Buffet With Badgers PV Esme Xiao Finished

Kristin went back to smiling, sitting back down correctly in the chair. "Ah, okay, that makes sense. And yep, I know my family does."

She wasn't at the point where she thought deeply about emotions yet, like love and grief, so Kristin considered love to be when someone showed how much they cared about someone's well-being no matter what happens. And she felt that those who didn't love her but still like her just wouldn't go out of their way to be there for her, but only because they weren't as close as she was with her family. Her mother also told her once that how people show that they love someone will always look different with each person, because everyone is different.

Kristin understood this in some way without really having the words for it herself. It was why she wouldn't mind if she lost friends at times. Sometimes people wanted others to be a certain way instead of just themselves, and they would get so mad over it. One time her mother told her that as long as she meant well, it was okay if people came and went, because it was life and nothing last forever. Kristin would like things, especially good things, to last forever.

She knew that Esme admired her, even if it was just a little, and she felt like she admired her, too. Esme was pretty and nice, and her shyness hopefully meant that she wasn't a mean person. Usually shy people don't have time to want to hurt anyone, she thought. She wasn't scared, she just was observing the fellow Hufflepuff to see if she could possibly be a friend rather than just another student she knew by name but not by heart.

Kristin felt like this topic was getting boring to her so she decided to change the subject, recalling her arrival to Hogwarts. "What do you think about the Houses? Did you think you'd get sorted into Hufflepuff? The hat wanted to put me into Ravenclaw but I asked if I could be here because it seems funner. I don't want to turn dull from being in there." She shuddered at the thought. "My father was in Hufflepuff and my mum in Gryffindor. I also have an older brother who goes here named Aron, he's my stepbrother. He's a fifth year Ravenclaw. Do you have family here, too?

Esme twiddled her thumbs for a bit before saying anything. "I'm the first member of my family to grow up here, I was born in China but we moved here when I was still really young." She wondered if it would ever matter to keep that secret or not... She guessed that even if she wanted to, a small percentage of people now know. "I think the house system is interesting, I guess it insures you'll like who you live with...kinda. I didn't know too much about the houses until I read, but I was just hoping not to be a Slytherin, those guys scare me sometimes...not to say they're all bad, but there's always a rotten egg in the carton." She started to actually think about Kristin as a person.

Esme rubbed her nose and then fiddles with her sleeve. The clothes seemed a bit big on her, after all she was fairly small for a girl her age. "What is it like having members of your family that go here? Did they teach you about this place?" Esme ate a cookie she found on the table, taking small bites this time, more like nibbling honestly. "So I've got a question...a big question.."

China? thought Kristin. She had never been there but her mother had before when she went to gain experience to be an accomplished journalist by traveling when she was a young adult, right after graduating Hogwarts. Kristin wanted to travel, too. She wanted to visit countries in Asia and South America in specific, and maybe even go to the United States, hearing about how crazy it could get there often.

"Before coming to Hogwarts did you meet any Slytherin's? My dad said they're not really bad, just misunderstood. He said that they're just incredibly loyal to whoever and whatever they believe in, in such a serious way that they can seem to have such nasty personalities."

The Sorting Hat had actually considered putting her in Slytherin first, and she knew exactly why. Even though Kristin prized herself in being entertaining and adventuresome, there was a hidden part of her that had...her own agenda. Her mother once told her to be careful one day after a strange occurrence with her cousins, when she had fooled them in a exceedingly intelligent way, one that shocked her older family members. Kristin didn't like to bring out that memory, it made her feel uneasy like she wasn't safe, not safe to others, mentally. She analyzed things more than she let on. But she felt like, and hoped, that being in warm, driven Hufflepuff would soften those sides of her.

"Yep, my family told me stories about their time at this school! Most of them were in either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. They told interesting things about her, and even my brother did. But they also wanted to leave things up to my imagination so I could have my own unique experience being here. The one thing they did warn me about were the big exams, like the O.W.L.S."

Kristin started chewing on a honey biscuit when Esme said she had a big question for her. She looked at her curiously. "Well, what is it?

Esme shook her head "You're the first person I bothered to truly meet." She curled her hair on her finger and then began to speak again. "I guess I understand, I have a stereotype for every house anyway."

Esme thought about the O.W.L exams. "I think I would do well, same for you." Esme smiled at Kristin sweetly, this was almost out of nowhere, but she couldn't resist. "People underestimate us Hufflepuffs, but we are some of the best in the school, never let anyone say otherwise." A friend group nearby cheered, clearly agreeing. Esme then shut up and closed her eyes, shuddering. "S-see?" She played it off.

Kristin's question had seemed to make Esme look around more . then she looked at Kristin and took a breath in. "Do...do you want to be my friend?" She crossed her fingers with hope, what would she do if Kristin said no? "Y-you don't have to, I wouldn't force you..of course..'cause...like..." Esme covered her face with her hands "You made it weird...you made it so weird.." She was redder than a rash, muttering almost silently. She understood if Kristin said no now, Esme was just so weird wasn't she? She then peaked from between her fingers, still red and stuttering "s..so?"

Kristin wondered why people stuck so much to stereotypes when clearly everyone was different in their own houses. She could apply each significant trait about each house to many in her own house...but maybe it was that one thing that was deeply rooted in all of them that made them come together. Still, Kristin would rather someone not say she was a Hufflepuff just because of how hardworking and 'soft' they were allegedly supposed to be like. She liked being described because of who she was as an individual, rather than some group mentality. She didn't like that Esme seemed to imply that she was comfortable with having stereotypes about each houses, but didn't say so aloud.

Esme said something about Hufflepuffs being underestimated and not letting anyone say that they're were any less than the best, which made some within hearing distance cheer aloud. She seemed to be uncomfortable with it, shrinking back into herself and shuddering. She said 'See?', but Kristin was felt like it was no big deal, people were being supportive. Or maybe she said that because they were agreeing with her. Kristin wanted to think it was the latter, but she had some doubts because of Esme's apparent shyness.

The question turned out to be concerning friendship, and the way she presented it made Kristin laugh aloud, along with her embarrassment. "Wow, no one has ever asked to be friends with me before, ha ha! It usually just happens naturally, if it's meant to be." Kristin laughed a little before placing a hand on Esme's shoulder, trying to laugh at her reddened face. "I would say yes if I knew you longer. If that's how friendships go...I mean, maybe I'm thinking to hard about it. You're nice, I just don't know you well enough to just call you my friend. But you're not my enemy, kinda like a good acquaintance, ya know?"

Kristin rubbed her chin. "But...if someone were to ask me if we're friends, I wouldn't exactly say no, either. So, how does that sound," she asked, poking at Esme's arm. "Why do you want to be friends with me, anyway?"

Esme nods and says "That's fair, I think its a good idea to wait if you wanna." She didn't think that making friends took a significant amount of time, but now that she thought about it, when she was asked back in her homeland, she never refused out of fear of hurting someone, maybe she got into predicaments that way.

She looked at Kristin again "Why? Well I admire your way of life, and you seem really fun....maybe you could fix my flaws too." She knew she had many, many, many flaws, and said flaws may have become more apparent as this conversation progressed. "Having a friendly acquaintance is cool too though, And I don't think you're overanalyzing, just being smart."

Esme asked for a sweet before thinking about Kristin, she was smart, very smart it seemed like Kristin could also read people, maybe her overanalyzing was really a good thing, why would anyone want to be Esme's friend exactly? she wasn't beating herself up by asking that, she just wondered, what was so great about her anyway, she was shy, socially impaired, and kinda biased over certain topics. What exactly made her the right match for anyone looking for a buddy? But maybe...maybe if she adopted Kristin's way of life...it was a thought.

"You are...very clever, incredibly clever. How do you do it?" Now now...she wasn't gonna become Kristin 2: The Squeakquel, but she could learn from her. "So...what would you say if anyone... Wanted to be like you? Inspired maybe?"

Be like me? Kristin hadn't heard that one before. Actually, she hadn't heard someone say a lot of things that Esme had come to say to her only eleven years of life, and she had met some interesting people so far. She wondered why Esme seemed to assume about her, like saying 'her way of life'. Kristin hardly told her anything about herself, and she was just being her mildly entertaining self this entire time, nothing special. She figured that there were tons of people like her at this school, but, although she didn't think of it like this, it might be fate that brought them together to learn from each in specific. What Kristin thought about it was that she was being put on a pedestal, as her father once described someone at his job. Even if it was a small pedestal, Kristin just wanted to be treated like she was just another person, or at least by Esme.

She actually felt a little uncomfortable now, which was rare for her. But she didn't want to show too much of her discomfort because she knew that her fellow Hufflepuff surely meant well, it was just making her feel odd being treat this way.

Kristin sat up in her chair in a sprightly way that seemed forced. "Ah, I think everyone should always just be themselves, that's why we were born anyway. And we probably figure it out as we go. Nobody has to be like, um, anyone." She got up, brushing a curl out of her face. "It was nice to meet you, Esme, but I have to go, go finish homework for some of my classes."

"It'd be nice to see you again, sometime."She nodded at her with a polite smile, the light not quite reaching her eyes all the way, and skipped off, though it seemed more hurried and less effortless than usual. UmmmmmmmMmm, what the heck was that all about? Kristin thought as she left the Great Hall.

OOC: I left the thread.

Esme watched as Kristin left...a small and yet great sigh left her lips. "wèi shén me zhè me nán? (Why is this so hard?)" She pulled at her hair for a bit and then tensed up in her chair, pushing away her food scraps and muttering to herself in her language, almost silently. A tear fell down her cheek...she couldn't make this mistake again, she tried to open up, maybe she opened up to fast, maybe she should talk less. She looked on Kristin opened the great hall doors, and as they close just behind her. "Wǒ hěn bào qiàn...(I'm so sorry...)" Esme thought about if Kristin was being truthful, if she really thought it would've been nice to see her...maybe she just didn't want to hurt her. Esme then looked at her reflection in her goblet of water. She couldn't meet her own eyes after that fail. It was absolutely pathetic,if there was a next time, she would not make the same mistakes, lest, Kristin thinks she's a weirdo. She did hope Kristin would speak to her again, so she could apologize and because she felt that these interactions might be 'meant to be. This is not at all how her parents taught her to act anyway, not in public anyway. So Esme soon left, a little bit wiser now, though feeling like a beat up rubbish bag. But she knew what she had to do when she saw Kristin again. She would fix her mistake and hopefully mend their 'friendly acquaintance-ship'? Whatever they were anyway