Buzz is having trouble stowing his belongings. Try a TRANSFORM

"It's just not going to fit," Fluvia tells Buzz. "Give up."

Lupa sniffs. "Why don't you ask Tess," she suggests. "She's a regular packrat, and not only does she have a broom and full kit, she has that walking basket, a smaller room, and makes it all work."

You peek in cautiously. You had hoped to get going with the basic magical exercises for Buzz, at least to see how well he could banish, set a circle and wards, you know. But your new suitemate was just having trouble getting his stuff in order.

Maybe this was your time to shine.

"Buzz, what are you having trouble with?" you ask.

"He's all yours!" Fluvia tells you.

She and Lupa leave the suite. Florio slips out behind them, leaving you and Buzz together.

Buzz shows you his little closet of a bedroom. Truth to tell, it is a little bigger than yours, but Buzz is a larger person, and had brought about as much as you had.

Two of the walls of Buzz's room are outside walls of this wing of the dormitory, clean, smooth wood paneling, strongly warded against intrusion, with the short wall having one window looking out on a Beavertail courtyard, a window suitable for light -- or flight, if it came to that. You had left your dormitory in Minerval out your window and down the wall, just to flounce out in the most Tess sort of way. Not all dormitory rooms had windows or natural light, but in House Beavertail it was far more the rule, while in Minerval it has been more of an exception.

The third wall was an internal partition between Buzz's room and your own. This one shows more promise for a little bit of rearrangement.

"The one thing you're not short of is wall space," you observe. You look at Buzz's possessions. "So, there's broom polo kit, right?"

"Right," Buzz says. "I almost got into Boarbristle that way, but I didn't score high enough on my practicals."

"Right," you say. You wave a hand dismissively. That story can wait, for now. "And those robes?"

There are a set of brocaded robes with long sleeves and embroidered collars, looking like an illustration of magician's ceremonial garb from an antique conjuring manual.

"From my da," Buzz says. "I mean, they mean a lot to me, so they have to stay, really. I like having them up where I can look at them."

Buzz has several things that he wants to be visible or ready, but not enough space in his little room. A thought tickles your mind, something you remember from the Librarian's workroom, and a similar arrangement in the Tutor's office in Minerval. Each of them had had panels on the wall which could turn from one side to another like a doorway, or a vertical window blind, or the pages of a book. The Librarian's panels would flex and bend very like book pages, so they could be close to her worktable. And as long as they could hold onto things, well, that would be a grand amount of space that Buzz could flip through and easily see or get at anything.

"I have an idea," you say. "For this wall." You point and wave your arms and conjure up a little vision with your wand, showing his things all up on a wall with panels that flip from one side to another like the pages of a book.

"That's brill," Buzz said. "You think you can do it?"

"Down when I was copying for House Service," you say, "I saw an old book holder that had exactly that sort of flipping motion. I could have it set up for you this afternoon. A little tweak, a little pull, and that ought to do it."

"If you can, Mum certainly made the right choice for helping me get settled," Buzz says, nodding.

You feel a little tingle. It's a dare, you think. Maybe Buzz doesn't think so, but you can't resist. It's on.

"Let's go down to the scriptorium," you tell Buzz. "It should be in the storage room just below that."

With the book holder purloined from its neglected place and installed in Buzz's bedroom, you set up for a little transformation to stretch its height and breadth and depth into a set of vertical storage panels that can turn like the pages of a book.

"All right, Buzz, do you want to help me banish and set up a working circle?"

"I'd better step back," he says. "I mean, it looks like you know what you're doing."

You might have brushed him off if he had offered to help, but you're faintly irked he didn't offer. Anyroads this was all to get a good start, and it's not like you're his mother or the Tutor or a teacher, so. You compose yourself, gather your power, and banish stray energies from Buzz's bedroom, your working space.

With wand raised, you intone a very specific TRANSFORM.

Roll +CUNNING (+2) (+1 Cunning, +1 Talented Transformer) using CAST A SPELL to help or impress Buzz: ⚁⚂ + 2 = 7, you manage to pull out a partial success.
On a 7-9, choose one.

• Buzz disrupts the spell, but he's impressed by your efforts, and you can plan your studies together.
• Fumble-success: The spell takes effect and backfires. A backfire could show up as an effect causing a story complication, or as taking a CONSEQUENCE. Your spell ALSO affects the wall between your rooms.
• **** it: You make it work, but you take a stress-related CONSEQUENCE or faint. If you faint, ENCOUNTER the Tutor or the Nurse before you proceed with Buzz.

It's a more involved working than you expected, the growth seams of the once-living wood, the glue of the joints, the wax of the pivot pegs suddenly asserting themselves as both form and motion. And then the partition that will hold this device of magic and intention, it has its own form and meaning. You grimly press on, marshalling the energies like a general on the battlefield, like a conductor with an orchestra, holding your vision for the wall panels flipping like the pages of a book. Finally the image comes clear, you press your magical energies into the form and watch the wood transform under your will. There. There.

"You're amazing, Tess," Buzz gushes.

"I just need to tie this off, just a moment," you say.

You manage to tuck in the ropy edges of the transformation magic and anchor the new device into the wall.

With a sigh, you step back. "Well, that's done," you say. "Let me banish the working clear, and you can try it out."

Buzz is impressed by your improvisation. He flips the panels back and forth. "I'll use net here and hooks there," he says. "Like you said, there's plenty of space, and I can get to everything easily. That's brill, Tess, amazing!"

You glow internally.

"I like a good challenge," you tell Buzz. "Sometimes I do."

Your ENCOUNTER is a success, and you may schedule study sessions as custom moves on DILIGENCE, or make other choices to get Buzz settled in.

But that night, when you're reviewing your own work, preparing to ask about starting your regular courses as a House Beavertail scholar, there's a rattling sound and one of your wall panels flips over.

You have a panel of Buzz's favorite posters facing you, and your star charts are now on his side.

Rats.

Traits: Ambition -1, Bravery +0, Cunning +1, Diligence +2.
Talented Transformer: +1 to Move rolls including casting a Transformation spell.
Unpurged Minerval: Tess can use MIND MELD or STAMINA as House Sex Moves.
Spybook: Use CAST A SPELL to use MIND MELD to spy on and learn about other House Beavertail scholars studying from spellbooks you scribed.
You have a GOAL (-2 vs. Diligence) from Housemistress Beeblossom: Get Buzz settled in as a Beavertail scholar to the Housemistress' satisfaction.