Post by Nadia Fairchild on Jun 11, 2012 13:00:15 GMT -5
The heat of Spain bore down on Nadia as she made her way to the quidditch stadium. This assignment was not as suicidal as the last one, and for once, she was actually kind of excited. Divinations seemed to her to be the best thing about magic. Knowing how to read the future was actually, in Nadia's opinion anyway, the most practical thing they taught here.
Sure, the wand stuff was alright too, especially since Nadia seemed to actually be good at it, but if she really learned divination, then she wouldn't have to spend so much time wondering about her future.
In fact, she had quite a few questions in mind for these birds.
Well, if she found someone to practice with, that is.
Nadia looked around the stands. No one sat near her, but there were a few others in different sections, although most of them seemed to be either sunbathing or taking turns flying on their brooms. Hmmm. She wished Finny were here, even though he was a bit of an airhead. He'd totally help her out, and they could have fun trying to figure out what the birds meant.
Why hadn't she thought to ask him to come with her before? She knew the assignment said to try and find someone you didn't know, but Nadia was so not cool with going up to a total stranger and asking them to bird watch with her. She coudl only hope another divination student would come along shortly.
Birds. Birds. Right, birds. No penguins, though. Penguins would be fun to observe.
So... birds.
Better than snakes.
Cyan's blue eyes flicked woefully upward. Knowing his luck, he would undoubtedly end up covered in bird excrement. Despite the indignity of it all, he was good at cleaning charms. Usually. Then again, maybe--
Aw, stuff it, he half-muttered, half-thought to himself.
Besides, he was good at divinations, right? Right?
The sunlight glared into his naked eyes. He groaned inwardly. This probably would not be as bad as he thought. Probably.
He loosened the neck of his robe. If this temperature kept up, he planned on stripping and proceeding in his t-shirt and shorts. Nothing wrong with that, dress code or not.
"Hey, Nadia!" he called out, meandering in her general direction. Cyan was not sure he had ever talked to her before, but they both needed partners, right? "Wanna work together on the ornithomancy assignment for divinations class?"
«Call a friend, call Cyan.» «Cyan - play it!» «Things go better with Cyan.» «Food or Cyan? I'll have Cyan.» «Cyan is a female force. «I want Cyan and I want it now.» «Oh my gods, it's a Cyan.» - Courtesy of www.sloganizer.net/en/ -
Post by Nadia Fairchild on Jun 18, 2012 21:25:25 GMT -5
When she heard her name, Nadia turned to face a boy she couldn't remember speaking to before. She'd seen him in a few classes and things, but they'd never spoken before now. His name was a color, she remembered, but she couldn't remember which color it was.
"Oh, hi, uh, Gray? No. Uh, Teal? I'm sorry, I can't remember your name. I'm really bad at stuff like that." Nadia did not have a particularly good memory, so she was glad that she'd at least remembered to bring her book along with her.
"But, yeah, I would totally love some help with this homework stuff." She made room for Cyan to sit near her. "So, like, do we just ask the birds questions, or what? Maybe you should go first."
"Close enough," he answered with a smile. "It's Cyan, but, if you want, I'll let you call me Pinky." Cyan flashed a grin.
"We're supposed to divine the answer to a question that our partner has, and we look at birds to figure it out and stuff." He adjusted his robes and sat next to her. The birds would probably be easy to watch by lying on their backs, so they would not strain their necks later.
"Do you wanna divine the answer to my question first"--crap, he needed to think of a question--"or should I try your question first?"
«Call a friend, call Cyan.» «Cyan - play it!» «Things go better with Cyan.» «Food or Cyan? I'll have Cyan.» «Cyan is a female force. «I want Cyan and I want it now.» «Oh my gods, it's a Cyan.» - Courtesy of www.sloganizer.net/en/ -
Post by Nadia Fairchild on Jun 19, 2012 23:08:50 GMT -5
Nadia grinned back at Cyan, glad that he didn't seem too offended at her not knowing his name. "Pinky seems like the kind of name you'd give a pet or stuffed animal. It just doesn't fit your rugged manliness," Nadia teased. Cyan was funny. Not spaztastic funny, like Finny, but in a quieter, I-haven't-just-ingested-ten-pounds-of-sugar way.
At least Cyan understood the assignment. Nadia was pretty sure if Finny had been here to help they would have just wasted time like, trying to net a bird and then interrogating it, or something equally silly. Maybe it was better she'd met Cyan here anyway. Although she'd been unsure before, Nadia wanted to take magic seriously.
Well, as seriously as you could take magic anyway.
"Right, so ask a question, and how the birds react is supposed to answer it?" It sounded a little silly to Nadia, but she was willing to try. "I guess I can ask the first question." Only, she needed to decide on a question. There were so many of them.
Should she tell her dad she was a witch? Should she tell her sister? Too personal for a guy whose name she hadn't known ten minutes ago. The same went for all the other questions about her family.
She didn't want to ask something too trivial, though. So, she asked the question that had pressed itself insistingly against her awareness for months now. "Is there even a point to this whole learning magic thing? Like, am I ever going to get better at it, or should I just go ahead and quit?" Her voice was more thoughtful than sad or resigned. She just wanted to know for sure.
Yeah, it was kind of a heavy question, but at least it was an honest one. Everyone knew how bad she was at all her classes. And at least Cyan wouldn't have to know about her family or anything.
"You think those birds will know anything about that?"
"Um..." How were the birds supposed to answer? "That's the charm of divinations. You have to figure it out as you go. The birds themselves don't actually know the answer. They just... tell it?" he replied, pulling out his textbook, parchment, and a pen.
What? Those muggle pens had benefits. You know, such as not spilling all over your homework.
Using the textbook as a hardback for the parchment, he wrote down her name and his in elegant cursive script, followed by the questions.
"Alright," he said, setting the objects aside and lying on his back.
He flinched as an excess of sunlight poked his eyeballs. It was a shame he didn't have sunglasses. He blinked. Um, he was a wizard. In his fifth year. Sunglasses ought to be easy enough, right? They didn't dance of move or breathe or anything like some transfiguration assignments.
"Um, hold on," he muttered again, popping back up and scrounging around in his bag.
Pulling out his sketchbook (14"x 10"), he went to the last page and ripped it out. He drew his wand with his left and pointed at the sheet for a moment. Erk. How did this spell go? Seriously, not being able to perform magic over school holidays was not helping his magical spell recall.
"Factus Sunglasses...?"
The paper shuddered before jumping up and folding itself like origami, finally bending and twisting until it took a shape like sunglasses. The lenses became darker, and the layers of folded paper fused. Occasionally triangles of bright colors appeared as the different patches of the layered paper. The temple arms of the glasses and the frame seemed to be made out of a cardboard-like material more than plastic, but the lenses seemed solid and like they were supposed to be. That was the most important part. Only...
Cyan really kind of wondered about the frame. Pink. Like, hot pink. Was that because he made a joke about being called Pinky earlier? Determination, pronunciation, and control were most important for casting basic spells, right? Perhaps his hesitation is why it was more cardboard than plastic.
...Well anyway, flushing a little as he tried to cover up his embarrassment, he put on the makeshift sunglasses and lied back down.
He rested one hand behind his curly head, letting his elbow just outward to make him look more relaxed and secure than he felt, i.e. less embarrassed. Hot pink. For "Pinky." Seriously, it was a joke--or had been.
"So," he asked no one in particular, "is there a point to Nadia learning magic?" A single hawk glided above the field. That's right--he could see it now, embarrassing magic or no. Thinking quickly, he asked another question: "Should Nadia stop learning magic?" The hawk suddenly swooped down, snatching a small rabbit as it bolted for the shadows.
The slytherin jumped a little and turned his head, watching the scene wide-eyed.
He knew he was good at divinations, but damn.
"Um," he began, recovering after a moment. "I'd say there is a point to you learning magic, and you would definitely regret not continuing your studies. As a matter of fact, not continuing your studies could lead to a savage and violent death?"
Wow. Intense. He'd have to remember to write all that down later.
"Will Nadia ever improve at magic?"
Cyan waited and watched. There were not any birds at first. He kept patient, silently attentive to the sky. He waited some more. One had to listen carefully and patiently one was sought answers, after all.
Finally, a flock of geese flew overhead in a V-formation. They didn't look like the geese he usually saw around here. Huh.
"I could be reading this wrong, but... It looks like the answer is yes. It won't be immediately, but your patience and diligence will definitely pull you through. You feel feel the greatest advancement and sense of improvement at a time of diversity. There, in an unfamiliar place and an unknown time in the future, you may rise as a leader and guide your... comrades to safety?"
He glanced at her.
"It must be a gryffindor thing," he commented, sitting up and placing the sunglasses in front of them but also in the middle--in case, ya know, she wanted to borrow them or somethin'. Of course, maybe she could change her own glasses into sunglasses. That'd be pretty cool. Easier transfiguration, too.
He wrote down his answers to the assignment and used that time to think about his own question.
Cyan Reed Year 5 June 2012
Ornithomancy
Nadia Fairchild asked if there was a point to her learning magic, if she would improve, or if she should quit.
The question was multi-faceted, so the answers could help define the future. We have never worked together before. When I asked if there was a point to her learning magic, a single brown hawk was gliding along the sky along the wind. It wasn't noticeably old or young. I interpreted this as an affirmative since the bird continued flying, assuming that this was the path she was going on and that she should continue. For this, I used the hawk as a representation of her and her path.
When I asked if she should stop learning magic, the hawk from before suddenly left its path, swooped down, and caught a rabbit that was trying to flee. In this case, I interpreted the hawk as the guide of her fate, and she was the rabbit that tried to flee from magic. She should continue learning magic and would definitely regret not learning more of it. If she stops learning magic, then she may experience a brutal and violent event that may end her life.
I asked if her magic skills would improve. At first, there were no birds in the sky. After some time, a flock of geese flew against the wind. None of the birds in particular stood out, so I focused on the leader. Nadia's magic would improve with patience and diligence over time. Her abilities will grow most under a time of diversity at an unfamiliar place in the future. I say an unfamiliar place because these geese didn't look like the kind that's usually around here. She will guide them to safety.
Or something like that. Cyan found that divinations worked best when he did not second-guess himself and risk over-analyzing things. His gut instinct seemed to provide the most accurate responses.
The best part? Cyan had yet to be crapped on!
Speaking of crap.... Oh, crap. A question, a question, a question....
"What kind of career should I aim for? Will I be able to succeed where I go? Will I ever become a famous artist?"
Well, that came out much more seriously than he had expected. He blushed a little at the last part. An artist. Haha. As if artists made much money. Then again, he could probably provide for most of his needs with magic--it wasn't like he sucked at school, you know, but still.... What a bad a choice....
«Call a friend, call Cyan.» «Cyan - play it!» «Things go better with Cyan.» «Food or Cyan? I'll have Cyan.» «Cyan is a female force. «I want Cyan and I want it now.» «Oh my gods, it's a Cyan.» - Courtesy of www.sloganizer.net/en/ -
Post by Nadia Fairchild on Jun 20, 2012 16:26:09 GMT -5
Huh. So, her options were learn magic or die? Wizards and their dramatics. Surely she wouldn't...die, would she? Ah well, for the moment, she figured she had better focus on finding the answer to Cyan's question. The sunglasses he'd crafted were pretty neat. Maybe learning magic wasn't such a drag after all.
"You'll have to show me that origami sunglasses thing later. It's a neat trick." It would be pretty convenient to know how to make stuff out of paper. Cyan had put the glasses between them, did that mean she could take them? She decided that he would tell her if he didn't want her to have them, and she fitted them over her regular glasses.
She laid back like he had, and surveyed the sky. She was glad Cyan had picked a question that was similarly serious, it made Nadia feel less odd. "What kind of career should Cyan pursue?" she asked tentatively. How would Birds be able to tell her that? She watched and saw a group of pigeons land. Most of them were gray and brown like normal pigeons, but one was mostly white with gray patches on his wings. The white one landed slightly apart from the others.
"Will he be successful wherever he goes?" The pigeons had apparently landed at that spot because someone had left behind the remains of a half-eaten sandwich. Several pigeons started pecking at the bread, but the white one came away with the biggest piece. He hurried away from the group to consume his part in peace.
"Will Cyan become a famous artist?" Two new birds flew across her field of vision. They were bright green, with a white underbelly. Although they were smaller than the pigeons, their green color contrasted vividly. As they flew, Nadia saw that they were parakeets. She knew that there was a large parakeet population in Madrid especially, but also in other Spanish cities because of her father's travel show. The Firefox campus was, however, pretty well removed from major Spanish population centers.
The parakeets didn't keep flying, they landed near the white pigeon, even though they didn't seem too interested in the bread the pigeon was eating. All the birds flew away, the gray and brown regular pigeons in one direction and the white pigeon and parakeets in another direction.
Nadia sat up, removed the sunglasses, and turned to Cyan. "I think what I saw means that you should do something that lets you be unique, and that everything will work out. Also, doing your own thing will attract like, more colorful people into your life. Also, those other birds were green, which is supposed to mean adventure. So, maybe you'll attract adventure too."
Nadia Fairchild Year 6 June 2012
Ornithomancy
Cyan Reed asked a couple of related questions about like his future career and stuff like that. I figured It would only be fair to answer like three question for him, since I kind of asked him three. First, he wanted to know what kind of career he would have, and if he would be successful. Finally, he wanted to know like pretty specifically if he would end up being a famous artist.
So, like first, when I asked what kind of job he should get after school, I saw a small flock of pigeons land. Most of them were the super boring grey and brown kind, but one of them was mostly white. I figured this meant that no matter what Cyan did, he would stand out. Right, so then I totally asked if he would be successful in the future, and then like the pigeons were trying to fight over this totally grody piece of old bread that someone had just like left in the stands. WAY GROSS! Right?
So, like the white pigeon ended up with the biggest piece of that nasty bread, so like that totally means that as long as Cyan is himself and lets himself be all unique and stuff, he'll do okay for himself. So finally I asked if he would be a famous artist. And then these like green parakeets flew over and landed next to the white pigeon, and then the birds flew away, all the boring pigeons went one way, and the white one went with the parakeets.
So, right, in case you don't know, those parakeets are only usually found in big cities like Madrid and Barcelona. I know because my dad travels a lot and he was working in Spain about a year ago, and he totally told me all about those birds. Anyway, I figure that if Cyan decides to be an artist, he'll attract colorful, metropolitan types. Also, the parakeets are green, which indicates adventures. So, like Cyan's life is going to be full of fun, wild adventures in the art scenes of major cities, while I apparently have to struggle patiently with being a untalented nobody or suffer a violent death.
Which sounds totes unfair if you ask me.
Nadia wasn't so sure she wanted to know about the future anymore. If she was going to have to be the patient, long-suffering type, well, she wasn't too sure she had it in her. "I wonder how accurate these birds are? Like, even weather forecasts aren't always a hundred percent." Not that she didn't want Cyan to totally have a fantastic life as a celebrated artist, but well, she was feeling a little bit bratty because her fortune didn't look so good.
Cyan could show a girl a trick. That'd be awesome. It'd be fun... except that he made the origami sunglasses somewhat by accident.
He should be unique and do his own thing, and everything would work out. That sounded excellent--much kinder than the future he gave her, but his questions were a lot more boring. He... could expect adventure, though. He was not sure what he thought about that. As far as colorful people went, the hufflepuffs seemed to be very colorful, but that didn't mean it was in a good way.
"Well, the birds are just minding their own business. We're just... interpreting it in a funny way." Hopefully, she didn't feel too bad. He straightened up. "Accuracy for divinations usually depends on the person doing the divining." He didn't tell her that he usually did well. "Also, we're doing the more challenging exercise and we don't know each other very well, so, uh, our accuracy could be really bad? And the future could always change, you know.
"By expecting the future, you learn how to prepare for it or change it. For you, the results this time were to continue studying magic pretty much, and everything will be okay in the end. You'll be an entire group's savior, if I interpreted it right.
"For me, it seems that everything will work out career-wise, but I'll be stuck with and attract a bunch of crazy people in the meantime. I'll also attract adventure, which to me means peril, and I'm not too sure how I feel about that."
Cyan shrugged. Hopefully, Nadia wasn't feeling too down. She was a pretty cool chick.
«Call a friend, call Cyan.» «Cyan - play it!» «Things go better with Cyan.» «Food or Cyan? I'll have Cyan.» «Cyan is a female force. «I want Cyan and I want it now.» «Oh my gods, it's a Cyan.» - Courtesy of www.sloganizer.net/en/ -
Teagan Offline: This board is full of nostalgia.
Aug 22, 2020 8:39:09 GMT -5
Missing the old MH: gotta say missing when MH and all that was around.
Nov 6, 2019 0:02:30 GMT -5
Willow_lazy: why tf are there 400 posts about adidas
Sept 6, 2018 17:35:57 GMT -5
Azrael: I'm not hard to find, since I'm the only one there who goes by "Azzy", I'm pretty sure. XD
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:41 GMT -5
Azrael: Dunno if anyone still pops by here from time to time, but if any of you mofos do and still feel like gettin' yo nerd on, I've been hanging around this here place a bunch recently: www.roleplayerguild.com/
Feb 10, 2018 16:44:10 GMT -5
Azrael: hold onto your pantaloons
Jul 25, 2016 5:16:43 GMT -5