[HEART] Don't you!

    Butter. Garlic. Onion. Spinach. Mushrooms. Cheese. Pie crust?

    Each thought brought him closer to a picture. It only cost a quick revision to comprehend. Not being a chef himself, Adrian had little experience in preparing some seemingly more esoteric meals, but he had consumed quiche before. He always knew exactly what he ate. For those spare few moments that his partner used to prattle on, Adrian allowed his attention to drift, singularly, to that one particular food. Heavy in dairy. Like drinking a cup of grease.

    It had not settled well with him.

    Adrian's focus came back with a harsh swiftness, his head swiveling to send a sharp, condemning look at the table of food. A total mess. Students had come and ate already. Some were yet to arrive, but the evidence of previous partakers remained clear. Crumbs littered the table top. Butter spread into jelly by the edge of a knife. Peanut butter wiped off carelessly on the table's end. Some dishes had been consumed eagerly, others untouched. Messy little cretins.

    "Quiche." He already began to move, his impressive frame turning to follow where his eyes led. "Breakfast pies. Not desserts." He felt it necessary to explain, casting a brief glance back at her to form an immediate judgement. Not a cook. "We'll just have to check the pies."

GETTING WARMER

There is in fact quiche with the pies.

Stella watched Adrian with curiosity as he began to figure out the clue faster than she could. Seconds passed and then maybe one or two minutes, as the words escaped his lips Stella nodded in firm understanding. Lack of knowledge aside, they were here to win. All business, the young woman watched as Adrian moved - oddly enough pulling some latex gloves out of her pockets. She knew she was going to have to dig into something dirty today and the teenager preferred to not get dirt under her nails. Plus, it was always necessary for a reporter to come prepared - no matter the situation.

Snapping the gloves on as they got to the food table, Stella went to work quick - her eyes traveling over the left over pies from today's meals. Looking over to Adrian, the teenager watched him for a second before speaking. "Could you direct me to which one is the quiche? If the clue is inside it I can easily grab it." Stella grinned at Adrian then, making a crab like motion with one of her glove covered hands.

GETTING EVEN WARMER

In fact, there are multiple quiches! All of which are different varieties, spanning from Rainbow, Vegetarian, Spinach, and Lorraine Quiche!

    With an arrangement of recognizable pies occupying the breakfast table (was it really that early still?) Adrian would not run the risk of mistaking any for a dessert. At least, he hoped that proved to be the case. The smell should be different. As different as the top crust, come to think of it.

    "Looks like this group," One in particular stood out, not because of its placement among the breakfast courses, not because of the simple, bland-seeming crust, and certainly not because of its slightly-out-of-position placement with other pies, which happened to be in neat little rows, but because someone had taken a slice or two from it. Clearly, that was not apple or cherry.
    "You really think the clue will be baked into the quiche?" Giving the pies a brief suspicious look, Adrian debated how long it would take to inspect every pie. Four types of quiche. Two of each. Unlabeled. At Stella's pace? With her dainty fingers (he meant no politeness) and her protective gloves, she would probably waste time peeling back the crust and digging around for the card. Too much time.

    Well, if the clue is anywhere in there... Without warning, he flipped the closest over, resulting in a noisy splat on the floor as food spread out at their feet. Never-minding the mess, or the confused shouts of protest, he began his quick, rapid fire pace of tossing a pie, checking its contents, the pie tin itself, and the place it came from with singular purpose. He would find the damned clue and they would win this stupid event. Nothing would slow him down, now.

Stella's eyes traveled over to the group of quiche's that Adrian pointed out, silently wishing that she knew more about cooking and deciding later that she just might start watching youtube videos later in her dorm to get an idea on more complex cooking recipes. She hated having been shown up by Adrian, but there was no way she was going to be snarky about it - at least, not completely.

"What do you think then?" Stella asked Adrian then in response to his incredulous question. The boy remained quiet for a moment and Stella briefly observed the gears turning his head before she decided to focus her attention somewhere else. She didn't need his approval to do what she wanted to do. Grabbing one of the quiche's, Stella stuck her hand into it with quite a bit of flair. Although a few short seconds afterward a disgusted expression started to spread across her face as she continued to dig through the one quiche she had picked up.

As she did so, Adrian suddenly started with knocking over everything on the breakfast table - almost as if he were in some hilarious clown act and about to throw some pies at the clowns face. Taking a step back, Stella silently hoped she wasn't the clown. As he got closer to her in the process of knocking over the quiche's, Stella gave the young man a sharp look. "What the hell! Don't get it on the shoes!" Stella complained at Adrian then - taking quite a few steps back from the pie throwing show.

IS IT HOT IN HERE OR IS THAT JUST ME!?

As the duo very sloppily attempted to search the quiche dishes, they would find no such note or hint on or around the food. No doubt they were making quite the scene and most, if not all in the room were either watching them or spying their strange antics every so often. In due time though, a wad of paper was tossed at Adrian’s head, weakly bounding off his skull as he dumped all the quiche’s on the floor.

    Frustration and disappointment threatened to make a visit with every quiche that Adrian dispensed, clearly wasting food in the pursuit of his objective. He may not be subtle, he may not be cautious, but he got the job done, as proved by the wad of paper that rebounded off his forehead. Undeterred, the enthusiastic youth merely grinned with self acclaim, as if broadcasting his pride to the entirety of the Dining Hall, "Success!"
    With a quick swipe and snatch, Adrian turned to present the piece of paper to Stella while unfolding and smoothing out its wrinkles, as if he expected no different an end to this search.

HERE IT COMES!

A face made from chiselled stone,
A mighty valor in her own right.
A being that hides behind a false face,
Which of these students may she be?

In the room there are about six populated tables:

Table 1:
Has a male and female conversing over dinner. He has a cheerful smile and medium length red-blond hair. She has bronzed skin, radiant blue eyes and a dyed pink fauxhawk.

Table 2:
Has a singular male. He has short black hair, sallow skin and moss green eyes.

Table 3:
Has a collection of rowdy teenagers, two female and one male. The first girl has golden-brown skin, long red-blonde hair and a very short, stocky build. The second woman has dark skin and short brunette locks. Finally, the man of the table has amber-colored eyes, a solid build and auburn hair.

Table 4:

Has a set of four very quiet and composed children. The first girl has brown eyes, a short, compact build, dusky skin and close-cropped wild jet black hair. The second girl has blue eyes, a very lax expression, and a calm brunette bowl cut. The first boy has a striking scar, pale grey eyes and wavy dark brown hair. The second boy has grey hair, with some shockingly vibrant red eyes and a tall, squat build.

Table 5:
Yet another lone person at this one. She has attractive features, long curly red hair, silent blue eyes, and a short, lean build.

Table 6:
Another table home to a couple. The first guy has numerous tattoos, brown eyes, curly copper hair and a solid build. The man opposite to him on the other hand has golden-brown skin, a tall, pudgy build and dark blue eyes.

At Adrian ignoring her complaint, Stella took even more steps back - making sure that no food would be getting on her shoes. Her gloved hand continued to roam through the quiche in hand, all the way up until a piece of paper was thrown at the back of Adrian's head. With a combination of a frown and gape, Stella shook her head as her companion grinned. Why did it seem like he was the one getting all the clues? It must have been luck.

Obviously displeased with how this hunt was going (mostly because she wasn't finding the clues and Adrian was), Stella briefly looked around and found a trash can - dropping her gloves and the quiche she was searching for in a quick and efficient manner into the garbage. As Adrian held the clue out toward her, the young woman gave him a brief judgmental look before taking it out of his hands and looking it over.

After a few seconds of though, Stella considered her options. "The clue refers to a female, but it could be a male despite that." The young woman said then, making her thoughts known to her partner. Looking out toward the rest of the students in the dining room, Stella focused momentarily on table two, four and five. "It could be a person exactly as the clue says," Stella mused out-loud, more to herself than Adrian. "But how to tell if they're supposed to have a false face?"

    Given that very brief descriptor, the tall ruby-haired teen cast a considering glance at the young lady beside him. "Are you sure it doesn't mean you? Bit weird they'd send us to look for a third-wheel." Strangely, the idea offered some interest to these proceedings beyond just 'win, crush, conquer' in the teen's impatient eyes.  Well, no hope understanding the higher powers of whoever-sends-kids-on-blind-dates.

    "Female, yeah?" With the incident of the quiches behind him, and completely forgotten already, Adrian turned his attention to the varying students around the Dining Hall, taking careful note of the ones who were not openly gawking at the pair.

    A lively girl in the midst of conversation with pink hair styled in a way that did not interest him.
    A pair interacting loudly and energetically with another boy, clearly a small familiar group that would not be easily approached.
    Two girls with two boys, each sharing in gentle conversation demonstrating a more simple companionship.
    And finally, a lone girl with striking beauty and quiet poise, sitting in solitude.

    "I have two guesses. Gotta start somewhere." Though he had little idea of who the clue actually told of, he knew who he wanted to meet. With a brief look to Stella, inviting her to come or asking if she'd simply choose another lead, Adrian made his way over to the girl at the fifth table, intent on introducing himself.

At Adrian's question about it being herself, Stella looked confused for a moment and then shook her head. "No, I don't think it would be." How could it be? It didn't make sense to her. When her companion looked for some sort of confirmation on the gender of the person in the clue, Stella nodded lightly - seeming lost in her own thoughts for the moment on trying to figure out who it was referencing.

As Adrian spoke again though, Stella was briefly shaken out of her own thoughts - watching silently as the young man decided to go off to question(?) a girl that was sitting by herself. She shook her head at his invitation, shooting the young man in question a slightly dissatisfied and unimpressed look. He could go wherever he pleased, it was about time she start doing things her way.

Walking towards table two, Stella sat down next to the boy that was sitting by himself. Offering up a charming smile, Stella held up the clue that was in her hands for his eyes to see. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"

MYSTERIOUS

The lone resident at the fifth table followed Adrian with her eyes in a rather absent manner, his strange behaviour in the area being quite apparent to her. She sat rather still though, only moving slightly to fiddle with her curly locks. There was clearly food in front of her, but it was left untouched, as though she was waiting for something. She was completely open for questioning though, the seat opposite to her being quite vacant.

As for the boy that Stella chose to interrupt, he was very clearly in the midst of chowing down and barely noticed the odd couple’s shenanigans earlier. The man’s face (that could only be described as bulldog-like) directed itself to the rather handsome young woman as she got closer. He very quickly looked behind him to make sure that her words were actually directed toward him and not somebody that he might be blocking. It seemed like she was talking to him, that didn’t mean he believed it though.

He trembled in his shyness, but he peered toward the paper that she had in her hands regardless, his mashed potato filled mouth dangling open a bit. He took a deep swallow and gazed into the girl’s eyes, his eyes quickly moving elsewhere as their pupils met. “Uh…” he didn’t know what to say exactly and he didn’t want to appear stupid. “…No, but uh… I can help you figure it out. I’m in the Poetry Club” the man stated.

    The moment Stella turned her attention to the other table, Adrian paused in his approach to watch. In one sense, he felt confusion over her choice. If the clue really indicated a female, why would she immediately go to the lone male in the room? Her choice only served to give him a wry sort of suspicion.

    Well, if she were being that petty, he had other things to focus on. With relative ease he returned his attention to the redhead, renewing his approach with a confident, but not overly stated, stride. Her notice of him remained so passive he almost felt assured in his choice, which almost seemed a disappointment. After all, if she really were affiliated with the event, then he could hardly expect to woo her along.

    "Hi," He opened easily, indicating the open seat as if asking permission, though he hardly waited for confirmation before taking it, "I'm Adrian. Future Serpens House Lead, I hope." He should be recognizable enough, with how much legwork he'd been doing getting students on his side. Once comfortably in position, Adrian swept his eyes over the untouched food on her plate, "Sorry, didn't bring you any pies. Got a little overzealous back there. Scavenger hunt."

    "Wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Stella had seated herself in such a manner that she remained in full view of Adrian and was capable to see what he was doing as well. She offered Adrian a quirked eyebrow in response to his brief attention on her, then proceeded to bring all of her focus onto the awkward male in front of her.

At his hesitation, Stella smiled easily - crossing her legs in a manner that allowed the professional skirt she was wearing the ride up slightly above her kneecap. "I'd love that, really." Stella said to the boy then, laying the clue out for him to see. "What's your power, by the way?" Stella asked him then, her voice carrying across the dining room as Stella let more of her natural French accent flow. If this was the person she was looking for, naturally she'd be able to figure it out quickly through his power. Unless he lied, where would she be then? Resisting the urge to frown, Stella remained confident in what she was doing. Either she was being completely over analytical of the clue, or she was right on the money - either way she knew her and Adrian were going to win, she just silently hoped that she would be the one to figure this clue out.