Derry Four Finds Room One on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Derry Four

February 28, 2011 11:12 AM

Derry Four Finds Room One by Derry Four

Derry Four wasn't sure what he had been expecting or hoping for when he stepped into the water room of the MARS, but this . . . was better. There were mountain streams and even a few small collection areas that could almost be called ponds on Mount Pierce, but this . . . was better. He'd once seen the ocean, on one of the very few trips off the mountain, and that had been nice, but this . . . was better.

Derry stood at the edge of a lake that seemed enormous. The water was crystal clear, and great jagged snow-capped mountains that made Mt. Pierce look like a bitty little anthill rose up beyond it.

"Whoa," he breathed quietly, and felt tiny like even the ocean hadn't done. On the near shore, about a dozen feet or so from where the MARS door dropped one into the scene, there was wooden dock with a rowboat, a canoe, and a kayak tied up to it. Derry moved in that direction as if hypnotically drawn there.

Ignoring the boats for the time being, he just walked out to the edge of the pier and stared out at the water and mountains that touched the sky. He didn't know how long he stood there before he heard footsteps on the wooden planks behind him.

Turning around, he beamed brightly at his new companion and asked, "You ever paddled a canoe before?"

1 Derry Four Derry Four Finds Room One 189 Derry Four 1 5

Mollie Murphy

March 01, 2011 11:09 PM

Ah, water! by Mollie Murphy

Mollie had simply been wandering around the MARS room, when she saw a door. She cocked her head to oneside letting her white-blonde curls fall neatly over her right shoulder, then, twisting a lock (this one was particularly twistable), she walked over to the door.

Mollie let go of the curl and pushed the door open, only to step into a wonderful outdoorsy area that reminded her of her father's paintings. She reached up to find the particularly twistable curl, but had lost it.

Hmmm, she thought to herself. I should dye a bit purple, so I can remember which is the best curl to twist

Mollie had found a nice spot a little ways off to sit and enjoy her suroundings, when she heard the door opening behind her. She turned her head to see a boy enter the room, make his way over to a clear lake, and walked out to the water on the dock.

Deciding it was high time she met someone outside of class, Marie picked herself up off the grass and skipped happily over to the dock.

When she began to approach the boy, he whipped his head around, a smile lighting up his face. "You ever paddled a canoe before?"

Mollie shrugged and sat down beside where he was standing letting her legs swing over the edge of the pier. "I've been a couple times. Before I came to Sonora, I used to go to a summer camp with my best friend Nicole. It was on the water, so they had canoes and things and sometimes we took them out. But mostly I swam." She tilted her head up and squinted against the light. "I'm Mollie by the way, it's my first year here. What about you?"

10 Mollie Murphy Ah, water! 376 Mollie Murphy 0 5

Derry Four

March 02, 2011 11:30 AM

Ah, mountains! by Derry Four

The other person on the dock was a girl he was pretty sure he'd seen in his classes, but he hadn't yet talked to her. He was really glad when she introduced herself first. There were two types of people in this school - People Who Would Tell On Him To Grandmother, and People Who Were Friendly. He was partial to the second kind, even though Father seemed to want him to become friends with the first kind.

The two groups were usually distinguishable by the way the introduced themselves, so when they did it first, he would know immediately if he was supposed to be Derwent the Fourth, or just Derry Four.

The light haired girl (he'd never seen anyone so blond before - almost everyone in his family had very dark hair except Grandmother who was turning gray), fortunately, seemed to be of the friendly variety. She didn't even give a last name, never mind a family branch.

"Hi, Mollie, I'm Derry Four," he responded in kind, his numeral as much a part of his central identity as his first name, since 'Derry' alone usually meant his brother. "Also first year," he concluded, "and I never canoed before but would really like to try."

He looked out over the water, then into the canoes that did not seem to have charmed flotation bracelets in them. (Though he was kind of curious what those bright orange things were.) "I can swim," he added, in case she worried about bringing a newbie out over presumably deep water without some kind of safety net. "We've got ponds on our mountain." Maybe it was the snow on the mountains, or maybe it was just how clear the water was, but he just assumed the lake was going to be far too frigid to comfortably swim in. "Those are usually freezing cold, too." With luck, though, they wouldn't have to find out.

1 Derry Four Ah, mountains! 189 Derry Four 0 5

Mollie Murphy

March 02, 2011 10:37 PM

Ah, the fresh air! by Mollie Murphy

"Hi, Mollie, I'm Derry Four, also first year," he replied, "and I never canoed before but would really like to try."

"I can swim," he added. "We've got ponds on our mountain, those are usually freezing cold, too."

"You have a mountain!?!?" Mollie looked at Derry incredulously. How could anyone own a mountain? It was like saying you owned an ocean. Well, maybe not that extreme, but still. Mollie had grown up with a father who had taught her that even if they owned the house they lived in, the land their house was on, as well as the land everywhere, was only on lend from the earth.

Wistfully she thought of her father who was at home alone with his paints and clays and charcoal. He was probably sitting there in his studio with a plate full of cold dinner sitting on his desk while he sat on the floor covered in paint and clay making something wonderful.

He was probably lonely, but happy because he hadn't been a sociable person before Mollie and her mother.

Her mother. Molie sighed inwardly with disgust and then shook her head to clear out the bad thoughts. She was at Sonora, in a wonderful room with a lake and the sun. She was talking to a boy her age who seemed to be a perfectly nice child. She would not dwell in the past.

Mollie gestured towards the canoes that were floating in the water. "Wanna try? I haven't really canoed with anyone other than Nicole, but I highly doubt we tip. Besides, you can swim, I can siwm, it'll be fine."

It had been so long since she'd last been out on the water and was excited at the idea that she could start up again. She smiled hopefully and dipped a toe into the water. Cold, but not freezing cold. Refreshing cold.

10 Mollie Murphy Ah, the fresh air! 376 Mollie Murphy 0 5

Derry Four

March 03, 2011 10:57 AM

Ah, the cool breeze! by Derry Four

"Well," Derry back-tracked when Mollie seemed stunned by the Pierces having their own mountain. The other Teppenpaws had been surprised, too, but they hadn't been staring at real mountain mountains at the time. "Not like," and he waved up at the snow-capped peaks with a grand gesture that demonstrated just how beyond words those mountains were. "Just a little New Hampshire one. We could fit about a dozen Mt. Pierces in one of them." He stared up at the majesty for another moment, then added, "Probably more."

Mt. Pierce wasn't large even by New Hampshire standards. It comfortably housed the five Pierce families and was still largely all forest, but until just recently, Wesley and Alicia hadn't had a place to stay on it. They'd had to leave the mountain until Wesley's parents and brother moved into Pierce Manor with Grandmother and Uncle Marcus's old house opened up for the young couple. More than five houses would start getting crowded and strain the Notice-Me-Not charms that kept strangers away.

"Totally!" he agreed enthusiastically when Mollie gestured toward the canoes and asked if he wanted to give them a go. She dipped a toe in the water, so he dunked a finger in, too, and found it not quite as cold as he'd feared. He could definitely swim in that if they had to, but she didn't think they'd tip either, which was good, because he didn't really want to get his brother's cool colonial clothes all wet, and he wasn't sure how well tri-corner hats floated.

Just in case though, he took off his buckled shoes and left them on the dock. He didn't want them sinking to the bottom of the lake if he had to kick them off to swim properly. And since going around outside in just socks was silly, he took off his knee highs as well, and stuffed them in the shoes, leaving him barefoot and waterproof from the knee down.

Climbing carefully into the canoe, he settled down on one of the bright orange pads that were soft and comfortable (even if they did have an odd hole in the middle of them), and picked up one of oars. "I've seen portraits and pictures with canoes in them, so I think I have a basic idea of how this works."

Then, curious, he added, "Who's Nicole?"

1 Derry Four Ah, the cool breeze! 189 Derry Four 0 5

Mollie

March 17, 2011 5:47 PM

Ah, canoeing! by Mollie

OOC: Sorry I was out of town without internet access, and then I had a lot of make-up homework to do, but I'm back now! :)

BIC:

"Well, not like," and he waved up at the snow-capped peaks with a grand gesture that demonstrated just how beyond words those mountains were. "Just a little New Hampshire one. We could fit about a dozen Mt. Pierces in one of them." He stared up at the majesty for another moment, then added, "Probably more."

"Still," Mollie was doubtful. "It's a mountain. I dunno, I've just never met anyone who has owned one before." She shrugged and tilted her head in consideration. "They're just so..." She raised her arms in exasperation at being unable to say exactly what she meant.

When Derry began to take off his shoes and socks, she smiled a little at them. "Where do you get clothes like that? They're so...cool! When I was younger, sometimes I'd imagine that I lived in the colonial days, but no such luck, I never went back in time." She gave a small laugh and gestured to her paint splattered sweatshirt and jeans. "So all I've got to wear are these. Usually I'm not this messy, but I was missing my dad so I started painting earlier. Some of my hair came loose, so.." And she pulled at a particularly paint covered curl. "Purple, my favorite color! I'm thinking of dying my favorite curl purple, what do you think?"

She rolled her jeans half way up her calves, having taken her own shoes and socks off earlier, and hopped into the canoe after Derry enjoying the way the boat swayed slightly as she jumped in.

She looked over to him and grinned. "Those aren't for sitting on you know." She pointed to the life vest that was sitting under Derry. "You put them on like this." She grabbed one of the orange vests and showed him how to put it on. "But they're extremely uncomfortable. I don't much like them. We don't have to wear them if you don't want. I'd rather not, it's just extra security to keep us alive and floating in case the canoe tips and an oar hits us and we get knocked unconcious so badly we can't swim. It's totally up to you, if you want to wear one I will too, otherwise I like your idea of sitting on them better!" She smiled again.

"I've seen portraits and pictures with canoes in them, so I think I have a basic idea of how this works." He held up an oar.

"Perfect," Mollie grabbed her own. "You ready for your very first canoe trip? I remember mine, Nicole and I were really young, about five or six I think, and our counciler Jenny took us out. It was..." She breathed in the delicious air deeply and smiled. "Amazing."

"Who's Nicole?"

Mollie looked at him blankly for a moment not realising that Nicole wasn't at Sonora with her and that no one here would even know who she was.

"Oh," Mollie smiled in realisation. "She's my best friend. We've been best friends for forever basically, so it's weird not being here with her. We've never been seperated before, same class every year since kindergarten, same group at day camp since about the same time, same cabin at overnight camp since third grade, same everything."

She thought about it for a minute. "I'm an only child, and she has four older brothers, so she's basically my sister, and I'm hers, we tell each other everything, and I hate that I have to keep this from her, she cried for ages when I told her I was being sent to boarding school. But I promised to write every day, which reminds me, I need to mail today's letter.. So, do you have any siblings?"

OOC: So that was to make up for being gone so long!

0 Mollie Ah, canoeing! 0 Mollie 0 5

Derry Four

March 18, 2011 2:32 PM

Ah, the splash of cool water! by Derry Four

OOC: No problem. Hopefully you had fun when you were out of town! BIC:

Derry shrugged a little helplessly at her inability to comprehend owning a mountain. His family had always had one (in as much as 'always' was defined as 'since Derwent the Original married the Brighton's only daughter, and they owned a mountain that he inherited') so to him, not owning a mountain was the odd thing. He was finding a lot of things off Mt. Pierce were odd.

Of course, his clothes were not among the things he counted as normal, and he grinned a little at her question about them. "They used to be my brother's," he told her. "I think my mom made them. I opened up my trunk when I got to my dorm, and there they all were!" His grin turned a little wry, "Took a while to figure out how to put it all on."

When she mentioned her idea about dying one of her curls purple he blinked at her blankly. "You can do that?" He thought he had a pretty good imagination, but even with the lock already covered in purple paint, he couldn't picture what it would look like if it was done like how Father kept the gray out of his hair. Hair color potions came in other colors than dark brown?

The only thing more astounding than that was the discovery that the orange cushion was for keeping people afloat rather than for sitting upon. "You don't have bracelets for that?" he asked, confused, and frowned down at the orange cushion he was sitting on. It was comfortable and the canoe under it didn't look nearly so soft, so he decided, "I don't plan to conk my head or yours with an oar when I capsize the boat, so let's just sit on them." If it floated as well as she said, they could grab hold of it if and when that became an issue.

Nicole sounded nice, even if Mollie used strange words he'd never heard before like 'kindergarten' and 'third grade' and 'day camp' and 'counselor' but he nodded and thought maybe it was like him and Thad.

"I had a brother. Well, no. I never had a brother, but Mom and Father had another son before me. Derry Three died, though," he lowered his head briefly in respect for Three's passed soul, "so then they had me, so they'd have an Heir again." He smiled again and perked up, "But my cousin Thad lives just over on the other side of the mountain from us, so he visits a lot because he's a replacement heir, too, and he's kind of like having a brother. He'll be coming in two years, cuz he'd be a little brother, not a twin like Nicole is for you. My youngest cousins are twins. I can't imagine seeing one without the other. It must be hard not having Nicole here."

1 Derry Four Ah, the splash of cool water! 189 Derry Four 0 5

Mollie

March 25, 2011 8:06 PM

Ah, life! by Mollie

OOC: Tons of fun, thanks!

BIC:

When Derry explained his clothes, Mollie grinned and nodded, "I got to pack my own suitcase, so no surprises there."

He blinked at her blankly. "You can do that?" he asked in reference to dying a curl purple.

Mollie nodded. "I wouldn't do it this year, unless we learn any color charms, I'd probably wait until we got home and buy some dye at the corner store or something." She shrugged. "Do you think I should?" She held the lock out for him to examine.

She was slightly confused that he didn't know one could dye their hair, but even more so that he thought bracelets could keep someone from drowning.

"You use bracelets?" She asked incredulously. "You must be joking!" She frowned when he mentioned capsizing the boat. "And not 'when', 'if'. If we capsize the boat. Which we won't."

When Derry began to talk about Thad, Mollie allowed herself to smile a little. It was sad that Derry knew he was a replacent child. She felt that if she ever knew that she was a replacement child she wouldn't feel human. At the very least she'd feel like an object, an unwanted object. But she wuldn't say that to Derry. As oblivious and blunt as she was, she did know when one should draw the line in polite conversation. And usually she remembered it.

"Yeah, it definatly is, but I mean, I guess I'll get to see her on holidays and stuff, right? And at least we're not actually twins. I remember when Nicole and I were younger, there was a set of real twins in our grade, and one year they weren't put in the same class. They were so unhappy, it was unbelievable." She flashed a bright smile. "And Thad'll be here in two years, so that's good."

Mollie looked out over the water, still and calm, and not quite disturbed yet from the canoe. While it was pretty to look at, she couldn't wait to get out there and stir up the water.

"Ready to go?" She asked cheerfully.

0 Mollie Ah, life! 0 Mollie 0 5