entrancelogs | [OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

[OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

Who: Slytherin House! (And friends and visitors, of course!)
Where: Slytherin Common Room, Quidditch Pitch, various places around Hogwarts
When: Duration of the event
Rating: G (will edit as necessary)
Summary: Slytherin open log!
The Story:

The Slytherin common room was a long, low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish lamps were hanging on chains. A fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them, and several Slytherins were silhouetted around it in carved chairs.

The common room has changed, somewhat, from its historical description, thanks to the decorative powers of one Mettaton. Though it still extends beneath the lake and thus retains a greenish, aquatic cast, it's much more brightly lit, its cold, damp atmosphere replaced with dazzling MTT-brand warmth. Even the giant squid, occasionally peering in as it does its rounds of the lake, seems just a shade more glamorous inside such a charming space.

Students - and a ghost or two - can be found nestled within its confines, plotting mischief around the fire, studiously doing their homework (as good students do), or perhaps trading Chocolate Frog trading cards. Though Slytherin is not especially well-known for its wide-open, trusting nature, Slytherins are known for not snitching on each other; if a guest or two were to creep in for a while, then odds are, nobody saw anything.

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[ katerina smiles — clementine gets it. that's the lesson she had learned from a history of magic, even defense against the dark arts. never follow directly in the footsteps of another, because it can always lead to failure rather than success. ]

[ pursing her lips, she tilts her head and draws her brows together as she ponders clementine's question. ] Definitely a bunny phobia. [ she pretends to take it seriously, even though there's nothing serious about it at all. leaning forward, she whispers mock conspiratorially, ] Salazar had a bit of a boot fetish. And it's not the kind of boot fetish you might be thinking of.

[clementine understands survival more than she understands anything else. it maybe wouldn't have always been that way if life had been different, but there's not much use in thinking about ifs.

she smirks as she leans in too, listening to this whisper as if it's the most serious thing in the world. however, the face she makes afterward is likely very amusing.]

Gross. [and then more seriously, closer to truth.] That guy was kind of the worst for founding our House. Worried about the wrong things.

Why don't we change that?

[ katerina arches her brow, remains leaned in. the best thing about being able to create these types of stories to make untouchable and unrelatable people interesting is everything and anything's within reach. if she wants to make godric gryffindor a man who had incredibly horrible taste in clothes, she'll do so, even if it's recorded by numerous accounts he'd been impeccably dressed. ]

Salazar Slytherin never found our House. A woman did. And he took the credit for it, since she had better things to do. How does that sound?

[clementine smiles as she leans in like that. the smile tugs wider across her face as she speaks, and then she nods as if in affirmation, as if in confirmation of it all.]

That sounds like what actually happened.

It sounds like the type of rumor I want to start to spread. [in reality, because it's so much better than the truth even if it's tragic because the woman should have been the head. anyone but salazar should have been the head of the whole house.]

[ this is why katerina likes clementine. she's not so bound by the rules of the school — there's respect to be held for the founders, but it doesn't have to go any deeper than that. salazar slytherin has undergone many characterisations throughout the years that this one hardly dents his statue at all. ]

She was too busy travelling the world to be the head of any school. [ she flicks her hand, as though that's to imply that's much greater than setting a legend for herself. but some of the better legends are the ones that are much more quieter in tone. ]

[ pursing her lips, she looks to clementine, wanting to know her opinion. ] Does that make her sound important? It's missing something.

[clementine smiles and then her mouth parts a bit at the question, liking that she asks and that she wants to know the answer. she tilts her head, thinking seriously about it.]

It makes her sound very important, but it's missing why she was out there, travelling the world. It doesn't even have to be anything legendary.

Maybe she just always wanted to see the world before she died so she did. [because getting to do what she always wanted to do was far more important than a school. it was her own ambition.] Or maybe she was looking for some rare potion ingredient. She was the best person to ever do potions.

The best.

[ katerina's smile remains wide and mirthful. clementine has a point — not every adventure needs to be grand, or one for this history books. she oftentimes forgets she can be whoever she wishes; she can be someone who has books dedicated to her work, or someone who only impacts a few dozen. ]

[ she's always wished to be the former, believing there to be power in that, but katerina has since discovered perhaps size is merely just a number. ]

See? Our friend's using her best skills to further her own survival. [ she leans back in her chair, finding she thinks clementine's onto something. ] All you need to do is follow her example. Use Defense for Transfiguration. Be someone who doesn't need to boast of your accomplishments like Salazar and the other House Founders did. [ she leans forward again, and flicks her hand into the air as she shrugs. ] Or be loud and boastful. You just proved to me you have what it takes to take the world by storm.

Hurricane Clementine has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

[clementine quiets, taking in katerina's every word. she never thought about the future. she never thought about doing great things. when seh was tiny, she played pretend in many different ways and then life changed and became survival. she thought about hogwarts in the same way (this is how i can defend myself and stay safe) instead of thinking about what she can do.

the whole world could open up for her. lee taught her how to survive. her parents loved her unconditionally, but no one has ever told her she could 'take the world by storm' before.

she smiles then.]

I really like it.

[her smile widens.] You're amazing. [she's sad katerina is going to leave after this year.] What do you want to do? Take the world by storm or something else?

[ katerina smiles, and it isn't one that's smug. slytherins are thought to be conceited, but she finds herself touched, and a little embarrassed, by clementine's words. katerina may spend her time talking herself up, informing her friends of her own amazingness, but she's never quite been on the receiving end of such compliments. ]

[ she doesn't answer clementine right away. it's a question she finds she's begun to become frightened of, even though she's not afraid of anything. ]

[ she thinks to lie, but instead shrugs her shoulders, and her expression becomes thoughtful. her tone is lower, quieter, ] I don't know. [ she looks down at vasilka, who is the only being she has confided this to, and still finds her cat has no advice for her. ]

[ she looks up at clementine, ] I guess that's the adventure, isn't it?

[clementine wonders if people ever really know. it seems like slytherins are expected to have ambition and know what they want out of life and believe they will get it. it seems smarter to her to not assume that they'll be king of the world. or that they will be the most powerful wizard ever. she doesn't really know what people aspire to be. she thinks she just wants to be happy one day, to feel safe. and maybe to do something really great once that's been achieved. it feels more possible here at hogwarts when she's reminded of what the world and life is really like.]

That's okay. [it's okay she doesn't know, but clementine smiles at that. it's quiet but warm. she doesn't dispense warm smiles very easily. they don't come naturally to her.]

Sounds like something our friend might say. [the woman they made up who actually founded the house of slytherin before heading off on her own adventure into the unknown. what greater triumph would there be than to find what you want and to take it?]

[ clementine may not know it, but her simple "it's okay" is what katerina has been searching after for months. it hasn't felt okay to not know where she wishes to be, whom she's going to become once she emerges from hogwarts' hold on her. ]

[ everyone seems to be telling her the same thing, either inadvertently giving her the advice she seeks or deducing what she needs to hear, but the words of a girl who is so much younger than those she's confided in weighs more heavily and stops her feet from wandering away. she still wishes to swerve around and miss it, shifting that weight that gives her some semblance of peace away from herself, but she leaves it be, letting herself, for once, stop trying to fight everything. ]

[ she appears thoughtful, her expression not necessarily open with a smile, but a small one forms at clementine's next words. it may not be smart to rely on a figure who's imaginary, but perhaps it's enough to know that there's a void that needs filling — clementine can be anyone she wishes to be, whether worthy of having copious books written of her, or simply being a mere footprint that ends up disappearing beneath the brush of time as it grows over her. ]

[ katerina tilts her head, wondering, ] You think so?

[clementine has lived a lot in a short amount of time, but she's still young ~~at least this version of her~~. she isn't cynical just yet. there's a belief beating away in her rib cage which hasn't been squashed out. she tends to view it all differently than someone who has been around longer, who has had those same expectations placed on them to have it all figured out.

she meets her gaze in the quiet, nodding, as if she knows, as if she's relying on something more than youthful hope to have these feelings. she believes because she wants to believe.]

Yeah, I think so.

That sometimes there's not answers. Just mysteries and adventures, and you get to say where it takes you.

[not anyone else.]

[ sometimes katerina likes divination for how it's supposed to be a guiding force, but it gets bland to know how the future is meant to unfold. there's no mystery and no control, and katerina likes both. ]

[ appearing thoughtful, it's clear she accepts clementine's proposal. sometimes even the oldest of the students need to be tutored by those who are younger than them. her experiences are her own to hold, but they've also left her being rather single-minded and often blind to what's around her. ]

I like that. [ her smile is small and soft. ] I've spent my whole life believing there was always a destination before me, but sometimes there isn't. Not all maps have an X that marks the spot.

[ some do, and that makes the adventure worthwhile. but sometimes it's nice to not know where you're going. ]

[ she readjusts herself where she sits. ] You should consider tutoring when you're older. The students could learn a thing or two from you.

It only helps to believe there's a destination before you when you know where you want to go. Otherwise, the destination might feel more like a sentence that you can't escape.

[it might feel more like a cage really. she never had that problem at least, but she's also not spent a lot of time thinking about her future, wondering about where it might lead her or where she wanted to lead her. in hogwarts, she'll have the chance to.

professors will want to know where her interests lie, and it will matter. she smiles sideways at her]

Really? I... think I'd really like that.

[maybe she'll be a professor herself one day. she likes teaching other people how to take care of themselves, how to survive, how to view the world in a different way.]

[ katerina imagines it may be a little too much if she tells clementine she's doing a perfect job at tutoring right now. she imagines it'd be met with a surprised "really?" and even doubt. not all teachers had to wear the title of "professor" to be able to teach someone a valuable lesson. ]

You can do whatever you want. [ it's a lesson katerina has to learn herself. if she wants to embrace a new life, then she has to let herself begin to learn how to walk toward and with it. ] Be a teacher — here, Beauxbatons, even in a Muggle school. Walk on the moon. Invent cars. Become a dog whisperer. Train thestrals. [ katerina smiles at the end of it, not quite grasping hold of the traction she's built in her own confident voice. ]

[ she simmers down. ] I guess you just have to realise you need to take chances. [ and that's something she has to learn, once again. ]

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[OPEN MINGLE] Or perhaps in Slytherin

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