Magical Folk for the Eradication of Child Abuse on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Peyton O'Malley

June 13, 2020 5:07 PM

Magical Folk for the Eradication of Child Abuse by Peyton O'Malley

CW-Mentions child abuse as a topic. All types mentioned.

As Head Girl, Peyton felt it was her responsibility to participate in the charity fair despite not really being all that confident in her abilities to lead a booth. The fact that other people were confident in her-or at least more so than they were in her female classmates-helped though. Plus, Dorian was doing a booth, so she felt she should too.

Besides, she had a charity in mind that needed to be represented. Her older brother, Ryan, was a social worker and every day saw children who were terribly abused or neglected. Peyton knew that sometimes, he got very frustrated with a system that put children back with parents who treated them badly and did not punish abusers harshly enough. (Of course, Ryan wanted them punished extremely severely. Like, this was the only subject where Peyton's kind, gentle older brother got very...angry about.) Meanwhile, he would get yelled at for his somewhat overzealous tactics in trying to get an abused kid taken away from their terrible parents. Even though he was one hundred percent in the right.

Not only that, but Ryan personally was a survivor of emotional abuse. His mother, Peyton's dad's first wife, had treated him poorly and from what the seventh year gathered, this was the reason their father had divorced that horrid woman and married her mother.

Which made it sort the reason Peyton existed in the first place. Had her parents not been married to terrible people that gave them just cause to risk scandal and get divorced, she would not be here. That made her feel kind of guilty because she existed due to the suffering of others, who were people she loved and cared about. Another reason to support this cause.

Plus, she somewhat suspected that her mother's first husband abused her other siblings too. Which made his adoration of Eden all that more irksome and revolting.

Of course, in a perfect world, her parents would have married each other first and had Ryan, Sally, Arnold, Jake and herself. Then again, Ryan really loved his cousins on his mother's side, even though his biological mother was a monster. Interestingly enough, they were all on Dad's side against their own blood relative. Uncle Seth, who was married to her mom's sister Lilac, had nothing kind to say about her dad's first wife, who was his older sister. In fact, Uncle Seth used some very inappropriate language to describe her.

Anyway, child abuse was obviously a subject that Ryan felt very passionately about. Since Peyton was incredibly close to him, she wanted to pick this topic in his honor so to speak.

That did not mean that the Crotalus was not nervous about leading the meeting to organize her booth. She might have gotten Head Girl, but there might be people here who didn't vote for her, either because they were younger and their class wasn't eligible to vote on hers, or because they actually wanted someone else to get it.

In preparation, Peyton had written to Ryan asking him for a charity that helped victims of child abuse. She had gotten back a letter with not only the name of an organization and some suggestions about ways to help (which were a lot more polite than what Ryan usually suggested be done with child abusers)but gushing pride in her which made the seventh year feel so good. Ryan's approval meant a lot to her.

She had also baked cookies and brownies for the meeting. Peyton sort of feared people would only come for the free food though so she had not told them there would be refreshments. However, Peyton thought she might have a reputation for baked goods since she tended to provide them when she was involved in an activity. Now, it would make her feel good that people really liked her baking but she wanted people who genuinely hated child abuse and wanted to eradicate it, not people who just wanted to eat cookies and brownies. That said, Peyton felt compelled to make them anyway.

The Crotalus had also naturally asked Jasmine to help out both because the other seventh year was her best friend and this was their last time getting to do a midsummer activity together and because she genuinely wanted help. Having her best friend with her made her feel less anxious. Oh, Peyton was still anxious, but just not as much. Thankfully, Jasmine had agreed to do her charity booth.

Once people arrived, Peyton took a deep breath and stood up. "Welcome to the meeting for Magical Folk for the Eradication of Child Abuse. This is an organization that advocates for getting rid of child abuse." Duh. She sounded like such a moron. And this was such an important charity too and people were not going to support it if she sounded like an idiot . Why did Peyton have to be so freaking awkward? "Child abuse affects many people from all walks of life. No matter your blood status, social status, race or anything else, it can happen." Her brother had worked with, for example, purebloods who were very very....conservative and controlling and hurt their children when they didn't conform as well as Muggles who couldn't accept that their child was magical and thought the child was possessed by demons.
"Abuse can be physical, emotional, mental, magical, medical, institutional or" and here she couldn't help but blush "sexual." Ryan's biological mother had exclusively been emotionally abusive, telling him how worthless he was and playing mind games. "Approximately five children die every day because of child abuse. Victims are more likely to develop mental health and substance abuse issues as well as more likely to end up in prison. This cycle needs to be broken. There need to be stricter punishments for perpetrators. In Colorado, an abuser can get as few as six months in jail depending on the type of abuse and those who abuse or neglect children can also get their children back. Emotional abuse can be especially hard to prove and people are usually not even arrested for it, but it still leaves scars on its victims."

Peyton took a deep breath. "Thank you. I'll now open the floor for discussion on how we can raise money for this organization." She had done it. She had given her talk.

OOC-Mentions of Jasmine approved by her author

11 Peyton O'Malley Magical Folk for the Eradication of Child Abuse 1403 1 5

Jasmine Delachene

June 13, 2020 8:39 PM

Here for you and for this by Jasmine Delachene

cw: Dangers of privilege? White savior complex? Proving the point of how hard emotional abuse/neglect is to prosecute? Something along these lines.

Jasmine was glad for the charity fair going on this year. Dating Gary wasn't happening. He had caught up to her earlier that week and made a clean break. They were still on, well, 'good terms' was perhaps stretching the truth, since they'd been almost dating but now weren't, but she didn't think there were any hard feeling on either side. It was as amicable a break-up as she'd ever heard of, which was about as much as she could have hoped for. Gary was a good guy, but he wasn't her good guy, and she wished him the best in his future pursuits.

But it did mean she had a lot of time this year that she'd kind of been planning to fill with casual dates and Head Girl stuff, neither of which was now happening.

So the Charity Fair was all good as far as Jasmine was concerned. She could throw herself into good causes without reservation. Peyton was planning to run one of the booths, and she had pledged her complete and unconditional support and assistance, especially when she heard which charity Peyton was planning to do. Eradicating child abuse sounded like the most amazing cause in the history of causes. Child abuse was totally bad and should be stopped.

Jasmine was lucky. She'd never had to deal with anything like that. Who knew what sort of family she'd been born to, but she'd never had to deal with them. She'd been adopted as a baby and treated like a princess for her whole life. Her parents weren't perfect, she was aware of that, but no parents were. As tense as things could get between Mom and Anya, it never devolved to abuse. Abuse was such a scary sounding word, and Mom would never do something that bad. They had a good home, and she and Anya had both been lucky to get adopted by the Delachenes, and Philippe had been lucky to be born to them. They had a great place to live, they were well off, they got to do whatever activities they wanted to. It was all good. For all of them, not just her.

She felt really bad for all the kids out there who didn't have what they did. Nobody should have to live in a home where their own parents were a source of harm to their kids. That just wasn't right.

She want to help them, and Peyton knew how they could. Peyton's uncle did this sort of thing for a living, so she was basically consulting an expert. She was 100% behind Peyton. She planned to help with several of the charity booths, but this one had the highest priority, and not just because the midsummer event had always been the thing she did with her best friend and roommate (though it helped).

And now it was here. She nodded along as Peyton explained the purpose behind their booth. Then, when she opened the floor for ideas, Jasmine spoke up first, having had time to thing about this already, and also to give people an example of what kind of things they were looking for.

"Hi, I'm Jasmine," she began with an introduction for those who didn't know her already. "One possibility is that we could have a small hedge maze or something, to symbolize all the unknown twists and turns involved in trying to place a kid into a safer home and keep them there. Plus hedge mazes are fun, so people will want to come by to try that." Admittedly, Sonora had a giant hedge maze all the time, called the Labyrinth Gardens, so this might not be the greatest audience to use that tactic on, but theirs would be a *different* maze than the one everyone lived next to every day, so maybe that would help. Plus it was for a good cause.

1 Jasmine Delachene Here for you and for this 1397 0 5

Quincy Wright

June 14, 2020 1:41 PM

I'm here for my mom and because I'm nosey. by Quincy Wright

On the whole, Quincy was perfectly happy to hang out alone. Of course, he was getting on well with his roommate and with Janis and Valentine was okay, so he didn't actually hang out alone that much. Even if he had managed it though, it would have been hard to miss the goings on for the upcoming charity fair. Students and staff alike were in a buzz about it and new posts were going up every day. For the most part, Quincy wasn't that interested in helping with the charity fair, but he couldn't help a nagging guilt that would build if he thought about sitting it out. It wasn't that he didn't care about charities, he just . . . sort of wanted to do other stuff. He thought about starting his own booth, probably something focused on STEM education for magical kids, but that was just a bit more than he wanted to take on. There was one booth, though, that seemed right up his alley. Or at least, right up his mom's.

He couldn't lie; as much as he liked to be alone, he couldn't help wondering whether his mom worked with any of the kids at school. There was a decent chance that was the case, but he didn't know for sure. That being said, there was a good chance that if there were any students here who worked with his mom, they would be involved in this charity. That was the reason he almost didn't sign up, but he couldn't quite do that either. This was a cause that was close to his heart by virtue of who his mom was, and even though she certainly seemed to care more about everyone else's kids than her own sometimes, there were good reasons for that. Quincy was resentful some days, but most days he was proud. Maybe if he got involved, he could learn more about it and understand more and then he could just be proud all the time. And maybe she'd be proud of him, too.

A girl named... oh shoot. Quincy was pretty sure she was the Head Girl? Presley maybe? She spoke and Quincy nodded along. It wasn't new information, but it was good to see what page everyone was starting on. Then another girl ("Jasmine" was easier to remember because she was named after a Disney princess) spoke up and Quincy cocked his head. He wasn't sure how effective a maze would be, but it wasn't a bad idea either.

"Hi, I'm Quincy," he said, hating this part of things because introductions were terrible, but also recognising that it would be helpful for others. "My mom is a social worker, so that's part of why this cause is important to me." He resisted the urge to look around at the gathered students to see whether any of them had any sort of expressions about this. Would they ask who his mom was? "She says that a lot of kids have to use makeup and potions and healing charms to cover up injuries. Maybe we could tie that in to face painting? Or selling first aid kits or something?" He squirmed uncomfortably. "I'm not very good at ideas, sorry."

22 Quincy Wright I'm here for my mom and because I'm nosey. 1495 Quincy Wright 0 5

Valentine Duell

June 22, 2020 7:17 PM

I'm just here to help by Valentine Duell

Valentine wanted to help out with all of the charities. However, that was apparently out of the question. She could only pick three at the most to help with. She wasn't sure if she had heard that officially or not anywhere, but that was the rumor going around. Admittedly, that was probably a good idea anyway. So, she looked over the charities that had been posted or mentioned and tried to decide which ones to help. Some were easy enough to eliminate, she didn't speak Spanish and didn't want to become an hindrance, also as much as she thought they probably deserved all the help they could get... werewolves scared her.

Eradication of Child Abuse was a cause that she could get behind though. Child abuse was a terrible thing and needs to be stopped. Abuse in general needed to stop, why couldn't people just get along, or at least refrain from hurting each other? Was that so hard? Just, stop hurting people! Especially small people that can't defend themselves. If you do it unintentionally, apologize and fix it then don't do it again. How complicated was this? Val had worked herself into something of a fervor as she made her way through the halls towards the MARS room where the meeting was taking place.

As she entered the room, her demeanor shifted. The scent of cookies hit her and caught her off guard. It reminded her of home and Mama's baking. She relaxed a bit and slid into the seat next to Quincy. Hurting people was wrong, but hurting people who were hurting other people was still not good either. She was here to help and support the cause, not go on some sort of vengeful spree. So, she listened to the head girl, and the others talk. She didn't have any great ideas, but her turn had come, "I'm Valentine, and I don't really have any ideas. But I'm glad to help however I can with whatever we decide to do!"

2 Valentine Duell I'm just here to help 1490 0 5

Stanley O'Malley

July 03, 2020 11:01 AM

I'm the Peyton O'Malley hype squad! by Stanley O'Malley

There were a lot of cool booths that were being run by a lot of cool people, but at the end of the day, Stanley had to make a Choice. Adjusting to school was pretty rough on its own - everything at Sonora was awesome, but so different from everything he knew in his eleven years and so odd months of life - so he and Wally agreed that they should each only take on more booth group to prevent overwhelming themselves. In the end, they decided that Wally would do Theo’s and Stanley would join Peyton’s. They made this decision because Stanley and Theo as a pair… tended to be less productive than Theo and Wally. Stanley needed more hands on, grown-up guidance to be productive, and Aunt Peyton was basically a grown up, so this option was just their best bet. He hated parting ways from his twin, especially since they hadn’t gotten Sorted into the same House, but it was for the best.

He tried to get there a little bit early to see if Peyton needed any help getting ready, but he was notorious for being late to things when left to his own devices, so it balanced out to being right about on time. He was glad to see a girl who he knew was a friend of Peyton’s was there (and she was his best buddy Anya’s sister, he had learned later, so how cool was that?!), so she probably had helped Peyton if she needed it. That made him feel a little bit better.

Stanley listened to Peyton give her big ol’ introduction speech, talking about horrible things like kids being killed by their own parents or developing substance abuse problems later in life because of the way they were treated, and it really struck him for the first time how serious this was. He had the obvious mental connection just about everybody did: abuse was bad. But he was pretty lucky in his life, and he never really thought much more about it than that. He felt a tear prick his eye.

Other people started speaking, and Stanley’s face lit up when Quincy took his turn. He wanted to spout off right then, but it seemed like they were going in some sort of order, and Valentine was next. But when Stanley got to go, he grinned. “My dad’s a social worker too!” he beamed proudly, mostly in Quincy’s direction, but also to Peyton, not because she didn’t know already but so they could share the pride in his father, her brother. “And I really like the face-painting idea. I think it kinda gets that point across without getting too serious and still being really fun, both for us to do and for people to go to. The maze idea is cool too, though,” he added toward Jasmine, “but my vote would be for face-painting.”

12 Stanley O'Malley I'm the Peyton O'Malley hype squad! 1491 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

July 09, 2020 5:48 PM

Abuse is a bad thing done by bad wolves. Bad wolves must be stopped. by Heinrich Hexenmeister

When Heinrich arrived at Sonora, he had been sure there had been some terrible misunderstanding and he'd be back in Germany by the end of the year. When Heinrich began his second year, that hope had been dashed, and he was sure he had the worst parents in the history of parents.

Then he met Evelyn. Then he met Mr. Stones. Then he heard her whole story.

He didn't have the worst parents in the history of parents. In fact, he had pretty good parents as far as parents go. His parents were pretty much great at being parents. A bit stand-off-ish maybe, not particularly emotional, or even very verbal in their praises and love, but Karl was the same way. Heck, Heinrich was the same way. But Heinrich had never wanted for anything, never doubted he was cared for by those who were supposed to care for him, always felt well protected by those who were supposed to protect him; he never got hit, or insulted, or used. They spent time with him. They taught him important things like how to treat others with kindness and respect.

Pity, really, that they never learned those lessons themselves. Because as good as they were at being parents, they were equally as bad at being people.

And if literal dark wizards who killed people for money could figure out how to treat their kids right, he really didn't understand what excuse other people had for being so horrible to theirs. If he could be made to feel that he was lucky that he had actual assassins instead of something worse for his parents, there was something very wrong with the world.

By every objective measure, dark wizards were supposed to be pretty much the worst people ever.

Heinrich was no longer convinced this was true. Sure, his parents were evil. He wasn't going to argue that. They were, very clearly, proven in a court of law to be very evil.

He was still pretty sure that Mr. Stones was more evil.

As he listened to Peyton describe the purpose of the charity, he couldn't help being appalled that the Mr. Stones of the world were apparently much more common than the Hexenmeister Assassins of the world. And unlike the Hexenmeister Assassins who went to prison for the rest of their natural lives, these people could get out after only six month in some places? And then get their kids back? That was just . . . sickening. He felt actually sick.

This had to stop.

He wasn't really sure that hedge mazes or face paint were the best approaches to doing that, but charging in with a sword and shield would not be very effective either, as much as he wanted it to be.

"I am Heinrich," he introduced himself as the introductions got around to him. "I do not know how to face paint." Nor was he particularly willing to learn. "I think we could do that, but we should also do something that will appeal to people who do not want their face painted." He wan't quite sure what that could be, but there had to be something. "Maybe a wishing well, so people can wish that these atrocities can stop as they make their donation? I know this is a wish I have."

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister Abuse is a bad thing done by bad wolves. Bad wolves must be stopped. 1414 0 5