DH Skies
September 03, 2019 9:31 AM
Challenge 1 - Results by DH Skies
Selina was sure that the students themselves would have varying opinions on the subject, but she felt that the first challenge had been fun to watch. Students had come together to tackle the problems put in their path by the staff, and the solutions had been varied, which was pleasing. It had been interesting (and occasionally ‘Interesting’ and occasionally ‘...interesting’) to see how they worked in the combinations they’d been dealt, many of which fell outside their usual social groups just by virtue of the diverse ages across teams.The scores listed in the Cascade Hall displayed each team’s time, plus lists for the more interpretive scoring, such as use of all team members, or bonus points from specific subjects, which were then combined into a final total score, and it was by this running order that they were arranged.
The list was posted, ready to be viewed at dinner time. It was only a week until Midterm, so hopefully there was a festive atmosphere of peace and goodwill to all (there were trees and tinsel sparkling all over the Cascade Hall), and even if there wasn’t, there wouldn’t be too much time for hurt feelings or tension and hopefully everyone could just have a nice holiday, and come back rested and ready for the next rounds.
‘Congratulations and well-participated to you all. We were pleased with the many and varied solutions you came up with. The following is the ranking order after the first challenge:
Team/Captain - - - Current Ranking
6 - Isaac Song- - - - - 1st
3 - Florence Newell - =2nd
5 - Kir McLeod - - - =2nd
1 - Emerald Brockert 4th
4 - Gwen Fintoc - - - - 5th
11 - Winston Pierce - -6th
7 - Natalie Atwater- - =7th
13 - Connor Priory - - =7th
2 - Amelia Layne - - - - 9th
8 - Luke Powell - - - - -10th
10 - Salali Bly - - - - - -11th
12 - Simon Mordue - - 12th
9 - Victor Callahan - - -13th
(OOC - Teams who appear in italics were awarded bonus points for their use of a particular subject or subjects, and this would be noted on the list. As stated, the sign in Cascade Hall would have further details such as times, which we obviously don’t have. The total points scored OOC by each team will be listed on the OOC page so that you can see how far you need to go to beat the next team up etc. Thank you for all your contributions to the first challenge).
13
DH Skies
Challenge 1 - Results
26
DH Skies
1
5
Nathaniel Mordue
September 05, 2019 9:50 PM
I'm so sorry (tag Sylvia). by Nathaniel Mordue
Nathaniel tried to keep it to himself as far as he could, but he was anxious to see the results of the first challenge. Despite his blunder at the beginning, he thought his team had made good time - good enough that he was sure their position would prove by no means disgraceful. The only question was whether or not it would be something of which he could be proud despite the company he had been assigned to keep for it.When results were posted, then, he went over to them as quickly as he could without hurrying or pushing anyone to get closer, as that would have been undignified. Once there, he scanned the list for his own name, realized that was stupid, mentally chided himself, looked for Kir's name...and spotted it.
Second.
They had tied for second.
His heart leapt into his throat, and he wasn't sure if it was happiness or alarm at the thought of how Simon and Sylvia and Jeremy would react to the fact that they had all almost certainly - yes, team one and the other team two weren't teams with any of them as members - scored worse than he had. The question was just, how much worse....
Oh.
Oh.
No, this wasn't very good at all.
Anxiously, he turned away from the results and went to look for his cousin. Hopefully, he could pretend to Sylvia that he hadn't seen the results, and maybe keep her from going to look at them, if she hadn't already....
He looked around, turned, and found her. Unbeknownst to him, he immediately began to look guilty. "Hi, Sylvia," he said.
16
Nathaniel Mordue
I'm so sorry (tag Sylvia).
1412
Nathaniel Mordue
0
5
Sylvia Mordue
September 06, 2019 7:59 AM
Whatever for? by Sylvia Mordue
Sylvia breezed into the hall. She had had a meeting of the Gardenia Girls the previous evening, and personally felt that her little club was working well. First and foremost, she had people looking up to her, and doing what she said, which were two things she greatly enjoyed. However, the longer the club ran, the more real power they accrued. They represented a significant group, and if they joined their voices together, they could make for real change. The situation with last year’s head boy vote illustrated the need for that - clearly Simon and Winston had split the vote of decent, respectable people, leaving the idiots to elect their choice. That couldn’t happen again. Once she and the girls moved up the school, they could see to it that it didn’t...As she entered the hall, she noticed a significant number of people clustering by the wall instead of heading to their tables. A notice had clearly been posted, and since the school had had them scrambling through the gardens recently, it didn’t take a genius to work out what it was.
Before she got to the notice though, she got to Nate. Sylvia had only spent approximately twelve months of her life without her cousin, and nine of those had been in utero. Since she was three months old, he had been alongside her, and thus she had had ample time to study his features, and to hear his thoughts and his fears. Right now, he looked guilty. The expression was one Nate wore more often than he had any real cause to, and in that sense she was quite used to it. She greeted it with a smile - a real one, sympathetic and softer than she would have used on anyone. Nate put so much pressure on himself to be good, to do better, to make up - and it wasn’t even as if anyone was watching him as much as they were Simon anyway. He worried too much.
“It can’t be that bad,” she assured him in an undertone, reaching out and giving his hand a small squeeze. “I’m sure no one who matters will hold it against you personally given what you have to work with.”
13
Sylvia Mordue
Whatever for?
1413
Sylvia Mordue
0
5
Nathaniel
September 06, 2019 12:50 PM
Things completely out of my control. by Nathaniel
What had given him away? Nathaniel was concerned now. How did Sylvia just....Oh.
She didn't know.
She thought he was concerned about how his team had done - something he had been concerned about, but which he had forgotten about altogether in light of the new problem, which was how his family would respond to being outdone by him and a ragtag bunch of misfits.
She didn't know at all.
He had to tell her. He didn't want her to go over there and see it and have a shock in front of other people. It was better for him to warn her, even if that resulted in her becoming angry with him. They were, after all, family - as unpleasant as it would be to have her angry with him, they were Nate and Sylvia. She would get over it, and he just had to be a man and get over worrying about the short term.
"It - actually, it went well for my team," he said. "It tied for second." Now came the part Sylvia wasn't going to like at all. "Yours and Simon's...they weren't first," he hedged, wanting to ease into it instead of just delivering the blow. He really, really didn't want Sylvia to cry in public, or say something that would ruin his efforts to undo his perceived status as the pariah of Teppenpaw.
16
Nathaniel
Things completely out of my control.
1412
Nathaniel
0
5
Sylvia
September 08, 2019 8:29 PM
That doesn't seem like something you should be sorry for by Sylvia
Nate was second? That was wonderful, especially given the circumstances of who he had on his team. She and Simon were not occupying the other two spots that would have given them level pegging or a lead over their cousin. Well... that was alright, wasn't it? It was a little bit odd to see Nate rising above her, but she could let him have his moment, couldn't she? Especially as he seemed so worried that she'd be mad at him for beating her."That's wonderful!" she smiled, pulling Nate into a hug, "Well done, Nate!"
Of course, it made sense that a bunch of ragtag boys would be better at scrambling through the gardens than good girls from nice families. Of course, the fact that it had really been a test of magical ingenuity and prowess would be something she would have to downplay - she thought she stood a good chance, after all even with magic on their side, it had all been rather rough. That excuse wouldn't help Simon, of course, but you couldn't save everyone. Of course, that excuse was risky to deploy without knowing who had come first, in case it was a team with a strong presence of young ladies, or where she herself had come. If they were only a few places below Nate, then maybe she didn't want to underplay the relevance of the challenge too much.
"Who did come first, and where were we?" she asked, moving towards the notice board.
13
Sylvia
That doesn't seem like something you should be sorry for
1413
Sylvia
0
5
Nathaniel
September 08, 2019 8:58 PM
I know, but I am physically incapable of not doing so. by Nathaniel
He could not let her walk over there."Sylvia, wait," he said, touching her arm. "It's - you don't understand. Simon and - and Victor came in last," he said, lowering his voice on the last part, not keen to have anyone hear it.
That was silly, of course. Everyone was probably going to go look at the list, and anyone bored enough could figure out which team Sylvia was on. He hoped, however, that he could implicitly blame Victor for what had happened to Sylvia, rather than implying she might be in any way involved in what had happened.
"It's not your fault," he said, repeating what she had said to him only a minute ago. "Or Simon's. Things just - went wrong." He was even willing to throw his own near-victory into the category of things going wrong if it kept her from getting upset. He hated the thought of Sylvia being upset by anything, and while he didn't think she would hold it against him that he was on a team which happened to do well, he didn't want her to feel bad about herself or embarrassed about Simon and Jeremy. He was already trying to think of the next few things to use to convince her it was all rubbish - the most convincing was that the staff was biased, he needed more, but he thought that one would give him time to think of more excuses.
16
Nathaniel
I know, but I am physically incapable of not doing so.
1412
Nathaniel
0
5
Sylvia
September 09, 2019 8:50 AM
Silly goose, I could never be mad at you by Sylvia
Last. Sylvia’s flawless, white-toothed smiled flickered for just a second, registering the hurt and disappointment of that fact. She was, by nature, quite a competitive person. It wasn’t something she made obvious, because it generally wasn’t considered an attractive trait, but Nate knew. Nate had played enough games against her to know. Nate had come to meet her in the MARS room, which for her mimicked the pool at Sylvia’s house, complete with the personal bests and quickest times per year that her father had charmed onto the walls - the ones that, if you did the maths, showed that at certain ages, Sylvia would have been able to beat a Simon of the equivalent age. In real life, Nate and Jeremy’s records were up there too, though in the MARS room, Jeremy was given much more selective mentions, seeing as he had overtaken Sylvia, relative to their ages.She put the smile back, or at least a demure and neutral expression - it didn’t do to go around grinning like an idiot at all times. Katerina smiled too much, and it made her look positively vacant at times.
“Thank you,” she said to Nate, both for the warning, and the assertion that it was not her fault. She took a deep breath. “It was the sort of challenge that suits a rougher type of person, and there’s no shame in me doing badly in it - nor you doing well. Not that you’re rough of course, but the company they’ve stuck you with,” she tried the excuses, keeping her voice low so that only Nate would hear. “That sounds alright, doesn’t it?” she added, the doubt flickering across her eyes for second, just for him, “For all of us? No one terribly proper came first, did they?” she checked.
13
Sylvia
Silly goose, I could never be mad at you
1413
Sylvia
0
5
Nathaniel
September 10, 2019 12:39 AM
*flaps about contentedly* Excellent. Nor I with you. by Nathaniel
"Absolutely," said Nathaniel when Sylvia asked if her reasoning was all right. "And no, the other two teams, they weren't - well, nobody as respectable as you."Of course, Florence Newell was a particularly thorny issue, one that pricked close to the edges of Nathaniel's deepest insecurities. The Newells had been respectable people in their lifetimes, but now they were...tarnished. Nathaniel had to grudgingly concede that his father wasn't as bad as that Newell man who'd gone to prison for Dark magic, but - well, he didn't want to think about that, and so shoved it out of his head as rapidly as possible.
A little harder to get out of his head was the idea that it had been a challenge oriented toward 'rough' people. She had said he wasn't a rough person, just lumped in with them, but...What did it mean, anyway? If he was too gentle, he was unmanly - a very improper thing to be. He had to be strong; that was what it was to be a man. However, if he was 'rough', that was impolite, and it might break apart the two most important relationships in his life - with Sylvia and his mother.
"I think we should just go ahead and eat," he said. "So nobody will ask about your team right now, while they're looking at the head of team names, and later it won't matter."
16
Nathaniel
*flaps about contentedly* Excellent. Nor I with you.
1412
Nathaniel
0
5