"I'm hoping Gryffindor," Mariah answered, her face splitting into a grin. "My whole family is in Gryffindor so I should be a shoo in." Mariah's confidence in that matter was unwavering. She assumed it was a hereditary thing- houses. She did have an aunt who was sorted into Hufflepuff but she supposed every family had that one who just didn't fit the mold afforded to them.

"What about you?" Mariah asked. She was glad to have someone to keep her busy during her wait. She wasn't sure how long her mother would be, but past experience said she'd be a good hour or so before Maria returned to collect her daughter from the tavern. Mariah supposed of she truly wanted, she could go out looking for her mother, but she was sure she'd get in a great deal of trouble doing so. After all, little girls shouldn't go out treading throigh London all alone. It wasn't safe. Her mother had told her on a regular basis that if she was told to stay somewhere, she was to stay. It was just, without much to occupy her mind, Mariah had a rather hard time sitting still. She'd ran into this problem often when she went to get her hair cut.

Gryffindor? Hmm. That was the house of bravery, wasn't it? Yes, with the bright red banner, golden lion-eagle mascot, it was all bold and beautiful. Yes, it did seem like the kind of house that people would covet.
Oh, for her? She herself wasn't really turned towards any particular house, nor did she have any premonition on what house she might fit into. None. Not even an inkling. Well, probably not Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, but what did she know? It had barely been enough time for her to digest the information. Well, Parker had told her-- albeit with a twinkle in his eye-- that he had some intuition into what house she would likely be sorted into, but he had, of course, refrained from informing her of the details.
Of course.
Ah... right, she'd just asked a question, didn't she?
"Me, I'm not really sure," Cel sighed, thoughts of houses already running through her mind. Gryffindor. Slytherin. Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw. "I mean, I don't really seem to have any trait that... stands out, I guess." She didn't think of herself as particularly brave, nor the most ambitious, especially because of her tendency to guilt herself for things that were partially not her fault. But she was far from even-tempered too, and though she enjoyed learning in general, there were so many other things she did that made knowledge just another one of her hobbies in general.

"I think it's a lot more complicated than one specific trait," Mariah said thoughtfully. "From what I gather it's supposed to test your mind, sort of delve into your deeper thoughts and desires and figure out the kind of person you are." Mariah shifted uncomfortably. She wasn't too sure if she wanted people to know that. It was like running naked through london during rush hour. Every dark thought that ever passed through her mind could be on display and that was terrifying to her. Not that she spent a great deal of her time meddling in dark thoughts. It was just the breach of privacy was near overwhelming. If someone was meant to have their mind split open for the world to see, thought bubbles would be a real thing.

"I think I'd rather take a paper test and then be sorted based on that," she admitted. "Its a little unnerving to be laid bare. I heard it happens in front of the entire school too. It's like, people will know you in an instant before you can introduce yourself. Could you imagine being ostracized on your character when you don't even know what your character is. It's scary."

"Yeah, probably," she sighed. "This is all just really confusing, you can understand. A lot of different traits, but what traits really? I wonder what charms might have been cast on the Sorting Hat... I wonder how it works." The last sentence was no more than a muttered whisper, a thought on the wind. She'd always loved to take things apart, see how it worked-- clocks, light switches, vacuum cleaners, wow! But now, magic. You couldn't pick apart magic and see how it worked mechanically-- it wasn't mechanic in the slightest. It was... magic.
How could we learn how magic works in Hogwarts, then? she wondered. Perhaps... perhaps everything would come together. It had better.
"Same here, honestly," Cel replied. "But I don't think it's going to, well, delve into your deepest darkest secrets and stuff. I think it mostly reads you as a person, not your thoughts specifically. And truthfully, I'd probably trust the Sorting Hat more than I'd trust a paper test-- questions can only do so much to judge character, don't you think?" She shuddered. "I would really hate to be put into the wrong house. I don't think you're allowed to switch houses after you've been sorted. Well, that'll probably just be because they trust the Sorting Hat, rightfully."

Kathleen had listened to their discussion for a while. "That'll probably just be because they trust the Sorting Hat, rightfully." The two girls seemed rather interesting, and so she overcame her shyness and walked towards them. "Hi", she said. An awkward silence filled their table, even though everyone around them was talking and gabbling loudly, it was a loud silence if such a thing ever existed, pounding on Kathleen's eardrums. She opened her mouth and said what came into her mind, without thinking. "Well, it's all pretty crazy though, huh? I mean, them all trusting a hat to make decisions influencing people's lives. Who knows if its magic still works? It could just be shouting out random houses! Nothing against the founders, but I'm really scared of that hat." She paused for breath, gasping. How silly must this look? Why had she had to be so talkative? "I so hope it puts me in Ravenclaw - it's my all-time favourite house! Rowena Ravenclaw is one of my idols, well, since a few weeks, since I had read all my spellbooks, had never heard of her before - Muggle-born - but she made such a strong impression on me! Anyway, I think I also have pretty good brains, all straight A-Student at my muggle school..." She paused. Her feet scraped the floor awkwardly. Had that sounded bragging? She hated people walking around with big heads (humongous heads!) and always tried to distance herself from spiteful show-offs by not talking much about her own successes and always trying to help others when they needed help, but... she did not like lying much better and- "What do you think? Which house would you like to be in?" With a small sigh and a big smile, she turned to the counter and tugged at the barman's sleeve to catch his attention. "A hot Butterbeer, please."