Professor Kijewski
June 30, 2011 9:22 PM
Beginner's Lesson 1 by Professor Kijewski
Kiva remembered how much she had enjoyed teaching, but out of all the years that she had taught, the first and second years usually held a special spot for her. This was mainly because they were still young and opened to the idea of Care of Magical Creatures. The older students had already at this point in their educational careers decided on their thoughts and opinions of this class. No matter what Kiva did from their fourth year or on, their minds were formed. It was a bit sad, but she had accepted it a long time ago. But with the first and second years (and maybe even the third years), Kiva still had time to convince them that these creatures could actually be fun and amazing. Sure they had to first learn of the docile creatures before they can learn of the large terrifying ones, but she didn’t find that to be so bad. Sometimes. Well, she’s definitely learned her lesson from past experience. No boring creatures allowed.She smiled at her students as they made their way down to her clearing. “Hello everyone! Good to see you all, I hope your week is going well.” Kiva greeted. Behind her on the table were two crates, each covered by different blankets. The beginners were a little difficult to select proper animals. She never knew if third years should still be with the beginners or with the intermediates. It was a rough age to be at and really the maturity level varied so greatly between each of them. For now, she’d keep them at the beginner level, but it was possible that in future years (if she was still around since this was only a temporary thing currently) she might decide it was better to move them into intermediate level.
“Today we will be having a practical day instead of just lecture.” Her last time teaching, Kiva had just sort of thrown them into studying the creatures, but this time around, she was having them do research on creatures and then supply the creatures if possible. These two they had already done some reading on, but Kiva wanted them to see them up front so that they can understand that not all magical creatures were totally noticeable.
With a wave of her wand, the blankets were lifted from the crates to reveal a crup in one crate and a kneazle in the other. Neither animal looked at one another, but that was because they were raised together and didn’t give an inkling for each other. Fighting would not occur. “In front of you, you will a crup and a kneazle. These two creatures resemble non-magical creatures so much that often muggles mistake them for non-magical creatures.” Kiva explained to them, releasing the crup first and holding him gently to show him off to the students.
“Crups, like Noedi here, look just like Jack Russell terriers except for one minor little thing…” Kiva turned him so that the students could see his tail. “He has a fork tail. Once witches and wizards obtain a Crup for pets, they must remove the fork tail. This is to protect the Crup as much as it is to protect the secrecy of our society.” Kiva advised them. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt them. Now, a very important fact about Crups is that they hate Muggles. They will attack if they are near any. So, if you ever plan on having one for your pet, you cannot live near muggles.” She wanted to make that very clear to them. Her first spell with a Crup and a student ended terribly, she was not going to let that happen again. “Other than that, Crups are loyal to their owners and eat pretty much anything you give to them.”
Next, she pulled out the kneazle and held it. “Cinder is a pure kneazle, so the variations to a cat are more noticeable, but mixed kneazles are able to blend in perfectly.” Kiva pointed out the ears, “Kneazles have larger ears than normal cats – think of bobcats- spotted fur much like leopards, and tails that look like lion tails.” It was very much like a kneazle might have been creature from mating those three cats together. “But aside from their physical appearance, kneazles are incredible creatures. They are extremely intelligent and can detect suspicious persons. If they do detect someone who is insalubrious, kneazles will react poorly to them. If you see a kneazle reacting, trust them. Also like a crup, if a kneazle takes a liking to a witch or wizard, they are loyal and make excellent pets.”
Now that she had completed the lecture portion of the class, it was time for the students to have some fun. “Okay, everyone now that you know how amazing these creatures are, have some fun with them. They are young and enjoy playing with people. Their crates have toys in them that they favor, so go ahead and grab them.” Before releasing them completely though, Kiva added, “Do not harm these creatures. If any of you poke, pull, or injury them, you will fail this class.” She didn’t think any of them would, but she wanted them to know that she would not stand for cruelty.
OOC: Site rules apply. Please provide at least 200 word posts. Remember that the more detailed and lengthy posts get more posts. Be creative and have fun with the creatures! If you need Kiva, just tag her in the subject line.
Subthreads: Any rules against Crup-Abductions? by David Kim [Aladren] with Jenny Owens, David Kim, Michael Grosvenor
Awww, look at the kitty by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren with Arthur Carey, Aladren, Kitty
Waiting my turn by Derry Four, Teppenpaw with Jhonice Trevear - Pecari
Contemplating the future by Arnold Carey, Aladren with Fae Sinclair, Fae
Not so sure about this by Paul Bennett, Crotalus with Sullivan Quincy, Pecari, Paul, Sully
Photography Subject - Kneazle by Alice Adair, Crotalus with Leon Loffredo, Pecari
Nice puppy... by Eliza Bennett, Crotalus with James Owen, Eliza
Not the puppy I wanted. by Cherry Bosko with Linus Macaulay
Hey, Cat. by David Wilkes, Aladren with Jordan Adair, Crotalus
Observing by Nora Dobson, Aladren with Russell Layne, Aladren
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Professor Kijewski
Beginner's Lesson 1
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Professor Kijewski
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Kitty
July 09, 2011 12:55 AM
So they say, but satisfaction brought her back by Kitty
Kitty nodded in agreement. Because she was the only girl, she’d never had to share a room before. But it was kind of neat to be in the same room with other girls. They didn’t really like her over excitable nature, but she didn’t let that get to her. Kitty had known when she found out that Aladren was for the smart kids that they probably would get annoyed with her.A frown pulled at Kitty’s lips when Arthur said it was his fault that Arnold wasn’t the next in line for power. She easily figured out that Arthur was probably the second born twin, to have gotten that idea, but it didn’t make sense to her. “Twins are created in the same instant when the egg splits. Birth order doesn’t really affect that, just because he happened to be in front doesn’t mean he existed first. So it would be equally fair to say that Arnold’s existence kept you from being the heir. Or, well it’s really the fault of who ever those other twins where that messed everything up for you two.” Kitty reasoned. She always thought it was silly how twins put so much emphasis on who was born first when they were exactly the same age and it was merely chance which one came out first.
“Hmmm, the head of my family? Well it isn’t any of our grandparents. Dad’s parents live in Oklahoma and we only visit once every few years or so. And even though Mom’s parents live in Nevada, they’re still pretty far away. We only see them at Easter. And for all that Dad looks like a giant grizzly bear he’s really just a big teddy bear. A total push over if you know what I mean. So I guess it would be Mom. Even though she’s little like me she’s totally the boss of the house. Dad isn’t even allowed to use the check book.” She said with a smile. It was so funny, watching her tiny mother boss her 6’ 11 Dad around. He took it all in good fun, but it was clear to anyone who watched the two that Anita was the apple of his eye. And he would move heaven and earth to please her.
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Kitty
So they say, but satisfaction brought her back
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Kitty
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Arthur
July 09, 2011 3:02 PM
Where on Earth did you see <i>that</i>? by Arthur
If Kitty had been talking to Arnold, Arthur thought, when she began going on about the mechanics of conception, the reaction would have been very amusing indeed. His brother was easily flustered and embarrassed by that sort of thing.Arthur didn’t hold that against him. It really wasn’t something that was fit for discussion. It went in the book, you read about it, and that was that. There was no need for discussion. He didn’t, however, think his own lack of squeamishness – well, all right, ability to hide his squeamishness, just as he did when he heard people talking about money, or when they had to go to a funeral and see a dead body; all of those things bothered him, but he could hide it – was the worse option. Especially since other people sometimes had no issues at all.
“You’re talking about identical twins,” he corrected her. “Like the last set, actually.” He had always wondered what in Merlin’s name had possessed his great-great-great-grandfather, having picked his great-great-grandfather at random to name after himself, to name the other twin Thomas, of all things, if what Arthur had read about how it actually meant ‘twin’ was true. How could the Third have essentially defined one of his sons as nothing but the twin of the other and not expected problems? “Arnold and I, as I assume you’ve noticed, are not identical. No splitting involved.” He was just squeamish enough to not explain the mechanics of that; it was his mother involved. “Though if there were a spell to determine which child came first in any respect, I’m very sure my great-great-great-grandfather would have discovered it, so we have to make do with what we can.”
Arthur’s expression remained mostly neutral, but he looked at her a little too long and too intently when she had to work out who the head of her family was. Well, really more because of her reasoning, since he knew there were unimportant families who didn’t bother with a formal leader. What she was describing was more or less control by strength, though the tiny woman overruling a big man would make more sense if they were magical…The whole practice would, he supposed, lend itself to a certain kind of leadership, but it just sounded barbaric.
Possibly, though, still better than his system, where skill only came into play if the person in the right place of birth order was so incompetent, however rare, given the intensive training of heirs, that might be, that his brothers, sisters, or cousins either killed him or took control over him and used him as a puppet. And that thought was the really disturbing one.
“Is that common, where you come from?” he asked. “For families to structure themselves so?”
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Arthur
Where on Earth did you see <i>that</i>?
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Arthur
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Kitty
July 10, 2011 11:01 PM
It’s the second half of that little saying by Kitty
“Well the point still stands, the two of you existed pretty much at the same time, so I don’t think that either of you is better or more important than the other.” Kitty replied after Arthur told her they were fraternal twins instead of identical. Although the thought of one child being better or somehow more important was a foreign one to Kitty she could tell that it was something that mattered in the big magic families. How sad, to feel like you are not as good or as valuable to your parents as your sibling. I would hate living like that Kitty thought.“Well, now in days most families don’t really sweat that sort of thing you know? I mean yeah back in the olden times when there were like noble families it mattered who was top dog, and who was born first because of inheritance and stuff like that. I guess the really rich families might still sort of worry about it, but most people don’t anymore.” Kitty said with a laugh. She was quickly figuring out that the magic families were downright medieval in their thinking.
Really, how many Anthony’s did one family need anyway? Being named after someone else seemed almost sad to the small girl. How could a person ever truly be themselves if they didn’t have their own name? It seemed like there would be a lot of expectations to live up to if you were the eighth Anthony. That was seven other people, with all their accomplishments both good and bad hanging over your head all the time. Could someone ever truly break away and be who they really were meant to be if they didn’t have their own name? Kitty didn’t know, but it was an interesting question.
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Kitty
It’s the second half of that little saying
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Kitty
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Arthur
July 13, 2011 5:20 PM
Necromancy is not good by Arthur
Arthur closed his eyes, a rejection of stupidity in his surroundings, when the girl persisted in her point of view. “No one ever said one of us was better than the other,” he said patiently. “Inheritance really doesn’t have a lot to do with that.” He bit his tongue just short of pointing out that he was universally acknowledged as the most intelligent, despite sometimes not doing as well socially as the other two. “But there can only be one heir, so there has to be some way of determining who that is, and twins can argue about who was born first. It does not, though, take a genius to tell the difference between us and Anthony, so by the family’s reasoning, it’s better that it’s him.”He was usually not very good at facial expressions, but had one as he looked at Kitty after she started talking about families in general, and it was one of pure bewilderment. This was beyond being barbaric, this was getting into…anarchy, as well as not making sense. Not that anarchy did make sense, since any time he’d ever read about in history when law and order collapsed, people had proven they were basically horrible, but…this was the same, but worse. This was affecting his coherency, and that was a rare concept.
“I do not know,” he said in response to her ‘you knows,’ sounding slightly irritated by that, “as I have never had the misfortune to meet people so disorganized before. Inheritance is still a concern for us. And I don’t even want to think about what would happen if the people I have met compared their head of family to a dog.” Actually, now that he thought about it, he really didn’t want to think about what would happen to the idiot who did so, especially in his family. He expected the person who did it to Thomas would very soon either have a terrible accident or find new purpose in life as a transfigured knickknack on the old man’s desk, and the Fourth….Well.
“I’ve heard of unimportant families with a weak hierarchy, but I really don’t understand it. How does anything get decided? How do you function together?”
The family, after all, had collective interests. Individual preferences and skills were factored into how an individual was used, but ultimately, the family came first. Somehow or another, it always did. If it didn’t, you were cut off, simple as that. But someone had to be in control. It might not be the person who looked like he was in control, but someone had to be in control. If no one was, anarchy would follow immediately. Therefore, someone had to stay in control.
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Arthur
Necromancy is not good
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Arthur
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Kitty
July 13, 2011 8:27 PM
No necromancy needed…9 lives! by Kitty
A giggle escaped the tiny girl at the baffled look on Arthur’s face. Then it was her turn to look confused. “Well it’s not all that hard. We don’t have bunches of people like you guys do. So keeping order in a group of five really isn’t that tricky. At least Mom does a pretty darn good job of it. And seems there isn’t much in the way of inheritance, really who would want to inherit a minivan anyway? It isn’t a big deal. The kids go to school, Mom and Dad go to work, we all come home eat dinner, talk and go to bed. It’s not that hard to keep straight. You know, in the regular world most families only have like two kids, sometimes even just one. It seems like in the magic world they have a lot more kids, so that might be why its harder to keep everything in order for you guys?” The small lit at the end of her words made it more of a question.Kitty couldn’t really understand why any family would need a designated leader any way. They weren’t wolves that needed a pecking order, although sometimes it seemed that way between her and her brother Zack. Things always ran pretty smoothly in their household, and her parents almost never fought. Unlike her best friend Kelly, who’s parents fought all the time because both of them wanted to be in charge. They ended up getting divorced. “Sometimes a family doesn’t even have both parents, what with like half of marriages ending in divorce. It can get really complicated when families re-marry and then there are step children, and half children, and whatever. So I can see how a family like that might need someone to keep everything together. But ours is pretty solid.” Kitty said with a nod of her head, dark curls bouncing.
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Kitty
No necromancy needed…9 lives!
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Kitty
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Arthur
July 20, 2011 12:21 AM
Very clever by Arthur
Arthur enjoyed learning, and considered few things in life better than a good teacher. He did not, however, appreciate feeling as though anyone remotely near his own age were lecturing him. He had to bite his tongue to keep from cutting her down over that alone.“My parents have three children, thank you,” he said. “Our Aunt Emma only has two.” He neglected to mention Uncle Donnie. That was just, according to things he’d overheard Mother saying, Aunt Gigi’s stupidity. “Of course larger families were the norm historically, for a variety of reasons, but that’s no longer necessary. Most families settle for an heir and a spare, maybe a daughter or two for making secondary alliances. Dowries are quite expensive.”
At least, if what he’d heard about how the family was trying to provide for his cousins was true, they were. His uncle and aunt were not destitute by any standards, he was sure of that, but they were worried about how they were going to have anything for Diana and Cecilia. And since he assumed that, it being to the benefit of the Careys as a whole when a girl married well, the family as an entity provided assistance in that way to parent sets who needed it, that made the business sound more costly than he’d ever imagined.
“But that’s beside the point. Your family – eventually, you’ll grow up. Is that what you people do, disown everyone as soon as you’re adults? Cut you off at seventeen, and then you have to start over with nothing but who you marry?” He was a little horrified by the very idea. There were downsides to the structure of the family, the hierarchy, the degrees of deference and obedience, but he knew that if he needed it, really needed it, the family was there, willing to provide what was necessary. That was what it was to be a Carey. You looked out for each other as long as humanly possible. “Or does everyone leave their family as soon as they grow up? Not that that’s any less barbaric. What do older people do, without families?”
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Arthur
Very clever
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Arthur
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Kitty
July 20, 2011 10:22 PM
Sadly I’m about down to 4 or so by Kitty
People, in Kitty’s mind were a lot like Rubik Cubes. Each question asked was like another turn of the squares. And Kitty couldn’t help but want to solve each new puzzle she stumbled upon. And now, she’d been given an entire world full of new people to work out. Every question answered seemed to spark all new questions that needed to be explored, tested, and understood. Even with seven years Kitty knew that she wouldn’t be able to completely satisfy her need to know.Dowries. She remembered reading a book that talked briefly about them once, but Kitty was pretty sure that magic families did not trade off their girl children for live stock, and other such things. The thought made her giggle a bit though. One dragon, two unicorns and a gryphon for your daughter’s hand in marriage. “Wow, you guys really have dowries? It is just money or other stuff?” She asked curiously.
“I don’t think anyone today disowns people. Maybe if the family is really rich they won’t be in the will, but well if family doesn’t get along when the kid is old enough they just leave and don’t talk any more. It’s not really a formal kinda thing. And well, yeah. Though in the regular world people aren’t really adults until they’re 18. Then they can move out and do whatever. Most parents pay for collage though. But pretty much when the kid feels ready they move out, get a job, and start their lives. They don’t have to be married that usually comes later any way.” Kitty said, finding it kind of fun explaining all the things that had seemed so normal before coming here.
“Old people? Well, my grandparents have their own homes. They’re doing alright.” Kitty said. “We usually go on a road trip every summer and visit them. It would be nice if they lived closer though, it takes forever to drive to Oklahoma from Nevada.” Kitty said thoughtfully.
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Kitty
Sadly I’m about down to 4 or so
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Kitty
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Arthur
July 22, 2011 9:56 PM
I'm not surprised by Arthur
“Property is sometimes used as well,” Arthur said, more by default than by design. Part of his brain had just shut down. It contained a considerable portion of his filter. “Land. Perhaps house-elves. I don’t know. I wouldn’t think that was common.”They got attached, after all. A person moving into a new house might take a favorite along to help establish the household, though having favorites wasn’t really encouraged after a certain age….
He was so troubled, he was stalling by thinking of irrelevancies. He closed his eyes for a second, forcing himself to think straight. That was the best way. Not to turn aside, not to be distracted: to confront the problem and then solve it. To do otherwise was foolish.
Though it wasn’t unheard of for multiple generations to live together – he thought George’s entire line still lived, along with George and Hope, at Thornton with Thomas and Eliza and Matilda, after all – it was generally the case among his people, as it was among Miss McLevy’s, to set up independent households after marriage. That was done, that was accepted. But they were still acknowledged as inferior to the households of the senior members! That was order, that was logic, that was done. That was how they functioned.
Then, she said something that made him start remembering things he didn’t want to. His jaw clenched with the effort of not shouting at her that he was not a freak. There was nothing wrong with him, with his family, with any of it. That if anyone here was irregular, it was her, so stupid she was asking questions like this. But he didn’t.
“I see,” he said. “So you are so insignificant that your family doesn’t even have goals which require more than one competent adult to accomplish. You don’t have any connections, and you don’t even have anything to make some with. I wouldn’t ally with you, either, if you haven’t even got the sense to stay in one place and stick together and use each other until you’re established. If that’s your regular world, I’m perfectly happy staying in mine, thank you.”
He cut himself off sharply, realizing how far he’d gone. How he’d lost his temper. He could not do that. He could say too much, give away something he wasn’t supposed to know. He had. To keep. His head on. He started to turn, stopped again, unsure what to do.
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Arthur
I'm not surprised
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Arthur
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Kitty
July 23, 2011 11:59 PM
You could pretend to be by Kitty
Well, land makes sense. Wow, I didn’t realize that families had elves too, I thought it was just schools and stuff Kitty thought, smiling a she added this new bit of information into her collection of how things are different. In this case though, it was probably similar to rich people having servants and cooks and such. So it wasn’t that big of a difference.A look of anger crossed Arthur's face and his next words were spoken sharply. The happy smile that almost always adorned the small girl’s face faded into a small frown as she listened to his words. Just as he started to turn and walk away Kitty reached out and lightly touched his arm. “I’m sorry okay? I didn’t mean to be rude but I don’t understand why you guys get so mad about this.” Kitty said as she took her hand away and held it out wide enclosing their surroundings. “This isn’t regular, or normal, or average. Why don’t you see that it is extraordinary? And even if I live to be three hundred it will always be better than normal. The normal world is boring, but this…this is the world of magic, and even if it can be scary at times it can never be called just normal. It will always be more than that. You and I will always be more than just normal.” She finished, feeling quite sure of this fact and a little angry too. Not at Arthur, or at Arnold before him who showed Kitty their wish to be normal, but at who ever convinced the twins that normal is what they should aspire to being. She shouldn’t have to tell either of them they were not normal, they were better than that. It bothered her that they didn’t see it, didn’t see that they were magical, and thus forever more than mere normal.
“There’s a reason most people who aren’t rich don’t have grand goals that require years of planning. Regular people just don’t live as long. They’re lucky if they see 75, so at any one time there’s only bound to be three generations or so alive. One too young to be of any use, one too old to be of any use. So we have to live generation by generation.” Suddenly the small girl looked stricken as a truth she should have seen during her conversation with Arnold blazed like a tiny burning sun in her chest. “I’m not normal…I never was. I will outlive my brothers, my parents, my friends. Their children will grow old and die before I do.” She whispered softly as the bitter truth sank in. She would see everyone she knew and loved die, people who weren’t even born yet would not live as long as she had the potential to.
Kitty took a step back looking small and lost for a moment as she thought over the truth of her words. “You’re right, I’m the only magical one so I guess that makes me the matriarch of the McLevy’s I doubt I would make a particularly useful ally.” She said, attempting to joke about it, though the words fell a little flat as she tried not to cry. They weren’t going to all be gone tomorrow, she still had years left with them, decades even, but somehow it just didn’t seem long enough. “You’re families lives can be counted by centuries, mine by mere decades. So what’s the point of being established when they just die?” Kitty said harshly, suddenly angry that this boy wasn’t the only special one in his family, that he would have his brother for as long as they both lived, and wouldn’t have to watch him die of old age.
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Kitty
You could pretend to be
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Kitty
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Arthur
July 26, 2011 9:01 PM
Honesty is the best policy by Arthur
He barely noticed her touching him, though his arm pulled itself away by instinct even as she withdrew. It wasn’t really her; he didn’t even like being touched by close family. He could tolerate it with his mother or Arnold, but didn’t like it even then, and was only slightly less uncomfortable with his father and younger brother and cousins than he was with the general population. He’d learned to mask it, but it was always there, and right now, with sharp needles of pain moving between the lowest joints of the fingers of his left hand back through his wrist and his head beginning to give a few erratic warning thuds, he wasn’t bothering with the mask. He was too busy noticing how his world was being shaken up.Mother had told him just to be polite to everyone unless he wanted the rough side of her temper, which he most certainly did not, and his father had never said anything on the topic, but the rest of the family had cheerfully taken up the task of telling Arthur about the perils of associating with Muggleborns before he left home. Chief among these would be their efforts to portray Muggles as the equals of everyone else, or else to pass themselves off as equal by renouncing their ancestry. He could, therefore, have responded to that without much emotion, since he was accustomed to that idea.
This was not something he had ever heard of. There were horror stories about how Muggleborns could force or trick their way into families and then two generations later there were homicidal Squibs, and there were histories of demonstrations and long political battles and vote-splitting and how internal issues and goals of the families had affected everything along with the occasional riot, but…she was arguing in favor of Muggle inferiority?
He got the feeling one of them was missing something. Maybe that both of them were. He wasn’t sure of anything at this point.
He wasn’t sure, though, how to voice this. You realize you’re articulating the philosophy of those who’d like to kill your entire family, or at least reduce them to something less than house-elves was not a very politic thing to say. He wasn’t really old enough, he knew, to grasp all the finer points of this kind of thing, but he was still pretty sure of that, just as he was sure that this would all go away in a few hours, as most things that troubled him did, since it was just bizarre rather than upsetting on its own and he wouldn’t have been troubled if not for his uneasy over his unseemly display of emotion, but for now, it was….
She went on, and he was startled by the mere idea of dying at seventy-five. Grandfather was close to that, and he still had dark hair. Not completely dark, of course, but more dark than gray. He seemed somewhat self-conscious about that. Thomas had married for the third time when he was not much younger than that, to a witch in her forties, and he knew their son had at least grandchildren.
Dear Merlin, their lives were hopeless. Mother had said that the worst stories, about how Muggles didn’t have a complex society at all, were just stories, but he couldn’t help but wonder now if it might be true. Not everyone lived very long – in addition to the dangers of magic and the way Georgia leaders never lasted more than a few decades, there were things like Aunt Lindy, and the way the Fourth had lost a son and a father to heart trouble while they were both far younger than he was now – but they were part of a structure that did, and knew they could potentially live long enough to accomplish something. If she was being honest, then…you lived a little while, then you died, and it didn’t matter.
Be reasonable, he told himself. Think. It doesn’t matter that they don’t matter, not when I am not going to die before I have gray hair, so why is this so disturbing? It isn’t practical.
Arthur had never been quite as good as he thought he was at introspection and divining his own motives.
“Technically, I expect not,” he said automatically, falling into the formal style of his textbooks as he didn’t quite get her attempt at a joke. “There’s no one for you to be matriarch of, and…” He trailed off, shaking his head. An eleven year old matriarch of herself. Amazing. The things she could think were fascinating. He wished he could study it, but supposed he’d ruined his chance of that with his outburst.
He didn’t know what to do with her exclamation, though. “Everyone has a purpose,” he said automatically, reciting one of the family mottos. “Everyone has a place, and everyone has a purpose. I don’t think many people live as long as they can, but they…serve a purpose.” That was why there was a head of the family, to help determine your purpose and make sure you fulfilled it. Even if you didn’t want to. He shook his head again and half reached out, then put his hand down again. “But it’s…sad. For you. That’s unfortunate.”
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Arthur
Honesty is the best policy
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Arthur
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Kitty
July 26, 2011 10:33 PM
Then why is my honesty so annoying? by Kitty
“But it’s…sad. For you. That’s unfortunate.” Arthur agreed as he started to reach out, before his hand fell once more. A small shrug of narrow shoulders was Kitty’s answer as she stood still for once. Her large blue eyes were overly wide in an attempt to keep the tears gathering in them from falling.“Yeah…I guess that’s one way to put it.” She said softly with a small watery smile. “But, it’s not like they’re gunna die tomorrow right? And…and seventy five years is a really long time.” She didn’t sound very convinced in her own words. “I’ll just have to find my own purpose.” Kitty agreed. This thought pleased the small girl and helped drive away her melancholy.
Her earlier anger at Arthur was gone as quickly as it arrived and Kitty’s excitable nature reasserted itself “I’ll get to forge my own path!” she said with a grin. That was the better choice anyway, in the small girl’s mind. Seems everything else was old fashioned and girls got dowries it probably meant that they were still mostly housewives. That didn’t sound very fun, so this way she got to make a name for herself and do something exciting instead. “Um, what sorts of jobs are there in the magic world?” She’d been so interested in all the other magic stuff that concerned her that Kitty hadn’t really thought much about the future. Now that she was a witch, there were probably all sorts of new jobs to consider.
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Kitty
Then why is my honesty so annoying?
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Kitty
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Arthur
July 29, 2011 7:05 PM
It's possible I misrepresented the truth in my last title by Arthur
For a moment, with a surge of an emotion Arthur thought must be complete horror, he thought she was going to start crying. That would do it. He had never been able to figure out what to do with people who cried, and that was when he wasn’t the person who’d inspired the thought that made them want to do that.“It…is probably unlikely,” he said when she suggested that her parents were not likely to fall over dead tomorrow. It was entirely possible, but if she thought it was unlikely, then it was most likely the case that they didn’t have an unusual number of outstanding health issues that might result in that, or that the crime rate among her people was so high that it was a likely source of early death. Anyone could just fall over dead for no reason, he supposed, but it wasn’t likely, and mentioning it seemed likely to make her cry again, which was sort of not what he wanted to do at the moment. It wasn’t diplomatic to point that sort of thing out.
Suddenly, she was smiling again. He was thrown, but smiled as well, hoping to encourage her to continue in her present behavior instead of going back to that of five seconds ago. “Well, witches typically don’t work after they marry – “ at least witches in his circles didn’t, he wasn’t sure about anyone else, though he thought working might be more common there – “but there are many occupations. Healing, mediwizardry for those who don’t want to put in that much work, international affairs, financing, tutoring, sewing, most clothing shops are run by witches, I think, wireless announcers and actors and singers, Quidditch players…I hope to go into research. There’s so many things we don’t know about magic, about the limits of the possible…” His expression had relaxed as he focused on his topic, and he smiled briefly and genuinely at the mention of what he hoped to do someday.
“I think people generally have jobs through government offices, or else they become assistants or apprentices to those who own shops and hope to be left the business, though that doesn’t work in shops which have been handed down through families. Most apothecaries are family-owned. Lawyers sometimes seem to be more individual…” He trailed off a little hopelessly. “What are you interested in?” he asked, not sure if that would help at all. Working public, as his grandfather called it, was not something that he knew much about. It was done, but it wasn’t discussed. His uncle worked, he knew, but his best efforts had failed to let him know what it was that Uncle Donnie did, because while he had never really had time to go through all of his uncle’s things at his uncle’s house, he was beginning to think it really wasn’t written down anywhere, and Merlin knew no one was ever going to say.
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Arthur
It's possible I misrepresented the truth in my last title
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Arthur
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Kitty
July 30, 2011 1:21 AM
Maybe just a smidge by Kitty
The sight of an actual smile on Arthur’s face when he talked about research made Kitty almost giddy with delight. For reasons she hadn’t yet figured out magic kids didn’t express themselves well. A small smile from Arthur felt like a large victory to the young girl. “Really? What fields of research are there in the magic world?”Research was something that Kitty might be interested in when she was a lot older. It defined one of the main things that drove most of Kitty’s actions. The almost desperate need to know why, why, why. And magic opened up a whole new world of whys. So many things needed to be explored from why wands worked, to how they were made. Why did positions work, and how were some animals magic while others weren’t. What caused magic in the first place, when did it first appear? How did it evolve and what path did it take. The questions were endless, but exiting all the same.
“While I’m young I want to do something fun. Maybe play Quidditch, I was wondering if anyone does stunt flying. Maybe I can create that, if there isn’t and have shows. Or maybe do documentaries for magical animals. Or explore strange new lands and find things that haven’t been seen before.” Kitty said in a rush as more and more ideas flooded her mind and fought to get out. “After I’ve experienced some of the world I’ll settle down and get married, but not until I’m way older. I don’t want to miss anything you know?” She added with a smile. Marriage wasn’t something on Kitty's radar at the moment, it was hardly even an abstract concept to her. While other young girls dreamed about their wedding days, Kitty dreamed of exploring caves, of sky diving, or maybe discovering some elusive new species.
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Kitty
Maybe just a smidge
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Kitty
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Arthur
July 30, 2011 4:27 PM
Sometimes I do that by Arthur
Arthur blinked, a little startled, when Kitty actually expressed interest in magical research. He bored Arnold nearly to death when he discussed this sort of thing.But then, Arnold was normal, not just learning what the world was. That could explain it. It certainly explained it much better than the idea of there being some sort of similarity between himself and this strange person. A slightly overwhelming, almost exhausting to watch, level of energy seemed to be an integral part of her, and he didn’t think he could even manage to fake that. Not very convincingly, anyway, and not for very long at all.
“Many things,” he said. “Potions, magical theory, spells, other forms of magic, there’s no end to it, really. No one knows how much we could do that we don’t, just because we don’t know it’s possible yet…”
That was something that frustrated him as much as it intrigued him. As far as he could tell, what he was learning as a second year was not that much different, except for Care of Magical Creatures, from what his parents had learned, and that had been a long time ago. Shouldn’t things have happened in such a long time? Shouldn’t they have found something new even for beginners?
She brought him back to reality with her speculations about what amusing things she wanted to do while she was young, though he wasn’t sure how she was defining the key words. “I…don’t exactly,” he said. “We typically marry when we’re told to do so. I don’t think it will keep me from experiencing life.” He would marry because it was what was expected, and sometimes what was really necessary, just as his parents had his brother Anthony because they were asked to by the family after having twins, and Anthony’s existence hadn’t kept Arthur from coming to school. Why would having another person added to his environment be any different? There was no logical reason he could think of that it should be so, so it likely wouldn’t. “I believe some people do perform stunts on brooms, thought,” he added. “What do, er – “ he could not just ask that, there had to be some standards. “What kinds of things did you think of doing before?” he asked instead.
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Arthur
Sometimes I do that
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Arthur
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Kitty
August 01, 2011 4:03 PM
Yeah me too every now and then by Kitty
A laugh burst from Kitty when Arthur said marriage wouldn’t inconvenience him “Well yeah, it’s not so bad on the boy part of the equation, but I’ll be the one having the babies! I want to live and do stuff first, before I’m responsible for kids and all that.” Kitty said with a nod. Having children was most defiantly on the agenda, even if she didn’t think much about getting married. She really wanted to be a mother. Just…not any time soon. “I don’t think I’d like having my husband picked out. What if you don’t like them? Or what if you have nothing in common?”The whole idea was a strange one to Kitty, even though it had been common practice even among normal people a few hundred years ago. It was just too much of a gamble, especially if it was someone she never met before. “I mean, what would you do if you found out you had to marry me?” Kitty asked to make her point. She knew from years of experience that the idea of being stuck with Kitty for life would be enough to make someone cry.
“Hm, well I was leaning towards Marine Biology. Or exploration…going to far of lands and finding things that haven’t been seen before. Maybe work in a Zoo. I’d love to work with the big cats. That would be so much fun! After I settle down and get married I’d probably want to do research, but I haven’t decided in what yet. I want to learn things no one else knows yet.” Kitty said, her eyes distant as the whole world was laid before her, open to what ever she might wish to do.
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Kitty
Yeah me too every now and then
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Kitty
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Arthur
August 04, 2011 11:43 AM
It's a bad habit by Arthur
Arthur supposed he could see why children could inconvenience a mother who was fond of them, or who couldn’t afford a staff to look after them. His mother seemed to just want to take a direct role with him and his brothers, since he was sure she could have not done if she’d wanted and had heard people saying it was strange that she did, and Aunt Gigi always talked about what she’d give for the money to hire two nannies to look after hers for her so they didn’t run her crazy. He nodded and said, “That’s a legitimate point.”He was a little more perplexed, though, by her thoughts on marriage. His parents had married each other because they wanted to for some reason, but Father had been married to someone the family chose first, and both his aunts and his uncle had barely known their spouses when they got married. The thought of him marrying her, though, made him laugh, a short, sharp sound of surprise.
“If the family told me to,” he said, trying not to laugh any more but having trouble keeping some of his amusement off his face, “I would. And then I’d find some position in an embassy in Japan.” He had no particular affinity for Japan, had never even tried to read Japanese before, but that was just the furthest away place he could think of off the top of his head. “I’ve only read general summaries, but they have some interesting magical traditions there. I think it’s because the culture was isolated for so long, even after Apparition was discovered. They weren’t affected by the crossover that you see even between Chinese and western magic.”
That bit of information, he blamed on Preston. He was familiar with the basics of magical theory, but had felt the need to learn even more about it because of his roommate and Sara Raines and whatever all that was about. He supposed he was feeling slightly competitive, though that was an unfamiliar thing still. He just didn’t want Preston to know things that he didn’t.
Besides, it was interesting.
So were things no one knew yet. He looked at her closely, but she was staring off into space. “That is my goal as well,” he said finally, his hands in his pockets. “Though I’m more interested in the limits of magic than in magical creatures.”
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Arthur
It's a bad habit
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Arthur
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Kitty
August 06, 2011 3:20 AM
We should diligently work on that by Kitty
The sound of the short sharp laugh made Kitty want to cheer out loud, but she confided it to her mind and just smiled even wider. Kitty was used to making people laugh, but getting someone like Arthur to laugh was a true achievement. She was surprised when Arthur admitted that if his family wanted him to, he would marry her. That just didn’t make any sense at all, they weren’t the most compatible people ever, and it would probably be really hard to find happiness together. Kitty knew that whoever she did decide to marry would have to have a rather strong sense of humor, and be laid back. “So you have to marry, even if you don’t like them? What about true love?” Kitty asked. At heart she was a compete romantic and couldn’t understand marrying someone you didn’t know let alone didn’t love.Kitty’s curiosity was peaked, there simply weren’t enough hours in the day for the young girl to attempt to devour every scrap of knowledge to be had of this new world. “So different countries have different forms of magic? What is the crossover between Chinese and western magic? How are they different?” Kitty asked excitedly, she was still focusing mostly on magic used here. The idea that magic differed by country just opened up an entire new realm of questions. Were there parallels in the different forms of magic? Were there laws that had to be observed such as the law of gravity in her own world? Laws that transcended culture and had to be observed by all. She tucked the thoughts away to be explored at a later date. It really as a good thing that her dorm was in the library, she could go and read whenever she wanted.
Kitty nodded as well when Arthur said he was interested in the limits of magic. “I want to know where magic comes from on a biological level. Is it energy? Could you imagine seeing a CAT scan of someone who’s doing a spell. I bet that parts of the brain normally dormant are active. Why do some people have magic and others don’t. Is it carried in the DNA? If so, where? I want to know what exactly the wand does for our magic. Why does it work? What exchange happens for our magic to work with a wand but not so well without. There’s just so much to try and figure out just on the biological level.” Kitty chirped. While other children watched cartoons, Kitty’s childhood had been supplemented by an endless series of national geographic shows, and the multiple discovery channels they had. Kitty was a walking encyclopedia of completely random information that she was forever trying to put into some kind of order in her mind.
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Kitty
We should diligently work on that
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Kitty
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Arthur
August 07, 2011 9:56 PM
Diligence is a commendable quality, properly used by Arthur
Arthur was on a little surer footing with her talk of true love. That was what happened in stories. He hesitated for a moment, trying to think of how to phrase his answer. “Of course the family doesn’t want anyone to be truly unhappy,” he said finally, carefully, “but it’s not proper to complain if it’s not so bad you can’t stand it. Romantic affection – “ he couldn’t bring himself to use her wording, he really couldn’t – “happens sometimes, but it isn’t really necessary as long as you don’t hate each other.”He felt slightly on the defensive. “Things can work out, if you make them,” he added. “My great-great-grandparents’ marriage was arranged when they were – “ he loathed the word ‘teenager’ and refused to use it if it was at all avoidable – “fifteen and seventeen, and they’re very fond of each other. My grandparents get along well. I think Father was even friends with his first wife.” Though that was more speculation than a solid point. He knew Father and Mother had both known Olivia before she married Father, Mother had even attended their wedding, but she wasn’t a topic they discussed very often. He only knew she existed because of the way his grandmother liked to compare her to Mother, with Mother’s assurances that Grandmother had disliked Olivia when she was still alive, too, and because of Mother’s habit of sometimes going through old photo albums with them.
His father’s first wife had been of average height, but thin and small-boned so she looked tiny, and almost see-through pale except for the reddest hair Arthur had ever seen. She had taken more care with her clothes than Mother usually did – in the pictures, and in her habit of keeping copies of party invitations and writing what she’d worn on them in a medium-sized, loopy, careful hand. She must have been reasonably intelligent, to be friends with his parents before one of them married her. She had liked horses. There was nothing useful about any of this information, but Arthur enjoyed trying to figure things out about people just by looking at their photographs and perhaps having some very rudimentary background information. It was like solving puzzles.
Sometimes, though, it didn’t work. Kitty’s dark hair and blue eyes could have caused her to pass as a member of a few families at first glance, but the illusion couldn’t last long once she was seen in person. It was good to be reminded that just because something looked obvious and straightforward didn’t mean it necessarily was.
He was made slightly uncomfortable by her prying about the things he’d alluded to, but he couldn’t really blame her. He would have been as curious. The trick was always to seem like a bottomless fount of knowledge without having to really be, since he hadn’t had enough time in life to really learn in detail everything he could sound like he knew a lot about, but it didn’t work against someone who really wanted to know. It worked best for intimidating people into leaving him alone.
“Not exactly different countries,” he said. “Latin-based magic – what we usually learn here – is very widespread. I’m afraid I don’t know more than the basics about all this, just that other things exist.” He grimaced. “I’ve only been reading since…four, I think. They wouldn’t teach me before, and Mother says I picked up on a few words I saw, but I didn’t get to see maybe.” Silly of them. He was sure he could have learned at least the basics at three, and been a year further ahead now. “My tutors always called me down for being too impatient, and I suppose they’re right. It’s frustrating having to learn all the old knowledge first, but it is necessary.”
And there was so much he didn’t know. As she illustrated with her talk about a ‘cat scan.’ He couldn’t think of how a feline or an exam could have anything to do with the brain. “Wands act as amplifiers,” he said. “Though I think that's...really basic. They somehow interact with the wizard, learn with them, so they learn together, so I suppose magic categories you don’t work with often would be more difficult…” He had the feeling of hovering on edge, the familiar rush of thinking along a new line as he moved down it. “That’s interesting. I need to write that down….” He patted his pockets vaguely, then gave it up for the moment. “But magic is in the blood, of course.” Sometimes children were born who…weren’t right, but that was never discussed, and besides, it was very rare. “In the families. I don’t know how Muggleborns happen, though.”
At last, though, curiosity overcame him. “Are Muggle cats able to tell something about the brain?” he asked curiously. “Is it a form of magic they have?” Surely the Muggle world could not be completely devoid of magic. Surely not. How could it function without, even if some were not fully aware of it?
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Arthur
Diligence is a commendable quality, properly used
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Arthur
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Kitty
August 07, 2011 11:17 PM
Improperly used it becomes obsession by Kitty
As long as you don’t hate each other? Wow, even normal people who are totally free to pick who they want still end up hating each other. I can’t imagine what it would be like to marry a stranger and have it work out. “Are there a lot of divorces then when the marriages don’t work out?” Kitty asked, though she was half tempted to substitute the word murder for divorce. If some stranger suddenly found themselves married to her things would not end well. Being the meek submissive wife wasn’t something Kitty had in her, and if her would be husband attempted to put her in her place…well, it wouldn’t be a pretty situation.“Wow, that’s pretty young. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until they’re grown up? I mean a fifteen year old doesn’t even know who they are yet, how are they suppose to suddenly be able to work together in a marriage?” Kitty wondered, being a teenager was bad enough, she hated to think what it would be like if marriage was thrown on top of all the craziness.
Kitty’s mind was like a sponge, carefully soaking up every drop of information Arthur parted with. Latin-based magic, how many other forms of magic were there? What parallels could be found in each, and what differences? Could the different brands of magic be crossed? Could new forms be created by doing so? Too many questions, not enough answers. But, that’s why there was a library, and when that failed, experimentation. The library would be a starting point though.
How old was I when I learned how to read? Kitty wondered when Arthur told her he was four. One of her earliest memories was of being tucked in Jason’s lap, he would have been eleven or twelve at the time, maybe a bit older or younger, she couldn’t quite recall. The sound of his calm quiet tone as he read White Fang patiently to the small girl, carefully reading line after line, as she chimed in when a familiar word arouse. The memory brought a small sad smile to her lips, suddenly she missed her brothers fiercely and again wondered why she was magic and they weren’t. What is magic anyway? Maybe everyone is born with the ability, but only some people can access it? Perhaps there’s a way to trigger it in people who don’t have it. The idea was an interesting one, one she’d have to look into further at some point.
Kitty blinked for a minute when Arthur asked about cats. “Huh?...Oh! No not cats the animals. It’s an acronym C.A.T, I’m not sure what it stands for, but it’s a device that scans a person’s brain. Um…you lay down on a table and there’s a machine that just takes pictures, only not like photos, but it scans the inside of your head and records the energy patterns there. It would be interesting to take a scan before someone cast a spell, during, then after to see what sort of changes go on in the active or inactive areas of the brain while using magic.” Kitty said thoughtfully.
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Kitty
Improperly used it becomes obsession
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Kitty
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Arthur
August 12, 2011 1:35 AM
Or just forwards an unworthy goal by Arthur
Arthur flushed when she asked about divorces. Really, there were things you talked about openly, and things you did not! Was she trying to put him off balance? “No,” he said stiffly. “No, that’s rare. It isn’t seemly.” Plus, while he didn’t think wives and husbands were often part of the family the way the rest of them were, they couldn’t divorce people and then have them wandering around in the world, telling whomever they wanted the family secrets. The way divorce wasn’t common at all made him think that his family wasn’t alone in championing that view. “You just…avoid each other, if you have to.”His look was more blank, though, about her criticism of the Fourth and Belinda. “Well, they were two years older when they actually married,” he said patiently. “So they were both legal adults. And of course at first my – “ there were only so many ‘greats’ he could say in a row before it started to sound silly – “Anthony the Third and Hermia were still alive, then, and they guided them.” Well, Hermia had, anyway. People who’d known her spoke of his great-great-great-grandmother with something like the reverence they all showed Great-Great-Grandmother, but he didn’t think the Fourth had been very fond of his own father.
That happened, sometimes. His father was not very fond of his grandfather, either. Arthur thought he and his brothers were lucky to be fond of their father. Perhaps Grandfather was right and he was weak, unfit to be the heir, but Arthur would still wager on his intelligence against Uncle Donnie’s, and he was…He liked Father, anyway.
“But they knew exactly who they were,” he said firmly. “They were Anthony Carey the Fourth and Belinda Hamilton, and they were doing what was best for their families.”
He listened with poorly concealed interest to her story about what a ‘cat scan’ was. “I see,” he said finally. “That sounds similar to Legilimency.” He remembered how disconcerting it had been to realize someone was poking around in his thoughts with no more difficulty than she could walk down a hall. He wondered if he had the talent to learn it himself someday. It seemed like a useful thing, as long as no one knew. “Except they don’t take pictures. Is that why it’s done? For study?” It sounded like easy blackmail to him, but using the machine meant kidnapping first….
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Arthur
Or just forwards an unworthy goal
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Arthur
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Kitty
August 12, 2011 12:49 PM
Well that too by Kitty
A small pout showed on Kitty’s lips when she saw Arthur stiffen up again. Another taboo subject? How does anyone ever learn anything if no one wants to talk about it? Surprise reflected in her blue eyes at his explanation, How in the world do they not get divorces? The practice had become so common in her world that Kitty knew people who’s parents had been married and divorced three or four times.“Maybe that’s better…In my world people get married and divorced all the time. It really is a mess. In my old school it was almost odd to be in a family that hadn’t gone though a divorce. Luckily mom and dad totally get along and love each other so I doubt that will ever happen to my family, but still it happens a lot to other people. Maybe it would be better if they weren’t aloud to, or if it was still looked down upon and people just had to at least try to work things out. I don’t know, sometimes it’s really bad and can’t be worked out, but it seems like people don’t really try any more.” Kitty said, her voice taking on a more serious tone as she tried to figure out which world was better off in the realm of marriage.
On the one hand her world people got to marry because they loved each other and didn’t have to get married to strangers. Or at least that was how it was suppose to work. Getting married due to pregnancy and what not also happened but those almost never worked out any way. In the magic world there was still a taboo attached to being divorced, something that had been true in her world at one point but was no longer the case. Sighing, Kitty decided maybe that was a question she’d have to be more mature to try and figure out, it wasn’t like science or math, or even magic. There wasn’t a formula that could be done, and there were no right answers to be found. It was just too vague and wishy washy for Kitty’s fact driven mind to get a proper handle on.
“Hm, well I guess it was used to map out the different areas of the brain first. But now it’s mostly used for medicine. If you have like a tumor or something they can do a C.A.T scan and see it. It can also be used to see if someone is brain dead or not, if they’re in a coma. For study they’re useful to see what areas of the brain control what. Like where the memory is stored, or what area controls our ability to speak. That sort of thing. If someone has head trauma they can do a scan to see where the damage is and how bad it is. What’s Leqilimency?” She wondered. Kitty knew that there were different machines that did different scans but didn’t know exactly which were which so she just sort of lumped it all in to C.A.T scan.
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Kitty
Well that too
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Kitty
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Arthur
August 17, 2011 11:09 AM
There's usually one more thing by Arthur
Arthur had always prided himself on being better informed than most people thought any twelve year old had any right to be. He went out of his way to listen and learn where others did not, where he was at least implicitly forbidden to do so, so he would know what the adults did and so not be taken advantage of or fooled. When that happened and he realized it had, it made him furious, enough so that he frightened himself a little. Not that most emotions, generally speaking, didn’t make him do that.Some weren’t too bad – some could even be pleasant – but Arthur preferred being distanced from his feelings. Emotions were messy. They made you fail to think through your actions, and at best that led to being undignified. For a twelve year old whose mother thought he was made of spun glass, dignity seemed like a very important thing, the only way to get any respect or hold on to any self-respect.
Now, he was experiencing surprise, and to a greater extent than was remotely pleasant. It seemed he didn’t know anything about how a rather large thing. Admittedly, it was likely he’d live his entire life without seeing a Muggle up close, never mind speaking to one, but still. They existed, and they did things that were alien. Things that would have been considered utterly mortifying for a Carey, like having a divorce in the family, and would have if at all possible led to at least pretending someone was dead if not making them that way for real, were things they could discuss openly!
All this emotional stuff relating to marriage, though, he put aside firmly. That was not something he felt comfortable talking about anymore, and it wasn’t likely to be relevant, either. Mother seemed to want him and his brothers to please themselves in marrying as Father had with her the second time around, but Arthur doubted that would happen, especially for him and Arnold. They didn’t have the protection of being heirs, and while he knew he might do something the family couldn’t stand for someday, he felt confident that not being able to live without a specific girl wouldn’t be it.
“I can’t really speculate,” he said instead.
So this mind-scanning was a medical process. It seemed crude, but then, what did he really know about mind magic except the little bit of Occlumency Father had tried to teach him without telling him what it was he was being taught?
“Legilimency is one of the mental magics,” he said, summing up what he did know. “And not many people ever learn it. It’s advanced magic. You can use it to tell if – “ learn to lie better, kiddo, he remembered – “someone is lying, I know. Unless they know how to block it. But they’re both very rare talents, as I understand it. I only know the word because I like reading dictionaries.” He did not speak as though he considered this in any way unusual. Nor did he mention that he’d first heard the word from Uncle Donnie, while he was eavesdropping on a conversation between his father and uncle.
To change the subject, and noticing the class was near to its end, he said abruptly, “This conversation had been interesting. Perhaps we will talk again another time."
He knew he was walking a fine line there, but he thought he could keep anything from going wrong. He wasn’t Gwenhwyfar. He wasn’t going to lose his head, or even be indiscreet about this study. The family would never know.
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Arthur
There's usually one more thing
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Arthur
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Kitty
August 19, 2011 10:44 PM
Ta Ta for now by Kitty
Kitty gave Arthur a surprisingly happy smile for all that he was dismissing her. He’d given her a lot more time and information than Arnold had, and Arthur was not stingy with the information he was willing to share even though some of the topics covered clearly made the older boy uncomfortable. “I hope so. Thanks for talking to me Arthur!” Kitty exclaimed happily as she turned and snagged her forgotten bag off the ground before sitting down in the grass a few feet away.Slender hands quickly dug though the forest green backpack and snagged a small diary. The cover showed a tiny black kitten sleeping next to a large husky dog, it was super cute and had been bought fresh for school. She had four other fresh books stashed in her room for when this one was full. Smiling contently Kitty began to write in her quick feminine script. First the date then next to that AC2.
Anita McLevy had been able to drill one rule into her curious, stubborn daughter’s head. And that rule was absolutely no note taking while having conversations with other people. Because of this Kitty had to develop a very good memory so she could write down all the information she wanted to keep from such conversations after they were finished.
Arthur had given Kitty a lot of food for thought, and a number of different things that needed further exploration. Usually she would have waited longer before writing, but she had so many thoughts in her head that she didn’t want to lose any.
Legilimency – mental magics/lie detector/can be blocked?
Marriage – Normal or magic better?
Magic – Latin based/other types? (Could be crossed to form new breeds of magic?)
Humming happily under her breath, Kitty continued writing out her list of thoughts, ideas, questions, and areas that required further research. Her thoughts were sprawled out on the page, some scratched out, others redirected via arrows and different symbols that meant something only to her. Writing out her thoughts always helped the small muggleborn make connections she hadn’t seen during the conversation, while getting her thoughts in order for further research. Maybe I’ll be a writer when I grow up, and write research books. Kitty thought. Writing was very soothing to her and she loved the feeling she got when one of her diaries was full and it was time to start a fresh one.
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Kitty
Ta Ta for now
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Kitty
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