Breakfast with a side of news... on Cascade Hall

Parker, Pecari

March 30, 2018 4:23 PM

Breakfast with a side of news... by Parker, Pecari

Life was going pretty well Parker thought. He was beginning to realize how to control his wand magic. He had found that he was not too bad at certain classes. He had made some friends in the DnD group. And most importantly, CLEO WAS TALKING TO HIM! He had woken up feeling pretty great.

As he sat down at his table, he felt like he could take on the world. A few classes today would be a piece of cake. Heck he thought, I might even read the Potions book today.

He was halfway through his eggs and toast when an owl flew down to the table and dropped off a letter. Parker had gotten used to this since he'd started writing home to friends and his sister again. Picking up the letter with one hand and putting a piece of toast in his mouth with the other, Parker felt his heart leap into his throat when he saw the front. He recognized his mothers handwriting before he saw her name in the corner of the letter.

Parker slowly opened the letter, hoping that it wasn't his mom telling him he couldn't play Quidditch. He'd sent her all the information from the healer, but he hadn't heard anything back. And even though there hadn't been much around Quidditch so far this year, he was still hoping they would play something, even if just a skirmish. He was trying to work out so he could take more hits, but now it all be for not with this letter. Could he burn it and inform his mom he never got it? What would she say?

Parker put down his toast and took a deep breath in pulling out the paper inside. Parker glanced quickly over the letter, not mention of the word Quidditch or sports. But his sister's name was said, which caused Parker to stop and return to the top of the page.

Dear Parker,
I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you with some news about your sister since you don't seem to have phones or e-mail.

It seems that next year Lyssa will be joining you at your school.

She recently started displaying some traits that you have, and though she hasn't received an invitation nor has a man appeared in our kitchen again, I believe it will probably happen soon.

I don't know what help she might need, but since you are already there, I hope you can help her in the coming months as she will likely have a million questions. None of which your father nor I can answer.

Love you my Ranger,
Mom

Parker put the letter down on the table staring off into the space in front of him. He wasn't one to normally swear but he felt like the situation called for it.

"Well s***."

Now Parker had to think about all the things Lyssa would need. He wondered if he would have to be the one to help her get school supplies or if Mac would show and help. He honestly didn't know. A part of him was sad that he wasn't the special one in the family, but was excited that he could share this place and the magic with his sister.

Parker picked up the piece of toast again and started eating again. His brain now refocused on the news he'd received.

41 Parker, Pecari Breakfast with a side of news... 1402 Parker, Pecari 1 5

Dorian Montoir

April 04, 2018 10:36 PM

News with a side of anxiety by Dorian Montoir

OOC - I have asterisked out your swear word using my editing powers, as we try to keep things PG-ish.

IC
Dorian wasn’t particularly fixed to any one table in the hall. Given the informal rules about house seating, he tended to sit wherever his friends were. This morning though, he was first down. He thought he might choose the Pecari table because it was a while since they had sat there, and he tried to give fair representation to the houses of his friends (admittedly, Teppenpaw got more turns because there were more of them, and because if he came downstairs with Vlad, which he often did, it seemed a little bit odd for two Teppenpaws to sit together somewhere else, unless someone was already waving them over to one of the other tables). The only table he’d never sat at was the Crotalus one.

He had just crossed behind Parker when he heard the other boy say a single word. A word he knew. A word that meant Parker was not having a good day. He hesitated. Dorian was a kind boy, and naturally inclined to help others, but he was also quite wary of people he didn’t know. Especially the kinds of people his family wouldn’t approve of him associating with, who were in Pecari, and who played Quidditch. And yes, two of those three applied to Tatya as well, but it was different… She had become his friend before he’d found out about her playing Quidditch. She was a girl. His experience of his brother and his brother’s friends told him that most boys, especially Quidditch playing boys, didn’t like boys like him. There were just a lot of things about Parker that made him nervous.

He was still hesitating when an owl swooped in and, seeing where Dorian had stopped, dropped an envelope on the plate next to Parker’s.

“Merci beaucoup,” he nodded to the owl, fishing it a treat from his pocket. He managed to sound sincere even though he wasn’t entirely sure about the choice of seat.

“Hi?” he said uncertainly, as he sat down next to Parker, because it seemed rude to just invade the other boy’s personal space without saying anything. He picked up the envelope bearing Émilie’s writing and fiddled with it, not yet opening it, because he was still deciding what to do about Parker. A glance at him as he’d sat down revealed Parker to be more pensive looking than angry in spite of his swearing. But it wasn’t like Parker knew him well. And most guys didn’t like to talk about their feelings and things. Even if he didn’t inherently dislike Dorian for being all things opposite to him, he might not exactly want to share with him seeing as they were virtually strangers. “Things are ok?” he asked nervously. At least it was a fairly neutral question. If Parker didn’t want to talk to him about whatever had bothered him, he could just tell him he was fine and they could both carry on with their toast.

13 Dorian Montoir News with a side of anxiety 1401 Dorian Montoir 0 5

Parker Fitzgerald

April 19, 2018 2:15 PM

Oh no... you've heard about the MARS room? by Parker Fitzgerald

Parker was wrapped up in his head. His thoughts like a warm blanket on a cold day. Thinking about his sister, and what his mother might be saying to her, and how she might be feeling, he felt an urge to go home right away. After having just been sick, and nearly blowing up a room, that might not be possible.

Parker didn't register the boy who walked by and stopped. He was trying to figure out what his sister would do, how they would get more books and robes, since Parker didn't know how to go to the magical store to get those supplies. And a myriad of things he would need to tell his sister about this magical world.

The blanket of his thoughts was thrown off as the owl coasted down towards him. He momentarily had a lump grow in his throat thinking that he had a letter already from his sister with her millions of questions. But the bird dropped the envelope on the plate next to Parker's and a boy from his year, who Parker recognized but didn't know, seemed to thank the bird. Saying something in a language he didn't know. Parker felt a brief bit of jealousy wash over him, momentarily distracting his brain.

Parker made a mental note though to get treats for the owls on seeing the boy's move.

It never hurt to thank someone in a way they'd like Parker thought.

The boy seemed hesitant to speak to Parker at first. Maybe he'd heard that Parker had blown up a MARS room. Parker grew a bit worried about where this conversation might go if there was a worry he might explode again.

"Hi," Parker said as the boy sat down.

Upon being asked the question if things were ok Parker hesitated. If he'd been asked a few minutes before, his response would have been a resounding "Yes! Things are great." He'd felt so much better after leaving the hospital that it seemed like he was a new person. That added to the high of Cleo talking to him again.

Now though he didn't know what he was feeling. It was as if a piece of him that had been buried was trying to dig its way out. And though this fellow second year seemed genuinely worried or interested, Parker wasn't sure what he was feeling, let alone how to even articulate it.

"Umm... " Parker picked up his letter, "Letter from my mom about the family. Unsure of how things are."

Parker put the letter down, his eyes falling across his sisters name again. Lyssa.

Good lord, this might be a lot trouble.

Parker realized he'd fallen silent again, and that he still couldn't think of the boys name.

"Sorry. I'm not normally this..." Parker couldn't think of the word he meant, but stuck out his hand. "My name is Parker. I don't think we've actually talked before. You are one of the second years who speaks foreign languages ya? I am always amazed by people who can do that, I don't think I'd be able to speak more than English. I try to learn new words, but never learn how to put them in sentences that make sense." And as usual, once he began talking, the words just flowed from his mouth, like water from a spring.

Parker pulled the letter off the table and put it in his pocket. He'd have to write Lyssa a letter soon, and would have to sit down and talk to her about a few things. Specifically, how everyone seemed to think family blood was so important here. But there would be time for that later. Since the boy had sat down, Parker felt he should at least try to make a new friend, who knows, this boy might turn out to be someone for the Garden Adventurers.

41 Parker Fitzgerald Oh no... you've heard about the MARS room? 1402 Parker Fitzgerald 0 5

Dorian

April 20, 2018 11:23 PM

No, you're just new to me and therefore scary by Dorian

“Ah,” he said, when Parker mentioned that the letter was from home and that he wasn’t really sure how to feel about it. “I hope it is better soon,” he offered, waiting to see if Parker wanted to say any more than that, because Dorian didn’t mind if he did but definitely felt he shouldn’t pry.

“It is ok,” he shrugged, when Parker apologised, wondering whether he should try to say something less banal than that. Something still empathetic but probably still nondescript… But before he could construct a suitable remark, Parker seemed to go for thoroughly changing the subject, underlining the point by tucking the letter away in his pocket. He didn’t want to talk about it then. Fair enough.

“Dorian,” he replied, shaking Parker’s hand, assuming that the other boy knew his name already because they had been in the same small class for over a year now, and that he was just being… well, formal. Which surprised Dorian, because he was pretty sure he hadn’t actually been formal with Jehan or Vlad when they’d first met, and he had always been led to believe that Muggleborns did not have good manners. He hadn’t hesitated in shaking Parker’s hand because he knew it would be very rude not to, but he hoped that people weren’t going to judge him for that sort of thing. He sort of got the impression that most people at Sonora valued being, at the very least, civil, but he wasn’t sure where the line was between that and looking like you were befriending. Dorian didn’t always see the point of sticking to every rule, given that they were contradictory in the first place. And he had decided first and foremost to value his own opinions, along with those of the people who mattered to him. He knew Jehan wouldn’t judge him, both because Jehan was kind and sweet and would never advocate being unkind to anyone, but the looming spectre of judgement looked not unlike Victor Callahan. Dorian wasn’t really sure what would happen if Victor thought ill of him but it wasn’t a happy thought. Jehan seemed to have relatively little regard for his parents’ opinion. They wanted him to eat meat. He refused. His father wanted him to stop reading ‘nonsense.’ He wouldn’t. He was pretty sure that if Jehan’s parents found any cause to disapprove of him as a friend, it would make no difference whatsoever to Jehan’s feelings. But he wasn’t so sure about Victor. He and Jehan were so close. If Victor thought Dorian wasn’t a good enough friend for Jehan, would Jehan listen to him? It was like if Émilie hadn’t liked Jehan… It would have been a big problem. He knew what his own brother’s reaction would have been to him fraternising with a Muggleborn - a smack around the head and a lecture on family honour, and ‘basic decency’ (another example of the stupid contradictions of all the rules he was supposed to follow, because he thought that refusing to shake another person’s hand was a pretty big violation of ‘basic decency’). He knew that Victor wasn’t Matthieu. He was acutely aware of it every time Jehan described his relationship with his brother and he felt a tiny little stab of something like jealousy. But he didn’t really know Victor, apart from knowing that he doted on Jehan. And where there were gaps in his knowledge, it was hard not to project his only frame of reference for what an older brother was like into the space…

“Yes. Uh… thank you,” he said, a little awkwardly. He never knew how to react when people complimented him on speaking multiple languages. He supposed he could just smile and accept it, but he felt like a fraud accepting a compliment on something that he hadn’t had to work to achieve. “It is not really so impressive though. I just growed up speaking many languages because my parents speak them - uh, my father is Quebecois, my mother is Chinese,” that was the one that was potentially a surprise - his accent made it obvious that he was French speaking, and his ability to attend school in English made it clear that he was at least somewhat capable there. His Chinese was… the least visible of his languages, “so each is speaking that to us and then together English - but a bit bad English. Or now French because Mama learned it. To learn a foreign language, that is difficult, but for me… none of my languages is foreign to me? I mean, now I try to learn the foreign language by learning Russian with Tatya, but I am not good at it. I make very ugly sentences and do not know my words.

“Sorry… That is a lot of information, but always when people say about my languages to me it seems to become complicated. You play with the Pecari Quidditch team?” he returned, because it seemed polite to acknowledge that he had noticed something about Parker and his existence, seeing as he appeared to know a little about Dorian, even though Quidditch wasn’t really his favourite subject, “Ah, so you will also know Tatya quite good?” he added, with a little more animation, because the subject of a mutual acquaintance always eased things. Unless they hated each other. But he was fairly certain that if Tatya had hated Parker, or been on the receiving end of any obvious unpleasantness from him, he would have heard about it. Being direct was one of Tatya’s good qualities - one never had to second guess her feelings on a subject. The only possibility that this was not a good subject was if Parker had harboured a kind of quiet seething resentment towards her, which she might not have picked up on.

13 Dorian No, you're just new to me and therefore scary 1401 Dorian 0 5

Parker

April 27, 2018 10:46 AM

New can be scary at first, but then they become everyday by Parker

Parker felt bad bringing up his family, and then not sharing. But what would he say. He wasn't sure if Dorian was one of those at school who was focused on the purity of blood. Mentioning his sisters name might mean that Parker was setting Lyssa up for something, probably something bad.

Parker had always felt like he was her protector in some way, especially when it came to their brother John Jr. When John Jr. was at his worst, Parker literally would step in front of her. So with this most recent news, he now felt like he had to step in front of possible anger pure blood families might feel for having two of a muggleborn family members in the school. If only Parker could let it be known that Sonora was getting the better two of the siblings, and if Lyssa was coming, Sonora was most assuredly getting the best the Fitzgerald family had to offer. On the plus, Parker was pretty sure Lyssa would want to be in the Garden Adventurers or at least the Gardening Club, so there was that. But Parker wanted to appear formal for Dorian, since so much of the culture here seemed to be stuck in the 1900's version of what formal meant.

As Dorian began talking about the languages he spoke though, Parker let out a long whistle. French, Chinese, English, and now Russian. That was impressive. Dorian was like a one man treaty negotiation team, like the ones from the Avenger movies or from the comic books Parker sometimes read. Although Parker didn't know what a Quebecois was, he assumed it was a place that spoke something like French, if not actually French. Chinese though he understood. Parker felt a momentary pang of jealousy. Dorian had learned these languages from the beginning of his life. All Parker had learned was English, and self-defense against an older brother.

"That's still impressive Dorian. I can speak in English, but that's it. I tried to pick up a few words in Spanish from my friends back home. I wasn't good at it, I was really bad when they gave us Spanish lessons in school. Maybe I need to learn languages like you learned Chinese or French. Fully surrounded by it. Have to use it to live and be understood ya know?

Parker nodded at Dorian's question about Quidditch. He did play, but hadn't done so much this year, probably because of the weird flu going around. Probably wouldn't be good if someone suddenly blew up while on a broom surrounded but a few other people also on brooms. Still, Parker missed it. He missed having something to do besides studies as Cleo was still not doing the Gardening Club yet, and DnD wasn't meeting all the time. Quidditch, Parker realized suddenly, had been his identity. It's how people knew him, it was what he was. Parker wasn't sure if he was entirely upset by this, but it did leave him feeling... not complete. He felt the need to have another identity as well.

"Ya, I'm also part of the Gardening Club as well," was the first thing that popped into Parker's mind. He couldn't stop himself, and immediately felt like he was acting like a fool. Thankfully Dorian gave him an out when he mentioned Tatya.

Parker knew Tatya, and talked to her, but didn't hang out with her as much as he wanted to this year, especially because they hadn't had much Quidditch. Still, she was nice, and though she seemed to act weirdly around him, Parker couldn't decide if it was because of he was a muggle or because of something else.

"Yes! I know her. I try to learn some Russian words from her from time to time, but I never get to practice them, so sadly I never really get any good at Russian either."

Parker paused momentarily. He wanted to figure out if Dorian might be up for adventuring in the Garden from time to time. Maybe a boy would be an adventure buddy with him, since Cleo was still sitting in her room a lot. Dorian also knew Tatya, as he called her, but as they weren't supposed to tell others where their room was located, he wasn't sure how often Dorian made it outside to the Labyrinth.

Putting down his fork, Parker turned to Dorian. He wanted to word his question in a way that didn't seem weird or could be misunderstood.

"I love being outside, and I am trying to find cool places to go, so I'm just curious, what's your favorite place in the Labyrinth?"

Parker hoped there might be enough qualifiers before the question to seem polite.

41 Parker New can be scary at first, but then they become everyday 1402 Parker 0 5

Dorian

April 27, 2018 11:35 PM

How long does that take, and is this a trap? by Dorian

“Thank you,” he replied, as Parker complimented him again, accepting it more this time. He’d come clean about how he hadn’t really tried in order to get where he was, but Parker still seemed to find it praise-worthy. And at the end of the day, who didn’t like being told that they were good or impressive? He was made to feel so often that he was entirely the opposite of those things by Matthieu, that it was still pleasantly surprising when anyone found him worthwhile, and he blushed slightly at being complimented.

“That is interesting,” he said, when Parker mentioned learning some Spanish from friends. “Where you live… it has a lot of people from different places?” he asked curiously.

“I think Mama would not have let us starve, even we don’t learn Chinese,” he commented with a smile, when Parker mentioned needing to learn all his languages to survive, “but it is definitely useful. She is always more happy when we do. Good way of getting treats,” he grinned. He had been a little shy and stiff at the start of the conversation but that was beginning to ebb away. He liked people, he liked to chatter. He just had to be sure of the kind of ground he was on before he really began to. “She always tells me that I teached my small sister to say ‘ice cream’ in Chinese before… before many other things.” Before she had learnt Matthieu’s name. But whilst he was happy to talk about Émilie, he was more cautious about bringing up his brother, or the dynamic between them.

“That is nice,” he added brightly, when Parker said he was in the gardening club. Dorian hadn’t actually been aware there was a gardening club. He supposed it rang a bell now Parker mentioned it… He’d seen something about it last year, but he wasn’t sure he had this year? Still, gardening was a nice, nurturing sort of activity. It made Parker something other than just a Sports Guy. It was hard to imagine anyone who enjoyed gardening being really very rough.

“Maybe this is your chance to learn by immersion,” he joked, when Parker said he never managed to get any consistent practise at getting Russian words from Tatya, “You tell her you want her to speak Russian only with you, you will make her very happy. And yourself very confused, but maybe you will learn.”

Parker’s next question threw him slightly, in that it rather assumed the existence of something that he wasn’t sure existed… And it had Parker identifying himself as something that Dorian very much wasn’t. Outdoorsy. Although he tried to remind himself this idea applied as much to nature and gardening as it did running around and exploring. Dorian didn’t inherently dislike the outside - he enjoyed beautiful views and fresh air very much. It was just that at home, it tended to be divided into inside as his and Émilie’s domain, and outside as Matthieu’s - the land of sport, of running about, of grazed knees from being ‘accidentally’ tripped…

“Hmm. I am unsure…” he pondered the question. The truth was that he spent much much more of his time in the library, where he most definitely could have listed a number of favourite small nooks and particular seats that he enjoyed occupying. And, of course, in MARS, but he felt that that would lead onto questions of what hobby he had, or what instrument he played if he specified the music room and, whilst he could honestly say that he played some rather bad piano, that wasn’t what he went there for. But his and Jehan’s MARS was something that felt private - it was theirs - and admitting that he spent most of his time in the library didn’t feel particularly… safe, he supposed. Parker didn’t seem to be Like That, he reminded himself - not like Matthieu - but there was a broad spectrum of people between Matthieu and Jehan, and he was still self conscious, anxious of making a mistake and Parker finding him someone worthy of ridicule instead of praise. “I mostly go when I just want to walk… For the walking, not for a particular place?” he tried to explain. He actually mostly walked when his head was full with too many unpleasant or complicated thoughts and feelings, but boys weren’t meant to have that many feelings, so he didn’t want to admit that part of it. He liked to think, and to read, and to enjoy the beauty of a well constructed scene but none of that was normal or allowed. The glimmer of animation had gone, and he sounded a little timid as he answered Parker’s question. “Or… or finding places to read sometimes. There are nice… I am more a reading sort of person. But maybe this is not the kind of place you like?” he added, almost apologetically.

13 Dorian How long does that take, and is this a trap? 1401 Dorian 0 5