Stone Wall

[DaniDiNardo]

The further you venture into the dungeons, the closer you get to reaching the entrance to where the Slytherins reside. For many years, however, not a single soul who wasn't a member of the green and silver house has gained entrance into their sanctuary. This primarily is in part due to the maze of corridors that are designed to confuse and disjoint you. This is not the most ideal place to get lost, so tread with caution.

Regardless of the endless corridors that make up this part of the dungeons, any member of Salazar Slytherin's house would be able to navigate the area with ease. Getting to the common room is just as easy as well, even with all of the stone walls looking identical. Once you've reached the thirteenth wall, simply whisper the correct password (don't forget that it changes every fortnight!) to make a brief passage appear and reveal your green-tinged home. If you forget, you can count on being stranded in the damp and humid corridor until someone lets you in.

[ArianaBlack]

After the horrible incident by the winged boars, Kinsay made it a point to avoid venturing terribly far from the common room. Unless she was out for class, the second year hardly roamed the corridors the way she used to. There'd be time for exploring later, when dying wasn't an immediate worry. So it was only on occasion that she found herself far from the Gryffindor tower and usually it had to do with people.

Today it had to do with her boyfriend, Matty Rider-Mae.

Incase she were to be stopped, Kiz carried a textbook in hand. She didn't actually plan on studying though. She was here to meet with Matty. She could really use one of his hugs right about now. Nearing his common room now, she eased her back against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. She was a little early, but only because she was really eager. With her legs stretched out in front of her, she attempted to balance the hefty textbook on her knees. It was like a game.

[astrocat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

After the horrible incident by the winged boars, Kinsay made it a point to avoid venturing terribly far from the common room. Unless she was out for class, the second year hardly roamed the corridors the way she used to. There'd be time for exploring later, when dying wasn't an immediate worry. So it was only on occasion that she found herself far from the Gryffindor tower and usually it had to do with people.

Today it had to do with her boyfriend, Matty Rider-Mae.

Incase she were to be stopped, Kiz carried a textbook in hand. She didn't actually plan on studying though. She was here to meet with Matty. She could really use one of his hugs right about now. Nearing his common room now, she eased her back against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor. She was a little early, but only because she was really eager. With her legs stretched out in front of her, she attempted to balance the hefty textbook on her knees. It was like a game.

Ash usually had bad days. But always of a different nature. There was the angry kind, where she could kick own a door and fight the world because she had nothing to lose. And there was the other kind, where her soul just kinda.... drained out through her shoes until she was just a walking shell and fighting didn't matter because she had nothing to gain. Today it was the second kind for now. If provoked, she could always just revert to the pyromaniac who kicked down walls and yelled at Rosier multiple times. She liked that kind of bad better.

Ash was singing a little song today. It was a cover she had heard someone else sing of a TV show song. It was about a kid who died. Very sad. But it was a good song.

"...Little soldier boy
cold and alone
Brave soldier boy
never made it home..."

Ash didn't know why she was down here. She was sort of just moving for the sake of it. She was down here for no reason. So when she saw Kinsay James, she could turn back if she wanted to. And she kind of did. Because Kinsay hung out with Emmerson, and Emmerson definitely tried to kill Ash. But at the same time, only wimps were afraid of twelve-year olds. And there was no rule saying she couldn't be down here. Still she hesitated. And she made up her mind. She stuck her hands in her pockets and continued walking slowly towards/past the girl, with the same look of noncaring, nonfeeling, empty nothingness. Maybe the girl would stop her, or yell at her, or scream things about her blood status that she was going to regret later. Ash didn't care. It didn't matter. She had a hard time believing that Kinsay James could come up with an original insult for her anyway.

[ArianaBlack]

Once she managed to balance the book, she decided to level up and make it more challenging by bouncing her knees a little bit. That, of course, made it all the more difficult to keep the textbook from falling, but it was something that helped keep her occupied and moving. Which she needed sometimes. Without it her thoughts would wander to Emm places and Inquisitorial Squad places and to Sad places. Keeping distracted was just about the only way she could get through the day without feeling entirely exhausted by the dinner rolled around. Except sometimes trying to think of distractions was exhausting too.

Everything was so much all the time.

Hearing footsteps, the second year lifted her head eagerly. Maybe it was Matty or Moose or Noah or Benjee! She knew a lot of Slytherins, but she really did hope it was Matty. Except upon the realization that it wasn't any of her friends, Kinsay quickly averted her eyes and ignored Ashley all together. Ashley Fox. Even though things were weird between Emm and Kiz, Kinsay still knew she had to hate Ashley. Ashley who went behind Emm's back and caused the first rift in their friend group.

Of course, she didn't actually know the extent to which Emm threatened Ashley. Nor did Kizzy know the truth regarding the Sammy situation. Everything she knew was from Emm and Kinsay had no reason to doubt her. Ever. Even if things were weird. Loyalty was something Kiz would never go back on. Never ever. So rather than look at her at all, Kizzy pretended like Ashley was invisible. She knew that if you didn't have anything nice to say...

[astrocat]

Ash felt a twinge of curiosity. Who even was Kinsay James? They hadn't met often, and when they did, it was usually hostile. But they didn't know each other anyway. How could they? One's worst enemy was another one's friend. And the friend code required no contact with the enemy. But Sammy had talked to her. Maybe that's why it didn't end well. Maybe it was because she was Emmerson's enemy. Even before they knew each other. Still, she had already done the highly illegal thing called "making friends with the friends of your enemies" on accident, so it didn't matter who she talked to now. She had already done something "wrong", so it's wasn't like anyone could threaten her more.

Ash wondered if Kinsay knew about the big fight she had.

So, against her better judgement, her past experiences, and her will to live, she leaned against the wall and stayed. "Hey." She almost said the girl's name, but she thought that might end up with her getting punched in the face.

"Whatcha up to?" So casual.

Ash was sure that the other girl was going to strangle her for having a platonic conversation with Emmerson's ex. But she didn't care. She was past caring.

Ashley Fox was going to talk to whoever she chose. And Emmerson couldn't stop her, even with threats of Crucio. She had talked to Sammy, and only got death threats. She had punched Emmerson, and lost ten points. And got detention. Weak punishment.

The way authority worked, only the strongest were in charge. Points loss could stop her last year, but now she had worse things to be afraid of. Did Emmerson know Unforgivables? Did she have a good relationship with Rosier? No? Then she had no power.

[ArianaBlack]

Kinsay didn't really have a problem existing quietly with other people. Sometimes she was even a little standoffish on accident and it never seemed to bother her. But she didn't usually go this far out of her way to completely ignore someone and it left her with this horrible guilty feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't explain it, nor did she quite understand why it was there. But it was. It was really there. And it was really horrible. And she hoped that Ashley would just go away so that she could stop feeling it.

...............

Except Ashley Fox did the exact opposite of going away.

And Kinsay was forced to stop ignoring her.

Kizzy didn't say hi, but she did finally look up at the girl to meet her gaze. The horrible feeling of guilt that she couldn't quite place grew tenfold. She hesitated for a few seconds longer than one ought to when asked such a simple question. "Just waiting." Which was the truth, but it wasn't the all the way truth because she wasn't really supposed to talk to Ashley. It would be a betrayal. Even though things were still weird, Kiz didn't want to give Emm another reason to hate her guts. Not after everything that happened by the Winged Boars.

And in any case, why did Ashley Fox always make everything SO hard?! She talked back to the Hoods! And she was always responding with sarcasm in lessons! And she always had to go around telling everyone all her opinions! And she made Sammy fall out of love with Emm! And she was always asking for trouble! Couldn't she just go away and make everything easier for BOTH of them?!?!

[astrocat]

"Cool. Sounds fun. Waiting for someone who you like. Or don't like. I don't know." She smiled. C'mon Kinsay, talk to me. Fall for it. Talk about yourself. "Are you waiting for someone nice?" A boyfriend? A best friend? A friend? A loose acquaintance? Whooooo? "I've never gotten to wait for someone before." Usually she just wandered around until she found someone interesting. Or cried until someone interesting found her.

[ArianaBlack]

Waiting wasn't actually very fun, so Kinsay just shrugged. She was trying her very best not to have a conversation with Ashley. On one end, it wasn't that hard because Kinsay didn't really like talking all that much anyway. Sometimes it wore her out. But on the other hand, ignoring Ashley made her feel guilty. Really, really guilty. It was a strange feeling at the pit of her stomach. One she didn't really know how to explain. One she definitely did not want to think about.

...... A feeling that only became worse as Ashley continued talking. Why did she have to say that? Why did she like to make things so hard?!!?!

"My boyfriend. His name's Matty," she tried REALLY hard to stare at her shoes and not at Ashley, knowing that if she did look up... it would likely make her feel even worse. "He's the nicest."

Guilt. Guilt. Guilt.

[astrocat]

"Sounds nice. Sounds fun." It was working. She paused. "I- I didn't steal Sammy by the way." She pauseddddd again, longer this time. "I did talk to him one time. Didn't know that was disallowed." She kept all snark out of her words. She embodied a cool, calm, uncaring person. It was easy. Just be a shell. She smiled. "When I'm home, I'm gonna get a boyfriend. Muggle, though, so don't tell anyone I said that." She smiled. "He's the nicest too." Yes. Be drawn into the trap, Kinsay. Talk to me. Not a big trap. Just one that will get you to enjoy our conversation.

[ArianaBlack]

Kinsay nodded quietly, still opting to look anywhere EXCEPT at Ashley. It'd make her feel even worse. She knew it would. And even though Kinsay was trying reaaaaaally hard not to talk to Ashley, it became very, very hard the moment she said Sammy's name. Why would she even go there!? "You should've stayed out of it," was the diplomatic answer that Kinsay decided to go for. She knew things. "Now Emm and I can't go on double dates. That was the whole point." The WHOLE reason why she had gotten a boyfriend. And now she had a boyfriend and Emm didn't.

Everything was terrible.

Kinsay paused thoughtfully for a moment, before looking back up (at a spot just behind Ashley). "If we get out of here alive," she added. Ashley's muggle boyfriend probably wouldn't wait for her if they were dead.

[astrocat]

"Don't think that had to do with me. It must suck though." Ash shrugged. Not her problem, but she wasn't going to say that. "Maybe after somebody shoves you down a hallway and calls you a mudblood, everything has to do with you. Sometimes it seems like that." She slipped into a sitting position facing Kinsay. "No, we will make it out of here. I've been trying to live recently, mostly because of the whole muggle thing. Can't afford to die. At least five people would be sad." Actually, a lot more than five people would be sad, but this number suit her purposes better.

[ArianaBlack]

Kinsay was about to say something (probably to disagree), but she immediately froze. Kinsay didn't know that happened. Um. She also didn't know it was Emm who had done it, but seeing as Ashley hadn't specified, Kiz wasn't going to make assumptions. She didn't want to think about it. Not that she was managing thinking through much of anything at the moment. It was hard to think straight when you were feeling all the things. Like guilt. Or empathy, maybe.

Empathy was a terrible thing to feel when you were supposed to hate someone's guts. "Sorry that happened to you," she finally replied, though she still wasn't looking at her classmate. She wasn't looking until Ashley sat down. Why was she sitting? Why did she keep making everything so much worse!?

Kinsay fidgeted uncomfortably. She didn't like this. Not one bit. And because she wasn't any good at hiding her feelings, her discomfort was quite visible. "Oh," she replied softly, not knowing what else to say, really. This was making her feel real sad for Ashley. ".... Only five?"

[astrocat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Kinsay was about to say something (probably to disagree), but she immediately froze. Kinsay didn't know that happened. Um. She also didn't know it was Emm who had done it, but seeing as Ashley hadn't specified, Kiz wasn't going to make assumptions. She didn't want to think about it. Not that she was managing thinking through much of anything at the moment. It was hard to think straight when you were feeling all the things. Like guilt. Or empathy, maybe.

Empathy was a terrible thing to feel when you were supposed to hate someone's guts. "Sorry that happened to you," she finally replied, though she still wasn't looking at her classmate. She wasn't looking until Ashley sat down. Why was she sitting? Why did she keep making everything so much worse!?

Kinsay fidgeted uncomfortably. She didn't like this. Not one bit. And because she wasn't any good at hiding her feelings, her discomfort was quite visible. "Oh," she replied softly, not knowing what else to say, really. This was making her feel real sad for Ashley. ".... Only five?"

"It doesn't matter." Ash was kinda done caring. It was over. It was done. She was waiting to get cold revenge. But for now, it didn't matter. "Actually, it's more 30 like people would feel bad if I died. But a lot of wizards would feel super uncomfortable." She smiled. "As they should. That's another one of my reasons for staying alive. I wanna meet up with some muggles later and I need to be alive for that, and I also want to make a lot of people pay. Pay for what they've done." If anyone thought that Ash was going to die before she had gotten revenge on Rosier, the hoods, Emmerson, anyone who had ever ignored her cries for help, and anyone else who she thought needed to pay, they were wrong. Different levels of revenge of course. She wanted Rosier and the hoods to die. Emmerson and the teachers? She just wanted them to feel really bad forever and constantly feel the need to apologize. That would be amusing. "I bet a lot of people would care if you died." Even Ash would.

[ArianaBlack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

"It doesn't matter." Ash was kinda done caring. It was over. It was done. She was waiting to get cold revenge. But for now, it didn't matter. "Actually, it's more 30 like people would feel bad if I died. But a lot of wizards would feel super uncomfortable." She smiled. "As they should. That's another one of my reasons for staying alive. I wanna meet up with some muggles later and I need to be alive for that, and I also want to make a lot of people pay. Pay for what they've done." If anyone thought that Ash was going to die before she had gotten revenge on Rosier, the hoods, Emmerson, anyone who had ever ignored her cries for help, and anyone else who she thought needed to pay, they were wrong. Different levels of revenge of course. She wanted Rosier and the hoods to die. Emmerson and the teachers? She just wanted them to feel really bad forever and constantly feel the need to apologize. That would be amusing. "I bet a lot of people would care if you died." Even Ash would.

Kinsay moved to sit on her legs. This whole conversation was making her all sorts of uncomfortable, but something especially didn't sit right with the way Ashley dismissed all of it. Kiz wanted to say more (and ask more), but she bit her tongue. Because. She wasn't supposed to be friends with Ashley Fox, which meant she wasn't supposed to get to know Ashley Fox.

Absently she started to plait a section of her hair, just so that she had something to do with her hands. Payback was yet another subject that made Kinsay uncomfortable. Was there anything about this conversation that didn't sound off alarm bells? It was hard to tell. "Maybe. But... she paused nervously. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." Death. Even though in some way, Kizzy was the one to have brought it up. Talking about it specifically like this, it was... It just felt more real this year. She wasn't ready to die yet, even if people would be sad about it.

[astrocat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Kinsay moved to sit on her legs. This whole conversation was making her all sorts of uncomfortable, but something especially didn't sit right with the way Ashley dismissed all of it. Kiz wanted to say more (and ask more), but she bit her tongue. Because. She wasn't supposed to be friends with Ashley Fox, which meant she wasn't supposed to get to know Ashley Fox.

Absently she started to plait a section of her hair, just so that she had something to do with her hands. Payback was yet another subject that made Kinsay uncomfortable. Was there anything about this conversation that didn't sound off alarm bells? It was hard to tell. "Maybe. But... she paused nervously. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." Death. Even though in some way, Kizzy was the one to have brought it up. Talking about it specifically like this, it was... It just felt more real this year. She wasn't ready to die yet, even if people would be sad about it.

It made sense that Kinsay saw red flags. Ash really was a walking death trap. For herself, mostly. "We can talk about life then. Not death. What do you like to do? What's your favorite hobby? I like surfing and sports and art and music and some other stuff." The music part had gotten her into trouble with Emmerson, and the video games she hadn't told many people about, for fear of getting in trouble with the hoods. "And," she flushed, "I like... to talk to people..." Clearly. And she liked to know what made people act the way they did, and how you could get them to like you. She just modified her personality to different people. She was doing it right now.

[ArianaBlack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat

It made sense that Kinsay saw red flags. Ash really was a walking death trap. For herself, mostly. "We can talk about life then. Not death. What do you like to do? What's your favorite hobby? I like surfing and sports and art and music and some other stuff." The music part had gotten her into trouble with Emmerson, and the video games she hadn't told many people about, for fear of getting in trouble with the hoods. "And," she flushed, "I like... to talk to people..." Clearly. And she liked to know what made people act the way they did, and how you could get them to like you. She just modified her personality to different people. She was doing it right now.

Maybe if Kinsay thought about this conversation later (something she would most definitely do), she would come to the conclusion that there was some level of manipulation taking place. At the moment though? All she could think about was how much she wanted for this conversation to end. Not because she had any particular reason to hate Ashley (she didn't really hate her), but she really couldn't risk getting into any more trouble with the best friend. Really, really, really couldn't.

"I like art too," she added quietly, brushing her hands through the section of hair that she had just plaited. "And gymnastics." She really didn't like learning new things about Ashley. It only made everything so much worse. Could she go away now? Please?

[astrocat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Maybe if Kinsay thought about this conversation later (something she would most definitely do), she would come to the conclusion that there was some level of manipulation taking place. At the moment though? All she could think about was how much she wanted for this conversation to end. Not because she had any particular reason to hate Ashley (she didn't really hate her), but she really couldn't risk getting into any more trouble with the best friend. Really, really, really couldn't.

"I like art too," she added quietly, brushing her hands through the section of hair that she had just plaited. "And gymnastics." She really didn't like learning new things about Ashley. It only made everything so much worse. Could she go away now? Please?

Ash nodded. Art... it was a common interest. "Are you good? I have a lot of drawing notebooks." She opened her notebook to a random recent page and showed it to Kinsay. It had a drawing of a boy on one side, and the drawing of a phoeven on the other. She looked at the page. "Huh. Didn't mean to show you those particular two." Although to be honest, she wasn't sure if she wanted Kinsay seeing that notebook at all. Her memories belonged to her. Her ideas and pain and love all belonged to her. She flushed slightly, a little too distracted to say another thing and smoothly keep the conversation going.