Giselle Duell
May 20, 2022 7:56 AM
An ill wind swirls dark clouds upon us by Giselle Duell
Giselle hurried through the school's corridors all the time muttering to herself about the oncoming apocalypse. The skirts of her dress swished rapidly about her legs while her wand kept her senses up to date as she moved as fast as she could towards her destination. Upon arriving at the office door of the deputy-headmistress of the school, she only gave the most perfunctory of knocks before opening the door and barging in. "Professor Skies! The Darkness is upon us!" Clear agitation showed in the woman's face."Do you know where Xavier is?" She continued, swaying slightly upon her feet with one hand held against her head. "His aura has been screaming out above the rest. It took me too long to pinpoint the source." Giselle braced herself against a chair, "I fear we may be to late, all signs claim that it is happening Now!"
Her voice dropped into lower ramble, "The cards, tea, bones, runes, even the celestial alignments all indicate that it is time and that if we do not act now...." Giselle's words faded away with just a hint of hopelessness. It was not an unfamiliar feeling for her. When the path was clear before her, she had no problem acting, but as it was many years ago, she was still at a loss. "I could find no set path forward through the turmoil," she admitted weakly, "What do we do?"
OOC: Xavier's things approved by his author
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Giselle Duell
An ill wind swirls dark clouds upon us
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Selina Skies
May 23, 2022 3:28 AM
That sounds bad by Selina Skies
Giselle, like most of those of her craft, could be prone to dramatics. There was a lot of doom spouting. However, it was at least usually tempered by the anxiety to be people-pleasing, polite and to keep her job. Not that Selina was enough of a dragon to throw her out for not knocking properly on a door, but Giselle seemed to think she was, most of the time. That meant one of two things—Selina was finally winning her over or this was a calamity of previous untold levels. The deputy headmistress had a solid idea of which of those two was the more likely.This was shortly confirmed, by Giselle’s declaration that darkness was not merely looming in shadow portents but was upon them, and that Xavier’s aura had been ‘screaming.’
For a second, icy fear cascaded down Selina’s back. For all that she didn’t find divination precise, she didn’t rule it out completely. There was also the far more visceral fear of being told a student was in danger—she could question the source later, but the first instinct was to act. Well, no the first instinct was to panic and feel nauseous, as memories of the last time that she hadn’t heeded enough warning signs swam before her vision.
She took a steadying breath, rationalisation catching up to her.
“Xavier is not in immediate life-threatening danger or need of medical attention,” she said, assuring Giselle as much as herself. “We would know about it.” There were alarm systems in place for that. Ones she’d had the experience of seeing tested by more than just a drill. “But I know that’s not the only danger that can exist. I hear you. I am taking it seriously,” she added, lest Giselle thought she was being brushed off. Selina absolutely didn’t want it to get to that point.
“You said his aura’s been screaming? That’s happening now? I can dispatch an elf to go look for him, and ask that he comes to see us. Perhaps I can have a talk with him first, and then if there’s a need to read his aura, you can step in?”
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Selina Skies
That sounds bad
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Giselle Duell
May 23, 2022 5:19 PM
It may be the end of things as we know them by Giselle Duell
Selina continued to seem to be a better deputy-headmistress than her previous one. However, Lia had been the deputy-headmistress of a school dedicated to the study of divinations,while Giselle was nearly certain that Selina didn't think much of the subject at all. Still, she was listening and that was a good sign."No," replied the Seer without shaking her head. Such movements of the body never got associated with the words as she never witnessed them. "It had been happening sporadically throughout the term, it took me a while to figure out just what it was. Aura reading is ordinarily something done at very close range, although I have been practicing at expanding my reach. Each witch and wizard has a unique aura, and it is normally fairly consistent." She paused, "I'm sorry, we don't have time for lessons. Please send for him, quickly!" The results of her inquires had returned to her mind.
"Once I had sorted out who it was, I began delving into every technique I had at my disposal to find out the cause. No response came back good, or straight forward." She let out a little sigh, "But that isn't unexpected. Talk to him, there is something dire happening. If you need me, I will do what I can." She really wasn't sure what more she could do, but the fates had decreed her involvement, and it was to late to back out now.
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Giselle Duell
It may be the end of things as we know them
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Selina Skies
May 25, 2022 3:26 AM
Hmm. Change can be a good thing.
by Selina Skies
Co-written With: Xavier Lundstrom
Selina had sent for a Prairie Elf, and one popped up with perfect timing, just as Giselle was finishing her explanation. It came into the room with a distinct pop, which hopefully helped cue Giselle into the fact it was there. Selina made a point of greeting it by name anyway, to help with that, before delivering its instructions.
“Please go and find Xavier Lundstrom, and ask him to come to my office. Please tell him he’s not in any trouble, but I need to speak to him. Oh, and nothing’s wrong – there’s no problem, but I want to check something with him.” It was worthwhile specifying both those things with Xavier, where trouble often came from external sources. She didn’t want to panic him that she had bad news about his family or his situation.
She listened to Giselle’s explanations of her divining whilst they waited, probing with occasional questions, such as the dates of the outbursts in energy, until Xavier arrived. He looked wide-eyed, and was a little out of breath, as if he had hurried here in spite of her assurances. Overall, he had a slightly pinched look to him. It was one she had noticed in class, and which was in Gray’s observations too. Xavier seemed run down, he often had dark circles under his eyes or looked washed out. Yet, arguably, he was doing better than ever. His performance was still erratic, but that was up from the baseline of constant struggle. He looked no worse than he had lately, but that could hardly be said to be good…
“Xavier, have a seat please,” she said, indicating the spare she had conjured up next to Giselle. “This is Professor Duell. I don’t think you’ve met formally. Professor Duell teaches divination as you know. That means she has certain insights into different energies, amongst other things. She has some concerns about yours, and we thought it might be good to have a chat.”
“What kind of concerns?” Xavier frowned, perching in the chair without settling his full weight.
“It seems like your energy has been fluctuating more this year. Has anything been different?”
“No,” Xavier said. Selina was fairly sure he said it far too quickly. It was hard to say, given that every interaction he had with authority figures gave the impression that he was trying to spit the right answers out as quickly as possible and twist his way out of their grip, but this felt… different. She waited it out, deciding to see if he would dig himself in further if she just left a silence. “I mean, we know my energy’s messed up. That’s not new,” he said defensively. “If anything, I’m getting better. It’s in my records. I haven’t been sick. I’ve been doing well.”
“We’re not trying to deny that,” Professor Skies assured him. “We’re not trying to find reasons for you not to go home. But there have been several points throughout the year where your energy has been out of control. Most recently last Sunday afternoon. Can you tell me what you were doing in that time?” she asked.
“Nothing.” There was a definite panic to the way he said it. “I dunno. Like, homework. Normal stuff.”
“You know that’s something we worry about. We’re not trying to stop you going home, but we always do better in that fight if we have more information. Can you try to remember?” she said, and immediately saw a wall fly up. “Or let Professor Duell read you?” she offered as an alternative.
“Read me how? Like… a mind-reader?”
“No,” Selina assured him. “She can inspect your energy. Perhaps tell us what’s going on with it.”
“How come you didn’t do that before?” he asked.
“It wasn’t changing before,” she pointed out, and he definitely squirmed under that question. Was it just the return to the very unpleasant subject of the fact that he might, one day, explode into a cloud of angry black energy? That was enough to make anyone squirm. “We just want to make sure we’re not missing anything.”
“She can’t read my thoughts? Or like… stuff about me that’s private? Just what my magic’s doing?”
“That’s all she will be doing now,” Selina confirmed and corrected. Giselle could probably do at least one of those things, but she was here purely for aura examination, which was likely to be less invasive than her other types of readings.
Still looking like he’d rather be anywhere but here, Xavier turned to face the divinations professor, shrinking back a little in his chair as he did so.
“And it won’t hurt?” he checked. Selina shook her head. “Okay,” he confirmed.
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Selina Skies
Hmm. Change can be a good thing.
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Xavier Lundstrom
Giselle Duell
May 25, 2022 6:31 PM
It can also be terrifying by Giselle Duell
Apparently Xavier was a liar. One of the things Lia had insisted Giselle learn was how to sense when someone was not telling the truth. Unfortunately, Giselle had never turned the skill upon Lia herself. Although knowing what she did now, she suspected that the older, manipulative, evil witch wouldn't have taught her anything she didn't know how to bypass. She had accepted that Lia had taken her for a reason, and had been grooming her for something, but she'd never really found out what. She'd largely dismissed it as irrelevant now, but there were time she wondered what had actually been going on all along.As for Xavier, part of her wanted to call him out on his statements, but this was Professor Skies' problem and it seemed like she wanted to handle things more delicately. Plus, doom was looming over them and such action might set off Xavier's problem, and she'd rather not be sitting next to him when.. if that happened.
Giselle had ready up a little on Obscurialism, and she hadn't much liked what she had learned. She could only imagine what an Obscurous tainted aura might be like, and it wasn't comforting. It was true she knew superficially what Xavier's aura was like, but she hadn't tried delving into it's inner workings, she wasn't an aurologist.
She waited passively until her deputy-headmistress needed her, yet another skill that she had honed to perfection in Delphi. Once they seemed ready to proceed, she steeled herself against what she might find and did her best to reassure the student in front of her that she didn't want to explode. "There is absolutely nothing to worry about."
"Every witch and wizard has energies emanating from them that collide with the natural magical fields of the world." Giselle intoned as she moved her own wand in seeming random patterns in front of Xavier. She hoped the explanation would help allay any fears Xavier might have. "These collisions are what we call 'auras'. They require a special level of sensitivity to detect, however agitating them a bit can make them easier to read. As a wand is a natural focus for these energies and bound to a source, it is an excellent tool to stir things up a bit." As it was, her own prodding of Xavier's space was getting results.
At the surface level, his aura was as it had been before, no real surprises there. However, as she agitated things, she did not find what she had been expecting. It was true that she really had no idea how an Obscurous worked... but she expected to see some sort of strange influence, some sort of dissonance in the fields. Her face clearly showed some level of confusion. "Could you hold out your wand and cast Lumos?"
As he did so, she monitored the fluctuations in his aura. They all looked normal... almost familiar? One of the patterns buried in among the others had caught her attention. It was a reaction she had seen before, quite often actually. She had almost missed it because of the familiarity of it. But, she wasn't in Delphi anymore. She froze once the meaning fully sunk in, no... that couldn't...
"Professor Skies," she began with an edge in her voice that was not normally there. "I'm not sure about an Obscurous, but.. he's... He's a Seer!"
OOC: Xavier's compliance approved by his author
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Giselle Duell
It can also be terrifying
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Selina Skies
May 30, 2022 5:53 AM
I wonder which this will be
by Selina Skies
Co-written With: Xavier Lundstrom
There was a non-magical saying—’to the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’ Selina had come across a lighthearted newspaper article about such sayings, ones that had no easy magical equivalent, and had rather liked that one. It certainly rang true in how they applied their various branches of magic, especially in school, to the point that the arguments she might hypothetically have with colleagues over the matters in question became the subject of common exam questions.
She almost made the mistake of thinking that was what Professor Duell was doing. Hers was a surprising enough statement that the gut reaction was a ‘no,’ and a search for a more logical explanation. However, Giselle was not proclaiming that divination was the solution. That was something she had tried to offer up throughout. She was claiming Xavier was a Seer. And that was a trait that was rare, prized, and respected. Seers did the opposite of going around declaring people to be one of them—half of them wouldn’t even deign to teach their arts to the ungifted, which comprised nearly everyone, according to them.
Selina bit back her instinctive ‘Are you sure?’
“What makes you say that?” she asked instead, trying to get some more detailed insight into what Giselle was telling her. “And are there other ways we can confirm it?” It was a wild idea, and one that was not easy to immediately digest. And that was for her… For Xavier, from a non-magical household, already having been pushed and pulled around with enough shocks and surprises to last a lifetime… She didn’t want to put him through things, not without having adults who were sensible, calm, and in possession of all the facts to gently guide him. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.
“Like, seeing the future?” Xavier asked. His eyes widened for a second, but then it passed. “Like, what they do in Professor Duell’s class?” he checked. “You're saying there’s something in this school I might be good at?”
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Selina Skies
I wonder which this will be
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Xavier Lundstrom
Giselle Duell
May 30, 2022 7:06 AM
Only the Fates can say by Giselle Duell
Giselle had leaned back after her discovery, now she leaned in ever closer to Xavier. Close proximity made aura analysis much easier, and what she was seeking now was quite difficult to sense. Her nose was not more than an inch from the boy's and her open hands drifted around him, staying no more than that same inch away from any given part of him. As close as she was, she never made any actual contact with him. Instead she was doing her best to fully explore his aura, and it was there with no mistake. To the best of her knowledge and experience, one could not read or sense their own aura. In crude terms it would be like trying to use a set of potion scales to weigh itself. However Delphi had classes on aura reading and she had sensed it in others there and others had said they sensed it in her."I am as sure as I can be Professor Skies," Giselle responded as she finally moved back and away from Xavier again, "There is a certain, subtle pattern that as far as anyone knows only shows itself in Seers. The theory is that it somehow is what connects them to the source. He seems to be a rather strong one, but..." she paused for just a moment to process what all she had sensed before continuing. "It is... disorderly, or not properly channeled... I'm not quite sure. Naturally he hasn't had any training with it, but many Seers don't."
As for Selina's next question she hesitated before seeming to force out the words, "You could send him to Delphi. They are the best at this sort of thing." The comment came out strained and hard. Almost as if while she thought the statement was true, she did not care for it very much.
"The future is an uncertain thing, always changing." It was one of those sayings she ritualistically spoke for most of her new students. She said it in a friendly manner, "Divinations and Seers are not quite the same thing. It is true that most Seers have a natural talent for the study of divinations, but they are not directly connected. Those who study divinations use tools to detect patterns in the natural flow of things, to find out what was, is and might be. It just another subject like Charms or Trasfigurations. In theory, anyone can learn it, but it does take a special level of sensitivity to the magic around us that most witches and wizards do not have nor develop."
"Seers, on the other hand, are a special type of magic-user." The divinations professor continued, "No one yet knows how or why they come to be, nor what we actually are. But a Seer can produce prophesies. These are usually unbidden, nonsensical messages from 'the source', whatever that may be, yet another unknown in our world." Giselle briefly mulled over a few things in her mind quickly before reaching a decision. "I had a prophesy foretelling of you. I am not sure if this is the culmination of it yet, or there is yet more to come."
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Giselle Duell
Only the Fates can say
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Xavier Lundstrom
June 02, 2022 8:24 PM
Isn't it your job to ask them? by Xavier Lundstrom
The creepy futures teacher was… smelling his magic? That was what it felt like. Xavier didn’t recoil, because… well, he wasn’t really sure. He just felt sort of frozen by the weirdness and the fact that he had to do this. He definitely felt creeped out though.It also, in his mind, didn’t tell them anything new.
“Oh great. This again,” Xavier huffed, when Professor Duell said his magic was a mess. He knew that. It was why his entire social life had been flushed down the toilet in favour of hang outs with Professor Wright. “Yeah, my own magic wants to kill me… we know.
“Send me where?” he asked, the sarcasm replaced by sharp edges. He drew back sharply from Professor Duell. “I’m not being sent anywhere.” He swallowed, even though his throat was dry, his eyes darting to Professor Skies. She had always kept him out of the Center. She had always said he didn’t have to go anywhere he didn’t want to. If this Seeing stuff thing changed that, he didn’t want it.
“No, you’re not,” she reassured him. “If you are a Seer, you might need special help to hone those powers. Luckily we have Professor Duell here.There are schools that specialise in training that type of magic, but that’s a conversation for another day—”
“I want to stay here!” Xavier protested.
“Xavier,” Professor Skies, stepped around the desk, placing one hand on his shoulder. She gently pressed her other hand to his, which he realised was gripping the desk with white-knuckle ferocity, like that could somehow latch him onto the place and prevent his removal. “You’re not going to be sent anywhere against your will.”
She nodded to Professor Duell to carry on, and she started talking about what they did in class versus what he was. It sounded like there was something he’d be good at here, but this was more than that. He was different. Again.
Maybe in a good way, this time?
Except, having nonsensical weirdness dumped into his brain didn’t sound like the most appealing superpower. Although it sounded somewhat familiar.
“So… I’m going to start just knowing stuff? Like, having visions or something? What do you mean you prophesied me?”
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Xavier Lundstrom
Isn't it your job to ask them?
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Giselle Duell
June 05, 2022 7:02 PM
If only it were that simple by Giselle Duell
Giselle sat back while she let Selina tend to Xavier's emotional swings. The deputy-headmistress seemed to have either a knack or plenty of practice at it that Giselle did not. Unfortunately for her, Giselle understood a little bit of what he was going through; separation, isolation, and at the mercy of the whims of others. She wasn't sure though which way was worse, to be pulled apart by your own government from your family, or to just be abandoned by them and told that they had just left and weren't coming back for you.One of Professor Skies' comments caught her attention though. 'You might need special help to hone those powers. Luckily we have Professor Duell here.' She was pretty sure she didn't like the sound of that. As she understood it, Professor Wright had been helping Xavier. That sure sounded like things along that line might change, and she knew that she wasn't nearly so personable as Professor Wright. The fates were laughing at her now, she just knew it. They'd always hated and mocked her.
"Unfortunately it is not quite that simple." She responded to Xavier's questions about being a Seer. "Visions can happen, but the true tell of a Seer is the Prophetic Trance." She paused to collect her thoughts on the matter. "That special pattern I sensed in your aura, as I said is theorized to connect your magic to The Source." She stopped him before he could ask, "Nobody knows what The Source is. That is simply how we refer to it. It could be some higher power being, multiple higher power beings, the collective will of the magical energies of the planet, The Fates, or any other sort of unknown intelligence. Witches and Wizards have been searching for an answer to that question for ages and have turned up nothing."
Then resuming her thoughts, "As for how this relates to the 'Prophetic Trance', that is how The Source communicates with us mere mortals. It will channel a message through that connection and the Seer who will spout garbled nonsense and know nothing about what they have just done. This is a Prophesy. If no one else is around to hear it, it is lost... if that can even happen. The general argument is that if The Source is going to do that, it's going to make sure there is someone around to hear it." She sighed, "In the case of your Prophesy, it happened the summer before you arrived here. My brother was there to hear it and The Source choose poorly. His Greek was rather rusty which is how I said it. All he got were words like 'Power', 'Darkness', 'New', 'Bad', assuming he even translated them properly."
"It had something to do with the school, but other than that we had no idea. I tried to dig into them for the next two years as we narrowed things down that it had something to do with you. Now finally the critical point has come upon us. While your path has always been your choice to tread, we are at some import, critical juncture." She paused for just a moment, "You now have some important decision or decisions to make?" It was definitely a question, but she continued. "Professor Skies and I am here to help you in any way that we are able. We do not want to see harm come to you or anyone else."
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Giselle Duell
If only it were that simple
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5