Just me and my predetermined partner. on Elective Hall

Giselle Duell

March 31, 2023 9:01 PM

Intermediate Divinations by Giselle Duell

Professor Duell returned her students' latest assignments to the seats in the room where they would sit. So far none of her intermediate students were giving her the sort of trouble that Anya used to with this task. Perhaps some of them might if they kept progressing, but not quite yet. Anya had taken it as a personal challenge however, and she wasn't sure that any of her current students had done so yet. The challenge had worked wonders in the girl and she wouldn't mind if more of the students would follow suit.

The assignment was the final one for their foray into the crystal gazing section of curriculum. She had decided to get that particular subject done and out of the way earlier in the year rather than later. There had been another reason, apart from her general dislike of the subject, and that was Xavier. Giselle, divinations teacher, Seer and tutor/mentor to the boy was aware of his... enthusiasm for the activity. She was fairly sure that it was also not good for him, but also wanted to conclude the subject to see what she might learn before taking action. Despite her swearing off any and all contact with Delphi, she had contacted them for any information they might have on the possible results of obsessive crystal gazing. She hoped for a response soon... assuming anyone there was willing to talk to her again.

In the meantime, she and the class as a whole had moved on to Palmistry. The small round tables in the room were set up for two people at each with the standard assortment of eclectic tablecloths and drapery covering them. As the students entered, she greeted them and allowed them some time to sit and examine their assignments before beginning class officially.

Professor Duell stood in front of her desk and leaned back on it. "It is time to begin now class," she announced. "As I hope you will recall, last time we began our new section on palmistry." She waved her wand and the notes they had made the previous time reappeared on the chalkboard behind her. "We did a quick overview of most of the different aspects that are a part of reading one's palm." Each section of the board's notes glowed briefly as she mentioned them. "The shape of the palm and fingers, the various lines, and the mounds. At the end of the last class one of you asked a very interesting question that I said we would be discussing today and to think about in the meantime." She paused a moment to let them recall before continuing.

"Just in case you forgot, that question was along the lines of 'Aren't hands fixed? How can they be used for relevant readings?'. So, that is the question I will turn on you for the start of our lesson today. Discuss it with your partner, look at your own and their palms while you do so. We will reconvene as a larger group for a full discussion after a few minutes and we can decide if it is actually worth learning about this topic at all." She smiled at them. This wasn't actually a topic that had come up with anyone in the class so far, so the older students didn't have much of an advantage over the younger ones, other than they've sat through more general lessons on how palm reading works. Perhaps that would give them some insight, but it may not. "You may begin now, leave your books alone for now, if we need to we can refer to them later. I'll let you know when we are ready to group up again."

Subthreads:

A handy resource by Leviosa Scurlock with Gwendolyn Brockert

I'm not sure about this by Fortune Ardovini with Liesl Brockert

Just me and my predetermined partner. by Lenny Pierce with Piper Wilson, Xavier Lundstrom

2 Giselle Duell Intermediate Divinations 1517 1 5

Leviosa Scurlock

April 03, 2023 10:50 PM

A handy resource by Leviosa Scurlock

Levi took a seat in divination. She was still making up her mind up what she thought about it. Her reasons for taking it had been ‘for fun’ and ‘curiosity’ and definitely not fuelled by the fact that her mother thought it was nonsense. It wasn’t that she necessarily disagreed or wanted to do the opposite of what her mother said just because it was what her mother said, but she liked to find things out for herself. So far, she had enjoyed it, and it made her think, which she thought were good attributes in a class, even if she didn’t think she was particularly attuned to the deep and special forces of the universe. It was nice to think she could be, but she just probably wasn’t…

They’d had a homework question to mull over on palmistry, so she didn’t think it counted for credit in class that she could predict that’s what they’d be talking about today. Even with a chance to think about the answer in advance, she’d still found herself going round in circles, so she was looking forward to the chance to discuss it with a partner, even though she wasn’t sure there would be any hard and fast answers. Divination didn’t seem to be a big fan of those.

“I had a few thoughts…” she ventured to her table partner. “I think some of it applies to most divinations, it wasn’t really unique to palms, which is that the messages are open to interpretation, and also giving the reading can influence the person. That’s even more so with palms - for tarot or something, you could be asking a question about anything in the world, but a palm is always a reading for the person it belongs to, so there’s more possibility of the reading influencing their behaviour. I guess the timing of the reading can also change even if the palm doesn’t? Most of what I read seemed like it could point to a lot of things, but there was one bit that said something about ‘the current relationship’ with the love line. Which seemed wild, because… how would it know? Like she says, it will always be a feature of your palm, so how can it apply to something so specific? But then I was thinking… Maybe it’s like… to do with when you look at it? Like, that’s open to change? I’m not sure if I’m making sense,” she added. As usual, something that had been clear in her head was hard when she tried to translate it to words. “What did you think?”

OOC: Ha, I just noticed what my source was... Google definitely tailoring based on my history. But here is where I got my info.

13 Leviosa Scurlock A handy resource 1545 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

April 10, 2023 9:45 PM

I'm not sure about this by Fortune Ardovini

Fortune was enjoying Divinations class so far. Mainly because it wasn't terribly complicated and he could pretty much make stuff up if he really needed to. He taken the class because it was one of those things that nobody thought it was real, but it was still around so there had to be something to it. He was curious as to what that something was. Plus, divinations came up from time to time on the adventure wireless programs. Everyone on the show dismissed it, but in the end it turned out to be right. Usually. Unless the person doing the divinations was the bad guy.

Professor Duell was pretty neat as well in his opinion. She wasn't entirely like the rest of the professors, she was like someone trying to be a professor and doing an okay job of it. He was nearly convinced that she did know what that 'something' was because as usual, his returned paper was waiting for him at the seat he picked semi-randomly. He glanced over it and stuck it away, nothing exciting there really. She had the audacity to question one of the things he'd just made up to see what she'd say. Now he knew.

From the sounds of things, it was going to be a lazy class today. Talking about their hands a bit and then getting convinced that it was something they should learn about. He looked at his table partner, "So got any great thoughts? I'm divining that the Professor will let us know why this is all good stuff to learn by the end of class." He grinned and didn't really have any good ideas at the moment, maybe they'd have something he could toy with.

2 Fortune Ardovini I'm not sure about this 1549 0 5

Lenny Pierce

April 10, 2023 10:16 PM

Just me and my predetermined partner. by Lenny Pierce

Lenny loved Divination, and not just because he grew up with aunts and uncles who practiced it as a career - some with the Sight using it to win money in muggle gambling venues, others dressing up and using cold readings to tell muggles what they wanted, or occasionally needed, to hear at Renaissance Fairs. He'd played with tarot decks as often as Hoyle decks as a kid, and the meanings of common symbols were as ingrained into him as the alphabet. He was good at it, both in theory and in practice, though he doubted he had much genuine Sight. He was sure he wouldn't make a lot of money on the track, but he could certainly pass as a fortune teller. He'd always liked the hanging crystals and ruffled colorful dresses.

He also liked it because Professor Duell taught it. Professor Duell had a few cool things going for her. First, she was blind and didn't let that stand in her way for a moment. Second, she knew where he was going to sit before he did. Third, she had an awesome sense of style with her big dark glasses and not a whit of care for how the colors of her clothes went together. He guessed that probably rolled in with not letting her blindness slow her down, but he was going to count it separately because he felt a strong affinity for having one's style reflect who they were, and she could have copped out by having a bland wardrobe that all went together by sighted fashion sense.

He wandered into the classroom a little early today, moving toward a seat more or less at random, and peeked at the paper in front of it. Yup. That was his name. He was in the right spot. He sat down. They were at tables set for two today and he peeked at the paper sitting across from him to see who his partner would be. Cool.

He watched the door and waved when he saw them come in. "Hi! Over here!" he called out, gesturing them toward their seat in invitation and welcome.

The lesson was on palmistry, a subject he knew nearly as well as tarot readings. Professor Duell reminded them of the question posed at the end of their last class, and set it as an assignment to discuss amongst themselves before they covered it as a class.

"So," he said, turning to his tablemate. He didn't really want to sound like a know-it-all, so turned it over to them, first, before talking about his family and the general vagueness of his aunts' practice of palmistry, and how they mostly read for tourists who were either doing it as a lark and didn't really believe in it anyway, or because they hadn't had it done by that fortune teller before and where maybe hoping for a different result, and how neither of those situations demanded unique readings on a person's fate or personality. "Do you have any thoughts on the question? Or should we look at each others' palms, first?" He offered his toward them.

His life line was clear and more straight than most. The others weren't particularly notable, none of them denoting doom of any kind. The marriage one was the hardest to make out, and was a bit more open to interpretation than the others.

1 Lenny Pierce Just me and my predetermined partner. 1547 0 5

Gwendolyn Brockert

April 11, 2023 10:33 PM

Good pun, though palmistry itself is questionable. by Gwendolyn Brockert

As was stereotypical of those in her house, Gwendolyn tended to be intellectually curious and so, had decided to take all the electives, for this year anyway. If she didn’t enjoy them, or her schedule got to be too much, she could always drop them later. However, for now, she was interested in learning a bit about Muggle Studies, Astronomy and Divination, regardless of the fact that two of these topics were not considered especially respectable.

However, learning was more important to Gwendolyn than the larger part of society’s opinions of a topic. After all, people thought Quidditch was an acceptably respectable activity and subject, and it was something that she could not possibly find more boring. Divination, whether or not it was crap, was at least interesting.

Actually, from what Gwendolyn understood from her relatives, the topics considered to be appropriate conversation at society parties were beyond dull. In addition to Quidditch, a more common subject among males than females, much to her dad’s chagrin as he didn’t care for the sport, it was mostly small talk, gossip-which might be interesting if it wasn’t also rather mean-bragging and among women, fashion. Which also included judging what others were wearing and how they looked.Which was awful because while people could use fashion to express themselves, what was on the inside was more important.

So, therefore, Gwendolyn was not looking forward to having to attend such things which were boring and superficial, although glad that Quidditch talk would be at a minimum for her. Dad complained and grumbled to no end when he felt obligated to go to them as he was extremely uncomfortable talking to new people, worried about judgment. Lydia was similarly anxious about them, and while she was really supposed to, she got sick with terror over going so often got out of it because Aunt Kaylie honestly did sort of baby her.

Of course, since the balls seemed to be full of girls like her cousin Arianna-or at least those girls were the most vocal-Gwendolyn understood why it was so hard for people like the fifth year or her dad, who had been a lot like Lydia when he was younger and had never completely outgrown his social anxiety. And it was pretty cruel to put those people in places that caused them such distress and made them targets for mean girls or alpha males who’d mock them. Gwendolyn was pretty sure that her cousin would go when she did, just so she could be there to stand up for Lydia. She was certain that was her aunt’s plan but the Aladren actually didn’t mind because people should not be allowed to get away with treating others badly, especially someone who was on the vulnerable side.

Anyway, today it seemed that they would be starting to talk about palmistry. There had already been a question on their homework assignment to ponder. Before Gwendolyn could say anything on the subject, her partner began to speak.”Those are all interesting thoughts.” She replied. “ And true, because like with some things, such as tea leaves, the shapes can be ambiguous. As far as palms though I mean, generally, I’m not sure why or if a palm can change, but also, like, maybe if someone doesn’t like what their reading says, they can take steps to change what happens? It would be pretty depressing to have someone read something awful into your future and then for it to become like a self-fulfilling prophecy. That’s sort of…not exactly victim blaming but like telling them something bad is going to happen and then…blame them for it. Like because a person got a reading and got told something negative and then it happened because they acted a certain way due to the reading , the bad thing happened. Like they’d be better off never having gotten the reading then.”

11 Gwendolyn Brockert Good pun, though palmistry itself is questionable. 1555 0 5

Liesl Brockert

April 13, 2023 9:56 PM

I am not sure of much by Liesl Brockert

Hans had said that she was pretty-and that kept Liesl going sometimes. Whenever she felt like she wasn’t good enough, when she was less than, like she didn’t belong. Even though there were more important qualities than looks, it still…felt really nice to have someone, a boy , think she was pretty.

It made her feel… special . Okay, being pretty was not a special skill and some people who were attractive were ugly on the insides and being pretty was not like being smart or a Parsltongue, or a good writer or artist or anything else that might help one win a competition, it wasn’t something that said anything about what kind of person Liesl was but it still felt really good .

Also, there was actually a lot of pressure to look a certain way and be attractive, especially for girls. Hence the horrid get-up that Liesl had been forced into for that ball over midterm.So yes, appearances were something that was valued, in so many ways. How she chose to dress had always been a constant battle between herself and her mother, who very much judged people on how they appeared, so yes, Liesl could not help but be programmed to be happy that someone approved of hers, both because she had always been taught that it was something to be valued-even though Uncle Cory had turned around and taught her being a good person was more important-and because it was something that she wasn’t generally complimented on and was often put down for.

Oh and then there was the fact that Liesl was just plain starved for compliments. For approval of any kind. Honestly, prior to the RF, she was unsure when the last time anyone other than her uncle complimented her about anything.

Besides,she was a fifteen year old girl and fifteen year old girls liked being complimented on their looks by boys around their age.

More importantly, though, people tended to think that people they liked were good looking. Not just like, but Like . So maybe did Hans Like Liesl? She had to admit the idea made her feel…warm and fuzzy inside. The idea of maybe being more than friends with the older Teppenpaw sounded…amazing.

And that someone would Like her at all, was shocking. That was what she had been led to believe, that she was too weird, that she didn’t live up to what was considered acceptable standards and that nobody would want her. Her parents, especially Mother,had always made her feel like love was conditional and that Liesl couldn’t meet those conditions. Yes, her uncle had taught her otherwise there too, but much like with the thing about being a good person being more important than looks (or brains or talents), the way her parents made her feel was lurking in the background making her doubt herself.

The thing was though that some of those conditions, such as grades, that won her brother favor with her parents, were things where Liesl actually would mostly meet those acceptable standards. She might not be a straight O student like Desmond, but she generally didn’t do too badly either and she was pretty good in terms of magical talent as well. It was just that she was constantly compared to her “genius” golden boy brother when it came to academics and obviously found lacking.

However, Hans made her feel accepted and wanted and special. Things nobody else other than Uncle Cory made her feel as well as… other things that the fifth year made her feel that she most definitely did not feel for her uncle.

But did she make him feel those positive, pleasant distinctly not family-like feelings? Was Liesl even capable of inspiring those sort of feelings in anyone? Mother had always made her feel like she couldn’t unless she changed completely, like at the ball over midterm, and the Teppenpaw just couldn’t be that person.

Still, Hans seemed to like the person that she actually was and nothing meant more to her than that. However, if he actually Liked her, well that would be amazing.

And as she was in Divination now, well maybe that would give the answers she needed. Of course, it wasn’t as if Liesl was a Seer or anything but it was still a fun subject. And it was generally full of nice people,even though Hans wasn’t in it. However, some of her cousins were and so were most of the third year Teppenpaws and two of her Challenge teammates. The only person who wasn’t in one of those categories was Phil, but he was pretty nice too.

Today, she decided to sit by Fortune-honestly, with a name like Fortune, you just sort of had to take Divination-because she’d enjoyed doing the Challenges with him and hoped to maintain a friendship with her former teammate. And Liesl felt he was the more approachable than Xavier, not that the older Pecari was like, awful or anything, but she had spent most of last year worrying that he didn’t like her or Jasper, the latter of which she didn’t understand because while Liesl sometimes felt like at best, her own personality only appealed to a certain niche group-a group that mainly was Hans, Uncle Cory, a few of her other relatives and maybe Hans’ dad- what wasn’t to like about the older Teppenpaw?

Professor Duell started the class and instructed them to discuss the palmistry question that had been on their homework. “Not especially, no.” Liesl replied. “I feel like palmistry is kind of…like every single part of the hand means something and it’s more complex than it really should be. I can’t even tell what my hand says on some of them, like the mounds of whatever.” She continued, smiling. “But I concur with your prediction.”

11 Liesl Brockert I am not sure of much 1537 0 5

Piper Wilson

April 15, 2023 2:15 AM

I guess that's me today by Piper Wilson

Despite the fact that Piper very much understood the importance of not overextending herself, she had decided to at least try the electives that Sonora had to offer. Her parents had always taught her and Gabriel to explore and learn and try out anything they were curious about. Although the Teppenpaw wasn’t, perhaps, as intellectually curious as her trivia-obsessed older brother, that did not mean she did not want to try something new.

Plus, every one of the electives had at least one of her friends in it. Although Piper was sort of disappointed that Cole was not in Divinations with the rest of them. She hated the idea of all of them being together except one because she would never want anyone to feel left out. Ever.

However, in this case, the other Teppenpaw had made his choice and she respected that. It was not as if they had purposely excluded him,and it was not like Divination was this huge bonding experience where the people involved got closer by taking it. It was just a class. Although Piper supposed they did sort of get into like people’s personalities and futures and all sorts of things that were kind of personal. Which probably did let her get to know Levi and Lenny a bit better, as well as a few of her distant cousins like Amethyst,Gwendolyn and Liesl and Gabriel’s friend, Phil.

She did feel a little weird if she happened to be paired with Fortune or Xavier though. Nothing against them personally, they were perfectly nice people but she just didn’t really know them outside of class so it felt weird prying into things with them that Piper didn’t really feel she had the right to know.

Still, it wasn’t as if Piper, Levi and Lenny would all sit around doing Divination stuff-although she did like to study with her friends so maybe they could do Divination homework while Cole was at Quidditch practice- and leave the last member of their group out. She really did want to be an inclusive person and she couldn’t see Lenny or Levi wanting to exclude someone either, especially Cole.

Although, Piper did worry sometimes that the four of them being a unit was being cliquey and leaving people out. She didn’t want to be that way and it wasn’t as if she was mean to anyone, but, well, she also didn’t want to have to worry about not having enough time for all her friends and making some of them feel like she valued them less. Not that Piper would, but they might feel like that.

And on the note of being inclusive, the Bonfire was coming up. There were supposed to be at least three people per tent, and as she and Levi could not share with Lenny and Cole, Piper was considering asking Yarielis if Levi was okay with it. Since the Crotalus was on the shy side, Piper felt it would be good to reach out to her.

She walked into Divination to see Lenny waving her over. So, today was going to be a day when she sat with him. The third year tried to split her time equally between them while sometimes they sat together and Piper had to sit with someone else. However, today was a Lenny day, and she grinned as she sat down with him. “Hey!” She greeted her friend.

Professor Duell began the lesson and once they were given their instructions, Lenny began to speak. “ Actually, I do have thoughts.I mean,like if it’s fixed, it can still be used to predict, like, what your life will be like and the non-dominant hand to say a lot about your inherent personality traits. And also, lines change in response to brain activity so they aren’t fixed so like, if you make a decision to change something in your life, your palm lines will also change.”

OOC: I assumed that it was reasonable to say that Lenny and Levi sometimes work together in this class and Piper has to work with someone else. If that is inaccurate, let me know, and I'll edit

11 Piper Wilson I guess that's me today 1556 0 5

Xavier Lundstrom

April 17, 2023 7:46 AM

Yet the fates have a surprise in store (it's me, I'm the surprise) by Xavier Lundstrom

Xavier walked into Divination and glanced around, torn between resisting his fate and knowing it was futile. He felt like the least objectionable seat was with Lenny, both because he actually liked Lenny(ish) and because he could say it was casual stereotyping/not a massive display of futuristic intuition to assume the queer kids were going to stick together. Except Lenny was already waving Piper over, and she didn’t seem to open with ‘Uhhh, that’s not my paper,’ so it looked like Xavier wasn’t sitting there today.

Behind Lenny was a single seater table, which he hadn’t initially noticed, and which he would have said was quite appealing, although it felt like a rather barbed comment to have someone else suggest it for him. Sure enough, when he tried the paper, it was his own. Great. The mystical forces of beyond could tell that no one wanted to sit with the colossal loser boy who had recently started slamming everything he summoned into walls. Again, an astounding insight. Not that that should have worried people in divination, but he could probably doom people just as badly or worse here if he caught a glimpse of their future and accidentally fixed something horrible in stone, like he had with Oz’s arm.

Speaking of which, the class discussion felt mockingly similar to his recent chat with Professor Duell. And they needed partners, so really, all putting him on his own had done was make things even more awkward for him, as everyone else started chatting with their table buddy and he had to work out who to try to slide in with. He wondered whether he should just work on his own. He’d already had this conversation once, and the fewer people he gave readings to, the happier and freer they’d be to just live their lives… He had been trying to avoid analysing his own hands for that reason, but it was one of the deeply unfair elements of palmistry… He could avoid tealeaves (very easily—it was more of a challenge to actually drink the gross stuff and get them), and he could avoid his crystal ball or tarot deck if he wanted to (which, he increasingly did, though he found he couldn’t quite shake the habits of reaching for them when stressed, searching for answers or at least the satisfaction of sliding into a haze away from reality for a bit—though the Xanax he’d swiped from his mom was good for that too, without the nasty complication of filling his head full of things he wasn’t supposed to know). But his own hands… He couldn’t help noticing them, and now he knew what the lines were supposed to mean… Though he wasn’t sure palmistry could be all that accurate—there was this stupid little crosshatch on his palm, that he wouldn’t have even noticed if he hadn’t been primed to look for it, which was supposed to be an indication of a failed love, which was definitely wrong because he’d seen in crystal clear vision him and Oz together—like, properly together as adults. Apart from the main lines, he wasn’t even convinced all the sublines were anything other than random join-the-dot puzzles, though he was determined to keep a tighter grip on his boyfriend all the same.

Behind him, Piper was talking about hands changing, and Lenny was mentioning his aunts doing readings… That didn’t mean anything, of course. They could be consummate old frauds or, as Lenny said, just indulging people who thought it was all fun and games. But it was interesting that they took it seriously enough to devote their time and energy to making a living from it…

He turned, trying to shake off a vague memory of an awkward interaction with Piper… It was very fuzzy, which probably meant it hadn’t actually happened. He was getting a better handle on how to tell which of his memories were real. It was easier with stuff like this, where it was just a vague sense rather than something he could picture as clearly as any of his lived experiences. He was taking that sliding scale to be some kind of level of fixedness, though he couldn’t help but wonder if he was about to solidify that possible event with Piper by barging in on her conversation…

“Did you say palm lines change?” he asked anyway, too curious to let it slide, especially as he needed to work with someone. “I mean, beyond the fact that your hands grow, because in that case everything stays proportionally the same, or like… hideously burning yourself or something. And your aunts do readings?” he added to Lenny, not quite sure how to follow up with ‘are they real or just making stuff up?’ “Also, we get it, you’re full of energy and vitality, but if you don’t want to know anything less shocking obvious you might want to point that somewhere else,” he said, gesturing at Lenny’s outstretched palm, which displayed both a prominent life line and the water hand shape. Xavier did his best to avert his eyes quickly, though not before something that made him wince slightly caught his eye. Hopefully Lenny would just mistake it for a general discomfort.

OOC: Made some guesses about Lenny's hand shape based on my readings, though feel free to counter it if wrong. I also assume that - given everyone's life has good and bad, Xavier is projecting his own definition of 'good,' and Xavier is doom, gloom and pessimism - it's reasonable to assume there could be mixed messages of a large variety on anyone's palms. Feel free to run with ideas for that or brush it off as you like.

Reference for main info, and for the little cross hatch.

13 Xavier Lundstrom Yet the fates have a surprise in store (it's me, I'm the surprise) 1529 0 5

Leviosa Scurlock

April 17, 2023 8:39 AM

Thanks, I think by Leviosa Scurlock

“Thanks,” Levi said, surprised and pleased that an Aladren was complimenting her contributions to the discussion. Unless Gwendolyn meant ‘interesting’ in the way her mother sometimes did, like ‘That’s an… interesting choice of gown that woman has on’ or ‘Levi, you do have some…interesting ideas.’ Gwendolyn hadn’t pronounced it with ominous DOT-DOT-DOTs so it was probably safe, though Levi couldn’t help but worry that an Aladren couldn’t possibly think that about her. Especially when Gwendolyn’s own comments did nothing except make her head spin.

“Yeah, that’s true,” she said, ninety percent sure it was (or like… one hundred percent sure that Gwendolyn was definitely saying something right and true, but only ninety percent sure that she got it). It sounded like most of the same problems with every other kind of divination. Except for the fact that hands didn’t change. But then nor did stars—well, they did, but what they were doing was predictable. And once you dumped a bunch of tea leaves onto a saucer, they didn’t change from that point on. If you were supposed to believe that subtle cosmic forces had nudged them into shape, then it was just as easy to believe those same forces had doodled out your hands for you… She wasn’t sure if Gwendolyn’s point answered the question—either she was saying people COULD change their fates (but not their hands) or at least should be able to… or they couldn’t, which meant that palm readings would always be right… And by the time Levi had tried to juggle all those thoughts, she couldn’t actually remember what she was supposed to be arguing for any more, so she just nodded some more.

“I guess we could try to read our own?” she asked. She weighed up the possibilities. Starting with their personalities seemed easier, seeing as they knew themselves already but it also seemed more personal. When talking about the future, it was easy to say it was all just a possibility and subject to change. Not that she planned on saying anything bad about Gwendolyn’s future, even if her hands were an absolute disaster. But personality was here and now, as they already were. Levi didn’t want to have to tell Gwendolyn that she had mean, sarcastic hands—or for that to be the case, as it would put the spin she feared onto that ‘interesting’ comment. Hopefully they would only find nice things for each other, or be able to laugh it off if not.

13 Leviosa Scurlock Thanks, I think 1545 0 5

Gwendolyn Brockert

April 19, 2023 1:16 AM

You're welcome by Gwendolyn Brockert

“You’re welcome,”Gwendolyn replied. The Teppenpaw seemed a little bit taken aback by he s response. Had she said something offensive? Had she even actually answered Levi’s question?”Hey, I’m sorry to go off on the tangent about self-fulfilling prophecies and like, blaming people for things going wrong for them. I just feel sort of strongly about blaming people for circumstances beyond their control or like, making someone feel worse when they’re already feeling bad.”

She paused, “ I actually think I misunderstood your question.” Okay, admitting she misunderstood something-something that happened to all human beings-might have made Gwendolyn lose Aladren cred to some people but Levi was a Teppenpaw so she probably wouldn’t feel that way because Teppenpaws were nice-and she might lose Tepp cred if she was mean. Also, anyone who judged Gwendolyn for something like that was not worth her time and could honestly just go *cucumber* themselves, because it was their problem not hers.

To be fair though, Levi had asked what Gwendolyn thought, and she told the other girl exactly that, based on the bit about readings influencing behavior, but that might not be exactly what the Teppenpaw wanted to talk about.

Truthfully, though Gwendolyn was trying to maybe put Levi at ease, by apologizing. Like she really did not want the other third year to be uncomfortable and also wanted to make sure the Teppenpaw knew that Gwendolyn felt she had good ideas.

She continued.”I actually read that brain activity changes palms so I do think that yes, when you look probably matters because it involves your current state of thinking. Although, with, like, the bit about your current relationship, yeah, I mean, what if you don’t actually have one? Does a palm reflect that? But then Divination is supposed to be mysterious and vague, right? And ‘connected to the divine’ or something so that’s what makes the lines on our palms change when it looks at our brain activity” Gwendolyn’s tone made it clear that she did not seriously mean this last bit. At the end of the day, she was still an Aladren who believed in things that were rational and logical.

However, she did have another thought. “Do you think knowing someone well influences a reading? Like if I read my sister’s palm or one of my parents or cousins?” Gwendolyn asked.”Or if you had paired with Piper or Lenny today instead of me, would you be able to give them a more accurate reading than me because you’re friends with them and know things about them?”

“All right.” Gwendolyn replied in agreement to Levi suggesting they read each other’s palms. She extended hers to the other girl. The most notable feature about it was a long head line with a couple of triangles on it. Everything else about it was pretty unremarkable.

11 Gwendolyn Brockert You're welcome 1555 0 5