Marissa Duell
September 10, 2020 10:56 AM
Good news for Valentine. by Marissa Duell
The owl fluttered into the Cascade Hall along with all the other morning mail owls, pride alone keeping him from allowing his eyelids to cringe away from the shine of the sunlight. He had a mission, after all, and needed to perform it with dignity.The human was one small human among a group of humans of various sizes, though they were more equal in size (and thus somewhat harder to tell apart) when they were seated. Nevertheless, the owl found the correct human and landed before her, fluttering his wings slightly with pride as he proffered his leg and the small roll of parchment tied to it. On the outside, the word Valentine was written in neat script. On the inside, there was a letter.
Dear Valentine,
Good news! Aunt Giselle is at home again.
She’s said that she’s looking forward to one of your hugs and that she wants to stay with us for a while. The bad news is that she is very sick right now, though she will get better, and should be much better by the time you get home for the summer. You can write to her if you want to, since she has a spell which reads papers out loud for her; I’m sure she’d like a cheerful letter about what things are like at Sonora and what you’re up to and everything, since she missed you too.
Papa and I are also doing well and are very happy to have her home as well. Everything is a little confused around the house right now but we are all working it out and it will all work out in the end. Pop-Pop sends all his love as well; he won at golf last weekend with his old partners from his practice and we have been bragging on him a lot. Write soon!
Love, Mama
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Marissa Duell
Good news for Valentine.
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Valentine Duell
September 10, 2020 5:58 PM
That is Awesome!! [Tag Philippe] by Valentine Duell
The end of the year was approaching way to quickly for Valentine. There was so much stuff to do yet. There were the charity events for the fair, there was gaming club things to do, also somewhere in there was some learning things as well. It was actually one of those things that prompted her to sit down for breakfast with Philippe. One of the end of the year school things was their jackelope project for Care of Magical Creatures. Bunhorn was doing okay... but she wasn't talking a lot. Valentine talked a lot to her about all sorts of things; school and home and friends and family and far away places and stories she'd heard and games she'd played and lots more. It didn't seem to be working though.Since Heliotrope seemed to be doing fantastic, she was going to see if she could get any more tips out of Philippe. She smiled at him as she sat next to him and began loading up her plate with breakfast foods. "Hi Philippe!" She started off cheerily, but before she could say much more, the morning mail delivery came swooping through the hall. One especially impressive looking owl stopped in front of her and offered a letter. She gave the owl a grateful smile as she took the letter, then she gave it a treat before sending it on its way again. She exchanged letters enough with Mama to have treats on hand during breakfast.
A small feeling of sadness sat in her heart. Was this going to be another 'Sorry dear, no news yet.' letter? Why had Aunt Giselle abandoned them? Where was she? Should she have told Mama about Mrs. Bunhorn as a birthday present? Probably. Oops. Maybe there would be other news, she resignedly opened the parchment. Her eyes froze on the first sentence. "Woo-hoo!" she nearly shouted and threw her arms around Philippe. "She's home again! She's home again!" She waved the letter in his face excitedly before pulling away to actually read the rest of the letter.
"She wants hugs!" Valentine exclaimed "And she wants to stay!" that almost resulted in another hug for Philippe, but her eyes grew wide and worried, the emotion carried over into her voice. "She's sick? Oh no..." What had happened? "Mama says she'll get better though," she continued reading with a hopeful note now emerging, "She'll be better by summer." A wave of relief washed through her, "That's good, she'd better get better." She continued reading the rest of the paragraph then turned back to Philippe again, "What are some cheerful things that have happened here? I need to write her a letter to cheer her up." Her mind raced, what all could she put in a letter? She never heard back from the few she had tried to send while Aunt Giselle had vanished. Maybe she should thank her for sending Mrs. Bunhorn to her. Mrs. Bunhorn... that reminded her of something... what was it again? Oh well, if it was important she'd remember it later.
She finished reading the letter and giggled, "Pop-pop actually won at golf. Go Pop-pop!" She tucked the letter away. There was a lot to do there, but first things first. Breakfast and Philippe. She looked at the boy again with a smile, why had she wanted to talk to him again? Eh, didn't really matter. "So, have you had any exciting news from home lately?"
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Valentine Duell
That is Awesome!! [Tag Philippe]
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Philippe Delachene
September 10, 2020 6:57 PM
I have no idea why I am cheering. But I'm cheering! by Philippe Delachene
"Hey, Val!" Philippe greeted his Housemate as she sat down next to him for breakfast, grinning cheerfully. He'd sat down a few minutes earlier and French Toast had appeared in right front of him, which was his favorite breakfast food of all time, and he was taking it as good omen for a good day ahead.Before they could say much more than that, though, the morning owls arrived and Val got a letter. Philippe did not get a letter. But that was fine. He'd gotten one from Dad yesterday, and Grand-mère the day before that, so he hadn't really be expecting one, unless either Grandma Greer or Grandma Burbridge wrote, but they were much more sporadic about that sort of correspondence, as they were both muggles and didn't have owls quite so easily accessible. Which reminded him. he really should write to the Greers again soon. Grandma Greer liked hearing from him and usually already had a letter on hand to send back to him.
He thought these thoughts in the time it took for Val to open her envelope, but before he could make an actual note (rather than just the mental one, which was prone to getting lost), Val was cheering and he was being hugged.
He was surprised - startled was maybe the better word, because spontaneous hugs from Val were not unheard of - but recovered quickly enough to return the hug before she pulled away again and was back to reading her letter. Philippe didn't really have any idea who 'she' was, but he cheered her return anyway.
"Oh-no!" he commiserated when he was told she was sick, but then "Oh, good!" when Val added that she'd be well again by summer. He still had no idea who they were talking about. Apparently not a lost pet if Val was going to write to her.
"Go, Pop-Pop!" he cheered again as Val finished reading her letter.
Then he laughed when Val asked if he'd been given an exciting news from home lately. "Clearly not as exciting as yours," he admitted. "Maximus - Rapunzel's first foal - learned to fly this week, and it must be a good week to be a grandfather because my Grand-père beat Grand-mère in chess on Sunday. She's a bit cross at him for that. Says he was inciting mutiny in her pieces."
"And for good news to write to your sick friend who needs hugs, you could tell her the weather's getting nice again and you haven't gotten soaked playing Quidditch in days!" Anya had told him so last night at dinner, so he assumed it was true for Val as well.
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Philippe Delachene
I have no idea why I am cheering. But I'm cheering!
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Valentine Duell
September 11, 2020 7:13 PM
Cheering is good and fun, reasons are irrelevant! by Valentine Duell
"He did?" Valentine asked in response to Maximus' achievement, "That's great! He didn't hurt himself to much in the process, did he?" She asked with some concern. She wasn't sure what happened during that process, but a horse losing its concentration and falling back to the earth sounded a little dangerous. She was still a little unsure how she felt about flying horses as a whole. Horses were great, she loved them to pieces. But, she knew what birds could do to things on the ground below them. Did flying horses..? Not a mealtime topic to discuss."Congratulations to Grand-père!" She grinned and then looked around them conspiratorially. Leaning in close she nearly whispered, "Did he incite mutiny?" Then she giggled. "I tried the last time I played against Papa, it wasn't very successful. I still lost." She put on a playfully grumpy face. "My pieces wouldn't know a good motivational speech if it bit them on the bottoms."
Val looked aghast at Philippe’s comment. "Friend?" Then her wide grin returned, showing off as many of her teeth as it could. “It’s my long-lost, recently returned and vanished again Aunt Giselle! She went to school in Greece for divinations," She dropped her voice volume again and leaned in once more, this time without the extra theatrics, "She's a Seer." Then she put her finger over her lips in a 'that's a secret, don't tell anyone' gesture.
The weather had been really nice for Quidditch practice lately. So Valentine nodded in agreement on that point. "Ooo... Professor Xavier and Professor Carter-Xavier's new baby is supposed to arrive any time now! That's cheery news, right?"
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Valentine Duell
Cheering is good and fun, reasons are irrelevant!
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