Selina Skies
November 13, 2022 12:34 AM
Challenge Results and Party by Selina Skies
The third and final challenge had involved an impressive array of projects, and the scoring had been a real challenge. Selina could see that all the teams had put a fantastic effort in. They were all creative, all featured contributions from the whole team, but at the end of the day, some were more creative, or better executed, or had a more balanced effort from everyone involved. There were a lot of different factors that could contribute to a successful team, as shown by the very differing captains that had headed them. Although the one thing she felt they might have in common was that no one would have pegged them as natural leaders…A notice had gone up asking all the students to meet in MARS for the results and a celebration. The room had snacks arranged around the outside. In the middle were currently rows of chairs, though these would largely vanish to be replaced by more informal seating arrangements once the announcements had been read out. There would be beanbags and some arm chairs around the edge, but most of the space would be open for mingling, or even dancing if the teams wanted to. A large banner hung across the back of the room reading ’Congratulations All Teams’ and below it were a gold, a silver and a bronze flag with the words ‘First place’ ‘Second place’ and ‘Third place’ The spaces under those numbers were currently blank, but would be filled in soon enough.
“Hello, and welcome,” Selina smiled, once all the students were assembled. “I’m happy to see you all here, and I want to congratulate each and every one of you. Regardless of where your team finished, you all showed a huge range of skills—magical, musical, creative, as well as things like leadership, co-operation and kindness, which are no less important than fancy spells in making something like this work.
“After the results, you will have time to mingle and celebrate. You don’t have to stick with your own team. The party will go on until six. You’re not required to stay for the full time, but I’m glad everyone is here to show a sporting attitude by celebrating our winners, and to take pride in your own achievements during this challenge.
“First, we will begin with the results of the last challenge. Once again, I was impressed by the range of skills on display, and this was a very close run thing.” She waved her wand, and a glittering list appeared in the air beside her, filling in from the last placed team to the first.
=8. Team 2 - 13 points
=8. Team 3 - 13 points
=6. Team 7 - 14 points
=6. Team 1 - 14 points
=4. Team 5. - 15 points
=4. Team 4 - 15 points
3. Team 9 - 18 points
2. Team 8 - 21 points
1. Team 6 - 24 points
She allowed some applause, and a tiny bit of quiet murmuring, but she didn’t want to allow too much time for mental maths, and the spoiling of the final reveal.
“We will now announce the overall winner. As we announce the top three, I would like all members of the team to come up and receive your awards. You will be able to keep the large trophy for the length of the party, after which it will be returned to the school to be displayed in our awards cabinet. Each team member will receive one these miniature replicas to take home.
“When the results of the final challenge are added to your existing scores, this is how our table looks…” she said, waving her wand, to bring up the leaderboard. Again, each team appeared one by one in glittering green writing in the air beside her, filling in a little more slowly than the challenge three results had, and stopping before the crucial top three, which would fill in as she announced them, in bronze, silver, and gold glitter respectively.
9. Team 1 - 35 points
8. Team 7 - 41 points
=6. Team 2 - 42 points
=6. Team 3 - 42 points
5. Team 5 - 43 points
4. Team 4 - 46 points
“In third place, with a total of forty-eight points is…. Team nine, led by Theo Spurn.” She beckoned them onto stage, announcing the rest of the team members as they made their way up, and offering Theo a handshake as she presented him with the bronze trophy.
“In second place, with sixty points is… Team eight, led by Mab Pierce-Beales.
“And finally, last but very much not least, and probably not coming as much of a surprise given how they have dominated in every single challenge, our first place winners are TEAM SIX lead by Sadie Chalmers!” Although she had remained unbiased throughout, Selina couldn’t help but be a little pleased that it was one of her own house who had captained the first place team. She gave Sadie a warm smile as she shook her hand and presented her with both the large gold trophy and her own miniature copy.
“Congratulations to our winners, and to all of you regardless of where you placed. Please enjoy the celebration.”
Subthreads: It's over and that's the real reason to celebrate by Olaf Brockert with Nausicaa Scapetello
Good...um...thing...all (tag Jasper) by Xavier Lundstrom with Jasper Brockert, Oz Spellman
Well, that's done now by Lenny Pierce with Piper Wilson
I...what? by Sadie-Lake Chalmers with Lyla Holland
Hurra! [tag: Liesl] by Hansel Hexenmeister with Liesl Brockert
I guess it's over. by Esme Brockert
13
Selina Skies
Challenge Results and Party
26
1
5
Xavier Lundstrom
November 14, 2022 2:28 PM
Good...um...thing...all (tag Jasper) by Xavier Lundstrom
By the time they had finished their haunted house exhibit, Xavier had to admit that it looked pretty cool, and that he might even be having fun. Like a lot of things these days, there was the initial shock, the flight or fight response, but when nothing leapt out at him, he was able to peel back the layers, and get towards the person he had been before all this. That person had loved dressing up for Halloween, and going to funfairs, and if he tried to tap into that instead of the thought of magical jump scares it was... easier. It would have been easier if he had just been with people like Mab and Oz, who he could pretty much be that person with all the time. He still had to be careful around Jasper and Liesl, checking what he said, being on guard against things that could reflect badly on himself or his family.His contribution, besides fetching books, had been to make a group of fake spiders scuttle across their exhibit when a certain line was crossed. Charms of motion, in their most basic form, was beginner stuff. But 'motion' was a big topic, and it had never gone away. Motions could be complex, and interlinked, and they came up just as much on the intermediate curriculum. Xavier had made the spiders scuttle very realistically. In transfiguration, similarity between two things made it easier, but he was pretty sure realism was a mark of finesse when it came to charms. It was maybe the kind of transition task that a third year would be given to bridge them into intermediate charms, though they would be working on a single spider in that scenario. Xavier had had a bunch of them. Once the finesse of the spell, and the number of spiders was taken into account, it was a task appropriate to a fourth year. A typical fourth year would probably be able to wave their wand and send the group of spiders scuttling in one go. And yes, his record for getting the spell to work on multiple ones at a time was three, and yes he had had to cast the spell multiple times, looking closer and closer to swearing or blowing a gasket as he went, but he had done it. Borderline grade appropriate magic.
The trigger for the trap was an advanced spell. Jasper had volunteered to do it, and Mab had given him… Well, Mab didn’t exactly do nods of approval. More like eyebrows of ‘if you think you can do that without killing each other.’ It hadn’t really involved a lot of actual working together. Once Xavier had finished enchanting the spiders, Jasper had to do… whatever fancy pants things he needed to do to make the enchantment timing-specific. Xavier had quickly excused himself when his own part was done to go to the bathroom and splash some cold water on his sweating face, and to escape whatever backhanded compliment or outright judgement or comment about how it would be easier if he’d got them all in one go that Jasper might heap on him.
Now it was time for the results. Hans' team was probably unsurpassable, although if anyone had a shot at it, it was Xavier's team. But a second and fourth didn't add up to two firsts... They would have to have excelled in the final challenge (which he thought they might have) and Hans’ team would have to have bombed (unlikely given their placements so far). Still, holding their own in second place seemed plausible.
As Professor Skies got up to announce the results, he crossed his fingers, balling his fists into his lap to hide the fact. If they had slipped, would it be considered his fault? Would the team assume it was the number of tries he’d taken to do the spiders that had let them down? He was sure Liesl and Jasper would find a way to make his fault. But more than not being gossiped about by horrible magic-is-the-centre-of-the-world types, he wanted to come out on top. He knew he had contributed, and finally the idea of working hard and giving his best was actually starting to mean something in this school, versus his previous experience of pouring all his energy into a gaping void with limited to no results.
The results of challenge three went up. Unsurprisingly, Hans’ team was in first. But Xavier’s was in second. That had to mean they were keeping their position on the ultimate leader board, right? He didn’t dare to smile, waiting until Professor Skies pulled up the final results. The teams ticked in without his appearing. That meant they had placed! He was already grinning well before she called Theo Spurn’s team up. It wasn’t a surprise when his was next, rather than first, but it was enough. More than enough. He was part of the second place team in a magical challenge! He knew all the speeches about teamwork sounded kind of phoney, and most of the time it was about who could power through, but he also believed they couldn’t have achieved this if they hadn’t all put some work in. Hopefully everyone else believed that too. They would see him up here, and know that he had to have done something to pull his weight. Maybe he wouldn’t be the useless boy with stunted magic any more.
They hustled off the stage, Xavier still with a grin on his face and a spring in his step. In the course of the cluster of people trying to get themselves out of the way of each other, he found himself face to face with Jasper. Over the course of the challenges, he had got very used to steeling himself against Jasper’s presence. He knew he was going to be there, and could gradually add in his layers of armour over breakfast and the walk to the library until he could sit there, only screaming on the inside. Logically, he should have expected Jasper to be around as they went off stage. He was, in fact, hyper aware that he was there. He just hadn’t expected to come face to face with him.
He flinched.
Just a little. Just for a second, he was a rabbit in the headlights—or whatever equivalent magic people used. The easy, victorious smile faltered, but was quickly replaced by a tight edged approximation that didn’t reach to his eyes.
“Hey. Good job,” he managed, his voice not quite on an even keel yet. Oh gosh, why had he tried to open his mouth without being ready? “I mean, us—all, we all did—” He gestured vaguely at their trophies, wishing he could just dive sideways to avoid this, but there was currently a wall of people. He considered barging straight into it to make this end, but it was probably ninety percent composed of Brockert relatives who hated or pitied him as much as Jasper and then would add shoving to his list of faults.
13
Xavier Lundstrom
Good...um...thing...all (tag Jasper)
1529
0
5
Jasper Brockert
November 14, 2022 8:36 PM
We were amazing. by Jasper Brockert
OOC: CW-Typical Eustace related warnings. BIC:
It had been a long year and the Challenges were finally over. Part of Jasper was actually a little relieved. He no longer would have to spend so much time in the company of someone who disliked him for his lack of athletic abilities. Well, okay, he was about to leave school for the summer and Uncle Eustace would probably be around somewhat and his uncle was far more obnoxious than Xavier had ever been. After all, at least the fourth year didn’t say anything nasty out loud. He was far more polite than Jasper’s uncle, the Teppenpaw would give him that.
And he was not without sympathy for the fact that Xavier was not all that great at magic. After all, at the beginning of the Challenges-and really right before each event, at least the first two-the sixth year had been utterly terrified that he was going to have to do something using athletic ability, of which he had none. In particular, that he would have to fly which was something that tended to make Jasper freeze up. When faced with doing so, he felt exceedingly anxious, hearing his uncle’s nasty voice, mocking, bullying him, calling him cruel names, insulting his masculinity and what not.
He had been terrified that Xavier-and possibly the others too aside from Liesl, after all Mab and Fortune were also Pecaris-would do the same. Of course, in Mab’s case, she had made it very clear that she would make sure that they didn’t have to do something that they had a hard no, and Jasper absolutely appreciated that about the seventh year.
Not that it meant that she wouldn’t have been judging him for being so anxious about flying had it come up. He wasn’t even sure what he would have been criticized for more harshly, the lack of ability in athletic skills or the anxiety he had around them. Uncle Eustace was hard on him for both, never mind that he was what had caused Jasper-and Christopher too-to become anxious around Quidditch and flying to begin with. However, according to his uncle, boys should both be naturally gifted at and naturally enjoy anything physical. And they weren’t even supposed to experience anxiety, let alone display it at any moment.
The Teppenpaw knew, intellectually, that his uncle was absolutely full of crap. However, Jasper did tend to be involuntarily triggered around certain things, primarily when faced with having to fly. He might very well have been the worst flier in his year, since Flying Lessons had obviously caused him great difficulty. Jasper had gotten his broom up and managed to fly just enough to barely pass. Afterwards, he had vowed never to so much as look upon one ever again.
Fortunately, the sixth year had not been faced with having to fly during the Challenges. Even though Mab would have made sure he didn’t have to, he was still glad not to have to deal with the potential judgment. However, Jasper knew how hard it would have been for him to do something or be faced with doing something that he wasn’t good at or comfortable with. So, even though he had felt nothing but disdain from Xavier, he still managed to empathize with how overall difficult a set of magical Challenges had been for the younger boy.
However, despite the tension with the fourth year, Jasper had, in the end, grown to like the rest of his teammates. Fortune seemed like a very nice kid and the Teppenpaw had really grown to respect Mab. And of course, he had gotten to bond with Liesl. Also, since no flying or sports had been involved, he had even found the activities they’d done interesting.
Today they would find out the results. Jasper was feeling pretty optimistic about the whole thing. He didn’t think they would win first place since Isla’s team was absolutely dominating but they stood a good chance of second, which was where they had been all along.
Although, in all honesty, Jasper hoped that, even if they got second place overall, that they got first place in Challenge Three, for Liesl’s sake. She had put so much into the haunted house. They all had but this had been her special thing, her chance to shine and she deserved to have it. To feel good about herself.Jasper did not know if she would get another chance for her talent for spookiness to be rewarded. It was not a skill that usually got much glory and he wanted her to have a chance to feel good about herself.
Professor Skies began to speak and the results of the final Challenge went up first. When the sixth year saw them, he frowned. No disrespect to Isla and her teammates but really, his team should have won that. After all, it was the creepiest spookiest house and Liesl really deserved to win. He knew she needed that.
He did not have much time to dwell on it though, because the overall rankings were being announced. As he didn’t see his own team among the bottom six, he figured that meant…top three.
The third place team was announced, and Jasper applauded, happy for his roommate, and for Theo too. The seventh year was…well, he seemed to be the sort of person that the Teppenpaw hoped to work with in his future career, although Theo was obviously more functional than the people Jasper was planning on teaching or taking care of in the future since he was in a regular school. Still, it was nice to see someone with Theo’s…limitations be successful.
Then Professor Skies announced second place which was them , and he joined the rest of his team on stage, finding himself between Mab and the crowd. Jasper had learned enough about the older student to know that she was likely not terribly comfortable right now, so he was happy to oblige.
As they hustled off stage to make room for Isla and her team, he found himself face to face with Xavier. Jasper felt his stomach clench. He didn’t hate the fourth year, he realized this because he could feel empathy for him and he never could for Uncle Eustace or Topaz, who he knew he hated, but he felt like the Pecari hated him . (And Liesl).
However, Xavier looked just as uncomfortable as Jasper felt. Arguably, not the behavior of someone who looked down on him, Uncle Eustace never looked uncomfortable around him. So, the fact that the younger boy did was mildly confusing.
And then, the Pecari spoke. Stammering out a compliment. Which actually made Jasper feel slightly more at ease. He replied, sincerity evident in his voice. “You too. Your spider idea was great and your idea for the charm we used was excellent. My cousin even gave it her stamp of approval.” When Liesl liked it, you knew it was appropriately creepy. “We really should have won the last one even if we didn’t get first overall. Our haunted house was amazing . I know that a lot of the ideas were Liesl’s but we couldn’t have done it without all of us, you included.” There was no doubt in Jasper’s voice that he meant everything he said.
11
Jasper Brockert
We were amazing.
1496
0
5
Xavier Lundstrom
November 15, 2022 5:59 PM
All of 'we'? by Xavier Lundstrom
Jasper was saying nice things, and sounding like he meant them. What was going on? Where was the catch? Perhaps he was just swept up on the excitement of winning. That could make people feel more generous of spirit. Now that Xavier's presence demostrably hadn't ruined things, maybe Jasper was fine with him.Jasper was complimenting his ideas, he noticed, not his execution. And felt they should have come in first in the last challenge. Were either of those subtle digs at Xavier? A week ago, he wouldn't have doubted it for a second, but now bundled in with all the 'we' and the obvious compliments... It was harder for his brain to make those kinds of arguments.
"I did my best," he said, half a modest shrug off of the praise and half a line of defence, though his tone leant mostly towards the first. "And...thanks?" In spite of his best efforts, it came out like a question. When he had time to prepare, he could perfect the slightly shut down state that let him keep people like Jasper at a distance. But when he was here, apaprently complimenting Xavier... It was a lot harder to erect those defences mid-conversation. He wanted to be calm, and detached, like he didn't care what someone like Jasper thought of him, because it was bound to be nothing good. His tone reached for the compliment like it was a handshake that might be snatched away as a joke, or a cupcake that might be poisoned. He wanted to take it but there was a risk in doing so. "Um. You too," he added, hoping that throwing words into the void would give Jasper fewer opportunities to laugh in his face, and because it was just what you said. And then he immediately regretted it. "Not that you need someone like..." he muttered, his voice trailing into the inaudible before his sentence was finished.
13
Xavier Lundstrom
All of 'we'?
1529
0
5
Jasper Brockert
November 16, 2022 1:46 AM
Yes. All of "we" by Jasper Brockert
Xavier seemed to shrug off Jasper’s praise. Maybe coming from someone like the sixth year it didn’t mean that much to him but it came across as him…actually being modest. Which wasn’t at all what Jasper would have expected from him. Perhaps he’d actually been wrong about the Pecari this entire time.Although he still did not understand why there had been the tension there was if Xavier really didn’t look down on him. He supposed that acting modest-which was, of course, something that neither Uncle Eustace nor Topaz would even pretend to be, not that he’d ever really thought Xavier was half as bad as either, but he had sort of thought the Pecari was more similar to his uncle than, say, Mab or Fortune was-and thinking he was better than Jasper were not mutually exclusive but in the Teppenpaw’s mind, they were fused.
So it was kind of confusing. Maybe Jasper had proven himself somehow. Even though there weren’t athletic challenges and had there been any, he would have been more likely to humiliate himself than anything else. So maybe Xavier had decided there were other ways of being valuable after they had done so well. Which absolutely was not like Uncle Eustace at all. Amazing how Xavier could learn something at age fourteen or fifteen that Jasper’s uncle still hadn’t learned in his fifties.
Of course, the sixth year also felt sort of guilty for comparing the Pecari to his uncle at all. Obviously, Xavier had compared favorably but just the fact he’d placed them in the same category-which wasn’t just because of his house, although Jasper had initially done so with Fortune too, but he had proven that he wasn’t like Uncle Eustace pretty quickly and Jasper had known Mab wasn’t because Esme didn’t hate her-had most likely been extremely unfair.
Maybe Xavier was feeling guilty too about acting like he was better than Jasper. Maybe they’d both been wrong about each other and felt bad about it-the Teppenpaw absolutely did-and that was why this was so awkward right now. Had it been one of his other teammates, they’d probably be celebrating.
“You’re welcome.” Jasper replied automatically to Xavier thanking him. “And you really did do very well.” Part of him really did want to apologize, but since what he felt bad about was a weird internal trauma programming that the Pecari most likely wouldn’t understand, he wasn’t exactly sure how to say that he was sorry for comparing the younger boy to his monstrous uncle. If he apologized, Xavier most likely wouldn’t understand why he was doing so since he was pretty sure the Pecari wasn’t a Legilimens.
Something else occurred to Jasper that he probably should specifically mention “And you did good on the motion charm for the spiders too.” He added. This was more likely something that Xavier needed encouragement on than his ideas. There was absolutely no hint whatsoever of condescension in his voice. Being condescending was not really something the Teppenpaw generally was anyway. Even with Topaz and Uncle Eustace, he wasn’t, and they genuinely were people he thought he was better than. However, he didn’t dare be that way to them. That would be an utter disaster. With his uncle, it would lead to horrendous verbal abuse and anger and with Topaz….well, he liked being alive and would prefer to stay that way.
“And thanks.” Jasper assumed Xavier meant that they couldn’t have done the haunted house without him too. He supposed that was true since he and Mab had to do most of the advanced level magic. Which the fourth year would not have been able to do even if he was better at magic overall. “Like I said, we should have won that last Challenge. We were absolutely spectacular and the judges should have seen it.”
Then Xavier said something that Jasper didn’t quite catch. Something about not needing something? “I’m sorry.”The Teppenpaw said. “I didn’t quite understand what you said.” He did not think it was an insult to him, since they were sort of making progress here.
11
Jasper Brockert
Yes. All of "we"
1496
0
5
Oz Spellman
November 19, 2022 9:21 PM
Yeah? by Oz Spellman
Oz one hundred percent did not want to go to the party for the challenges. Even the lure of free food wasn’t a significant enough one, given how steadily Sonora fed him. He knew he had to, and in her speech Professor Skies reminded him that he was there to be pleased with his non-existent achievements and to be a good sport. He wasn’t sure how being forced to show up and applaud showed that he had good sportsmanship. He was happy for Henry and Xavier, who were inevitably going to do well, but he would have rather expressed that behind closed doors, rather than in a room of people who were now aware what a confirmed loser Oz was.He watched the results go up without much enthusiasm. There was a momentary beat of surprise when his team didn’t flicker up in last place on challenge three. The challenge that he had brought the least to… Sure, he’d done some work because it was mandatory that everyone did, but he hadn’t brought his ideas or his enthusiasm like he had done for the first two challenges. And they had finally scraped up from the bottom of the pack. What did that say?
Unsurprisingly, they were still dead last overall. He wanted to leave. He wanted to get out before his team could start blaming him, or before he had to make awkward small talk with people about how they’d placed. There were only two people he was interested in talking to, and they deserved this moment to shine, without having him drag them down. He was pretty sure Henry was going to make a beeline out of there as soon as he could. Parties weren’t really his thing. Maybe they could do something, just the three of them? He went and grabbed some cupcakes from the table, and scooped up a cup full of chips, and looked around for either his brother or Xavier.
He clocked Xavier. Talking to Jasper Brockert. And rather than looking triumphant and happy like he had done on stage, Xavier now looked stiff, awkward and fragile. The last thing Oz wanted was to be in firing range of someone like Jasper Brockert, when he had the perfect thing to take a shot at Oz with—namely that Oz had just lost catastrophically. But whilst he had a perfectly good opportunity to make Oz feel like crap, he shouldn’t have been able to do that to Xavier right now. He deserved better.
“Hey. Congrats,” he said, as he stepped into Jasper and Xavier’s conversation, directing the remark solidly at Xavier. He could just ask him to go… He had more of a claim on Xavier’s time than Jasper, and he could pull him out by suggesting they go hang with Henry. It would be like… subtle, or something. Except if Jasper thought he could push Xavier around and make him feel like dried turd when they’d just won a challenge, then he’d try again. He’d keep thinking he could do that. “Is there a problem here?” he asked, directing the remark at both of them.
13
Oz Spellman
Yeah?
1514
0
5
Xavier Lundstrom
November 19, 2022 11:07 PM
Yes! by Xavier Lundstrom
Jasper was… still being nice. If anything he was being nicer. Everything that the rational part of Xavier’s brain could see about the situation was telling him there was no danger here, and he could relax. Unfortunately, it had to make itself heard over the baseline static fuzz and pounding heartbeat of his anxiety, which meant screaming to make itself heard. The feeling of his own brain yelling at him to RELAX, JUST RELAX was not that conducive to actually following that instruction, which meant that it kept screaming, which kept making him feel more anxious, and then also fed in frustration with himself for not being able to stop.“Thanks?” he said again. “And, uh…” He was just wondering how to answer Jasper’s question about what he’d said, when he’d deliberately abandoned said sentence for being useless and redundant, when Oz appeared. Sounding… if not confrontational, then worried? But given that Oz didn’t really let people see his feelings, probably confrontational.
“It’s fine,” he assured him, laying a hand on his shoulder. He appreciated the attempt at heroics. He knew from how Oz talked about looking after Henry that he absolutely wouldn’t blink at stepping into the firing line for someone he cared about. Which meant he cared about Xavier. And, even though theoretically he knew that, the demonstrable proof made his heart feel warm and squishy. Except, it felt like things with Jasper were actually…. fine(?). Not great. Xavier still couldn’t work him out, and had still been planning to dive out of the conversation as quickly as possible, but they were fine. And he would like to keep it that way. Oz had not yielded at all to the hand Xavier had placed on his shoulder. “Really,” he said a little more insistently, “he’s being nice. I’m fine.”
13
Xavier Lundstrom
Yes!
1529
0
5
Jasper Brockert
November 20, 2022 8:45 AM
Yup. Everything's great. by Jasper Brockert
OOC: CW-Eustace BIC:
“You’re welcome.” The sixth year replied. Before they could continue this awkward conversation, Oz Spellman walked up and congratulated the younger Pecari-and only the younger Pecari. Which was kind of rude, honestly. Yes, obviously he was Xavier’s friend, not Jasper’s but well, like, he was right there. He had been on the team too. Like if he went to go congratulate Isla and one of her teammates was standing there with her, he would include them in it.
Still that really wasn’t a big deal. However, then Oz asked if there was a problem.Jasper felt his stomach clench. The fifth year was one of those loud sporty Pecari types, even more so than Xavier. Xavier, right now, was clearly showing some vulnerability, and Jasper even felt like they were making progress. The odds were that they probably would never be close friends because they did not have all that much in common but Jasper had realized that maybe he wasn’t any more like Uncle Eustace than Mab or Fortune was.
Oz Spellman, however, was a different story altogether. While the Teppenpaw doubted that he possessed the worst traits of Jasper’s uncle, he was still rather that type. The sporty alpha male Pecari type. And now he was in Jasper’s face, asking if there was a problem .
There hadn’t been, at all. One seemed to have been getting fixed, at least a little. Now there might be one though. Of course, Jasper did not want there to be, he had no intention of being in an actual fight or a duel or anything. He might have imagined turning Xavier into a toad if he was mean to Liesl about Headless Heather or of course, standing up to Uncle Eustace. He could never ever actually do those things. Especially not the latter.
And right now, he was honestly a little worried. It was not entirely Oz’s fault, of course. It was just the years of terrible abuse-Jasper had come to realize in the time since the charity fair that it was abuse, something that Christopher had understood all along-from Uncle Eustace. It was probably terribly unfair to assume these things about people like Oz and Xavier-and he was getting somewhere with the latter-but there was just something in Jasper that flinched , not unlike what would happen if he was faced with having to ride a broom.
The anxiety. The terror. The sound of his uncle’s voice-a sound that the sixth year had developed a strong aversion to-berating him. All the ugly, nasty, horrible things that Uncle Eustace spewed at him and his male cousins. All the things that Jasper had been worried that Xavier agreed with and was still worried that Oz did.
It all would have been bad enough under normal circumstances, but now the fifth year was there, in his face, antagonizing him like he had somehow done something wrong and was the reason why Xavier was not…overjoyed at how well they had done in the Challenges. Which Jasper honestly wasn’t sure about, but he was pretty sure it was not his fault. And he really no longer believed that the fourth year was upset that they didn’t get first place.
His mouth went dry and his heart was pounding. These were exactly the same things that happened around situations as riding a broom or being around his uncle. He was freezing up the same exact way, and was not even sure how to respond to Oz.
And Jasper needed to, he knew he needed to say something. Otherwise they might-or at least Oz might-see him in exactly the same way as Uncle Eustace did. A wimp. A weakling. Unmanly. Because he had shown weakness and anxiety in front of them. They’d probably make fun of him later. At least he hoped it would be later so he wouldn’t know for sure that it had happened. So he wouldn’t have to hear it and have Oz’s voice morph into his uncle’s.
The Teppenpaw knew he shouldn’t care what people like that thought of him, the way that Olaf didn’t care. However, the first year hadn’t been abused the same way. Uncle Ben had protected his sons in a way that apparently hadn’t occurred to Father. And Father really should have known better. He should have known what his brother was like. Uncle Gene should have too, but Jasper understood that slightly better. Uncle Gene was Uncle Eustace’s twin and their dynamic was not unlike that of Topaz and Allegra.
Not that Uncle Ben-and Uncle Elmer too-protecting their sons had stopped Uncle Eustace from picking on Olaf, Uriah, and Miles, but Olaf just seriously did not care. Jasper really shouldn’t either, but he just could not help himself.
Thankfully, before it could get too ridiculously obvious that the sixth year had frozen up, Xavier stepped in…and said Jasper was being nice . Granted, it was confusing to him that anyone would think he wouldn’t be but still, this was progress and meant a lot. He flashed the younger Pecari a grateful smile. “That’s right. I was just congratulating Xavier on some of his contributions to the final Challenge.”
11
Jasper Brockert
Yup. Everything's great.
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5
Oz Spellman
November 24, 2022 5:41 AM
Alright then... by Oz Spellman
“Yeah?” Oz confirmed with Xavier, when Jasper claimed to be congratulating him. Something seemed way off about this whole thing. But if neither of them was going to admit to anything going on… Oz wasn’t stupid enough to pick a fight with a Brockert over absolutely nothing in the middle of a party. Given time and space to consider what made good choices, he would have said that he shouldn’t pick a fight with a Brockert at all, but even when thinking with his brain instead of his instincts, he would absolutely find a few exceptions to that. He could rationally be argued down that he couldn’t protect Henry and Xavier if he got expelled, which would be about the only compelling reason not to do it, but if he ever suspected anyone was hurting one of them…He turned back to Xavier. He wasn’t about to call out a weakness in front of Jasper, so he just tried to telepathically communicate You looked freaked out and check for secret signals in return that ‘I’m fine’ was code for ‘I’m not fine.’ However, Xavier hadn’t cracked telepathy the same way Henry had, and just stared back like he wanted to know what Oz was staring at him for.
He wasn’t sure he’d totally impressed on Jasper Brockert the need to not hassle Xavier, but if that message needed reinforcing at any point, he could find a quieter place to do it, once he’d checked in with Xav.
“Speaking of congratulating… You, me and Henry?” Oz nodded to the cupcakes in his hands.
13
Oz Spellman
Alright then...
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5
Xavier Lundstrom
November 25, 2022 4:30 PM
Absolutely by Xavier Lundstrom
“Sounds good,” Xavier agreed. He had wanted to get out of his interaction with Jasper since the second it had started, and even though it hadn’t been as bad as he had feared, the flight or fight response had still been hammering solidly in his ribcage. And, if Oz kept tuning into that, he was probably going to pick a different option than the one Xavier would have chosen. “See ya,” he managed to Jasper, suspecting that would be true only in the sense that they lived in the same very small school and had mandatory events to attend from time to time along with the possibility of choosing the same meal times. What he meant was that he would continue to see Jasper from across various rooms, not infrequently. He doubted they’d really have a reason to speak to each other ever again.He gave Oz a long side long glance as they stepped away, trying to work out what was going through his head. But a crowded room full of people probably wasn't the place to ask.
That hadn't been the smoothest way to get out of his conversation, but at least he was out. He could feel his jaw unclenching, and his heart rate slowing, letting the more rational parts of his brain come back online. Jasper had been perfectly complimentary. He had denied having a problem with him. And, admittedly, that was the smart move when you were being asked by a ticked off looking Beater but he hadn't thrown any attitude in either of their faces. Did that mean Xavier had been a stammering, anxious mess for no good reason? It had to be obvious where that came from, right? So now, Jasper knew… Which wasn’t the most comfortable thing to deal with. Except Xavier had felt like everyone had always known why it might be uncomfortable for him around his more magical classmates… It was just that it had been made so much more blatant now. His default reaction was to expect that Jasper would laugh and talk about it behind his back. But if not… Well, Jasper knew where he was at and why, if he wanted to prove him wrong.
13
Xavier Lundstrom
Absolutely
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5