11 Sep 2022, 01:14
A Befuddling Night
When Sophia absently hoped that Regina could shed some light on the situation, she hadn't expected such a harsh rebuttal. Regina was visibly angry, and she had to fight her internal urge to back away.
...not that there was anywhere to back away to. Regina had locked them in the - Sophia only just noticed - cramped stall and there was no escape in sight. Still, she'd been called worse things than a fool, so she could totally handle this.
First-year Sophia would have meekly dropped the subject and apologized, but Sophia couldn't just accept that. She'd already given up her wand and accepted detention once because of the situation. She couldn't just sit back and take the blame for the whole kerfuffle. Sure, she could have reacted better, but she wasn't the initiator. That stupid, blonde thing was.
Sophia wasn't a timid little first year any longer! She'd survived her first duel - with a head injury, sure, but still - and she'd learned so much. The least she could do was stand up for herself, right?
"Maybe you're right, and maybe I shouldn't have talked about you to her, but she was the one to attack me. I know you said I was humiliating myself, but to be honest, I found it more humiliating last year when I didn't even have the courage to defend myself. I'm not proud that I didn't try talking it out, but I did what I thought I had to after that... hussy - no offense - levitated a plate of food on my head!"
As her words escaped her mouth, Sophia remembered the strength of the glare she'd been withering under just moments ago. She'd been lost in the heat of the moment in her little rant, and she felt slightly shameful for being so heated in a conversation with Regina. She just couldn't stand Faye, after what the girl'd done.
Sophia still hadn't received a letter from her grandma after getting detention, but she was sure she was going to be in a world of trouble when she did. Still, if Regina just wanted them to be cordial to each other, it was the least they could do, right?
Sophia sighed.
"I promise I'll at least try to be cordial. I won't antagonize her, but I have to defend myself if she attacks me."
It wouldn't honestly be too terribly hard. Sophia had been planning on avoiding Faye anyway, after all, so being cordial would be simple as long as they didn't run into each other.
Sophia shifted slightly where she was sitting, fiddling idly with her wand in her hand.
"If I may ask, though, how'd you two end up together? No offense, but I wouldn't ship you two, personally."
Notes:Reducio
Interacting:
@Regina Miller
Mentioning:
@Kim Sato || @Colin McCoire
21 Sep 2022, 11:17
A Befuddling Night
| I love to watch the castles burn | These golden ashes turn to dirt |
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| ──. |  Terrible Presence is in effect. |
.── |
It was Regina's brow that twitched this time when Nelson daringly raised her voice. Internally, she commended the younger Ravenclaw for standing up for herself - Merlin knew Regina hated those who didn't take the risk even as the weaker person. However, she wasn't quite sure she liked the way Nelson blatantly bad-mouthed Faye to her face. One would think the blue-haired girl was digging her own grave.
"I have already told her to not pick a fight with you as well. It goes both ways, if you two cannot get along, I will make you," The Gryffindor rebel's tone was firm and final. She had much more important things to deal with than some second-year internal feud. "The next time you insult my girlfriend in front of me, I will hex you, so watch your mouth."
Regina did not make empty threats, and she trusted that Nelson knew this. The other girl had watched her in duel, watched as she decimated her opponents without so much as a lick of remorse. Nelson knew what she was capable of. For her own good, Regina hoped she'd take the warning at face value.
The suffocating, eerie presence around the two girls seemed to dissipate a little as the question left the Ravenclaw's mouth. Regina's eyes took on a more gentle hue as she looked to the side where the potion was simmering, mind travelling to the very first time she'd meet @Faye Simmons.
"She was...the very first person who bounced back even when I attacked her. Instead of hating me or cursing my name like so many other people, Faye was stubborn in her quest to be my friend," It was foreign, the fondness that seeped into her usually cold voice. "She was the first - the only one - who did not stop no matter how much I pushed her away. The effort she put in even when I was incredibly mean to her was astonishing."
Regina remembered the countless letters they exchanged, of Faye demanding to know what were the older Gryffindor's standards to become her best friend, laughing it off when she'd call the girl a thorn in her side. The silliness of it all warmed her heart in ways she never thought it could. And the Blossom Ball, too. How magical it was, to be able to create such an intimate memory with Faye.
"Back then, nobody had bothered to fight that much for me. Faye knows I am not a good person, that I am everything she is not. But she does not fault me for my darkness, far from it. She understands me. And she has her own struggles that I understand as well. We are two sides of the same coin. No one can comprehend the complexity of our minds. No one but us."
Us, us, us. It was no longer singular when it came to Regina. The way she uttered the word was almost reverent. She wasn't alone anymore, and sometimes it was still hard to believe it.
The soft expression on Regina's face hardened when her gaze shifted back to Nelson, the small smile she had when talking about Faye vanished as quick as it appeared.
"It matters little to me if you think we are compatible or not. Our relationship is not perfect, and we have a lot of things to work out, but it is ours. Mine and Faye's. Curse upon whoever believe we shan't fight for it."
And that was the end of the conversation, because she made her point loud and clear that she won't tolerate any criticism coming from Nelson. The younger teen should mind her own business and stick to the trade she'd agreed with Regina. Anything about her private life was not for Nelson to dissect, either out of spite or curiosity.
"I have already told her to not pick a fight with you as well. It goes both ways, if you two cannot get along, I will make you," The Gryffindor rebel's tone was firm and final. She had much more important things to deal with than some second-year internal feud. "The next time you insult my girlfriend in front of me, I will hex you, so watch your mouth."
Regina did not make empty threats, and she trusted that Nelson knew this. The other girl had watched her in duel, watched as she decimated her opponents without so much as a lick of remorse. Nelson knew what she was capable of. For her own good, Regina hoped she'd take the warning at face value.
The suffocating, eerie presence around the two girls seemed to dissipate a little as the question left the Ravenclaw's mouth. Regina's eyes took on a more gentle hue as she looked to the side where the potion was simmering, mind travelling to the very first time she'd meet @Faye Simmons.
"She was...the very first person who bounced back even when I attacked her. Instead of hating me or cursing my name like so many other people, Faye was stubborn in her quest to be my friend," It was foreign, the fondness that seeped into her usually cold voice. "She was the first - the only one - who did not stop no matter how much I pushed her away. The effort she put in even when I was incredibly mean to her was astonishing."
Regina remembered the countless letters they exchanged, of Faye demanding to know what were the older Gryffindor's standards to become her best friend, laughing it off when she'd call the girl a thorn in her side. The silliness of it all warmed her heart in ways she never thought it could. And the Blossom Ball, too. How magical it was, to be able to create such an intimate memory with Faye.
"Back then, nobody had bothered to fight that much for me. Faye knows I am not a good person, that I am everything she is not. But she does not fault me for my darkness, far from it. She understands me. And she has her own struggles that I understand as well. We are two sides of the same coin. No one can comprehend the complexity of our minds. No one but us."
Us, us, us. It was no longer singular when it came to Regina. The way she uttered the word was almost reverent. She wasn't alone anymore, and sometimes it was still hard to believe it.
The soft expression on Regina's face hardened when her gaze shifted back to Nelson, the small smile she had when talking about Faye vanished as quick as it appeared.
"It matters little to me if you think we are compatible or not. Our relationship is not perfect, and we have a lot of things to work out, but it is ours. Mine and Faye's. Curse upon whoever believe we shan't fight for it."
And that was the end of the conversation, because she made her point loud and clear that she won't tolerate any criticism coming from Nelson. The younger teen should mind her own business and stick to the trade she'd agreed with Regina. Anything about her private life was not for Nelson to dissect, either out of spite or curiosity.
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@Sophia Nelson
| sta • 9 | eva • 11 | str • 4 VICIOUS⠀PREDATOR wis • 12 | arc • 11 | acc • 12 | Prodigal DADA | Perfectionist | TP THROUGH⠀THE⠀YEARS LC | Nonverbal | ability |
25 Sep 2022, 01:32
A Befuddling Night
Sophia tried to cover her fear with a nervous chuckle. She knew very well that Regina wasn't bluffing about hexing her. She raised her hands placatingly, almost dropping her wand. Placing it onto the ground, she decided to turn her attention to her mortar to try to calm her mind and her nerves.
It was almost like she was walking through a minefield when she spoke about Faye. It was so hard to not have anything bad to say about her, but if Regina wanted her to be more tactful, she could at least put in the effort. So she began to grind the Standard Ingredient into a coarse powder.
They still had a fair bit of time before the brew time was finished, but this would keep Sophia's hands busy. Besides, it never hurt to have the ingredients prepared for the next step, and while she was focusing on the mortar and pestle, her mind wasn't on her jittery nerves or being hexed.
"I'm sorry about the mean things I've said. I just... I liked her, you know? I thought she was so nice. I don't have a lot of friends that are really friends. Lots of acquaintances, sure, but only a few close friends. Seeing someone that I would have loved to become friends with and watching that kind of slip away... It doesn't, uh... doesn't feel good, I guess..." she trailed off.
She could remember seeing Faye and Regina at the broom races with Kim on that one very rainy day. Having only just joined the dueling team waitlist, she'd barely known anything about Regina at the time. Only that she was an accomplished duelist, and she seemed quite haughty.
Seeing the two of them together was like seeing night and day, blending together into a beautiful dusk. It was adorable, and it was why Sophia had thought perhaps she and Faye could bond over their mutual appreciation of Regina. Though, obviously their appreciation of her was significantly different. Still, she hadn't expected a rivalry to form.
She listened to Regina recount her bond and meeting with Faye and smiled, despite her dislike for the other girl.
"You know, there's a saying we had in a muggle video game I used to play. Uh, how did it go...? Oh, right! 'What's better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?' It's from, uh, I forget his name... The good dragon in Skyrim? Oh wait, you're not a muggle, you might not know what that is..."
Sophia berated herself for geeking out and using video games in an attempt to empathize, but the point still stood.
"Like, having bad urges, or even doing bad things is okay, you know? It's more of a challenge to overcome, I think. And when someone does overcome their, uh, 'darkness?' as you put it, it's just a huge show of their strength of will, right?"
When she was satisfied with the Standard Ingredient powder, she placed the mortar aside, lest she clumsily spill it. She winced at Regina's retort to her comment about her not shipping them. She hadn't meant it in a negative way...
"I didn't mean anything by it. My first ever crush was on someone that I wouldn't have pictured with me in a thousand years. Nothing came from it, of course, but sometimes the unexpected relationships are cuter, I think."
Sophia's hands were getting restless. She wanted to do something to alleviate the unease she felt in the shadow of the older girl. She was always nervous around other people, especially when she first started interacting with them, but Regina took it to a whole new level.
Her entire presence and effect on Sophia could be easily described with one word: intense. Sophia found that - by some miracle - keeping her hands occupied during the potion's preparation process took her mind off of the intensity of Regina's gaze, if only for a moment. Now, though, all she could do was wait. This was terrifying, but it was also exhilarating in a way.
It wasn't like Sophia worshipped Regina or anything as blasphemous as that, but she certainly looked up to the girl, and, even if it was all she could do to shrink under Regina's presence, she had to remind herself that the girl she looked up to was giving her attention.
Before coming to Hogwarts, Sophia had had no one but her grandma since her parents died. No friends. No cousins. Nothing. She spent her days and nights in near total solitude, playing video games, reading comic books, and doing homework. Now, though? She had friends, and she had a teacher. A teacher that could spend her time far less wastefully than by tutoring Sophia.
It was really quite humbling.
"Thank you, by the way," she said, meeting Regina's gaze again. "I know you're getting something out of this, and it's not necessarily out of the kindness of your heart, but thank you anyway for agreeing to help train me. I really do appreciate it."
She smiled wide and turned her attention back to the soothing simmering of her cauldron.
Notes:Reducio
Interacting:
@Regina Miller
Mentioning:
@Kim Sato || @Colin McCoire
6 Oct 2022, 17:16
A Befuddling Night
| I put my armor on, show you how strong I am |
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| ──. | Terrible Presence is in effect. |
.── |
Regina's expression deadpanned as the blue-haired Ravenclaw rambled about some Muggle rubbish she couldn't understand. Perhaps that was a little downside in hanging around with those who were not born into the Wizarding World - she would never be able to comprehend their culture and idioms. Granted, she'd become a bit more progressive compared to the last two years, but Regina can't be blamed for her ignorance as she'd been raised in a strictly traditional household with blood purist ideals.
She scoffed at Nelson's naive optimistic views.
"The world I grew up in shaped me into the person that I am. I have been controlled all my life and I refuse to let some foolish valiant principles erase my fundamental being."
Regina only tried to suppress her darkness around those that mattered to her, if only for the reason that she didn't wish for them to see the monster lurking underneath the skin of a thirteen-year-old witch. Anybody else could be horrified or judgemental for all she cared. She'd already established her independence - no one and nothing shall ever rule her again. She was working towards her freedom now and she would gladly embrace the darkness inside of her.
Exceptions could be made, from time to time.
Regina's attention perked when Nelson mentioned having a crush that ultimately did not work out. It made her think back to Draven Mirador, an unlikely friend she'd made here in Hogwarts before his transfer to Durmstrang. She'd admit having a little bit of attraction to him before her feelings for Faye actually came to light, and sometimes Regina found herself wondering if things would have worked out between them romantically.
Orchid eyes glanced at the younger girl, a strange emotion tugging inside her chest at the genuine display of gratitude. It was woefully obvious that Nelson held some type of admiration for her despite the fear, and it made the Gryffindor felt validated in a way she never did with other people. Nobody had ever expressed a thank-you to Regina. She was so used to receiving insults and mockery that it was almost odd to be hearing Nelson thanking her for something so trivial. Even when she was doing this for her own personal gain and not particularly because she cared about Nelson's spell-work.
"You're welcome," She said, voice dangerously soft. The raven-haired rebel suddenly found herself staring at her own reflection when she looked at the young Ravenclaw who was desperate to become better, who drank up any scrap of attention given to her like a starved girl in a desert. And maybe, just maybe, she saw a bit of @Faye Simmons in Sophia Nelson as well.
They were just...so similar.
Regina cleared her throat to dispel the little bit of gentleness which had creeped out.
"How much longer must we wait? I'm sure you do not fancy spending the entire night in this grimy place either."
She scoffed at Nelson's naive optimistic views.
"The world I grew up in shaped me into the person that I am. I have been controlled all my life and I refuse to let some foolish valiant principles erase my fundamental being."
Regina only tried to suppress her darkness around those that mattered to her, if only for the reason that she didn't wish for them to see the monster lurking underneath the skin of a thirteen-year-old witch. Anybody else could be horrified or judgemental for all she cared. She'd already established her independence - no one and nothing shall ever rule her again. She was working towards her freedom now and she would gladly embrace the darkness inside of her.
Exceptions could be made, from time to time.
Regina's attention perked when Nelson mentioned having a crush that ultimately did not work out. It made her think back to Draven Mirador, an unlikely friend she'd made here in Hogwarts before his transfer to Durmstrang. She'd admit having a little bit of attraction to him before her feelings for Faye actually came to light, and sometimes Regina found herself wondering if things would have worked out between them romantically.
Orchid eyes glanced at the younger girl, a strange emotion tugging inside her chest at the genuine display of gratitude. It was woefully obvious that Nelson held some type of admiration for her despite the fear, and it made the Gryffindor felt validated in a way she never did with other people. Nobody had ever expressed a thank-you to Regina. She was so used to receiving insults and mockery that it was almost odd to be hearing Nelson thanking her for something so trivial. Even when she was doing this for her own personal gain and not particularly because she cared about Nelson's spell-work.
"You're welcome," She said, voice dangerously soft. The raven-haired rebel suddenly found herself staring at her own reflection when she looked at the young Ravenclaw who was desperate to become better, who drank up any scrap of attention given to her like a starved girl in a desert. And maybe, just maybe, she saw a bit of @Faye Simmons in Sophia Nelson as well.
They were just...so similar.
Regina cleared her throat to dispel the little bit of gentleness which had creeped out.
"How much longer must we wait? I'm sure you do not fancy spending the entire night in this grimy place either."
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@Sophia Nelson
| sta • 9 | eva • 11 | str • 4 VICIOUS⠀PREDATOR wis • 12 | arc • 11 | acc • 12 | Prodigal DADA | Perfectionist | TP THROUGH⠀THE⠀YEARS LC | Nonverbal | ability |