Two of the Slytherins on the Quill team quite naturally arrived together. Ruby had her arm around her boyfriend's waist and was currently whispering and giggling in his ear. Homework was NOT the reason they were just arriving now either. Nope they hadn't been studying for NEWTs at all.

Just.... keeping each other company.

Ooooohh was everyone here already? Whoops? Ruby giggled again and nudged Grayson to sit down. He would be a good chair for her, right?

Large yellow eyes watched the students trickling in one by one. Pretty soon he'd have to....not be a cat anymore. Could he claim to be waiting for the stragglers?

Eh. Not when the entrance of Miss Banner and Mister Whitlock signalled the last of them. If cats could sigh he'd have done a heavy one before getting up and stretching until he was full human size again. At this point he stretched again, taking them all in; the uncoordinated, the hyper, the exhausted, the giggly and the indifferent. Quite the combination they had today.

A quick glance at his table left him disappointed. No apples? He....kinda needed one right now...for real.

"Nice to see you all again." For the most part. "We have a few things on the agenda for today, don't worry this won't eat into your precious Sunday afternoon." Or his for that matter. Mind you he was talking off the top of his head, given he'd never bothered to question Leo about the agenda but how much could there really be?

"Firstly, let me say that with the exception of the childish reprisal to the Aparecium, several members of staff and myself continue to like what we're seeing." Been a couple months and they were going strong. Go them. "And now we need to be looking to get the rest of the school involved. Ideas?"

Professor Catman had arrived, and the Ravenclaw tried to look a little more lively. She waved at everyone as they came in, even those she didn't know too well yet, like Rusty and Jenna.

....Hmm.

How to get more people involved? "Umm..." Eden had no idea. "Have a writing contest....best article gets published with a reward..."

Or something.

Eden like the least helpful person ever right now.

Hugh threw his hand up in the air and didn't wait to be called on before he started talking. Because Hughbert's had no tact. Ever. "It wasn't childish. By definition that word means something completely different than you are inferring." Did cat!man want a dictionary? Hugh would give him one. He was sure he had one in his bag somewhere.

And he just didn't stop talking either because he didn't know any better. "At best that article was ill-advised perhaps even purposefully mean. But childish makes it sound like we were juvenile." Beat. Beat. "And does it even matter now? Hardly because nothing matters when existence is futile, yo." GRIN. He was soooooooo helpful.

Oh did she have to get involved in discussions or was her being here like, enough? The professor was right about her afternoon being precious, totally had better things to do, but didn't they all? Except maybe Gabe-y since this was like, his thing and whatever. She glanced over at her brother, her studious, works-too-hard brother, and actually had something of an idea.

Maybe.

She half stuck her perfectly manicured hand in the air.

"Professor, like what about showcasing assignments or something? Like the best assignments from each professor could go in there? Then the nerdy kids would have bragging rights?" Pause. "I mean, the smart kids can show everyone how... smart they are." Or something. "I don't know if it would be better to let kids submit their own stuff that they are proud of, or let professors choose to showcase things from what they get submitted to them."

She had officially filled her quota for ideas and now was going to go back to admiring her boyfie.

Rowan, Jenna, Hugh, Grayson, and his sister had joined them...and upon further examination...Gabe could admit this was a motley group of individuals. But he found he enjoyed the sight. All houses were represented, at least...and not many around the table were friends. So, it wasn't predictably cliquey.

Just a team of students with good ideas and excellent writing styles; the former being most important.

The Ravenclaw hurried to finish mixing his tea.


.

.

.

Retaking his seat, Gabriel was unabashed in the Aparecium related comments; pumpkin spice tea in hand. He still hadn't read a thing published by them; a personal preference...as it simply wasn't for him. As for the team, however, they hadn't been prepared to deal with any ill comments or trash talking. Everyone was deftly aware of that now.

Anyway...

He was interested in hearing all the ideas...and sipped at his cup; using a free hand to get his notebook, quill, and inkwell situated. First things first, Eden's 'writing contest' idea. Gabe nodded down at the blank page, beginning to jot quickly. It could possibly work, sure, with some careful guidance and planning. "I think we'd publish all of them, essentially...depending on how many submitted content." He glanced at his fellow Claw. "I feel the main concern would be incentives. How would we draw them in to participate in the first place?" Pause. Pause. Pause. "What do you think about....featured interviews with the writers? And do one for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place."

Moving onto Hugh....who was getting a peculiar STARE, it took real restraint not to toss a piece of balled up parchment at his head. SQUINT. "I think what Hugh means to say...is that he doesn't have anything to offer at this time."...or Gabe assumed as much, since Hugh was doing that...'I must question the existence of all things'....thing. Most days, he wondered how his philosophical friend hadn't ended up in Ravenclaw. They existed. Accept it, Hughbert.

Ruby, though annoying him with her and Grayson's behavior, offered up something...interesting. It wasn't awful. No, it was actually...pretty good, Gabe could admit. "I think it would mean more...if the professors were the ones 'nominating' assignments. That way, it wouldn't be expected by anyone who would submit their own stuff."...and it meant more to have your teachers and mentors acknowledge your hard work, anyway. Or...maybe that was just Gabe.

Ahem. Anyone else?

Everyone who came in after Toby got either a nod or a wave or a smile. He sat there, pressing gingerly on the sensitive part of his forehead, wondering if it was likely to bruise and if he'd need to get some of that weird bruise paste at some point. He winced and rubbed at it again.

Oh. Had Rusty witnessed his ultimate dorkiness? Oh. Hahaha. Oh. "Yeah, Rusty. I'm okay, thanks." Toby smiled at her, then took his hand away from his head, not wanting anyone else to be concerned or worry or whatever.

Even though Toby KNEW that Quigley was an animagus, his transformation into human form still made him jump. He'd not been EXPECTING that, okay? Not been expecting the animagus professor, who was also a Quill advisor, to be in cat form at the Quill meeting. Gosh, how could he ever had expected such a thing.

When he recovered from THAT surprise, Toby settled back in his seat and listened. He refrained from making a face about the return letter that the Quill had run, as he'd not been so enthusiastic about that, but hadn't really spoke up about it either. As Quigley, and then the others, spoke, Toby began absentmindedly chewing at the nails on his left hand. Stress habit.

At Ruby's suggestion, Toby sort of froze. Just for a second. And then he spoke up.

"Um... I think that, like... the assignment thing could be good, y'know, as long as the students get a say if their stuff gets picked. 'Cause some people are, well, pretty private even about school stuff, y'know?" Toby, being one of those people, felt the need to mention that. He shifted a little in his seat and suddenly immediately felt bad. "I mean, that probably didn't even need saying. I..." *ahem* "-... sorry." That had sounded a little too much like he was disagreeing or questioning, and Toby didn't want to be seen as any sort of naysayer.

Soooooo, he quickly added, "I like the thing about the contest. Do we need incentives? Wouldn't people just... take part for the sake of it? For fun?" Was... was that not a thing? ............... awk. "Maybe a trophy?" Like in Quidditch, or... oh. OH. This was probably a little different from sports. "Interviews could be good. They'd be like... mini-celebrities for a while." That was absolutely how he envisioned it working out. Absolutely.

Their group dynamic was super weird, did they know?

Sophie had smiles for cat!Quiggles, Tobes, Gabe, Ruby, and Grayson as they entered after her, but she had never spoken to the others. Rusty was cute, though, and Jenna seemed nice enough, and Hugh was... well, an intriguing enough guy. Always kept everyone on their toes, didn't he?

As Quigley started the meeting, Sophie quickly gathered a large sum of cookies so she wouldn't have to keep reaching across the table while they had their discussion and set them in her lap, her expression casual like she wasn't totally focused on her food. Even though she totally was, and she quite enthusiastically worked on savoring every bite of cookie as people talked, her face remaining stoic the whole time.

She hadn't had an active role in the Aparecium rebuttal, though she hadn't been opposed to a tasteful rebuttal in general. The topic didn't linger there, though, and instead Quiggles was asking for ideas - Eden was quick to jump at it, and the idea was a solid one, but when Hugh spoke up... Sophie Brown mellowed, her gaze finally lifting from the cookie she was working on to raise her eyebrows at the Slytherin, then it shifted to Quigley and Kitridge...

...And then she went back to nibbling on her cookie. Aaaaaawkward. She'd seen the rage of Quigley once and she didn't want to see it again, so she kept her gaze at the pile of cookies in her lap.

The sixth year continued absorbing the ideas being tossed about and realized even more... this group made her feel awfully small. Gabe was the editor and thereby leader of the group, Ruby was intimidating, Tobes was an actual genius, Grayson and Hugh both gave off high and mighty vibes, and... Eden was the only seventh year Sophie didn't feel inferior to in some way, except in the beauty department, which probably did count - so really, six of the other eight students at the table felt like superiors to her, and... no one would probably notice if she didn't give input, right? They didn't need her now anyway, the seventh years had this covered. All ideas being given were solid, and as usual her default setting was agreeing with anything Tobes said, so she just caaasually tried to blend in with the group.

By eating another cookie.

Of COURSE Grayson was here. HELLO?! Sure, it was a meeting and whatnot but the opportunity to voice his obviously important opinion wasn't gonna be missed. Nuh-uh.

So, he was here. Providing a seat for the girlfriend because having her sitting on his lap just felt nice. Juuuuuuuust sayin'.

And Toby got a wink because reasons.

Before he could say anything to the guy or anyone else for the matter, the meeting was getting started. Cool. Let's get this show on the road and all that ja--

.................. WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN?!

Grayson pulled an incredulous look at Quigley's words. Childish reprisal?! What in the name of?! "With all due respect, I don't think that our article was childish. You say something, you hafta realise that your opinion is gonna raise some opinions of their own from other people. We weren't meaning any harm by it or whatever. Just a bit of banter between two publishing groups of Hogwarts." Shrug. Besides, who could say no to a bit of drama?

Also, Hugh was it? Dude was freaking insane, man.

"Holding a writing competition and publishing them sounds great to me. I'm all up for it, and I'm all up for having interviews but we're just gonna have to distinguish between each of the top three winners so it's not as if they're all getting the same prize." Did that make sense? Who cared.

It was always a joy having students giving their unwanted opinions on a matter. Truly. Maddox deadpanned at first Hughbert then Whitlock, wondering why they thought it mattered to him what they said after he'd already spoken and especially when he'd only asked for input on student activity. For the sake of progress, he nodded simply.

"Thank you both, for that bit of useless dribble. It's added greatly to my day and I don't know what I would have done without it. Well done boys. Quite insightful Mister Banner. Nothing to add." Perfectly stoic before he turned to face the rest of the group, the constructive ones that had known better than to dwell on an opinion.

"I like the idea of a competition and naturally the prizes would vary. It's too mainstream going with galleon rewards. What are your school mates interested it?" That would be something they needed to find out. Maddox conjured a board then, figuring they would need to start writing things down. This was something they would need to go around figuring out.

"I'm also a fan of the assignment submissions." Give the Ravenclaws something to look forward to at the end of the week. "Best we let the Professors choose though." Naturally because, as Mister Banner had said, it would mean more but also he didn't want to have to let anyone down gently when they handed in things that would only be an embarrassment to themselves if others saw. Yeah, he had a few of those. Nut case students mostly with ideas that would either send them to St. Mungo's or Azkaban. Children were strange, the children here, stranger.

A flick of his wand had words appearing on the board. "Interviews can also be a yes. Student Spotlight--why don't we currently have that regardless?" Blue eyes shifted to the Editor-in-Chief. It was a good idea and it would give students something to hope for."Thoughts on that idea?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by BOARD

Ideas/Suggestions:
-> Writing Contest
-> Incentives to Participate
-> Assignment Showcasing
-> Student Interviews

Things to consider:
-> What sort of prizes would interest the students?
-> Are students willing to have their assignments published?
-> Would we be interested in student interviews?

Rusty kinda felt... out of place? Not that that was anything new - she'd felt pretty out of place since she'd got to Hogwarts but that was sort of exciting. This was more... over her head, to be honest. She'd joined the paper because she loved to do all the divination things - they reminded her of home - and she wasn't sure about how to do the rest of the... non-writing things. So she was leaving it mostly to the older students, and just observing.

But the student of the month thing... that was a nice idea, and her face lit up a little. "I think the student spotlight thing is a really lovely positive thing to do." she said, offering her opinion. "Maybe you could have nominations too? So if someone thinks a particular person deserves it because they did something special or achieved something or worked hard at something they could nominate their friend to be in the spotlight?" Because Rowan fully supported any sort of positive energies that people wanted to spread. Of course, if nobody nominated anyone they could still have it, just maybe a little more randomly. She just thought it was a nice idea.

Hugh had LOADS to offer, 'scuse you. And he thought he was being plenty helpful. These people needed to understand the futility of everything. They took this all way too seriously. Emotions, feelings, thought, everything. AND IT WAS HIS JOB AS THE SMARTEST GUY AT THE TABLE TO TELL THEM EVERYTHING HE KNEW. Or at least try to explain it.

He wasn't positive he could translate it in terms they would understand. Gavri'el (that was the Hebrew version of his name, yo) would probably get the closest, but he wasn't in the mood to be stared at like he was a lunatic. The fact that all of these people thought they were normal and sane was only further proof of their insanity to Hugh.

#GeniusProbs #HughProblems #WhyTheHashtag

To be honest, though, he really had nothing to add besides philosophical nonsense so he remained silent.

Jenna didn't feel the need to answer immediately, especially since she didn't currently have new ideas to get students involved. Lots of others were suggesting some pretty good ones anyway, so she was just gonna focus her thinking on those for now.

"I like the nominations idea for the spotlight," she said, giving Rowan a nod. "How would we decide on students if we run out of nominations or something though? Pick random names out of a hat or is there a particular requirement to look for or anything like that?" She was fine with either idea - or something completely different if it sounded better.

"And maybe for prizes, there could be coupons or gift cards for places in Hogsmeade? Or something to get like, a few free textbooks or some other kind of supplies for next year, since those things can be expensive sometimes."

Maddox took the lead of the meeting which gave Leo time to gather his thoughts on everything. The response to the Aparecium had been in his opinion childish and unprofessional. It had played into the hands of the 'opposition' so to speak. When there was a lull in the shooting of ideas for now, Leo let his voice be heard in the momentary silence "When we restarted the Quill news paper from the ashes, a paper that hasn’t been active for 11+ years, we all agreed that it should have some standards and above all be professional. Except for the reply back to the Aparecium you are all making us very proud and delighted in that department. The articles you’ve written so far have all been joyful and good reads. So keep it up!"

After getting up to get some fresh lemonade to drink Leo returned to the table to jump into the great ideas that had been thrown out already. "If we focus on the Student Spotlight for a moment and the ideas that Jenna and Rusty just have now presented for it, what should we set as requirements for a student to be chosen/nominated for the Student Spotlight? Should good deeds in classes or outside of it be of interest? How a student acts against his/her peers? Think, what else could be included?"

Letting his eyes trail over the faces of the quill staff sitting there briefly Leo asked "What would make you guys want to nominate a peer for in this case a very special interview?"

Eden listened to everyone and sat up a little straighter. Mph. She cleared her throat before speaking. "As for the student spotlight, to keep it from being a popularity contest around here--" she snorted, "We could have it be teacher nominated." She thought that was a good idea. She had been GOING to suggest student voted, but thus, POPULARITY CONTEST. And sometimes, the students that should have the spotlight were not....popular.

Mhmm.

She listened to the new girl, Jenna, speak, and liked the idea of textbooks..."What if we make the rewards for the winner of a writing contest...a few options? Lunch with a professor? Or--yeah, discount textbooks--though I don't know how realistic that would be, since we'd have to get into contact with Flourish and Blotts..." she trailed off, still sort of stumbling through her thoughts.

Then, she had an idea.

"Gabe--" she widened her eyes at him. "Gabriel--didn't you intern with Daily Prophet over the summer?" she asked softly. "What if one of the writing contests...the winner...I don't know, something in conjunction with the DP. Do you have good contacts with them?" she thought it was interesting to look into...and loads of students would be more interested in the DP were involved.

Definitely good to keep it from being a popularity contest, for obvious reasons: her and Grayson would end up in it ALL THE TIME. Ruby flipped her hair, only half listening to things because sooo much was being repeated and it was boring right?

Lunch with a professor? Textbooks? Honestly people.

Maybe she had another one of those idea things, lucky for them. "We could ask the Board of Governors to like, sponsor some prizes or something? Let them figure out what to put forward, its practically educational after all and good press for them to act like they care." They came from all sorts of backgrounds didn't they? And they were all old, they could totally use their real world connections to hook them up with some actual good things that people would want to make the effort for.

Every time the Aparecium thing was mentioned or even just subtly alluded to, Toby sank down a little lower in his seat, trying to make his already small self as small as possible. He could sense the disapproval a mile off, and it hurt, and of course, he felt guilty. Eventually he was so low in his chair that it was actually starting to hurt his back, and he shuffled back up again while distractedly fiddling on that infernal thread that dangled off the edge of his sleeve.

Talk of incentives was lost on him. Toby had sort of had the idea in his head that the fun of taking part was where it was at, and who didn't like a shiny trophy? But he was aware that those ideas were probably... not quite right.

Sooooooooo he mostly kept quiet, focusing on listening to the others and trying to drag himself up to be more on a level with them, though occasionally getting distracted by playing with the thread on his sleeve. Ahem. Perhaps time to say words again.

Toby opened his mouth to make a suggestion before the words or ideas had actually formed, and as a result ended up sitting there gaping like he'd just heard something moderately shocking. Then he closed it again, waited a few moments to let his brain catch up, then finally spoke.

"I think the student spotlight shouldn't just be about achieving in classes," he said, mostly in response to Kitridge's question. "But all sorts of things. Being like... a good citizen, kinda thing, helping people out, and trying hard and all that. Especially the quiet ones. I reckon there's a lot of people that deserve the spotlight but they're so quiet they barely get noticed by a lot of people." Though, really, Toby thought everyone deserved the spotlight. He was a little on the fence about the whole thing, because it would mean that even though someone got a cool honour, a lot of other people didn't get it, which was sad. But maybe EVERYONE could get it at one point, right? "I agree with teachers choosing, I mean... if they're not too busy. We could make a list of possible reasons to be chosen and then... yeah... y'know..." He trailed off.

As for prizes, still working on that one. Ummm... "What if we have, like, a wall with photos of all previous student spotlight... uh... students. Or their names or something. Maybe in the library?" Just an idea. Like how some work places did employee of the month and put pictures up.

Sophie continued to try to look very interested in her hoard of cookies as Quigley used an oddly calm tone to reprimand Grayson and Hugh, but she was glad it passed fairly quickly and the boys didn't protest too much further. They were certainly entitled to their individual opinions, and Soph may not have been entirely in disagreement with them, but even she knew better than to mouth off to a professor. Multiple ones, actually, and in front of classmates.

No, those were the kind of thoughts reserved for one-on-one conversations, rather than causing a big scene. Had to pick their battles.

The conversation was moving along well enough, with lots of various ideas being thrown about, and Sophie waited till there was a beat of silence before offering up her own thoughts.

"I think it makes the most sense to have the professors have a big role in this stuff, too. Both in... picking of assignments and picking a student for us to do a spotlight article about. As much as we could encourage people to nominate each other based upon a certain selection of traits, it probably would become a popularity contest, and... like Tobes said," she gestured toward the Hufflepuff with a nod of her head, "there are quieter, shy kids who may not be super well-known by everyone, but they're like... underdogs - people who do well in classes and do things in the background to help people and make a difference or whatever. The kind of people professors would most definitely notice - they're a better gauge of people's full potential, and they'd see things that we don't." People like Penelope Wright and Hady Lynch came to mind, in particular. Quieter ones, but people who had a lot of heart and passion.

As for the rewards... they were all decent ideas, really, and they covered all the sensible options that seemed realistic and truly rewarding. Except food. Sophie would've wanted food as a reward, but... she was probably the only one.

So she kept her thoughts to herself and helped herself to another cookie.

Gabriel was still bent over his notebook, hand and quill scribbling away uninterrupted. He needed a Quick Quotes for these occasions.....Why on Earth had he not invested in one before now?

On the other hand, the excessive writing seemed to be stimulating his own thought process...and everything, in turn, was recorded quickly after being offered up (his comments, included). Of course, Gabe was waiting to vocalize these comments; as it was easier to have constructive things to say with all the information on the table, so to speak.

After everyone expressed an opinion (for the most part, since both Sophie Brownand Hughbert were silent), he looked to Toby first; nodding slightly. "So, you're suggesting that after an assignment is chosen, we owl and get permission?" There was a pause and another nod. "I agree that some of our peers might be slightly awkward or embarrassed about this. Good point." Gabe, too, would (at least) want a head's up. As for the latter, his Hufflepuff friend earned a small smile. "Not everyone loves to write." WHICH WAS HORRIFYING, but true. "So, I think temporary 'celebrity' status could be fun."...if their peers were into that sort of thing.

Now, Grayson........Well, honestly, most of what he said was ignored. He could be a very crude individual...and was even more obnoxious when Ruby was around, but the Ravenclaw conceded to the end of his speech. That would be important since no one would care about winning otherwise. Bragging rights didn't account for much these days. "I agree with you..." Something Gabe thought he'd NEVER say to Grayson Whitlock. "There should be a distinction...and I think it'd be smart to do this in conjunction with a few options, as Eden mentioned." His fellow Claw had a point there. She actually had a few points...but he'd get to those in a moment. "I like the idea of gift cards and coupons to be used in Hogsmeade..." Jenna got a brief nod. Not a lot of his peers had much money to spare...and every little bit helped sometimes. "...but this would take someone owling the business owners, which I wouldn't mind doing. Also, I'm not so sure how special 'lunch with a professor' would be since the professors have their offices open and available to us if we need to talk."...and they got a chance to see them eat in the Great Hall...So, Gabe was a little lost to that idea. As for what their peers were interested in, he simply continued to be lost. He understood what grabbed his own focus. It was hard to speak for the population, however. ".....I could make an assortment of rock candy to give away." because SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS...and sugar. He'd made pumpkin flavored rock candy before, which would be no surprise to anyone as Gabes and pumpkins were OTP.

Moving on...

The Board of Governors mention from Ruby was met with a certain level of discomfort, as it only reminded Gabe of that detention and them rooting around in his head. Personally, he didn't want to reach out to them...but he wasn't dismissing it, either. His next question was directed at Quigley and Kitridge. "What do you think of asking them to sponsor prizes?" They'd know more about how to approach that sort of thing...and on that note, he revisited Eden's Daily Prophet suggestion. Cheeks flushed slightly pink, Gabe nodded. "I could owl Mr. Skeeter, I suppose." The man was eccentric. HARDCORE ECCENTRIC...but no one was judging. ECCENTRIC BUT BRILLIANT. Though, Gabe had to ask..."What are we hoping to get from the Daily Prophet, though? Sponsorship?"

And about the student spotlight...

"Returning to the topic of a Student Spotlight, I think it's a brilliant idea." Gabe nodded at Quigley, and everyone who had expressed their own agreement and thoughts on the matter. "I also think that Eden and Sophie Brown, both, raise a good point about shying away from a 'popularity contest', as some people will feel like our peers voting for this would be unfair and 'overlook' those more deserving...but at the same time, I think Rowan also touched upon something important. We can't possibly know what everyone has going on, so we shouldn't rule out 'peer nomination'...as we'll get the 'Professors are biased' argument." Gabe was trying to keep all these things in mind because some professors probably would've been biased; though, he didn't approve of the obvious favorites thing. "So, we could do a mix of both? I think at the end of the day, it'll be up to us in investigating whoever is chosen, no matter how they are nominated."

"Now, what to be looking for...isn't something I can rightly say. I'm not sure if I'm the best judge on what would be acceptable." He openly admitted to the table. Gabes valued different things than normal people, okay? Gabes were odd. "I DO think we should exclude Prefects and Quill staff for now." Or...that was his opinion. Everyone currently at this meeting got recognition enough, save for Rowan and Jenna, as they were new...and Prefects were badged due to their achievements. So, to feature them would be overkill. And the Yearbook featured them specifically, anyway. "Also, Toby makes a good point in that not all notable success is academic...and with that in mind, they should be selections people won't have issues reading about; taking into account whether or not their attitude is positive and how they treat their peers when professors aren't around." No one wanted to read about rude people or anyone being a toad to others on the lowdown. Even Gabe would snort and skip over that sort of thing.

Mostly, Eden just had a response to Gabriel, really. Maybe a few smaller responses about other people's stuff...

"Well--" she looked over at Gabriel. "What if...we had a writing contest...and...the winner, we could maaaaaybe convince the DP to have a little..."Hogwarts!section!" in it's content for an issue every so often? I know it might be a long shot--but it might get some people waaaaaay more interested? I don't know." It was just an idea she was shooting out. And she was kinda' impressed that Gabe didn't completely hate it yet. Hmph. That was cool.

"I like Toby's idea--about hanging pictures up--also, if we DID a student spotlight--we would just kind of do an interview thing?" she asked to the group as a whole.

He thought they had been pass the Aparecium business, but apparently Leo still wanted to say his piece? Might as well, others that wanted to had. Personally he was happy getting back into the meat of the discussion, nodding as each of the students gave their input.

It was good they were trying to move away from the popularity contests. "It's very true that the less loud among us get the least recognition." Though not with him, he rather enjoyed the quiet ones. They were easier on his ears. "It's the Professor's job to notice them so I agree some staff input wouldn't hurt on the matter. Similarly staff input on the assignments." But he'd already said that. There was no need to repeat.

"Miss Banner's right, the Board does need to look good and sponsoring such a thing could be just the publicity they need."....Or was that inappropriate coming from a Professor? Were there rules about what he could and couldn't say concerning the Board? Huh. Someone should have put this in the handbook.

"Additionally, gift cards and vouchers are excellent. I believe that is what we'll be leaving to the Board should we go that route."

Pause. Long pause. Maddox wasn't sure he was willing to commit to having lunch with a student. He...didn't like most of them very much--through no fault of his own...though he supposed he was coming around. "Absolutely to picture hanging." With Leo's consent. "I do wonder if the Daily Prophet would be so accomodating, Miss McGee. One article sure but every now and then?" Eh, he'd let them work that out with the editor.

"I think...I think we have a lot to think about now and new things we need to be working on. Here's how we'll do it. I'll need volunteers to contact the Board of Governors, volunteers to scrap up the first round of Student Spotlights for us to narrow down, some to ask Professors for assignment input and explaining the process to them--Mister Banner you'll be contacting that Skeeter fellow." Ah the art of delegation. He loved it so. "If that's all you're dismissed."

After volunteering though. Go team go and all that fancy stuff.

Gabe may have been a dash of horrible sometimes, but Sophie had to admit, the guy didn't have terrible ideas when he spoke up. Passion drove him, certainly, and it showed. He was a good leader for the group. Very fair and analytical.

But no one should expect Sophie Brown to say all that aloud.

When Quigley began to touch upon various aspects of the conversation with a tone of finality, Sophie made quick work of eating the remainder of the cookies in her lap. She didn't want to have to carry them around the school, so to her tummy they would go. But she mentally cursed herself for her mouthful of cookies when Quigley went along to describe what needed to be done because SHE WANTED TO VOLUNTEER but her MOUTH WAS FULL.

So, with a sense of urgency and some mild squirming in her chair while she chewed quickly to then swallow enough to shove her hand into the air and talk, Sophie offered eagerly, "I can be part of talking to the professors. Professors love me. Except Bellaire, probably, 'cause she hates everyone." What? It wasn't like anyone at the table was going to protest - didn't everyone get those vibes from the Transfiguration professor? Sophie thought so.

She also wanted Tobes to come with her, so she wiggled her eyebrows at the Hufflepuff in an attempt to convey that. COME ON TOBES.

From his seat Leo let his gaze travel over the quill team as they each took turn commenting on ideas and coming up with new ones. And Gabriel seemed to be writing everything down which was smart considering that some things might get lost or forgotten as everyone left the meeting to go do other stuff.

Before Leo got the chance to interject Maddox did so brilliantly and also delegated out tasks to the team which they needed to volunteer for. It didn’t leave him with that much to say except a few things. "To put up pictures of present and previous student's that have been spotlighted seems like a wonderful idea but the spotlighted students needs to give their permission before we put up pictures of them just like for publishing the articles/interviews. I'll look for a suitable place in the library for the pictures when I have some time left over."

Picking up Eden’s question about the spotlight being an interview Leo glanced over in her direction. "Yes the spotlight will be an interview with the student chosen to give the student population a chance to get to know the spotlighted student better." Hopefully this would promote more bonding and friendship building between the students.

"Approaching the Board of Governors and asking them to sponsor the prizes I think is something they could definitely agree to and see the benefits of. The Daily Prophet will probably be harder to persuade." However if Gabriel had already established a relationship with the head editor Skeeter then maybe the odds were in their favour of getting some help but Leo wouldn’t be surprised if the head editor said no too.

Sophie volunteered to talk to professors and Gabe had been handed talking to the prophet. "Toby, Eden, Ruby, Rowan, Jenna, Hugh, and Grayson what do you guys want to take on?"

LOL.

Yeah Ruby wasn't volunteering for a single thing, epecially not talking to Trollaire, everyone knew that would go terribly badly if Ruby got involved.

She'd just take on Grayson, that was work enough for her. She busied herself examining her very excellent manicure. Ho hum. Could they go now?

Toby had managed a smile at everyone who'd gone along with his line of thinking, or at least seemed to understand it. That was good. Made him feel a little bit less like he was just bumbling along in the dark with his suggestions. When Gabe looked to him for clarification, he nodded. Yes yes, exactly that. He was all about being considerate, y'know? Gabriel seemed to understand what he was getting at.

He stayed quiet for a little longer as the talking continued, fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve but keeping his ears very much open to what was going on. It was an unfortunate thing that for Toby to stick with paying attention, he usually had to be doing something that made the complete opposite seem to be true.

Gabe was writing all this down, though, yeah? 'Cause Toby had already forgotten some of the major points they'd covered. What could he say? It was a gift.

But, oh! Ahem. They were finishing up, and rolling out. Toby looked at Kitridge at his question, then back at Soph who'd already caught his eye, and nodded his head to her unspoken, eyebrow-wiggled suggestion.

"Yeah, I'll go with Soph and do that. I get on quite well with a few professors." Most of them, actually, but that felt like bragging or something. "For the record, I don't think Professor Bellaire hates everyone." That last part was said super quietly, just so everyone kneeeeew he wasn't agreeing with the statement by omission of argument, like had happened before. Also, Bellaire wasn't here right now, and it felt extra mean to say negative things when she couldn't refute them.

But Toby quirked up the corner of his mouth in a smile directed at Soph. She knew he wasn't doing the conflict thing, surely.

Soooooo... they could go now, yeah? Yeah? Maybe? Toby pushed himself forward in an obvious 'I am about to leave' movement, looking between the professors and Gabe. All the head movement sent him a sudden painful reminder of smacking facefirst into that wall, and he winced a little bit. Ow. "We'll go get on that now then, yeah?" he said, pushing himself up and out of the seat, then looking to Soph with a 'c'mon let's go' expression on his face. Because apparently that expression exists.