A special day (tag Tatiana and friends) on Cascade Hall

Dorian Montoir

December 04, 2017 9:13 PM

A special day (tag Tatiana and friends) by Dorian Montoir

Dorian hurried down to the Cascade Hall. He had tried to ask Tatya as casually as possible what time she planned to be down to breakfast so he could co-ordinate with her, but he didn’t want to leave her sitting alone, especially not today. He suspected she knew why, given that he had asked on the evening of the twenty-fourth (or the eleventh, according to the Russian calendar), and given that they had discussed it before Midterm, but he was still hoping for some element of slight surprise. He had not been able to rush any of his morning preparations, as he generally cared about being neat in his appearance, and expected that it was something Tatiana valued too. Not that there was much to do - he had brushed his his dark, straight hair, though it was hardly noticeable when he didn’t do this, and was wearing a smart shirt and slacks, all of which were par for the course. He was not running late from these scant preparations, but he was still anxious to be on time.

He had told Vlad and Jehan that they should sit with Tatiana for breakfast, not that it was unusual for any of them to do that, but he wanted to make sure. He’d also invited Ruby, as she’d expressed a desire to get to know the other girls in her year better. He also wasn’t going to push anyone out if they saw that something celebratory was going on and came over to investigate.

He was first to arrive. He took a seat at the Pecari table, out of deference to the guest of honour, waving her over enthusiastically when she entered the hall.

“Privet, Tatya,” he smiled, standing to greet her, and offering her a little bow as it was a special day. “Schastlivyy den' svatyoi Tat'yany,” he added. He had got her to note down the appropriate greeting when they had talked about it at the Club of Tongues meeting before Christmas, and had been practising it for the past week. He managed to get the words out without tripping over his own self-consciousness, even if he wasn’t one hundred percent sure he was saying them right.

The owl he’d been expecting chose that very fortuitous moment to make its entrance. Whilst he knew the elves at school were very talented, he wasn’t quite sure how at any individual student’s disposal they were. He had heard of people arranging birthday cakes, but that was a little different. Everyone knew and understood what birthdays were. All in all, it had been easier to look up bakeries in the local area and put in an owl order. He only hoped it was right, in several senses… First, although he had tried to research it in the library back in Montreal, he had been able to find out limited information about Tatiana Day. It was a saint day, name day, and celebration of all things student-related, and what he had read mentioned and showed games being played, but no one had been able to inform him about the particulars of the cake that should be served. He could have asked Tatya herself, but he thought she deserved to have things taken care of for her, and to be surprised. Hopefully in a good way. He supposed that, even if there was a particular style of cake, it was unlikely that a bakery in Arizona would be able to produce it. He had chosen a chocolate sponge with cream and fresh strawberries between the layers and, taking note of Tatya’s general style, the most elaborate icing possible. The thing was covered in roses and swirls and, he hoped, read ‘Happy Tatiana Day’ in the centre. This was another point of anxiety, and one that made him question his choice to outsource. Elves were very good at doing exactly as they were told. Humans tried to problem solve and correct things. He had therefore included in his order a note which, alongside stating his desired inscription, read ‘This is not a birthday cake. It is a cake for celebration of a festival called Tatiana Day. Please do not change the message,’ lest the baker assumed he had simply miswritten what he wanted.

The large grey owl fluttered down, gently placing the box on the table in front of Tatya.

“I think it is for you…” Dorian stated, holding his breath as he waited to see whether both he and the bakery had got it right…

OOC - Dorian learning the Russian from Tatya approved by her author. Sitting togetherness approved by everyone.

13 Dorian Montoir A special day (tag Tatiana and friends) 1401 Dorian Montoir 1 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

December 05, 2017 11:35 PM

Special indeed! by Tatiana Vorontsova

Reflection was not something Tatiana often engaged in, and almost never voluntarily tried to engage in. Sometimes, however, reflective thoughts slipped up on her unawares and entered her head and refused to leave until she processed them. A few days before her name’s day, this disagreeable phenomenon occurred, and she realized that her expectation that the school would observe her day – or, indeed, given that she was the only Russian in the school, even Tatiana Day as a holiday for students – in the manner to which she was accustomed. After all, they had not observed a single other occasion she was accustomed to: proper food on proper days, Rodezhdvo on the proper day, they didn’t even sing ‘Many Years’ on birthdays. Why would they observe Tatiana Day?

Fortunately, this thought occurred to her in her dormitory, which meant she got past her initial burst of frustration in private and was able to steel herself to not reacting to the likely inevitable disappointment. This made the first gift in the parcel a sleepy owl brought to her window on the morning of 25/11 January the source of more annoyance – it was a slim book from her parents, and the title was The Beauty of Self-Control. She frowned in exasperation, but then her eyes welled up just as quickly when she read the inscription – To Tatiana, with congratulations on your name’s day. With tenderest love from Mama and Papa. - and she had to blot them on her sheet before raining kisses on the new photograph of Mama, Papa, Katya, Alexei, and the household which was tucked into the front cover. Also enclosed were two drawings by Katya, florals, which she quickly stood up on her nightstand with all the framed photographs she had brought with her and the album she had brought along to put new ones her family sent to her and which she took at Sonora through the year in, and another book, a novel, with an embroidered bookmark from Tetya Ksenia. A second parcel arrived before she went down to breakfast, this one from her siblings in Russia – Anya had sent a third book, poetry, and Sonia had put in a tin of sweets, and Grisha had contributed a trio of brightly enameled bracelets, which she promptly put on before kissing the signatures on the enclosed, note, too, and only then remembering that Dorian had asked when she would come to breakfast….

He was already sitting at the Pecari table, which made her feel a bit guilty when she walked in, but before she could begin trying to apologize for being a bit late in English, French, or a muddle of the two, Dorian distracted her from the matter completely by attempting to wish her a happy Tatiana Day in Russian. She beamed at him, pleased with the effort. “Pozhaluista, Dorya,” she thanked him. “Kak delal?” How things was a phrase she had taught the others, so she didn’t worry about having automatically continued in Russian then.

When an owl approached with a box, Tatiana expected it was from Babushka or one of her other tetki or dyadki. “Da – may-be aunty, or dyadka.” She forgot the English word for an uncle. When she opened it, though, she was surprised to see cake and flourishing English writing, spelling out Happy Tatiana Day. For a moment, she was puzzled, wondering why any of her aunts or uncles or grandparents would send a cake in English, and then she put it together and looked up incredulously.

“You get me cake? Eto prekrasnyy tort! Blagodaryu vas – ty tak dobr – ah, Dorya – ” Smiling as widely as she ever had, she spontaneously threw her arms around his neck, a gesture of close friendship she had not previously engaged in with anyone here. He might have understood that she had called it a beautiful cake and used a different form of ‘thank you’ and called him a so-something, but she had said it so rapidly that if she had thought of it, she would not have bet on it. Instead of thinking of it, though, she segued into a mangled muddle of English, Russian, and mostly-remembered French. “Here, here, here – c’est tvoi tort aussi, tu student. Your day too.” She beamed around at the nearest people. “We all have cake,” she announced. “I think is choklad,” she added, guessing by smell and mixing the English and Russian words for chocolate in her multilingual excitement.

16 Tatiana Vorontsova Special indeed! 1396 Tatiana Vorontsova 0 5

Dorian

December 08, 2017 3:23 AM

Glad to hear that by Dorian

Dorian suppressed a small smile as Tatya seemed to genuinely muse over who might have sent the box. And then she saw it, and the English writing, and the knut dropped. At first, he wasn’t sure if he had made good or bad decisions. The incredulous look on her face, followed by the phrase ‘You got me cake?’ could easily have indicated wrongdoing. The burst of Russian did little to help him, but as it was accompanied by a beaming smile and a very sudden hug he got the message. He had done well. He had just enough time to return this with a tentative arm around Tatya. Once the whirlwind of that had passed, he realised he and Tatya hadn’t really hugged before. He was a naturally very huggy person and didn’t mind being swept up at all, or returning the gesture. He wasn’t sure Tatya was an everyday hugger, so much as an excited burst-of-emotion hugger though, and expected that it might be up to her to initiate any further hugs between them.

“You explain me that there must be cake,” he reminded her, a little taken aback by how surprised she was, but very gratified with her response. He could be very sure that he had made her happy, and that was what he had wanted. He smiled as she offered him, and everyone else, a share, reminding him that it was their day too. Even though it was most definitely a gâteau and not a torte they were both dessert-related words, and he was able to understand her meaning.

“So, what else must we do for Tatiana Day? Except study, of course,” he added, both because it was a weekday, meaning they had classes, and also because he thought that might be true/funny given that it was a day for students.

13 Dorian Glad to hear that 1401 Dorian 0 5

Tatiana

December 14, 2017 6:18 PM

Spreading goodwill to more (tag for Jasmine). by Tatiana

“Ha,” said Tatiana, still beaming, when Dorian joked about studying. “At home no study – at home, Tatiana Day, we tell Teacher what to do! No study. First at home, not fun – Mama, Papa – they – show us Tat’yana Rimskaya.” She did not know how to express this in English at all – obviously Mama and Papa could not show them someone who’d been dead for centuries, but it was not a photograph, either…. “In window. Then we go to – leader-house. All serious, listen to leader, and sing. Then Matushka - “ she tried to remember if she had ever tried to explain the concept of the Mayor’s wife to her friends – “gives us – studenty – presents. Grisha and the Bigs, they say in Russia, at school, they run town streets - all wild - but Mama not would allow that. At home we not study, but this is all. Mama not like a noisy house.”

Of course, the house was never really quiet – Alyosha had not yet learned to be quiet at all, and someone always forgot to be quiet and got too rowdy in some game – but that was far too complicated to explain. In her present good mood, however, she was cheered by the thought that she could express herself better than she had in the beginning of the year. She was not sure she would have even tried to say all that in the beginning of the year – though it did, she supposed, help that it was her friends she was talking to. In the beginning of the year, she had been so occupied with her English grammar that it had been exhausting to say more than two sentences at once, but she was less concerned about being judged over it now and so could put more effort into thinking about the ideas or objects she was trying to describe.

Tatiana saw Jasmine and stood up to wave to her, hoping she would come join them, too, as Tatiana was in an expansive temper, really liking everyone and everything more than usual - the world was a sunny place when someone went out of his way to get her cake - but she liked Jasmine specifically since they had come back to school. “Yasmin, come! We have party,” she called, then plopped back down into her chair something less than gracefully. She finished slicing the cake into slices and carefully lifted one out for herself. “There, there - all have if you want,” she said, waving the others to the cake, not thinking that other people’s sweet teeth might not be up to chocolate cake first thing in the morning and looking for a teapot.

16 Tatiana Spreading goodwill to more (tag for Jasmine). 1396 Tatiana 0 5

Jasmine

December 21, 2017 4:57 PM

And to all a good Tatiana Day! by Jasmine

Jasmine walked into the Cascade Hall wearing a long red sparkling dress with Santa Claus like puffs of white fake fur at the ends of her sleeves and at the bottom hem of the gown. It was still January, so she didn’t feel it was too far out of season yet and she liked the way it shimmered when she moved. The fake fur gave it a weight and shape that she found pleasant and flattering, like a big hooped princess dress, but without the irritation of a rigid hoop. She had further adorned her dark hair with a pretty red bow which likewise sparkled prettily.

Her jewelry was minimal today - just a pair of silver stud earrings and a silver chain necklace, but she had added a bit of clear shimmery lip gloss (the tube of which she had brought along with her, not expecting the first application to survive breakfast unscathed) to make up for the lack of gemstones, as none of those in her jewelry box really went with her dress today.

She was heading toward her usual seat at the Crotalus table when she noticed Tatiana waving her over and calling out a variation of her name. Curious, she changed direction and as she got closer, she saw the cake and Tatiana explained they were having a party. The inscription on the cake was a bit baffling, but Jasmine was well versed in diplomacy and etiquette so she winged it, “Happy Tatiana Day!” It being Tatiana’s name and Tatiana being the person who she knew the best of this group, she aimed the greeting the Russian girl.

Jasmine wasn’t entirely convinced that chocolate cake on an empty stomach was necessarily the best way to break her overnight fast, but she grabbed a plate and took a piece at the command of the (maybe?) birthday girl. She wasn’t sure if it would be rude to inquire as to the exact nature of the occasion they were celebrating - Russian etiquette and customs not being one of the topics her parents or grandparents or even Uncle Daniel had tried to teach her - so she made a mental note to quiz one of the party goers (other than Tatiana) about it later to see if they were any more informed than she was.

“Oh!” she exclaimed instead, her eye falling upon the bracelets Tatiana was wearing. “Are those new? I don’t recall seeing them before!” Since they met and went sledding together upon their return from Christmas break, the two girls had had several discussions about their accessories, so she didn’t think Tatiana would find it strange that she could recognize a good portion of her jewelry collection by now.

1 Jasmine And to all a good Tatiana Day! 1397 Jasmine 0 5

Tatiana

December 21, 2017 10:37 PM

And lots of things that are shiny. by Tatiana

“Thank you,” said Tatiana in English when Jasmine wished her a happy Tatiana Day, surprised for a moment that the other girl knew what was it was. Then she remembered the cake, which was still readable, and supposed that was a more likely explanation than Jasmine mysteriously knowing what a name-day was. Though, Jasmine did seem to be dressed like Snegurochka now, after both western Christmas and Russian Rozhdestvo, so who knew? It was a pretty dress, no doubt, but since Christmas preceded Rozhdestvo, Tatiana was still a bit surprised to see Snegurochka in red at her name-day party.

Tatiana took a bite of her cake at last and closed her eyes in enjoyment as she ate it. “Ochen’ vkusnyi tort, Dorya,” she said in Russian after swallowing it. “Is good.” She thought he knew that khorosho was the general ‘good’ and hoped he could therefore follow that she had just told him it was a very tasty cake even though she didn’t know that specific word in English or French, or even if there was a word for that. There were some concepts that didn’t seem to translate well from Russian into English, after all, but she was pretty sure there was a word for something which tasted good which was separate from the general English ‘good,’ she just couldn’t bring it to mind….

She was quite distracted from this vexed problem when Jasmine asked about her bracelets. “Yes, new,” she said, holding out the adorned wrist for closer inspection. “Family sent presents for my name’s day - others sends me books, pictures, and Grishka sends me bracelets. Pretty colors, yes?” They were not ‘real’ jewelry - just, she assumed, what was available in the village near her siblings’ school and within the confines of Grisha’s not overly large allowance - but the enamelwork was pretty, delicate white, yellow, and pink flowers and green vines on bright backgrounds, two red and the center one blue.

OOC: ‘Snegurochka’ is the ‘Snow Maiden,’ who travels with Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost, counterpart of Father Christmas). She seems to be most often depicted wearing a traditional Russian gown and headdress in blue, frequently looking not entirely unlike Disney’s Queen Elsa with a half-moon-shaped headdress and no slits in her skirts, but Snegurochka in red is not a thing the internet is unaware of if Google is any indication.

16 Tatiana And lots of things that are shiny. 1396 Tatiana 0 5