Hazel knew at this point that she had fumbled. [i]Oh Atros I've walked into a trap.[/i] Hazel's face was reddening, she was acutely aware that Marianne must've known that Hazel was talking about her. Hazel opened her mouth, but no words came out. Any utterance she could've made felt like molasses when it tried to work it's way up her throat. All but one:

"Uhhhhh..."

Hazel tried clearing her throat. That should help, she thought. It did indeed help a bit, as she managed to form at least one word on her next attempt to speak:

"Well..."

Hazel paused again. She began to nervously tap her foot on the ground, and her free hand shot up to her hair, playing with the strands, searching for some sort of diversion. Trying to decide what to say was a true mental struggle for her. She tried to form words again:

"Well... what sort of... people?"

She had only managed to restate the question. She attempted to clear her throat again, but instead it sounded like some sort of horrendous coughing noise. [i]This isn't going good, I need to say something, everyone's looking at me, I'm going to look stupid if I don't say something for the love of Atros I need to say something.[/i] Her thoughts were racing by a mile a minute, she was overthinking the question, and internal panic working its way up inside her, and this manifested on her face as a look of blank confusion. She took a deep breath and made a final attempt at response:

"Well... y'know... there are... uhhh... even if someone is trying to kill me... I can still, y'know, uh... admire them. I mean, maybe I can admire some people for trying to kill me. I'm not exactly an easy person to kill... so I can, uh, appreciate the effort. And also... this person trying to kill me... well, maybe I just... y'know, maybe I just like them. Because they might be... uh, kinda like me..."

She was surprised that she managed to fumble her way through a half sensible sentence.