Headmaster Brockert

July 27, 2018 9:25 PM

Headmaster Brockert

Staff
Subject: Headmaster
Written by: Allegra Brockert

Birthday: May 27

Opening Feast by Headmaster Brockert

So far the year was off to a decent start. No student altercations, no complaining parents and they even had a solution to their Quidditch "problem". (As far as Mortimer was concerned, there was no problem, as he didn't consider Quidditch all that important but others disagreed including his own son Eustace, but Eustace's opinion didn't matter one whit as far as Sonora went. He didn't even have a child here. Unfortunately, people whose opinion mattered more also cared but as long as he didn't have to do anything with it and nobody was forced into playing, it was okay with him.)

In other news, he had not one but two granddaughters attending Sonora this year and thus as the first years were brought in, he surveyed them with a bit more curiosity. They had better treat his granddaughters with the respect and decency that befitted them. Actually, Mortimer wasn't all that worried about Topaz, she could take care of herself but Allegra was an awfully jumpy child.

Once everyone seemed to be in attendance, Mortimer placed a Sonorus charm on himself and began to speak. "Welcome to Sonora for the new first years and welcome back for all older students. First years, you should have recieved a blank badge at the end of Orientation." At least they hadn't gotten it when they first got there, some were liable to lose it. "You will dunk the badge in the Sorting Potion and it will turn the color representing your house which are blue for Aladren, yellow for Teppenpaw, red for Crotalus, and brown for Pecari. Afterwards, you may join your house table." He noted where Topaz and Allegra were sorted with pleasure.

After the first years had been settled, Mortimer continued."Would Joseph Umland and Nevaeh Reed please come up and get your Head Student badges?" He couldn't help but be displeased with the former's new badge. Hopefully Mr. Umland had worked on his anger issues within the last few years " In addition I'd like to call up Emerald Brockert, Kir McLeod, Victor Callhan and Isaac Song to recieve their prefect badges. Congratulations." His face beamed with pride as Emerald took her spot on the stage along with her classmates and recieved her badge.

"We have two new staff members to announce tonight. Professor Brooding will be taking over Potions and Coach Reilly will be taking over for Quidditch. I trust you will all treat them with the respect they deserve." Blatant lie, he didn't expect teenagers to be respectful one little bit, but let that be a warning to them. " I am pleased," Another blatant lie, he couldn't care less, "to announce that this year instead of each house having it's own Quidditch team, as we've had trouble with that within the last few years, that we will instead be having an All Star Team, made up of the best Quidditch players in the school that will be playing against teams from other schools. More details will be posted in your common rooms.

"In addition, this year's Midsummer Event will be the Fair. Details on that will also be posted in later in the year. Now we will sing the school song." Yet another blatant lie. They would be singing the song, not him. Lyric sheets were passed around and the song began.

Every day we strive
Learning to survive
Life’s hardships and to solve its mystery.
Learning to defend
Our honour and our friends,
Flying high to meet our destiny
We will stand and face those who want to harm us.
We won’t let the world transfigure, jinx or charm us
I won’t fight alone, as long as you are with me.
Sonora be my home, my tutor and my spirit
Vasita quoque floeat; Even the desert blooms. .

That done, he dug into his steak and bourbon.
Subthreads:
Well, it was nice while it lasted. by Evelyn Stones with Malikhi Hill, Pecari
Harper's Quest III: A Welcomed Escape by Gary Harper with Amelia Layne
What's the point? by Julius Astley, Crotalus with Cleo James
Let's try this socializing thing again. by Katerina Vorontsov with Dorian Montoir
Is it too late? by Tabitha Hawthorne with Mary Brooding
I think we should be friends [Tag Zevalyn] by Ness McLeod with Zevalyn
All back to not as before. by Grayson Wright with Tarquin Fox-Reynolds
It's an outrage (tag Ben) by Kyte Collindale with Ben Pierce
Of brides and bribery, mostly. by Tatiana Vorontsova
The wanderer returns by Jehan Callahan with Heinrich Hexenmeister
Get out clauses (tag Joe) by Kir McLeod with Joe Umland
11 Headmaster Brockert Opening Feast 6 Headmaster Brockert 1 5

Katerina Vorontsov

July 28, 2018 1:42 PM

Katerina Vorontsov

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

Let's try this socializing thing again. by Katerina Vorontsov

Sonora, Tatiana had warned her, was a very western place. It was not as stark as the average American location, but it was still noticeably lacking in beauty. There were fewer colors, more earth tones among the colors that were there, fewer flourishes – the jewel tones and intricate mosaics and carvings and rich fabrics, these were lacking in America.

This was, Katya supposed, factually correct enough, but as she had followed Professor Wright and the other first years along on the tour, Katya found herself increasingly surprised by her sister’s assessment that it was a plain, dreary place. The tile work wasn’t the same as it would be in a Russian home, true, but it had its own beauty, and seemed well-proportioned. There were many paintings on the walls and potted plants added their own lavishness. And when they entered the Cascade Hall, she stopped walking for one moment to look around at the effect.

It was not Russian – but it was not plain, either. The floor was plain marble, but smooth and well-jointed, and not the central point. The chandeliers sparkled with a blaze of candles which spoke of wealth, and the light was reflected even further by the millions of delicate reflections of the flames from the rippling water running down over most of the walls. It was both beautiful and, because of the reflecting of the light, functional. She could not really examine the tables and chairs yet because of all the people in them, but as for the room itself, she adored it.

She was so taken with the room that she almost forgot the purpose of being in it, which was to get Sorted, until the first years were being lined up before everyone else and the Headmaster was reminding them of the protocol. It seemed simple enough. Take the badge, put it in the pot, remove. Easy. She had, with some difficulty, managed to change gloves and jewels before this, taking her white pearl strand and evening gloves out of her bag and putting her hat and her coral necklace (switching to pearl earrings had proven too complicated on the move, so dark pink and gold still gleamed at her ears) in the bag where her afternoon gloves had already been, so she would have to remove one glove to dunk the badge to avoid accidentally Sorting a glove as well, but she could do that. Step, start to unbutton the top of her glove before she got there, step again, hold badge in her left palm and use her fingertips to remove the right glove, transfer badge back to her right hand…And it was her turn.

Taking the badge in her right fingertips, she daintily dipped it down into the pot, where it promptly, without hesitation, turned yellow.

Teppen-paw. It was a strange word, but a good thing. Pecari, where Tatya was, was something everyone had agreed was unlikely for her, but Tatya had said Teppenpaw was not and that if Katya did go into Teppenpaw, Dorian Montoir had already said he would like to be friends with Katya. Tatya had shown her pictures, so she knew his face, and she quickly saw an empty spot next to him and headed toward it. She felt badly, in a way, for taking up an older student’s time when he presumably had friends he’d like to talk to, but he had invited her and he, too, did not speak perfect English, which reduced the chances of being humiliated again.

“Bonsoir,” said Katya. “Est-ce que tu t’appelles Dorian? Je m’appelle Katerine, la fille d’Andrei Vorontsov. Est-ce que tu es l’ami de ma soeur Tatiane?”

OOC: Katerina having an invitation to sit with Dorian if she went into Teppenpaw was established OOC with Dorian’s author.
16 Katerina Vorontsov Let's try this socializing thing again. 1418 Katerina Vorontsov 0 5

Dorian Montoir

July 29, 2018 2:03 AM

Dorian Montoir

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 13
Birthday: 1st October

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent by Dorian Montoir

Dorian took his seat at the Teppenpaw table feeling blissfully happy. His summer had been wonderful. The weeks spent in China had been perfect - great food, beautifully scenery, and plenty of time discussing the subjects he enjoyed, such as poetry, with people who actually valued his interests and his opinions. Matthieu had been encouraged to be more like him. Matthieu - the heir, the big strong Quidditch player - had been told he should aim to be more like Dorian. He was not a conceited boy, and he had not let this praise go to his head and make him one, but it had been a soothing balm to all the wounds Matthieu had inflicted upon his soul over the years to hear other people say that he, as he was, was good enough. Not just good enough, but the better of them. His grandparents and his mother had been so proud of him, his cousins had enjoyed his company. And now he was returning to school, where there was more of the same - where there was Vlad and Ruby and Tatya and Jehan. He had so many wonderful friends. There didn’t seem to be anyone in the world who wanted to put him down or make him miserable except Matthieu. And now he was thousands of kilometres away. Dorian had stuck firm to his new found belief over the summer - that Matthieu was the problem, not him. It hadn’t stopped his brother from beating him up, but it hurt less now he didn’t ascribe so much meaning to each punch - he was not weak, he was not a failure, he was not a freak. That was the most important part of all of this - yes, other people liked him, and that was a gift he would never stop treasuring, but right now, for possibly the first time he could remember, he liked himself too, much, much more than he had for the all the years he’d had to spend in Matthieu’s shadow. There was nothing wrong with who he was, or what he liked.

As he had been away, it had been his turn to play Snegorochka, and he had brought back presents for all of his friends. Each member of the Club of Tongues had received a dictionary - Chinese-English for Vlad and Jehan (he had been tempted to continue what he saw as Tatya’s little joke from last year, and slow Jehan down a little by getting him Chinese-French, so he had to constantly work in his non-native languages. But Chinese was everyone’s worst language, and he wished to encourage better performance in it rather than slow it down). It had taken longer to find Chinese-Russian, as learning English was the much more fashionable accomplishment, but Russian was obviously very useful in certain provinces, and so a few enquiries to merchants in Western China had secured a dictionary for Tatya, and they had had it sized and bound so that it matched the editions Vlad and Jehan were receiving. He had contemplated having each dictionary bound in its recipient’s house colour, but that would have meant that Tatya’s was a rather dull brown, whilst Vlad and Jehan’s were in her favourite colours, so he had opted for them to have red covers instead, in order that their learning might be auspicious. He had also bought each of them, and a couple of other important people, more personal presents. It had been hardest to choose for Jehan, for whom he practically wanted to buy one of everything he was getting, seeing as their tastes were so similar. He had opted to get Jehan a Chinese-style silk shirt, with a Mandarin collar and braided button loop fastenings, in a nice royal blue (the same one as the sweater her had… borrowed last year). He also had a store of smaller presents, such as a bookmark with Jehan’s zodiac animal (seeing as they were born the same year and shared one), which he thought he would include in Jehan’s birthday present, or maybe just give it at random - just because it was Sunday, or just because he needed cheering up, or just because… Just because. Whilst Jehan had been too easy to buy for, Tatya had been considerably harder, in that every time he almost made a decision, he had doubted himself. Obviously, there was jewellery. One could not exactly fail to notice that Tatya liked it. However, he was not sure how well his taste and his budget would match Tatya’s standards - he wasn’t exactly hard up, and the presents he was buying his friends were all of very nice quality, but then… jewellery was on a whole other level. It was also a very personal thing, in terms of taste. He didn’t think Tatya would be unkind if he chose badly, but he wanted to get her something she actually liked. He had considered getting her a teapot and some tea, and had reverted to this idea several times after attempting to have adequate opinions on jewellery and finding that he could not, but whilst he and Tatya both enjoyed tea, they both asserted their own variety to be superior. They had a friendly sort of tea rivalry, which made buying her tea-related presents seem somewhat passive aggressive. He had purchased some nice tea for the librarian, having discovered it to be a common interest during all the hours in his office last year. For Tatya, he had eventually settled on some ornamental hair combs. He could not say why, exactly, he felt these were safer territory. He could not, if pushed, really classify them under anything other than jewellery. But… But hair accessories were different. They were on the periphery of Tatya’s passion. And so, whilst she might not feel as strongly about them as she might about the perfect necklace, well…. She would not feel as strongly about them as she would a seriously terrible necklace. It felt safer. Unless he started trying to apply logic, so for once he was desperately trying not to do that. He knew from several of the pieces she wore regularly at school, that Tatya was fond of enamel, which was luckily in ready supply in China, and he had bought her a pair of hair combs each topped with a panel of enamel work flowers in blues and yellows. For Vlad, he had bought a kite - something he hoped didn’t seem too childish, but kite flying was serious business for all ages in China, and Dorian had brought his own back to Sonora with him. He found he had enjoyed flying it - it was calming and meditative. And whilst Vlad, who was about the most relaxed person he knew, probably didn’t need these particular benefits, it could perhaps be something for them to do together. His roommate was a really nice person, and he came to language study but Dorian was pretty sure it was more for the social side than because of a deep interest. It would be nice for them to have something to do together. For Ruby, he had purchased a pretty silk fan with a mountain scene on it. He knew American girls didn’t really use fans so much, but hoped it was pretty enough that she would enjoy having it regardless.

It was, all in all, a very happy start to his third year. Third year also sounded and felt rather grown up. He was in intermediate classes and looking forward to the academic challenge. But, more importantly, there were matters of the heart. A lot of people started dating during these years. Before Dorian had left for boarding school at all, his father had thought it prudent to appraise him of a few of the facts of life. He had apparently decided that this information needed a refresher over the summer and Dorian had endured an awkward but mercifully brief interview in his father’s study in which he was reminded about how he was going to start noticing girls and that that was perfectly natural, but that he should avoid acting on any of those feelings until he was married because anything else was morally reprehensible conduct. Dorian was not convinced there was too much danger to his or anyone else’s reputation at this stage, as any fluttering of hormonal feeling was currently accompanied by the voice over of his father reminding him that these were pulsions parfaitement naturelles, which was pretty effective in making them run screaming back into the recesses of his brain. In an abstract sense, he supposed the idea of kissing someone, of being physically close, was appealing - he had always been a tactile person. But the few times he had been able to get his father’s voice out of his head for long enough to try to imagine kissing a specific person such as Ruby or Tatya it had left him feeling, at best, stone cold, and at worst full of writhing, squirmy icky feelings like he was doing something terribly wrong. He supposed that was the combined power of his father’s lecture and the fact that Tatya reminded him more of a sister than anything else. In addition, he supposed he couldn’t imagine kissing Tatya or Ruby because he wasn’t in love with either of them - and in Dorian’s mind, it was very important to actually be in love with someone before you engaged in that sort of behaviour. His father had tried to separate out love from lust during That Chat, advising him that he might think he was in love with someone but it might just be lust, and that was part of why he shouldn’t act on it. But Dorian didn’t feel he was in danger of making that mistake - given that it felt wrong to even imagine kissing a girl he wasn’t in love with, he doubted he was going to be lured into doing it in real life. He knew right from wrong. And he was sure he would know love - proper true love - when it decided to grace him with its presence. He rather hoped it was sooner rather than later because he expected that falling in love was the most wonderful thing that could happen to a person. He liked the way it was described in poems. Well, in some poems. He wasn’t sure he wanted the can’t eat, can’t sleep, torment of the soul. But… the other person being your rock, your safe place. The person who made you feel complete. He wanted that. And… And, he supposed, that was it. And anyway, it was time for the feast to start.

He watched the first years with a little more interest than usual, because Tatya’s sister was starting, and he was keen to see where she was sorted, especially as he had promised to look after her if she became a Teppenpaw. Katerina was quite easy to pick out - not only did he have an idea of her appearance from photographs Tatya had shown him but there weren’t any other first years wearing gloves. Katerina’s badge turned yellow, and he smiled and clapped for her along with the other Teppenpaws. She seemed to be taking him up on the offer he had made, via her sister, that she was welcome to sit with him, as the space beside him was quickly filled.

“Oui, correct,” he assured her when she asked, in impressively accurate French, whether he was indeed Dorian, and Tatya’s friend - she had called her sister something else, a nickname that he wasn’t familiar with, but by this point he was so used to the many variations on Tatya’s name that he was ready to assume that pretty much anything beginning T meant her, so long as there was a reasonably relevant context. He had meant to greet her in Russian, but had been thrown by her speaking French so unexpectedly well, and now he hastily switched, “Priyatno poznakomit'sya, Katerina Vorontsova,” he greeted her. ‘Pleased to meet you’ was not a phrase that came up every day, and was not one he would have felt confident constructing from its constituent parts, but luckily the dictionary Tatya had bought him had a section listing common phrases. He had been prepared to make his own introduction in Russian too, but Katerina had rendered this unnecessary, so he skipped ahead to “Dobro pozhalovat v Teppenpaw,” to wish her welcome. The Western word jangled oddly on the end of the sentence, and he wondered whether Teppenpaw should become something like… Teppenpawya. But, whilst he was very aware of the Russian tendency to play with names and to make them diminutive or affectionate, or just better fitting to the sounds of the language, he was not yet confident enough to play with words that way himself. Perhaps he’d ask Tatya about it. “Tu parles très bien le Français,” he complimented her, being sure to keep his pace slow and his words clear. “Kak dela?” he asked, and then because that did not feel specific enough, he switched to English to ask “How was orientation?” being sure to enunciate the syllables clearly and in the English way ‘or-ee-un-tay-shun.’ Et pas ‘or-ee-un-tah-see-un,’ as his brain was always tempted to do with words with -tion endings.

OOC - I have kept it vague as to what Dorian was doing before the feast. If people want to assume they met up and received presents, they are free to do so.
13 Dorian Montoir No one can make you feel inferior without your consent 1401 Dorian Montoir 0 5

Katerina

July 29, 2018 4:04 PM

Katerina

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

A pretty thought. by Katerina

Dark blue-grey eyes widened in surprise when Dorian began speaking Russian, even saying her name correctly. Tatya had said she had tried to teach her friends some Russian, but after all the English Katya’s poor ears had been subjected to today, it was still almost a shock to hear words which simply moved from ear to comprehension without the slightest pause. She suddenly understood why Tatya got so cross when they were encouraged to speak English with each other over the summers, or when Katya tried to speak English with her when she was home.

“Blagodaryu vas,” said Katya in thanks for the welcome, and she beamed at the compliment on her French. “Merci beaucoup,” she said. “J’ai étudié pour quatre ans. J’aime les langues.”

Her smile faded, though, when she was asked about Orientation. “Professor Writ – Tatya skazala ‘tak mnogo slov’!’, i ona byl prava. No on byl khorosh,” she said. Tatya said ‘so many words!’, and she was right. But he was nice. Of course, then the rest of Orientation had happened. Katya didn’t want to talk about that, though. Mama frowned severely on complaining, especially from a young lady. A young lady was expected to maintain her poise no matter what. “La salle de cascade c’est trés belle. C’est tojours belle, ou…unique à la fête?” she asked, hesitating slightly as she tried to figure out how to ask if the Hall was always this beautiful or if it was a special effect put on just for the occasion of the Feast.
16 Katerina A pretty thought. 1418 Katerina 0 5

Dorian Montoir

July 30, 2018 9:53 AM

Dorian Montoir

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 13
Birthday: 1st October

And true by Dorian Montoir

He assumed that was good staring. Katerina was looking at him all wide eyed, in what he hoped was pleased surprise and not incomprehension at the jabber of syllables he had just produced. He had never tried speaking Russian on anyone who spoke it except for Tatya. Given that she tended to laugh at him when he was utterly incomprehensible (or, if she was feeling overly sorrowful at her linguistic isolation, to sigh as if he had physically pained her), he thought he had honed his pronunciation to a point that was probably intelligible. Given that she then thanked him, he guessed he’d got enough of his message across, and then she was back to French. That was getting more familiar… Everyone in his family switched languages all the time, and so it was a concept he was familiar with, and his brain effortlessly could transition along with the rapid succession of French to English to Chinese and back again and in and out and round in circles that came with talking with his family but especially with his sister. Émilie was always far too keen to just get her words out to mind which language they came in. Adding Russian to that mix - switching out of Russian and into other things - and following French with a distinctly Russian accent was a different mental gymnastic, but after two years with Tatya, he was become well practised at it.

“Je pense que tu es un bon élève,” he complimented her, “Oui, moi aussi,” he nodded, when she mentioned that she enjoyed studying languages, “You have tried any others?” he asked. "Though study two so well is already very impressive," he added, not wishing to undermine her quite considerable achievement. He was just curious, and enjoyed the subject. “Or have any other thing that you enjoy to studying?”

Tak mnogo slov, was such a familiar complaint that he could not help but smile. Katerina bore a family resemblance to her sister but they were not the most similar-looking pair of siblings he had ever seen. The jewellery certainly helped the effect, but that phrase did more than any amount of pearls and gemstones ever could have to cement the similarity. The sentences Katerina was using were short, and had familiar vocabulary. Dorian’s eyes flickered away breaking eye contact for a fraction of a moment, almost looking like he was searching the meaning out in the air around him or inside his own mind, before he came back to her with a nod. He had understood, it had just taken him a moment to do so - to check with himself that he had.

"Professor Wright khorosh. Mne on nravitsya," he said, more to confirm his understanding than because it was a witty or sparkling insight. There had been The Incident last year in which Professor Wright had not been those things but luckily there did not seem to be any permanent dischord between the teacher and Tatya. A lot of things had happened last year that... just should not count to one's permanent reputation.

He wondered what it meant that Katerina had not commented on anything beyond Professor Wright. He supposed not everyone could meet their Jehan on their first day. He tried to remember if he had even commented on the other boy at the feast, or whether he had just... kept it to himself. He remembered still being nervous at the feast, that the wonderful person he had met would quickly realise that he wasn't worth it. He had worried so often that Jehan would get bored of him, of his clumsy grammar, that he wouldn't be... enough. Those thoughts seemed strange now. They felt like they belonged to someone else. He had not thought them in a long time. Now, Jehan always made him feel safe and content.

"Toujours," he confirmed, as Katerina asked about the hall and its decoration, a little surprised that Tatya had failed to mention this. He thought it... rather noteworthy, especially to someone who did not exactly go in for subtlety and understatement. Her mention of it being a fete reminded him, they had been distracted by the pleasnatries and introductions from the other purpose of the evening, "I may get you something?" he enquired. The verb 'servir' would have been more elegant and appropriate but the English version was escaping him at present, and he wasn't quite sure it would have come in Katerina's studies. He did not wish to embarrass her by surpassing the level of French she knew as that would not be polite or gentlemanly behaviour.
13 Dorian Montoir And true 1401 Dorian Montoir 0 5

Katerina

July 31, 2018 12:34 AM

Katerina

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

What about making you feel good about yourself? by Katerina

“Oui,” said Katya, glowing with pride at all these compliments. “J’ai étudié un peu l’allemand.”

Katya was also good at and enjoyed her lessons – less formal ones than what she learned with Anton Petrovich, but lessons nonetheless – in sewing and art with her mama, but she was fairly sure that these feminine pursuits would be of little interest to Tatya’s kind, flattering friend. They were not even of much interest to Tatya, after all, and Tatya was actually also feminine. Tatya understood some of the principles of color and proportion, that was essential to dressing properly and, of course, her beloved jewels, but Tatya didn’t like sitting quietly to sew.

“J’aime histoire aussi,” she added, deeming that probably more interesting for conversation.

Dorian Montoir confirmed that Professor Wright was a nice and likable person. “Khorosho – c’est bon,” she said. “Les charmes – c’est…la bonne chose?” She made a face, realizing that ‘the charms – they are the good thing?’ might not exactly be clear enough to get a response. Especially since she had let her French grammar slip; in what French she knew, questions were usually grammatically marked much more explicitly than they were in Russian, where the main marker was intonation. He might think she was making a really silly statement. “The class – it is a good class, yes?” she asked, hoping that would be clearer, mimicking as it did the way Tatya spoke English sometimes.

Katya smiled again when she heard the Hall was always so finely turned out. “Oui, š'il tu plait,” she said. “Tam – ah, il y a – c’est canard à la – je ne sais pas le mot – on dit mindal’ en Russe.” ‘Almonds’ was not a word she could call to mind quickly in either French or English. The dish, however, looked appetizing, and also something that could be passed to her and transferred to her plate without much risk of a mess, which was an important consideration in this social eating. “J’aime canard et mindal’,” she explained.
16 Katerina What about making you feel good about yourself? 1418 Katerina 0 5

Dorian

July 31, 2018 7:26 AM

Dorian

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 13
Birthday: 1st October

Also needs you to allow it, and is highly recommended by Dorian

Katerina seemed to be relaxing - she looked happier and more animated. He did not attribute anywhere near as much of this to himself as he probably should have done. Certainly, he assumed he was being pleasant company, but he did not think that his kindness or his gentleness were likely to be in any way particularly remarkable. He was not really used to being the one to bring someone else out their shell - he was normally the one who needed it more. When people managed it with him, he admired those qualities in them immensely, but it was harder to notice and to give it the same value when the situation was reversed. He did not assume himself to be doing anything special. He was just being nice. Again, something he valued highly from others, but took as the bare minimum he should expect from himself.

“Ah, très utile. Il y a un garçon qui parle allemand en deuxième,” he commented when she mentioned having also studied German. Then realising that he was allowing French to dominate the conversation, he searched for some appropriate Russian, but found himself coming up short of what he wanted to say. “I can say only ’Vy dolzhny praktikovat' because… this phrase I hear a lot” he paused, choosing to be diplomatic and leave it at that, although the conspiratorial smiles he gave Katerina, and the fact that there were a limited number of places he could have heard it rather ruined the face-saving effect of the passive voice, “But I do not mean to use l’imperatif with you - just to say you ‘you can.’ Ah… Ty mogu praktikovat?” he suggested, making a face that suggested he knew he was making mistakes. The verb conjugation was probably very, very wrong. But he used it about himself more than he used it about other people. As in the sentence ‘Ya ne mogu vspomnit' - pomogi mne.’

“L'histoire est très intéressante. You like in particular any time?” he asked, again feeling the clunkiness of the non-specific words that he had to use to convey concepts in English, “Moi, j’aime la philosophie,” he added. Et surtout, la poésie, he added to himself. Philosophy, he thought, sounded quite sophisticated and intellectual. A good accompaniment to history. Poetry was… He was not going to disparage it, even in his own head, but it seemed considerably less safe territory to admit to enjoying. Poetry, music… He thought life without was flat. Matthieu thought life with it was- but it did not matter what Matthieu thought any more.

“J’ai compris,” he assured her, when she switched to English to reiterate her question regarding Charms. Well, he had understood the component words, and the gist of her question. There were some subtleties lost, but they were not much made up for by the English translation. Still, he could just give her a detailed enough answer that he covered all bases. “Let me think in Russian,” he requested. He thought that, given how frequently she was using her French, she was perhaps enjoying the opportunity to practise, and he did not have to keep balancing the scales - she had definitely gone beyond a token politeness in using his language. But he knew from experience how tiring it could be to keep up a whole conversation in a foreign language, and he did not want her to fatigue. “Eto khoroshiy klass - Professor Wright khorosh i... khorosh uchitel? I want to say he is sympa but also teach bien. It… can be khorosh both time?” he asked. He supposed that in English there was to be morally good and also good at one’s job, so perhaps what he had just said made sense. Perhaps. “I klass interesnyy. Et très utile,” he conceded, lapsing back into French. Apparently two years with Tatya was no competition for four under a professional tutor. He wondered whether he was achieving his aim in not making Katerina’s head hurt. His felt… challenged. And she had to keep switching what she was hearing, which possibly wasn’t the easiest either. But then… there was no easy option for any of them who didn’t have English as their dominant language. You either had to fight down the words in one language, or keep your ears alert to the possibility of change, and both were tiring.

“Amandes,” he provided, as she questioned the name of the ingredient in French. “Amandes. Mindal. Xìngrén,” he listed, to help himself remember the Russian, and to help her remember the others, without noticing that he had automatically included an extra language. He placed some duck on her plate, serving himself some too, and his mind went wandering off amongst all the delicious things he had eaten during the holidays, “Zài zhōngguó wǒ-” he began, only this time he caught himself. “Sorry. I was starting to talk about China, and so I do it in Chinese,” he explained with a blush. And then realising that statement only really made sense if she already knew about his family, he added, “Tatiana explained me to you, yes?” He thought it was logically one of the first things one would mention about him, especially given that they studied languages together, but then he would have thought ‘the walls of the hall are permanently cascading with water’ was a pretty noteworthy feature too, so it seemed wise to check.

OOC - Glossary
Ah, très utile. Il y a un garçon qui parle allemand en deuxième - Ah, very useful. There is a boy who speaks German in second year

I can say only ’Vy dolzhny praktikovat' because… this phrase I hear a lot - you must practise

Ty mogu praktikovat - You can [with mangled verb conjugation] practise

Ya ne mogu vspomnit' - pomogi mne - I cannot remember - help me

Eto khoroshiy klass - Professor Wright khorosh i... khorosh uchitel? - It is a good class. Professor Wright is good/nice and… a good teacher?

Zài zhōngguó wǒ - In China I….
13 Dorian Also needs you to allow it, and is highly recommended 1401 Dorian 0 5

Katerina

July 31, 2018 11:41 PM

Katerina

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

Very well, then, I allow it. by Katerina

Katya shared in the conspiratorial smile, thinking that this was very like Tatya – Katya wouldn’t think of ordering someone here to study Russian, but that was Tatiana. Her sister wanted what she wanted and often demanded it without a second thought. She should have been a man, Katya thought – it would have suited her better. Except for not being able to wear such pretty jewelry.

“Ty mozhesh’ poprakitkovat’sya so mnoi esli ya mogu poprakitkovat’sya so toboi,” said Katerina. You can practice with me if I can practice with you was a far more conditional, presumptive kind of statement than she was accustomed to make, but it was the first sentence Katya could think of which let her correct his verb conjugation in a sentence instead of either ignoring the mistake or pointing it out as a mistake. Besides, she couldn’t say she disliked the idea of him taking her up on the offer.

Katya thought for a word, but couldn’t find one which she thought her new friend was likely to understand when it came to discussing her favorite historical times. “J’aime l’histoire…Rimskaya Imperiya, i Byzantiya,” she said. “Je suis desolée – ya ne znayu eto v Frantsuzskii. I am want to learn more history of…not-Russkii.”

“Trés impressionnat,” said Katya, incorrectly finishing her own verb, when Dorian said he liked philosophy. She assumed this was the same thing as filosofiya based on sound alone.

She nodded when he asked for a moment to think in Russian. To her, thinking in Russian was automatic and natural, but to him it was – well – just like her trying to think in French or English. Not only did one have to find the word, but one also had to say them in the right order and with the right verbs and without mixing in similar-sounding words – in the worst-case scenario, false friends – from one’s usual language. “Khoroshii uchitel’,” said Katya this time, but only because she had been asked directly. “Ya ponimayu,” she assured him. I understand.

“Tatya telled me much about you,” said Katya. “Ty govorish’ po-Angliiski, po-Frantsuzskii, i po-kitaiskii, da?”
16 Katerina Very well, then, I allow it. 1418 Katerina 0 5

Dorian

August 02, 2018 8:31 AM

Dorian

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 13
Birthday: 1st October

Glad to hear it by Dorian

Mozhesh and mogu were so very different sounding that it was hard to recognise that they were conjugations of the same verb. But, as often happened, there was enough meaning in the words he did get that he could catch the meaning of the sentence, and then his brain sort of worked backwards, replaying some of the sounds and working out that he did know those too, even if he hadn’t thought he did the first time.

“Nous pouvons pratiquer,” he nodded, both to confirm that he thought it was a good idea, but also with a slight hesitation that suggested he was double checking his comprehension. He wasn’t quite sure whether that meant he had just invited Katerina to join the Club of Tongues or something else. Not that he could see anyone minding. Although she wasn’t learning Chinese, he reminded himself again, and as they were both in Teppenpaw, there would be plenty of times they could talk just with each other.

“Je reconnais byzantin comme le nom d'une époque dans l'histoire, but I not know so much about.” In terms of non-Russian history, Dorian was relatively knowledgeable. Living in North America meant studying its history, but that was so strongly tied into European history, especially in Quebec, that you couldn’t do one without the other. His Chinese history was, by his own measure, against the knowledge displayed by his cousins, very bad, but he still thought it was likely to be better than anyone at Sonora. Except, of course Wu- except of course Wu had graduated now… He didn’t mention the range of his knowledge, because having received a ‘very impressive’ regarding his philosophy studies, he did not wish to seem like he was showing off. And besides, they had already agreed to practise languages together. If they agreed to a history exchange too, he and Katerina might end up monopolising rather a lot of each other’s time, and he did not wish to do that, even though the prospect seemed rather interesting.

Dorian was extremely gratified when Katerina told him was intelligible. Admittedly, he was not plumbing any great intellectual depths here but the thought was more or less exactly what he would have said in English, and he had managed it. Well… eighty percent of it. The fact he had caved on the last sentence was what stopped him beaming with pride at her feedback. He would have to look up ‘useful’ in his dictionary later. Ironically, he was pretty sure that was one of the first words he had looked up, so he could say ‘Thank you for my dictionary, it will be useful.’ But apparently, he had not had a great deal of use for that word since during conversations with Tatya, and it thus hadn’t stuck.

“Duile,” he nodded, when she ran through his languages. He always found the Russian word for Chinese funny – it sounded so feline. “Potomu chto moya Mama – kitayskaya,” he added. He expected that bit was unnecessary… Whilst people didn’t always pick him out as mixed race, the second he mentioned speaking Chinese, he caught them re-evaluating – the midtone skin, the dark eyes, the slight… difference in the shape of them. Things that had not been enough to make them think for themselves, but which made a lot more sense once they had reason to consider. Then there was the fact that Katerina said that Tatya had told her a lot about him. Presumably not just the fact that he spoke it, but the reason why a boy from Quebec spoke Chinese had been deemed more interesting than the fact the walls of the hall streamed with water. He wondered what else. He knew, on the one hand, that that was just… a thing that people said, but he was curious… Jehan, he believed, would have a lot to say about him. He was not sure that he did, because no one in Jehan’s family seemed very interested in the things that he liked, or had in common with Dorian. But Tatya had said a lot about him? He supposed he peppered his letters to Émilie with tales of everything he was doing with his friends here. He supposed Tatya had done the same… Dorian has a Chinese Mama and a Canadian Papa, and he speaks Chinese, French and English (and bad Russian). Those were facts, easily commutable to paper and understood by the reader. We went skating over midterm, he tried to teach me to waltz on the ice… What did that tell someone about him? Which anecdotes did Tatya deem worthy, how did she describe them, what meaning did Katerina give to them? He wondered what impression Katerina had of him from her sister’s tales, and how he was living up to those expectations. He was very curious as to how he looked through someone else’s eyes – through two sets of eyes, he supposed, writer and reader. He thought it might be rude to ask. ‘I’ve heard so much about you,’ was generic party small talk, and one was not supposed to respond by asking what the person had heard. But… this was a little different.

“A- a lot about me?” he asked hesitantly, knowing he shouldn’t but wondering… For the first time since the start of the feast, the new and self-confident Dorian retreated slightly. He trusted Tatya really, and doubted she had said anything bad about him, but… well, what had she said?
13 Dorian Glad to hear it 1401 Dorian 0 5

Katerina

August 02, 2018 9:51 PM

Katerina

Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 11

I will try to return the favor. by Katerina

The next sequence of French had unfamiliar vocabulary in it, but concentrating, and picking out words she did know, Katya thought she got most of the gist of it – that Dorian knew that Byzantiya was the name of an era. She nodded when he added, in English, that he didn’t know much about it.

“C’est une grande époque,” said Katya. “Tatiana aime les livres sur Byzantiya pour des bijoux,” she added with a laugh, sure anyone who had known her sister any length of time knew of Tatiana’s odd fascination with jewels. Katya understood they were useful in many ways – they beautified the wearer, they clearly demonstrated status, and they were a form of wealth it was much easier to move than stacks and stacks of coin – but Katya couldn’t understand why Tatya seemed to find them interesting of themselves. When the jewelers came to their house, Tatiana asked them all sorts of technical questions, and had once astonished Mama and Papa by asking if she could go watch a jeweler make things (a request which had been denied; Tatya had cried). She didn’t even seem to care much about intrinsic value, which would have at least made sense; tonight, Tatiana was decked out to the point of excess, but all in semi-precious materials at best. Katya didn’t quite understand it.

Nor, if she was to be perfectly honest, did she quite understand how Dorian had come to have a Chinese mama and French-Canadian papa – how such a marriage would even happen. Papa had married a Russian witch, Anya was engaged to a Russian wizard, and so it went – though reasonably, she knew this didn’t really make sense. Outside marriage happened often enough in Russia, if her histories were anything to go by – there were prominent families whose surnames were poorly Russianized, or simply not Russian at all, and the Tsaritsa Ekaterina had originally been a German called Sophie! Sonia joked that Mama and Papa had so many daughters that they had named two, Sofiya and Katerina, after the same person! – but it didn't in Volshebnaya Derevnya. It had been Papa’s idea to send Tatya to America, but he had scolded Sonia before for flirting too much with boys from the lesser Russias….

“Oui,” said Katya offhandedly when Dorian repeated what she had said about Tatya talking about him, then realized it had sounded like a question. “Only things sympa,” she added. “Tatya like you very much. She told me you invited me – thank you,” she added, realizing she had not said this before. She poured herself a drink and raised her cup slightly to Dorian. “Za tvoe zdorov’e,” she said. To your health.
16 Katerina I will try to return the favor. 1418 Katerina 0 5