This is so exciting! [Beginner] on Elective Hall

Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

March 09, 2024 10:10 PM

Passion Projects by Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

“Good morning.” Tarquin addressed the third and final study hall group, with what was by now becoming a familiar speech. It was convenient when the lesson could double—or rather triple—up and apply to all the grade bands.

“We’re going to be making a start on the passion projects for the fair today. You will have time during study hall to work on this, though not every study hall. Coming round is a schedule with the allotted times. You will notice there are also intermittent deadlines throughout, such as deciding your project, showing a plan to a supervisor and so on, in order to make sure you stay on track. If you want to work with someone from a different grade band, that’s fine, but you will have to make your own times to do so, and are expected to have enough of an idea and enough independent tasks to do that you can continue your part of the project during the assigned study halls.

“Your passion project can be either theoretical or practical, though ideally it should be something that works well in display format. For example, if you’re more inclined towards essays and wordy explanations, think about how you can present some of your key points in an interesting, visual way, so that someone coming past your display can get the main ideas in just a few minutes.

“Coming round is a selection of ideas. You may use any of these directly, or just use them as examples and jumping off points to find your own ideas. On the back of the handout are some prompt questions to get you thinking.” He waved his wand, sending another stack of parchments around the room. On the front were a diverse list of topics, divided into ‘theory’ ‘practical’ and ‘either’ and covering everything from ‘Shared tropes in magical and non-magical middle school books’ to ‘creating a miniature working model broomstick.’ The back had questions such as ‘What are your main interests? What spells/magical areas do you already know that go with this?’ and ‘What’s a spell/area of magic that you want to know more about?’

“You should pitch at least two ideas. Firstly, in case one of your ideas isn’t really viable, though in that case we will work with you to try and find a related project that suits your grade level better. Second, you will be assigned a relevant staff member to supervise, and this will need to be balanced fairly amongst the staff.

“Today, you are encouraged to brainstorm as many ideas as possible. Talk to your neighbours or to me if you don’t know what’s possible. Any questions?”

OOC: These sessions are divided into beginners/intermediates/advanced, but each group would get the exact same session, so anyone can reply to this. Just be sure to only reply to someone from your grade band.

Subthreads:

So I like snakes... [Liesl] by Hansel Hexenmeister with Liesl Brockert

This is so exciting! [Beginner] by Dora Xavier with Libby Brockert

Mine are snacks, board games and loopholes! (Lyla/Robyn) by Samara Crosby with Robyn Lundstrom

Together? (Fifth year Tepps) by Piper Wilson with Cole Pierce

Nope (Intermediate) by Olaf Brockert

*sighs* (Advanced) by Amethyst Brockert

No Good Reason (Advanced) by Christopher Brockert

Music!!! (Beginner) by Jason Brockert

The truth is out there (Beginner) by Mathias Melcher

13 Tarquin Fox-Reynolds Passion Projects 1464 1 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

March 12, 2024 10:12 PM

So I like snakes... [Liesl] by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel had been curious about the 'passion projects' that were the focus of his final midsummer event, the fair, since the Headmaster had mentioned them at the Returning Feast. Today's Study Hall filled in some of those details, though he still wasn't quite sure exactly what he was going to do for his. He figured 'snakes' generally - if there was one thing he could be said to be passionate about, it was certainly snakes - but there were many aspects to 'snakes' he could use for a project like this, and he could approach it from either a Care of Magical Creatures perspective or even a Defense Against the Dark Arts one if he picked something like a Basilisk to make an informational poster about.

When the handout came by his way, he didn't really look at the idea suggestions much. He already had enough ideas; he just had to choose a specific aspect to highlight. Instead, he turned it over to its back side to look at the prompt questions, as they might be a bit more useful.

He'd naturally chosen a seat next to Liesl - who he'd been inviting on dates throughout the fall and into the winter, without actually calling them dates, and he really ought to stop being a chicken and just ask her out officially at some point - so he turned to her as they were encouraged to brainstorm. "So, here's something you may not know about me," he said mock-seriously, "but I like snakes. Did you want to go in together on a snake project, or do you want to do something more generally creepy on your own?" Working in groups or individually sounded equally encouraged, so they could do it either way. "If we want to just have neighboring booths and help each other out, I'm cool with that if you don't want to be hyper-focused on snakes specifically. I'm kinda leaning toward showing off Cori, and discussing how to care for him, but that might not be advanced enough for a seventh year project."

1 Hansel Hexenmeister So I like snakes... [Liesl] 1524 0 5

Dora Xavier

March 13, 2024 9:29 PM

This is so exciting! [Beginner] by Dora Xavier

Dora arrived at study hall with a cheerful bounce to her step. Things were just going well for her today. She'd woken just a couple minutes before her alarm so she hadn't been dragged out of a good dream and she felt well rested. Breakfast had been one of her favorite foods (not that this was hard; she loved nearly all breakfast foods). The sun was shining. Daddy had been sitting in the common room when she passed through it to get her bookbag so she'd gotten to wish him a good morning and he'd returned it with well wishes for her day, and they seemed to be working.

She'd gotten today's new charm pretty quickly. She'd been able to answer a question in transfiguration correctly. And the animal in Care of Magical Creatures had been absolutely adorable. Lunch had given her the option of mac and cheese, which was her favorite lunch food, and now it was time for study hall, which was a good chance to catch up on her homework and hopefully get a lot of it done so she didn't need to worry about it over the weekend.

Today was not a homework day though. Today was better than that. Today they were starting on their passion projects for the fair! Which she got to be part of! Because she was a student now!

She didn't really have much of a plan for what she wanted to do, but that was okay because Mr. Fox-Reynolds sent around hand-outs with ideas on them.

Obviously, she liked herbology a lot (she was an Xavier, she kinda needed to) and was really good at it (again, Xavier) but she wasn't sure she wanted to do anything with that for her project. She'd surely get paired with Daddy if she did, and she loved her dad, but she was a big Sonora-aged student now and she didn't want to be advised on her fair booth project by either of her parents.

"Do you have any ideas yet?" she asked her neighbor, curious to see if they had any brilliant insights she could try to hitch herself alongside to, or maybe just to get a vague idea of what everyone else was thinking so she could make sure none of the professors felt left out if their subject was getting ignored.

1 Dora Xavier This is so exciting! [Beginner] 1507 0 5

Liesl Brockert

March 25, 2024 6:15 PM

And I like you by Liesl Brockert

It was the second half of Liesl’s sixth year…which meant that it was the second half of Hans’ last year. Which meant she could feel the time ticking away, a pressure building. For one thing, she was still waiting for that obstacle that Xavier had seen in her runes to be taken care of. Liesl was pretty sure that he had meant Hans asking her out and not Mother. Mother would always be her mother, which was an exceedingly depressing thought and much more terrifying than any of the horror things that Liesl loved so much.

After all, midterm had been as terrible as she’d expected it to be. It was more of the same where she was forced to go to balls dressed as…well, dressed more or less as Esme or Amethyst or Angelique, a Proper Pureblood Young Lady, as according to Mother. She had spent a good deal of time with her cousins, but boys had still asked her to dance and she had felt obligated to, both out of politeness and unwillingness to hurt the boys’ feelings and because Liesl was really rather afraid of what Mother might do to her if she refused. However,she had truly hated every minute, not because of these boys themselves, but because she felt wrong about it. It should be Hans and only Hans that she danced with,which was honestly what she wanted more than anything.

Of course, Liesl had told him the truth-as honesty was very important in relationships, and she would hate to go to the next level with Hans being dishonest-but she made it very clear that she only danced with them for those three reasons, stressing especially the one about Mother-she had always told Hans about the issues she had with her mother and brother-and implying that she much rather would be dancing with the older Teppenpaw and that while she didn’t hate these other boys-after all, Liesl didn’t really know them and they might be burying their real selves like she had to and she honestly didn’t truly hate anyone not even her mother or Desmond, who were her mother and her brother, she loved them really she just hated how they behaved especially towards her, and she wanted them to love her but as who she really was-she liked Hans much much much better because she did know his real self-you could be your real self at Sonora -and she loved who he was as a person and had a real bond with him.

Of course Hans didn’t ever have to go to society balls where you couldn’t ever be yourself, the lucky guy. Although Liesl sometimes wished that she could bring him since then she would be less miserable and have the guy she really liked with her both for moral support and to signal that she was already spoken for, but on the other hand, she liked and cared about Hans way too much to inflict that on him, she did not, after all, think that they were a place he would belong, because they were a place that she did not belong, and that was not necessarily a bad thing, as while there were some perfectly nice people who did belong at them, like Krisalyn who managed to be both proper and sweet and Amethyst, who had gotten kinder over the years, especially since her fight with Iris, which Liesl thought was an interesting reaction. Maybe the Crotalus was leaning on her family, but the sixth year would have thought that meant Jasper who admittedly had to be a pretty good big brother and always was her pick for that when Liesl was feeling especially miserable due to Mother and/or Desmond and/or occasionally Father and played Rearrange My Family. She always liked to pretend that she, Krisalyn and Jasper were Uncle Cory’s kids too, along with his actual children. Liesl would take any form of escapism that she could sometimes.

Some of that escapism also took the form of fantasies about Hans. really intense ones. Ones that she would be mortified if others found out, since good girls did not think about those things, though it wasn’t as if she was considered a good girl anyway, Mother had made that abundantly clear to the Teppenpaw Of course, there were plenty of tame fantasies, with marriage and children, the stuff that Liesl was supposed to want, although she didn’t want the latter for some time. However, some day, when she did have kids, she was going to let them be themselves unlike her own parents did with her. That was the number one most important thing.

Anyway, she was glad to be back at school away from Mother and balls and with Hans at least for the time being. Liesl wanted nothing more than to spend time with him as much as possible before he graduated. Although she was pretty sure they’d keep in touch no matter what, it wasn’t quite the same as Hans being here with her. Not that it mattered where they were, if it was Sonora or the snake farm-which Liesl actually preferred given how there were more snakes there, here there was just Cori and the ones out in gardens-or wherever. She just wanted to be with him. Hopefully he’d plan more of those…date-like excursions. And actually call them dates. And actually ask her out officially. Liesl was a person who needed to be officially asked to know for sure. She was not the type where she’d just assume they were a couple now. After all, she wouldn’t want to assume that and find out that Hans didn’t like her that way. That would be devastating.

Today was study hall and Mr. Fox-Reynolds began talking about the passion projects for the Fair. After he was done talking, Hans turned to Liesl and mentioned he liked snakes “Really? I had no idea.” The younger Teppenpaw replied in a similar tone, grinning. “Honestly, I’d like nothing more than to work with you, though I don’t know exactly what I would do if you were just doing a demonstration with Cori.”

11 Liesl Brockert And I like you 1537 0 5

Libby Brockert

March 30, 2024 1:15 PM

Extremely! by Libby Brockert

Libby’s midterm had involved a joyous reunion between herself and Miles. There had also been the reunion between the four of them-herself and Alma with Miles and Uriah- and she’d been happy to see the rest of her family that wasn’t currently at Sonora too-well, not Uncle Eustace or Topaz but everyone else-but the one with herself and her brother had been extra special. It had all the happiness that it should and no guilt whatsoever because she’d left. Miles would never make her feel that way, and she knew that she shouldn’t, because obviously going to school was a normal thing, but Libby couldn’t help feeling like she’d abandoned him anyway. However, it seemed to be more of a her thing, and not her brother trying to make her feel bad.

Especially considering that her feeling bad made him feel bad, which made her feel worse. It was sort of a vicious cycle that she really needed to overcome.

Of course, having to say goodbye again had also sucked. This was inevitable and not at all the same as feeling guilty. They were going to miss each other, it was unpleasant but it wasn’t like the totally irrational guilt that Libby felt sometimes. So, there had been another sad goodbye, which genuinely was terrible but fortunately, they would only have to do it twice more. Well, okay, she supposed there would also be when she graduated and Miles was still at school. Libby sort of felt that it would be different then though, Hopefully, her brother would have a lot of friends, or a really close best friend or even a girlfriend so it would be easier for them both. Also, Uriah would be there for at least one year.

And these things were also things that the first year wanted for herself. Well, maybe not a girl friend, though she wouldn’t mind a boyfriend, though there weren’t exactly options so that was not likely. At least not one who went to Sonora anyway.

Still, she hoped Miles did find someone special here at school anyway, like Owen and Emerald and Liesl had, both because she wanted him to have that and because it would make things easier when Uriah graduated.

Anyway, Libby really wanted to make friends. She had given herself a semester to mope and mourn and miss her brother, but now she needed to distract herself. Like maybe do a passion project for the Fair. They sounded very involved but maybe she could pair off with someone else and they could bond over it.

The problem was that Libby wasn’t really sure what she was passionate about. She enjoyed playing the piano but that in itself was not a project, it was far more fitting for next year’s Concert. And she didn’t feel passionate about any other aspect of the piano, like composers or the history of the instrument. Maybe building one would be fun? They did that in one of the Challenges, she remembered because Olaf’s extremely unmusical team had to perform in the Concert on the instruments that they made out of junk and he’d been annoyed by it. Which should not have been notable since the fourth year was pretty much always annoyed about something or other.

Still, maybe if she could work with someone else, they’d have an idea. Of course, she could probably work with Alma, who also didn’t seem to have one and was thinking of asking her roommate to do something with her anyway, not that Libby couldn’t work with them as well if she wanted to.

However, she was thinking of asking her roommate instead. Not as any sort of…thing where she was mad at Alma for wanting to work with Cecily but because it was a good idea.

So today, in study hall, when Mr. Fox-Reynolds brought up the passion projects and she was already sitting with Dora, it felt very serendipitous. “Honestly, I really don’t but I was going to ask if you wanted to do a booth together.”Libby replied.

11 Libby Brockert Extremely! 1591 0 5

Samara Crosby

April 02, 2024 1:59 PM

Mine are snacks, board games and loopholes! (Lyla/Robyn) by Samara Crosby

Midterm had been even more chaotic than usual as Samara’s family prepared for Martin’s upcoming nuptials to Katerina. The Crotalus had never realized how much minutiae went into planning a wedding. It seemed like an awful lot of work and made her almost consider eloping some day, though that would never happen. Mother would have a cow and obviously Samara didn’t want to do anything that would make her mother angry and potentially hate her. Parents did not always love their children unconditionally after all, Mother always claimed her parents disliked her or at least they didn’t like her as much as they liked Aunt Pippa which was basically why Mother was how she was, why she was so…angry at life and hated almost everyone. Samara was part of the extra-special and extra-small group of people Mother liked and she preferred to keep it that way.

Of course, not eloping meant that Mother would probably have Very Strong Opinions about Samara’s wedding and all that went into it. She already had them about Martin’s wedding, but was trying to control herself and listen to what Katerina-and to a lesser extent, Martin, as weddings tended to be all about the bride, even though in her own case, the Crotalus was pretty sure the mother of the bride was going to strongly influence everything-wanted. Samara felt that if she could pick the food and the groom and maybe a few guests that Mother and/or pureblood society would not approve of like Lyla.

Although, to be fair, since Mother seemed constantly annoyed by pureblood society, she might be agreeable -and that was not a word anyone associated with Tawny Brockert Crosby ever -to Lyla being at least at the wedding as a giant screw you.

Anyway, where Martin’s wedding was concerned, there was also a language barrier making things extra fun since while Katerina attended Sonora, some of her family didn’t really speak English, and only Great-Grandmother and Aunt Lilac really spoke Russian fluently and Aunt Lilac’s’ children were conversational in it. However, Uncle Seth-her aunt’s husband- only knew the odd word here and there and that was more than Samara, Martin or their parents knew. Naturally, the lack of ability to communicate frustrated Mother terribly and the fourth year had to listen to her complain, making Samara wonder if Mrs. Vorontsov complained about them in Russian to her other children. Probably not, since, well, nobody seemed to have quite the anger and frustration her own mother had.

It all made her very glad to be back at school where it was reasonably peaceful and relaxing in comparison. Her main challenge here was to make Robyn like her and want to be her friend. Being liked was a big deal and Samara had always assumed that she was actually very likable prior to coming to Sonora, because her parents liked her and they hated almost everyone so she had to be really special in that respect. Fortunately, Samara had made some progress last year.

And the Fair, and the passion projects gave her another opportunity for bonding with the Teppenpaw! The two of them and Lyla could do a project together. It wasn’t as if Samara had anything else to do really. CATS wasn’t until next year even though she was already reviewing for them since she had classes with the fifth years. She certainly wouldn’t be doing so otherwise.

It was not as if she had ideas for the Fair though. Samara wasn’t really sure what she had a passion for. She enjoyed board games and being in plays that Performing Arts club put on, but she didn’t really know what she could do with those, maybe they could create a board game and talk a little bit about the history of both board games in general and of specific games. Or perhaps Lyla or Robyn would have an idea.

Although finding a project that they all liked and wanted to do might be challenging. Maybe two would agree but not the third and it would cause the two to gang up on the third and bully her. Samara shuddered at the thought as she imagined being the odd one out as she kind of couldn’t imagine herself bullying her best friend or a girl that she was trying somewhat desperately to make friends with, something that she wouldn’t dare share with her mother because she was terribly afraid of judgment, for being a person who groveled, who let someone have power over her.

Which, although as she wanted to stay alive she would never dare utter this out loud, would be hypocritical of Mother. There was nobody on earth who wanted people to like them as much as her mother did! The difference between the two of them was that while Mother resented having to change her personality or acquiesce to what others wanted in order to be liked and then was angry and hated people for not liking her, Samara tried to catch more flies with honey. Although, that was sort of a gross analogy because why would she want to catch flies unless it was to kill them? Which made it an even worse analogy because even if the killing wasn’t literal in her case, it sounded like she’d want to be nice to people so she could hurt them later rather than befriend them.

Of course, she couldn’t see Lyla bullying her or anyone else either and Robyn was a Teppenpaw . Unless she was going to bully someone into personal development but she had never seemed the type. Plus, Samara was the sort who just agreed to placate people so they wouldn’t get mad at her and hate her. Honestly, Samara probably was just reading too many books involving teenage girl drama. She should go back to reading the horror novels that Liesl had recommended.

Also, a more likely outcome was that she and Robyn would disagree and Lyla would be in the middle, which Samara didn’t want either.

As luck would have it, today in study hall, Mr Fox-Reynolds brought up the Fair and the passion projects. However, as he spoke, her heart sank. When he was done, Samara turned to her friends and said. “I was hoping we could do a project together, although I don’t think Mr. Fox-Reynolds would like my idea much since it’s not very academic. I wanted to make a board game.”

11 Samara Crosby Mine are snacks, board games and loopholes! (Lyla/Robyn) 1563 0 5

Piper Wilson

April 07, 2024 3:44 PM

Together? (Fifth year Tepps) by Piper Wilson

Piper was super excited about the Fair this year. The last one had been super cool with the alumni coming and talking about their careers and interests. Some of her relatives had come, including Uncle Seth doing some mini-topiaries. However, the last one did not have student run booths whereas this time they did and it was another chance to get involved in a school activity.

Which was something that Piper enjoyed. Not that she would join an activity that she wasn’t interested in, such as Quidditch for example, just for the sake of being involved. Nor would the Teppenpaw join too many activities as she had heard about how that had had a negative effect on her cousin Chaslyn. Back when she’d been Piper’s age, she’d been in every club and activity that Sonora had to offer aside from Quidditch. It had nearly caused her to have a nervous breakdown. So, therefore, the fifth year knew better than to over extend herself.

Of course, there was a huge difference and that was that Piper was able to choose to do activities whereas Chaslyn had been expected to. Aunt Jillian expected her daughters to be involved and accomplished . Which meant they had to do everything offered at school and continue to build the skills that they’d had lessons in prior to coming to Sonora. Which was a lot. Chaslyn’s sister Amity had been not having it-Amity claimed to have burned out by the age of seven- but Chaslyn wanted to do the impossible and please her mother.

Honestly, even though Piper personally enjoyed participating in school activities, at least ones that looked fun and/or interesting to her such as Performing Arts club or being part of the Ball planning committee, she still really felt bad for her cousins. It wasn’t like with Charlotte’s grandmother who nobody talked to anymore, Aunt Jillian was still around, still looking at Amity like she was garbage for “underachieving” and standing up for herself and still fighting with Amity’s husband Phillip, who wouldn’t put up with her nonsense. Piper was glad that she was able to choose to do what she wanted or to do nothing at all. Mom absolutely hated how Aunt Jillian had pushed Amity and Chaslyn and had vowed never to do that to her own children.

And it was the right decision, since Piper and Gabriel were happy, psychologically healthy-though it was entirely possible that the Teppenpaw’s older brother had Asperger’s syndrome-and had good relationships with their parents while Amity hated her mother and Chaslyn had had to be deprogrammed. Chaslyn still had trouble just sitting around doing nothing but at least she wasn’t going to do the same thing to her own kids either.

Still, it was different when you chose to do something. Piper chose all the activities that she did, because she enjoyed them. Amity and Chaslyn had gotten to try lots of activities but never were truly given the chance to enjoy them. Amity now considered everything that most people thought of as hobbies as work, unless the hobby was reading fiction-Amity being the one Aladren that Piper knew that did not read nonfiction, though to be fair, the only other Aladrens she knew that well were her mom and brother, she had never really spent much time looking at Gwendolyn’s or Lazarus’ reading habits being that seemed like a weird and unnecessary bit of prying that was like ‘why is that any of your business and also you’re weird for wanting to know that’. Then again, maybe Piper was thinking too much like a Teppenpaw, and knowing each other’s reading habits might be a high priority among Aladrens. Actually, considering what Charlotte had said about some of the ones in her year, though not Quillan, the younger Teppenpaw had nothing but nice things to say about him, that was likely. Of course, it could just be how they bonded with each other rather than passing judgment on each other, maybe that was the Teppenpaw in her again but she couldn’t imagine Gabriel being like that and obviously, Amity wasn’t either, though now she sort of understand why her cousin’s friends were Crotali and Pecaris-or listening to wireless programs.

Besides, when you had to be perfect at everything you did, or even just be involved in a competitive activity where you had to win, it sort of took out some of the enjoyment. And this wasn’t because she was a Teppenpaw who believed in friendly cooperation. Even most of the Aladrens and Pecaris that she knew weren’t especially competitive. Things were also not as much fun when you had to worry about someone else’s expectations, especially ones that were so high that they were unreasonable.

So Piper was lucky. She did not have to do school activities, she chose to. And this was the case with the Fair. While the idea of a research project was definitely totally more Aladren than Teppenpaw-which was fine, obviously she had nothing against Aladrens, she just apparently thought very differently than some of them did. Actually, she didn’t even really think much like her brother really. Or her mom or Amity or Uncle Tim, all of whom were people that Piper was quite fond of-she still wanted to do a project with her friends and bond over it.

Although she was a little worried that Cole might want to work with Christopher and/or Yaniel or that Levi would want to work with Xarryn instead. Like, Piper didn’t begrudge them these other friendships. In Cole’s case, the two Crotali seemed like the type of people who really needed friends. Both had always seemed a bit shy. As for Levi and Xarryn….well…

Then again, the fourth year didn’t exactly seem like the sort who enjoyed research projects or was even interested in tolerating doing one for the sake of bonding with someone. Even Levi. That might be what Aladrens did when they…were very good friends, but it really didn’t seem like Levi and Xarryn and that was fine too.

Which, it didn’t hurt that that would make Levi available to be part of a group with the rest of the fifth year Teppenpaws. Also, Piper would be fine with any of those boys joining them.

And it looked like today in Study Hall, they were going to be working on Fair projects. Of course, she didn’t know whether or not everyone had to, as Piper was pretty sure the general policy was that the only mandatory event at Sonora was the Challenges and that participation in anything else was optional. Oh and everyone had to sleep out in tents during the Bonfire, unless they had a medical issue like Valerie Malone did. Piper actually felt bad for her distant cousin since that meant sitting out on a lot of fun.

Anyway, she hoped that working on the projects was optional, since some people did not want to participate in the Fair and should not be forced to. There were people who were quiet and shy and might be worried about their passions being judged. Or there were people like Amity, who didn’t want to put forth the effort even without the threat of one or both parents and their wants and ideas and expectations hanging over them. Neither of these sorts should be forced to participate. Nor should any other.

However, she wanted to. And she wanted to do so with her friends. Once Mr. Fox-Reynolds finished talking, Piper turned to the other Teppenpaws in her year and asked. “Hey, I was thinking. The last big school event thing we had was the Challenges and we didn’t get to pick who we worked with. It was fun but now I want to do an event with my best friends. So, I was wondering if we wanted to do a project together for the Fair this time?”

11 Piper Wilson Together? (Fifth year Tepps) 1556 0 5

Robyn Lundstrom

April 09, 2024 7:04 AM

I like those well enough by Robyn Lundstrom

The passion projects seemed to be one of those random things school threw at them to keep life interesting, like the challenges. It sounded nice, on the surface of it, but it wasn’t like they got time off from regular classes to do it, which just meant spending their free time writing about something they enjoyed rather than actually enjoying it.

Still, Robyn had gone to non-magical elementary school, so she was familiar with filling a trifold board with things that made adults nod and smile.

She took the planning sheet from Mr. Fox-Reynolds, wondering why someone had worksheetified the concept of ‘what are you interested in?’ but at least it was easy… Or, it should have been. She wasn’t sure she could name that many things she really cared about, which was sort of depressing. It would have been easy to blame magical school for pulling her away from everything she knew, but that was more Xavier’s line than hers. Even though he’d kept up rollerblading and kissing boys even after he came here.

On the plus side, Samara suggested they all work together. Unlike the challenges, they got to choose, and Samara was choosing to include her, which made it all a lot more positive.

“It doesn’t have to be academic,” she reassured her. “A board game’s a fun idea. I feel like I can’t think of anything.” Which made her sound like a deeply boring person when the question was ‘what are you interested in?’ For so many of the past few years, the answer had been ‘making sure my brother doesn’t explode.’ Luckily, he seemed relatively fine on that front, or as fine as he ever got, but Robyn hadn’t really done a whole lot of living whilst doing all the tiptoeing around the eggshells that life with Xavier had required.

13 Robyn Lundstrom I like those well enough 1558 0 5

Olaf Brockert

April 09, 2024 3:45 PM

Nope (Intermediate) by Olaf Brockert

So, it was getting to be that part of the year where everyone was getting all excited about the Midsummer event (and CATS and RATS). Olaf was not excited per se, as he rarely got excited about such things or about much in general. That said, it did seem a bit more interesting than previous events.

However, that did not mean he wanted to actually participate in it! Olaf was admittedly intrigued by what others would produce.As of right now, he knew what Desmond was planning to do with his friends and that Christopher was considering doing a big model home using different types of magical architecture, but was unsure about it, Olaf thought his cousin should do it if he wanted and not let idiots like Uncle Eustace to hold him back. After all, nobody really cared what Uncle Eustace thought, though as a survival mechanism Aunt Helena probably pretended to or even genuinely thought she did. Olaf had once pointed out the part about nobody caring to his uncle. Of course, it didn’t go over well and while the Aladren didn’t get in trouble, his dad had told him that it wasn’t worth it to stir things up.

Anyway, it seemed some of his other cousins were interested in participating. Libby and Alma were interested in bonding with their rooommates-something Olaf that obviously would have had no interest in, even if he had one. Honestly,he was glad every day that he didn't, especially since Xarryn was the only other guy in his class. Not that the other fourth year ever would have been sorted into Aladren.

Nor would Olaf have liked rooming with the ones in the years above or below his. Well, actually, he might have been about to tolerate Lazarus who didn’t talk, and would make an excellent partner when the fourth year didn’t get a choice in the matter but Desmond and his two friends? It wasn’t even personal , it was just that there were three of them.

As for Amethyst, she seemed to think that since she was Head Student, she should do a project. Olaf didn’t follow her train of thought. Same with people who thought they should participate just because they were in Aladren. He was an Aladren, not an entirely atypical one at that, and he had no intention whatsoever of doing so.

Still, while he was only sympathetic to Christopher’s position-because really, screw Uncle Eustace and his Neanderthal-esque opinions-and completely baffled by the girls’ reasoning,he supported their choices. But he still wasn’t going to do one himself.

And this was different from Chris’s weak protests where he secretly wanted to because he absolutely Did Not Want To. Olaf did not participate in anything that wasn’t mandatory, like the Challenges. Even things where the activity was mildly interesting because any enjoyment he would have gotten from it would have been nullified by the presence of Other People. Actually this was why Olaf was never as big of a chess player as he could have been. Even the book club that Lyla wanted to set up was something that he only wanted to help with by giving suggestions for reading material. Olaf would never want to himself sully how wonderful books were with the presence of another human being, of course, but also, he was willing to help her because he thought Sonora needed a book club, so people who were too social could at least read something and maybe see why books were amazing. Maybe some people needed to see the two side by side to see the superiority of books.

At least, at Sonora people could not have wine so they might actually read them. While Olaf did not doubt Lyla’s sincerity, Samara Crosby seemed like the sort of person who liked free food. Not that she was at all overweight or seemed like a cheapskate,it was just something about her general personality.

Anyway, when Mr. Fox-Reynolds mentioned the passion projects and the Fair, Olaf did something that he honestly thought he’d never do-he scowled at the librarian. Really? The fourth year knew full well that participation was optional but that seemed to slip the librarian’s mind? Olaf had to hope that it was some early-onset dementia on the man’s part. He was not okay with the idea that the school librarian was some sort of school participation obsessed fascist.

Okay, yes, he supposed that it was nice to give people who wanted to do so a chance to work on it in study hall, but you would think after the whole bed fiasco they might want to make it clear what they meant! Because, yeah, maybe this would be a good exercise for Christopher, just in case, for Olaf, it was just a waste of time.
So he picked up his book and began to read, passing on the handouts without taking one.

11 Olaf Brockert Nope (Intermediate) 1564 0 5

Amethyst Brockert

April 13, 2024 5:30 PM

sighs (Advanced) by Amethyst Brockert

Despite being awarded the Head Student badge, Amethyst could not have been more ready to graduate from Sonora. Well,unless she hadn’t gotten it, she supposed. Still, she just plain looked forward to not having to live in a hostile environment. Which was saying something considering that at some points this summer, she would be under the same roof as Topaz. Who was not only an utter psychopath with the moral compass of a malevolently enchanted inanimate object, but who was none too pleased that Amethyst had succeeded where she had failed.

Which had to say something for how little the seventh year wanted to be sharing a room with Iris right now. At home, or on St. Berylla’s or any other vacation house, she had her own room or suite and didn’t have to actually share such a space with someone who not only hated her but pretty much might actually harm her whereas while Iris probably wasn’t going to kill Amethyst in her sleep, both because she gave her roommate some credit that she wouldn’t get frustrated with not being able to get into Teppenpaw and murder Liesl and decide to take it out on Amethyst instead-only Topaz would ever be assumed to be homicidal and willing to act on it, the seventh year even gave Uncle Eustace that much credit- and because, well, Iris had had ample opportunity to do so already but their room was just downright claustrophobic with her own stubborn pride and her roommate’s metaphorically kill the messenger attitude and the tension between them.

Away from school, there were separate spaces, more spaces even then there were people. Technically this was true at school too and Amethyst did her very best to avoid the ones where she knew Iris would be when she was not required to be in the same ones but those were not Amethyst’s spaces. At home or wherever, she could lock her sister out, and put in place measures that would prevent her from harming Amethyst, including having a house-elf stay on guard while the Crotalus slept. Therefore, it was preferable.

Honestly, when she looked back on her time at Sonora someday, she’d probably consider her ability to stick it out to be her greatest achievement of the entire seven years. Head Student was a tremendous ego boost, but the idea of surviving Topaz only to run from Iris was something that people with far less pride than Amethyst would object to.

To make matters worse, now she had to figure out an idea for a fair project. Unlike Olaf, she could not just ignore it when Mr. Fox-Reynolds brought up the passion projects during study hall. Nor could she make it a theoretical exercise either. As Head Student, she felt like she had to be an example and participate in school activities, show people that they’d chosen correctly.

Unfortunately, though, Amethyst had no idea what she really wanted to do a project on. She sighed and turned to the person across from her. “Hey, do you want to brainstorm with me?

11 Amethyst Brockert *sighs* (Advanced) 1532 0 5

Christopher Brockert

April 14, 2024 5:19 PM

No Good Reason (Advanced) by Christopher Brockert

Ever since the Returning Feast and the announcement of what the Fair was going to be this year, Christopher had not been able to stop thinking about it. Like, he had an actual idea, an actual passion, which was not something he could say about his sister and cousins. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, since he knew they all had passions but it was debatable whether or not they made good project ideas. Like Alma obviously liked making things pretty, like interior decorating and she could possibly be enlisted as an interior decorator for his own project. Except that the younger Crotalus wanted to do something with her roommate.

And, of course, there was the fact that Chris was downright terrified to put himself out there, no matter how much his family encouraged him. Like, even Olaf was weirdly encouraging which was something that Christopher expected from his little sister and female cousins, but not the fourth year, whom he expected to be a cantankerous grouch. Nobody expected any sort of positive feelings from Olaf to another human being, or for him to do or say something nice, a lack of expectations that Christopher was pretty sure his cousin actively cultivated so people would leave him alone.

Maybe that was the fourth year’s own reaction to Uncle Eustace and his abuse. The Crotalus had always thought that Olaf and his younger brother,Uriah, were a bit more impervious to it but maybe Olaf was using his dislike of people as a shield. Like, if he didn’t open up, then nobody could hurt him. Or maybe Christopher was assigning soft traits to his prickly cousin because it made the younger boy seem like a human being and not a cactus.

Either way, Olaf knew the reason for why Christopher was reluctant to participate in school activities, especially ones involving his own interests, and personality, which tended to be…well, why someone joined a school activity, because it was something that appealed to their interests and personality. Olaf might have genuinely been just misanthropic but he knew this was how Chris reacted to the psychological abuse, and had pointed out that he should just do what he wanted and that Uncle Eustace was a neanderthal whose opinions didn’t matter.

Which was, of course, true. Intellectually, the sixth year knew this but it was one of those things where he had this irrational reaction. It might have been reasonable for him to worry that Uncle Eustace would ridicule him, because the man obviously had in the past, but at this point, it was less so to worry about his fellow students, because there was literally nobody here that Christopher could point to and assume that person would make fun of him. Even the Pecaris and Quidditch players, either because they were genuinely nice people, like Cole and Alexei or because he just didn’t think tormenting him was a priority for people like Xavier, even if the seventh year had been so inclined, which honestly Christopher didn’t really think that he was. At this point, it seemed like he would have done something already. Anyone around his age would have.

So, unless they had some weird aversion to architects, it was likely that nobody would harass him. Granted, such an aversion was entirely possible, as people could be damaged by the weirdest things and they could express themselves in the strangest ways. Obviously, Christopher knew this from personal experience. Like how he was unsure about doing a project for the Fair when he didn’t really think that anyone was going to harass him about how being an architect was somehow unmasculine and too artsy and therefore made Chris somehow less of a man and implied things about who he was attracted to. Which would have been fine even if it were true-with him or with a lot of people, though not his uncle-but it wasn’t and there was no correlation between the two, except in Uncle Eustace’s mind.

And yeah, he didn’t know the younger students, so paranoia was still a bit reasonable there, though Alma and Libby thought they were all nice. He was pretty sure they would have mentioned any glaring red flags. Also, a sixth year should not be worrying about the opinions of random first and second years.

In other words, there was no real good logical reason why Christopher should not participate if he wanted to and had an idea. The only one that he could not refute, not overcome was the idea of his uncle finding out and giving him a hard time about it. Even though the Crotalus had every intention of becoming an architect as a career, and his uncle would obviously find that out.

Still, Chris thought he might…work on the project anyway. It would likely be helpful for getting into college regardless of the Fair.

And it looked like he couldn’t get away from the topic as Mr. Fox-Reynolds brought it up in study hall. Of course, he’d been semi-prepared for this, given Olaf had been complaining about it since the fourth year wanted nothing to do with it and felt like he was being made to do work on it in his study hall for an optional project he had no intention of doing when he had a perfectly good book to read.

Christopher took the pages that went around. “So, do you plan on actually participating in the Fair?” He asked one of his neighbors.

11 Christopher Brockert No Good Reason (Advanced) 1539 0 5

Jason Brockert

April 14, 2024 7:17 PM

Music!!! (Beginner) by Jason Brockert

Jason was really looking forward to the Fair. Which surprised him. Like, he’d expected that he would, but not this much. The one he’d always looked forward to as far back as he remembered was the Concert so he could play his guitar in front of everyone and share his music with them. He’d also been extremely glad that the Concert would not take place in his fourth year and that it wouldn’t be the event that he’d only have once. That would be the Ball, and right now, he was okay with that since it sounded the least interesting.

Unless he could perform music at it too. That might be fun. And Sam would be a first year then, so maybe like, they could form a whole band. Jason could sing and play guitar, or they could audition singers-the first year was more confident in his guitar playing than his singing-while Sam played the drums. And maybe he could get Libby to play keyboard since that was like the piano.

Maybe he’d even let Mathias Melcher write some of his lyrics. Jason was unsure where the older Aladren’s poetry came from, exactly, as it didn’t seem like one of pain or joy but hey,the first year was a very firm believer in self expression in all forms, rather it was his own music, Mathias’ poetry or Liesl just being Liesl. Everyone should be encouraged to be themselves and it should be okay and accepted. Well, in most cases. Like, obviously people like Topaz and Eustace should in no way be encouraged. Nor should Aunt Jacqueline. And Desmond could use some personal development.

Anyway, unfortunately, Lorelei would not come to Sonora until Jason was a sixth year, which, true, was another Concert year, but if he wanted to form a band and have it play at the Ball his fourth year, he’d need a bass player.

And that might be difficult, because ideally, when his sister came to school, she’d be the bass player and they’d perform in the Concert together with Sam and possibly Libby-obviously Jason wasn’t going to force her if it turned out that she didn’t want to participate-but he wouldn’t want to fire an already existing band mate just so his sister could have the job. Which meant the ideal person was in either second or third year and as far as he knew, did not exist. Though, he supposed those were the people that were new to school since the last time the Challenges and the Debacle of Unmusical Talent had occurred.

That was not Jason being a music snob, who was insulted by the concept of untalented people playing music on instruments transfigured from old junk, an idea that he actually found intriguing, and thought could still be an expression of their creators, in multiple ways, actually. Though he was certain that was how Desmond would feel if he actually cared about music at all. The Debacle of Unmusical Talent was basically the fact that the last time the Challenges had happened, pretty much most people in every single year had no talent in music whatsoever.

Which Jason found to be heartbreaking. Not because of any assault on music that someone who loved music as much as he did and was as stuck up and snobby as his cousin was felt would have happened, but because so many people had such a lack of music in their lives. A world without music was like a world without color .

Anyway, the reason the Fair sounded like a lot of fun? Because it was all about their passions and his passion was music, a rich and fertile ground for Fair presentations. There were so many different topics that he might have trouble narrowing them down. He could make weird instruments out of junk, since he’d missed out on that Challenge but that didn’t seem very original now. Or he could do something on types of music or his favorite musicians. Or sing his own songs and play the guitar. Or sing a cover and play the guitar since Jason was even less sure about his songwriting than he was his singing.

Fortunately, they were going to have a chance to work on Fair projects today in study hall. “Hey.” Jason greeted his classmate. “What were you thinking of doing? I mean, if you are actually planning to do anything that is. I mean, because we have to brainstorm, not because you should have to participate in the Fair if you don’t want to.”

11 Jason Brockert Music!!! (Beginner) 1590 0 5

Cole Pierce

April 15, 2024 9:52 PM

Could do that by Cole Pierce

Cole wanted to be a part of a Fair project. It had sounded interesting when the Headmaster brought up at the Returning Feast, but he didn't have an idea then for what to do, and he didn't have one now. He didn't really have a specific passion. He liked Quidditch, sure, but he wouldn't say it was his passion or anything. And he still liked building with Legos (though he was starting to wonder if he was reaching an age where he shouldn't be advertising that so much) but again, it was fun but it wasn't he thought about often except when he was bored and the thought occurred to him that he could get out his Legos. And there were dozens of other things he liked and had fun doing but none of them were any bigger or more important than the others, nothing that stood out as a passion.

If there was only one thing he could pick that would encapsulate what he wanted to do more than anything else it was Be A Good Friend, which was, admittedly, very Teppish and kind of corny, and he didn't think he could make a Fair project about it.

Luckily, today's study hall seemed to understand that some of them needed ideas and he took one of the sheets getting passed around and ran his eyes down the lists of topics, again, nothing especially jumping out at him, though a few looked interesting. He flipped it to the other side and was reading through some of the brainstorming questions when Piper spoke up and suggested they should all do something together.

Cole nodded readily. "Sure! I don't have any solid plans yet on what I want to do, but I definitely want to be involved! I'd love to work with you guys!"

1 Cole Pierce Could do that 1546 0 5

Piper Wilson

April 16, 2024 5:20 PM

Yay by Piper Wilson

Piper smiled when Cole agreed to work on a project. She had been pretty sure that her friends would be interested as none of them ever seemed to truly shy away from school involvement. Not that it wouldn’t be okay if they did as she knew that there were a lot of very good reasons for people not to do a Fair project from shyness and not wanting to put something very personal out there like things one was passionate about-not that Piper quite understood how that worked, as how could you keep a passion secret when passions were loud and hard to suppress. They leaked out of you-to things like feeling the need to spend more time on studying for CATS or RATS-which could still happen,that Lenny or Levi or both would decide it was too much to do both-or just plain not wanting to.

Unfortunately, Cole brought up another good reason someone might have for not wanting to participate in the Fair, which was that they might not have ideas. It was sad, but Piper was not entirely sure she really had one either. If she had to say, the thing involving this Fair that she had the most passion was working with her friends. Which was great but how was it that she did not have a specific passion besides that?

It was actually a terrifying realization. Piper had never truly found something specific and all encompassing that she loved. Like how her brother Gabriel had trivia, and her cousin Kira had fairy tales and mythology and Charlotte’s aunt, Peyton, had cooking and baking. If someone asked her what she cared about, she would have said her friends and family and if someone asked what she enjoyed she’d have said that she liked to spend time with them or otherwise get involved in school activities.

Which didn’t actually sound like she had no direction or life purpose really, which was what Piper had been worried about. She hated the idea of lacking passion. The Teppenpaw didn’t have a problem with that in others, but she would feel bad if she herself did.

The problem was though that Piper could not do a project for the Fair on spending time with friends and family or school involvement. Which was another reason to do the project with her friends, because if she didn’t have a passion in the same sort of way as her brother or Kira, maybe one of them did. Lenny in particular seemed chalk full of passion and if Cole didn’t have ideas, maybe he (or Levi) did.

At least Cole wanted to work with them, she had worried that he might choose to work with Yaniel or Christopher and she really did want to do a project with just the four of them. Of course, if one the Crotali (or Xarryn) wanted to join them, Piper would accept that and make them feel welcome but she really did sort of want this to be a special thing with just the fifth year Teppenpaws.

She nodded. “I know what you mean, Cole. I can’t really think of anything specific to do. I was hoping one of you would.” Piper added.

OOC: Lenny and Levi, you can join in whenever you want, I just needed to get another post done

11 Piper Wilson Yay 1556 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

April 18, 2024 8:56 PM

I might like you more than snakes. Maybe. It's close. by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel laughed as Liesl pretended to be surprised by his pronouncement of liking snakes. The laugh turned to a happy smile as she added that she did want to work with him. "Well, if it's a two person Advanced student group, I'm sure doing a demonstration with Cori isn't going to be enough." He wasn't sure exactly what the difficulty level requirements were, but Mr. Fox-Reynolds did say something about matching their grade level, and logically it seemed reasonable enough to expect more from a sixth and seventh year than a pair of beginners. Not that this was for a grade or anything, so what the teachers could do if they did just do something very simple, he wasn't sure, but he didn't want to disappoint anyone, and he did want to make their project interesting to others.

"Well, he did say we should pitch a couple different ideas, so how about we brainstorm a bunch of different snake-related topics to do our project on, and then from there, pick our favorite two?"

He took out a quill and under the 'main interests' question of the hand out, he prepared to list some broad topics. He started with writing 'Snake Hatchery' and explained the idea out loud, "We could talk about how snakes lay eggs and what care goes into caring for and hatching them. I might be able to get my dad to bring us a few incubating eggs to show off, maybe from a few different species so we can show off the range of sizes and textures and so forth."

Next, he wrote, 'Basilisk' and explained, "Or we could go the DADA approach instead of the COMC and talk about some of the features of some of the more dangerous snake-like dark creatures."

Finally, he wrote, 'Parselmouths' but didn't know what to say about that, feeling weird to do a project on what was basically himself even if it was a thing that dominated a lot of his life as a passion would, so he followed it quickly by writing 'Potion Ingredients' and explained only the later. "Or the third class we could tie into is Potions, and we can have vials of all the venoms and skins and scales and stuff that our ranch sells to potion suppliers. What about you, do you have any other ideas or academic tie-ins?" Heck, maybe there was a divination discipline that focused on the trails left by snakes in the sand. He didn't take the class, so who knew?

1 Hansel Hexenmeister I might like you more than snakes. Maybe. It's close. 1524 0 5

Dora Xavier

April 18, 2024 9:23 PM

Whoo-hoo! by Dora Xavier

"Yes!" Dora agreed immediately when Libby asked if she wanted to do a booth together with her roommate. "Definitely!" She hadn't known who she'd work with until that very moment - Summer, Edu, or Zeus were all good friends, too - but doing it as a roommate thing definitely had appeal. If, for example, Dora had an idea in the middle of the night, she could wake Libby up and they could talk about it right away!

And okay, neither of them had a great plan yet, but they were roommates, and friends, and they could definitely figure something out together. That was better, anyway, than if one of them had an idea and the other just tagged in. Figuring it out as a team made it both of theirs.

"Okay, so that's who, and we know when - the midsummer fair, we know why - because it's fun, and where isn't really up to us, but I'd guess probably the Cascade Hall, so that just leaves what." She held the hand out with its ideas out between them. "Anything on here look good to you? Or anything you definitely don't want to do? I'm leaning against Herbology because I don't think I need to beat the whole school over the head with a reminder that I'm an Xavier."

1 Dora Xavier Whoo-hoo! 1507 0 5

Liesl Brockert

April 19, 2024 3:01 PM

That actually means a lot to me, thanks. by Liesl Brockert

“You’re probably right.” Liesl agreed. “I mean, that does sound pretty simple and it certainly doesn’t take two of us to feed Cori. Though if he wants to be involved, like we should find a way to include him” The sixth year had become pretty fond of her friend’s pet over the years, and if their project was going to involve snakes, there was no reason why he shouldn’t participate. Liesl would have brought her cat, Eyeballs out if the project had something to do with cats. Though they weren’t as interesting of a creature as snakes-generally speaking, Eyeballs was personally a superior cat-and it might be insensitive to the intermediates to talk about cats when they’d been hearing about them all year.

Granted, her brother was in that class, and she really didn’t care that much about being sensitive towards him-why should she when he generally treated her like garbage-but then Desmond was the sort who probably looked forward to exams as a chance to show off how great he was and how smart he was and how superior and how he was the golden boy.

Actually, now that she thought about it, her brother and his friends would probably put a lot into their project and make it more advanced than others or at least more so than one would expect from third years. Liesl absolutely could not merely assist on something so easy, especially given that academics were not an area she generally did poorly in. She might not be a “genius” like her brother allegedly was but she was perfectly all right in this respect. Partially because her parents didn’t expect anything from her in that area beyond not embarrassing them. Liesl was pretty sure that doing a seriously less advanced project than her brother when she was three years older was going to be embarrassing to them and Mother was ashamed enough of her as it was.

And she was going to have to deal with Mother’s disappointment all summer long, or at least quite a bit, so she didn’t need to add Father’s disappointment to it. Granted, part of the issue was the desire and ability of Desmond (and his friends) to do something advanced which made Liesl have to work harder to compensate. Which was one thing with normal classes and even CATS (and RATS) but this time, all that she wanted to do was work with Hans and spend time with him before he left. Now she was going to have to save face, and if the older Teppenpaw hadn’t mentioned it too, she’d be really resenting her brother right now more than usual.

“Honestly, I’ve always wanted the Fair to have a snake petting zoo.” Liesl added, even though she’d only been to the one four years ago, where Uncle Cory came with his guitar and wand making and lore brochures.“The thing is, some people are afraid of them.” Like Lydia. She didn’t know for a fact that her distant cousin was, but the seventh year seemed afraid of a lot of things so the odds were pretty good.

“Maybe we could do some sort of thing where we talk about all the good things about snakes.” Liesl suggested. “And parseltongues.” Honestly, the stereotypes about people who could communicate with snakes were extremely unfair. First of all, it was a seriously cool power and she would love to talk to snakes. Granted, with her luck, her parents would throw her out or something given the reputation of parseltongues . Then again, if that was the case, she’d obviously get to go live with Uncle Cory which would be a win.

Secondly, Hans was a parseltongue and one of the two best people that Liesl knew, and that anyone would think he was evil was ridiculous. Obviously, she knew people who would think that. There was no way that she was telling her parents and brother about her friend’s special gift-not that they were people she confided in anyway- and hoped that Desmond never heard any gossip about it or anything. Liesl would like to believe that he was snobby enough to think himself above gossip and rumors but since it would potentially ruin her life and possibly that of Hans-and having a role in ruining his life was a thought that she couldn’t bear.

Which was actually a reason why not to talk about them for their project. However, she did have a solution. “I mean, Basilisks are fascinating but like snakes and things related to them have such unfair reputations. So we could like do PR for them, and um, the parseltongue thing could be just showing how not everyone who can do it went bad. Like find famous ones who did good things. We could also like explore snakes and their symbolism in different cultures and myths.” Liesl suggested.

11 Liesl Brockert That actually means a lot to me, thanks. 1537 0 5

Libby Brockert

April 19, 2024 4:32 PM

Yay! by Libby Brockert

Excellent, Dora had agreed to work with her. That was a nice start. Granted, Libby was sure that if her roommate hadn’t, she could have worked with Alma or Jason but as much as she liked her cousins, it was sort of more exciting to work with her roommate. So she was glad to get to the other Teppenpaw before Dora ended up working with one of her other friends. Libby and her roommate might have both had staff relatives, but Dora and the other staff kids had grown up at Sonora, whereas Libby, her brother, and cousins had not so even though they were the grandchildren of the Headmaster, who was actually the boss of Dora’s parents, Zeus’ parents and Edu’s dad, they hadn’t grown up being friends with the staff children the way those children were with each other. Plus, Dora was also friends with Summer.

So, therefore, Libby felt super lucky to have gotten there first. Not that she would be against any of those people (or Jason or Alma with or without Cecily) joining them but at least she wasn’t going to be frozen out. Well, she never really had been since she knew that she could work with Alma no matter what but still, Libby wanted nothing more than to make new friends outside of not just her little unit with Miles, Alma and Uriah, but outside her family in general. Especially since a person’s roommate was a good person for them to get on with and she was glad to have one like Dora. She hoped they stayed friends, and became better friends than they currently were, and that she did not end up like Amethyst having to live in a hostile environment.

(Libby was not all that worried about that other example of roommates that hadn’t gotten along as Dora and Topaz had about as much in common as a unicorn and flobberworm.)

“That’s all right.” Libby replied. “I have no burning desire to do Herbology.” Honestly, when it came to plants, her biggest interests lied in the field of allergies because of how Miles was allergic to just about everything. So, she’d be interested in, like, taking a plant and breeding a strain without the allergens. Except that it was more just a thing that she wanted to see happen than something Libby wanted to be the one to actually do. Like of course she wanted allergies to be cured or to find allergy friendly alternatives to things like cheese, so things could be better for Miles, but delving into it as a research topic actually wasn’t all that interesting to her. Had this been a charity fair, like they’d had years ago, Libby would most definitely have wanted to raise money for Septuple A like Ruby had and asked her roommate to help.

And that was definitely something that she was passionate about but her whole life did not need to be about allergies.This was something that Libby knew her brother didn’t want for her because if Miles had the option for his life not to be all about them, he would have taken it in a heartbeat!

The thing was, as was often the case in a family where someone had a chronic illness or condition, things tended to revolve around that issue. Like how Libby had an indoor playground at her house, something that was absolutely awesome until she thought about why. Though, really, it was still pretty cool. Honestly, it was sort of the second best thing about her house, after the Ban on ~~Terror~~ Uncle Eustace. Libby hated him actually more than allergens because they did not have a choice but to invade Miles, like if he was outside during their prevalence, while their uncle had a choice on whether or not he acted like the sort of person who got Banned from places.

Anyway, there were other things about their lives revolving around her brother’s allergies that were so much less cool than the indoor playground. Like, take the Bonfire, for example. Libby wished very much that she could just enjoy the prospect without thinking about all the pollen and smoke and potential cross contamination that would never occur to someone like Dora. Though, to be fair, Libby was sure there were things her roommate thought about that would never occur to her so she guessed it balanced out.

It even affected things that seemed pretty tiny, like what cause she’d want to support in a charity fair. The Teppenpaw probably would never have thought about allergies if her brother wasn’t affected so severely.

So, really, Libby was sort of beginning to feel like she needed to have something of her own. Actually, that was why she played the piano, but that didn’t work with this particular event. Still, she felt the need to branch out from her family just a little and it sounded like Dora understood that. “We really don’t need to do Transfiguration either.” Libby added. “Honestly, I know this is focused on academics, but we should really do something fun . I like playing the piano, but just playing it,not really any other aspect. Plus, Jason will probably do something on music of some kind.”

11 Libby Brockert Yay! 1591 0 5

Samara Crosby

April 21, 2024 4:04 PM

Yay! by Samara Crosby

Samara absolutely beamed when Robyn complimented her idea to make their own board game. Like, she had somewhat expected Lyla to be agreeable to doing a project with her, as her roommate was a person that Samara felt safe and comfortable with and trusted and knew liked her. The Teppenpaw, on the other hand, was someone who had been Lyla’s friend first and Samara tended to worry about whether or not Robyn liked her at all.

And that was hard. While she generally wanted to be liked, since while people actually being likable and liking each other was not as special and rare as Samara had once perceived, it was still something that she generally strived for, and in particular, she wanted Robyn to like her because it would make Lyla’s life easier and Samara cared about her roommate.

So, while complimenting her idea was not exactly the same thing as agreeing to work with her, it still filled the Crotalus full of warm fuzzy squishy feelings inside. Granted, Robyn had not actually agreed to work with her and could very well mean that it was a good idea but that Samara could do it on her own. And it wasn’t like the other fourth year was saying it was a good idea and she should do it on her own because Robyn had an idea that she wanted to do instead.

Which meant that if the Teppenpaw didn’t want to work with her, it was more hurtful since that implied that the problem was Samara and not the subject matter as Robyn both thought it was a good idea-which she supposed could also be the other fourth year being polite and diplomatic-and didn’t have an idea of her own that she was passionate about. However, even though Samara really did think making a board game would be fun, she would have agreed very quickly to do whatever the others wanted.
This, of course, was a survival skill that Samara had honed well. Always agree, or people will get angry and hate you forever. If you happen to disagree, don’t let on that you do. Certainly she was not going to disagree when she wanted Robyn to like her.

Nor was she going to disagree with Lyla and risk a falling out with her. Especially considering she was Samara’s roommate and she had to live with her for three more years. Being stuck sharing a room with someone who hated you sounded dreadful and the idea of Lyla hating her seemed even worse. Samara hated the mere idea of losing her friendship even more than she hated the idea of losing the ability to be comfortable in her own room.

And considering how much the Crotalus liked being comfortable, that just showed how much she cared about her friendship with Lyla!

So, of course if Lyla wanted to do something else, Samara would happily do it. It wasn’t as if she foresaw her roommate doing something on Quidditch or brooms or anything like that as it was a passion project and if Lyla had any real passion for things like that, Samara would probably know it by now since they lived together most of the year. However, like if Lyla wanted to do something with plants, she would go along with that, for example. Assuming Lyla wanted to do something for the Fair with or without both Samara and Robyn or one of them or neither.

Still, Robyn had complimented her and that just…made the Crotalus’ day. “Thanks!” Samara exclaimed, grinning. “I mean, we could make it educational if we absolutely had to. Or like, Lyla if you have something particular you’re interested in, it could be what the game is about. We could even talk about different board games and their histories and/or the history of board games in general. Although I suppose making a board game would stand out.” She added.

OOC: Lyla, feel free to join in whenever I just needed to get another post done

11 Samara Crosby Yay! 1563 0 5

Mathias Melcher

April 22, 2024 4:51 PM

The truth is out there (Beginner) by Mathias Melcher

Since the Returning Feast, Mathias had spent more time than usual thinking about conspiracy theories, particularly the ones around governments kidnapping humans for the sake of experimentation as this was what he planned to do his project for the Fair on. He had spent as many spare minutes as possible working on this topic. Fortunately Mathias had enough things that he was learning in his classes to prevent the subject of government conspiracies from getting monotonous.

Though the Aladren was unsure how such a thing ever could. Like even within the wider field of conspiracy theories in general, there was so much just about government experimentations on people. Like, he had learned that it wasn’t all done on people who were kidnapped, and they used captive populations like prisoners and those in mental institutions. Some of these experiments were verified as having had happened and some of them weren’t especially exotic, like tracking the course of an untreated disease in a population rather than curing it when that became an option.

Or they involved military uses, leading to the conspiracy theories that muggles wanted to kidnap magical children to use as weapons in order to destroy their enemies and terrorize nations that had yet to use the witches and wizards in their country for the same thing. Or look at their brains to find out why some people had magic and why some didn’t. Obviously genetics were a factor, but like if there were brain differences in a magical brain versus a muggle one.

On the other hand, there were some more interesting ones, like the ones about mind control. Obviously, there was a spell that did exactly that, and it was an Unforgivable for a reason. That did not mean that the government did not look for ways around that law by experimenting with other ways of mind control. Furthermore, what would stop the government from using the curse and making it look like someone died another way? Mathias absolutely would not put that past them.

Then it occurred to him. Captive populations ? Students at a boarding school absolutely fit that description! Obviously, they were potentially going to be brainwashed by their professors, that was without saying but now they could all be being experimented on by their government? Wait, was that why they had to take CATS? After all, part of the reason that fifth years took them was to make sure that they were learning the things they were supposed to be. So, therefore, the government was testing different curriculums and seeing the results. One might see that as a benign experiment but Mathias disagreed. What could be more dangerous than teaching an ideology? Especially when you were also teaching someone to use abilities that could be dangerous as well.

That was why he was more sure than ever that he needed to uncover the secrets that Sonora was keeping. If they thought that this project was going to keep him distracted they were dead wrong. Well, maybe not dead wrong. Somewhat wrong. Right now, Mathias was focused specifically on government experiments on people and that may or may not be linked to things that Sonora or the Melcher Academy or any other school was hiding.

Though to be fair, he doubted Sonora was going to radicalize people or something, since they hardly seemed like some anti-Muggle blood purist haven. Headmaster Brockert might be an old pureblood man but he just seemed to be way too apathetic to bother. Also, he had ample opportunity to indoctrinate them at the feasts and he just never did. Although Mathias should probably pay attention to see if anyone else was trying to brainwash students as he probably should alert the headmaster if there were traitors in his midst. Unless Headmaster Brockert was only pretending to not care and any brainwashing was actually his idea.

For right now though Mathias was going to focus in on government experimentation on humans because they were being given a chance to work on Fair projects. “Do you need help brainstorming?” The Aladren asked his neighbor. “I already know what I’m doing. I’m going to do it on conspiracy theories about humans being experimented on by the government.”

11 Mathias Melcher The truth is out there (Beginner) 1581 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

April 24, 2024 9:51 PM

I did mean it as a really strong compliment by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel nodded, not quite sure which subject 'PR for Snakes' would fall under primarily, but guessed maybe Care of Magical Creatures? He'd mostly been brainstorming, and her idea could combine aspects of most of his other thoughts. "Yeah, we could maybe have Cori out with us anyway, and while he's not a petting zoo by himself, he's a good not-too-scary snake that people could pet with supervision." After seven years at Sonora, Cori was pretty used to people and wouldn't get scared of the students either or react badly to being petted. He actually liked it in small doses, so Hans would just need to keep an eye on things and give him the breaks he needed if Cori started getting overwhelmed. "Petting animals makes people like them more."

He took out a fresh piece of parchment to record these ideas, as this seemed to be a more formal 'this is what we are going to tell the teachers we want do' rather than 'this is something we're thinking of maybe doing' like his first list.

He titled the page 'PR For Snakes' and as a first bullet point included 'Petting Cori'. He could probably get dad to bring in more, but none of the ranch snakes were nearly as comfortable with people who didn't speak parseltongue as Cori was, so that might not be the best option if their objective was to get people to see the good side of snakes and not the bitey teeth parts.

Next, he added 'famous good parselmouths' as the second bullet point. He didn't doubt that good ones existed (though perhaps 'famous' might be a stretch as he couldn't think of any off the top of his head) - he and his dad were hardly likely to be the only ones who weren't evil - but like him and his dad, most people who were didn't necessarily advertise that they were because they were afraid of how other people would perceive them because of it. So figuring out if any famous people had the talent might be tricky.

Next, he added 'Symbolism in myth and culture' as that would be fairly easy to research and put into a poster of some kind. He didn't think all of the symbols were going to be good, but they probably shouldn't ignore the bad ones. Maybe they could add related facts to show if the myths were true or false, and highlight just how bad of a rep they'd been given so unfairly. 'With factoids to support whether the belief is true or false,' he wrote down on the same line so they could remember how this was supposed to play into the PR objective.

Moving his quill down to the the next line, he made the bullet point but he wasn't entirely sure how to frame 'the good things about snakes' for his list, as that wasn't very specific. A lot of the things he liked about them weren't necessarily things other people who couldn't speak their language would necessarily understand. He thought of the ingredients that were useful for potions that they harvested at the ranch as their primary source of income, but he wasn't sure he wanted to reduce the whole 'good things about snakes' to their body parts. That seemed pretty rude and exploitative.

He pulled the quill away from the paper before he left an ink blot of indecision, and looked at Liesl. "So, um, what else? I don't know. 'A Day in the Life of a Snake' sort of thing, maybe? To show that most snakes are really only interested in enjoying the sun and munching on mice, and don't mean people any harm?"

1 Hansel Hexenmeister I did mean it as a really strong compliment 1524 0 5