24 Jan 2022, 22:17
Look Out BeLowe
Regular Text - English | Bolded Text - French | Bolded Black Text - Japanese
Roleplaying as iNPC Madeleine Nakamura
This year's trip to Hogwarts had not at all been what Maddie expected. On the very first day here, she was sent reeling when she saw one of Hogwarts' staff - the Head of Ravenclaw. The last week-and-a-half had been spent finding out all she could about him, which really wasn't much. She knew his name, what he did here, and how long he'd been here - just generic knowledge she could glean from Hogwarts students. And on the occasion she had actually tried following him or going near him - not that she would actually talk to him, but for research purposes - she found that he was a very unapproachable man. She didn't know if it was her own nerves or something about him, but she really did not want to be anywhere near him.Wednesday | 3 November 2021 | after classes, around 16:15
But the conclusion she had come to was that this man was her dad, alive, not dead like her mother had told her all her life. Each night here Maddie had been kept awake with so many questions, like who had lied to who. Did this Marcus guy lie to her mom and fake his own death? Did they just have a really bad breakup and he didn't want anything to do with her? Or what if he was actually her dad's twin brother?
All these questions and more were contained in a letter that Madeleine held now, contemplating if she should send it home or not. She stood on the first floor of the Hogwarts owlery, her brown eyes going between some of the owls and the letter held in her hand. But the longer she stood there, the more infuriated she became, thinking about her mother and her father and whatever scheme she had discovered and the probable lies she would get as answers.
"God, this is so STUPID!" she expressed in French, ripping the letter in her hands to shreds. For good measure, she threw the pieces of paper down the opening of the stairs towards the ground level. Maddie watched them fall through the opening, her anger fizzling to grumpiness, only to realize that someone had entered the owlery. Her letter's pieces were now falling onto the brunet head of a boy belowe. Oops.
"Ah, I'm sorry," Maddie said, switching to English when she noticed the boy's Hogwarts robes. Her anger dissipated rather quickly as she rushed down the stairs to properly apologize. But her speed slowed as she descended, realizing that this boy was quite tall. She stopped on the third or fourth step from the bottom, and he still towered above her.
Recognition dawned easily, considering this boy was the only part-giant Madeleine had ever interacted with. "Hi," she greeted, looking up at him. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were down here when I threw them," she explained, gesturing to the bits of letter still floating down. "You've got some just there-" she gestured to the top of her own hair to indicate his.
@Hugh Lowe
Madeleine is a Charmer.You are just distracting. Distracting to look at perhaps. Maybe it is your wit or your charm, your grace or something else about you that is intangible but absolutely present.
PC: Aaron Jones | iNPC: Madeleine Nakamura | Former staff account: Marcus Iwasaki
2nd Gen PC: Idalia della Torre
Best way to contact me? Discord or owl Idalia
26 Jan 2022, 23:12
Look Out BeLowe
Snow? Already? It was only November… Hugh's brow furrowed in confusion. A voice called out from above. Sincerely hoping it wasn't an angel announcing it was his time to go, Hugh sighed in relief as he was met with a girl's face that came across as mildly familiar. Both brows arched upwards in surprise though as the world seemed to slow down, one piece of paper twirling through the sky in front of him. Her descent seemed to take centuries, and Hugh was sent flying through time.
The way her feet seemed to press on pillows rather than hardwood battered by time and weather. Her fingers sliding through the air like silk drifting in the wind. Even her hair was acting like it had just been gifted the breath of life and knew exactly what role it was meant to play in the grand dance of the girl slowly making her way down the steps. With his mouth slightly agape, Hugh would be at a loss for words as she greeted him and apologized.
Her finger ran upwards, pointing at herself, he couldn't help but feel his body pressing forward. His figure would bend over and softly lower his head, allowing for the girl to pick the little piece of paper out of his hair. "Could you…?" He asked in an oddly soft voice he never heard himself quite speak in. "It's quite alright, miss…?" He left his sentence to die in anticipation. Last they met, there wasn't exactly time to exchange names.
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
27 Jan 2022, 02:27
Look Out BeLowe
Maddie's head tilted slightly at his voice, thinking that he seemed very soft-spoken for a boy of his stature. But it also reminded her of how gentle he had been at the masquerade - it was one of the things that had stood out about him. His size and heritage, yes, but he'd been really kind and gentle when he took her hand that night and tried to help. She still didn't fully understand why Vlad had reacted so awfully about it.Regular Text - English | Bolded Text - French | Bolded Black Text - Japanese
Roleplaying as iNPC Madeleine Nakamura
When he leaned over and presented the top of his head to her, Mads didn't hesitate to pick the paper bits out of his hair. Her slender fingers made quick work of them, dropping them to the ground with the rest. "Madeleine Nakamura," she introduced. "But most people just call me Maddie. You can, too, if you want."
"All done," she announced a moment later, her hands retreating from his brunet hair. Her right hand fell back to her side and tugged at the edge of her Beauxbatons jacket, but her left hand hovered in front of her when she noticed something on his robes. She poked the spot where his house crest was at before he could straighten back up. "House of the brave?" she asked, her brown eyes raising slightly to meet his. He had very distinctive facial features, like the intense sideburns, but he still looked kind of youthful. "So, you're one of the Gryffindors, right? Mr...?" she let her question trail off just as he had.
@Hugh Lowe
PC: Aaron Jones | iNPC: Madeleine Nakamura | Former staff account: Marcus Iwasaki
2nd Gen PC: Idalia della Torre
Best way to contact me? Discord or owl Idalia
31 Jan 2022, 23:41
Look Out BeLowe
"I think I might, then. I would not do it justice in any case." He replied, smiling. Offering an apologizing shrug along with it. He let her pluck something from his head before folding out again. But then the girl quickly pointed at something on his chest. Was this the start of a bad prank? "Oh." Hugh said in surprise, folding out further until he stood up straight again. "You guessed that right. Though I'd hate to be counted similar to my peers. Their bravado is often… tiresome." A little cruel of a remark from him. Not long ago, he would have defended one's honour if they were true to the values of knighthood. No, chivalry was not dead yet.
He stood to attention and bowed slightly again, this time coming back up straight away. "Hugh Lowe. Third year student. I ought to be in fourth, but I skipped school for six months, so I fell behind." A bit unnecessary to explain, perhaps. She didn't ask for his life's story. "I'm afraid it doesn't get much shorter than Hugh." He joked, finding the wording amusing. "You were Vladimir's date at the ball. I remember. That whole night was a bit of chaos. It's quite impressive how you all still choose to return to this place after all its incidents." His eyes would wander back to her, trying to catch her reaction. Or rather, her opinion on the school and its people. "Still talking to good ol' Vlad?" He asked curiously, respectfully wondering if they were. It would surprise him… a lot.
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
1 Feb 2022, 00:57
Look Out BeLowe
The corner of Maddie's lips quirked up a little in amusement when the Gryffindor in front of her seemed concerned about being compared to his peers. "Don't worry, I've learned there's a lot of variety inside your Hogwarts houses," she said reassuringly. The French student knew the "stereotypes" of the Hogwarts houses well, having been here so often and heard the talk. But there was such diversity in the people she met from the same houses, including Gryffindor. Like Cosmo was really shy and sweet, but on the other side of the Gryffindor spectrum of people Maddie had "met" was Pierre. That night in the Hospital Wing with Vlad and the others, he had seemed really intense and, well, stubborn. Neither had immediately struck Maddie as "brave" (not to say that they weren't, but more that their possible bravado wasn't the most standout thing about them).Regular Text - English | Bolded Text - French | Bolded Black Text - Japanese
Roleplaying as iNPC Madeleine Nakamura
"I'm a third-year as well," Maddie said, though she didn't have a bit to share about being away from school. She did immediately want to ask why he had been absent for so long, but he made a joke about his name that made her smile. Then she was distracted by the topic of the masquerade.
Maddie nodded along with what Hugh said. "Yeah, that was a really crazy night," she agreed, her expression becoming a bit less cheerful remembering it as she avoided his eye. She was a little embarrassed about the interaction they'd shared. Even though she felt like she'd been polite, Vlad had been rather rude and Maddie hadn't really done anything about it. She had been so confused by the people trying to attack Vlad and wanting to get a professor and then that blonde girl Marion falling from a broom. It had been a very confusing night overall. To this day, she still didn't understand everything that had happened in the Hospital Wing afterwards.
"Um, no," Maddie finally raised her eyes again when Hugh asked her a direct question. "It was only meant to be a date for the ball, and with how it ended... well, he never wrote me after, and I didn't either. It seemed like he had other stuff to worry about, like his friend being in Hospital and all," she explained, though she quickly thought afterwards she should've just left it at "no." Hugh didn't need all the details of why, but she had immediately felt the need to explain anyway.
Feeling a need to change the topic away from Vlad, she went back to the topic of the dances. "I thought the masquerade was a fluke with how chaotic it got, but then we came here again in May for your Blossom Ball, and that was just as disastrous. People were fighting each other and crashing into the food and drinks tables. My best friend even got hit by a stray spell! It was so awful. After that, I realized that while being here at Hogwarts is kinda fun, the events definitely are not, so some of us skipped the Samhain Festival event this past weekend."
@Hugh Lowe
PC: Aaron Jones | iNPC: Madeleine Nakamura | Former staff account: Marcus Iwasaki
2nd Gen PC: Idalia della Torre
Best way to contact me? Discord or owl Idalia
17 Mar 2022, 00:31
Look Out BeLowe
"Ah…" Hugh hesitated at the mention of Samhain. The sound of his teeth grinding down on one another felt like thunder in his head. There were quite a few things to say of the last ball, nothing that would change Maddie's mind, however. The fact they saved one slug-infested girl and Hugh himself got sliced down at his shins, might be better left unspoken towards the French student standing before him. Maybe balls at Hogwarts did bring out the worst in its students. "Yeah, this year wasn't anything special at all, really…"
A complete lie, and it likely only served the purpose of installing a false sense of security in this castle. Hugh wondered in silence how much the girl knew of this place. And how many dangers she had witnessed within these walls, not even thinking of what's outside them yet. Events might call forth the call for battle in students, but they were by far the least of anyone's worries in here. Shadows, hags, spiders, explosions, … you name it, and it will have likely tried to kill one of the students at least twice. "So, uhm… at least, you still like the place itself?" He asked absent-mindedly as he seemed to be drilling a hole in the wall with a stern gaze aimed straight ahead of him. "Or do you just tag along for the ride with your friends?" His eyebrow arched up slightly as he thought about his own question.
"You can't keep making this trip over and over just so your friend can take a few trips in a foreign castle…" The giant would comment and point out what absurd standards she would be holding her friendships up to. At the very least, he wouldn't be travelling all the way to France just so Serena can go pluck a few flowers in the mountains. Though, he did have a brother attending Beauxbatons. Not that they had any bond worth mentioning up till this point.
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
4 Oct 2022, 21:35
Look Out BeLowe
Maddie's head tilted slightly when Hugh said the Samhain ball had not been special. She had heard otherwise in the halls and over meals - that there had been fights that broke out - but maybe that's what he meant. The same old chaos meant it was nothing special.Regular Text - English | Bolded Text - French | Bolded Black Text - Japanese
Roleplaying as iNPC Madeleine Nakamura
"I do like this place - I'm not just following my friends," Maddie said in response to his next question, and she sounded a bit defensive. It felt like he was saying she was just a follower when he didn't even know her or her friends. "It's nice having a change of scenery. I wouldn't keep coming if it wasn't fun," she went on to explain. "And even if the only reason I came was because my friend wanted to - which to clarify, is not the case - what's wrong with that? You're meant to support your friends, and being back at Beauxbatons without friends sounds far more boring than traveling abroad with friends," she added, her eyes falling to the floor for a moment. The sight of her ripped-up letter prompted her to pull her wand out.
"But regardless, that's not the case. I have stuff to do here, too," she said as she aimed her wand at the ground. "Papyrus Reparo." The little bits of letter that she had thrown all over the place started to zoom together, reforming into a parchment with her handwriting on it. "Accio." The reformed letter flew up to where she stood on the third step of the stairs and she caught it effortlessly. Ignoring thoughts about the contents, Maddie turned her brown eyes back on Hugh.
"Is it uncomfortable having your school flooded with foreign students every few months?" she asked him, subtly (or perhaps plainly) indicating that she didn't want the conversation to turn to the letter she'd just repaired. She turned her thoughts on if the situation were reversed - if all these schools suddenly showed up at Beauxbatons. "From your comment about foreign castles, I imagine you wouldn't be interested in visiting Beauxbatons?"
@Hugh Lowe
PC: Aaron Jones | iNPC: Madeleine Nakamura | Former staff account: Marcus Iwasaki
2nd Gen PC: Idalia della Torre
Best way to contact me? Discord or owl Idalia
9 Oct 2022, 18:45
Look Out BeLowe
Both of Hugh's hands rose up in defence as Hugh smirked at the French girl. "You're right. I apologize." He added, smiling. With wandering eyes he watched Maddie repair a torn letter which he had witnessed as snowfall. She was quick to throw out the subject and put another in front of him, though. As if she were playing chess and trying to cut him off the trail. Hugh cocked his head slightly forward and raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. You keep your secrets." He smirked again.
"To answer your question, no. Not more than it bothers me to have the regular ones walking about." He clarified. "As you may have noticed, my silhouette sticks out like a sore thumb in a crowd. And the height requirement for 'acceptable' I have long since passed." He tried to imagine what the French school would look like compared to a cold and clammy castle like Hogwarts that stood rotting in the rain. From the clothes they wore, he'd have to say they were used to a sweeter kind of nature's embrace.
"What does it look like? Your castle. Is it nice there?" He asked with genuine interest now. "I don't imagine we'll be getting a field trip anytime soon. Not with the dangers lurking in the outskirts of the grounds, waiting for us to come out. It's an absolute death trap out there. And I'm not only talking about the creatures either in my case."
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7
15 Oct 2022, 17:11
Look Out BeLowe
Maddie's eyes narrowed slightly as Hugh's hands went up and he apologized. His smirk made her feel like it was ingenuine - or maybe he was just messing with her - but it didn't seem malicious. She wasn't exceptionally offended anyway, so she shrugged in acceptance of the apology before turning her attention to gathering the shredded letter. When he mentioned keeping secrets, her eyes met his and noticed the quirked eyebrow. It made her expression lighten up a bit as a smirk tugged at her own lips, but she quickly dropped the eye contact. "Thanks for you permission," she replied jokingly, sarcasm dripping from her French accent.Regular Text - English | Bolded Text - French | Bolded Black Text - Japanese
Roleplaying as iNPC Madeleine Nakamura
"'Acceptable' is an interesting way to put it," Maddie mused, the letter she held being absentmindedly turned as a way to keep her hands occupied. "It does make you stand out, but I would have thought to describe it as unusual moreso than unacceptable," she expounded, though as she thought more about the "acceptable" part of his word, realization slowly dawned on her. "Oh, you mean accepted by society?" she said in a questioning tone, though saying it out loud made her feel like that was actually what he had meant. Not that she could relate to such a feeling, but of course she knew that people in the world were treated meanly for being "unusual."
How tall was he anyway? Two meters, maybe? Must make for an interesting view. She tried to imagine it, but the only thing she could equate it to was the view from a stage, looking down at the orchestra or audience. That probably wasn't even similar though. With an audience, they were usually looking back up at you, but Hugh's view was probably just the tops of heads unless he was talking to someone. Maddie's train of thought was only interrupted when he asked about her school.
"It's incredible," Maddie replied, almost immediately. "It's smaller - not as many stairs and floors as here - but also huge and elegant and just - different," she was trying to pick and choose her words to not go into a full blown rant. She could talk about the history she had learned of the castle's construction and the renovations and the styling at length, but she also knew not many people took interest in that aspect of it. They just wanted to know what the layout was like. "The castle's set in the side of a mountain so it looks really cool when you view it from a broom. Inside, we have a lot more galleries and practice halls than here - for our more artistic studies - and there's really amazing gardens." The gardens at Beauxbatons were probably Maddie's favorite spots. Even though she didn't have a huge passion for different kinds of flowers, the gardens were so pretty and organized in such a pleasing way.
Hugh commented about the dangers lurking, and of course it piqued her interest. Death trap? It felt like he was being purposefully vague, but she couldn't let a comment like that just hang there. "Then what do you mean by dangers exactly?" she asked, since he clarified it had nothing to do with creatures.
@Hugh Lowe
PC: Aaron Jones | iNPC: Madeleine Nakamura | Former staff account: Marcus Iwasaki
2nd Gen PC: Idalia della Torre
Best way to contact me? Discord or owl Idalia
19 Feb 2023, 04:37
Look Out BeLowe
Hugh frowned and gave the French girl a curious look, checking if she was feigning ignorance or not. "Hags, spiders, trolls, giants, ... those are the usual bunch. But these days there are dark wizards about as well. I don't know why exactly, but more and more people are fixating their eyes on this school." He paused and crossed his arms as he puffed out a breath of air.
"It is understandable. My best guess is they target this school for its potential. If you have all of Britain's wizarding children under your control, you basically control the future of this country, perhaps more. It'd be a hell of an army if you trained them too. Instigators, rebels, terrorists, ... You name it and within three years Europe could be yours. That prospect sounds terrifying, but is usually deflected by our great defences within these walls. Both enchantments and staff keep us safe from outside influences like that."
"Except recently there's been evidence that those creatures I mentioned earlier have been connected to dark wizards in various ways. Recent events suggest there's a mastermind at work. So yes; I see us as surrounded inside this castle. We're all just waiting for a siege." Hugh grumbled on and on before stopping abruptly. "I am sorry. I do not wish to crush the beauty of this place. Because it is truly magical and wondrous. If you can look past the mossy walls and the owl droppings, that is."
INPC; Cassanora Browne
Race: Half-Giant // Ability: - STR: 16 EVA: 7 WIS: 10 STA: 20 ARC: 1 ACC: 7