Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
October 17, 2023 8:28 PM
Unconventional (Music room) by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
Finally, at long last, Lazarus had made a friend.Unfortunately, it was not one that he could write home to his mom about and reassure her that he was doing okay on his own. He had to now, since Atticus was not coming to join him next year, a fact he still often tried to forget.
He met up with his friend in the same place every time: the music room in MARS. Laz wasn’t much of a musician himself, but Caroline was an incredible jazz player. She even tried to show him a few times, but he just couldn’t pick it up. But that was okay, because he preferred to listen to her anyway.
The only problem was that she couldn’t leave the music room, because it was the only place at Sonora where her portrait was hung. And also that she was a 1920s jazz musician, so, from what he had found when he looked her up, she was actually dead now.
Still, the company of a painting was better than none at all. Today, he had a chess board set up in front of the painting. Caroline had selected to be white, so she went first. “Knight to F6, please,” she smiled, and Lazlo moved the piece for her. Lazarus mirrored her move, a not-amazing strategy she tended to employ against him when he went first. She smiled. But then her expression changed. “Well, hello there,” she said, looking behind him. Lazarus turned around and his face went white with embarrassment: someone else had entered.
12
Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
Unconventional (Music room)
1548
1
5
Quillan Arcadius
October 18, 2023 7:20 PM
Ooooh! by Quillan Arcadius
Quillan was lugging several big, heavy books and a frown along to the MARS rooms. There had been too many tempting social interactions in the common room this week, and now he was behind on his reading. The worst of the evening activities had been when his roommates invited him to study with them. He couldn't exactly say 'no' if he was walking through the room, book in hand, but that meant an evening of feeling tense, flicking pages long before he'd finished stumbling through them, making sure he roughly kept pace with the others. It wasn't productive studying, and it wasn't very sociable socialising, and he had to sit with a ball of anxiety in his stomach the whole time, worrying that the effort was showing on his face, or he was going to get caught out when they discussed the material. Luckily, he was a skilled enough debator to listen in and find threads of theirs to pull on. Sometimes, he accidentally echoed the textbook's sentiments, sometimes he added his own, but both of those were valid contributions, and so he continued to avoid his roommates knowing about his reading struggles.He needed to spend an evening with just himself and his books though, having them read themselves aloud so he could actually absorb the content. The MARS music room was a nice, easy option. Whilst he often enjoyed working out in the sports room whilst studying, he was still aching from yesterday's Quidditch practice. Putting on some nice classical music and stretching out with his books sounded perfect.
Except the room was already occupied.
By someone playing chess!
With a portrait.
"I've never thought of playing against the portraits!" he exclaimed. Admittedly, he didn't lack chess buddies very often at school. But he sometimes didn't have one at home. And this could be a good way of learning some tricks his regular opponents didn't know. "That's genius!"
13
Quillan Arcadius
Ooooh!
1570
0
5
Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
October 20, 2023 4:22 PM
Ahhh? by Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
Lazarus braced himself instinctually to be mocked, knowing this behavior in which he had been caught was objectively weird, although the tension did lessen slightly when he realized it was a younger student who had entered. Weird or not, an underclassman was less likely to tease an older student, although perhaps that also meant that if Quillian did go and tell everyone, Laz had more to lose when the word spread around.But much to his surprise and physical relief, the younger Aladren actually thought it was… a good idea? Genius, even. Lazlo scrambled for his communication book, which he had sat on the next table over to make space for the chess board, not needing it for gameplay, and while he reached, Caroline spoke from her portrait.
“Thank you!” she grinned. “See, Lazarus? It’s fine.” She came closer to the foreground of her painting, peering out at the room’s newest occupant. “I’m Caroline Sparks,” she introduced herself, expecting recognition of the name. “What’s your name, kiddo?”
“We aren’t far at all into this match - how about we try something three-players?” she suggested despite the brewing look of protest in Lazarus’s eyes. “I just learned Chinese checkers last week, but it wasn’t much fun with only two anyway.”
Lazarus had given Caroline a look of disbelief and unsureness, but he pulled back to neutral as he glanced at Quillian. He could hardly refute the invitation, so with some internal reluctance, he found the phrase “How about it?”
12
Lazarus Jareau-Fletcher
Ahhh?
1548
0
5
Quillan Arcadius
November 02, 2023 6:33 AM
Um by Quillan Arcadius
Quillan didn’t initially notice Lazarus’ silence. Someone, namely Ms. Sparks, was filling it with all the expected remarks. And something about her name was vaguely familiar, although his parents’ tended much more towards classical music, so it was more of a nagging feeling than an instant recognition. He was sure whatever it said on her frame would give him a clue, but he didn’t want to squint and stumble over words in front of strangers, so he stayed distant enough that he couldn’t be expected to read it.“Quillan Arcadius,” he introduced himself. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Sparks.” Or at least, her portrait. He knew portraits weren’t real people, but he also knew well enough that treating them like they weren’t could lead to temper tantrums. “You’re from the 19….30s?” he guessed, appraising the style of her painting and clothes. He thought the twenties were maybe more likely, but it was always wise to err on the side of making female paintings younger in one’s estimates. “It’s a little after my usual era, but your name’s familiar…”
Chinese Checkers sounded fun enough—and wait, what? His eyes snapped to Lazarus’ book, which was speaking. That was not exactly unfamiliar to Quillan, given that he got all his own books to read themselves aloud to him. But this was— He tried to rein in his curiosity. He wasn’t a big fan of people asking about his books, though his response to that was not to have them speak in front of others, which Lazarus had just voluntarily done. Still, it felt rude to express too much curiosity, especially when he wasn’t sure he wanted to immediately reveal his own talking books in return.
“A game sounds great, thank you,” he replied to both of them.
13
Quillan Arcadius
Um
1570
0
5