(1938-02-19) Ravenclaw Roll Call
Details for Ravenclaw Roll Call
Summary: Ravenclaws gather around the newly working Wireless.
Date: February 19, 1938
Location: Ravenclaw Common Room
Related:
Characters
CathalClaireElspethHephaestaIvyJulianOphelia

~ I'm a member of the Midnight Crew … ~

It's a cold evening once again outside of the Castle. Cold enough, in fact, to drive even the most persistent Ravenclaws into the indoors and the confine of the common room or the dormitories. Julian happens to be one of them! Sitting precariously perched on the couch, with his bare feet kicked over one of the armrests of the couch, he's reading. It appears to be a rather thick tome on Wizarding Law - something that would make even Binns pale in awe at - and he's a ghost.

~ I'm a night owl, a wise bird too… ~

The new Wireless, assembled and pieced together with care by the Ravenclaw House, and thus even decorated by some of the more vocational students, was cranking out a cover of some American song, from the sounds of it, covered by one of the many wizarding artists that does Vaudville. As he listens to the song, Julian flips the pages of his book quietly, a sort of glassy stare on his face as he does so…

~ Home with the milk in the morning
~Singing the same old song ~

From the corridor outside emerges William, who carries with him a satchel which has definitely — to put it kindly — been broken in. He's munching on the final remains of a dinner roll, the last vestiges of which are popped into his mouth before he turns to shut the door behind himself. "Hello, Julian," he intones casually, a friendly cast to his voice as ever, for he's an easygoing sort, quick to smile, rarely in a cross mood, "I don't suppose you've got any sweets I can trade you for?

Claire is often home with the moon. Between dinner and curfew, she's rarely found in the common room. In fact she's usually rather hard to find around that time. When she enters the common room, there is a book tucked under her arm, so maybe she just has a secret study space. OWLs, you know. "Evening, Jules," she says, with a smile and a nod at William as she sprawls across one of the couches.

Ophelia has been curled in a chair for a while, as near to the fire as she can get. A few blocks of wood rest on the floor next to her discarded shoes, and in her lap she holds another, which has been whittled down now almost to the size of an average wand. She's not moved much to call attention to herself in a while, with her focus on the task in her lap, but when she hears Willian's voice interrupt the background noise of the wireless she looks up, blinking. "I might still have some left over from my last Hogsmeade visit, if you want any… "

Practically skipping down the stairs from the girls' tower, Elspeth pauses to pick up the little ball of fur that's plopped down the stairs behind her. "Neko, you must be staying here while I am going out this time," she nuzzles the kitten/almost cat with her nose. "Why are you not finding Whizzbee and playing with him, yes?" Then she freezes, and looks around at the sound of singing happening.

Into the commons comes Ivy, her satchel over her shoulder and what looks like a letter in hand. She's frowning at it, but looks up at the sound of music, glancing around the room before making her way toward where Julian's sitting. "Which text is that?" she asks of the boy, settling into the unoccupied side of the couch.

It's actually unusual for Cathal to come into the common room by his lonesome. Usually he's with his cousin Gabriel. Tonight he's entering quietly. Not exactly sneaking around but not being rather open in his movements. The dark haired sober looking first year is the logic to the three musketeers of Gabriel, Cillian and Cathal. Oddly he seems to be humming a pirate song under his breath as he comes in and makes for a place to sit.

As the music continues to play, it's almost apparent that Julian has fallen into a Ravenclaw Study Trance - which, comically enough, for anyone who knows Julian, is rare. His eyes are glassy, his fingers flicking each page mechanically as he continues to read. It's his study mode, and there's nothing that can be really said of it. When he is shaken from his trance, though, and seems to blink back into reality and away from the intricate workings of Ministry procedures, International Wizarding Criminal Law, and the Wizengamot, Julian begins to look around. When he had went into the Trance? He had lost track of people around him. "Oy, Greene, I may," he calls toward the other boy, moving to sit up and bringing himself to sit properly when he notices Ivy coming toward the couch. He smiles to her lightly… and shrugs, offering it toward her as he slips his bookmark between the pages. "Law," he comments idly, "something from the Library. Binns suggested it after I told him about my consult with Mopsus on career choices," he explains lightly.

"Well, now that you mention it, I was kind of looking for soAHAAAAA…" that first bit of William's delivery was to Julian — thank goodness that the fellow managed to pierce his trance and answer, but then William pivots on the ball of one foot, his increasingly—longer-these-days-legs a bit akimbo as he somehow keeps his balance, almost looks like he's going to /lose/ said balance, but then rests on both feet and points straight at Elspeth, 'Rosen…. do you get care packages from your folks? I mean… they're /bakers/, right?"

"You got Binns talking about something other than goblin wars?" Ivy asks of Julian, accepting the book and settling it in her lap. "I'm officially impressed." She peruses the tome without really paying attention to it, then arches a brow at William's overly-dramatic display. "Two stars, Greene. Once more, with feeling, you might get three."

The hazel eyes scan the place, and then Elspeth detects the wireless, and her lips curve slightly. "The wireless is working," she notes with a smile. A paw bats at her face, and she gently blocks it, petting Neko on the head. Hearing her name, she turns, and almost takes a step back to see William pointing at her. "Yes? They do?" she replies, giving him a quizzical look, and glancing to Ivy and Julian as she tries to figure out why she's being singled out for the question.

Ophelia, gethered around the new wireless with Julian and the other students who have recently arrived, giggles as William so amusignly misses her offer, and returns to her wand. She, too, had been in a trance before people started appearing, and for a moment she tries to get back into it. She has work to do, after all! But its difficult to concentrate with so much conversation now flying about, so she sets the wood down again and leans forward once more. She grins at Elspeth, "Whizbee's up in my room, if he wants to play? He was having such fun with the curtains."

"I don't know. I think I may take Goblin Wars at this rate," Julian laments quietly, watching as Ivy takes the book. "Wizarding Law's kind of… mm." He shrugs his shoulders, not really able to find the proper words for it. As Julian glances toward William, his lips twitch for a moment, and he chuckles slightly… shaking his head a little as he moves to scoot his way down to the other end of the couch, toward Ivy. The common room is abuzz tonight, with almost literally everyone has kind of gathered. Most are studying, some are being sociable. The big thing, and most brilliant thing, is that the Wizarding Wireless that had been painstakingly put together by the entirety of the Ravenclaw House… was working, and cranking out an older Vaudville tune! A cover of some American tune, from the sound of it…

As Julian detects Elspeth's glance about William's sudden sweet tooth and rounding upon her, he peers past the boy and over his shoulder, giving her a rather comical shrug of the shoulders. He also glances over toward Ophelia for a moment… and smiles a little bit, noticing what she's working on. "New project, Ophe?" he calls toward the girl… and he quietly begins to settle against the couch a little more, getting comfortable beside Ivy.

"Free enterprise," says William, "I've been reading about it, and the Americans love it. Well, I just realized — through the 'error' portion of 'trial and error' that the house elves don't fancy me trying it on them. I'm looking for some sweets, you see, and I thought they'd appreciate some help with the chores, but they just threw me out…" he's less bombast now, but his words are still coming at a fairly rapid pace. He keeps his voice low, however, so as to not talk over Julian and his musings on wizard law. The wireless seems to have escaped his attention, but he appears to be a man — well, nearly a man — on a mission. He sidles closer to Elspeth, though close enough to appear to be going for conspirational rather than creepy, "Just ah… how much of these care packages — sweets, particularly — do you have on hand? And do you intend to eat all of them yourself?"

"The House Elves like what they do. Taking work away from them makes them unhappy." Cathal says as he stands there next to William. He didn't slink over but he is pretty easy to miss. His voice is pretty bland as he speaks,"Trial and Error is something that works well for learning. I think many of the things that my friends and I have learned have been through trial and error that do not related directly to our classes, and even then to a degree there too."

Ivy groans, closing the book with a thump. "I get enough talk about trade when I'm home, can we please not talk about it here?" She shakes her head, giving the boys a pleading look. "I'd almost rather talk about Quidditch." This is pretty dire, because it's well known that Ivy hates talking about Quidditch.

Ophelia shakes her head at Julian, "Not really. Just some new ideas I wanted to try, some new shapes." She starts to smile at her housemate when she hears Ivy's comment, and frowns curiously up at the girl, "What's wrong with baking? Don't you like sweets?"

There's a moment where Elspeth's head almost seems to spin. Ophelia's offering Whizbee, William is sidling up to her for treats, and Ivy is not wanting her to talk about what her parents do for a living. The last draws a concerned frown momentarily to her forehead. Finally, she gives a nod to Ophelia and addresses her kitten. "Are you hearing Ophelia? Your brother is being upstairs, you can go be playing with him." She gives the purr ball another skritch, then sets her down whether she understands or not. "They were sending me a package, but I have already given most of it to Lan and Emi. I think I am having some left."

« THERE MAY BE SOMETHING MISSING HERE »

"Giving is so very… noble," William says, taking a single step back and then sort of melting onto the back of a chair, "And I wouldn't be averse to some of that giving if you were feeling generous — bloody sweet tooth, I don't know where and why it came from, but it's got me in its clutches tonight something fierce." William gives an over-the-shoulder, quite genuine little smile to Ophelia, before his attention is drawn over to the wireless — finally — and the words which follow are muted ever so slightly by his consideration of the device, "But maybe we can have a little chat, soon. I've had an epiphany and all, but Ophelia might be right. Besides… what the bloody hell is that? Brilliant." A longish finger is pointed in the direction of the wireless, "Blimey, my only chance to make money after I graduate might be free enterprise, if Julian represents the state of inventors out there these days. Did you do that yourself, mate?" A pause, and then, "Or was that the thingy that we were doing ah… stuff on?" Of course, his stuff was, if anything, incredibly minor. If anything. "And by me, I mean you. Didn't I make some sort of solvent to strip copper wiring or something?" Yes, that must be it. He's a natural at potions, but a bit head-in-the-clouds.

Ophelia tilts her head. "Trade? Why?" Following Ivy's gaze, she looks to Julian, noting his frown with even more confusion. "Does it look awful? I still have a lot to do with it… hm?" She looks up at William, "I am? About what?" Slowly she nods, yes that was the thingy of stuff-doing. But she looks bewildered, her until now focused mind struggling like Elspeth's with all these conversations.

Hephaesta appears at the top of the stairs to the girls' dormitories, making her way down with the tell-tale click-whirr, click-whirr of her clockwork leg brace. She's barely watching where she's going. Instead, her eyes are on the first of several parchments stretched out between her hands.

"Oh, goodness, no." Julian waves his hand toward the Wireless. "I just did some of the translating for the instructions." Braille. What an awesome language. As Julian chuckles a little, he just shakes his head at William… and then glances toward Ivy. He furrows his brow in a little confusion toward her… but Ophelia tugs at his attention for a moment. "Oh, Ophe, no! No, it looks superb, actually. Wasn't bein' critical, promise!" He smiles toward her, then, chuckling and glancing back toward Ivy for a moment… before settling in and reaching to slide an arm around her shoulders lightly. At that point, he leans in, speaking quietly. "S'wrong?" he asks her. He can hear the click-whirr, and when he does, he glances up, noticing Phae, and smiling toward her. His other hand is raised to give the Fourth Year a light little wave.

"I could be giving you some," Elspeth offers William, now that that line of conversation has been cleared up. Noting the kitten just sitting at her feet staring up at her, she gives a sigh. "All right, I will carry you up to be seeing your brother." So saying, she scoops down and picks up Neko to cuddle him and head back up the stairs.

Ophelia beams at Julian, "Oh, its ok. I just figured it might look strange, since its not- Phae!" That familiar sound calls her attention mid-sentance. Jumping up, she drops her unfinished wand in her chair and bounds over to the stairs a few paces behind Elspeth. "What are you reading?" She asks, as she tries to lean over to get a look at Hephaesta's parchment sheets while simultaneously reaching over to sneak in a quick pet for Neko.

"My cousin did a lot of work on it. My work was relatively minor as well. I helped him some with finding books to help him." Cathal says as he looks at the wireless. "Trade is irrelevant. It is secondary to those who are doing important things like inventing and discovering thing." He says in a very casual way. "Is money something that one must find important?" He asks sounding confused, which means he's really confused.

"Hm?" Ivy looks up at Julian and shrugs, tucking the letter into a pocket of her robes before leaning a little toward him. "I'll tell you later," she assures him. She settles back on the couch, offering a wave in Phae's direction but otherwise not contributing much to the ongoing discussions.

"I'd like that. You know where to find me," William says to Elspeth, before her attention turns to the kitten and his attention? Well, a blink, and then he's looking at Cathal like he's just noticed the boy, "Well, money's a good way to keep score, if nothing else. And my folks wouldn't mind a bit of a boost once I make something of myself. Also…" he leans in a little closer to the other young man, "Someone's got to move the product that other people are inventing and discovering. I mean… maybe I'll invent some new potion one day, but if I learn to market it myself, pffft…" a little tinkling gesture of fingers, as if across soem invisible keyboard, "…there goes the middle-man."

Hephaesta looks up from the parchment, her slight frown turning into a smile at the sight of Ophelia. "Oh, hey Ophie. Well…the Ministry approved my goggles for Quidditch…sort of. They said I'd have to disable the telescopic magnification. Which is fine. But…look!" She harumphs and turns the parchment for Ophelia to see. At a glance, it appears to be schematics for her goggles, but clearly not written in Hephaesta's hand.

"Make her a member of the midnight crew," Claire says under her breath, despite the song being long over. It's a little too generous to call it singing. She's sort of zoned out, eventhough her book is open and held in a reading position, her eyes are unfocused and she hasn't turned a page since she opened it. Phae's words cut through the fog and she sits up sharply. "What? What, you got them? Really? What?" Claire asks with intensity, not quite daring to believe she heard that right.

Ophelia's face brightens into an even bigger smile, "Oh, Phae! That's amazing! I knew you'd impress them!" She turns excitedly to the plans, puling her hand away from Neko and frowning curiously at the parchment sheets. "Did they make these for you?" Thankfully, Hephaesta's news distracts her from the enormously confusing topic of trade.

Elspeth pauses on the stairs, since the goggles for Phae's Quidditch are important to her, too. "That is being wonderful, Phae!" She tells her, but then she continues up the stairs. Neko manages to take full advantage of the head pet from Ophelia, nosing, then rubbing the side of her face against the girl's fingers, they they're up the stairs and out of sight

There's a mild look of concern that crosses Julian's face for a moment as he listens to Ivy… but he shifts to let her lean against him, should she like. "Okay," he finally responds, nodding toward her quietly. Her shoulder gets a quick little squeeze and he yawns quietly, a hand coming up to cover his mouth as he does. When he begins to glance toward Phae, he squints a little when she holds up the schematics. "Brilliant!" he proclaims. He holds up a thumb toward the girl. "Good job, Tinker-tot." There's a visible grin on his face at this point, definitely happy that there's some progress for the girl and one of her projects.

The words of congratulations bring a bit of that smile back to Hephaesta's face. "Thank you. But…just look at this. Yes, Ophie, they made these schematics, based on the ones I sent them. They're ridiculous! They put the photon filters over the dihydrogen oxide deflectors! What kind of an idiot would do that? I can't believe they had the nerve to try to tell me how I should design my own goggles. Amateurs!" She leans into Ophelia for support.

Ivy gives herself a shake, then gets to her feet, reaching for Julian's hand. "Actually, we should probably talk about this before something else comes up." She waves vaguely in Claire's direction, turning to head toward the exit.

"There is logic in what you said." Cathal says nodding to William, which given the boy's obsession with logic is a pretty high praise. "There are those who simply cannot do marketing. I think I would be quite terrible at it. I am not exactly the sort of person that understands people." He says shrugging a little bit,"Perhaps this is why I spend more of my time with Cillian and Gabriel."

"Wha—

And then Julian's yanked up by the hand. He gives a rushed wave to the rest of the group gathering, and he flashes Claire a small, confused look for a moment. But then he's on his way out with Ivy.

Claire narrows her eyes after Julian, but her thoughts on his manner of exit are not for public consumption. But Julian might see a promise of WORDS to be had later in her face.

"Well, you're more able to see the logic in a plan than someone like me, mate," William intones, his face touched by the usually-there, bare dusting of a smile which acts as its baseline, "We all have things we're not terribly good at." He pushes himself off of the chair, the back of which he's been using to rest himself upon, "At any rate, I hope Elspeth follows through on that whole 'sharing' big. I'm hungry. So…" and then, Julian's yanked up, and giving a wave to the group like he's the bloody Queen. "Later, mate."

Ophelia wraps an arm around Hephaesta's shoulders. "Don't worry. You can try it their way if you want, but if it doesn't work, you know how to make them so they /do/ work. As long as they do what they're intended to, and you take out the parts they asked you to, isn't where all the parts go up to you?"

Hephaesta sighs and nods. "Yes…and there is no way I'm trying it their way. It would make half of the functions useless. I'll be it was some intern at the M.G.S. that fancied himself some sort of expert artificer, trying to impress his boss. But look, Claire! I've got a letter signed by Quick Palancher himself." She proudly displays the response letter signed by Quidditch legend and head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, "Quick" Quentin Palancher.

Claire drags herself back to the topic of ways to crush other houses with the full blessing of the school administration. Or, as it's more commonly known, quidditch. She takes the official letter eagerly. "Oho! ohhh, Phae, we are going to annhialate the other houses this season. Not a chance in hell." Claire is positively gleeful.

"Well, Cathal… I suppose I'd better kill two birds with one stone: Study, and go to sleep; Not necessarily in that order." He gives the younger boy a smile, and then a quarter-bow, before giving a slightly deeper one to the girls, "Ladies…" he says, before he heads towards the exit which leads to the boys' tower.

Ophelia looks to the letter with wide eyes, but her awe is more subdued. Though she knows the name of "Quick" Quentin Palancher, its doesn't impress her as much as it will others. Like Claire, who she steps back to make room for. "You'll do just splendidly." She agrees with a smile, "And if you want, I'd be glad to help. With the wireless finished, I have a little free time." Well not really, but she can pretend she does.

Hephaesta smiles excitedly. "That would be fantastic, Ophie. We'll get to work on some real schematics right away. Cameron, could you show my letter to Madam Hooch? I think it will mean more coming from the Team Captain. Oh, hey, do you want this, too?" She holds up a signed photograph of the dashing Quentin Palancher, winking and flashing that famous Palancher smile.

Claire takes the picture along with the letter, but doesn't give it a second glance. "Of course, I'll take it along tomorrow." Claire smiles to herself, reading over the letter again. "Do you have to make them from scratch, or just modify the ones you have? Any thoughts on outfitting the rest of the team with them? Though I think my preference would be to limit them to just you, I'd rather we keep this advantage on our side. If one team has them, there's nothing to stop the others from getting on board."

There's steps coming down the stairs again, light footfalls, and Elspeth reappears, sans cat, and with a napkin wrapped treat which she hands over to William. There seems to be some excitement with the three girls, so she continues on towards the doors to the hallway, checking the time as she nonchalantly edges backwards.

Ophelia leans in quickly to kiss Hephaesta's cheek, then heads over to collect her projects. "Just let me know when you want to start. We should look more at those plans though, just in case there's a real reason they made them that way. Maybe its a test or something." Bits of wood collected, she stands up, blinking as she notices Elspeth working her way past.

Good thing William is fussing with the leather strap on his satchel — old thing that it is, it's come undone — in preface to heading for the boys' tower. Indeed, his muttering at the thing might include a touch of blue language — but mimbled to the point of indecipherability, luckily — which turns into a "Well hello there…" as his eyes of green fall upon the treat carried to him by Elspeth. He accepts the pastry with a grin, and then, as she continues on towards the hallway, "I owe you one, Rosen. You're a bloody lifesaver, you are."

Hephaesta rolls up the schematics, shrugging. "If you like, Ophie. But I've looked them over, and they're just…ugh. We can start tonight, if you have the time." She turns to Claire. "I'll have to make new ones. I'm not going to strip the telescopics out of my prototype. But it's fine. I should be able to make the new ones lighter. But why not make them for the whole team? It isn't as if the other teams have my designs. Nobody but me can make these."

Ophelia nods, "Certainly. Let me just run these upstairs?" Indicating her bits and tools, she smiles, then hurries up the stairs to drop everything off and check on the kittens.

"Yours are the highest priority, alright? After that, em, keeper," Claire says. "And I'll think on the rest. But you first." She folds the letter crisply in half and sticks it as a bookmark in a library book.

Hephaesta nods firmly. "Yes, ma'am…captain…Cameron." Hephaesta moves to a table to spread out some new parchment, and immediately starts in on some new schematics for her M.G.S.-approved goggles! "They'll need a new name…hm…" She mumbles as she starts to draw, soon losing herself to the creative process.

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