Errand Sign away!

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Learning other languages had always drawn Tatiana in, when she'd seen the poster on the Hufflepuff bulletin board, she knew she had to come right away. Even though Tatiana was slow on getting information, it had been a wonder when she'd mention it to some people she'd been on speaking terms with and they admitted they'd hadn't seen it yet.

She felt proud of herself and as the days gone by, she'd been awaiting for the event and even started to borrow some books from the library to learn more about sign language. Tatiana was one of the first few to come, the event hadn't started yet and she was already trying to find where the refreshments table was, man, learning sign language wasn't easy after all, and she'd worked up quite the appetite leading to this day.

After a quick trip to the kitchens, Tatiana entered the room in complete silence, well, of course, carrying a plate of chocolate-covered croissants that were still warm, two of her favorite international foods combined as one.

She made her way to the crafts table and set down her plate of croissants, inviting in her fellows that were huddled over their arts to stop, eat, and enjoy the event.

She had brought a small case that contained her easel and art supplies, perfectly fit because of a tricky spell she'd required assistance with from an older student that enabled her to store things inside the suitcase that wouldn't be stored through normal means.

She was planning on painting the scene, upholded before her, quiet, stillness, and people signing to each other about stuff that most people who wouldn't bother to learn the language couldn't read, which was, fortunately, not her.

She extracted the stand and easel from the case without problems, set it in front of her, and started taking out her paint, a new one she bought from a muggle store nearby their house that had impeccable quality for a muggle product.

Speech — Thoughts

WC: 330

NOTE: Please Owl for interactions

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@Mylo Atkins

The first couple weeks back in Hogwarts had gone by in the blink of an eye. Homework was piling up, and along with it came excuses to sequester himself in a corner of the Slytherin common room. Which, he'd reminded himself with a flash of annoyance while regarding the poster, was not the plan.

The castle was much, much bigger than the Slytherin common room. And he'd be forcing himself to get acquainted with its occupants sooner rather than later.

Setting the flier down and thanking Merlin for his good luck, Draven gathered his things. The social gathering was happening in a little over twenty minutes. With his homework up to date and an aching need for companionship, it called out to him.

The ballroom wasn't hard to find. He'd been in it enough times over the years, though he couldn't quite recall many happy memories within it. Hogwarts balls had a tendency to go sideways. Deimos, who was perched curiously within a nest of curls, surveyed the massive space along with the boy.

'Cute.' Draven signed to Deimos, slipping inside. He didn't fancy being trampled by a couple rabid younger kids in their quest to get a chair, though it didn't seem many people had shown up.

He hoped that wouldn't be the case for long.

Three younger students were scattered about quietly. He recognized the Hufflepuff vaguely. The two tiny first years were a different story.

Carefully making his way across the room, Draven caught a glance in one of the many windows. He wasn't looking...too badly, he thought. Black jeans and a simple crewneck, 'OXFORD UNIVERSITY' stamped white on a navy background. Even his hair was starting to settle into something that slightly resembled a style, falling halfway to his neck and covering his ears.

'Good job,' he signed to Mylo, joining the other student. 'Looks good.'

Interacting with: Please owl me for interactions! Mentioning: N/A Date: 09/23/25

Word Count: 511

✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽

Avery didn't know what to expect when she walked into the ballroom. News of an event celebrating British Sign Language had been printed on posters across the school. Having nothing better to do, and curious as to what could happen, she chose to participate. Though she knew nothing about British Sign Language, she was excited to finally learn. Knowing more than one language always came in handy. Especially when you needed to have a private conversation with someone. Maybe that was why she loved speaking her home country's language of Welsh. It was so different, yet so fun. She hoped learning sign language would be just as fun. Avery approached the ballroom and her mouth quirked into an amused smile as she walked past the sign that said you needed to be creative instead of using verbal communication. This was going to be fun. Probably too much fun. She found a paper lying on a table nearby and gently picked it up. Upon reading it she was surprised to find the hand signals for British Sign Language before her. She studied each motion carefully as she walked over to a corner of the room and collapsed onto a bean bag. A bright smile on her face as she attempted each symbol with her own hands. She was far from perfect. Though for it being her first time, it wasn't as hard as she was expecting. As she signed each letter of the alphabet with her hand, it began to make more sense. Especially with the paper in front of her. Without the paper, Avery didn't really know what she would have done. Being unable to use her voice wasn't easy. Especially since she was so used to talking with people with it instead of her hands or facial expressions only. Avery was glad that she decided to come. Learning British Sign Language was even more fun than she had expected as she walked into the room. Upon taking a quick glance, she could see a few people mingling around and having silent conversations with others arriving just after her. She couldn't believe how popular the event was. Before she saw the posters, Avery had never even heard of British Sign Language. It was one of those things that she as a pure blood didn't have to use, and her old muggle friend had never told her about it. That girl had been the one way Avery had learned of muggle objects and trinkets, but Avery hadn't learned really anything after she died. It was almost too hard to think about them and not think of her friend that had died way too young. Way before her time. Avery shook the thoughts from her head. Not willing to cry in front of everyone and be unable to explain why. She was far from decent enough at sign language to do that. She would just have to stick with the basics for the time being and hope that she didn't accidentally mess up and say or do something completely wrong and embarrass herself.

✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽ ✽

Interacting with: open to interactions

Date: 9/23/25

Speech: #3CB371 | Thoughts: italics

Outfit: A sunflower dress with black low-heeled sandals, pigtail braids

The young Slytherin prefect skipped from her Slytherin dorm to this sign language event in the ballroom. Kaitlyn had seen the advertisements and had to admit that it sounded pretty cool! Using sign language sounded like it would be important to learn. As a muggleborn, she instantly recalled her muggle education at St. Ann’s, an all-girls private Catholic boarding school. British Sign Language was never taught there. There were foreign languages, sure, but not sign language. As such, she had no knowledge of this activity.

Yet, that wouldn’t keep Kaitlyn away. No chance of that. She enjoyed learning and having a challenge. So, this seemed to be right up her alley. As such, she knew she wanted to do it. At least to try. Would she need this in the future? She had no idea. But, she knew that if it meant learning to communicate with others who were hard of hearing … it would be completely worth it.

It also brought a different facet to Kaitlyn’s socialization. Despite being a third year, she was still pretty shy. Sure, she was no longer stumbling over her words and barely being able to talk. But, she wasn’t a complete social butterfly, either. She was a vast overthinker and constantly took her time when responding with her voice, as it was. It would be interesting to see if she could communicate with others using the British sign language. As this would be her first time doing this, she would need even more time to process.

The young Slytherin opened the doors to the ballroom, stepping carefully inside. The gentle tap of her heeled sandals signaled her arrival. Her blue eyes glanced at the sign, noting the lack of verbal communication. That was to be expected for such an event, but it didn’t matter to her. No matter, she’d try her best. Looking at the other students in the room, she smiled pleasantly, abiding by the directive of no verbal communication.

It didn’t take long for her to notice the papers with the British Sign Language alphabet. ‘This looks like it would take me a while to learn … and process how to spell things out.’ She observed a light blush forming on her cheeks. No matter, she’d try her best like she always did. She gingerly picked up one of the papers, glancing over its contents. While she was eager to learn, she was well aware that this wasn’t a contest … at least in her mind. She’d rather take her time to get it right.

Kaitlyn didn’t feel confident from her quick look at the paper to be able to immediately jump into a conversation. She smiled again and took the paper toward the craft supply area, studying its contents along the way. Thankfully, many of the signs didn’t appear to be too difficult to do, based on the images she saw. But seeing versus trying often resulted in completely different experiences. Yes, yes, no embarrassing herself for now. The sign at the door didn’t mention that you couldn’t use other means of communication, too. Perhaps a welcoming and colorful sign would help? With that in mind, a seed of an idea was planted in her mind as she looked at the available supplies.

Word Count: 543 words

Outfit:
Interacting with @Emily Harris

Maisie didn't know what she was going to expect when she went up to the ballroom on the 20th of September. News had been pasted on the Hufflepuff billboard, and also spread through the halls that week leading to the event. British Sign Language. And the International Sign Language Day.

Her little sister was sickly, and though five, wasn't verbal all the time, and even at times she was, she just made sounds. They had got governesses and tutors and even her nanny had tried countless times to teach her to speak proper English, or any language, but she wouldn't. Or maybe she just couldn't. So her nanny had thought of teaching sign language to the little baby girl, and, surprisingly, it worked. The girl signed everywhere, forcing everyone to learn it, too. So when she saw that they were to spend an afternoon doing nothing but signing, she jumped to the idea at once. Alright, fine, having a sore throat was also one of the multiple reasons she wanted to come.

She wasn't going to get dress-coded on a weekend, so she wore a colorful shirt and jeans. They were muggle clothes, but it mattered not. When she opened the door, she didn't expect the ballroom to be transformed with beanbags and colorful art and the BSL alphabet everywhere.

She sunk into one of the beanbags and looked around. Supposing the "leave your voice at the door" thing started now, she couldn't just exclaim or wow the place, so she signed "amazing" to no one in particular.

She wondered what to do with the art supply in front of her. Write something? Or draw out BSL gestures? That would take time. Better to just sign it out with her hands. She looked around. She wasn't the only first year, there was Emily, a friend, and another Hufflepuff she didn't know well. She debated with herself whether to go join them or not.

She could see others signing out the alphabet, and, quite out of practice herself, began going through the 26 signs herself. It was fairly easy, and it wasn't long before she started signing out her thoughts, her hands moving faster and faster.

She was actually quite reluctant to learn the language when it was first proposed the family learnt it. She didn't want to spend great afternoons cooped up inside learning a language just so she could communicate with a sister she didn't see often. But maybe through it was through bribes of sweets that she came to, eventually, learn to enjoy and love the language. And the best gift this ability could possibly give her was that she could communicate with her little sister. She didn't use it often now, as her sister did her best at verbally communicating, but it was still fun doing it with her siblings, when they couldn't talk freely. Not many people would take the time to learn sign language.

She stood up, deciding to go over and join Emily, her friend. She was engrossed in a book, and, knowing better than to tap her on her shoulder and giving her a shock, yet also unable to speak, she just sat down on a beanbag next to her and signed "Cool place, isn't it?". She wasn't so sure if the girl had seen it. So, after a pause, she tapped her shoulder and signed again, this time slower, since she wasn't sure Emily would quite know everything in the language. "Sorry to startled you." She added.

(585)

OOC Notes:

Reducio Interacting: Open to interactions

Reducio Speaking - Sample Thoughts - Sample

Reducio Outfit: Pink Flower Dress

Tuesday | 23 September 2025 | Afternoon
Hogwarts Ballroom

Ally Craig had seen the fliers all around the School about BSL Sign Language event and she was excited and very nervous at the same time. She had never been to such an event before.
Ally Craig was always fascinated with learning different languages and things like that she was already fluent in Spanish, so learning another language should be easy right she had thought. Ally had finished her class for the day and went back to her dormitory to find a dress to fit this event perfectly.

Ally walked into the ballroom on the afternoon of September 23rd. She had seen a notice on the noticeboard about an event being held to celebrate International sign language day and hoped to have some fun in the event. What she knew about it, or at least what was written on the notice, was that it would be held in the ballroom with everything to have a fun afternoon, but on one condition, and that made it much harder. Every bit of communication had to be done nonverbally, and they could communicate in BSL finger spelling alphabet.

Each of the people who came would be given a sheet which showed all the alphabets of the BSL sign language. Professor Sauber, who taught potions, would be helping them all, and well all of those who decided to try this thing out.

Ally took a good look at the ballroom. They weren't joking about having everything for a fun afternoon. The room was filled with beanbags, cushions, and tables. Even the door had a sign saying 'No verbal communication, be creative!' and there was a table by the door where they had placed a large pile of BSL language sheets. Ally had picked up a sheet out of the pile read it and then studied it hopefully something will stick with her.

Ally started to wonder if she had made the right choice in joining this event. But just as that thought had crossed her mind it left in that same fashion.

Ally Craig on shaky feet started to walk to a suitable beanbag, one that was closer to the stage and decided to sit down since the main event was about to begin. After a while Ally started to feel extremely comfortable the Ballroom felt as though she had seen it in some kind of fairytale. Since talking was prohibited inside of the ballroom today, Ally had to find out another way of communicating since she wasn't fluent in Sign Language yet so she did next best thing that she could think of and that was taking out her journal and quills things she always carried with her in case of emergencies or if inspiration stroke, because Ally loved writing poems so she would never know when an idea would happen so she always thought it best to carry those items around with her at all times, and boy was she thankful that she remembered to bring them to the Ballroom today.....
So here Ally sat writing up things on her parchment waiting for anybody to come sit by her to talk in written form since she didn't know a whole lot of Signing yet.

To be honest, Maisie didn't know, well, anything about signing. She didn't have any friends or family members who used this language. But she enjoyed learning a new skill and she was more than happy to support what ever errand coach Mylo had put together. They always did a great job and there was usually some kind of crafting area where she could play to her strengths to celebrate the theme of the day. So, she eagerly came down to the ballroom as soon as she could to see exactly what the prefect had put together for today.

The first clear sign about the errand was deeply obvious: "No verbal communication, be creative!" it had read. She bit her lip for a moment: this was not going to be particularly easy. Maisie loved engaging with others and speaking was a huge part of that interaction. But Maisie wasn’t afraid of a challenge. From the duelling block to scheming with Avis, there was no wall she could not scale—or try to with a solid plan.

As she came inside, it was pretty obvious the amount of effort Mylo had gone to in setting up and decorating the room, and she would expect nothing less from Mylo. They were also fairly easy to spot in this room, and Maisie wanted to greet them immediately, but knew she couldn’t at least not right away.

Squinting, she noticed the arts and crafts supplies and thought that would be the more immediate solution. Signing she would be happy to learn, of course, but like any language it had to be time consuming. She picked up a pen and wrote “This looks great,” in her best cursive with some floral accents on the corner of the page before walking right up to Mylo and holding up her sign with a smile. It probably wasn’t what they wanted but it was the best she could do for now. She waited briefly for some acknowledgment before striking that out and writing, “I’ll be over there,” as she pointed towards one of the tables.

That’s when she noticed the papers with the British Sign Language alphabet. Better start somewhere. An older girl who looked familiar picked up of one of the letters and took it towards the crafting area, where Maisie had started. And she seemed to have the same genius idea that Maisie had: a beautiful sign.

Maisie walked over and sat next to her, scribbling, “You had a summer camp booth. The one with the art. I’m Maisie. I had the sewing booth.” She’d look up from her paper for a moment for confirmation. Then she added, “What are you drawing? Maybe we could do the whole alphabet together?” By this point, her sign had been degraded into scrap paper for conversation, but that didn’t mean that a new project couldn’t emerge. The BSL alphabet looked long, just like the normal one in English, but together they could move through it. And if her new companion had other ideas, Maisie would be open to hearing reading them.

WC: 510
NB: All dialogue is written, not spoken.

Interacting with @Mylo Atkins & @Kaitlyn Connor
Open to interactions

September 23rd, 2025

English - Thoughts

@Emily Harris, @Maisie Fenwick Rose Williams

Ballroom

XXXNo verbal communication. Be creative.

XXXThe words resonated in Eonaria's thoughts as she peeked inside the Ballroom. Exactly how creative could you get without speaking? A few students had already arrived, and some were even already communicating with each other, whether through signs or writing. The place was starkly silent other than a few faint footsteps. Total silence was one of her worst nightmares, possibly only second place to drowning. Nevertheless, she vowed to do her best. The event was a very interesting one, and Eonaria still wanted to take part. And by the looks of it, not everyone was a total stranger here.

XXXThe ballroom had been decorated to a cosy vibe, with little activities scattered around. It was very different from the usual emptiness. Eonaria picked up one of the sheets with the British Sign Language alphabet from the table, looking over it as she stepped further into the room so as to not block the doorway. The fabric of her pale blue sundress brushed against her ankles as she walked. She retreated to stand next to the wall as she studied it. After scanning the parchment, she glanced around the Ballroom to make a quick assessment of the attendants so far.

XXXThe first person she recognised was Emily, who was sitting on a table, reading a book next to another first year. Eonaria tried to plan a proper entrance, wondering how best to approach the situation. She was always a very verbal person, so it would be a struggle to keep her mouth shut. She tried to memorise the actions to spell out 'hello,' first mimicking the images on the sheet carefully before attempting to put it all together without looking at the parchment. Finally, when Eonaria was sure she had gotten it right, she took a deep breath and headed toward Emily and her friend.

XXXHold up. Am I supposed to tilt the signs towards the person I'm talking to? Or make it face upwards? Or face me? She paled slightly but formed the signs anyway, accompanying it with a shy wave. Hopefully they would recognise the signs, but if not... er... We'll figure it out eventually... Some other students were writing things down instead of signing them, which Eonaria supposed was pretty smart. However, the awkward silence that happened while you waited for someone to write something and show it to you was a bit worse than the awkward silence that happened while you watched someone formulate signs very slowly. At least you had something to look at.

XXXThe other girl, who was wearing a colorfully-patterned shirt, appeared to already be signing something to Emily. Eonaria had absolutely no clue what she was signing. She wanted to say something along the lines of 'nice to meet you' or 'what's your name?' but as she looked back down at the sheet in her hand, she paled to realise just how long that would take to sign out. Ah yes, the downsides of having to spell things out instead of signing the entire word, she remembered with a small sigh.

XXXIs there a sheet with some common phrases, perhaps? Eonaria flipped the sheet already in her hand over hopefully, but nope. Nothing. Then, is a bow and a handshake too awkward? Those were usually saved for extremely formal occasions, not... your classmates. Eonaria wondered if she would even retain anything from this learning process. Hey, if there was a BSL class, I would absolutely go! It does seem very useful. Perhaps that was another thing to add to her very long list of things to do in her free time. Did she even have that much free time? Not really. Sometimes. [WC 614]

.・-: ✧☾♩♪♩♬　. 。・゜✭・.・✫゜・。.　♬♩♪♩☽✧ :-・.

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Dad

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Pa

Andrea

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Interacting with @Draven Mirador | @Maisie Gemmell | @Emily Harris	Date - 23/09/2025
WC 518/200	Color Legend - Mylo | BSL | Thoughts

Slowly but surely the room had started filling up as students made their way towards the many places to sit. Quite a few of them picking up the sheet with BSL on them and actually using them to practice finger spelling, which Mylo was very happy about as that was exactly what they had hoped to achieve with this event.

Looking around Mylo spotted one of the students who had arrived earlier signing towards him, a simple hi but it was great that she was trying and using the finger spelling. Smiling towards her Mylo spelled back trying to keep it simple, "Hi! Are you enjoying?" But wasn't sure if she had caught it as it seemed like she had looked away before realising they were signing back.

As it seemed like everything was under control and students were able to find everything without too much problem Mylo wondered if they could quickly slip into one of the chairs to open their sketchbook they had brought with them and maybe try and do a quick sketch of the sight before them. But before they could move to take the book from the table behind them a new face had popped up, signing that he liked the event which was great to hear.

Smiling at the newcomer, who seemed to be either around Mylo's age or slightly older and as Mylo hadn't noticed him in any of their classes they assumed he was a year or so above them, Mylo signed back taking their time to get it right. "Thanks! I'm glad you like it, thought it would be nice to set up." Although they already knew some things and could hold a decent conversation they preferred to make no mistakes and get their messages across in one go.

As they finished their sentence he noticed a familiar face walking into the room, going straight for the arts and craft supplies which did not surprise him in the slightest. What surprised him even less was the sign that was quickly produced by her hands, held in front of their face.

Smiling at the sentiment they signed a thank you, watching as she then wrote an extra message to let him know where to find her which they gave a thumbs up to knowing that she would at the very least understand that.

Noting that the boy who had come to great him had witnessed the entire interaction Mylo felt a bit of shame creeping up as it was quite rude to just have a conversation in the middle of another one. Turning back to the older year Mylo gave him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, didn't mean to just stop. I'm Mylo." He added, finger spelling his name due to not having a sign name and hoping to break the ice as it were, and as he did so they noticed something in the boys hair it seemed like a spider? "oh, is that your pet, he looks cute." he mentioned, always loving it when people brought their pets to events, unless of course it was a non-pet friendly one.

ABILITIES | STATS
Perfectionist | Wandmaker [Dragonheart, Elm wood] | Calming presence
sta • 8 | eva • 7 | str • 5 | wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 8

Code by Ara Villa