Hey Felipe on Cascade Hall

Philippe Delachene

December 01, 2021 9:21 PM

Hey Felipe by Philippe Delachene

OOC: I don't speak French and I haven't even taken a memrise or duolingo course in it, so . . . pretend italicized dialog is in French. Also, these name are killing me and I'm only on the first sentence. BIC:

"Bonjour," Philippe greeted Felipe in the Cascade Hall, sitting down across from the seventh year Crotalus. A chance meeting in the Gardens last term had resulted in an invitation to practice his French on the older boy, which was an opportunity Philippe hadn't let slip away from him. He didn't get nearly enough practice in his second language, and Grand-mère and Grand-père would probably disown him if his German got better than his French. (They wouldn't really, but they'd sigh at him and Philippe would feel like he had let them down. Not that his German currently was anywhere near good enough to challenge a language he'd been learning since birth, if only sporadically, but he was at least learning German while his French had been stalling out.)

They didn't meet up often, as they both had other commitments and friends and not much in common other than similar names and the French language, but Philippe usually tried to drop in on Felipe around twice a month or so.

"Did you have a good winter vacation?" Philippe asked, his accent mediocre and his word choices not quite fluid and coming rather slower than conversational French was supposed to be, but his grammar and verb conjugations were right, he was pretty sure. "Do you like . . ." he trailed off, failing to come up with the right French translation, if there even was one, "Candy Canes?" he finished in English. "I have many of them." He gestured toward his bag.

1 Philippe Delachene Hey Felipe 1489 1 5

Felipe De Matteo

December 04, 2021 8:26 AM

Bonjour, Philippe. by Felipe De Matteo

OOC: Saaaaame. BIC:

Felipe was cold. No matter how much he missed Sonora and Zara's home when he was in Mexico, he never quite started to miss the temperature. It wasn't that Los Jardines de Plata never got cold, but it never got as cold as a charmed mansion in the desert that thought Scotland was a better climate choice. Clearly the founders of Sonora had had some problems. He was bundled up a bit, feeling cold and groggy because he was basically a raw turkey - sad clammy skin exposed to the world, bundled up in dressings and merriments, basically just waiting to get some heat in his body even if it meant he might get crispy - when Philippe approached and sat down.

Seeing the younger boy always made Felipe feel a big mix of pleased - the two had managed a decent acquaintanceship if not actual friendship recently - and awkward - he was pretty sure Leonor was proof that people who were younger than him were supposed to think he was garbage, not want to chat with him. Also, it meant he had to speak French and while he was certainly fluent, he had been a bit rusty before Philippe had caught up with him in the gardens before.

"Bonjour," Felipe returned. He was glad they hadn't gone full French and started kissing each other's cheeks in greeting. He nodded his answer to Philippe's question even as he responded in French, sounding noticeably more fluid but still speaking slowly to match his conversation partner. "Yes, thank you. How was yours?" He thought of the red and white striped treat as Philippe mentioned it and then blinked. Candy cane. Candy cane? "I don't know what those are called in Spanish or in French, sorry," he laughed softly. "Sugar staff? Sweet staff?" None of the translations that came to mind made sense to him so he left it. "Sure, though, I'll take one. Thank you. I don't have it on me but I have candied pineapple in my room if you'd like to try some sometime."

OOC: Google Translate says it's "sucre d'orge" which means "barley sugar."

22 Felipe De Matteo Bonjour, Philippe. 1434 0 5

Philippe Delachene

January 02, 2022 5:58 PM

Oui, Bonjour. Oui. by Philippe Delachene

"Yes, I had a good winter vacation, too." Philippe answered, a little too formulaically to sound natural, but it came a little more fluidly than his earlier sentences.

Philippe could follow what Felipe was guessing about what Candy Canes might be called, but it took all of his concentration. He did smile though over the fact that the older boy seemed as stuck on what to call them as he had been. Philippe had Jasmine for an older sister, so he knew older teenagers were not infallible and all-knowing, but it still felt reassuring that if Felipe didn't know a French word, than it was okay that Philippe didn't either. Just nevermind that it was Philippe who was actually half-French rather than just a genius who knew a million languages (or at least three anyway, which was almost the same thing).

"I will ask my grandparents," Philippe offered. "They must know. I will tell you what they say it is called." He reached down into his bag and pulled out three of the candy canes, offering two to Felipe and keeping the third for himself to eat while they talked. "You can give the second one to . . . Zara?" he said the name uncertainly, not 100% sure of the relationship dynamics of the advanced class, particularly the seventh years, but he thought that was who Anya said Felipe was dating, not that he remotely trusted Anya to know these things, but he was pretty sure he knew who Zara was, and he'd seen Felipe and her together a few times, so he could guess they were at least friends, maybe. "Is she who you asked to the ball?" he wondered idly, and figuring gossip was as good a thing to practice his French conversational skills on as anything.

1 Philippe Delachene Oui, Bonjour. Oui. 1489 0 5

Phil Carson

January 02, 2022 6:33 PM

This thread right here is my OOC raison d'être (which is, hey, French!) by Phil Carson

Phil wandered down between the tables in the Cascade Hall. He had lost one of his gloves and he knew he'd had it when he came in here for breakfast earlier, so he was just walking up and down the room, eyes sweeping over the floor, trying to spot a black thinsulate glove that he'd just gotten for Christmas and could not tell his mother he'd lost already.

As he walked beside the Crotalus table (which wasn't really anywhere near where he'd been sitting at the Aladren one, but maybe somebody had unknowingly kicked it over here as they walked or someone's pet had played with it and abandoned it on the far side of the room?) when he stopped at looked curiously at the two people speaking a foreign language. Sonora seemed to be pretty popular internationally. There were a German and a Russian in the year above his, and these two were pretty clear evidence that there were more international students in the upper years as well.

"What language is that?" he wondered out loud in their direction, then flushed when he realized he'd probably just interrupted a conversation between two upperclassmen. "Erm, sorry, hi. I'm Phil. I'm looking for my glove." He held up the left one that he still had.

1 Phil Carson This thread right here is my OOC raison d'être (which is, hey, French!) 1536 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

January 03, 2022 4:58 PM

I see what you did there. by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe smiled, recognizing the stilted way that Philippe spoke French as an indicator of his discomfort with it. The younger boy kept up using it though so Felipe had to assume that meant he wanted to practice.

"Zara," he confirmed. "My fiancee," he added with a grin. There was no arrogance in that expression and certainly no recognition that such thing might be totally weird here. Instead, he was just happy, glowing like he knew exactly how lucky he is. And he did, at that.

He was about to answer that yes he was indeed taking Zara to the Ball when another, even younger boy approached and interrupted at that. Felipe couldn't entirely blame him, as that seemed to be the norm here a bit and certainly Spanish speakers tended to talk over each other so it wasn't entirely bizarre to him. Still, it was something he had become more used to in new ways since attending Sonora.

"French," he answered with a polite smile. "I am Felipe," he added by way of introduction, noting that the boy had introduced himself and thus probably didn't know Philippe already either. Felipe was pretty confident that all three of them were in different houses, despite the fact that they all bore strikingly similar names.

22 Felipe De Matteo I see what you did there. 1434 0 5