4th September, 1890 — Ancient Runes Classroom

“We’re going to start with something simple, just to refresh your memories of the Norse runes and their meanings,” Carmelina said with a grin. “Going around the classroom, one at a time you will cast a three rune spread from your own pouch, identify the runes and use what we’ve learnt previously about their possible meanings to craft an answer about your future. If you would like to concentrate on asking a particular question, you can do that too.”

She stuck her hand into her own bag of runes in an example, gently mixing the runestones around until certain ones called to her. Pulling out three, she laid them out before her. “The technique is very similar to Tarot - although I know you may not all take Divination, so don’t worry too much about your future... worry about remembering the difference between ehwaz and eihwaz on your exams!”

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Instructions:

— Post once to cast your runes, asking a “question” about your future if you like. (e.g. “What will happen if I [do something]...”)
— I will post back with the randomised results of your three-rune cast.
— To earn house points, post back with an “interpretation” of your runes and work out what your future holds! I will provide the rune names to google, or this site works well!
— Extra credit: if you’ve gone once, you can cast again with a different question!

Seneca Lestrange Chrysanta Ruskin Archelaus Abney Sage Macnair Cordelia Fawley Justice Rookwood Thomas Montgomery Pythia Spectre & anyone not yet on the roster

  

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Following the professors instruction, he cast his runes. What will happen if I become an Unspeakable? Was the question on his mind as he did so. It had been something he had been thinking about.

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— set by lady! —

“Let’s see what you make of them, Mr. Macnair!”


ehwaz (reversed) | thorn (reversed) | jera

Sage Macnair

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Sage contemplated the runes as they were laid out for him. "The first means that a change is craved. That there is restlessness. The second means danger and overall bad energy. While the third means that earlier efforts will be realized. I am personally taking this to mean that the career path I considered might not be the best field for me to go into." His earlier efforts though? Perhaps it had to do with potions or his self-drive to produce a corporeal patronus?

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— set by lady! —

Carmelina nodded at his interpretation, intrigued by which career he might be considering. “Indeed! Five points for good interpretations there, though jera might also mean that things eventually look up for you after a period of hardship - so you needn’t throw the idea away too quickly!” She only spoke lightly here; the runes were not the be all and end all of magic, but they were good food for thought. (And ‘danger’ was something worth thinking about.)

“Alright, who’ll be the next brave rune-reader?”

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   Sage Macnair

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For all Justice complained about the imprecise art of Divination, he sure took delight in the fortune-telling aspects of Ancient Runes. He smiled when it was his turn, closing his eyes for dramatic effect and thinking, Will I be be able to get my sisters and I back on our feet after graduation? as he case his runes. His seventh year may have started with a bit of drama, but he was still focused on what mattered the most: getting out of the orphanage, getting his inheritance, and getting to a stable enough position where Clem might be able to have a proper debut.

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— we all know MJ is amazing but DAMN —

“Alright, Mr. Rookwood! Tell us what you have there.”


nauthiz | gebo | tiwaz

Justice Rookwood

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Justice stared at his runes quietly, deciphering their meanings in his head. Individually none looked promising for his situation, but upon closer inspection he found hope. Like he'd imagined, life after graduation would not be easily sailing—but he could still make it.

"There's frustration in my future. Things may not be as simple as I assumed, and I'll have to use every resource at my disposal to work through the complications. It won't be a good time to let my pride get in the way. If I can make sacrifices, and more importantly, use my skills to my advantage, I may succeed." He could only imagine what type of complications he'd face, assuming the runes spoke the truth. Poor wording in his family's will? A caveat to his mother's dowry? Would he struggle to find a job after graduation?

Merlin, now he was getting anxious.

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— we all know MJ is amazing but DAMN —

“Exactly,” Carmelina agreed, surveying the runes before him. “Whatever is ahead will take patience and rationality... and there is definitely a theme amongst them of needing to find the right balance of things to succeed.”

“And why is Tiwaz a sign of self-sacrifice? This is a rune named after Tyr, a god who in the mythology was forced to sacrifice his own hand for a greater cause. Not that Justice is meant to take that literally, of course.” She laughed. “Five points to Ravenclaw — who’s next?”

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If there was one thing Pythia hated at this point, it was thinking about the future. She could hardly avoid it if it was for class though, and she reminded herself that this was just a means to an end.

'What is the best choice I can make for life after school?' And the runes were cast.

  

“How are they looking? Hopeful, I hope!”


ingwaz | ansuz | dagaz

Pythia Spectre

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Pythia hummed softly while she looked over her runes, first thinking about their individual meanings and then considering them all together. She had no reversals, but ingwaz and dagaz could lie in opposition, so that was something to consider as well. As she made the reading out, it seemed bulky and bit complex. Hopefully she wasn't overthinking things.

"It seems that the runes agree with each other, in a way. That is, there's a natural progression to them. The first speaks to an internal growth that brings resolution to anxieties. However, that growth hinges on me listening to and trusting myself. I'd have to work hard to achieve internal clarity, but my efforts may be fruitless. If I can find room to grow, ansuz then indicates my communication with others may be strengthened, or I may receive valuable advice, and that might inspire me. Finally, dagaz says that inspiration will lead to revelation. There's going to be a change; whether it's good or bad is up to me." She paused to frown a little, not quite satisfied with what she'd read. "The most important choice for my future will be promoting self-reflection and avoiding self-sabotage?"

Maybe her and Idunn's work on the Sight suppressing potion would finally amount to something? That was just about the only way she could imagine her anxieties getting resolved.

  

“Absolutely,” Carmelina told Miss Spectre, profoundly pleased by the level of nuance she had drawn out from the casting. “Another five for Ravenclaw. Pythia has done well to try and connect the separate meanings and consider their juxtaposition — sometimes this might seem hard to do if they are contradictions and not so complementary, but what the runes are usually trying to give us are all sides of a situation; things to be wary of as you proceed down these paths. The runes can’t say what will happen, but they can certainly give you a sense of what might.” She smiled at the Ravenclaw and straightened up.

“Let’s have at least one more person share their casting with the class, and then you can all carry on casting them in your own time, and I'll come around to help.*”

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*OOC: Characters will then be able to post more than one at a time and also come back to repeat castings.

  

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Seneca didn't have much respect for Divination and yet she didn't think today's exercise to be silly. Arithmancy and Runes weren't like drinking tea and pretending that the leaves had left a shape. There was something more scientific about them, in Seneca's opinion.

It was her turn to cast the runes and she thought: "Will I make a scholarly breakthrough?" She thought that to herself and it would be italicised if Soph wasn't on her phone at the time.

  

Carmelina tried not to grimace when she looked at this mix. “What do you make of these three, Miss Lestrange?”


hagalaz | perthro (reversed) |  raidho (reversed

Seneca Lestrange

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The professor's grimace wasn't lost to Seneca and a gloomy feeling overcame the blonde when she saw the runes. Part of her wanted to request for them to be re-cast. Another was annoyed and thought that this wasn't true anyway, that three runes couldn't possibly predict the entire course of her life.

She didn't feel like giving her interpretation to the classroom, she viewed the unfortunate meanings as a personal failure of some sort.

"Sweet Merlin, I think these runes tell me that I'll need to stock up on cheering potions and vials of Felix Felicia," Seneca joked though she was unable to do so with a truly jovial tone. "The first one, Hagalaz, speaks of some disaster of the natural sort. Given the nature of my inquiry, there is a chance an experiment of mine might go wrong. Or it might point to me finding myself in a catastrophe. Perthro is a very feminine rune, it often points to fertility but in my case-" Seneca stopped. Part of her felt some relief in the rune's implication to her being infertile, but it was best she didn't mention it in the classroom. "In my case I suppose I will be unfruitful in whatever it is I want to accomplish." Bummer. Part of her wouldn't mind being infertile and living life as a wealthy spinster. The runes were crushing her dreams about her being an acclaimed scholar instead of simply a wife, though. "Finally, Raidho in reverse once again points to crisis and destruction."

By the time she was done speaking, she had adopted a somewhat sarcastically benused tone. Seneca concluded: "I suppose I will take this as a warning, Professor."

Mmmph. She was sure that if she cast a tarot spread later she'd get a completely new prediction about her future. This was silly.