Let's See what this is all about (Professor Duell) on Elective Hall

Xavier Lundstrom

July 06, 2022 4:28 AM

Let's See what this is all about (Professor Duell) by Xavier Lundstrom

Xavier wasn't totally sure what his program of extra study was going to look like this year. He thought that maybe his teachers were making it up as they went along. They used euphemisms like 'adjusted as necessary' but basically no-one knew how many lessons and of what type he needed. He had had divination added to his schedule, obviously, but outside of that, he also had one on one meetings with Professor Duell. He wasn't sure if this was just to bring him up to speed on what he'd missed by not taking it as a third year, or whether this was to tap into stuff his classmates didn't get - the difference between studying divination and being a Seer. He sort of got the impression it was the latter, and he'd just be expected to sort of get it in class, given that he had a natural advantage. After years of struggling at the bottom of the magical achievement list, it was a nice little ego boost to think that.

Though, speaking of struggling with magical achievement, he wasn't totally free of Professor Wright's extra classes either. There was a possibility that all his power was going to get untangled once he started divination, and just come flowing out, but until that actually happened, he needed all the help he could get.

Right now though, it was time for his first meeting with Professor Duell. Or first private lesson. Whatever these were. He knocked on her door, going in when called.

"Hi," he said, taking a moment to peer around the room. After years in a potions lab, it was actually hard for most things to be weird or creepy. "So, we're going to be doing extra lessons and stuff?"

OOC: You can assume that Giselle would be aware of the plan of extra study, and that Selina would have supported her in making plans for it as far as possible. Probably mostly moral support, helping her understand more about Xavier, looking at and approving ideas etc. DM me if you need to clarify anything.

13 Xavier Lundstrom Let's See what this is all about (Professor Duell) 1529 1 5

Giselle Duell

July 06, 2022 7:03 PM

As it has been foretold by Giselle Duell

Giselle really wished she knew what she was doing. There had been plenty of meetings, lots of planning, plenty of brainstorming and all of those sorts of things. As such, Giselle was armed with lesson plans and everything else that anyone could think of to help her prepare. Still it seemed like she really wasn't sure what she was doing. There was more to this than simple lesson plans, more than just instructing Xavier on how to do 'Seeing', more than working out his magical problem.

She was as ready for him as possible when he arrived. Her attire was more 'normal' than usual, although it usually was at the beginning of the year. Valentine had gone through her wardrobe and once more labeled the color of items for her. The labels inevitably fell off over the course of the year and that was fine with her. For now though she was glad, perhaps any semblance of normalcy would help Xavier. As such, she was wearing a long green dress and instead of her normal witch's hat, she had tied her 'Seers' scarf over her hair. It was the dark blue one with the silver stars and planets on it. Normally she wore it around her waist, and as such on her head the longer loose ends trailed down her back with her hair.

As tempting as it was to invite Xavier in as he was about to knock, one of those old divination tricks that she never got tired of, she decided against it and invited him to enter after he had done so.

"Something like that." She replied to Xavier's question. Giselle rose from the chair at her desk and walked around it toward him, discretely scanning him and the room with her wand. "We have lesson plans," she gestured absently towards a stack of papers on her desk, "and activities and such." The room was dimly lit by some candles scattered about. The shelves around the room were stocked with all manner of divniation equipment; tea sets, tarot cards, rune stones, crystal balls, bones, and more. Her astrolabe was tucked away in a corner next to the bookshelf of reference materials and smaller, journal sized books.

It was to this bookshelf that Giselle's steps carried her. She selected one of the journals and handed it to him. "First thing though, for divination class this is a dream journal. You will use it as such as well, but with an additional assignment. As a Seer, you have already and will continue to receive sensations that cannot be explained. Record them as well in here making sure to note date, time and location. If you have a trance channel at all, make sure to have someone that was around accurately record what you said." She gave him a small smile, "Once you are a older and more experienced, I will show you how to make a prophesy orb. Until then, this will need to do."

Something tugged at her memory at the mention of prophesy orbs, but nothing that she could immediately recall. It would need to be investigated later, and she dismissed the thought. "Now, you tell me. Where would you like to start? What questions do you have, or where are you being drawn?" She gestured about the room at the implements around them.

2 Giselle Duell As it has been foretold 1517 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

July 07, 2022 7:43 PM

I don't think a memo from your boss is "foretelling" by Xavier Lundstrom

Xavier really hoped tasseled scarves were not a prerequisite for this field. The whole cluttered, thrift store vibe of the office wasn’t his kind of thing at all. Still, the promise of actually being good at something was enough to make him overlook an awful lot. When he’d read some of the textbooks, there had been a lot of floaty, wafty stuff, but underneath that, the core ideas did appeal to him.

Step one was a dream journal. Which sounded simple enough on the surface of it, except did Professor Duell know the kinds of dreams teenage boys had? Even outside of the ones he was very definitely going to be leaving out, there was just a lot of nonsense involving fighting vampires. He really hoped those weren’t prophetic. He really hoped the ones he planned on leaving out were… Which raised interested questions of how much an edited version was going to be of actual use.

“Aren’t dreams kind of private?” he asked. As if they hadn’t poked and probed into enough corners of his life—as if, when they had, his version of the truth hadn’t been disregarded and trampled on—now they wanted his dreams too. He thought about asking if she wanted a kidney whilst she was at it, but he wasn’t sure wizards understood sarcasm, and there were methods of divination that involved entrails.

After that, it was time for what he was drawn to… More of that feelingsy stuff. Xavier was really only a feelingsy kind of person if you compared him to Oz. Which was like saying that brussel sprouts were a delicious vegetable when compared to bogies. Actually, he was pretty sure he’d eaten quite a few bogies as a kid on an entirely voluntary basis, whereas he’d never done the same with a brussel sprout, so maybe that was a bad analogy. The point was, he wasn’t all about the “vibes” unless those vibes were chilling on a beach or ripping up a skatepark to some blasting pop punk.

“Tarot?” he tried. He knew what that was at least. It was something from his world, and the answers were kind of spelt out on the cards. He didn’t know how to draw the “right” one or what they were supposed to mean, but there would at least be a starting point even if he was flailing at random. “Or maybe the crystal ball?” He wasn’t entirely sure why he’d said that. It was familiar, sure, but he’d never grown up believing it was possible to see anything in one. It was the opposite of the concrete start provided by the tarot. It was staring into empty space and making stuff up. And yet, his eyes kept coming back to it, and his mouth had spoken before he’d been able to rally his thoughts into those arguments against it.

13 Xavier Lundstrom I don't think a memo from your boss is "foretelling" 1529 0 5

Giselle Duell

July 09, 2022 8:15 AM

Signs and portents come in all types, do not dismiss them lightly by Giselle Duell

Giselle couldn't help but notice a slight edge in her new pupil's tone. "As a general rule," Giselle responded to Xavier's question about the dream journal, "The journal is primarily a record for your own reference." Her voice slipped into 'teaching mode'. "The discipline of Divinations is mostly focused around symbolism and patterns. By chronicling your dreams and visions, you can more easily look for those patterns. Therefore the more details you can record, the better."

This had been an exercise that she had been subjected to during her formative years as well. It had been quite helpful, however she wasn't about to be as invasive as Lia had been. Her own 'mentor' had insisted upon reading through the journal on a daily basis, and had on occasion laughed mercilessly in the process. It had not been a pleasant experience.

"We are of course here to help you make sense of things you notice but are uncertain about. Please do not hesitate to ask, especially if it appears…" she hesitated just a moment, "dire." Hopefully that wouldn't be the case. Hopefully everything would be fine now that were (in theory) training him properly. Still, she could quite shake the feeling that there was more to this.

Giselle smiled at Xavier's first suggestion, Tarot cards were generally her starting place. The symbolism was easy enough to understand at a basic level, but also allowed for wide ranges of interpretations. The cards gave someone new something to do with their hands on place of a wand and…

Her face fell as Xavier made his next suggestion. That actually wasn't entirely fair, something had rippled through his aura, something guiding him. She cursed inwardly. Why? Why her? It was so sorely tempting to just go with his first suggestion. It had been his first one after all… but, she knew better. Why did the Fates hate her so? Why did they mock her so?

Giselle did her best to recover as she moved to the shelf and pluck down the correct orb for Xavier. She set the heavy ball and its stand upon the nearest table. "In the right hands, a crystal ball is an incredibly powerful tool." She adjusted her mirrored glasses back up on her nose a bit. "Personally, I've never had much luck with them. Perhaps you will do better though." She gestured towards the chair in front of the orb. "Have a seat, clear your mind, focus on its depths, and allow it to show you what there is to see."

2 Giselle Duell Signs and portents come in all types, do not dismiss them lightly 1517 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

July 09, 2022 8:20 PM

Uh.... okay... by Xavier Lundstrom

So, they weren’t ever going to check his journal? Okay… He supposed he might be a bit more thorough, though he was pretty sure the meaning of having multiple dreams about Oz kissing him was one he’d worked out some time ago, without any dream journal or special insightful powers.

“Sure, I’ll let you know,” he agreed, regarding the whole prophesising doom thing. He guessed it made sense that if The Fates or Whatever were going to communicate him, they would drop him memos about things more significant than his own love life. It was a little creepy to think that any bad dream he had could be something that was going to come true, and he also felt a little babyish at the thought of running to Professor Duell about his nightmares. But if they seemed ‘dire’ he guessed he would run them by her.

She didn’t look pleased about his selction, but she got it anyway. She wasn’t good with crystal balls. Was that why she’d made that face? He decided to assume that it was, and that the fact she’d got it out for him meant it was okay regardless. Though he kind of wished she’d got the tarot cards too, so he could have something to warm up with. Except, as she placed the crystal ball in front of him, he knew he would have been bored by tarot. He would have given them the most cursory glances…

The instructions were hella vague. He was supposed to just peer and find depths. He guessed he’d managed it with Oz, so maybe a crystal ball was a lesser challenge. He tried to push all Oz’s insecurities (and the way he smiled when he was really pleased about something instead of just pretending) out of his mind. They were both important, but they were also distracting. He needed to stare into the swirling fog and find… something. There was a prickling heat of self-consciousness on the back of his neck, like he had no clue what he was doing and he was just faking from something he’d seen on TV, until—until all of a sudden there wasn’t. He was sitting up, snapping his attention away from the crystal ball, but the feeling of heat on the back of his neck wasn’t there, and he wasn’t sure quite when it had gone away.

“Um. I dunno how to do it,” he said, wondering if there was any further instruction she could offer. There had been a moment of disjointedness in how he was feeling, but he wasn’t totally aware that he’d been zoned out for a couple of minutes instead of just a couple of seconds.

13 Xavier Lundstrom Uh.... okay... 1529 0 5