Valentine Duell
April 16, 2022 5:31 PM
Anyone need a study partner? by Valentine Duell
It wasn't that Valentine despised studying. She really didn't. It certainly wasn't something she enjoyed like she suspected her girlfriend did, but she didn't despise it. What she did despise was studying alone. Unfortunately that seemed to be her fate at the moment. The poor, unfortunately girl entered the library without a companion in sight. Her shuffling steps and mournful expression were clear indications of the mood such a plight had placed her in. A short lived glimmer of hope showed in her eyes as she scanned the area for someone that might soften her terrible situation. None were found.Sighing heavily, Val resigned herself to her fate. She needed to study, and her ordinary study partners were all otherwise occupied at the moment. She couldn't blame them at all, they were doing things that were important to them and she wished them the absolute best. She also knew that if she didn't get some study time in, the repercussions would be far worse than a simple unpleasant time in the library.
Val trudged to the stacks of books and found the ones she would need from the shelf. Her normal table was available, so she claimed it once more. This was not their gaming table. She'd tried studying there once and it was just far to weird. That table was not for studying, that table was for fun and adventures. This table was for learning, preferably with people, but apparently not today.
She settled in, arranged her books, got out her notebook and stared at it. A few moments passed before she realized nothing was really registering. Maybe if she imagined Bonabelle and Wally at the table with her? She couldn't 'picture it', but she could imagine it. She and Bonabelle had studied together enough to know what Bonabelle would tell her to do if... when she got distracted and unfocused.
Val took the imagined Bonabelle's instruction and set to looking over the transfiguration assignment again. It looked terribly complicated and trying to figure out what it was actually saying banished the imagined companions from her mind. This was a terrible fate to befall anyone. How was she supposed to work like this?
2
Valentine Duell
Anyone need a study partner?
1490
1
5
Philippe Delachene
April 16, 2022 5:59 PM
I will rescue you! by Philippe Delachene
Philippe wandered through the Charms section, looking for supplemental material for his research essay. Professor Wright was the Head of Aladren, so Philippe liked to impress him with a variety of sources and a bibliography on his longer essays. (Also quoting those sources made the essay look longer.)He stood on tippy toes to look at a shelf just above his comfortable eye level and wished for another growth spurt. He was already taller than Anya and soon he thought he would pass Freddie, too, which would probably help people not think of him as younger than his boyfriend unless they already knew (which, admittedly, was basically the entire population of Sonora so it wouldn't help much here). Finding a promising looking book, he took that one down and added it to the collection he already had. Satisfied that the five he had, plus his textbook, was probably enough to fill out the essay, he headed out to the work area to find a table to spread out on.
There were a few empty ones, but he headed for one that had Valentine Duell sitting at it because she was in his Charms class and he figured he could bounce ideas off of her if he got stuck. Besides which, she looked kind of lonely and miserable, and he didn't like to leave anyone like that.
"Hi," he greeted her. "Mind if I take over most of the table with my Charms research?"
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Philippe Delachene
I will rescue you!
1489
0
5
Valentine Duell
April 16, 2022 6:55 PM
My hero!! by Valentine Duell
"No!" Valentine exclaimed, the mood of sullen despair evaporating nearly immediately at Philippe's approach. "Please, sit! Take as much table as you like!" There might possibly have been a hint of desperation in her invitation. "I can move my stuff around if you need." She hastily shifted her small collection of books onto a pile as far out of the way as she possibly could, maximizing table space for him.This was wonderful! She had a study partner! "I did that essay a little earlier today," she commented, then added with a mild grimace, "It got to the minimum required length, and not a lot extra beyond that." It had been a bit of hasty work on that assignment, but she had to get it out of the way so that she could focus on the transfigurations mess. It was always transfigurations for her. "Now I get to work on my fun extra transfig stuff." She gestured at her pile of books. This was the stuff that Professor Skies assigned to her in addition to the normal work to help her keep up with the class. She loved that Professor Skies worked with her and helped her out so much, but she really didn't like that it was necessary.
"Do you think you're ready for CATS at the end of the year?" The question poured from her mouth and it surprised her. Although... as the professors had been saying for a bit now, they were rapidly approaching. Her mind apparently decided it had to finally deal with that idea.
2
Valentine Duell
My hero!!
1490
0
5
Philippe Delachene
April 28, 2022 6:22 PM
*shows off his noble steed* by Philippe Delachene
Philippe laughed (quietly; it was a library) as Valentine eagerly cleared a space for him as if afraid that he'd leave if she didn't do it quickly enough. "Oh, good," he said, when she shared that she'd already done the essay he was here to work on. "Then I can have you proofread and not worry that you'll steal any of my research," he said, grinning to show he was teasing. "I can proof yours, too, if you like," he offered, "if Lorena hasn't already." Lorena being an Aladren gave her automatic boosts on homework, he was pretty sure. "Once I'm done, of course." He was no research-thief either."But good luck on Transfig in the meantime," he encouraged sincerely. "It's a rough subject." He wouldn't go so far as to say he had a knack for it, and he struggled with some of the more esoteric theories, but he was able to pull a mid-range E without straining too hard on it, and counted himself lucky and maybe a bit gifted. He doubted he had a good enough grasp to explain it any better than Val was already getting from her extra help sessions, though.
By now the table had enough space for him to spread out his book and he did so, trying not to encroach too far into Val's space even though she had cleared even some of that for him. Not only was that rude when he had the rest of the table to work with, but he didn't want to put too many books between them that they lost the point of sitting together. Once he had his books sorted adequately, where he could reach most of them, and they didn't block eye contact with Val, he also set out his blank parchment for his essay, and some looseleaf lined paper for taking notes first. He pulled out his quill and his pen and frowned between them. One was much easier to work with but the other was way more awesome to look at. In the end though, he put the quill aside with the parchment for the final draft. He tended to chew on his writing implements when he was thinking and feathers just tasted nasty and felt weird in his mouth.
(His mom had spent a few months making him write exclusively with quills trying to break him of that habit, and it had stopped temporarily while using quills, but it picked up again immediately once he was given a Bic.)
He was fully settled and looking over the assignment description again when Val asked about the CATS.
Philippe shrugged. "If they were dropped in my lap right now, I'd probably pass," he guessed, because it was rare that he ever didn't at least pass an exam, and any new material at this point would be a small enough percentage that he could miss it and it wouldn't make enough impact to fail him. "But I don't think I'm ready to do my best at them yet. What about you? Are you nervous?" The fact that she'd blurted the question at all sort of suggested that she was.
1
Philippe Delachene
*shows off his noble steed*
1489
0
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Valentine Duell
May 02, 2022 5:53 PM
*is visibly impressed* by Valentine Duell
Valentine gave Philippe a playfully incredulous look when he asked her to proofread his essay once he was done with it. "I think you may be better off with Lorena than me." She replied with plenty of intentional dryness. "I have a Bonabelle to read over things for me.... and that paper went through quite a few revisions before it was deemed 'passable'." At the mention of her girlfriend, a sparkle seemed to dance in Val's eyes. "But if you're desperate, I can give it a look once you're done. I can't promise any comment I make on it would be an actual improvement though.""Yes." She answered his question way to quickly. Then she sighed, "I'm not sure. I think I'll do well enough in potions, herbology, creatures and divinations..." Val hesitated, "Charms and DADA might be okay." Her gaze dropped to the books in front of her, "But I'm really not sure about Transfiguration. After everyone has been helping me so much, to not pass it would make it seem like I failed them."
She shook her head a bit to clear out those thoughts and looked back at Philippe. "Do you know what you want to do after you graduate yet? What advanced classes will you need to take next year?" The thought of Advanced Classes was a whole topic in itself that she'd been doing her best to ignore. Yet they were inevitable and approaching.
OOC: Bonabelle's proof-reading approved by her author.
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Valentine Duell
*is visibly impressed*
1490
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Philippe Delachene
May 03, 2022 8:59 AM
*preens his horse proudly* by Philippe Delachene
Philippe laughed as Valentine tried to pawn off proofreading on someone else. "Well, I suppose I could try to track her down. But I'm sure you'd do fine. My usual study partner is Freddie, and I love him but grammar and spelling? In English? Not his strong suits." More often, he was correcting Freddie's grammar and spelling when they worked companionably on homework together (though obviously never on the same assignment since Freddie was in advanced while Philippe was still stuck in Intermediates), but he liked to have a second pair of eyes on his longer essays sometimes just so he didn't miss a 'not' in there somewhere that completely changed the meaning of a sentence or something. "I don't really need much criticism anyway, just a second pair of eyes that can read what is actually there rather than what I meant to put there." Brains were stupid like that sometimes. They saw what they expected to see better than they saw what was truly in front of them.Philippe nodded in sympathetic encouragement as Val explained why she was worried about doing poorly in what was obviously her worst subject. "You're making real effort, though, and that's the most anyone can ever ask from you. I'm sure they're proud of you just for not giving up already. Just keep trying your best and try to stay calm, well rested, and positive on the day of the test. Sometimes that helps more than all the studying in the world."
Then she asked the question that he'd been asking himself for a few months now. "I'm pretty sure I don't want to run a horse ranch," he offered the one thing he had firmly decided. "I was thinking maybe I would enjoy being a diplomat like my grandparents? But I don't really know how you get into that." That was probably a question for Grandmere and Grandpere as much as for Mr. Rowe. "I'd definitely need to keep up with my language electives for sure, though. I'll probably stick with most of the basic core classes as well, to be well rounded. What about you? Do you need Transfiguration or are you ready to drop it?"
1
Philippe Delachene
*preens his horse proudly*
1489
0
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Valentine Duell
May 13, 2022 6:09 PM
*admires steed with awe* by Valentine Duell
Valentine couldn't help but giggle at Philippe's laughter. She did nod along with his reasoning as he explained the situation. It made her think again how absolutely fortunate she was to have Bonabelle. "Well, I should be able to handle that much at least." She paused for a moment to give him a playfully serious look. "But I'm still not making any promises on the end result."She sighed with an unconvincing smile at Phillipe's kind words. They were not unfamiliar words that others had told her as well. But she just couldn't quite be content with 'you tried your best, oh well'. Val wanted to do well in transfig, she had to do well. Her future might well depend upon it.
"Oooo" Val commented as Philippe described his thoughts on future plans. "You'll make an excellent diplomat." She was sure of that, even if like Philippe, she had no idea how to go about getting that sort of job. When he turned the question back upon her, she sagged. "I talked to Mr. Row last year and we came up with something that sounds fantastic and wonderful... but I'm going to need transfiguration for a long time." Val let out a heavy sigh, "I'll also need nearly all the core courses other than potions, and need to keep on with Divinations."
She stared down at the transfig work in front of her, "Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't just be easier to go into some sort of potion-making field or something." Her voice easily betrayed the fact that she really didn't want to go that route. "Up until last year I had been looking forward to next year when I could drop transfig. Now..." she waved her hand in a helpless gesture, "Assuming I can pass the CATS, I'm stuck with them." She tried a strained smile at him, "Which would be great, right?"
2
Valentine Duell
*admires steed with awe*
1490
0
5
Philippe Delachene
May 13, 2022 7:37 PM
As you should by Philippe Delachene
"Thanks!" Philippe chirped happily when Val said she thought he'd make an excellent diplomat. He hoped so."Oh?" he asked in interest. "What is this fantastical and wonderful idea that Mr. Row came up with for you?" He couldn't for the life of him think of anything that required both transfigurations and divinations. Potions was probably the core class most easily dropped, with there being potion masters who brewed and sold potions for a living, so he could see that as not being necessary, and if he dropped a core class, that would probably be it for him, too. Well, he probably wouldn't need Herbology or Creatures, either, as a diplomat, but he was afraid mom might disown him if he dropped Creatures, so he figured that one would stay on his agenda at least until graduation. It would probably be safe to cease taking classes in it once he got to college. For next year though, he'd probably keep with Charms, Transfigurations, and DADA as the wand waving subjects that might come in useful in everyday life. Hopefully, DADA would only ever be a precaution, but if he did someday get into a diplomacy-has-failed sort of situation, it would probably be good to have as much knowledge in that, just in case.
"Well, if it's what you need as a pre-req to get into your dream program, being stuck with transfigurations is kind of great? I'd offer to help, but I'm sure Bonabelle's on that already, and she's smarter than me. I put more points in Charisma and just a couple in Int," he grinned at the inside joke he could make with her about that now.
1
Philippe Delachene
As you should
1489
0
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Valentine Duell
May 22, 2022 12:05 PM
I may need one as well now. by Valentine Duell
"Wandmaking," Valentine replied simply in reply, yet with an excited gleam in her eye. "Crafting a wand with its own special unique characteristics and then matching them up with each wonderfully unique person who needs one!" She sighed dreamily, "That would be so much fun and I'd get to help so many witches and wizards." Then she giggled. "It'd be a little bit like making characters for my players."She sighed again, less enthusiastically this time. "Unfortunately, I've got to know all about the wand woods out there so I can't drop Herbology. I've got to know about all of the different sorts of cores, so I can't drop Creatures. I've got to know how to shape them and put them together, so I can't drop Transfigurations." The last sentence came out with more of a grumble than the rest had. "I've also got to know how they work and are used so I can't drop Charms and really shouldn't drop DADA. I should also be able to identify connections between the wands and people, so I shouldn't drop Diviniations." She then bobbled her head a bit, "Plus Aunt Giselle teaches it so I couldn't drop it anyway."
Val smiled at Philippe's joke, "I think I'm in the same boat as you stat-wise. There is no way I would have gotten this far without Bonabelle." She paused for a moment, seeming to struggle with something before continuing. "Do... do you think I'm holding Bonabelle back, distracting her? What might she be accomplishing if she didn't have to keep helping me with these things? Have I been using my charisma bonuses for nefarious purposes?"
2
Valentine Duell
I may need one as well now.
1490
0
5