Unexpected Meeting PV Carrie Barber Closed

Carrie had decided to head down to the small hall. It was a choice that most of her schoolmates would likely find a bit odd. The area was probably mostly in disuse for the overwhelming majority of the year, after being used for the entrance of the first years, herself included, into the great hall for the sorting cerimony. The place was likely expected to be pretty empty, which was actually a major part of the current appeal to her. Much as being off by herself in some remote corner like this was awful, most of the other places in the castle were a tad too crowded and being in a situation like that, where found herself still lonely even when surrounded by lots of others, mostly people that she didn't know and wouldn't be able to handle approaching even if needed, would be far worse. 

So she strode through the hall, still mostly in uniform, with a bag resting on her side, a strap running the way across to her other shoulder. She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings, being fairly lost in thought, but still heard clear was the sound of something, or rather, lots of things seemingly tumbling down to the stone floor somewhere nearby. 

Turning around to the direction it all had seemed to come from, she quickly a young girl, knelt on the ground, various books hapzardly spread around, which she seemed to be desperately trying to pick up. 

Carrie then rushed to the fellow student's aid, crouching down to help gather the books and pile them up in a corner so they wouldn't get damaged by someone carelessly passing by. 

She then lifted her head a bit, enough to look at the other girl and ask, "Are you a-alright?" Most of her face was still obscured by the curtain of long brown hair framing it, but concern would be quite readable on the portion that was visible, as well as noticeable in her voice. 

She also didn't miss the strange stains running down the girl's clothes, as well the mud dotting some of her hair, like the source of the former. A book off to the side seemed to be strangely oozing out the substance as well. Probably one of these kinds that was charmed to have some rather unhelpful effect on the reader. She had never quite got the point of them. It was all just so disrespectful to books themselves and book lovers alike.

She then fished into her bag, trying to find something to help the girl out of the embarrasing predicament. She was almost out of tissues, so she had to improvise by supplementing with a bit of the gauze she kept around for emergencies. She then held it all out, saying, "Uh, h-here," knowing that it probably wouldn't ammount to much, but hoping it would help even if just a little. 

"Thank you," she said, quietly, but in a genuine tone. She knew it wouldn’t help much, but she believed it was the thought that counted. She managed to clean her hands and face and stuffed the dirty gauze in her pocket. When she looked up to see the person helping her, she could only see a waterfall of long brown hair. Tina decided she had to make the best of this situation, not just for her sake but for the girl’s as well.  “Hey, what’s your name,” she asked calmly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Before the girl could say anything, she asked, “How would you feel about having a mud party?’

She knew her question was weird and her reaction was quite odd with the situation at hand, but she was feeling rebellious and wanted to define social standards. “We could have a mudball fight, nake nud cake and pretend to eat it, and read this book about mud after it returns to a normal state.?”

She stands up and stretches out her hand, presenting a ball of mud. “We could always head over the girl’s lavatory to clean up afterwards. So, what do you say?”

She knew her it would be unlikely that the girl agreed and she wouldn't be surprised if she walked away there and then, but she didn’t see the harm in trying since she wasn't feeling her usual social anxiety.

"You're w-welcome", Carrie responded. She was one to be always happy to help whenever she could, no matter how small the effect might turn out. After cleaning herself as much as she could with the provided material, the other girl asked her name. Before she could manage a reply however, she then immediately launched into a strange request of playing around with mud coming from the oddly enchanted book.

It was unusual, specially in a place that seemed so formal, even if they were currently out of any official school matter. Even so, Carrie found herself rather drawn to it. It had been a fairly long time since she had the chance to something admitedly childish like that. The last time had been with ... Lila, back when was still ... Healthy. Her little cousin had been fairly girlish, but she definitely had not shied away from messy little games like that either and Carrie had always been happy to oblige. Yes, perhaps it would rather nice to do it again, even with someone else. She would love to have something to associate in her memory other than that dreadful day at the hospital. Plus, it would good to interact someone around her own age in a way that her usual insecurities would hopefully not hinder much. 

So she then nodded, saying, "Alright. Sounds fun ... Just h-hold on for a bit," as she went to dig into her bag, pulling out a red little plastic headhand and using it to help push most of the hair out of her face. It wasn't so much that she cared a lot about it getting dirty, that would probably be inevitable anyway, but rather that it felt wrong to keep it in the usual state while doing something unguarded like what she had just agreed to. She was trying to let go of having to hide herself in that manner, in anycase. She then took off her the bag and set it down a bit further down against the wall, since that would be hardest to clean up if it got hit, specially if anything made its way into the inside. 

After gathering a bit of the mud in her own hand, she then rose up and looked at the other girl, both green eyes now clearly visible and having some sort of happy spark in them, a shy smile accompanying as she then said, 
"Alright, ready ... I'm Carrie, by the way," not wanting to ignore the first question, even if had been interrupted by its own maker. 

Tina was elated that she agreed to her crazy idea. She honestly thought she would say no. She picked up a big ball of mud as she watched her pull back her hair with a headband. She probably would’ve done the same if her hair wasn’t already dirty. When she was ready and telling Tina her name was Carrie, she chuckled. She totally forgot that she had asked her what her name was.

“My name is Tina.” she replies as she threw it at her, which it landed on her Hufflepuff emblem on her school uniform. This reminded her of the time her parents both got “sick” and had to stay home with her instead of going to work. They ended up having a one against one against one snowball fight and ended up soaked in melted ice. She couldn’t help, but to miss those days as she shot fast but not deadly shots at her opponent. As their battle raged on, she couldn’t help, but to laugh. It was fun being immature and letting loose. She hoped she would remember to do that when she started class and became buried with homework. When the book reverted back to its original state and saw Carrie’s new look, she suggested, “We should probably head to the bathroom now.”

The other girl seemed rather happy that she had accepted the suggestion, which made Carrie even more glad to have done it. She, now properly identified as Tina, then started the mud throwing contest. Carrie instinctively tried to raise an arm to shield herself, but Tina was rather fast and her uniform ended up getting splattered with the substance anyway. Well, the thing was mostly dark colored anyway and by necessity she had some spares, so she didn't find herself caring at all at the moment. She then started to lob her own ammo at her playmate, with it mostly spreading a bit around, mostly down to the ground, thankfully not near any of their stuff, rather than landing a solid hit, but some of it probably still landed on Tina each time. As it went on, she took quite an enjoyment in the unreserved fun, being really grateful for the reminder of happier times and even ending up giggling quite a bit despite herself towards the end of it. 

She was almost didn't want it all to end when the enchantment on the book seemed to have finally run its course, but Tina was probably right. They had both ended in quite a state and she didn't want them to get in any trouble because of it. 

"Y-Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Carrie then replied, as she then started to search for the girl's lavatory. She hoped there was one at least relatively nearby. She didn't want to have to leave their things too far behind, but besides it being odd to take them into the bathroom, particularly all the books, at the moment, they just would end dirtying it all up. 

"The girl's bathroom is the closest one unless you wanted to go to your Hufflepuff dorm which is closer, Tina says. Thinking back to their game, Tina accidentally (she has trouble turning her brain off sometimes) counted the number of times she hit her and the amount of mud balls she threw at her. It was about a 98% accuracy. This made her wonder about who Carrie really was. Did she play a sport? Did she read books on sports? Did she take some kind of sport class and excel? Did her guardians or parents or (if she has any) siblings teach her a sport or something? She had taken many sports herself, but she had never gotten that good. "You have an impressive aim, Where did you learn to throw like that? Do you have a hobby or something?"

She asked her last question not just to get more information, but to see if they shared any of the same interests. It would be nice to have a friend that was completely different from her to have exposure to new things, but it's better to be able to relate to someone by having common grounds. She looked into her eyes, waiting for an answer.

Carrie shrugged a bit and while saying "I'm fine with going to the public one," actually not being sure which would more embarrassing, go the longer route through the halls and all or walk into her common room and dormitory, either way while still covered in mud. Mostly though, from what Tina had just said, it appeared she was in a different house and going straight to her dorm would likely mean them having to go their separate way sooner. She would rather not depart from Tina's company just yet. 

She was a bit surprised by the other girl's next comment and question, blushing a little, as she then responded, "Uh, thanks ... But nothing really special though. Just used to do similar things and play in the snow back at my old school and with some c-cousins," her expression seemingly clouding over for a moment, before returning to a smile as she added, "I did have physical education ... Never was all that g-good at any of it, but it was generally fun. What about you? Do you do anything in particular?" asking in return, being just as eager to learn more about her new companion as she apparently had been about her. 

"I used to play volleyball, soccer, basketball, tennis, football..."Tina begins. Feeling as if she would bore her to death with the number of muggle and wizard sports she had played since she was seven, she ended, "and a few other sports. Do you have any hobbies you like to do in your free time?"

She began to wonder where Carrie was heading to before she had stopped to help Tina with her predicament. Was she going to the library to study or do homework? Or was she going to the Great Hall to grab a snack? Perhaps she was heading to the grounds to play and catch some fresh air? She hated the thought of keeping her from her tasks. She never meant to become a burden. After Carrie had answered her first question, Tina asks, "Where were you heading to before you met me?"

She was also wondering what Carrie's family was like, but she didn't want to bombard her with questions, especially since they just met. She looked at her surroundings, recognizing the trophy room from the third floor. Hufflepuff's have been dominating in house cups which made sense since they're very hardworking. She whispered in a barely audible tone, "We ravenclaws haven't won in a while..."

"Oh, wow, that's rather impressive, Tina," Carrie then commented after the other witch listed off at least some of the activities she had done. She herself had done some of that back in primary school, but definitely not all. It made her wonder about what sort of background Tina came from. Those there all non-magical sports, so was she muggleborn or from a mixed family like hers? Of course, she had heard of kids from entirely magical families getting involved with such things, but it was not impossible, she supposed. It sounded more like the other girl had taken separate classes or something like that, in anycase. She was not sure how to broach that subject though, so decided to wait out a bit on that particular matter.

Since her companion then asked she liked to do, she answered, "Oh, I love mostly reading, writing and sometimes to draw ... Used to do some music too, but ... It has been a while now ..." While thinking that she really missed it, but not sure of what of to about it. Practicing would take energy that really hadn't had in the last few and since it had mostly become a way to express her heart when she couldn't speak it out, she had wanted to drag everyone's mood down along with her. She then asked in return, 
"What else do you enjoy doing?"


As to the question about where she had beem going to, she then said, "Just to the small hall, actually ... To wind down a bit ... Pretty much everywhere else was a bit too filled up ... I am really glad to have found some company along the way though," sporting a bright smile. The circunstances probably had helped. She just couldn't help assisting anyone in need. If she had found Tina just sitting reading in a corner, like all those books from before seemed to indicate that she was planning to, for example it probably wouldn't have come nearly as easy to approach her.  Curious, she decided to inquiry, "Where were you going before you got ... Derailed?" 

As they reached the trophy room and Tina made the somewhat quiet comment about the Housecup, also revealing what house she was in, Carrie was not sure of what to say, or even she should say anything, given the manner the other girl had spoken it. She was happy for housemates and proud for their efforts, they clearly had worked really hard for this, just like they were supposed to be as a house ... She didn't to diminish their efforts or be disloyal, but she also didn't want this sort of thing to become a source of division, with her new companion or with anyone else. 

So she then settled, "Hey, we should of course try to do our best as students and all ... But I don't think we should get so competitive that it would split all of us really apart ..."