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-   Term 58: May - August 2021 (https://www.snitchseeker.com/term-58-may-august-2021/)
-   -   Mr Kazmi's Office (https://www.snitchseeker.com/term-58-may-august-2021/mr-kazmis-office-115906/)

Felixir 04-23-2021 05:37 PM

Mr Kazmi's Office
 
https://i.postimg.cc/xTH2DD80/kamranoffice.jpg

Mr Kazmi's office can be found halfway up the stairs in the tower overlooking the Training Area. There's a sign on the otherwise nondescript door telling you exactly where you are.

The set-up inside is straightforward and largely unremarkable. Few bells and whistles, excepting the literal whistle hanging up on a hook near the door. No bells though. Perfectly fine in here without any bells. A desk stands by the large window, so that Kamran can look out over the Training Area while sitting in his desk chair - comfortable out of necessity, not because he particularly likes sitting for too long. A couple more chairs sit across from the desk, for visitors.

Kamran's desk is usually clear - unless he happens to be working on something - apart from some framed magical photographs of his niece and nephews. One of each when they were young and arguably more adorable, and one of each in their late teens.

On the wall opposite the desk, a large bookcase houses a decent-sized collection of books, but is mostly devoted to displaying trophies and framed medals, all from Kamran's old racing days, and all still in perfect condition. Several framed photographs can also be found on these shelves: action shots, commemorative photos of big wins, publicity events, or general rubbing of soldiers with well-known names in the sports world back in the glory days. Said glory days are long since over, but Kamran doesn't shy away from the memories. While perusing the items on these shelves - after asking first; don't just go poking around - the more observant will probably be able to pick out an old photograph of Kamran, aged eleven, beaming with pride after winning the first race he ever competed in. It's slightly obscured by the commemorative photograph taken when Kamran won his final world title in 2087.

A frankly obnoxious cat tree stands in the corner, ruining the entire professional aesthetic of the place, if you ask Kamran. He is not a cat person, or so he claims; Amir originally belonged to his youngest nephew, but ended up staying with Kamran after that arrangement was deemed a little too stressful. When in the office, Amir can usually be found at on the cat tree (judging the world from on high), bothering Kamran, knocking over anything he can get his paws on, or sleeping in the most inconvenient place he can find. He's affectionate, but selectively so. A typical cat.

If you have an appointment, or need or want to speak to Mr Kazmi for any reason, this is the place to be. Knock and wait. If Mr Kazmi is not inside, the door won't open anyway, and if he is, he won't be best pleased by any sudden interruptions.


OOC: If visiting the office, have your character knock and wait for a response. Feel free to start a new timeline if others have already posted here; he'll only see people one at a time unless students explicitly tell him they're here to see him together.

Waddles 05-07-2021 11:04 PM

While initially disappointed that Aguilar had left, Margaret was coming around to liking Mr. Kazmi. For starters, he was taller than her. And he had a cat. The Turovs had never really been cat people, but she found the cat interesting, at least. And the Turovs had never been owl people before, either, but now she had an owl. So clearly, people could change into different types of people.

It had been a couple weeks since her first visit to Kazmi's office. Longer than she had intended, but being a third year was busy. She had more classes, plus she had to take care of her owl and, like, clean her own broom now that she had her own. And fun stuff, like she was trying to learn how to wear makeup and do her hair differently. But it kept her busy. Busy like the bumblebee that she thought Hufflepuff colors always made her look like. And while she wasn't afraid of the exercise, it was a bit of a trek out to the flying instructor's tower.

Once she finally got there, she knocked on the door and waited. Hopefully he was in, she hadn't made an appointment.

Felixir 05-08-2021 06:38 PM

Speaking of the cat, he was today's reason for Kamran not sitting idly at his desk. Amir was currently stretched out on said desk in a patch of sunlight, giving an occasional lazy flick of the tail, peeking an eye open every so often, daring Kamran to nudge him along. Deciding to leave him to it for now, Kamran had instead taken to sorting through some paperwork while standing in front of the window, keeping an eye on the happenings out in the Training Area as he did so. Quiet sort of day, overall. A little too quiet, not to tempt fate or anything.

When the knock came, rather than calling the visitor inside, Kamran took one last look through the window and headed back to open the door himself.

"Ah, Miss Turov." By this point in term, Kamran had a very good handle on names, but Turov had been an easier one regardless, by virtue of the fact that she'd been one of his first visitors, and with a keen interest in flying. He held the door open a little wider. "Come on in."

Unless this was - pardon the pun - just a flying visit.

Waddles 05-09-2021 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12494777)
Speaking of the cat, he was today's reason for Kamran not sitting idly at his desk. Amir was currently stretched out on said desk in a patch of sunlight, giving an occasional lazy flick of the tail, peeking an eye open every so often, daring Kamran to nudge him along. Deciding to leave him to it for now, Kamran had instead taken to sorting through some paperwork while standing in front of the window, keeping an eye on the happenings out in the Training Area as he did so. Quiet sort of day, overall. A little too quiet, not to tempt fate or anything.

When the knock came, rather than calling the visitor inside, Kamran took one last look through the window and headed back to open the door himself.

"Ah, Miss Turov." By this point in term, Kamran had a very good handle on names, but Turov had been an easier one regardless, by virtue of the fact that she'd been one of his first visitors, and with a keen interest in flying. He held the door open a little wider. "Come on in."

Unless this was - pardon the pun - just a flying visit.

Mamie gave Kazmi a small smile when he came to the door. "Hello, sir," she greeted him before entering, quickly taking note of the cat on the desk. "Your cat looks busy." People (or cats) at desks always were busy, in her opinion. The only good reason for sitting at (or on) a desk was doing work, she thought.

She turned back to look at the new flying instructor nervously. How much did he know about what had happened last term? While she'd had a few months of extra study, she...well, they'd taken away the brooms from the Muggleborns. She felt immensely behind on broom skills. Margaret opened her mouth to ask him about one of said broom skills, but closed it without saying anything, letting out an empty breath instead. She crossed her arms for comfort and turned to look at the cat again. "What's it's name again?"

Felixir 05-10-2021 05:30 PM

"He seems to think the desk is all for him," Kamran replied, giving said cat a withering look of the sort that cat owners tended to give their feline companions. Maybe companion was too strong a word here. "Mind you, he thinks the same of everything. His name is Amir."

Closing the door, Kamran moved to the chair behind his desk - making no effort to move Amir out of the way this time; he could be an excellent buffer at times - gesturing to the seats across from it for Turov to sit, if she felt so inclined. He noted her nervousness, but refrained from calling attention to it, and also decided to delay the 'what brings you here today' question a little longer. "How's your week been? Busy?"

Waddles 05-11-2021 02:21 AM

Amir. Amir. Amir Amir Amir. Mamie thought it would be a miracle if she could remember the cat's name the next time she visited Kazmi, but maybe if she visited every day she'd remember. No. She didn't want to visit that much. He'd get tired of her. "Does he get along with all the owls?" she asked. She thought birds and cats didn't get along, like in the cartoon with the yellow bird and the cat that tried to eat it. But maybe Amir was special.

She sat on the edge of the chair he'd gestured to, and uncrossed her arms so she could clasp her hands in her lap. Because nervous meant fidgety and fidgety meant this would probably not be a very long conversation because she wouldn't want to stay sitting. Maybe she shouldn't have sat down.

"My week? It's...yeah, busy," she said, caught off guard by the question. It wasn't one she got asked frequently, as most of her friends were with her in classes all week. She wrinkled, then unwrinkled her nose. Then squinted down at the cat, not looking at Kazmi himself. "Do you know how to do, I think it's called broom surfing?" she asked after a moment or two or five of watching Amir's tail.

astrocat 05-17-2021 11:27 AM

Ash's presence had been requested. By the flying professor. Kazmi. Was this meeting quite likely to end in punishment? Yeah. Or a lecture? Yeah. Torture? Not even off the table. Maybe even... being spoken to condescendingly(gasp)? That was the most likely possibility of all. But Ash refused to be scared by the unknown. How could what you didn't know be scarier than what you know for a fact? How could what you did not know was true be more harmful than what you perceived as true? Ash would rather just unmask the unknown, and THEN be scared. That made so much more sense.

Ash knocked. Two times.
Who's there?
Ash.
Just Ash.
She was always scared.
Just plain old scared and angry.
Like a lonely, abandoned cat.

Felixir 05-17-2021 04:38 PM

SPOILER!!: Mamie
Quote:

Originally Posted by Waddles (Post 12495238)
Amir. Amir. Amir Amir Amir. Mamie thought it would be a miracle if she could remember the cat's name the next time she visited Kazmi, but maybe if she visited every day she'd remember. No. She didn't want to visit that much. He'd get tired of her. "Does he get along with all the owls?" she asked. She thought birds and cats didn't get along, like in the cartoon with the yellow bird and the cat that tried to eat it. But maybe Amir was special.

She sat on the edge of the chair he'd gestured to, and uncrossed her arms so she could clasp her hands in her lap. Because nervous meant fidgety and fidgety meant this would probably not be a very long conversation because she wouldn't want to stay sitting. Maybe she shouldn't have sat down.

"My week? It's...yeah, busy," she said, caught off guard by the question. It wasn't one she got asked frequently, as most of her friends were with her in classes all week. She wrinkled, then unwrinkled her nose. Then squinted down at the cat, not looking at Kazmi himself. "Do you know how to do, I think it's called broom surfing?" she asked after a moment or two or five of watching Amir's tail.



"Well enough. Tried to take on a barn owl once, and quickly learned his lesson." Oh, Amir. But at least he did learn, when it came to the owls, or the bigger owls, at any rate. Mostly it was mice that the delightful little so-and-so brought back as gifts.

Kamran was not sure how most of his colleagues could stand having so many office and classroom hours; as soon as he was sitting down, he wanted to get back up again, but maintained his usual calm demeanour as he looked at Turov across the desk, and across the cat. Kamran wasn't the jittery type, even when he was internally climbing the walls, not only because it was his natural state to be outwardly serene, but because students usually preferred when the vibe was much more settled. Usually.

He nodded, allowed the pause, and was about to ask something else when Turov spoke up again herself. "I do. It wasn't a skill necessary for my original field, but I know all the techniques and manoeuvres enough to teach them." Not bragging, just facts. Well, not counting the particularly hare-brained stunts that he really had no business teaching to potentially reckless adolescents. "Is that a skill you're interested in learning?"


SPOILER!!: Ash
Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat (Post 12496133)
Ash's presence had been requested. By the flying professor. Kazmi. Was this meeting quite likely to end in punishment? Yeah. Or a lecture? Yeah. Torture? Not even off the table. Maybe even... being spoken to condescendingly(gasp)? That was the most likely possibility of all. But Ash refused to be scared by the unknown. How could what you didn't know be scarier than what you know for a fact? How could what you did not know was true be more harmful than what you perceived as true? Ash would rather just unmask the unknown, and THEN be scared. That made so much more sense.

Ash knocked. Two times.
Who's there?
Ash.
Just Ash.
She was always scared.
Just plain old scared and angry.
Like a lonely, abandoned cat.



Kamran was using this quiet time - reserved for any student who wished to drop by, he kept the same hours free every day - to write a letter to his youngest nephew. Amir was using this quiet time to helpfully attack the quill as Kamran wrote. He'd given up for the day, and had crossed the room to file the half-finished letter away in his bookcase, when the knock came.

Flicking his wand at the door, he opened it up to reveal his visitor. "Hello, Miss Fox, thank you for stopping by." Kamran had wondered if she would, but had no basis for an assumption either way, and simply decided to wait and see. "Come in and take a seat. You can leave the door open, if you'd prefer." He tucked the parchment away, straightened a picture frame, and returned to his own chair.

astrocat 05-17-2021 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12496166)

Kamran was using this quiet time - reserved for any student who wished to drop by, he kept the same hours free every day - to write a letter to his youngest nephew. Amir was using this quiet time to helpfully attack the quill as Kamran wrote. He'd given up for the day, and had crossed the room to file the half-finished letter away in his bookcase, when the knock came.

Flicking his wand at the door, he opened it up to reveal his visitor. "Hello, Miss Fox, thank you for stopping by." Kamran had wondered if she would, but had no basis for an assumption either way, and simply decided to wait and see. "Come in and take a seat. You can leave the door open, if you'd prefer." He tucked the parchment away, straightened a picture frame, and returned to his own chair.

"Hello." Ash always showed up. She might come into any given scenario with wands drawn and a big army, but she was coming somehow. Well, the only thing she was planning on skipping was those dumb therapy sessions and Lucien Rosier's funeral. But not this. This was just some random professor, here to try to look through to her soul and thoughts. Or something like that.

"Nahhh, door closed is fine." Ash didn't need anyone else seeing this. She didn't know what the flying professor would say (undoubtedly unrelated to flying), and whatever it was was not the business of her "friends", her friends, or her enemies. She shut the door.

Ash took her seat. She observantly took in all the details of the room. "I like your cat." No feeling in that sentence. It was just a statement. Cat=good. Meeting=bad. "So." Simultaneously a question and a comment. So. So what. So why am I here? So what do you want? It was an invitation for him to proceed with whatever annoying lecture (that would fall on mostly deaf ears) or dumb questions (that would be heard loudly and quite possibly overreacted to) he wanted to start with. He wanted to know something, did he not? Or he wanted to say something. One of those. Then he should get started before he lost his nerve to ask. Ash's eyes were quite creepy sometimes, did he know? If you looked at them too long, they started to look like voids of darkness with no real sentient being behind them. Maybe he ought to hurry up.

Felixir 05-20-2021 10:10 PM

SPOILER!!: Ash
Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat (Post 12496185)
"Hello." Ash always showed up. She might come into any given scenario with wands drawn and a big army, but she was coming somehow. Well, the only thing she was planning on skipping was those dumb therapy sessions and Lucien Rosier's funeral. But not this. This was just some random professor, here to try to look through to her soul and thoughts. Or something like that.

"Nahhh, door closed is fine." Ash didn't need anyone else seeing this. She didn't know what the flying professor would say (undoubtedly unrelated to flying), and whatever it was was not the business of her "friends", her friends, or her enemies. She shut the door.

Ash took her seat. She observantly took in all the details of the room. "I like your cat." No feeling in that sentence. It was just a statement. Cat=good. Meeting=bad. "So." Simultaneously a question and a comment. So. So what. So why am I here? So what do you want? It was an invitation for him to proceed with whatever annoying lecture (that would fall on mostly deaf ears) or dumb questions (that would be heard loudly and quite possibly overreacted to) he wanted to start with. He wanted to know something, did he not? Or he wanted to say something. One of those. Then he should get started before he lost his nerve to ask. Ash's eyes were quite creepy sometimes, did he know? If you looked at them too long, they started to look like voids of darkness with no real sentient being behind them. Maybe he ought to hurry up.


Kamran nodded, and scooted himself in under the desk. Door closed, fine with him too. He shot a glance at Amir, who had taken the opportunity to cat-loaf on the desk. "I think he appreciates that. His name's Amir." As though voice-activated by his own name, the cat began to purr loudly. Kamran half rolled his eyes and ignored him, focused instead on Fox.

"So," he repeated, clasping his hands together on the desktop, and eyeing the student with a look that was not stern, nor concerned, nor unconcerned. Just a look of consideration. "You're not in any trouble. I just wanted see how things are going, given how the session at the lake ended the other day." Given other things too, but that was not really Kamran's wheelhouse, he was no therapist; he'd also not even been here last term, but he'd been present at the lake, and it would be remiss of him to ignore what had occurred. "I understand you're unlikely to trust a new face at the school, and I'm not asking you to, but I did want to check in with you, at least."

astrocat 05-20-2021 11:50 PM

SPOILER!!: the person being deceived
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12496629)
Kamran nodded, and scooted himself in under the desk. Door closed, fine with him too. He shot a glance at Amir, who had taken the opportunity to cat-loaf on the desk. "I think he appreciates that. His name's Amir." As though voice-activated by his own name, the cat began to purr loudly. Kamran half rolled his eyes and ignored him, focused instead on Fox.

"So," he repeated, clasping his hands together on the desktop, and eyeing the student with a look that was not stern, nor concerned, nor unconcerned. Just a look of consideration. "You're not in any trouble. I just wanted see how things are going, given how the session at the lake ended the other day." Given other things too, but that was not really Kamran's wheelhouse, he was no therapist; he'd also not even been here last term, but he'd been present at the lake, and it would be remiss of him to ignore what had occurred. "I understand you're unlikely to trust a new face at the school, and I'm not asking you to, but I did want to check in with you, at least."



"Hi Amir." Ash had never quite been an animal person (although she loved her pets). But if there was one animal she could really relate to, it was cats. Absolutely cats. Ash was 100% a cat person. She half-wondered if Amir the cat would sit by her. Probably not. Whatever. The cat and the professor were both slightly comforting presences, so she didn't even cross her arms and give off super tense body language. Only slightly tense body language.

Great. This meeting started out with 'you're not in trouble'. On the one hand, it was annoying to start with, and he really did sound like a concerned bodyguard. On the other hand, if she was in trouble, this meeting could become highly unstable. So it was... possibly a good thing to start with, even if it was slightly condescending and assumed that she didn't know she wasn't in trouble. And assumed that she cared either way. But ANYWAYS, she was concentrating. Yup. They were talking about that one time she yelled stuff and ran off, correct? Well, she didn't really feel like saying the truth in what happened sooo..."I'm fine. Not mad at Gemma or whatever for throwing stuff at me. That's relatable. I'm only mad at the universe and the government. I just, y'know- flying projectiles have the tendency to make my fight or flight overreact. Or whatever. And y'know, my natural fight tendency is to scream defiant stuff, and my flight tendency is to hide. Really, more like a fight AND flight mechanism." It was a joke, that she did not laugh at. It was more of a distraction than anything. Designed to steer the conversation away from her saying that she regretted nothing and everything she said was something she believed.

blah blah blah, it's okay if you don't put your faith and trust in me, blah blah blah. Whatever. "Don't worry about it. You have no less trust than anyone else. At least you get to start with a clean chalkboard." And yes, she knew that it was a clean slate, but that was another joke for distracting, so that Mr. flying professor would hopefully miss the actual meaning of what she was really saying, which was that she trusted him just as little as she trusted everyone else. Except for Healer Poppy, of course. She definitely trusted him more than Healer Poppy. Why? Because he didn't bring a loudspeaker up to the great hall to yell 'TELL EVERYONE YOUR TRAUMA AND THEN GET OVER IT'. She could give him that. He had asked for a personal meeting, and said meeting was not announced for the whole school to hear and gossip about. At the very least, Ash could respect that. Another bonus of them not knowing each other was that she didn't even resent him yet! Congratulations! Even though he replaced Aguilar. That probably wasn't his fault.

Bottom line was, Ash was totally fine. She had just felt overwhelmed and snapped and said things that she didn't mean. It would not happen again. That was the official story anyway. Erase her of guilt without making people worried about her sanity/safety/whatever. Because she didn't really wanna be hated, but she didn't wanna be pitied either. This explanation had a good balance of 'oopsies I just lost control' and 'don't worry I'm fine.'

The reality was, Ash HAD lost control. But she meant everything she said. She just didn't mean to say it out loud.

Ash wondered if they had files on every time she lost control at this school. They probably did. Maybe he could see patterns somewhere. It didn't matter though. For the time being, she was sticking to this story.

Waddles 05-22-2021 03:32 AM

SPOILER!!: you
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12496166)

"Well enough. Tried to take on a barn owl once, and quickly learned his lesson." Oh, Amir. But at least he did learn, when it came to the owls, or the bigger owls, at any rate. Mostly it was mice that the delightful little so-and-so brought back as gifts.

Kamran was not sure how most of his colleagues could stand having so many office and classroom hours; as soon as he was sitting down, he wanted to get back up again, but maintained his usual calm demeanour as he looked at Turov across the desk, and across the cat. Kamran wasn't the jittery type, even when he was internally climbing the walls, not only because it was his natural state to be outwardly serene, but because students usually preferred when the vibe was much more settled. Usually.

He nodded, allowed the pause, and was about to ask something else when Turov spoke up again herself. "I do. It wasn't a skill necessary for my original field, but I know all the techniques and manoeuvres enough to teach them." Not bragging, just facts. Well, not counting the particularly hare-brained stunts that he really had no business teaching to potentially reckless adolescents. "Is that a skill you're interested in learning?"



Heheh. The thought of a cat battling an owl, even if only once, made her grin again. Especially since Amir was clearly just fine after his battle with a barn owl. Oh. Ahhhh. Hopefully it hadn't been her barn owl the cat had fought. She'd have to check on him later. Vendetta also liked mice.

But. There were more important things.

Like flying.

She squinted at Kazmi as he confirmed he did, in fact, know the broom-surfing. And then offered to teach her. It was a very important skill if she wanted to be a chaser, she thought, and maybe useful for playing keeper, too. She nodded eagerly. "Yes," she said quietly. "Mr. Aguilar taught us last term, but...I...missed it...?" she trailed off, trying not to think about why she missed it. Or the fact she had been present and had to play broomball instead. "Could, could you help me learn? Maybe?"

Felixir 05-25-2021 11:45 PM

SPOILER!!: Ash
Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat (Post 12496640)
"Hi Amir." Ash had never quite been an animal person (although she loved her pets). But if there was one animal she could really relate to, it was cats. Absolutely cats. Ash was 100% a cat person. She half-wondered if Amir the cat would sit by her. Probably not. Whatever. The cat and the professor were both slightly comforting presences, so she didn't even cross her arms and give off super tense body language. Only slightly tense body language.

Great. This meeting started out with 'you're not in trouble'. On the one hand, it was annoying to start with, and he really did sound like a concerned bodyguard. On the other hand, if she was in trouble, this meeting could become highly unstable. So it was... possibly a good thing to start with, even if it was slightly condescending and assumed that she didn't know she wasn't in trouble. And assumed that she cared either way. But ANYWAYS, she was concentrating. Yup. They were talking about that one time she yelled stuff and ran off, correct? Well, she didn't really feel like saying the truth in what happened sooo..."I'm fine. Not mad at Gemma or whatever for throwing stuff at me. That's relatable. I'm only mad at the universe and the government. I just, y'know- flying projectiles have the tendency to make my fight or flight overreact. Or whatever. And y'know, my natural fight tendency is to scream defiant stuff, and my flight tendency is to hide. Really, more like a fight AND flight mechanism." It was a joke, that she did not laugh at. It was more of a distraction than anything. Designed to steer the conversation away from her saying that she regretted nothing and everything she said was something she believed.

blah blah blah, it's okay if you don't put your faith and trust in me, blah blah blah. Whatever. "Don't worry about it. You have no less trust than anyone else. At least you get to start with a clean chalkboard." And yes, she knew that it was a clean slate, but that was another joke for distracting, so that Mr. flying professor would hopefully miss the actual meaning of what she was really saying, which was that she trusted him just as little as she trusted everyone else. Except for Healer Poppy, of course. She definitely trusted him more than Healer Poppy. Why? Because he didn't bring a loudspeaker up to the great hall to yell 'TELL EVERYONE YOUR TRAUMA AND THEN GET OVER IT'. She could give him that. He had asked for a personal meeting, and said meeting was not announced for the whole school to hear and gossip about. At the very least, Ash could respect that. Another bonus of them not knowing each other was that she didn't even resent him yet! Congratulations! Even though he replaced Aguilar. That probably wasn't his fault.

Bottom line was, Ash was totally fine. She had just felt overwhelmed and snapped and said things that she didn't mean. It would not happen again. That was the official story anyway. Erase her of guilt without making people worried about her sanity/safety/whatever. Because she didn't really wanna be hated, but she didn't wanna be pitied either. This explanation had a good balance of 'oopsies I just lost control' and 'don't worry I'm fine.'

The reality was, Ash HAD lost control. But she meant everything she said. She just didn't mean to say it out loud.

Ash wondered if they had files on every time she lost control at this school. They probably did. Maybe he could see patterns somewhere. It didn't matter though. For the time being, she was sticking to this story.


Again with the voice activation. Amir pushed to his feet, stretching out his front paws, and then legs, and hopping down off the desk. As Kamran brushed away the stray fur left behind, the cat wound its way around the Ravenclaw's ankles, still purring loudly. Show off.

Kamran left the cat to it. "I don't think anyone could blame you for being mad, whether at Kitridge, or the government, or the universe." Teenagers generally had a lot of righteous anger inside them, especially those who'd been through it. And, actually, most had, but very few been through what Fox had been through, from what he'd heard. Kamran didn't begrudge Kitridge her anger either. There wasn't a single student in this school not entitled to their thoughts and feelings, and Kamran stood by that even for the kids he didn't understand in the slightest. Trying to convince them they were wrong was not only a fool's errand but, in his long experience, actively harmful.

Fox was rambling just ever so slightly, and Kamran allowed it, clearly listening, though he didn't intend to respond to every word. Frankly he'd been surprised that had been the only major outburst he'd witnessed so far, but he supposed it might be a while before the students accepted even subconsciously that they were safe enough to behave in those typical teenage ways again. One thing to look out for with the yelling is that if you have certain thoughts building up, some might burst out one day when you least expect it." Which was exactly what Kamran suspected had happened, but now he phrased it as what might be one day, rather than what had already happened. "Is that something you're hoping to avoid at all?" Not even implying she had thoughts she didn't want to share.

Even though everyone had those.


SPOILER!!: Mamie
Quote:

Originally Posted by Waddles (Post 12496825)

Heheh. The thought of a cat battling an owl, even if only once, made her grin again. Especially since Amir was clearly just fine after his battle with a barn owl. Oh. Ahhhh. Hopefully it hadn't been her barn owl the cat had fought. She'd have to check on him later. Vendetta also liked mice.

But. There were more important things.

Like flying.

She squinted at Kazmi as he confirmed he did, in fact, know the broom-surfing. And then offered to teach her. It was a very important skill if she wanted to be a chaser, she thought, and maybe useful for playing keeper, too. She nodded eagerly. "Yes," she said quietly. "Mr. Aguilar taught us last term, but...I...missed it...?" she trailed off, trying not to think about why she missed it. Or the fact she had been present and had to play broomball instead. "Could, could you help me learn? Maybe?"


The trailing off, there was something there, Kamran could tell, but decided not to push it. He was not oblivious to what had happened here last year, even though he had been an ocean plus half a country away for the majority of it, and he doubted any of the kids would welcome his asking questions. Kamran simply drew the conclusion that, with all that had happened, something had prevented Turov from taking part in the lesson in question, and it could well have been something very unpleasant.

So, naturally, "Of course." That was all there was to it. Perhaps Kamran ought to run a few refreshers of anything specific to last term's curriculum that might have been interrupted, alongside his established lesson plan. That wasn't for right now though. "That's what I'm here for. Let me know when you have some time." Kamran was usually around this area of the grounds, of course, and could always keep an eye on the Training Area from within it. All the same, the schedules would need to line up. "It's Quidditch you wanted to get into, isn't it?" She'd mentioned it last time, if he remembered correctly.

astrocat 05-26-2021 01:04 AM

SPOILER!!: Amir + Professor Kazmi
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12497260)
Again with the voice activation. Amir pushed to his feet, stretching out his front paws, and then legs, and hopping down off the desk. As Kamran brushed away the stray fur left behind, the cat wound its way around the Ravenclaw's ankles, still purring loudly. Show off.

Kamran left the cat to it. "I don't think anyone could blame you for being mad, whether at Kitridge, or the government, or the universe." Teenagers generally had a lot of righteous anger inside them, especially those who'd been through it. And, actually, most had, but very few been through what Fox had been through, from what he'd heard. Kamran didn't begrudge Kitridge her anger either. There wasn't a single student in this school not entitled to their thoughts and feelings, and Kamran stood by that even for the kids he didn't understand in the slightest. Trying to convince them they were wrong was not only a fool's errand but, in his long experience, actively harmful.

Fox was rambling just ever so slightly, and Kamran allowed it, clearly listening, though he didn't intend to respond to every word. Frankly he'd been surprised that had been the only major outburst he'd witnessed so far, but he supposed it might be a while before the students accepted even subconsciously that they were safe enough to behave in those typical teenage ways again. One thing to look out for with the yelling is that if you have certain thoughts building up, some might burst out one day when you least expect it." Which was exactly what Kamran suspected had happened, but now he phrased it as what might be one day, rather than what had already happened. "Is that something you're hoping to avoid at all?" Not even implying she had thoughts she didn't want to share.

Even though everyone had those.



"I'm not mad at Gemma. Just the government, and the universe, and certain specific people who aren't Gemma." And she wasn't even lying. On the scale of how mad Ash was at people, Gemma was like, a three. Cambridge was a seven on the scale of anger. Healer Poppy was an eight on the scale of anger. Ash... didn't really want to go past that. Actually, she really didn't. Slight correction in the order.

"I can see how that exploding stuff would happen." Yeah, Ash did a lot of rage outbursts. Mostly in secret. Mostly internally. Most of that rage was taken out on stuffed animals that she stitched back together by hand. Or game controllers she kept needing to replace. Mirrors that needed to be swept up. But some of it got directed at people. She couldn't help it. "I'm not afraid of saying something I don't mean. I'm scared of saying something that I really do mean." Because if you didn't mean what you said, you could just apologize and take it back. If you meant every word you said, where did you go from there?

"I would like to avoid saying things that I agree with too much to take back and also things that other people don't get to know. But how do you have those thoughts and not say them?" Because obviously, she couldn't go around screaming 'what if I never produce a patronus'. She couldn't scream a lot of other things. She couldn't scream in general. Obviously. People would use it against her. They'd never understand. But she couldn't just... stop those thoughts. Had he ever tried to cover a faucet with his hand and had the water spray everywhere? It was like that. Healer Poppy was trying to cover a faucet with her hand right now. And Ash's thoughts were like the water.

She looked at the cat rubbing at her ankles. She felt the crystals in her bracelets, the gifts from Serena. Both there to calm her down. She did not look up. "This could be avoided if I just didn't come back." The therapy sessions, she meant. But also, the wizarding world. If she just held on until the winter holidays, returned to Australia for break, and then conveniently missed the returning train... she'd be free. Her gaze remained pointed at the floor, her eyes wandering from cat, to bracelets, to phoenix tattoo, to burns, to the other burns, and back to the tattoo. She still didn't look up. She looked at the cat again. Cute cat. Fuzzy cat. Soft cat. Ash remained almost motionless, like she was dead or something. But really, she was just silently distracting herself with Professor Kazmi's cat. Kitty cat. Nice cat. Ash had half a mind to purr at the cat... there was a cat. A fuzzy and soft kitty cat... pet the cat... cats. So soft... where were they again? Ash looked up from the cat, momentarily distracted. Then her eyes cleared. She remembered perfectly, as usual. Then she went back to looking at the cat. She would much rather look at Amir the cat. There was a cat... the cat was fluffy... just, cats. There was a cat. Look, right there. A cat.

"I like Amir." The cat. There was a cat. Named Amir. And that was the single most important thing happening in this discussion.

Waddles 05-27-2021 01:45 AM

sorry for the brain yelling
 
SPOILER!!: Kazmi
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12497260)
The trailing off, there was something there, Kamran could tell, but decided not to push it. He was not oblivious to what had happened here last year, even though he had been an ocean plus half a country away for the majority of it, and he doubted any of the kids would welcome his asking questions. Kamran simply drew the conclusion that, with all that had happened, something had prevented Turov from taking part in the lesson in question, and it could well have been something very unpleasant.

So, naturally, "Of course." That was all there was to it. Perhaps Kamran ought to run a few refreshers of anything specific to last term's curriculum that might have been interrupted, alongside his established lesson plan. That wasn't for right now though. "That's what I'm here for. Let me know when you have some time." Kamran was usually around this area of the grounds, of course, and could always keep an eye on the Training Area from within it. All the same, the schedules would need to line up. "It's Quidditch you wanted to get into, isn't it?" She'd mentioned it last time, if he remembered correctly.


It might be useful for Kazmi to know that all the Muggleborns had been prevented from actually flying during flying class for several months the previous year. Margaret wasn't about to tell him all about it, though. She was embarrassed. There were vital Quidditch skills she still hadn't learned, because of reasons COMPLETELY OUTSIDE HER CONTROL. But hopefully, hopefully, with Kazmi's help, she could learn them and then be amazing at her U-17 tryout, and then be a U-17 player, and then a professional Quidditch player, and then never have to remember History of Magic ever again.

She brightened as he agreed to help her with broom surfing, and she already had a time in mind. "Tuesday?" Tuesdays had been the day she flew with Aguilar. Then again, she intended to fly every day this term, because she had her own broom, and it was going to be amazing. Running before class, flying after class. Who needed to do homework? "Yes! I want to play Quidditch, I've gotten a lot better!" She thought she was very good, in fact, but she was not about to brag about that. Not when she could be wrong.

Felixir 06-08-2021 05:58 PM

SPOILER!!: Ash
Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat (Post 12497271)
"I'm not mad at Gemma. Just the government, and the universe, and certain specific people who aren't Gemma." And she wasn't even lying. On the scale of how mad Ash was at people, Gemma was like, a three. Cambridge was a seven on the scale of anger. Healer Poppy was an eight on the scale of anger. Ash... didn't really want to go past that. Actually, she really didn't. Slight correction in the order.

"I can see how that exploding stuff would happen." Yeah, Ash did a lot of rage outbursts. Mostly in secret. Mostly internally. Most of that rage was taken out on stuffed animals that she stitched back together by hand. Or game controllers she kept needing to replace. Mirrors that needed to be swept up. But some of it got directed at people. She couldn't help it. "I'm not afraid of saying something I don't mean. I'm scared of saying something that I really do mean." Because if you didn't mean what you said, you could just apologize and take it back. If you meant every word you said, where did you go from there?

"I would like to avoid saying things that I agree with too much to take back and also things that other people don't get to know. But how do you have those thoughts and not say them?" Because obviously, she couldn't go around screaming 'what if I never produce a patronus'. She couldn't scream a lot of other things. She couldn't scream in general. Obviously. People would use it against her. They'd never understand. But she couldn't just... stop those thoughts. Had he ever tried to cover a faucet with his hand and had the water spray everywhere? It was like that. Healer Poppy was trying to cover a faucet with her hand right now. And Ash's thoughts were like the water.

She looked at the cat rubbing at her ankles. She felt the crystals in her bracelets, the gifts from Serena. Both there to calm her down. She did not look up. "This could be avoided if I just didn't come back." The therapy sessions, she meant. But also, the wizarding world. If she just held on until the winter holidays, returned to Australia for break, and then conveniently missed the returning train... she'd be free. Her gaze remained pointed at the floor, her eyes wandering from cat, to bracelets, to phoenix tattoo, to burns, to the other burns, and back to the tattoo. She still didn't look up. She looked at the cat again. Cute cat. Fuzzy cat. Soft cat. Ash remained almost motionless, like she was dead or something. But really, she was just silently distracting herself with Professor Kazmi's cat. Kitty cat. Nice cat. Ash had half a mind to purr at the cat... there was a cat. A fuzzy and soft kitty cat... pet the cat... cats. So soft... where were they again? Ash looked up from the cat, momentarily distracted. Then her eyes cleared. She remembered perfectly, as usual. Then she went back to looking at the cat. She would much rather look at Amir the cat. There was a cat... the cat was fluffy... just, cats. There was a cat. Look, right there. A cat.

"I like Amir." The cat. There was a cat. Named Amir. And that was the single most important thing happening in this discussion.



Kamran's point still stood, and as he'd have said much the same thing to Fox, he chose not to reiterate it. She'd heard him once already, there was no point repeating himself over and over with every change of wording; it would be an insult to her intelligence, and a waste of both their time.

So he stayed quiet, and let her talk, until there was a question to answer. "If you're not keen on the idea of voicing them to someone, you could write them down. A little cliche, but no less effective for it. Getting everything out onto the page can be a good outlet, and you might find you're less likely to explode with truth when you're not ready to do so. It also helps with sorting through your thoughts, and you might surprise yourself with how you start to make sense of things. I've known students to do this in the past, some kept private journals, some shared them, others destroyed the pages when they were done." All had different reasons for what they wrote and then what they chose to do with those words once they'd got them out, but it was a very simple, yet very effective exercise for many people. "And, if writing it down is still a little daunting, I hear you're an artist. Art works just as well. Better, for some."

Kamran took that statement just as calmly. "Perhaps. But then you risk developing a habit of running from your problems." Though, maybe the girl was better off staying home, like some other students had apparently done, maybe she wasn't in the right frame of mind to be back here. Kamran didn't know, he had only fragments of information. Even if he knew every detail, that still wasn't remotely his call to make, but perhaps someone ought to make it, depending on how the term progressed. Kamran let the silence sit, and then, "Seems he likes you as well." The purring. He could hear it loud and clear.


SPOILER!!: Mamie
Quote:

Originally Posted by Waddles (Post 12497383)
It might be useful for Kazmi to know that all the Muggleborns had been prevented from actually flying during flying class for several months the previous year. Margaret wasn't about to tell him all about it, though. She was embarrassed. There were vital Quidditch skills she still hadn't learned, because of reasons COMPLETELY OUTSIDE HER CONTROL. But hopefully, hopefully, with Kazmi's help, she could learn them and then be amazing at her U-17 tryout, and then be a U-17 player, and then a professional Quidditch player, and then never have to remember History of Magic ever again.

She brightened as he agreed to help her with broom surfing, and she already had a time in mind. "Tuesday?" Tuesdays had been the day she flew with Aguilar. Then again, she intended to fly every day this term, because she had her own broom, and it was going to be amazing. Running before class, flying after class. Who needed to do homework? "Yes! I want to play Quidditch, I've gotten a lot better!" She thought she was very good, in fact, but she was not about to brag about that. Not when she could be wrong.



Kamran was aware of what had happened last term, in the general sense as well as in the specific context of flying; he'd been informed very early on. But Turov had said only that she'd missed the class, leaving it up to speculation whether it was so straightforward, or if she'd been present but prevented from participating. Kamran tried to keep track of who the muggle-born students were - particularly the ones present last term - but while he was still working on names and faces, this was easier said than done, especially when it was not a natural detail for him to try and remember.

Regardless, he had a feeling he knew what Turov was getting at, but she'd neglected to say it outright for a reason. In the context of this conversation, he took what she said at face value and proceeded with that. He did not linger on it.

"Tuesday should be fine," Kamran said, swivelling the chair slightly to look over a small schedule affixed to his wall. He knew it by heart, but sometimes new appointments or meetings magicked themselves in, so it was always good to check. "Tuesday afternoon," he confirmed, and looked back. "That's good to hear. What position are you focusing on?"

astrocat 06-08-2021 07:28 PM

SPOILER!!: Amir the best cat and also Professor Kazmi
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12498806)

Kamran's point still stood, and as he'd have said much the same thing to Fox, he chose not to reiterate it. She'd heard him once already, there was no point repeating himself over and over with every change of wording; it would be an insult to her intelligence, and a waste of both their time.

So he stayed quiet, and let her talk, until there was a question to answer. "If you're not keen on the idea of voicing them to someone, you could write them down. A little cliche, but no less effective for it. Getting everything out onto the page can be a good outlet, and you might find you're less likely to explode with truth when you're not ready to do so. It also helps with sorting through your thoughts, and you might surprise yourself with how you start to make sense of things. I've known students to do this in the past, some kept private journals, some shared them, others destroyed the pages when they were done." All had different reasons for what they wrote and then what they chose to do with those words once they'd got them out, but it was a very simple, yet very effective exercise for many people. "And, if writing it down is still a little daunting, I hear you're an artist. Art works just as well. Better, for some."

Kamran took that statement just as calmly. "Perhaps. But then you risk developing a habit of running from your problems." Though, maybe the girl was better off staying home, like some other students had apparently done, maybe she wasn't in the right frame of mind to be back here. Kamran didn't know, he had only fragments of information. Even if he knew every detail, that still wasn't remotely his call to make, but perhaps someone ought to make it, depending on how the term progressed. Kamran let the silence sit, and then, "Seems he likes you as well." The purring. He could hear it loud and clear.



Oh. "Like one of those journals muggles have where they write what they think and then they burn it?" A slight smile appeared on Ash's face, when really it had no reason to be there. Fire... noooo. Stop. Maybe she would be better off with... hmmm. "I like the idea. I like fire. Actually, that probably means I shouldn't..." she trailed off. How exactly was she supposed to say This is a terrible idea considering my track record... But still... fire. "Nevermind." She was going to make a journal, and then she was going to watch it burn and pretend like she hadn't dreamed of burning anything else until only Ashes remained. Good plan. Thanks professor, for the idea.

Art though... how did he know that if he hadn't seen? Sure ,she was obviously an artist if anyone had ever seen her paint, but Kazmi never said that he saw. Ash looked up in surprise, her hand slipping to her extension charmed pocket to make sure all her notebooks were still there. They were, of course, and Ash didn't see how anyone could know that she carried them around everywhere she went, so it made sense... but still. Hmmm. I hear. Not I know or I've seen. An interesting statement. Hear. From who? And why? And where and when and what? How? She opened her mouth to ask a question. Maybe the question was how do you know that, or even can I paint you. Nobody would ever know, because Ash let the moment slip away. She didn't ask the questions.

She moved on for the moment.

Personally, Ash thought that running away was a wimp move, and also dumb. It would be Letting The Bad Guys Win. But maybe she was the wrong one. Maybe sometimes there was nothing left to do but run away... maybe. But Ash was never going to admit it when she had hit that moment, not even to herself. Because retreating was for people who were defeated. Demoralized, disappointed and dejected were not the same as defeated. That's why they were separate words, see? Logic.

"I guess." Ash mostly agreed. But she thought it was funny that people expected her to never give up, but it was perfectly okay for them to give up and leave her to cover their retreat. We love you Ash, and we want you to stay, said the very same people who left her the second a problem started. We understand you, said the people who thought she was too angry. We believe in you, said the people who had given up on her a long time ago. There were exceptions, of course. Ten or twenty people who truly believed in her, even when she messed up constantly. Kazmi wasn't on it yet, because they didn't know each other. But still, it was probably a good thing that it was professor Kazmi who was telling her this, and not Healer Poppy. Or some other person she resented. He hadn't had the opportunity to betray her yet. Yet.

Anyway, professor Kazmi's cat was a much better thing to think about that loyalty an sacrifice and betrayal. Ash was sure that Amir wouldn't be mean to her. "I think he likes me too. What are the chances." It wasn't a question. It was an observation. Amir hadn't immediately ran away from her. Clearly, he was either stupid or one of the kindest living things she had ever met. Maybe both. Maybe kindness was stupid sometimes. But Ash was inclined to believe that Amir was just really nice, because he was a cat and she would never think of a cat as dumb. Cats weren't dumb. Cats were her favorite animal, and they were soft. Cats were super great. And they didn't feel obligated to go along with what other people wanted. Cats. Ash sometimes thought that she was like a cat. But people liked cats, and they didn't like her.

Waddles 06-09-2021 02:49 AM

SPOILER!!: Kazmi
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12498806)

Kamran was aware of what had happened last term, in the general sense as well as in the specific context of flying; he'd been informed very early on. But Turov had said only that she'd missed the class, leaving it up to speculation whether it was so straightforward, or if she'd been present but prevented from participating. Kamran tried to keep track of who the muggle-born students were - particularly the ones present last term - but while he was still working on names and faces, this was easier said than done, especially when it was not a natural detail for him to try and remember.

Regardless, he had a feeling he knew what Turov was getting at, but she'd neglected to say it outright for a reason. In the context of this conversation, he took what she said at face value and proceeded with that. He did not linger on it.

"Tuesday should be fine," Kamran said, swivelling the chair slightly to look over a small schedule affixed to his wall. He knew it by heart, but sometimes new appointments or meetings magicked themselves in, so it was always good to check. "Tuesday afternoon," he confirmed, and looked back. "That's good to hear. What position are you focusing on?"



Tuesday afternoon. She nodded. That would be easy to remember. As for her Quidditch position of choice...that was a difficult question. "I don't know yet," she said, shrugging. "I think...maybe Keeper or Chaser, but...I haven't really played much before, so I don't know which I'd, uh, like better, or...be better at?" She knew the liking a position part was important, but... she was willing to play her second favorite position if it meant she could be really good.

"My brother plays keeper on his football team," she volunteered. Or was he defense? She couldn't remember. "So maybe I'll be good at that...but in Quidditch." So...maybe she did know what she wanted. If she wanted to be like her brother, that meant she'd be leaning towards keeper. But only if she could be really good at being keeper.

Felixir 07-10-2021 05:50 PM

apologies for the delay, it's been a wild time
 
SPOILER!!: Ash
Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat (Post 12498808)
Oh. "Like one of those journals muggles have where they write what they think and then they burn it?" A slight smile appeared on Ash's face, when really it had no reason to be there. Fire... noooo. Stop. Maybe she would be better off with... hmmm. "I like the idea. I like fire. Actually, that probably means I shouldn't..." she trailed off. How exactly was she supposed to say This is a terrible idea considering my track record... But still... fire. "Nevermind." She was going to make a journal, and then she was going to watch it burn and pretend like she hadn't dreamed of burning anything else until only Ashes remained. Good plan. Thanks professor, for the idea.

Art though... how did he know that if he hadn't seen? Sure ,she was obviously an artist if anyone had ever seen her paint, but Kazmi never said that he saw. Ash looked up in surprise, her hand slipping to her extension charmed pocket to make sure all her notebooks were still there. They were, of course, and Ash didn't see how anyone could know that she carried them around everywhere she went, so it made sense... but still. Hmmm. I hear. Not I know or I've seen. An interesting statement. Hear. From who? And why? And where and when and what? How? She opened her mouth to ask a question. Maybe the question was how do you know that, or even can I paint you. Nobody would ever know, because Ash let the moment slip away. She didn't ask the questions.

She moved on for the moment.

Personally, Ash thought that running away was a wimp move, and also dumb. It would be Letting The Bad Guys Win. But maybe she was the wrong one. Maybe sometimes there was nothing left to do but run away... maybe. But Ash was never going to admit it when she had hit that moment, not even to herself. Because retreating was for people who were defeated. Demoralized, disappointed and dejected were not the same as defeated. That's why they were separate words, see? Logic.

"I guess." Ash mostly agreed. But she thought it was funny that people expected her to never give up, but it was perfectly okay for them to give up and leave her to cover their retreat. We love you Ash, and we want you to stay, said the very same people who left her the second a problem started. We understand you, said the people who thought she was too angry. We believe in you, said the people who had given up on her a long time ago. There were exceptions, of course. Ten or twenty people who truly believed in her, even when she messed up constantly. Kazmi wasn't on it yet, because they didn't know each other. But still, it was probably a good thing that it was professor Kazmi who was telling her this, and not Healer Poppy. Or some other person she resented. He hadn't had the opportunity to betray her yet. Yet.

Anyway, professor Kazmi's cat was a much better thing to think about that loyalty an sacrifice and betrayal. Ash was sure that Amir wouldn't be mean to her. "I think he likes me too. What are the chances." It wasn't a question. It was an observation. Amir hadn't immediately ran away from her. Clearly, he was either stupid or one of the kindest living things she had ever met. Maybe both. Maybe kindness was stupid sometimes. But Ash was inclined to believe that Amir was just really nice, because he was a cat and she would never think of a cat as dumb. Cats weren't dumb. Cats were her favorite animal, and they were soft. Cats were super great. And they didn't feel obligated to go along with what other people wanted. Cats. Ash sometimes thought that she was like a cat. But people liked cats, and they didn't like her.



She liked fire. If Kamran had a galleon for every student who'd ever said something along those lines to him, he could have paid someone else to maintain the fireproofing charms on the broomshed. Daily. "I said nothing about fire, but if you want to write and then throw the pages into the fireplace when it's already lit, feel free. Nothing more. Shredding the pages or painting over them is just as effective." Kamran wouldn't linger on the point, and would instead give Fox the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was smarter than to tell a professor she liked fire and then go off and start burning things all over the place. News of something like that was best not reaching his ears, not now he'd explicitly said.

He patiently waited while Fox went on that face journey of hers, sensing her curiosity but not offering an unprompted explanation. No? Very well, Kamran let the moment pass too, and instead stuck on the topic of Amir. No doubt that cat would have been perfectly smug about finding himself, once again, in the centre of attention. Again, show off.

In the interests of sharing, Kamran thought it prudent to allow Fox in on a small, practically inconsequential detail. "Amir belonged to my nephew to start with, when he was a little older than you." His nephew, that was. Amir was still relatively young, at the grand old age of four. "Then he ended up with me, so we didn't exactly choose each other. It's fortunate he likes you. He can be a real pain when he wants to be." The cat, not his nephew. Well... not that nephew.

As if in confirmation, Amir gave a musical little ~mreow~.


SPOILER!!: Mamie
Quote:

Originally Posted by Waddles (Post 12498837)
Tuesday afternoon. She nodded. That would be easy to remember. As for her Quidditch position of choice...that was a difficult question. "I don't know yet," she said, shrugging. "I think...maybe Keeper or Chaser, but...I haven't really played much before, so I don't know which I'd, uh, like better, or...be better at?" She knew the liking a position part was important, but... she was willing to play her second favorite position if it meant she could be really good.

"My brother plays keeper on his football team," she volunteered. Or was he defense? She couldn't remember. "So maybe I'll be good at that...but in Quidditch." So...maybe she did know what she wanted. If she wanted to be like her brother, that meant she'd be leaning towards keeper. But only if she could be really good at being keeper.



"In the meantime, you can work at both. Versatility on the pitch is very valuable, and Keeper and Chaser sometimes go hand in hand, in that sense." Not speaking from experience, exactly, as Kamran had never been much into Quidditch personally. He knew plenty who were, however, from the old days, and being a flying instructor meant teaching plenty of students with quidditch aspirations. Made sense to stay on top of these things.

Looking thoughtful, Kamran considered Turov's words for a moment. Maybe because his kids - his niece and nephews, but to all intents and purposes his kids - were so strikingly different from each other, leagues apart in talents and personality, he didn't really buy into the idea that simply because one sibling could do something well, so too could another. More likely, sure, but not a set in stone thing. "Quite possibly. It's very different on a broom, and with three hoops instead of one goal, but of course the same concept."

Had to be said that Keeper was one of those positions a player could train for easily without assistance, as long as they had magic to help them. Chaser was better practiced in a team. Technically all of the positions were best practiced as a team, but that was once a position was secured. Turov wasn't there yet. "If you'd like, one day soon we can brainstorm other skills for you to work on, be it for Chaser or Keeper. Or both."

astrocat 07-10-2021 08:41 PM

SPOILER!!: Professor
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12501203)

She liked fire. If Kamran had a galleon for every student who'd ever said something along those lines to him, he could have paid someone else to maintain the fireproofing charms on the broomshed. Daily. "I said nothing about fire, but if you want to write and then throw the pages into the fireplace when it's already lit, feel free. Nothing more. Shredding the pages or painting over them is just as effective." Kamran wouldn't linger on the point, and would instead give Fox the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was smarter than to tell a professor she liked fire and then go off and start burning things all over the place. News of something like that was best not reaching his ears, not now he'd explicitly said.

He patiently waited while Fox went on that face journey of hers, sensing her curiosity but not offering an unprompted explanation. No? Very well, Kamran let the moment pass too, and instead stuck on the topic of Amir. No doubt that cat would have been perfectly smug about finding himself, once again, in the centre of attention. Again, show off.

In the interests of sharing, Kamran thought it prudent to allow Fox in on a small, practically inconsequential detail. "Amir belonged to my nephew to start with, when he was a little older than you." His nephew, that was. Amir was still relatively young, at the grand old age of four. "Then he ended up with me, so we didn't exactly choose each other. It's fortunate he likes you. He can be a real pain when he wants to be." The cat, not his nephew. Well... not that nephew.

As if in confirmation, Amir gave a musical little ~mreow~.




Ash tilted her head. “You didn’t say anything about fire, but you said that I could destroy it.” She paused. “Fire is the best way to destroy writing. Journals aren’t like mirrors. You can’t just throw them and have them break.” You could tear them up, but shreds could be pieced back together. She’d done that with a journal that Father had once, out of curiosity. She’d learned some things that she wished she could forget, about Brandon and the rest of her family. So shredding was not a great method of destruction. You could eat the paper instead, but that didn’t taste good. Fire was pretty permanent, and it was fun! The perfect option. So destruction of writing = fire was not a big logical leap. Neither was destruction of anything = fire. Ash had the burns to prove it. If you asked her how she would destroy something, nine out of ten times she’d pick fire.

Maybe that was something that other people wouldn’t understand.

She considered Amir. He could be a pain when he wanted to be? Maybe Ash wasn’t like a cat. She was a pain all the time. But maybe there were cats like that too.

Ash had a burning(haha) question, but she kept her eyes on the cat. Because she liked cats. And also because she didn’t want Kazmi to see that the question was important. She scratched at a cut on her knee. She shifted in her seat. She tapped her painted nails on the chair. But burning questions tended to consume you if you didn’t ask them, soooo... “Where did you hear I was an artist from?” Because it hadn’t been very long, and she hadn’t painted her arms yet. How would he know?

“I like that Amir supposedly likes me.” She liked being liked. She didn’t like being hated. She liked being herself. She didn’t like being not herself. People seemed to like her better when she wasn’t herself. That wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. She knew that already.

Waddles 07-12-2021 03:20 AM

SPOILER!!: Felix
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12501203)

"In the meantime, you can work at both. Versatility on the pitch is very valuable, and Keeper and Chaser sometimes go hand in hand, in that sense." Not speaking from experience, exactly, as Kamran had never been much into Quidditch personally. He knew plenty who were, however, from the old days, and being a flying instructor meant teaching plenty of students with quidditch aspirations. Made sense to stay on top of these things.

Looking thoughtful, Kamran considered Turov's words for a moment. Maybe because his kids - his niece and nephews, but to all intents and purposes his kids - were so strikingly different from each other, leagues apart in talents and personality, he didn't really buy into the idea that simply because one sibling could do something well, so too could another. More likely, sure, but not a set in stone thing. "Quite possibly. It's very different on a broom, and with three hoops instead of one goal, but of course the same concept."

Had to be said that Keeper was one of those positions a player could train for easily without assistance, as long as they had magic to help them. Chaser was better practiced in a team. Technically all of the positions were best practiced as a team, but that was once a position was secured. Turov wasn't there yet. "If you'd like, one day soon we can brainstorm other skills for you to work on, be it for Chaser or Keeper. Or both."



Both? Both was good. Mamie beamed at the suggestion. She still liked the idea of being...sort of...kind of...barely like her brother as a Keeper, but she knew there was only one keeper to a team, and three chasers. So being Keeper was more competitivebut also maybe more fun? She wasn't coming to any conclusions here. Kazmi's idea to work on common skills was obviously a good one, so she nodded eagerly. "That's smart," she said with a smile. "I'll do that."

She heard his comment about Quidditch Keeper being different than a football goalkeeper, but didn't really process it. She wanted to be like her brother.

"Okay, yes, brainstorming," she nodded. Was she a bobblehead? She felt like one. "But first, broom surfing?" On Tuesday. She could get good at broom surfing and then do another skill. She jumped up. They had a plan. Broom surfing Tuesday, then more Quidditch skill brainstorming...some other time.

Felixir 07-31-2021 08:58 PM

SPOILER!!: Ash
Quote:

Originally Posted by astrocat (Post 12501208)
Ash tilted her head. “You didn’t say anything about fire, but you said that I could destroy it.” She paused. “Fire is the best way to destroy writing. Journals aren’t like mirrors. You can’t just throw them and have them break.” You could tear them up, but shreds could be pieced back together. She’d done that with a journal that Father had once, out of curiosity. She’d learned some things that she wished she could forget, about Brandon and the rest of her family. So shredding was not a great method of destruction. You could eat the paper instead, but that didn’t taste good. Fire was pretty permanent, and it was fun! The perfect option. So destruction of writing = fire was not a big logical leap. Neither was destruction of anything = fire. Ash had the burns to prove it. If you asked her how she would destroy something, nine out of ten times she’d pick fire.

Maybe that was something that other people wouldn’t understand.

She considered Amir. He could be a pain when he wanted to be? Maybe Ash wasn’t like a cat. She was a pain all the time. But maybe there were cats like that too.

Ash had a burning(haha) question, but she kept her eyes on the cat. Because she liked cats. And also because she didn’t want Kazmi to see that the question was important. She scratched at a cut on her knee. She shifted in her seat. She tapped her painted nails on the chair. But burning questions tended to consume you if you didn’t ask them, soooo... “Where did you hear I was an artist from?” Because it hadn’t been very long, and she hadn’t painted her arms yet. How would he know?

“I like that Amir supposedly likes me.” She liked being liked. She didn’t like being hated. She liked being herself. She didn’t like being not herself. People seemed to like her better when she wasn’t herself. That wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. She knew that already.



"I'm saying it now," Kamran replied, firmly but not unkindly, in a tone that brooked no further argument. "No fires other than in a fireplace, please, or with a staff member's permission." What happened outside of term, off of school grounds, was outside the jurisdiction of Hogwarts staff, but he made sure not to point that out. Fox likely knew, and reiterating the point might be perceived as encouragement.

As for the art. "Professors notice things, Miss Fox, and we talk, and we listen, even if it's not always obvious." It was important, as educators, to attempt to understand the students as much as they could, sometimes just for something as simple and yet as integral as discussing learning styles and teaching strategies; Kamran was often a part of these conversations, despite the fact that his own lessons were not classroom-based. Plenty of his colleagues had been teaching here long before he had, and had had plenty of time to make these observations. Not to mention (and this he supplied because he knew his initial answer was unlikely to suffice), "I heard a student mention you had asked to draw their portrait. If the art is supposed to be a secret, I'm afraid it's a fairly poorly kept one."

Thank Merlin for Amir. Wasn't that always the way. Kamran watched the two for a moment before speaking again. "You're welcome to come and visit him again, if you like. I'm sure he'll keep proving it to you." That word - 'supposedly' - it hadn't gone unnoticed.


SPOILER!!: Mamie
Quote:

Originally Posted by Waddles (Post 12501296)
Both? Both was good. Mamie beamed at the suggestion. She still liked the idea of being...sort of...kind of...barely like her brother as a Keeper, but she knew there was only one keeper to a team, and three chasers. So being Keeper was more competitivebut also maybe more fun? She wasn't coming to any conclusions here. Kazmi's idea to work on common skills was obviously a good one, so she nodded eagerly. "That's smart," she said with a smile. "I'll do that."

She heard his comment about Quidditch Keeper being different than a football goalkeeper, but didn't really process it. She wanted to be like her brother.

"Okay, yes, brainstorming," she nodded. Was she a bobblehead? She felt like one. "But first, broom surfing?" On Tuesday. She could get good at broom surfing and then do another skill. She jumped up. They had a plan. Broom surfing Tuesday, then more Quidditch skill brainstorming...some other time.



Mature adult that he was, Kamran did not point out that, yes, it was smart, because he made a point of saying smart things wherever possible, even though it was true. But he definitely thought it.

"First, broom surfing. I'll stick it in my schedule," he said instead, with an air of finality given it seemed the meeting was about over. "We'll meet on Tuesday and go from there. Is that all for today?" In the meantime, no reason he couldn't have a think about other ways Turov could train and prepare, cover the bases she might not have considered so far.

astrocat 08-01-2021 12:02 AM

SPOILER!!: Amir the cat + Kazmi the professor
Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir (Post 12502330)

"I'm saying it now," Kamran replied, firmly but not unkindly, in a tone that brooked no further argument. "No fires other than in a fireplace, please, or with a staff member's permission." What happened outside of term, off of school grounds, was outside the jurisdiction of Hogwarts staff, but he made sure not to point that out. Fox likely knew, and reiterating the point might be perceived as encouragement.

As for the art. "Professors notice things, Miss Fox, and we talk, and we listen, even if it's not always obvious." It was important, as educators, to attempt to understand the students as much as they could, sometimes just for something as simple and yet as integral as discussing learning styles and teaching strategies; Kamran was often a part of these conversations, despite the fact that his own lessons were not classroom-based. Plenty of his colleagues had been teaching here long before he had, and had had plenty of time to make these observations. Not to mention (and this he supplied because he knew his initial answer was unlikely to suffice), "I heard a student mention you had asked to draw their portrait. If the art is supposed to be a secret, I'm afraid it's a fairly poorly kept one."

Thank Merlin for Amir. Wasn't that always the way. Kamran watched the two for a moment before speaking again. "You're welcome to come and visit him again, if you like. I'm sure he'll keep proving it to you." That word - 'supposedly' - it hadn't gone unnoticed.



Ash sighed. “Yeah, okay. Fine. Only cast fire spells in a fireplace. Don’t run into the forbidden forest and start another forest fire. Don’t set myself on fire, not even on accident. Don’t set anyone else on fire, even if they’re an objectively horrible person. Don’t get burned at the stake like he does in my dream. I know. I get it.” Any other things she should add? “Fire is dangerous. Fire is not a toy. Don’t play with matches. Don’t let your antlers get set on fire. Take proper care of burns when you get them. Arson is still bad if it was an accident. Don’t set a room on fire when you have no exit. Dying in a fire will hurt.” She fell silent. That last point was one she cared about. She wasn’t afraid of death, but she was afraid of pain. Which, considering her life story, was pretty ironic. “I know. I get it. I know the fire stuff.” Fire= destruction. Destruction=pain. Pain=bad. She knew it.

But Kazmi’s next words caused Ash to look up. Who knew why? He didn’t say it with a tone. He didn’t say anything particularly interesting. He just said something. About her not being good at secrets... she WAS good at secrets. Art wasn’t something she was trying to hide. It wasn’t like magic, or pain, or fear??? It was art??? She didn’t hide art??? It made her very quiet and very defensive. “I didn’t- I was only asking.”She didn’t know why she was suddenly reminded of her father. She just felt... very small, like Kazmi was standing above her and lecturing. Her posture said it pretty obviously. She bit her lip, trying to think of something to say. But she couldn’t find anything, so she just stared at Amir. Amir wasn’t condescending. Amir was a cat. Amir > Kazmi. Amir > Ashley. Amir > the universe. Amir = the best. Everything else = not the best. It was simple math. Come and visit though? No thanks. It was totally a trick. Kazmi was probably trying to uncover her deepest feelings in order to help her be a better person or something. Well, she refused. She might come in here to like, say nothing and stare at the cat. But not talking. No thanks. If someone said you were ‘welcome’ somewhere, that was a red flag. A trick. When was it not a trick? Never.


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