did there seem to be any obstacles to helping one's self to the necessary supplies and preparing a meal: there was fresh food in the refrigerator, dried or tinned food in the cupboards, along with pans, plates, utensils and a stove to cook it upon. The only thing missing, being an actual cook. It's not as though food preparation the muggle way (or the magical way for that matter) was a complete mystery to Snape, but it was certainly a skill he didn't practice often; having had his food prepared for him by house elves ten months out of the year and when on summer holiday, grabbing takeaway, dining out, or at home attempting nothing more complicated than boiled eggs and porridge.

After spending a moment assessing his options (Fruit? Salad? Please.) he settled for familiarity—there was a box of oats and there was milk, so porridge it would be. Which should not for a minute be viewed as him needing comfort food. It was merely easy.

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In the midst of scraping his porridge from the pan into a bowl, Snape paused as another person entered the room and involuntarily tensed as the individual approached, becoming only slightly less wary once it was apparent they had a similar objective to his own. He hadn't met anyone else on the journey from his room to the kitchen, so this was his first encounter with a fellow kidnap-ee (presumably) in the flesh, as it were.

He finished filling his bowl and placed the dirty pan in the sink, all the while observing her (at least he thought the person was a 'her') out of the corner of his eye as she found what she sought in the cupboard, not turning to look at her directly until she spoke.

"You are correct," he replied. "We have not." Finding a spoon in the drawer, he brought his food to the table as well and had a seat as far away as possible from whatever it was she was doing.

There were some strange suction sounds and a bit of fiddling on Tali's end, but the tube was attached to the underside of her mask after a moment and the nutrient paste was screwed on to the opposite end. She took a squeeze before she spoke to Snape. At least it was obvious that her mouth wasn't full of anything.

"My name is Tali. You've arrived with the latest batch of people, I presume?" It was too bad Snape was making such an effort to sit as far away from her as possible, as she seemed to be intent on making conversation.

He was not so far away that he couldn't still hear her, but rather, far enough away that she was beyond the range of his peripheral vision, just in case her eating habits turned out to be somewhat off-putting. He hadn't gone to all this trouble only to have his appetite spoiled by anything potentially nauseating.

With that in mind, he focused on his own meal for a few moments before looking up and responding.

"Snape." All right, that didn't look too objectionable. "It would seem so."

It wasn't terribly horrific, it was just ... watching someone squeeze food through a tube that was the process of it. She took the opportunity while he was eating to do the same, also trying to think up something to say.

"Is this place much like your world is at home? I know there's been some people who've had to adjust much more than others have." There, that would do -- something not too personal, but that would still let her get to know him a bit better.

As far as eating went, it was possibly more unobtrusive than his own method, what with all that shoveling of food into one's mouth and chewing. Not that porridge required much of the latter and consequently he was close enough to finishing it off to do so before replying to the next inquiry. Snape was not as a rule a chatty person, as she might have already surmised, considering the brevity of his previous responses. Now that his hunger was largely appeased however, his mood lifted enough to make a concession or two in any direction that might help to satisfy his curiosity.

"Not as such. The technology for space travel exists, but on a less advanced level and as far as I know, they don't go around kidnapping people." A wry twist of his lips accompanied the last part of his remark. He opted against any further divulgements of his own for the moment, instead turning the not-quite-a-question back onto her.

"You, yourself don't appear to be having any problems in that respect."

She was happy to oblige any questions he had for her along this vein of things. As long as he wasn't prying into her personal life and asking about her father or anything like that, she'd be glad to share.

"No. I was born on a ship, actually -- nothing so expansive or fancy as this, but a ship nonetheless -- as all my people were." She waved a hand to bring up her omni-tool, setting her nutrient paste tube on the table still attached to her mask. The yellow hard-light construct came up across her left arm.

"As far as I can tell, technology exactly like this," she motioned to the tool, "doesn't exist here, but they seem to have more advanced time-and-space knowledge."

"Do I take that to mean you have no... planet of your own?" As was the case with him as well, apparently. Snape leaned forward to peer at her arm as the hologram appeared, interested despite his usual disdain for all things technological, as that—whatever it was—had a very magical-looking aspect to it.

"It must be very advanced, if they're able to pull people aboard like myself, from a time period supposedly a thousand or more years in the past." He was still not entirely certain he believed that part. "Although time-travel in itself is not necessarily technological."

"Yes, that's accurate." She wasn't going to be telling him the details of it unless he asked, of course, but it should've been something she was all right talking about by now.

"Time travel isn't strictly technological?" She raised an eyebrow, interested in exactly what that meant. She hadn't actually run into anyone magical (at least, not outwardly obviously) so far, so that idea wasn't floating around in her head.

He wasn't especially interested in whatever tale of woe might accompany that admission and felt a passing relief that she didn't seem particularly inclined to elaborate on it, so needless to say, she wasn't going to get any encouragement from him. Sympathy was not one of his strong points. Neither was communicativeness as far as discussing magical things with non-magical people, so that was likely to be a conversational dead end as well.

"In that it's a rather limiting assumption to make." Although he supposed it could be argued that a Time-Turner may be considered magical technology, where it was a device, as opposed to a learned skill or inherent power.

"You just sounded as if you might have some insight into what it might be." She wasn't going to be making any other facial movements he couldn't see from behind the mask anyway, so she just shrugged her shoulders.

After she finished up with her last squeeze of paste, she detached the tube and headed to the sink to clean it out thoroughly so she could disinfect it later. "Is there some sort of different way of doing things where you're from?"

"I may, but as it does not appear to be relevant to our present situation, there is little point in going into it at this time." —A response that is one part evasive, one part focused, two parts dismissive and six parts 'I am a mysterious person with superior knowledge and abilities.' And the end of that particular discussion, as far as he was concerned.

"Different, certainly, than spending one's life traveling through space." With that, he rose from the table as well and placed his dirty bowl in the sink. She needn't make room for him so that he could wash it, as he had no intention of doing so.

"Can I ask how?" She canted her head to the side, tugging the edge of her headscarf once she'd cleaned up her own dishes. He didn't seem like he was talkative, exactly, but it was worth a try.

She wanted as much information on other universes as possible so that she could understand the people on this ship.

It seemed like a very odd thing that she could be actually asking him such a general question as how living on a planet differed from living on a spaceship and it took him a moment to acknowledge that not everyone viewed things from the same perspective as he (albeit grudging acknowledgment, as he was not apt to view anything favorably that required any form of concession on his part).

"Dealing with natural phenomena, for one thing," he replied, trying to think in very broad terms. "Geological, meteorological and the like."

She'd been hoping for an answer a little more detailed than that, since she did suspect from his previous hints that his world was different even from the one that most of the humans here spoke of. It appeared that wasn't going to be an easy thing to question further, though.

She paused. "It's been some time since I spoke to someone about their home planet, though. Do you -- well, live on Earth?" At least that would give her a little more context. It hadn't really occurred to her until now that maybe they weren't all from the same Earth, either.

For the moment, Snape was trying to steer clear of any topics that might lead to any revelations on his part concerning the magical world in which he lived, at least until he'd had more of an opportunity to assess others' abilities along those lines. He did not relish the thought of being besieged by muggles for magical solutions to all of their petty little problems.

"Yes." He pressed his lips together in a slightly annoyed grimace as he amended that response. "At least I did. Apparently it doesn't exist anymore and if I were to go back in time, it would only be to finish dying, so there really isn't much point."

"I don't think you're the only person who's found themselves in that situation." She didn't want to pry about it, though, and since they were both done their meals ... well.

"It was good to meet you. I'll look forward to information with you in the future, if that's something you're interested in. I'll keep an eye out for you on the network."

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