Kelpie Cavern Cabin Private

Tatiana knew she was going a little easy with her question, no one who had met Min would ever assume she'd ever really done anything illegal. But, she didn't seem ready to expand on the topic of her crush and it seemed like an easy, less embarrassing segue to something else. But when Charlotte asked her question, she felt a little embarrassed from her own apparent lack of creativity. "If you could be anyone else for a day, who would you be and why?"

Dang, what a good question, she thought to herself, pondering her own answer. She wasn't sure who she would pick. A famous and talented witch or wizard she admired? Maybe. Perhaps just one of her friends with a little more confidence than she had herself- maybe Maggie or Charlotte even. She knew that wouldn't have been the most ambitious of answers, but she really liked being herself- mostly. But like anyone else, she had her own flaws that she was excruciatingly aware of, and just sometimes, she did wish she could be someone else.

Lost in her own thoughts, she caught the tail end of Min's answer. She'd wished to be her brother for a day. According to her, he was living out his best life at Hogwarts, complete with popularity and a relationship- and who wouldn't want that? Going into their second year of school now, surely they were all hoping for similar things for themselves. But, Min's brother was in his sixth year, and their stories were just getting started, and there was plenty of time to achieve the same level of a full life as he had.

But now, the shy Slytherin girl's turn was up and it was time for another victim to take the hot seat. Hesitant, but ready to get it over with, Tatiana volunteered. "I suppose I'll go now." She got up from her spot on the bunk bed and took Min's place in the center of the room. "Fire away, ladies," she joked, attempting to hide her own nerves.

“Fire away, ladies.” Tatiana joked, causing Maggie to giggle slightly. Color lit up Tatiana’s cheeks, however, causing Maggie to believe that she was nervous for the coming questions. Maggie had it easy— she was going first and she had the opportunity to ask one of the most interesting questions, well, the most interesting to her at least, but she thought everyone else liked it too. She wasn’t sure about how Min felt after admitting her crush on Remy, who was a nice enough boy she’d been partnered up with in Charms class, but Maggie thought it was adorable. She’d have to ask Tatiana the same question, it felt ritual at this point. They were safe to trust eachother, of course, and nothing any of them said would be leaving this cabin, so it wasn’t like they were shouting it to the world. “Well, Tatiana, you knew you had this coming,” Maggie joked, laughing, “but who do you have a crush on? And if you don’t like anyone like that, who’s the most attractive guy at Hogwarts?” she grinned slyly at Tatiana, slightly proud that she’d caught her in a trap like that. Maggie was slef-aware that she was kind of a horrible person for this, but at least she owned it, right? Maggie “wore her heart on her sleeve”, putting a nice way of it, and she encouraged Tatiana and Min to do the same with the questions she was giving.

Tatiana scrunched her nose up at Maggie's question. Of course she was going to ask her that. No one else had been able to avoid such scrutiny, why would she be any different? It's not that she hadn't thought about whether she felt something for any of the other students she'd met at school so far- because she definitely had, especially during the course of this game. But it was more so that she didn't feel adequately prepared to answer. Did she like anyone per se? She took a second to think about it before giving the bubbly, prying Gryffindor girl a response.

But her second quickly turned to a minute, and that minute became an awkwardly long pause, and before she could stutter out a half cooked response Charlotte was asking another question. "What's the worse thing someone could think about you? What would hurt you the most?" Whew. Sure, maybe it was still a little personal, but at least it didn't involve having to conjure up any romantic notions about her friends. But, even though she had nervously avoided Maggie for a brief moment, she was now due an answer for two questions.

Tatiana rocked back and forth in her seat for a minute, anxiously twirling a lock of her hair and avoiding eye contact as best as she could. An inquiry about a crush was pretty harmless most of the time, but a potentially delicate situation in others. Unbeknownst to her, Maggie had opened up a delicate line of questioning into Tatiana's personal life. If she wanted to completely avoid the capacity for judgement from the other girls, she could probably lie and throw out the name of any of a handful of boys she had met. She related to Mac and his muggle upbringing, and he'd been helpful in their errand earlier in the year. But aside from their shared passion over school subjects, albeit them being totally different subjects, she wouldn't say she necessarily had feelings for him, at least not in the way they'd been discussing. And she had to agree with the Gryffindor on part of her answer, Carson was pretty cute. But she'd barely known him, hardly met him enough times to really establish a crush.

She knew she could say either of their names right now and the game would move on and no one would bat an eye. But, the whole point of the exercise was to open up and be honest in an attempt to make friends, and she certainly didn't want to start their relationships on a lie. I can do it, she told herself, repeatedly, taking a few deep breaths. Tatiana was sure the other girls had to be curious by now about what could possibly be taking her so long to respond, Godric knows how much time had passed. But her eyes were fixed firmly on the floor and her internal struggle was keeping her from being able to speak. I. Can. Do. It. she tried again, gritting her teeth a little. "Okay..." she started softly, barely a whisper. "I've never told anyone this before, but-".

She took a moment to look up now, her eyes darting between each of the other girls' faces. Okay, so maybe she'd told one person before, but it wasn't a total lie. In all her years of Muggle schooling, she'd managed to make a single friend with whom she'd been able to trust fully- Nicola (but she liked to go by Nic). In fact, she'd trusted Nic so much, Tatiana went against her parents wishes and told her about receiving her letter to Hogwarts. She knew it was a risk, a potential danger to both her family and their friendship, but she had to tell someone. And to her surprise, Nic didn't so much as flinch at finding out the news- the news that not only were witches and wizards real, but that Tatiana also was one. They'd known each other their whole lives, and to find out she still accepted her after finding out her biggest secrets was an overwhelming swell of relief. They'd barely gotten a chance to write since she'd been at school, and having stayed for the summer, Tatiana only extended their time apart. She'd felt rather lonely since she arrived at Hogwarts, though she knew she could only blame herself. But if it had taken her years to trust Nic, would she ever find anyone here that she could feel the same level of comfort around?

Now was as good a time as any to find out. With a determined nod, she looked back up at the three girls in front of her again before continuing. "The truth is, while I do think Carson is attractive, and maybe Mac and I have a few things in common, I mostly just like... girls." She paused, unsure of how they would respond. "And I'm not sure I'd say I have a crush, but I do think Sylvie is cute." She quickly hid her face again, feeling the heat in her ears and neck, now more red than she'd ever been before. Quickly realizing she'd not only taken way too long to answer Maggie's question and completely forgot about Charlotte's, she quickly blurted out, "And I suppose the worst thing someone could think about me is maybe that I don't care?" It seemed like a weak answer, she knew that, but she'd spent a lot of energy on braving out the first response and was desperate to be out of the hot seat. And besides, it's not like it wasn't true. She did care, quite a lot actually, sometimes far more than necessary, and about all sorts of things. Anyone she'd met, what they thought about her, her homework grades, her friends' wellbeing, worldly injustices- you name it, she cared about it. Sometimes, she'd even consider it a character flaw. If anything, she felt too much, but that's just what being an empath was. And if the worst thing about her was that she cared too much, she could live with that.

“The truth is, while I do think Carson is attractive, and maybe Mac and I have a few things in common, I mostly just like... girls.” Maggie’s eyes widened... she was not expecting that. A pit of guilt grew in her stomach for forcing the girl to “out” herself, and Maggie shot her an apologetic look. “And I'm not sure I'd say I have a crush, but I do think Sylvie is cute” Tatiana finished, a wild blush on her face. Thinking of the Slytherin girl in her and Tatiana’s other friend group, Maggie grinned at the thought of the two girls together. “Awwweee! That’s adorable! And you’re right about Sylvie being hot, by the way, I would kill for her hair.” she said, winking at the still blushing girl. Tatiana, seemingly wanting to change the subject so she wasn’t so, well, flustered, answered Charlotte’s question in a rush. “And I suppose the worst thing someone could think about me is maybe that I don't care?” Tatiana said, causing a little smile to grow on Maggie’s face. Tatiana was one of the most thoughtful and kind people Maggie knew, and she doubted that anyone on planet Earth had thought differently. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that, but... like holy shit, are we gonna brush over the fact that you just told us you liked girls?” Maggie said in excitement. “Like, dude! Congratulations, that was like super brave! Godric is rolling in his grave right now.” she laughed, hoping Tatiana understood how much each of them appreciated how much she trusted them. “And you don’t have to worry about anyone thinking that about you, by the way. You’re one of the like, most thoughtful people that I know and you’re safe in the “caring” category.” she grinned at the girl widely, “I feel like we all want you to know that it’s like, super awesome that you felt safe enough to trust the fact that you’re lesbian with us.” she smiled at the girl, getting everything she’d been thinking out at once.

The warm and accepting response she received from the other girls helped to put Tatiana's mind at ease. It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she was glad she shared with them. Feeling a little more upbeat, she turned to Maggie. "And don't worry, we can still talk about boys- I like both," she said, shooting the girl a playful wink. And if it wasn't enough that Maggie had been not only accepting, but excited that Tatiana had felt comfortable enough to share that about herself, it was also comforting to hear Min share that she felt the same way as a pansexual.

It warmed Tatiana's heart that she felt she could share with them in that way as well, and it was maybe the most personal thing she'd learned about Min so far. Her comment about Sylvie made her laugh and lifted her mood as well. Apparently, the two girls knew each other, and in Min's personal opinion, she maybe wasn't an ideal candidate for dating. Dating. That was really the only thing that made her feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable at this point. She had never really experienced those sorts of feelings towards anyone, not before Hogwarts and not even now- except for maybe Nic, but that was perhaps a story for another day. And besides, she'd hadn't considered dating Sylvie, but she remembered feeling a little nervous around her the first day they'd met.

The blush returned to her cheeks, but just for a moment, as both Maggie and Min assured her no one would ever think she wasn't a caring person. She was finally feeling more comfortable, finally able to relax around girls she was getting to know better with every minute that passed. "I don't know why I was so worried- it was perhaps a little bit silly," she laughed. "But thank you guys, so much," she smiled, looking around the circle.

Thankfully, by the time Min's question came around, all of the tension she had been feeling had subsided. And while she was no longer feeling any qualms about sharing the details of her romantic feelings, or lack thereof, the Slytherin girl's question was more thought provoking than that. "If you could rewind time, what is something you would redo in you're life?" Hmm. Truth be told, regrets weren't really Tatiana's thing. Maybe that was because she so commonly found herself being reserved and hesitant before doing or saying most things, but it was also just the way she saw herself. She felt proud of the fact that, up until this point at least, she'd lived a pretty giving and full life- even if a bit plain and boring at times. But surely there was something she'd do differently. She rested her elbows atop her knees and tapped her chin. "I think... I think I'd only go back to my first day of school here. My first year, I spent a lot of time on my own, and I think I would just make a better effort to put myself out there, meet more people."

Happy with her answer, but still relieved that her turn was over, she hopped off the hot seat and back to her bottom bunk. With a wide grin, she turned to the Hufflepuff girl, and their game's final victim. "Alright Charlotte, you're up!"

Maggie grinned as Charlotte made her way to the center of the room, looking extremely nervous. She sat down, but got up in a matter of seconds as she’d seemed rethink her decision to not bring her pillow with her. Finally, she got herself settled down in the middle of the room, and Maggie grinned at her, not even pretending to sugarcoat her question when she asked,

“You like Carson, right?” She supposed it was a bit, well, upfront, per se, but hey, it was what everyone was wondering, right? It was kind of obvious when you thought about it.

Just yesterday Carson had saved her life, however, and Maggie wouldn’t actually be surprised if this “crush” everyone was thinking Charlotte had could just be guilt. But hey, guilt didn’t make you blush like that. Just to make sure she didn’t waste a question, however, Maggie hastily added,

“And if not, who do you like?” Foolproof, right? There was no way Charlotte Cadunt was getting out of that one. She looked like she was expecting it, though, as Maggie had basically asked the same question to everyone else. Maggie had no clue what the other girls were going to ask her, but she hoped their questions would be good.