Un-closure on Cascade Hall

Selina Skies

February 05, 2021 7:39 PM

Providing Answers by Selina Skies

It had been a strange mix that swirled in the penseive when Selina had come to examine it. Her own memories intertwined with many others. There was an occasional familiar face but many were unknown. She had lifted each one out, one at a time, letting it swirl and form just long enough in the air to capture its face and transfer it to a large scroll of parchment, before bottling and numbering it. The memory that Giselle had mentioned had been easy enough to isolate, as very few of them involved such large groups of people. Aside from those specifically mentioned by the staff as alarming and warranting further investigation, she had tried not to pry, and had let the memories settle into their new homes without watching them.

The poster was rather eerie when it was done - like a series of unspoken accusations. Do you recognise these people? What did they do? Not that all the memories had been bad, but the layout of the poster made it look like a rouges’ gallery. The silvery, ghostlike shade of each face didn’t help the overall feeling of something very much amiss. Though between the human faces displaying varying states of emotion were also a plushie dragon, some kind of... odd doll man with a huge chin, a little pair of birds, and a bear. The bear was, she had to admit, quite scary, though its presence in the line-up struck her now as almost comical. Having not looked into the memory of the birds, she had no idea how frightening that one really was, now that they knew these were episodes from the lives of their staff and students.

Grayson had mentioned Mr. Stones’ presence as another potential source of trauma, and she had left it to him to ask Evelyn whether she wanted him included or not, and to explain to her the purposes of the poster, which was more than identifying whose was whose. That part didn’t matter much. The memories did not need to be reclaimed if their owners didn’t want them… They were only copies anyway, so their owners were stuck with the originals even if the school destroyed these ones. She had, likewise, checked in with the Hexenmeisters as part of their conversation. She had not included an image of Leo, unaware that one of those that she'd found swirling in the mix was not one that she had put there, but one that had decided to take a walk and been seen...

“Good evening,” she addressed the students. A memo had gone around in the last class of the day, asking them all to be prompt to dinner as there was an announcement. Selina swallowed down the remaining trace of nerves, as she looked at the waterfalls just beyond their faces. It had been more of a challenge to sit so closely with Heinrich and Hilda, to deal with this on a first hand, individualised level. And she had one more situation where she would have to do that… She felt bad still, certainly, but she didn’t doubt that she could address the school with a steady voice.

“I am relieved to be able to inform you that the source of the strange manifestations seen around campus has been discovered. What you were seeing were memories. These were being drawn in by a faulty penseive – a device usually used for storing and reviewing memories. The school deeply regrets the presence of this device on campus, and apologises for any harm caused.

“We have removed all the memories from the device. They are only copies, and will be destroyed at the end of term. However, before we do that, we wanted to give people the opportunity to talk about what happened. It may be that you saw a memory that concerned you, or made you worry about a classmate. It may be that you’re worried about your own memory having come out. We do not plan to go through the memories or look into them without being given further reason or permission to do so. However, I have taken a still image from each memory, without watching it, so that you can all know whether something of yours was seen. If you have concerns about that, I strongly encourage you to talk to a staff member.

“We have also left space under each image for people to sign their names if they saw it. This is not mandatory, but people might wish to know who saw their memory. If you would like to speak to the person who witnessed your memory, you may do so independently, or with staff support.”

These details were summarised again on the poster, which Selina now hung from the door of the hall with a wave of her wand.

“Once again, we are deeply sorry that this happened,” she stated.

OOC: People can react to this if they wish, though you can also just pass on via chatzy whether your character would sign to admit witnessing the memory.

If anyone else on staff would have flagged up particular memories to Selina, she would deal with those individually, or omit them from the poster if asked. You can discuss any such examples with me in chatzy.

Although this has now been resolved, you may continue to interact with the memories, though any new interactions after this date will not result in you posting your own memory. (If you already interacted with one and owe a memory, that's can be posted).

Subthreads:

Un-closure by Lorena Abernathy with Valentine Duell

Should we talk about what that was? [Heinrich] by Evelyn Stones with Heinrich Hexenmeister

But now I have questions. by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen with Rosalynn Tellerman

Okay, I'm curious (Johana Leonie) by Graham Osbrook with Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

13 Selina Skies Providing Answers 26 1 5

Lorena Abernathy

February 07, 2021 1:45 PM

Un-closure by Lorena Abernathy

Wow.

It was crazy to think this whole swirling mist thing was finally figured out. Lorena hadn’t managed to find any of these scenes, even though she had tried to. Sometimes it seemed like the mist was just ending when she got somewhere, like it was running away from her.

She checked the poster when she had an opportunity, making her way through the Hall to take a look where it hung by the door. None of the still pictures looked familiar to her, so she figured it was safe to say that she had not been affected.

Huh. That was almost a little disappointing. The first year didn’t specifically want other people rifling through her playbook of memories, but to have neither seen one nor had one of her own play out made her feel a little bit… left out, somehow. Like this whole big commotion had just happened around her. Had happened… without her.

That made her sad. Lorena had never really fit in before Sonora, and now she felt like she really was making friends and becoming a part of things, but this huge, school-wide phenomenon had excluded her. It was a random thing, of course, but she remembered how it felt to be excluded from her Muggle school days, and the wounds felt fresh again. She knew that she was over-reacting, but her brain was still a little bit set in “outsider” mode, and this weird reminder, while probably a good thing to be skipped by, felt too familiar.

Lorena scooted out of the way and let the next person up to see the list. “I hope it didn’t get you,” she said softly, both out of hope their memories were left their own and also, a little selfishly, to have someone else like her. “This whole thing is so strange. Did you see anybody else’s memories?”

12 Lorena Abernathy Un-closure 1510 0 5

Evelyn Stones

February 07, 2021 2:32 PM

Should we talk about what that was? [Heinrich] by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn approached the faces of memories with the distinct urge to throw up, although she managed not to. She signed her name by the face of the lovely woman who had been so kind about make up and who was definitely not Charity Stones, and then just spent a moment taking it all in. The face of her own father was there amidst the rest, although she already knew of at least two of the people who had seen it. She'd found Alexander to let him know that a memory of their father had been caught and that he could go see the image if he wanted, but she'd also made it clear to Professor Wright that she did not want anyone to see it, although if Billy really needed to discuss it with her she supposed he could. The only other person she knew had seen it was one of the ones she would have least liked to have seen it now that they knew it was a memory.

Of course, Heinrich's explanation had made it clear to her that it was similar to the story she'd told him about what had happened to her arm, but she hadn't known it was literally what happened. Heinrich had been kind and not gone into too much detail about what exactly he saw or how the memory played out and now she didn't need him to; she knew exactly how that scene played out. Now, though, she needed to talk to him for other reasons. They hadn't yet discussed whether one of Heinrich's memories had appeared and they hadn't yet discussed the fact that it was an actual memory of her own that had appeared.

Evelyn's mind spun a bit and she felt her thoughts going in circles about the whole thing. She felt like she was just thinking the same thoughts over and over from a slightly different perspective or with slightly different words. It was time, she thought, for actual words.

Hanging about until she found Heinrich - he wasn't terribly hard to find because he was tallish and she was smallish and she just had to get a good vantage point from which to look up - Evelyn approached with a more grim expression than usual. She approached with her arms around herself although they quickly reached out to him instead, accepting a hug or a kiss or a hand or whatever affection he was up for giving. They were, after all, prefects and they were in Cascade Hall, so she wasn't about to expect too much affection.

"So it was a memory you saw," she said with a grimace, keeping her voice low to avoid blatant eavesdroppers. "So I guess I know the details. Do you . . . I don't know. Wanna talk about that? Are you okay?"

22 Evelyn Stones Should we talk about what that was? [Heinrich] 1422 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 07, 2021 5:54 PM

That may be for the best? by Valentine Duell

Well, she had found it. The still image of two birds sitting on a tree branch looked serene enough. Valentine sighed, knowing what happened next in that scene. Professor Skies said that signing the papers were optional, did she want to? Should she? Was it the right thing to do? The purpose of signing of the names was so that the person the memory belong to could talk to the people that had seen it, if they wanted to. Did she want to talk to whomever left that memory? She wasn't actually sure. What would they want to talk about? Would they feel terrible if they thought it had caused her to get hurt?

What if the shoe was on the other foot? What if she had left a memory somewhere, would she want to know who'd seen it? Even if she didn't want to talk to them about it? That may depend on the memory, but she couldn't really think of anything in her life that was secret or terrible or anything like that. Her life had been awful boring. Still, it might be nice to know. She sighed and looked at the image of the birds again. It was the right thing to do, she could recognize herself trying to talk herself out of it because it might be uncomfortable.

Making up her mind, she signed her name under the cute picture of the birds. Well, she'd done it. Now she should look over the rest to see if any of her memories did leak out. She didn't go far before she found Lorena. She smiled at the girl, but her expression twisted just a bit out of surprise at her friend's opening statement. One did just about get me, she thought briefly. "It is strange," she agreed wholeheartedly. "I..." she hesitated a moment, "I did see one. I was looking now to see if any of mine escaped. How about you?" she asked in return.

2 Valentine Duell That may be for the best? 1490 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

February 10, 2021 4:42 PM

But now I have questions. by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie marked her name by the face of the girl she'd seen outside the Hospital Wing, feeling squirmy as she did it. Her parents had instilled a sense of honesty in her that she didn't want to betray, but it still felt dirty to acknowledge she'd seen into someone's mind without their consent. She'd seen someone's younger sister or something maybe. She wasn't really sure who she'd seen actually, but she knew that she hadn't been invited to see it. As she examined all of the other faces, looking for any that she recognized from her own mind, she gasped when she recognized the warm expression set in the ancient lines of Frau Augusta's face. The woman who had died all those years ago, whose words of comfort and wisdom had stuck in Johana Leonie's mind ever since, was there now, looking out from the page with all the same sparkle in her eyes she'd had the last time they'd looked out from her face.

It was hard to tear herself away from that picture and she was tempting to take it down, but she didn't yet. Frau Augusta had had a lot to share with the world and now, even in a small way, perhaps her kind eyes would continue to share something. There was, of course, a good chance that no one would even notice her amidst the faces of loved ones and old enemies she suspected were hanging before her, but she had to hope. If nothing else, she thought that Frau Augusta herself would have had hope.

After what seemed like a long time and not long enough all at once, Johana Leonie stepped away. She'd go ask Professor Skies if she could see that memory again later on, but for now she was here and there were people who needed healing. She wasn't the right person to even try, of course, but it was an energy that reminded her sometimes to be humble and to hold on to small happy moments because it was hard to know when they'd be stolen away. In this small moment, not yet labeled happy or otherwise, Johana Leonie turned when someone bumped her arm.

"Entschuldige," she said immediately, apologizing as she stepped out of their way. Then, realizing what she'd done, she shook her head. "Ack, sorry," she tried again, replacing the German word with an English counterpart and a dose of emphasis. "I was in your way."

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen But now I have questions. 1432 0 5

Rosalynn Tellerman

February 10, 2021 6:00 PM

Questions like: How is my dad such an attention hog even when he's just mist? by Rosalynn Tellerman

Rosalynn approached the poster, looking over the different faces of the memories collected. The first one she noticed was, probably unsurprisingly, her own father. She wasn't sure if he stood out because of his familiarity to her, or because he was wearing his big top hat and his showman's grin. And where the other faces and things had one or two names, if that, under them, her dad had . . . more. Someone name Anya had even helpfully added "(and the entire Int Div Class)" in the space after her name.

So that was . . . entirely typical of her father.

Given the top hat, he was probably doing magic tricks, and she was used to people knowing her dad did magic tricks. Luckily, she couldn't recall any horribly embarrassing incidents that she didn't want shared with an entire divination class full of intermediate students that had taken place while he was wearing that kind of hat, so it was probably fine.

Still, her hand shook slightly as she found the faces she'd seen talking to Princess Ellie and noted her own name beneath them. She never had found the book Princess Ellie was from, and she supposed she now knew why it had been so hard. Still, she'd found a few good books during her searches, so she didn't count it as wasted effort and maybe she'd make the suggestion to Mr. Fox-Reynolds for him to use for real in the future. But if what she'd seen hadn't been a scavenger hunt scene out of book but someone's real life memory, then she could only hope Princess Ellie wouldn't find it too invasive that she'd seen it.

She backed away, glancing back at Dad again and shaking her head. She must have briefly closed her eyes as well because abruptly she was colliding with someone else.

"Sorry!" Rosalynn exclaimed as the older girl . . . spoke in some language that was not English, but then translated for herself to show she was saying the same thing Rosalynn had.

"I was not looking where I was going," she assured, taking her fair share of the blame for the crash. She waved back toward the poster. "I was thinking about how my dad is the biggest attention hog ever. You're not in Intermediate Divinations, are you?" she ventured hopefully.

OOC: Anya is mine so her written comment on the poster is not god-modding.

1 Rosalynn Tellerman Questions like: How is my dad such an attention hog even when he's just mist? 1520 0 5

Graham Osbrook

February 10, 2021 6:38 PM

Okay, I'm curious (Johana Leonie) by Graham Osbrook

Graham had only glanced over the rows of creepily ghost-like images out of curiosity, and to see if the apparition he had seen was among them. He had never anticipated seeing a face he knew personally among them.

After the initial jolt of surprise, he had briefly even self-corrected: wow, someone knows someone who looks a lot like Claire. It was just…surreal, seeing his sister (a younger version of her, but definitely her; he didn’t know and couldn’t decide if he thought that it would have been more surreal for it to have been Claire as she was now) all in silvery misty stuff, staring out of a poster along with a couple dozen other people, animals, and objects. It was also odd to think of someone else seeing her like that in person, if probably not as strange as seeing the sight himself would have been.

At first, he thought of not saying anything to Johana Leonie Zauberhexen at all – it was not, after all, as if anything interesting enough to traumatize a viewer had ever happened to him or Claire, and it seemed really unlikely that Claire – or his memories of Claire, or whatever – would have said anything that could have led Johana Leonie to somehow figure out who their mom was, or what she did, or that she had patients at Sonora. Apart from it technically being possible, though, he couldn’t deny that he was curious, so after the initial stir was over, he quietly sought her out when he saw her alone.

“Hi,” he said, his hands in his pockets. “I’m Graham. The memory you saw – the little girl? That’s my sister, Claire. Or, well, it was her a few years ago, I think. I hope she wasn’t a total brat,” he added with a grin, hoping this would prompt the offering of details.

16 Graham Osbrook Okay, I'm curious (Johana Leonie) 1498 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

February 12, 2021 12:43 PM

Ich auch. by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

A boy Johana Leonie didn't know approached her, which was pretty weird. People didn't really come talk to Johana Leonie much because she was one of the people who didn't speak English well enough to get into a lot of conversations, although she understood a lot more than she could use herself and her English was certainly improving. Perhaps that was also Johana Leonie's insecurity showing, as she generally was a social enough person. In any case, she was being approached now and she nodded, glad the boy introduced himself since she would not have known his name otherwise.

Johana Leonie smiled, confused a bit. "Your sister was not a sausage," she promised. "She was wanting that we color. Or that you color?" she clarified, realizing that if it was a memory she'd seen, then it was probably from Graham's own perspective. That was weird to think about. It had already bothered her to think that she'd seen into someone else's mind but especially if she was also seeing into their mind through their own eyes. That was more than a little disturbing to think about. "She said that your mom had birthday," she added, trying to remember the details. "Are you and your sister friends? I have a smaller brother," she smiled.

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Ich auch. 1432 0 5

Lorena Abernathy

February 12, 2021 6:06 PM

Yeah, probably by Lorena Abernathy

Lorena was sort of looking at her feet as she stepped out of the next person’s way, being mindful of her steps and not of her surroundings per se. She didn’t even realize it was Valentine until she heard the other girl’s response. Valentine was also friends with Bonabelle, so they had interacted here and there over the school year thus far. Plus, even though they weren’t in the same Year or House, Sonora was a pretty small school, and the Beginners classes had both of their grades in it. Lorena wasn’t the greatest with names if she didn’t have something to remind her - like a pneumonic device or something - but she was starting to get a good grasp on her classmates. It was kind of a shame that next year there would be a whole new batch of people to memorize, but then it was also the new opportunity to make a bunch more friends, so that was definitely worth it.

Valentine admitted to seeing a memory, and Lorena felt a pang of jealousy. “I didn’t see any,” she disclosed, her disappointment unable to be hidden fully. “And it doesn’t look like any of mine are on this list, either. Do you see any of yours on there? I mean, I guess you just started looking, so probably not yet. But y’know, when you get through it.” And then Lorena decided to be quiet and be patient.

12 Lorena Abernathy Yeah, probably 1510 0 5

Valentine Duell

February 12, 2021 6:54 PM

But it's not much fun, is it? by Valentine Duell

Valentine gave Lorena a sympathetic smile as she said she hadn't seen any of the memories. The one she had seen had only happened fairly recently, and she was still feeling the after effects of it. She had remembered hearing some rumors about the strange things happening and wondering if she would experience them at all. So she could understand the other girl's feelings. On the other hand, seeing one had put her into the hospital wing and that hadn't been all that much fun. "Seeing one wasn't the best experience of my life." she replied, "but from what I've heard, most people had better luck than me with it." She tried to add a little lighthearted laugh to the statement, but that still sore spot on her side flared up again and she winced.

She shook her head, gently, "Not yet," she confirmed. "I'm not sure what I would do if I did see one of mine listed for everyone to see." She thought again over her past experiences, "I can't really think of any that would be terrible for other people to see, but still..." She let the words dangle as her eyes swept across the images. None really seemed familiar, except... that girl? She looked closer at the image by number twenty-seven. It was the face of a smiling girl about her own age, she had dark hair and was wearing dark glasses. Had she seen that girl somewhere? Something tickled the far back corners of her mind. Who was that? It almost looked like... she gasped and turned to Lorena.

"That's Aunt Giselle!" Val exclaimed pointing at the image. "When she was my age! That could only be hers or mine," or arguably Mama's or Papa's but they weren't here. Wait. Actually Mama had been here recently. Could it be hers? She had to see it. "Do you know where they're keeping these memories?" She asked her friend.

2 Valentine Duell But it's not much fun, is it? 1490 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

February 14, 2021 9:25 PM

Mist does much attention hogging. by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie's eyes followed the gesture the younger girl made, glad for something other than their collision to discuss. She grimaced apologetically though when she saw which picture it was - assuming she was looking at the right one, although context confirmed that some - and the girl asked about her classes. There had been a whole moment where she'd been able to take a breath and hope for the best, thinking that maybe this was going to be a nice, normal conversation, a quick friendly chat despite having literally run into someone, and then it all disappeared into the weirdness of the school year. Johana Leonie was pretty sure that she did not like memories that much and they would all do best to stay in people's heads, where they could serve a function and not make people sad.

"I am. I'm sorry," she added in a murmur this time, feeling bad for both running into this girl and running into her memories apparently. "I'm Johana Leonie," she said to introduce herself, extending a hand to shake because that seemed plate. "That is your dad?" she confirmed, remembering the odd things he'd done with playing cards and the odd outfit he'd been wearing. There had been a small girl there too, she recalled, but it wasn't the girl who stood with her now. "He is attention hog? That is job?" She made a mental note that it might be something Friederike Albert would like because he liked big flourishy things and fancy hats.

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Mist does much attention hogging. 1432 0 5

Lorena Abernathy

February 15, 2021 4:54 PM

Not especially. by Lorena Abernathy

“Yeah,” Lorena agreed. Just like Valentine, she didn’t have anything especially private or upsetting in her past that would be really bad if anyone else saw - maybe a few disappointments or conflicts with her mom, but nothing major - but it was still the principle of the thing. It was odd and violating to have your memories just on display for whoever walks by. For that reason, Lorena was definitely not hoping to find any of hers out and about. But she couldn’t help but wish she had seen someone else’s. Even though it wasn’t really right, because again, that was someone else’s private information, her natural curiosity won out against her conscience on this one.

It seemed like Valentine had also escaped this fate, but then toward the end of the list, she apparently saw her aunt, who was the Divinations teacher. That meant, as Valentine suggested, that it could only be hers or Professor Duell’s. But, Lorena was afraid to point out for fear of being rude, wasn’t her aunt blind? So how could she really know what she looked like? She had that sort-of-seeing technique she had showed them in Defense, but that was probably less detailed, or at least… well, somehow otherwise different. She avoided this line of questioning by finding another counterpoint. “She probably wouldn’t be visible like that in her own memory, would she? So maybe it was one of yours, from when you were really little.”

12 Lorena Abernathy Not especially. 1510 0 5

Graham Osbrook

February 18, 2021 7:59 PM

Maybe we can find a little clarity together. by Graham Osbrook

Claire was...not a sausage? Or had not acted like a sausage? Graham continued smiling, but his expression slipped enough that he was clearly confused for a moment before it clicked for him, between remembering that he was pretty sure that Johana Leonie was German or from somewhere near Germany, and also another use of the word.

"Yeah, she probably wanted me to color with her," he acknowledged. "She likes to draw and stuff."

He hoped he didn't sound too lame, implicitly admitting that he had, in fact, probably gone along with coloring with Claire. Sure, he had been younger then, too, and thus more inclined toward coloring, and back then it had just been him and Claire, really, them and a stationery shop full of things used for coloring and other such activities, but...he had a vague impression that a lot of people would think it was sort of lame, being willing to deal with his little sister at all, much less to sit down and make birthday cards for their mother with her.

Johana Leonie's manner didn't seem to suggest she thought that, though. He smiled, too, and nodded. "Yeah, we get along most of the time," he agreed. "I was joking when I said that about her being a brat - in English, sometimes that means a sausage, but most of the time it means that a kid is being...." He tried to think of simple English words that were more likely than casual slang to be understood. "Not nice. Being annoying. Claire isn't usually like that, though. Are you friends with your brother?"

16 Graham Osbrook Maybe we can find a little clarity together. 1498 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

February 19, 2021 7:37 AM

I don't know. Do you want to talk about it? by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Along with everyone else, Heinrich went up to the board of posted memory fragments. His eyes scanned along each face or item that had been featured. He already knew about Hilda's, so he wasn't surprised to see his parents' faces grouped up with a bunch of aurors from that day seven years ago. It was one of the large memory casts collected, and hard to miss, but he hoped that just meant his father's face would blend in better among the rest of them, and maybe people wouldn't notice the resemblance between father and son.

Mr. Stones also came as no surprise, given that the memory featuring him had been the manifestation Heinrich had first encountered. Knowing now that it had been a memory and not a ghost-like being with its own will only made it marginally more benign. He waited for his turn to get close enough to add his name under that one.

While he waited, his eyes continued to drift over the other ones, and he was actually kind of relieved to see Uncle Karl staring back at him from the bottom half of the poster. Uncle Karl didn't have anything to hide. Uncle Karl didn't talk enough to give anything away, even if there was a memory of Heinrich talking about everything with him. Heinrich already knew from watching Hilda's and Evelyn's that his own part wouldn't be present, which would make following any conversation with Karl very difficult for an observer.

Unless it was the one about snake reproduction and Little Hexenmeisters. He really hoped it wasn't that one.

Nobody had signed up under that one yet, though, so maybe it hadn't gotten widespread viewing before a professor swiped it up.

None of the other memories seemed related to people he knew well, so once he got through to the poster and added his name beside Mr. Stones' image, he moved away to give room to the next person.

Evelyn found him soon after that. He returned the hug she initiated and dropped a kiss on the top of her head (their relative heights made this one of his favorite things to do when there were too many people around for him to feel comfortable kissing her properly).

"Yeah," he agreed, matching her low volume, when she repeated the main point of tonight's announcement. "I'm . . . okay," he confirmed, not entirely convincingly. "I'm upset that happened to you. I'm upset all these memories got loose where anybody could see them. Hilda and I already got called in to see Professor Skies about hers. It wasn't any better than yours," he grimaced as well. "But there is nothing anyone can do about any of it now. We kind of already talked about what I saw already, so I don't know what else there is to say." Even when he hadn't known for sure that what he'd seen was an actual memory, he certainly hadn't put it past Mr. Stones, or Mrs. Stones either, for reality to have been very much different from what he'd witnessed. "Just . . . Are you okay?"

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister I don't know. Do you want to talk about it? 1414 0 5

Evelyn Stones

February 19, 2021 9:36 PM

I don't know. I feel like I'm supposed to want to. by Evelyn Stones

Head kisses were the equivalent of being a princess, Evelyn thought, and your boyfriend was the one doing the crowning. Few things ever made her feel as beautiful and lucky and she relaxed immediately at the affection, flashing him a little smile before she broached the subject she intended to. She nodded as he spoke, agreeing that this whole thing was basically terrible. She also felt a bit awful that, as a prefect, she hadn't really done anything to help anyone. She would have liked to have known she'd been able to be helpful and she was pretty sure that wasn't the case, although she didn't know exactly what she might've expected herself to do anyway. There would be more cleanup moving forward than there was looking back, she suspected.

"I'm so sorry," she said softly, thinking of Hilda. It was hard to imagine Hilda being anything but strong and brave and tough, just as it had once been hard to imagine Heinrich being anything but stoic and reserved and serious. Both were probably coping mechanisms, if not outright masks, and she wasn't sure what to do about that. How could she help? It wasn't as if she didn't wear her own mask at times, and she supposed that everyone probably did to some extent. But then, not everyone was the child of assassins who had been carted off to prison, or . . . whatever she was. She let her hand drift up to Heinrich's arm to offer some physical comfort in the form of a gentle squeeze, her fingers brushing his hand when she returned her arm to her side.

"I think so," she said slowly when he returned the question. He made a good point: what did she want to talk about? It felt like she should have something to say, but the truth was that they were all just tired. If their memories could have been actually destroyed instead of only the mists being destroyed, she might have had more to think about. As it was, she was mostly trying not to think instead. "I guess I feel a bit weird. It's weird knowing that my memories seemed like a malevolent spirit or something. A bad wolf. I would've rather you hadn't seen it, especially knowing it's a real thing, just because you shouldn't have to see that kind of stuff. Who our parents are . . . that's behind us," she said, deciding it was true as she said it and feeling a little better for it. She smiled again though, feeling grateful and melty as she looked up at Heinrich. "Thank you for keeping me anyway," she said.

22 Evelyn Stones I don't know. I feel like I'm supposed to want to. 1422 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

February 23, 2021 5:32 PM

That would be good. by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie smiled at Graham's explanation, not considering that not all brothers and sisters colored together when they had the means to do so. Having grown up in a village of few enough people that everyone knew everyone and everyone had to get along, she was pretty sure that the best thing siblings could do was find common ground. It was one of the reasons she'd felt so betrayed by her brother's odd behavior and why she had later come to realize she was the betrayer, not him, by not accepting it. It was a stain on her otherwise mostly perfect record of being a good sibling and she wasn't sure she'd ever really know how to feel about that, especially since she still wasn't entirely sure how she felt about Friederike Albert's behavior.

She filed the new word away in her mind, pretty sure she knew lots of people who were brats if that's what the word meant here, and even more sure that she would keep calling them sausages in her head. "Ja, I am friends with my brother," she smiled. "He is more young than me and sometimes he is brat, but usually we are friends. Sometimes I am brat too," she decided, feeling good about admitting that to someone. "Your sister is not here?" she confirmed, not having recognized the girl. "Because she is too small?"

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen That would be good. 1432 0 5

Graham Osbrook

February 24, 2021 3:36 PM

I have to agree. by Graham Osbrook

Graham was not entirely sure he had just done a good thing, offering up the English definition (well, one English definition – maybe. Did it count as an English word when English speakers called something by the same name another language had applied to it to the point where other English speakers understood it?) of a brat, but Johana Leonie incorporated it into her vocabulary with admirable speed. Graham grinned, too, when she admitted she and her brother could both be brats sometimes.

“Me, too, probably,” he admitted too. “But they’re definitely brats more often than we are, right?” he joked.

He nodded when asked about Claire’s age. “Yeah,” he confirmed. “I mean, she thinks she should be allowed to come already, but the school disagrees with her about that. She has to wait another year.” Admittedly, Claire was really smart, but mostly just to the point of thinking too highly of herself. Probably. At least, he was pretty sure he hoped so.

“It’s kind of weird,” he said. “They say that if you don’t start showing magic by the time you’re seven, then you never will, so why do we wait until we’re eleven to start school? Is it just that the schools would have to pay extra people to teach reading and writing, or what?” He assumed rhetorical questions were also a thing in German, but it occurred to him that he didn’t know for sure. “Sorry – I just started kind of thinking out loud,” he explained. “Is your brother still at home, too?”

16 Graham Osbrook I have to agree. 1498 0 5