Ugh. (Post-Cascade Hall) on Teppenpaw Commons

Kate Bauer

November 25, 2010 12:22 AM

Ugh. (Post-Cascade Hall) by Kate Bauer

Kate thought, briefly, about just throwing herself down on her bed and assaulting some pillows until she felt better, but it took about five seconds of alone time in her dorm room to realize that if she did that, she was going to start screaming her frustrations out for the whole House to hear, and that might draw attention. Like Head-of-House attention. The kind she really, really did not want. So, instead, she snatched up her Potions book and went downstairs to the common room, hoping the generally pleasant vibe of the place would calm her down after her fight with her sister.

Of course, anyone who came through the door had potentially joined that awkward-looking seventh year who'd muttered something about crazy people as he went past them into the dining hall in the audience of the Kate and Rachel Show, but if people were going to say something about it, she wanted it to be to her face. She was feeling really hostile toward the cloak-and-dagger, secrets-and-whispers lifestyle right now. She'd hated it from the day Momma introduced her to it, but right now, she had transcended hating it and moved into wanting to literally stomp it into the ground. Despite it not having a physical form. Maybe she could make an effigy.

Rachel had gotten most of the violent tendencies in their family, but Kate thought she, too, had her moments. The only difference was that she repressed them because they made her feel sick later, not because a lady did not go around decking people who annoyed her. She knew she'd feel guilty about thinking her sister didn't have a truly good, gives-a-flip-about-anyone-else bone in her body later, too, but right now, it felt pretty good. Pretty accurate to the facts of the situation.

Rachel had no right to go around telling her off for doing whatever she wanted. If their mother hadn't said anything, when Kate couldn't imagine there was any way she hadn't heard about it when she did such a good job of projecting herself as having more contacts than God, then it was not her prissy, whack job sister's place to go bonkers and start screaming at her that she was either stupid or out to get her entire family in public.

Except that wasn't even all it. Part of it was just...why wasn't anything she actually belonged in good enough for her?

She hadn't always been like this. As weird as it was to remember now, when she'd been living with the Robot for so long, when they had been little, they had been...friends. Rachel had been everything Kate ever wanted to be - pretty, confident, fun, all of it. They'd done everything together. Kate had even let Rachel dress her up like a doll a few times even after Alicia was born, and Rach, once she got out of her rhinestone-encrusted high heels, had always been up for a little mudslinging until Momma made them clean up.

But then Momma and Dad had gotten divorced, and Momma had married Jeremy, and one day, Rachel hadn't been Rachel anymore. She'd stopped going outside, and she was all distant whenever she was forced to see Dad, and she'd been wearing make-up and basically not talking except to make snide comments ever since Alicia asked her why she was sad all the time. She'd turned into a robotic extension of Momma's warped will. She and Alicia both had. Kate was the only one who still had the ability to actually think for herself in the whole family.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't even fair for pureblood girls, who had to have had the potential to be real people when they were born even if it did get groomed out of them from birth, but it was especially unfair for her and her sister's. They weren't purebloods, and even the pureblood relatives they did have weren't that kind of pureblood. Why should they even try to live like that, when it made them miserable and it couldn't work anyway? These people had genealogy books, and while Momma might have paid someone to put them in them, someone had to own an old copy where they didn't exist. It was all going to go away someday anyway, and Kate would be fine with that - sometimes, she thought the thought of it all going away was all that kept her sane - but what was going to happen to Rachel and Alicia? Their whole lives would become irrelevant. And if the way Rach was reacting to Kate threatening that life by playing a game was anything to go by, it would be really, really bad when they did.

She tried to force it all aside and focus on her book, the way they all used to focus on something during the last few months of their parents' marriage, but it was incredibly hard to care about Fawcett and his secondary subject when all this drama was happening in her life. "Ugh, I cannot concentrate," she said aloud, closing the book and looking over at someone sitting nearby. "Who cares what happens when you mix flobberworm solution with fluxweed at a two-to-one ratio? And who got to call a book with that in it 'Beginner level,' anyway?"

16 Kate Bauer Ugh. (Post-Cascade Hall) 170 Kate Bauer 1 5

HoH Lilac Crosby

December 01, 2010 2:50 PM

"Ugh" indeed. by HoH Lilac Crosby

The brunette professor felt like she had been slacking. Her lessons didn’t seem to enthuse as many of her students as she’d like, and she kept imaging the scenario of a student actually falling asleep in her class. That scene played over and over again in her head like a nightmare she just couldn’t get away from. It hadn’t happened yet, at least to her knowledge. What if someone had done that in her class already and she hadn’t noticed?!

The idea itself was enough to make the twenty-six year old reconsider her entire teaching aspect. Was she doing a good job? Were students enjoying her class? Did they like her? Lilac herself as a student --when she attended the Romanian School of Magic-- had always had personal affinities, relationships of sorts, with each of her professors. Maybe that had just been her desperateness for friendship, considering she didn’t have any of her own age, but she wanted to develop those kind of relationships with her students, too.

So there she was, wondering what she was doing wrong. If she was slacking, the grey-woman was screwing up at more than just being a professor. After only a little while at the school, she had already become the Head of House of Teppenpaw, and she felt like she had done nothing to earn it nor display her gratitude for the position.

In all honesty, she hadn’t even scoped out the students of her House. These Teppenpaw students weren’t really said to be troublesome --that was the Pecaris-- but if Lilac didn’t act, they would get away with anything! The half-Russian could not let that happen.

To put her mind at ease, Lilac decided to grab the papers she still needed to grade and do so in the Teppenpaw Common Room. That way, she could feel like a true member of the House while still being productive; a win-win situation! Feeling clever, Lilac snatched what she would need and headed off.

Finding a seat, she penned points across, marking answers either right or wrong and occasionally commenting, “Close,” or other explanations as to why students missed the points they did. Her hand jolted across the page, making an ugly smear, when a young voice interrupted her train of thought. “Ugh, I cannot concentrate.”

Lilac paused from her grading, looking inquiringly at the source of voice. She was pretty sure this girl was named Kate Bauer; at night before she went to sleep, she had taken to reading the attendance sheets to learn all of the names. Personally, she had always disliked when her parents or even professors called her by her sister’s name, Jamie, by mistake, so she didn’t want to make similar mistakes. “Who cares what happens when you mix flobberworm solution with fluxweed at a two-to-one ratio? And who got to call a book with that in it ‘Beginner level,’ anyway?”

A small laugh escaped the woman’s lips. “Trouble with homework, Miss Bauer?” she asked, her voice filled with care; Lilac really did feel attached to her students. “I would assume that Professor Fawcett cares about the flobberworm and fluxweed ratio, but that is a good question. Who decided what counts as Beginning level and what is more advanced? Maybe the author of the textbooks?”

“I may teach Transfiguration, Miss Bauer,” Lilac smiled sweetly, “but I was fairly skilled at Potions back in my school days. I don’t think I had anything under an A for my seven years. I can help you, if you like.” She hoped Kate would accept her offer; maybe this could be her first chance to build a relationship with her student.

0 HoH Lilac Crosby "Ugh" indeed. 0 HoH Lilac Crosby 0 5

Miss C. Bauer

December 13, 2010 7:35 PM

Sounds like we're both having a great day. by Miss C. Bauer

When Kate realized who, exactly, she’d been venting to, the maelstrom in her head actually quieted, replaced by two words: oh, crap.

As much as her mother annoyed her, there were times when Kate could see that she had a point, and right now was one of them. Sure, heads of House – not to mention the staff in general – never really interacted with students on any level, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t, which was why, even in friendly Teppenpaw place, she needed to be aware of who was around her before she just started shooting off her mouth. Not doing so was why stuff like this happened to her and not Rachel. She had never really thought about it before, but she was suddenly one hundred percent sure that Amelia Pierce had no clue who Kate’s sister was.

Of course, there was a chance that Lilac Crosby had a clue who Rachel was, because Rachel hated the woman’s guts. That seemed to go for a lot of other students, too, and for a lot of reasons, but Sonora’s eldest Bauer had kind of a problem with not realizing she was giving people death glares when they ticked her off and she was powerless to do anything about it. If Crosby was observant enough to have noticed, and that got Kate into trouble with her head of House, she swore to Merlin, Pete, and Betsy that she was going to replace that coconut-scented shampoo Rach liked so much with a potion to turn her hair green over the summer. It would be the least she could do.

“Ah – yeah. Him. Them. Yeah. That was a…rhetorical, rhetorical question…thing.” Of course textbook writer dudes had something to do with it, and Fawcett cared about concentrations, at least to a certain extent. If they got it wrong, his classroom blew up, and considering the amount of paper usually in close proximity to his person…But she had bigger problems than figuring out whether or not her head of House was being sarcastic with her, such as making sure her head of House didn’t think she was stupid. “Ma’am. But I’m fine. I can do my work. Just – frustrated about…stuff, and taking it out on this.” She laughed, hoping to make light of the situation and feeling sure she sounded like a crazy person.

16 Miss C. Bauer Sounds like we're both having a great day. 170 Miss C. Bauer 0 5

Lilac

December 17, 2010 6:31 PM

I've had worse. And you? by Lilac

“Rhetorical,” Lilac repeated after the underclassman. “Yes. Right. I knew that.” Truthfully, she hadn’t. The brunette professor had thought that maybe Kate was sincerely inquiring the answers to the questions she had asked so loudly. Typically pale, it was often quite evident when Lilac blushed, and she felt that she might have been doing so just then, embarrassed. As a professor, it would have been very, very bad if Kate thought poorly of her intelligence levels.

Lilac sincerely hoped that none of her students thought her to be daft. As an adult --and an educator, no less- it was her duty to be intelligent. If she didn’t come across as smart, then what was she? Truthfully, Lilac was a smart woman, though sometimes naïve simply for the fact that she wanted to see the best in everyone, but sometimes the grey-eyed woman just didn’t get her intelligence across outwardly.

Her plump lips folded into a minor frown when Kate said that she didn’t require help. Lilac had been so hoping to bond with her student. However, she forced a smile’s return, not wanting to confuse the child. When Kate said that she was frustrated about “stuff,” Lilac’s grey eyes flooded with concern.

She hoped everything was all right for the first year. Growing up, Lilac knew from experience, was a hard thing to do sometimes, and she wanted to be sure that her student was okay. The twenty-six year old smiled compassionately at Kate, her voice filled with concern, “Frustrated about things, are we? Is there anything you’d like to talk about? If you need someone to confide in, I hope you know that I am here for the purpose of serving the students. My door is always open.”

There. That should reassure the girl. The brunette deeply cared about each student in the school, and she wanted to know what went on in their minds and their lives. This concern Lilac did not consider prying so much as wanting to be involved and making sure everyone was okay. She may not have had kids yet, but she had cousins, nieces, and nephews, all of whom she knew to be individuals with unique needs. No two kids were the same. Hopefully, her hands-on approach would help Kate in the end.

0 Lilac I've had worse. And you? 0 Lilac 0 5

Kate

December 20, 2010 1:55 PM

Yeah, had worse. by Kate

When she heard the cover Professor Crosby used for having the rhetorical-ness of Kate’s question pointed out to her, Kate had to clench her back teeth and make a sound that suggested she was fighting off a sneeze to keep from laughing, not so much because the situation was funny as because it startled her. That was exactly what she, Kate, would have said if she’d answered something seriously and then realized it wasn’t meant that way – something she had, in fact, said quite a few times to one of her sisters. Especially Alicia. It wasn’t her fault that she looked too little and innocent for insincerity to be an option, but it wasn’t Kate’s fault, either.

“Excuse me,” she said, hoping to make it sound more like she was possibly getting a mild cold.

She wasn’t as surprised by the offer of talking things over. Those things were dime a dozen for adults. Kate had worked out that none of them actually meant it back during post-divorce counseling, when the therapist Dad insisted she and her sisters go to had kept checking her watch every five minutes. Of course, it hadn’t helped that the sessions had been nothing more than Rachel practicing her lying skills, taking the lead and talking about how well-adjusted they all were, while Alicia played with her dolls and Kate tried not to think about how much she’d rather be reading, but still. Adults did not care about her problems.

“I just had a fight with my sister,” she said, figuring that giving something would relieve the professor of feeling like she had an obligation and, well, be the truth. Considering the venue she and Rach had chosen for their showdown, the whole school would probably know soon enough anyway – at least that two girls had been shouting at each other before dinner, and maybe that one of them was the Teppenpaw Seeker. “She found out I’m on the Quidditch team, and she doesn’t like it. You know…politics.” She shrugged. “We’ll get over it in a day or two, I just kind of overreacted. We always fight and make up.”

16 Kate Yeah, had worse. 170 Kate 0 5

HoH Lilac

December 27, 2010 8:50 PM

Using a different form of my name every time, it seems.. by HoH Lilac

“I just had a fight with my sister.” Lilac shivered with empathy. The brunette professor knew a good deal about fighting with siblings. And losing, she thought. I was always good at that. Having been the youngest, not many of her arguments went her way. “Yes, I definitely understand,” she commiserated.

Hearing the political aspect, Lilac reasoned that Kate and her sister --was her name Rachel?-- must have been purebloods. Other wise, a girl on a Quidditch team wouldn’t be a big deal. Being a pureblood herself, Lilac understood. Of course, she was never completely traditional, but her parents accepted her for it. They comprehended her and loved her for who she was. The grey-eyed woman wished everyone would have been like that. Considering she was of Tupolov blood, her pureblood life was rather laid back. As long as she was decent and didn’t, for example, run around marrying a Muggle (though if she stayed single much longer, her mother have resorted to it) or something, her family was fine with her.

“We’ll get over it in a day or two, I just kind of overreacted. We always fight and make up.” The Head of House nodded, knowing how things like that went. Jamie and she didn’t always get along as children, either. “Yes, I know how that goes,” Lilac shared, her thick lips forming a smile. “This is your older sister, right? What’s the age difference?” She was pretty sure Kate meant Rachel, who she knew to be a third year, but she wasn’t sure if maybe they had another sister to whom Kate could be referring.

“My sister and I used to argue quite a bit ourselves,” Lilac smiled, remembering their childhoods fondly. “She’s three years older than I am. My, we argued over the most insignificant things. For example, when we went see family,” she added, leaving out the preposition to as her mind rapidly translated from her better language, Russian, which had no prepositions. “We actually fought over who they loved more. It was ridiculous.”

“I understand the political aspects as well,” she continued kindly. “Some of my relatives didn’t think I should come Sonora and teach.” Again, she forgot the preposition. Sometimes her English wasn’t at its best, and today seemed to be one of those days. “They thought it was inappropriate for an unwed woman. In any case, I am here teaching what I know and helping my kids.” The Transfigurations professor referred to the students affectionately as her kids as she had none of her own as of yet. Maybe one day that would change, but right now, her mind and heart belonged to her students. “I hope I’ve been of service, Miss Bauer. If you ever need to talk again, I’ll be waiting.”

0 HoH Lilac Using a different form of my name every time, it seems.. 0 HoH Lilac 0 5