Come see me. [Tag Zara.] on Cascade Hall

DH Skies

May 27, 2019 12:55 AM

Post concert socialisation by DH Skies

The Teppenpaws had had an awful lot of explosions. The Pecaris had been flying about all over the place. Even the Aladrens had thrown some spells about. But no one had got hurt and nothing had ended up on fire, and odd criteria as those were to have for a successful concert, this being a magic school, it wasn't something to take for granted. Selina was also pleased with the quality of the performances. They had all met the brief, and put on something suitable. Personally, she ranked most of it a good few points above 'nobody died' on the scale of success.

As was typical with the concert, the students would be returning home with their families that evening, but there was time before that to socialise

After the last act, parents and students were asked to stand to the side whilst the chairs rearranged themselves into small groups around tables. There was a larger table at the back of the hall providing refreshments, and plenty of open space around this, for people to move about, or chat standing up if they preferred.

OOC - all concert threads will remain open for the rest of the term, so you can post parent arrivals/interactions, performances or student/family interactions as you wish.

Subthreads:

Curious (tag Professor Brooding) by Émilie Montoir with Professor Mary Brooding, Émilie

Goodbye for now. [Tag Heinrich] by Evelyn Stones with Heinrich Hexenmeister

Come, meet your second family! [tag Hilda] by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen, et al. with Hilda Hexenmeister

Come see me. [Tag Zara.] by Felipe De Matteo with Zara Jackson, The Jacksons

The things I haven't said. [Tag Ness, etc.] by Evelyn Stones with Ness McLeod, Marijke

We should probably talk (tag Professor Skies). by Arthur and Rosalie Hayles with DH Skies

Meeting the parents (Tag all Iveses) by Kir McLeod (plus surprise guest) with All The Iveses

Complaints (tag Tatiana) by Émilie Montoir with Tatiana Vorontsova, Émilie

Everything is perfectly fine here. by The Mordues with Jeremy Mordue, Nathaniel Mordue

Because I wasn't busy enough. [Tag Jessica.] by Evelyn Stones with Jessica Hayles

Post concert tension. by The Spencers with The Sparks, Jozua Sparks and family , Cassie, Henry Spencer and family

Hooray, it's over by Emerald Brockert

Pride by The Montoirs

Just Own The Night by Georgia Kirkly (and dad)

Meet the parent by Cleo and Isaac (and family cameos)

13 DH Skies Post concert socialisation 26 DH Skies 1 5

Émilie Montoir

May 27, 2019 1:15 AM

Curious (tag Professor Brooding) by Émilie Montoir

L'Institut's term had finished a couple of days before Sonora's, freeing Émilie up to attend Dorian's concert. And, she supposrd, Matthieu, though he seemed to have come up with some kind of excuse to get out of it. She was surprised at her parents accepting this, although she had made no effort to argue the point, knowing that it was better for both her brothers if Matthieu wasn't forced to attend. She, personally, wouldn't have missed it for anything. She wad intensely curious about her brother's other life, and enjoyed all the glimpses she got into it by looking through his yearbooks or meeting his friends. Now though, she had had a chance to see the school itself, and have a look at its inhabitants. She had enjoyed the tour almost as much as the show.

When Dorian was released from his duties and came to join them, Émilie greeted her brother with nothing less than absolute enthuasiasm, showering him with hugs and kisses. She was just as full of praise as her parents, and had a few questions too, such as whether he had made good use of the notebook she had given him.

However, as the socialising continued, she found herself looking for a new target. She was very fond of Dorian's friends but she got to see them during summer, and their parents were of little interest to her. She had a passing curiosity about the Russians, whose jewellery she wished to admire, and because some of them spoke French which meant she could chat away easily with them. The other sister, the one at Sonora, was possibly of interest, and she was a little curious to see Dorian interact with her. He swore, truthfully, she thought, that he was not romantically inclined towards Tatiana or Ruby. Maybe her brother preferred blondes... But there would probably be plenty of time to analyse the Russians later. There was another person about whom she was intensely curious, and whom she suspected would never be invited over as a dinner guest.

She knew what Professor Brooding looked like from Dorian's yearbook, and when she saw the Professor ducking out of the hall, Émilie excused herself from her family and followed. She was just in time to see the professor disappearing into a bathroom. As it was marked 'staff only' Émilie loitered in the entrance hall.

When the Professor exited the bathroom, Émilie gave her a friendly wave, making it clear she was waiting here for her. What would be immediately apparent to the professor was a very well-groomed girl. Her long dark hair was tied back in an elaborate braid and dotted neatly with pearled hair slides. She was wearing a peach sun dress and matching shoes with a slight heel, which did little to close the substantial difference in height between her and her peers. For anyone who knew Dorian, even by sight, it was also fairly easy to guess that she was his sister - a fact which would be further confirmed when she opened her mouth. Besides the dark, shining hair and skin tone inherited from their mother, she and Dorian had very similar faces. The overall shape and set of their features marked them out as siblings, but it was the eyes in particular that did it. Émilie's differed from Dorian's only in that the lids were adorned with three shades of shimmering eyeshadow in a neutral colour palette, and expertly blended. The eyes themselves were the same deep, liquid brown and framed by the same long eyelashes which gave both siblings such a wide-eyed innocent look. It suited Dorian better, but Émilie actively turned it to her advantage more often.

"Hello, Professor Brooding," she smiled mischievously, deciding there was no point in any pretence that she didn't know exactly who she was speaking to, and suspecting the same was true in return.

13 Émilie Montoir Curious (tag Professor Brooding) 0 Émilie Montoir 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

May 27, 2019 2:04 PM

Excited by Professor Mary Brooding

The bathroom was the perfect place to breathe, which was a bit unfortunate considering the things that sometimes lingered in the air there. Still, at least a closed door and some privacy meant that leaning over the sink and taking several deep breaths, fixing her hair, adjusting her buttons and seams, and altogether looking much less confident than she otherwise strove to appear would be fine.

Tabitha had grown up attending such functions as these, with all the dynamics and politics therein, and had hated it. She'd left for a reason. Mary hadn't grown up doing anything like this and was more keen on the impression she was making than she usually cared to be. Still, it was a beautiful event and Mary made every effort to be focused on the students. She was very proud of all of them, and it didn't take much work.

Taking a moment to wash her hands and pat some cold water onto the back of her neck, Mary brushed away the flyaways around her face, adjusted her large hat, and exited the bathroom, only to find a girl that could only be one person.

"Hello, Émilie," Mary smiled, appreciating the girl's initiative and display of planning. Of course, there was some amount of concern in Mary's chest at the thought that this girl had wandered off to find her and what would Mrs. Montoir think of Mary slowly recruiting all of her children? If she could only get to the brother and make him nice. . . . "It's good to meet you. You look very much like your brother."

22 Professor Mary Brooding Excited 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Evelyn Stones

May 27, 2019 2:37 PM

Goodbye for now. [Tag Heinrich] by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn had taken care to spend extra time with Ness and Malikhi especially before the end of the year and before the concert. There was just so much happening, and everyone would be leaving. The thought was heartbreaking.

Evelyn had met up with her father again after the show. There was no love lost there, although they did briefly hug. It wasn't the cold, standoffishness of years past, but the awkward, tense interaction of two people who didn't want to see the other. There was no anger, except that which they held against the one absent. Ironically, they both blamed themselves just a little more than they blamed the other person.

Looking around to find Heinrich, Evelyn greeted him much more warmly than she had her father, although she still wasn't totally sure how much they were meant to hug or anything like that, and the warmth was found more in her cautious smile and big grey eyes than anything else. Her hair had finally washed itself free of color and was its natural white-blonde again, a fact which made things a little less awkward since it was her mother that had dyed it in the first place.

"Heinrich," she greeted him happily. "Das ist meinen Vater," she whispered to him, pointing him out across the room where he was chatting with somebody else. Her German was extremely limited, but she had been working on it and trying to learn as much as she could. A question was in her tone, and she was pretty sure she'd gotten the wrong word in there somewhere. German was her summer goal, and a worthy one in her mind.

She turned away from her father and looked up at Heinrich instead. "Thank you for this," she said, retrieving the stone from her pocket and holding it up to show him. She smiled at him before replacing it in her robes. "Helped with the stage fright." It was amazing to her how quickly he had become a source of comfort and warmth in her life. "How are you feeling about going home for the summer?"

22 Evelyn Stones Goodbye for now. [Tag Heinrich] 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen, et al.

May 27, 2019 3:02 PM

Come, meet your second family! [tag Hilda] by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen, et al.

OOC - all dialogue in German unless stated otherwise.

IC -

With the concert over, and exciting things about to end, Johana Leonie was practically bubbling. She was going home! It had been far too long since Christmas holidays and she couldn't wait another moment to be back in the familiar German forests and breathe in all that air. There were things she would miss, though, and people, too. First and foremostly, she wanted to introduce the summer guest to the summer host. Still not sure whether Heinrich would be attending as well, Johana Leonie settled on pulling Hilda in for a greeting.

"My friend! You have to meet my family. They're all so excited to have you over this summer. I've told them so much about you," she chattered, bringing Hilda over to where her parents and brother were standing. The fact that they'd all managed to get away was incredible, but they insisted they wouldn't miss it for the world. Which might actually be true, considering the patients at home who probably still needed help. Apparently, they too had insisted that the Zauberhexens attend their only daughter's performance.

"This is Hilda," Johana Leonie said, grinning at her family.

Agathe immediately greeted the girl with a smile and a warm hug, suspecting that a Hexenmeister would need one, although she doubted Johana Leonie realized that. "It's so good to finally meet you," she cooed, looking at Hilda with big warm eyes, and the sort of look only a mother can give.

She had the same round features as her daughter, but was much more thinly built, with light blonde hair like her son's. Her husband, Florian Eckart, was the stockier of the two, lending his frame to Johana Leonie, although she'd gotten her mother's shorter stature. His hair was red, like Johana Leonie's, and he smiled the same sort of crooked grin that his daughter and son both carried.

"It's a pleasure," Florian Eckart told Hilda. "We hear you've been a great friend to our daughter."

Friederike Albert was quiet, but smiled, happy to be included at all. He was tucked under his father's arm, and looking around the room with excited eyes, knowing he'd be attending here in just a few months. Nerves were plain in the way his shoulders tilted clearly towards the protection of his parents, but his eyes and face were openly curious, and he observed Hilda with a quiet grin.

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen, et al. Come, meet your second family! [tag Hilda] 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen, et al. 0 5

Émilie Montoir

May 27, 2019 8:35 PM

Me too! by Émilie Montoir

"It is also nice to meet you. I get told so many things of you," Émilie grinned, "I assume you say I look like Dorian," she commented. Context, and the fact that Professor Brooding had never met Matthieu and probably had never seen his picture made it fairly clear which brother was being discussed, but she did have two, after all. "And this is a compliment?" she queried, "People trouvent Dorian assez mignon, généralement - do you speak French?" she checked.

Appearence-wise, whilst the resemblance was strong, the way in which Émilie carried herself was quite different than the younger of two older brothers. She was clearly quite comfortable with running off and introducing herself to a perfect stranger, and with chatting away without the least trace of self-consciousness about her, even when she wasn't quite sure of her words. To further prove this point, she plunged onwards, choosing words and then explaining later, where Dorian would have hedged tentatively through the sentence, trying to get at the right word, rather than risk using a wrong one.

"You are like your picture. Only I never saw all your hair before. Can I call it strange in English, or is that rude?" she asked, "Not many people have this long hair. It is also very nice," she clarified, because she thought that 'strange' probably carried negative connotations and she didn't mean that.

13 Émilie Montoir Me too! 0 Émilie Montoir 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

May 27, 2019 10:48 PM

That's a relief! by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary smiled, honored that Dorian would talk about her at home. She suspected he must've talked about her at least a little bit, and of course with everything that had gone on over the winter break, there was that as well. Still, it was nice to be known, and Mary liked to think at least some of her students thought enough of their potions lessons to talk about them.

"Yes, you look a bit like Dorian," Mary agreed. "You both have soft, strong expressions and kind faces," she said, hesitant to say that it was a compliment to look like her student. That felt like an odd line. "I only know very little French. Not enough to know what you said, unfortunately. I would like to know more languages." It was one of her greatest shames, although one she was working to rectify. With all her spare time.

Émilie was bold, and brilliant, and Mary could see precisely why Dorian adored her so much. She seemed very much like the things that Dorian seemed to praise in himself, and lacked all the qualities he seemed to find distasteful in himself. Of course, Mary hardly knew the girl and couldn't be sure of that, but she was certainly charming.

Her comment on Mary's hair made the professor laugh, and she pulled it over her maroon clad shoulder, displaying it proudly. "Ah, that's how you knew who I was: you'd seen my picture. That's very clever of you," Mary noticed, impressed. "It is not very nice to say someone's hair is strange in English, but I think that you are right; my hair is much longer than most people's and it is a bit strange. I'm glad you think it's nice, though."

Mary thought again of Dorian having done her hair for her wedding, but wasn't sure whether he would appreciate Émilie knowing he'd done so and decided not to mention it. "Dorian says he helps you with your braids sometimes," she said instead. "Your hair looks lovely."

22 Professor Mary Brooding That's a relief! 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 28, 2019 1:06 AM

How about this? by Émilie

"Also, look half Chinese but have French accents," she added, with a laugh, "It makes guessing not so difficult. But yes, people also tell us often we have the same face.

"Ah, I think he teach everyone," she joked, when Professor Brooding confessed to not knowing French, "I say that Dorian is cute," she explained. "People think so. But he does not seem to think the same about other people. Or at, he has no interest in the girls he knowing," she added, and in spite of the accent it was clear that there was a significant emphasis on that word and that she was scruitnising Professor Brooding very carefully for her reaction.

"Oh, I mean it not in a bad way," she clarified, regarding the lady's hair, clearly confident that no offence would be taken where none was intended. "Thank you," she smiled, easily taking and enjoying the compliment, "He does this more when I am small and disarrange my hairs because he wants not that I have trouble from Mama," she explained, regarding Dorian doing her hair. She could have made that sentence better with a bit more effort but this was a casual conversation not an English exam and she was more keen to keep saying things than over how she said them.

13 Émilie How about this? 0 Émilie 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

May 28, 2019 1:20 AM

Less comfortable, but not bad. by Professor Mary Brooding

"Also that," Mary agreed, laughing lightly. "My brother and I looked very much alike, too," she added, thinking of Parker with a fond smile. It was easier not to be sad about such things when smiling children reminded her of him; that was more positive. "Except his hair was short."

The way that Émilie's voice changed made Mary nervous. This was a perceptive girl, one she would've loved to adopt into her potions classes, and she was close to her brother. Was she suggesting that Dorian wasn't properly interested in his social engagements? Or that she knew he wasn't interested in girls the way that he might be expected to be? Was there something else?

"He is very sweet and very helpful," Mary agreed about him teaching others French. "I don't see him around other girls much outside of class, but I am sure that he thinks you're cute, too," she suggested, playing on the sisterly affection Émilie had offered first. "Or terrible," she added with a smirk, her eyes shining. "Are you a dastardly little sister?"

Mary nodded, understanding the need to please mama. Mary wasn't sure whether it was always good, but she was completely sure that it was always well meant. Mrs. Montoir loved little as much as her own children, if anything at all. Dorian, in particular, seemed to hold a special place in the woman's heart, if Mary's brief encounter with her had been anything to go by.

"I had to learn to do my braid by myself, but it takes a very long time. Magic helps," she winked.

22 Professor Mary Brooding Less comfortable, but not bad. 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 28, 2019 1:56 AM

Are you sure? by Émilie

There had been nothing. Not a flicker. Either Professor Brooding was a much more expert liar than Dorian or there really was nothing to know. Émilie supposed she would just have to go to the source himself with her theories. Perhaps point blank confront him, seeing as he seemed unwilling to confide in her. Still, it would have been nice to get some confirmation for her theory. It would have been nicer still if her brother had felt he could trust her, the way she thought he was supposed to.

"I believe him," Émilie shrugged, when Professor Brooding elaborated on the subject of girls, though she seemed to be trying to divert her attention. Was that in itself suspicious, Émilie wondered. "Dorian is a usually honest person and a usually bad liar. He says he does not like these girls, and I believe him," she stated, still watching intently.

Professor Brooding's next comment made her suspect she was rumbled though.

"I know not that word, but I think I am not it," she answered, turning her eyes to their widest and most innocent, though this was belied by how easily she slipped back into a smile that suggested she knew she was up to no good. "I am a sweet sister, even if maybe I should not be talking with you like this," she confirmed.

13 Émilie Are you sure? 0 Émilie 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

May 28, 2019 2:10 AM

As sure as you are. by Professor Mary Brooding

When Émilie didn't push too hard, Mary realized that she had no way of knowing anything one way or the other. It was not, of course, her business, but she wanted to be helpful and supportive. Either Émilie knew and wanted to know if Mary was a safe person to talk to, or Émilie suspected and wanted to see what Mary knew, or she didn't know anything and it was all in Mary's head.

The risk of it being the third meant that neither of the first two were things Mary could bank on, particularly since, again, it wasn't her business. But oh how she would love to encourage some comfort for Dorian . . . what was Émilie's stance on things? She wondered if she might causally bring Tabitha into the conversation. That seemed unhelpful, though, considering how worried Dorian had been about the nature of Mary's spouse when wedding arrangements were being made.

"He is at that," Mary laughed, knowing full well that Dorian was indeed both honest and a bad liar. Honest by default, she supposed, since he couldn't be anything else when he lied so terribly. Still, it was a good fault to have in most cases. "Do you have any reason not to believe him? It is usually best to take people at their word in those cases, or else you might push them into a situation they don't like," Mary pointed out, trying to imagine how hurtful it would be to try to push anyone into something they didn't like, be it a relationship or a party or anything else.

This all coming from a professor, whose job depended on making students do stuff they didn't like sometimes. Que sera sera.

Émilie's face was so perfectly innocent, and utterly dastardly, that Mary laughed aloud again, a hearty, warm sound. "You shouldn't talk to me?" Mary asked, tilting her head in concern. "Why's that?"

If it was anything serious, Mary wanted to know. Boundaries should be respected, and Émilie wasn't her student, so there was no grounds for speaking to the child if her mother didn't want them to. On the other hand, Mary suspected Émilie had Dorian in mind, and was worried about that as well.

22 Professor Mary Brooding As sure as you are. 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 28, 2019 5:29 AM

I know what I think by Émilie

"I said I do believe him," sighed
Émilie with a small huff of impatience, wondering why Professor Brooding was choosing to question that. "Est-ce que je ne l'ai pas dit clairement?" she muttered, more to herself than the Professor, seeing as she wouldn't understand her. She was quite sure she had spoken clearly, and was annoyed at the implication that she'd said something else, when it wasn't her fault that she had to struggle along sticking to only speaking English - a language she rarely spoke to anyone who didn't speak at least one other, meaning she could switch between them.

"Maybe it is more that I wonder why," she stated bluntly. "Why maybe does my always romantic brother suddenly take no interest to date girls." Émilie had never had much time for subtext, which merely existed to give headaches as far as she was concerned. The world would be a much better place if everyone just stated what they were thinking. Although she didn't quite dare fully voice what she had been thinking lately, as it was a rather distasteful thing to say out loud. It also hurt her pride somewhat to think that Professor Brooding might know more about her brother than she did, although she suspected it would have been hard for Dorian to keep her from noticing. "Dorian is quiet with words, but expressive with his face. It is not hard to notice how happy he gets even just talking about the people he likes best. Two in particular.

"Parce que je bavarde," she answered, as to why she shouldn't be talking with Professor Brooding this way, "You have any similar word....'Bavarding' in English? I know not at all," she asked, finding it perfectly plausible that English might have borrowed the French, as it so often did. "That is how he will see anyway. Maybe true. But more I worry that others will do to him."

13 Émilie I know what I think 0 Émilie 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

May 28, 2019 7:22 PM

That's more than I can say. by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary spread her hands innocently, accepting Émilie's soft rebuke. "I wasn't sure if you were telling me or trying to convince me," Mary told her honestly. So far, her experience with Montoirs told her that they were always in possession of knowledge that Mary wasn't meant to know, and that made it particularly hard to be sure of anything. At the same time, she could be sure of at least that much. Identity mattered to them as much as anyone; it just happened that theirs was tied to many more anchor points than others' might be.

"Is Dorian romantic?" Mary asked, considering what she had seen of him herself. It wasn't a far leap from sweet and loving to romantic, but he wouldn't be the first asexual or aromantic person she'd met who seemed so perfectly romantic on the outside. Besides, she wasn't sure whether Émilie meant he was romantic in the way that old music and verandas are romantic, or the way that Mary's new shared quarters were. "He's loving, certainly. But do you think he's romantic? Maybe he does not want any romances yet."

She was fairly confident that was not the case. Dorian was irrevocably in love with somebody. However, he was contented to spend forever in limbo if it meant that he could love that person, rather than be with them. He wasn't as romantic as he was caring, and that was a difference few people seemed to cherish. She wondered whether she was either or both or neither. She hoped it was both.

Mary considered, not sure what word might mean anything similar to what Émilie was saying. She was very aware that it was her that was the problem, not Émilie, and didn't want to make the girl think it was anything else than that. Monolingualism was endlessly disappointing.

"I'm not sure I understand," Mary said apologetically. "He will think something is wrong and others will do something to him? I have to learn French," she added playfully, hoping to make it clear that she was the one whose deficit was getting in the way.

22 Professor Mary Brooding That's more than I can say. 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

May 28, 2019 7:46 PM

Come see me. [Tag Zara.] by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe was nervous. He wasn't sure why he was nervous, other than the usual nerves that accompanied such events where parents had eyes on him. He was used to crowds, and perhaps that's what made him so fretful now. He didn't want to be the boy who would inherit a fortune, or the boy who was the son of an important family, or the boy with the estate. He wanted to be a friend, and the sort of kind person that his father had tried so hard to encourage since he was young. It was hard to admit that nothing his family had taught him had left such a sincere mark on his kindness levels as anything Zara had done. As such, she absolutely must be cared for.

He wasn't precisely sure how to love somebody without helping them. He'd always been told that they needed to love and care for their people, and to love their family, and to love their tutors. It was about the verb, the act of caring. The act of loving. But what if you just loved somebody?

Leonor came to mind, as Felipe certainly loved his sister, but even that was a matter of protection and caring for. She was still small. Zara didn't need him to take care of her and she probably took care of him more than he could return the favor anyway.

The De Matteos would adore Zara, that was for sure, but the idea almost made it harder to be natural. He didn't want Zara to be the target of their kindness because that's what they did, or a target of their altruism because that's what they were supposed to do. He wanted her to just be loved and cared for because she was Zara, and she was worth it all by herself.

As such, he didn't bring her a gift or a letter or any other such formality when he sought her out after the end of the concert. He brought her something much more difficult.

"Hello," he said upon approach, smiling sheepishly at her. "You performed beautifully." The compliment was sincere. She'd been a drop of perfect sunshine on a beautiful stage. Doing his best to be brave, he leaned forward and wrapped her in a warm hug. "I'm going to miss you this summer, Zara. I wondered if you'd like to come visit me?"

22 Felipe De Matteo Come see me. [Tag Zara.] 1434 Felipe De Matteo 0 5

Émilie

May 28, 2019 10:03 PM

And it's all in my head but.... by Émilie

Émilie shrugged impatiently at Professor Brooding's defence. Ordinarily, she might have pointed out that she was not Dorian, and that she tended to mean what she said and not hide behind vague language, plus it was hard enough to get her point across when confined to a single language without trying to build layers of other meaning into what she was saying. However, she was about to do just that. She still didn't want to voice her exact fears out loud, just the shape of them, and she recognised how a claim that she was always direct might return to bite her.

"I did think you know my brother well," she replied, a little smugly when Professor Brooding felt the need to ask whether Dorian was romantic. She knew it wasn't nice to gloat but she couldn't help but enjoy this proof that a mere two years of knowing each other had not eclipsed or overtaken the whole childhood closeness she had built with her brother, even if he was becoming closed off and secretive. She had felt that Professor Brooding knew things she didn't, even if she was either blind to what Émilie was suggesting or doing a very good job of playing dumb. Was it all just in her head? Just jealousy? But the woman had invited Dorian to her wedding. That wasn't just teacher-student. And Dorian seemed so excited whenever he talked of her. "Dorian always plays mariage with our peluches and wants to find his âme soeur," she answered, giving up on sticking to English, and figuring that Professor Brooding would get the gist. Or not. She wasn't sure if she cared whether she got lost, because it would serve her right anyway - it was only fair for it to be her turn to have a hard time of the conversation. "He wants it all perfect," she supplied. And maybe that was just the problem. Maybe he was just too choosy. Had built up this romantic ideal in his head that could never be achieved. But maybe not. "As much as that can happen, it should. He deserves this. I do not want to see him put his heart somewhere that he can't have, and it get breaked.

"Yes, you should," she stated bluntly when Professor Brooding said she ought to learn French. Though, if she did, then the blasted woman would be even more perfect in Dorian's eyes. Perhaps she ought to keep a few flaws. It was very satisfying finding that she had them, after all. "Bavarder is... saying about him when he is not here. And the things that maybe... Not nice or not true."

13 Émilie And it's all in my head but.... 0 Émilie 0 5

Mary Brooding

May 28, 2019 10:29 PM

Not quite, but I didn't say a word. by Mary Brooding

Mary stifled a grin. Émilie, it turned out, was very much like her brother. If Dorian had it in him to pout, or be sassy, and if he was on the more confident side, they might be the same person. Mary suspected that the fact that Dorian cared so much about others meant that he'd never talk to someone as Émilie was, and he'd likely be mortified about this conversation, but Mary found it all quite lovely. She was learning so much about the girl who meant so much to a boy they both loved, and that was pretty good. Besides that, it was terribly entertaining.

"I don't think a professor will ever know a student as well as his own sister," Mary suggested, hoping to mollify Émilie. There was a protective streak in her, no doubt. "He certainly isn't romantic about Potions," she added.

She wasn't entirely sure all the words that Émilie used next, but was pretty sure she was following most of it, and she smiled in acknowledgement.

Mary cocked her head, considering Émilie more closely when she spoke of Dorian's heart. "I think you are quite right. I hope he finds every happiness. And I think he's very lucky to have a sister like you. It's been a pleasure getting to know him myself."

Learning French sounded good, and Mary wondered whether the youngest Montoir would actually be as pleased as she sounded if she did. The explanation did help, though, and Mary nodded. "Like gossiping," she offered. "Or talking behind his back. I think that he would be glad to know that he is loved, even if he'd be a little embarrassed too. What do you think?"

22 Mary Brooding Not quite, but I didn't say a word. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 29, 2019 12:32 AM

It's very frustrating of you by Émilie

Professor Brooding was just so nice. So nice, and floaty, and soft and pretty. It was maddening. Didn't she have any real feelings about what they were discussing? Rationally, Émilie knew that adults were generally supposed to be calm and collected in front of students but part of her just wanted to reach out and shake Professor Brooding and see whether she would do anything other than smile and offer platitudes because this was not nice, this was serious!

Her strokes to Émilie's ego were somewhat effective. Even if she would die before admitting that she needed this interloper's approval, it did matter to her that everyone knew how important she was to Dorian, that she was a good sister - the best. For a long time, she had been his favourite person. She had got somewhat used to sharing with his friends, but she still begrudged the thought of Professor Brooding encroaching, or replacing her.

"Yes. These," she nodded, when Professor Brooding used a word she wasn't sure of but a phrase that sounded familiar, or at least self-explanatory. She shrugged off the last question as unimportant. Whether Dorian would be embarrassed or grateful, she was having this conversation and she couldn't change that. Not when there was something far more important to try to assure herself of.

"You're his teacher. You ought to make sure bad things don't happen to him," she pointed out.

13 Émilie It's very frustrating of you 0 Émilie 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

May 29, 2019 1:53 AM

That's not quite my goal. by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary nodded, agreeing. She'd love to make that happen. "Is it alright if we sit down?" she asked, taking the lead and leaning against the wall, sliding down to sit on the floor in the hall a short distance from the bathroom. She sat cross-legged, arranging her dress to make sure everything was covered appropriately, and tossing her hair over her shoulder again so she could lean on the wall.

"That's the hardest part of being a teacher," Mary confided, frowning. "I want to make sure nothing bad ever happens to any of my students. I don't want anything to happen to any of the students I meet, even you."

Her hands found a place tugging at her sleeves, pulling at her skirts, and finding anywhere else to move about. She looked at Émilie as if she were trying to find something behind her eyes, and wondered herself what it was. Maybe she needed confirmation as much as the teenager did.

"The problem is that if I make everything easy, then when you all graduate, you won't be able to figure things out yourself. I try to talk to my students and help them figure out how to get through bad things themselves. That being said," she paused, thinking carefully. "I think that I'd like to do anything I can to make sure nothing bad happens to Dorian. Any particular requests?"

22 Professor Mary Brooding That's not quite my goal. 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 29, 2019 3:37 AM

What is, exactly? by Émilie

On what? Émilie was about to ask, when the Professor asked her if she would like to sit. However, the woman surprised her by simply sliding to the floor.

"Proper young ladies do not sit on the floor," she replied somewhat primly. It might have made people who knew her laugh, as at worst she willfully ignored, and at best was often forgetful of what proper ladies ought and ought not to do.

She was tugged towards some feelings of sympathy as Professor Brooding started to speak at least somewhat more sincerely. Émilie believed that she meant what she said about wanting to look after Dorian, although it confused her that she acted so hopeless about it.

"His life is more full of bad things if you do nothing" she deigned to crouch slightly, so that she could more easily look Professor Brooding in the eyes. It felt like a strange reversal - like she was the adult, telling off a naughty child. It didn't feel like a million miles from the truth either, if Professor Brooding was going to act so irresponsibly. Someone had to make her see sense.

"You can do a lot, and you know this. He listen to you. You could discourage him," she replied, "Not roughly, but you could. You know you have so much influence with him. Maybe it hurts a little now but it is better than breaking his whole life. And for something he can never have - what is the use? Encourage him to make good choices. To look at people who can make him happy. If people start to bavarder then his life gets really bad."

13 Émilie What is, exactly? 0 Émilie 0 5

Mary Brooding

May 29, 2019 11:53 AM

Well, now I forget what I said. by Mary Brooding

Mary smirked. "Nor do they accost their brother's teachers outside the restroom, but I think we can put such things aside," Mary told her, adjusting her seat to be more comfortable.

When the girl crouched some, and spoke about her Dorian and the things Mary should do, Mary had to try not to smile. She nodded, agreeing, and learn Ed on the fact that the whole thing was rather frustrating to make her expression more appropriate than a satisfied grin would be.

When Émilie was finished, Mary nodded. "So we are precisely then. I was worried you wouldn't understand, but I'm glad you do."

Her hands relaxed on her lap and she sighed. "Discourage him from some things, encourage him into others, listen to him and.hope he listens to me too, put a stop to gossip when I hear it... Those are exactly what I mean. I can't put him in my ingredients closet and keep him there, safely tucked away from the world anymore than I can fill a cauldron with lacewing flies and beetle eyes and hope for something to bubble. The best either of us can do is be there for him the way he's there for everyone else."

Her voice changed to something a little more serious when she spoke again, and it was full of as much mama bear as was appropriate. "Don't think for one second that I'm not doing that at every opportunity. In that, you are correct: I am a teacher and that I will do." Mary relaxed some, and a warm smile blessed her face again. "Besides, as you said, Dorian deserves the very best."

22 Mary Brooding Well, now I forget what I said. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Zara Jackson

May 29, 2019 11:56 AM

Make me smiiiiiiile by Zara Jackson

"Thank you," Zara beamed, when Felipe complimented her performance, "It was so much fun! I wish we could do it again!" she bounced. Teppenpaw had been on second, so she had then sat and watched Aladren and Pecari, and the post-performance euphoria had had a bit of time to fade, but now they were free to mix with their friends and families and she was going to get to hear them all saying lovely things and all the thrill of the show was racing back. "Oh, and look," she shook her head, making her already explosive curls bounce - they also sparkled as they caught the light. "Spray in hair glitter in action!" she grinned. It had been a good luck present from her mom. Normally packing an aerosol in the post was kind of frowned upon for anything that was going airmail, but owls didn't mind bringing it. It was the perfect fusion of her two worlds, and how they worked better together.

"Crotalus were wonderful too" she smiled, knowing that he'd been helping out backstage.

The hug surprised her a little, as Felipe had never seemed a particularly tactile person, but she returned it enthusiastically, especially when he explained why she was getting it.

"I'll miss you too," she began, a slight stab of sadness at the thought that this was going to be an evening of goodbyes as well as celebration. She had been thinking so much about the concert that she hadn't really thought about it also being the end of term. It had gone by so quickly. Her sadness turned to excitement though as Felipe mentioned coming to visit. They had talked about each other's homes a lot, how interesting they sounded, how much they would like to show the other one, but that was different to a real solid invitation.

"Yes!" she squealed, emphatically, "I would love to! So long as you come to mine too," she added. "I mean, I'll have to check with my parents. And they'll probably want to meet your parents and everything, and do details, but yes!"

13 Zara Jackson Make me smiiiiiiile 1444 Zara Jackson 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

May 29, 2019 8:05 PM

But then I might smile too. by Felipe De Matteo

The urge to reach out and touch the soft sparkles that were crowning Zara's head was surprisingly strong, and only years of etiquette training kept the show of strain - or nausea - off his face. "You look beautiful," he said naturally, long since having learned that it meant much more to say a person looked nice in what they were wearing than that whatever they were wearing looked nice. "And definitely show ready. I bet you could sneak up there and do a solo for everyone." He gestured towards the stage in a 'be my guest' way, and smiled at his friend.

"No but really, it was a lot of fun. I'm glad you liked the others' too," he said by ear of thanks. It was an odd compliment since he'd only done what he could to make sure everyone else looked good, but he supposed it was in part due to him that things had worked, and he smiled at Zara's words.

Then she invited him to her house, too, and Felipe felt the first desperation he'd felt in a long time. He usually did well at keeping his responsibilities squarely on his shoulders and his head firmly out of the clouds, but the thought of escaping his little corner of the world and visiting a real place with real people who lived real lives was too much. He had a sudden image of never going back home afterwards, although he suspected that wouldn't last; Los Jardines de Plata was too beautiful for that. Still, he found a grin on his face and it felt so easy that he laughed, too. Was this what happiness was like? Was it fair to be happy about someone else's niceness when he had to work so hard to be nice himself? It would have to do.

"I would love that," he said with a little more sincerity than he meant to admit. "My parents came tonight if you'd like to meet them. Is your family here?" And with that, he was focused on the plan. Always focused on the plan. And a little bit of sparkles that had landed on Zara's cheeks, like the sunshine inside her was peeking out at him. He thought that it might be nice to just dive in.

22 Felipe De Matteo But then I might smile too. 1434 Felipe De Matteo 0 5

Émilie

May 29, 2019 9:29 PM

We have a shared goal then by Émilie

"Perhaps this is just a coincidence," Émilie replied, when Professor Brooding accused her of lying in wait and accosting her, though she chose to say it with a smirk rather than playing innocent. "May I at least have a cushion?" she requested, deciding she had been fairly caught out. She liked the playful Professor much more than the limp one, but the floor did look uninviting, and the best she could do as a third year was apply a softening charm.

She took the seat provided, listening with relief as Professor Brooding explained what she had meant. That made much more sense. It had been impossible to believe that Professor Brooding would not see the problem and would not take any action to fix it - it was just inherently, morallly wrong, and surely she could even lose her job if she wasn't seen to discouage such things. It could scarcely be a secret that she and Dorian spent so much time together.

"That is the relief to hear," she replied, "I did know we must be getting in a confusion. You couldn't think this thing is true and refuse to do something. I know his feelings cannot be goed away like finite incantatum but with some help, he can make sense again. And he knows, of course, that it cannot be. Hopefully he is sensible again before there is any bad happening. I am happy to know ypu will do something about this. Thank you," she smiled, regarding the Professor warmly for the first time in their interaction.

13 Émilie We have a shared goal then 0 Émilie 0 5

Mary Brooding

May 30, 2019 1:18 AM

I'm not comfortable with that blanket statement. by Mary Brooding

Coincidence was a funny thought, and Mary indulged Émilie with a smirk of laughter as she summoned a cushion for her. It was funny to see her care enough to ask for one, although Mary had to admit that she wasn't entirely comfortable herself on the hard floor, and subsequently summoned one for herself as well, tucking it underneath herself with a little maneuvering.

"Good call," she told Émilie, nodding at the cushions.

As the girl who was not her brother, whatever their shared features made Mary think of, went on to speak about the things that Mary was going to help with, the professor became more worried. Without knowing what precisely Émilie knew, it was impossible to say, but it sounded like Émilie was thanking Mary for her efforts in making Dorian . . . not interested in boys? In making him interested in girls? Or perhaps it was the gossip that worried the Montoir girl so much.

"I'll always do my best to help," Mary promised, agreeing with that much at least. She took a moment to stretch, twisting around to pop her back as casually as she could. "It sounds like you're worried about what people are going to say about Dorian, and about what Dorian is going to do. Like you think he might make a mistake. What exactly worries you so much? That way I can keep an eye out," she added. "What do you think he might do?"

22 Mary Brooding I'm not comfortable with that blanket statement. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 30, 2019 2:28 AM

But it's so obviouspy wrong by Émilie

"Dorian will not do anything," Émilie confirmed, "He isn't a bad person, and with this situation... There is nothing he can do. I worry more about others. That before he grows up and gets over this, that someone will take notice. Words can do so much damage to a reputation. I think that is true to everyone, no? If people said you are a bad teacher, or not good influence, it will be bad for you too.

"Reputations are very important. If Mama and Papa heard unkind words saying Dorian was being inappropriate, they would be so upset. And Dorian would never want that either - he try so hard to be pleasing." Not to mention Matthieu. If he heard those kinds of rumours about their brother, he would... Émilie didn't know how far he would go, and that was frightening. She suspected Dorian hadn't told Professor Brooding about Matthieu though, and Émilie didn't want to do any more gossiping than she had already done. The rest didn't count, because they were talking about something the professor knew already but it was something else entirely to reveal a secret.

"Also maybe scared that he will make himself sad with feeling this way. And that he does not know how to say what is wrong. Did he tell to you, or did you guess by yourself?" she asked.

13 Émilie But it's so obviouspy wrong 0 Émilie 0 5

Mary Brooding

May 30, 2019 2:57 AM

Less obviously than you'd think. by Mary Brooding

"Words can be very damaging," Mary agreed. "It is important that people are kind and understanding when people are different than they are. It's one thing if someone doesn't like my teaching style but it's different if they say I'm a bad teacher. They can like a different teacher better and I can still be a good teacher." She shrugged not sure what else to say about that. It felt like a relevant parallel.

She doubted that Dorian's parents would care much for schoolyard gossip but that didn't mean they wouldn't react to it. Reputation building was important in the circles Dorian ran in, whether or not the people spreading them were worth the notice. Émilie seemed to care more about Dorian himself than the things he got up to though, which was a high mark of love. Still, Mary found herself hesitating.

She nodded, agreeing that the Teppenpaw sometimes struggled to say what was wrong, and that he wanted to care for others with his careful words.

"I try not to make guesses about students," she said, guessing through a have of uncertainty. "If I do, then I take away the chance for them to surprise me or tell me important things. And like I said, my job is to help them learn how to be ready for the world. It's important they learn how to communicate what they mean."

She fixed Émilie with a playfully stern expression, cocking an eyebrow and smirking. The thought that maybe, just maybe, Émilie, was on a reconnaissance mission to find out whether Mary knew anything crossed her mind, but she didn't want to bet on it.

"You know what that means, right?" She kept her usual warm smile in place, but it was easier. On one hand, she was talking to a student and trying to get them to open up. On the other, she was just chatting with a friend on the floor. "It means I have to hold you and him to the same exact standard. None of these covered up answers. Tell me: what is it about Dorian that he either told me or I guessed?"

22 Mary Brooding Less obviously than you'd think. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Zara

May 30, 2019 7:11 AM

Would that be so terrible? by Zara

"Thank you," Zara said, more softly when Felipe told her she looked beautiful. She knew there were more important things to be, like kind or hard working, but it was still nice to hear it. It was a different sort of nice to the adrenaline pumping being on stage feelings. It felt fuzzier and more personal. "I think I’d rather stay down here,” she added, when he suggested she could gatecrash the stage. Here felt like just about the best place to be at that moment.

“Yes, I was really hoping I’d get to - I’d like to thank your mom in person about the flower, and just… meet them, know who they are,” she smiled. It was a funny reversal of all her pre-Sonora days where they’d spent their time diving into dens or bedrooms as soon as they arrived at friends’ houses in order to get away from the grown ups. It felt so funny to know someone in isolation of their family, when that was such an important part of who they were. But hey, it was about to be rectified.

“Yes, mine are here - that’s my brother,” she added, as a boy who looked about eight wove his way through the crowd. “Oh, that’s nice,” she added, though she was laughing as she said it, suggesting she didn’t really mind - instead of making his way over to her, he had attached himself to Kir McLeod, jumping up and down and pulling at him eagerly until he got hoisted to the very prestigious vantage point of being piggy-backed by the tall boy. “They’re family friends,” she added, with a nod at Kir, unable to remember if she’d mentioned this. She thought she probably had but her brother’s behaviour might seem a little (more) odd if Felipe didn’t know or had forgotten this.

“Um, my parents and my sister are heading this way,” she pointed them out, “Why don’t you wave your folks over and we can have a big meet and greet?” she suggested.

It only took her family a couple of moments to make their way through the crowd, and soon Zara was being embraced by her parents and her sister, various further compliments being showered upon her. Seeing she had company though, they kept it brief - all taking a turn to hug Zara and tell her she’d been wonderful, but not getting into how much they’d missed her or how they’d enjoyed seeing the school, because they didn’t want to push the friend out.

“Hello,” her dad smiled at him, “I’m guessing this Felipe?” he asked looking between the two first years for confirmation, and receiving a nod and a grin from his daughter. It would have been a relatively easy guess, based on the sheer volume he took up in Zara’s correspondence, but Abraham possibly wouldn’t have been bold enough to assume without the aid of the Teppenpaw photo slide show that had been displayed during the ukulele number. Zara had included a picture with her roommates, and one of her in the gardens with this boy, which he felt as good as putting a face to the name.

13 Zara Would that be so terrible? 1444 Zara 0 5

Émilie

May 30, 2019 9:36 AM

If you only saw it through my eyes, you'd understand by Émilie

Émilie opened her mouth and closed it again without saying anything. This was quite an impressive feat for the Professor to have achieved. She scrunched up her mouth. Hadn’t she thought how little she liked dabbling in subtext? Hadn’t she, effectively, just been challenged, and when was the last time she had backed down from one of those? Hadn’t she also wanted so badly to share her theory with someone? Someone she could talk to without getting Dorian into any kind of trouble? A problem shared was supposed to be a problem halved and it was tiring work keeping this to herself. It still felt strange talking to Professor Brooding about it though. And had Dorian really confessed to her? Émilie suspected they were both treading the same line, not wanting to be the one to say it, in case it wasn’t what the other thought she knew at all. Or in case the other knew nothing really, and was just fishing for gossip.

Professor Brooding though was probably not a liar. If Émilie was willing to take her at face value she was a sweet and dedicated teacher who cared about Dorian. Making things up, goading Émilie into saying things just to get at new information…. It was the sort of game Émilie would play in a heartbeat, but maybe Professor Brooding was a nicer person than she was. Maybe that was why Dorian liked and trusted the Professor more than her… It was still bizarre to think of him admitting this to her, but she was starting to get the feeling that Professor Brooding was good at getting things out of people, seeing as here she was on the verge of admitting something she didn’t think she ought to really be thinking let alone saying, and Émilie had only been in conversation with her for a handful of minutes.

She cast a quick glance all around, checking they were not about to be interrupted.

“Dorian tells me he does not like any girl,” she stated again, keeping her voice soft though her expression was anything but, staring intently, anxiously, at the Professor, “From this, maybe he thinks I will believe he likes not anyone. But actually… Those two are not the same statement. And he does. Like… someone.”

13 Émilie If you only saw it through my eyes, you'd understand 0 Émilie 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

May 30, 2019 12:53 PM

I am . . . not sure. by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe, for his part, was very glad that Zara preferred to stay down here. There were lots of reasons that was a good choice, but he let himself just enjoy it for what it was worth, and smiled at his friend.

When she agreed that she'd like to meet his family as well, Felipe felt some unfamiliar twinges of . . . fear? Shame? He didn't want to be what his heritage had brought out in him before, and didn't want Zara to think he was being insincere with her. Of course, his family would be perfectly kind, because they always were. They would not make her feel small or unimportant and they would be perfectly excited to meet her.

It dawned on him quite abruptly that his family had never been the problem; he was. He was the one who always questioned the point of such altruism and kindness to seemed to him to be so put on. In reality, he was the only unkind one among them. The thought was a knife twisting in his stomach, and he took the opportunity to look around for his parents and wave them over as well.

Turning to witness Zara's family approaching, her brother seeming perfectly carefree, Felipe wondered again at whether he was some sort of secret dictator or monster that he would never have thought to embrace his family the way Zara embraced hers. Perhaps he would've embraced his sister, but certainly not in public. They only occasionally played together, as he was usually preoccupied with math or planning, or avoiding his father.

When Zara's father recognized him and knew his name right away, Felipe blushed. It was the socially polite sort of blush that colored his golden cheeks copper, but it was still plainly present and Felipe nodded. There had been a picture of him and Zara, but no name, which meant that Zara had mentioned him. This kind, caring, vibrant person thought he mattered enough to tell her parents about? What was the world coming to?

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Felipe said, extending his hand to shake.

At that moment, his own family approached, much more subdued than Zara's was. Or perhaps they were merely restrained. Ilefonso De Matteo looked absolutely ready to burst with excitement and love, if not pride. He was rarely proud of Felipe, simply because the things that Felipe did were in due course and not anything exceptional to be proud of. Still, it was evident he loved his son, even if the son did not realize so himself.

Julieta was holding Leonor's hand, and both were smiling identical grins, if not a little wide-eyed on the latter's part. They were thrilled to be where they were, but more than that, they were content. Felipe envied the lot of them.

"Mamá, Papá," he said, nodding at them.

It had been a long time and he leaned up to kiss his mother's cheek when she bent forward, and she embraced him slightly. He shook his own father's hand before being pulled into half of a hug. His sister received the same as his mother. Greetings aside, he turned back to his friend. He felt woefully unprepared to make introductions, as he didn't know anybody's name yet. Still, he supposed Zara was the only one that really mattered.

Suddenly, it didn't seem so hard to smile, and he managed a small one as he gestured to his friend. "This is Zara Jackson," he said to his parents. "And her family. This is my father, Ilefonso, and my mother, Julieta," he added, gesturing to his family. His father stepped forward to shake Zara's father's hand, and then her own, and Julieta stepped first to Zara, smiling as she clasped her forearm, the traditional way for women to greet each other.

"And my sister, Leonor. She will be attending Sonora in two years," Felipe finished. It all felt very long-winded.

Leonor held up nine fingers. "Soy demasiado pequeña," she said grimly.

"Oye, usa tu inglés," Julieta chided her lightly. Felipe got the feeling this wasn't the first time she'd done this tonight, and he grimaced, wondering who else they'd met.

"It is such a huge pleasure to finally meet you all," Ilefonso beamed, eliciting another blush from his son, who smiled sheepishly at Zara.

22 Felipe De Matteo I am . . . not sure. 1434 Felipe De Matteo 0 5

Mary Brooding

May 30, 2019 1:05 PM

Ah, but what if you saw it through mine? by Mary Brooding

The skies had opened up and deposited a greatness in Émilie Montoir, presumably upon her birth. Mary suspected it wasn't the first time that both her great ability to love and her great ability to induce panic were appearing side by side. It was hard to label any of the things that ran through her head first.

On one hand, she wanted to scream at the deep rooted homophobia that had taken root in so much of society, particularly pureblood branches, wherein a little girl was scared for her brother because he might be like the very woman she was confiding in now. It was a painful reminder of the things Mary sometimes thought she'd put behind her.

At the same time, this was a scared little girl, worried about her brother, and she was right to think that there would be social ramifications if Dorian were to come out. That didn't outweigh the first concern, although it maybe should have.

Finally, there was the fact that Dorian would be absolutely devastated to learn about this conversation, and that was a sad thought all on its own. Still, this was Mary's job: hear the concerns and problems of students, love them no matter what, and do everything she could to help them. As Selina had so directly put it, sometimes what a parent wanted for their child was not precisely what was best for them. Except that Selina had said it was a teacher's job to respect what the parent wanted. Mary couldn't get behind it on this one, but should she? Well, fate had brought Émilie to her instead of Selina, so she'd take that as a sign.

She wondered, briefly, what Tarquin would do, as he seemed like the sort of gruff advocate that would be well-suited to this situation. Maybe if she thought about him hard enough, he'd appear, or she could just channel some of him into her for a little self-advocacy and lots of love. In this case, that lots of love was directed to Émilie; Dorian was not here to be loved.

She must've been silent for a long time, because her voice came out very carefully. "The first thing I want to say is that I can see you love your brother very much, and I'm very glad that you want what's best for him. I'm also glad that you are comfortable talking with me," she began, figuring disclaimers were the best place to start. "You aren't actually my student, but unless someone is at a direct risk of harm, I want you to know that I won't tattle or tell Dorian that we talked or anything like that. This is our conversation. You're welcome to tell him, but I want you to know that I respect you and am not going to get you in trouble or anything like that."

Reassurances aside, she braced herself for neutrality, relaxing into the wall - or slumping into it - despite herself. "I worry about Dorian, too," she said in a smaller voice, sounding much less like a teacher. "Are you worried because you don't think Dorian should like this person, or this type of person, or because you don't want other people to be mean to him?"

22 Mary Brooding Ah, but what if you saw it through mine? 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 30, 2019 8:01 PM

It might get rather more straight forward by Émilie

Émilie waited nervously. She sort of wanted Professor Brooding to laugh and just say she was being silly, and whatever could she possibly mean? To simply not even understand, because Émilie had made the whole thing up in her own head. But she didn’t. She looked awkward and worried, and when she opened her mouth it was not to confirm what Émilie had said but to assure her that this was a safe situation in which she could say whatever she wanted. She appreciated the fact that Professor Brooding would not go to Dorian. She knew she ought to say these things to him herself, talk it out, reassure her brother that she understood and she didn’t judge him, and that it would be okay when it all went away.

Still, she was a little frustrated by the vaguery with which Professor Brooding replied. They were supposed to be being black and white now. She wanted the Professor to say ‘yes, that is what’s happening, but it’s ok, I’m fixing it.’ As such her next series of questions was somewhat surprising, given that their answers were so obvious. Given that they had already agreed on this point before she had made Émilie confess. Given that it was not a moral grey area!

“All of this!” she declared hotly, “And you must too. You surely cannot want him to feel this way? You said you will discourage him.”

13 Émilie It might get rather more straight forward 0 Émilie 0 5

Mary Brooding

May 30, 2019 8:23 PM

I agree with you there. by Mary Brooding

Mary wasn't really surprised by the girl's outburst, but it did go a long way towards saddening her, which in turn made her arms ache to just wrap her up in a big squishy cuddle hug and hold onto her until everything felt okay again. That was not an option though, and she settled on an understanding nod. She still couldn't be entirely sure whether Émilie was against her brother being with boys, or merely scared for him, and wouldn't hold it against her either way. Teenagehood was a difficult enough time without trying to pick apart deeply ingrained philosophies and political sentences that had been taking root since birth. Parental influence was difficult to rip out, especially when it wore a loving suit, gilded with protection and kindness.

"I absolutely want to discourage others from hurting him, and to help him be more ready for the world so that he can tackle whatever challenges come his way. I want to fix the world, and change the world, not Dorian. Think about it," Mary held up her hands defensively. "If it were just Dorian, and somebody he loved, then it wouldn't be a problem, right? It's only a problem because of what other people think, so then it can't be Dorian that's the issue; it's others who would hurt him. That's where you and I come in."

She desperately wished Tabitha was here right now, although that would likely prove problematic. She was torn between wanting to bring up her own love, and being sure that Émilie would feel betrayed once she did. For better or worse, Tabitha wasn't known for her more gentle approach to such things, and may settle on dueling Émilie for the right to encourage these things in Dorian instead of stamping them out.

"Would you want to make Dorian stop doing your hair or stop being friends with somebody, just because others made fun of him for it? Or would you want to make sure that other people understood that it isn't okay to make fun of someone?"

Mary relaxed, taking intentional breaths with the hope of pulling Émilie subtly along a more level-headed path. "If I had to bet, I would say you'd do anything for him, right? I mean, you came out here to find me because you were worried about him, so you must really care. What do you think he needs more: you trying to fix him? Or you supporting him and loving him?"

For a moment, Mary had felt sixteen again, sitting in one of these hallways - maybe even this one - watching everyone get ready to go home to their families, while she would be doing no such thing. She remembered watching one girl walk away, and just thinking about how beautiful she was. It was that moment that she'd decided she was going to leave and see everything in the world that she could. She didn't want to be stuck in these thoughts, in this place, or in those feelings. She'd managed to leave it all, and she thought she'd left it behind. However, she was back now, and her sixteen-year-old self was not. Instead, there was a grown woman, a teacher, doing her best to help a scared girl and her brother. Maybe Tabitha would be a good fit for that sort of defense. She clutched at her wedding locket, tugging it absentmindedly.

When she spoke again, it was the voice of a woman who brought cupcakes to the staff office when she knew her grumpiest colleagues were going to be there, and the woman who thought dead things were lovely because they contributed their corpses to potions, and the woman who was very certain that at least one of the two people in the hall that night was still a scared little girl. "Dorian deserves to love and feel loved, right?" she said softly, her eyes shining. "Even if it were possible to change something like that about somebody, would you really want to? Would you want somebody to force you to marry a woman or something you just didn't like?"

22 Mary Brooding I agree with you there. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 31, 2019 5:56 AM

You should agree with.me about a lot more by Émilie

"Stop it!" Émilie snapped, as Professor Brooding tried to, of all things, reason with her. As Professor Brooding, sentence by sentence, made the situation worse, rather than better. Far from discouraging her brother, it sounded like the professor was encouraging him to follow his feelings and deal with the consequences. 'Recoiled' was an accurate word to describe her reaction as the Professor listed her points, some of them spurious and ridiculous - the fact that Dorian did her hair, her marrying women - some of them just downright unsettling. Talking about how Dorian deserved to be loved - which, of course, he did deserve, but in a proper relationship, not something perverted and unnatural.

"I am never supporting what you suggest. But you are also wrong, saying I am not supporting my brother," she glared. "I don't think bad things about him. I see why it happens. Dorian never thinks people will like him, even though he is my favourite, and Mama's. He feels like he cannot be liked. And then he finds someone special. Two people," she added, for the sake of making it accurate, "But one, not such a problem... He starts to get telled he is special. He is interesting. And by someone very attarctive," loathe as she was to say anything nice, the truth of that had to be acknowledged - especially as it made Dorian less guilty. It was easy enough to have your head turned by a pretty face telling you nice things. "I see why he gets this silly infatuation. I do not blame him, but if you will enourage it, then I do blame you.

"You are crazy. Crazy and disgusting and very possibly evil," she spat. She might never have dared to say such things to a Professor, much less Dorian's most precious and beloved one, but Mary Brooding had promised not to tell Dorian about this, and Émilie planned to take full advantage of that fact - assuming there was any honesty or decency to the woman, which was rather up or debate right now.

"You are his teacher!" she stated again, but that argument had already failed to register as significant. "And this...It's illegal. In any decent country, it is. And you are married! Does that idea not mean anything to you?"

13 Émilie You should agree with.me about a lot more 0 Émilie 0 5

Mary Brooding

May 31, 2019 11:21 AM

Many things, yes. by Mary Brooding

The most important thing Émilie had done was stay exactly where she was. She was angry and scared and hurt, but she hadn't left the hall or even stood up. She also wasn't making very good arguments anymore, which told Mary there was more emotion here than anything else.

Taking all this into account, Mary nodded, listening to what Émilie said with patient ears. It was not hard to do, although the words stung. She thought it was a bit like trying to carry a screaming toddler from one place to another, but she'd have to ask Evangeline about that soon to be sure.

Crazy and evil we're hefty words to throw around, but certainly not the first time Mary had heard them directed at herself. Sometimes it was under someone's breath after a bad grade, sometimes it was because she was with a woman, and sometimes it was because fear was much stronger than most other emotions.

When Émilie finished, Mary waited for a moment to allow them both some silence in the hallway, and to give the girl time to breathe if she wanted it. She had no intention of answering the question shot at her anyway just now, so there was no rush.

"What makes you think that it's not right?" she asked softly. "Why do you think it's wrong?"

22 Mary Brooding Many things, yes. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 31, 2019 8:52 PM

A lot more than you realise, I think by Émilie

What made her think it was wrong? Had Émilie not just listed several reasons plainly and clearly? Reasons which the Professor was now batting aside as if they were nothing - as if she hadn’t even spoken?

The woman was beyond crazy and immoral - she was also impossible to have a conversation that followed a logical order with. And this was coming from Émilie - she herself was known to flit from point to point like a bee between flowers, or sometimes move onto one thought before another was finished, or to throw two or three questions out without taking a breath or waiting for a reply. But to just ignore everything a person was saying to you? To hear their reasons, none of which were small issues, and then ask what their reasons were? It was bad enough having to talk just in English without adding the fact that the other person refused to listen or make sense.

“I have enough of talking with you,” she decided. Her eyes turned from the Professor’s face, breaking the intense eye contact they’d been maintaining. And then, strangely, her face lit up with a cheerful smile, as if she had no care in the world.

“Dorian!” she beamed, looking over the Professor’s shoulder. One thing that could be said for Émilie Montoir was that she was a better actor than her brother. As she scrambled to her feet and went to meet him, there was no trace of the distress or the anger with which she had most recently been addressing Professor Brooding. She was back to the giddy, playful girl who had first come out looking and lurking in hallways, and she threw her arms around him happily.

“I am sent to see if you are lost, stolen or just making trouble,” he grinned, returning her hug. “I guess number three?” he suggested jokingly, looking between her and the Professor.

13 Émilie A lot more than you realise, I think 0 Émilie 0 5

The Jacksons

May 31, 2019 10:24 PM

Let's find out! by The Jacksons

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too,” Abraham smiled sincerely, shaking Felipe’s hand. The boy seemed sort of shy and serious, and Abraham tried to convey with his tone and his smile that he was not about to bite his head off.

Before they could do any further introductions, the rest of Felipe’s family had made their way over - which, Abraham supposed, saved on doubling up. They all noticed the much more reserved greetings exchanged between the members of the De Matteo family. Not that there was much to read into that - some people were just more reserved, especially in public. The Jacksons were the type to take their time making impressions, and to try to find favourable ones where there was ambiguity.

“Abraham Jackson,” he introduced himself, “This is my wife, Claire, and our other daughter Evangeline.” There was a tangle of hand-shaking as the adults worked their way round each other, and Zara found herself having her hand shaken, and then something that… wasn’t that, but she just did her best to mirror what was going on and smile at everyone, plus throw in a little wave to Leonor so she was also included in the greetings. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all too.”

“Yes, it’s lovely to meet you all,” Zara echoed politely. “Thank you for helping Felipe with my Christmas present, ma’am,” she added to his mother. “It’s really beautiful.” She had, as promised, written a thank you note but she thought she ought to say it in person too, now that she had the chance.

“Ah. You’re just a bit older than Zara’s brother then,” Abraham smiled at Leonor. His eyes flitted between her and her mother. He was pretty sure the word ‘English’ had just been used but he wasn’t sure if this was an instruction to speak it or an explanation that they spoke it. “He’s eight. But he’s over there, playing with our friends’ son,” he gestured. “Sorry, no habla Espanol,” he added.

13 The Jacksons Let's find out! 0 The Jacksons 0 5

Evelyn Stones

May 31, 2019 10:28 PM

The things I haven't said. [Tag Ness, etc.] by Evelyn Stones

OOC -- Takes place before post-concert thread with Heinrich.

IC --

It wasn't exactly true that Evelyn was avoiding telling Ness the news she'd only recently learned herself, but she wasn't forthcoming about it either. After talking with Heinrich a few weeks previously, Evelyn had felt good, and strong. She wasn't ready to be vulnerable again. At least, that's what she'd told herself it was.

It was a little weird seeing Heinrich around now, and she wasn't sure whether he actually wanted to be friends, or just accountability buddies. She still had to talk to him tonight. That aside, it wasn't until her father showed up entirely alone that Evelyn realized the real reason she hadn't yet confided in Ness was hope.

She'd held onto some hope that her mother would be back after these few weeks, that things were fine at home, that they would be together again, and that everything was going to be okay. She didn't want to say out loud that it wasn't the case -- and hadn't even really told Heinrich as much, which meant that she'd been keeping this all to herself -- and admit to it. Now, it was real. Additionally, now she was going home to it. "Home." She couldn't hide it now, and she was sure Ness wasn't the only McLeod with their eye on Mathias Stones.

Ness' family was gathered together, chatting with each other and members from other families when Evelyn pulled her friend aside a little ways. She was sure that Marijke would have things to say as well, and she really did want to hear it, but she needed to talk to Ness first.

She didn't have her mother's letter anymore, as she'd accidentally scorched it in the MARS room the day she'd gotten it, but she had it well memorised just the same. Still, recitation was rarely a good place to start. They'd already had a chance to congratulate each other on their concert involvement though, so Evelyn moved on to the in between.

"Hey, did you see my dad?" she asked, clearly on edge. "Ness, I have to tell you something I should've told you sooner." She was feeling blubbery and suddenly wished she'd had Ness follow her into the hallway or something instead. "I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to tell you and I didn't want to believe it and . . . " She snaffled once and forced her tears down. She hoped that wasn't a bad wolf thing to do. Taking a breath and reeling in her emotions with too much skill, Evelyn closed her eyes sadly, not wanting to see Ness' expression. "My mom left a couple of weeks ago."

22 Evelyn Stones The things I haven't said. [Tag Ness, etc.] 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Arthur and Rosalie Hayles

May 31, 2019 10:46 PM

We should probably talk (tag Professor Skies). by Arthur and Rosalie Hayles

Jessica had not performed in the Crow-talon (or however it was said) House act, or in the Concert in any other capacity, and this left Arthur and Ros both feeling somewhat at a loss. There was an event. It involved showing off. Therefore, Jessica was supposed to be involved, and to be more involved and more successfully involved than at least any other child her age. This was just how things were - or at least, how things had always been.

It was another reminder, as if they had needed another, that Jessica was different. Not just different from, well, regular humans, but even from the person she had been before they knew all this.

She did, undeniably, look better, more like herself, than she had in January. Her light copper-colored hair had still been peculiar-looking - it seemed to go a shade darker when it had to air dry all the time - but she had not looked so thin and sleep-deprived as she had. She had been neatly dressed for an evening occasion with her tiny pearl and diamond pendant around her neck and a bow in her hair. She had smiled and hugged them. She had expressed pleasure when they had told her they had met her friend's parents. But she had not been performing, and had seemed impatient whenever they hadn't been looking directly at her, and she hadn't really answered any question they had asked her directly.

"Do you think..." Ros murmured when Jessica excused herself to visit the restroom.

Arthur grimaced. "We probably still should," he said reluctantly.

They both almost managed not to flinch when the furniture started rearranging itself without any obvious motors or magnets in the floors to direct it, and then went to find the woman who had led the tour of the building - the woman who was the focus of a rather disturbing level of hatred and fear from their only mutual child - She Who Had Obliged Them To Replace Part Of A Wall.

Arthur stepped slightly ahead of Ros as they approached her, willing to shield his wife as best he could with his body if the entity Jessica made sound like the very Devil in the shape of a pleasant-but-unremarkable-looking middle-aged woman went on the attack. Of course, if she turned him into a frog or a patch of vapor, then there was really little chance of Ros escaping the same fate should the woman choose to deal it out to her, but it was the thought, he hoped, that counted.

"Deputy Headmistress Skies, I believe?" he said. "I was hoping we'd cross paths - Arthur Hayles. I understand you're the dorm mother for the - section where my daughter lives?"

If there had been other people named Hayles at Sonora, the Deputy Headmistress could have been forgiven for asking if it was in fact Jessica who was his daughter. On close examination there were similarities - the height of the cheekbones relative to the position of the eyes, the shape of the mouth - but Arthur, with his conventionally handsome features, blue eyes, and light gold hair, did not look much like Jessica. The woman behind him, however, would have been hard to mistake for anyone else but Jessica's mother - the resemblance there, with their brown eyes and narrow faces, was striking, aside from Ros' hair being colored dark auburn and carefully maintained to avoid showing any lighter roots. They all, however, shared the same soft accents and same way of carrying themselves, if the professor remembered it from the beginning of her first interview with Jessica, before Jessica had broken down upon realizing that none of the rules she knew applied anymore - a demeanor which was polite, courteous, and even friendly, but which was accustomed to their suggestions being responded to the same way an order would be. Accordingly, if with an effort of will, Arthur offered her his hand without hesitating, as though he were unaware of the total power disparity between them.

16 Arthur and Rosalie Hayles We should probably talk (tag Professor Skies). 1442 Arthur and Rosalie Hayles 0 5

The De Matteos

May 31, 2019 10:47 PM

OR! Or . . . or! We could not. by The De Matteos

Julieta beamed at Zara when the girl demonstrated a politeness that far exceeded her expectation for the average eleven-year-old. Were all the girls at Sonora so wonderful? When they'd sent Felipe to Sonora, they'd had high hopes his head would be turned by somebody appropriate, ideally a girl for sake of bloodlines, but that was a separate matter. Of course, they'd also been a little worried that would be the case. Now that they were meeting some of the people of Sonora, Julieta was sure she wasn't the only one grateful for the chance to be a little more picky about it. When everyone was good, greatness could be achieved.

Putting that terribly inappropriate thought aside with a polite blush, Julieta nodded. "It was all his idea, I'm just glad to know that my little bit of help was involved with something for such a lovely young lady. I've heard so much about you," she added.

Ilefonso acknowledged the same, although they both knew it wasn't true. Felipe never said much about anybody; it was just a polite thing to say, especially when it was Felipe who was quiet, and not anything to do with whether his friends were worth talking about. Besides, he had actually talked more about Zara than he had anybody else over Christmas. That was good information to keep in mind.

Leonor was less giving than any of the rest of her family, but well-trained regardless. With shining, mischievous eyes, she looked up at Abraham and said in a high, clear voice, "C'est pourquoi je parle quatre langues. In questo modo non devi." That's why I speak four languages. That Way, you don't have to. Offering a polite curtsy, as if to make up for her rudeness in both French and Italian, she added in English: "May I go play with him?"

Julieta and Ilefonso were looking at their daughter with something like a shocked scowl, and Felipe was closer to red than his usual more sheepish social blush allowed. His eyes closed for a moment, allowing him a breath's worth of time to clear his expression before he looked specifically to Zara.

"My apologies," he said. "We've had the great privilege to learn several languages so that we can make others more comfortable, no matter where they're from, and my sister is instead using hers to insult your family."

Felipe hated this part of being kind. It meant owning up to the mistakes of those you were lumped together with sometimes, and it meant saying exactly what was wrong and admitting it. It meant clearing the air, even when the air was no good at all. He didn't have to try hard to look ashamed; he was ashamed to the core. For her part, Leonor managed to look guilty, either realising her mistake, or realising she'd made things difficult for her family.

22 The De Matteos OR! Or . . . or! We could not. 1434 The De Matteos 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

May 31, 2019 11:07 PM

On that, I will not be flexible. by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary was saved both from her frustration and from having to reply to all of the Things that were happening by Dorian's approach. Of course, that also spared her ever having to cover up the fact that she and Émilie had spoken, even if she couldn't go into details about their topics of discussion. It also meant that Mary was exposed to a side of Émilie that she considered much darker.

This turn on a dime wasn't the sort of survival approach to world problems, and it wasn't just politeness; she was lying to hide a conversation and emotions she didn't want Dorian to know because . . . what? Mary felt more than a little sick as she leaned forward, pushing herself to her feet and greeting Dorian with a smile.

"Maybe she's all three," she teased, also smiling. Dorian seemed happy, and that was the important thing. In fact, that was the whole point of all of this. Mary relaxed. "Of course, she wouldn't be the only Montoir trouble maker. The show was perfect and you did a beautiful job. I just have to wonder how many classrooms were magicked all up and down to get everything just right!"

Her joking tasted like stomach acid and her throat was thick. Summer was here, and Dorian was going to be leaving. What had she just turned his home life into for the next three months?

22 Professor Mary Brooding On that, I will not be flexible. 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Émilie

May 31, 2019 11:29 PM

Nor will I by Émilie

Émilie threw a covert glare at Professor Brooding as she joked about her. Dorian was entitled to tease her, but this woman had far from earnt it. However, her brother was smiling, clearly not worried by the response, and she slid the look back behind the happy mask.

“Mostly just Professor Wright’s,” he assured Professor Brooding, when she asked how many classrooms had been turned upside down, “And with permission and tidy up, always,” he added. He knew she was only teasing but he didn’t like the thought of being someone who left chaos in his wake. “And thank you,” he smiled, with that special kind of embarrassed-but-pleased look that he wore whenever anyone found him worthy of praise. He’d been having it heaped on his head by his parents too. They were so proud of him.

“I’m glad you have a chance to meet,” he smiled, and Émilie, used to reading Dorian, saw his smile falter slightly, saw his eyes flick between them, and wondered whether he was really pleased that this first meeting had been unsupervised.

“Of course,” Émilie smiled, “I am not going to miss a chance to talk with the woman who you like so much,” she answered brightly. And Dorian noticed that her emphasis was odd, but chalked it up to Émilie’s English being sometimes clumsy and oddly accented. But her eyes turned again to Professor Brooding, and again, whilst her back was to her brother, the mask was down, and her eyes flashed the signal that her choice of words was no accident. And her voice was still bright, still carefree as if nothing in the world was going through her pretty little head as her eyes narrowed at the Professor in a way that suggested that this whole thing was far from over, and she added “And who by her own account is very fond of you too.

“Allons-y,” she added, putting the smile back in place as she turned to her brother, “I don’t want Mama to think you are stolen away too. She wouldn’t be happy.”

13 Émilie Nor will I 0 Émilie 0 5

Kir McLeod (plus surprise guest)

June 01, 2019 12:37 AM

Meeting the parents (Tag all Iveses) by Kir McLeod (plus surprise guest)

It was a pretty big evening. There were quite a lot of important things that were happening. The first had been Teppenpaw's concert performance, which he was very relieved had gone to Georgia's satisfaction. There was, as far as he was concerned, something even bigger facing him afterwards though, and that was meeting Zevalyn's parents. It had added to his nerves on stage that everything he did up there was - along with deciding whether or not Georgia mounted his head on a spike - forming their first in person impressions of him. As one of the older students, he'd been required to execute the elements that required on stage magic. Dorian had done a really fantastic job of making that as minimal as possible, and it had mostly involved redirecting the water that came on stage during 'Umbrella' and then helping to quickly dry the stage so that no one slipped during the finale. He had leant his voice and his dance moves to numbers as needed but had not had a particularly prominent role in anything - insofar as it was possible to be 'not prominent' when you were 6'2.

Even the minimal amount of dancing he had done combined with nerves and stage lights, had left him feeling sweaty and disgusting by the end of the performance, and he had been grateful for the fact that they were in school, which meant he could return to Teppenpaw to have a shower and generally make himself presentable. That had left him with a momentary debate over whether to remove his make-up or fix it up. He had been wearing glittery eyeshadow and a little bit of eyeliner for the show. Even if wasn't very noticeable from the audience, it had made him feel more confident. He had checked prior to this evening that Zevalyn's parents weren't expecting someone too normal, and she had informed him that they were expecting David Bowie. He was almost concerned that, with that kind of hype, he wasn't going to be strange enough. At least, in terms of appearance. He was pretty confident in the rest, and was sure his family could make up for any he was lacking. Deciding that the best advice was to just be himself, he fixed his make up, got dressed in a pair of black slacks and smart dark blue shirt with a little white diamond pattern on it, and cast a quick colour change charm on his nail varnish which had been Teppenpaw gold, changing it to a dark, shimmery blue. It wasn't as rich or nice a colour as if he'd repainted them but it was a good fix when you were in a hurry. He made his way back to the hall, slipping in as the Crotali who had been on stage rejoined the audience or went off to change if they'd been in costumes they no longer wished to wear.

At the end of the show, he managed to first locate Zevalyn in the crowd, and give her a quick hug and kiss, glad that they’d found each other before their parents so he didn’t have to worry about how to say ‘hello’ with an audience.

“Everything go okay? It sounded great, from what I could hear. I’m sorry I didn’t get to watch it properly,” he greeted her. As the Teppenpaws had been on straight after the Aladrens, they’d been backstage, getting ready and then out of earshot warming up. As they were exchanging words about the concert, Kir felt something collide with his leg, and looked down to find Zara’s younger brother had barrelled enthusiastically into him. The boy began pulling on his arms and Kir, who clearly recognised this signal, hoisted him up into a piggyback.

“Shall we go find your parents?” he asked Zevalyn, “And drop you with yours on the way?” he suggested. He felt a head movement but couldn’t see it, but judging by the way the small arms and legs around him tightened, he could guess.

“That was a no, wasn’t it?” he clarified with Zevalyn. And so he set off to meet her parents with an unexpected eight year old on his back.

“Hi. Good evening,” he smiled slightly nervously at them, “Please can I put you down now?” he asked over his shoulder, but the arms once again tightened their grip. “Okay…” he sighed, adjusting the child’s weight so he could tentatively released one hand to offer to Dr. and Dr. Ives, “Pleased to meet you. I’m Kir. And my backpack here is- ow!” at this attempt at an introduction, he had received a sharp kick, and now the boy way pulling himself forward to whisper intently in Kir’s ear. “Apparently that information is classified,” Kir informed them, deciding that at least he must be living up to his reputation of very strange now. Perhaps he even qualified as Goblin King David Bowie, seeing as he had apparently kidnapped a small child. Though he thought it was fairly apparent that it was very much the other way around. Over his shoulder, the top of a face appeared, dark brown eyes framed by horn-rimmed glasses, and surveyed the Iveses. Unless they looked back, at which point the little face buried itself again in Kir’s shoulder, peeking up again once it thought they weren’t looking any more.

“I think my parents are just checking in with my sibling. I expect they’ll be here in a bit,” he added.

13 Kir McLeod (plus surprise guest) Meeting the parents (Tag all Iveses) 366 Kir McLeod (plus surprise guest) 0 5

Ness McLeod

June 01, 2019 1:55 AM

Oh. Eep. by Ness McLeod

Ness was feeling really good. The Aladren concert performance had been fun, educational, and had offered the second year a very prominent role. Teppenpaw and Pecari’s acts had been enjoyable too, both because they put on genuinely fun performances (fluffy in Teppenpaw’s case, and thrill-seeking in Pecari’s) and because they had involved Kir and Zara and Evelyn. Crotalus had performed some classical music. Ness was probably supposed to like that to be cultured or something, and would say so if asked but really, songs with words were much more interesting.

Ness had congratulated Evelyn after the show, and then split off to go talk to family. It was a little weird knowing Evelyn’s crappy dad was somewhere in the room and that going up and telling him that he was a bad man and that none of them liked him was not going to be allowed. It was what Ness wanted to do, but (in letters exchanged with home before the concert) it had been indicated that this would be A Bad Idea, that the Stoneses were trying to fix things, and whilst Ness could be very, very angry with what had happened to Evelyn, acting on it was a different thing.

Still, when Evelyn pulled Ness aside and brought up the subject of her dad, the Aladren’s stomach started doing little anxious somersaults.

“Yeah, I did…” Ness confirmed when asked about seeing him. The nerves got worse, as Evelyn was clearly on the build up to revealing something, and revelations around her home life were rarely good. For a moment though, when Evelyn had finished, Ness felt a tiny little balloon of hope - Evelyn’s mum had left her dad! That was good! They were out, and Evelyn and her mom and her baby brother wouldn’t have to be around that horrible, horrible man anymore! Except he was here. He was here, and Evelyn’s mom presumably wasn’t. “What does that mean?” Ness asked, in a small, worried voice.

13 Ness McLeod Oh. Eep. 1419 Ness McLeod 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 01, 2019 2:04 AM

Same though. by Evelyn Stones

When Ness responded in such a perfectly Ness way, Evelyn let out a gush of air that was somewhere between a laugh, a sigh, and just the inevitable release of breath that comes after having held it too long. Evelyn would have chastised herself for being so dumb to hold back from talking to Ness, when this sort of thing was exactly what the Aladren was good at, if not for the fact that she was still just feeling crappy.

"She left me, too," Evelyn said quietly. Despite her best efforts, tears were definitely coming now. She blinked rapidly, glad she'd opted for waterproof makeup tonight, and looked at Ness with a slumped expression. "She said that-- she said-- she said that I--"

The problem with crying was the stupid little hiccup noises that come when you try to talk and not cry, when really your body wants you to cry and not talk. Unfortunately, the only advice Evelyn had to solve this issue was to breathe, focus, and relax, which was her mother's advice. Ironically counterproductive at best, and panic inducing at worst, Evelyn wasn't sure what to do.

"She said that she had been spending so much time worrying about-- about me and-- about CJ and my dad and-- she said that she-- that I-- she said that she would come back, but she doesn't know when," Evelyn whimpered. "It's been weeks, and I haven't heard from her again."

22 Evelyn Stones Same though. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Ness

June 01, 2019 2:21 AM

Can I fix it? by Ness

“Oh Ev!” Ness gasped, when Evelyn revealed that she too had been left. “Hug?” the Aladren offered, making into a question by habit, although already halfway to pulling Ev into one, at this point pretty confident at this point of situations in which it would be accepted. Ness squeezed, and stroked Evelyn’s back and wondered yet again how to make something better when it was so obviously broken and terrible.

“Well, that’s dumb as heck,” Ness frowned, when Evelyn offered an explanation of the situation. “How’s she meant to stop worrying if she has no idea what’s going on?” And if she leaves you with your crappy dad who’s a big pile of crap with no one standing in between you and him? she wondered. Allegedly, Evelyn’s dad had improved. And Ness had had to grudgingly give him the benefit of the doubt both for Evelyn’s sake and through literally having no other choice. It didn’t mean the Aladren trusted him though, and with Evelyn’s mom leaving that… that changed everything. It meant Mr. Stones was now a single parent, when by all accounts he’d been much, much less than half of a team prior to this. “Also, who’d want to leave you? I bet she’ll be in touch really soon,” the Aladren assured her, “She can’t expect you to spend the holidays by yourself with him. Do you wanna come home with us, just until you work out where she is?”

13 Ness Can I fix it? 1419 Ness 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 01, 2019 2:32 AM

You're welcome to try. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn accepted Ness' hug with a huff, partly out of resignation to the mess that was her life, and partly because she didn't expect the ferocity and kindness of that hug. It was comforting, and Evelyn was reminded that she was somehow both the unluckiest and the luckiest girl in the world. She couldn't ask for better friends than these, and the nickname was as proof of that as anything.

Agreeing with Ness' assessment of "dumb as heck," Evelyn nodded meekly. "She said that she had been so busy loving me that she hadn't gotten to love herself, and that she didn't think she could take care of CJ because he has too much magic . . " Her voice trailed off weakly, the idea that Evelyn's greatest shame was the only thing that her mother had been able to tolerate being too much to put words to, even if roundaboutly.

"Thanks for saying that," Evelyn said. But you're probably wrong and it sort of sucks to hear, she wanted to say. She should say. She took a breath and said: "It sort of . . . it sort of hurts a little to hear you say that, though, because I don't want to get my hopes up." It was a statement she would never have been able to manage before going to the McLeod home for Christmas previously or before her friendship with Ness. It was communication, something she'd never seen at home.

The idea of just leaving all of it and going back to the McLeod home sounded absolutely perfect, and that was a hope she could actually get behind. "I'd love that," she said, "but I worry about CJ all alone . . . "

It wasn't quite true. By all accounts, and everything Evelyn had seen herself, there was nothing to fear for anyone with appropriate magic skills. Really, she was afraid for her father. She was afraid for what he might do to distract himself, or what his losses might do to his career. She'd already caused him enough embarrassment, just by being who she was; didn't she owe it to him to save him the trouble of abandonment too? The thought didn't feel right in her head, even though it seemed perfectly reasonable in her gut.

"He's already lost so much," she whispered. "Dad has. And it's all my fault. Plus, what if he gets bad again and I'm not there and he hurts CJ instead?" Evelyn's eyes grew wider. "But I don't think he would do that," she added hastily.

22 Evelyn Stones You're welcome to try. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

The Jacksons

June 01, 2019 4:25 AM

No but let's by The Jacksons

“Well, I think it only counts as an insult if the other person takes it badly. And seeing as I don’t know what it was, I can’t do that. I’m sure it was nothing too terrible though,” Abraham smiled. He had caught something, he thought, about ‘four languages’ but then she had switched back to what he, with his complete lack of knowledge, assumed to be more Spanish, and he had lost the thread. She could have called him a complete idiot for all he knew, but he considered that might be a fair point – or, at least, as far as the logic of a nine year old went, given that she already spoke several languages and he, having evidently been alive far more years than she had, had still only managed the one. It probably helped that he was currently parent to an eight year old, and knew the extent to which they could be rude or embarrassing without really meaning.

Speaking of which, he cast his eyes over to where his son was still hanging off Kir’s back whilst the latter tried to politely shake hands with the people he’d met earlier. The girlfriend’s parents. Ah. Kir probably would rather get rid of Bertie than gain a nine year old he didn’t know. But prying Bertie away from things he didn’t want to be pried away from was challenging, and the idea of pushing him to interact with a strange girl he’d never met was going to seem more threat than enticement.

“I think he’s doing something else right now,” he said to Leonor, turning to his wife, he nodded, in the direction of their youngest child, “Should we…?”

“Oh. Yes. Evie, could you go get your brother to give Kir some space please? Take his book,” she recommended, fishing it out of her handbag and passing it to her daughter. The cover read ‘Spies, Spells and Automobiles!’ in slightly smaller text under this was ‘A best of both worlds puzzle book.’ Evangeline did not offer a resigned sigh at this prospect, seeing as they had company, but took the book obediently and walked off to try to lure Bertie with it, which she doubted was going to be an easy task.

“So…” Zara whispered to Felipe, whilst the possible playdate was being negotiated, “Shall we ask them?” Normally, she might have just asked her dad directly, but she was suddenly conscious that whilst Felipe had asked her, he might not yet have checked with his parents, and she didn’t want to assume that she was really invited until they all started saying so because they seemed very concerned about what was polite and what was not.

13 The Jacksons No but let's 0 The Jacksons 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

June 01, 2019 7:53 AM

Freut mich by Hilda Hexenmeister

OOC: All dialogue is in German.

Hilda was not certain that she had really been a great help with Pecari's concert act. Neither was she entirely sure she had done exactly what Lily wanted her to do, but she had tried her best to follow the older girl's instructive gestures and some limited English to perform her part. At least, nothing bad had happened and nobody seemed angry with her at the end of it, so she was counting it as a successful show.

Besides, it was the after show part that would be really important. That was when she'd get to meet the Zauberhexens.

She planned to say hello to Uncle Karl and Hans before finalizing plans with them, but Johana Leonie spotted her before she spotted them, so she dropped that plan and went with this one. She was a Pecari after all. She was adaptable.

"Hallo," she greeted Johana Leonie's family with a wide smile only her best friend saw regularly at Sonora. "I try to be," she told Johana Leonie's dad when he remarked on her being a good friend to his daughter. "She has been a wonderful one to me, too. I don't think I would have made it through the year without Johana Leonie to help me with the English."

Then, unable to keep it in any longer, she added, "I'm so excited to come visit you! I miss Germany so much!"

As if summoned by the comment, she felt a hand land on her shoulder, and give it a light squeeze. As she looked up and backwards, she discovered Uncle Karl had found her. "About that," he said in German, an obvious note of concern in his voice, "You think she will be safe there? My brother had enemies." There was something in his tone that suggested he was making an understatement.

1 Hilda Hexenmeister Freut mich 1433 Hilda Hexenmeister 0 5

Émilie Montoir

June 01, 2019 10:56 AM

Complaints (tag Tatiana) by Émilie Montoir

Émilie had not quite made up her mind what to do about Professor Brooding yet. Part of her was tempted to complain to Mama or Professor Skies or anyone who’d listen and have the horrible woman fired on the spot for gross professional misconduct. There were two problems with that though – first, it would mean admitting what was going on with Dorian to someone else, and certainly admitting that to Mama was a very bad idea. The second one was the same reason that she had held her tongue about Matthieu all these years; Dorian wouldn’t want her to say anything.

It was confusing and complicated having secrets and she disliked it. She had always felt that Dorian’s unwillingness to talk about Matthieu was not a productive solution. This fell into the same category. It was something dangerous, something that could hurt him, and she wanted to turn to adults to fix it because that felt like the right thing to do. But then she thought of Dorian being so angry that he wouldn’t talk to her and that hurt too much to bear. And he certainly would be very cross indeed if she got his most beloved Professor fired, especially if she was warping his brain and trying to convince him there was nothing untoward about what was going on.
She kept up the cheery façade as they mingled back in with her parents. They seemed to be talking to the Russians now, and there were enough streams of chatter that it was easy enough, after a couple of minutes, for her to tug Tatiana aside, wanting both to verify a few things, but also to just find someone to whom she could say a few short, grumpy words about Professor Brooding without being in trouble for it.

“J'ai parlé au professeur Brooding, et maintenant j'ai mal à la tête,” she complained, pouting. It felt good not to have to confine herself to English any more, though she did switch back to it out of deference to Dorian’s friend, not wanting to inflict upon her the same pain to which she had recently been subjected, even if French was a much more beautiful language for a monolingual monologue. “Is she always so?” she asked. She held up a hand, opening and closing the fingers rapidly in the universal symbol for someone jabbering on.

(OOC: Translation ‘I talked to Professor Brooding and now I have a headache.’)

13 Émilie Montoir Complaints (tag Tatiana) 0 Émilie Montoir 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

June 01, 2019 11:54 AM

Auf Wiedersehen by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Heinrich had been drafted for a larger concert role than he'd really wanted. He'd only had three speaking lines, and then demonstrated a color changing spell - the same one, in fact, that had changed a mildly quaffle shaped rock into his good wolf symbol - but that was three more lines than he'd asked to do. He'd wanted to just do backstage work, and he done that as well, but he'd also had the small on-stage role, too. Still, he hadn't flubbed his English or messed up on his casting, so it all worked out well enough.

And it wasn't awful that he got to show Uncle Karl and Hans he really was adept at doing magic, since he wasn't allowed to use his wand at home, and until now, they hadn't been allowed to see him at school either.

Aladren had gone first, so he'd sat in the audience with his uncle and little brother for the later acts, and now he had Hans with him as they weaved amongst the crowd, trying to find Hilda who had been in the final act and so hadn't been sitting with them.

They found a different Pecari first, who greeted him by name and pointed out her father in German. Heinrich studied the man from their current distance, but couldn't spot any obvious bad wolves hanging around him. But then, he hadn't expected to be able to.

Then she thanked him for the rock he'd made for her to carry with her and he smiled. "I hold yours, too," he said, pulling her ring out of his pocket long enough for her and Hans to see it before he slipped it back into its accustomed spot, "while I talk on stage."

Heinrich ignored the puzzled look Hans gave him. "This is my brother, Hansel," he added by way of introduction. "He is almost seven now. Hansel, this is Evelyn."

"Hi," Hans said, in markedly better conversational English than Heinrich's even after just a single word. Heinrich never used anything more casual than 'hello' to greet anybody. "Hans is fine."

"Being in Utah will be good," Heinrich answered her question, more or less. He still wasn't sure he counted Uncle Karl's house as 'home' yet, but it was the closest thing he had other than the Aladren dorms, which obviously weren't what she meant. "I will work more on my English this summer," he added, sharing his primary goal. "It is easier with people who know German, too. Uncle Karl has good English and," he frowned in mild irritation at his little brother, who was literally half his age and not supposed to be smarter than Heinrich about anything, "Hans might do better English than me now, too."

"I'll help you," Hans volunteered eagerly, his accent the only thing marking him as a German-born speaker. "Uncle Karl says I'm very good in English now."

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister Auf Wiedersehen 1414 Heinrich Hexenmeister 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 01, 2019 5:56 PM

Not soon enough. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn grinned, honored to have a piece of their friendship in Heinrich's pocket as well. It meant so much to her to know that this was real for them both. "You did Wonderfully," she said sincerely. "You didn't look nervous at all."

Hansel was adorable, although Evelyn was probably biased. She wondered what it would be like when CJ was old enough to walk around with, and introduce to people, but she would already have graduated by the time he was Hansel's age. The fact that she was thinking of graduating surprised her some, as she hadn't anticipated making it through school before. Maybe things were looking up after all.

"It's good to meet you, Hansel," she said, smiling at him.

When Heinrich spoke of his summer break, Evelyn wondered whether he called his uncle's house home at all, or whether Utah was just another step in his life's journey. The whole thing was more complicated than she could understand; even if home was hardly homey, it was still home.

Hansel was so happy to be part of things. She'd never seen Heinrich display such easy happiness, and she thought again of what Heinrich had said about his brother having an easier time with everything.

"I'm going to work on German," she said. "If you want to write . . . " She blushed, not sure if that was overstepping.

22 Evelyn Stones Not soon enough. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Johana Leonie, etc.

June 01, 2019 6:13 PM

Lass uns für immer Freunde sein! by Johana Leonie, etc.

Agathe laughed heartily, amused by the warmth and joy of the little girl who had befriended her daughter. It was entirely unexpected to find other German speakers at Sonora of all places, and she and her husband were both beyond thrilled to know that their daughter wasn't alone in her education journey. Of course, an entirely separate set of concerns came with this particular German family.

When a man approached, putting his hand on Hilda's shoulder and speaking in German, Agathe and Florian Eckart found that they weren't the only worried ones. This man had a much kinder face than they might have expected, which went a long way towards assuaging their fears. They'd talked about this inevitable meeting a lot before arriving here, and were ready with friendly faces.

"Yes," Florian Eckart said, nodding lightly. "I should think so. We have been healers for a very long time, and I know we have met some of those enemies in our line of work."

Johana Leonie turned sharply, looking at her father with wide eyes. "What do you mean, papa?"

Florian Eckart shook his head at his daughter, smiling softly at her as his wife picked up where he'd left off.

"We live in a very small, remote village, among Muggles. It's a place where superstition and hedgemagic have survived, keeping a lot of our work from raising concerns," Agathe said. "Nobody there would know anything about your brother, and she'll be safe there. If you'd like to come, we have space for all of you."

"I'm sure it would be nice to take some time away from the States," Florian Eckart added.

Johana Leonie was still gaping, and she looked at her friend with surprise. "I had no idea," she whispered to her. "Are you okay?"

22 Johana Leonie, etc. Lass uns für immer Freunde sein! 1432 Johana Leonie, etc. 0 5

The De Matteos

June 01, 2019 6:31 PM

That sounds stressful though. by The De Matteos

Ilefonso laughed loudly, grinning at the other father. "Good man," he said. "I appreciate your sense of humor. And I'm grateful for it," he added more seriously. "We never really can be sure what our kids will say, eh?"

Leonor nodded, accepting that she wouldn't be allowed to play with the little boy just then, even though she would have liked to very much and even though the grown ups had been talking all night and she hadn't gotten to play at all. She knew that her parents cared very much about whether or not she was nice, and she didn't really want to be nice, but they would usually let her do something extra special later if she was nice, and more people liked her for being nice, which was good.

Felipe nodded, grateful to be pulled into the small world of two people, instead of being caught in the ups and downs of larger groups. He felt small and safe with Zara, and smiled sheepishly at her, grateful for the goodness of her friendship. "That sounds good," he said. "I can, since I suggested it."

It was only right, but he also suspected that his parents would appreciate it as well. He didn't want Zara in the position of asking whether she could go to Los Jardines de Plata or inviting herself, even though the invitation also stood for Felipe to visit the Jacksons.

"¿Me pregunté si Zara podría venir este verano?" he warned his parents before saying a little bit louder for everyone, "I had hoped Zara might be able to come over this summer. She suggested everyone have the opportunity to meet first." He dipped his head in respect.

22 The De Matteos That sounds stressful though. 1434 The De Matteos 0 5

DH Skies

June 01, 2019 10:05 PM

We agree on one thing already, then by DH Skies

Ah. The Hayleses. Selina had been in two minds about whether she ought to seek them out or not. Before Midterm, it had felt like things with Jessica were verging on the point where she would need to call her parents in. And then there had been The Door Incident, about which Selina had received an owl from MACUSA and then... And then everything had seemed to calm down. Jessica had turned herself to her studies. She had started trying. She had stopped complaining. And it had seemed like maybe the burst of accidental magic had been the short, sharp shock she had needed to make her take this seriously. Still, Selina suspected that all the issues had not gone away. Jessica might accept that she needed to control her powers but that didn't mean she had accepted that she didn't need to learn quadratic equations or go to the best business school or whatever else. It also didn't mean that the pressure to be those things had stopped at home either.

Selina thought it might be better to nip some of those issues in the bud, before they reached explosion point (literal or metaphorical) and surely a friendly chat whilst they were all here anyway was much better than being summoned in for a meeting. Still, it was also a night for family, and for happy reunions, and she was hesitant to tarnish that with an interruption that suggested their daughter was a problem. She was therefore relieved more than anything at having that decision taken out of her hands by the Hayleses approaching her.

"Yes, that's right," she nodded, when Arthur Hayles stumbled through summarising her role. They were not the terms they used, of course, but she decided that seeming to correct him or pushing him towards vocabulary that he was not yet comfortable with was not a good plan.

"Pleased to meet you," she offered politely, shaking the hand that was offered. She balanced her tone carefully. She did not want to be too grim, to give the impression that their daughter was a problem child - given everything she knew about the Hayleses, that was something they had never had to regard their daughter as and might not take too kindly to. Nor did she want to come across as overly cheerful - as bland, and naive to the reason they had sought her out. This was probably not just a social chat. "How did you find the tour?" she asked, in a tone that suggested this was a genuine question and not merely a social nicety, and that she was ready for whatever their answer was.

13 DH Skies We agree on one thing already, then 26 DH Skies 0 5

Arthur and Ros

June 02, 2019 6:38 PM

Hopefully that won’t be the last one. by Arthur and Ros

Ros was loath to admit it, but she relaxed slightly after the witch in front of her was no longer in direct contact with Arthur’s hand. Since the Wall Incident, she had been slightly wary of touching even Jessica, at least when she remembered Jessica was like this, and she had not liked Arthur shaking hands as though everything were normal.

“Very interesting,” said Arthur to the question.

“Fewer dungeons than we expected, frankly,” said Ros dryly. Suddenly embarrassed by the thought of Arthur’s nerve exceeding her own, she took half a step forward and proffered her own hand as well. “I’m Rosalie - Jessica’s mother.”

This was a statement which usually was responded to with smiles and praise for her daughter. Some would even go so far as to compliment her directly, giving her the credit for Jessica’s actions and inactions. This was all just - wrong.

“Yes,” said Arthur, returning to the tour as a subject. “Not many dungeons. That was good. But I was disappointed we didn’t get to see for ourselves more of where Jessica lives. She’s said things about disturbing artwork and decorative elements, and told us about inadequate bathing facilities.”

“Which might not be your school’s fault,” inserted Ros, a touch grudgingly. “Jessica isn’t old enough to be at boarding school yet, and she’s used to being more comfortable than she’d be at any school away from home - but rotting corpses and snakes aren’t really very appropriate decorations, especially if….” Ros faltered, paling slightly, before getting a firmer grip on herself. “If they are...like most of the art we saw here.”

“Quite,” agreed Arthur. “I suspect that’s part of why the poor child couldn’t sleep at first - if it’s the case.”

He was, Ros thought, in an impossible position. There was no real way to intimidate this woman, or even speak up too forcefully for their daughter. He could offer money to improve things, but what if they then started seeing Jessica as a lever on a money pump? That, she imagined, was why he was trying to leave a door slightly cracked, to give her a way out, or to let her explain...but Jessica said she was a completely unreasonable bully, and if their discussions had gone the way Jessica had described them, it was a fair assessment, and when had Jessica ever lied to them? How long had Arthur and Ros struggled with how it was impossible to actually tell a child that honesty was not the best policy but how they simply needed Jessica to know that? She had been as transparent as air when she was little; they had had to work incredibly hard just to teach her caution and discretion. They had no reason not to believe Jessica, and very few ways to deal with the situation if, as probability suggested, Jessica was telling the truth. Ros slipped her hand into Arthur’s discreetly, and he gave it a small squeeze.

16 Arthur and Ros Hopefully that won’t be the last one. 1442 Arthur and Ros 0 5

Ness

June 02, 2019 8:31 PM

Reparo! by Ness

"None of that makes sense," Ness protested, as Evelyn went further into her mother's reasoning. Being a parent meant putting your kids first. It meant loving them unconditionally. They had a poster about how if you weren't able to accept that your kid might turn out gay or trans then you weren't ready to have a kid. Wasn't this the same? Evelyn's mom was supposed to love them both, and Ness had really thought she did, and it was just her dad that was the problem. The Aladren could understand her decision to leave - that was smart - but to abandon her kids? That sucked. That meant Evelyn had got stuck with two crappy parents instead of one, and that wasn't fair. "She shouldn't say stuff like that to you," Ness assured Evelyn. "And she shouldn't be doing this.

"O..k," Ness said hesitantly, when Evelyn essentially told her off for the remark about it getting sorted out. "Sorry?" It came out more as a question than a real apology. Because whilst Ness valued honesty, and should have recognised it as a good thing that Evelyn was saying what she felt, Ness was also the Aladren - the one who knew all the answers, who got it all right, and it hurt to be told that that wasn't the right answer, especially when it had been a problem that really mattered. "I just wanted to make you feel better." Because when in doubt, show your working. Sometimes there were points available for that.

"I... I don't think it works like that?" Ness hedged, when Evelyn seemed to imply that she was responsible for CJ. Ness was also pretty pissed to hear Evelyn's dad's feelings taken into consideration, because that was not necessary. Everything he had lost had been his own fault for being a crappy human being and Evelyn definitely didn't owe him anything. Ness was pretty sure those were all the right answers anyway, but apparently the Aladren no longer had a hundred percent record on that. Ness also kind of wanted to say that Evelyn's dad and CJ didn't matter, but that was a pretty horrible thing to think given that CJ was just a baby. And it wasn't like Ness wanted anything bad to happen or wouldn't feel horrible if it did, but it was just that Evelyn mattered more. Ness wasn't willing to sacrifice her for a stranger.

"Maybe we should talk to my mom?" Ness suggested.

13 Ness Reparo! 1419 Ness 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 02, 2019 8:45 PM

Hey, not too bad. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn nodded, agreeing. It hurt to agree. Everything hurt. She hated it, but it did feel a little better to hear that she wasn't crazy for being sad. She felt like she should probably be happy for her mom, but she was mostly just angry. Angry and sad. She felt betrayed.

Ness' apology seemed both insincere and unwarranted. Evelyn was pretty sure she was making things worse by being around, and that she was ruining her friend's night, but she also was pretty sure that Ness cared, so maybe she was being irrational in thinking that?

"Hey, don't be sorry," Evelyn said, managing a small smile. "You're the one who taught me to talk about how I feel more. You are making me feel better, I just . . . I'm scared. I don't want to be more hurt later if she never comes back." Her voice was stronger now, but still trailed off. "Really," she added for emphasis.

Ness seemed . . . uncomfortable? Maybe that wasn't it, but Evelyn wasn't sure how to read the Aladren. She wanted to just scream and scream and make everyone look so they'd all know and she wouldn't have to go home. At the same time, she wanted to disappear into the floor so no one could see her anymore, and no one could know what a mess she was.

Talking to Marijke sounded like a good plan, and Evelyn nodded her agreement to that as well. It was nice not having to decide. Before Ness could walk away, Evelyn reached out and put a hand momentarily on her friend's shoulder. She snatched it back right away, shrinking into herself in doubt. Maybe Ness didn't want to be touched?

"Ness . . . " Her voice was shaky again and she was so frustrated with herself for that. Her eyes were damp when she looked up, searching her friend's face. Desperation was plain in her own frown, and the way her grey eyes moved around, like a starving person searching for food. She wanted to make a joke and walk away, leaving the conversation. At the same time, she couldn't just accept that she'd maybe hurt her friend.

Evelyn bit her lip. "Are you mad at me? I didn't mean to screw everything up again."

22 Evelyn Stones Hey, not too bad. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Tatiana Vorontsova

June 03, 2019 2:30 PM

Concern. by Tatiana Vorontsova

In the hours leading up to the Concert, Tatiana had been so excited that she had briefly forgotten how to speak English. Fortunately, there was one other student who was fluent in Russian and a couple of others who could manage well enough to at least assure anyone else that she wasn't insulting anyone's mother, which was all she thought was really necessary on this occasion.

Hours later, it was still difficult to believe her own mama and papa were in her school, along with Sonia and Grisha, all dressed splendidly and on display. She felt she could have puffed up like a rooster with pride, especially whenever anyone looked at them. Mama especially was a source of satisfaction, beautiful as she was in her person and magnificent as she was in her jewels and embroidered robes. It was difficult to stop smiling with delight, both at having so much of her family around her again and at the impression she was sure they were making.

She was also happy to see Émilie, though she was more ambivalent about the corresponding sights of Monsieur and Madame Montoir. She still did not see how they could be so ignorant of their own children, or else so unwilling to deal with the situation with Matthieu. If he had been her son, and all the usual punishments had not changed his behavior, she would have had him horsewhipped! But he was not present tonight, and so she resolved not to let him ruin her good mood.

Subtlety was often lost on her, but she gradually realized that Émilie wanted to speak with her away from the chatter, and so she separated slightly from the group with the younger girl. A warm smile of genuine pleasure at seeing Émilie again faded into a slightly puzzled look as Émilie made her complaint.

"Eh, I think so," she said, thinking about what she had observed of Professor Brooding's behavior. "I do not talk at her so much, but our Dorya does." Amusement flashed across her face as she said, "sometimes I say, 'Dorya! Si tu ne me parlez pas ce soir, je penserai que tu aimes plus la professeure Brooding que me!'" Dorya! If you do not speak to me this evening, I will think you like Professor Brooding more than me! "Dorya likes her very much. She puts books in yazyki - er, les langues - in room for us. Anglais, Francais, Kitaiskii, Russkii, Nemetskii - some students speak po-Nemetski," she added, to clarify why there were books in German in the room along with English, French, Chinese, and Russian. "What you talk about?" she asked curiously.

OOC: Tatiana's French is a bit inaccurate, in accordance with her not being fluent in it.

16 Tatiana Vorontsova Concern. 1396 Tatiana Vorontsova 0 5

The Mordues

June 03, 2019 4:03 PM

Everything is perfectly fine here. by The Mordues

Nathaniel carefully focused on his hand. He could not put too much pressure on the fork, could not grip it too tightly. If he did that, it would show anxiety, and he could not do that. Uncle Alexander had said there was no real problem, so therefore, there was not. Regardless of what the knot in his stomach said to the contrary. His stomach was also telling him that everyone was looking at his family, that everyone saw that he and Jeremy were outliers without proper family, and he knew they were not really that interesting. At least not with the past so far in the past.

A headache, Uncle Alexander had said. Mother had wanted to come tonight, to see Sonora and be reunited with him and Jeremy a few hours sooner, but she had had a headache and had to stay in bed at the last moment.

He didn't know what to think about that. For one thing, he knew that sometimes his mother really did have terrible headaches, and that these could come on unexpectedly (usually they just came on when something stressful was going on, or was about to happen, or had just happened, but headaches hitting her out of the blue for no obvious reason was not unknown). On the other hand, however, Nathaniel was always careful to ask Uncle Alexander how Mama was, at least once a month, and lately, the reports had been good. Uncle Alexander had said Mama was looking healthier and more cheerful than she had in years. Nathaniel had dared to hope that she was really getting better. But now she was not here, and he was right back to worrying about her.

Maybe, he thought, they just looked like any other family, to those who didn't know. Uncle Alexander and Aunt Avery made a handsome, very proper couple, and some families had four children. Perhaps everyone would simply think they were all one family, or think Uncle Alexander and Aunt Avery were his parents, or...something. Admittedly, Simon and Sylvia looked more like Uncle Alexander and Aunt Avery for obvious reasons, but he and Jeremy definitely looked related to the other Mordues. Perhaps nobody thought anything untoward about his family at all.

"Your House certainly made an impressive display, Nathaniel," said Uncle Alexander, quite as though nothing was untoward at all. "And those photographs - I saw your cousins and your brother among them. Did you take those?"

"Some of them," said Nathaniel, surprised by how steady his voice was. "It's harder to convince Jeremy to sit for me than it is with Sylvia," he added, with a smile for his brother and his cousin. "And I could only get Simon to sit with her, for a formal," he added, still amused by how pompous Simon had looked in that photo.

16 The Mordues Everything is perfectly fine here. 0 The Mordues 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 03, 2019 5:18 PM

Because I wasn't busy enough. [Tag Jessica.] by Evelyn Stones

OOC - The very end of the night/final thread for Evelyn.

IC -

The end of the year should've been bittersweet. The sound of footsteps trickling down the hall as the night wound to a close should've brought with it the eager anticipation that seemed to accompany other students on their ways home. Each footstep that carried families further away from school and towards home, because that was what those places were solidly designated as, shouldn't have tasted like dread and stomach acid.

The problem was that there was a baby at home, and a tree with some branches suited particularly well to reading from, and a sky so big that only the ocean could dwarf it, but there was no joy there anymore, if there ever had been. At school, there was a big squishy chair in the library, a grassy field in the Labyrinth, a Common Room full of laughter, and more smiles than Evelyn knew what to do with.

As she made her way into the bathroom outside Cascade Hall, her final escape from home before she was ushered there, Evelyn thought that she was probably being too dramatic. Nothing was so dichotomous as she was making it out to be. Still, the world seemed to be made only of things that hurt and things that did not, or, in the case of waving goodbye to Ness, Heinrich, Malikhi, Julius, and others, things that hurt very much because they were so good as to be missed when they were gone.

She'd planned to go into the bathroom and have one last good cry before leaving, and managed to a little bit. She was feeling a bit dried up by now though, and settled on trying to fix her hair and makeup in the mirror instead. She always wore makeup and it seemed particularly important as she was going home. Her father wouldn't see her face blank because she needed to maintain a blank facade, and couldn't do that without the protection of makeup.

Looking in the mirror over the sink, she was trying to wipe the black smudges out from under her eyes, and to wipe off the splotches of color that were out of place above them when another girl walked in. She recognized her, as they were both in classes together, but didn't think they'd ever really spoken.

Laughing naturally to diffuse the awkwardness of walking in on someone who had obviously been crying, Evelyn glanced at the incomer.

"A whole world full of magic, and we can't get waterproof eye makeup right yet, huh?" she joked, swallowing a mouthful of honesty to keep from throwing it up on her all her pretty lies. "You'd think someone would've figured that out by now so we don't all have to go around charming our eyeballs off."

22 Evelyn Stones Because I wasn't busy enough. [Tag Jessica.] 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Jessica Hayles

June 03, 2019 5:55 PM

Rest is for the weak. by Jessica Hayles

It was almost time to go home.

For months, that thought had sustained Jessica. No matter how awful things seemed, she had known that eventually she would get to go home, and spend some time where it was safe, where she could enjoy herself and get some rest, so she could come back to plotting her revenge refreshed next year. At home, she would have the company of her parents and her staff and her sisters. At home, she could be happy, for a little while.

Why, then, now that she was on the brink of going home, did she feel nothing except smoldering resentment?

She excused herself to return to the bathroom to collect herself before leaving the school at the end of the night, hoping to give the girl in the mirror a stern talking-to. Upon pushing the door open, however, she was startled to find someone else also taking refuge.

"It's a real problem," she said breathily, tucking her light red curls behind her ear. "Best we've got is tubing mascara, and that doesn't fan as well as other formulas." She blushed, realizing she was talking shop, reciting remarks she had heard her father make when he took her on lab tours or let her play in his office. "I'm sorry, my family's in the cosmetics business. I hope that's not Arvale products," she added with a small laugh, going along with the joking tone of the other girl and deferring to her evident desire not to talk about the cause of her tears.

16 Jessica Hayles Rest is for the weak. 1442 Jessica Hayles 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 03, 2019 6:02 PM

I am too weak to rest. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn had turned resolutely back to her reflection, figuring she wasn't in Teppenpaw and had no reputation for niceties to uphold. She was Evelyn Stones of the Oregon Jerkfaces and that was just fine by her. Makeup, however, was a topic she could get behind. She turned to Jessica with a more eager expression, happy to have found a relatively safe topic. The ugly black smears on her fingers were irritating her and she didn't have anything suitable to wipe them on, so she washed her hands as she spoke.

"It's not," she confirmed. "Maybelline. It won't come off when I use makeup remover, but tears and--" she made a whooshing sound to indicate just how quickly it came off. "Arvale is great though. I wear a lot of lipstick," she said, pointing stupidly at her colorful mouth. "And Arvale is the best for not drying my lips out. Does your family work for them?"

She was getting excited now, not something she'd expected at this point. "If you go into magical makeup lines, I'll absolutely let you test them on me." She was just self-destructive enough not to care whether they were terrible, but she also had high hopes that a magical cosmetic line would suit her purposes better and if this first year was going to make that happen then Evelyn be damned if she wasn't going to climb aboard that flying train.

22 Evelyn Stones I am too weak to rest. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Jessica

June 03, 2019 6:27 PM

If you meet any gamblers, ask them for advice. by Jessica

Maybelline. Jessica nodded. The original mascara people. It had always been an effort to compete with Maybelline in the mascara market, simply because they had that reputation as the people who had invented it. One had to aim hard at the more luxury-oriented customers and let the rest go.

She smiled, though, at the mention of Arvale lipsticks. "They're the best," she agreed loyally, though she had never been allowed to wear real lipstick in her life, except when she had been very small and playing in Mommy's make-up bag or that one drawer in Daddy's desk. In public, though, it was only and always her sheer, pale pink Jessica Rose tinted lip balm, in its chic little silver tube, and the matching nail polish on her hands.

"My family owns the majority of Arvale," she said simply, making no effort to conceal the fact behind any pretense of false modesty. "Daddy is the CEO - my great-grandma founded the company."

Her spine straightened slightly as she said this out of sheer habit, proud of her family, of its legacy, proud to be a representative of it. It was hard, saying who she was out loud, to remember that she was so angry with Daddy for letting these people have her, for giving up on her like he had. He was more than just Daddy when she spoke like this; he was Arthur Hayles, a similar but subtly and importantly different person from her affectionate father.

Her pencilled-in eyebrows lifted slightly at the mention of magical make-up. "I'll keep that in mind," she said with a smile. "I've been told that I can't mix magic with business when I grow up, but you never know. Do you want some mascara samples? I could bring some in September, or send you some this summer, if you, um, have regular mail - we're sort of not that great with owls yet," she admitted. "And do you know anything about lines in - this - world? You're older than me, right? I'm still figuring out up from down around here."

16 Jessica If you meet any gamblers, ask them for advice. 1442 Jessica 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 03, 2019 7:06 PM

Something like "stop when you've lost everything" I'd guess. by Evelyn Stones

"Your family-- wow! That's so cool!" Well, what fortune there was to be found in the bathroom these days.

Evelyn wondered what it would be like to have a business-oriented family that was not crappy, but supposed she wasn't in the frame of mind to consider that. Instead, she went about drying her hands and then leaned against the counter, taking in Jessica Hayles with a new perspective. She seemed so simple and quiet, but there was an air about her that made more sense now that Evelyn knew more about her background. She wondered at that a little, but didn't dwell on it; everyone had their posture in life, literally and figuratively.

When Jessica suggested she couldn't mix magic and business, though, Evelyn couldn't help laughing softly. She waved a hand, dismissing the idea. "You can do whatever you want," she said firmly. "Besides, I don't think half those Purebloods out there would appreciate hearing you say that." She considered a moment before continuing, wondering just how much she wanted to say to this near stranger.

"My dad's in business," she said. "And my friend got me some lipstick for Christmas that is magic, too," she added, realizing she had more experience with magical cosmetics than she realized. "It isn't waterproof, but some of it changes color and stuff. There's absolutely a place for you, and I'd be happy to be part of that."

Someone wanted to send her letters . . . really to give her samples. That was almost like a gift. And Evelyn was pretty sure that was the closest thing she could think of for a friendship to start blooming. She wanted to help and wanted to be kind and suddenly had an entire image of adopting Jessica as her younger sister.

"I have regular mail," she said. "My mom is a muggle, so my house is pretty normal most of the time." The lies were too easy, but at least it kept the conversation going. She rummaged in her pockets for a piece of paper and wrote down her address, handing it to Jessica. "I am not sure how much I'll be in Oregon this summer, but if you send me something early, I'll write to you if my address changes."

It wasn't the first time she'd been asked about her age, but since she was supposed to be finishing her third year, and Jessica was a first year, it stung a little. She knew she was tiny, but still. "I'm almost fourteen," she said, smiling. "But my parents kept me back a year. I'd have to check the brand names on the lipsticks, but I know those are some lines. Professor Brooding probably knows about some of the hair dyes and lotions and stuff, too. Honestly, I still don't even know what's happening most of the time."

It felt good to admit that in a non-scary way. Magic was hard, this world was hard, puberty was hard and terrible and crampy, and everything sucked. It was nice to say it out loud. She thought that she could probably stay up all night laughing about stupid stuff with Jessica.

22 Evelyn Stones Something like "stop when you've lost everything" I'd guess. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

DH Skies

June 03, 2019 7:41 PM

Lots of agreeing would be nice by DH Skies

"Pleased to meet you," Selina smiled warmly, shaking Mrs. Hayles' hand. She wasn't sure what to make of the fact that she had seemed content to let her husband speak for them until that point, or what it was about the current situation that had made her change her mind all of a sudden. But that was a less pressing concern than the mention of dungeons as an expectation. Admittedly, some of the European schools were housed in old castles, and thus included dungeons, but even these were repurposed as classrooms. Cold and unappealing ones, by all accounts, but still... better than actual dungeony dungeons. Had Rosalie and Arthur extended their reading about the magical world and come across such a reference somewhere? Or did they just have strange, half formed notions of witches, stemming from Muggle fairytales, where Selina believed they were generally given a less than flattering press? Or, more concerningly still, had Jessica said something that had caused them to consider this possibility?

"No, definitely no dungeons," she said firmly but evenly. She wanted to give the impression that this was not even the remotest possibility, but outright reacting as if the remark was ridiculous... Well, whilst it would do for emphasis, it would probably not do for the Hayleses' feelings towards her. The Hayleses, she suspected, were not used to beimg regarded as ridiculous under any circumstances. "Is there a particular reason you thought there might be?" she asked, deploying every ounce of her years of professional training to make this sound like a reasonable question.

She listened carefully to the rest of the Hayleses concerns, surprised to find them verging on the thoroughly reasonable. Arguably, in fact, they were squarely in it. Oddly, the complaints were not things Jessica had voiced herself.

"That particular portrait is one I am not particularly fond of," she agreed, "But the founders had their reasons for choosing it, and unfortunately seem to have been very firm in their convictions, as it's utterly unmoveable - you might think it would be easy enough, with magic, but you have to bear in mind that whoever put it there had that advantage too, and they've made quite sure we can't change it. The snakes... They're more emblematic. They do move, which I suppose can be a little unsettling first, but they really aren't at all lifelike.

"I'm very sorry to hear that Jessica was disturbed by these things, or that she lost sleep over them. They aren't concerns she raised in particular with me," she added. There certainly had been those, by the spadeful, and Selina wondered whether they were starting small and building towards the big things - trying to undermine the foundations before going in for the kill Well, of course you can't be expected to design a curriculum when you can't even furnish a room tastefully.- there being, after all, a clear overlap in the skill sets of pedagogy and interior design. "I admit that I noticed she had some trouble adjusting to being here, but that is quite common. She seemed to settle after Midterm.

"Did she mention what she finds uncomfortable or inadequate?" Selina asked mildly. She couldn't help but feel it was most likely something ridiculous, especially given that even her own mother seemed to be willing to suggest that Jessica might have unrealistic ideals about the style in which she was kept. "It's... a fairly normal bathroom, I'd say. Hot and cold running water," given that they had expected dungeons, she felt that it wasn't unreasonable to think this might need clarifying, "Normally it's shared between roommates but as she doesn't have any, she has one to herself

"I'd be more than happy to show you Jessica's living quarters," she replied. "We don't include them on the tour as it's sort of a school tradition that students don't know the ways into other houses, and we have several alumni on the tour whose house pride might not like their secrets revealed. But I can see no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to see where your daughter lives."

13 DH Skies Lots of agreeing would be nice 26 DH Skies 0 5

Émilie

June 03, 2019 8:30 PM

Increasingly so by Émilie

"Oui, je sais," Émilie nodded grimly, when Tatiana mentioned how very much time Dorian spent with the Professor. "He should not do like this. It is not correct," she protested when Tatiana mentioned how she teased Dorian. This was no good. If Tatiana was noticing and saying things, how many others were already doing the same?

She ignored the mention of books as unimportant. She didn't even know what kitiaskii and nemetskii were. She didn't want to hear stories of how nice or kind Professor Brooding was. It only made it worse that she was nasty and corrupt on the inside. If someone looked obviously evil, it would be easy to notice, but Professor Brooding wore a smiling face and offered nice books and then slowly put inappropriate ideas into teenage boys's heads, and that was horrible.

"I not even know," she sighed when asked what they had talked of, "I try to say simple. And she starts... Maybe a thing is not a thing. Do you consider this? If you go upside down and backwards, maybe everything looks different," Émilie made her voice all floaty, not mimicking the Professor as such but conveying clearly the airy-fairy tone she had felt was far too prevelant in their conversation. "Non," she said, much more in her own tone, "Thing is a thing. She has too much philosophy," she sniffed disapprovingly. No doubt this was why Dorian liked her so much. He frequently strayed into the overly wordy and abstract. And now he had found someone who was using that tendency to overthink, to consider ridiculous angles that could never exist, and who was using it to put terrible thoughts into his head.

"Do other people say this too, about Dorian?" she asked, concerned, "That he has too much time with the professor? And maybe say it in a not nice way?"

13 Émilie Increasingly so 0 Émilie 0 5

Ness

June 03, 2019 9:23 PM

Phew. Now I just have to fix the thing I accidentally broke by Ness

"Oh. Okay," Ness nodded, as Evelyn explained what she was doing. And that it was something Ness had taught her. That did make the Aladren feel better. "And yeah. That makes sense..." Ness agreed, regarding what Evelyn was saying about not wanting to be disappointed. Again. Which, to be fair, seemed like a pretty big risk of pinning any hope on either of her useless parents. "Good logic." The compliment was managed with a faint smile, not a great big happy one, but just a faint twitch of the mouth, as befitted the situation.

Ness was surprised when Evelyn reached out and then withdrew, but there wasn't time to comment on this - to assure Evelyn that that was an okay thing to do - before Evelyn asked her next question.

"What? No, of course not," this was said emphatically, "No. I... I am pretty mad at everything that's going on around you. At your parents. At the world for being kind of a crappy, unfair place. And I hate it being too complictated, and not being able to solve it because... that's just stupid. Problems have solutions. Or... they're supposed to. But all of that is not the same as being mad at you. You get that right?" Ness knew that what Evelyn had been through would screw with anyone's head, and had just had a glimpse into Evelyn's head and how she felt responsible for everything. Did that mean this would keep happening? If Ness said wrong things, would Evelyn get broken? That was scary. "Are you mad at me?" Ness checked because right now, anything seemed possible.

13 Ness Phew. Now I just have to fix the thing I accidentally broke 1419 Ness 0 5

Jessica

June 03, 2019 9:53 PM

You've got to know when to fold 'em, know when to hold 'em. by Jessica

You can do whatever you want.

Such an appealing thought. Jessica had always believed it, until this year. She rather hoped that Evelyn was right and Skies was wrong, but even if she was, then starting a new line, one that couldn't even be formed in their existing laboratories, from the ground up...it had been one thing when Ariana had done it. There had been little competition when her great-grandmother had gotten in the game, and few regulations, and certainly not any of this business of wizards watching her every move. The odds were terrifying.

"Interesting," she said about color-changing lipstick. She knew that there were lipsticks that looked green but adjusted to an individualized color on the lips of each wearer, something to do with chemistry or temperature. There were also those mood ring things that changed color in response to temperature, she thought it was...if it was ground up super-fine, milled to powder...powders didn't really work in lipstick, but could it be suspended in the waxes that made up a typical lipstick, in such a way that it would wear comfortably and yet still do its thing?

Not that Jessica would be willing to be a test subject for that. If it didn't work then it could cut up her lips and anyway, she couldn't imagine the result being anything other than garish. One had to cater to the garish crowd a little, she supposed, but she did not have to join said crowd herself.

"Great," she said, accepting the address with a smile. She did not ask about the possible address change; sometimes people moved for no particular reason, and sometimes they moved because of something terrible, and asking about it just seemed like too much of a risk. "I'll get those right out to you after I get home."

She was surprised to find that someone as small as herself was actually so much older, but trusted that she managed to not show it too much. It was none of her business, though she had to feel a flash of envy at Evelyn getting to spend an extra year at home. She could have learned so much with an extra year. Not enough, of course - a sixth grade education was only so much more useful than a fifth grade one - but it would have been something.

"Me, either," she admitted. "I swear, it's like I fell into another universe sometimes. Sometimes I think everyone else is changing the meaning of all the words just to mess with me. Does it get any better as you go along?"

16 Jessica You've got to know when to fold 'em, know when to hold 'em. 1442 Jessica 0 5

Tatiana

June 03, 2019 10:09 PM

Yes, concern is on the rise. by Tatiana

Tatiana was surprised by the utter bluntness of Émilie's assessment of Dorian's behavior with Professor Brooding, and half-shrugged. "He is her - bah, I forget word. She asks for help from student. Him, Heinrich Hexenmeister, they help her," she said, figuring this was a reasonable explanation for why Dorian hung around the woman so much.

"Heh," she chuckled when Émilie semi-impersonated Professor Brooding, and went on to describe her as one who had too much philosophy. "She is so. I think Dorya likes this. He also has much philosophy. Much...want to think all over. I am not so. Vanya is more so, but maybe he want to talk to more than Vanya about it," she shrugged.

She had not thought overly much about Dorian spending so much time with Professor Brooding, but Émilie's apparent concern made her wonder if she should have. She had just...assumed he was doing a job, with someone he liked, and just...being Dorya. Dorya was warm, friendly, talkative when he liked someone. Tatiana thought it was more surprising that he talked to her at all, as she could not really engage in the philosophy. She looked curiously at the younger girl.

"I do not hear," she said. "But..." she grimaced. "All who speak much to me, they are both our friends. Why? Do you hear something tonight? Someone say something not nice about our Dorian?" This last was said in a tone which implied that whoever had said it might regret it, if such a thing had been said and Tatiana had any say in the reaction to the speaker. "They think he cannot do class because of English?"

16 Tatiana Yes, concern is on the rise. 1396 Tatiana 0 5

Arthur and Ros

June 03, 2019 11:40 PM

Yes, it would. by Arthur and Ros

"It did seem a little in line with the rest of your aesthetic," said Ros, not unreasonably, Arthur thought, when Mrs. Skies asked why they had thought there might be dungeons. "There's torches and candles and cauldrons and goose quills - dungeons seemed like a logical progression."

Arthur couldn't disagree, exactly, but he was slightly concerned by Ros' sudden brazenness. What might she say, at this rate?

"Don't forget the parchment," he said, trying for a little levity. "That definitely contributed to the medieval impression."

"Yes," agreed Ros.

Arthur hated to admit it, but he was relieved to hear about hot and cold water. He briefly struggled with whether or not he should ask if they had slaves pumping wood furnaces in the basements to produce the hot water. On one hand, that was dreadful and would require protest. On the other, if he didn't know about it...it wasn't as though they had a shortage of other issues to deal with here. He decided not to ask.

"That would be excellent," he said when they were offered a chance to examine Jessica's living quarters for themselves. "We'll see it, and decide if she needs to move to a different dormitory, if she has to come back here next year. We've been thinking it would be a good idea for a while anyway - I mean no disrespect, Miz Skies," he said, "but I know you and Jezi got off on the wrong foot, and I worry that might cause trouble if she has any troubles again." What he wanted to say was that she had offended Jessica so far that he doubted his daughter would ask her for help again if Jessica was dying of thirst and Skies had a water hose, but that was a bit...undiplomatic, especially given Jessica's descriptions of the woman's character. If those were accurate, then she might make Jessica's life a living hell just for the hell of it if she knew Jessica had taken offense to how she had been treated. He was glad Jessica had a sense, even if it was a slightly inaccurate one, of her own value, and that she did not readily lower her standards of how she should be treated, but there was no denying how inconvenient those traits occasionally were. "A fresh start might be best for everyone, for the rest of however long she has to stay here."

16 Arthur and Ros Yes, it would. 1442 Arthur and Ros 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 04, 2019 1:20 AM

Spellotape would do it I think. by Evelyn Stones

"Thank you," Evelyn said, sincerely relieved at having made herself clear, or clear enough. Still, she hated to see Ness look so down, especially when she knew it was her own fault. Why couldn't she have just kept her mouth shut? Or better yet, held onto her family in the first place?

But Ness wasn't mad. Ness wasn't mad! If anything in the world was going to fall apart - which it always seemed to do - at least Evelyn had Ness by her side. So far, that was the only steadfast thing she knew. Which was terrifying. Could she count on a friendship just two years old? Her options were slim, and she was reminded yet again of the feeling of standing at the edge of a precipice, except now the wind was blowing, or something was coming, and it wasn't a matter of choosing to fall or not; the question was whether she trusted her friend to fly by on time and pull her onto the metaphorical broom of salvation.

It was a messy imagery, and Evelyn focused on the present.

"Not at you, but I'm mad," she admitted in a weak voice, and then a little more strongly: "I'm mad too. I'm furious. I'm so . . . " Her hands came up as if she were trying to pull the thoughts from her head, but the sentence just ended with a grunt as she put her hands back down. "I am so so unbelievably angry all the time."

It was the first time she'd said it out loud like that. Brokenhearted? Sure. Sad? Absolutely. But angry? With her hands down, she shoved one in her pocket and felt at the good wolf stone. Where was the line between righteous anger and unacceptable anger? Destructive anger? When was it okay to be destructive?

She was breathing hard and forced herself to relax, looking down to find her exposed hand smoking slightly. She blinked and shook it out, but grimaced at it. It wasn't even her wand hand.

"I'm never mad at you, friend. I love you way too much and you're way too good to me for me to ever be mad."

22 Evelyn Stones Spellotape would do it I think. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Émilie

June 04, 2019 1:49 AM

I have practical solutions by Émilie

Émilie was concerned by the word that Tatiana couldn't find. Favourite? Pet? But it seemed there was another student in the same position. It was hard to imagine them both having exactly the same issue and subsequent disastrous relationship with the professor, so whatever it was was probably not important.

"Possible," she shrugged. She assumed that Vanya must somehow be a nickname for Vlad, seeing as they started with the same sound, and Tatiana's nicknames could get obtuse sometimes. She had not met Vlad so many times, and he had struck her as more cheerful than philosophical, but he and Dorian allegedly had the same personality type, as that was how houses worked here. "Jehan is plenty so," she observed, the construction not making it clear that this was a counterpoint and not a continuation, "Why he cannot stay with Jehan and not go to the Professor?" she grumbled. Answer, because Jehan was not an attractive woman, she supposed...

"No," she said, when Tatiana asked if she had heard anything bad about Dorian. "But I want that no bad starts." Tatiana's conern also seemed a lot more innocent than the type of rumour she was worried about. She pondered whether to say anything more - on the one hand, she did not want to put ideas in anyone's head, even someone friendly like Tatiana's, however if the worst thing she could think of was people slandering Dorian's grasp of English, then perhaps she might be too naive to recognise certain snide remarks for what they were. "They will maybe tease him for being teacher's favourite," she pointed out, opting for once for the middle ground rather than either extreme. "Maybe this. Maybe other things," she shrugged. And this was tricky, because if Professor Brooding was not going to dissuade Dorian, she needed to know someone would. But she also appreciated the tone in Tatiana's voice that said anyone saying this would have hell to pay. "But they do this, you hex their face, yes?" she confirmed, deciding to settle the simpler point first. This one was less pressing, in some senses, because the professor had at least promised to quash unkind gossip. But given her backwards view of everything, who knew what she would regard as such? And anyway, Émilie was not convinced all her philosophy about how they should all think would convince many people. Teenagers were vicious. An angry Russian shoving a wand in their faces seemed a much safer countermeasure.

"And," she added, addressing the other issue, the one the professor had refused to see as a problem, "If Dorian would do a stupid, you would say 'hey Dorya, do not do the stupid' yes?" she asked.

13 Émilie I have practical solutions 0 Émilie 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 04, 2019 1:53 AM

Well, that song will be stuck in my head forever. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn grinned her signature dorky grin; she was always excited for makeup and the terrible time she had coming up would certainly be improved by samples. "That sounds good. You must get loads of stuff free, right? That has to be so nice."

Does it get any better as you go along?

No, not really. But yes. But . . . no not really. Was the right answer the same thing as the honest answer? What would Heinrich say? She was pretty sure she already knew what Ness would say.

"It gets different," she said honestly. "I was held back because my family didn't think I had enough magic. It turns out I do have it, it was just about figuring out what that means for me," she said with as casual a shrug as she could manage. "I found people who support me and love me and . . . I'm sorry," she chuckled some, wiping away the fresh wave of tears.

"I have some stuff going on at home and those really great people have been supportive tonight especially. I don't mean to be weird." Taking a breath, she continued. "It really does change though. You start worrying about normal stuff like grades and a career and dating, instead of just trying to get through every moment and hoping it doesn't kill you." Or hoping it does. "Have you been able to make friends this year? I'm taking applications," she joked, lightning her more serious question.

22 Evelyn Stones Well, that song will be stuck in my head forever. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

June 04, 2019 6:15 AM

I blame the hedge by Jeremy Mordue

Mother hadn't come. Because of a headache. It was the same old excuse that she trotted out whenever she just didn't feel like bothering with being their parent. She was stressed, she was tired, she had a headache. The first two were just being a grown up and the last one easily curable with a potion.

He didn't care. Obviously. Only a baby would care about something like that, and it wasn't as if he or Nathaniel had been in the concert because it was lame. Though other people's parents had shown up, even when they weren't in it. Basically, everyone. Even the stupid Muggles who weren't supposed to know how to get here. Which meant he had to be jealous of people like that. Or he would have had to, if he had cared, which he didn't. He just thought that mother might care just a bit about not making them look worse than Mudbloods, even if she didn't care that much about them as people. Or rather him. He bet if Nathaniel had been in the show, she would have got over her headache somehow.

Keeping up appearances was why he had not said anything much in reaction to the news. Nathaniel had of course scored brownie points by being all worried about dearest mother. She. Was. Fine. Headaches weren't a big deal. But somehow, she was the poor suffering invalid, Nathaniel was the good, duitful son, and he would be the one who was a bad person if he said what they were all thinking which was that this whole thing stank worse than a heap of hippogriff dung.

They had all started chatting, settled down to snacks, and all he kept thinking was she didn't come. Everyone was pretending it was normal, and he supposed it was, because it wasn't like it was the first time mother had decided not to bother with him, and had dropped him with Aunt Avery and Uncle Alexander instead. It was practically a habit. And it would have been embarrassing having her there because almost everyone else had a mother and a father, and they didn't want to look like they weren't a normal family. Except they weren't. They weren't normal because dad had left them, and now, on top of that, they had a mother who didn't even care about seeing them, even though he was pretty sure that that was the definition of what mothers were meant to do and-

"May I be excused? I need the bathroom," he requested mechanically.

He ducked out of the hall but veered away from the bathrooms and towards the gardens instead, because in the bathrooms anyone could walk in and he could feel something ridiculous welling up inside him. His eyes were prickling and - and he. did. not. care. He didn't care that she hadn't come, he just didn't. He was just angry. Being angry wasn't a very gentlemanly emotion but it was at least suitably manly. Boys didn't cry but they did sometimes get angry. He kicked the hedge. It was soft and yielding. It took his kick and sprang back, he kicked it a few more times. He hit it too. That was less forgiving. It scratched when he hit. And that was why his eyes were prickling with tears, because he kept hitting the hedge and the scratches hurt and not because of anything stupid like feelings or his mother. He was about to hit it again, when there was a voice behind him.

(OOC - Open to a reply from the family or from outside it)

13 Jeremy Mordue I blame the hedge 1443 Jeremy Mordue 0 5

The Spencers

June 04, 2019 3:14 PM

Post concert tension. by The Spencers

The entire ordeal had been bearable, according to Cassie Spencer, and she was less than impressed by the array of refreshments. However, she said nothing, sat at a round table and ate the little sandwiches that were mediocre in her book.

The Spencers had come to Sonora as a family for the last time, save Adam who couldn't get away from his work at the Ministry. Jack and Charlotte were very familiar with the concerts of Sonora, both being alumni, and kept whispering to each other throughout the entire performance about similarities they noticed or performers that looked familiar. Cassie swore their tittering had given her a head-ache. Henry, however, was being nostalgic, remembering the first time they'd come to Sonora for Adam's concert years ago. Now, Adam was happily married to his best friend and soon enough Henry's youngest baby would be married before he could blink. It was enough to bring a little tear to his eye.

"They grow up so fast," commented Henry to his wife, and Cassie sighed.

"Not quite fast enough."

After saying her congratulations to her house-mates, Lily spotted her family sitting at a table and bounded over to them. "What'd you think?" she asked, wrapping her arms tightly around her beaming father.

"It was wonderful! I can't believe you put that together. I'm so proud of you," gushed Henry, squeezing Lily tightly. "You were absolutely brilliant in it."

"He's not exaggerating, your house was brilliant," added Charlotte. She looked as demure and lady-like as always. Both she and Jack kept looking around as if trying to spot someone they knew from their time here.

"When are we going to meet your boyfriend?" asked Cassie, dusting her hands free of crumbs.

Lily shrugged. "When he comes around, I suppose. We're not in a rush or anything."

"There very well is a rush if you're going to move with him after Sonora," snapped Cassie. Cassie had been put out by Adam's decision to live with his fiancee before they were married, and Lily's desire to travel and then follow Jozua to his next destination unmarried was scandalising. "We must meet him and his family."

"When they come around," replied Lily firmly. She had a very short temper with her mother, but she refused to get upset at her own concert. "I'm going to get some food." She got up and went to the refreshment table without waiting for a reply.

"You know she'll do whatever she's keen on," said Henry, patting Cassie's hand. "We'll meet Jozua's family when she wants us to meet them."

"I will never understand that witch," replied Cassie, her nose in the air disdainfully. "She'll be the death of me."

Charlotte and Jack glanced at each other. "We're going to get some more refreshments," said Charlotte, and the both of them stood. "We'll be back."

As soon as they stepped away, Jack whispered, "Too bad Adam isn't here to play the peacemaker."

"Dad will have to do," sighed Charlotte. "But we all know even he's no good at appeasing Lily when she gets in her stubborn moods."

"Mum's got no sense either, she knows better but just can't help riling up Lily."

"Are you actually defending Lily?" asked Charlotte, her blonde eyebrows raised. Jack blushed.

"I mean, as much as she deserves to be defended."

"I suppose there's a first for everything." Charlotte smiled at him. "So, which one of these sweets do you suppose is sugar-free?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "None of them. We're at a blooming school function."

0 The Spencers Post concert tension. 0 The Spencers 0 5

Jessica

June 04, 2019 3:46 PM

Know when to walk away and know when to run. by Jessica

Jessica smiled politely and nodded at the comment about getting things for free. She did, of course, she supposed, technically, though Mommy and Daddy had always discouraged her from talking about the benefits of her position. It was not polite to others to do so, as most people did not share her advantages.

She bit her lip and hesitantly raised one hand, not sure if she should pat the other girl's shoulder or not, when Evelyn started crying again. She was briefly horrified by the thought of a confessional session beginning right here in this bathroom, but Evelyn got a grip on herself and Jessica relaxed.

"A couple," she said, she hoped truthfully. She supposed Felipe was a friend of sorts, especially now that their fathers were apparently determined to embark on some kind of epic businessey bromance. If they weren't, she supposed they would have to become so now. And she had had multiple pleasant enough conversations with other girls. "Though more are always good. Especially as an outsider here." She bit her lip again, thinking, and then said, "Did you really worry about - it - killing you? I thought Skies was just trying to scare me into line. My career is already most of what I think about," she admitted with a chuckle of her own, though it was not a humorous statement.

16 Jessica Know when to walk away and know when to run. 1442 Jessica 0 5

Tatiana

June 04, 2019 3:55 PM

Practical and direct, I approve. by Tatiana

Tatiana shrugged at the question about why Dorian could not stay with Jehan instead of going to philosophize wi"ofth the professor. "I don't know. Last year, they have a fight. Maybe he just make friends with professor then, and you know Dorya - too nice to ignore anyone." This was the best she could come up with, anyway; it had never really made any sense to her, this liking Dorian had for talking to an adult. Tatiana regarded that as a surefire way to get oneself in trouble, sooner or later, and so avoided it where she could.

"Konechno, Mila," she said when asked if she would 'hex the face' of anyone who started unpleasant rumors about Dorian. "Eh - of course, that is what I said in Russian. Of course I will do this, Mila." She was almost, for one moment, mildly offended that such a question even needed to be asked...but then, she supposed she had not done the proper thing and immediately hexed Matthieu's stupid face over the summer, had she? She had let Dorian persuade her not to go the simplest way.

She nodded again when asked if she would try to prevent Dorian from 'doing a stupid' if she saw him about to do such a thing. "I tell him," she said. "Though I do not think he will do a stupid. He needs tell me 'do not do a stupid' more than I need to tell him, I think," she said, only half-joking.

16 Tatiana Practical and direct, I approve. 1396 Tatiana 0 5

The Jacksons

June 05, 2019 1:09 AM

Smiling is meant to be fun by The Jacksons

"Exactly," Abraham nodded, as Ilefonso commented on never knowing what their kids would say, "Just so long as you extend me the same courtesy if Bertie deigns to put in appearance," he smiled.

"He might not say much if he does," Claire added, more to manage Leonor's expectations than anything else. She was quite sure that her husband was right and that if Bertie opened his mouth there would be something or other that needed excusing. Or even if he didn't, there would probably be some form of odd behaviour. "He's been playing at being a spy lots recently," she added by way of pre-emptive explanation. This was a game which required lots of silence and avoiding big groups - very convenient factors which Claire had not failed to notice or worry about. But she had decided to let it go for tonight, given that almost everyone here was a stranger and she could scarcely expect Bertie to feel comfortable. She felt a little bit bad about dragging him away from Kir, whom he was obviously happy and familiar with, but marginally less bad than she felt about the thought of leaving Kir to, almost literally, juggle Bertie with meeting Zevalyn's parents.

Zara waited as Felipe brought up the subject of a visit. He was so formal in the way he talked to grown ups. Zara thought of it as using one's church voice, and although she was much more casual around her own parents and very familiar people, she supposed she ought to follow suit. It was odd trying to remember that she didn't really know Felipe's parents yet, seeing as she knew him so well.

"Always a good plan," Abraham acknowledged, when Felipe said they had wanted their families to meet first. "I'm sure we'd be happy to arrange some visits both ways," he suggested. "This is us," he summarised, pulling a leaflet from his pocket and handing it to the De Matteos. "We run a non-magical cultural centre in Boston," he explained. There was a logo that informed them of this at the top of the page but this was quite small and they might not dive into reading it straight away. The booklet was titled 'Summer Program' and detailed the exhibitions which would be held in the gallery spaces, along with the events such as the summer fete, movie screenings and so on. The final page listed education courses such as 'An Introduction to Non-Magical Money' and 'Non-Magical Communications (Beg/Int/Adv)'. "You'd all be very welcome to any of our events. And of course, Felipe would be more than welcome to just come and visit," he offered, conscious of the fact that they might prefer just to hang out than do pre-arranged activities.

13 The Jacksons Smiling is meant to be fun 0 The Jacksons 0 5

Émilie

June 05, 2019 8:20 PM

Just like you by Émilie

“Quoi? Quand? Et porquoi?” Émilie asked, shocked when Tatiana said that Dorian had had a fight with Jehan. Dorian and Jehan did not fight. She supposed it had been nothing, just a little spat the way she sometimes had, seeing as she had seen Jehan plenty of times in their house since and nothing had seemed amiss. But she was the tempestuous one who had fallings out. Dorian was sweet and peace-seeking by nature, and she had always had the impression that he and Jehan were like two peas in a pod. She didn’t like to think of them fighting. Nor of the fact that she had been completely ignorant of it. It was hard to imagine that any kind of fight with Jehan could have been a small deal to Dorian, and yet he had never once mentioned it to her. Why did there have to suddenly be so many things he wasn’t telling her?

“He has fifteen years and is a boy,” she shrugged, when Tatiana said Dorian didn’t tend to need much telling, “He is more better than most, but there will still be a stupid sometime.”

Her face relaxed considerably, having gained the assurance that someone in this school was reasonable enough to tell Dorian not to be an idiot, and to hex anyone if damage got done before he listened.

“I am happy he has you,” she smiled, wrapping Tatiana in an impulsive hug, “Sensible, practical friend, not just silly nonsense professor.”

13 Émilie Just like you 0 Émilie 0 5

Ness

June 05, 2019 9:11 PM

Sticking together by Ness

"That's fair," Ness nodded, as Evelyn explained how mad she was about everything, all the time (but not Ness). Ness had just said more or less the same thing, after all. Still, it was a little bit scary to think of angry Evelyn. What if she exploded things? What if she turned into her father - wasn't anger his main problem? What if she did get angry with Ness too, if the Aladren just couldn't understand something? It was good that Evelyn was sharing her feelings, but Ness did find the though the thought occurring that it would have been nicer if they weren't scary feelings, or if bad things would just stop happening.

"Glad to hear it. I'd never be mad at you either, and love you lots too," Ness promised, feeling fuzzy and warm again. Right before that, Evelyn had been putting her hands on Ness' shoulders, but then she had pulled back. Ness thought about picking up Evelyn's hands and putting them back there, to signify that was all over and they were back where they had been. But one of Evelyn's hands was in her pocket, and the other had been smoking slightly just a second ago. So maybe not.

"Let's go talk to my mom?" Ness offered gently, reaching out to at least link arms.

13 Ness Sticking together 1419 Ness 0 5

Tatiana

June 06, 2019 1:43 PM

...You might be the only person who ever says that about me. by Tatiana

"Je ne sais pas grand chose," admitted Tatiana. "Only they act very strange, and talk over my head - " this with a trace of annoyance - "and then they do not do so anymore, and they are Vanya y Dorya again. It maybe help, they think I knock their heads together if they do not stop acting strangeness," she added. "And I am not so - ehh!" She waved her hand. "Talk in wheel. I just tell them, when they talk over my head, what do you do? Why you so? Then they must talk. J'adore Dorian, mais il need to hear 'just say!' sometimes," she concluded with a nod.

Tatiana had, contrary to common opinion, actually heard of subtlety before in her life. She simply had no real use for it. Delicacy, in her opinion, was severely overrated. It was better to go straight to the source and just address the issue.

She was slightly surprised when Émilie embraced her, and she was fairly sure that nobody had ever used those first two English words to describe her before, but she hugged the younger girl too. "I want be good friend," she said. "I do my best, Mila." She smiled. "But we do this more, then Dorya, he be very confused," she added.

16 Tatiana ...You might be the only person who ever says that about me. 1396 Tatiana 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 06, 2019 5:07 PM

Glue then? by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn thought that Ness was one of the best humans in the whole world. If she had her way there would be statues and paintings made of the Aladren, all pointing to the obvious commitment to love and kindness and niceness and smartness. Unfortunately, Evelyn was also sure that her friend deserved a better friend.

She thought that sucked. Whether it was true or not, she didn't think she should've ever felt like that. Parents were supposed to make their kids feel great and awesome and Evelyn was supposed to be confident. Ness shouldn't have to deal with all that baggage. She thought again of running away from it all; she felt like she we're sitting in the doctor's office, finding out that she was about to get the last life-saving treatment available. That was great, but then no one else could get it. Was she worth it? It was hard to say.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, trying to put all of her adoration and gratitude and apologies into those two words. "Let's go talk to your mom."

She let Ness lead the way and took the time to clean herself up, wiping her eyes until she was satisfied that no more makeup was smeared there. Then she rolled her shoulders and neck, forcing herself to relax. Or trying to. Breathe in, breathe out.

22 Evelyn Stones Glue then? 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

DH Skies

June 08, 2019 12:36 AM

I sense we might be running out of track there by DH Skies

"Well, some of us our aesthetic may be rather medieval, as you say, but I can assure you that our methods aren't," Selina smiled politely. Storybook witches it was then, in terms of the impression they seemed to have formed.

"This way please," Professor Skies indicated, beginning to lead the way to Crotalus. She was about to point out that all their dormitories were very like the one she was about to show them, but then the reason for their request became clear. She didn't take offence at the remark, after all she wouldn't deny that Jessica probably didn't like her very much. It was unfortunate, but that was life. She also recognised the potential friction that Arthur Hayles was alluding to - that Jessica would be loathe to come for her for help.

"I understand what you're saying," she assured him, "But if, by moving dormitories, you mean moving houses, then that will not be possible. As is explained in our school literature, houses are assigned based on personality," she was not sure whether the Hayleses had read the literature provided but if they had not, and were now unpleasantly surprised by things which people had attempted to inform them of, then Selina felt they had no one but themselves to blame. Certainly, they did not have to like this development in Jessica's life, but if they chose to bury their heads in the sand and make themselves willfully ignorant of her life, that was on them. "There is also a certain degree of friendly rivalry between houses - as I told you earlier, even our alumni would probably look askance at revealing house locations. Swapping simply does not happen, and I don't imagine a student would be well-received by a new house even if it were. Of course, if Jessica prefers to cultivate a relationship with a different member of staff, that's perfectly fine. The Head of House system exists so that all students have a clear point of contact for pastoral care and someone with a designated responsibility to keep an eye on them. It does not oblige the student in any way to confide in that professor over any other.

"We will see the portriat in question around the next corner," she cautioned them, "I would ask that you remain polite, whatever you may think, whilst he can hear you." She was sure such a description would do littoe to settle these magiphobes' nerves, but it was a basic rule of hers and she expected them to abide by it. She led them around the corner, and offered the password 'arpeggio' (she had thought that something conert themed would be nice) at which Gunther swung open.

As the Hayleses had noted, wizards were fond of the medieval in their decor. The room boasted a large stone fireplace, and rich reds in its many soft furnishings. Modern, it certainly was not. Clean and comfortable, rich-looking even, Selina certainly thought so.

"Welcome to Crotalus," she offered.

13 DH Skies I sense we might be running out of track there 26 DH Skies 0 5

Arthur and Ros

June 08, 2019 9:31 PM

It seems possible. by Arthur and Ros

"That's a rather unscientific ground to build your - Houses? - on," remarked Arthur. "And if my prep school was anything to go by, the others would be happy to have her, so she could tell them how to get in yours and TP it on game day."

Ros increased the pressure of her hand on his arm to get his attention and gave him a warning look. The woman leading them seemed rather humorless, and was predisposed to look down her nose at them. "This isn't exactly a boys' prep school, Arthur," she said with an indulgent, entirely false, smile. "Much less one from thirty years ago! Though the not being a prep school at all is another thing we'll need to discuss," she added, as much for the Deputy Headmistress as for her husband.

Boarding school was uncomfortable; that was simply a fact of life. If there was anything which was actually so primitive that it endangered Jessica's health, then that was one thing, a thing that neither Ros nor Arthur was prepared to tolerate, but it was good for the girl, to a point, to have to get by living rough for a while. The educational neglect Jessica complained of, however, was a more serious issue, one that could not be allowed to go on indefinitely. Ros had spent most of her downtime recently planning how to at least get Jessica caught up in the subjects that were hardest to catch up in over the summer, but even if that had been a sustainable way to teach her all the things she should have learned in middle and high school, there was the problem of testing. It would be...tricky...to convince the state of Georgia that Jessica was always sick throughout the year, but mysteriously was well enough to make up her exams at summer and Christmas. Not impossible, of course - if she had to, Ros would twist her father's arm out of the socket to make him make those special testing sessions happen - but she would rather at least make an attempt to make things more inconvenient for Mrs. Skies than they were for her family before she resorted to badgering the Senator about it.

She braced herself for the portrait her daughter had described to her, but she still clutched Arthur's arm harder and felt slightly wobbly on her high heels at the sight of the thing. She had never been one for zombies and stuff (for one thing, she went to church, when she went, with Arthur and Jessica now, and the Methodists didn't seem to care much one way or the other about whether people enjoyed zombie flicks and other Halloween stuff, but she had been raised Baptist, taught that kind of thing was unholy and dangerous and a path to Devil-worship, and that was hard to forget entirely - and for another thing, it was just ugly, nauseatingly so), so the sight was bad enough, but then it moved, and it moaned. "Sweet Jesus," she whispered, and Arthur patted her hand, looking slightly ill himself at the spectacle.

"I know you said you couldn't remove it," said Arthur to the Deputy Headmistress as they walked through the entrance, both carefully walking as wide of Gunther as possible before they had to go behind his canvas to get into the opening behind it, "but just to be sure - you've tried corroding the paint, and tried setting it on fire?"

"You said it can hear - are these things alive?" asked Ros. "They can't get out, though, can they?"

The room beyond was, mercifully, free of gore. In fact, at first glance, it was actually rather nice. "This isn't too bad," observed Arthur. "All this snake stuff is no good, but the rest isn't too bad."

"Yes," said Ros, taking a cautious step away from him and toward the fireplace. "This isn't the only heating, is it?" she asked suspiciously, remembering the hierarchy of fireplace chairs in Jane Eyre and how half that school had died of tuberculosis, before recoiling when the embroidery on the rug moved. "Oh sweet Jesus!" she gasped again, this time loud enough for both of her companions to hear.

"I hope you'll forgive us for - that kind of thing," said Arthur, sounding genuinely apologetic this time. Ros glared at him. "It's a little much to get used to, stuff moving that ain't supposed to move."

16 Arthur and Ros It seems possible. 1442 Arthur and Ros 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 09, 2019 11:50 PM

Run, always run. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn smiled, agreeing wholeheartedly with the idea that more friends were always good. Of course, her life hardly reflected that. She supposed that she was prone to recruiting people to her small corner of Sonora, trying her best to make friends with everyone she could, and trying to be as friendly as she could be to everyone she met. At the same time, she genuinely didn't care about most of them that much. Or perhaps that was not true but she only wished it was. It would be easier if she didn't care about anybody anymore, although so far friends were less keen to let her down than family was.

"Good," she said, smiling at Jessica with an encouraging expression. The girl's next comments worried her because they were the sorts of things that Evelyn had said before herself. In one fell swoop, the first year had called herself an outsider, brushed off her real concerns, and hedged on the question she really wanted to ask. It was heartbreaking to see it from someone else.

"I didn't think that I could do it," Evelyn said softly, looking away as though the bathroom floor was suddenly very interesting. "I was afraid that if I tried and failed, everything would go wrong."

Evelyn had heard Ness talk about . . . those things. She couldn't remember what they were called now. The sorts of young witches and wizards who were forced to or forced themselves to keep their magic hidden and secret and it all resulted in their death, or worse. Evelyn had been scared of that, but she wasn't ready to admit that just yet. Of course, in her case, Professor Skies was a source of saving grace more than anything. She wondered what the Deputy Headmistress would think if she knew about her home situation now. Or did she already know and was saying nothing? That was almost worse.

"I'm not afraid of magic itself," she reassured Jessica. "But I'm afraid of not being able to control it the way I want to. I still catch things on fire sometimes and stuff like that. Maybe I'll get a career as a candle tester or something stupid," she added with a laugh.

22 Evelyn Stones Run, always run. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

The De Matteos

June 10, 2019 12:24 AM

But education is even better! by The De Matteos

Ilefonso accepted the pamphlet with an eager smile, his eyes wide. "Non-magical--? This is wonderful!" He was well aware that diving into a load of reading would be rude, but he was really eager to. He nodded at Abraham and tucked the pamphlet into his coast pocket beside Arthur Hayles' card. "We are always looking for opportunities for Felipe and Leonor to continue their education and I'd like for all of us to attend some of these if that's alright," he told Abraham, punctuated by his wife's nods.

Felipe looked at Zara with a subtle smirk, an expression that was winking with both eyes open. It was the smallest break in his formal facade, and one that he hoped would show his friend that he wasn't just the heir of Los Jardines de Plata, but a person too.

"I've never been to Massachusetts," he said, turning his attention from Zara to her family. "Thank you for offering to let me come visit. I'd love to," he said.

Leonor looked up at her mother with big, round, whiny eyes, asking a question she knew better than to say out loud. Julieta shook her head and blew her baby a kiss as her husband spoke again.

"You're all welcome to visit us this summer as well," he said, always inviting as many people as he could. "It sounds like you are all very busy, though, and Zara is welcome by herself too, if she'd like."

22 The De Matteos But education is even better! 1434 The De Matteos 0 5

Jessica

June 10, 2019 1:37 PM

Sometimes that draws too much attention. by Jessica

Jessica did not have the same fear of magic that Evelyn was describing - she had enough trouble believing anything was going to happen at all - but she found herself nodding unconsciously as the older girl talked about fear of failure. Jessica knew that fear all too well. All her life, as far as she could remember, she’d lived in terror that she would grow up and find she wasn’t good enough to carry Arvale on her shoulders. That, as much as praise and attention from Mommy and Daddy, had been what had driven her to achieve all her life; it soothed her, providing empirical evidence that she could do whatever she decided to do or was asked to do, even when it didn’t keep her so busy that she had no time or energy to think about the future.

That was the thing about now which she was still getting used to. All she really had was a broad goal - revenge. She didn’t know exactly what that would look like or exactly how to get there; she was juggling in the dark. It was terrifying, as she had always predicted, but, surprisingly, also kind of...exhilarating. Sometimes, anyway. In between the most terrifying moments.

“Someone has to do it, I guess,” said Jessica in response to the weak joke. “But - I thought this was all gibberish when they threw me in here, and things work about half the time now? So if you believed in this stuff from day one, then you’re probably ahead of me,” she said encouragingly, though the words felt strange and stiff and unnatural on her tongue. She had been taught to always be confident, assertive, and proud, always. This...trying to be nice and act like she was on an equal or even slightly inferior footing to others was still incredibly weird.

16 Jessica Sometimes that draws too much attention. 1442 Jessica 0 5

Selina Skies

June 11, 2019 4:22 AM

frantically lays more by Selina Skies

Selina was quite curious as to what Arthur Hayles would consider a scientific method for house placements, or indeed why he thought a scientific method was at all necessary for something that was simply a domestic arrangement and, when they had enough players, a means to having competing sports teams. She rather thought that if the goal was domestic harmony, then placing people with similar personalities together was logical, and whilst some houses seemed on paper like their personality type would have an advantage on the playing field, it didn't seem to pan out that way, so the system worked for both of their purposes. However, she was conscious of opening too many cages of nifflers - the integrity of the house system was not a particularly relevant point, and there was no sense funelling her energy into that when she suspected there were many more significant battles ahead.

"Perhaps some would take that view, but switching allegiances is always a controversial move, at best," she summarised. Besides which, it simply was not on the table.

Their reactions to Gunther were entirely fair, and Selina found herself having to suppress a smile at Arthur Hayles' suggestion. With anyone else, she suspected she might have been able to share a moment of humour, but she was not sure the Haylses were open to finding any of this amusing.

"I believe the latter was attempted in the nineteen thirties," she commented, "It seems not to have helped. Paintings are not truly alive, no - it is not possible to create true consciousness. But they can hear and react, and sometimes they wander off into other frames, particularly if they are displeased with you. Plus I think it just pays to teach students to mind their manners," she added.

"Yes," she acknowledged, when they raised their concerns regarding this not being a prep school, "I've had several meetings with Jessica about her curriculum. We can discuss that in my office after the tour," she promised. There was no point getting into special arrangements if they decided the basic premise of the school was so abhorrent that they would be removing their daughter, or if they refused to see reason about her remaining in Crotalus.

"Of course," Selina smiled politely, as Arthur Hayles excused the fact that they were jumping and shuddering their way through the Crotalus Common Room as if it was a fairground house of horrors. She had some sympathy for their position；things moving unexpectedly, or in the corner of your vision, was a very human fear, one shared by magical and non-magical people. Surprises made a person jump. "It can be a lot to get used to," she acknowledged, "The magical and non-magical worlds have substantial differences in the way they do things, and in what is considered normal - they are different cultures, and some people find that transition harder than others. I rather suspect Jessica had something akin to culture shock when she first arrived. But for her, and for you, I see that as something to work through. I would much rather she is comfortable and happy here, and there are substantial degrees in which I cannot bend this to be the world she knows, which means that the flexibility has to come from her instead. I am happy to make adjustments where I can, of course," she offered, "Where they are possible, and do not impinge on other students," she clarified.

"And no, the fireplace is largely for the enjoyment of a real fire. We have heating charms in operation during the winter months.

"Her room is up here," she added, gesturing up the stairs. The spells that kept boys out of the girls' rooms and vice versa would not affect Arthur Hayles who, after all, was far from being a boy. This distinction had been deemed prudent as in case of an emergency, no one wanted to be faffing about with trick stair cases that deposited the Head of House back in the Common Room, although any such entrances to the students' dorms were to be reported, as adults being able to enter students' rooms clearly required monitoring and control for different reasons.

OOC - I am aware Jessica referred to bathrooms as freezing/unheated upon arrival. I have never assumed that rooms would be natural temperature cos that's just far too uncomfortable and impractical. I feel like it's a reasonable fix to say they keep them at a comfortable average due to most rooms accommodating multiple people, and that being from Georgia, it just felt cold to her. Let me know if that works for you.

13 Selina Skies *frantically lays more* 26 Selina Skies 0 5

Arthur and Ros

June 11, 2019 12:09 PM

It may have gotten us a little further, but.... by Arthur and Ros

"True enough," mused Arthur when Mrs. Skies said that switching allegiances was controversial. "Remember that first year we were married, Ros? When you went to church with your mama on Mother's Day?"

"Vividly," said Ros dryly.

Ros' parents had been one of the worse sorts of Baptists, and upon Ros marrying a Methodist, her former minister had jumped on the opportunity to denounce mainline churches the first time she'd visited her old church. Arthur expected that his mother-in-law had arranged the whole thing, though the joke had ended up on her - old Governor Groves had told the family he wanted to make a play for a Presidential nomination not long after, and the Senator and Mrs. Groves had had to abandon their church and join up with the Governor's much more moderate congregation as part of the long game leading up to that. By the time the Governor had lost the nomination two years later, it had been far too late for the Senator and his wife to go back to their old ways - proof, Arthur thought, that the Universe had some sense of either justice or humor.

He and Ros exchanged a look at the elaboration on the paintings. If something could hear and react to external stimuli and even experience 'displeasure', then he was not sure what definition of 'alive' it didn't meet. Neither biology nor metaphysics was his area of strength - his education had been all in chemistry and business - but hearing was biology and physics, as was - well - moving. Except computers could...sort of hear? Automated call systems could accept fairly sophisticated input, to a point, and there was always teaching them huge banks of faces to learn when someone looked disgusted or whatnot, but...there was still the moving voluntarily issue.

"Jezi," he said, "has been ordering some books from some of your shops this semester. If she should get a book about y'all's - art - then I don't suppose it would be against the rules for me to read it?"

The room they were presented had the slightly confused air of one which had only recently been packed up into the trunk and set of suitcases sitting at the foot of the bed. It was also undeniably spacious, bordering on luxurious even when one considered that it had been meant for more than one girl, for a room at boarding school. Arthur tested the mattress with one hand and raised his eyebrows, impressed. "Now this is better than Gordon Hall," he remarked.

"We'll send her more of her own bedding if she has to come back, though," said Ros firmly. "Jessica doesn't like red. She never has."

Plus Ros was too much of a snob to want the child sleeping on public sheets, though neither of them would say that. There were limits.

"This really ain't that bad, Ros," he observed to his wife after they had thoroughly examined the room and the attached bathroom. "It isn't exactly what Jezi's used to - " Jessica had had help to look after her day and night since she was born, and was used to a proper bathtub instead of a shower and electric toothbrushes and such - "but it's not bad."

"Except the electrical outlets," said Ros.

"Those microfibre towels we got her at Christmas should be able to dry her hair enough, no more than she's got."

"It's not just that. Not if you're still planning for her to run the company someday."

Ah, yes. That.

He knew the look on Ros' face. It was a warning look. That was part of the deal - Jessica would inherit the majority of his holdings in Arvale, making it as difficult as possible for the board to unseat her if they took a notion to try, and also enshrining her as Atlanta's premiere cosmetics heiress. Ros accepted that he would also provide for Mara and Lola - she didn't even seem to resent his younger daughters; if pressed, he'd say Ros genuinely liked them, at least in their role as Jessica's playmates - but for official purposes, there was only one person capable of carrying on the family legacy, and that was Jessica. Who would, if she was to carry on that legacy effectively, need a good grounding in technology along with half a dozen other subjects she couldn't get here to go with her pedigree.

It would have been easier to focus on Mara. Jessica was creative, but not in quite the right ways. With her rule-abiding, meticulous nature, he thought she could have flourished in some kind of executive role over the labs specifically, if she didn't simply want to live on her shares and write her poetry. Ros was laser-focused on her education, but the truth was, Arthur was confident he could bribe enough admissions officers to get her into a decent school, then bribe enough administrators to get her a degree whether she had the qualifications to earn one or not. If she wanted to be a poet, then he could make that happen - it would be much more cost-effective for her to simply get the credentials and get into the schools and get the degrees on her own, and preferably to either give up writing or else get good enough at it that he wouldn't have to pay yet more bribes to get her into print, but he could make a life for her anyway. But that wasn't the deal, and Ros would not accept any alterations to the deal.

"There is that," he acknowledged. "So. I suppose we'll have to discuss the curriculum situation now."

16 Arthur and Ros It may have gotten us a little further, but.... 1442 Arthur and Ros 0 5

The Jacksons

June 12, 2019 12:19 AM

And it made you smile by The Jacksons

Abraham and Claire exchanged a warm smile as their line of work was met with such enthusiasm. They had trusted Zara to make good choices in her friends, but there was a difference between non-judgemental and actively excited.

"Absolutely," Abraham beamed, as Ilefonso expressed a desire for them all to attend some of the events, "We'd be delighted to see you. There's such a lot interesting things to learn about the non-magical world," he added, as Ilefonso mentioned how educational it would be. "And fun things too. We try to balance teaching about science with celebrating culture. My own personal interest and area of research is congnates - those things which we have, on parallel paths, invented in both worlds. Musical birthday cards is one of my favourite examples. Magical people have achieved this via charms, and non-magical people by using light sensors and clever bits and bobs. I just love that here we all are - magical power, or all this electricity and circuitry, and what do we both do with it? Make novelty cards to amuse our friends and families. There's just something very lovely and very human about that."

Zara returned Felipe's look, also glad to find such enthusiasm and acceptance. Especially when her dad started on about singing birthday cards. She and Evangeline had a bit of a running joke that they should take sweepstakes on how long he took to mention them to people. Of course, it had been hard to imagine Felipe's family being anything else, given how lovely Felipe was, and given that their friendship clearly wasn't something he was keeping from his parents, but he had made them sound rather serious. Also, it was always nice when the world surprised you in a good way - after all, it did it in the bad way often enough that it needed some balancing out.

"Thank you for inviting me," she echoed back to Felipe's parents. "Please can I go?" she asked her parents.

"I expect so," her mother nodded. She had adjusted to the fact that having magic made these things far less of an undertaking, though she still felt there were a few practicalities to be addressed, "Where are you based, and what are the options for Zara getting there?" she asked.

13 The Jacksons And it made you smile 0 The Jacksons 0 5

All The Iveses

June 12, 2019 11:19 AM

Meeting the Boyfriend by All The Iveses

The concert had been very educational. In the case of the tour and even the Aladren act, that had been overt, with direct explanations about the facts of Sonora life, but the other three acts told the two muggle Ives parents almost as much about what their daughter learned and could do. Not the musical parts, of course, Zevalyn took after her father in her complete inability to hold a tune, but the magic bits were stunning. Last summer, Zevalyn had been of age and had been allowed to do magic at home, but due to the muggle neighborhood and all the delicate electronics in the house, she had kept her displays minimal and low key.

There was nothing minimal or low key about what they were seeing today. Teppenpaw - the House Zevalyn reported her boyfriend was in - even turned people invisible and shot off fireworks indoors as well as other fire and explosive effects with no apparent damage to the building or even the performers who were relatively close by. Of course, they weren’t entirely certain which of those Teppenpaws was The Boyfriend as none of them were quite what Zevalyn had described (“kind of like David Bowie, but cuter”), but the act as a whole was enjoyable and showed he at least belonged to a House that valued people. They thought that was a good trait to have in their daughter’s boyfriend. Though when a picture came up with Zevalyn in it along with the tallest boy on stage, they felt they might have figured it out.

When the show was over, the tall Teppenpaw and Zevalyn had already found each other by the time her parents found her, and they exchanged a look of self-satisfied smugness between themselves at having correctly solved the puzzle. Though a new one presented itself in the child clinging to Kir’s back. The darker skin tone and age eliminated the possibility that this was younger sibling Ness, and they did not recall Zevalyn mentioning any other siblings in the McLeod household.

“Oh, well, then,” Damien Ives said, shaking the offered hand as the boy hid his face away under direct observation, “classified is classified. I will immediately forget I saw anything. I’m Damien Ives, Zevalyn’s father.” He hesitated a moment wondering if it was the done thing these days to invite young men to call their girlfriend’s father by his given name. He decided to leave it at that and let Kir decide if he was a Damien or a Dr. Ives. He was totally hip enough to allow first name familiarity, but he did not want to seem like he was trying too hard to be cool or something. That never went over well with teenage daughters, from what he could tell according to popular television, and he had no data to go on for Zevalyn’s personal tolerance. Best to err as too much of a square than risk upsetting her. This was her big day, after all. Not quite the traditional High School Graduation ceremony he had once looked forward to, but it was as close as Zev was going to get, going to a magic school.

“I’m her mom, Patty Ives,” Patricia Ives added, shaking Kir’s hand next, and doing her best to pretend to not notice the boy clinging to Kir’s back. Zev gave her dad a quick hug while they shook, then hugged her mom when the handshake was over. “Good to see you again! It seems like it’s been so long!” At Christmas, she had stood even with her mom, but now she definitely had a small height advantage that hadn’t been there a few months ago. Dad was still taller, though Kir had about four inches on even him.

“You, too, sweetheart,” Damien said then remembered it wasn’t Cool to call your almost nineteen year old daughter sweetheart in public. He hurried to cover up the lapse, “I loved your act! Aladren did a great job, Zev!”

“Teppenpaw, too,” Patty added diplomatically with a smile toward Kir. “The whole show was very well done, really.”

“Thanks, Dad, Mom,” Zev said trying and failing not to look too pleased by the praise. “I’m so glad you could both come and see it!” Not that she had ever doubted they would if given the chance. It was just that the chance was not always a given for muggle parents in a magic school.

“We’re glad, too.”

1 All The Iveses Meeting the Boyfriend 0 All The Iveses 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

June 13, 2019 6:21 PM

That doesn't seem helpful. by Nathaniel Mordue

Something was wrong.

This was, on the whole, nothing new, but right now something specific and not part of everyday was wrong. Either Jeremy was ill or Jeremy was hiding, because he had been gone from the table too long. Were Uncle Alexander and Aunt Avery glancing at each other? Simon and Sylvia? He tried to avoid everyone's eyes, at least until it became impossible to sit still anymore.

"Excuse me for a moment," he said to his uncle, making himself meet Uncle Alexander's eyes for most of a normal beat as he stood up and carefully pushed his chair under the table before stepping away and out of the Hall.

He did check the bathroom just for the sake of it, but did not find Jeremy. Therefore, his brother was either lurking somewhere in the school, or was outside. Nathaniel knew he did not have time to search the school or the means to search Crotalus, but....

He looked around for a portrait who looked alert and not too busy with whatever was going on in the confines of a given frame. Luckily, a magnificently mustachioed gentleman in a dark suit and ridiculously tall hat walked through a door in the back of his painted room and seemed to notice a curious expression in the world beyond it.

"Can I help you, young man?" he asked mildly.

"Yes, thank you," said Nathaniel, relieved. It was very strange to feel relief, annoyance, and concern all at the same time. "Have you seen a boy who looks a lot like me anywhere? A first year?"

He knew this was a long shot, and that he might have to ask around more, as this fellow had been out of his portrait. However, it turned out he was in luck: the gentleman nodded. "I believe I did," he said. "Just before I went to ask if it would be convenient for me to visit Miss Simpson's portrait on Saturday - you do know Miss Violet Simpson, on the second floor? - " Nathaniel tried not to writhe with impatience - "but her family portrait was empty, nobody at all home - but yes, just before I went out, I saw a boy just as you say. He went outside."

"Thank you," said Nathaniel again, with a shallow bow; it was best not to be rude to portraits. This was the only thought which let him restrain himself long enough to accept the painting's nod of acknowledgment before he too headed for the Gardens as quickly as he could without actually running indoors.

Outdoors, he lengthened his stride as far as it would go, as he could not be seen running outside either on such a very public occasion. "Jeremy?" he called, looking both ways. "Jer - what are you doing?!" he exclaimed, finding his brother and staring aghast at the spectacle of Jeremy trying to beat up a hedge, trying not to worry again about the possibility that madness ran in their blood and that either of them could succumb to it at any time.

16 Nathaniel Mordue That doesn't seem helpful. 1412 Nathaniel Mordue 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

June 14, 2019 7:32 AM

You're not helpful! by Jeremy Mordue

Great. It had to be Nathaniel. Nathaniel, who was perfect and did everything right, was now going to point out to Jeremy how he was failing again. How he should just learn to behave and not let this show. Well, he had done that, hadn’t he? He hadn’t done anything in public - it was Nathaniel’s fault that this was now being witnessed because this had been perfectly private until he’d come along to stick his nose in.

Rationally, perhaps, Jeremy should have been glad it was his brother who had happened upon him, rather than anyone worse. Of the list of people who it would have been worse to be found in this state by was… well, approximately everybody. Simon and Sylvia mattered more than Nathaniel, and the thought of any of his roommates catching him in this state would have been appalling. Even teachers would be pretty bad right now, because though they might ordinarily be nice and weren’t allowed to tell his peers he’d been crying, they would probably be pretty annoyed about the hedge. But rationality wasn’t really playing a very big part in things right now, and Jeremy hadn’t wanted to be seen by anyone, and so Nathaniel being there was still a problem.

“Nothing,” he replied thickly. He kept his back turned to his brother, kept his words to a minimum, but even that one word shook far too obviously for his liking. He aimed another kick at the hedge, figuring it didn’t matter now that Nathaniel had seen anyway and because the other option was bursting into tears and he wanted to do that even less. “Just go away!” he snapped.

13 Jeremy Mordue You're not helpful! 1443 Jeremy Mordue 0 5

Nathaniel

June 14, 2019 1:44 PM

Fair. Let me try again. by Nathaniel

As soon as he asked the question, Nathaniel knew it was the wrong one. It was quite obvious what Jeremy was doing; the actual question was why he was doing it.

Did it wrong. Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough -

Nathaniel forced himself to swallow, to take even breaths. His throat was tight, his heart jerking sporadically and painfully in his chest. He looked at his hands, and was relieved to see that they looked steady, even though they didn’t feel it. Good. He could not think about being inadequate now. His family needed him.

“I can’t do that,” he pointed out reasonably. “Jeremy....” What was he supposed to do? What were the right words? “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Why are you - doing this? Can...can I help?”

This offer was made hesitantly. He didn’t know what to do to help. He and Jeremy had never been close, not really - Nathaniel supposed be wished he had a brother proper rather than just something else to worry about, but he never knew what to say or do to fix that. With Sylvia he could let his guard down, but Sylvia had parents to take care of her - she didn’t need Nathaniel to always be strong, or a perfect example, because while she knew he would take care of her if she needed that, there were other people who could do that too. Jeremy and Mama just had him, so he didn’t want them to doubt him in the slightest. He had always felt like he was looking after Jeremy, but...obviously he had failed, and now here he was risking Jeremy saying ‘yes’ and leaving it to Nathaniel to figure out what to do with that, when he had already clearly failed somewhere, and -

Not good enough. Not good enough. Not good enough -

“Because kicking the hedge isn’t going to help. You’re just going to hurt yourself and...” he rambled, reverting to offering Jeremy concrete points where he could improve. “And not fix anything.”

16 Nathaniel Fair. Let me try again. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

The Sparks

June 14, 2019 5:18 PM

Post concert meetings by The Sparks

Stefanie had - with difficulty - put aside her annoyance with her father-in-law. Who in their right mind aided and abetted a child they didn’t even know in doing something as obviously not done as climbing a window to the top of the waterfalls? But she was calm, she was enjoying her son’s concert, and she was not thinking about Granddad. The Aladren act was a burst of nostalgia from her girlhood, and she almost managed to forget he was sitting on Peter’s other side.

Unfortunately, she was forcefully reminded of him when the Teppenpaw act came on and he cheered loudly every time something exploded - and for a Teppenpaw act, there were an awful lot of explosions. This was a fact that could only be explained by the Sparks influence - specifically her father-in-law’s - on one of its members. She might predate the return of the midsummer events, but she was a Sonora alumnus and she knew was familiar enough with Teppenpaw stereotypes to have preconceived notions of what to expect from a Teppenpaw Concert Act. It was still that; the act wasn’t misrepresentative or anything, there was still a baffling level of friendship and goodwill toward others displayed. There was just . . . a lot more fire and booming going on than the warmhearted songs necessarily called for.

And while she was academically and maternally impressed by Jozua’s control of his advanced spellwork, she was equally glad that her extended family had not been invited - not that they would have deigned to come even if they were, but they might have asked about Jozua’s part in it, and she didn’t think the Maartens would have displayed the same kid of enthusiasm for their grandson’s accomplishment as Peter’s father was.

And even after moving clear to another hemisphere to distance herself from them, Stefanie could not entirely shake the opinion that the Crotalus act was still much more to her taste than the one her son was in. But then, she had never stood much chance of being sorted into Teppenpaw. She had been an Aladren through and through. As bad as it sounded, Jozua hadn’t learned his Teppenpaw values from her, and she found the whole thing just a bit too much with all the sentimentalism. If she hadn’t already been angry at Peter’s father, she would have appreciated the dissonance of the explosions as a reprieve, but as it was, she was mostly just glad when it was over. Which in turn made her feel like a bad mom.

The good news was that the Pecari act was at least cohesive and what she would expect from a Pecari act, so she’d be able to be truthful when telling Jozua’s girlfriend that she enjoyed her act.

Fortunately, when Jozua joined them, his father and grandfather were effusive enough in their praise that she got away with complimenting just the quality of his spellwork rather than the act as a whole without him noticing any lack of appreciation.

She had seen enough pictures of Lily over the years that she had been able to pick the girl out in the Pecari act, and was likewise able to spot her now heading for the refreshment table. “I think I see Lily, over there, did you want to introduce us?”

She could tell from his expression that it wasn’t high on his list of desires, but it wasn’t absent entirely, so he followed her gesture with his eyes and smiled when he spotted the girl he rarely stopped talking about. “Sure,” he agreed, and led the way.

“Lily!” he called out when they got close (though still too far away for Stefanie’s taste). He at least waited until they were within normal conversational distance before continuing, “Pecari did great! Awesome job!” Then, like it was an afterthought and not his purpose (which it very well might not have been), he added, “Here’s my mom and dad. Mom, Dad, Granddad, you remember Lily?”

Of course they did. It might have been years since she visited with Finn for the dueling tournament, but there was no chance that Jozua would have let them forget her.

“Good to see you again, Lily!” Peter said heartily. “Great job tonight, and congratulations on your graduation!” Stefanie echoed these sentiments if not quite so enthusiastically. Peter was probably where Jozua got his Teppishness from.

“Pecari’s adventure was the best act of the bunch!” Granddad added, apparently not feeling compelled to lie for Jozua’s sake. But then Granddad would doubtless have been a Pecari himself had he gone to Sonora. He would like an adventure story over a series of friendship songs, even with the pyrotechnics.

1 The Sparks Post concert meetings 0 The Sparks 0 5

Kir

June 15, 2019 5:38 AM

Hi by Kir

"Pleased to meet you," Kir smiled, as Zevalyn's parents introduced themselves. They had not called themselves Dr. Ives and Dr. Ives, and they had used their first names. Kir knew quite a lot of informal adults but wasn't sure it was wise just to go for that unless actively invited. He would probably err on the side of caution and use 'Dr. Ives' if he had to. Ideally, he would just manage to not call anyone by name throughout the entire conversation, thus avoiding the issue. And in his own head, he tended to think of them as ‘Zevalyn’s dad’ and ‘Zevalyn’s mom’ in spite of them both now being real people with actual names both because mentally referring to them as Dr. Ives and Dr. Ives was just going to be confusing and because Zevalyn was, of course, the centre of the universe.

He gave Zevalyn’s dad an appreciative smile as he seemed to understand the whole spy situation. He supposed given that they had Zevalyn, they had been exposed to the fact that eight year olds were generally weird (though it was hard to imagine Zev as anything but bookish and well-behaved. Not that that precluded weird, of course…), and still, some people were very firm about behaving ‘properly’ and not ‘being silly’ and the like, and it was a relief to know that he wasn’t be judged as being a terrible role model for small children. He wondered what eight year old Zevalyn had been like, and whether he’d have a chance to hear any of those stories... Over his shoulder, the small face grinned with excitement at finding a fun adult who seemed to actually definitely really (probably) believe that he was a spy (or at least was willing to pretend).

"Thank you," he smiled when Zevalyn's mom praised Teppenpaw, “Though really, I just followed orders.” And kept people from killing each other, and me. That had actually been a fairly major undertaking and one that he thought he deserved a bit of a pat on the back for, but not here and now. Maybe from his parents. After all, he had taken great care to avoid Zevalyn knowing that he and her best friend had been stressing each other out. She had had enough on her plate as it was.

“I don’t know how you put together a performance and did your exams and your Head Girl duties all at the same time,” he added, “Well… Because you’re brilliant,” he added, providing his own answer, and beaming at her with pride. He was pretty sure that the theme of ‘Zevalyn is wonderful’ was one that everyone here could get behind with enthusiasm.

13 Kir Hi 366 Kir 0 5

Marijke and Ness

June 15, 2019 11:12 PM

And special adult powers by Marijke and Ness

Marijke was planning to check in quickly with Ness, give some congratulations on Aladren’s performance, and then go and join Kir in order to meet The Girlfriend and her parents. However, Ness appeared with Evelyn, and in spite of the girl’s attempts to wipe her face and relax, she was noticeably tearstained.

“Hello Evelyn,” she smiled softly, not too overly cheery but gentle and friendly, and calmly, as if she had all the time in the world for whatever she might be about to be told, “How are things going?” she asked, trying to make sure there was an opening for her to talk.

“Her mom left,” Ness answered, “She’s just gone, and now Evelyn’s going to have to go back to just her dad, and we aren’t sure what to do.”

Marijke felt like someone had shot a freezing charm at her stomach. However long she did what she did, she thought she would never get used to the idea that the world could be so mean and so messed up. She supposed, in some ways, that was a good thing. You shouldn’t get used to such things, or regard them as normal. What she was well practised at was not letting how that made her feel show on the outside.

“Let’s talk about that then,” she said calmly, “I know normally this would be a private conversation, but I expect the school has rules against me being alone with a student I’m not related to,” she explained, “So, we can stay here but use confidential voices or we can go find a teacher and go somewhere private all together,” she offered. “If you want Ness to stay for moral support, that’s okay, and if you want to talk to me or me and a teacher by yourself, that’s okay too, right Ness?” she confirmed, in a tone that cued Ness to nod obediently. However much the Aladren did not want to go, there were rules, and they were well known. Marijke was not convinced that Evelyn really would make her own free choice her, versus worrying about what Marijke or Ness wanted to her to choose and being swayed by that, but the only other option was deciding for her - and Marijke knew far less about what Evelyn wanted than she herself did, and no one got better at making choices for themselves by having it done for them, so she was just going to have to trust and try.

13 Marijke and Ness And special adult powers 1419 Marijke and Ness 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

June 15, 2019 11:35 PM

Keep digging by Jeremy Mordue

He couldn’t leave. He wanted to help. He was worried that Jeremy was going to hurt himself. And Jeremy’s solution didn’t fix anything. Right. That was the real problem. Not that Jeremy was going to get hurt but that he was embarrassing Nathaniel. Again, this was entirely Nathaniel’s fault for being there. Jeremy hadn’t asked him to come and witness him getting into a fight with a hedge. He was sick of Nathaniel trailing him around, finding reasons to be upset with him. He did fine when Nathaniel wasn’t there. It was like he kept trying to butt in to all the worst possible moments just so that he could be a jerk.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he snapped, “Am I supposed to be fixing things now? I thought that was your self-appointed job,” he crossed his arms firmly over his chest, managing to turn and face Nathaniel, his tears back in check now that he had something he could funnel his anger into instead. Because how could Nathaniel tell him to fix things? What was he supposed to do? It was laughable that Nathaniel thought he himself stood a chance, but Jeremy was not about to be recruited to his hopeless crusade.

“Have you got a plan for getting father back? Or maybe you know how to make mother pull herself together and give a damn? If you do, Nathaniel, that’d be really, really great. I’m all ears. What’s the brilliant solution?”

13 Jeremy Mordue Keep digging 1443 Jeremy Mordue 0 5

DH Skies

June 15, 2019 11:55 PM

The ball in your mixed metaphor now by DH Skies

“I would actively encourage it," Selina smiled, very pleased to hear both that Jessica had been expanding her reading about the magical world and that her father was interested in doing so too. "You're in on the secret now. You should have access to what Jessica does, in terms of knowledge or places. It might not always be easy to get at it, but you are usually entitled to. I think it would be very encouraging for Jessica to see you taking an interest in this sort of thing. I think the thought of you all not being on the same page any more has been one of the things that worries her a great deal. She clearly looks up to you both a great deal, and sets a great deal of stock by what you find acceptable or important." Hearing Arthur Hayles volunteer to read a wizarding book made her feel lighter. She had had no idea what kind of attitude Jessica’s parents took towards her magic, but extrapolating from Jessica’s own had left her with some rather nasty worse case scenarios. If Arthur Hayles was willing to read Jessica’s books, then she could at least rule some of the worst of those out.

Selina found herself being almost able to breathe as Jessica's parents inspected her living quarters and her father, in particular, found them acceptable. More than acceptable, in fact - he went so far as to say they were better, some regards, than what she presumed were his own student lodgings. The fact he had even had student lodgings meant that the whole boarding school concept wasn't completely foreign to them, which was an unexpected bonus. She recognised that they were far from out of the woods yet, but equally they hadn't fallen at the first obstacle. So far everyone was being reasonable and capable of at least having a logical discussion, which was far more progress than she ever felt she had made with Jessica.

"Of course, that's fine," she agreed amicably when Mrs. Hayles suggested sending Jessica 's own bedding. It verged a little perhaps on the side of oddly particular or spoilt but she suspected Jessica wasn't the only person in the history of Sonora to want her own bedding from home, and it was such an easy request to grant, "We aim to provide basics so that everyone has what they need, but we're certainly not against students bringing things from home if they prefer.

"Yes, let's go down to my office, shall we?" she agreed, as the subject of curricula came up.

She showed the Haylses in through the attached door. The office contained two chairs, and there really wasn't a subtle way to make a third appear without barging ahead of them into the room. She went ahead and conjured a spare.

"I'm perfectly happy to swap that with mine if it unnerves you to sit on that one," she offered politely, aware that it might be rather concerning to not know where one's chair had come from or to be unsure how solid it was. Once everyone was sitting comfortably, she pulled out Jessica's file, taking care to do this manually to minimise their discomfort.

"Jessica and I have already had a couple of discussions around her curriculum. I was hoping that you and I would have a chance to get together and confirm a few things." Unpleasant as this conversation was bound to be, she knew it was necessary, and the thought of Jessica's curriculum sitting unagreed in her office had felt like bubotuber pod just waiting to rupture - and, unpleasant a task as it was to squeeze one, it was better to just get it over with rather than leaving it to explode.

"I asked Jessica to outline her plans and ambitions for me, which she did," she fanned out the contents of the file so that both the headed stationery with their daughter's writing and the Arvale catalogue were visible.

"For me, the biggest priority this year has been ensuring that Jessica settles here, that she begins to get control of her magic so that she does not harm herself or others or cause accidents,” she began, having felt all along that this was so basic and utterly reasonable that it would be hard pushed for anyone to disagree (though she didn’t assume the Hayleses to be above trying just yet - whilst she was sure they didn’t want Jessica to explode due to magic, that didn’t necessarily mean they were against overloading her with unreasonable demands). “I recognise there are certain skills that will deteriorate if neglected, such as her Spanish. Luckily, we have a multilingual school community - I recommended that Jessica finds people here she can practise with and, that if she was unable to do so, I would happily set her up with a penpal in another school. We also have several extra curriculars which would not look out of place on a non-magical school application. Of particular relevance to her would be the school paper, which I suggested she joins.

"In terms of her course load, this year it has been purely magical due to the need for her to accept her powers and gain control. Jessica and I have discussed the fact that students are welcome to take additional subjects. Often these would be in extra magical subjects, but students are also welcome to study external subjects not offered by the school by taking correspondence courses. I have some outlines here from non-magical modules in mathematics and chemistry. Typically, this happens from third year, though I have told Jessica if she proves herself to be an exceptional student, she will be granted privileges accordingly

“Jessica's main ambition seems to be to work at your company, and this is something she is determined to earn, not something she feels she can just get by virtue of being born to it. I find this trait very admirable," Selina praised Jessica, and by extension her parents, "That puts us in a rather more fortunate position than if she wanted to go and work elsewhere. Any education system is designed to give a broad grounding, as it has to cater to a wide range of people, and to cover all the things they may want to do with their lives. As we know what Jessica wants to do with hers, there's no reason why we can't tailor her external courses - cherry pick the parts that will be most relevant to the future that she wants. I see no reason why Jessica shouldn't study the skills you think are most important for her to complete an internship with your company, and would welcome any input you’d like to give to her extended study program,” she offered, finding she was holding her breath again. Because this really was the best she could come up with. And the worst case scenario was still that they wouldn’t listen, that they would want to take Jessica away, and that very bad things would start to happen - either MACUSA getting involved, or with Jessica not getting what she needed.

13 DH Skies The ball in your mixed metaphor now 26 DH Skies 0 5

Nathaniel

June 16, 2019 4:37 PM

I'm trying my best. by Nathaniel

Nathaniel realized pretty much instantly that he had clearly not helped yet. He did not think that noticing this was any great measure of perceptiveness on his part, however. Anyone could have seen that.

His determination to be patient with his brother flickered and momentarily vanished from his mind as Jeremy continued his rant, however. Nathaniel flushed, hard red patches appearing on his cheeks.

"Don't talk about Mother like that," snapped Nathaniel. "And as for Father, if we never see him again, it'll be too soon!"

He wasn't supposed to have said that. Jeremy had been so little when Dad left. Jeremy hadn't understood. And they had never told him, because - well - how did one tell him about it? Nathaniel felt that finding out what a worthless individual his father was had nearly ruined his life. Even now, he still worried about somehow turning into Father. He did not want that burden to fall on Jeremy too - even if it might do Jeremy good to understand just exactly how important it was to be strong, to always control themselves. Maybe they could tell him when he was a little older, but now...Nathaniel took as quick a breath as he could, struggling to regain control.

"I'm sorry - but you're wrong about Mama. She loves us, Jeremy. She does her best. She can't help it that she's not well. I wish she was here too, but - she can't help it," he said, repeating what he had to repeat to himself to keep everything running smoothly inside his head. "We just have to - take things the way they are. We just have to be good now."

16 Nathaniel I'm trying my best. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Arthur and Ros

June 16, 2019 7:20 PM

Let's keep it rolling. by Arthur and Ros

Ros had no desire to sit on the chair which had just appeared from nowhere. It was not normal for chairs to appear from thin air. It was the kind of thing that happened in odd dreams, not in real life.

She walked over to the chair which should not have been possible, put her Kelly bag down beside it, and sat down on it, crossing her ankles defiantly as she settled. After the incident with the rug, she refused to show any further indications of weakness.

The professor's summary of the situation matched, more or less, what Jessica had told them. The exception was that the professor was being polite enough to them, and unfortunately, that was not one of the issues which really concerned them.

"I'm afraid it's all a little more complicated," said Arthur. "I was afraid of this - " he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I mean no offense, Mrs. Skies, but from what I've seen myself, I think there's...possibly a fundamental difference between how businesses you know work, and how things work for us."

By which he meant the wizards' economy appeared extremely primitive. Ros had stared open-mouthed upon realizing, last year, that they used actual coins - gold and silver, the administrators seeming confused by the idea of fiat currency - to conduct business transactions. When they had brought up opening Jessica a bank account, there had been an actual vault involved. Ros had a bank vault - a vault for her best jewelry and antiques. Most of her money existed primarily in cyberspace, and she could not recall the last time she had used an actual coin. The only reason she and Arthur ever carried paper currency was for publicity stunts - dropping in kettles at Christmas and such - and dropping in the plates at church. An economy which worked entirely in hard cash was an economy so alien and backward that Ros was not entirely sure how they were supposed to work with it.

"You're just talking about what Jessica knows," continued Arthur. "Which is important of course - that's why we're so worried about how far behind she is now in all her academics. And you're right, too, that she has to earn her place in the company - I won't let everything my family's built go under on my watch by hiring an unqualified executive, even if she is my daughter. But in our world, it's not just whether or not you know your stuff that matters. You have to have very specific pieces of paper. And you can't get into the schools that will give you those pieces of paper without other pieces of paper, which involve your high school resume. And there's the optics of the thing. Nepotism is a dirty word where we're from, ma'am, and Jessica will be the fourth generation in a family business. Jessica needs credentials or the board, the public, they might just all turn on her like jackals. No good business school - none that's good enough for my board of directors to respect, anyway - is going to take Jessica unless she gets her undergraduate degree from the right kind of undergraduate school, and none of the good undergraduate schools will take her without all these certificates. Which she can't get without getting a very broad and very deep education now."

"And every subject is cumulative," said Ros. "I've spent the past month planning how she's going to catch up this summer, but even if we got her into college by pretending she was homeschooled - even if we did that, how's she supposed to remember every fact about environmental issues in Australia or the order of operations until next summer without any practice? And what good is a penpal for teaching her formal grammar? And how is she supposed to take her standardized tests like this? We're already playing with fire trying to say that she's sick without saying enough for anyone to pull the thread for one year. I suppose after that - incident - at Christmas, we have to accept that she hasn't learned how to stop doing - this - yet, but she can't look good on paper without any paperwork to look at, either."

Arthur grimaced slightly. "Yes," he said, sounding strangely reluctant to do so. "That is so. And does remind me of another issue. I don't appreciate feeling like I'm being watched in my own home, Mrs. Skies. Your people knew what happened at Christmas as soon as it happened. That turns Jessica into a risk to corporate security just by being in her own home, and it makes it near impossible for me to let her anywhere near our offices or labs - places that would help get everyone used to her as a face of the company before I ever think of stepping down. You see the obvious problems here I'm sure."

16 Arthur and Ros Let's keep it rolling. 1442 Arthur and Ros 0 5

Emerald Brockert

June 17, 2019 1:11 AM

Hooray, it's over by Emerald Brockert

Emerald was really glad the concert was over. She would never have had anything to do with it if she hadn't been prefect. Not that she wished she hadn't been made prefect, it was just that performing wasn't really her thing. It seemed as if it wasn't really an Aladren thing in general since the only person who really seemed to want to be onstage was Topaz's roommate.

Naturally Topaz had plenty to say about this, such as that the other second year was desperate for attention and that most Aladrens didn't want to participate because they had better things to do with their time. Emerald wasn't going to argue on the second point since she personally would have preferred to be doing other things but on the first she had pointed out that Topaz wasn't above attention seeking in other ways. Whether or not Emerald agreed with the assessment of someone wanting to be onstage as attention-seeking, she had felt it necessarily to call her sister out on her hypocrisy.

As it was, the sixth year had taken a backstage role. In all honesty, being stage manager hadn't been so terrible. It was just that Emerald would have rather been reading for pleasure. She was just glad it wasn't a year that she had a big test. As she wanted to well on her RATS-for the sake of her own personal and house pride rather than having anything to do with a career-as she had on her CATS, because if she had to study for RATS as well as her regular classes and had to do the concert on top of her other prefect duties, it would leave little time for the things Emerald actually wanted to do.

Anyway, even though the concert was over-completely over-she wasn't quite ready to join her family yet. To have to deal with a mess of people that included Topaz and her mother. Really, she would prefer to be alone and unwind but that wasn't an option.

Instead, Emerald decided to get something to eat. No sooner did she grab some food than someone approached her. She plastered on a smile. "Hello, did you enjoy the concert?"

11 Emerald Brockert Hooray, it's over 358 Emerald Brockert 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 17, 2019 4:58 PM

And mom hugs? by Evelyn Stones

Ness said "we." Ness wasn't sure what "we" were going to do. Evelyn wasn't sure either, but where there was a "we" there was a way, and she was suddenly more confident that everything would work out. Of course, that didn't mean it would work out in her own favor, but still; a solution was better than limbo.

Evelyn shook her head at the idea of speaking with a teacher. She wasn't sure who already knew and wasn't willing to ruin anybody else's night. "Here's fine," she said, glancing around for her father. "Confidential voices are good."

At the offer to have Ness go elsewhere, Evelyn grabbed her friend's hand almost hungrily. Tears came back to her eyes but she was proud to keep them at bay this time. She shook her head. "I want Ness to stay," she said as firmly as her watery voice would manage.

Then she let go and looked down. "I don't want to ruin your night, though, I know you have so many people you want to say hi to. It's okay if you don't want to talk right now." Evelyn's words came out in a rush and she realised again just how exhausted she was. "But could I . . . well . . " She looked to Ness for support, as that was what the Aladren had been volunteered for anyway. "I haven't hugged my mom in a long time. Could I . . . would you . . ." She held out her arms a little bit, not sure how else to ask for the sort of hug that only a mom could give.

22 Evelyn Stones And mom hugs? 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

The De Matteos

June 17, 2019 5:34 PM

Well, I'll begrudge you that one. by The De Matteos

Felipe was proud to see how polite his parents were in the face of something he knew they didn't know anything about. Most of their people would not have been able to afford such things as birthday cards, especially musical ones, even if they had the means to shop for them, and since they mostly were unaware of the De Matteo family magic, this wasn't something they had utilised themselves either. Still, it was an interesting topic, as evidenced by Ilefonso and Julieta's mirrored expressions of sheer fascination. It was a bit like watching a child open a Christmas present that they hadn't asked for, only to find out that they liked this one much better, even when they had only planned on being basically nice about it. When the topic turned to Zara's pending invitation, however, they played a more active role.

"I suspect the Floo network is your best bet, although you'll either have to come through a station somewhere here or come into a station for us to pick you up there. We're in Mexico," Julieta explained, putted a hand lovingly on her daughter's shoulders, demonstrating that her thoughts were now on home.

"We live in Victoria, on the east coast of northern Mexico. South of Texas," Ilefonso added for specificity's sake. "We're in a very rural town, on a farm and ranch. Los Jardines de Plata means The Silver Gardens."

Felipe had always known what Los Jardines de Plata meant, of course, but looking at Zara made him particularly glad of it all. This was going to be the opportunity to show her the magic of it all, and that was a selfish sort of happiness that he was pretty excited about.

22 The De Matteos Well, I'll begrudge you that one. 1434 The De Matteos 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 17, 2019 5:51 PM

We don't want that. by Evelyn Stones

"I don't think it's about that. There are people who are ahead in one Waugh or another, but nobody's just ahead or behind. That's one of the things I actually really like about Sonora. It's just about who you are and who you're going to be."

The words came out of her mouth before she realised that she believed them, and that struck her as profound. Some part of her had been taught a new dogma, and that part was finding a lot more in common with this scared first year than Evelyn was proud to admit.

"You're here, and you've made it. Half the time plus once is the majority of the time, and close enough on either side to redo the presidential elections." Her eyes shined with a hint of humor, but it was quickly replaced with more sincerity, despite a shrug that followed. "You've got a lot to offer the world, whichever world you land in. Some people land in both. Have you met Ness McLeod?"

Evelyn thought back to the first conversation she'd had with Malikhi when she'd first come to Sonora. They'd talked about careers and the future and everything the world had to offer. At the time, Evelyn thought she'd probably like to be a Muggle if she had the choice. Now, she wondered whether the McLeod foundation was taking job applications five years out. Whatever world she picked, it was changing.

22 Evelyn Stones We don't want that. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Jessica

June 17, 2019 8:25 PM

Indeed not. by Jessica

Evelyn, Jessica surmised, was like birthday cake: small doses might be good, but Jessica suspected that larger ones might quickly get cloying. That was two rounds of platitudes in the course of about as many minutes, and not even the kind of platitudes Jessica gave much credit for having grains of truth in them. They were just...nice.

You don't know me, she wanted to say. You know nothing about what I do and don't have to offer anyone. You should be more careful, saying things like that - you'll probably really annoy the people who basically don't have that much to offer the world.

She refrained from saying any of this. It was not nice. Mommy and Daddy would not approve at all.

"Not particularly," she said when asked if she knew Ness McLeod. "One of the Aladrens, right?" She knew most of the group by sight, anyway, even if she was not very close to any of them. Networking was truthfully not her strongest skill, it never had been and she suspected it never would be, but she had at least learned how to learn and not forget repeated faces. Once she had someone down, she didn't forget the name that went with the face very often at all. "And - why do you ask?"

16 Jessica Indeed not. 1442 Jessica 0 5

The Spencers

June 19, 2019 4:35 PM

Time for a big family introduction. by The Spencers

Having her parents at Sonora was lovely, but Lily could not understand why her mother always had to be so dour. It must be a Princeton trait, one that had not been passed down to her or her siblings, thank Merlin, because all of her cousins and family on her mum’s side seemed to share it. Lily felt a bit better walking away from them and even congratulated herself for not losing her temper. She would take a few deep breaths and hope Dad had calmed Mum down enough that they wouldn’t get into a row.

As she pondered whether to take a strawberry tart or a chocolate brownie, she heard her name and turned around. Lily brightened when she saw Jozua and his family. She stepped away from the table and embraced him without regard for the adults. “Teppenpaw was wonderful too. Loved the explosions particularly.” She grinned, and then turned to his family as he introduced them. She remembered them from the time she’d visited long ago as his friend. Their relationship had changed since then, but her comfort level around his family had not.

“It’s lovely to see you all again as well,” she said enthusiastically. “Thank you!” She blushed a bit with pleasure at his granddad’s affirmation. Already she could see herself getting on quite well with him.

Lily spotted her siblings at the refreshment table as well glancing at her, and she waved them over. They walked over immediately and perhaps a bit too eagerly. “These are two of my siblings, Charlotte and Jack,” said Lily. “My oldest brother wasn’t able to make it. He works for the Ministry in London and has a child on the way, so he’s incredibly busy.” She turned to Charlotte and Jack. “You both remember Jozua. These are his parents and Granddad.”

“Lovely to meet you all,” said Charlotte with a demure smile. She hadn’t seen Jozua since he was a first year with her sister, but she’d seen photos and heard loads about him from Lily. “You all must be proud of Jozua, he was fantastic.” Charlotte herself, as a former Crotalus, was keen on her former house’s performance, just as Jack had preferred Aladren’s performance, but the others had admittedly been enjoyable to watch.

“Very nice to meet you,” added Jack, glancing at the table where his parents were sitting. “I know our parents are eager to meet you all. They’ve heard nothing but good things about Jozua. Lily talks of little else.” He knew Lily would hex him for this, but it was the right thing to do. After all, Lily had met the Sparks family ages ago, but Mum and Dad hadn’t had the same privilege living on the other side of the pond. “Lily, why don’t you introduce them?” he said, leading the group on. Jack knew Lily was glaring daggers at him, but he didn’t look at her.

Lily did, in fact, glare at her older brother, but she took Jozua’s hand as if to reassure both of them that their families meeting would be fine. “That sounds like a great idea,” she replied, and confidently led the group towards her parents.

Cassie spotted them first and patted Henry before they stood with smiles.

“Mum, Dad, this is Jozua,” said Lily, glancing at her boyfriend to see how he was reacting to this situation. “And these are his parents and his granddad.” She turned to the Sparks. “This is my mum and dad.”

Henry leant forward to shake everyone’s hand and Cassie did the same. “Henry Spencer, lovely to finally meet you all.” He shook Jozua’s hand a bit more enthusiastically. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the boy Lily’s been friends with since her first year. Congratulations on graduating! What are your plans after this?”

“I’m Cassie Spencer. Thank you for taking Lily to the duelling tournament all those years ago,” said Cassie to his parents. “That was lovely of you to do, and we were never able to thank you properly. If any of you are ever in London, we’d be happy to have you.” Cassie was apt to make broad hospitable statements that seemed genuine, one of the many proper manners of a Princeton pure-blood, but whether she actually meant them was often questionable to the rest of her family. Lily wasn’t quite sure if Cassie was being sincere or just wanting to see the sort of family Lily might marry into in the future.

“Please, take a seat at our table,” she added, gesturing at the extra chairs. Jozua’s immediate family seemed small, which Cassie did not mind seeing how loud her own children were when they were all together. Henry loved the chaos that came with so many children, but Cassie did not.

0 The Spencers Time for a big family introduction. 0 The Spencers 0 5

Marijke

June 19, 2019 9:19 PM

Absolutely by Marijke

"That's fine, it's your choice," Marijke reiterated gently, when Evelyn expressed a firm desire for Ness to stay. On the inside, she smiled, fairly confident they could say that was a genuine choice on Evelyn's part.

"Of course," she replied, when Evelyn hedged her way through asking for a hug, holding her own arms out to protectively scoop in the teenage girl. "I have plenty of time," she assured her. She tried to think what else she could say. She very much wanted to tell Evelyn that it was going to be okay. Part of her believed that - there was always something that could be done about a situation. However, it wasn't always the things a person wanted. It didn't always make it feel fixed to them, and it didn't mean that nothing bad was ever going to happen again. And those wishes were things it was easy to believe might be on the cards from a grown up you trusted telling you that everything was going to be okay. And she didn't want to leave Evelyn with any more broken promises. "We're here for you," she assured her instead, because that was definitely true, "And we're going to help however we can."

She let Evelyn hold on for as long as she needed to, but when she was all hugged out and they had straightened up, Marijke turned to the business side of things - what they were actually going to do next.

"Once we're done talking, there are some people I will have to talk to," she stated, "There are some parts of this where, as a teenager, you shouldn't have to make decisions or take responsibility. That's part of my job as a grown up, and I will have to tell Professor Skies and your social worker about what's going on," she explained, "This means that all the adults who are responsible for you have all the information they need to hopefully make good decisions." Saying that was the scary part, because it was the part that Evelyn might not like, and much as Marijke believed in getting her to advocate for her own choices, sometimes those were out of her hands. The best she could do was frame it positively and be honest.

"I'd also like you and me to work out some plans together. And that is where you get some choices. Obviously, you're welcome to come home tonight with us, if you want. If that's not what you want, I'd like to work out how we're going to keep in touch - when are we next going to call each other and see each other. Whether you want me to discuss summer visits with your father, so that you can know you'll see us but you don't have to have those conversations. What would make you feel safe right now?" she asked.

13 Marijke Absolutely 0 Marijke 0 5

Jozua Sparks and family

June 20, 2019 11:40 AM

Hoping to make a good impression by Jozua Sparks and family

If pushed, Jozua would admit that the concert hadn’t been too bad and he’d actually ended up enjoying doing the complex the stage effects. He’d been a bit concerned at first that the song selections, other than the last one, didn’t lend themselves all that well to fire and explosions, but the invisibility one was a surprisingly enjoyable challenge, and the water effects in Umbrella weren’t too bad either. He’d additionally weaved in just a little bit of fire into that one so Dorian’s sparkly rain would reflect and refract the light all the more. And subtle fire spells on a stage saturated with water and people dancing all over the place with semi-flammable props was no mean task. And whenever he didn’t have any other responsibilities, he snuck in the odd dancing fire spell or minor explosion as a counterpoint to the dancers and singers whenever he thought he could manage it without inciting the wrath of Georgia.

But it was Firework that was all his. Firework was his last hurrah as Most Likely To Cause An Explosion. And explosions there were. Some boomed in time to the chorus, and some went off silently so the singers could be heard, and at the end he got to do a crashing crescendo of finale fireworks. It was awesome. He’d never done a firework spell before this fall, but now he considered himself a veritable expert on them. He’d logged a lot of hours out on the Pitch (because that had a lot of wide open space) practicing them, and the medic had needed to tend to temporary hearing loss on more than one occasion when the boom went off too close and too loud. But none of that was a problem tonight. He had worked out all the kinks and the last month of rehearsals had included the spellwork as he practiced timing it to the music and setting them off within the space constraints of the Hall (or rather the Hall approximation that MARS reproduced for them). There’d been a few more mass visits to the medic at first - no burns, of course, he was always careful about that, but sound in an enclosed space was much harder to contain and control than sound under an open sky. Eventually, though, he’d gotten it fine tuned enough that everyone on stage could still hear after the song’s finale was over, without sacrificing the boom that made a fireworks show a fireworks show.

Overall, he was very pleased with the whole act (even if some of the songs were kind of mushy) and particularly his part in it. It was something to be proud of, and the best way he could imagine of leaving his final impression on the school.

Even his mom said his spellwork was impressive, and dad and granddad were all but exploding themselves with their approval. Lily’s hug and expressed love of the explosions was the icing on the whole evening so far.

Jozua did give granddad a sour look when he declared Lily’s act was better than Jozua’s own, but it was short lived and held no real animosity. Lily’s act really had been entirely brilliant.

Then he was meeting her family. He kind of remembered Charlotte and Jack from early on (Jack moreso than Charlotte, partly due to Quidditch but mostly due to the age difference being smaller) but they had both graduated before he and Lily started dating, so this was the first he was meeting them as their sister’s boyfriend.

They didn’t seem inclined to take exception to that, and he relaxed a bit when Charlotte complimented his part in Teppenpaw’s act as well. But then Lily was taking his hand and they were on their way to Meet The Parents.

He flushed a little at Jack’s comment that Lily talked about him all the time, and all good things, and he flushed more when his mom chuckled and confirmed it was a mutually shared trait between them. Jozua never stopped talking about Lily either.

He squeezed her hand and rolled his eyes to show Lily that he thought her brother was exaggerating as much as he hoped she thought his mom was.

And then Henry and Cassie Spencer were in front of him. Jozua was more than a little nervous about this part. Not that his intentions were anything but honorable, but he knew Lily and her mom did not get along with perfect harmony and he did not want to be another bone of contention if he made a bad impression.

She seemed nice enough though. Honestly, she kind of reminded him of his own mom. Probably without the academic book deal, but just in they way they held themselves and spoke. Well, obviously, being British, Lily’s mom spoke with a different accent than his own Dutch born and American immigrated mother, but something about the care they took in their diction was similar.

But it was her dad who was shaking his hand and asking about his future plans.

“I, uh, I was accepted to a college program at the Magical University of Oregon,” perhaps not the most prestigious school in the whole world, but it had a very strong DADA department, and it was the one that Dad and Mom both did research for, and Mom taught a graduate history class there, so he got an employee discount on tuition. “I’ll be studying curse breaking.”

Beside him, his mom was saying, “If you ever find yourself near Aladren, Oregon, our house is always open to you and yours as well. The house has plenty of guest rooms.”

They all sat down at the invitation to do so, and Jozua noticed Dad and Granddad were letting Mom handle most of the talking, like they did whenever they went to visit the Maartens, though this time everyone was still using English. Jozua wondered if it was just habit, or if they were as nervous about making a bad impression on Lily’s family as he was.

“My family lives in the Netherlands,” Mom was saying, “so a side trip to London would not be terribly out of the way during one of our visits to the Maartens.” Casual drop of her family’s well respected and pureblooded name; yeah, Mom was trying to impress the Spencers, too. “We usually try to make a vacation out of our trips to Europe. There are a lot of cultural and educational opportunities over there, and Jozua enjoys traveling very much.”

She glanced at him and Lily, a hint of uncertainty in her expression, though Jozua wasn’t sure if that was because she was unsure of their final plans, or because she didn’t know if this was a thing the Spencers knew about and approved of, “I understand Lily and Jozua also plan to do some traveling together this summer?”

1 Jozua Sparks and family Hoping to make a good impression 348 Jozua Sparks and family 0 5

The Montoirs

June 20, 2019 8:38 PM

Pride by The Montoirs

Dorian made his way over to his family, smiling happily but also feeling a little nervous inside. He had loved the Teppenpaw show - he had loved everything about it, the cheery songs, and what they represented, and all the whole way they’d made it look. He was proud of what he’d achieved and what his house stood for, and it really felt like he’d put a piece of himself out there, even if he hadn’t been on stage. And he so badly wanted them to think well of that. To at least be getting something right.

His mother and Émilie sprang up when they saw him, and he ended up caught between them as they both seemed to want to hug him at once, his sister letting off a volley of questions in French (including whether he’d used her notebook) and his mother chatting away in Chinese. If any of the Club of Tongues were in earshot, it was probably enough to make their heads spin, both because of the mixture of languages and because of just how fast they were spoken when not accommodating foreigners. They could probably pick out the fact that the emphatic ‘fēicháng’ was being thrown around a lot. They also probably knew most of the words in ‘Nǐ shì yīgè cōngmíng de Xiǎo Tùzǐ,’ and this was said fairly emphatically at the end. He thought that he was probably supposed to object to having nicknames used in public, or be horribly embarrassed, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t sure if Tatya knew that he was his mother’s ‘little bunny’ (Jehan had stayed in their house for a week, and he was sure it was impossible for his mother to have not used the name in that space of time) but he was also confident she wouldn’t make fun of that, and nor would Vlad. No one else was likely to understand.

“Can you breathe?” his father asked playfully, gently pulling Émilie back by the shoulder, “You can let him go,” he suggested to them both. And as they disentwined themselves, Dorian assumed that was more or less it. His father usually gave him a ‘very good’ when he turned in a good report card but he wasn’t as effusive as his mother and sister. He was therefore very surprised when his father clapped him on the shoulder.

“Good show,” he smiled. “All those effects are your work?”

“Not all, no,” Dorian hurriedly corrected him, “There was an older boy, Jozua, who did the complicated stuff - the fireworks, the disillusions.”

“Still,” his father continued, “You put in a lot of work, yes? Lots of it, I suppose, things people might not see. What was it you did write us with? Rain not making sounds?”

“Yes.”

“Yes! Did not hear any single drop. You fixed that then?”

“Yes, I used some impervius charms. With-” he had been about to say ‘help.’

“Clever stuff. You always are clever. And must be getting to be quite powerful, huh? That was lots of spellwork.”

This conversation was odd. It was odd because Dorian suddenly realised they were having it in English. English at Sonora was so normal, and for a while it had been the language when they were all together, but now Mama’s French was so much better that it wasn’t necessary. Was his father speaking Engish because of where they were? The tone of his voice was also… odd. It was familiar, but Dorian couldn’t place it for a second. And then he realised. It was his father’s post-Quidditch-match voice. It was the voice he used to talk to Matthieu about his games - excellent strike against their Keeper! That made sure they didn’t equalise on goals. That block you got in, close one. Almost didn’t think you’d make it, but of course you did - the tone designed not only to convey his pride to his son but to make sure his voice carried, and that everyone in the vicinity knew just how well Matthieu had done too. Or, in this case, Dorian. And that was why his father was speaking English. He wanted everyone around to know what Dorian had done. Dorian felt slightly like the floor had been snatched out from under him, and he almost wanted to cry with happiness. Because his father was using the Matthieu-Quidditch-Voice about him, about something he had done, and that was unprecedented enough in itself, but it was about something in which he had been himself. Mama, and Émilie, and even his father - they were all happy with him and what he had done.

OOC - 'feichang' is 'very' and the compliment is 'You are a clever little bunny.'

13 The Montoirs Pride 1401 The Montoirs 0 5

Kir

June 21, 2019 10:20 AM

Sometime later... by Kir

Eva had come to retrieve her brother a short way into the conversation, and Kir had persuaded the small child to go by pointing out that Eva had got hold of classified materials, i.e. the boy's spy puzzle book. Bertie had left reluctantly but he had left. Overall, Kir thought, the evening was going quite well. Zevalyn's parents seemed nice, and were easy to talk to. They were interested in DnD, and he was interested in science (even if he got lost quite easily). He was asking probably below grade level questions about their PhD fields when suddenly Bertie reappeared.

"Eva says that's your g-g-girlfriend," the boy glared, pointing an accusatory finger at Zevalyn.

"Um. Right," Kir blinked, confused for several reasons - firstly, it was unusual, very unusual, for Bertie to speak voluntarily in front of strangers. He also wasn't sure what had vexed him so much about the present situation, or what he, Kir, should do about it. Bertie was not being particularly nice, but Bertie was also only eight and was, for once, talking. This gave Kir something of a dilemma because his automatic reaction to insist that people were polite in general but especially to his girlfriend was in conflict with his feeling that he should not discourage Bertie. The fact that his ability to deal with small children was under scrutiny by his girlfriend's parents had also not escaped his notice. "Pointing is rude," he reminded Bertie gently, because that at least was concrete and not talking related. "And yes, she is my girlfriend."

"Are you go-going to mmmarry her?"

Kir, not normally one to be lost for words, was rendered goldfish like for a moment at this question. He mouthed silently whilst the tips of his ears turned somewhat red. It wasn't like the honest answer to that was one that would displease most parents, it was just that... well, he had assumed he had escaped a grilling about his intentions when that hadn't been the first order of business. He hadn't expected to have it sprung on him now. And it wasn't the question itself that was concerning him so much as the fact that he had no idea where this conversation was going, and it was being steered by a rogue eight year old who he had a strict principle of not telling to shut up.

"Maybe. One day," Kir answered self-consciously. It wasn't like he and Zevalyn had never had a conversation about the future, or that there was any dischord on the idea that this was serious.

"Wh-what about J-J-James?" Bertie asked.

"What about James?" Kir replied, his emphasis shifting the tone of the question, from Bertie's 'What about James? to 'What about James?' - as in what did he have to do with this.

"You're go-going to mmmarry him," Bertie insisted.

“Erm. No, I’m going to marry- I mean, I’m not marrying anyone right now because I’m seventeen and- can we talk about this later?” Kir stumbled. Kir did not embarrass easily. Zevalyn knew this. It was possible she had never actually seen him embarrassed but apparently this eight year old had the capacity to do it, because Kir was turning an increasingly impressive shade of scarlet.

“No! Seven-t-t-teen is quite old,” Bertie pointed out. He was pretty sure that once you were seventeen you were almost a grown up (which was sad because Kir was nice and it was a shame to think he might become someone who lectured about vegetables and bedtimes) and thus the threat of him marrying this interloper was very real. “Why a-aren’t you marrying J-James?”

"There's never- there’s nothing going on between me and your cousin. We're just friends," he turned instinctively to Zevalyn with an appealing look to check she believed him. "And Zara said he's got a new boyfriend anyway," he pointed out, turning back to Bertie.

"He's a b-b-butthole!"

"Uh, can we use polite words?" Kir asked, not really sure this vocabulary was ‘meet the parents’ friendly.

"There aren't p-p-polite words. When someone is b-b-butthole they just are. Anyway, Levon used a worse word. It's a-a cuss word. Mom said not to copy it."

"Then don't," Kir confirmed, because Bertie had been looking at him eagerly and mischievously as if he was just dying for that order to be overruled. Kir was just relieved the the 'a' had proven to be the indirect article and not the start of said word. "I'm sorry James' boyfriend is... not very nice-"

"A b-b-butthole," Bertie corrected him, "And so was the l-l-last one. He always d-d-dates buttholes. That's why he should mmmmarry you."

"Excuse me?" Kir clarified, not sure where that train of thought had quite gone.

"You're not a butthole," Bertie explained in a very serious tone, as if this was a grand compliment, and then seeing Kir was struggling to suppress a laugh at this, added with plaintive earnestness, "I reeeeeally mean it! You're n-n-not!"

"I appreciate the compliment," Kir assured him, arranging his face into a suitably serious expression for the awarding of this high accolade, though his lips still twitched slightly. "But I think James and I might like some say in this and we’re just friends. And I think I heard your mom calling your name," he added hurriedly. He wondered whether blatant lying was going to actually get rid of Bertie, or lose him points with the Iveses, but he really needed this conversation to just finish. Luckily for him, at that moment Claire really did catch up to her son.

"Bertie! What are you doing?”

“N-n-nothing.”

“We told you to stop bothering Kir.”

“I’m just t-t-talking to p-p-people. You always t-t-tell me I should,” he stropped. But he recognised when he was defeated and this was accompanied by sullen, sulky steps back towards his mother.

“Sorry," she apologised, mostly to Kir but somewhat to the group in general, before ushering Bertie away.

“It’s fine,” Kir replied loyally, not wanting to get the kid in trouble, although he suspected the shade of his face told its own version of events. “Well…” he turned his attention back to the ceiling above the Iveses’ heads, which was quite easy to do given his height, not quite trusting that he could meet anyone’s eyes right now because he could feel that he was still bright red. “He normally won’t talk in front of strangers,” Kir informed the paintwork, “So. It’s good that he’s getting over that.” Also, he had had it confirmed in the strongest possible terms to his girlfriend’s parents that he, Kir McLeod, was not a butthole. Which, on paper, sounded like a ringing endorsement, even if he thought he would have given rather a lot for the last five minutes to never have happened.

13 Kir Sometime later... 366 Kir 0 5

Georgia Kirkly (and dad)

June 21, 2019 10:33 AM

Just Own The Night by Georgia Kirkly (and dad)

Georgia made her way off stage, still positively beaming. She scanned the crowd just managing to catch her dad's eye before she had to find a seat for the remaining two acts - he was grinning broadly and still clapping. She wasn't sure how she was going to manage to sit through them, she was so excited to go find him and celebrate.

It felt like the perfect end to her time here. From the person who'd been too afraid to get up on stage because of how she looked and what others might think, to this. Even her seventh year had been made of more doubt than anything else, feeling like she was hurtling towards a crunch point about which world she was supposed to end up in. Only, like Kir had said, that didn’t seem to matter any more. The lines weren’t all black and white, and she would find where she fitted, and work out how to juggle the different bits of what made her who she was. The concert felt like the perfect reflection of that too - using her voice, a talent her father had always understood and which transversed her two worlds, alongside magic because (and she twirled her fingers in the chain of the necklace Zevalyn had given her) she was a witch. And neither of those were things people could take away from her.

When Crotalus and Pecari finally ended, she bounded over to her dad, finding he was ready and waiting with a big hug and a bunch of flowers for her.

"That was amazing!" he beamed, "I mean, I knew you could sing but wow."

"And the magic?" she asked, still slightly nervous after all this time. It made rational sense, once she had heard him say it, that it hadn't been her mother's magic but her dishonesty about it that had pulled them apart, but it was still hard to feel like he could be comfortable around it when it was at the centre of what had gone wrong with his life.

"The magic was so cool!" he beamed, "I didn't know you could do all that."

“I wasn’t actually doing most of it,” she admitted, “Most of the effects and stuff were set beforehand.”

“But you can do things like that?” he queried.

“Some of them. Yeah,” she nodded.

“It’s good to finally get to see that. I mean, I read your school reports and everything but it’s not quite the same. It was interesting.” He wasn't sure where it got her, or what the next chapter of her life looked like. He wasn't sure why his ex wife had been so keen to turn her back on this stuff, or how things fitted together when you did or didn’t do that. But none of that was stuff to bring up with Georgia right now. After all, it was a night for celebration, and after all it had been a school concert - it wasn't like non-magical kids spent those showing how great they'd got at computer skills and long division. “I’m really proud of what you’ve achieved here,” he told her.

"I don't know how I did on my exams," Georgia admitted. She had never been the most academically inclined anyway, and the concert had sort of taken over. It was the thing she had wanted to do well at, even though she recognised that wasn't the most sensible choice. Her dad had always believed she could do well, and go to a good school if she pulled her socks up and applied herself. Although Sonora had put a spanner in those works anyway. She really wanted him to be proud of her for the concert, but she didn’t want to feel like that confession was hanging over her.

“Let’s not worry about that now,” he shrugged. He didn’t understand her subjects or her grades much, but he did understand the concept that exam results were usually important. He definitely thought they were - he wanted her to be well set up, to be able to do what she wanted to do next with her life. But, he supposed, there was something he wanted more than that. “Are you happy?” he checked.

“Yes,” she grinned.

“Well, I don’t know what you plan to do next… Whether you’re going to keep shuttling between me and your mom, or get your own place. You know you can stay as long as you want with me, right?”

“Right,” Georgia nodded. She knew she was graduating, but between the concert and the exams, she hadn’t really processed that this was, in some ways, a never ending summer. That doing half the weeks at dad’s and half at mom’s didn’t work when she didn’t know how many weeks there were ahead.

“You don’t have to decide right now. I just thought I’d let you know. I’ve missed you these last seven years. And having a witch about the house looks like it could come in handy.”

“Yeah. I… I think I’d like that. Guess it depends what I do next,” she nodded.

“We can figure it out later,” her dad assured her. And that was the icing on the cake - because she was strong and capable, she could sing on stage and do magic, but even with all that on her side, it felt good to know that whichever world she ended up with her feet in, her dad still believed they were a ‘we’ and was coming along for the ride.

“Yeah,” she grinned, “We can.”

13 Georgia Kirkly (and dad) Just Own The Night 346 Georgia Kirkly (and dad) 0 5

Cassie, Henry Spencer and family

June 21, 2019 4:47 PM

Good impressions so far. by Cassie, Henry Spencer and family

Cassie was glad for the familiarity she felt with Stephanie. Finally, some proper company with which Lily was associated. So far, her children were doing rather well choosing partners for themselves. Cassie was proud to say that she’d done better than her brother in that regard, and she’d managed to find a respectable pure-blood husband who wasn’t as oppressive and cold as her own family. Though her Lily regarded her as an extreme conservative, that poor witch had no idea how conservative the pure-blood society could truly be.

“Ah, the Maartens,” said Cassie with a smile. “Yes, Europe offers many cultural and educational opportunities. Exposing one’s children to their family heritage is important. Whenever we visit my family home at the Princeton Estate, I make sure to educate my children about their background.” The Princetons were highly established and regarded in Europe now that they had secured their fortune once again. Cassie had married somewhat beneath her status, and though Corvus and her parents were happy for her, they would never let her forget it.

“That is what I understand,” replied Cassie, glancing at Lily. “Travelling is the only way to fully learn about other cultures. I’m glad for them.” She did not mind them travelling together, but Lily had mentioned shacking up with him. That had become a recurring argument between them, but Cassie was not going to mention that now. She wasn’t quite certain whether it was true or if Lily was just winding her up. “Lily hasn’t mentioned where she’ll be going, however,” she continued. “She hasn’t travelled very much on her own either, so I’m glad she will be going with Jozua. It puts me at ease a bit knowing he’s got travelling experience.”

Lily had one ear on her mum’s conversation and another on Jozua’s conversation with her dad. Dad was much more expressive, and he congratulated Jozua enthusiastically on his college program. “That sounds brilliant, good on you,” added Henry. “Curse-breaking is a growing field, I hear. I see loads of patients in the hospital who are there because they’ve touched cursed objects. More than a third, I’m sure. I don’t understand why others find cursing objects so appealing. It bogs my mind, really, the thought of people wanting to hurt other people.”

Henry looked at Lily. “And I’ve heard Lily is keen on staying with you in Oregon?”

Lily blushed immediately. “Dad!”

“What? You’re the one who told us,” he replied, looking far too innocent. He turned back to Jozua. “I know you’re both a bit young, but in your own opinion, is marriage in the near future?”

“Dad!”

“Lily, please, I’m asking Jozua a question. There’s no rush, of course, Jozua, I’m merely curious to know what your thoughts are.” Henry was a kind man who was easily swayed by his children, but he clearly was not going to let this go even though Lily tugged on his sleeve.

0 Cassie, Henry Spencer and family Good impressions so far. 0 Cassie, Henry Spencer and family 0 5

Evelyn Stones

June 23, 2019 1:55 AM

I hate this stuff. by Evelyn Stones

Hugging Mrs. McLeod was not like hugging her own mom, but it was sort of better in its own way. Evelyn felt guilty for thinking that, but it only made her hold onto Marijke all the tighter. This was a woman who loved her and was there for her and she was one of the only people in the world that Evelyn could say that about.

"Thank you," Evelyn murmured into her ear before letting go. She nodded, understanding the woman's disclaimers. It wasn't the first time she'd been warned of such things, and as much as she hated it, she knew the drill now. The fact that this was all becoming routine made Evelyn feel a little sick and she looked sadly up at Ness again, her eyes expressing the gratitude she was too exhausted to put words to.

"My social worker," Evelyn repeated, never having thought of the social workers as hers. They were there for her . . . they were there to help her. She had the sudden urge to write down all their names so that she could write them Christmas cards every year and thank them twenty-five years from now, when everything sucked a little less and she could say things like thanks for making things a little better and much love, yours, Evelyn.

"I don't want to leave CJ," Evelyn said firmly. Maybe it was just a matter of feeling like it was one thing she could control, or maybe it was a matter of being able to actually make a difference for that little boy, but Evelyn was sure that leaving him was not the right thing to do. She was also in no position to take care of him, which meant staying home. "Home."

What would make her feel safe right now? Safety. Shelter. Home. Security. Protection. Welfare. Refuge. Safety.

Evelyn had two distinct memory of sitting in a chair at a salon, with wet hair dripping on her shoulders and bubbly feelings in her stomach.

In one of those memories, Evelyn was a little girl and just a seat away from her mother. She was reading a newspaper out loud and Charity Stones was correcting the words she struggled with. It was an article about a whale sighting off the coast and Evelyn wasn't sure how to say "migratory." Evelyn's feet didn't reach the ground but she didn't mind because she didn't need to; she was safe.

In the other, Evelyn was either a young woman or a little girl; she wasn't sure which. Blue and pink and purple tinted the drops that ran across Evelyn's forehead. Soft hands were in her hair and she couldn't see the person they belonged to, but she didn't mind; she was safe.

One other memory came to mind. The ocean was in the air, sand was in her hair, and warm robes wrapped around her shoulders as she watched a sad, kind boy put a rock back down on a cliffside that looked like home but wasn't.

Safety had never meant being alone, and it had never meant lying.

"Visiting would be great. I'd like if you wanted to come visit me," she decided, looking at Ness. "But I understand that you might not want that." Her voice got quiet. "I'd really like to come see you."

22 Evelyn Stones I hate this stuff. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Cleo and Isaac (and family cameos)

July 20, 2019 8:12 AM

Meet the parent by Cleo and Isaac (and family cameos)

The performance had gone pretty well in Isaac’s opinion. His housemates were so much fun and putting on an adventure play had been a great idea. He was going to miss Lily next year because she brought so much enthusiasm to their little Prefect group. He still couldn’t believe that would be him next year. Isaac was really hoping to be Head Boy, but he was up against some stiff competition. Kir was definitely one of his top competitors in his mind, but Isaac hoped he was just popular enough to squeeze ahead of him to get the coveted title.

His mom, Lauren, and Uncle Derek had come to the concert to cheer him on, and they bombarded him right after with flowers and hugs. Together, they were quite the talkative bunch, and it was always hard to try and talk and listen at the same time without interrupting each other. Their group drifted towards the refreshment table yakking away about everything when Isaac spotted Cleo and her father at a distance.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” he said. “I’m just going to say hi to some friends.”

Lauren followed his gaze. “Is that Cleo?” she whispered.

Isaac grinned and nodded. “I’m gonna go say hi.”

Lauren nudged him and smiled. “I’ll keep them distracted. Take as long as you want.”

“Thanks, man.” Isaac turned to his mom and said a loud and quick, “I’ll be right back,” again before slipping away.

Cleo was with her dad, and Isaac felt a little nervous as he approached them. Isaac wasn’t her boyfriend so it didn’t have to be a big deal, but he didn’t know what Cleo might’ve said about him to her dad. Maybe nothing, maybe everything. Regardless, he wanted to make a good first impression, and he was glad he had changed into his usual sharp fashionably semi-casual clothing. He was generally pretty good at talking to adults, but he’d never met a crush’s parents before.

“Hey Cleo,” he said with a big smile when he reached her. “Your performance was so great!” He turned to her dad next and shook his hand. “Hi, I’m Isaac.” It was time to turn on the charm and friendly self-confidence even though his heart was hammering away in his chest. He didn’t know whether to introduce himself as Cleo’s friend, because they weren’t just friends at this point, but he couldn’t call himself her boyfriend either.

The concert hadn’t much been Andrew James’ cup of tea. Lots of singing, dancing and showing off, especially by the snooty kids in Cleo’s own house. He knew Cleo wasn’t really involved but he wasn’t going to miss the chance to see her school, or to catch up with her a few hours early. Or to meet some of these boys he’d been hearing so much about. It had always been Parker this, Parker that and he was very keen to make an appraisal of this young man who spent so much time with his daughter.

Having been nominally involved with the performance, Cleo had waited until after the show to go and find her father. Once she was free to do so, however, she quickly wove through the crowd, throwing her arms happily around his neck.

“Hi Daddy!” she beamed, as he returned her hug, straightening up and noticing this no longer pulled her toes off the floor.

“Hello beanstalk,” he greeted her, “What’ve they had you planted in, hm?” he asked, pulling playfully at her arm. Cleo increasingly seemed to be made of nothing but arm and leg. It wasn’t surprising, he himself was quite tall, but he was broad with it. She was all willowy grace. Like her mother. Speaking of which, her hair had, of course, grown out again from its usual bob. The longer it got, the more noticeable that shimmeriness was.

“You need a haircut” he commented, brushing a few strands back from her face, “And some new clothes,” he added. Because, speaking of Cleo being all leg these days, a perilous amount was visible under the hem of the little dress printed with butterflies that she was wearing. It was an ongoing battle, that no one seemed to make cheap girls’ clothes that weren’t insanely short or form fitting. The butterfly dress had been the best of a bad bunch, and the few inches she’d added to her height since its purchase made all the difference.

“Let’s just fix that so it fits you better,” he added, tapping the dress with his wand, so that the skirt of it lengthened a bit. He’d never been great at such fixes, and a few of the butterflies were now looking somewhat stretched. Cleo did her best not to frown at this, because she didn’t frown at her daddy, but she hadn’t thought the dress was that ill fitting, and personally thought it had looked better before the butterflies had got misshapen. However, along with being disinclined to argue, there also wasn’t time to, as at that moment, they were joined by Isaac.

“I didn’t really do anything,” she admitted honestly when Isaac complimented Crotalus’ performance. “You were great though,” she smiled at him. She was about to introduce him when he did so himself.

“Ah,” said Andrew James, when he heard the boy’s nane. He had known it wasn’t Parker because he had seen photos of him at the ball with Cleo (but not, she had assured him, on a date). “Isaac,” he repeated, “That’s a name I’ve been hearing more and more recently,” he added, and the tone in which he said this very firmly suggested this was not to be taken as a compliment. It was much the same tone and fierce-eyed stare that Professor Xavier had found himself on the receiving end of at Cleo’s first concert. So, you’re the professor my little girl spends so much time with. Isaac’s name had started cropping up shortly after Cleo’s half-veela status had been announced to the school, about the time they had all had to take the threat of her powers.more seriously… And suddenly, at that point, up had cropped a new ‘friend.’ Another boy. Another boy from the thrill-seeking, adventurous house. “Andrew James,” he introduced himself, “Pleased to meet you,” he added, and the way his eyes bored into Isaac as if trying to mind-read his intentions suggested that ‘inspect’ may have been a more appropriate verb for that sentence and that, although the handshake Isaac was receiving was very firm, he was lucky that it had stopped short of breaking his fingers. For now.

As a teenage boy who did not have very many interactions with father figures, including his own, Isaac was immediately intimidated by Andrew’s demeanor. When he was nervous, his hands became clammy, and he was almost embarrassed shaking Andrew’s hand. It was a little flattering that Cleo had mentioned him to her dad, but Isaac couldn’t tell if it was in a good way from the way Andrew was inspecting him.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he replied. At least his voice still sounded confident. He wasn’t going to wilt under the pressure. Well, at least he wouldn’t look intimidated, which was really all that mattered. “How did you like the concert?” Isaac didn’t like judging people early on, but to him Andrew seemed like a no-nonsense kind of person who might not be very impressed with a performance put on by a bunch of kids.

“Very nice,” Andrew James nodded when asked his opinion of the show. He didn’t mean to be gruff or rude about that - they were kids, and they’d worked hard and he knew they deserved a pat on the back for that - but it was clear that he really did not have much opinion beyond that which he was required by social convention to have.

“Isaac’s a prefect too, Daddy,” Cleo smiled. She was used to her father being taciturn around new people, and didn’t take his gruffness with Isaac for anything more than unfamiliarity. “So he helped put Pecari’s show together.”

“Indeed. So, what does it mean to be a prefect in the thrill seeking house? Does that mean you’re one of the more responsible thrill seekers,” he asked, his tone suggesting he found that term something of an oxymoron, “or that you’re the peak example of those traits?” he asked.

Isaac was pretty taken aback by Cleo’s dad, but he didn’t show it. If he wasn’t nervous before, he definitely was nervous now. He also tried not to take it personally because he was sure it was just a dad-daughter thing. Maybe his dad was like that with Maia out in Korea if she brought boys home. Besides, how could Cleo’s dad dislike him if he’d never met him before? He played off Andrew’s question as a joke, but he didn’t dare laugh.

“You could say I’m the one who makes sure the thrill seekers stay in line,” he replied good naturedly. “The person making sure everyone’s having fun without breaking rules.” Isaac was not going to mention that he loved organizing parties and initiating the fun because technically that wasn’t stereotypical Prefect behavior, and Andrew James did not need to know that. “I’m hoping to be voted Head Boy next year,” he continued, “and I think I have a good chance at it.” That statement was less to impress Cleo’s dad and more because he really believed he had a chance. Maybe it would impress Cleo too if he did become Head Boy. As for Andrew James, he didn’t know if anything would really impress him, but Isaac wasn’t going to wither away in fear even if, at this moment, he really wanted to run away. He really should’ve asked Lauren to save him before he’d left.

“I see,” Andrew nodded. On the surface of that, it sounded responsible, but he still couldn’t quite get past the fact that this boy had shown up in Cleo’s life when he had. Or the fact that he was a boy. It wasn’t like he’d been keen on the idea of Parker either. He was more inclined to add ‘smooth talking’ to Isaac’s list of flaws than to be reassured by what he was saying. “Well, good luck with that,” he added, regarding the head boy vote. Again, he didn’t wish to be impolite, he just didn’t want Isaac hanging around Cleo too much.

“Thank you,” Isaac replied, feeling like he’d received some kind of approval from her dad. Or he was being really apathetic and had stopped listening at some point. Either way, it was time for Isaac to make his escape. “I’d better get back to my family, they’re looking over at me. It was nice meeting you, Mr. James,” he said, offering to shake his hand again. Then he turned to Cleo, his dark eyes becoming softer as he smiled. “And I’m glad I was able to say hi to you before leaving for the summer,” he told her. “I’ll, uh, let you know what my summer plans are,” he said, referring to their earlier conversation in the gardens.

19 Cleo and Isaac (and family cameos) Meet the parent 375 Cleo and Isaac (and family cameos) 0 5