The door BURST open. It wasn't Louisa's intention to scare the wits out of Vivi but she didn't have her hands free, with all the books and cat toys, and had to use the power of her elbow and foot. "Hey hey hey!" Her two cats scurried into the room just before she managed to shut the door. "No scary threats in front of the kids." Viola and Cuddles do understand threats, mind you. She was oddly energetic today, and beaming at everyone in her way. This included the evil cat settling in Vivi's trunk.

"Wow. One would think you managed to pack, say, a pair of socks after all this time." Louisa chuckled referring to the mess on her dormmate's bed which was pretty much the same since.. uhh... forever? Turning to her bed, Louisa brightly dropped the books and toys and dove under it to pull out her trunk. Ew, it reeked down here.

"Well, someone is being an awful brat," Vivi turned back around with her hands full and absolutely shrieked at the sight of Macha pawing at her favorite jumper. She loved that stupid thing, and the cat was sharpening claws on it.

"MACHA." Vivi dropped everything into the trunk, lifted the cat up by the scruff of her neck, and shut her into the wardrobe. She threw a horrible hissy fit in there, but Vivi could return to her packing. "You're in a good mood." Which... must mean that Vickers hadn't talked to her. Maybe he had no intention of talking to her, especially after Vivi's letter. He obviously hadn't told Louisa that he and Vivi weren't friends anymore.

Louisa had to snort!chuckle as she heaved the trunk up on her bed. "Macha is always an awful brat. That's what makes her lovely." Open the lid and make sure that lovely cat didn't ruin any of her precious leggings. Nope! All was good! She started rearranging some of her cloths so that there was more space for a couple of books there. Shoving all the books into the backpack would be agonizing to carry from King's Cross to her mum's car without a wand.

"I am!" She turned to give Vivi a bright dreamy smile, dropping on the bed as she did so. "The big adventure will commence as soon as we set foot on King's Cross, perhaps for the last time." Louisa toyed with the book's cover as she daydreamed loudly. "I've watched a lot of my friends graduate I always thought it was a far-fetched occasion for me." Starting from Kita and right down to Paulie, Joao and Adam last term.

When her eyes found Vivi's figure again, Louisa couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed of this over-excitement. "Oh." Her voice calmed down, "You mean that." Even if Vivi kept the nonchalant cool mask, Louisa couldn't help but see that the transfer girl was an emotional one. This whole graduate talk must be harder considering they had to say goodbye to a lot of friends, amiable staff members and places even. "Well you know.. I think I moped around enough. I keep developing new moods and emotions as time goes on it seems." She threw the book into the trunk and picked up another one.

It was okay for VIVI to call her cat awful, but something else entirely for Louisa to do it, and she made a face at the girl's back before returning to the piles on her bed. She knew how it looked, but she was pre-packing - putting everything out and together and then seeing how it would best fit. It was the only logical way to pack.

"I'm starting to think I'm not nostalgic, or else I just am unattached to this place, but I don't mind leaving. I mean, it'll be different and all, and I'll miss the friends I've made here, but I'll keep in touch with the ones who matter and the world is an adventure and I just don't mind. That's what I'm saying... I don't mind leaving."

She held up a pair of socks with the toes scratched out, and those went in the trash. It was hard not to startle at Louisa's 'you mean that' comment.... which that did the girl mean? Which that did Louisa know about? Something that made her mopey, but that she was over now. "You've talked to Vick about that, then?" she asked as casually as possible.

Uhh.... okaaaaaay? Louisa was frowning and smiling as Vivi rambled - yes, that was rambling - about not being attached to the place. It sounded as though she was convincing herself of what she was saying to Louisa. "You've only been here for one term, I bet that helps too." She added a third book to the trunk that made it all so crowded. This was one of the times where she had to do the puzzle thing in order to fit those giant books without any visible lumps forming on the trunk.

She heard her cats meowing at each other and had to lean forward to make sure Viola wasn't scratching Cuddles. "Vickers? Yeah of course." He understood Louisa, and was familiar with most of her alumni friends. "But he's already stressed out by NEWTs and then now he's just... down and absent all the time." She sighed and frowned at the unsolved book puzzle in the trunk. "I'm alright though. I don't think it's so much big deal to talk about." Everyone is nostalgic these couple of days. Even returning students.

"I'm sure that helps, but I wasn't all that nostalgic last term, and I'd been at Beauxbatons for six terms," Vivi tidied her stack of text books before pulling out the ones she wanted to keep reviewing for NEWTs. The rest of the stack went into the trunk, half on each side so it wouldn't be unbalanced.

Sigh. It was impossible to tell for sure, but Louisa was being considerably unclear. DID she know about Vivi's confession, and the letter, or was she talking about something else? If the only way to ask was to come out with it, then Vivi was going to have to let the conversational topic fall. It seemed unlikely the girl knew, anyway, if she was acting like she didn't know why Vick was down. "No, it probably isn't worth discussing anymore. You're right. I'd prefer never to speak of it again." Her hands went to her hips and she surveyed her bed again.

Louisa shrugged at Vivi before trying to close the trunk, checking for any lumps. "There are still some places where I wanted to visit but... without the people. It was pointless." Like the giant tree-house, the duck pond, the tent that held that around-the-world dance. No lumps! She went over to the nightstand and opened the drawer for some small belongings that could still fit inside.

... hmm? Louisa's brows furrowed as she looked up at Vivi. "Uhm.. you mean.. like I'm doing right now? Sorry." Although she didn't understand why this was an undesirable subject to Vivi. Didn't she just say she didn't mind it? Again this girl was confusing. And snippy. Awkward silence fell down on them next. Louisa was unsure of what to talk about without getting on, uhh, Vivi's touchy side.

Maybe she was just as stressed out by NEWTs and leaving as Vickers but was better at hiding it?

Vivi had places she wanted to visit, but they were scattered across the outside world and not within these walls. Were there places she'd wanted to spend time and hadn't? Were there people she'd wanted to know and hadn't spent time with? More of the latter than the former, for sure, but Vivi didn't speak up on the topic again.

Instead, she considered the fact that Louisa was apologizing for speaking on a topic, when Vivi'd only been agreeing not to talk about it. "I don't mind... if you want to talk about it. I thought you might. I just... don't need to talk about it myself. This might be our last chance to talk about things, so... go for it, if you want." Since she rather thought that not speaking to Vick anymore meant no more Louisa. Vivi lowered her head and focused on throwing out used parchment and tried not to feel the pain of losing her best friend. AGAIN.

You chose this, Genevieve.

She snapped the trunk shut and struggled a bit to lower it back to the ground and push it back under the bed, hopefully away from any awful brats. Ahem. Then came the backpack which already had Louisa's classes stuff. She emptied the bag on the bed and started throwing all the useless items to the floor. This was the main book carrier for her journey back home.

Or from home, really. Sigh.

Louisa paused, her hands holding the bag open in midair. "Umm... I.. don't think we're talking about the same thing." A nervous chuckle escaped her lips. "Because I already talked about it. I am feeling bad about leaving Hogwarts and yet excited." She slowly lowered the bag to her lap and continued to look at Vivi expectantly. "Why would it be our last chance to talk about things?" Pause. "I mean, yeah, we'll probably get busy and far apart and stuff but we'll keep in touch. I write letters, long ones." Which hopefully will be replied to by Vivi, unlike some of her lazy friends.

... besides, didn't Vivi say that she would like to invite Louisa over to her future new place? Louisa didn't say this out loud though, she didn't want the girl to think she was eagerly waiting for that to happen. Nope.

So they were not on the same page. Vivi clasped her hands in front of her and continued to stare into her bag, which was now empty, as she worked out an appropriate response. Vickers was probably not going to talk to Louisa about everything that had happened, which really... was a smart move on his part. Why bring up the past when it would just hurt people?

Still, she owed the girl an answer, some explanation why their friendship ended when their school year did. Vivi finally lifted the bag off the bed and resumed picking through the junk she'd scavenged from her trunk. So many chocolate frog cards... had she eaten this many frogs this year?!?

"Vickers and I have decided not to continue our acquaintanceship once we graduate. I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned it to you, but he may not have realized you would... care to continue being friends. Of course, I'm happy to keep in touch, but I thought it might be awkward, all things considered. Might just be better to call it a day and leave on good terms."

Her books were turning to be a big dilemma as she stuffed one after another in her backpack. She'd done it a dozen time before, whether it was for school or for aunt's house, but never did her books get so many and so big. Louisa's train of thoughts was snapped shut as Vivi started talking about cutting the "acquaintanceship" with Vickers and by extension Louisa's, which according to her would be better than continue being... friends.

She had to blink, swallow, gape and rewind everything that happened from the start of this term before saying anything foolish or stupid.

They met at the feast, Louisa thought Vivi was being too friendly to Vickers and that she had other intentions, an idea that got quickly removed after knowing the full story of their friendship. Then both Ravenclaw girls grew slightly closer, albeit both bossy and sarcastic, Louisa thought that just made them understood each other more. However, Vivi seemed to isolate herself from the group so suddenly and maybe Louisa never really paid much attention to those gestures but they still tugged at of her subconscious.

And then there's the first obvious evidence to this nonsense. At the quidditch match when Milton kissed Vivi and Vickers wanted to leave instantly and... looked... so... uncomfortable.

No.

Louisa's cheeks flushed and she had to swallow once again, "W-what's happened?" What possibly could have gotten between them to reach such a harsh destructive decision? "I mean, you and Vickers had an argument? I thought he was your best friend, first friend... something like that! And why would I stop talking to you if you two had a fight?" Because Louisa didn't allow Vickers to leave his friends who hurt her and stopped being her friends.

So no.. this situation was not making sense right now.

UGH. This was turning into a mess, and Vivi didn't have the easy excuse of walking away. Not when she lived in this room. Maybe Aspen would let her sleep the night in her room? Vivi dumped all the chocolate frog cards into a carton and resolved to give them to Lex later. Maybe the girl collected them, since she ate so many?

It was important not to lie, and not to tell lies by omission, just as it was important not to overshare a secret that wasn't hers. Did it hurt Louisa to know that Vivi had feelings, so long as she didn't realize that Vickers was... confused about his own? Maybe just the part that Vivi was allowed to say. As it stood now, she was turning Vick into the bad guy, acting like he'd really ended their friendship when all he'd done was let Vivi walk away.

"We... didn't have an argument, precisely. We're just on opposite sides of an issue. He's my best friend, but it's important you know that I'm not his best friend. I think you are, and I think that's how it should be. I'm sure we'll make up some day, but it's best for everyone if we just..." There was something caught in her throat, and she struggled over it before continuing, her eyes still down in case Louisa caught a gleam of tears. Vivi didn't cry. Ever ever. "We can... still be friends, you and I."

Even if it hurt just as much as continuing her friendship with Vickers. Having to hear happy Louisa talking about her wonderful life with Vickers was just as painful as seeing him and not being able to have him.

Heck with packing her books and whatever. Louisa threw the backpack to the side and ignored the annoying needy cat climbing to the bed and heading toward her. They were on opposite sides of an issue? How was that different from having an argument? She was about to ask that when Vivi offered the reason.

A dumb reason.

"What?!" Blurting out and scaring the heck out of her cat trying to snuggle by her side. "I'm not his best friend... I'm.." Pause. A LONG pause. "... his girlfriend." It was impossible not to get to that conclusion by now. She did have her doubts, then she killed them, and now they were pretty much proven. "You want to be..." Shaky inhaling. "You don't want to be his best friend the way you are, do you? You want... more...?" Just as Vivi struggled to hide her moisture eyes Louisa fought to keep the quivering out of her voice. "Tell me." Because the fact that she wanted to break up with Vickers and Louisa like that meant only one thing - one bad, bad thing.

What was it with these people understanding the definition of best friend to be so completely different then the one she intended? And yet so SPOT ON to reality? Vivi stomped her foot (very mature) and glanced up at Louisa with a small frown. "That isn't what I meant," she protested.

Except it was exactly what she'd meant.

"I'm not his best friend in any way. He never said I was. I'm just trying to make it clear that... that we're unbalanced in the regard we have for each other." Which plainly meant that Vivi thought of Vick as her favorite friend, and he didn't think of her. At all. But it also meant that Vivi thought of him as more than a friend, and he was choosing Louisa because Vivi said so.

She clenched her hands at her sides and fought to maintain level eye contact with Louisa. It was difficult, but it was so so so important to show the girl she was telling the truth. "It wouldn't matter, regardless, and now we're not even friends anymore. So don't worry. There's nothing to tell." Nothing happened.

There was foot stomping, which Louisa reacted to with a scowl and a shake of the head. NOT necessary. How was she supposed to reply to that when Vickers and herself never really discussed his friendship with anyone - in fact, they didn't get time to talk properly at all after Christmas thanks to their crazy study schedule. "I don't know what best friends means to you exactly but I think he cares about you as much as he cares about--" She waved her hand trying to come up with a name... ERRRR.. "--Max...?" There was doubt in her tone. Because Vickers never reacted when Max and Emmaleigh kissed in front of him... Hmm.

Okay. Fine. This was pointless. Louisa exaggerated a sigh and shoved the bag and the books away, forcing Cuddles to jump down the bed, and busy herself with tidying it up again. "You confuse me Vivi; You say you and Vickers decided to stop being friends. You say you feel that he's your best friend but you're not his - I am. I ask you if you want to be close to him in the way I am--" Major CHOKE!GULP "--also no. Then now you decide it's better if you two just quit being friends. And me by extension." AGAIN.

She stopped doing the bed and turned to look at Vivi, forcing a humorless laugh. "That sounds so bogus. If you can just terminate relationships with people like that, then it's bogus." Pouty frowny face. "I'm not begging for anything though, mind you. I just feel like I've been so clueless about this. Is it something that just came up?" How could she miss something was going on between her boyfriend and roommate so easily?! GAH.

About as much as Max? Not to put down Max, who she loved as a brother, but Vivi rather hoped that Vickers liked her more than Max. She didn't respond, though, or at least not with more than a shrug.

She tossed the rest of her belongings into the trunk and went to let poor Macha out of the wardrobe. "I'm doing it for you both, so you can just be happy. I don't expect you to understand or accept it, but it's my decision. I'm doing what is best." And Vivi was absolutely certain it was what was best, too. Absolutely. Mostly. It hurt like the dickens, though.

"I can't control how I feel, but I can control how I act as a result. Just... I have to do this." Macha bit Vivi lightly, which was something like a sign of love, and she cuddled the cat as long as tolerated before getting scratched. Vivi let go and Macha stalked off to hide under the bed. "I really didn't want you to have to worry about all this when it's just... it's nothing."

She bit her lower lip, preventing herself from snapping at the girl right in the middle of her explanation. Ish. Because that was not an explanation, that was making decisions in a cruel inexplicable way. Louisa shoved the half-filled bag into the closet and bent down to grab Cuddles. "I don't like this. I don't like it happening exactly at this time when I was imagining an entirely different--" Sniff. "Whatever." She felt her nails digging into the cat's soft hair and quickly loosened her grip.

It was frustrating, uncalled for, and very very heartbreaking. Louisa wanted to leave now and maybe talk to Vickers? She was afraid to talk to him actually. If talking to Vivi made her feel this confused and agitated then with Vickers... well, actually it's apparently something Vivi decided so Vick must be less cryptic? What if her unspoken doubts were proven to be right? Or maybe there's something worse than that?

...

Nah. Vick would've said something.

She looked at Vivi again, blinked and slowly walked out with Viola trailing behind her.