Valentina Bentancourt
November 30, 2011 11:58 PM
Room 5! by Valentina Bentancourt
Valentina shyly entered the music room at MARS. She made sure she was all alone before letting her eyes roam freely around the room. The Spaniard smiled to herself. During the summer she had realized that she could sing, and she was actually pretty good at it. Her grandparents had even given her mother money for voice lessons. The fourth-year had been thrilled about the lessons, especially because her grandparents rarely spent money in frivolous things like that. Her mother had been eager to help her encourage her singer. Apparently, she had an aunt or something that was a famous singer, but she didn’t know her. Probably because her family had been disgraced a long time ago and they were rarely in touch with their other relatives. Valentina actually didn’t know anyone outside of her immediate family.The discovery of her talent had come when her grandmother had heard her sing in her room and she had asked her to continue doing it. Valentina had never sung in front of anyone, because she had never thought she was good, but her grandmother had smiled like she had never smiled before. It was ego-boosting, because she had never commented on her dancing skills and that was what Valentina had seen as her strong point.
Anyways, her voice coach had worked with her every day of the summer and she had loved every minute of it. The singing had also helped with her obsession with dancing, and now she divided her time between her old and new past time. The Spaniard thought that she had achieved a very good balance between them. No more endless dancing practices that ended in broken dreams. She had hated that her dancing coach always belittled her because she couldn’t attend year-round classes like the rest of the girls. It wasn’t fair, because she practiced! That one day she had come home crying about the unfairness of it all.
The fourth-year Teppenpaw spun in the middle of the room and smiled once again. She greeted the portraits in the room and bowed before starting to harmonize. She felt weird doing it without any music on the background. She was used to have her voice coach play the piano while she did her voice exercises. One of the portraits called her attention and gave her some pointers, which she was glad to receive.
She didn’t realize that the door had opened until it closed back again. The Teppenpaw looked at the person that had entered, “Hello,” she greeted in her accented English. “Do you want to use the room?” it was a silly question, but it still needed to be asked. She hoped the person wouldn’t mind sharing it with her. She had just started.
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Valentina Bentancourt
Room 5!
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Valentina Bentancourt
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Waverly Canterbury
December 05, 2011 2:12 AM
Wow this is amazing! by Waverly Canterbury
Waverly had finally found out where the practice rooms were. As the daughter of a music major, she had learned all sorts of instruments. Her mom played the piano best, though, and she loved hearing her play. Mommy liked to compose songs sometimes, but she did it as her hobby. She ran a bakery full-time, though Waverly found it more fun than anything. Mom just had really fun jobs.So Waverly wanted to play instruments, and so she went to the rooms. Room 5. She could get coached by the portraits? Magic was so awesome! Waverly skipped into the room and was surprised to see someone in there already, even though she shouldn't have. This was a public room, so of course there could be someone else in here. She felt a little shy suddenly. Sure she'd played recitals before, but not before just one person, especially a stranger.
The girl wasn't using any of the instruments, so Waverly assumed she was singing. Waverly smiled. "Yeah, can I use it too? You don't have to leave or anything. I'll just play piano quietly in the background." She smiled again and slipped away to the black grand piano. She marveled at the piano. It was so nice and looked so new. Did all pianos look like this in the magical world? She knew the one she had at home was kind of beat up because her mom had used it so much. Wendy would love this room. She could practice her flute or something here.
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Waverly Canterbury
Wow this is amazing!
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Waverly Canterbury
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Valentina
December 08, 2011 4:31 PM
I know! by Valentina
“No, not at all,” she responded with a shy voice. Valentina had always been the shy one in her family. Alex, on the other hand, had always been outspoken and friendly. The Spaniard had always lived under the shadow of an older brother. A thing she didn’t really mind, because she had always been content following him around. Her brother had an aura of happiness that made people float towards him. Valentina felt that way when she was dancing or singing. For some reason she was in another body and was a completely different person. The confidence she exuded when she danced or sang was astounding, especially if you interacted with her on a regular basis. Everyone always told her that she needed to be the same confident person while doing what she loved and being herself. She was trying, but it was hard.“I am Valentina Bentancourt. A fourth-year Teppenpaw,” she curtsied like she had been taught since she was a toddler. “Pleasure to meet you,” she finished with a smile. Another thing she wanted to change was the formality of her gestures. She wasn’t part of that circle her grandparents used to be a part of. Valentina had never experienced a high-society party and she doubted she ever would. Her family wasn’t accepted on those circles anymore, and because of that she didn’t need to be so formal all the time. It was exhausting.
“You are a first-year, right?” the girl looked way younger than her and she hadn’t seen her around the school before.
She gave the girl a wider smile, “Do you mind if you harmonize along your piano notes?” she preferred practicing with some kind of instrument on the background. It was easier to hit the notes that way and she felt more confident that way. Her voice coach made her practice without music for half of the class. She hoped the girl didn’t mind, because it was going to be awkward if she said no.
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Valentina
I know!
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Valentina
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Waverly
December 09, 2011 2:28 PM
I have to say magic beats pretty much everything by Waverly
Waverly was entranced by the girl's accent. It sounded Spanish, something she'd only know from watching TV. There were so many foreign people here! She had never met anyone outside of Arizona at her elementary school, so this was really cool, to suddenly be surrounded by people from all over the world. The girl, Valentina, also seemed to be much older than her, and Waverly felt a little shyer."Nice to meet you Valentina. Your name reminds me of Valentine's Day." She smiled. "I'm Waverly Canterbury," she said, curtsing back. She was awkward at it, even when she was wearing a skirt, since she'd never had to curtsy to anyone before except during her piano recitals.
"Yeah, I'm a first-year. Can you tell by the way I'm so excited by everything?" Valentina hadn't seen her in classes, or skipping around school, or when she'd found out about the MARS practice rooms..."Also, I'm in Pecari!" she added, and grinned.
"Yeah, of course you can!" said Waverly kindly. Harmonizing was kind of hard for Waverly, and she was amazed by people who could, like her multi-talented mother. "I can't play all that well, but I'll try not to mess up." She smiled sheepishly and sat at the piano. She had her piano book under one arm, and she opened it to a bouncy song. It was an elementary, sort of beginner, sort of intermediate song, and lots of staccato. Maybe that wouldn't be appropriate for this setting.
She turned the page, and a ballad was there. She made eye-contact with Valentina and suddenly felt nervous. She didn't want to make a fool of herself, but it was already too late. Waverly began playing. The song was in the key of A, not that Waverly knew that. It just sounded pretty, and she hadn't messed up yet.
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Waverly
I have to say magic beats pretty much everything
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Waverly
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Valentina
December 12, 2011 2:30 AM
It does by Valentina
Valentina snickered at Waverly’s comment on her name, “My name comes from Valentin, the patron of Saint Valentine’s day.” Valentina rarely spoke to the younger years. In a way, she was scared of them. She didn’t have any experience with younger cousins or anything. To her, small children were a mythical creature she didn’t know anything about. She was curious to know, but at the same time she was afraid of what she could find. She didn’t have a normal childhood; she had always been raised to be a small adult. Everything that came with being a child was unknown to the fourth-year Teppenpaw. It was sad, but she couldn’t miss something she never had.She smiled warily at the younger girl, “Nice to meet you, Waverly.” For some reason she was afraid that she would jump at her or something like that. She knew her slight, weird fear of younger kids was unfounded, but it existed. She was afraid of breaking them or something awful like that. The first-year looked awfully excited about everything, she briefly wondered if she was a muggleborn or a muggle raised half-blood, since it sure looked like it. No one that knew about magic beforehand got that happy about the wonders that magic brought. Her mother had always taught her to always be respectable of other people, even when her father had a complete different opinion on that. Since he was never around, Valentina usually forgot his prejudice pretty quickly. Seriously, their family wasn’t important, so there was no need to maintain any appearences. Her mother knew that, her brother knew that (though he was engaged to a Pureblooded girl) and her parents had stopped trying to regain the power they had lost.
“I am sure we can work it out,” She got into position and started harmonizing. Her voice perfectly going with the notes Waverly was playing. She smiled as she heard herself sing. The vibrations of her vocal cords were soothing and the Spaniard felt in her element now. She began singing with more confidence. She had never sung in front of anyone before, beside her vocal coach and family.
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Valentina
It does
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Valentina
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Waverly
December 14, 2011 2:39 AM
La la la la laaaa by Waverly
Waverly nearly stopped playing when she heard Valentina's voice. It was so beautiful! Waverly had certainly heard several people sing well before, but for some reason, Waverly was taken with Valentina's voice. Maybe because Waverly herself was a part of it, playing the piano notes Valentina was harmonizing with. Anyway, it sounded really pretty.This all reminded Waverly of the times she had spent with her mother. Since Mom worked at the bakery below their apartment back home in Phoenix, she pretty much counted as being home all day. The bakery was Waverly's second home, anyway, and a big part of her first. Mom liked to say she had been born in the bakery. Ever since she could remember, Waverly would wake up in the mornings to the smell of baking bread and her mother's voice singing down below, awake since four or five to get the baking started. And Waverly would dress and rush downstairs to watch her mom and eat some fresh bread before going to her muggle school. On the weekends when the bakery was closed, Waverly had sat with her mother at their beat-up little piano and would listen to her mom play and sing and sometimes write a few verses to her own song. It had been a really perfect life, and Waverly missed it.
She missed a note on the keys, and it messed her up. "Sorry!" she exclaimed, and rubbed her eye. She didn't want to get all homesick all of a sudden. She'd been doing real well since she came away to school. Besides, she'd be seeing her parents over winter break, and there was so much to learn right now about magic! She couldn't even begin to list all of the things she had to tell her family. Her thoughts brightened her a little, and she coughed, embarrassed.
"Sorry, music and your singing just reminded me of home, and my mom, and the bakery and, erm, everything back at home. Sorry." Waverly smiled. "I'll start playing again." She tried to remember where she had messed up, but just picked a place and began to play again and smiled at Valentina to continue. She really liked listening to people sing, especially because Waverly herself didn't have much of a singing voice.
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Waverly
La la la la laaaa
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Waverly
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Valentina
December 16, 2011 7:16 PM
LAAAAAAA by Valentina
Valentina covered her mouth with her hands to stifle a chuckle that had threatened to come out. She was laughing at Waverly, no. Valentina was incapable of such a horrid thing, but she was uncomfortable with a first-year. She really couldn’t remember how she had been when she had first started school. Children were complicated creatures and she wasn’t sure she wanted to have one of her own. Thankfully, she wasn’t betrothed and didn’t have to produce kids to continue a line. She was free to do whatever she wanted, and she was going to enjoy that freedom.Valentina Bentancourt was going to become a famous dancer and live from applauses and fame. There was nothing else she really wanted. As far as she could remember, she had never wanted to get married and have children. The Spaniard wanted to hear applause every time she went on stage. She smiled to herself as she heard the ecstatic applause of her imaginary audience after she finished dancing the last step of Giselle. It was going to be amazing.
“No problem,” she said while tucking a strand of hair on her ear. Waverly seemed to be pretty upset or something. Valentina wasn’t the best in reading human emotions, especially if she didn’t know the person at hand. The Spaniard didn’t know what to do from here, part of her wanted to leave the girl and the other wanted to comfort her. Though, the first part was stronger than the first. She really wasn’t comfortable with little children.
“Being away can difficult, but it gets better.” It was the best she could do to be comforting. She continued playing. She stayed silent for a few minutes just listening to the notes fly around the room. Music had the effect of making her go to other places, where she didn’t have to worry about anything. She felt the same way singing as she did dancing. Everything was okay after she started doing what she loved.
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Valentina
LAAAAAAA
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Valentina
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Waverly
December 20, 2011 5:38 AM
Wow, your voice is quite...magnificent by Waverly
Waverly pouted when Valentina stifled her chuckle. It was half-hearted though. She knew she'd messed up, and she couldn't really do anything about it. It was nice she'd amused her new companion at least. Waverly smiled at Valentina's attempt to comfort her. It was helpful, actually. She knew she wasn't the only one who missed home sometimes, and she knew it would get better. Everything only got better in the long-run, at least from her experience.Waverly played some more, and then wanted to practice her scales the way she liked to play them; fast. But since she had someone accompanying her with their voice, she couldn't exactly ask them to speed up their singing. It was probably bad for her voice, though Waverly wasn't sure about that. She wouldn't really know. Valentina wasn't singing now, though, and Waverly wanted to get to know the older girl better.
"Are you taking singing lessons?" she asked. "You really are good." She smiled. "You should be a professional singer. Do you want to be someday?" Waverly wondered if there were singing classes here on campus. She doubted it, since this was a school to learn about magic, but maybe in college or something. Did wizards have a school for arts like they did in the muggle world? That would be really cool. Waverly had wanted to make her living as a musician herself at first, but her mom had told her it was a hard life. She'd just gotten lucky because she had a bakery to rely on and a husband who could support her. Waverly wanted that, so she could just do what she loved.
On the other hand, Waverly had so many more ambitions. She loved art and baking and reading and now using magic, and she wanted to impact the world somehow, whether it be writing a really good book, or baking the best cake ever, or something along those lines. The best cake ever idea probably wouldn't work, but she liked to think about it often. All Waverly knew for now, being young as she was, was that she wanted to have a bakery of her own someday. One like Mama's.
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Waverly
Wow, your voice is quite...magnificent
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Waverly
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Valentina
December 23, 2011 4:52 PM
aaaw. Thank you! by Valentina
Valentina beamed at Waverly’s compliment. It was always a good thing when a stranger complimented you on something because they weren’t biased about their opinion. Her mother and grandmother said she was amazing, but Valentina had learned to be wary of her relative’s opinions. Not that she thought they weren’t being honest, but feelings tended to get in the way of what they thought. Her mother had always told her she had been a beautiful baby and after she saw her baby pictures, she had realized she had looked like a hairless rat. She most definitely had not been pretty. She had learned that lesson about two years ago and it had been hard. It was better to ask for stranger’s opinions, really.“Thank you. I just started this summer,” she smiled at Waverly, feeling more at ease with the younger girl. It was true about what people said, compliments took anyone very far. Valentina now felt like she could relate to the younger girl. It was amazing, really. Her self-esteem was currently flying and didn’t have any plans to come back down, at least for a while. “No, not really. My thing is dancing. I am a ballet dancer,” she responded in a more excited tone than before. There was no question about what she preferred to do. She loved singing, but ballet was her passion. “Singing is new to me.” And it really was.
“What about you? Where did you learn to play the piano?” she asked while she sat down on the floor to listen to Waverly. In reality, Valentina was skipping in her mind. She was still pretty happy about Waverly telling she was good enough to become a professional singer. The Spaniard was sure she was a better dancer than singer, and her now big ego was telling her that she was the best dancer there was. It was an awesome thing to feel. The Teppenpaw was planning on applying for the Spanish Ballet Academy once she graduated from Sonora, which was why she practiced so hard. The Academy only took the best, and she needed to prove to them that she was the best.
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Valentina
aaaw. Thank you!
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Valentina
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Waverly
December 26, 2011 7:34 PM
My pleasure! by Waverly
Waverly saw Valentina ease a little more after she complimented her singing. Her dad had always said a true compliment went a long way, and he was right so far. It had gotten him a promotion, that was for sure, and Waverly made lots of new friends that way. She hoped Valentina, though she was older, would become a good friend."Really? You're really good for just starting this summer!" Waverly didn't know how long it would take for a person to develop and train their voice, but she thought it would take longer than a few months. She could be wrong, but she didn't know any better. The fact that Valentina was a singer and a dancer impressed Waverly. She could hardly sing and play piano at the same time like her mom, and she clearly had two left feet. It was unfortunate, but that was how she was. Sad, but true.
"That's really cool! I love watching ballets. I saw The Nutcracker once with my mom a few years ago. So you want to be a professional ballerina?" Waverly always thought that having a career on the stage was really cool. She wanted to act in a play someday, if there was ever any opportunity to do so here, just to try it out. It was crazy how good these people were. "I'd love to see you perform one day." If Valentina's passion was dancing and singing was just new to her, she couldn't imagine how good Valentina could be at dancing.
Valentina turned the conversation to her, and Waverly smiled. "My mom taught me," she said. "She's a musician, but that's only her hobby. She runs a bakery too. She pretty much taught me and my sister everything to do about art. I can't sing as well as your or my mom, but I started piano lessons when I was, like, five. My mom's a pretty hard teacher, but she was a good teacher too. The piano we have at home is really worn out now because my mom's had it since forever, so I think this piano I'm playing now is really nice." Waverly ran her hand across the white keys for good measure. "I love playing instruments, but I can only play the piano right now. My mom's trying to teach me guitar, but it'll be harder because I'm at school now. I think my sister's going to learn before me." Then she, Wendy, and her mom could start their own band! Or something. Waverly smiled at the thought.
"I'm not good enough to try and get into a college for piano or anything though. I think I want to be a baker like me mom. I can bake pretty well! I wish they had a room for baking or cooking or something." Waverly hadn't seen the other rooms yet, but she assumed there wasn't such a thing. Potions was close to it, but she was horrible at that subject, so she had found out, so that was out. Baking was her first passion. "So like dancing's your real passion, mine's baking! I could bake you cupcakes or something if I had an oven and supplies."
Waverly smiled and pushed her brown hair behind her ear. "So where are you from? Or at least, where does your accent come from? It's really pretty."
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Waverly
My pleasure!
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Waverly
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Valentina
December 29, 2011 3:50 PM
*curtsies* by Valentina
Valentina smiled at her Waverly’s compliment. She was beginning to like the younger girl. The Spaniard was hardly ever complimented and the feelings that came from them was something she could easily get used to. They were addictive. Her smile was bigger than usual. “Yes, my grandmother heard me singing in the shower and got me a vocal coach.” It wasn’t a really interesting story, really. It had happened and she was glad it had. She now had something else to occupy her time. “Thank you.” It was the proper thing to say after one had been complimented. Though she had to do one thing at the time, singing and dancing at the same time was something she couldn’t do, or even attempted.The Spaniard leaned on the palms of her hands; it was more comfortable that way. “Well, that is my plan,” she responded with a smile to her question. Yes, she wanted to be a professional ballerina. It was her dream. Dancing was her life; it was what she had worked hard for. No one in her family understood that. Her mother thought that she should be looking for a husband and settle down, but that was the last thing in Valentina’s life. She wanted to see the world, to be away from the restraints her family and social background had on her. Alex had been betrothed, but he was actually happy. She was happy for his big brother, but that was a life she didn’t want for herself.
“The Nutcracker is a beautiful ballet. I always go with my mother to see different ballets.” And every time she did, she couldn’t help but imagine herself dancing as the Prima Ballerina. She had always imagined the Prima Ballerina living a life of glamour, and that was what she wanted. She wanted to be loved and revered by everyone, and live off from the applauses from the audience.
She nodded to Waverly’s explanation of how she had learned to play the piano. Her own mother knew how to play it, but she seldom did. Emiliana Bentancourt lived for her children. Valentina sometimes got sad just thinking of her mother all alone in their house while they were away. She was most of the year at school and Alex was now playing Quidditch and was not home. She wondered what her mother did with all of her free time. “A bakery sounds delicious,” she laughed. The Spaniard loved to eat bread, but she hardly did it. She had a strict eating regime. “You could ask the praire-elves to help you.” Maybe they would let her bake something when they weren’t busy with the meals.
Waverly talked a lot, she was sure an excitable little first-year. She chuckled a little bit at that. She wondered if she had been so excitable when she first started school. It seemed like so long ago. The fourth-year blinked at her last question. She didn’t remember anyone asking her where she was from, “I was born in Spain and lived there until we moved to Boston four years ago.”
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Valentina
*curtsies*
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Valentina
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Waverly
January 05, 2012 7:32 PM
*beams* by Waverly
Waverly thought that Valentina's singing career, if it could be called that, began in a funny way, and she smiled. If her mom had ever heard her singing in the shower, she'd never said anything about it. Her mom had tried to encourage her daughters to sing, but Wendy was more interested in watching TV and taking acting classes, and Waverly always felt a little shy, even singing in front of her mother. She could sing fine by herself, but it was always weird to think that people could hear her when she was singing in the shower. To be honest, she didn't know who didn't sing in the shower, and it was a little comforting knowing that.Waverly wished her family had more time to go watch ballets. She had learned that bakeries almost never got breaks, and anyway, she missed the bakery more when it was closed than she ever would miss watching a ballet. She was glad that Valentina appreciated the arts, though, and Waverly was glad.
She hadn't thought about the prairie elves helping her bake, and she brightened at the thought. "That's a good idea. I didn't even think about that. I hope they're not too busy." Waverly loved telling people about her mom's bakery, because who didn't love them? Always so warm and nice and smelled like fresh bread all the time. Yum! It would be fun to work in a kitchen, although a little scary since she hadn't made anything by herself before.
Waverly guessed that Valentina had moved to the States then when she was ten, around her age. No wonder she still had her accent. "That's cool. Do you ever miss Spain or Boston? Which do you like better?" She couldn't imagine growing up in one place, moving to another, and then leaving home and her parents in a whole 'nother place to go to school. "I'm just from Phoenix, Arizona and I know I miss it a lot."
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Waverly
*beams*
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Waverly
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