Have you seen my mommy? on Quidditch Pitch

The Coach

June 26, 2020 1:18 PM

Quidditch Game 1! Winner: Green team! by The Coach

The game was today. The first game was today! The team had been practicing for a few weeks and this was a home v home game, so the coach wasn't terribly worried about pitting the students against those from other schools. In a lot of ways, this was a trial run. But the school had pulled out all the stops.

Banners and decorations with jersey numbers of the players, showing which color they were playing for today, were hung around the stadium, and some of the elves had gone as far as setting up booths for students to get such treats as cotton candy, caramel corn, hot dogs, nachos, and more thematic foods, like mozzarella broomsticks, Quaffles (the coach was pretty sure they were pigs in blankets essentially), and a wide variety of candy. The coach appreciated the effort because it was well known that the students would decide today what this was going to look like in the future, and it was up to them to decide how popular or not this would be as well.

The coach addressed the waiting players as a whole, and smiled at all of them. They were mixed today, which was just as well because they were otherwise pretty uneven. It also meant that they all had the same knowledge and experience with any secret moves, which leveled the playing field a bit. A roster hung on the wall to remind players where they were playing today anyway:

Orange team:
Keeper: Tatiana Vorontsova
Chasers: Ness McLeod, Valentine Duell, Heinrich Hexenmeister
Seeker: Jeremy Mordue
Beaters: Felipe De Matteo, Hilda Hexenmeister

Green team:
Keeper: Graham Osbrook
Chasers: Morgan Garrett, Bonny Row, Parker Fitzgerald
Seeker: Anya Delachene
Beaters: Nathaniel Mordue, Evelyn Stones

"Today's game is going to be an experiment," the coach began, lingering on each set of eyes. "And you're going to show me just how well you can do. There's a stadium out there full of your peers. Let's show them what you can do, too."

The game began and the teams were, to the coach's pleasure, well balanced. This would be a good day. The music and fanfare outside was proof enough of that. It grew and surged throughout the game until finally, a very close game ended with the green team winning. It was exhilarating to be part of and to watch and most of the action was probably lost on the crowd, who were both distracted with the atmosphere of attending a sporting event, and undoubtedly out of practice with watching the play-by-play of a back-and-forth game of Quidditch. For some of the audience, the coach knew, this was their first time ever seeing a game. Heck, that was true for some of the players probably. This was, the coach thought, going to be a very exciting season.

Highlights -
- Near the end of the game, when the Seekers were nearing the Snitch, Felipe De Matteo attempted to smack a bludger at the opposing team and found it instead colliding hard with Jeremy Mordue. Jeremy sought medical attention after the game. (Approved by Felipe and Jeremy's authors).

OOC - Hello, all! This is an experiment as much for us as it is for our players and I am excited to see how it goes. You'll notice below that there is room for folks to thread pre-game, during the game, in the stadium during the game, and post-game. The goal is to really encourage anyone and everyone to be able to participate, not just players. You'll also please notice to I have (well, chatzy has) selected a winning team. That is to give us the most variety of threads we can do without the back and forth that can go with an FnF game when that hasn't happened for a long time. That being said, if there's a moment you want to thread during the game, feel free to do so.
Just don't assume that they won or lost for their team if that's not what I/chatzy decided. I think this will be a lot of fun and I am excited to see how it goes!

Happy threading!!

Subthreads:

Pre-Game

Dang kids and their sporting things by Osvaldo Alamilla

Have you seen my mommy? by Dora Xavier with Alexander Pierce-Beales

During Game (players)

Chasing on a team! by Valentine Duell with Nathaniel Mordue

WHAT is your DEAL?! by Felipe De Matteo

This is going to be brilliant by Jeremy Mordue

That's me. I'm green. I win? I WIN! by Anya Delachene with Bonabelle Row

During Game (crowd)

Caramel corn? I'm there. [Marsh? Katey? Bueler?] by Killian Row with Selina Skies

Frustration (medical tent) by Jean Wolfe

Just here for the nachos by Sophia Priory with Josephine Clyde

Yay! Sportsing! by Gary Harper with Dorian Montoir

Post-Game

How did that happen? [Nathaniel] by Evelyn Stones with Nathaniel Mordue

Cheering for the team I'm booing for. [Jeremy, medical tent] by Leonor De Matteo with Jeremy Mordue, Nathaniel Mordue

I'm fine by Jean Wolfe with Jezebel Reed-Fischer

Fun times and nachos by Zara Jackson with Felipe De Matteo

About me being fine... (tag Katey) by Jean Wolfe with Katey Willow

22 The Coach Quidditch Game 1! Winner: Green team! 0 The Coach 1 5

System

June 26, 2020 1:18 PM

Pre-Game by System

0 System Pre-Game 0 System 0 5

System

June 26, 2020 1:18 PM

During Game (players) by System

0 System During Game (players) 0 System 0 5

System

June 26, 2020 1:18 PM

During Game (crowd) by System

0 System During Game (crowd) 0 System 0 5

System

June 26, 2020 1:18 PM

Post-Game by System

0 System Post-Game 0 System 0 5

Killian Row

June 27, 2020 2:05 PM

Caramel corn? I'm there. [Marsh? Katey? Bueler?] by Killian Row

Killian loved almost any opportunity to support his students and most of the time, there weren't many. Sure, he could support them in office hours or 'class' and he could work with them on setting up opportunities, but it wasn't like he could follow them to their first day of internships and cheer for them from the sidelines. That meant that Quidditch was a great opportunity. Plus, there were snacks, and Killian certainly had a sweet tooth.

He got a bag of caramel corn and followed the crowd into the stadium, happy to find that he wasn't the only staff member attending. He would've been fine sitting with students and if someone wanted to sit with him, that was fine, but he thought it was a bit weird to seek out. Maybe Bonny? But she was trying to make friends and they had tea together sometimes, so that was good. Plus, there were a couple of faces he was hoping to spot amongst the staff, as he'd really prefer to sit with one of them if he could. But just for normal reasons. Man, one stinkin' Ball, the topic of relationships comes up, and Killian couldn't put it aside. Maybe he'd just spent winter break having some good old fashioned adult fun like he hadn't in a long time. But that seemed a bit depressing at this point when he was thinking of specific faces.

Ugh.

He took a stupid seat in the stupid stands of the stupid staff section of the stupid game and ate some stupid caramel corn and then felt much better. Better enough that he was able to watch the start of the game without even noticing who sat beside him and he didn't look at his neighbor until the first score of the game, when he shouted excitedly and leaned towards them. "That was a brilliant throw!" he grinned.

22 Killian Row Caramel corn? I'm there. [Marsh? Katey? Bueler?] 1450 0 5

Osvaldo Alamilla

June 27, 2020 7:45 PM

Dang kids and their sporting things by Osvaldo Alamilla

"No! Chaac! Dreezir! They wanted the hot dog booth next to the mozzarella booth!" Osvaldo yelled at the prairie elves rushing about making a mess of the previously nice clean Quidditch Pitch. Now it was a complete disaster, the elves were setting up stands and hanging colored... things all over the place. He could not understand what all the fuss was about. He'd never understood the fuss about a bunch of fools flying around in the air trying to kill themselves throwing a ball around.

He looked over the pitch and tried to imagine what was so exciting about somebody throwing a ball through a hoop. He'd been to a Quidditch game once while he had attended the school. It was a ridiculous affair and he'd regretted it the entire time he'd been there. He could have been doing something useful with his time. Nope, he had, for some reason, agreed to go watch the game. Now here he was forced to decorate the place, and make sure the elves got everything right.

It was only for one event! After the game was over, he'd have to spend just as much time, if not more, supervising the tear-down and clean-up. There was only one bright side to all of this. At that thought he smiled and chuckled slightly. Feld was carrying something past him and looked up in surprise. Osvaldo helped hurry the elf along his way. Once the event was underway, everyone would be watching it. No one would be paying any attention anywhere else in the school. He chuckled again.

2 Osvaldo Alamilla Dang kids and their sporting things 1503 0 5

Jean Wolfe

June 28, 2020 8:26 AM

Frustration (medical tent) by Jean Wolfe

It was very strange to be on this side of things for match day. Jean-Loup had been able to throw himself into preparations for the start of Sonora’s Quidditch season with enthusiasm and excitement. He knew he wasn’t part of a team, but there were elements of that that he didn’t particular miss. L’Institut’s program had been competitive to the point of viciousness, and the Beater culture there was particularly toxic. He’d always been the odd one out in not taking violent delight in suddenly being let off the leash of being a gentleman for a couple of hours.

He liked the sport. He liked the athleticism. He had gone through a guilty phase of really, really liking that it let him stare at well muscled men without getting called out on it. Not his team-mates. That would have been weird. But you couldn’t advertise protein shakes and exercise regimes without showing guys without their shirts on, and there was nothing suspect about having a Quidditch magazine lying about in the boys dorm. Of course, now he had a boyfriend, so any such material in his bedroom was kept there purely for the articles.

Prep for the Sonora season had let him engage in all the more wholesome elements of that world. He had been making leaflets on injury prevention and healthy eating which he’d shared with the coach a couple of weeks back (after a lot of proofreading and editing from Dorian). He had arranged for posters to be up in the changing rooms the week before the first games ‘Remember that calming draughts are a mood altering substance! Ask your medic for safe and approved game day alternatives!’ To that end, he had prepared a fresh batch of Dyspeptic Dispeller - a medicine which acted purely on the stomach rather than on the nerves causing them to feel upset, and was thus game day approved as well as delightfully minty fresh. That would allow anyone feeling anxious to put those feelings aside without impairing their judgement and ability to risk assess the way a calming draught would, which was why they were a banned substance. They’d also be able to enjoy a healthy breakfast to fuel them through the challenge ahead.

The medical tent had been put up on the field before the match. It was interesting, seeing it from this side. He had played Quidditch, and stumbled into a well appointed medical tent on more than one occasion, and he’d helped staff first aid stations in other situations so he knew that set up and preparation were key. However, it was still strange seeing those two things come together and thinking about matches and about first aid in ways he never had before. For example, unlike out on the ice, they knew who their potential casualties were likely to be. They had brought their files down so they were easily to hand (one or two charmed red to warn Jean-Loup off, as they had come from the group that did not consent to have him provide treatment), and had revised them prior to the match to be aware of any pre-existing medical conditions or allergies. In some ways, he knew action was unlikely. Games didn’t stop for injuries, unless it was to award a penalty for foul play - but even then, the injured usually just carried on. If someone was badly hurt enough to be out of play, it was probably going to be an emergency, and the best thing he would be able to do would be not get in the way. Most of the patching up would come afterwards. Still, he was out in the fresh air, and feeling useful.

His eyes roved the stands as the crowds filed in. He noticed a banner that he couldn’t read but that he was certain was in Russian. He had a good guess who was holding that. Whilst he supposed that could have been the sister, he thought it looked like a darker head peering over the top, and his face shifted into a smile that crinkled his nose just a little bit.

The whistle blew, and he began watching the skies. It was a strange angle to view a match from. He was used to being in the thick of it, or at least watching from stand height. Still, the game play wasn’t exactly fast paced… He had known from seeing Sonora’s flying display in Tumbleweed, and from what he’d heard, that they weren’t exactly at the same level as L’Institut’s teams. He tried to watch patiently.

A mutter or two escaped him as he urged the players on. It was… different being on the ground. And it was feeling a little bit like all his preparation was falling flat. Not that he wanted them to be getting hurt. But just - okay, if he had been up there, there was no way that - OH COME ON! He tried not to pace or fidget as he watched, or to feel anything but a sense of whatever professional disinterest he was meant to feel as a medic. That was his capacity here. He had prepped. And he had helped. But he wasn’t part of it.

His mutters gradually progressed into shouts. Not that the team would hear him from where they were, or be able to pick his voice out from the hum of the crowd. But if Katey was so inclined, it seemed likely that she could pick up such useful French phrases as ‘Oh come on!’ ‘What are you doing?’ and ‘That space was wide open!’ before the day was out.

13 Jean Wolfe Frustration (medical tent) 1506 0 5

Sophia Priory

June 28, 2020 3:24 PM

Just here for the nachos by Sophia Priory

Despite the fact that she was actually a good flyer, Sophia didn't really care for Quidditch. She thought it was a dumb game and the only person involved that she really cared enough to support at all was Hilda. It wasn't even a game between two different schools or houses so it seemed rather silly to Sophia to make such a big deal out of it. However, there were refreshments, including nachos and the Aladren was interested in that .

So, Sophia got her food, including the "Quaffles", some mozzerella broom sticks, a hot dog, some pop,-she was from Wisconsin and it was pop , not soda - and of course, the nachos, and sat down in the stands and waited for the game to start. However, when she noticed the two teams, she frowned. The teams were really unevenly matched. One team was five first string players with two reserves and the other was five reserves-a lot of whom, by the way, were younger students-and two first stringers.

Normally, Sophia would be inclined to root for the green team as they were clearly the underdogs, but the fact that the seeker for the green team was Anya Delachene stopped her. Anya's older sister was a lovely person by all accounts-mostly those of Connor and Peyton-but the Pecari really bugged her. Anya clearly thought she was entitled to do whatever she wanted and that the rules didn't apply to her. Okay, there was no formal rule regarding ball wear and it wasn't as if the third year needed to wear a big poofy ball gown but there was such a thing as appropriate attire. She could even have worn a suit like Lyssa Fitzgerald or dress robes like Hilda and it would have been okay.

But that sort of person always got away with stuff and it was grating, both because people overvalued the type of person Anya was-while devaluing other more quiet sensitive types, Sophia had an uncle who was rather bitter about this-and because it just made them more entitled and obnoxious than they already were.

Not that Jeremy Mordue had the best reputation either but he had been polite and pleasant enough to Sophia at the ball. Besides, Hilda was on the orange team.

She sat there, primarily focused on her food and occasionally cheering for Hilda or the orange team. As the game progressed and her snacks disappeared, the fourth year found herself getting progressively bored. "I don't really get the appeal of this game, do you?" She asked, realizing that what she said opened her up to being asked why she was there in the first place. "I literally came for the refreshments."

11 Sophia Priory Just here for the nachos 1447 Sophia Priory 0 5

Gary Harper

July 02, 2020 7:08 PM

Yay! Sportsing! by Gary Harper

Gary did not see the appeal of Quidditich. He didn't really see the appeal of any sports. It was just a bunch of people trying to move a ball around and other people trying to stop them and do the same thing but the other direction? He could see the point in playing maybe. There were skills to use and exercise to get, sure. The part that confused him were the spectators. Why would you just sit and watch people playing a game like that? Then there was the part that really, really confused him. How could anyone justify the money that professional athletes received when there were people like teachers and scientists that actually contributed to the betterment of society?

Still there was one thing that could get him to join in at an event like this, and it wasn't the concession stands. He did make a trip to them of course, but that's just because, well.. snacks. Snacks were important. He was here for his friends. He had friends and he was going to be here for them. He was going to cheer for Ness and Evelyn and Heinrich and Parker.. and Morgan... and Valentine.... was almost everyone in the gaming club playing Quidditich other than him? How..? What...? Eh, it didn't matter.

He found his way to one of the seats in the stands. He should have probably checked around to see who else was going to be here. Very briefly he debated asking Jasmine about coming with him to the game, just as friends. But he thought that might be a little weird and awkward. Maybe they'd bump into each other and hang out, maybe not. Maybe he should have asked Lyssa if she was coming to cheer on Parker. According to Evelyn, she was still his best chance for dating opportunities. Maybe he'd see her anyway and they could talk and stuff.

"I don't get this game," as someone took the seat next to him, "I mean, I understand the rules and all, I just don't...." he waved his had in the direction of the field in a gesture of aimless confusion," I dunno."

2 Gary Harper Yay! Sportsing! 1404 0 5

Dorian Montoir

July 02, 2020 7:50 PM

Go the team and/or teams! by Dorian Montoir

Dorian was starting to see the point of omnioculars. He had never bothered investing in any because he spent most of the Quidditch games he attended hiding behind his banner trying not to look. Alternating with actually looking because sometimes when you weren’t looking and you heard a crunch, the images your imagination could provide were a lot worse.

However, he had spent the prematch this time watching the medical tent. Jean-Loup was near enough that he could tell it was him, even if he hadn’t known, but he would have looked better in more detail. He had been leaning on the door of the medical tent, watching the game get going. If Dorian had had omnioculars, he not only would have been to view his boyfriend close up but record little clips of him striding about looking competent and sexy, which he could then replay instead of watching the match.

He should, he supposed, pay attention to his friend. It would never do to miss something good she’d done that he was supposed to cheer and praise her for later. Admittedly, most of Dorian’s post-match commentary was limited to ‘Well done! You played the sports!’ regardless of her actual performance, with a very solid subtext in his mind of ‘and are not dead or horribly injured!’ but if there was something she had done that she felt particularly happy about or not done that she felt particularly frustrated about, it helped to have actually seen it so that he could say ‘Yes’ with either enthusiasm or sympathy and have it be true.

It always felt odd watching Tatya on match days because, besides the mortal peril she wasn’t sparkly. That was stranger than the mortal peril because honestly, that rarely cruised along at a total zero on non-match days given that she was a Pecari. A Tatya without shinies was just all wrong. He thought it would be a perfectly fair tactic to distract the Seekers, but she apparently had decided it wasn’t. Though he supposed he didn’t want them mistakenly dive-bombing her and grabbing her wrist and - Maugris, he just hated this game and all the ways it could possibly go wrong.

Luckily, the person next to him seemed to feel the same way. He had never particularly spent a lot of time with Gary, but he knew that Gary spent most of his time in the library making up weird stories, which was a hobby Dorian could approve of far more than having metal balls pelted at your head. Apparently though, most of Gary’s story-making friends disagreed and wished to engage in both, which was why he supposed the Aladren was here, in spite of his obvious distaste for the game at hand.

“Me neither,” Dorian sighed sympathetically, when Gary said he didn’t really get the game. “But I find it preferable to watch than to sit inside and worry,,” he added. He was pretty sure it would be obvious from context who he was here for, even if from his side Gary couldn’t see the Cyrillic on Dorian’s poster. It read ‘?????? ???????’ which was literally ‘Forward Tatiana’ but was apparently what you shouted in Russian to encourage at sports. He’d taken her word for that. A Bludger swung towards Tatya’s goal and he winced, hiding slightly behind the poster.

“Are your friends on the same team as each other? Or as Tatya?” he asked, showing just how much attention he was managing to give the overall play of the game. “Or must you and I now swear to be mortal enemies?” he joked.

13 Dorian Montoir Go the team and/or teams! 1401 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 02, 2020 8:41 PM

Chasing on a team! by Valentine Duell

Valentine flew through the air. This was fantastic! She dove and weaved around the pitch trying to find a good place where she would be able to help her team. There were so many people flying around though and she watched the Quaffle exchanges hands and size a few times. Despite her best attempts, she never seemed to be at quite the right place at just the right time.

Until now! Spinning around on her broom, and rocketing upward she shot between Parker and Morgan, intercepting their pass. "Yeah!" she yelled out as she grasped the ball and arced toward the goal. She looked about frantically for the rest of her team, who could she pass to? There was Ness! She pulled back and let the ball fly.

Unfortunately she never got to see if the Quaffle made it to it's intended target. A whizzing noise alerted her a moment to late of incoming danger. She tried to shift her trajectory, but it wasn't enough as the Bludger grazed her shoulder and sent her spinning. The pain of her shoulder made holding onto the broom difficult, but she managed. Once she got her broom back under control, she gave her shoulder a quick massage and shot back into the thick of things with a wild grin on her face.

This was great!!

2 Valentine Duell Chasing on a team! 1490 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 02, 2020 8:53 PM

Trying to mess that up for you. by Nathaniel Mordue

There was something fascinating about the glimpses one could get, if one looked just so, into the way adults’ minds worked. Nathaniel was feeling clear-headed enough to observe this as he observed the team rosters before the practice game. Adults, he assumed, would put him and Jeremy on opposite teams on the assumption that two brothers working together would have an advantage over the opposition. Adults were fairly clueless about the people they thought they were in command of, really….

Admittedly, he supposed that they might have had a glimmer of a point today. He had, after all, spent a lot of the summer privately a tad bored solely because practicing Quidditch was the only non-weird way he could think of to suggest they do the same thing at the same time, which was the only way he could think of at all to try to engage in what Dr. Greene called relationship-building – trying to create non-bad memories to displace bad ones, and the assumption Jeremy seemed to have that any interaction with Nathaniel was bound to end in criticism toward Jeremy. Nathaniel thought he’d had no more than middling success at that, but they could fly rather well together now, he thought. That would have definitely been an advantage, even if their ability to coordinate on much else was still…day to day, and probably even at its best not something that would benefit a team doing anything more communication-oriented than Quidditch.

He merely grimaced at the sad state of the rest of his teammates – Fitzgerald was good, but the rest of the line-up was pretty pathetic. He highly doubted Evelyn had ever used a Beater’s bat before, and the rest of the team was composed entirely of younger players. Anya Delachene was an impressive flier, to be sure, but Morgan Garrett was not, and the Osbrook kid (who kept, maddeningly, reminding him of someone, but he couldn’t put his finger on who that third party was) was a completely unknown quantity. Best he could say for their chances was that he didn’t think De Matteo was too likely to have picked up on enough of the sign system for communicating with Hilda for it to do much good….

“This should be fun,” he said quietly to Evelyn with a weary smile, in the moment of fanfare before the game started and after the least inspiring coach speech he’d ever heard. “Strategy-wise, I’m thinking…cause as much havoc as possible to take the pressure off the Beginners.” He kept to himself that he hoped the Beginners were smart enough to not become victims of the havoc directed at their opponents. “Without Tatiana, we’re a little doomed if your friends get anywhere near the goals, so I’m thinking it’s going to be up to me and you to keep them away.”

His job, at least, was simple: kick off, hit a Bludger if he got one quickly enough, charge through enemy Chasers and try to scatter them and prevent them from forming any formations if he couldn’t spot a Bludger right off.

He could never decide if the good thing about Quidditch was that it involved action, rather than thinking, or if it was better to describe it as something which required such intense focus on one subject that it made it impossible to think of much anything else. Protect people wearing the same color he was wearing – attack the opposition. That was it, really. Simple. Straightforward. And – there. He locked onto one of the Bludgers, swung at it, directed it toward someone wearing the wrong color, and almost as quickly began looking around for his direct opponents and the other Bludger, as this was rather more important than whether he had made the hit. He just kept moving.

16 Nathaniel Mordue Trying to mess that up for you. 1412 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 03, 2020 11:36 AM

How did that happen? [Nathaniel] by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn didn't want to be beater. She hadn't been so adverse before, but now the idea of hitting something at people to try to hurt them or stop them made her downright sick. The fact that it was her boyfriend and best friend on the opposing team didn't help at all. But somehow, they'd gotten through the game and it worked. They won. Which meant that Ness and Heinrich lost. Evelyn would much rather have lost herself, especially since most of what she was doing was an accident at this point. The really scary part was that an undoubtedly large part of it was due to the fact that one of the opposing team's Beaters effectively knocked out their own Seeker. There was a good chance he hadn't meant to do so, but it wasn't totally clear from where Evelyn had been. She'd been aiming to do the same thing, of course, but Felipe De Matteo had gotten there first. Jeremy didn't look absolutely wrecked or anything, but he did seek medical attention after the game, so there was that.

When the game was done, Evelyn felt exhausted and had none of the usual satisfaction from winning a game. Nathaniel had been nice and helped her strategize at the beginning of the game, but it hadn't helped her clear her foggy brain. She'd gotten a couple of good hits in and usually sent the bludger towards the moving Quaffle instead of just towards the players, and it had worked apparently, but she felt awful still.

At the first opportunity, she threw the bat aside and ad to resist the urge to curl up in on herself. She wouldn't play beater again if she could help it. She hated being a weapon. Although . . . she did enjoy playing with Nathaniel. And playing against Hilda was kind of fun since they knew each other well. And she knew that Heinrich and Ness didn't really mind her just doing her job. Which meant maybe Evelyn was just thinking too much about things that didn't need to be thought about?

As she headed off the field, she noticed Nathaniel nearby and caught up to him. "Good job," she said first, remembering that they'd won and he was probably excited about that. "Are you doing alright? Do you get used to playing against people you care about?" she asked, trying to keep her tone easy. She hadn't gotten the impression the Mordue brothers were close, but that didn't mean Nathaniel wanted to watch his brother get pegged with a bludger either. "I feel so aggressive playing Beater."

22 Evelyn Stones How did that happen? [Nathaniel] 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Gary Harper

July 03, 2020 11:41 AM

Move the ball-thing! Yay! by Gary Harper

CW: Minor internal homophobia

Gary felt just a touch of uncomfortableness snake into him when Dorian sat down next to him. He knew why, and it was stupid. Plus, he was sure Dorian has had plenty of that sort of thing to deal with since the ball. So he did his best to quell the feeling. He liked Dorian, not like that. What? Had he really just done that inside his own head?

Alright, fine. Gary thought to himself, if we're going to have this out brain, let's just get it done with. What is wrong? Dorian likes boys, I'm a boy. Dorian might want to like me and I don't like boys. Really brain? That's it? That's one of the dumbest things you've... alright, fair, you have come up with slightly dumber things than that. No, I don't need to talk to Ness again about it. Dorian likes boys yes, Dorian likes a specific boy which is not me. Dorian is a good guy and not going to... another thought struck him sideways.

Is this the thought process girls go through whenever a boy sits near them? That's got to be a terrible existence. To be fair, they may be interested in boys in a way that Gary wasn't... the analog would be if a girl that he didn't have any interest in him sat next to him and started making suggestive statements. Someone like Topaz maybe? There was something about her that just gave him the creeps. Anyway... it was some sort of primal reaction that was stupid. For one, Dorian was a nice, cool guy that was already in a relationship. Which was more than Gary had going for him. Which lead nicely into point two wherein none of the girls at the school had any interest in him, so why would Dorian? Stupid brain acting dumb. Stop it.

He grinned at Dorian, "Worry?" He questioned, but then followed his companion's gaze as Dorian winced. He had spotted one of the metal attack balls flying past Tatiana. "Ahh, right. This game is also strangely violent on that front isn't it? It makes me wonder about the person that designed it." He glanced down at the medic's tent, "The medics are down there, right? I'm sure there have to be safety precautions in place at some level as well."

"Yeah..." he replied to Dorian's inquiry about his friends, "Well, looks like some of my friends are on both sides of this conflict. I guess I've gotta cheer for both sides." He tried to return Dorian's joke with a smile, "Does that make us half-mortal enemies?"

2 Gary Harper Move the ball-thing! Yay! 1404 0 5

Leonor De Matteo

July 03, 2020 8:37 PM

Cheering for the team I'm booing for. [Jeremy, medical tent] by Leonor De Matteo

CW - Homophobia, microaggressions

It was really a shame that Felipe and Jeremy were playing on the same team this time, although it did make for Leonor's banner to be that much ruder. She'd waited until she'd been sure what color Jeremy was playing for and then decorated the banner with a few quick charms, so it flashed between "Go, Orange Team!" and "Go, Jeremy!" There was glitter and sparkles and moving figures of seekers and Leonor was cheering on an orange team seeker with a superiority complex she couldn't help admire.

Then they lost.

She felt a bit bad thinking that maybe she influenced Felipe to lose by messing with his head too much? The problem wasn't even really that they lost though, it was that they lost because Felipe took Jeremy out of the game. It couldn't have been an accident. It couldn't have. And if Leonor still had much accidental magic in her, Felipe would've taken the brunt of it then. He almost took the brunt of some purposeful magic before she reminded herself that that wouldn't do any good anyway. She didn't think of her brother as a violent person and maybe it really was an accident, but if that was the case, it was an accident by virtue of negligence and she was sure Felipe would have loved to have done it on purpose.

When the game was done, Leonor picked her way through the crowd to stand near the bottom. Under normal circumstances, she thought that Jeremy would probably like to make as much of a show of his fanclub as he could, unless he was such an utterly sore loser that he was about to be ticked off at her, in which case she could ignore him and talk to someone else. Felipe, she was sure, would not try to stop and talk to her. At least not in public. He'd seemed particularly sad recently and she felt the familiar twinges of guilt gnawing at her stomach, but she was getting better at pushing those away. In fact, she was starting to feel them less often, even. She had high hopes they'd go away entirely at some point. It was made all the easier by knowing that Felipe had behaved monstrously in this most recent display of his unsuitability of inheritance. Felipe's girlfriend, Leonor was sure, would be around too, cheering on the orange team with nearly the same banner if she wasn't too busy making out with Felipe to make one. She wondered what the Jackson girl would think of her boyfriend being an utter pigheaded jerk. How she'd love to see the girl's face when she'd noticed Leonor's banner, if she'd taken her eyes off Felipe long enough to do so. It was really disgusting. People shouldn't like each other that much. Especially people who couldn't seem to find it in themselves to like their own self. Not that she could blame Felipe for that; she didn't find him particularly likeable either. Sure, he was helpful in his way, and a fairly decent example of kindness and altruism, but what was that to the sort of adventurous soul that kept Leonor going when the going got tough? Nothing, that's what.

She hesitated before making her way onto the pitch. At first, she hesitated because she wasn't actually sure whether Jeremy would want to see her at all. Their relationship wasn't particularly meaningful to either of them and Leonor would have been perfectly happy to wait until a more convenient time to catch up if not for the fact that that would just be rude and improper for her to do. Whatever they were, they were something. Ish. So she waited at the bottom of the stadium for a moment after the game, hoping to see Jeremy emerge before she'd have to make a decision, early enough that she could blame it on the crowd. She'd gotten there quickly, though (not because she was worried) and had run her own bid out. Nervous energy threatened to make her bubble up on her toes but she maintained a blasé posture as she set out across the grass.

The medical tent was being manned by the regular healer and her full time wannabe, Jean-Loup. Leonor didn't have a direct issue with boys liking boys but she did prefer not to have it shoved in her face all the time. At least his roost in the Hospital Wing meant the lovebirds were usually out of sight. Truth be told, she couldn't say for sure how much of her problem with the one notable gay relationship on campus (staff excluded since there were a plethora of them there) was because of who they were/how they were, or because of herself. There had been a time in her life when she might have been free to choose to be gay too. She could've been with anyone she wanted. Now that lifestyle was completely off the table and she was making her way to check in on her plaything who was only her plaything because he was high society enough to matter and because Felipe hated him. When the heck had her life turned into all this?

She was relieved to find that Jean-Loup was walking - stomping? - away from the tent by the time she got there. He looked angry, which probably meant that Jeremy had arrived, and she ignored him. He was not important. Honestly, nothing was really very important, but the feelings of someone who would make her chest feel heavy certainly weren't. Because soon, she would hear exactly what Jeremy was shouting about - she could hear his voice as she neared the tent - and she would have to decide who she wanted to be. She knew the answer of course; she wanted to be important. If important meant thinking that Jean-Loup, the boy with the sad eyes and helping hands, was a freak, then so be it. If nothing was important, then anything that made her feel better for a moment it would have to do the trick.

Taking one last breath of air, air that tasted surprisingly bitter and was tinged with regret and something that felt a lot like saying goodbye to freedom, Leonor pushed open the entrance to the medical tent to find Jeremy.

22 Leonor De Matteo Cheering for the team I'm booing for. [Jeremy, medical tent] 1471 Leonor De Matteo 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 03, 2020 10:37 PM

WHAT is your DEAL?! by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe was mad. He had been sad and now he was mad. If his own team hadn't been wearing orange anyway, he might've thought he was seeing red. Instead, he was seeing a big banner with a name that wasn't his and a face he knew well. He and Leonor had never been close, except perhaps when they were very little, but this was too much. This wasn't a family feud anymore. This was a call to war. And Jeremy friggin' Mordue was in on it.

He was trying to clear his head. He was trying to focus. The whole game had practically gone by and he hadn't even done a bad job all in all - it helped that Hilda was a much more experienced beater than he was of course - but he hadn't done a good enough job, because when he caught sight of both Seekers chasing after the Snitch, he didn't think. He aimed - and he was meant to aim for Anya, or near enough to her to be distracting - and he hit. The bat connected with the Bludger and pummeled it through the air, harder than he normally hit it and thus less accurate than he normally hit it. He wasn't a bad shot when he was trying.

As the Bludger neared the Seekers, Felipe realised his mistake. As it collided with Jeremy, all he could do was stare, horrorstruck. He'd screwed up. Badly. In front of everyone. He could only hope that Professor Skies wasn't going to kick him out for this one. He could only hope that Zara wasn't watching that moment, although he doubted she'd go long without hearing about it if she wasn't.

It was probably obvious that he'd been aiming for Anya, or at least aiming to distract. He wanted to win more than he wanted to smash Jeremy's face, and that had to be well known, right? He wouldn't internationally . . . sort of . . . bat a bludger into his own team's seeker? Sending him fairly directly to the meditent? People knew he wouldn't do that on purpose, right?

22 Felipe De Matteo WHAT is your DEAL?! 1434 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 03, 2020 11:25 PM

Believe me, I want to find out. by Nathaniel Mordue

They had won, but it was hard to feel much satisfaction over it. It had not, after all, been an abundance of skill which had won the game for Green, or even a happy nod from Lady Fortune. Instead, it had been phenomenal incompetence on the part of one member of the opposition which had almost surely decided things, and the criticism of his skills which De Matteo could expect at the next practice would be scathing enough that he'd probably wish that Nathaniel had just hexed him.

It wasn't, he reasoned, really nepotism, or whatever the word would be for taking up for one's own people over others regardless of logic when one didn't have enough power for it to count as nepotism. Hitting your own Seeker with a Bludger was the height of incompetence for a Beater; a Beater's first priority was to take out the other team's Seeker, and his second was to protect his own Seeker. Didn't matter if that Seeker was his brother or the sundry-strung-together-bits-of-profanity who'd just stolen his girl; you did not hit a Bludger even at another Seeker if it was possible it could hit yours.

He would, he was quite confident, have wanted to make some decidedly scathing remarks no matter what the case was. He also had better sense than to take it personally if someone happened to clip Jeremy with a Bludger; keeping an eye out for that kind of thing was something Jeremy would need to practice, too, and Jeremy was, well, a Seeker. Whenever he played Quidditch, there were at least two people whose first priority was to try to put him in the medical tent. Had Evelyn done it, Nathaniel would have been concerned that Jeremy actually needed said tent, but wouldn't have held it against Evelyn. If Hilda had done it, he...actually thought he might have been concerned for her; Hilda was good, so if she did something as monumentally stupid as take out her own Seeker, something was wrong with her. De Matteo, though, was another matter altogether.

His first impulse was to go over to the medical tent, both to ensure that Jeremy was either conscious or in the hands of the actual medic, and to determine the precise temperature of the coals he was going to rake De Matteo over at first opportunity. Unless he was putting on to try to get De Matteo in trouble, the requirement for medical attention suggested broken bones at least, and Nathaniel somehow didn't see his brother thinking up an anti-De Matteo plan quite so quickly, which brought him back to broken bones at least. As the usual post-game fatigue began to set in and bring back his usual awareness of his inadequacies with it, though, he hesitated. On one hand, Jeremy had literally instructed him to ensure nothing...untoward...went on if De Matteo's incompetence got out of hand, but on the other hand, Jeremy had doubtless assumed at the time that the remark was a mere formality, or even a Joke. However, back on the first hand - even if Jeremy was sulking already, it would be an absolute rubbish person who didn't at least check that he wasn't too badly knocked about, and Nathaniel had dealt with worse than Jeremy sulking in his direction. Nodding to himself, he was about to resume walking when Evelyn caught up with him.

Distracted and annoyed with other people though he was, he couldn't quite help but smile at her inquiry. "I help my brother train sometimes, and he's a Seeker," he reminded her. "So. I just think of it as helping him by trying to hurt him, and ignore details for something like...this. Good friends should be good sports, I wouldn't worry too much about it - even if you want to give them a minute or two right now," he added, reasoning it was fair even for good friends to have a few minutes to just be disappointed before they got on with being good sports.

He had no idea what good brothers would do, as he neither had one nor was one. However, it was a moot point, because it was like he had told Jeremy in one of the more coherent parts of that mad letter he'd written two years ago. Family was rarely something one chose.

"I'm actually going to make sure his brains are still in now, though, and ask if he has a preference about which curse I use on his roommate if he's too battered to deal with it himself," he added, deliberately changing his tone so it might sound like he was joking. Hopefully. The books he had read had not been able to really clarify what Humor was for him, but it seemed, based on them and his observations, to have as much to do with tone as the actual words. He therefore mimicked tones he heard Aunt Avery and Uncle Alexander use when they made remarks which other people laughed at, though he rather suspected such laughter was sycophantish at least as often as not. "So I guess you do get used to it, but it's still not my favorite thing, anyway. I hope you don't have to get too used to it."

He wondered how things were going with her and her brother now. It was not his business, of course, but it persisted in feeling like it was, perhaps just because he had been involved with it for almost a calendar year, now: first helping Alexander try to figure out who he was, then talking him down from the brink when he'd found answers and realized why curiosity was not really a good thing, and then the conversations with Evelyn...

"How have things been with you?" he asked. "No more wandering knives, I hope?"

16 Nathaniel Mordue Believe me, I want to find out. 1412 Nathaniel Mordue 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

July 03, 2020 11:28 PM

This is going to be brilliant by Jeremy Mordue

CW - xenophobia, homophobia

It was match day! Well, sort of. It was just a sad little school versus itself play off for fun or team bonding or whatever else the coach wanted to claim. Getting the skittish little newbies used to playing in front of a crowd so they didn’t drop the ball through nerves the first time they played in a real match. It was pretty low key, but they were making a big deal out of it. That was sort of fine in that Jeremy rather enjoyed having a big deal made out of him, and he knew that one person in particular would be doing that, even if the coach’s level of pep was a bit much. Go out there and show their classmates what they could do… Honestly. The remark was uttered with all the sugar of a nursemaid encouraging some pathetic brat to go show its sparkly macaroni pictures to its parents like it was a valid work of art.

It was slightly odd getting ready and seeing Nathaniel don rival colours. On the one hand, it would be sweet not to have to share his victory with his brother. On the other, the way things had fallen out, he’d be sharing it with someone he liked even less. It also meant that he was having to entrust his life and his care to someone well known to dislike him, and an idiot whose grasp of English was basically non-existent. He might have, if pushed, grudgingly admitted Hilda had some talent on the field, but it was much easier to take the low hanging fruit of insulting both her intelligence and her appearance than acknowledge that, even if he mostly kept that inside his own head for the sake of team unity.

He had to admit, he preferred playing with Nathaniel rather than against him. He had got strangely used to that over the summer. It had seemed normal at first, but he had slowly realised that ‘normal’ hadn't happened in a long enough time that it actually felt rather good. Though perhaps this would have its advantages. He wouldn’t have pulled his punches, had the positions been reversed, but he wondered whether it was against Nathaniel’s moral code to try to really hurt him. He hoped it was that, and not that he’d enjoy getting a chance to let fly without real consequences… They were dressing side by side, so Jeremy was able to address his brother quietly without the rest of the room hearing. Though he only troubled to keep his voice low enough that the coach didn’t hear him. After all, he wasn’t saying anything he was ashamed of.

“I take it it goes without saying,” he said anyway, “That if I’m rendered unconscious through de Matteo’s incompetence, I only want an actual qualified medic, and one who isn’t a depraved pervert, attending to me?” he gave his eyes a slight roll at the fact that that person was even allowed on the field, “And may the best man win,” he added sportingly, although he definitely assumed it was him.

The match kicked off, and he sailed into the sky. He could see the promised banner flashing out his name and he grinned.

“Looks like I’ve got a fan,” he pointed out to the nearest player with a grin.

It was bright, the sun was shining and he was actually enjoying the atmosphere out here. Today was going to be awesome.

13 Jeremy Mordue This is going to be brilliant 1443 0 5

Jean Wolfe

July 04, 2020 12:02 AM

I'm fine by Jean Wolfe

CW - homophobia

Jean-Loup was not entirely sure what word he had just been called. However, he was pretty sure he had been called a word. A word that was designed to be an insult. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a thick enough skin to deal with that. It wasn’t like he hadn’t met people like that plenty of times. People who were sore losers, or impatient with the insult to their macho pride of being injured. Mini Matthieu striding in with what looked like a dislocated shoulder and a fit of temper wouldn’t have been a new experience.

It was the specificity of the insults that bothered him though. ‘Unqualified’ he recognised and… well, that was factual. It wasn’t like people never threw a fuss on the skating lake either, preferring the ‘proper medic’ even when what they had was something he was more than qualified to deal with. It was the other word, something short and sharp. Something… he didn’t know what the word implied. Whether Mini Matthieu had just called him an… idiot, some kind of casual word that you would apply to everyone, or whether the sneer of disgust on his face as he’d he said it meant that he’d called Jean-Loup something to do with what he was. Right in front of Katey.

He left the tent, intending to simply wait outside until Katey was done and then help her tidy up, but his palms were sweating. The match had made him frustrated as it was, forcing him to stay grounded and watch, and now… Now he’d been insulted on top of that, and he wanted to force it all back into its little box so he could just keep smiling politely and be calm but it wouldn’t fit any more. And when he saw the injured party’s brother making his way towards the tent, he beat a hasty retreat in the opposite direction. He had no desire to be insulted twice in one day. Even if it was demonstrable from the fact that he was outside the tent that he had heeded Mini Matthieu’s wish to ‘keep your unqualified *** hands off me.’

He kicked a rock along as he made his way across the grass, but it wasn’t getting better. He was angry and he was hurt, and he wanted to yell or hit something. He stormed off the pitch. As he did so, he found himself face to face with some of the people leaving the stands. They seemed like they were happy, having a good time - had probably enjoyed the match. He tried to force the frown off his face, tuck it back behind the neat smile where it belonged but he was pretty sure, judging by the way they were looking at him, that he’d done that too late.

13 Jean Wolfe I'm fine 1506 0 5

Dorian Montoir

July 04, 2020 7:22 AM

And out of the way of the other ball things by Dorian Montoir

“Probably someone who thinks that idea of getting hurt makes things ‘exciting,’” Dorian answered, though he refrained from rolling his eyes as he did so, seeing as he could count three people on the pitch (though only two of them in the air) that he regarded as definitely not psychopathic and who apparently enjoyed this game. It was still a weird mental disconnect for him to get his head around. He suspected that people who saw the fun in getting hurt were people who had not often been, or who were strong enough to withstand it better than he was.

“Or who thinks it’s fun to be allowed to go do that to others,” he added, and this he said more bitterly and scornfully. It helped that the two airborne people on the pitch that he liked were not playing Beater, even though Parker had previously taken a swing at it. And Jean-Loup had only ever played it in defence of his sister. “At least here they are not like that off the pitch,” he added, the word ‘here’ and the weight of emphasis attached to it perhaps saying more than he meant it to.

“But yes, the medical tent is very ready,” he nodded. He was aware of this as he had heard quite a lot about that. Apparently Quidditch medical supplies were more exciting than regular medical supplies. It was cute that Jean-Loup wanted to be a Healer, because that made him kind of heroic, but when it involved Dorian hearing a lecture about the most common Quidditch injuries, he did sort of wonder how he’d ended up dating such a jock. Most of the time, he thought this affectionately, but he was also going to be quite glad once match prep was not the hottest gossip of the day.

Still, right now he was glad of the chance to return his eyes to ground level for a moment. Jean-Loup appeared to be gesturing animatedly and shouting at the players who were too far away to hear him and, bar one, to understand the language he was most likely to be speaking. And, excellent as Tatya’s language skills were, he doubted she would be able to process coaching in French, both because her mind was on other things and because Quidditch vocabulary had never been a priority for Dorian.

“Ah,” Dorian surveyed the field, sorting Gary’s friends into their respective teams, “Parker is against Tatya. That is a shame. Parker’s a good guy. I think I will cheer him a little also, and then maybe we can only be quarter enemies?” he suggested to Gary with a smile.

13 Dorian Montoir And out of the way of the other ball things 1401 0 5

Zara Jackson

July 04, 2020 7:37 AM

Fun times and nachos by Zara Jackson

So, apparently Zara was dating a sports guy. That was random, given that Felipe had never shown an interest until now. She wondered whether it was some macho show off thing to try to impress her. If so, it seemed slightly misguided in that he’d already reeled her in and they could have been using this time to take advantage of a more deserted school, or eat nachos together in the stands. However, she wasn’t going to argue that it didn’t also kind of work? Yes, boys needing to play Beater was a mindless misogynist something something size of their bat coping mechanism. She’d hung out with Ness. She knew that she was supposed to hate Felipe on principle for trying to show off strength. But it was kinda fun getting to charm little colour flashes on her cheeks and stand in the stand and cheer her boyfriend doing the boy thing.

And she got the nachos all to herself this way.

It was just fun, and lighthearted, and she was watching the Seekers race for the Snitch and she almost actually hoped Jeremy got it, which was the weirdest disconnect but it would mean Felipe won and - oh. Oh freaking heck.

That… that was not good. That was so so so not good. Zara just stared as Jeremy took a hit that sent him spinning. From Felipe. She liked to believe that he wouldn’t do that on purpose. Quidditch was a game, and kind of a stupid game, and it was real pathetic to get all up in a snit about who won and who lost but that… Was not cool. It was very weird how not satisfying it was to see Jeremy Mordue get smacked with a Bludger and lose the match as a result. Especially at Felipe’s hand. On paper that was something she should have wanted. But not when Felipe was his teammate. And when, given their history, people were bound to think that had been on purpose. Even though it hadn’t been. Because Felipe wouldn’t do that… right?

She hurried from the stands, her cheeks still streaked with cheerful orange, waiting outside the locker room for Felipe, and - as the moments ticked by - wondering if she should barge in there and check the orange team weren’t hexing him to pieces. It was only a stupid game.

“Hey,” she called out, as she saw him leaving. And concern crinkled her normal cheerful face. “Are you okay?” she asked. Because either that had been an accident, in which case he had to be feeling awful, or it hadn’t been and… and he really wasn’t okay if that was the case.

13 Zara Jackson Fun times and nachos 1444 0 5

Selina Skies

July 04, 2020 7:56 AM

Is Bueler anyone specific? by Selina Skies

Selina was rather excited for match day. It was a shame that the school’s Quidditch sides had rather fallen apart over the years, and she still missed the interhouse competition. However, after a few years of consistent coaching, the whole school side was really becoming a cohesive unit. They were doing better when they ventured out, and there were currently enough players to put on things like this. Hopefully that would be good for recruitment, and that would continue to help things develop. Even if it wasn’t, this felt good for school spirit. Selina had a Sonora scarf, so as not to show bias but so as to be festively dressed. And heck, as it was a special occasion, a snack didn’t seem unreasonable. It was good for morale and popcorn was mostly air. You just had to ignore all the sugar, then it was perfectly healthy.

She took a seat next to Killian, suspecting that most of the staff would come out and stick together, and hoping that her presence wasn’t a deterrent to the idea of this being fun. She thought that social events like this, where they were all on a more level playing field, were good for getting the staff to see her as a human being. She didn’t necessarily want to be their friend or go on their wild nights out or hear the stories from those but she did want to be someone they were comfortable with.

Apparently the field wasn’t totally level though, as Killian began praising the game. She double checked the little blurs carefully making sure it hadn’t been his niece scoring the goal, and confident that it was not, chimed in with her two cents.

“I think Osbrooke being new had more to do with it. He’s not keeping mobile enough and his flying’s a little skittish. Hexenmeister can throw better than that on a good day. But yes, the ball went where he wanted,” she acknowledged. “Good snack choice too,” she added with a smile and a nod at their matching food.

13 Selina Skies Is Bueler anyone specific? 26 0 5

Gary Harper

July 04, 2020 11:33 AM

Aim for the round loopy thing! by Gary Harper

Gary nodded at Dorian's assessment while he watched the players fly around the field on their brooms. "Yeah. Maybe it's some sort of adrenaline rush thing?" Gary added. Sure, there was skill and things involved in playing. He didn't like Dorian's thought about people playing as an excuse to hurt other people, but it probably had some truth to it. "Give me a table and a game to play on it any day over this." he muttered. As he watched he was breaking it all down into athletic checks, dexterity saves, thrown weapon attacks... he sighed. "At least with a game, there is a purpose to all of it. When you finish you can at least know that you've, hopefully, told an interesting story. With this..." He gestured at the field again, "What is the purpose? Yay.. we sportsed better than you? We are the better sportsters?" He sighed.

"That's good to hear. Hopefully they won't be needed, but it's better to be prepared for the worst." Gary followed Dorian's eyes down to the medical tent. There he got a little shock. Was that the boy that Dorian had brought to the ball? There had been something about an intern in the medical wing hadn't there? Some waiver thing had gone around. Gary hadn't really payed much attention. If he needed to go to the medical wing, he'd find out. If the intern could help him great, if not the medic would be summoned. More people helping to fix people wasn't a bad thing.

Man he wished he could remember the boy's name though. Oh well, he flashed Dorian a friendly smile, "I guess maybe you do know all about the medical tent after all." If any level of relationship things were similar, Dorian may know just as much about medical stuff as he now knew about flying horses and Disney.

"I might be able to do you one better yet." He replied, "Parker is a good guy. Tatiana is also a good..." girl didn't sound quite right, gal? Also didn't seemed to fit Tatiana. "Player." he ended a little lamely. "I'll help cheer for her as well and that should bring us down to one eighth enemies."

2 Gary Harper Aim for the round loopy thing! 1404 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 04, 2020 8:08 PM

Be nice though, K? by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn grimaced. Nathaniel was, as far as she knew, a kind, nice person. He was a good one, too. He wouldn't actually hurt Jeremy's roommate, right? The younger boy wasn't someone Evelyn had spoken to much, but she got the feeling - and had heard, because the rumor mill at Sonora only had to turn over once or twice for news to reach everyone on campus - that he actively did not get on with Jeremy. At this rate, she almost felt worse for the one who was about to have the whole school thinking he'd done this on purpose than the one who was about to have his body magically healed up. One of them would be fine tomorrow and one may not be.

She just nodded though, appreciating his platitudes. "You're pretty calm, on the whole," she said, acknowledging that he did seem used to it. "I can't imagine how I'd be if Heinrich or Ness got hurt. Or Parker . . . Hilda . . . Morgan . . . you. I don't know you half so well as the others and I'd be all sorts of worried. I guess it's just hard for me to actively want to hurt people when I care about them the rest of the time?" She made it a question, hoping he understood. Also hoping that he didn't read too much into the fact that she was not overly concerned about Jeremy's wellbeing. Other than the fact that he was a person, he was too much like the sort of person her father would have loved for her to marry for her to really want much to do with him.

She grimaced a bit more playfully and flexed her hands, looking down at them as if to make sure they were still whole. "No," she decided. "No more wandering knives. I've settled on applesauce instead of apples mostly. Spoons are safer," she pointed out, miming the act of scooping a mouthful of the non-dangerous form of apple into her mouth and smirking. She wasn't going to answer the rest of his question because Nathaniel, she had noted, seemed to approve most of the sort of stoicism with which Heinrich might have been able to answer but which Evelyn herself had never mastered. She wasn't generally a skilled liar and the only way she could be really convincing was if she answered some other part of the question instead of just lying. Find the truth. "How 'bout yourself?" she asked, genuinely curious.

22 Evelyn Stones Be nice though, K? 1422 0 5

Killian Row

July 04, 2020 8:42 PM

You now, I think. by Killian Row

Killian grinned when he found he was accompanied by the deputy headmistress. He was like 99% sure that she was fabulous. Like the sort of fabulous that would absolutely bring down the house at a drag show benefit event by erupting into a cascade of peacock feathers and sashaying off stage in the fiercest cabaret costume of anyone there. Not that he was ever going to tell her that. Heck, with Legilimens being a thing, he tried not to even think it. Still, she was fabulous and fierce and undoubtedly great company.

"You know the sport well," he said approvingly, not really surprised. "I guess you probably know a bit of everything well if it happens at Sonora," he added. It wasn't flattery, both because it was true and because he wasn't in awe over it. At least not outside. On the inside, he was always a little bit in awe of Selina Skies, but on the outside, he was just a chill observer dude with by far the coolest accent of the staff members.

He nodded and offered a mock toast, raising his bag of caramel corn. "To a night off," he grinned knowing full well that neither of them ever really had a night off if they were on campus. Killian was paying as much attention to who seemed particularly into Quidditch as to the game itself and he would absolutely be keeping notes on such things. "How's the term been treating you?" he asked, glancing at her before turning his eyes back to the game and clapping for the next throw.

22 Killian Row You now, I think. 1450 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 04, 2020 9:19 PM

I don't know if I could stomach those things. by Felipe De Matteo

The game ended shortly after Felipe made a mistake that he was pretty sure would stick with him for the rest of his Sonora life. When he returned to the locker room, he took a few minutes longer in the shower than he normally would have because he was trying to wash and scrub off the feeling on his skin. It wouldn't come off. Jeremy, he knew, was off in another part of the stadium, probably screaming. In pain. Felipe felt like a monster and that certainty wouldn't come off his skin.

When he did finally emerge from the locker room, he found Zara standing there, looking concerned. He was sure then that she had seen it and that she knew exactly how un-funny this was, even if their general dislike of Jeremy was mutual.

He greeted her with a weak hug, pressing a kiss to her forehead before stepping back to answer her. Affection was easy and natural for him now and he thought that was good. It was bittersweet to discover that affection had a place in sad times as well as happy times. "I'm . . . no. No, I don't think I am," he murmured, running a hand through his wet hair. "I didn't mean to hit him," he said, looking at Zara with desperate eyes, hoping she knew that. Hoping she wasn't upset that he clarified. "I wouldn't do that on purpose." The very recent memory of Jeremy spinning through the air, screaming as much in anger as pain as far as Felipe could tell, made his stomach hurt and he closed his eyes and shook his head to clear it. "I don't know what to do now." He glanced over his shoulder at the other players who were emerging around him, as well as the students who'd been there to watch. And the staff. Ugh. "They're going to hex my face off," he moaned. "I deserve it."

22 Felipe De Matteo I don't know if I could stomach those things. 1434 0 5

Jezebel Reed-Fischer

July 04, 2020 9:40 PM

No, we aren't fine. by Jezebel Reed-Fischer

Jezebel was not keen on sticking around after the end of the game and she was excited to go to bed. When she got to the bottom of the stands, though, she stopped to get a bag of cotton candy. That was just as well because there was a collective gasp from the audience and she looked up to see Jeremy Mordue spiraling through the air and quickly being taken to the medical tent. He was also in her House, as was Felipe, so she couldn't really help having some basal level of concern for him and she hesitated on the edge of the pitch to see how he was. She supposed that was a leftover habit from her mother: care for others, even when you didn't really care about them.

As a result, she was close enough to see when Jean-Loup stormed out of the tent. Stormed away from the tent. And looked ready to burst. It wasn't hard to imagine that Jeremy was being awful because Jeremy was always awful, but she especially hated to imagine what Jeremy might've said to Jean-Loup. Her generally plain, happy expression was stuck in place until Jean-Loup got closer, because that was what would make her fit in. No one needed to know that it hurt her to think of what Jeremy might have said. But Jean-Loup was hurting too, and she couldn't keep smiling in the face of his expression. This also wasn't about her. She frowned, giving Jean-Loup permission to do the same, and approached him, reaching into her pocket to retrieve what was left of her bag of cotton candy.

"It's not great," she admitted, because cotton candy was never great. "But sugar is good for you when people are being terrible." Before he could argue with her about it or try to decide whether he understood or anything, she opened the bag, took a piece of the pink fluff out, and pushed it into his hand. Then she did the same for herself and took a bite to demonstrate that it was edible in case he'd never seen it before. "Jeremy Mordue is being a wretch?" she asked, not wanting to assume. "Jeremy is very bad human," she added in French, grimacing guiltily. "My mom speaks French. I only know a little. Sorry I didn't say so before."

22 Jezebel Reed-Fischer No, we aren't fine. 1454 Jezebel Reed-Fischer 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 04, 2020 10:38 PM

I'll try. by Nathaniel Mordue

Evelyn would be upset if he got hurt? Nathaniel hoped he didn’t look as surprised as he felt by that. He assumed it was just politeness, as he was, well, here. She acknowledged that he didn’t know him as well as the other people she listed, too, which he took more or less as confirmation that politeness was involved, though he was still touched, just a bit, by the effort.

“Yes. I’d have been a lot happier if I hadn’t been playing against family,” he admitted. “I try to think…I don’t really want to hurt anyone at all. I don’t know what the other Beaters are going to do, though, so I need to protect the people who are on my team. For playing offense…well, a Bludger can get the job done, as far as keeping the other team from scoring, even if it doesn’t hit anyone. Sometimes, though, you do just have to…accept that we all signed up knowing everyone’s going to take a few knocks sooner or later,” he admitted finally. There was, after all, only so much rationalization one could do. Sooner or later, the thing was what it was. It was like life that way.

He smiled, though, despite life rarely being much fun, when Evelyn said she had switched to applesauce. “Indeed,” he agreed about the safety of spoons. “It would probably take a lot of effort to cut yourself with a spoon.” He doubted it was impossible, but it would definitely take effort, either beforehand or in the act itself.

He shrugged slightly when asked about his own wellbeing. “I can’t complain,” he said. “Study, try to keep the Teppenpaws out of trouble, do this. I get a little irritated with the studying sometimes, Advanced work cuts into my photography projects more than Intermediate did, but it’s all right. I’m glad they make us prefects in fifth year, though, so we’re used to it before the Advanced work – though I imagine your Pecaris are harder to keep in line than my Teppenpaws?”

16 Nathaniel Mordue I'll try. 1412 0 5

Jean-Loup Arceneaux

July 05, 2020 2:36 AM

Oh. by Jean-Loup Arceneaux

It was the small human from the ball. He did not remember her name. Normally, names stuck well with him but everyone here had strange names where the sounds didn't gel or glide as they should and that made them harder to hold onto - funny, they were less glidey but also more slippery.

She was initially confusing, but once he processed what she had said and the accompanying actions, he understood; she was trying to care of him. That meant she knew something was wrong, she had also more or less said as much. But she also wanted to make it better. He wasn't sure why. She was not particular friends with Dorian and she was not an adult with any kind of professional responsibility towards him.

He glanced down at the soft fluff of barbe à papa that she had pushed insistently into his hand with the promise it would cure him.

"You are very small healer," he remarked, aiming for some dry humour but mostly just sounding sort of flat. Still, he put the stuff in his mouth. There wasn't really a choice. You couldn't pocket barbe à papa, it just started dissolving the second it hit air or moisture. You had to eat quickly and decisively, an action which his momentary surprise had not accommodated - which his stightly sticky hand now attested to.

"Thank you," he stated. This same problem with the remedy at least made it easy to swallow. It had vanished on hitting his tongue, leaving only an overly sugary taste in his mouth. He was not sure it had the curative properties she had claimed. It mostly made him want a large glass of water. But at least it was well-intentioned.

He was surprised, both by her suddenly speaking French and by knowing why he was in such a bad mood. He had assumed it was mostly his face that had clued her in. But everyone had seen Jeremy stride into the tent, and a good few of them had probably seen him leave shortly after. He supposed it was quite clear.

"De rien," he assured her, when she apologised for not speaking French before. It was complicatedly comforting to hear it. It was easy, and familiar. He could convey his thoughts properly. It was the language he spoke with his boyfriend, whom he loved, but who was the reason he was standing here exposed to venom and ridicule, and it was the language of a home that had rejected him. "Where comes from your mother?" he asked. 'Where do you come from?' was such a standard question that it had been drilled into his head as a whole, rote learnt chunk. When faced with restructuring it around a less familiar party, his mind slipped, losing the unfamiliar word order.

"I cannot say," he shrugged regarding Jeremy Mordue. He could say that Jeremy preferred the qualified healer, which he was perfectly entitled to, but he didn't want anyone to think he himself had a face like a thundercloud over that. The rest however... "Medical confidentiality," he stated. He was not sure he would have wanted to get into the specifics with her anyway, but he could recognise that it was unprofessional of him to stir gossip amongst peers.

"Qu'est-ce que le nom de ca en anglais?," he added, nodding to the bag she was holding. He could see that his non-answer to her question would create a void, and maybe lead to awkward silence, and he didn't want her to feel bad or awkward. He took care to slow down and ennunciate, as he knew from experience how fast words sounded when they were not in your language.

13 Jean-Loup Arceneaux Oh. 1506 Jean-Loup Arceneaux 0 5

Zara Jackson

July 05, 2020 3:19 AM

Yeah, they're somewhat done by Zara Jackson

"I know you wouldn't," Zara assured Felipe when he said it hadn't been on purpose. She reached for his hand to give it a squeeze, feeling bad that she had doubted him.

"No, you don't," she said firmly when he said that he deserved whatever hexes the team fancied throwing his way. It was maybe ironic coming from someone who often advocated kicking butt and taking names "It was just an accident and this is just a game," she stated. Sometimes, direct action was justified. She wasn't going to say that violence was never the answer, when history was littered with examples of peaceful protest being ignored until turned into to direct action. But not over a stupid mistake in a stupid game.

"I mean, I'm not saying people won't be buttholes about it," she added. She was not naive. She wondered how it would balance out that Jeremy was probably disliked by a large portion of the team but that they also still wanted to win. That he was one of them and Felipe was new. That he kind of had what was coming to him but that you just didn't do that... But it had been an accident.

"You wanna get away from here?" she asked, feeling like it might be a good plan to put some space between Felipe and the rest of them. But that might make him look guilty, or remorseless. "Or hang around and apologise where you need to, make sure your side of the story's out there too?" she asked.

13 Zara Jackson Yeah, they're somewhat done 1444 0 5

Selina Skies

July 05, 2020 3:54 AM

I was hoping that was the answer by Selina Skies

"I do my best to keep up with things," Selina agreed, when Killian said she probably knew most of what was going on. She suspected there were some ebbs and flows of social lives that she didn't know about but she didn't ask to know everything, "Just enough to keep everyone out of trouble, as much as possible," she added, as a guide for her measure of how much she needed to know.

"I was a Chaser for my house team, back in the day," Selina grinned, when Killian commented that she knew the sport well. "And we had a group at university that used to do pick up games. It's not as popular as Quadpot, so the university sides tend to be a bit more casual," she explained. That had probably been for the best. She had been a decent player but she wasn't at the level that a university side would want. She had liked to play with people who took it seriously and gave her a challenge, but not so seriously that it was their whole life.

"I met Danny doing that," she added. "Tarquin's husband," she clarified, "I don't know if you've met him," she was pretty sure they would have crossed paths at some point... There had been the Brooding-Hawthorne wedding, but that was pre-Killian. Had Killian been here two years or more? But no matter, the ball had been last year, and Danny usually came to that. Still, being in the same room wasn't the same as knowing to put a name to the face. "Danny, I mean. I take it you've met Tarquin by now, just about," she added, a slight rise of her eyebrows indicating that might have been a very gentle quip at the librarian's expense.

"Hopefully so," she cheersed his pocorn with a laugh. "This year... well, on top of what you just said, it seems like it would be tempting fate to say it's been quiet. But..." she knocked against the seat next to her. "Zeus seemed like the most likely element to cause widespread disruption - the child. Not actually worried about vengeance from the pantheon, though..." here she knocked on the seat again, with an ironic glint in her eyes. She didn't think it was breaking any confidences to say that about Zeus. He was new and a four year old. Those were like unleashing a hurricane filled with Nifflers at the best of times - the room got turned upside down, and your favourite things developed a habit of going missing. She decided not to tempt fate, or a lack of faith in her all seeing eyes, by saying that seemed to be going fine. Nothing had imploded or exploded and she hoped that would continue.

"I just mean he's the biggest change this year," she clarified, not wanting it to get misconstrued into her feeling anything negative about his presence.

"How about you?" she asked.

13 Selina Skies I was hoping that was the answer 26 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

July 05, 2020 8:28 AM

Lot of that going around by Jeremy Mordue

CW - homophobia

The pace of the match was so-so. Obviously, it was one of the problems with being streaks ahead of most people on the pitch. It meant that sometimes there wasn't enough of a challenge. Incompetence could breed its own challenges of course, people getting in his way, or Bludgers, if his beaters weren't up to scratch - that was likely to be his biggest issue. Chasers suffered more when there were poor fliers on the pitch, as they were all in each other's space all the time. He sometimes needed to dive through or around others, but hopefully they knew not to get in his way. Overall, the level balanced out enough that it was just sort of slow.

Eventually though, he saw the tell-tale hint of gold. He felt that familiar spike of adrenaline that made all of this worth it. All the hours training. All the underappreciation. All the hours of the game spent on edge but not being rewarded - here was the rush. When he was chasing down the Snitch, all the bad things melted away. There was the screaming thrill of the chase, driving him to get there first, and the knowledge that glory was racing closer with every second. There was euphoria in the world. There were reasons to feel good. For other people to like and to celebrate him and-

SMACK!

Something slammed into his shoulder so hard he let out an involuntary scream of pain and surprise. He was pitched forward but had enough of a grip on his broom to take that with him as he jolted violently off course.

He tried to pull himself right again, even as he did so, knowing it would be too late. Split seconds mattered in Seeking. The only way the Snitch wouldn't be gone would be if someone else was holding it.

After the whistle blew, he touched down, still smarting both physically and emotionally. He would have won! He was sure his hand had been closer than Delachene's - he was sure it had been, he was better than her! But for that Bludger. And he wanted to rage and kick and be angry, specifically because that was exactly the game. Someone had played their part better than him, done exactly what they were suppsed to, and that meant that he couldn't be bitter or angry, which made it all the harder not to be.

Not with them, anyway. They were a team. Still would be, after this, and he'd be playing with some of the victors next time. And not with someone who had the responsibility of putting him back together. Luckily, there was one person in between him and there. Jeremy strode into the medical tent, finding the new healer and the intern.

"You can keep your unqualified *** hands off me," he snarled. He would have loved to physically push him back but for now words would have to do. He felt a deep sense of satisfaction and a slight balm to his own wounds at the pain he was inflicting on someone else. Not much of it showed on Jean-Loup's face but Jeremy had grown up around enough repressed, uptight people to notice the tiny tells like the stiffening of a jaw.

As Jean-Loup strode out, he turned to the proper medic.

"I need my shoulder to be perfect," he informed her briskly. He imagined she already knew that to be the problem both if she had watched the game and if she was looking at him. It felt all wrong, and it looked weirdly angled. Jeremy had played enough Quidditch to know suffering, and to have weathered a few broken bones. This felt close to the same level of pain, but he wasn't sure if the sick feeling in his stomach was from that or from the loss.

"I would have won," he stated, still seething about it. He didn't want to cry. Not from pain and not from disappointment. It was easier to be angry. He sort of wished Nathaniel was here so he could have someone to rage and kick things at who wasn't in charge of fixing him. "I would have! I was so close!" he glared, slamming his good fist against the bed. He perched himself on it in a seated position so she could examine him.

He would have won and... Who had stopped him? He had been in too much pain and misery to consider it much. Hilda had been on his team. And for all he had mentioned De Matteo's incompetence to Nathaniel at the start of the match, he had meant that more in the sense of Felipe failing to prevent an attack. His mind went to the rival Beaters. And he wasn't sure Stones could hit a fish in a barrell. She'd batted wide the whole game, never hitting another player.

That left one person.

Jeremy thumped the bed in frustration again. It didn't matter that he would have done it to Nathaniel in a heartbeat, positions reversed. Nathaniel talked about family beyond all else. All this duty and responsibility stuff. And he had literally fired on Jeremy's turned back, costing him the game!

The flap of the tent lifted. It wasn't like he wanted his brother now. Because he wasn't on Jeremy's side. And he hadn't come anyway.

"Oh, it's you," he frowned. He was surprised Leonor had come (and Nathaniel hadn't), and was unable to think up anything less mildly insulting between the pain and the rage at his brother.

13 Jeremy Mordue Lot of that going around 1443 0 5

Leonor De Matteo

July 05, 2020 11:45 AM

Seems like. by Leonor De Matteo

Leonor cocked an eyebrow, not appreciating that sort of greeting. She knew he was in pain, but geez. Had he expected someone else instead? Felipe to come down here and start apologising right away? Felipe was generally kind, not stupid, and that was especially true if he had done this on purpose. He wasn't one to gloat and if he wasn't about to apologise to Jeremy just yet, then there wasn't a lot of good to be had in coming to visit him.

"I can go," she said, gesturing back over her shoulder with her thumb. "I wasn't sure whether you'd like a friendly face." Because this was for him. Not because Leonor cared. Not because Leonor was worried. But because Jeremy might benefit from her deigning to visit and that was it. Because it kept up appearances on a thing that she wasn't even sure whether it was fake or not. Whether she wanted it to be fake or not.

Not really expecting him to ask her to leave, she took a seat on a stool in the corner, out of the healer's way. "I'm sorry you're hurt," she murmured, meaning it. "I'm sorry Felipe is such a moron," she added, grimacing. It would be better to rip off the bandage and address the awkward connection they now shared. Much as they found Felipe irritating, she didn't necessarily want to be straight up associated with his bad decision on this part. It would be better to take a stance now and show which side she was on. Where her sympathies lay. Guilty as this whole thing made her feel sometimes, she was not a bit surprised that her sympathies did not lay with her brother in this case.

22 Leonor De Matteo Seems like. 1471 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 05, 2020 12:03 PM

I think I probably should eat though? by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe had a hard time agreeing that he didn't deserve those hexes but he wasn't about to argue with her; it wasn't a position he really wanted to take up. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair again when she acknowledged that people would be 'buttholes' about it. This was going to suck. And it was his fault. "I keep screwing stuff up," he said quietly, almost to himself, as if he needed a reminder.

He was torn between her choices, though. On the one hand, he was pretty sure apologising was the better thing to do and that his parents would tell him to do that. On the other, he was pretty sure his apology wouldn't be heard, and expecting it to make a difference felt a lot like expecting other people to just be okay with his behavior right now, before they really had time to process it and let the emotions of it all come down. What would he say anyway? Sorry. I do hate him, but I didn't mean to hit him. You see, he insulted people I care about and is now maybe getting it on with my sister and I did think about hitting him, but then I didn't hit him, but then I did hit him, but not because I was thinking about hitting him. Sorry we lost, though! It wasn't going to help.

"Maybe get away from here," he decided. He wasn't sure which one of them led away from the Pitch but it was nice to be free from the noise and hooplah of the game. They walked briefly in silence before Felipe decided to speak up again. "You don't think . . . I'm not a monster, right?" he asked anxiously. "I didn't mean to hit him, but . . . I wanted to," he admitted quietly. "He's awful. I think he's dating Leonor? She had a banner for him." He realised as his voice trembled just how much it broke his heart to think that his own sister hated him that much. That he was that detestable. "I talked to Jessica last week," he added, searching Zara's face for a reaction as he continued. "I wanted to apologise for my part in things going wrong and things didn't go great. I think we're going to try to talk again when we're both ready, but she was really upset and just . . . I keep hurting people." An idea occurred to him and he looked up at Zara with big, worried eyes. "You're okay? I haven't hurt you yet?"

22 Felipe De Matteo I think I probably should eat though? 1434 0 5

Jezebel Reed-Fischer

July 05, 2020 12:19 PM

Is that news? by Jezebel Reed-Fischer

Jezebel smirked. "Very small healer," she repeated. "Better than most of what my siblings call me," she decided, accepting the new title. Watching him eat the cotton candy was sort of hilarious because he seemed like a proper grown up in a lot of ways and proper grown ups didn't usually eat cotton candy.

"West Africa," she replied about her mother, remembering the stories well. "She speaks Igbo, French, and English. Mostly just English now." Really, she was pretty sure the only reason her mom hung on to French at all was because of church. Jezebel didn't think the Latin was any easier at all with French in her brain getting it all mixed up, but her mom seemed to think it did. She usually spoke Igbo with family from West Africa, so it wasn't like she really needed the French for that.

She nodded. "You don't have to say," she replied with a shrug, both because she understood confidentiality enough to know he wouldn't anyway and because he really didn't have to say anything for her to know that Jeremy was a jerk.

He pointed at the bag in her hand and asked a question in French that was one of those questions people just knew how to say, although she usually would have used it the other way, asking how to say something in French. He did seem to be speaking a bit slowly for her, which she appreciated, and she made an effort to do the same in English. "Cotton candy in America," she said. She remembered watching a TV show set in England once and they called it . . . what did they call it. "I think candy floss in the UK?" she said, not entirely confident in that answer. 'Candy floss' sounded super gross so she sort of hoped that wasn't it. "Or fairy floss maybe? I'm not sure if Canada uses the American one or the British one though." Probably the British one, but she was going off on a tangent now. "Cotton candy," she said, making it clear that that was the point of her rambling. "Qu'est-ce que le nom de ca en francais?" she asked, figuring that a straight up copy-paste was her best bet.

22 Jezebel Reed-Fischer Is that news? 1454 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 05, 2020 12:28 PM

Thank you by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn nodded a bit sadly, recognising the truth in what Nathaniel was saying. She thought it also rang surprisingly true of her own life, where she'd apparently come to the conclusion that it would be easiest if she took all the bludgers herself, and her team was pointing out that they were still losing if that was the case, and that they could help. It was hard to let people help. "Protect the people on my team," she repeated with a small smile. It sounded like Heinrich might not be the only paladin she knew.

"Ugh, can you imagine?" she grimaced playfully at the thought of trying to stab herself with a spoon. She laughed loudly. It was an easy, comfortable sound and it felt good to have a reason to use it again. "I'm not sure about getting used to this either," she chuckled about studying. "CATS are coming up for me and I think that I might just die. Helps that my friends are mostly Aladrens and Heinrich's done it before so he helps me a lot. What say you? You want in on the tutoring chain?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

She started to nod at the fact that the Pecaris were almost definitely harder to keep in line than the Teppenpaws before deciding that what she considered "in line," as a Pecari, was probably different than what Nathaniel did, so there was a trade off. Also . . . "You got Alexander," she reminded him. It was funny though, because she got Mab. Originally, she hadn't realised the humor in that. "I got his foster sister," she added, in case Nathaniel hadn't made that connection or wasn't sure whether he was allowed to speak to that. "It's odd to think of all the little connections, isn't it? There's a theory, it's a muggle one, that everyone is connected through 6 or fewer degrees of separation. So like, I know someone who knows someone who knows someone . . . six times, to get to anyone. It's probably fewer in the wizard world because there's not as many people, though," she admitted.

22 Evelyn Stones Thank you 1422 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 05, 2020 5:03 PM

We're all nothing if not complex. by Nathaniel Mordue

Interactions with Jeremy were, usually, predictable – something which was sometimes soothing and sometimes frustrating and sometimes depressing, but which was true more often than not. There were exceptions, of course, because no-one was completely predictable, but most of the time, Nathaniel felt qualified to guess what his brother was liable to do. With this thought in mind, he excused himself from Evelyn (“if you’ll excuse me – really ought to check on him. Shouldn’t be more than a minute, though, if you want me to catch up?”) before approaching the medical tent, only to pause when he saw Jean-Loup Arceneaux leaving it with visible displeasure.

Well, Jeremy was probably talking, then, at least….

Watching Arceneaux, Nathaniel had the strangest, maddest compulsion to go speak to him. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say – he couldn’t, after all, really apologize for Jeremy’s manners in this case; it was against social norms to even admit that Arceneaux existed – but somehow he felt that he ought to say something.

Perhaps, he thought, it was just the desire to convince himself that Arceneaux actually did exist, even if the polite thing to do was pretend he didn’t. He was, after all, unfathomable, and while he had met other people who were as unfathomable in the same way (indeed, the people in question were his parents), he had yet to find one who had done an adequate job of explaining it to him: what would make a person care so much about an outsider, a – a sex object, basically – that the person could give up everything for the outsider? His father, of course, had never tried to explain, but his mother had. Parts of it were always about being happy, as though that was likely to last, and which he took for euphemisms, but she also went on sometimes about how meeting Elphwick had made her realize society was bad and that they should leave it. Nathaniel agreed it sucked, but to leave it? If Nathaniel had not chosen to prioritize his blood before his morals and honor, then his mother would have had no family whatsoever. Elphwick could have treated her any way he wanted and there would have been no-one to intervene on her behalf. The thing about society was that, as terrible as it could be, it was no worse than the rest of the world. Life was just a long series of disappointments and disasters. If one had family, at least one could have more disappointments than disasters. Probably.

Or perhaps, he thought, he was merely too soft. He remembered his fourth year in so much detail that…he didn’t know exactly how it had happened, but he found himself feeling sorry for almost everyone, in the end. Once, he had even caught himself in the middle of the thought that he might let Elphwick live, if he could determine that Mama’s health really was as much improved as she claimed whenever he finally got to see her in person again. If he could think that, or at least start to, then it was probably not surprising that other people’s sex acts which didn’t affect his family at all couldn’t quite get as much of a reaction from him as they should have.

He would have to be careful, he thought. Make sure her attempts at arguments in their letters hadn’t started getting to him. Later, though. Now, he had to confirm the condition of her other son, so he could assure her Jeremy had no more lasting damage than a few days of poor temper to show for the Quidditch match when he reported home about it.

He stepped into the medical tent just in time to hear Leonor De Matteo say the words ”Felipe is such a moron.” He half-raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear such blatant disloyalty from his sister, spoken directly to one of Jeremy’s worse enemies. Perhaps she cared more for honor than family. Some people did.

“I think we can all agree on that,” he said crisply, joining them. “Hello, Miss De Matteo. You all right, Jeremy?” he asked his brother, rather more casually than felt quite natural – worry was almost a default note in his voice, as there was always something to be worried about – because of the outside presence. For all he knew, she was gathering information for her brother, hoping to goad Jeremy into saying something stupid or…something, he didn’t know, all he knew was that he didn’t much like having a member of his family and an outsider and himself all in the same place at the same time because of the same reason, broadly speaking, and when he didn’t like things, he defaulted to propriety heavily tinted with stoicism. Emotions were dangerous, even when they were merely habitual as much as anything.

16 Nathaniel Mordue We're all nothing if not complex. 1412 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 05, 2020 8:39 PM

You're welcome. by Nathaniel Mordue

“I…can, but it’s absurd,” said Nathaniel when asked if he could imagine stabbing himself with a spoon, and he smiled slightly as Evelyn laughed at the idea. It was sort of nice, making people have positive reactions, dealing with them in context where no-one cried or wanted to cry. It felt normal, like something that could happen to other people. He didn’t know if his life could ever actually be normal, but it was nice to have flashes of feeling as though it could.

He was surprised again by her remark about tutoring, and wondered for a moment if she was asking if he wanted Heinrich Hexenmeister to tutor him, too, or if she meant that she wanted him to tutor her. After a moment’s reflection, he decided that he thought she meant the second one.

“I’m pretty good at Potions, if you ever need a hand there,” he said. “With the other classes, I think I’m doing well to keep up.”

This felt like a strange thing to admit, somehow. He wasn’t sure he should have. He knew that he was only of a generally mediocre intellect, but he was supposed to be a leader in society, wasn’t he? Perhaps not of his family in the broad sense – he was in theory second in line, behind Simon, if primogeniture was observed, but he could not fathom any circumstances where that worked out – but society generally. The price of the privileges that came with his birth. It was not a social role which lent itself to mediocre intellect. Since he had already said it, though, he supposed there was no real point to dwelling on it.

He couldn’t help but laugh – a low, somewhat restrained, reserved laugh, it would take rather a lot more than a bizarre coincidence to reduce him to knee-slapping, but it was a laugh - when Evelyn said that she, Alexander’s half-sister, was the prefect over his foster-sister. He thought he could have made that connection, had he thought about it, but he had never really thought about it.

“It’s a small world,” he mused. “I’m going to spend all evening trying to think of random people and see how well it works…well, I suppose it depends on how we define ‘know.’ I could say that if I’ve spoken to another prefect, I’m within one link of everyone they’ve ever spoken to…still, I think we’re more connected than most people at this point,” he concluded, another mild surprise, considering they’d only had the most passing of interactions until the end of last year. By the theory, of course, they had had the Alexander condition since the first day of the previous academic year, even if neither of them knew it, but it was still a curious coincidence.

16 Nathaniel Mordue You're welcome. 1412 0 5

Zara Jackson

July 05, 2020 11:08 PM

Yes, food solves problems by Zara Jackson

"Everyone makes mistakes," Zara stated firmly, when Felipe mumbled about how that kept happening. "There is a difference between screwing up and being a screw up. You are not a screw up."

They walked away, and he began getting into slightly messier territory. There was deliberate, and there was accidental. Those were clear and distinct, and Zara liked them. It had been an accident. His rambling about subconscious levels was not helpful. Admittedly subconcious bias could be proven experimentally and was often important to examine. But they were never going to know in this particular case, and it seemed like the bigger danger was Felipe beating himself up over it.

"Most of us want to hit Jeremy. That's just natural," she stated. "You didn't do it on purose. You didn't see his turned back and think 'this'll pay him back.' Therefore, it was an accident."

She searched for something comforting to say about Leonor or about any of it, but before she could think of anything, he dropped a bombshell. Annoyance flashed across her features, though whether it was at the mere mention of Jessica's name, at the fact Felipe had talked to her or that Jessica had, unsurprisingly, been horrid about it again, it was hard to say. All of those things annoyed her to varying levels. But she tried to keep it off her face as Felipe fretted about her.

"I'm still whole, see?" she held her arms up so he could examine her. It was easy to demonstrate a lack of physical hurt, both because you could see it and because it was one hundred percent true right now.

"Why keep bothering with her?" she asked, not quite managing to get the neutral tone she had been aiming for.

13 Zara Jackson Yes, food solves problems 1444 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 05, 2020 11:48 PM

Most of them. by Felipe De Matteo

"Thank you," Felipe murmured. Zara always seemed to understand what to say and how to say it. She never lied to him or sugarcoated anything for him. She told him the truth, and she said it exactly how he needed her to, whether that meant being short and direct, or kind and encouraging. Or all of the above. She was a proper ball of sunshine.

He nodded in agreement, not having considered intentionality in those terms. "No, I definitely didn't do that," he said. The thought made him a bit nauseous. Hitting Jeremy by accident was bad enough but intentionally attacking someone with their back turned was just . . . cruel. He would never.

He couldn't quite be sure what Zara was thinking about his comments about Jessica though. She looked . . . maybe he imagined the anger? That could be projecting, right? Or maybe she was thinking of something else? Maybe it was a coincidence? Or maybe she really was angry with him. That was a horrible thought. She put her arms out though, as if for examination, so Felipe obliged, a mischievous smile crossing his face as much as was possible right now. He caught her wrist in his hand and pressed his lips against it before moving his mouth down her arm to her shoulder and then up to her face as he wrapped her up in his arms. He was perfectly happy to spend as much time in this moment as she wanted before continuing their conversation and he was squirmy to discover that his pent up sadness and frustration with himself and with the game and with Leonor weren't enough to push much more pressing ideas out of his head.

When Zara tasked about Jessica, he followed her lead. "Because at one point, she meant a lot to me," he said slowly and thoughtfully. He wanted to get his words right. "And she wasn't a perfect friend. She hurt you," he acknowledged, hugging her a little closer without really meaning to. He hoped that didn't happen again because he thought he absolutely could find it in himself to hit a bludger at anyone who hurt his sunshine now. "But I wasn't perfect either. I'd rather know that we aren't friends because we don't want to be, or because we just aren't, rather than that because either of us is stuck in some idea of who we used to be. People grow." He said the last part like he needed it to be true. Needed Zara to believe it was true. Because if she didn't, what hope was there for him?

22 Felipe De Matteo Most of them. 1434 0 5

Killian Row

July 05, 2020 11:57 PM

I'm glad (and surprised) that that's the case! by Killian Row

Killian's eyes widened and he grinned with pleased shock, leaning away from Selina as if she were the baddest thing since phoenix feather cores. "Chaser Skies?" he asked, not sure whether that was the name she'd had at the time. "Because that's about the best name a Quidditch player could hope for."

He smiled a bit at the thought of Tarquin and Danny. "I've met Tarquin," he said. "I had to wrestle his tea away from him for a moment of his time, but in the end . . . he still won actually," he chuckled. "I am not sure whether I've met Danny. Maybe seen him? Sounds like you've known each other a long time."

Glancing up at the sky as if to check for lightning bolts coming down from there, Killian nodded, understanding. He knew Mary better than Tabitha, but he didn't know either of them well. He and Mary had had a conversation about gender and sexuality at one point, and both of the new parents seemed tired just as a standing state of being recently. He could imagine that their new ward was the cause of that. "If he turns into the head of the pantheon, I may need a new job before he's eleven," he replied with a smirk. "He seems like a good kid, but it definitely is a big change. For everyone." Professor Skies was the sort of figure who was not just a figure; she was actively engaged in her staff's individual lives and that was what made her a great boss/supervisor/lady person. It also meant that she was particularly susceptible to vicarious trauma and other such effects.

"My year's been . . . good I think," he decided. "Always a bit up and down I think. Some of the students are really blossoming and others are really struggling. It's hard to balance that in a way that's productive and healthy for everyone," he explained, again, knowing that she understood better than most of his colleagues what that balance had to look like. "It's so odd seeing them grow up. I haven't been here that long and already some of them seem like they're all grown up, when they were just kids yesterday."

22 Killian Row I'm glad (and surprised) that that's the case! 1450 0 5

Dorian Montoir

July 06, 2020 5:17 AM

But also stop those who do! by Dorian Montoir

“Yes, Parker told me that your game is storytelling.” Admittedly, he had also gathered this from his own observations but saying that Parker had told him sounded much less creepy than ‘I have watched you.’ He was not sure whether it was his sort of thing. He liked reading stories, certainly, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to recite them as a group with other people. He had also never been sure he would have been able to, even if he had been so inclined. “Heinrich plays?” he queried, following his own line of thought a little further.

“Yes,” he stated simply when Gary mentioned Dorian’s knowledge of the medical tent. Probably in far more detail than he needed but it felt disloyal to Jean-Loup to say so. Normally it was cute when he got excited about medical stuff (so long as it wasn’t gross or graphic) but when it was Quidditch medical stuff, it more reminded Dorian of things he disliked. He made an effort to not hate Quidditch but it was an active effort, and he would have been happier if there was no overlap between the people he cared about and the one he very much disliked.

“Good deal,” he agreed happily, when Gary negotiated them down to being one eighth enemies. “Hmm… I like Ness also, but she is already on the same team as Tatya so I don’t know if that helps,” he scanned the field, “Anya too,” he offered, seeing as Gary had gone to the ball with Jasmine. Although the sisters seemed fairly different, and he had plenty of experience in knowing that liking, or even dating, one person did not mean harmony with their sibling. “Perhaps this is a controversial statement, and perhaps too crazy, but do you think we could… simply decide to not be enemies due to coloured robes and ball throwing?” he suggested with an amused smile.

13 Dorian Montoir But also stop those who do! 1401 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

July 06, 2020 5:44 AM

I'm complex? by Jeremy Mordue

’I can go.’ Oh good, she sounded moody. Was she gonna get in a snit now, over him not being on his best behaviour? He had a freaking dislocated shoulder! If ever there was a time that he could be cut some freaking slack for not being ‘well-mannered’ - he was the victim here! Part of him wanted to tell her to leave. It was… frustrating. He liked that she cared, but he didn’t want to be weak or bad tempered with her watching and he felt like being both. That made her presence an inconvenience, increasing his desire to be bad-tempered but reducing any possibility of being. He would have shrugged her remark off, but obviously he couldn’t right now. Leonor, however, took a seat in spite of what she’d said, and started bad mouthing Felipe.

“Yes, he is” he agreed, without much enthusiasm. He supposed that was her idea of a subject that might cheer him up, and whilst calling Felipe every name under the sun was tempting it felt rather detached from the current sources of his pain and misery.

The tent flap opened again, and this time it was Nathaniel. Jeremy wasn’t relieved. He absolutely did not want Nathaniel to somehow swoop in and protect him or make this better. It shouldn’t have mattered that Nathaniel had come because that was just what was expected, and Jeremy didn’t want him here anyway, and he was a traitor. He didn’t seem shifty or guilt-ridden however, and much to Jeremy’s surprise he joined in the bad-mouthing of Felipe. With the words ‘I think we can all agree on that.’ When had he and Jeremy ever agreed on their opinion of a single person?!

“Fantastic,” Jeremy bit out each flattened and bitter syllable in response to Nathaniel’s query about his well being.

“I must look awful if you’re resorting to agreeing with me,” he challenged Nathaniel, wondering whether this was how his brother's guilt was manifesting itself. That probably wasn't the kind of thing he was supposed to say in front of other people but oh well. Maybe Nathaniel should have thought of that earlier. Again, he didn't think he could be expected to be at his best right now. “I didn’t think you believed in speaking ill of anyone.”

13 Jeremy Mordue I'm complex? 1443 0 5

Jean Wolfe

July 06, 2020 6:08 AM

Sort of yes, sort of no by Jean Wolfe

“Your siblings say bad about you?” he asked, concern furrowing his brow. He knew siblings could tease, and maybe that was all she meant, but he also had more than enough experience of siblings saying hurtful things and meaning them. He did not want the very small healer to be in trouble.

He nodded vaguely at the comment about her mother. He knew there were a lot of French speakers in some parts of Africa. He’d never heard of the other language she mentioned. None of it really seemed anything for him to comment on though.

He was surprised by the length of the response he got to his question about the item in her hand. He supposed that made sense - his own variety of French was probably distinct to what they spoke in France, and probably from West Africa too. Still, it very much made him want to pick English up and shake it. Why so many words for one thing?

“I think I must choose one country,” he grimaced, “Learning English one time is enough.” Dorian thought language was a wonderful adventure and enjoyed playing with words, pulling them apart or scampering through them, admiring their intricacies and wanting more and more of them. Jean-Loup just wished they’d make sense and be easy. “Cotton candy,” he repeated, taking the word she’d said more times, and that was applicable to her. “Candy is… sugar things?” he asked.

“We call barbe à papa,” he informed her, the syllables slurring together in a way that, to an untrained ear, perhaps sounded like an almost onomatopoeic nonsense string, encapsulating the food’s strange bouncy fluffiness. Barbapapa. It was a childish selection of noises. Jean-Loup, naturally, did not hear it this way, the string chunking into distinct words in his mind. Nonetheless, he explained it for her, because he’d asked an explanation of the English name. “Le barbe,” he drew his non-sticky hand down his chin in a mime, “Of father.”

13 Jean Wolfe Sort of yes, sort of no 1506 0 5

Leonor De Matteo

July 06, 2020 2:16 PM

Not as much as me. by Leonor De Matteo

Leonor stiffened some when Nathaniel Mordue entered the tent, but nodded politely at his greeting. She wasn't precisely sure how much Jeremy had told him or what her reputation was at this point - the thing was new enough she doubted she had one, to be fair - but she didn't have any real reason to want to irritate this older brother and she wasn't sure whether her presence would do so. Another twist of guilt made her want to defend Felipe but she found that there was nothing defensible about him in this moment. It was interesting to note that Jeremy did not look happy to see Nathaniel. She supposed she wouldn't have been happy to see Felipe, but she generally didn't assume everyone had the same relationship with their brother as she did. Besides, Nathaniel had a generally decent reputation for being nice and he was a Teppenpaw so it was hard to imagine him giving Jeremy a lot of problems. But then, what was nice and what was considered nice weren't always the same thing. Felipe had a decent reputation as far as she knew - at least, he had before today - and that didn't make a lick of difference to her.

She cocked an eyebrow at Jeremy again, this one more confused than anything. "Your brother would have to be a troll not to agree in this case, I think," she replied. Her natural tone was cool, so there was nothing especially chilly about her voice now but it wasn't exactly warm either, just by virtue of being who she was. She wondered what Nathaniel thought of that. "Anyone who hits their own teammate with a bludger is a moron, whether or not he's actually a moron in other cases." She wrinkled her nose. "Felipe just happens to be both."

It was a bit funny hearing Jeremy be so sarcastic about being 'fantastic' because his sense of sarcasm and dull wit meant he was probably actually doing sort of okay, all things considered. She resisted the urge to fuss over him, because she absolutely didn't care at all and was here for show. Nathaniel seemed about as equally disinterested in Jeremy as she was though, and it intrigued her tremendously. This, she thought, was how families were supposed to behave. There was a level of mutual concern, but propriety mattered. Behaving appropriately and encouraging others to behave appropriately mattered. Felipe's method of correction generally seemed to be disappointment or self-flagellation, neither of which were Leonor's modus operandi. She did momentarily forget that she was supposed to take opportunities to compliment Jeremy, though, and she shook her head belatedly at the idea that he looked bad. "And you don't look awful," she pointed out. "You never look awful."

Complimenting him in front of his brother would either go really well - look how cool your brother is with this super cute plaything hanging around ready to tell him how handsome he was - or it would go very poorly - look at your brother with this super cute plaything hanging around ready to tell him how handsome he was. Whatever the interpretation, the facts were the same, and she was super cute either way; that part was undeniable. In this case, she settled on being the super cute plaything who vaguely suggested that he was handsome instead of anything more direct.

22 Leonor De Matteo Not as much as me. 1471 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 06, 2020 2:45 PM

You’re getting there, though. by Nathaniel Mordue

“Either a moron or a coward without honor who attacks when his opponent’s back is turned,” said Nathaniel, a bit sharply, with a nod to Leonor. “When those are the options, I suppose calling him a moron is speaking less ill of him than I could.” His mouth twisted with distaste, the deviation from his usual range of sad or vaguely pleasant expressions momentarily increasing his already strong resemblance to his brother. He had forsaken any real claim to courage or honor himself, two years ago, but he had, at least, not yet stooped to doing something like that.

Of course, with Elphwick, there was the issue of access. With his uncle...there it was more complicated, as he could have done any number of things. All of them would have been as distasteful as what Felipe had done, but....

He hated the world sometimes, for existing in such a spectrum of greys, with none of the clear, clean rules it appeared to have at first glance. Thinking on this was not really terribly useful here, though, so he tried to dismiss it from his mind.

“Your shoulder, I’m guessing?” he asked Jeremy, noticing how his brother was holding himself, the standard note of mild anxiety reentering his voice. “I saw him hit the Bludger, but I didn’t see exactly how it hit you. Anything broken?” If there was, Nathaniel hoped Felipe could find a nice soft bit of floor somewhere outside of Crotalus to sleep on, because he might not survive until morning if he tried to sleep in the dorm. Seekers were almost as preoccupied with their arms and hands as musicians - preoccupied enough to rival their concern with their weight, even - and a broken shoulder was a nasty business. The bones could be healed well enough rather quickly (where was the medic, then?), but repeated traumas could take a toll, over time, and Nathaniel rather suspected his brother of ambitions toward a career in the sport.

As for Leonor’s comments on Jeremy’s appearance, he decided to ignore that. It seemed like a time where a Joke might have been appropriate if it had been at his own expense, but he didn’t think Jeremy had ever made a formal study of Humor, or that Jeremy was good-natured enough, particularly while in pain, to respond positively to such a thing. This left him with few ideas for comments, which made ignoring that the best option on the table.

16 Nathaniel Mordue You’re getting there, though. 1412 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 06, 2020 3:04 PM

Look at us being nice and stuff. by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn grinned, appreciating that even when he was being playful, Nathaniel was formal. 'Absurd' was an almost hilarious word choice, just because it was so . . . big. It was a fancy word for fancy things and politics. Like when old ladies say 'I found the whole thing utterly absurd' because they're talking about something that seems pretty normal to their grandkids but whatever. Except now it was 'I find the idea of stabbing myself with a spoon whilst consuming applesauce to be utterly absurd' and that was just A+ comedy gold right there. Completely by accident, too, if she had a halfway decent read on her teammate.

"Ah, darn," she laughed. "I'm alright at potions. Dating the potions assistant helps, though. Of course . . ." She paused to consider her most recent homework grades. "I'm not going to turn down extra help." She nodded to the idea of feeling like doing well was keeping up. She'd always been a so-so student since so much of classwork depended on the actual practice of magic - she could nail the theory and still not be able to perform the spell, although she was getting markedly better at that - but it had gotten harder as life had gotten harder, which was . . . well, it was utterly absurd.

She grinned again when Nathaniel laughed because she was pretty sure it was the first time she'd ever heard it. Perhaps it was an addiction she'd formed in the course of befriending Heinrich, but she took great pleasure in making reserved people come a little unreserved. She felt like a super sneaky secret spy, doing the sneakin' and making people smile. She gave up when she couldn't come up with anymore suitable S words, but the idea was lodged firmly in her head: being funny and being kind and being playful were positive ways to interact with others.

"I think the idea of the theory is having met them at least once, so it's pretty loose. But you're right, especially for magic folks, we're probably a whole lot more connected than that. Get this. So my foster family is . . . like . . . cousins or family friends with Mab and Alexander's foster mom. That makes you, what, like two connections from her, if you don't already know her? That's bananas!" Another thought crossed her mind and although she was a bit more hesitant to bring it up, it suited the topic and Nathaniel already knew more about her than she was pleased about so #yolo, let's do this thing. She was also firmly in the camp of wanting to start this thing off right and normalizing therapy was an important part of moving in the right direction. "Here's another thought. My social worker probably knows tons of people, right, but then she also just suggested a therapist to me - a Ms. Lillian Greene, which is about the fanciest name I can imagine - and I bet she knows lots of people! I've got to be connected to bunches of folks now, and I'll never know because of confidentiality." She shook her head in amazement and hummed a little of the tune to Small World.

22 Evelyn Stones Look at us being nice and stuff. 1422 0 5

Jezebel Reed-Fischer

July 06, 2020 3:22 PM

Do you want to talk about that? by Jezebel Reed-Fischer

Jezebel squirmed a little, regretting mentioning her siblings. "They don't say bad so much," she began slowly, trying to think of how to word it. "They don't all understand or support me being magic. It isn't like I can help it," she huffed, before the expression turned into a frown and she noted an accidental parallel she'd drawn. "They should love me for me, even if I'm not what they would have wanted me to be," she added, more softly still. She wondered whether they would.

She chuckled, agreeing wholeheartedly that learning English once was enough, and considered his question. She was pretty sure that that wasn't the definition that she had in her brain of what 'candy' was, but she couldn't quite argue with it either. "Yes," she decided. "Basically." That was a funny thought, too. What something was, what it was called, and what that thing to call it really meant weren't always the same thing. Often, they were very different. The thing she called candy was sure, for sure, and it was called 'candy,' but being called candy didn't necessarily mean it was made of sugar, and there were people who called each other that, too.

Wrinkling her nose, she laughed with surprise at the term for cotton candy in French. "Father's beard?" she confirmed, figuring it wouldn't really be a helpful way to do that anyway since he didn't seem to know the word for beard in English. It wasn't something that had come up a lot for her in French so far. "That doesn't sound like something I want to eat," she said. "Although, I don't really want to eat cotton either."

She considered for a moment, looking at Jean-Loup with curious eyes. She had had so many questions she wanted to ask but Dorian had answered most of those. In retrospect, though, she should've asked a whole different set of ones to Jean-Loup himself. He was one of the only magic people she knew who wasn't a professor or staff at a school, and she thought that that was probably a good place to look for insight into what this big stupid adulthood looming on the horizon would have to look like. "Why did you want to become a healer?" she asked, starting with what she hoped was easy and non-intrusive.

22 Jezebel Reed-Fischer Do you want to talk about that? 1454 0 5

Zara Jackson

July 06, 2020 6:14 PM

And kisses for the rest? by Zara Jackson

Zara grinned as holding her arms out produced the usual effect on Felipe of gathering her up and squeezing and kissing her. She hadn’t wanted to throw herself directly at him in case he wasn’t in the mood right now, but it was nice to know he wasn’t so distressed as to be immune to her charms. Even if she couldn’t make things better, she could maybe keep him distracted for a bit.

Before they got that far though, there was still the unpleasant topic of Jessica to deal with.

“Mmhmm,” she acknowledged his reasoning on Jessica. On the surface of it, it made sense. But it all sounded very Felipe with his self-sacrificing ideas of honour, and she still wasn’t convinced Jessica deserved it. Especially given what Felipe had already said about the encounter. Especially given what had happened in the past - he and Jessica had fallen out, it had turned him into a ball of sad and anxious for a bit, they then hadn’t spoken for over a year. She was sure Felipe had grown in that time. And she didn’t want to see Jessica come in and start cutting that back down, making him feel like crap about himself again.

“But you said it didn’t go well?” she pressed, wanting to know what exactly Jessica had done this time.

13 Zara Jackson And kisses for the rest? 1444 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 06, 2020 6:43 PM

Yes, definitely. by Felipe De Matteo

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man, in possession (ew) of a good girlfriend, must consistently be torn between snuggling and doing Things. Felipe did not have to have been exposed to Jane Austen - although he had been regardless because that was a good and fine example of courtship - to discover this truth through his own experiential learning. Still, pacing was important. And responsibilities. And like. Whatever. Life probably. It was really hard to remember what sorts of things were remotely important when Zara had her face on his face.

He shook his head, agreeing that it hadn't gone well (which was the odd thing about questions that weren't really questions but prompts, because he also could have nodded to agree in that case). "She didn't know that I had told you about Mara," he said quietly, feeling guilty and shameful. "I hadn't thought about it at the time. I was just upset and you're my best friend, so of course I went to you." He didn't really think that Zara would be jealous because he thought it was pretty obvious that he wanted nothing to do with Jessica in that regard, and that Jessica wanted nothing to do with him, possibly in any regard, but it couldn't hurt to slip in some reassurances anyway. That being said, he wasn't about to let Jessica's anxiety slip out like that. That didn't seem appropriate. At the same time, what good were they if he kept secrets from Zara? "I can tell you anything, right?" he asked, cocking his head like he was studying something scientific. "My parents don't have any secrets, and I don't know if that's because they're together, or just because. I don't want to keep any secrets from you, but I don't know how that works with other people's secrets. I trust you," he added hastily, hoping she knew already that that wasn't the concern. "But I don't want to make you feel like you know too much about people."

He sighed and pressed his forehead against Zara's. The position reminded him of dancing together and he wrapped his hands around her waist, taking small steps in a small circle to have a small moment in the Gardens. It would've been perfect if it wasn't very not perfect. He spoke as he moved, absentmindedly keeping up a basic 6/8 count. "Jessica has anxiety. I don't know exactly what an anxiety attack looks like but I think probably that. I feel bad . . . I feel like I hurt people without meaning to and I don't want to do that." He glanced down his nose at her; she was cute all the time but especially when their faces were all close. "You're sure you're good?"

22 Felipe De Matteo Yes, definitely. 1434 0 5

Josephine Clyde

July 07, 2020 4:56 AM

Next time I'll try the Quaffles by Josephine Clyde

This was the first Quidditch game of the year and she was NOT going to miss it. Josie had missed every game last year, but not this year! She’d go to at least two. Music and cheers began to fill up the air and Josie pushed herself to walk a little bit faster, but then she passed by food. Nachos and soda and hot dogs and more! The last meal she’d had was hours ago; an uninspiring sandwich that she couldn’t even remember the taste of. Then the smell of fresh caramel popcorn hit her and she folded. She was already late, what was a few more minutes? Besides, she loved popcorn in all shapes and sizes, except for when it got stuck between her teeth. Kettle corn would always be her favorite, but caramel corn held a special place in her heart too. Her mother had loved it and that was reason enough, but her step-brothers liked it too and it had been a nice surprise.

Her step-brothers were loud, mean and cold, but the fact that they liked the same kind of popcorn as her mother gave them…eh, maybe half a point towards being nice people. They’d found out at the movie theater when all three of them had agreed on that particular corn. It was the first time the three of them had ever had the same opinion and the weird sense of togetherness lasted for ten minutes. But they were ten more minutes than she’d ever gotten from them before, so it was a win in her book.

After getting her popcorn, and a last minute soda addition, Josie weaved through the stands, looking for an open spot. She spotted one next to Sophia and sat far enough away that the older girl still had some privacy. The game had already started and, to be completely fair, it was her first time actually watching instead of reading about it, but she picked it up soon enough. Her father’s book might have been old, but it wasn’t as if the rules had changed much in the twenty or so years since. Seemed like a good game so far!

Josie’s eyes darted around, following the green and orange players, as her hand fed the popcorn into her mouth like a factory line. She really only knew Morgan so green team it was! Each time the green Chasers, Morgan included, scored a point she cheered loudly. Josie was so caught up in following the game that at first she didn’t realize Sophia had asked her a question.

“Hi Sophia! I think flying is super cool and Quidditch is interesting. My father had an old Quidditch book and I read it cover to cover, so I know the game rules really well.”
Josie fell silent for a moment, “I don’t know if you remember, but I didn’t have a lot of magic in my life. That book was almost all I had and I already like reading, so those two things made me super interested in it.”
Move on move on move on.
“I really like the caramel corn! Did you try any of the snacks? Were they good?”

44 Josephine Clyde Next time I'll try the Quaffles 1477 0 5

Zara Jackson

July 07, 2020 7:04 AM

And cutting toxic people out of your life by Zara Jackson

CW - microaggressions re mental health, implied strong language

Zara tilted her head quizzically. If she was being charitable about Jessica, the one part of the Felipe thing that had never quite stacked up for her was… why exactly had they fallen out? The mention of Mara reminded her of this. The version she knew went something like… Jessica let Felipe in on her semi-secret little sister. Felipe had flipped out over her having a semi-secret, enough that he’d stormed out. All hell had broken loose. It was like… Zara wasn’t really a secretive person, but Jessica’s secret had never seemed that much like her fault? Also, she had trusted Felipe. So reacting to ‘hey can I trust you with a secret?’ with ‘omg, you don’t trust me?!’ had been… weird. Especially when there were so very many other reasons to take a dislike to Jessica, or to find her two-faced. But it really hadn’t been worth her breath to fight for Jessica when she felt like Felipe was well shot of her. Zara guessed it was related to all the flaws she’d seen in her, it had just scarcely been the clearest cut example.

And apparently it was a problem that Zara knew. Wow. Geez. Okay, on the one hand, she got the word ‘secret’ and what it meant. But she’d also seen Jessica and Mara openly hanging out and how many people did that with someone so much younger when there wasn’t a reason? Apart from, apparently, Jeremy, and the reason she guessed there was that everyone his own age had had enough time to realise what a slimeball he was. Anyway, so now Jessica was getting all riled up about Zara knowing something about her. Could she not just chill out? Did Jessica want to know how many people Zara had mentioned this to? None. Did Jessica want to know how often knowing this juicy and personal bit of gossip about her had in any way given Zara an upper hand or a plot for scheming revenge? None. The number of times it had even crossed her mind was barely worth counting because - newsflash, and one that Jessica would probably somehow take offence at whilst obsessing over how much this mattered - Zara. Did. Not. Care. Jessica and her life and her precious secrets were just not a big freaking deal. Not to Zara. Not as currency or dirty little tokens to spread around. She just didn’t care.

Maybe she should start caring… That could be interesting. But honestly, the disaster storm that was Jessica and what she wanted people to know and care about but not know or not care about was just not worth it.

“Of course you can,” she assured Felipe, when he freaked slightly about telling her - she assumed he was referring to what he’d already shared. “Honestly, nothing you told me was a big deal. She’s just making a big deal out of it.” Yeah, she didn’t want to be part of the Jessica Drama Hour but Jessica making Felipe feel bad over telling minor little things like the existence of her non-secret sibling was totally unfair. So, Zara had to pick up the pieces. Again.

And then he dropped something else in. Something that Zara only half understood, thus far lessening how personal it sounded. Zara wasn’t really familiar with the difference between ‘being anxious’ and ‘having anxiety.’ So, Jessica was high strung and worried a lot? That was like… not news. And because Zara didn’t know the difference, she didn’t see how almost everything she’d listed about Jessica’s nitpicking and micromanaging and obsessing really was relevant to what Felipe had just disclosed.

“So? What about that justifies her being a snitch?” Zara said. Or at least a sentence that rhymed with that. “Stop letting her tell you that everything’s your fault,” Zara stated firmly.

13 Zara Jackson And cutting toxic people out of your life 1444 0 5

Anya Delachene

July 07, 2020 10:00 AM

That's me. I'm green. I win? I WIN! by Anya Delachene

Anya did not have a strong opinion about who she wanted on her team for today's intra-school match they were playing in front of all their friends, family, and classmates. She wasn't super close to any of the other players, and Seeker was relatively solitary as a position anyway. Hilda and Nathaniel were the best two beaters, so having them on her side would be good, but unsurprisingly, they'd been split between the two teams, and she didn't have any real preference between them, except that Nathaniel probably had a bias toward Jeremy, so she was actually kind of glad when he wound up on her team instead, because that meant he had less motive to hurt her. It did seem to mean he was paying more attention to the Chasers instead of her and Jeremy, leaving her in the protection of Evelyn Stones who was arguably the least competent of the four beaters playing today, but at least Hilda had followed Nathaniel to mitigate his damage down on that side of the field so at least it was the two inexperienced beaters who would be batting at her and Jeremy today.

She was pretty sure she could fly loops around them.

She had done that a few times when Felipe got to a bludger first. Loops and flips and some dives, and she either lost her murderous follower or got it close enough to Evelyn that she could take care of it, though mostly Evelyn seemed to lean more toward batting them 'away' rather than 'at Jeremy', but 'away' was mostly all Anya needed her to do.

She was under no illusions that she was expected to win this game for the green team, but she was going to give it her all. She'd had a few sightings earlier, but the snitch would dart behind somebody else, and then it would be gone, or she hadn't been sure if it was the snitch at all and it turned out to just be a flash of something in the audience, but right now, it was the real deal. She had a good sight on it, and so did Jeremy, and the race was on.

They were close. His arm was longer so he had an advantage there, but she was smaller and lighter and feeding off the crowd's shouts and she felt like she was maybe pushing a little bit further ahead, closing the lead the length of his arm gave him. If she thought it would help, she'd try to bump him, to see if he'd try to preserve his personal space, and give her a better line on the snitch, but he was bigger, and that would probably cause her more trouble than him if he didn't make way for her. And frankly, from what she knew of Jeremy, she didn't think he'd make way for her.

She was contemplating a different line of approach in case his brain was working in the same directions, where they wouldn't be quite so close, where she could take better advantage of gravity, but which maybe wasn't quite so direct when she hear the distinctive crack of a bat against a bludger, loud, meaning it was hit hard and powerfully. So not Evelyn. It was coming for her. Maybe. Possibly a Chaser. Hilda and Nathaniel regularly made their whacks sound like that. But best not to take the chance.

She dropped to the less direct route that meant she was diving fast and out of the way, while still keeping her eye on where the snitch was.

And then Jeremy screamed.

Two thoughts barreled together across her mind, neither stronger than the other. One was a victorious cry of, Got him, I win! and the other a wincing, Ouch, sorry, but she didn't have time to worry about how badly the bludger meant for her had gotten her rival. Jeremy was good at this. He wasn't going to just stop. She couldn't either. She made the sharp corner to bring her in the final inches toward the snitch, reached out, and grabbed it.

She had it! She won! She won! She crowed out and held it over her head, waving the snitch around.

Victory for the Green Team and for Anya Delachene!

After a few broom flips and rolls, she landed on the Pitch floor, still gripping her prize. She beamed at one of her Green Teammates, and held up her other hand for a high five, "I got it! We won!"

1 Anya Delachene That's me. I'm green. I win? I WIN! 1453 0 5

Gary Harper

July 07, 2020 6:34 PM

That nearly covers it, doesn't it? Go sportsing! by Gary Harper

Gary nodded in assent when Dorian commented on the gaming club. "Yeah, Heinrich plays. Its a fun thing, everyone just gets or makes a character for the story and they decide how that character reacts and what they do." He chuckled remembering one of last year's endings, "It's a fun way to experiment with possibilities and take chances you'd never try in real life. What would you do if you got one wish? What if there were two lives that could be saved, but everyone already assumed they were dead? What if there was also an enslaved being that wanted to be free? Or with it you could reshape any other facet of reality that you wanted to? What one thing would you choose?" He gave Dorian a challenging smile. "Heinrich made that one... interesting for the group."

Gary just smiled knowingly at Dorian's admission of Medical tent knowledge. He thought about making some sort of follow-up comments, but nothing he could think of sounded very good in his head. So, he just decided to let it slip.

This was an interesting negotiation that they had going on here, and it amused Gary no end. He nodded along as Dorian scanned through the roster for more alterations he could make. Then he made an unbelievable statement. Gary opened his eyes wide in astonishment at the audacity of such a suggestion. "Is... is that even allowed?" he asked in mock horror. "The colors though, they are different, and the ball throwing it is..." He faltered and pretended to be in deep thought, "Although.... you may be on to something. Alright. I'm convinced. Let us not be enemies." He declared and held out for which such a momentous occasion demanded shaking.

2 Gary Harper That nearly covers it, doesn't it? Go sportsing! 1404 0 5

Bonabelle Row

July 07, 2020 9:44 PM

You.. We... Really? by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle had no idea what to think of this whole Quidditch thing. Being a Chaser was pretty okay, and she was glad she'd followed Valentine to Chaser tryouts instead of any other position, but it was also sort of a lot. She thought that her dad would be proud, though, and that was nice. She also saw Uncle Killian with a big beaming grin in the crowd and that was . . . sort of nice. It was bittersweet. It didn't seem fair somehow that her uncle got to see her play but her dad didn't, especially when she barely knew her uncle anyway. At the same time, it was sort of nice, too. This was something she and her uncle had without her dad. She felt guilty for thinking maybe that was a good thing.

The game went on and Bonabelle was glad for the coach's training regimen because she actually knew what to do. That didn't mean she was great at it, but she actually managed to throw for the goals a few times, and even got one. Flying, it turned out, was the easiest part of Quidditch. She wasn't sure whether that was a result of everything else being a matter of flying and, wherein she had to fly and throw a ball, fly and duck, fly and catch, etc., or whether it was because that was the foundation. Or, perhaps, Valentine was rubbing off on her. She sort of hoped that was the case. Val was a good influence, she was sure.

The game ended when Anya, an older girl from Pecari, caught the snitch. It was impressive, if tragic. Bonabelle was impressed that Anya didn't seem swayed by the bludger that rammed into her competition, although that may have been survival instinct more than anything. She was very very lucky, Bonabelle suspected. Still, her catch left no room for any doubt that she was a skilled Seeker, and might have caught the snitch regardless of whether Jeremy had been hit.

Bonabelle landed on the Pitch near where Anya did and couldn't help grinning, both from the adrenaline still pumping through her veins and the contagious excitement that Anya exuded. She reached up and accepted the high five.

"You did really brilliantly," Bonabelle told her, surprised at the amount of excitement in her own voice. "Great job!"

22 Bonabelle Row You.. We... Really? 1488 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 07, 2020 10:11 PM

What if they can become not toxic? by Felipe De Matteo

CW: Un-recognized suicidal thoughts.

Felipe felt, as he had on occasion before, as if he were standing at the edge of a precipice. This time, his back was to the sky and he was facing the land, where two paths led away from a surely fatal drop. As he had before, he had to choose between a path that Zara walked with him or one that Jessica walked with him. Except now, those paths weren't the same as each other. Zara was sunshine and light and love and warm feelings all over, and she was strong and fierce and opinionated. Jessica was uncertainty and an inevitable divergence in the future. The path he took with Zara was happy and, he hoped, long-term. But the feeling in his stomach begged him to just lean back. Perhaps to fall, to be done, would be easier than to choose.

He stiffened some as Zara spoke, surprised by the return of such thoughts and by the unkindness in her voice, and he leaned away some to look at her. His eyebrows came together with confusion and hurt. "That's . . . not very kind," he said, more surprised than anything. Those weren't words he'd ever expected to use out loud to Zara with regards to something she'd done or said. "She's hurting. A lot."

Words escaped him as he tried to wrap his head around the different pieces of what he was thinking and feeling. He thought he'd come farther than this in terms of self-expression but it still didn't come easy for him. Perhaps if he approached it like a negotiation between unhappy citizens of Ciudad de Matteo...?

"She's said and done things that were hurtful and inappropriate," he began, trying to use relatively neutral language. He wanted to concede that she was perhaps on the manipulative side, but he personally didn't think it was through any maleficence on her part so much as an upbringing that made her think it was okay. When you spent every day being manipulated, you were bound to manipulate others; it was just what interaction looked like. "But she's still a person. If I've done wrong by someone, whether or not they've ever done wrong by me, I want to fix that." He wrinkled his nose. "I don't think that everything's my fault," he added in a much quieter voice.

There was something else that was niggling at him and he couldn't put a finger on it. Something to do with the day he'd visited medical professionals; a big A word had been put in his file and a bottle of potion put in his hand. He still hadn't used it but it felt reassuring to have it there. There was something different about having anxiety and being anxious, and Felipe wasn't exactly sure what that was. That never came up at home as far as he knew, but it wasn't like healers gave out prescriptions for Stress, so it had to be different. But that had gone away, hadn't it? It was just because of an anxiety-ridden time in his life, not anything bigger than that. He couldn't help agreeing with Zara on that front, because his own 'diagnosis' was no excuse to behave poorly. At the same time, he couldn't help wondering what Zara would think of that. He'd never told anyone about that A word in his file because he was convinced that ignoring it would make it go away, and that having anxiety and being anxious were similar enough that it was probably just A Thing that happened to teenagers. Especially if said teenager was an ill-suited heir to an estate who had just gotten in a fight with his roommate and lost one of his closest friends to his own trust issues. The problem with that was that it either meant he was sick or a monster. Lately, he'd been feeling sick and convinced he was a monster, so it was hard to say one way or another. Falling back into the abyss was looking more and more tempting.

"Her . . . feelings . . Don't justify her actions," he said, coming back to the present. "But her actions don't justify me being awful, either. I'm surprised that you're so upset. What is different in this case?" he asked, feeling like he was being way too blunt, but how else was he meant to learn? "You're kind and forgiving to everyone but Jessica."

22 Felipe De Matteo What if they can become not toxic? 1434 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

July 08, 2020 5:36 AM

Who's the screw up now? by Jeremy Mordue

Leonor was overestimating Nathaniel if she thought that Felipe's flaws were so glaring that- wait.

"He did what?" Jeremy snarled, almost jerking himself out of the medic's grip as his posture swelled with the surge of rage pulsing through him. Every hair stood on end, tingling with the unresolved desire to go do something deeply unpleasant to Felipe. Preferably something permanent. For all that the medic was going to be able to pop his shoulder back in without too much bother, injuries left scars. In this case, the more permanent damage was more likely to be to the bare shred of civility that had been maintained between Jeremy amd Felipe after the fight. Perhaps Jeremy should have cared about continuing to make that work given that they had to live together but... well, he didn't have to worry about that if Felipe was dead.

"He did this?!" he thundered. The medic had numbed his shoulder, thus substantially lessening the risk he was about to cry in front of Leonor, and the revelation that Felipe was to blame only made it easier to channel all his hurt and disappointment into anger instead of a visible display of any less acceptable emotion.

"What the heck is wrong with him?!" he demanded, rather too preoccupied to acknowledge Leonor's compliment. There were a string of other things he wanted to say. However, it was hard to forget the presence of someone who was popping his shoulder back into place, and so he gritted his teeth against the string of creative threats about how many Quaffles he could make from De Matteo's skin, which he would remove with him very much still alive and able to feel it. Adults tended to frown at the sort of language.

"Yes, shoulder, dislocated," he muttered in response to Nathaniel.

There was some fussing about after that, with ointment and a support to help him rest his shoulder. Even though everything should settle down within a couple of hours, it would be safest to rest it for a couple of days. That, he supposed, gave Felipe a couple of days of leeway on being strangled.

Thus dismissed, he made his way out with Leonor and Nathaniel, waiting until they were safely out of earshot of the tent.

"So, how exactly are we murdering him?" he asked.

13 Jeremy Mordue Who's the screw up now? 1443 0 5

Jean Wolfe

July 08, 2020 6:03 AM

Sort of yes, sort of no by Jean Wolfe

Jean-Loup had years of training in offering a carefully schooled face of neutrality in the face of things he found surprising. It was something that was likely to come in very useful in his chosen profession, and he suspected it might be ever useful as his social circle expanded too. He knew that people came from non-magical families. He knew that Parker was such a person, but in his case he’d had a heads up, and it was never something that had come up in conversation. It wasn’t a thing he expected people to drop in so casually, like it didn’t even matter.

He wasn’t sure if that was the right way of thinking about it, but he would have said the same about his own sexuality. It mattered to an awful lot of people that he was what he was, and that made his life hard. Regardless of his own feelings on the subject, it didn’t seem something to be casual about with strangers. But then, other people were more open than him.

“They should,” he agreed, “It is difficult that this happens,” he sympathised. He had not known that magic was a subject it was possible to feel that way about. He had supposed that almost anyone would be pleased about having magic, as he wasn’t sure quite what an existence without it looked like. “They have jealous?” he suggested, regarding her brothers and sisters, that being the most logical explanation he could think of.

“Yes,” he confirmed regarding the French name for….. candy-cotton(?). She confirmed the other word by saying that she did not want to eat it. He did not have the energy to care what ‘cotton’ was - it sounded similar to coton which was a fabric, but he had been caught out by such words before - so he merely nodded. “I did not meet the real father who has like this,” he gestured to the bag with a hint of a smile.

Her change of subject was a complicated one… He had, he supposed, always been aware of the existence of healers, and known it was a thing he could be. He might have casually thrown out the idea as a small child, in between being a professional broom racer and an ice cream taster and any of the other myriad and changeable childish ideas about grown up life. But he remembered firmly starting to state that it was his goal in his early teens. And by that point, he had known that he had something to compensate for. He was never sure, therefore, whether the desire had arisen purely and organically of its own accord, or from those feelings of inadequacy - of needing to make his parents proud of him.

“I like to help people,” he answered the easiest way first. It was undeniably true. It was just how much more truth to give… “And, I play a lot of sport, see a lot of people be hurt. It is… easy to see this job, happening every day and see the good?” he tried to explain the sheer visibility of healing in daily life. Some adult jobs still seemed mysteriously veiled to him, even as he prepared to step out into that world. ‘Business people’ for example - what exactly did they do all day, and what was satisfying about it? “And I know… my parents will think well of that choice. Other people… it can have much respect, to be a healer,” he said, his brief touch of emphasis doing plenty to make the appeal of that last point crystal clear.

“What will you like to be?” he asked.

13 Jean Wolfe Sort of yes, sort of no 1506 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 08, 2020 7:20 PM

Downright civilized of us. by Nathaniel Mordue

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows slightly when Evelyn mentioned that her foster family was somehow connected to the foster family Alexander and the girl called Mab lived with. “Interesting,” he said. “So…would that make me both one and two links away from Mab?” he asked. “I know Alexander, who knows Mab, and I know you, who are a link further from her? Or does it only run one way, not through people you both know?”

This was something that was going to hurt his head to think about too much. Everyone knew so many people, who knew other people, and they got connected through multiple channels…it could drive someone to madness, he thought, trying to work through it all, even for a small number of links.

He was glad this had come up in the context of people they knew and how they were connected, though, because he wasn’t sure he would have known what to say if the discussion of foster families had just been thrown at him so casually. He didn’t know exactly how to respond to such a thing, at least not with her. Even with Alexander, he had only known how to react to it as an improvement over being abandoned in a building with many other children and no family at all. He knew what it was like to have a dreadful family, and even parents who abandoned him, but he didn’t know how Evelyn could be so casual about it….

…among other things.

“Huh,” he said. “I – I suppose that’s true. Probably for the best, though, I’d expect.” Because of course he wouldn’t know. Of course not. What use would he have for a therapist, after all? He was fine. “Though really – Lillian is a fancy name?” he asked, hoping to change the subject to something else silly for the short distance left between him and checking up on his brother. “Fancier than mine, even?” he asked with a slight grin, aware that ‘Nathaniel Mordue’ was a fairly good mouth full. He was amazed that his cousins and brother had ever forgiven him for the trouble doubtless involved in learning to string all three syllables of his first name together smoothly back in the day.

16 Nathaniel Mordue Downright civilized of us. 1412 0 5

Jean Wolfe

July 08, 2020 7:24 PM

About me being fine... (tag Katey) by Jean Wolfe

CW - homophobia

Jean-Loup took his wand from his pocket, cleaning the sticky remains of the candy-cotton off his fingers. He could still feel its cloying, sugary residue hanging in his throat and he pulled his water bottle from the cavernous pocket on the other side, taking a long swig.

An unpleasant, lingering aftertaste was, he supposed, the effect of many medicines. Perhaps the tiny healer knew her remedies after all. He certainly felt better, though he had a sneaking suspicion that had more to do with Jezebel herself than with the remedy she had prescribed - her tiny acts of care and kindness balancing the scales with Jeremy's act of hostility and aggression.

He certainly felt better than he would have expected as he made his way back to the medical tent, having seen Mini Mattieu and his entourage leave. He was still a little anxious but a balm had been rubbed over the sting.

His main worry was that he did not know exactly what Jeremy had called him. Whether it was a general insult or a specifc one. He had not felt it appropriate to ask Jezebel, as he had no idea how strong the word was, and he had no desire to swear at a third year, even if only in quotation. Even if the word meant him specifically, he wondered how literally Katey would have taken it. It wasn't like sports players didn't throw those kinds of things around for any behaviour they found to be unmasculine - crying, not hitting the ball hard enough. All of those could get you called that kind of thing without it being literally true.

He took a deep breath, pushing back the flap of the tent and stepping in. It looked the same as before. That made sense, so he wasn't sure why it struck him as so unexpected. He surveyed Katey carefully, for any sign that this was an illusion, for any sign that her opinion had changed.

"Everything is well?" he asked, not really sure whether he was asking about Jeremy or something else.

13 Jean Wolfe About me being fine... (tag Katey) 1506 0 5

Leonor De Matteo

July 08, 2020 10:00 PM

That hasn't changed. by Leonor De Matteo

Jeremy's anger was satisfying. It was, Leonor realised, anger that had made her the way she'd become. Anger at Felipe, anger at her family, anger at the Muggles who made her family throw their worth away. Anger at a world that would always see her as second choice and a world that made her ambitions come true only to show her they weren't at all what she actually wanted. Anger at everyone else for deciding everything for her. She was done with that, with all of it. She was not going to stand by anymore. The reason was fear, but she didn't go deep enough to figure that out. There was a moment before she settled on 'satisfying' in which Leonor found Jeremy's anger frightening instead. Anger was not something she was used to seeing much of except in the mirror and she wasn't sure what to do about it. The uncertainty and feeling of cowing made her angry and she briefly wondered if that's what made people good leaders. When the fear was overwhelming and the resulting anger was too hot, you learned to take charge. Shape the world that tried to shape you.

It was, Leonor knew, a decision point. Take a side. Mordues or De Matteos? While she didn't actively want Felipe to be hurt, she did want things to change. If that meant Felipe had to be pushed aside at best and had some sense knocked into him at worst, then was that really so bad? He'd left her behind with his problems and she was becoming more sure by the second that he'd done this on purpose. What right did he have to take people out or to hurt people just because he didn't like them? So what, Jeremy said something Felipe didn't like once? So what, Leonor was cheering for Jeremy at the game? Perhaps it would be best for Felipe to learn just what that felt like, since he'd managed to be the arguably less injured of the two in their fist fight and he'd come away from this completely clear so far. Again, she wasn't about to suggest they mob him. But she was also definitely willing to play her part in making sure Felipe knew just how badly he'd screwed up. At least in as much as it benefited her.

As the conversation was put on hold for the healer to finish her job (seriously, woman, how long was this going to take you?), Leonor considered her options. If she was about to put her weight behind the Mordue family, she wanted reassurances that it would be worth her time. This wasn't just about her own family at this point and she wasn't about to support another one without knowing it would work out for her, or at least that she could get out from under the crumbling mess they may try to leave her with. She either wanted in all the way, or she wanted in anonymously. If that couldn't be guaranteed, she wanted out.

Arguably, her options were still limited. It wasn't like she could outright hex or betray Felipe, both because she did still care about him in some ways and because that sort of in-fighting was a bad look. The plan to get handsy with Jeremy and annoy Felipe was still on the table and she was becoming more interested in what that might look like, but Angry Jeremy didn't seem half so interested in making out as Lonely Jeremy, and she wasn't sure that making out with a beginner was a great look for Jeremy anyway. As much as she knew she needed to preserve her own reputation for future plans, she also needed to make sure Jeremy had a reasonably good one too if he was going to be any use to her. She and Jeremy did have an advantage that Felipe did not though - Nathaniel.

Nathaniel was an older student with a good reputation mostly across the board (known to be decent to people who weren't pureblood without actually ticking off any pureblood families of any importance), and he was a prefect. Felipe was not much of anything and his only real connections were a muggleborn socialite with family secrets for days - one who would have made a much better match for him in Leonor's opinion - and a muggleborn extremist who literally ran a cultural center intended to make things a bit more even. Sure, there were pros to that, but they had no place in Leonor's plans for her own future. If she was going to be wealthy, comfortable, and live in luxury, she needed to not worry so much about the Muggles of Ciudad de Matteo, let alone of . . . what, Boston?

Thus, when Jeremy asked how they were going to murder Felipe, Leonor had already done her share of thinking on exactly that topic. "Felipe is a worrier," she began, starting with the biggest thing she could contribute: insider knowledge. "He'll be beating himself up about this before you can start to, and that's whether he did it on purpose or not. But if he thinks the school's turned on him? If everyone takes your side on this and he comes out with nothing? He'll break."

Once more, a squirm of guilt made Leonor feel woozy. This time, she had made her decision. She stamped it out with a forceful lick of angry flame that burned in her belly. This time, the guilt stayed gone. "If you have the team, you have the school, and you have me--" she said the last of these with a suggestive stroke of the back of her fingers down Jeremy's good arm, wanting to make it clear that she wasn't just intending to stand by his side for this but stand as close as he'd let her get. "--then what does he have? Jackson won't be able to help him for anything then, even if she stays with him. I want in, but only if you don't take me down with him," she added firmly, making it very clear which side she was already on.

Sorry, Felipe, she thought bitterly. You should've been a better big brother. You should've been a better heir.

22 Leonor De Matteo That hasn't changed. 1471 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 08, 2020 10:12 PM

I think maybe we're friends. by Evelyn Stones

"I think the idea is to go the shortest route," Evelyn decided thoughtfully. "At least for the sake of making those six connections."

She nodded with a small frown, agreeing that a therapist was for the best. The idea was frustrating but she knew that she would suggest therapy to someone else in her shoes, so here she was. She was about to say something about that when Nathaniel made another joke. About himself! Mr. Spiffy McHighSociety was making a joke about his own name. Her nose wrinkled with humor and she laughed again. She felt a little bad for being surprised that Nathaniel had a real personality of his own. She'd known that he did, of course, because everyone did, but his was different. Behind all those layers of pureblood propriety was a real boy, ala Pinocchio. It was that way with all the good ones, she'd found. Behind layers of Heinrich's valor, layer's of Ness' ferocity, layers of Gary's plotting, layers of Parker's grin . . . there were real people out there if you only took the time to find them. She hated to think of what her own layers looked like, though.
Were people meant to push past her playfulness? Or her history?

Focusing on names was easier than focusing on layers, though, so she put that thought aside and replied: "Your name might take the win, I'll give you that. 'Nathaniel Mordue'," she said, rolling all the sounds around in her mouth. "Very fancy. But at least you have an actual name! Mine sounds like the first part of a bad sentence. 'Evelyn Stones'. What does Evelyn stone? A person? That's awful!" she laughed.

22 Evelyn Stones I think maybe we're friends. 1422 0 5

Zara Jackson

July 08, 2020 10:21 PM

Not our job to do it though by Zara Jackson

"Good," Zara replied, when Felipe stated that he didn't think everything was his fault.

His next question surprised her. Not because of his boldness in asking it, as she was used to a family where almost everyone said what was on their minds - even Bertie, who wasn't exactly a chatter box, most frequently spoke up to tell people to butt out or to strongly disagree with something - and she had more trouble remembering that it wasn't the norm for everyone. But rather, she was surprised because of what he thought of her.

"Am I?" she asked skeptically. It felt a weird thing to disown, especially for a Teppenpaw, but she didn't recognise herself in his description. Which was an odd feeling for someone she was supposed to be close to. Felipe applied a lot of adjectives to her - sweet, sunshinesque, fearsome. Things that, to her, summed her up - she was happy and generally easy going but woe betide anyone who crossed her. She was, fundamentally, she presumed, a good person but that didn't mean she was willing to put up with people's crap. "How many other people have you seen me seriously mad at?" she challenged, slightly concerned that he was so far off the mark.

"I guess... why would I?" she replied with a shrug, "It's not like we were friends before that, so what all did I lose by just... deciding it didn't matter? And after you stopped being friends with her too, there was even less point. There's plenty of other people to talk to without spending my time and energy on someone- the way she talks to and about people... Well, you said it yourself, it's hurtful and offensive. So, to have any kind of interaction I what... need to educate her on how to not see other people as a purchasable resource? Why would that possibly come under the banner of things that should be my responsibility?" she asked, a slight hint of anger creeping into her face. She might have been over the argument or the idea of Jessica herself but the idea of her, or anyone she cared about, having to do all the emotional labour of turning her into a human being who could converse with anyone outside her sheltered white rich girl bubble still pushed Zara's buttons. "It isn't my job. It shouldn't have to be yours. And I'm sure she's not dying to be besties with me either," she pointed out.

13 Zara Jackson Not our job to do it though 1444 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 08, 2020 10:42 PM

That. . . . is a very good point. by Felipe De Matteo

"None," Felipe replied easily, a small smirk risking a moment on his face. "I assume that means you're forgiving, since there are lots of people to be angry at," he pointed out, almost playfully. He wasn't about to point out that he counted himself among the people on that list, of course.

He was surprised when Zara made an exceedingly convincing argument, not because he thought she wasn't capable of it or because he thought she didn't have one to believe in, but because he wouldn't have expected one to hit home for him. He spent the vast majority of his time worrying about other people, trying to fix or help other people and other people's problems, and none of it ever really got him anywhere. He was far from perfect and he had spent less time working on himself because he was so busy with everyone else. And he couldn't help acknowledging that she did have a point in terms of one important question he had sort of been refusing to ask - what was the point? What was he hoping to get out of all this? Just a clear conscious? A new and improved Jessica Hayles? Those both seemed pretty awful. So what was the point?

A pretty big part of him, he knew, missed his friendship with Jessica. But that almost definitely wasn't going to be restored, no matter how well their upcoming conversation went. In part, Felipe knew now some things he hadn't known before, and it seemed like a ridiculous folly to risk what he had with Zara for any sort of friendship or anything with Jessica. What he had mattered much more than what he might have, and he had no doubt at all that he had followed his heart the right direction. So maybe this was a matter of closure. Of taking bandaids off old wounds to find scars underneath instead of scabs. It would be nice not to hurt so much, and to have the opportunity to learn from his mistakes instead of ignoring them. That was probably true of this whole thing with Jeremy, too.

He also knew, because Zara had been kind and explained it to him, and because he'd seen it himself to some extent, that Zara understood what she was talking about much better than he did. Discrimination, privilege, oppression, classism, elitism, colorism . . . they were insidious. Felipe himself was guilty of more than one act of oppression, despite being the subject of others. So when Zara spoke of responsibility to educate others who were behaving badly, he knew that she was coming from a place of experience. She was trustworthy. Also, she was angry. When Zara was angry, it meant something and Felipe had long since learned that the best thing he could do was really really listen. Just like she listened to him.

"You know," he said softly, a bit embarrassed to be backtracking, but knowing that he shouldn't be. "You really are very brilliant." He kissed the top of her forehead before resting his chin on her head and closing his eyes. "I hadn't thought of it that way and you make a very good point. Thank you," he added in a thicker, softer voice, although he wasn't sure the right way to say why exactly he wanted to thank her. "Never stop getting angry, okay? You are strong and fierce and you shine so bright. I never want to change that. Mi bella y feroz novia."

22 Felipe De Matteo That. . . . is a very good point. 1434 0 5

Jezebel Reed-Fischer

July 08, 2020 11:03 PM

/Should/ you talk about it? by Jezebel Reed-Fischer

Jezebel nodded. It is what it is was a common enough saying that Jezebel had already thought more than once to apply it to her own situation, although it was still one that made her jealous of her cousin. Dathan's siblings couldn't reject him because he didn't have any. Although . . . perhaps that was worse. Jealousy on the part of her own siblings, however, was complicated. She knew that that was absolutely the case for some of them, and maybe not the case for others. It was a heartbreaking thing to think about, so she didn't. Or at least, she tried not to. "My brother will be here in the fall," she said, hoping not to discuss her other siblings just then. "I think he is jealous that I got to come first." She wrinkled her nose at the logic of a ten-year-old.

She nodded again, this time with mock seriousness, when Jean-Loup said he had not met the father whose beard they had been consuming. "That's good," she decided. "He might want it back."

Jean-Loup's careful response regarding his career choice made Jezebel think harder about it. Truth be told, she didn't think she cared half as much as she should about doing good. She knew that God was probably disappointed in her for that, but she just couldn't find anything in her to think it was the most important thing. How was she supposed to take care of others when she could hardly take care of herself? She was much more motivated to just learn. Plus, if she was honest, she wanted to be important. Healers definitely were important, but what about the people who invented the medicine in the first place? That was the sort of ambition that would make her mother proud. She could tell her friends that her oldest girl was going to medical school, even if none of them really knew what that meant.

"I don't know," she answered honestly when he returned the question. "I don't know what I can be. Magic is so new still. But . . . healer sounds pretty good." Jezebel considered Jean-Loup for a moment, wondering if she could be where he was, five or six years from now. "Do you know much about muggle medicine?" she asked, wondering whether there was a niche contribution she could make to this silly world that had ruined everything for her. "Can you do both?"

22 Jezebel Reed-Fischer /Should/ you talk about it? 1454 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 09, 2020 8:33 AM

Everyone has their problems I guess. by Nathaniel Mordue

“Yes, he did, but calm down, calm down – “ said Nathaniel, making the universal sort of gestures for lowering volume, intending it to mean both literal volume and just the overall intensity and slight movement. Getting agitated was not, after all, going to help Jeremy’s shoulder any, nor was it going to help anyone’s case even if a genuine accident happened to De Matteo in the near future….

Outside the tent, he opened his mouth to tell Jeremy that murdering people was a strenuous activity which he had no business attempting for a day or two…and then closed it when Leonor De Matteo, still following them around for some reason, started informing them of her brother’s insecurities. He looked at Jeremy over her head, confused and scandalized and a little concerned.

He moved more and more toward scandalized and concerned as she went on. It was one thing to admit that her brother was a screwup who had done a bad thing; it was another to talk to them about taking him down and ruining him. There were occasions when Nathaniel might apologize for something Jeremy did on behalf of the family; there were none in which he would suggest ‘breaking’ Jeremy to other people, because that was not how family worked, and how would anyone ever trust her, if she was so willing to turn on her own? It wasn’t even a matter of principle, by the sounds of it, and…what was she doing there, with the…touching…?

“I…expect your brother is going to be rather unpopular with the team, anyway,” he said finally. “I was planning to give him a piece of my mind at the next practice anyway. No-one reasonable could hold you responsible for his, er, whatever, though,” he said, deciding to pretend that she wasn’t talking like someone betraying a criminal syndicate to either the authorities or another, more powerful syndicate. It just seemed wiser, somehow.

16 Nathaniel Mordue Everyone has their problems I guess. 1412 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

July 09, 2020 10:25 AM

Who'd have thought? by Nathaniel Mordue

Nathaniel nodded slightly to the idea that the connections should be made through the shortest paths possible. “I suppose that does make it a little less confusing,” he acknowledged. “And probably helps the math work a little better, though it’s still hard to get my mind around, I suppose – is it really supposed to be anyone in the world? I don’t know how you could possibly get from me to – I don’t know – the Australian Minister of Magic, or someone like that, in less than a hundred…Probably, anyway?”

This was said almost as a question, as he was struck by uncertainty. Not knowing who or what his father had been up to in years didn’t help, and neither did his mother marrying a tradesman – through them, he supposed he could be connected to any number of unlikely people. His aunt and uncle were also sufficiently respectable socialites that they knew important people, who might know other important people…probably still more than six knows-someone-who-knows-someones from any specific major foreign figure, though, right? And that said nothing of any attempt to make it span between worlds; he knew Muggles had a staggeringly high birth rate, compared to the average wizarding community, which made it seem even more impossible that any random Muggle would be within six associations of a wizard, never mind a specific powerful one….

He couldn’t help but laugh again – maybe a little out of relief that they seemed to have escaped the topic of Dr. Greene – when Evelyn pointed out that her last name could be used as a verb. “Oh – I’m sorry – but that is, er, yes, I’d hope you didn’t go around stoning people,” he said. “And that nobody went around doing that, really, rather barbaric. I think Mordue was originally a Welsh name, which is one reason why I never plan to learn Welsh,” he added, leaving out that he had never had much of a skill for learning languages anyway. “I’m not sure I want to know if it means anything in particular.”

16 Nathaniel Mordue Who'd have thought? 1412 0 5

Dora Xavier

July 09, 2020 6:42 PM

Have you seen my mommy? by Dora Xavier

Dora was trying to keep up with her parents but there was just so much to look at! Daddy had bought her a pretzel and it was sooooo yuuummmmy, but she dropped a piece and when she stood up again after picking it up and looked around, she didn't see Daddy or Mommy. She shoved the piece of only slightly dirty pretzel into her mouth, and jumped up, trying to fly high enough to find her mommy and daddy, but her flying powers weren't working today and she didn't get high enough to see anything but the legs of the people closest to her.

She swallowed the bite of pretzel. It didn't taste bad at all, even with the dirt on it. Daddy was so silly for throwing away perfectly good pieces of food when she dropped them into his fertilizer bin.

"Mommy?" she called out tentatively, but Mommy did not materialize. "Daddy?" Daddy did not either. There were so many people, and everyone was talking. Probably nobody had even heard her.

She darted between people, hoping she was still going in the same direction Mommy and Daddy had gone, but she still didn't see them. Tears were starting to fill her eyes, making it harder to see.

"Mommy!" she yelled louder. This time at least someone close by noticed, though not Mommy herself. "I can't find Mommy!" the little three year old told this person tearfully. "D'you see my Mommy?" Mommy was usually easier to spot in a crowd than Daddy, but she couldn't see either of them and she was starting to get scared.

1 Dora Xavier Have you seen my mommy? 1507 0 5

Jean Wolfe

July 09, 2020 11:54 PM

...maybe? by Jean Wolfe

"Ah. Smaller siblings and their very good logic," he said with a sympathetic smile which turned slightly to a sad one. He decided he might be happier if they dropped the subject, and hoped that wasn't selfish of him.

Luckily, she seemed happy to pick up the subject of careers instead. He was surprised that the transition to the magical world made it so confusing for her. His limited understanding suggested there was some overlap - everyone needed teachers and healers and law enforcers, after all, even if they had differing names for them - different languages did too, so that didn’t seem such a big leap. But he supposed there were more jobs in the Muggle world because they had to make up for not having magic. He had heard some crazy things on that front, like there was a paid human job of carrying letters around. However, that seemed so ridiculous that he wasn't sure it could be true. Also, fond as he was of Choux and highly as he regarded her intelligence, he was quite sure that being a human owl could not be a particularly highly paid or well respected job, so it was presumably not relevant to bring up right now, even if he was to do so out of his own curiosity rather than suggesting it might have been the kind of thing Jezebel could have been back in her old life.

"You have Mr. Row, and many years to decide," he offered instead. “Mr. Row is very good.

“Um, no,” he stated, when she asked if he also knew Muggle medicine, again managing to keep his surprise to himself that she should ask such a thing. “I hear Muggle medicine is slow?” he stated cautiously, keen not to offend but not sure what its use to him could be if it was true that magical healing was so much faster. “I think not so many people will do both.”

13 Jean Wolfe ...maybe? 1506 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

July 10, 2020 7:45 PM

Some more than others by Jeremy Mordue

Jeremy grinned. Leonor telling him all the ways to needle Felipe was doing just as much as the numbing charm in helping his shoulder. Nathaniel was, of course, being more moderate. Jeremy - as he was finding himself in a surprisingly good mood for someone who had just been attacked - refrained from rolling his eyes at his brother.

“I won’t literally murder him,” he reassured Nathaniel, his tone halfway between the flat, blunt register that suggested Nathaniel was being a dense or a killjoy, and actual deadpan humour.

He was pleased to find that Nathaniel was actually still on his side though. He was all for consequences, even if they were more mundane than flaying Felipe alive. Still, the thought of Nathaniel laying into his roommate (instead of him, for once) was deeply satisfying.

“So, do you believe me now that he’s always been the problem?” he challenged.

He smiled at Leonor as she stroked his arm, feeling rather pleased with himself for getting her on side (amazing how he was able to credit her coming up to him as if it was his own idea, somehow). She was a valuable asset, and a flattering one.

“Nathaniel’s right, this is clearly on him. If anyone asks, I’ll be sure to mention you’re nothing like him.” He was about to add ‘you have halfway decent aim for starters’ but that implied Felipe hadn’t been intending to hit him, and he suspected that was far from true. How low down stinking and pathetic did you have to be- “Was this the whole reason he joined the team this year?” he asked Leonor. Felipe’s sudden out of nowhere interest in the sport had seemed mainly annoying but now it was leaning more towards suspicious, “Is he just trying to mess with me?” he demanded. Just because he was doing the same as far as possible to Felipe didn’t make that fair. In fact, Felipe had started it, he had stepped on Jeremy’s turf by joining the Quidditch team - so, he thought, looking at Leonor, Felipe only had himself to blame if Jeremy stomped right back onto his.

13 Jeremy Mordue Some more than others 1443 0 5

Zara Jackson

July 10, 2020 8:12 PM

I'm full of those by Zara Jackson

Zara smirked as Felipe said he assumed she was forgiving because there was a lot to be angry about in the world. That, she had to concede, was a good point.

“I just try to stay in a place where most of it doesn’t touch me, as much as possible - like, I’m not going out of my way to have conversations with your roommates. If I did, then yes, you’d see me getting angry and unforgiving more often.” So, essentially, she had written some people off. Maybe that wasn’t nice or fair or whatever but you never won wars by appealing to your oppressors - you won them by finding allies and changing their minds. Jessica occupied a weird space on that front. She wasn’t Pureblood. She should have been capable of caring and empathising and just… taking an interest. But apparently her worldview was still far too narrow for that to be possible.

“I promise,” she agreed happily, as he asked her never to change, sliding her arms back around him. He conceded more or less on everything, saying she was basically right. That was one of Felipe’s good points, he tended to agree - and he also didn’t want her to be any less fierce than she was. However, he seemed pretty intent on making up with Jessica. She wasn’t exactly sure she was trying to persuade him not to - or rather, that hadn’t been the question she had been answering. She had been answering why she wouldn’t forgive her, but if he agreed totally that Zara was in the right about not wanting to educate Jessica…?

“So, where does that leave you and her?” she checked.

13 Zara Jackson I'm full of those 1444 0 5

Leonor De Matteo

July 10, 2020 8:17 PM

Some people's problems are other people. by Leonor De Matteo

Leonor decided fairly quickly that Nathaniel was maybe not the asset she had originally decided. While he probably would do well to make sure that they avoided any unforeseen pitfalls in their workings, he also didn't seem on board. She supposed that made sense; he was in a protective position with Jeremy and probably wasn't sure what to make of Leonor herself. Just as well seeing as she had less use for him anyway; the only way she needed to make a good impression was by sticking around, and that wouldn't be hard to do if this kept going this direction. She was surprised by Jeremy's question suggesting that Nathaniel hadn't previously believed his brother. With that in mind, it seemed he really did need to get off his high horse before judging Leonor for not standing by her own brother. Perhaps she was reading too much into it. After all, all he'd actually said out loud was to try to reel them back in some. Great.

She smiled back at Jeremy when he smiled at her, feeling very pleased with herself. Roping him in had been tougher than she'd expected purely in terms of him being an idiot, but he was a cute idiot and if she had to snuggle up with someone, it was going to be a cute idiot who mattered. Good job, Leonor. Her smile grew into something more outwardly pleased when Jeremy said he'd tell people she wasn't like her brother. As if that weren't already obvious. Still, it was good to have an ally in this.

She shook her head, though, at the idea that Felipe joined the team for this purpose. "I don't think he would have thought that far ahead," she admitted. Felipe was smart when he wanted to be but he was better with big picture than detail and planning. "Plus, he's just so . . . emotional." Pointing out that Felipe probably hit Jeremy because he'd seen her with the banner wasn't helpful but there was no denying that Felipe was just losing his self-control at this point.

The way Jeremy looked at her made Leonor feel both very good about herself and very nervous. It wasn't quite fair of her to be upset that he looked at her like a thing to use, especially since she was doing the same and they were plotting together so it wasn't like that's all they were, but she couldn't help wondering a bit at the safety and wisdom in letting that happen. All in all, she wasn't too worried, though. She was plenty strong in the magic department and of the two of them, she was the much more important and thus had more power. Plus, she had a lot of questions that could only be answered through experience and if that experience turned out to not be good, then she could turn him out on his backside before she'd had her quinceañera.

She considered letting her hand slide into Jeremy's but decided that might be pushing it, so she let her hand drop near enough that he could take hers if he wanted - and if he was smart enough to figure it out - or she could just be close if not. Looking up at Nathaniel, she smiled sweetly. "It's good to meet you officially, by the way," she said, a hint of a playful smirk playing in her eyes.

22 Leonor De Matteo Some people's problems are other people. 1471 0 5

Jezebel Reed-Fischer

July 10, 2020 8:54 PM

I'm not a great listener, but I'm here. by Jezebel Reed-Fischer

Jezebel grinned. Something about the way that Jean-Loup spoke made his humor much funnier. "Yes," she agreed with heavy sarcasm. "They're geniuses."

Jezebel hadn't really spent much time talking to Mr. Row, although she suspected she should. She had gotten the impression that he was rather knowledgable about both muggle and magical jobs, and that was where she was stuck. She hadn't been sure what she wanted to be as a muggle either, but now she didn't even know what the options were. She wondered whether she should talk to Professor Brooding if she was wondering about science since that was about as close as these people seemed to get.

"Slower than magical medicine," she agreed, not sure exactly how they compared. She'd only studied medicine in potions, she hadn't needed any herself yet. "But it depends on why you need medicine or what kind of injury or sickness you have," she pointed out. "Can wizards get cancer and stuff?" Explaining or asking about the scientific or chemical applications of magical medicine in terms of how they interacted with the body seemed out of both of their comfort levels so she left that behind. Still, she couldn't help wondering whether that was something she could contribute to. If she learned about muggle medicine, would she have much to offer the magical world? "Are there careers for people who like studying more than they like people?" she asked, using her tone to make it a joke. It wasn't precisely true. She did like people. She just refused to like them.

22 Jezebel Reed-Fischer I'm not a great listener, but I'm here. 1454 0 5

Alexander Pierce-Beales

July 10, 2020 8:59 PM

Have you seen mine? by Alexander Pierce-Beales

Alexander wasn't really super interested in the Quidditch game, but he didn't mind going either. He was hoping to meet Mab there and they could sit together. He'd been a little worried that he wouldn't like hanging out so much if they were together all summer but that hadn't seemed to happen so far. Really, he was looking forward to winter break and getting to go "home" again. He was still afraid of lots of things, but at least he wasn't alone anymore. Or yet.

The game hadn't yet begun and Alexander was trying to decide whether he wanted anything to eat before he found a seat, looking around at the options while waiting for Mab, when a toddler caught his attention. As a Teppenpaw, he recognised the small one and knew who she was. Which was good, or finding a toddler screaming about having lost their mother would probably be a lot more anxiety-inducing. As it was, he could only wonder for a moment if he'd ever done this when he was little, only to find that he wouldn't ever find them. That was a morbid thought.

"Hi," he told her, crouching so they were closer to eye level. "I haven't seen her but I can help you look," he told her. "I'm Alexander. Do you want up? Or do you want to hold my hand and I'll look?" He wasn't really sure whether you were supposed to touch other people's children, but it seemed like a better option than letting her get lost again and he was sure, with parents like Professor Xavier and Professor Carter-Xavier, that the girl wouldn't be lost for long. He privately thought that holding her up on his shoulders where her parents could see her would be the best but he wanted to leave the options open for her to decide. "It's going to be okay," he added with a smile. "We're going to find them."

22 Alexander Pierce-Beales Have you seen mine? 1475 0 5

Evelyn Stones

July 10, 2020 9:09 PM

Not you, I suspect. by Evelyn Stones

"I think that's the idea," Evelyn agreed. "Think about it though. You know Professor Skies. I bet she's met someone who knows the Australian Minister for Magic. If they have kids or something, she's probably met some of the professors at that school. Or someone on staff probably has." It was a weird thought and a bit hard to wrap her head around, especially when you started thinking about it on a timeline. CJ didn't have that many connections, but Headmaster Brockert - for all that he seemed to wish he didn't know anybody at all - certainly knew lots of people. Because Evelyn had met him, she was connected to all those people too now.

On the topic of names, Evelyn found herself laughing again. "I promise," she giggled. "If I'm not cut out for beater, I have to think that stoning people won't be on my to-do list," she added, eyes glinting. She bit her lip to keep from laughing way too hard when Nathaniel said that stoning people was barbaric. He was right, of course, but somehow this whole conversation was just so hilariously funny. Perhaps it was the adrenaline leaving her limbs and the exhaustion that was taking over instead, but she thought that if she let herself laugh as hard as she wanted to laugh, she would probably end up with tears streaming down her face and a stitch in her side. She covered her mouth when a squeak of laughter escaped. "I'm sorry," she said, trying to keep it together. "It's just so ridiculous to think about." With that, she let it go and burst into laughter. "Dragons were the first thing that came to mind and I'm just imagining a Welsh Green sitting in a library, ready to show you the books on name translation," she giggled. "I'm so sorry, it's really not that funny."

22 Evelyn Stones Not you, I suspect. 1422 0 5

Selina Skies

July 13, 2020 6:55 AM

I can Bueler with the best of them by Selina Skies

"Chaser Strix, actually," she corrected him, appreciating his reaction. Killian seemed like he was going to be a good audience, "Which may or may not be just as appropriate, depending on which connotations the opposition were aware of - and what they thought of me," she added, with a smile. "It's a mythological beast but also the scientific family name for several owls. I prefer the latter, though 'large bird of ill omen' does have a certain ring to it. Very appropriate for a transfiguration teacher too, as they were believed to be witches who'd transformed - though lends itself a bit too easily to 'strict' puns," she added. “And I don’t disembowel infants,” she munched a bit of popcorn, “Often.”

She crunched through a few more pieces, as he talked about meeting Tarquin, her eyebrows rising and her eyes widening in mock horror as he described the scene.

"I'm surprised you lived to tell the tale. Never, under any circumstances, try to remove tea from Tarquin. I'd think not taking a caffeinated beverage from a member of school staff was a fairly basic survival skill - what do they teach you in Defence at Hogwarts?" she chided with a grin.

“Yes,” she confirmed regarding having known Danny for a long time, “We used to wingman each other back in the pre-Tarquin, pre-John days. Have to stay friends. Know too many stories about each other,” she grinned. “He’s fun.”

She put her joking aside to really listen whilst he answered her more serious question of how his year was going. Up and down was fairly standard, and she nodded sympathetically as he talked about balancing their differing needs. Though her challenging smirk returned when he complained they grew up too fast.

“Wait until you get the first kids of kids that you taught,” she told him. “That sounds like school life,” she agreed about the other points, “But I’m glad we’ve got you. The college and job stuff was enough of a gap, but I know you’re doing much more than that. Trust me, it doesn’t go unnoticed. And hopefully in a couple of years, you get to reap the rewards of taking this lot and starting them in all those good habits early,” she smiled, “At the other end, looks like your intern’s doing alright. Well, except right now,” she added, as the figure in the doorway of the medical tent gestured furiously and, from her point of view, mutely at the sky. “I agree Jean-Loup,” she nodded, “Terrible throw, very wide.”

13 Selina Skies I can Bueler with the best of them 26 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

July 13, 2020 9:48 AM

Yeah? Wanna show me? No wait that's . . . back up. by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe wasn't sure what to think of avoiding people as a strategy for coping with them. He supposed he hadn't been given the . . . not the luxury per se, but the opportunity to do that growing up. He was the one whose job it was to go in when others couldn't get on anymore and he had to fix it. He was the diplomatic overseer who was always there, ready to listen and decide when others weren't sure what to do. He'd never gotten to learn what happened if he wasn't sure what to do himself, except that once he'd seen his father make use of a couple small charms to solve a problem when he couldn't figure out how himself. Ethics, he knew, were less important than helping others. Which was confusing, because ethics were good and helpful and provided structure and rules to what was otherwise a chaotic mashup of differing perspectives.

"To be fair," he began when his head felt like it was stirred up too much to say much else. "I also avoid talking to my roommates as much as possible," he smirked.

She slid her arms around him and he was happy. It felt right, and he was suddenly reminded that they were in the Gardens with no supervision right now. It was actually a bit gross to think of generations of students in similar situations but he pushed that aside in favor of just how badly he wanted to snuggle with his girlfriend. She was so soft and small and she smelled nice. Kisses, snuggles, either way would be just fine by him.

He leaned down to rest his head on her shoulder in a full hug for a moment and was there when she asked where this conversation left him and Jessica. He didn't really want to think about it too much but he could feel that something was about to happen that would be helpful. This was, however much he disliked it, a question he needed to know the answer to for himself.

"I want closure," he finally decided, pulling back some to look at Zara more squarely, his head cocked some in consideration. "I want to know that we can work together in class the next three and some years and it won't be uncomfortable. I don't want the friendship I thought we had before," he added the last with a thick voice. It was meant to be a reassurance to Zara, but it also felt like an ax blow. Finally, after all this time, he had to admit to himself what he had really been hoping for and what he really had to give up on. He and Jessica wouldn't be able to be friends like he'd once thought they'd been, because they never really had been that anyway. Jessica knew that as well as he did, he suspected, and it was why reconciliation hadn't happened so far. "Is that okay with you?" he asked a little hesitantly, not sure whether or not he was supposed to ask. He didn't necessarily think he had to, but it seemed only right to include her on his decision-making when it was important.

22 Felipe De Matteo Yeah? Wanna show me? No wait that's . . . back up. 1434 0 5

Killian Row

July 13, 2020 10:08 AM

I don't doubt that for a second. by Killian Row

For a moment, Selina reminded Killian of Marsh. Somehow, getting that excited about a name that may or may not be an omen of death because the really exciting part was how it was also an owl just seemed like a very Marsh thing to do. Killian resisted the urge to look around and see if the COMC professor was in attendance, chuckling at Selina instead. "That's a good choice," Killian decided when she denied disemboweling infants. "I hear they don't like it much."

He laughed heartily on the topic of Tarquin and caffeine. "It's true," he acknowledged, head down in proper contriteness. "I should have known better. Merlin only knows how I'd react myself, so I mustn't tempt the fates by trying it on others. Hogwarts clearly overlooked some important things," he agreed. "One nice thing about my job," he grinned playfully. "I never have to pick a side on that front. Everyone I work with already picked the bette-- picked Sonora!" His eyes twinkled with amusement.

Imagining Selina and Tarquin's husband wingmanning for each other was almost impossible, although it was a bit sweet. He knew that Sonora was generally an LGBTQ+ friendly space, but he hadn't known how deep that ran, particularly with an old blood, high society man on the Headmaster's chair. But Selina gave him hope that it really was a foundational value even amongst staff - as if Mary, Tabitha, Tarquin, and his own presence there weren't proof enough of that - and he smiled. "The people who make the best friends are the ones who could blackmail us," he agreed, wondering a bit if he'd ever have a friend like that. He was pretty sure he didn't tend to give people enough fodder to blackmail him with and the closest he'd come was Marsh and Gray. The thought of Gray trying to blackmail him would have been laughable if the man hadn't been so utterly capable of it, motivation aside. Geniuses weren't people to trifle with.

"Thank you," Killian smiled, really authentically meaning it. His cheeks turned a little rosy at the thought that his work was being noticed enough for Selina to say something like that, but it felt good, too. He wanted to help young people and he thought that it sounded like he had a reputation for doing just that. "I've been thinking of starting a correspondence program for a degree in psychology," he told her, humor playing on his lips. "I decided that's just asking for trouble."

He followed Selina's gaze to Jean-Loup and grinned, proud of him. Somehow, getting mad and shaking your fist at athletes, whilst also standing by ready to work, just seemed like a picture of what it meant to have found your place. Language was only one small battle in the war Jean-Loup was fighting and, whether he realised it or not, he was winning the battle of belonging. "I'm so glad it's worked out," he told Selina. "Thank you for all your help on that. I know I'm never the only one pulling strings and I appreciate it."

22 Killian Row I don't doubt that for a second. 1450 0 5

Dora Xavier

July 13, 2020 6:46 PM

I have not. by Dora Xavier

The one who had noticed her was one of Yellow Room people. She missed the Yellow Room. And the Brown Room. Mommy and Daddy didn't let her go in those anymore. This saddened her more and nearly pushed the brimming tears over the edge, but then the Yellow Room kid was saying he would help her look for Mommy, and that helped lots.

She wiped at her eyes and held her arms out to him. "Up!" she demanded. She didn't know why people ever asked if she wanted up. She always wanted up. Who didn't want up, ever?

Dora believed him when he said it would be okay and that they would find Mommy and Daddy. He was big, and when he lifted her up, she should be about to see everything, especially Mommy.

Once she was hoisted up, though, she realized he was not as big as Daddy and finding Mommy might be harder than she'd first thought. Still it was better than being on the ground. She could see a little better from up here.

"There!" she said triumphantly, pointing. She had not spotted Mommy or Daddy yet, but she did see the hot dog place, and Daddy had said he would get her a hot dog next, to go with her pretzel, so that was probably where he was now.

1 Dora Xavier I have not. 1507 0 5

Alexander Pierce-Beales

July 13, 2020 7:29 PM

Same, though. by Alexander Pierce-Beales

Children, it turned out, were heavy. Alexander had grown up around a plethora of children but it was generally frowned upon to pick them up and kids were kept in their own age groups most of the time. Plus, he'd never really been motivated to pick up children before. He'd played with them and enjoyed that a lot, but that wasn't the same as picking them up. Children, it turned out, were also loud. He knew that a bit more directly than he'd known that they were heavy, solid little things, but it didn't make it any less surprising when Dora suddenly shouted, pointed, and shifted her weight enough that Alexander was doubly over taken by surprise at the moment of it. She didn't be squirming to be let down, though, so he kept a hold of her and followed her pointing finger towards the hot dog stand.

"Are you excited for the game?" he asked her, figuring some conversation would keep them occupied. He hoped this wasn't a big ruse to get him to get her a hot dog. "Do you ever get to fly?" he added, not sure if that was even a thing that magic kids did.

22 Alexander Pierce-Beales Same, though. 1475 0 5

Katey Willow

July 21, 2020 6:51 PM

Before you even say it, same. by Katey Willow

As a medical professional, Katey hated Quidditch. Flying high in the air and doing anything other than concentrating specifically on the flight was intrinsically dangerous. Factor in things like obstacles and stress from other players, distractions from Quaffles and Snitches, and the entire concept of Beaters and Bludgers, and you had a perfect storm of potential injury. And she hated the game in a personal way too, mostly because of the same factors. She’d had enough danger. And the crack of the bats made her startle, every time.

She kept her personal anxieties at bay, though, and did her best to keep her breathing regular while she and Jean-Loup manned the medical tent. This particular match was somewhat eventful, with a reported and treated injury, but even more so with the interactions held within their tent. Jeremy Mordue was… displeased, clearly, and probably frustrated. But Katey heard what he said. It was too much in this context to fully address with him, and she could only hope Jean-Loup understood. Katey fully intended to report the incident to his Head of House later, when her heartbeat calmed.

By now, Katey was fairly confident that Jean-Loup was gay. Hopefully, that didn’t make the insult sting worse. For once, she actually sort of hoped the language barrier absorbed something. But he was perceptive too, maybe, as he asked her, “Everything is well?”

“Yup!” she grinned reflexively, spinning to fully face him, perhaps a little too quickly. “Crazy day this one, huh? Kids these days.” The last part was a joke, as her tone hopefully highlighted. Jean-Loup wasn’t too much older than them, and she wasn’t too much older than Jean-Loup. “How about you? Doing okay?”

12 Katey Willow Before you even say it, same. 1505 0 5

Jean Wolfe

July 24, 2020 7:50 AM

Oh. I was considering admitting that I'm not by Jean Wolfe

Katey was her usual bright, bubbly self. Given that someone had just been seriously injured and then insulted him, he couldn’t help but find this a slightly odd response. Admittedly, Jeremy Mordue was (sadly) fine now (apart from his stinking attitude) and perhaps Katey felt the satisfaction of a job well done. Or she was faking. He had smiled his way through enough situations without really meaning it to assume he’d be able to spot another faker, but the main thing making him suspicious was the timing, not the actual happiness itself. It read as convincing as it did on any other day. Perhaps she saw nothing wrong with what had just happened.

“I’m…” the word ‘fine’ caught in his throat even though it should have been a reflex by now. “Okay,” he tried cautiously. Admittedly, as far as emotional range went, he wasn’t exactly breaking the spectrum of possible human emotions wide open there - he wasn’t even sure, between ‘okay’ and ‘fine’ whether either one carried any nuance of lower levels of well-being than the other, or whether it purely depended on context and tone of voice - but still, it was a different word to usual.

“I played Quidditch a long time. I meet many people like this until now,” he shrugged off Jeremy’s attitude. He wondered if he was implicating himself. He had just meant spoilt annoying rich kids, but perhaps he was unintentionally suggesting it wasn’t new for him to be called this. It wasn’t, really. Just he wasn’t used to being called it and it being meant literally. And it wasn’t like it hadn’t had the little barb of always being true, always wondering if someone knew, but it had definitely hurt more this time. Maybe because it had been said with definite intent. It had been said about him, and by extension his relationship with Dorian, and it wasn’t just a casual insult about his handling of the ball but a direct attack on something that mattered to him. If it meant that.

He considered the medical tent around him, and whether to start packing it up to distract both himself and Katey. Whether he could put this away and stop worrying and pretend it hadn’t happened. But it had. And it was a reminder that almost everyone here but her knew, and that all it took was people like Jeremy walking into the hospital wing spouting venom about him for it to become something she found out in a way he didn’t like. There was every possibility that had already just happened.

She had said she would have told Freddie the same things he had. She would not have had a problem with him being different.

“The word he called me,” he asked, turning and beginning to pack the cabinets of medical supplies back into the neat black healer’s bag on the floor. “It is a general insult?” he checked, giving a chest of bandages a small shove as its corner got caught on the edge of the bag, “Or it has a specific meaning?”

13 Jean Wolfe Oh. I was considering admitting that I'm not 1506 0 5