The one in which nobody listens to Philippe and his family accidently outs him on Cascade Hall

A Memory

January 18, 2021 12:18 PM

The one in which nobody listens to Philippe and his family accidently outs him by A Memory

Four people sat around the Teppenpaw table. All four were made of silvery mist. One, most people in the school would probably recognize as she liked sitting on desks and climbing statues and otherwise generally getting up high where she wasn't supposed to be. Also, she wasn't an uncommon visitor to the Teppenpaw table, so she might almost have passed unnoticed if she wasn't monochrome and partially transparent. Across from Mist-Anya was another familiar face for many of the older students, though she had graduated now and had been less frequent with her visits to the Teppenpaw table, so even had she not shared the misty unreality as Mist-Anya, she would still have raised some eyebrows for being present currently. Beside Mist-Jasmine was the same ghost-like woman who had recently appeared in the Pecari common room, though she looked a few years older than she had there, and her clothing was a bit nicer. She and Jasmine both wore dresses, though nothing near as formal as ball gowns. They wore long sleeved party dresses with obvious Christmas themes to to them, Jasmine's being decked out in snowflakes and evergreen trees, while Holly's featured strings of Christmas lights shaped into hearts.

Anya wore a more casual pair of jeans but also sported a Christmas themed shirt with a reindeer on it. Beside her, the fourth member of the ghost like party was a man with hair that was a lighter silvery shade than any of the ladies had. He was dressed in nice wizard's robes that featured decorated evergreen trees. All four of them, as they came into being, were staring at a fifth chair, looking various stages of shocked, but there was no ghostly figure in that one.

"Really?" Anya blurted out in her surprise. "I thought you liked Val!"

A brief pause held as everyone looked back at the fifth chair. Jasmine giggled. "Sounds like a crush to me."

Holly looked a bit worried. "I don't know if I like this age difference."

"It not that big," Anya dismissed. "He's in the same grade as me."

"You're two years older than Philippe," Raoul reminded her gently in a mild French accent. "That's a big difference when he's only twelve."

"We've been playing the same things since we were babies," Anya retorted. "He can keep up with me in anything that doesn't involve brooms."

"Anya," Holly said cautiously, looking like she was aware of a giant landmine and was trying really really hard not to step on it. "I know Philippe is a very mature for his age, and you are . . . not . . . but -"

"Mom!" Anya protested, offended. Holly flinched. She'd stepped on it.

"I'm sorry! But playing a better game of exploding snap than you is very different than dating an older boy. Especially at this age."

"Well, your mother never learned French," Raoul said, speaking directly to the fifth chair beside him and seeming to be holding an entirely different conversation than the other three, "so it isn't entirely necessary, but I think it would be a nice gesture if you tried to learn some German. I think he'd appreciate that."

OOC: So any two people can see this, separately or together. If your character has already posted a memory and responds, they do not get to post another one.

Subthreads:

The one in which Freddie is confused and feels bad about it. [and tags a Delachene if he can] by Freddie Zauberhexen with Anya Delachene

The one in which Ellie intrudes, concludes [and goes to find a Delachene, if she can] by Ellie Alperton

1 A Memory The one in which nobody listens to Philippe and his family accidently outs him 0 A Memory 1 7

Freddie Zauberhexen

January 18, 2021 3:53 PM

The one in which Freddie is confused and feels bad about it. [and tags a Delachene if he can] by Freddie Zauberhexen

Freddie entered Cascade Hall with his usual energetic bounce, although he didn't have any particular reason to be bouncy today. He wasn't sure he knew any other way to walk, though, so that's just how he went, and it wasn't until he'd bounced right into a seat at the Teppenpaw table that silvery figures popped up around him and his bouncing stopped. His eyes widened as he looked around at the figures, especially as one of them was one of his best friends.

"Anya?" he said, his stomach clenching horribly at the sight of her appearing almost as a ghost. He knew there had been signs up and talk about some weird misty figures around school but he hadn't expected it to be so horrible to see them. He blinked in surprise when she returned that she thought he liked Val. There was nothing about what he'd said to make that response make sense but lots of things didn't make sense in English and he was quiet as he stared at her. The other figures weren't quiet though and he felt suddenly as though he'd intruded upon a conversation that he wasn't supposed to be seeing at all. One of the figures was one he recognized as Anya's older sister but the other two were unfamiliar to him.

It was hard to follow the conversation because it moved very fast, but Freddie had the advantage of having mostly guessed his way through most of his English education so far and his receptive skills were actually pretty good. Additionally, he was very familiar with Anya's way of speaking and that helped a lot. Someone that someone liked was in Anya's year, he got that much. And that mattered to Philippe, according to the grown up man there. It was weird seeing adults here when they weren't adults that belonged here, and it was weird hearing people talk about Philippe when he wasn't here. That was another reason it seemed like he shouldn't be listening to the conversation; he was listening to people he didn't know talk about someone he did know, and that seemed rude.

Anya was upset then. It was hard to watch and Freddie still wasn't even sure that he was supposed to be watching anyway, but somehow, he couldn't quite look away. She also called the grown up woman 'mom' which answered his question about who they were.

They were talking about Philippe. It was almost as if they were talking to Philippe except that Philippe obviously wasn't here because Freddie was here, and they weren't talking to Freddie. Would they . . . could they be talking about Freddie? It sounded like someone in Anya's family liked a boy in Anya's year and, if the man who was present was anything to judge by, that boy spoke German.

It was tempting to believe that was possible but it just seemed to good to be true and Freddie only gaped at the small family gathered around him. Wouldn't that be just the sort of thing his own silly brain would conjure up? Of course, he'd never seen Anya's parents before and only seen her sister a little bit. It was odd that his brain would come up with this. But what else made sense? Well, there was one easy way to find out.

Suddenly not very hungry, Freddie pushed himself away from the table (he grabbed a roll because he was still a little bit hungry) in search of either Anya or Philippe but probably Anya because he wasn't sure what he'd say to Philippe about it if he did find him. Of course, he wasn't totally sure what he'd say to Anya either . . . but it seemed weird to just sit and eat now. Everything seemed weird.

22 Freddie Zauberhexen The one in which Freddie is confused and feels bad about it. [and tags a Delachene if he can] 1452 0 5

Anya Delachene

January 18, 2021 6:23 PM

So which should I call you? Confused, or Feels Bad About It? by Anya Delachene

OOC: Anya is NOT witnessing the Memory. She is reacting to Freddie reacting, so she does not count toward the two people who ran into this one.

Also, without a Quidditch Roster having gone up, I am assuming Anya retained her position of reserve seeker that she had last year. BIC:

Anya was eager for some food. She'd just been out flying on the pitch, practicing her dives (or that's what she'd tell any teammate who asked; in truth, diving was just plain fun and she'd do it even if she wasn't reserve seeker for the school team) and that usually worked up an appetite. Her curls were a bit more windswept and wild than normal and her cheeks a bit pink from the wind burn. She was in a really good mood. Flying did that for her.

And now she was famished. She thought a bowl of fruit might be a good start, get some vitamins and stuff, fruit was good for you, then finish it off with what she really wanted: a giant chocolate chip cookie. She pushed through the doorway into the Cascade Hall and scanned around to see who was around to hang out with. She spotted Freddie. Worse, he'd spotted her and it was too late to turn around and flee even if that hadn't meant abandoning her cookie plans, which she wasn't about to do.

No it was good. Yes, she had some reservations that she'd picked up over midterm about hanging out with Freddie in case she accidently blurted out anything Philippe didn't want her blurting out, it was cool. Freddie was cool. Philippe thought so even more than she did. No nonono.

Restart.

She was in a good mood. She'd just been flying. Her friend was coming toward her. She beamed cheerfully at him. "Heya, Freddie!" They were friends. They'd hung out tons of times without talking about whether or not her little brother had a crush on him. It would be fine.

Then she noticed he seemed a bit . . . not-Freddie-like . . . and she turned more serious. "Is something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost," she added in concern.

1 Anya Delachene So which should I call you? Confused, or Feels Bad About It? 1453 0 5

Freddie Zauberhexen

January 18, 2021 7:54 PM

Probably confused. by Freddie Zauberhexen

Anya was there! That was easy. Which was almost unfortunate because Freddie had half a roll shoved in his very serious face and he hadn't yet figured out how to say what he was trying to say. He didn't even know for sure what he was trying to say. The figures had vanished by now so it wasn't like he could just march Anya over and show her what he'd seen.

"Ja, ghost!" he said, glad she'd given him a word, although it wasn't quite the right one. He was feeling agitated and English was harder when he was agitated, so he'd take what he could get. "You ghost," he added, pointing to the Teppenpaw table and frowning when he confirmed that the figures were no longer visible.

That meant that he could get out of this still. He could leave his thoughts to himself and not take Ellie's advice (well, he'd sort of taken Ellie's advice because he'd said hi to Philippe and stuff, but he hadn't said hi to Philippe) and he could disregard any weird things his brain might have conjured up. He could also not drag Anya into a thing just because her not-ghost said some stuff, and he could pretend it was all fine. But lying was bad and he wanted to be good. Also, he'd spent a long time lying about himself and it hadn't turned out well for him at all. In the end, he knew the truth was about the only option he had.

But how much truth? He considered for a moment, his face screwed up with the effort of forming more words, since both his thoughts and the bread in his mouth were still in the way. Finally, swallowing hard, he decided that Anya might be an okay person to talk to.

"You know mist?" he asked, hoping she'd paid attention to the notices that had gone up in the Common Rooms too. "I see and it has you." He waved his hands, trying to organize himself, mumbled Merlin's saggy earlobes and his stupid ugly wand in German because it was the best way he could think to swear at the English language, and then continued: "Mist looks like you and Jasmine and maybe parents. You talk." He flapped his hands to mime the action of many people talking together before his voice grew quieter and his cheeks turned red. "About Philippe."

He really wanted to spin around or flop on the ground or stomp or grunt or shout or somehow get the nervous energy out of his limbs but he couldn't. There was no appropriate way to do that right now and also he didn't want to make a scene and draw more attention. Also, this was probably confusing for Anya and he didn't want to scare her. Instead, he sat on the floor cross-legged, with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.

"I have confusing," he said before looking up at Anya. "I have crushing on Philippe. Mist-with-your-face says maybe Philippe is crushing too?"

OOC: I am assuming the figures have either vanished entirely by now or have vanished because there is no one else near enough to trigger them, so as not to disrupt continuity for other people who may interact with the memory.

22 Freddie Zauberhexen Probably confused. 1452 0 5

Ellie Alperton

January 18, 2021 8:17 PM

The one in which Ellie intrudes, concludes [and goes to find a Delachene, if she can] by Ellie Alperton

OOC: As Anya and Freddie's conversation continues in the Hall, I am going to employ fuzzy time and assume Ellie saw the memory first, but not by a lot. BIC:

Ellie was not particularly hungry, but homework with a snack sounded better than homework without a snack, so she made her way into the Cascade Hall. And right into the middle of a Delachene family meeting.

“Jasmine?” she asked reflexively, even though she knew from the notice that Mist-Jasmine would not see, hear, or react to her. Happily she also knew she wasn’t a ghost, as that would have been alarming. Having visited Jasmine, and had her visit in return, she easily recognised all the people at the table. Though what the whole of the Delachene family was doing in the Cascade Hall, she had no idea.

Oh, except Philippe. She hadn’t exactly forgotten Philippe per se, it was just… well, she was friends with Jasmine, it was exceptionally hard not to notice Anya, she’d been far more surprised to see Raoul and Holly, and the subject of their conversation was also pretty exciting. By the time she had processed he was missing, it didn’t exactly count as noticing, as someone else had already said his name.

She didn’t exactly feel bad for listening in because this obviously wasn’t real. Though as she listened, the question of what it was played through her mind. It wasn’t real, but it definitely felt it and- oh. Wow. If this was a reflection in any way of reality that was interesting, and possibly something that she oughtn’t really know and which was a little bit private. Except it was also totally cute, and maybe even a little bit perfect.

What did it mean that all the Delachenes except Philippe were here talking about this though? Were the figures imagination? That, she thought, made a lot of sense between the two she’d seen. Some people’s imaginations roved to high drama and duels, and others were a lot more realistic, pondering perhaps on how their family might react to important news… She hoped Philippe’s imagination was accurate, and the real Delachenes would be just as nice as his hopes for how that conversation would go.

That left her with rather a lot of things to do. They were supposed to report the figures to staff or prefects. She thought, given the content, Ness might be a good person to ask to capture that, given that she wasn’t sure which other prefects were friendly about that kind of thing. Or Professor Wright. She should maybe also tell him that the figures might be imagination. But first, it seemed worthwhile finding Philippe, and confirming her theory, and finding out whether he needed any help getting set up on a date…

13 Ellie Alperton The one in which Ellie intrudes, concludes [and goes to find a Delachene, if she can] 1456 0 5

Anya Delachene

February 07, 2021 7:02 PM

On it, Confused! by Anya Delachene

"I was a ghost?" Anya repeated, partly to clarify, but mostly just in surprise. She felt kind of cheated. She'd gotten to be a ghost without dying and she hadn't even been there! Totally not fair. Freddie then clarified that the misty stuff had turned into her, and also her whole family, which . . . rude. Not cool impersonating people, mist. Especially not cool doing the very thing Anya was trying so very hard not to do, which was talk about Philippe in front of Freddie.

She liked to think she was pretty good at keeping the important secrets, but Philippe hadn't actually sworn her to secrecy on this one, and it was in sort of a grey area between 'do I try to figure out if Philippe's got a shot?' and 'Maybe I shouldn't say anything without checking with him first.' And she was kind of like 95% sure he would tell her not to say anything if she did check with him, but then she wasn't sure if that was him being too timid and needing to be pushed, or if she really should keep it to herself.

And Mist-Her was a blabbermouth.

But the good news was that she did now know that Philippe did indeed have a shot, so this was looking less like a terrible train-wreck than it had a few minutes ago.

But what was she supposed to actually say to Freddie now? He'd asked her directly, and she certainly didn't want to lie to one of her bestest friends, and Philippe was already frowning at her all the time like he expected her to go blabbermouthing it.

"Um." She said smartly. "Okay, um." Great start, Anya. She wanted to ask if it was okay to pass on the information that Freddie was crushing on Phillippe to Philippe in exchange for letting Freddie know that Philippe was indeed crushing on Freddie, but she didn't know how to put that question together without revealing that Philippe did indeed have a crush on Freddie. And this was made all the more complicated because Mist-Her had already said that, and he was probably going to notice if she didn't deny it. Unfortunately, she didn't think there was a way to avoid that pitfall.

Carefully, more so she could think through each word (a custom she did not have a lot of practice with and therefore needed to take slowly) than to help him follow her English, she said, "I don't think Mist-With-My-Face had permission from Philippe to talk about that. But if she did," which Anya was totally sure she didn't, but hypothetically, if she did, "she would have to caution you that he's twelve, and he's not really sure what he wants yet."

1 Anya Delachene On it, Confused! 1453 0 5

Freddie Zauberhexen

February 09, 2021 11:32 AM

It sounds like I am not the only one. by Freddie Zauberhexen

Freddie was sort of relieved to see Anya trying to figure out her words for a minute because it made him feel a little less bad about struggling so hard with them himself. He didn't usually mind that he struggled with English but other people didn't know when he was struggling with finding words versus finding meaning. Sometimes, he just didn't have any way to put meaning into what he was saying, whether it was in English or German. In this case, Anya seemed to be having the same problem and words came out that had no meaning for a moment before she decided how to proceed. Freddie watched patiently as she did so, not wanting to interrupt.

When words did come out of Anya's mouth, they had lots of meaning and Freddie gave himself some time to think through it all. He understood most of the words and he was able to figure the rest out from context, which was good. But he had to do some thinking. Anya hadn't said that Philippe did or did not have a crush on anyone, let alone Freddie, and he couldn't know for sure that it was because she was trying to be nice and leave that information out but it did sort of sound like that was the case. The takeaway was what she said last (which was one of the nice things about language: people usually said the big point either first or last) and what she said last was that Philippe wasn't sure what he wanted yet. And that he was twelve.

Freddie considered this because he'd been twelve pretty recently and it had been a confusing time for sure. So far, being fourteen was also confusing but it was confusing for different reasons. And in all honesty, he'd spoken to Ellie about this in part because he hadn't been sure what he wanted either. Did he want to date Philippe? It was hard to say. He definitely wanted to get to know him better and sometimes he thought that his hair looked soft and he'd like to touch it more. But he wasn't totally sure what all that meant, only that he wanted to keep doing it. Did Anya think Freddie was too old for Philippe? Was Freddie too old for Philippe? When did two years stop being a big difference? Did it matter?

Finally, Freddie nodded, demonstrating his understanding with a serious expression as he considered his own response. "I am not sure what I want yet also," he decided finally. "But . . . I want that I talk more to Philippe sometimes. Ist das okay?"

22 Freddie Zauberhexen It sounds like I am not the only one. 1452 0 5

Anya Delachene

February 09, 2021 12:30 PM

No, you're definitely not the only one. by Anya Delachene

"Yes!" Anya agreed emphatically when Freddie asked if it was okay to talk to Philippe because that was exactly what everyone needed! If they talked, they could figure things out for themselves and Anya wouldn't be stuck in the middle like this! "That is okay! Very okay! Do that! Philippe wants to talk to you, too! Philippe wants to talk to you so much he wants to learn German to talk to you!" Anya might have felt bad that this had never occurred to her even though she counted Freddie as one of her closest friends but Freddie spoke perfectly passable English. He did not, however, make it sound easy, and she didn't think going the other way would be any better and he had a huge head start, so English was good for their friendship as far as Anya was concerned.

Philippe was already mostly fluent in French, so learning a new language must sound a lot less daunting to him. (Philippe said he wasn't great at it, but he could converse with Grandmere and Grandpere with enough ease and speed in their native tongue that it sounded perfectly fluent to Anya, who only had a few words and phrases.)

Belatedly, it occurred to her that this strong approval and enthusiasm, not to mention her revelation of Philippe's stated desire to learn German to talk to Freddie, might confirm certain assertions that Mist-With-Her-Face may or may not have made, but Philippe had only objected to the term 'crush' not the idea of 'wanting to spend loads of time with Freddie' so she thought it was probably okay.

She should probably give Philippe a heads up pretty quickly though, just in case.

"But yes," she said again, more calmly this time, but no less emphatically. "Talking is a good idea. I think you're both awesome, but you guys don't know you're both awesome yet, so go figure that out by getting to know each other first, and then you can decide if you want to like each other in the more than friends way. That's the way to do it. I think. I've never dated, or wanted to, so that's second hand knowledge."

1 Anya Delachene No, you're definitely not the only one. 1453 0 5