Life is Like a Box of What Now? Desi

Desislava wasn't often greeted by visitors to her classroom as most of her students preferred to think of her as a very strange addition to the faculty. Perhaps they thought that the Headmaster had been sleep-addled when he'd hired a mermaid out of his own lake posing as a Professor. It hadn't ever bothered her but it had made her tower quite lonely when the days passed and not a soul found their way into her world withou her actively seeking them out.

So for a student who had never visited her prior to her class knocked on her office door- Desislava found herself out of sorts just slightly when Dennis Tumberton, one of her new batches of Ravenclaw third years entered her office asking about changing his luck. She allowed him into her office as the ginger boy seemingly marvled at the way she had transformed the office into a tropical getaway. It had been in part to keep her sanity and not seem like an office and in part to seem welcoming to her students. Professor's who worked in dark, dingy offices where rather... sequestered and she had no desire to ever be associated with the word.

"I can answer your questions as you ask them Dennis but do give me a moment to assure my attention is yours." Desislava said professionally as she closed the door to her office just slightly and flicked her hand towards an enchanted radio in the corner which began to drift out a melody of oceanic sounds serving as a sort of white noise. With such a question as wether luck could be changed, and the demeanor that Dennis carried, she sensed there was an answer to a deeper question that the young raven had come in search of that was best kept underwraps.

"The manatees are lovely aren't they? I have had the pleasure to see some on rare occasions. Gentle giants of the sea, these ones are North American. They float along the coastlines of the Atlantic Oceans." Desislava spoke softly as she opened up her tea case. "I think Lavender and Basil will do nicely."

The tea selected was not coincidental. It seemed the mood was lightly dampened despite the awe that Dennis had for the office and her manatees. These had always been moodboosters in her opinion and combined with a slight dollop of honey, would do wonders for the soul. As she steeped the leaves she thought about what it was that Dennis had asked. Changing Luck.

It wasn't impossible- Luck was a fickle friend who often took her seat with Life's gambling bandit. Wether she played fairly was entirely up to her and often, those who played against her would lose out on the hand they dealt.

Pouring the tea, Desislava pushed a cup towards Dennis before taking her seat and speaking slowly.

"Luck is ever changing. it is fair-weathered and more often than not seems to either be on your side or against you. You can change your luck superficially, but at a cost. Everything must remain in balance and if you choose to alter the path set for you, are you any more fair to yourself than life was to you?" She explained with a posed question at the end. To often she knew that those who vied to find a quicker easier solution in life where rarely happy with the outcome.

Taking a sip of her tea, she hummed softly. "A wish to avoid natural consequence is not a reason to change your luck. There are ways, yes, but you are not to find them if they are not set for you. What is it that has brought this want?" She asked kindly as she swirled her own teacup thoughtfully.
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Dennis entered the office still dumbfounded as only Dennis could be. He gapped at almost everything as he passed by to take the offered seat. He seemed to have caught her in the middle of something and asked for some time to clean up her space. That seemed only fair to the Ravenclaw since he came in unannounced. He waited patiently while she tidied her desk and started to brew some tea as she thought about his question. He wasn’t really sure how tea would solve his problem. Surely, if it was that simple, things would have changed for him - after all, he loved to drink tea. He took the cup offered him though, still uncharacteristically silent, despite the fact that he just wanted to blurt everything out at once. He may be a little hyperactive and imaginative but he was still a Ravenclaw and respected the faculty like they were his own parents.

He sipped the tea and wrinkled his nose. This was obviously not English black. He took another sip. However the honey hit the right note. Another sip and he could feel himself letting go of some of the anxiety that haunted him. One more and the tea was finished and he was looking at her expectantly wanting more. It didn’t really taste good to him but he was from the UK a land not known for it’s appreciation of real flavors. However, he couldn’t deny he felt better and more relieved. He would drink this stuff by the keg full if it kept all those emotions away from him! This is why Dennis has a problem, dear reader.

He barely processed the monologue Professor Nenovsky dived into. Something about needing balance. Blah blah blah. He needed a quicker and easier solution than whatever she was trying to sell him like more of this concoction! It is no wonder how Alphonse Toussaint got him so attached to cigarettes. It’s not that he surrounded himself with bad influences, but rather, he willingly invited trouble into his life. Still he, again not saying a word yet, listened and nodded like a dutiful student.

Finally she as asked him the most important question. Why was he in her office to begin with. She of course phrased it more politely but he got what she was trying to say. “Well…” he looked around sheepishly trying to focus on anything other than this conversation. As much angst as he had been feeling, he never really confronted his feelings. “It’s a girl…” he said lamely. Going to an adult for dating advice seemed like the worst idea ever but it wasn’t technically dating advice.

“You see…we…broke up…no…um…amicably split was the term I think…whatever that means.” He started, hoping by this point to have more of that magic juice in his hand. “I…have been miserable…I mean I have had miserable luck since then. Nothing is exciting and everything turns out wrong. I went to summer camp and…someone nearly barbecued me, and then there were cigarette and…everything is just kind of spiraling. Isn't there some kind of something that can change any of this?” He realized he was blabbering and shut his trap before he went so far he couldn’t stop himself from oversharing.

@Desislava Nenovsky

Ah the perils of love. Young loves it seemed, as Dennis was quite tongue-tied over his explanation over the reasoning behind the breakup. Desislava suspected there may be more to the story though she did not prod as poking answers out of individuals often did not come with the answers one truly wanted or needed. Outwardly, Desislava nodded along as she placed her teacup on her desk and sat back in her chair listening mindfully and choosing her words from the orchard of advice in her head.

When Dennis finished, Desislava gently pressed her fingertips to her lips as she mused over the explanation given to her. A summer breakup leading to a spiral set of events that seemingly, to Dennis at least, implied nothing would ever go right ever again. Of course the sensibility behind such notion outside of a Divine interpretation would simply be to take each day as it approaches. However, this did not feel like the intuitive answer that she knew the student before her was searching for. So instead Desislava just shook her head.

"No there regrettably isn't a way to avoid all bad luck forever." She said slightly blunter than she meant for it to come across. Sitting up, she folded her hands on her desk and looked at Dennis with an honest expression.

"You are in your spring. Your life is expected to be filled with moments of miserable that predate the moments of joy. You cannot simply have one over the other it is just not possible." Desislava pushed with a kinder tone as she offered more tea out of her teapot. The cup in Dennis' hands had emptied quickly and she felt that he would want a refill if it was offered to him.

"You mention leaving your relationship amicably. That would imply you both agreed you were better off discontinuing anything romantic. Is this true? Or do you think your conflicts could have been discussed further?" Desislava asked as she tapped her cheek curious as to the answer Dennis would provide. "Your first relationship -which I assume this was- often fizzles for moments, or breaks off because of reasons or other. It is not designed to last for long periods of time. In rare instances- do you find yourself drawn back to this person in hopes that it will reconcile itself. But you will grow from it if you have not already.

Now Desislava was not one to spread information as to the success of relationships. She had had her fair share of them, often jumping from breakup to breakup because she feared that they would find a flaw within her that she could not contain. It had frightened her. Though her relationships had eventually progressed into something more loving of both herself and trusting of others once she had found her current rock. It was hard work to find the one who truly met your gaze and held your best interests in their heart but to have such a feeling with another, it was expected that you could do and hold the same for them.

Unfortunately for Dennis and his past relationship, it seemed this was not the case. But she hoped it would not dissuade him from approaching life with more of an open mind.

"Dennis you must understand, and you might not now but hopefully one day, you'll see that growth cannot happen without a little pruning. Your personality, your conscious, and your character will benefit from what happens now. Even if it all seems that everything will only be miserable. It is up to you now to look at life with a good outcome and think 'how can I make it better?' Sometimes you will not be able to. That is natural. But it is really the only way to "change all of this" as you say. Desislava explained as she finished off the tea in her cup. It was advice to say the least. Now it was up to Dennis to understand it or question her credibility.
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Dennis finished his professor paused to collect her thoughts. Perhaps there was no hope for him after all. Doomed to live a life of poor circumstances and regrettable choices. Then Professor Nenovsky spoke and, however well meaning she meant her advice, Dennis really struggled to follow everything she had to say and boy did she say a lot!

“But…professor…” Dennis interjected almost immediately, he looked for the words to say and then, “It’s…not spring…it’s fall in fact.” He said this as if he was deeply concerned for his Professor’s well being. Nevermind the fact she was trying her best to softly land the fact he would not be able to find a quick way out of the mess he made. Dennis, always the one to never quite get the point when people were trying to be earnest.

She then turned specifically to his break up which caused him to avoid eye contact and stare at his feet like his life depended on it. He turned over the phrasing she used ‘it will reconcile with her.’ Was he only half paying attention? Yes. Did he only latch on to the pieces that would benefit him in the short term? Of course. That’s why his only response was, “So you are saying…” his voice a little more hopeful now, “I should try to start things over again? I guess I can do that yeah?”

At this point they were definitely on two different wavelengths with Professor Nenovsky trying her level best to gently meet him where he was at and Dennis pathologically and deftly dodging all such attempts.

At her final speech he wrinkled his nose a little before straightening himself out hoping he wasn’t being too rude. “The only way to make things better is to…make them better? Are you sure there isn’t some like incense or like bones I can throw that will fix any of this?”

@Desislava Nenovsky

It seemed Dennis was not one of her students who was blessed with the sight. It couldn't be helped, she supposed. Fate had a strange way of ascertaining who it was that understood the world around them between the lines of what was clearly written. Dennis had not understood her metaphor when she had mentioned it was his Springtime and had vehemently expressed that the season was Fall. She poured a bit more tea in his cup and tried not to look like she knew she was talking to the wall. It wasn't uncommon for many of her students to understand very little of what it was that she said. Often times during class she found herself having to repeat whatever it was because her students were... unconscious enough of the difference between a simile and a metaphor.

However once Dennis thought about it a little more, she listened to him ask the bigger question. Should he try again?

"You should embrace the idea of love once again. Though perhaps it will be with someone else. We are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return. Those who come into our lives are meant to mean something even if the meaning does not end positively. I encourage you to keep an open mind and an open heart." She said kindly as she pulled out a set of her tarot cards and shuffled them slightly. When one of them slipped out and flew towards Dennis, she caught it swiftly and examined the card itself.

"Ah the Hermit- and no Dennis, before you ask this is not a suggestion that you become a hermit. The opposite really. I encourage you to think about what The Hermit symbolizes in terms of spiritual meaning. A key trait of a hermit is isolation, yes, but here in my hand" Desislava explains as she hands the upright card to the young Ravenclaw to examine "our Hermit is searching with the lantern. You, yourself should follow this lead and look inside yourself to see what it is you are searching for. Perhaps it is a way back to the relationship you had. Perhaps it is a way forward. You mustn't be stubborn thought. When your inner wisdom tells you to follow your gut it likely means it's a true feeling. You have wisdom in you.

The deck she held was an old deck, imbued with years of practice and much love from her friends and those who had been read via the cards in her hands. It wasn't customary to part the deck, but she found that those who needed it would feel more secure if they could keep the card, she pulled for them for a few days, weeks, or in one case a whole year. If Dennis wanted to he would be permitted to leave with the card to ponder her words over.

She set the rest of her deck down and picked her tea cup back up as she waited for Dennis to answer. Of course, what he then asked about bones and incense she found herself lowering the cup to answer yet again of why this would not work.

"Dennis I do hope you find your way into my class when you become a third year. I think your questions would be better answered through a class rather than one session and tea. My office however, is always open. Desislava explained kindly with a smile. Bones and incense.... what a peculiar ask.
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Dennis’ hopes seemed dashed and his professor was obviously dead set on stomping the remaining cinders of his feelings into the ground forever. There wasn’t anything he could do to avoid bad luck? He couldn’t help but start to suspect his professor of divination wasn’t that gifted after all.

“Surely, professor,” he began but his futile attempt at a protest was cut short by her next pearl of wisdom. Spring is about being miserable and joyful? What a strange lady he was sitting across from. He started again but the growingly unhelpful old woman was beginning to unravel his carefully laid plans at rekindling the love he lost last year. He listened attentively as well as any other Ravenclaw but there ends just weren’t meeting for him. Was she telling him to get back together with Meyra or that things were better off concluded? It seemed the only way he would get any sort of straight answer from her was just to ask her directly.

So, the redhead cleared his throat when she had finished, and, wearing as thoughtful of an expression as he could muster, he asked, “So…are you saying there is a chance?” He wasn’t sure how else he would be able to get what he really wanted to know out of his rather long winded professor.

@Desislava Nenovsky