2 Aug 2023, 04:01
Unexpected
The first time Maxi looked out, he was calm.July 2nd, 2023 | @Reuben Garcia (@Mellani Miller)
Another summer, another trip to Hogwarts. Before setting off, he received an envelope from his grandfather, the normal instructions given to him (behave well etc.) as well as a special order. “A friend of ours,” Maxi noticed that Louis used “ours” instead of “mine”, and shrugged upon it. “The Garcias, their son is having his first Hogwarts trip this summer, as does his school Uagadou. I thought you already know the information, and since you are already very familiar with Hogwarts…” Maxi rolled his eyes. He could already guess what’s the following, definitely telling him to “be a good guide and take care of him”. Oh gosh, but he’s also a foreigner here in the U.K.! “…take care of Reuben and help him if there’s anything he need to know about Hogwarts.”
Reuben Garcia. Name noted. Uagadou. School noted. Very well.
The second time Maxi looked out, he was curious.
He ran out of his cabin and waited on the campgrounds the second day of arrival, hoping to catch this mysterious Reuben person so that he could properly “tutor” him. It was early, and few students were out. While waiting patiently for the first group of students to pass and to check if Reuben’s in, Maxi drew the letter out and checked characteristics this Uagadou boy had got. The descriptions were copied by Louis directly from Reuben’s father’s letter - okay, he had to admit, it was quite valiant for his grandfather still active in socialising despite such an age - see, the Garcias had their father out instead of grandfather. Maxi’s own father was much interested in keeping the family business, namely producing and selling wine. But Maxi had no doubt that his grandfather did enjoy very much in socialising - and definitely not his father.
“Handsome guy…piercing blue eyes…” He muttered while scanning through the lines. “One of the best duellists?” An eyebrow was raised curiously. Maxi had been a duellist once and was still active in casting spells in broom races, and this description certainly provoked his interest. One of the best, so this Reuben should be at least fourth year or fifth year to earn that title - younger students had a lesser knowledge in spells and lesser experiences, who probably couldn’t be described as superior. “…and very social.” He read, already picturing a laughing young gentleman in his mind. Social person was definitely welcomed, because Maxi himself was not a very chatty person and this would make talks easier. With his superior imagination (which Maxi was very proud of ), he now had full confidence that he could drag Reuben out from a crowd of people.
The third time Maxi looked out, he was impatient.
Uagadou was school from Africa, and Africa was a mysterious continent with mysterious tales and stories. Maxi could feel the excitement of meeting these students, who probably lived a life much different from Europeans. He already had so many questions to ask Reuben, some confirmations regarding the fantastic tales he had heard or read about before - Do you guys keep lions at home? Do you participate in those wonderful mysterious ceremonies? Do you see zebras and tigers and all the amazing animals every day? Do you camp at the vast grassland with wild animals beside you counting stars when night falls? Oh, how he wished that Reuben could show up now!
Impatience of learning new stories and hopefully adapting some of them into his own novella overcame the annoyance when he first received the task from his grandfather. It didn’t feel that annoying like other times when he was asked to make friends and socialise with pureblood kids from some renowned families - Maxi squinted his eyes. There came some Uagadou students, was Reuben in?
He observed, until he spotted some boy with amazing brown hair and crystal blue eyes [faceless NPC]. He did have the graceful air of a duellist, and looked of Maxi’s age or even older. That must be Reuben Garcia. Maxi had an urge to stop him now and say hi to him, but for some reasons he stopped himself and decided to be careful - this Reuben seemed quite a proud and distant figure and not easy to get close to.
And so Maxi caught a tall boy with similar brown hair and blue eyes [this should be the real Reuben lol] but looked pretty friendly and harmless, and stopped him. “Hello. I thought you guys are from Uagadou?” He nodded politely at the boy with his trademark smile, pronouncing in perfect English. Maxi pointed at the boy yonder and earnestly inquired, “I just want to confirm if that’s Mister Reuben Garcia?”
Maximilien de Fostoncy · Beauxbatons "Just call me Maxi." |
Hufflepuff · Lindsey Springhall "Or, have some lemonade." |
30 Sep 2023, 09:41
Unexpected
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02/07/23 | English | Arabic | Spanish |
Reuben was excited to visit Hogwarts for the first time. His father had recently sent a letter to him stating that he would be meeting someone here at Hogwarts. Maximilien, apparently, from Beauxbatons. Reuben was not really sure how he would recognize him.
Normally, the letter would have been a good start, but it seemed to do nothing but boast about the boy's appearance. The was no mention of hair colour, eye colour, or even height. Seemed like someone was proud of their grandson. Nevertheless, he decided to look around and at least try to locate this so called "marble statue of fifteen".
He saw the Beaxbatons' line and still could not locate anyone who might look that handsome. "Extremely intelligent, huh? So now I'm supposed to go to everyone and ask them riddles or something?", Reuben said more to himself than anyone else. Reuben seriously hoped that his father had given a better description of him in the letter.
Reuben read the last words again "One of the greatest broom racers of Beauxbatons, the most steadfast and reliable boy with the politest etiquettes beyond age". Well, broom racer seemed to be a start, although he hadn't seen many at Uagadou. He wasn't sure what he would do with all of the other information, though. It was probably just Maximilien's grandfather trying to show Reuben's grandfather how amazingly talented his grandson was. Oh well, guess Reuben would have to wait for him.
Right on cue, another boy arrived. A quick look at him, and he was sure that it was not Maximilien. He was handsome, sure, but not as good as a marble statue, and somehow he just did not strike Reuben as a broom racer. He was looking at one of Reuben's classmates for quite a while, before, to Reuben's surprise, he decided to approach Reuben.
Reuben was quite surprised by his question. "Yeah, we are from Uagadou", he replied with a warm smile. Then, the person actually had the guts to point to Reuben's classmate and ask him if that was Reuben. Reuben wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. "Uh, no, that's not Reuben, I'm Reuben. I really thought I was more famous than that", he said with a fake frown. Well, he was searching for someone too, so he might as well ask. "By the way, do you have any idea where I can find Maximilien de Fostoncy?", he asked. It occurred to him, that he still hadn't asked this boy why he was looking for him, but... he would probably know soon enough.
Mentioning:
Calming Presence | Evasive Maneuvers
ReducioOOC: Calming presence in effect
iNPC: Reuben Garcia
30 Oct 2023, 07:07
Unexpected
No. Certainly, something’s going wrong.Interacting with| Reuben Garcia (@Mellani Miller)
“You are Reuben Garcia?” There was undisguised scepticism in his voice, and Maxi stared at the boy whom was a mere friendly stranger to him thirty seconds ago, the surprise so astonishing that made him switch into his native language subconsciously. “No, I mean,” He didn’t know if Monsieur Reuben Garcia - as he declared himself as - could understand French, but probably he could have already inferred his prior sentence’s meaning from the mention of his name and astonishment on Maxi’s face. “it’s very nice to meet you, actua -”
He was trying to make up for his discomposure by gracefully apologising and setting off to the next topic, when a name was pronounced by Reuben, inquiring him if he knew the person. As we have just said, with the hope of remedying his mistake of mixing up Reuben and a totally random student, Maxi almost immediately answered without even having the full name heard. “Oh, yeah, lemme think…think?”
It was only by then when he realised that it was actually a familiar name rang and he almost jumped up at the discovery. Um, maybe that name was a little more than just being familiar. “You mean you want to find Maximilien de Fostoncy??” His eyes widened yet again, with even more astonishment stored in the calm greyness under his eyelashes. “Why, that’s me, I thought you already know -”
Evidently, he didn’t know. Maxi felt that ridicule and awkwardness flooded into his head simultaneously, leaving him unable to speak or act further. According to his dearest grandfather, he had “drawn an exact and lively picture of him to his - sorry, their - old friend, who would note his son accordingly”. He could see that something went wrong through this process, but Louis had given the whole letter from Mister Garcia to him and Maxi trusted his eyes - the Beauxbatons boy shook his head. Adults.
Stunned by the series of misunderstandings and the unreliable family heads, Maxi really didn’t know what to say. He awkwardly laughed, managing to bring the conversation back to its original way. “Well, that was…anyway.” He held out his right hand for the boy to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Reuben. I heard that this is your first time at Hogwarts?”
Maximilien de Fostoncy · Beauxbatons "Just call me Maxi." |
Hufflepuff · Lindsey Springhall "Or, have some lemonade." |
18 May 2024, 13:24
Unexpected
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02/07/23 | English | Arabic | Spanish |
Reuben looked at the other guy as he seemed to say something in surprise in a language that sounded a lot like French. Reuben was pretty sure he heard his own name being said too, but French was not one of the few languages he understood, so what was said would remain a mystery to him, though he was pretty sure it was something like surprise over him being Reuben. Like the boy had expected something else.
He was just trying to apologize when Reuben asked him about Maximilien, his so-called family friend. The boy was quick to answer, asking Reuben to let him think before Reuben had even finished what he was about to say. Then the boy's eyes widened as he repeated Reuben's question, "Yep, I'm pretty sure that's his name.", Reuben said before the boy went ahead and declared that it was his name.
Wait. What?!
Reuben stared at the boy for about a minute before staring at the letter that his father had given him. If this guy was a 'marble statue', Reuben had no idea what Maximilien's grandfather thought about all the vogue models out their. Were they gods? But then again, apparently his own father had not been very good at describing him either. What was it with adults and boasting about their kids like they were the best people alive on earth?
Normally Reuben was the one who tried to ease out the conversation when things got awkward, but this time it was done by Maximilien. Reuben nodded, smiling awkwardly when he tried to get the conversation going. "Yeah, uh- let's just act like that never happened...", he said, really wondering what his father had written in that letter. Nice to meet you too! And yeah, this is my first time here.", her answered to Maximilien's question.
Mentioning:
Calming Presence | Evasive ManeuversReducioOOC: Calming presence in effect
iNPC: Reuben Garcia
7 Jun 2024, 04:29
Unexpected
Interacting with| Reuben Garcia (@Mellani Miller)
Maxi shrugged. “Oh well, fine. Sounds like an appealing suggestion.” He was as well eager to erase this scene of huge embarrassment from his mind (and Reuben’s, hopefully), which was rather important not to let it slip into his grandfather’s ears. He wouldn’t blame him for sure, but Maxi would certainly be laughed at and frequently made fun of whenever his grandfather recalled the good old Garcia family. “Anyway. Pleasure to finally meeting you, yeah?” He laughed slightly, trying to enlighten the atmosphere.
First time in Hogwarts sounded a distant thing. It had been ages it seemed since he first stepped out the Beauxbatons carriages (a shout-out to all, we’ve got the best transportation method in the world) and onto the Hogwarts grounds. An arranged date who agreed to go separate ways with him, a few cheery friends who admired the Hogwarts castle together, a vigorous young lady leaving an impression…and all of them had gone. Maxi hardly saw any of them around these days, a majority of whom had transferred to different schools or merely left without leaving a message, while a couple fell out of touch. The unexpected nostalgia caught him off guard, and Maxi smiled apologetically to Reuben for him lost in thoughts for a moment. “Um, Hogwarts is very different from…any other school.” He carefully proceeded, considering the usage of words. “At first glance it’s magnificent, the castle and all that British way of life…” He gestured towards the Hogwarts castle yonder, signalling Reuben to notice the medieval architectural features. “But then you suddenly find that you’ve never learnt anything about it.”
This sounded creepy and somewhat difficult to understand, but for Maxi it was the truth. The first time he attended a Hogwarts ball, a Knight in armour broke in and loudly inquired students to follow him. He had regarded it as something dreamy back then, but another ball approached and he found himself attacked by a random person. Okay, he wouldn’t hold the grudge, accidents happen everyday. Nevertheless, a third ball and he was caught on top of a tent flying in the sky - and he had to jump down to save his own life, umbrella in hand like Mary Poppins - this was too much. His Hogwarts experience was marked scornfully as extremely awful that day. “I mean, there are occasional instances when you’d be taken by surprise. A little too magical, maybe. They’ve sometimes got racing knights and flying tents around during balls, but Hogwarts students seemed pretty accustomed.”
“So rule one: be prepared.” He concluded. “And rule two: don’t lose faith. Even if you regard Hogwarts as dangerous and inappropriate at times, there will be a day when you are be dazzled. Eventually. Have experienced that myself, when they held a really nice ball with great games that nothing went wrong. Hogwarts is…an inclusive community, really.” That was his best day in his life ever, with Phyllis by his side urgently nudging him to recognise the bright side of Hogwarts. She won in their bet, and that was a thing Maxi was grateful for. From that on he started viewing everything with two sets of eyes.
“Ummmm any questions?” He inquired politely with a friendly smile. He had never talked about his thoughts on Hogwarts to anybody before (as it didn’t sound very appropriate to randomly find someone and pour all his thoughts on this poor individual), and it did feel good. To offer guidance and comfort (Is Reuben feeling anxious? He wasn’t very sure.). “We can walk around while we talk, actually, if standing here still is a bit dull.” He offered. “Hogwarts does have a very nice yard for strolls.”
Maximilien de Fostoncy · Beauxbatons "Just call me Maxi." |
Hufflepuff · Lindsey Springhall "Or, have some lemonade." |