Headmaster Brockert
October 10, 2014 6:13 AM
Returning Feast by Headmaster Brockert
Last year, Mortimer had not really minded the break so much, but the first part of this year had been normal and uneventful, so he was back to finding the holidays to be annoying. Full of shrieking children-he had more fondness for his granddaughters than he did most people, which was admittedly not saying much, but that amount running and giggling was incredibly grating-and inane trivial conversation, false pleasantries from those who didn't care any more about how he was doing than he did about how they were.So, though he was probably not in the majority-which was not unusual, and Mortimer didn't really care because usually the majority was composed primarily of imbeciles-he was happy to be back at Sonora. Of course, that had been the case when he'd been a student as well. The Headmaster been a true Aladren, relishing his education and now, he was an adult relishing his power.
Of course, there were parts of his job that Mortimer didn't like much. Dealing with parents-especially his cousin Pearl, who'd been stupid enough to send him a Howler when her precious little spawn hadn't made the Head Girl ballot-and students personally. Really, Mortimer didn't like people in general at all and hoped to come off as intimidating as possible to keep the students in line so he didn't have to actually do the punishing. If they were afraid of what he'd do to them, they'd hopefully behave.
Another part of being Headmaster that he didn't care for was giving speeches. More bothersome social interaction and having to at least appear somewhat pleasant. It went against every natural instinct Mortimer had. Plus, he didn't want to be too pleasant-not that he was that worried about that, his most genuine way of smiling appeared as smirking at someone's idiocy-because people would walk all over him, like they did his nephew Cory. Cory, he thought, would have made a good house elf.
"Welcome back. I hope you all had a nice holiday." At least saying that to people all through the break had given him practice at attempting to make it sound sincere. Of course, there were certain beneficial things that could be used during parties that weren't appropriate to use when he was working. "I only have one announcement to make." Mortimer was certain that he was not the only one happy about that. "The Midsummer ball will be opened this year by the prefects and Head Students as usual." Really, he didn't even know why that had to be said if it was as usual, but just in case people forgot. He'd think people would remember something that simple, but that would probably be giving most people's intelligence too much credit and he was not about to start doing that now.
Glad to have this irritation done, Mortimer sat back down in his chair and turned his attention to his meal. That was enough interacting with others for awhile.
Subthreads: Leading the feast, apparently by Henry Carey
A problem shared... (tag Jay Carey) by Francesca Wolseithcrafte with Jay Carey
What's a girl to do? by Effie Arbon with Amity Brockert
Back again by Diana Carey
Tagging Nellie by Tristan Spaulding with Eleanor Vandenberg, Nellie
Sitting next to Annette. by Adam Spencer, Pecari with Annette Pierce, Adam
Midsummer ball in mind. by Joella Curtis with Lionel Layne, Anonymous
Avoiding the inevitable (Tag: Atlas) by Liliana Bannister with Atlas Primred
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Headmaster Brockert
Returning Feast
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Headmaster Brockert
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Francesca Wolseithcrafte
October 12, 2014 3:07 AM
A problem shared... (tag Jay Carey) by Francesca Wolseithcrafte
Francesca's Christmas had been the usual – an almost never ending round of social events, with Christmas itself a family only oasis in the middle of the whirl of balls, coffee mornings, dances and discussions. She loved both sides of it. The parties were full of interesting people, good things to eat and fun to be had. Christmas itself was... well, much of the same, just with a very select group of people. Barnabus was enjoying law school and she had discussed her plans to follow in his footsteps. They had spent a great deal of time talking happily about the future of Wolseithcrafte & Wolseithcrafte.The conversation in the library before Midterm had also taken a weight off her mind. The problem of who she was going to open the ball with remained but the fact that Adam didn't want to choose either her or Ginny over the other, and wanted them all to attend as friends, as far as possible, was a weight off her mind. It had been enough to put the Boggart version of her two friends turning their backs on her to rest at last, and she was going into the new term feeling particularly happy and positive.
At the feast, she took a seat next to Jay Carey, not in the slightest bit by accident. Although they planned to stick together as friends as far as possible, they still needed an even number of guys and girls for the opening dance. She had weighed up the available candidates and figured Jay was her best bet. Keme was her own age but she knew the Carey boys – the Aladren ones, anyway – so much better. They were... if not friends per se, then on friendly terms at least. They were team-mates. And, whilst Anthony was closer to her in age, he had more options in his own year. There were a few proper girls in Jay's, but one of them was engaged, one of them was related and one of them was Carrie O'Malley. Francesca wasn't sure where the Careys stood on her family politics, although they had never been unkind to her in anyway, but she was fairly certain that she ranked below all of those in terms of controversy. It was a pleasant and novel feeling to think she might not be the most shocking choice to take to a social function.
A small smile played on her lips as Headmaster Brockert brought up the subject of the dance, making it much easier for her.
“It seems we share a problem,” she noted to Jay as the speech concluded. “And they say a problem shared is a problem halved,” she smiled. “One dance only, nothing else implied,” she clarified. Perhaps it might have been more tactful to leave the aphorism hanging for him to interpret. Really, she shouldn't ask Jay out but rather... imply that she wouldn't mind if he asked her. However, she didn't want him to think she was asking him to fully ask her to the ball, rather than simply help each other of the first dance situation. Where it was a toss up between subtlety and clarity, Francesca would always opt for the latter. She preferred to be direct and to the point – one of her best or her worst qualities, depending on whom one asked. “And no offence taken if you're not interested in asking me,” she finished, at least giving Jay a chance to feel she was asking to be asked, rather than asking. Plus she didn't want an atmosphere between her and Jay if he would rather make other plans.
13
Francesca Wolseithcrafte
A problem shared... (tag Jay Carey)
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Francesca Wolseithcrafte
0
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Jay Carey
October 15, 2014 8:41 PM
...is one more easily solved? by Jay Carey
If it had happened to someone else, Jay had to admit that the scene in the wagon might have been comical: Brandon and Diana, both sulking, at the ends of a row with him and Henry wedged in between them, Jay making pleasant small talk for the benefit of their neighbors until he realized that all of his siblings were ignoring him and had given up. Instead, he had spent the rest of the ride looking over Alex’s latest letter.In June, it was over. For a while, anyway. He would be out of school, and in the fall, he would go to another school, where he would spend several years spending most of his time far away from his family – Henry was the only one of his siblings probably less likely to go to college than Theresa, and the others were enough younger than Jay that he could probably avoid them there, too, if they came along. Which Brandon might well not, either. He thought they might do well finding Brandon an apprenticeship of some kind, but it was too early to really think about what, and in his optimistic moments, Jay hoped that Father or Uncle Anthony or even Arthur would handle it instead of him – Arnold had, after all, apparently taken it upon himself to try to find Theresa a husband after she finally apologized to him for asking Arthur to go curse people for her, so it wasn’t as if it was impossible that someone else should take an interest in Brandon someday, and he was feeling optimistic tonight. Just a few more months and then he would have years and years during which he really had to deal with his siblings’ squabbles very little….
“Both of you smile right now,” he ordered Brandon and Diana on the walk from the wagons to the Cascade Hall. “We’re in public.” He then took his own advice, smiling as he made his way into the hall and walked along the Aladren table to a seat, greeting Quidditch players and prefects as he saw them.
The trouble between his younger siblings was, he had gathered, that Brandon had found out Diana was going to the ball with some second year – an unwelcome event Jay was reminded of by the headmaster as soon as the room settled down. He had to work harder to keep blandly smiling then. Eventually, no doubt, he would marry – he and Alex planned to make a lot of money after school, but sooner or later, inevitably, that would mean using themselves as bargaining chips, and since preserving his financial autonomy wouldn’t be an issue, it would be far easier for them to use him before her – but Jay had no interest in speeding the day along, and if he had learned one thing from Theresa, it was that girls were at least occasionally vicious when it came to the game of courtship and betrothals. He expected Anthony would spend the next few months trying to hide under benches; he was, Arthur’s muttered suspicions about the Brockerts trying to set up Malcolm as a puppet over the rest of them and how he, Arthur, would go ahead and arrange for poor Lucille to be bitten by an extremely venomous spider if he were Grandfather aside, the best-positioned of all of them in a school where male partners were already going to be highly-stalked commodities in general….
Despite these thoughts, he didn’t realize immediately what Francesca was talking about when she said they shared a problem; his first thought was that she was talking about something about the Quidditch team. The clarification surprised him.
He had half-planned to simply dance with Aria after they got there – not a formal date, nothing which could cause problems, but which would solve the problem Francesca was talking about for both of them. However, there was doubt that Francesca was a somewhat less…controversial option. Of course, there were politics, but no one close to him, he thought; he had avoided marrying into or even forming particularly strong relationships with very opinionated families so far, and his own, he had concluded, didn’t actually care what any of its members, male or female, did in private as long as they kept it private. There were always in-family rumors about this relative or that one, but all anyone asked was that the rumors not be confirmed or leaked to society in general. Could cause an issue with Lucille, if he was right about the Brockerts’ general consensus, but he doubted it, over such a small thing, and if someone wanted to start something, it would still cause fewer problems than his original – plan was probably a strong word, half-formed idea, really….
He considered redirecting her to Anthony, as his cousin would no doubt appreciate the promise that the whole thing was not the prelude to a messy affair which could only end in a wedding or a conspiracy to commit murder, but as they were both Chasers and both prefects, he had to assume there was a reason she didn’t think they should spend more time together rather than blundering into something he didn’t want to know or deal with. He would ask Anthony later, he decided. For now....
"I see," he said. It sounded to him like she had already made the offer, making him asking her anything superfluous, but... "Well, then. Shall we help each other solve the problem of needing partners for the opening dance at the ball?"
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Jay Carey
...is one more easily solved?
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Jay Carey
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Francesca Wolseithcrafte
October 16, 2014 5:00 AM
Apparently so by Francesca Wolseithcrafte
Jay seemed to mull over her offer a little, which she supposed was fair enough. She had had the luxury of the Christmas holidays to weigh up the potential prospects, although he had had the same. Perhaps she had not occurred to him as one though. She wasn't sure who would have though and would have loved to know what was going through his head. Perhaps it was whether one ought to indulge a girl so brazen lest it become the norm. When he gave his response though, it seemed positive.“I think that's a very good idea,” she smiled, raising her glass to him, enjoying the rare opportunity to credit what had really been her own suggestion. She was looking forward to telling Adam the good news that he didn't have to choose between them. Which in turn would probably relieve Ginny's worry of not having anyone to partner for the first dance.
“How was your Midterm?” she asked pleasantly. Now that the issue of the ball was resolved, there was no reason she and Jay shouldn't speak with each other like normal human beings, as they always had done. As she spoke, she served herself a large portion of macaroni cheese, full of bacon, with crisped up cheese and tomatoes on top. Christmas food had been glorious but she didn't need to see a roast meat or a potato for a while. Pasta was her school staple, a good food for energy on the pitch. She pitied other girls their carb free regimens. Enjoying good food was one of the greatest pleasures in life, and one she took full advantage of.
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Francesca Wolseithcrafte
Apparently so
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Francesca Wolseithcrafte
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Jay
October 16, 2014 10:28 PM
We're all just doing the best that we can by Jay
Jay returned the small toast. “Excellent,” he said, glad to at least have one issue resolved. One less thing to think about was always good; this one was an extremely small thing compared with tutoring Henry and Brandon, running the Quidditch team, keeping up with Diana in the hopes that this would prevent her from falling into bad habits in Pecari, and occasionally studying for his own RATS, but just having anything off the list made the whole thing feel more manageable.“Oh, very enjoyable,” Jay said when asked about his midterm. For his house, it really hadn’t been that bad; Brandon was fighting with Diana now and had been fighting with Theresa before that, but other than that, it really had been quite calm. His parents had even been getting along fairly well. “Lots of time with the family, I studied a good bit for my RATS…We got to see Arnold play Quidditch. He nearly won, but took a Bludger to the elbow at just the wrong moment….” Jay shrugged. “Still, it was exciting for the younger ones,” he said.
Someone else entertaining his siblings was always welcome, so long as his sisters didn’t decide to marry Quidditch players. It was well enough for Arnold – the family would take care of him when he finally broke too many bones or just got too old to keep up anymore – but it wasn’t stable enough a way of making a living for Jay to trust his sisters’ welfare to it. Arnold had been trying to set Theresa up with fellows he knew from that world, but had assured Jay they all had some assets besides their sports skills to fall back on, and Diana and Cecilia still had the potential to do better than Terry.
“How was yours?” he returned the question.
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Jay
We're all just doing the best that we can
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Jay
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Francesca
October 24, 2014 7:45 AM
It seems to be working out reasonably well by Francesca
“Substitute the word RATS for CATS and I think your summary might serve to describe my holiday just as well,” she smiled, when Jay returned her question. “Plenty of socialising with what felt like everyone this side of the Atlantic, and a few from beyond, but Christmas itself is always just us,” 'just us' of course constituted seven people, and thus no small event in terms of the pile of presents under the tree or amount of food consumed throughout the day. “I enjoy both sides of it though. The party guests are usually interesting and the family time is fun. I'm relieved to get back to a temperate climate though. Crisp, cold mornings and snow are fun for a bit, and just right for Christmas but the novelty wears off around the time you're asked to pitch in with clearing it,” happily, the level of snow fall, and the grace period she got being somewhat on holiday even in her own home meant that her mother tended to be getting that look in her eye, and Francesca was getting sick of her nose being red and on the verge of chapping, at just about the time she was due to come back to the more temperate climes of Sonora. She liked her cold or snowy Christmases but didn't miss the miserable January and February weather.“Yes, I read about Arnold's match in Quidditch Spectator. I always look out for his team and press my thumbs for him. It sounds like it was close though,” she commented, fairly certain that if she knew anything about her former Captain, a Bludger to the elbow counted as a minor annoyance. Still, the timing of such things could be crucial and whilst she knew it wouldn't have stopped him it sounded like it had thrown him off or slowed him just at the wrong moment. Or, if you were the opposing team, the right one.
“I'm sure they seem like child's play compared with the RATS but how did you find the CATS? Somewhere significantly north of 'walk in the park' but, I'm hoping a little south of 'near death experience'?” she queried.
OOC – I assume Arnold's team is renowned enough to appear in Quidditch magazines. Also, pressing your thumbs is the German equivalent of crossing fingers but whilst the latter stems from Christian tradition (making a sign of a cross), one of the explanations for pressing thumbs is that it represents a tricksy Goblin, and you are pressing it to hold it back. This seemed more witchy, so I'm treating it as something it would be normal for a member of magical society to say (and that, for simplicity of site canon, both phrases are equally used/understood). http://thegermanstandard.com/2013/11/15/if-crossing-your-fingers-doesnt-help-try-pressing-your-thumbs/
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Francesca
It seems to be working out reasonably well
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Francesca
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Jay
October 26, 2014 5:20 PM
It could definitely be worse by Jay
“Ah, your family believes misery develops character, too?” Jay said when Francesca mentioned clearing snow and made it sound like an undesirable task. “I’ve never had that one – warm climate – but they find ways to keep you busy.” It was leaves at home; Jay had wondered from time to time if it was a secret test, meant to provoke them into early displays of magic, maybe even to see what kind of magic they’d instinctively use to complete an unsavory task: Banishing the leaves, Vanishing them, or setting them on fire. Back when they had all been on speaking terms, Jay remembered that Grandfather had occasionally made comments about how things could be guessed about a witch or wizard just by looking at the kind of spells he or she used most often under pressure….If he, personally, had ever passed or failed that test, though, Jay didn’t know it. He got good grades in his classes because he worked at them – some spells came more easily than others, but there were easy and hard ones in every class – and it didn’t seem likely that he would end up under the kind of pressure he thought Grandfather had really been talking about in his adult life outside of school. Being known as a powerful wizard was important for gaining respect, he couldn’t think of too many poor wizards who got a lot of it, but for him, brains were going to be more important than anything else.
“Close, yes. Good bit of work by the Beater; Arnold wanted to shake hands with him once his arm was fixed up.” Arnold had always, in a way Jay couldn’t help thinking was weird for a Seeker, admired Beaters who could hurt him enough for it to be a significant advantage to their teams. He admired the ones who knocked him off his broom to the point that Jay prayed there was never a woman among their number, because he did not want to become a marriage counselor and didn’t think Arthur would be any good at it, either, and there was really no one else Arnold could safely turn to. At the moment, though, the biggest problem he knew of in Arnold’s marriage was the stress it caused Arnold to go home with injuries and without a victory to justify them at home, so they were safe. “I’ll tell him he’s remembered, he’ll like that,” he added; Arnold always seemed a little surprised to realize that he had fans, but not displeased.
“Quite far south,” Jay said seriously when asked about the CATS. Of course, he’d had the advantage of spending the year going over the material when he tutored Henry on it, so he had gotten in more review than he might have otherwise, but other people could study during the time he spent tutoring, so he wasn’t sure how much of an advantage that had really been. “Memorize what you can and know as much as you can about the principles behind all of it and you should be fine,” he said. Very few people who were going to have real problems on the CATS got into Aladren; it was possible, he thought, since intelligence could take a lot of forms and being independent could translate into not wanting to study what they were assigned to study, but it didn’t happen often, and even when it did, he thought most of them worked to succeed on exams just as a point of House and personal pride. “Are there any subjects you’re really looking forward to in particular?”
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Jay
It could definitely be worse
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Jay
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Francesca Wolseithcrafte
October 27, 2014 7:26 AM
Yes. There could be a Manticore. That would be bad. by Francesca Wolseithcrafte
“Something like that,” Francesca smiled, not quite sure that that was her family's reasoning or philosophy but also aware that Jay was somewhat joking and that to take him too seriously might imply... well, that she was taking him seriously. “Or rather that we may as well make ourselves useful if we're going to demand bed and board. Danger signs are the phrases 'If you're not busy' or 'you look like you need something to do.'”She smiled at his comments about Arnold, glad he was able to admire and enjoy the skill of his opponents, even when they had been used to his disadvantage. You had to be pretty ruthless and competitive to get into the professional leagues but that didn't mean you had to be devoid of humanity or admiration for the skills of people outside your own team. She hoped that maturity came with age - most of the interviews with pro players were at least tactfully put and congratulated the opposition on a good fight but how many of them really believed it she wasn't sure. Certainly, there needed to be some startling transformations if many of the cocky teenage boys she'd met at Quiddtich camps were anything to go by.
“Yes, do,” she nodded, when Jay said he would pass on her regards, “And to Arthur too. How is he?” she asked. It seemed impolite to ask about one and not the other, given they had both been her team-mates. If anything, Arthur needed more asking after as it wasn't as if she could read about his exploits in the Quidditch columns.
“Good to know,” she smiled, when he mentioned the CATS being a long way south of a near death experience. “That shouldn't be a problem, those are – fine,” she said, in regard to memorising the theory. She had been about to say 'easy' but she had learnt to avoid such words from her study sessions with Adam and Ginny. Neither of her friends was stupid but they took more time to grasp the theory than she did and she knew it would make them feel bad to say that something they didn't get straight away was 'easy' – just as it would have frustrated her to have them say the same about a practical spell she was struggling with. It just wasn't tactful. It was probably a safer word to use in Aladren but she still didn't like to come off as big-headed (especially as, unsuperstitious as she was, it felt a little like tempting fate).
“No, nothing in particular. I mean, I think I'll do fine on the theory – you can think about it, go back to it if you're not sure,” she wasn't sure to what extent Jay would know that she found practical work more difficult. He had relatives who were in her class, or had been on and off, but how much any of them observed her or bothered to gossip about it to him, she didn't know. She doubted she was a subject of much fascination. It wasn't something she was particularly comfortable admitting, as Aladrens were supposed to be good at everything, and people could be awfully judgemental about things like magical power. She was a strong person in most other respects and the last thing she needed was him pitying her or thinking her frail or inferior. Besides which, she was perfectly capable as a witch, she just had to practise hard. “I'm not particularly looking forward to being put on the spot with the practicals though. I like taking my time with things,” she conceded, as she thought she had rather conspicuously mentioned being alright with the theory. “The professors just... don't exactly create a sense of calm about the whole thing. How are you feeling about the RATS? I can't imagine they're any more laid back about those.”
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Francesca Wolseithcrafte
Yes. There could be a Manticore. That would be bad.
250
Francesca Wolseithcrafte
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Jay Carey
October 30, 2014 11:45 AM
Considering we might all die if there was by Jay Carey
Jay nodded. “Serving the family, that's a good one. I’ll try that one on my youngest siblings this summer,” he said. It was a frequent topic of lectures at home, so applying it to practical exercises might be useful. He didn’t think he would be able to make any of his brothers and sisters into true believers – he was sure his father wouldn’t allow that, not after what had happened to Henry; the younger ones didn’t know, but even they knew that it was going to be bad when the Fourth died and Grandfather became head of the family, because their father had never forgiven his parents for that afternoon and barely bothered hiding that when they weren’t in public – but it might work. Appealing to their mother’s position wouldn’t work, that would just breed contempt for Mother, but if he could make them think of each other as a team….Well, if things did go bad, but nonfatally so, when Grandfather took over, then being very close to each other despite the wide age differences between Theresa and Peter would be very important. The only way things could go bad but nonfatally so would most likely be Father splitting the family even further, and not being willing to join his new branch into the very close alliance of the existing five; the best-case scenario, from Jay’s point of view, would be another branch taking the top job away from South Carolina, giving them somewhere to go, but if Grandfather managed to take all of the Fourth’s current places, he didn’t think that would happen.
“He was well the last time we got a letter from him,” Jay said about Arthur. “He’s in Russia, now, I think. He’s expected back just before we – “ he gestured vaguely around the hall, encompassing all his relatives – “are, I don’t know what his plans from there are.”
He would certainly have options. Arthur was magically talented, quite intelligent when it came to most things unrelated to people, well-educated, reasonably good-looking and well-connected, and one of the few of their generation with access to any money, thanks to the settlement from that malfunctioning toy broom when he was four. If he couldn’t make something of himself with the deck stacked that firmly in his favor, it would be for sheer lack of effort, and Arthur had almost as little reason to want to be in a dependent position when Grandfather became head of the family as Father and Henry did. He would be a fool to sit around on his hands doing nothing while the Fourth was still alive, and while Jay didn’t think his cousin was really half as clever as Arthur seemed to perceive himself to be, he didn’t think that Arthur was a complete moron, either.
“Something impressive, I’m sure,” he added, since he expected Arthur would make at least a bit of a show of anything.
“I think they actually manage to be worse about the RATS, but I’m not too worried,” Jay said about the RATS. Not getting too worried was, he thought, one of his better traits, though he knew it helped that he knew that he knew what he knew when it came to exams. “The CATS…there’s some time limits, but I didn’t see them as very hurried,” he added, reflecting on his own exams. “For the RATS, now, I have no idea – I half expect five people to try to curse me at once during the Defense practical – but CATS didn’t seem that intense when I took them.” He had not been forced to deal with Henry curling up in a ball under a table and refusing to come out after his last year, so Jay felt it was safe to assume that his own impression of CATS was not too inaccurate, but he was not going to add that comment. Francesca had been in classes with Henry, so she might well know his brother was almost the definition of someone who did not perform well under pressure at all. If she didn't, he wasn't going to point it out to her. “Part of it is which examiner you draw, but it’s…reasonably intense, not ‘Quidditch finals in a lightning storm with the House cup on the line’ intense.”
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Jay Carey
Considering we might all die if there was
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Jay Carey
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5
Francesca
November 03, 2014 7:30 AM
Hence 'worst case scenario' by Francesca
“I hope it's useful,” she smiled, when Jay said he'd try the duty lines out on his family. “It just about still works on mine – Jemima cos she tends to look daydreamish, though I think she is thinking really, probably painting things in her head. Ingrid because she hasn't, in spite of the repeated conditioning against it, learnt not to whine when she's bored. Barnabus, Theodore and I are of course always absorbed in good, self-improving books, as well as benefiting from the aforementioned buffer zone of guest status.“How exciting,” she commented, when he mentioned Arthur's latest letter had come from Russia. She had given thought to life outside of school, of course, but predominantly in terms of what she would like to study and achieve. She had pictured the majority of it happening in America but she supposed that was really by default than anything else. Perhaps she would give some thought to how she could see the world at the same time...
“I'm sure they are,” she nodded, when he said they were being even worse about the RATS, “After all, you're seventh years, so should be approximately thirty percent more learned and more serious than us mere fifth years. Would you say it's roughly a thirty percent increase in doom and gloom?” she queried. “Legally, they can't do anything that would kill or permanently injure you, so perhaps you can take some comfort from that,” she teased, when he said expected five people to leap on him at once in Defence, “And I plan on dropping it after this year, so at least I don't have that to worry about.” She laughed when he related it to all to Quidditch. It made for a good scale. “Thanks,” she smiled, after a slight pause. “It's all what I've been telling myself anyway but it's much easier to believe it from someone else. Especially someone who's done it.
“Speaking of finals in lightning storms,” she added hastily. She wasn't one to naturally open up to people – she could be fun and relaxed with her friends, and she would confide where necessary but she wasn't big about putting her feelings where others could tread on them – and thus wanted to move away from confiding in Jay what had been going through her mind as quickly as possible. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, or else she wouldn't have brought up the subject in the first place, but she didn't feel comfortable lingering around in those kinds of conversations. “How do you rate our chances for the.... are we calling it a final? For the other match.”
13
Francesca
Hence 'worst case scenario'
250
Francesca
0
5
Jay
November 05, 2014 7:09 PM
Wouldn't that be two manticores? by Jay
Jay tried to imagine a world in which any of his siblings except maybe Henry was absorbed in a good, self-improving book, at least to the point of not putting it down when he least wanted them to. He failed. “I do wish I had one of those sometimes,” he said of the idea of a guest buffer. “Though it’s not so bad these days, there’s only two who aren’t here now, and Cecilia and Peter don’t seem to think that visiting siblings are interesting enough to annoy.” There were times when Jay almost wondered if Cecilia was even related to the rest of them. His youngest sister was a prim little lady. She had tea parties with her dolls. She owned intact dolls. Someone less like Theresa as a little girl was hard to imagine, and Diana hadn’t been much better. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have sworn she was really Uncle Anthony’s daughter, not Father’s.“I imagine it is,” he agreed about Russia being exciting. “You’d never know it from the letters, though. He’s a terrible correspondent.” His letters were mostly comments on answers to questions he’d previously asked about what was happening at home. The most original one had been the one which let Jay know that his sister thought violence was the best way to handle a breakup. Jay was glad that nothing had happened to make him be original again since.
“Something like that,” he agreed about the percentage increase of doom and gloom. “It’s…you know how before CATS, it’s all about how your CATS affect what RATS you can take? With RATS, it’s about how you’ve made your choices, and if you fail these tests? They give you the impression you have nothing to fall back on, that you’ll have ruined your whole life.” Probably not technically true, as there were plenty of jobs that RATS scores wouldn’t be that important for, but….
“I look forward to seeing how creative they can get with things that only temporarily injure me,” Jay said about his Defense exam. It had never occurred to him to drop that class; girls sometimes were taught that stuff privately after school, so people would underestimate them, but he was expected to let all the heirs and other ambitious younger sons know that he was not someone to trifle with, and Defense class was a good way to do that. Henry had dropped it, but Henry was unlikely to interact with the public much after he left Sonora, so he didn’t have as much of a responsibility to the family reputation as Jay did. He smiled when Francesca thanked him. “Any time,” he said.
Jay thought for a moment about the final game. “Pecari definitely won’t make it easy for us,” he said finally. “They’ll want it more this time.” Miss Pierce could not be happy about being beaten by a second year. “I need to decide what angle to take with our Seeker, we’ve got to work on him. Do you have any suggestions?”
Francesca was, after all, the most likely to be captain after Anthony, so it would do her good to start…practicing, he supposed. He thought she might have it harder than most, if only because she would be an anomaly: he had gone through a lot of old trophies and team pictures earlier in the year while researching the new recruits, and Jay had been learning to feed himself the last time a girl had been the sole captain of the Aladren Quidditch team. It wouldn't help that the last girl had lost more than she’d won, either. Aladren had done very well the year Jera Valson was co-captain, though, much better than the year her male co-captain had been alone, so maybe that would be noticed, though in a way, it might make Francesca seem even more unusual if it was, since he was pretty sure Jera Valson was now old enough that they called her Professor Valson…..
All that had to bring its own pressure. No one with sense would envy her whatever she got out of it besides that, he thought, unless she was truly tough and didn’t notice it as much as he thought he would have. It was bad enough just being related to Arnold; he remained convinced Arnold's reputation was why Anthony wouldn’t take on Seeker. Even being too close to an anomaly drew attention, and Anthony was closer than he was.
0
Jay
Wouldn't that be two manticores?
0
Jay
0
5
Francesca
November 16, 2014 8:53 AM
I suppose, but you could just keep adding manticores by Francesca
“Same,” she nodded, “On both counts, actually. Although year after next they’ll both be here. And Teddy might not agree about the annoying part…” She had tried to get out of the habit of referring to her brother by his family nickname, especially around people who actually spent time with him but she often slipped up. “Ingrid definitely annoys him but I’m fairly sure she doesn’t do so on purpose,” she clarified. “When do yours arrive?” she asked.“Yes, and I’m sure as soon as we move on to university, they’ll claim they were all for nothing and it’s what we do there that will really count, in spite of the fact that which university we are attending will have been determined by our previous, but now apparently irrelevant test scores.”
She lifted her glass, taking longer than she might have to have a drink as he asked her about their Seeker and she gave it some thought.
“For the match itself, pressure off,” she decided, pleased that Jay was seeking her opinion. She knew he most likely didn’t need it, and had Anthony to go to if he was unsure. This was more for her benefit than his. But that care still pleased her. He saw her as succeeding his cousin in the assistant role (it was usual for it to pass to the next oldest but she had heard captains could veto the choice if they felt strongly about it) and he wanted to give her some practise. “We’re in the unusual position of being able to lose the Snitch and still win the cup. Lots of points about the Chasers and Keeper being able to make a difference even if we miss the Snitch. No Seeker, and certainly no Aladren Seeker, could possibly be cloth-headed enough to think their points don’t matter, and I doubt any of them truly let themselves off the hook whatever you say. I don’t think you could make a first year, in his first cup match complacent. But you can help him relax and know he’s not going to be hounded out of the commons if he misses it, and that should help him do better, and recover faster if he doesn’t. For training… I don’t know. I guess I don’t really know how to train positions other than my own,” she admitted. Sure, she’d seen Seekers diving after ping pong balls and other such exercises but she couldn’t call to mind anything other than what she’d seen Clark recently do… “Though I guess some agility won’t hurt him. He’s still pretty green as a flier,” she added, wanting to satisfy the need to have an answer for every question asked, “What were you thinking?” she asked, curious as to what Jay had had in mind and how close she’d come. It was Quidditch, not a maths problem, and there were probably a number of arguments for or against every idea, and thus not necessarily a right answer, but that didn’t stop her wanting to have got it, or at least for her ideas to be seen as good ones.
13
Francesca
I suppose, but you could just keep adding manticores
250
Francesca
0
5