The Opposite Direction
@Aislin Darragh
September 8th, ~10:00 pm
After an unknown amount of time had passed, Kai realized he would have to accept the fact that he was officially lost. Although he wanted to deny it like he had been for a while, after his 3rd passing by of this painting of, well he didn’t actually know what it was, some kind of abstract moving art. Kai finally accepted the truth that he was lost.
As Kai looked at the painting on the wall, he thought if it was a portrait like those he’d seen around Hogwarts then at least he could maybe ask it for help or information. If it even was capable or willing to help him. Now that he thought about it Kai still didn’t really understand how the portraits at Hogwarts or in the wizarding world in general worked. He’d seen some of them talk and even visit or enter other portraits. How that was possible Kai had no idea. Were these portraits like actual living memories of who they were based on? Could they just travel around portraits in Hogwarts whenever they felt like it?
Kai turned away from the portrait refocusing, remembering that he still had to figure out where he was and how to get somewhere he recognized. This had all started when he left the entrance hall and decided to explore the castle by himself for fun in the evening. Something he probably should not have done especially given past incidents in his pre-Hogwarts life where he wandered to places he should not. Honestly Kai was surprised it took this long for him to get lost, although it was only his second week at Hogwarts so it had not been that long. This castle was huge and made no sense with stuff moving around constantly, maybe that’s why he was lost. Was this a moving corridor like the moving staircases? Surely Hogwarts staff were capable of making and providing every student with a moving map to try and avoid these sorts of situations.
Wondering what time it was, Kai made his way through the corridors again. Considering Kai left the entrance hall at around 8, it was likely past curfew though it was hard to tell how much time had passed. Kai also thought a 9 pm curfew was far too early anyways what was he five years old.
As Kai thought of what to do next he decided that perhaps the key was to do the opposite of what he had been trying. He’d wanted to go back to Ravenclaw tower so he’d only tried paths that led straight or up. Surely if he did the opposite and tried heading downward towards the dungeons and cellars, he’d somehow get where he wanted, that made sense right? Well even if it didn’t, maybe Kai would be able to find the Kitchens he’d heard about; he wondered what the food making process at Hogwarts was, or maybe he’d see some Slytherins doing whatever shady things they did late at night in the dungeons.
Figuring he was still somewhere on the second or third floors or between them, Kai tried to take any path, turn or stairs that he did not remember even it was leading him downwards which seemed counter intuitive to making it to Ravenclaw tower. Continuing like this for a while Kai started seeing new areas in these corridors, places he still didn’t recognize but at least it was different from where he had been stuck before; Kai became hopeful that perhaps he would make it to wherever the basement and the kitchens were after all, or at least somewhere he recognized better than this passageway or corridor or whatever it was.
Last edited by Kai Taylor on 14 Sep 2026, 08:10, edited 1 time in total.
The Opposite Direction
Credit to Jay Valkyrie
@Kai Taylor
Being a prefect was weird. The emphasis was absolutely needed. Aislin assumed she would get used to it at some point (a point more than a week and a half in), but currently she felt semi-fraudulent wearing the badge and majorly like a rule-breaker as she was out past curfew. She wasn't, obviously, nor would she get in trouble for it (badge, prefect). This did nothing to abate the feeling of weirdness.
She did like that it was so quiet at this hour, though, few people around to catch her uncertain wandering. Patrolling did just feel like barely intentional wandering when you didn't know what you were doing. Aislin didn't really know what she'd say if she did find someone who wasn't a prefect or staff member, and she'd stopped more than once to poke around the suits of armor looking for spiders, but she was slowly figuring this out. Hopefully. She was at least contributing to a small portion of the school's litter control, stuffing forgotten items first in her pockets, then in the tote bag she sometimes remembered to bring (she had it tonight and had already found two quills and a hairclip).
Most of the portraits drifted off to their equivalent of sleep around this hour, so she had only the flickering torches and the ambient castle noises for company. Maybe she needed a pet, but she'd need to convince her mam she was responsible enough and save up for one, somehow. Maybe she could just kidnap a frog. More reasonably, she could ask to patrol with one of the other prefects. The loneliness didn't usually bother her, but it did tonight (she'd heard a few horror stories about what lurked in the castle's shadows) so she she had taken to half-skipping around the halls and mentally singing the itsy bitsy spider to keep her spirits up. She was maybe too tired for this today.
Aislin was in her own little world, and within that little world, she was totally, absolutely not ready for there to be a person when she turned the corner. There was a person, though. Her skips skidded to a stop, the earworm record-scratched, and worst of all... okay, she screamed. Shrieked, really, it wasn't so loud or drawn out, but this pale, shorter boy fully spooked her. "Holy stick bugs!"
Her racing heart slowed. Clarity kicked in then; she had just yelled at someone probably younger than her, which was not an approved prefect reaction. "Eh, sorry." She scratched behind her ear, then checked for a badge (she could only really be sure she knew the prefects in her own House by now). No badge. She'd caught a rule-breaker! Or just someone very lost, she supposed, and it was always good to keep your judgements open until you had more information. "What're you doing out here?"
Bridget Collins (1st gen) • Alejandros Espinosa (iNPC) • Phyllis Stanwood (1st gen iNPC)
The Opposite Direction
Kai continued his journey down the corridor, getting close to the end. It was another corridor he didn’t recognize, which seemed promising, as it meant he was no longer going in a loop. He was about to make the turn when he suddenly saw a figure come around the corner and heard a shriek. Kai stumbled back, a little shocked, before taking in the slightly taller dark haired girl in front of him. As Kai calmed down internally, he then blinked trying to process what he thought he heard the girl yell. Did she say holy stick bug Kai thought, is that like some sort of new insult that he had never heard before. The more Kai thought about it he could see how it could be a good insult, although he liked to think he didn’t look like a stick bug.
After thinking about it some more, Kai came out of his daze realizing the girl asked him another question while he stood there looking dumb thinking about the stick bug comment. It was more likely it was just the girl’s interesting way of showing her surprise anyways, considering she immediately apologized right after. “Uh I was exploring the castle and I’m trying to get back to the Ravenclaw common room now.” It was technically the truth after all, Kai thought. Although after saying it, he became less sure about that answer, since he was pretty sure this girl was a Ravenclaw, which meant she probably knew this did not seem like the general direction to go up to their common room.
On the other hand, it also meant that she could help him unless she was also lost, “How about you, why are you here?” Kai asked.
Reducio@Aislin Darragh