Finished La Réunion PV Aurélie Duval

October 19th 2024 - After the Autumn Ball
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
With Aurélie Nathalie Duval @Ophelia Northwell

Emily could compliment Aurélie all night about everything. She looked cute. She had a great accent. Now it was around the time that Emily could fawn over her humour. Everything about Aurélie was just so bubbly and laid back.

"You truly do have fabulous intuition, Aurélie," Emily said sweetly. "I couldn't hide a secret harder even if I tried! But yes, my time has been spent there quite often for the last while. I find it a fascinating playground to observe the Wizarding World's curious creatures."

Though she did just warn Aurélie of how dangerous some of those creatures could be, Emily couldn't find it in herself to feel fear or repulsion to any of them. There was a hidden charm to each of those creatures that she couldn't place. It must be what it means to love every living creature in the world.

Aurélie then shifted the conversation another gear. Learning Welsh! Very nice! If not impressive! Emily had tried learning a language or two in her spare time but she knew for a fact Aurélie had surpassed her in terms of progress.

"That's brilliant, Aurélie! I've tried teaching myself a few licks of several languages in the past," she said, laughing sheepishly. "I know a little bit of French, although my accent's atrocious... I've tried teaching myself a few phrases in Russian, though some of it I find quite hard to pronounce... Oh! I even read a book on the Old Norse language once! Now that was a fascinating read...!"

_{Word Count: 255}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

@Emily Shephard October 19, 2024

sta 6 | eva 9 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

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

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Aurélie was very much enjoying this conversation with Emily. She hadn't known the Hufflepuff Hogwarts girl for very long. They had, after all, only met once before this day. Back when they'd both saved each other from boredom at another one of these Hogwarts balls.

She grinned at Emily's extra compliments. The other girl was sure in a nice mood today, something must've gone well at the ball. "Then you've met some?" Something about the Forbidden Forest stories that Emily was so close to spilling spoke to Aurélie and she hoped that she could get them out of her friend.

From the way the Hufflepuff spoke of them, it was clear that there was more to the story than just taking a walk in the forest. Or... maybe Aurélie was just getting overexcited in her sleep deprivation. It was late, after all.

When Emily admitted that she did know just a bit of French, Aurélie's eyebrows rose. She always loved hearing foreigners fail at pronouncing the eloquent words of French-- not that she believed her friend would fail or anything! "Ah! Je ne le savais pas! Tu parles bien?" I didn't know that! You speak well? Perhaps they could have a little conversation.

She listened to all the different languages Emily had attempted to learn, impressed. She had two under her belt for now, with a third well on its way. Perhaps she should try for more.

Do you have a language tutor?

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October 19th 2024 - After the Autumn Ball
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
With Aurélie Nathalie Duval @Ophelia Northwell

Emily let out the biggest, dreamy sigh at the mention of Forbidden Forest encounters. Too many times had she gone out into that wilderness and came back out with no luck of being fortunate to have a run in with a creature living out there... Or unfortunate depending on the creature.

"Oh Aurélie, how I wish I could see one," she said. "Even if some of them are dangerous, there's nothing that could stop one's curiosity from sneaking a peek. I feel like it's almost a self-fulfilling prophecy to stay up after bedtime, wander aimlessly through that forest and then come back in again with no luck in spotting a creature in action."

Well, there was always hope. A time and a place for fate to occur. Emily will have her moment, her time to shine, sooner or later. She had to be patient. If she forced it, her chances would forever remain slim. Not to mention it was a satisfying pay off to have such an encounter when she would least expect it.

Her mentioning of being able to speak marginal French caught Aurélie's attention. Emily laughed nervously, attempting to demonstrate with her aforementioned poor accent, the Belfast-ish in her speech easily identifiable.

"H-Hehe, je n'ai parlée français depuis si longtemps... Et pas trés bien non plus..." I haven't spoken French in so long... And not very good either.

She left it there before she would embarrass herself further... And before possibly desecrating Aurélie's integrity and her heritage as well. She even gave a small "sorry" look to her in advance before Aurélie would have the chance to comment on it.

"I remember learning French a long time ago, in primary school," she quickly answered. "I tried teaching myself some phrases that could be useful if I ever went to France. I haven't done much of that though, since coming to Hogwarts and all."

Emily chuckled. "I suppose you don't have much of that problem while you're attending Beauxbatons, I'm guessing? But what about your Welsh? Do you have a language tutor for that?"

_{Word Count: 366}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

@Emily Shephard October 19, 2024

sta 6 | eva 9 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

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

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Aurélie found herself knitting her eyebrows with confusion at Emily's tone. Okay, it was pretty obvious that the girl was just a tad bit obsessed with the creatures, from the dreamy voice that she used to describe them. But it was Emily who'd warned Aurélie about them just a few minutes ago. Perhaps something had gone wrong during one of Emily's encounters? Or she'd read about something dangerous? Whatever it was, the French girl didn't comment on it, letting her friend go on.

When Emily began speaking in very hesitant French, Aurélie cracked a smile. Nothing mocking-- she was very proud of her friend for trying so confidently in front of someone who spoke French as a first language-- but a smile nonetheless. "Ah, bien, bien." Ah, good, good. "You should definitely come to France, someday. You could come over, and I could show you my home. Or, if you visit Beauxbatons, I could show you around my school!" The thought excited Aurélie. It wasn't really fair. All the fun international events happened at Hogwarts or London all the time, never internationally.

When Emily asked about her Welsh language tutor, Aurélie was pretty much ready to smack herself. Oh great, she'd pretty much walked right into that one. Of course, Emily would ask about her Welsh lessons. She should've known. Ugh, how could she get out of this? "Well, I'm learning because...I have a friend who's Welsh. And that friend is teaching me."

There. Now I'm not telling anyone, and I'm not betraying his trust.

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October 19th 2024 - After the Autumn Ball
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
With Aurélie Nathalie Duval @Ophelia Northwell

"I think that's really nice that you have a friend that's teaching you," Emily said, smiling sweetly. She could see a glimmer of something that wasn't sitting right with Aurélie - what it was, Emily couldn't confidently say, but she kept humble with the conversation and decided not to pry. "My best friend was born in China and every now and then, she'll say a word that I don't understand... But what she doesn't know is that I try and find them in a language dictionary whenever I'm alone later in the day so I can look them up and see what they mean!"

With that tactic, Emily might just be able to muster a few phrases she could converse in with Scout... Assuming Scout could grin and bear her terrible pronunciation and rocky grammar. In a few years, she might even manage to indirectly learn most of the language. Would Scout find it surprising if she did?

"It's funny... I've often thought about learning a language spoken by magical creatures. Something about non-human linguistics kind of catches my eye. The languages spoken by trolls and veelas... Something like that!" Now that was something that wouldn't be struck as surprising to too many people that knew Emily. She pretty much lived and breathed anything that was a little more than simply human. If Aurélie hadn't caught onto that yet then she would have now. She would also learn pretty quickly how enthused Emily was into that whole domain of interest the more opportunities she would give her to go down that rabbit hole. If not already.

Perhaps, for Aurélie's sake, Emily had the awareness to stop herself before she got too passionate. Some of the Hogwarts students thought she was strange, some others thought she was mad and wasting her time acknowledging such creatures. Emily couldn't help it. She loved every living creature! But if Aurélie wasn't interested, Emily only thought it fair to tone it down some before she would unintentionally bore her French friend to death.

"Heh... Almost went off on one again," she laughed sheepishly.

_{Word Count: 316}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

@Emily Shephard October 19, 2024

sta 6 | eva 9 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

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

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Aurélie smiled back, some of the panic from earlier washing away with a view of Emily's sweet smile. The Hogwarts girl, though they'd only met once before, was so nice, and the way she was completely out of her shell now reminded Aurélie a lot of herself. It was refreshing, catching up with her.

Ooh, Chinese? Or was it Mandarin? Cantonese? Aurélie never really knew how that language worked, though it probably was because she hadn't tried. Perhaps that could be her next big venture, trying to learn the Chinese/Mandarin/Cantonese that Emily was figuring out with the help of a translation dictionary. Maybe the Hogwarts girl could help her out. "Have you learned any weird phrases yet? That's always my favorite part of learning languages, they all have odd sayings that make no sense!" She giggled, thinking of all the ones that her mother said. La nuit porte conseil. The night brings the counsel. Whatever did that mean?

Emily continued on to talk about what really intrigued her-- learning a language spoken by non-humans. "Huh, I guess I've never thought about that." Aurélie admitted. In truth, she really hadn't. She'd always thought of English and French and Spanish and Welsh, very human languages, as interesting. It had never even occurred to her to try and learn Mermish or something like that. But, perhaps it would be just as interesting. "If you ever do give it a try, you should definitely show me. You know I find anything to do with linguistics really interesting." And, in the process, she'd love to spend more time with Emily!

"Aw, don't worry about it. We all have our things. I guess non-humans are yours." She gave a little laugh, remembering back to their earlier conversation about Emily's forest ventures. "I'm guessing that's why you're so attracted to that very Forbidden Forest."

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October 19th 2024 - After the Autumn Ball
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
With Aurélie Nathalie Duval @Ophelia Northwell

God bless Aurélie and her patience! Emily would joke about how she could have been teasingly patronising to Emily's affinity for the unnatural world, given the near unanimous confusion and repulsion by the other students at Hogwarts for it but Aurélie was simply being too genuine to even poke fun at. She was being a bit dramatic but the Huffie really appreciated it. Emily did have support when it came to what she found so interesting about the forest and its inhabitants. She wouldn't get that wrong but little bouts of reminders like this were few and far between, save for Scout as the inseparable friend she was.

"I guess the forest is rather synonymous with me at this point," Emily said with a nervous laugh. "But I just can't help it. I've been near wildlife and have been out in forests and playparks nearly all my life. Animals live in this world the same as we do. We share it with them. And ever since learning I'm a witch and coming to this place where folkloric beasts and magical creatures exist, well... It was obvious what would happen when someone like me starts learning about these things."

If Aurélie was looking for a greater explanation then Emily would unfortunately have to disappoint her. It was base instinct at this point for Emily to show love and care for living creatures. It's what she knew how to do. Something that clearly provided the backbone to much of the disdain she received from her peers about the matter of her wanting to get up and close to things that go bump in the night.

Back to the talk of languages, Emily nodded at Aurélie's question. "There was one phrase that she said once... I think it was something to do about family... Oh, but I can't remember it off the top of my head..." Probably because it was a little bit too complex for Emily's head to wrap around just yet. She really ought to just ask Scout one of these days to teach her how to speak Chinese to save the hassle of twisting her memory and vocal cords into how it should look and sound like.

"Hehe... I'm curious to see how different it would feel to learn a non-human language," she said. "Some languages share the same sorts of origins and mingle through borrowings in their vocabulary, sometimes evolving or making compound words from others. So to tackle an inhuman language as a human, who knows human languages, would be a fun challenge!"

_{Word Count: 411}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

@Emily Shephard October 19, 2024

sta 6 | eva 9 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

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

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Aurélie, while glad to have had this opportunity to speak and reconnect with her Hogwarts friend, was starting to feel tired. Not of this conversation, not of Emily's company, but just of this night in general. It had been a long day, what with getting ready for the ball, attending it, and dancing all night long. She really needed to get some sleep. But she would stay here dutifully until Emily wanted to leave, for that was the sort of friend she was. Never backing down from a lovely little conversation.

Aurélie listened intently to Emily's little spiel. While the French girl couldn't exactly connect with Emily's background or her interests, she did understand what it meant to be passionate about something. She could relate to that, at the least. "Well, it's good that you know what you're looking for. As my grand-mère, or grandmother, would say: It is not just about force but it is also about aim." Another one of those silly sayings that Aurélie thought meant nothing until she really thought about it.

"Oh, do I agree with you! If you ever get a chance, do let me know, I'd love to be a part of that challenge." She winked. "Maybe I'll ask around. There has to be someone who'd be willing to teach us."

The thought that maybe her grandparents would disapprove, maybe her grandparents wouldn't want her to even be close to children who weren't fully... human, crossed Aurélie's mind, though it didn't linger for long. The girl did things they wouldn't approve of all the time, how could this be any different? Right?

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October 19th 2024 - After the Autumn Ball
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
With Aurélie Nathalie Duval @Ophelia Northwell

Emily could tell she was losing Aurélie halfway through the conversation. Just ever so slightly. Not that she could blame her. Emily's passion for the forest was near incontestable in her opinion. Magizoology was something she once considered as a career given her magnitude of care she has for the creatures but deep down, she couldn't help but feel her care extended beyond further than what a career in that sector would cover.

"I wonder if there's such a thing as a half-being psychiatrist or work councillor, or someone that helps half-beings overcome some of the insecurities and prejudices that they might face on a daily basis," she mused. "Because if there is, I think I'd see myself wanting to work towards a position like that... And if there isn't one, then I'll be the first!

She was only 13 and as such, she knew she should keep humble with her expectations and limitations... But she was yapping on about half-beings and magical creatures. Once she starts, she doesn't shut up! Poor Aurélie... She would pipe down eventually.

Better yet! She managed to distract Emily - for now - with some more talk about languages. Emily at least had the awareness to listen to her and offer an acknowledging response, agreeing with Aurélie with an ardent nod.

"Let's make that our part-time challenge then! And your grandmother's right! We'll take our time through patience and effort. Besides, rushing to the end would be no fun... It would be over before we'd both know it," she beamed.

_{Word Count: 257}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 6 | Wisdom: 8 | Arc Power: 7 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

ROLEPLAYING AS BEAUXBATONS iNPC AURÉLIE NATHALIE DUVAL

@Emily Shephard October 19, 2024

sta 6 | eva 9 | str 6 | wis 8 | arc 6 | acc 7 fearless, perfectionist

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

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Aurélie listened patiently and attentively as her friend spoke about what she hoped for her future. Not a magizoologist, like the French girl would've expected her to say, but something different. Something she'd never heard of before. A psychiatrist for... half-humans? It sounded like a job that the Hogwarts girl would excel at, even if she was the only one in her field. She was so passionate already, imagine what would happen as she grew older and understood more about the world.

"I think that's a great goal!" Aurélie said with a bright smile. "You'd be the best, and you could influence so many others to walk your path." That sounded pretty inspirational if she did say so herself.

As for herself, well Aurélie had never considered what she'd want to do in her future. Most people would just say to look to your interests, but what if you were like Aurélie and had so many? She loved all sorts of things, like languages and ballet and photography and there were so many things that she was trying every day that she loved. She just couldn't decide yet, so she didn't comment. Instead, she moved back to the topic that they'd been discussing pretty much this entire encounter.

"Let me know, then, if you find someone who could teach us! What would be your first choice? Mermish?" She'd never even heard someone speak that language, but it would definitely be fun trying to learn it.

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