Nicholas Pierce
October 08, 2023 4:58 PM
Discussing the future (Alexander) by Nicholas Pierce
In his first year and a half at school, Nicholas thought the greatest challenge he had been called upon to face had been sharing a room with people who weren’t Alexander, all while Alexander was somewhere else altogether. Coming back to school for the new year had involved a brief period of readjustment, both to classes and sleeping arrangements, but with a whole previous year of that and of generally pointing his wand in the right direction more often than not on his resume, the first half of second year had, overall, been smooth sailing. He knew, however, that this easy living could not and would not continue forever, because second year was getting shorter every single day, and he knew the summer would feel as though it had barely begun before it was time for third year.In theory, every year at school was important for some reason, but third year was one of the big ones. Third year was where everything started to count, because third year was when they picked up new classes and started preparing in earnest for the CATS. Their performance in third year would...well, it would have set the tone for the rest of their lives, anyway, had anything less than total perfection really been an option. Since it wasn’t, then Nicholas supposed he could think of third year as no more important than any other year that didn’t involve major, life-determining exams, but somehow, he found it hard to put this line of reasoning into practice, and the rest of the world wasn’t making it any easier for him.
He finally concluded that he could not avoid the subject much further one morning after he finished reading a letter from home. He had obediently sent his mother a few graded essays so she could offer her opinion, and in the midst of the comments, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, she’d said, of course, you’ll understand that aspect much better after you’ve finished your first three years in Arithmancy….
At supper, he slipped into a chair across from his brother and said, “have you thought about all the extra classes for next year? I mean, how many to take, and which ones?”
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Nicholas Pierce
Discussing the future (Alexander)
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Alexander Pierce
October 16, 2023 9:51 PM
An important step by Alexander Pierce
Second year was nearing its end, and Alexander was eager for it to continue doing so for a number reasons. The first was attending the ball with Ida. He, of course, knew how to dance so as not to embarrass himself at society balls once he and Nicholas became old enough to attend those, but he'd been swinging by the MARS dance room on occasion of late just to brush off the rusty crust on those skills. He often went alone to consult with the portraits there on specific technical steps and holds he had not yet mastered, but on occasion he had asked Ida along as well, so they would have some practice dancing together before doing so in front of the whole school.The second was the end of beginner classes. He felt he was quite ready now to move up to a harder level of class. Additionally, Intermediates brought in the opportunity to add optional classes, and Alexander certainly intended to do so. The only question was which ones.
This was, in fact, the precise question Nicholas posed to him over dinner one evening not terribly long before such decisions would need to be made.
"I have thought about it," Alexander confirmed with the same tone one might say they have chosen to breathe today. "Unfortunately, my thoughts are a bit cyclic," he admitted. "There are so many I want to take, and so little time, and of course taking too many is nearly as bad as taking too few because we need to be able to devote enough time and effort to each one to do well, but at the same time we do not want to miss a topic that may prove essential for our future. Three might be a good number," he said uncertainly. He wasn't sure he could reduce his choices down to only two.
"Of the courses they teach directly here, I have decided I do not need either divinations or muggle studies." He had considered both. Divinations might provide an advantageous edge to developing plans and strategies. Muggle studies might help him understand a relatively unknown part of the world that he could possibly use or exploit in some way. Ultimately, though, divinations was not know to be precise enough to be useful, while muggle studies might lead people to believe he had some kind of secret liberal views, and it just wasn't worth the potential social and political backlash. He could read muggle study books on his own without it showing on his transcript as a big red flag that he was another Pierce about ready to jump the mountain.
"I am tempted by Astronomy. It seems like an interesting subject. However, it is not a particularly useful one, and I think my time would be better spend adding more independent studies. I would definitely like to have a course on government and politics since that's what I want to go into, one on history, and probably arithmancy. Have you reach any conclusions yet?" he wondered. "I assume you want to diversify our portfolio rather than double down on the same topics?" This assumption came mostly because he didn't think Nicholas had much interest in politics and government, history, or arithmancy, other than that those subjects interested Alexander. And because their parents spoke so highly of Arithmancy that Alexander wasn't entirely sure they were allowed to not pursue it, though it may be enough that one of them did.
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Alexander Pierce
An important step
1566
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Nicholas Pierce
October 20, 2023 6:29 PM
Hopefully not off the edge of any cliffs. by Nicholas Pierce
“Mom was just talking about how much more sense second year charms will make after my third year of Arithmancy this morning, so I think we might both have to take that one,” said Nicholas. He imagined he sounded...hopefully neutral at the prospect, but certainly less than thrilled; Arithmancy to him had always seemed like a great deal of tedious work, though he supposed it might be more interesting to look at once you knew what all the columns of numbers actually meant. “I suppose Astronomy could go well with that – put the math skills to use twice, and it has some applications to Potions and Herbology and stuff. And if you have history and I do Ancient Runes, then we should be set if you ever need someone to translate any Iron Age curses to put on your political rivals,” he joked – or at least, hoped he joked.He could, he dimly realized, end the conversation right here and now. Alexander had no doubts, and so the problem was sorted, then, wasn’t it? This put them in the same number of extra classes, at least, and the need to at least match his brother was sure to override any intrusive interests in sleep or leisure he might have – he would, Nicholas supposed, have had to question his parentage if he hadn’t been at least that competitive; as ridiculous as the thought of his mother and father raising a cuckoo’s child from the other side of the mountain was, it paled beside the ridiculousness of the idea that he could really be Thaddeus and Alicia Pierce’s son and yet lack the ambition to even ensure he was at least as good as anyone else who happened to be available for comparison. Certainly, at least, he had always been able to push himself a little harder whenever Alexander’s diligence was pointed out to him so far, and sometimes even did so just imagining having Alexander’s diligence pointed out to him. But….
“I don’t know...I guess you’re lucky, already knowing exactly what you want to do,” he acknowledged. “That makes it easier. I feel like I ought to try to take everything there is, but that’s impossible, and I don’t even want to, anyway. I think I might have gotten soft since we’ve been here.” He admitted this with a rueful expression. “I guess I’ll have to get over that in a hurry, won’t I? But I’ve always been able to think of lots of things I want to do, but not really anything I want to be.” He shrugged again. “Maybe it’ll make more sense after a few more classes.” ‘Go learn more information’ was the prime rule for how to solve a problem in their family, after all.
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Nicholas Pierce
Hopefully not off the edge of any cliffs.
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