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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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Feb 19, 2017 13:42:19 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2017 13:42:19 GMT -7
Artemis had a few secrets. One of them, only the Head of the Newspaper, and the Professors of Hogwarts knew about. No one else knew, and no one else would know. Thankfully, Grey Slater knew how to keep a secret, and Lyla found it fun. It always gave her a rush, being the advice columnist on the school paper. Knowing she was the one helping people out, or being too blunt, was quite the amusement for her.
The only time she could reach or speak with Grey was in the Room of Requirement where no one else could find them. Lyla wouldn't take the chance of speaking to him about certain things regarding the paper in public, otherwise someone would find out who she was. So, as she sat down in the center of the room, crossing her legs, she leaned back in the chair and watched the door, waiting for the Gryffindor to walk in.
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
699 posts
played by Colin
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last online May 17, 2024 8:01:16 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Feb 25, 2017 14:51:03 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Feb 25, 2017 14:51:03 GMT -7
@jill8 Grey had never actually realized that the room he met Lyla in was actually the Room of Requirement. Only in the past few months had that been made clear to him. Since it always looked the same and was relatively safe to discuss her pieces in, he hadn’t actually questioned what the room was used for. It had been quite an interesting proposition made the previous year; to have an advice column. The position had always been there, technically, but he was neither interested nor qualified to spout off feel-good information to people he genuinely didn’t care about. His business was running the newspaper and making sure things were done on time and as effectively smooth sailing as possible. Being given the idea to have an anonymous writer though was a whole different story, and that was where Lyla came in. He hadn’t really known of her before the previous year, but she was one of his sister’s roommates and figured that since there hadn’t been any complaints from Addi about her, that she was a safe investment to make for the sake of the paper’s popularity.
Popping the door to the room that was always there when he needed it to be, Grey stepped through, spotting his secret club member already there. Wasn’t she always there first though? He figured there were quite a few details that needed to be written about for the column, and wasn’t possible anywhere else in the castle without someone around to possibly look over her shoulder and spotting what her work was on. He couldn’t really complain about the advice column though, since it did drive in more readership, which was something he would always welcome as long as the content was respectable. Walking towards the center of the room, he pulled up a chair to sit across from her. “I’m sure you have quite a bit more than usual. The Yule Ball was rather impressive with the amount of emotions being tossed around.” It had been the same way leading up to the ball as well, with lots of questions on how to ask people to be dates. Grey had no problem pulling that one off, seeing as he was under the influence of something rather nasty. He assumed a lot of the questions now were going to be dealing with the aftermath of what had been previously asked.
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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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Mar 4, 2017 19:47:29 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2017 19:47:29 GMT -7
The door finally opened, and thankfully Lyla had placed herself in a position where she was not able to be seen from the door. Grey had been the one to enter of course. Her straight emotions immediately disappeared, and she smiled at Grey, still leaning back in the chair. The amount of times they had spoken to one another was not enough to yet form a friendship, but a good relationship between the two for the paper.
He had taken a chair and sat in front of her, to which Lyla finally sat up and pushed her chair in closer to the table. His comment on the Yule Ball and she laughed, shaking her head. "A bit more? My poor owl was running around for days after the ball. So many questions and entries, it's crazy." Moving her eyebrows up and down, Lyla bent over and grabbed a rectangular box off the floor and put it down on the table in front of Grey. "I assumed we should go through it all, see what is actually worthy to be answered."
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
699 posts
played by Colin
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last online May 17, 2024 8:01:16 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Mar 9, 2017 13:21:14 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Mar 9, 2017 13:21:14 GMT -7
@jill8 Just the reaction he had expected to see elicited from his comment. Some of the questions that were supposed to go to Lyla had ended up with him as well, seeing as most thought that was where they were supposed to be sent. Typically he’d hand them over to her when he got the chance, usually in situations like how they were right now, but the flood of them was so great that he had taken to tossing most out. They were all the same anyways, asking how to approach so-and-so from this school even though they went to that school and blah blah blah it went on and on. In a way, Grey was grateful to have Lyla take this on, because he didn’t have the patience to do it himself. That and the advice he’d give out wouldn’t exactly be pleasant, and more than likely not what the readers wanted to see. “Well, I think we’ll be set on submissions for a while then. Your owl will get a well-deserved break.”
She had a box with the letters and questions that she had accumulated in the last few weeks. Scary how much people relied on this advice column. As he had previously stated, he was thinking of using these submissions for the next few weeks, at least up through Valentine’s Day, since most of this would still be applicable up to that point. After that, well, he dreaded to see what kind of questions would be asked. This was still a developing idea as it was, and testing the waters with each popular holiday was basically free-falling through people’s feelings and emotions. Scary was a more accurate descriptor, if he was to be honest. “Sounds like a plan.” He reached into the box and took a few out, almost positive that what he was about to see would be the same as the ones he had accidentally received for the rest of the club. “I think we should run a few more responses each week than we normally do, that way we can get through these as fast as possible.” If there were any decent quality questions. “Anything that is remotely similar should be answered in one bulk question. I’m positive there will be quite a few of those too.”
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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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Mar 9, 2017 18:21:45 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2017 18:21:45 GMT -7
"We definitely will, but I'm sure I'll continuously get more. I might have to switch to another owl and give my personal one a vacation." Lyla laughed as she began taking out a few of the letters. Her hand brushed his and she looked at him, a raised eyebrow. Instead of apologizing she just shrugged, and continued ripping open papers. His fingers had been cold to the touch, Lyla usually being naturally warmer than most. The first three letters she opened were all the same, unfortunately, and she threw them out but ended up separating the similar letters in subjects.
"I think that's a good idea, I'm putting them all separately into different genres I suppose you could call them. Things about friends, family, love, school...those types of things." She smiled at him and began skimming through more. "How's the rest of the paper going? Since I can't really go to meetings." Lyla was a large secret, among all students and most faculty she assumed. Grey and The Headmaster were the only ones that Lyla knew of that were aware of her position on the school paper.
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
699 posts
played by Colin
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last online May 17, 2024 8:01:16 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Mar 22, 2017 21:38:29 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Mar 22, 2017 21:38:29 GMT -7
@jill8 Grey joined in with the laugh about giving the owl a vacation. The little dude or dudette deserved it. The sheer amount of work it had to have been doing over the last month or so was astonishing. Grey would have offered his own owl up for it, but the puffball was extremely lazy, and he was pretty sure Claire and Addi used it more than he did. There were occasions where he’d get the bird out to fly around, but for the most part he was free to do whatever he wanted to up in the tower. As he continued to think about this, he barely noticed that she had her hand over his. There was a slight eye twitch from him, but that was it. Grey wasn’t stupid. He knew what part-Veelas looked like, and Lyla practically screamed it. The additional students this year had brought in quite a few more as well. Lately though, he kind of wanted to forget all those notions of romance, real or not. The love potion had done its number on him. The charm would probably work on him again eventually, but right now he was so emotionally drained from fighting the potion and the constant dosage of antidote that he still put into his body every day. There was no telling what was poisoned by Ondina, and until he figured that out or graduated, the antidotes were going to keep on going into his body.
He nodded his head as she decided to place them into different categories. Good way to start. It would probably be best to focus on more of the social ones to start, and have one or two family or school related ones to follow up each week. While that was his idea, it was ultimately up to Lyla on how many responses she wanted to do, and in which manner. He was behooved with dealing with the rest of the paper, which was why this column was placed under her control. Throwing a few more letters into each pile, he leaned back in his chair to stretch. “Not bad. Most of the articles focus on most of this stuff,” he motioned to the letters, “so it’s starting to get annoying having to constantly filter out duplicate stories.”
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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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Mar 26, 2017 16:01:47 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 16:01:47 GMT -7
His slight twitch made her snort, a small laugh breaking through her lips. She hadn't meant to touch his hand, but they had been passing things so it just happened. Lyla's charm was usually constant, but she kept the strength of it to a minimum. Normally having boys chase after her was not what she preferred or wanted, unless it was potentially Emile. But as that wasn't going to happen either, she had no reason to want it.
Lyla nodded. "I would say make something up, though that might not go so well and I'm sure that's not what you'd like to do." She laughed. Lyla ripped open another envelope and began to read, eyes narrowed at the paper. Some things she received weren't even questions for advice they were gossip. Not things she was looking to read, and this particular letter was not one she thought Grey would enjoy. It was saying terrible things...about his sister and what had happened at the Ball. She glanced up at him, then back down, and slowly smiled awkwardly, placing it in the throw away pile.
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
699 posts
played by Colin
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last online May 17, 2024 8:01:16 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Mar 31, 2017 15:54:14 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Mar 31, 2017 15:54:14 GMT -7
@jill8 “If you think that’s funny, then you’d roll over in your grave if you knew what I’ve been through in the last few months,” Grey stated, having a hard time not joining in with the laughing. He wasn’t sure why he reacted so seriously in the first place. Probably had something to do with being involuntarily thrown into obsession with a snake that he’d never even think of looking at twice. Whatever it was that Ondina had been after, she seemed to have been perfectly content by the time he broke the ice that he wasn’t under her concoction anymore. That didn’t sit well with him, even if it was over now. “But that’s a story for another day…” And that it was. For all he knew, Lyla was friends with Ondina. Grey didn’t want to tarnish Ondina’s name even if she deserved it for what she did to him.
He rolled his eyes at the idea of making something up. That would make them seem as bad as a gossip paper. He didn’t want that. If he did, he would have handed his position off to someone else. “There’s enough gossip out there already that we don’t need to do too much to win over most of the students. It’s amazing how many people actually enjoy the truth sometimes, especially if it’s about them.” Thankfully the advice column was created to pull away from those types of articles that he hated so much. It diffused some of the more rumor based ones. “We’re not perfect though, and sometimes stuff I think is fine doesn’t sit well,” he sighed, tossing another letter into the pile on top of the one Lyla had just read. “But that happens with every paper at some point in time. Human error I guess.” It seemed like there were more gossip letters than he had initially thought there would be. “Some of this stuff is awful. Might need to wipe my memory after this,” he stated, making a face at the current letter in his hand. Couldn’t people come up with better questions?
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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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Apr 6, 2017 13:36:37 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2017 13:36:37 GMT -7
"Well, we'll be here for awhile." Lyla kicked the box next to her. "So if you're willing, go right ahead and spill." She laughed. "I'm a big secret keeper, as you know, so you haven't any worries about me...if it's a secret, of course." Lyla was basically one of the biggest kept secrets among the school and while she had been worried about this Grey Slater telling everyone about her, she had grown to trust him more and more. Not that she'd spill every one of her deepest thoughts and desires, but she knew he'd keep things to himself if need be.
Lyla nodded. "It's crazy...and what's worse is the gossip paper usually is correct. Which doesn't really make it a gossip article, more like a factual paper." She couldn't stop the laugh. What Lyla didn't understand was why no one could just be honest with each other about certain things. Granted, maybe some of it was false, however from what Lyla had heard through the grapevine and through her questions being sent in, the majority of it had all happened. She rose an eyebrow at the face he made and tilted her head, a few blonde strands falling over her shoulder. "Something disgusting on that one, Grey?"
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
699 posts
played by Colin
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last online May 17, 2024 8:01:16 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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Apr 17, 2017 13:45:58 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on Apr 17, 2017 13:45:58 GMT -7
@jill8 They would be there for a while…no, he couldn’t tell her. That kind thinking wasn’t allowed at this point. Those that needed to know already did. Even then, there were a few more than that whom he would have preferred didn’t know, yet now they did. Grey was positive that he could trust Lyla, seeing as he could just as easily spill that she was the advice columnist if things went south. He wasn’t into petty fights over telling secrets though. The other problem was that he didn’t know if she was friends with Ondina or not, and if telling would make things worse in the long run. As of right now things had calmed down, but there was never any telling what would happen in the future. “Maybe after I graduate I’ll spill. Only a few more months after all.”
Grey flipped another letter into the rejected pile as Lyla concurred with him about the gossip lately. He couldn’t recall it ever being this bad in years past, though he also wasn’t the subject of it nor the direct opposition to it either. He’d take this over students getting murdered though. “That’s the problem. I’m not sure how many people have figured that out yet.” Grey wasn’t particularly sure about what the gossip paper was trying to achieve. Telling facts as possible rumors and gossip was definitely a way to make people squirm and get them to do what someone wanted, but it also meant that the truth was something to be feared, when it should be accepted, at least by normal journalistic standards. It was a confusing mess regardless. “For a while there, right when you started doing this,” he motioned at the piles of letters, “I thought you were the one running the gossip paper. It made sense because you knew all the questions and secrets people were sending in.” Grey stacked a group of letters together and added them to a different pile as he continued talking. “But then I realized I knew all that stuff too because I have to look through them as well.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It could be anyone I guess.”
The conversation changed to the reaction he had about one of the letters. Was it disgusting? Not really. More annoying that they were all the same things. “No, just another one of those ones giving a description of some guy they met at the ball, hoping to meet up again because of their lost connections or whatever. This one was a little more detailed than the others,” he stated, handing it across the table to Lyla. “Gag inducing.”
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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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Apr 21, 2017 16:20:20 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2017 16:20:20 GMT -7
She chuckled nodding her head. ”To each their own.” It wasn’t that she wanted to know, but her ears were always open if necessary. Generally, Lyla wouldn’t even think of speaking to someone such as Grey Slater, but when she joined the paper all of that changed. And if she was honest, she was shocked that they didn’t argue as much as she may have thought they would.
He spoke his own opinion on the gossip paper and she began to laugh. ”Trust me, if I was the one running the gossip paper, I probably wouldn’t be doing this. And whoever does run it, either likes honesty too much or likes to hurt people.” Lyla shrugged. She couldn’t control lives like that, especially so many. She had yet to be mentioned, but she was sure what was going on with her and Emile would get out soon. ”Though I’m not sure that is a compliment or not…but thank you, Grey.” Artemis bent over to grab a few more letters. So far the box was half empty. It was good that it didn’t take long to sort through the ones they could and couldn’t use. The more difficult part was choosing which was worth answering.
Lyla’s straight face immediately changed, slowly turning into a large grin, her mouth slightly open. ”You know, Slater, you’re quite the humorous one.” She shook her head with a quiet sigh and opened the letter he handed to her. A raised eyebrow as she read, she tilted her head back and forth in a thoughtful motion. ”Well hey, at least some people had more fun than others.” She laughed.
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
699 posts
played by Colin
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last online May 17, 2024 8:01:16 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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May 10, 2017 12:00:19 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on May 10, 2017 12:00:19 GMT -7
@jill8 On second thought, maybe he wouldn’t tell. Addi still had another year left of school after this, and spilling to everyone that Ondina was love potioning people would only enrage the beast. He knew that she had a few protégés that would be more than happy to follow her orders even after she graduated. He couldn’t do that to anyone. Of course, they could still go after his sister without him there anymore, but that wouldn’t be because of him inciting their fury. She’d have to fight her own battles at that point, and there was nothing he’d be able to do from work. Unless Aurors were still stationed at the school, then maybe he could. All in all, the love potion incident was something that he’d tell only those directly involved, and they already knew anyways. And if anyone questioned why he was drinking out of a small vial every morning, the simple answer was a pepper-up potion of sorts. Nobody would question that when he barely got enough sleep as it was.
“I assume both. They’re a masochist that gets off to watching people do the walk of shame through the Great Hall.” It wasn’t much more than that either. Too much of his time had been devoted to trying to discover who this person or group was, and nothing had come of it. When gossip that was big enough to shatter a few lives came out, so did a Gossip Witch article. It was annoying, but as long as students passed it off as baseless rumors, they were fine. The trick was keeping that cover up, because almost everything was true in it. “Considering how much my sister’s name ends up in it, I assumed it was someone that was near her a lot. Sixth year Slytherins were the first ones I looked through.” Obviously Ondina and her crowd were also on that list, but they seemed above petty gossip of that sort. They probably had equally ugly things to say about people, but kept it between themselves. “But at this point, it could be anyone. As long as they have sources willing to spill.” For all he knew, it could be a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, bummed out as usual for not being nearly as important as the other two houses. It would explain the relative bias towards Gryffindors and Slytherins.
He was funny? Not intentionally. This was a business he was running, and the comment he had made about the letter was gag inducing. These were things that students probably shouldn’t have known about. Obviously he did because these letters never left things up to the imagination. “My definition of fun is different from this one though,” he stated, handing the aforementioned letter across to Lyla.
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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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May 13, 2017 10:14:37 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2017 10:14:37 GMT -7
Lyla had to agree with him. She was definitely a very honest person and didn't hold anything back, which is originally why this position on the paper caught her eye. Her opinions could be deemed rude by many, but if they were that just meant it was the truth. Many didn't like hearing the truth so bluntly, but that was what Lyla was good at. Lyla had never actually gone out to try to find this person as Grey had, but she was sure if her siblings were in it as much as his little sister Addilyn was, Artemis may have a change of heart. Her and Addilyn were roommates, and while Lyla didn't speak to her much, the girl was nice. "I'm shocked how much she has been in it. But like you said, it could be anyone."
Her eyebrows went up as Grey handed over the letter to her, and then they scrunched together. It was definitely gag inducing, and somewhat embarrassing that the two of them had just read that same letter. Chuckling quietly, she threw it in the trash pile. "Mine as well." Lyla looked up at him, amusement dancing across her eyes and started laughing. These kids were revolting.
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grey xavier slater
HOGWARTS ALUM DAILY PROPHET QUIDDITCH REPORTER
699 posts
played by Colin
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last online May 17, 2024 8:01:16 GMT -7
WIZARDING ADULT
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May 25, 2017 10:10:24 GMT -7
Post by grey xavier slater on May 25, 2017 10:10:24 GMT -7
@jill8 Grey knew exactly why his sister was in the articles. If his theory was correct, and that it was the same group of girls running the gossip column that had also been relentlessly going after Addilyn, then it would make sense that they would take it another step. Of course that would also blow their cover of being the Gossip Witch, so that was that. There were too many things at hand when it came to the enemy paper. Too much that he didn’t know about, and certainly too much secrecy surrounding the whole thing. Clearly the school didn’t think it had gone too far yet, relishing in the fact that because the gossip was more truth than lie, that people weren’t going to outright believe everything they saw. False stories were more likely to last for a few days, weeks max, and then fizzle out. As long as the student body didn’t know it wasn’t actually that way with the Gossip Witch. “Any kind of targeted, public show seems to draw their attention.” Grey was sure he didn’t need to say much more than that. Getting clocked in the face in front of the whole school had served its purpose in more ways than one. Any good journalist, and whoever the Gossip Witch was, was definitely a good journalist, would know right then and there to dig for information. One casual conversation with a handful of Slytherin girls and they had their story. It was pretty easy. The other stories though, not as much. There were still theories on how those ones came to be.
They were somehow nearing the end of the pile of letters. That was good. He was getting rather bored with reading the same thing over and over again. In a way, that would make Lyla’s job that much easier. He had already gone over all the articles that were going to be published over the next few weeks with Olivia. Those were now heading into further editing stages. Lyla was probably good to sort her questions into general subjects and answer in that regard. “So how are you going to tackle most of these? A lot are the same questions in the end.” He would have given an example or two in the actual piece, and then answer in a generalized, broad answer that would hopefully answer as many as possible. There was no way they could get as personal as usual this time around.
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last online May 19, 2024 8:16:28 GMT -7
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Jul 20, 2017 15:49:08 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2017 15:49:08 GMT -7
Lyla nodded. That was definitely true. And for whatever reason, Lyla had an unusual feeling that whoever was running it was in her house, and probably one of her friends. But she tried her best to ignore it, and not delve into the world of gossip. It was always there, and would always be there, but she hoped that as they grew up, maybe they would mentally grow up as well. However, Lyla knew it wasn't something to keep tabs on too much.
Finally, they found the end of the letters. Lyla felt a rush of relief run through her. Now, all she had to do was read through them fully and write it all up to be posted in the paper. Grey asked how she planned to tackle them, and it brought a smile to the blonde's face. "Well, the one's that are the same, I bunch together. So if there's two or three letters that have questions that could be related, I'll take one of them and answer all the questions in one answer. I try to end up with a handful of questions and answers when it get's posted, as well as making note of names that have asked the questions."
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