Something isn't right on Alumni

Andrew Duell

February 22, 2021 1:45 PM

Something isn't right by Andrew Duell

Andrew stood in front of the bedroom door considering it as if the fate of the world rested upon his next course of action. It used to be their guest room, but that had suddenly changed and it was now his sister's room. His little, baby sister's room. He could still remember Mom and Dad springing that news upon him near the end of his own time at Sonora. One of his first thoughts was that as a big brother, he was going to have to keep her safe and help her to learn to live with their strange parents. He sighed. That hadn't gone well. He'd failed her spectacularly on nearly every single count.

He caught himself before he dropped far down into the yawning black abyss. She had survived it all though, despite everything he'd failed to do and the world had thrown at her, she had survived. He was undoubtedly proud of her for her strength, intelligence and determination to make it through and even to find her way back home again. He just wished she hadn't needed to go through all of that. He could tell though that something just wasn't quite right with her, and after everything else he had to try to do something for her now.

"Hey sis, it's just me. Mind if I come in?" He asked as he knocked on the door.

"You are late." Came Giselle's despondent voice through the door, "Come in."

Andrew opened the door and saw his sister sitting at the small desk in the room. There were more than a few books stacked neatly upon it, along with two stacked teacups, her deck of tarot cards, and a scattering of small bones. These seemed to be the most interesting thing at the moment as he stepped into the room. He decided to start off with his tried and true, sure to work sense of humor. "Did you really know I was coming, or is that just something they taught you to say when someone knocks on your door?"

"You may have shown up while I was trying to see if I should divine into next year," she replied with no more enthusiasm in her voice than before. "Close the door please, it blocks some of Valentine's exceedingly vibrant energies form disturbing the delicate readings here." Andrew noticed his sister's melancholy expression twitch with just a hint of a smile, "Your daughter's aura resonates with nearly anything or anyone around it." The slight smile vanished, "She will get news soon... I'm not sure how she will take it. You and Marissa should prepare yourselves for it."

Andrew was a coward and would gladly talk about his daughter instead of his sister's troubles. "Oh? Well, we'll see what we can do based on that very informative information you have." There was definitely slightly more than a hint of a annoyed look out of his sister that time. So he decided to go another route, to start the conversation off slowly. Sure, that sounded like a good excus... reason. "She's very excited about taking your class next year." He began, "How do you think that will go... with her aura and all?" He really had very little idea as to what they were talking about, but if he was to 'prepared' for her 'news', anything could help.

2 Andrew Duell Something isn't right 145 1 5

Giselle Duell

February 22, 2021 6:36 PM

Things are fine. by Giselle Duell

Giselle often wondered what in the depths of the underworld was wrong with her brother. It had been a much more common through after her abandonment in Greece, but it still surfaced from time to time. He didn't understand she had to remind herself. He couldn't understand, he wasn't capable of understanding. He was also a poor listener as she hadn't heard him close the door again. She sighed and slumped back in her chair. What did it matter? Did any of this really matter? What was she doing? Who was she now? The never ending questions kept swirling around inside her, never finding any answers.

Yes, her class next year. She, somehow, was still a professor at Sonora. That was something, but she wasn't a very good professor. Her time in Greece had been terrible, she could see that now, but at least there she had known her place and what she was supposed to be doing. Here.. she had no idea. As for Valentine in her class, the idea had been pleasant and amusing initially. Now she wasn't so sure, she didn't want to let her niece down, it was just more to worry about.

"I'm not sure," she voiced quietly, "I suspect she will either excel or have a harder time than she is with her transfigurations." Valentine's difficulty with the class was certainly no secret around the Duell household. Nor was the amount of work she was putting into it to get where she was. "However, if that is the case, extra studying will not do much to help her along." She recalled one of the things they had learned fairly early at Delphi. "Despite what some may think about the subject, any witch or wizard can do proper divining. It just takes a sensitivity and focus that not many people are willing to develop, and they cannot be learned from books either."

She was fairly certain her brother did that thing where people just nodded along in agreement because a moment later he agreed verbally in an almost apologetic voice. "I vaguely remember the staff at Delphi telling us something along those lines as well." He paused then and she could almost hear the faint smile in his voice, "You were a special case though." There was just a tiny hint of pride in the statement, as if he was saying that the Duell line was something special and wonderful.

An old anger flashed through her,"Yeah special." it came flat. So special that she had been essentially kidnapped, enslaved and forgotten. "Was it worth it?!" She burst out, her anger and frustration driving the words out of her mouth. "Was everything that had happened worth being 'special'?!" There was still anger, and hurt burning away inside her. She could feel it. It had given her purpose before, but now it just hurt. "Who am I?" She asked her brother in desperation, reaching out to him. "What am I supposed to do?" She asked quieter, despondent once again. The fire inside was burning out again, dwindling away and she sagged, suddenly aware of tears slowly running down her cheeks.

2 Giselle Duell Things are fine. 1517 0 5

Andrew Duell

February 24, 2021 6:35 PM

I'm not sure about that... by Andrew Duell

Andrew grimaced a bit when his sister recounted Valentine's difficulties with some of her classes. He knew his daughter was going to be sorely disappointed if she wasn't able to do well in Giselle's class. Maybe she'd do fine, maybe she'd figure out how to align her 'exceedingly vibrant aura' to 'resonate' properly with Giselle's lessons... it was possible. Maybe he and Marissa should start working on a backup plan just in case that didn't happen.

He didn't have much time to think on the subject before he said something wrong. He was used to that, it happened. After all he lived in a house with three... nope. Best not to even finish that thought. He knew better than that. Instead he weathered the outburst in silence, knowing that it was all his fault and having no idea how to fix any of it. They may have been rhetorical, but all he could do was attempt to answer her questions. "You are Giselle Duell," he began softly and slowly. "The daughter of Marshall and Gwen Duell, star pupil of the very prestigious Delphi Academy." That was no lie, they had gotten all of Giselle's records from the school and she had excelled at nearly everything.

He could tell that Giselle was listening, he placed his hand on top of hers. "Now you are a professor at Sonora." Andrew tried to encourage her, "And you are doing a fine job at it." He really didn't have any concrete evidence, but she still had the job so she had to be doing pretty good. Although he may have heard a derisive noise come from his sister. He chose to ignore it. "You've got a room full of teenagers just waiting for you to tell them how to figure out who likes whom." This time he definitely heard a stifled snort of something that could almost be construed as a laugh.

She faced him then, she wasn't smiling, but she wasn't distraught any more either. He'd take it. "So, anyway..." he tried to turn the conversation onto hopefully safer topics, "You were trying to divine if you should divine the future?" He asked curiously, "That seems.. I don't know, roundabout?"

2 Andrew Duell I'm not sure about that... 145 0 5

Giselle Duell

February 25, 2021 6:32 PM

You should be by Giselle Duell

She still wasn't sure what was wrong with her brother. Here she was trying to have a serious soul rending moment of epiphany, and now thanks to him she had to stifle a laugh because of the image playing through her mind. Katerina, Felipe, Anya and Mab all sitting around (or on) one of her tables consulting cards and star charts while arguing about who in the school likes them. It was ridiculous and preposterous, and now she couldn't get rid of it. Her brother was a jerk.

Giselle sighed and relaxed a bit. The feeling inside her had subsided at his words, she just... she wanted to be angry at someone, at the world maybe. It wasn't fair, nothing had been fair. Her sessions were still ongoing, and she had come a long way, but she just couldn't... she didn't even know. Unfortunately she did know she couldn't be mad at Andrew about it, as much as she would like to be. That wasn't fair either.

She could be annoyed at him though. That was allowed and nearly required by every sibling contract in existence. "Yes it is. That is the idea." She stated trying to fill it with as much 'Do I need to use small words so that you understand this' type of tone that she could muster. She really, really wished she could roll her eyes at him. That sounded like it would be such a satisfying gesture right now.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Andrew asked. She detected a small amount of hurt in his voice. Good, she thought to herself. Then felt a little guilty about and then a bit mad about feeling guilty.

"You can shut the door like I originally asked you to." The words came out a bit sharper than they probably should have. She heard him move towards the door, pause for a moment longer than she thought was necessary and then closed it.

"They're not here right now though...? Val and Marissa left for Ireland to see the Rows." His questioning voice seemed to cut at her. "Do her 'energies' linger?"

A small wave of anger washed through her again, who was the 'expert' on the subject here? He didn't have to worry about background emanations disturbing his charms and trasfigurations. The energies used in those spells just tore through the ether and left rippling chaos swarming about making her job so much harder. She was just glad that her classroom was about as far away from the Charms and Transfigurations classrooms as it could be. Somewhere in the back of her mind, away from the rising feelings of anger, she made a mental note for a few class lessons on the topic.

However, the anger built and she felt as though she may be loosing control so she quickly turned back to her desk. She swept the bones aside carelessly, "Fine. You think I should take a direct route with this?" She snapped and picked up her cards and began shuffling them. The practiced motion was a bit more erratic than normal. She turned her face upwards and called out in an almost jeering tone, "Fates, I call upon you! Tell me what this next year brings!"

As she completed the statement, she lost all connection to the world around her.

2 Giselle Duell You should be 1517 0 5

Andrew Duell

February 26, 2021 8:55 PM

Sorry to disappoint by Andrew Duell

Andrew had messed up again apparently. Giselle was upset, which was fine, but she was behaving more like a child than an adult. It had been quite some time since Valentine had shown such petulance... this reminded him more of the old, old days. Before Greece when they were still relying on the Trevears until he and Marissa got their feet under themselves. Giselle had not been a happy child and he thought getting away from the place where she... they'd lost their parents had helped her quite a lot. He very briefly wondered if Jhonice had swung by recently and he hadn't heard.

His train of thought was cut off suddenly as his sister faltered in her movements. The deck of cards she had been shuffling scattered about the room. He moved to catch her as she stumbled forward, but she caught herself and he stopped short to avoid colliding with her. There she stood nearly motionless leaning forward, face to face with him their noses not more than an inch apart. He could see his own eyes reflected back in her mirrored glasses. It gave him the eerie impression that she was staring at him... or someone was.

Giselle's lips moved, but it was not her voice that issued forth from between them. It was however, a voice that he had heard before, more than once. It had always come from her though. It spoke rapidly, quietly and in Greek. He hadn't used the language since they made the mirror. The parts he was able to catch and understand made his stomach sink.

Newness

Power

Darkness

Bad

Some new power was coming? Some dark power? That didn't sound good. That sounded like the beginnings of his game sessions. His sister slumped and without thinking he caught her and gently moved her back to her chair. What did that mean?

"Wha... what happened?" Giselle's normal voice spoke again as she stirred in her seat.

Andrew sighed. "I think you got an answer to your question."

Just at that moment and owl swooped to the window, glanced around and dropped a letter with a what sounded like a resigned sigh before taking flight again. Andrew glanced at the note, it had Valentine's name written on it. He'd guess it'd been written by a young boy.

"And that would be Val's news." Giselle voiced in an almost far away tone.

Wonderful, thought Andrew.

2 Andrew Duell Sorry to disappoint 145 0 5