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
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
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
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
