Closed Apologies PV Zyair

august 11th, 2024		before leaving camp
wc: 300		zyair ona'je - uagadou
interacting with: Aurélie Nathalie Duval | @Ophelia Northwell		mentioning: scout lol

"Oh? Hello."

A young lady approached Zyair, snapping him out of his thoughts. The final days of summer camp were a flurry, every thought Zyair had ever had was ripping at the seams of his head, and that was no good. If his head exploded with concepts and feelings, he'd probably lose his hair- which was no good, he loved styling his hair.

The girl in front of him was one he had dueled yesterday, although Zyair would be lying if he said he remembered the whole thing. Most of it was a blur of dark smog and occasionally flashing colors, and a shameful amount of slugs. Ah well, it was all in good fun anyway, though he had gotten pretty beat up, it was nothing a good medic couldn't wash away. Winning was obviously more enjoyable, but he found there to be nothing wrong with losing too.

"Ah, yes. Good game! Could've done with less slugs in my humblest of opinions," he chuckled (though he kind of felt sick even saying the words), "but you won fair and square." Prior to the night before, Zyair had actually never heard the phrase 'fair and square' used before, but Scout had said it when she came by his tent to talk to him. Well, by talk to him, she did snicker at him for getting all beat-up in a duel, saying that she definitely would've done better. "You said your name was Aurélie, yes?"

He held out his hand for the girl to shake, offering a small smile. "Haha, I might've been able to guess that you were from Beauxbatons from your name alone." It was a little stereotypical, maybe. "Les noms français ont toujours du style, n'est-ce pas?" French names all have that style, don't they? Zyair paused for a moment shaking his head. "Zyair, from Uagadou, if you didn't already know."

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

August 11th, 2024 Zyair Ona'je (@Scout Fu-Hai)

sta 6 | eva 8 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

"french" | "english" | thoughts | "others"

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The overwhelming relief that Aurélie felt when the boy turned and spoke to her without a single drop of loathing or hurt was literally palpable. It was just a duel, Aurélie! It wasn't life or death. It's just a game, nothing to apologise for. And yet, she couldn't bear the thought of a reality where she'd chosen not to find this boy and speak to him.

Won the game fair and square? The boy seemed more than just amiable. She didn't have to say a single thing for him to go off on small talk, not at all giving her an accusatory glare, just speaking about the whole thing as if it was all just fun and games. Which it is. You're taking this too seriously. "But even still," Aurélie cut into his speech. "I would like to offer you a sincere apology for making you go through all the... slugs." She let out a nervous giggle. "And for knocking you out. Oh, and, good game to you too! Casting spells while vomiting out slugs must've been... hard, to say the least."

"Tu parles français aussi?" You speak French as well? Her voice came out quick and confused, the reply automatically in her mother tongue. Then he introduced himself as Zyair from Uagadou.

"Enchante, Zyair!" Nice to meet you, Zyair. Aurélie trilled, giving him her hand to shake. She was a bit nervous, so she went a bit hard on her pumps, then pulled back hastily in the worries that he'd sense her nerves. Offering him a self-conscious smile, she spoke again. "Are you excited? For school to start back up, I mean."

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august 11th, 2024		before leaving camp
wc: 350		zyair ona'je - uagadou
interacting with: Aurélie Nathalie Duval | @Ophelia Northwell		mentioning: scout lol

"A different kind of French from yours, but I do." Zyair chuckles, her words are far more refined than his is. His grammar is rushed and barely put together, a surprising change from his eloquent English. Most of the French he learned is from the boys in his neighborhood, though his accent is clearly lifted from the fancy way his mother and sister speak. "I'm from Côte d'Ivoire, a country off the coast of Africa." He wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't heard of it.

"A la maison je parle français, à l'école je parle swahili. Ici, je parle anglais." At home I speak French, at school I speak Swahili. Here, I speak English Just thinking of all the languages constantly swirling in his brain teeters on the edge of giving him a headache. He's lucky in the way that language comes naturally to him, maybe he could impress someone like Sabrina by speaking the variety of languages he knows a few words in. Isn't it popular in movies that girls like guys who can speak lots of languages?

"It's awfully kind of you to come and apologize." He chuckles. "I'm not quite sure I've ever had an opponent come and apologize after a duel." Now that he thinks about it, he doesn't think he's ever went to someone and apologized to them after absolutely annihilating them in a duel. For someone as polite as he is, that thought had never occurred. "No harm no foul, anyhow. I got a good few spells in too. Obviously I couldn't do much to save the duel, but I know I hit one of your teammates with that dancing spell. Surely that's worthy of some praise."

To himself, he chuckles again. Most of his memory of the duel is gone, but Scout told him about how he had hit someone through the smoke before he was knocked out for good, and the smile on her face when she told him made him feel just a little giddy about the situation as well. "And yes, for your information I am rather excited for school to start again. Are you?"

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

August 11th, 2024 Zyair Ona'je (@Scout Fu-Hai)

sta 6 | eva 8 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

"french" | "english" | thoughts | "others"

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Aurélie knew that countries other than France spoke French regularly. Of course she knew that. But, she couldn't say that she knew any of the other countries that did. But with a quick translation of Zyair's words, from Côte d'Ivoire to Ivory Coast, she knew from her boring geography lessons that the country was in Africa, which made sense with the fact that the boy in front of her was from Uagadou.

He continued, speaking about all the languages he speaks on a day-to-day basis. English, Swahili, French. "Does everyone at Uagadou know Swahili, then? Did you have to learn when you got there? I mean, since you spoke French at home." Aurélie decided to switch to English, as she knew for certain that they were both comfortable.

"I wanted to come and apologise because... well, that was my first duel. Ever. And I know I've been practising on aiming and all of that, but aiming at dummies isn't really the same as another student, you know?" She hoped the boy understood, but by the way he seemed so at ease, he probably had never felt this... this unease and confusion before. Neither had Aurélie, before summer camp this year. This whole feeling was quite new to her, and she didn't really know how to react. Was going up to someone and apologising considered... not normal?

When Zyair mentioned the dancing feet spell, Aurélie burst into giggles. She sure did remember that. Her teammate had pretty much been samba-ing for like, half the match. Which, for the French girl, had definitely been the highlight of the match.

She grinned at Zyair admission that he was excited for the upcoming school year. "Me too! I sort of like Beauxbatons more than I like being at home so..." She shrugged. Her voice was going faster than her brain was, and she did a double take at what she'd said. "I mean, not in a bad way. I love my parents, but school is just where I get to see all my friends..." She trailed off again, deciding that was enough of an explanation for a boy she didn't even know.

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august 11th, 2024		before leaving camp
wc: 300		zyair ona'je - uagadou
interacting with: Aurélie Nathalie Duval		mentioning: @Ophelia Northwell

Zyair thought about her question for a moment, his sister and tutor had taught most of his magic lessons in Swahili, but he wasn't a conversationalist in the language until he had attended school. "Well, I suppose I wasn't fluent until I went to Uagadou. I knew some words, and my magic lessons had been taught in a combination of French and Swahili. When I actually attended Uagadou, they put me in a class to learn it fluently." Though most of his classmates had been annoyed at the idea of having to learn a different language, Zyair was thrilled. He got to pursue his self-learning and it was on school time? He had a teacher he could go to with questions?

Learning English- or really any other language- had been difficult to do by himself, if only Uagadou had lessons for learning other African languages, he'd sign up for that class immediately. Maybe if for some reason he couldn't pursue a job in the wizarding field, he'd take up a job as a muggle translator. Or maybe he could try translating for nonhuman languages but... did they even have a career for that? Hm.

"Your first duel? You're an expert already, Miss Aurélie." Though he offered his calming smile, a small part of Zyair was miffed that he got so majorly destroyed by someone who had never even dueled before. It was all in good fun, but his ego was definitely tinted after hearing that. She had only ever practiced on dummies...? His smile never once wavered, but man, what a hit!

At least school was a better topic than his loss. "I understand what you mean entirely. My sisters are lovely but they are a handful, and my mom mandates me as the babysitter most of the time-" Zyair sucked in a breath, "I don't mind it, of course! But man, school gives me a break of having to be 'big brother' all the time."

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

August 11th, 2024 Zyair Ona'je (@Scout Fu-Hai)

sta 6 | eva 8 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

"french" | "english" | thoughts | "others"

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Aurélie listened to Zyair with genuine interest. She'd always had a love for languages and the foreign tongues, it was the reason, according to her tutors, for why she'd picked up English so fast even though she didn't speak it often with family members or friends. But maybe her tutors had been wrong, because the other day she'd pretty much failed at learning Welsh from Peter @Brookline Quinn. "Interesting. Being multilingual is a goal of mine, actually. I've mostly mastered English, and I'm slowly working on Welsh. Perhaps I'll get around to learning Swahili sometime." There were just so many options, Latin or Spanish or Swahili or Greek. And she didn't have the time to learn them all.


"Why, thank you!" Aurélie gave him a bright smile. She didn't hold anything about the duel against Zyair or any of his teammates, of course she didn't. It was skill, sure, but when it came to the fog, there was also some luck involved. And the girl would be lying if she said that she didn't respect Zyair after watching him cast spells while vomiting slugs and blinded by fog.

She sensed that the duel, while not a sore topic for the French girl, was something that Zyair would rather not speak of, so she eagerly moved on. The way Zyair spoke, Aurélie thought of a large family with kind parents and a warm household-- the image was lovely. Though she supposed that even that lifestyle may have its troubles. "I'm an only child," She explained. "My parents are very overprotective because of that. I really wish I had siblings." Aurélie decided that she'd leave it at that.

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