Some planning to do. [Tag Dorian and Tabitha] on Potions

Professor Mary Brooding

February 17, 2019 11:45 PM

Some planning to do. [Tag Dorian and Tabitha] by Professor Mary Brooding

OOC - This thread can be Mary and Dorian until Tabitha arrives, as I know the author has been away recently and this conversation can be just two-way too. If Dorian leaves before Tabitha arrives, Mary and Tabitha can talk.

IC - It was nearly the end of October, and Halloween directions abounded. This was a favorite of Mary's holidays, but nothing could compare to Christmas anymore. This particular truth was the subject of the owls she had sent to two of her favorite people to meet her after classes today. Having spoken to both Tabitha and Dorian separately, she thought it was time to get the three of them together. However, she was well aware that Tabitha's schedule was a bit of a mess at the moment. Between grading and managing everything at home with wedding plans, Tabitha was likely to be late. As a result, her letter to Dorian had suggested they could enjoy some tea and chat before Tabitha arrived.

True to the task at hand, Mary set about preparing tea - and her staple hot chocolate - as she waited for her guests. Her letters had suggested they sat down to discuss wedding preparations and plans, and Mary thought it best to have something comforting, as this was possibly going to be an uncomfortable conversation. After chatting with Dorian at the beginning of the year, Mary was less confident his family would be particularly approving of one of his teachers marrying another woman, and especially if Dorian was going to be in the wedding. Mary wasn't quite sure how to approach that and for the safety of her student, didn't want to do so on her own.

When a soft knock on the door finally sounded said student's arrival, Mary smiled, adjusted her lavender robes, and ushered him inside.

"It's good to see you, Dorian," she said. "Help yourself to anything you'd like to drink. We can sit on more comfortable chairs today," she smiled, gesturing to the squishy armchairs she'd pulled out of her room and into her office for this meeting. "Is there anything missing? I'm happy to summon some sandwiches or cookies or something."

22 Professor Mary Brooding Some planning to do. [Tag Dorian and Tabitha] 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 1 5

Dorian

February 18, 2019 8:33 AM

All things seem possible by Dorian

Dorian was feeling cheerful as he made his way to Professor Brooding’s office. Partly, this was because of the summons to do wedding planning, which felt like a delightful way to spend his evening, and filled him with soft and fuzzy feelings at being important enough to be included. There were lots of little things too… He had spoken up at the Teppenpaw meeting - he had said, in front of them, how he wanted to help with the concert by making things pretty. And no one had laughed, not to his face anyway, or done anything negative. Between that and submitting his art to the fair last year, he was allowing himself more and more to be himself, in public spaces that weren’t always safe or full of people he knew and trusted. And nothing terrible had happened. Maybe it would seem stupid to anyone else but to him it felt like a continuum… He could be brave, he could be himself. It was just a few steps from saying he wanted to make things pretty to a group of strangers to saying… saying things that were true and important but a bit uncomfortable and scary to his friends. He had been pondering Professor Brooding’s advice, and the advice he himself had given to Johana-Leonie. He had felt so crushed and lonely and anxious… And it felt like a lot of that was coming from how he was cutting himself off from his friends. And, ok, it didn’t make it easy, or stop it from being scary. It didn’t mean he’d taken the leap, or any of the possible leaps just yet but…. Somehow, it all felt a lot more possible than it had before.

He knocked on the door, letting himself in when invited, and greeting Professor Brooding and Ailuros cheerfully.

“I have for you,” he added, extending a small paper bat to the Kneazle. She sniffed it, looking slightly underwhelmed until, smiling, he tapped it with his wand and set it fluttering around the room. He beamed as the Kneazle chased it enthusiastically.

“Cookies will be good,” he replied happily. He was fifteen. He did not say ‘no’ to food. He inspected the selection of beverages and beverage receptacles. He wanted tea, of course, and Professor Brooding had, of course, provided a pot. It was accompanied by plain, school mugs, and he decided to further interpret her question of anything missing by improving on the chinaware a little. The school mugs were larger than the small, handleless ones in his own teaset, but he had grown accustomed enough to drinking out of them during functional school times, when he didn’t feel like risking his own set. Still, even if he was keeping the shape, he could make them… a little more him. He muttered, tapping one of the mugs, and making a little line drawing of a rabbit appear. It began to hop happily around, pausing to sniff the air every now and then. Dorian filled the newly decorated cup with jasmine tea and took a seat in one of the squishy chairs, feeling very at home. And he was. This was the Being Himself Place.

“What is the plan? Well, the plan is to plan. What is the plan for the planning?” he asked chirpily, amused by the way the words fell into each other.

13 Dorian All things seem possible 1401 Dorian 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

February 23, 2019 11:28 PM

Indeed, I do believe they are! by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary couldn't help smiling both at Dorian and Ailuros both as they greeted each other with affection. They both seemed so happy and in the case of the former, that wasn't a very common sight. Mary was even more pleased when Dorian expressed a preference on the matter of food and she obliged by summoning snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate mint cookies, molasses cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies (a severely underestimated treat), and a few other varieties from the kitchens before turning back to her young friend.

When Dorian changed one of the teacups, Mary stared at him just shy of open-mouthed for a moment. She was no charms or transfiguration professor, but she suspected either of them would be proud. "That's very good, Dorian," she said, watching the rabbit. "Very very good." She felt very like a professor then, and was reminded for a moment of the weight of a role in education.

Shaking her head, she reoriented herself to Dorian's question, providing a smirk in acknowledgment of his chirping word play. Mary sat in one of the other two seats, which was not quite across from Dorian as the three seats were set up so that she, Tabitha, and Dorian could all sit together equally. For now, Ailuros seemed torn between Dorian's lap, and the open seat.

"Lots to figure out," Mary said, her sarcastically doom-and-gloom tone undermined by her smile. She was far too excited to play about this. "Tabitha and I-- do you prefer I call her Professor Hawthorne? The two of us were discussing some plans and I wanted to see what you thought. For one, she's lousy at some of these things and I wanted a second opinion."

Waving her wand, Mary opened the doors of a closet at the other side of the room. From when, three gowns emerged, floating as if they were suspended on invisible mannequins, and stopping near Dorian for his consideration. The first was in a more traditional Indian style, the way her mother would've been adorned for her own wedding.

It was red, with gold and silver embroidered leaves and flowers magically charmed to move as if under the influence of a light breeze. Mary was pleased that they were anatomically correct of several of her own store of ingredients.

The second was more traditional of what her father's mother would've worn: a plain white dress with a high collar and buttoned sleeves. It was very much like most of the other dresses Mary frequented, besides the traditional bridal color.

The last was her attempt to combine the two. "I thought you might have an eye for this," Mary said, nodding at his teacup. "I tried to make it but it's not a skill I have much of and defensive magic rarely lends to tailoring." She'd thought to ask the Deputy Headmistress' help with transferring the gown but decided that would just be too awkward for them both. Or wonderful. Maybe she'd still ask.

The gown had a simple creamy white skirt, but the embroidery from the first dress appeared here as well, now in red and goal embroidery. The bodice was a deeper red, separated by a simple gold bead belt, and a wide open neckline. The sleeves were buttoned with white clasps and the back of the dress was more open than the others, leaving with a clasp for a red and white train to extend from the middle.

"What do you think?" Mary asked.

OOC - Sort of what I'm trying to go for:

1)

http://www.yeors.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/best-traditional-indian-wedding-dresses-for-bride-735x400.jpg

2) https://i.pinimg.com/originals/57/e8/06/57e806d71ae2ed4439ea9371db1fa144.jpg

3) https://i.pinimg.com/236x/69/36/67/693667bbab71ff280520d36accd43fdb--red-wedding-dresses-wedding-dressses.jpg?b=t

22 Professor Mary Brooding Indeed, I do believe they are! 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Dorian

February 24, 2019 9:11 AM

And beautiful by Dorian

“Thank you,” Dorian replied, looking down at his cup when Professor Brooding complimented him. It wasn’t anything that impressive, not really. And he half wanted to say that. But only half. And even though he was looking away, he also looked pleased. He turned his attention to the cookies, pulling out a couple of the oatmeal ones because their flavour wouldn’t overwhelm the delicate jasmine of his tea.

“However you and she prefer,” he answered, when she asked if she should keep referring to Professor Hawthorne as Professor Hawthorne. It was sort of weird to hear their personal names being used, but he supposed if he could accept that teachers were real flesh and blood humans who did things like fall in love and get married, he could also accept that they had names. He sort of felt like it might be odd either way… They might feel uncomfortable using their names in front of a student, but equally it was probably odd to refer to each other the way students would. But he didn’t know which would make them least uncomfortable because he wasn’t in their heads. It made more sense to leave it up to them. Obviously, he would be continuing to refer to and address them both as ‘Professor’ but no one had suggested otherwise on that front, and the thought of calling any adult by their personal name was so alien to him that the thought didn’t even cross his mind. His parents always referred to friends’ parents the way he should think of them, even if his parents were on first name terms with them. It was very odd to hear Professor Brooding talk so informally, as if a child wasn’t present. But that was sort of nice… His professors definitely weren’t his parents, and he wasn’t a child anyway - he was fifteen and helping plan a wedding, and it was sort of nice to be reminded of that, and to be included in something so grown up.

He wasn’t sure how seriously to take her serious tone. He suspected it was a joke because she was smiling but he was fairly sure weddings could be incredibly hard work things to plan. He had heard passing references to seating plans being enough to reduce people to tears, and serious divisions between bride and future in-laws over flower choices. It could be serious stuff.

He gave a little squeal of excitement when potential wedding dresses came flying out of the closet though. And she thought he would be good at editing them, and making choices about them. That wasn’t supposed to be a thing boys were good at, but he rather thought he might be too, and he was pleased that she had noticed the sort of person he was, however much he tried to keep it quiet sometimes, and that she valued it. He set aside his tea (the cookies were gone already) and bounced happily to his feet, openly admiring the pretty things and looking thrilled at being invited to play with them.

“Yes, this I can do,” he beamed happily, “I have helped to design many wedding dress,” he assured her,, “Of course most are for…” he stopped, completely at a dead end, as sometimes happened when he went to find an English word and found a hole instead. It happened a lot with things that were strongly associated with home, or with time spent in China. “The… person toys,” he explained, “For girls. And the hugging toys - different animals in… in hugging style,” he floundered, miming squeezing something small to his chest, “I make little weddings with my sister and our toys when we are small,” he clarified, deciding it would be easier to explain plainly given that he was missing half the words. A year ago he might have said ‘to amuse my sister’ or ‘my sister often requests me…’ But no, he had played weddings very happily, often it had been his own idea to, and he did not need to pretend otherwise.

“This is the best way,” he decided, indicating the third dress, “Because it’s all of you, not just one part. But… maybe there are other ways to do that. They are… practising ones?” he asked. This experience most echoed his visits to China, where his grandparents would call the tailors in to fit them with outfits for their visit. He knew the model garments one got - adjustable, to a certain point, customisable by the patron. They could play with the patterns, with the cuts, to demonstrate what they wanted, or to try out ideas. And those would fade after a few hours. Sometimes because the prototypes were charmed not to hold the design any longer - they were a tool for communicating ideas, not the final product - but also because people’s transfigurations didn’t always hold long-term, especially in a field that they were unfamiliar with. That was where tailors came in handy - yes, you could mess around with the hemline of a dress, or the pattern of a fabric, you could put a fancy enchantment on it to make things move - but could you guarantee your spellwork would hold for a whole social function? And, if you didn’t properly understand the cuts of the garment, moving the waistline here or there might make it fit you rather ill without you knowing how to fix it. And just how fine was your embroidery? You could probably convey the idea, but then they could do it right. They could do it in a way which would sing - quite literally, if you required it, though that was fairly vulgar. Which also tied in to the other great function of tailors; some people just had awful taste. And then the tailors’ job was to take their suggestions and bring them together in a way that took what the client thought they wanted and made it something not appalling.

Receiving Professor Brooding’s nod that he was, indeed working with prototypes, not attacking designer couture pieces, he began to play, calling on her for occasional help where his ideas exceeded his skills.

His first thought was to split the final dress more distinctly, recreating the short but beautifully embellished top from the first piece and separating out the flowing white Western skirt. But they looked strange as a combination, and even throwing various sashes around them didn’t help. He undid it. He turned his attention to the middle dress, wondering whether using that as a starting point and embellishing it would work better. It was somehow more Professor Brooding-like in its cut and style, it was just the colour.

“Imagine if you start with one but gradually it changes,” he mused, trying to cast a slow effect colour change charm on the white gown. The red blossomed out from the chest, and he realised that maybe that idea was going to be a non-starter unless Professor Brooding wanted to seem like she’d been hit with a severing charm halfway down the aisle. Unconventional as this wedding was in a lot of ways, he doubted that was the desired effect. “Maybe not,” he admitted, getting rid of the red. The thought of it going the other way, of all the colour being stripped away to leave her in a plain white dress, was just so obviously wrong that they weren’t going to be considering that.

“Or we have here the top of one, skirt of the other,” he gestured to the third dress, “How is it with the opposite?” he queried, trying to mimic the fabric from the first dress on the skirt of the second. He made a face. “Too… abrupt?” he gestured at the disparate halves. He put it back to white, and trailed his wand over the large, flowing skirt, scattering little trails of roughly embroidered flowers, or swathes of red, trying to work out whether it didn’t look right because he couldn’t reproduce the fineness of the fabric or because he was getting the wrong arrangements in the wrong places.

“You have magazines?” he asked. “Maybe I can steal ideas.”

13 Dorian And beautiful 1401 Dorian 0 5

Mary Brooding

February 24, 2019 5:37 PM

And messy. by Mary Brooding

Dorian's happiness was contagious, and Mary sipped her own tea happily as he chattered. "My brother and I used to play with dolls," she told him, not entirely sure if that's what he meant, but hoping it would be nice to know that he wasn't the only brother who learned to enjoy make believe. Her brother had been very small, of course, but that didn't matter; Parker would have enjoyed today's activity as much as Dorian was now.

She watched as he considered different options, agreeing wholeheartedly with his decisions as he worked. When he asked for magazines, she set her cup down eagerly and obliged.

"I've been trying to keep these places that Tabitha can see and might tell me what she likes, but so far it hasn't helped any. I think she's doing it on purpose." Holding out the first magazine, an Indian bridal style one, she tapped the front with her wand. The first prototype transformed, as it was meant to, and cycled through the various options in the book that she had reasonably liked. A second magazine, with traditional western styles, came next, and Mary did the same thing.

"I don't have a guide for the third one, that was something I've just sort of been playing with. The tailor gave me a blank prototype to work with, but it responds to either or both magazines. You can also just look at the pictures if that's easier."

She watched Dorian's face for a moment while she considered his words. "If it helps you decide at all, keep in mind that the wedding is over winter break, so it'll be sort of snowy and a little Christmasy. I don't want to look too much like I'm art of a group of carolers," she said, thinking of how irritatingly suitable a red themed dress was. "I wanted to talk to you about that as well."

She was making a point of keeping her voice even, which was less difficult than she expected. Torn between nerves about the forthcoming conversation, and general excitement about the forthcoming event, it was fairly easy to land someplace in the middle. She spoke slowly, carefully, wanting to make sure she had time to think of the right words to say and to make sure that Dorian caught them all, no matter what went through his head.

"I think you know that students can't just leave Sonora during the school year, right? You must get parents' permission for off-campus activities most of the time. Well, I won't be your teacher over winter break exactly, but I still can't just take you away without parental permission. I could lose my job," she added, frowning a bit at the thought. She wanted him to understand that it was very important, albeit inconvenient. "Tabitha and I are happy to mind you while you're there. You're big enough now that you hardly need it, but that's an option. You're also welcome to bring a parent or someone else if you'd like." She smiled a bit at this last part, desperately hoping he'd bring Jehan.

"I wanted your help," she admitted, feeling vulnerable. "Dorian, the wedding is in Greece. That's where we sort of got engaged and it seemed fitting. All the transportation and safety is arranged, that's easy. But I don't want to say anything wrong and make things more difficult for you at home. Would you help me write to your family?"

For a moment, Mary hesitated. She was pretty sure it was inappropriate to just adopt mostly grown children who already had parents, but she would've been perfectly happy to just keep Dorian. Which sounded weird in her head, so she stopped thinking that. She reached out and put a hand on his arm, smiling very softly at him. "If that's too much, that's okay. This is a celebration, right? If you aren't sure that it will be good to talk to your family, we will have a celebration just for people at Sonora who'd like to come."

She hoped the dread in her stomach didn't show on her face. There was no pity there, and no fear. She even managed to keep concern out of her eyes. Dorian was practically an adult, and she reminded herself of that as she kept a level gaze with him, expressing all the selfish desire to have this very special boy at her wedding. She hoped beyond hope that it would be okay.

22 Mary Brooding And messy. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Dorian

February 25, 2019 7:17 AM

No. No, I don't like that one by Dorian

CW: anxiety about coming out to family\r\n\r\n“No!” Dorian exclaimed, when Professor Brooding mentioned leaving the magazines around for Tab- Professor Hawthorne to see. “You cannot let her to see them! Or these,” he gestured at the gowns, “It is bad luck for-” he was about to say ‘le marié’ or ‘xīnláng’ and again lacked the English word (the closest he could think was ‘husband’ and he knew that wasn’t right - that was what someone was after the wedding) and anyway, none of those applied to Professor Hawthorne, “- to seeing it before the wedding,” he clumsily corrected.

“Okay, maybe you do many things differently, and not believe that but… Don’t you want a surprise for her? You’re going to look special and different, and still like you,” he gestured to the mixed dress, “but… like a best ever version, that she could never have imagined. Don’t you want to see her face when she sees how you look? How can you if you already showed her? Promise - dresses are for us now, and they are secrets.”

He happily accepted the magazines from her, flicking through the pages, excited to find the perfect idea, or combination of ideas (and hello, very handsome looking groom on one of their arms!). The words ‘winter break’ caught his attention and he stopped flicking, although he peered intently at the design of a particularly ugly ruffled dress as if he was busy considering it. She had not used a determiner. Did that just mean… general winter break? She had not said ‘a’ but she had not said ‘the’ or ‘this.’ Winter break was soon. Too soon. People didn’t plan weddings that fast.

“Right,” he replied cautiously, flicking through to look for winter ideas. I wanted to talk to you about that as well. He turned slightly at the serious, even tone, so much in contrast to the happy voices they’d been using before. He wanted to ask if everything was alright because it suddenly felt like it was about to not be very alright at all. But she started speaking first, and he wasn’t sure where her sentences were going, and he turned back to the magazine, looking for a distraction whilst he listened intently, waiting to hear if this was good news or, as he was becoming increasingly anxious that it was about to be, bad news. Winter. Winter, winter, winter… He jabbed at the middle dress, making a little fur stole appear around its shoulders. It was quivering slightly, giving the impression that an alive but nervous animal had been draped around the dress’s shoulders. Red. They needed red. And patterns. He froze, his wand pointing at the chest of the dress, at the words ‘parental permission.’ And the words just kept coming, unrolling in a sickening sort of slow motion.

Greece. They were all just… going to go to Greece. And he had to write to his family. Tell her how to write to his family. About going to Greece. About going to a non-society wedding. In Greece. A non-society wedding between two women. In Greece.

After accepting the invite to be a part of Professor Brooding’s wedding, it had crossed his mind how he would actually manage it. The best option he had come up with was not really telling his parents. He was not a fan of this plan. He was a terrible liar, and he also did not like to lie. It was not good and respectful (and nor was wanting to marry a boy but that just meant he had to do everything else better to make up for it, make there be a chance of them forgiving him - be good, be dutiful, get straight Os). So, lying was a last resort. He thought maybe he could bring up the fact that Professor Brooding was engaged during the holidays, and that she was considering having some students at her wedding. Just to test the water. See how his mother reacted. He wanted to make there be a chance at doing the right thing, doing it the right way, see if she totally shut him down on the idea, see if he could keep wheedling… He did not, as a rule, manipulate his mother. It was wrong and he had never needed to. But he had seen Émilie work a sulk to get her way. He had studied a master for her whole life. He was pretty sure he could wear his mother down on letting him go to a non-society event. He just had to hope that she didn’t ask too many other questions along the way. About who Professor Brooding was marrying. Because there was that aforementioned issue of Dorian being a terrible liar. At least Chinese was on his side because the pronouns were gender neutral. He had thought about it. He had thought about it a few times, and then tried to push it out of his head. Because it felt awfully like skating on thin ice to bring his mother that close to That Subject. And anyway. It was far away. Weddings took ages to plan.

He flinched slightly when she touched him. And he realised that the dress was, for want of a better word, sort of… melting.

“Sorry,” he said, snapping to slightly. Everything still felt wrong though. He needed more words. Specifically, the words that conveyed just how great that all was. That that was all great and fine. He… he had melted a dress. That was rude. He was not allowed to not be fine. This was someone else’s wedding. A wedding he had promised to go to. He opened his mouth to say something. He found his words were missing, again. I can’t were the first ones that were coming to mind. But… but he had promised already that he would, that he would be there for her. He couldn’t take it back, and he didn’t want to. But… but she was going to write to his mother.

What if he couldn’t avoid the subject of who Professor Brooding was marrying? What if his mother found out? They were back to every single one of his worst case scenarios. He might have to hear exactly what his mother thought of that sort of thing. And he wasn’t ready. He had ruled out Professor Brooding’s previous suggestion of never telling her. He knew he had to, at some point. But maybe… like, when he was seventeen. When he no longer had to stay there if it turned out that his mother couldn’t love him any more. Not when she could pull him out of Sonora if she didn’t think the staff or his friends there were an appropriate influence. And now she was saying that she was going to write to his mother and open up the subject of all the things he couldn’t talk to her about. Why would she do that to him?

She wouldn’t.

She had not said this winter break.

She had said he never had to talk to people about things he didn’t want to.

This was all happening somewhere far off in the future.

Anything else was just silly.

He was silly.

Dorian laughed slightly. He almost relaxed. He almost returned to the happy, joking person who had been playing with wedding dresses. But there was still a tension in his smile.

“I… For a moment, I thought you meant this winter break. But you don’t. That’s… that’s not possible. Weddings take longer than that to plan,” he stated, with a surprising amount of certainty for a fifteen year old boy. And also a hint of desperation. “Weddings take longer. And going to Greece. And mothers. They all take longer.”

13 Dorian No. No, I don't like that one 1401 Dorian 0 5

Mary Brooding

February 25, 2019 4:36 PM

So I thought. by Mary Brooding

"I won't let her see," Mary promised, smiling. "The dresses will be our secret and I think they are a very good secret. Tabitha will be surprised and we both will get to see it."

It was nice to talk like this, until things quickly went awry. Melting dresses were hardly a good sign and she was heartbroken to think that he was scared enough to make that happen. It had been a long time since she'd had a slip of accidental magic, and she hoped that moment wouldn't change that.

"I do mean this winter break," she said quietly. "We've been engaged since June. That's been plenty of time."

Mary and Tabitha had talked about this of course. There were things that Mary did not share with Tabitha regarding Dorian as her student, simply because that was inappropriate, but she didn't have to. Tabitha understood. More than that, Tabitha trusted her; if Mary was leaving something out, there was a reason. It was enough simply to say that she suspected Dorian's family would not be comfortable with the situation. Mary didn't have to say why. They had talked about options and the truth was that none of them seemed good.

This was Mary's least favorite part of wedding planning. A day that was meant to be a celebration of two souls coming together was almost always a celebration for everyone else. And how could it be for everyone else? If they had a private wedding at Sonora that Dorian could attitude, Selina would likely be less than pleased, Tabitha's family couldn't come, Darius and Evangeline would only maybe be able to come . . . but if they had it in Greece, then maybe Dorian couldn't come? A wedding should never be the cause of pain for so many other people. It also shouldn't cause pain for those getting married, but that almost seemed inevitable. She was asking a 15-year-old boy to walk her down the aisle because she simply had no one else; beautiful as that was, it was hard to forget that it was also tragic and sad.

"That's part of why we wanted to talk to you," Mary said, smiling. Her mind was made up and she knew Tabitha would be supportive. Dorian would be coming to this wedding. "We thought you might have some good ideas, because we don't know what to do. You know me fairly well," she said, keeping her tone light and easy. She made a show of taking a drink of her tea and taking a bite of a cookie. She was the picture of calm. "We want to get married this winter break. If you were planning a wedding for us, what would you do?"

The thought crossed her mind suddenly that Dorian might think he'd misunderstood everything. That he was crazy. He wasn't crazy. Mary wanted to scream at this whole situation.

"You being there is . . . well not most important, I think Tabitha's attendance is mandatory," she laughed. "But it matters to me. I thought this might be hard for you and I don't want a wedding to be a source of unease for anyone. So Tabitha and I wanted to make this something we could all enjoy. She and I, you, the others . . . it's important." She'd thought to add names to the list for sake of specificity but wasn't sure this was the time to start calling Professor Taransay by his first name too. Dorian might explode. Or the prototypes might.

"Do you need to take a minute?"

22 Mary Brooding So I thought. 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Tabitha Hawthorne

February 25, 2019 5:48 PM

I'm late, I'm late for... wedding planning? by Tabitha Hawthorne

Tabitha was running very late. She had lost track of time, too busy with marking the absolute mountain of homework that she had been putting off and ignoring. She had been holed up in her quarters, drinking copious amounts of coffee and hastily scribbling notes across essays and quizzes. By the time she had realised what the time was, she was already late. Lately, her life just seemed so busy and full and it was becoming harder and harder to keep track of where she was supposed to be and how long she had between one appointment and then another. The other day, she had barely remembered that she was supposed to meet Mary for lunch.

It was the blasted wedding planning that was causing the Defence professor issues. There were so many things that seemed to require her opinion from colour schemes to flowers to what she was going to wear. Wouldn't it be enough to simply show up? What did all of the other stuff matter? All she needed for the perfect wedding day was Mary and she was pretty sure that Mary was going to be there. Everything else was just... extra. She had tried to explain this to Darius but he had berated her in a lengthy letter about not showing enough enthusiasm and would she for God sake start taking an interest? Was it too late to elope?

She hurried through the corridors, running a hand through her short hair and trying to make herself look somewhat more presentable though her hands were covered in ink stains and she had somehow managed to slosh coffee down part of her shirt in her haste to leave her rooms. She would have used her wand but Charms were not her strong suit and Tabitha was pretty sure she'd just make everything worse. She doubted Mary would mind though. She was pretty sure that her future wife was used to seeing her in these messed up states.

The Potion professor's only warning that Tabitha had arrived was the hurried knock the woman made on her door and it just enough for her to whisk the dresses back into their hiding place in the closet. Tabitha entered with an embarrassed smile and an apology ready on her lips.

"Sorry I'm lat-"

Dorian. Tabitha had forgotten about him. Her mouth was still open but the sentence had long since died and her eyes flicked from Dorian to Mary to Ailuros (who seemed to hold a critical look in her eyes as she looked at her mistress) and then down at herself and her coffee-stained shirt and ink marked hands. Well, this was mortifying. She tried very hard not to blush. It probably wasn't very professional to appear in such an unkempt state in front of a student. Then again, Tabitha doubted that she was known as a particularly professional teacher.

"I was in a rush and I-" she sighed and the rest of excuse faded to nothing. "Sorry I'm late."

20 Tabitha Hawthorne I'm late, I'm late for... wedding planning? 1417 Tabitha Hawthorne 0 5

Dorian

February 25, 2019 8:28 PM

We've got things under control by Dorian

They had been engaged since June. It was plenty of time. Maybe it was for them, and their plans. But it was almost November now. And they needed things from him. And it wasn't much time at all.

And then she was asking what he would do. And saying he came... somewhere close to the top of the list. And it didn't sound like she was talking about Greece any more. But she had said something about travel arrangements being made already, and about choosing to come or not if it was too much pressure.

She asked if he needed a minute. He still thought he needed several months or possibly years. A minute was a good start though. Possibly he could get some of the questions in his head in order, work out how to ask them... He managed to get in a brief nod before there was a knock on the door.

Professor Brooding swished her wand, sending everything back into the closet. Does she know? was the first thought that crossed Dorian's mind as Professor Hawthorne came in. He trusted Professor Brooding not to spill his secrets, she had always said she wouldn't... But now they were all tangled up in this together. What was it safe to say in front of her? Or rather, what was already not a secret? He didn't really want to talk to her about his problems, but his problems were clearly a central feature of this whole discussion. He didn't want to tiptoe around things she already knew but nor did he really want to have to explain anything...

She seemed surprised to see him. He managed to mumble 'Good evening, Professor Hawthorne' politely, in a volume just loud enough to be heard but appropriate to the fact that she sort of wasn't expecting him and the ideal thing would just be for him to become part of the furniture whilst she got herself settled. He stepped back from the empty space where the wedding dresses had been, leaning on the desk.

"What things are fixed?" he asked Professor Brooding, once it seemed like his turn to speak again, trying to focus on solid, practical information instead of the issues of his home life. "You said something about travel arrangements being made but then... then it sounded like maybe not? I mean... what date will it be? Or...dates?" In some cultures, weddings spanned multiple days. And there was also the 'in Greece' element, if that was happening. You didn't just pop to Greece for an afternoon. Well, he supposed you could but it sounded a bit much, especially as there was such a time difference. They wouldn't want everyone yawning and half asleep throughout their wedding. "Ah, Maugris," he muttered, as he remembered something - something unpleasant that he kept trying to push out but which kept coming back to bother him. "It is my brother's birthday. His seventeenth so it's going to be a really big deal with a huge party," he said, in tones of the utmost unenthusiasm. He found himself half wishing the wedding would clash with it so he'd have an excuse to avoid Matthieu's birthday but if he was put in that position, he knew there would be absolutely no question from his parents of which one he was going to miss. It would only make the party even more bitter if he knew he was missing out on something he actually wanted to be at. As if being forced to celebrate Matthieu being allowed to use magic at home, and the holiday that was bound to follow, weren't bad enough... Perhaps running away to Greece for the rest of the vacation wasn't such a bad idea... "My parents won't allow me to miss it," he added.

13 Dorian We've got things under control 1401 Dorian 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

February 25, 2019 10:49 PM

Absolutely! by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary greeted Tabitha with a salacious expression - one she quickly turned into something more appropriately loving - as she whisked the dresses out of sight. Not sure how Dorian would feel about their usual greetings, Mary settled for tapping the seat next to her and smiling happily at her fiancee.

"Don't worry," Mary said. "It's always lovely to see you, and this gave Dorian and me the chance to discuss wedding secrets." She passed the boy a wink before offering her blushing bride a cookie and some tea. The blush was probably because she'd been grading papers, but she still looked cute.

As Dorian sought clarification, Mary watched his face screw up. She wished she'd spent a bit more time preparing him for this time with Tabitha. Mary was sure he was worried because she'd be worried if she were him. How to reassure him though? Tabitha would play along, undoubtedly, but she didn't want to bank too heavily on anything in that regard.

"Well, Tabitha and I have talked a little bit," Mary said to Dorian, glancing up at the other witch to make sure they were on the same page. "The things that are fixed are that we are going to get married, and . . " And that was mostly it. Mary was sure there would be a high society event with Tabitha's family afterwards, so there was no real concern in that regard. "And that the people we love should be there. Am I missing anything?" she asked Tabitha.

She considered what she'd said with some trepidation. It wasn't very long ago that she'd thought she'd never love anyone. Was that normal?

"When's Matthew's birthday?"

22 Professor Mary Brooding Absolutely! 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5

Professor Tabitha Hawthorne

February 26, 2019 5:45 AM

Oh, good. I'll just drink my tea then. by Professor Tabitha Hawthorne

Tabitha settled comfortably into the seat next to Mary, crossing one leg over the other and accepted the hot cup of tea and biscuit. She returned Mary's smile with a slight one of her own, before turning her attention to Dorian. She was never quite sure how to behave around her students outside of the classroom but Tabitha seemed fortunate enough that she didn't really have to until it came to Dorian. It was clear that Mary had a soft spot for the boy which was sweet and endearing to Tabitha but the Defence professor still had no idea how to behave around him. It was perhaps a little weird that he was going to be walking Mary down the aisle but that was what Mary wanted and Dorian seemed to be a good kid so Tabitha supposed that she didn't have any complaints, really.

"Evening, Dorian," she greeted him though calling him by his first name felt odd. She'd only ever addressed him as 'Mr Montoir' but given that he was helping Mary to plan their wedding, that was perhaps too formal. "I'm glad that Mary found someone to rope into making wedding plans. I've been rather terrible on that front."

Tabitha decided that she was going to let Mary dominate and steer the discussion between the three of them. This seemed sensible because she knew there were things that Mary hadn't told her about Dorian and that Dorian would rather his Defence professor not know - which was fine. Tabitha had enough things to worry about. That perhaps sounded a bit heartless but she also knew that the boy's wellbeing and interests were being looked after by Mary and that her future wife would take care of them wonderfully. She also trusted Mary completely. The Potions professor always had a reason for doing something so the best tactic here was to speak when spoken to and otherwise, let the pair of them chat and plan to their heart's content.

"Not at all," she confirmed when Mary asked about other arrangements. "Admittedly, all the arrangements are a bit up in the air..."

Tabitha frowned a little at the tone of voice coming from Dorian as he spoke about his seemingly required attendance to his brother's birthday. He didn't sound pleased or excited and wondered what that was about. Dorian didn't seem like the type to harbour jealousy over the fact that his older brother would be legally classed as an adult and be able to perform magic outside of whatever magical institution he attended. Was something more than that going on? Her eyes flicked to Mary for a moment before she said, "We can try and make sure that the dates don't clash... We don't have a fixed date so our wedding is really rather flexible in that regard."

20 Professor Tabitha Hawthorne Oh, good. I'll just drink my tea then. 1417 Professor Tabitha Hawthorne 0 5

Dorian

February 26, 2019 7:27 AM

I mean.... some ideas might be helpful? Or... any structure? by Dorian

Dorian was quite surprised to hear Professor Brooding use his brother’s name (he discounted the fact she had Westernised as just being… how it sounded in her accent). He supposed he must have mentioned it, when they were doing the introductory details, but it was unlikely to have been above once. He made very scant appearances in the conversation, and was usually just ‘my brother’ when he did. Émilie was clearly a character in Dorian’s life, with a name, a life, agency - the writer of letters, the player of games, a do-er of things. His brother, occasionally, existed.

“Seventeenth. He is seventeen on seventeenth December,” he expanded, to make it clear there had been no misunderstanding of the question, nor miscommunication of the idea before.

The rest was confusing. He sort of thought they had gone from saying it was definitely Midterm, and there were provisional travel arrangements to Greece made, to saying there wasn’t really any of anything. He supposed he had misunderstood something along the way. He had to admit that he liked this new version, where people weren’t telling him that he had to write to his mother right now to explain how he was going to a wedding between two women in Greece in six weeks, a lot better.

It was what they wanted though. He understood that. And therefore that was still supposed to be what happened…

“Ok. So… You don’t have a venue or… anything. And you might write to all the venues and the wedding people and find out they are busy already?” he asked, “Sorry,” he added, realising a rather unfair note of optimism had crept into his voice. But it seemed like quite a likely possibility. But then…. What did they do first? Did you write to potential venues and check your dates but then have to possibly tell them you didn’t want it after all? That seemed like the sort of thing that would annoy people. But equally, he didn’t want to dive straight into asking his mother if there was a chance that this wasn’t a pressing concern.

“So… do you write to them and find out if it can happen? But then if… other things can’t be ready in time, then…?” he wasn’t sure what happened then. If there was a perfect wedding in Greece that really could happen in six weeks but without him, would they really change their plans? That didn’t seem likely. “Or… or we need to work out… other stuff first?” He was also not sure why he was trying to work this out because there were two actual grown ups here, and this was the sort of thing he thought grown ups were supposed to know how to handle. He still half expected them to jump back to version a, where it was all very definite, because it seemed impossible that real grown ups - and not just any grown ups, but teachers, who showed up every day with planned out lessons, who were in charge of his education, and whom he assumed had some big overarching concept of how him knowing all the things he needed to know got achieved in a neat seven year timescale - could have so very little in the way of an actual plan about something as big and important as a wedding. “What is supposed to be next?”

13 Dorian I mean.... some ideas might be helpful? Or... any structure? 1401 Dorian 0 5

Professor Mary Brooding

February 28, 2019 2:19 AM

Ungh. by Professor Mary Brooding

Mary considered Tabitha and Dorian with equal care. She was pretty sure that Tabitha's preference would be a courthouse wedding, and Dorian's preference would be the biggest, most extravagant, and least announced affair possible. She wasn't really sure what she wanted. She wanted to see these two smiling faces at her wedding as she vowed her eternal devotion to the most incredible person she'd ever encountered. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

Tabitha's confirmation that their plans were up in the air gave Mary room to breathe. She knew that Tabitha trusted her, but it was good to hear that they were on the same page regardless. Validation was key. Dorian also seemed excited by this prospect, although possibly for different reasons.

"How about I start with explaining what we've decided so far, and talk about which things are flexible and which things aren't very flexible?" Mary suggested, spreading her hands across her skirts to straighten them as if this little bit of order would make the rest of her presentation neat as well. She glanced to her fiancee for encouragement and smiled at the woman's face. It was, after all, a pretty cute face. "Chime in with anything that comes to mind; you're the brains of the operation.

"We have close friends in Greece, who have accommodations available for us as a venue. So the venue is already available for whenever we'd like to use it. Portkeys, the floo network, apparation, all of that is easy once the destination is decided. The gentleman of the couple is also ordained and will be marrying us, so that's easy as well." Mary counted off the facts on her fingers, and stopped when she realized she might only have three.

"We have a short guest list," she added. "Like . . . less than fifteen people I think . . " She wondered whether that was accurate, but she couldn't think of anyone else than herself and Tabitha, Dorian, Tabitha's mother and father, Darius and Evangeline, Rory, and maybe a few others like Virginia and her children. There weren't many people in Mary's collection of friends, and Tabitha's social circle had mostly been her parents' doing for so long that Mary doubted she really cared about most of them. "So that makes food and things easy. The dress," she gestured at the closet, now notably shut, "and the date," she gestured at Tabitha and Dorian as if they represented the entire set of Concerns About the Calendar, "and the exact location are flexible. Greece is important to us, but just as much as a theme as a place. We'll honeymoon there regardless."

Mary sat back, feeling a bit exhausted. Was that really all they'd done? Was there more to be sorted?

"Did I miss anything? Did I get anything Wrong?" she asked Tabitha, feeling self-conscious. "I don't mean to be leading this thing like a bull." Mary bit her lip a bit, nervous about whether she'd said anything to upset her bride-to-be, until she remembered that Dorian was a student and seeing her vulnerable nervous fiancee side was maybe inappropriate. Ah, whatever.

"Can either of you think of anything I'm forgetting?" she asked to include Dorian. "We want it to be over Christmas break, but the date is very flexible, as Tabitha said, and we can maybe be flexible with other details as necessary." She felt like she was repeating herself. Was she repeating herself? She snapped her mouth shut.

Suddenly, the fact that she had no mother to help with these things seemed very much on the forefront of her mind. She hated to think that their actions might cause Dorian to lose that connection with his own mother. Not for the first time these past few months, her head felt very much as if she were small, trapped inside it, and screaming through her own ears. She focused on her drink and waved her wand for a decanter of cold water as well.

22 Professor Mary Brooding Ungh. 1424 Professor Mary Brooding 0 5