Finished La Réunion PV Aurélie Duval

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

Emily couldn't explain with any good reason why she suddenly felt apprehensive about what Aurélie could say about her... Ambitious future. But it was a relief when her French buddy didn't sound opposed to it. Mingling with people at school who had a sceptical view around half-beings probably had a bigger impact on Emily than she realised. Only that kind of thinking would have her second-guess her own efforts, which it did at times. After everything that went down at Hogsmeade, Emily had a worrying thought that her own voice and efforts would be overshadowed by the growing hate that erupted from that day.

"In that case, if I don't do it for myself or for other half-beings, I'll push on towards that goal for you, my friend!" she said cheerfully to Aurélie. "To have you as my cheerleader means a lot! And I'll always be in your corner for whatever you decide to do too!"

That's certainly soldered some optimism back into Emily. In spite of the recent events at Hogsmeade, Emily felt invigorated to keep trying what she set out to do since the very beginning. To learn. To understand. To help. To protect.

"What I'd choose?" Emily repeated Aurélie's question, almost as if she nearly forgot she asked it in the first place. Emily tapped her chin a few times and then smiled. "Mermish would actually be quite fun to learn! But I think I'd start with Parseltongue... Just to get the hardest one out of the way. I know I'd never be able to speak it but I reckon if I tried, I could still understand a word or two!"

It would certainly help out with the likes of Kibō. Man... That was one cutie patootie snake. Emily hoped she could feed him again some time soon.

"After that, I'd try Mermish. And maybe Veela! It just sounds so pretty and melodious...!" Not that she'd heard much of either language in her lifetime, despite spending prolonged time at Hogwarts. Still, that wouldn't stop the Huffie.

What hasn't been taught would soon be learnt, even by her own effort.


_{Word Count: 352}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 7 | 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 quite glad to have a friend like Emily. She'd seemed a bit scared, perhaps that was the right word, for what the French girl would say to her once she'd pretty much laid all her plans for the future bare. But it felt great that Emily trusted her, even though they hadn't met very long ago, or very many times. The Hogwarts girl liked her then, just as much as Aurélie liked her back.

"Of course I'll be your cheerleader friend!" Auélie smiled, feeling very thankful to have a friend like Emily who agreed to be her cheerleader right back. "Aw, that's very nice, but I have no idea what I want to do. Like, at all. When I was little, I thought I'd maybe be able to, you know, be a competitive dancer or something. But my parents would never let me pursue something so... Muggle. No offense, or anything. They just want me to be involved in the magical world, be their heir, all that." Was she rambling? Aurélie felt like she was rambling. Like, a lot. She needed sleep. "Maybe I can work with languages?" She offered feebly at the end.

When Emily replied to her earlier question about languages, Aurélie perked up again. "Ooh, I didn't even think about Parseltongue..." She drifted off into her thoughts, wondering how amazing it would be to be able to communicate with a snake.

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

"Competitive dancing?" Emily asked, enthused by the thought. With Aurélie's looks and graceful-looking demeanour, Emily could definitely see that happening. "I'd say go for it if that's your dream!"

But then the latter half of Aurélie's words finally processed inside Emily's brain.

But my parents would never let me pursue something so... Muggle.

"Eh?"

What did that mean? Emily knew Muggle ways were a bit obscure from the eyes of magical folk but surely dancing wasn't so farfetched... Or was it? In any case, she waved off Aurélie with a "none taken" look.

"I see... I guess everyone has their expectations, even parents. But that's no excuse to get in the way of someone's dream unless they're planning to hurt someone. And I don't mean their ego."

If Emily's parents turned around and said to her that she couldn't do X, Y and Z because of 1, 2 and 3 reasons, then she would've called them the biggest hypocrites in the world. If she was "born out of love" as it were, then clearly their definitions of the concept were vastly different. Emily loved her parents enough to watch them sail off halfway across the globe to fulfil their dreams, and that love already hung by a phantom thread as it is. She'd find it unfair if they didn't love her in return to trust her to make her own future.

Emily huffed. "Expectations and dreams aren't the same thing. So it's settled then! I will learn Parseltongue and Veela and Mermish, and you'll be a professional dancer. One day!"

She grinned at Aurélie. "Otherwise, how else do we show off our best selves if we aren't doing what we love?"

_{Word Count: 283}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 7 | 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 regretted the harsh words almost as soon as they came out of her mouth. In what state of mind had she thought that it was okay to say something like that... to a Muggleborn no less?! She really wasn't on her best behaviour tonight. She sighed when Emily acted confused. "My family really wants me to not only be a part of the magical world, but be immersed in it. They say this is my heritage and that I should honor it by following in my family's footsteps to take care of the Duval family name and further it." All that talk made her want to roll her eyes every time, but she knew better than to disrespect her parents or her grandparents like that. They were smart, educated people, and they only wanted the best for Aurélie, she knew that. But sometimes, she wished that she could do whatever she wanted, instead of being weighed down by their expectations.

"Competitive dancing wouldn't be a respectable position, in their eyes." Aurélie shrugged. It was what it was. There was no way she could change it, so she had to make do with what she had. And Emily's idea, learning non-human languages, did seem quite interesting. As she'd suggested before, she probably could work with languages like those.

"You're right. They shouldn't do that, but what am I supposed to do? I know they'll love me even if I choose whatever it is that I want, but I'll still feel like I failed them, won't I?"

Something about this whole conversation made Aurélie feel like she'd regret saying all of this to Emily in the morning. But right now she was drunk on this cool nighttime air and was sleep-deprived, and just wanted all these terrible thoughts to just get out of her brain and into the open.

Emily seemed so certain. "It's settled then." She says, and while Aurélie smiles, she isn't so sure. Maybe Emily had good parents, supportive parents who'd let her do anything that she pleased, but Aurélie didn't. And it just wasn't that easy for her, unfortunately.

"Yeah," she said weakly, a soft smile on her face. "I guess it's settled."

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

Whoa. The words Aurélie spoke were no different than everything else similar to what Emily had heard before from some other classmates, but just from the tone of her voice alone, it really did sound like Aurélie's parents meant business. Emily honestly couldn't share a thing about her own. What was there to tell when one was only home twice a year while the other was too absorbed in making God-awful fashionwear to notice her daughter watching her from across the room?

"I suppose they're doing what they think is best for you," Emily said. It was really all she could think to say going off from the clear presence Aurélie's parents have. Certainly the pendulum opposite of Emily's own folks. Emily doesn't know a damn thing about what her parents would want for her or would want her to be.

"Well, I think it's not the activity itself but more like the qualities of what you want to do that could make your parents proud," she continued, smiling. "Competitive dancing sounds like it requires a lot of grace, sophistication, control, discipline and technique. To me at least. Maybe you can use it to show off those qualities! I don't think you'd be failing them, but rather showing off some of the best traits about yourself. You'd be a success and having fun at the same time!"

Emily supposed this was the part where she finally decided Aurélie could very possibly be a Pureblood. It was bizarre. Emily had other Pureblood friends who were quite the opposite to what Aurélie had to do to uphold her heritage. Emily was silently worried she was persuading Aurélie to break rules or maybe even trap herself further into something she just might not want to do. Perhaps both.

"At the end of the day though, they should be proud of you no matter what you decide to do in life. We, as children, are fleeting gifts for parents. Sure, we all need a good telling off when we do something stupid and all, but if they can't treasure us as we are and what our dreams are, then maybe... They should keep out of our business".

Emily wanted to say something else before changing it last minute at the end. It would've sounded unfair. Just because Emily's folks didn't have their daughter's best interests on their minds, it didn't mean Aurélie's parents were the same. Far from it in fact. They had every interest of Aurélie at heart, it seemed.

"Be yourself..." she smiled softly. "And they'll see just how amazing you already are".

_{Word Count: 431}

Stats: Stamina: 7 | Strength: 6 | Evasion: 7 | 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 knew she'd hit one of those righteous nerves on Emily the moment she started defending herself and her parents. It was thrilling, to know that a friend had her back and knew that what her family was doing to her wasn't completely right, even if they were just trying to look out for her. But, on the other hand, Aurélie knew that on some level, her family was right. She was the heiress to a pureblood lineage of powerful wizards and witches. To her grandparents' businesses in potion ingredients and their intricate connections of society. It was her birthright to take responsibility for it all when the time came, and so should she really be spending so much time doing silly things like dancing when it didn't matter all that much?

Now that was a rabbit hole of spiraling thoughts if Aurélie had ever experienced one. She stopped the train of thought right there, before it could eat up her whole mind, which she knew it could if she let it.

Aurélie tuned back in to the real world as Emily began a little spiel about the qualities of her dream career and what it could look like to her family if she showed it right. The French girl fought the urge to shrug the whole thing off. She didn't really want to think about this anymore. But still, here was her kind and caring friend trying to reassure her, and the least she could do was not be difficult.

"You're right, Emily." She smiled, a large part of her truly behind the words. Emily was right. But she didn't know if her family would see it that way. "I'm still not a hundred percent sure on what I want to do when I'm older, though. Maybe they'll come around by then?"

Emily continued regardless, her speech turning motivational. Aurélie couldn't help but smile at the Hufflepuff's tone. She could easily be a speaker for whatever she believed in, there would be so many followers behind her-- Aurélie included.

"Aww, thanks. I've got to say, you're quite amazing too Emily."

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

Emily could tell there was a little bit of a solid wall underneath Aurélie that was crumbling, but not quite demolishing. That was probably the thing about parent expectations, like they were carved into the core of a person from the moment they are brought into the world. With Aurélie's parents being from the social standing they stood in, it suddenly became understandable to Emily that her French buddy might need time to truly find a beat to her own drum and embrace it, especially now it appeared she was caught between to ends of the rope pulling her along.

However Emily was happy to see Aurélie open minded enough to consider and even smile at her little nudge of motivation. Emily didn't really have much to say about living up to a mother or father's expectations when she herself didn't experience that but she knew the passion and desire in Aurélie's eyes to tell she wanted to be her own person, as Emily or anyone else would.

"I've always got your back, Aurélie!" she reaffirmed. "Even if it takes you time to figure out what you want to do later, spend the time now to think about it while enjoying being your lovely self! That way, we'll be able to see how amazing we are now, and amazing we will be later on!" Aurélie had so much potential to be the best version of her. The only way to do that was to see just how incredible she was. Hopefully with enough cheerful egging, Emily had made Aurélie see the possibilities that lay ahead of her.

A yawn caught Emily by surprise and she quickly clamped a knuckle over her mouth. "Sorry...!" she chuckled. "I guess between the excitement and how late it is, I must be more tired than I thought..."

_{Word Count: 303}

This feels like a nice spot to wrap up soon!

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

@Emily Shephard October 19, 2024

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

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

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Aurélie's smile was more tired than it had been before, her whole body slightly drooping as the exhaustion set in. She'd done so much today, after all. From getting ready for tonight's event, to attending it with a friend, to standing here talking with Emily. It had been a long day, and she was tired to the bone. The excitement and adrenaline might've carried her little body here thus far, but there was still a ways to go as she had to make her way back to her sleeping quarters, get rid of all this fancy stuff, and go to bed.

"Do you pep talk all your friends like this or do I get special treatment?" Aurélie teased. If Emily paid close attention, she might see that the French girl was just trying to change the subject, trying to switch away from all this stuff about her. She'd never been comfortable with speaking of herself, especially about her family. It had always seemed like... like she would get a response like this. Confirming all her worst fears. That her parents weren't the silly, largely overprotective people she knew but actually monsters that were keeping her from doing what she wanted with her life selfishly. Of course, that wasn't what Emily was trying to say, but the thoughts spiraled in Aurélie's brain regardless. It didn't really like to listen to reason.

Emily yawned, cutting off her own stream of steadily flowing words. She aimed to cover it, but Aurélie spotted it anyways. She laughed a bit along with her friend. They were both tired then! "Don't worry about it. I'm tired too." She grinned. "I'll see you later? We can meet up at the next ball or something. Or summer camp too!"

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

Emily couldn't help but laugh at Aurélie's mock accusation. It would be somewhat of a stretch to say that Emily was becoming a bit of everyone's cheerleader in recent years. She had the blessing of being friends with the likes of Scout, Ava, Colin and Emmanuel - to name a few - after all. Without their nudges and the experiences she'd shared with them all so far, she highly doubted she would've come so far as to be the outward girl she was today. Perhaps it was the combination of all of their outgoingness and adventurous quirks that had slowly rubbed off and manifested in Emily through its own unique way.

"I guess it's just a natural reflex for me at this point," Emily countered with a sheepish grin. "If someone has to be the reassurance everyone needs, then I'll happily be the one to do it! And that sweetness extends to you, my friend!"

She lightly bumped her buddy on the shoulder. "So don't be too surprised if you see me holding a banner with your name on it one of these days," she grinned before she took her tone down a notch, now softer. "And I'm willing to bet your parents will do the same. I know they want what's best for you, but you're doing no harm by following your own set of rules too".

Though Emily wasn't sure how confident that sounded when her yawn rudely interrupted her pep talk. At least Aurélie didn't seem offended by it. At the same time however, Emily could tell their little chit-chat was coming to an end. Both girls were knackered by this point in the evening. In the end, Emily relented and with a soft nod, she agreed with Aurélie. "Oh I look forward to the next time we see each other, my friend. Sooner than we might think, knowing our luck!"

With a final snug to Aurélie, Emily bid goodnight to her buddy before hopping off the fountain and heading back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. As much as she would've loved to hang around with Aurélie for longer, the call of her bed was stronger.

Still, Emily smiled to herself. Aurélie was always a hoot to be around. She was already counting down the minutes until she would next see her again.

_{Word Count: 386}

Emily has left the thread
Have a snug for the road! :3

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

@Emily Shephard October 19, 2024

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

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

┌─────────────────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───────────────────────┐

Aurélie couldn't say that she didn't like Emily's constant excitement. It was so refreshing, especially after internalising the words spoken to her by her grandparents and parents. She knew, for sure, that Emily was right. Especially when she emphasised that Aurélie's family was only looking out for her. Because that was more than right, it was true.

Aurélie had known one thing all her life, if nothing else. Her family loved her. She was not only their only hope for a Duval future, but she was also their Aurélie. The one who'd run around the large homes owned by her parents and grandparents, climbing trees and jumping over bushes, chased by her family who just wanted to keep her safe. The one who'd mustered up the courage at such a little age to have a talk with her parents about their overprotectiveness, though it hadn't worked. The one who wanted, above all else, to know that her family loved her enough to respect her wishes. She was their pride and love and joy, as they'd reminded her so many times. Emily was right about everything, from Aurélie just having to muster the courage to break away into her own path and that she had a great support system behind her.

"You're amazing, Emily. Really. I can't think of a single other friend who could've pep talked me right out of whatever mental state I was just in." Aurélie grinned, the comment more genuine than she herself realised.

"Oh, alright then! I'll see you soon, Emily!"

And while Aurélie was a bit sad to cut things short with her Hufflepuff Hogwarts friend, she was also already waiting for the next time that they'd meet and talk. Now that they knew each other, their conversation had been much, much more fun.

Till next time then.

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end of thread