Hansel Hexenmeister
September 05, 2021 10:09 PM
Me and My Snake (Tag Liesl) by Hansel Hexenmeister
OOC: This probably takes place in the first week or two of classes, but not necessarily after the very first flying lesson, so you don't need to guess about anything that hasn't been posted yet as having happened immediately before this. BIC:
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, second years had a break while the first years were doing their flying lessons. Most of the older students were presumably in their classes, too, and Teppenpaw was pretty quiet. It was a good time to bring Cori out for some exercise. When he reached the commonroom today, though, he spotted Alice lounging on one of the couches, and he remembered the warning Professor Xavier had given about his cat not mixing well with snakes, so Hansel headed out to the Gardens instead.
The two of them caught up with some of the native snakes, before they wandered off again to tend to their own lives, leaving Hansel and Cori to entertain each other. They were discussing how well Uncle Karl was handling having the ranch all to himself again (there were two schools of thought on this: either Uncle Karl was relieved to get back to his quiet hermitage in the desert, or he deeply missed his nearly grown hatchlings - Hans was pretty sure it was a combination of both, but the degree to how much it swung one way or the other varied and made for lively speculation) when he heard voices chatting together on the other side of a hedge.
He checked his pocket watch and realized they'd been out here long enough for the first years to have finished their flying lesson. He was probably hearing some of the Pecaris heading back to their common room. (Hans knew it was somewhere in the Gardens; Hilda had let that slip one time.)
"Ready to head back?" he asked his green snake in Parseltongue. It was still early enough that they'd probably miss the Intermediates crowding up the common room, and the Advanced students were always a wild card because all of their classes were optional.
Cori agreed, and Hansel held out a wrist. Cori curled around it and the rest of his forearm which his head resting comfortably on the back of Hansel's hand. The snake measured in at thirteen inches now, a bit on the small side for an adult, but he was still young and would probably continue growing, albeit much slower now than he had as a juvenile.
As they walked (well, Hansel walked, Cori got carried) toward the school, they came out of the labyrinth near to the Pitch, and he realized belatedly that one of the first years was walking back toward the mansion by this route too. One of the first year Teppenpaws, if he was recalling correctly. If they were going to the same place, it would be less awkward to just walk next to her instead of trying to maintain distance without looking like a creep. So he hurried his step to fall in beside her.
"One of the new Teppenpaws, right?" he asked trying to sound friendly and like it was totally normal to have a bright green snake wrapped around one's arm. He had made sure to put Cori on the side farther away from her, and Cori was little by snake standards and fang-less, so hopefully she wouldn't be scared. "I'm heading back to the commonroom. Would you like a guide?"
1
Hansel Hexenmeister
Me and My Snake (Tag Liesl)
1524
1
5
Liesl Brockert
September 10, 2021 12:42 PM
*squeees* by Liesl Brockert
Flying lessons were, generally speaking, something that Liesl had very little enthusiasm for. Maybe they weren't quite at the soul destroying level the way wearing uniforms and covering up her preferred clothing was, but it wasn't something she especially enjoyed. For one thing, the Teppenpaw had never been all that athletic. She was sort of... clumsy and uncoordinated, so overall, it wasn't a particularly enjoyable class.So, while it wasn't a stifling suppression of who Liesl was inside, doing things that one wasn't very good at didn't exactly make one feel very good about themselves either. Especially physical stuff that others could see you mess up at or, at the very least, see how you were inferior to them. Some of her other classes were like that too, but Liesl was doing pretty well at the practical side of magic, especially Transfig.
Of course, she hoped that her abilities in those classes didn't make others feel bad the way Flying sort of did to her. The Teppenpaw would never want to make anyone feel inferior and bad about themselves. She couldn't help it if she was good at that stuff and she did want to do her best and get the best grades she could. People were always saying how smart her younger brother Desmond was, and how like Father he was, they didn't say that about Liesl.
Not that they said that she was stupid or anything, but generally speaking, Desmond was the one that excelled academically and therefore, was considered the "smart" one and Krisalyn was the sweet adorable one and Liesl was....the odd one. The one that they seemed ashamed of and disappointed in. Or at least Mother did. Father was a bit better but even he seemed to prefer her siblings. Father and Desmond had a...bond, based both on them being intellectual types-as much as an eight year old boy could be one-and probably also on being male.
And then Krisalyn was the baby of the family-well, Liesl supposed technically, her cousin Lorelei was, but of just her and her siblings, her sister was-and that had a certain...status. Of course, being the oldest should too, but it didn't seem to be doing her any favors, at least not with her parents. Plus, Krisalyn had all the makings of the proper pureblood daughter than Mother wanted while still managing to be kind and gentle. There were honestly many times that the first year had wished that Uncle Cory and Aunt Amy were her parents. Jason, Sam and Lorelei were the luckiest kids in the world in her opinion.
Still, now that she was at school, she hoped she could make super close friends that were like her family. After all, Uncle Cory was closer to his two best friends from his school days than he was to his brothers. Uncle Toby was particularly mean to him and, though it sort of pained her to say this about her father, Father and Uncle Judah sometimes treated Uncle Cory like he was some sort of annoying insect. And that made Liesl have to try to decide who to be loyal to, her father-who was, well, her father-and the uncle whom she idolized and whom actually treated her well and accepted her for who she was. Which was kind of a huge point in his favor given that was rather important to the young Teppenpaw.
A voice broke into her thoughts and Liesl looked to see a boy that she vaguely recognized from her house. She smiled at him. "Yes, I'm Liesl Brockert of the-" Her voice broke off when she saw the green snake on coiled on his arm. She literally squeed as her whole face lit up. "Oh Merlin, you have a snake! That is sooo totally awesome! I wanted one but Mother said it wasn't an appropriate pet for young ladies so I have a cat instead. Her name is Eyeballs." Liesl rambled. "Can I pet him? Or her? Please?" She asked.
11
Liesl Brockert
*squeees*
1537
0
5
Hansel Hexenmeister
September 19, 2021 8:49 PM
This must be why I hadn't made a best friend yet. by Hansel Hexenmeister
She got as far as confirming his guess that she was one of the new Teppenpaws and providing her name before she noticed Cori. Instead of screaming or backing away or just looking wary and cautious, though, as he'd kind of expected, she was absolutely delighted and he couldn't help grinning back just as excitedly.He liked people. He did. He had glomped onto Freddie the first time they met (and the second time) and didn't let the older boy out of his sight for as long as they were in the same country. And he liked the people at Sonora, he did. Alexei was cool. Xavier was cool. Lydia was cool. Everyone he met had been nice to him, pretty much (though he was a little bit afraid of Rae).
But he hadn't really clicked with anybody yet. There wasn't one person he preferred over all the others. He just seemed better able to connect with snakes than humans. Probably he just hadn't had enough practice with other kids.
When Leisl squealed happily and called Cori totally awesome and said she'd wished her mom had let her have a snake of her own, though, Hansel almost hadn't caught all of what she said over the sound of the metaphorical click.
"Cori is a he," Hans clarified that bit of confusion first. "She would like to know if she is permitted to pet you?" he checked, not remembering in the moment that he wasn't supposed to do that in front of other people.
*I suppose,* Cori conceded. Hans moved his snake laden arm closer to Leisl, and Cori extended his head slightly.
"He says you can pet him," Hansel passed the permission on with a nod. He couldn't help adding a cautious warning though, "Gently, just two fingers, please." He remembered abruptly that he hadn't introduced himself at all. "I'm Hansel, by the way. Hans is fine, too. No preference. I don't often meet people who actually like snakes. Other than my dad, of course." Even Hilda and Heinrich barely tolerated them.
1
Hansel Hexenmeister
This must be why I hadn't made a best friend yet.
1524
0
5
Liesl Brockert
September 23, 2021 4:10 PM
You....want to be best friends? *looks hopeful* by Liesl Brockert
Liesl approached the snake and reached out gently as requested, stroking him. "Hi there." She cooed then looked back at Hans. "It's nice to meet you, Hans. And you too." She said to the snake, then she turned back to the older Teppenpaw again "Did you say his name is Cory? That's my uncle's name too! He's like, my favorite person in the entire world!"And she could not wait to write him and tell him this, though she knew having the same name as her hopeful new friend's pet snake was a coincidence. Liesl had already written to her uncle quite a few times, not every day, but certainly more often than she had written to her parents so far.She had written to him telling him about her Sorting and Verdillia and her classes and how much she hated wearing robes. And, so far, Uncle Cory had responded to every single one. He had made the time for her, despite having three small children of his own and a job selling wands that the Brockert family heir, Adam, had made, which was, of course, where Liesl had gotten her own wand.
It was just another amazing thing about her uncle though. He listened to her, respected her opinions, feelings, and who she was as a person and also not only wrote her back every single time, but also seemed genuinely glad to hear from her each time. Liesl kind of thought had she written to her parents as much, they probably wouldn't have felt the same way.
Honestly, when she was younger and was having trouble with Mother, she liked to think that Uncle Cory was really her dad but like, with someone he'd met before Aunt Amy so her "parents" had taken her in to save face and protect the Brockert name. Liesl was now pretty sure that wasn't true, but she still sort of wished it was sometimes and even pretended it was the case when she was upset with one or both of her parents.
"Your dad likes snakes too?" Liesl asked. Just because Hans' dad had let him have one didn't mean that he necessarily was fond of them himself. It just meant that he loved and accepted his son and wanted to make him happy. "I mean, I've actually never met anyone else who likes them besides me until now." Which was the story of her life. Just because Uncle Cory treated her that way and Isla accepted her as a fellow oddball, didn't mean that they liked the same things that she did. Although some people thought that some of her cousin's puppets qualified as creepy.
There was another thing too.She had not initially noticed this, in her excitement over her housemate's pet snake. It seemed that Hans had.... talked to Cory too. And not like Liesl had. Not in English. Was the older boys a... Parsletongue ?
If so, that was totally okay and actually kind of cool. After all, the first year didn't exactly have any sort of special talents herself. She knew how to do things that pureblood girls and pureblood children in general learned to do, and like, as far as she knew, everyone else in the Brockert family seemed to be excelling in Transfig and she could draw decently. In short, Liesl wasn't special, just different.
There was a difference. People didn't want to truly want to be different and when people said that they did, they meant that they wanted to be special. Being different was a painfully lonely thing. Liesl personally would be satisfied to be special to someone. She supposed that she was special to Uncle Cory but so were Aunt Amy, Jason, Sam, Lorelei, their cousin-his first, Liesl's second- Alessa, and his friends Neal and Raúl and possibly Adam too. Plus, while she needed her uncle more than them, he was also pretty generally great with her brother and sister and her cousin Ella. Basically, Uncle Cory had a really big heart and lots of people were special and important to him.
Also, she knew that she was supposed to think that being a Parsletongue meant someone was evil but...Liesl wanted to show people the same sort of unconditional acceptance that her uncle showed her. Not only did she want to follow his example but she also knew what it was like to have someone assume bad things about you for totally unfair reasons. Anyway, Hans was a Teppenpaw , for Merlin's sake, so she doubted that he was even remotely a bad person, let alone had the potential to be a dark wizard.
11
Liesl Brockert
You....want to be best friends? *looks hopeful*
1537
0
5
Hansel Hexenmeister
October 08, 2021 9:50 AM
Cori says it's fine. by Hansel Hexenmeister
"Cori, yes," Hansel confirmed as Leisl gently stroked the snake. He smiled at the information that his pet and her favorite uncle shared a name. "His Cori is short for Coriander, because that's a green plant that's almost the same shade Cori is," Hans explained the name. He expected her Uncle Cori had a different full name, if that Cori was even short for anything at all, but the shared nickname was still interesting.He nodded in enthusiastic agreement when she asked about his dad (who, like her Uncle Cori was actually his Uncle Karl and was Hansel's favorite person in the entire world) and his liking of snakes. "Yes, my dad owns a snake ranch. We raise hundreds of them. If your mom ever does let you get one as a pet, we can help you pick out a good one. Probably not one like Cori though," he added a bit regretfully. "Smooth Green Snakes usually don't take well to being pets, but I've raised him since he was a tiny hatchling and I'm kind of an expert in snake care." Not least because he could literally ask if Cori needed anything and understand the answer. That helped a lot.
Cori was flicking his tongue toward Leisl, and bumped his nose against her hand. *She seems acceptable,* Cori offered his assessment. *Not too grabby. Not afraid of me. Knows how to stroke properly. You may be friends with her.*
"He likes you," Hansel translated for her, smiling fondly at Cori. "Do you want to hold him?"
1
Hansel Hexenmeister
Cori says it's fine.
1524
0
5
Liesl Brockert
October 16, 2021 5:17 PM
That means a lot to me. by Liesl Brockert
"Oh, that's cool." Liesl replied. "My uncle's full name is Cornelius and, because my grandpa's name is Ichabod and he has an embarrassing nickname, he and my grandma were quick to make sure that people called Uncle Cory, Cory and not Corny." The vast majority of people called Grandpa, Icky. The people who didn't, other than Grandma Imogen, were people who were directly descended from him and referred to him as Dad or Grandpa, though often, he was called Grandpa Icky.Although Uncle Cory's friend, Raúl,referred to Grandpa Icky as Mr. Brockert to this day and had been totally mortified at the mere thought of referring to Liesl's grandfather as Icky. Despite the fact that there were like a ton of Mr. Brockerts-though she supposed her uncle's friend only ever dealt with Grandpa Icky and Uncle Mortimer, the latter because Raúl was a CATS and RATS examiner-and Uncle Cory's other friend Neal had absolutely no qualms whatsoever as referring to Grandpa Icky as Icky.
Of course, there were also those like Mother who insisted on calling Grandpa Icky by his full name because they were overly proper and uptight. Uncle Mortimer fell into this category too. Although in his case, he claimed to have called Grandpa Icky, Icky many times, but that he was pretty sure to have called Uncle Zachariah and Uncle Oswald and possibly Aunt Leticia, Icky as well which Liesl supposed was a sibling thing, like how Desmond said she was creepy and didn't mean it as a compliment which if the Teppenpaw said it about someone or something, it totally was.
The thing was, her grandpa wasn't icky at all. He was amazing and kind just like Uncle Cory was and obviously had a very good sense of humor. Grandma Imogen was just as awesome. They were exactly what grandparents should be. Her other grandparents weren't mean and they loved her and her siblings and cousins-though Liesl was sure they liked her siblings and cousins more than her-but they were not as warm and friendly. She actually referred to them as Grandmother and Grandfather Dumont and would not dream of calling the latter Icky....though that was largely because his name wasn't Ichabod. Also, he wasn't actually icky, just rather on the stuffy side.
"Your dad owns a snake ranch?" Liesl replied. "Oh, Merlin, that is sooo cool! My parents don't do anything nearly so awesome. In fact, I don't think anyone in my family does." Of course, most women in her family were wives, moms and socialites, and the first two of those didn't sound terrible to the first year but she was never going to fit the mold of a pureblood socialite. As for the men, well, even Uncle Cory simply sold wands that Adam, the Brockert family heir, made, though she supposed being a wandmaker was a pretty cool job and Owen was going to be an author and that was pretty neat, though neither was nearly as cool as having a snake ranch.
Although Liesl did very much think that who you were as a person was much more important than what you did. She supposed that there could be some overlap like people who were Healers or Aurors that did that in order to genuinely help people. However, just because someone didn't have a fancy, impressive, powerful career or didn't have one at all, didn't mean they were somehow a lesser person. Some people just plain weren't cut out for that sort of thing. Uncle Cory didn't have that kind of job, and nobody was ever going to tell her that he was less because of it! Plus, the idea that not working made someone inferior also inherently implied that girls were not as good, or at least pureblood girls were not and that didn't exactly sit well with her either.
Still though, a snake ranch was totally amazing. The thought of hundreds of snakes was just awesome. Liesl snickered. "I doubt that she's ever going to let me get one." There was nothing in the world that was going to convince Mother that any sort of snake was an appropriate pet for a proper young lady, or that the Teppenpaw shouldn't try harder to fit into that box." But I appreciate the offer." Maybe some day, when she was an adult, she could have a snake. Surely, she would marry the sort of guy who was either more like her or loved her so much that he would want to make her happy. Someone who found her eccentricities delightful even if they didn't match his own perfectly. And Liesl certainly hoped her future husband would have some. "That's pretty cool too. We just got my cat in a completely ordinary pet store when she was a kitten." She'd had Eyeballs for a few years now and they'd totally bonded even though the first year had wanted a snake originally.
However, the thing Hans said next blew her away completely! She had Cori's approval? Now, to be honest, she was happy to get anyone's approval, but somehow, getting the approval of a snake belonging to someone she'd literally just spoken to for the first time, was deeply flattering. Possibly because maybe it meant Hans would be friends with her and also, snakes were awesome. Her whole face lit up as she replied."Really? I would love to!"
11
Liesl Brockert
That means a lot to me.
1537
0
5