Good morning! [Bonabelle] on Cascade Hall

Valentine Duell

July 27, 2020 6:15 PM

Good morning! [Bonabelle] by Valentine Duell

Valentine had made up a nice, official-looking invitation last night and had given it to one of the school owls to deliver to Bonabelle. Now she sat at the table in Cascade hall and waited for her friend to arrive. Assuming the owl hadn't gotten lost. She hadn't though that was a thing that could happen, but she'd been hearing stories over break and now was just a little worried. What if her letters didn't get home to Mama and Papa? She would need to test them in a day or two.

Fortunately her fears were allayed as she saw her friend coming to meet her. She smiled and waved, She had made sure she was wearing the awesome hair pin that Bonabelle had sent her for Christmas. It worked a lot better than her wand, but she was still going to need to find a good place for her wand if they had another tea party sometime.

Valentine stood and embraced Bonabelle as she arrived at the table. "I missed you!" She backed away and took her seat again. "Thank-you for the hair pin," she tried to turn her head so Bonabelle could see it, "I love it." Now for the discussion they didn't have yesterday because they had to sit at different stupid tables. "So, my break was weird. How was yours? Was Ireland nice? I wish I could have come to visit." Did she? Would she have missed out on time with Aunt Giselle?

2 Valentine Duell Good morning! [Bonabelle] 1490 1 5

Bonabelle Row

July 27, 2020 6:30 PM

Talk about the pancakes. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle was fine. Everything was fine. Even though grandma and grandpa didn't think so and even though Uncle Killian didn't think so and even though her paperwork had a different name on it now, it was fine. Because that's how Bonabelle got through life. Every time anything had gone wrong before, she'd been fine. Her track record was at one hundred percent, and she wasn't about to let someone else's bad decisions - the same someone who had made the same bad decisions before - get in her way. She had books to read and things to learn and . . . and people to see. Valentine had invited her to breakfast and Bonabelle wasn't sure exactly how this would go.

With some trepidation, Bonabelle got dressed in the morning and made her way to Cascade Hall. Val was there already, looking anxious, and Bonabelle's stomach clenched anxiously. Did Val know? Uncle Killian wouldn't tell anyone, would he? Well, except the people he had to tell, because that's how adults worked apparently. Bonabelle had a hard time wrapping her head around that, but she supposed there was a difference between the adults she was used to and the adults who featured primarily in her life now.

She accepted her friend's hug with a smile, resisting the urge to collapse in a heap with Valentine's support (because she was fine and didn't need to do that). It would feel nice, even if she didn't need it. Even if she was stronger than that. And then Valentine started talking and Bonabelle knew for sure that she couldn't say a word.

Right? That's how this worked? How did friends work anyway? It made sense to her that Valentine seemed like she needed help, or an ear, or whatever the right response to a 'weird' break was, and so Bonabelle should put hers aside. It wasn't a matter of kindness or anything, it was a matter of logistics and turn-taking. But what if Valentine's break was weird, and Bonabelle's break was awful? Then what? Had her own break been awful? She wasn't sure she'd strictly classify that way. Honestly, it wouldn't have been all that bad if everyone had just ignored it. That's what Bonabelle always did and it worked out. At some point, she was sure, her father would turn up again. She even had a few ideas of where he might be or with whom, but she wasn't about to spoil that for everyone else. She just wanted them to stop looking. To let him do what he was doing.

She had learned early on that trying to force her father to behave like a father wasn't any good and would only bring out the worst in him. Not that it was ever directed at Bonabelle, of course, but it was still there. She didn't like to see him treat his girlfriends badly, or to break anything, and she certainly didn't want to see him treat grandma and grandpa or Uncle Killian badly. Plus . . . things were sort of easier this way. Bonabelle liked her dad but not because he was a dad. She liked getting ice cream and playing and joking and getting pretty clothes for all the I'm-Sorrys he knew he owed her. But secretly, she actually liked waking up early and doing chores with grandma or making pancakes with Uncle Killian or watching the sunrise with grandpa better. If dad never came back . . . well, it wasn't ideal, but it wasn't all that bad. She just wanted people to stop looking.

Still, none of that helped answer the question of how she was supposed to respond to Val's question, so she thought maybe it was best to just not. But then, wouldn't it be worse if she found out later and then knew that Bonabelle hadn't just told her in the first place? That wasn't any good. She wished she'd ever at least seen a real friendship so she knew what they were meant to be like. Piecing them together from books over the years wasn't a solid strategy.

"I'm glad," Bonabelle smiled, glad that Valentine received her pin. "It looks brilliant on you," she added. "Ireland was beautiful. I . . . I wish you could have visited too," she said a little more hesitantly. "My break was also weird." That was true enough. It would work. "Do you want to tell me about yours?" At least this way she could gauge whether or not her break was worth talking about. If Valentine followed up with the recent deaths of her entire family or something, then Bonabelle would pick another topic. Talk about the pancakes. Or if she started explaining that it was weird because something amazing happened and she was the happiest she'd ever been . . . well, talk about the pancakes.

22 Bonabelle Row Talk about the pancakes. 1488 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 27, 2020 7:32 PM

Pancakes are yummy? by Valentine Duell

Valentine had spend a good amount of time with Bonabelle last term. She had gotten to know the Aladren fairly well, and Valentine knew that Bonabelle was not okay. There was something in her approach to the table, something in her hug, something in her voice as well. They all spoke volumes and it made Val worried for Bonabelle. Did she need more hugs? Maybe, but Val thought she needed to talk, and Bonabelle wasn't a big talker. Well... Val was just going to have to show her how this was done.

"Sure," she responded, "Apparently it all started when we moved to Greece when I was two years old." She wasn't sure if the fact that she'd lived in Greece for most of the childhood that she couldn't remember had come up at all, so it seemed like a good place to start. "We moved there so that my aunt could attend a..." right, some parts of this she wasn't really supposed to tell lots of people about, "a special school there. She was eleven... just like I am now." That part hadn't really hit Val before, Aunt Giselle was an adult, but she hadn't been... "Anyway," she pulled herself back onto track, "we lived there for two years and then Grandma died and we had to come back. Aunt Giselle stayed at school. She was thirteen when we left..." Val felt some tears come to her eyes and she tried to blink them away.

"Sorry," she apologized to Bonabelle, breaking down wasn't going to help her friend at all. When Mama and Papa had talked about it, they had been sad and emotional as well, but it hadn't really hit her what all of this had actually meant at the time. What had Aunt Giselle gone through? What would it be like to have Mama and Papa just... disappear? She took a deep breath and continued as best as she could. "We were going to go back, but because of the special magic of the school, Mama and Papa forgot about the school... about Aunt Giselle. She.. she tried to..."

That did it. The dam burst and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Valentine tried to wipe them away with the sleeve of her robe, but they just wouldn't stop. Just the thought of being left behind and forgotten was tearing her apart, and through it all she couldn't stop thinking that this was not helping Bonabelle. "I'm.. I'm sorry..." she tried to apologize again as she tried to get herself under control again.

2 Valentine Duell Pancakes are yummy? 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

July 27, 2020 10:49 PM

Yep, delicious pancakes, that's all there is to see here. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle went from nodding along, interested, to nodding along, sympathetic, to freezing and then just having emotions. She wasn't sure what to do with a crying person. Also, she wasn't sure how people could just forget about someone. Except . . . well, she did know, didn't she? It didn't even take a spell to make her dad forget about her. The thought made her own eyes well up and she was pretty sure it was sympathy and not self-pity that made her cry. She sniffed hard, forcing herself to calm down so she could help her friend. Not that she had any idea how to.

"Oh, Val, I'm so sorry," she said, finally pulling herself together as the Teppenpaw started apologising. "You don't have to apologise for anything," she emphasised. "I'm here for you as best I can be," she promised. Which maybe didn't mean much because people promised things and then never followed through and . . . and . . . why were adults so terrible?

Bonabelle was definitely not crying half so hard as Val was and she tried to focus on that to remind herself that her friend needed help. When Val seemed to have calmed down a little, Bonabelle laughed lightly and wiped her own cheeks. "Guess I'm a sympathy crier," she said. Then, more seriously, she continued: "I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how awful that must have been and then to find out about it now . . . how are you feeling?"

22 Bonabelle Row Yep, delicious pancakes, that's all there is to see here. 1488 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 28, 2020 5:34 PM

What kinds of syrup do we have for them? by Valentine Duell

Valentine sniffed, took a few deep breaths, and wiped her eyes again. She had to get this under control for Bonabelle. She did her best to smile through her mess at Bonabelle being an awesome and understanding friend. Aww... she had made Bonabelle cry, now she felt even worse. Thankfully, worse in a good way that distracted from her from her previous train of thought.

"I'm..." Val hesitated as she considered her feelings and sighed, "I'm a little bit terrible. I'm worried, a little happy, a bit upset, more than a little mad." Her face flashed through the emotions as she voiced them. "I found out, well, we all found out because Aunt Giselle found us again." Her face twisted into a peeved expression, "Apparently she found Mama and Papa not long after I got here last term, and they didn't tell me about her at all until I got home!"

"It was great to meet her, again I guess." Val's face brightened, "We hung out and talked a lot. She told me all sorts of stories about when we lived in Greece and what kind of trouble we would get into when Mama and Papa weren't paying attention." She giggled lightly, "Sometimes she would use three year-old me as her 'seeing eye person' to go out and we'd cause all sorts of havoc in the neighborhood. Apparently we'd get away with it as well because no one wanted to be mean to the poor little twelve year old blind girl and her three year old innocent niece."

Valentine's expression turned grumpy, "But... all break they had some super-secret project going on in the basement that they wouldn't let me see until it was done." She crossed her arms, "Aunt Giselle's school specialized in divinations and she was pretty good at it. She needed some information and for that she needed me. So when they finally let me into the basement, the night before we came back to school, I learned they had been working on a special divining mirror. I got to be Aunt Giselle's eyes again..." her face softened a bit before becoming hard and angry.

"I don't remember it at all, but afterwards she said something about returning if she could and apperated away!" She could feel the tears at her eyes again, this time she blinked them away angrily. "She just came, got Mama and Papa to help make her mirror, used me to make it work and then disappeared again!" Those tears were getting difficult to keep at bay again, so she took another deep breath and let it out slowly. She gave Bonabelle a mournful look, "Was that all we were to her? Just a source of information? Will she come back?"

She sighed again and looked at the empty plate in front of her. "That was my weird break. How was your weird break?"

2 Valentine Duell What kinds of syrup do we have for them? 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

July 29, 2020 3:57 PM

Denial mostly. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle nodded along with her friend's emotions, having very little idea how to handle them. The best way she'd found was to pretend that they didn't exist and talk herself back into some sort of state of neutrality. It was the most efficient, if nothing else. But that didn't seem particularly helpful, so she just nodded. The more Val talked about having spent the break with Aunt Giselle, the more Bonabelle was sure she shouldn't talk about her own break. Then, Aunt Giselle left, though and Valentine was alone again. Not quite so alone, but alone. It was a wild broom ride of emotions and she wasn't sure what to say in the face of all that. She patted Val's shoulder as comfortingly as she could manage. She paused for what was hopefully an imperceptible moment when Val said her aunt was blind. Her skin felt prickly.

A blind woman who had gone to a mystery school for her skill with divination and whose school disappeared from everyone's memory when they left it behind? It was hard to believe that this was anything but a creature of the dark, or else a scam. Bonabelle didn't consider herself superstitious necessarily - she was far too logical for that - but there were some things in this world that couldn't be explained away in a textbook, and this may be one of them. It seemed rude to suggest that Val's aunt might be a monster, either literally or in the con-artist sense, so Bonabelle didn't say anything about it, only making a mental note to keep an ear out for any other odd things in the Teppenpaw's life.

"I'm sorry," Bonabelle finally managed, not sure she could honestly say whether she hoped the woman came back or not. "That sounds . . . frustrating," she tried. Ugh. Her own emotions were hard but other people's were much harder. If it was anyone but Valentine, Bonabelle probably would have done her best to just ignore them. As it was, she had an investment in this thing now and she wanted to be a good friend. After all, Val had been a good friend to her. Which . . . meant that Bonabelle probably should open up some about her own break when the topic turned back to her.

"Are you sure?" she asked, taking another bite of food to give herself time. "We don't have to talk about my break. It sounds like yours was all sorts of things and I don't want to take away from that," she said. It was one of the most honest things she'd ever said about an emotion. Realising Valentine's plate was empty, Bonabelle glanced awkwardly at her friend before deciding that that simply wouldn't do and scooping some hashbrowns and a pancake onto it. "Eat," she insisted softly. It was, after all, what grandma did for her. Eat up and everything would be okay. Even when it wouldn't be.

"My break . . . I spent it at my grandparents' in Ireland," she began, reiterating what Val already knew. "And with Uncle Killian." She let her hair fall in her face some to hide her as she continued, picking at a piece of food on her own plate as she did so. "My dad had to move in the autumn, while I was at school. He just forgot to leave an address, and we sort of don't know where he is now. So I spent the break with my grandparents and Uncle Killian." She repeated this information as if it was all said and done and perfectly fine. There was a hard edge of determination in her voice and she thought she'd rather like to fling her fork at something stab-able. "It was weird not seeing dad," she added finally.

22 Bonabelle Row Denial mostly. 1488 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 30, 2020 5:27 PM

Egyptian Syrup? by Valentine Duell

Valentine couldn't resist snuggling up against Bonabelle a little when her friend was comforting her. Bonabelle was nice and she was right. Frustrating was an excellent word for it. She would just like things to make sense, and have another aunt in her life. More family was always good. Friends were good as well. Bonabelle was good.

"Absolutely," Valentine responded to her friend's question as she finished recovering from her retelling of the story. Val knew that something had happened over Bonabelle's break, she could tell from the moment she had spotted the girl. She needed to talk about it. Apparently Val had needed to talk about her own break as well. It had helped. She felt a little better about it now, certainly not good, but better.

She smiled as Bonabelle heaped some food on her plate. She was hungry, but hadn't wanted to distract her friend from talking by reaching around and grabbing food. So, upon being so commanded, Valentine assaulted the pancakes while making sure Bonabelle knew she was listening intently.

It started off as expected, grandparents in Ireland, and her guidance councilor uncle. Then Val stopped eating. Her eyes went wide and her face showed pure horror. Her dad just left? He... Valentine's fork dropped to her plate with a clatter as she wrapped her arms around her friend. "I'm so sorry Bonabelle. That's terrible! How are you doing?" Val felt terrible as well, here she was whining about a lost aunt and Bonabelle had lost her father! "What can I do to help?"

2 Valentine Duell Egyptian Syrup? 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

July 31, 2020 11:18 AM

Yes, that's what I meant. by Bonabelle Row

Bonabelle jumped and grimaced when Valentine's silverware dropped and she was accosted by affection. This was so weird. It was nice, but it was weird. There was a big part of her that wanted to tell Valentine it was fine, she hadn't said it like that, and it would be okay. There was a small part of her that was irritated at Valentine for putting words to the things she'd been trying to use euphemisms for. The biggest part of her was just desperately grateful for such kindness and she curled towards Valentine, turning to hide her face in her friend's shoulder.

"Bit terrible, yeah," Bonabelle agreed quietly. She really really wanted to cry. She'd managed it when Val told her story, but she couldn't seem to do it for herself. She hadn't done it at all until then, actually. What was wrong with her? "I'm sure it will be okay," she said, feeling the urge to shush and comfort Valentine who seemed, on the outside, much more upset than she was herself. "I don't really know," she added, pulling away to push her hair out of her face. She was surprised to find that this admission was the hardest part for her and she finally broke down, crying softly and doing her best to pretend she wasn't. "I don't know," she said again, feeling defeated.

22 Bonabelle Row Yes, that's what I meant. 1488 0 5

Valentine Duell

July 31, 2020 8:48 PM

I've never tried theirs, is it good? by Valentine Duell

Valentine just held Bonabelle tight as her friend buried her face into her shoulder. She patted her back and let loose a few tears of her own for Bonabelle's terrible, terrible situation. Val gave Bonabelle a sad smile as she pulled back. Bonabelle did not sound good, and her admission of not knowing seemed to almost be the most painful thing. That made Val feel guilty. She wanted to help Bonabelle, but she didn't know how, and she had forced Bonabelle to admit that she didn't know how either.

"I'm sorry Bonabelle," she tried to comfort her friend again. "I don't know either, and if you don't know, that is fine. You don't need to know." She took her friend's hands and tried to look Bonabelle in the eyes. "The one thing I want you to know is that I am here for you, for whatever you might want or need. I am here for you." There was a pleading look in Valentine's eyes, "Please come to me if you think of anything that I can help you with."

Val's mind drifted back to her own missing relative. What she wouldn't give to bring Aunt Giselle home, how much more would it be if it was Papa? Hmm... they had a magical divining mirror in their basement now. Could that be used to help Bonabelle? Mama wasn't sure if they could use it without Aunt Giselle, but what if they could....?

2 Valentine Duell I've never tried theirs, is it good? 1490 0 5

Bonabelle Row

July 31, 2020 10:04 PM

It's an acquired taste. by Bonabelle Row

Sympathy crying was a new thing in Bonabelle's world and she was surprised and comforted to find that it went both ways for her and her friend. She thought that there was a good chance that Valentine was the best human on the planet and she decided in that moment, with a conscious thought, that she was going to mostly just live life to keep this one safe. Maybe if they kidnapped each other, then they wouldn't have to deal with their families anymore. Of course, Val sounded like she liked her parents, and even her aunt, it was just stressful. For a moment, Bonabelle wondered what it would be like to have a family. Sure, she was getting a little more used to having Uncle Killian and grandma and grandpa around, but that wasn't quite the same because she hardly knew them. The only other people she'd been around were her dad and whoever he had brought home for the evening. That was not a thing she wanted to think about too much, especially as she was getting older and was becoming more aware of the sorts of reasons he had brought them home (not that she hadn't known before but it was getting grosser now), so she focused on the conversation at hand.

She wanted to believe that she really didn't have to know. It was an odd feeling in her stomach but she was pretty sure she mostly just wanted to throw a tantrum and pout about how unfair everything was. There was another feeling in her stomach that made her really really happy she had Val around. "Me too for you!" Bonabelle promised. "I didn't mean to make this all about me," she said. Then, holding out her pinkie and wrapping it around one of Valentine's, she wiped her tears and nodded at her friend. "We've got each other's backs, even when other people don't, right?" she confirmed.

22 Bonabelle Row It's an acquired taste. 1488 0 5

Valentine Duell

August 01, 2020 5:12 AM

Should I try to aquire it? by Valentine Duell

Valentine grinned wide despite her tear-streaked face and tightened her pinky's grip on Bonabelle's. "Right!" She confirmed. "Through thick or thin, through Hades or high water. We'll stick together whatever the future may bring!" Bonabelle was going to get through this and Val was determined to do anything within her power to make sure of it. She just wished her power reached a little farther than hugs and kind words. They were good and needed, but they were only a salve for the real problem.

It was perhaps time to talk about something else. There wasn't much good that could come from wallowing on a painful topic that couldn't be resolved for the moment. Valentine wanted to ask Bonabelle about her grandparents. She only had Pop now and hadn't known any of her other grandparents at all. But, that might be to close of a topic to her father. Maybe she had gotten to know her uncle better now? That still may be to close for the moment.

While she considered, she tossed Bonabelle's advice back at her, "Eat up." She said while retrieving her own fork, "We're going to need our strength built up to fight through and overcome the horrors of this world." Oh! Now she remembered the other thing she wanted to ask Bonabelle about. That might make for a good distraction.

"I almost forgot, there was something else I wanted to ask you about." Val tried to segue into the new topic, "The tea party you had set up before break was wonderful. What do you think about us doing a little bigger one and inviting some more people? I'm sure Lavender would love to come," her brow furrowed as she mentally went through the list of people she'd interacted with last term. Maybe Morgan? Sadie? Were boys allowed?

2 Valentine Duell Should I try to aquire it? 1490 0 5