Staging a surprise (tag Sylvia). on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Nathaniel Mordue

March 06, 2018 6:22 PM

Staging a surprise (tag Sylvia). by Nathaniel Mordue

Nathaniel’s ill-fated - or at least ill-midway-pointed; he couldn’t really consider meeting a seemingly nice person as an ill chance - journey to the Labyrinth Gardens had been based primarily on the need to get away, but it had had an ulterior motive, too. He had hoped to both send photographs home to let Mama and his younger brother see some of what Sonora had to offer and to show photographs to Sylvia to see if there was any place they might like to claim for their own in the Gardens, a semi-secluded retreat not as good as their treehouse, but as close as they were going to get in a public place like a school. The pressure of always being on-duty, on display, on point was beginning to wear on him, so he could only assume it was the same for his cousin. Simon didn’t seem to mind, but it was Simon’s job not to mind. Nathaniel and Sylvia were, as he had told Kir McLeod on his first night here, less important than Simon, so they could have some time and space to themselves, as long as they didn’t take too much.

In the end, though, the possibility that Cleo or someone similarly kind-hearted wouldn’t always be around to rescue them if they got lost in the Gardens had deterred him from going forward with his original plan. Instead, he had gone in search of a new plan, and thought he had found one in the school’s magic rooms. Accordingly, he began to make plans.

During the week, it was impractical to try to deviate much from schedules, but when he had spare moments, he visited the rooms, figuring out how to use them. Then on Friday evening, he told Sylvia to meet him in MARS at 12:30 on Saturday. Then on Saturday, he slipped into the Cascade Hall twice after breakfast, squirrelling away a bit of this and a bit of that, before hurrying over to MARS to make the appointment. He grinned at his cousin when he met her.

“I’ve got a surprise,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her toward the door to the water room.

The trick, he’d discovered, was exact words. Any body of water would work. The stream running through the room when he opened the door was one of several factors preventing the scene from being just like the land at her house, but it was close enough - closer, anyway, than anything else he had found.

“I - um - stole us a picnic,” he said, opening his bag to produce the mix of easily-transportable foods, sandwiches wrapped up in napkins, and a sealed bottle of juice. “I thought it would be nice to just - get away from everyone for a while. Like our treehouse - or as close to it as we can get here,” he amended. “I tried to make it make a treehouse, but I haven’t figured that out yet,” he admitted. “Do you like it?”

16 Nathaniel Mordue Staging a surprise (tag Sylvia). 1412 Nathaniel Mordue 1 5

Sylvia Mordue

March 09, 2018 10:14 AM

You do it very well by Sylvia Mordue

Sonora was a lot less fun than she had imagined. She had imagined it being a whirl of society fun with some light studying. It was more like constant studying with occasional socialising. And she was excited at meeting all the right people here, but it was much more fun doing that at balls where everyone was dressed up than it was in school, where sartorial matters left much to be desired. She was beginning to see why jewellery was deemed such a good gift for school-aged witches, as it was pretty much the only way to show that one was Someone. There was a second year girl who had particularly impressive skills in this field and with whom she was determined to forge a better acquaintance.

Simon was back to being Simon, thankfully. He never lasted long when they rowed before giving in and apologising, and though he’d toughed it out longer than she expected, a pet lip and asking if he was mad at her had had him being properly brotherly again. And then she had been properly sisterly again, showering him with hugs, kisses and smiles and telling him he was the best brother. Sylvia was conscious only that the pouting worked, and that affection was a decent-ish currency. She hadn’t fully analysed how they played into Simon’s desires to Do The Right Thing (be a good brother who did not upset his precious sister) and how he was weak and insecure enough to be easily fed by the ego stroking that came after he apologised. She was conscious of what worked, but not particularly of how or why, or even particularly that it could be viewed as a bad thing - she felt genuinely grieved when she felt that she wasn’t in Simon’s good graces, and they were all happier now that he was being nice again.

She was excited to spend some quality time with Nate at the weekend. She tried to work with him in class often but they also had to network, and it wasn’t the same as having time to really talk just with each other. She returned his grin, happy to see him and at the prospect of spending time together, but then he made it even better by saying he had a surprise. Sylvia loved surprises. Most of the time. There had been exactly two unpleasant ones in her life - Uncle Nicky leaving, and Nate being sorted away from her. But when someone announced a surprise, it always meant they had done something nice for her, and she was eager to see what was waiting on the other side of the door.

“Oh Nate! It’s lovely,” she beamed. She hadn’t used the MARS rooms but understood that they were a sort of… projection of what one wished for. This was Nate’s wish then, for them.

“You are wonderful,” she praised, giving him a tight hug when he announced he’d also brought them a picnic. “And it’s fine that it’s not our treehouse. I mean… It might be a little strange if it was. That’s our at home place. We can have a different one here. But one that’s still just for us. That’s the thing that matters most.”

13 Sylvia Mordue You do it very well 1413 Sylvia Mordue 0 5

Nathaniel

March 19, 2018 4:29 PM

Why, thank you. by Nathaniel

It’s lovely. You are wonderful. These were always pleasant things to hear. He hugged Sylvia back, smiling happily over her shoulder.

“You’re right,” he agreed as Sylvia elaborated why it was okay that it was different from home. “I wish we could have something - permanent, I guess, here, too, but…” he shrugged. “I’m glad you like it,” he concluded, smiling again.

He settled down and began unwrapping a sandwich. “I just thought we needed to get away from - everything,” he said. “Is it just me, or did you expect Sonora to be a lot more fun, too?”

He was not upset about being a Teppenpaw, exactly, but he didn’t like that he’d been Sorted away from Sylvia. That was when things had started to go a bit wrong. Then things just kept...going wrong. He kept making random objects scream and getting in trouble with teachers and losing control and - he needed to retreat, regather somewhere safe, and he assumed the same was true of Sylvia.

“I don’t think I really thought about what it would be like being in public all the time,” he concluded. “Even with our teachers at home, we didn’t have to be this - on all the time, you know? How are you in Crotalus? Is Miss Pierce nice?” Not that Nathaniel could really do anything about it if she wasn't - it wasn't proper to hex girls - but while he wouldn't admit it for fear of offending her, he worried about Sylvia having no privacy whatsoever because she had a roommate. He was sometimes lonely by himself in Teppenpaw, but at least he didn't have to go on show the moment he woke up each morning.

16 Nathaniel Why, thank you. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Sylvia

March 22, 2018 5:06 AM

You're very welcome by Sylvia

“We have each other,” Sylvia reminded him, when he wished for something permanent. “And this way it stays just for us. There’s too many other people here who might spoil things,” it was hard enough guarding their treehouse against invasions from Jeremy, who was covetous of it and of joining in with them, and worse still the adults often seemed to think he ought to be allowed to. She couldn’t imagine trying to keep a place at school as ‘just for them’ unless it was somewhere like this that came from something inside them.

“Maybe,” she admitted, taking half the sandwich that Nate had unwrapped for them. He knew her well enough to know that ‘maybe’ was her tactful and ladylike way of saying ‘yes.’ “I mean… It’s not all bad. Just…” He hit the nail on the head.

“Yes, that’s exactly how I feel. I mean, you sort of always wish for life to be one big party. But you forget actually, parties are pretty tiring. It’s better that they’re just special and occasional, otherwise you’d get rather sick of them. And it’s like all the tiring aspects of a party with very few of the nice bits,” she sighed. She had noticed that Nate seemed to be having… That some things had happened in class. She thought that, if anyone dared mention it, she would just try to spin as Nate being incredibly powerful, which would be both a good thing, and mean they ought to shut their mouths. The incident in Defence with his housemate, whilst thoroughly unfortunate, did at least lend weight to the theory that he was not someone to be trifled with, although his stammering apologies about how it was all an accident perhaps undermined any fearsomeness it might otherwise have inspired. Hopefully people were willing to chalk it up simply to being a beginner, even if it was a little… well, it would have been preferable for it not to be happening.

“Miss Pierce seems very agreeable,” she replied, feeling almost fake. Not that she didn’t find Caitlin agreeable, but it sounded like such a polite and practised answer, one that didn’t really fit in with talking with Nate. “I suppose she’s on her best behaviour too,” she replied, using that as the explanation of why she had little else more remarkable to say about her.

“I miss my unicorns though,” she admitted. She had a very fine collection of stuffed unicorns but her Father hadn’t felt it would be very grown up to bring one away to school with her. If she had been by herself, maybe she would have been able to convince her parents to let her bring one back after Christmas. “I mean, I’m not saying I’d swap Caitlin for one if I could,” she added, because she knew she would grow out of missing her toys, and Caitlin was a great connection, and it just wasn’t very nice to wish to replace a real person with a stuffed unicorn, “I just miss them is all. How is it being by yourself? Are you lonely?”

13 Sylvia You're very welcome 1413 Sylvia 0 5

Nathaniel

March 27, 2018 8:55 PM

Now...cheers to the future. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel smiled sympathetically as his cousin admitted, in her polite way, that she, too, found it all a bit overwhelming.

“Exactly,” he said. “Except I don’t think I’ve ever wanted life to always be a party.” He liked a quieter life than Sylvia did and couldn’t say he really found parties fun at all, though he had never admitted this distaste to her in full. His perfect world, though, would be one endless summer evening - outside in the garden, or in the treehouse, now with Mama and Jeremy, now with Sylvia, and then by himself at other times, but in the same setting, the same time of day. Other things were obligations. “But - yeah, other than that, exactly.”

It made him feel better, he thought, just to speak honestly and find the rapport between himself and Sylvia unbroken when she did the same. Things couldn’t stay this way, or be this way all the time, but it could be sometimes and that was enough.

He glanced at her a bit curiously when she described Miss Pierce in a very mechanical way - what, was she not really being good? If so, what was Nathaniel going to do about it? Outsiders were not allowed to be unkind to Sylvia, but a girl from a family which by some measures stood above, and in all respects notably outnumbered, their own… - but she clarified and he nodded again. He grinned when she quickly assured him she wouldn’t swap the other girl for a unicorn, at the same time making a plan to get her a new one for her collection for Christmas, but not give it to her until after they got back to school. Uncle Alexander could hardly blame her for that even if he found out about it, could he?

“No, not really,” he said. “I mean, I’m only really there to sleep, and I’ve always done that by myself. And when I am in there, I write to Mama, or develop my photographs.” He half-sat up and snapped his fingers in irritation. “I meant to bring the new album and show you the ones I’ve taken here,” he said. “I’ll bring them next time - I was thinking we should do this more often, or something like it.” He didn’t make this a question, not after all the talk about how wonderful he was for thinking of it this time. “I took a lot when I went to the Gardens to see if there were any spots there we might like, and I - uh - got a little lost,” he admitted. “I met a nice girl from Crotalus, though, and she showed me the way back out.” How he had gotten her attention was something he was planning to keep to himself. “She’s a third year named Cleo,” he added in case Sylvia also knew her.

16 Nathaniel Now...cheers to the future. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Sylvia

April 05, 2018 3:40 AM

I'm sure it's bright by Sylvia

“It will get better,” Sylvia proclaimed. “I mean, we can hardly be expected to know people well just yet. And that probably makes the whole thing harder - being on best behaviour all the time and so on.” Except once they had friends, then of course they’d have to work on keeping them… Would they ever be free to be themselves? She was sure girls in her school stories were always becoming the closest of friends and confidantes with their roommates. Whilst, of course, looking out for the snarky older students who wanted to ruin them…

“Well, that’s good,” she nodded, as he said he wasn’t lonely. “And it seems like there’s some quite good types in Teppenpaw, if you do start feeling sociable. Like the second year boys. They’re quite well-to-do, aren’t they?” she hesitated. She wanted to check that there wasn’t bad feeling between her cousin and Mr. Montoir, but she didn’t want to embarrass Nate, or make him feel like he wasn’t doing a good enough job if he hadn’t made friends there. “Are you all getting on?” she asked tentatively.

“Oh, yes. I’d like that very much,” she enthused, both about the idea of them picnicking together again and of Nate bringing his photos next time. “You take such good pictures,” she added fondly.

“Yes, the gardens seems rather sprawling,” she nodded without any kind of judgement, when Nate mentioned getting lost in them. “I don’t think she’s anybody,” she shrugged, when he mentioned a third year called Cleo. She didn’t know her, and she had taken care to learn who was who in her house. She was quite sure Simon would have mentioned her if she was important, as there was only a year between them. “Nice of her to help you though,” she added, because it seemed that Cleo had done Nate a good turn.

13 Sylvia I'm sure it's bright 1413 Sylvia 0 5