Selina Skies

May 07, 2021 8:04 PM
Selina had meant to make the summer staff parties an annual thing. She thought everyone had enjoyed the first one (someone, she thought, had enjoyed it rather a lot, and then also got something nice and long term out of it, but as those were two entirely distinct experiences with two different people, she was trying to fuzzy those memories up and not really think about them). Last year, however, she had not much felt like throwing a party. By the end of the year, things had been in a better place, and she’d had plenty to celebrate with her family, but she hadn’t wanted to dwell on the year at school, even though she probably owed her staff some form of thanks or compensation for what she’d put them through.

She was trying to make up for it this year with a Christmas party, on the final evening of term after the students had been sent home. She thought her California home might not feel particularly festive to people, so had opted to keep it at school, though families were welcome to join (so long as they weren’t existing students, as that blurred lines rather uncomfortably). She thought that MARS would do a good job of catering to the fact that everyone had a different definition of ‘festive.’

She had arranged for the foyer area to be thoroughly redecorated, almost beyond the point of recognition, so that it looked proper for a grown-up party. She’d left the boardgames on the shelves, because that did feel somewhat festive, and could be a good ice breaker (she was also contemplating how a suggestion of charades would go down…) but there were tables with jaunty red and gold runners, and proper centrepieces with winter greens and candles, not to mention the cauldron of hot spiced wine, spiced non-alcoholic cider, and festive foods. There was also tinsel hanging from the ceiling, gently cycling through different festive colours, and a huge tree in the corner, with poinsettias which cycled through from buds to blooms, and bells which jingled themselves at regular intervals.

The main pull of using the MARS rooms was that water room could do snow—cold, unpleasant stuff, if you asked her, but something everyone else insisted on finding festive. She had stuck a ginormous glittering snowflake to the door and relabelled it ‘snow room’ to give people the right idea, and the room could also provide extra warm layers and boots if people hadn’t come dressed for the weather. People could also go and enjoy their choice of winter landscapes in the art room, or their preferred festive music in the music room. She had some gentle background tunes playing from a wireless in the foyer, but if they wanted something more specific, or just to break off into smaller groups, there were options to suit everyone.

May was at home with Krissalyn, but she’d had Araminta dropped with her, seeing as she was a similar age to Zeus and Dora. She was very excited about the snow.

“Thank you all for coming,” she smiled, once the staff and their families were assembled. “I’m deeply appreciative of everything you bring to working here at Sonora, and I thought we all deserved some fun to finish off the term. So, eat, drink, throw snowballs at your colleagues, and be merry,” she suggested.
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13 Selina Skies Staff Christmas Party 26 1 5

Giselle Duell

May 09, 2021 5:19 PM
A staff Christmas party? Giselle was not sure at all how that was supposed to work. To the best of her knowledge, Delphi hadn't done Christmas parties. Before last year, she hadn't even really celebrated Christmas, or anything else, since... since she'd been twelve? As such, Christmas last year had been an... experience. It had at least been with her rediscovered family, and was reminiscent of those earlier years. Even if it had made her think of all of those years she had missed out.

This was a staff party though. It would be filled with the staff of the school. People that she, in theory, spent a bunch of time with.... and yet she still barely felt like she knew them well. She couldn't fault them for it though, logically this is what happens when you don't interact with them any more than strictly necessary, against your therapist's suggestions/orders. For some reason, opening up and trusting people was difficult. She'd been trying her best focusing on doing so with Val, and Marissa some. Maybe Andrew, just a bit. She had talked to Selina a little more than normal... but it was hard. She should go, she really, really should. Pull yourself together woman, her inner monologue chided her. Get out there, find one person to talk to. It'll be fine. Giselle sighed and got ready for the party.

The sounds and smells of the MARS rooms were naturally the first things to wash over her. There was some soft music playing, and the jingling of bells. Scents of pine, and the aroma of some spiced food or drink wafted through her as well. There was also the murmuring of conversation since she certainly had not wanted to be the first person to arrive. Giselle had also not wanted to be the last one to arrive, thankfully it had been easy enough to divine the optimal time to arrive. If only everything could be as simple. That Dark Power prophesy still hung over her. She had not been able to discern anything new. Perhaps Professor Skies had thought of something else that may help by now, or perhaps someone else here might have an idea?

She waved her wand to get an image of the room, and much of it lined up with what her other senses had already perceived. It was odd though, it looked like the tree was decorated with flowers that were still buds? It must be some cultural thing. Oh well. Giselle made her way into the room as unobtrusively as she could. Doing her best to make it seem like she knew what she was doing, and went to social gatherings all of the time, she decided to examine the refreshments. Her stomach wasn't in the mood for food, so she simply took some of the spiced beverage from the cauldron to at least have something to hold.

After that, she had to make a decision. Most of her just wanted to quietly hide in a corner of the room where she would be out of the way. That had been where she had been trained to reside when she wasn't needed after all. The voice in her head defied such actions, she should go talk to someone. Fortunately it was around that time when Selina made her welcoming speech. It was short, but she very distinctly heard a small child being quite happy at the suggestion of throwing snowballs. She wasn't sure how to handle that, she wasn't sure she'd fair well in a snowball fight. Nervous reflexes caused her to gulp down her drink. It tasted weird, she coughed for a moment before recovering. What was that stuff?


OOC: Childish happiness approved by the appropriate author.
2 Giselle Duell This is... nice? 1517 0 5

Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

May 24, 2021 5:19 AM
In spite of being someone with a reputation for hiding from his colleagues, Tarquin thought the staff party was rather a nice idea. Firstly, he was sentimental enough to be fond of Christmas and thus of honouring it with appropriate degrees of sparkle. Secondly, as one who didn't socialise that easily with his colleagues, having an excuse to do so helped break the ice a little. He could talk to them, make sure they knew he existed, and then in the new year, slink quietly back to his office, having checked off 'socialise once in a while' as if it was a single, completable box that might appear on his performance review.

He made his way over the the refreshments, figuring that was a good place to start. Of course, other people thought so too. That meant he ended up at the wine at about the same time as the Divination teacher. She was not high on his list of people to spend the evening talking to. He considered whether it would be rude to just get drinks and slink back to his husband (probably). Still, he had the advantage of pouring and demonstrably holding two cups, so he had an excuse to leave after making a quick round of small talk.

He couldn't help gaping slightly when she downed her wine and promptly choked.

"I take it the wine is quite strong then? Or still fairly hot." Was that a normal thing to say? Probably not. It had sounded funnier in his head. "Are you okay?" he asked.
13 Tarquin Fox-Reynolds Yes... nice 1464 0 5

Giselle Duell

May 24, 2021 4:57 PM
Giselle was still reeling a bit from the drink, and the voice nearby startled her. She hadn't realized someone had been so close. It was a man's voice that she'd heard before, but not one that she readily recognized. Reflexively she tried to consult her last mental image of the room that she had captured, but it was gone. Something of a chill swept through her, that couldn't be right, she could hold images far longer than this. Something was wrong. Instinctively her hand went to her wand, who was this man? What did he do? What did he want from her?

His words finally penetrated her brain as her hand made contact with her wand. Wine? She froze for a moment as her usually fairly quick mind churned its way slowly through the given scenario. The after effects of the drink caused her another minor coughing fit, which did serve to break her from her reverie. At the same time, she found a wave of relief washing over her and she couldn't help from transitioning from coughing to laughing. "I'm... I'm alright." She found herself replying between the weird fit of giggles that seem to have overtaken her. "I... I just thought... it was cider and... the thought.. of a snowball fight..." This was ridiculous, some part of her brain pointed out to her. Pull yourself together!

She tried. Giselle took a deep breath and tried to push it all back down. "I'm sorry," she apologized regaining some level of composure, her head felt weird. Time to figure out who she was actually talking to. She drew her wand to get a new image since she lost her previous one for some reason. Something was wrong with her fingers as well, they lost their grip on the wand and she tried to grab for it... not that she had much of an idea where it was. The world spun as she lurched forward, her feet and/or legs weren't doing their job either! She stumbled and fell towards this strange man, letting out a minor, slightly slurred, curse in Greek.
2 Giselle Duell We can't complain about... nice, I suppose. 1517 0 5

Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

May 26, 2021 2:46 AM
Why did he always get the drunk ones? Perhaps that wasn't fair, as after all, his experience of looking after an inebriated Sophie hadn't exactly been bad, and was probably a large part of why they had ended up being friends. It also wasn't as if it was outside his area of expertise. He had been young, once. More to the point, so had Danny. However, Danny was (or at least, had become, over the course of things) a very familiar person. Drunk people weren't all the same, and knowing how they would respond to offers of help, or any other thing, was impossible to tell, which made this situation still feel slightly precarious.

He flinched slightly when Giselle drew her wand. He was familiar with the fact she used it to get information about her surroundings, and had even seen her do it at staff meetings and so on. He had never had it done directly to him, and thought it might have been a little disconcerting under any circumstances,as he wasn't the biggest fan of having a wand pointed at him. It certainly was alarming given her current state. Then she fumbled and dropped it anyway. Which rather proved his point.

Judging by her words, and just how badly one glass of wine was affecting her, she was not used to drinking. And possibly had not intended to drink.

"No problem," he assured her, even though he could, in fact, see several problems very easily. He gently tilted her back to her feet, pretty sure she should be able to stand, and had just overshot when fumbling for her wand. "Let me find that for you," he added, retrieving her dropped wand from the floor. He only hesitated internally before giving it back, the pause not even noticeable on the surface. That an adult had a right to their wand was so very ingrained, it was hard to imagine taking it away from someone, however much of a good idea that might be. "Might be a good idea to let your head stop spinning before you try to use it though," he suggested.

"I'm Tarquin, by the way. The librarian." He assumed she had been going to do her information spell, rather than hex his nose off. He didn't think he'd been that irritating. And it seemed entirely reasonable for someone to not know who he was.

"Anything else I can do for you? Maybe get you a glass of water, or a place to sit down?"
13 Tarquin Fox-Reynolds Indeed. Well then, '....yay for the.... nice things' 1464 0 5

Giselle Duell

May 26, 2021 7:09 PM
The brief sense of vertigo passed as the man helped steady her. "I'm sorry," she apologized again as she wavered a bit on her feet. She did not entirely trust them after such a betrayal. So much betrayal in her life... Andrew and Jhonice, Andrew and Marissa, Lia, her feet. What was next? Her countenance clearly showed swirling emotions of anger, fear, and sadness as she accepted her wand back from.. Tarquin, the librarian. Yes, now she recognized his voice.

"Thank-you," She replied, trying her hardest to suppress the upwelling of emotions that normally were kept safely sealed away. Still the words came out heavier than she would have liked. He was being nice... they were all nice at first. Even her feet. Was he to turn against her as well? She hadn't realized it, but there was another emotion swirling around with the others. It was a new one... the way he had caught her, the touch of his hand when he had returned her wand. She hadn't actually touched a man before. Well, not one that wasn't her brother anyway. Lia had always insisted that she keep her distance from them... and alcohol. At the thought, her expression shifted to one of just fear.

"Yes... a seat would be good I think. I'm sorry." She knew she was being a burden to the librarian, but he was right, she couldn't function like this... and on the off chance Lia hadn't been lying about the effects of alcohol, she didn't want to kill anyone. Well, anyone here. "I'm not sure I trust my feet entirely anymore." She knew that she could manage to at least walk if she had to. She had accomplished harder things in her life, but that new emotion suggested that it might be nice if he helped her to a seat.

No, you're being a silly girl again. You know he is married, to another man as well. She had learned what she could of the staff last year, just to ease her paranoia a bit. Her more recent investigations into the up coming 'Dark Power' had her looking into the staff again as well. Naturally with no good results. She was still just a failure. Without realizing it though, one of the things she had learned about Tarquin voiced itself. "Do you think you are ready to give away your chicken?"
2 Giselle Duell There are so many... nice things. 1517 0 5