Miss DiAnna Diaz
November 09, 2011 9:48 AM
First years' library orientation by Miss DiAnna Diaz
Last year's pilot attempt at offering first year students a tour of the library had gone well, and so the library orientation was being repeated this year. First years had barely even started their classes, and so many of them had not yet had chance to visit the library. Instead of attending class following breakfast one morning, the first year students were required to meet in the library, at DiAnna's desk near the entrance from the main school (the entrance to the Aladren commons was also concealed within the library, but that would be one landmark she would keep quiet from the rest of the students).DiAnna herself was waiting to meet the students. Some of them - most notably the Aladrens - had probably seen her around already. Those who hadn't might not be prepared to discover their school librarian was a young woman of twenty-five years, who was perhaps the Muggle fairytale pictoral representation of a witch (minus the warts, of cause). DiAnna's long hair was dyed black, she always wore dark eye make-up, and further whitened her already pale skin. Her wardrobe was composed almost entirely of black, with occasional flashes of purple and red, and was largely made of velvet and lace. Her feet were encased in high-heeled boots, that helped to put her above the height of the younger students (though several of the older kids were still taller).
"Okay, everyone," DiAnna called attention to herself. She'd gotten a lot more confident with addressing large groups of people since she'd accidentally become divinations professor for the past couple of terms. She was, however, pleased to be returning to her original duties this year. "For those of you who don't know me, I'm Miss Diaz, the librarian. This morning we're just going to have a look round the library, because it can be quite daunting when you don't know what you're doing." her words were undoubtedly more or less identical to those she'd spoken to last year's group of first year students.
"Before we start, you should know that you can take out as many books as you like from the library, as long as you're being sensible. They need renewing after a week or they've been charmed to find their way back to the library." How they did this had never been very clear to DiAnna, but they somehow all ended up on her desk without the students' involvement. "Obviously, if you keep having overdue books, you'll be allowed to borrow fewer at one time than someone who returns books promptly, which could get you into trouble at the end of the year when you need to study for exams." It hadn't been a problem before, but it seemed fair to draw their attention to the potential scenario.
"That said, you can stay and study in the librry until ten minutes before curfew, and use any of the books without borrowing them. When you want to check a book out, just find me or one of the library monitors." That was something else she needed to explain. "The library monitors are student volunteers - the sign-up sheet will be going up next week," she pointed to the noticeboard, "and first years are welcome to sign up, too, as monitors or assistants." That was the basics covered; now for the books. "Okay, so if you could all stay together for the tour, that would be great."
Walking round with the first years, DiAnna showed them where they could find all their subject-relevant textbooks and some age-appropriate fiction. She also pointed out the restricted section, and made it very clear that students were not allowed to enter without staff permission. At the end of the tour, she addressed the group once more. "Okay, now you're free to have a look round properly, and if you want to come and check some books out, or if you have any questions, I'll be at my desk."
(OOC: Remember to stick to site rules when you post. You will earn House points for posting here, just as you would in a class.)
Subthreads: Music to my ears. by Ephanie Lucore with Elijah Errant, Ephanie
... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw with Jade Owen, Angel, Angel
What a waste of time by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus with Meggie Brownbriar, Gareth
Getting oriented and acquainted. by Alicia Bauer with Thaddeus Pierce II, Aladren, Thad Pierce
Smiling and Nodding. by Cepheus Princeton with Waverly Canterbury, Waverly
0
Miss DiAnna Diaz
First years' library orientation
0
Miss DiAnna Diaz
1
5
Alicia Bauer
November 14, 2011 5:08 PM
Getting oriented and acquainted. by Alicia Bauer
Alicia was, she thought, probably more familiar with the library than most of her fellow first years due to living behind it and having taken advantage of some of her free time to look around and learn some of the sections, but she gathered with the other first years, smiling and looking around and trying her best to look excited. Really, she was still worrying that she’d picked the wrong ribbon to hold her bangs back from her face – she’d considered the blue and gold ones she’d worn her first day to celebrate her Sorting, but had finally chosen a red one for today – and was going to be seen as not Aladren enough to win the librarian’s favor, but she didn’t want to wear blue all the time and people think she was so Aladren that she’d only be friends with Aladrens. Besides, she liked how the red ribbon looked in her hair much better, she didn’t want to go all year without wearing it.She made a few notes in the little notebook she kept in her pocket, particularly about the library monitor thing – that would be great, she should do that – and tried to put it away without it being obvious she was doing anything when the tour began, since she wasn’t sure what people would think of someone taking notes during the library introduction speech, especially when she was an Aladren and supposed to be here anyway.
The tour mostly covered things she had already found, subjects and the age-appropriate fiction section she expected to only check a few token things out of for show, but the restricted section got an honestly covetous look for a second before she caught herself, and even then she glanced at it again as they moved away from it. She knew many of the things in there would go completely over her head even if she could get to them, at least until she knew a little more than she did now, but she couldn’t help but want to go see. There was all that information in there, and she couldn’t have it, and it was as bad as it had been when Rachel had first gone to school and had been playing with her wand all the time and Alicia had just been able to look on and do nothing.
It had been a few months later that she’d started teaching herself as much as she could. That, too, was something to think about.
When they were given permission to wander, she smiled widely, pleased, for a moment, looking at the floor in the same moment before she began to look around the library, wondering where to go first. It was an effort, but she resisted the temptation to head right back to the restricted section and stand there, instead approaching another student with a less excited and more social smile. “There’s lots here, isn’t there?” she said, making a small gesture toward the shelves. “We shouldn’t even have trouble with all Professor Fawcett’s research.”
16
Alicia Bauer
Getting oriented and acquainted.
210
Alicia Bauer
0
5
Thaddeus Pierce II, Aladren
November 14, 2011 8:00 PM
Have you succeeded? by Thaddeus Pierce II, Aladren
The library orientation was something Thaddeus had been looking forward to. Granted, he had already explored it a bit on his own (he was, after all, an Aladren, and each time he had passed through on his way to or from the Common Room, he had taken a different circuitous route just to see what other books were available), but a guided tour would provide more information than a simple walk-through could.Two such examples were the mention of the Monitors and Assistants, which he would definitely be signing up for, and the closed off Restricted Section, which he might not have otherwise known about. The later became an immediate source of curiosity and a goal to be earned in time. It wasn't so much that he wanted to know the kinds of things that would gain a book a restricted status, as that he didn't take well to being told he couldn't know things.
When Ms. Diaz (who was very unlikely to be of pure blood given that she had a job, even before considering her odd mode of dress) finished and retreated to her desk, Thad was seriously tempted to follow after her and pepper her with a variety of questions he had about the history and statistics of the library (she had, after all, made the very generous offer to answer any questions he had), but then Alicia approached and took the decision from him.
He decided that Ms. Diaz wasn't going anywhere and he had plenty of time over the next seven years to ambush her desk and interrogate her for all the knowledge she might be able to impart. In the meantime, there was Alicia Bauer. She was the person from their Opening Feast group that Thad felt the most sure was proper family-approved friend material.
He smiled and gave her an abbreviated bow of welcome. "Good day, Miss Alicia," he greeted, uncertain if he was permitted yet to use her first name, and hoping that the addition of the salutation was enough formality to make up for it if he wasn't.
He just hoped her opening statement wasn't some kind of backhanded reference to Derry's first potions research project. Alicia had one sister who was a prefect who was too old to know about it, but he wasn't sure how old her other sister was; she could have been in Derry's beginner class two years ago. It was bad enough Thad knew his mother had been too old to naturally bear him when she did. He didn't feel that was a fact the rest of his class needed to know as well.
"I am sure it will suit all of our needs," he agreed. "I don't think my family has this many books between the five houses on Mt. Pierce put together." Though, to be fair to his parents' collection, they accounted for about half of the Pierce library by themselves. But the Sonora library was certainly impressive.
0
Thaddeus Pierce II, Aladren
Have you succeeded?
0
Thaddeus Pierce II, Aladren
0
5
Alicia Bauer
November 15, 2011 1:38 PM
I think I'm doing pretty well. by Alicia Bauer
Talking to Thaddeus wasn’t quite like talking to any of the others in their year, at least of the ones she’d met so far. She could think on it calmly enough when she wasn’t doing it, but during the conversation itself, she couldn’t quite get rid of the knot of anxiety in her stomach even if she relaxed enough to not concentrate on it, and she could not afford to relax because she had to watch herself every moment around him. It would be entirely too easy to make a mistake and get called out on it.That could happen with anyone, of course, there were a million and two different ways it could happen, but if it was going to happen, she really thought it would be with him, just because he noticed things, and asked questions about them. Alicia would almost say he was nearly as observant as she was, when the only person she thought was actually more observant than she was was her stepfather. That was why, deep down, she almost liked talking to him in spite of it being nerve-wracking, though she wouldn’t admit that even to Jeremy. He’d be horrified by her not being strictly professional about it, kind of.
“Good day,” she said, then decided just not to say his name. She liked the sound of ‘Miss Alicia,’ but calling him ‘Mister Thaddeus’ would sound like she was a house-elf – something she would never, under any circumstances, willingly sound like – and ‘Mr. Pierce’ would sound too formal. She just tried to smile warmly as she said it instead.
She nodded as he spoke about the five houses of Mt. Pierce, wondering if the implication was there that he didn’t exactly have a home library, either. Jeremy had some law books in his home office, and Rachel had a shelf of what Alicia had determined in the five years her sister had been gone to be really stupid novels, and of course she had all her schoolbooks and things, but there wasn’t really a library in her house, the way she had heard there were in some of the really old, big families’. There were definitely nowhere near as many books in all the family houses – home, Dad’s, Granddad’s, Gramma Alma’s, so forth – put together to match this, not even if she counted everyone’s magazines as books and then acknowledged that Aunt Hannah existed for a minute and counted Sam’s comic books. If he still read those; she had as little to do with him as she possibly could, as she did with all of her three aunts and the stupid two’s illegitimate children.
“Most of what my adults have are for people’s specialties,” she said. “My stepfather went to law school, my uncle’s into Potions, Gr….” She stopped before the word became clear, deciding not to mention her grandfather being in international relations. It was technically true, Granddad had been working at a desk there since, as Momma would put it, time out of mind – since before he divorced Gramma Claire and married Gramma Nadia - and he wasn’t likely to retire any time soon, but there was a reason they just put it like that if they had to mention her mother's family and usually tried not to mention her mother's family at all.
“Excuse me," she said instead, after turning the start of a word into a slight cough. "We don't have anything like this, though, either. I can’t even decide what to look at first. Did you see any sections you thought you’d spend a lot of time in?” In case she ever needed to know where to look for him. Knowing things was always useful.
16
Alicia Bauer
I think I'm doing pretty well.
210
Alicia Bauer
0
5
Thad Pierce
November 26, 2011 6:23 PM
You do seem to be doing well by Thad Pierce
Thad noticed she avoided the name issue entirely, which was probably wise of her, at least until he invited her to use his first name. He wasn't quite sure he was ready to make that invitation to people yet, though, until he knew them a little better. The last thing he wanted was to come across as too casual. That was Derry's crime, and Thad was sure it was what would cost his cousin his birthright, most likely sooner rather than later.It was better, then, to be too formal, at least at first, and imprint everyone with what a stick-in-the-mud he was as their first impression of him. Then, when he loosened up a little bit, people ought to take that as them being found worthy of his friendship, rather than an inherent fault in Thaddeus's social graces.
He had never claimed to be good at making friends anyway. If he followed formality and polite niceties, he at least wouldn't upset anybody.
With that in mind, he nodded politely as she explained the types of books her family owned. He could only assume, based on the described composition, that none of her adult family members had been an Aladren or a Terrigena, or the breadth of subjects would be wider.
She asked about his interests, though, before he could correct her misconception that his family's collection was equally limited. Obligated to answer that first - if he expected people to answer his multitude of questions, it was only fair to answer any question posed to him to the best of his ability - he said, "I expect I'll read as much as I can from all of the different subject areas."
It was a nice pat Aladren answer, and that was precisely why he felt he needed to explain it further, to prove that he wasn't just saying that to curry favor or to fit into the stereotype. He really did mean it exactly as he'd said it. He smiled a little self-deprecatingly, so she knew that he knew he was weird, and admitted, "When Sonora first hired my - er," Thaddeus stopped abruptly as he realized his mistake; Amelia was nothing to him and the pronoun 'my' was completely misplaced. He backtracked to the beginning of that sentence and continued on, "When Sonora hired Coach Pierce, my parents were concerned I may be placed in her House, so they took measures to ensure I would go to Aladren instead."
He paused for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to say this without making his parents out as some kind of wackos or himself as some kind of manipulated creation. It wasn't like that. He loved his parents dearly, and they had never done anything to make him doubt that they loved him back just as strongly. He was their son as well as their heir. He'd seen Derry interact with his father and knew the difference.
But there had been . . . pavlovian training . . . over the course of six of Thad's most developmental years.
"My parents encouraged learning above all other things." He smiled, feeling more than a little pleased about the next fact, "When I asked 'why?' over and over until my parent's couldn't answer anymore, instead of getting annoyed like most people would, my parents brought me to my mother's collection of books - she was a Terrigena, that was Sonora's most Aladren-like House, so she had books about a wide range of different things," Thad was pleased to have worked that into his answer. "Then they showed me how to find the answers for myself."
He waved a hand around the library, "I still have a lot of questions." She'd been present for the Head of House speech the night before, so she probably had an inkling that he wasn't joking.
"What about you? What sections look the most interesting to you?"
1
Thad Pierce
You do seem to be doing well
213
Thad Pierce
0
5
Alicia Bauer
November 29, 2011 10:03 AM
Thank you. by Alicia Bauer
Alicia wasn’t sure what to make of the completely neat answer about reading as much as possible from everything possible. Sure, she would actually be doing that this year, or at least planned to do that, but…well, the rules were all different for her, for one thing, because she was a girl, and there was what a person said and what they did, too. Did he mean it (in which case she would have to very carefully almost always know just a little less than he did, which would be irritating since she wouldn’t know how much he actually knew unless she started stalking his reading), or was it just a nicety, an expected response from an Aladren in a new library?Her thoughts about that, though, were completely swept aside by his brief stumble over Coach Pierce. When Sonora first hired his what? She had guessed that Coach Pierce had to be a relation, they looked very similar and Jeremy had told her Pierce had once been a socialite, nothing much to do with the, er, ‘family’ in California, before she got thrown out for all the usual things girls from old families sometimes got disowned for, but what was she in that sentence?
It probably, she consoled herself, didn’t matter, though. Whatever she had been, she wasn’t now. She’d remember Thaddeus had said it, come close to owning the woman somehow, but it didn’t seem likely to be very useful unless she found out they were secretly friends when they shouldn’t be.
Other people’s childhoods were interesting to her, though, so she was distracted easily enough by his description of how his parents had tried to keep him out of Crotalus. If anything, Momma and Jeremy had been aiming the other way, since the only family members to go into Aladren instead of Crotalus, Gramma Claire and Uncle Geoff, were also the least successful ones except for Aunt Lavinia and Kate, but now his parents were happy and she was happy and it was all well. She laughed when he said he still had a lot of questions, remembering the welcoming speech and how relieved she’d been that he had questions so she had time to think of one so the professor would notice her. “Really?” she asked lightly. “I guess it’s good that we live here, then.”
Here, with all this knowledge at their fingertips, once they worked out how to look for it and sort through it and focus on what was relevant in it. Whoever knew the most had the most power, everyone knew that. The power of spells and the other kind, the kind she’d seen her mother spend her whole life working toward. This was a place of…not knowing, exactly. Of finding out. She looked around, considering her answer for what interested her most.
“History, maybe,” she settled finally. There were many things that everyone knew that she just didn’t. Things she was going to have to improve herself in very quickly if she wanted to fit in. “Maybe Charms theory. It’s really all so interesting.” She smiled, realizing her answer was as pat as his had been. “I think my mother and my stepfather were trying to get me into Crotalus, but they never told me not to like to learn everything, either.” That was an understatement on so many levels, if not quite the way his parents had done it. Though that way, she guessed, too; no one had ever gotten either of her sisters a Latin tutor so they could understand spell construction better and more easily.
16
Alicia Bauer
Thank you.
210
Alicia Bauer
0
5