Iris Cobb
January 05, 2023 6:50 PM
Not a fan of research [Amethyst] by Iris Cobb
Iris couldn't quite make up her mind about the library. On the one hand it was quiet and Billy general avoided it (one of the primary reasons it was quiet). However, she was not a huge fan of books and research and that was it's primary function. There were much nicer places to spend her time away from classes, such as out in the gardens, the MARS rooms or even hanging out in Cascade Hall. The Crotalus common room was also nice, but only certain people could go there. Which, was also an advantage sometimes.Unfortunately, for the task at hand, she needed the resources of the library at her disposal. That meant she was stuck here for the moment. To offset that bit of unpleasantness, she had asked if her roommate would like to join her for a 'non-school related research project'. She had to get this done before winter break, if not... well, she shuddered to think of what might happen. Hopefully Amethyst would be able to help some as well, she needed it.
Iris smiled she saw her roommate enter the library and waved the girl over to her table. There were a few unopened books setting upon it along with an old looking scroll and a notebook or Iris'. "Hi Amethyst, thanks for coming!" Iris welcomed in a carefully, library approved hushed voice. "I remember you had said one of your relatives was interested in genealogy, and I could use some help on that topic." Iris couldn't remember off the top of her head exactly which family member Amethyst had made this comment about, she had tried in the past to figure out the workings of the Brockert Family Tree, but hadn't gotten it all sorted out. Big families could get complicated, and she appreciated that more than ever now.
"To get straight to the point," Iris continued in her hushed tone, "I've been given a project of sorting out a family tree." She unrolled the old scroll and upon it was a rather long list of names in no apparent order at all. Many of them bore the surname of 'Cobbson' but others did not. At the bottom of the list were listed Iris Cobb and William Cobb. Those two, along with a fair amount of the rest had check marks next to them that look like they were made much more recently and in much less careful handwriting.
Iris then opened her notebook and flipped through a few pages. They had notes, comments and names connected together. "I've figured out most of the oldest names, and some of the more recent ones." She frowned at her notebook, "But somewhere in the middle, something happened and I can't find any good records or clues." She gave her friend a look of pure frustration. "I can't find anything from 1910ish onward. The more recent family parts I got together from Ma and Pa, but they only know back to their grandparents, and that is pretty sketchy information." She sighed and gazed blankly over the materials on the table again. "Somehow the Cobbs are connected to the Cobbsons, and I've got to figure out how before winter break."
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Iris Cobb
Not a fan of research [Amethyst]
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Amethyst Brockert
January 19, 2023 9:23 AM
It's not my favorite thing either. by Amethyst Brockert
Amethyst had to admit, she was more disappointed about not getting prefect than she thought she would be. She was glad Alexei got it, of course, both on his own merits and because the other choices were extremely unsuitable and she wanted to be happy for Iris, but now…both her friends had something that she didn’t share with them and she felt a tiny bit left out.Plus, aside from Emerald, none of her siblings or first cousins had gotten prefect and since it was a thing that was chosen by the staff…Amethyst couldn’t help but wonder if there was some sort of bias against them. Like, the staff wanted to prove they wouldn’t go with nepotism. Or like they were trying to show how “open-minded” and "inclusive” they were by excluding purebloods. Although that didn’t quite follow since Lavender had gotten prefect and one of the other options was not a pureblood. Same with Ian. And Alexei,come to think of it.
So, it was just her branch of the family they were excluding to make a point. That was no more fair than favoring them. And since none of them had gotten Head Student either, Amethyst was not terribly optimistic about that either.
Unless…maybe there was something that she could do to get others to vote for her. To make them like her and think she was the best person for the job. Like…latching onto an issue that affected the entire student population.
Like the new bed rule. Amethyst wasn’t saying that same sex and house couples should be able to do inappropriate things. Especially since literally nobody else could so why should they get that special privilege? It wasn’t as if she could invite Alexei over to even hang out as he was both a different gender and in a different house. Nor could Liesl hang out in Hans’ room. Not that either of those pairs were couples-yet-but still.
However, the way that the spell worked, people could not even sit on the beds together and talk or do homework or play games or anything. It very much infringed on people’s rights and personal freedoms. And Amethyst knew that the spell didn’t have to work that way since last time at the Bonfire, a similar spell had been placed on the cots there. Why did this spell have to be more restrictive?
Yes, people could sit down in the common room and do those things or out in places like the library, but that wasn’t very private. Like if you wanted a private confidential conversation, you couldn’t do that outside the privacy of your own room because you never knew who could be eavesdropping. Amethyst knew that there were those who weren’t above doing so. Obviously, given that Topaz wasn’t above doing much worse, listening in on others was no big deal to her.
And admittedly, it wasn’t as if the fifth year had never done so herself. Not on her classmates, but sometimes…she heard things from the adults. Disgruntled people were less than discreet after having a few drinks. Like Grandfather grumbling about overbearing parents-which was definitely not directed at his own sons and their wives, especially not Amethyst’s parents. She had gleaned that he was not terribly happy about the bed rule himself. Or at least he was not happy about changing something based on a parental complaint. Which sounded about right, Grandfather wouldn’t even want to listen to complaints from a parent even if it was his sons or nephews or niece or their spouses, so why would he do so for someone else?
Basically though, Amethyst thought he was right. Why should a parent get to dictate policy at a school that had been in existence not only longer than they had been alive, but longer than Grandfather had been alive? And make decisions not only for their own kids but the entire school? She wasn’t used to her own parents imposing that level of…restriction and so she certainly didn’t appreciate it from someone else’s!
And therefore, Amethyst had come up with a way that would hopefully kill two birds with one stone. She would advocate for amending the bed rule, so the spell would work the way the one at the Bonfire had four years ago, and everyone would appreciate her efforts and make her Head Student.
For now though, she was meeting Iris in the library. “Hey.” Amethyst greeted her roommate. “It’s no problem.” She sat down at the table, remembering how the other Crotalus had broached this topic before, but then the Challenges happened and demanded everyone’s attention.“Yeah, my father’s first cousin, Alessa, is super fascinated by it.
She looked at the scroll in front of her, which was not an unfamiliar item from her own genealogy lessons, only this one had Cobbsons rather than Brockerts. Not a family she knew much about but then, she wasn’t Alessa and barely was able to figure out exact relationships with people like Lydia and Connie. “So, where should we begin? Do you want me to write to Alessa and see what she knows? This is the sort of thing she actually finds fun.” Honestly, some people had really strange, incomprehensible ideas of what qualified as such, but at least genealogy was better than the things Topaz enjoyed. "Why before winter break?"
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Amethyst Brockert
It's not my favorite thing either.
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Iris Cobb
January 24, 2023 5:05 PM
Yet we must prevail. by Iris Cobb
Iris was quite happy to hear that one of Amethyst's relatives (father's first cousin would make her Amethyst's first cousin once removed? That didn't quite sound right) enjoyed this sort of thing. However, she visibly deflated a bit at Amethyst's first question. She had no idea where to begin. She had already begun at the beginning, and made it a fair way, then she'd started at the end and hadn't made it very far at all. Now she was just stuck in the middle.Iris didn't really like the idea of getting help from others. She liked to get things done on her own, without indebting herself to anyone else. But she was already well in the hole with Amethyst, what was a little more? Especially if the end result might allow her to pay back that debt. Still… if she didn't get it done in time, she'd never have the chance. How much would Alessa's help cost her, she wondered. It wasn't like she could even ask that question, nor would she probably get a good answer if she did. But what other choice did she have?
"If you think she'd like to help," Iris responded, "I don't see how it could hurt." That was a lie, but such was life. The scales would need to be balanced at some point.
Her friend's next question caught her off guard, even though it really shouldn't have. It was a perfectly natural question, that Iris was completely unprepared to answer. "Oh, ummm.. well…" the girl stalled while she tried to think of any sort of rational explanation that wouldn't betray the promise of secrecy she and Billy had both taken. "I can't really say much," she stated slowly as each word was rather carefully selected. "Billy and I found… something, and we each had to figure something out. He got his done at the end of last year." Her expression soured a bit and her words took on a more exasperated tone, "I had to make sure he didn't foul his up and didn't get any progress done on mine. Now I've got to get this done before we get home for break or else…" her words stopped suddenly. Her face twisted a bit as she thought about her next words, "or else he wins."
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Iris Cobb
Yet we must prevail.
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