The "settling in" thread - first year boys' dorm on Teppenpaw Commons

Michael Grosvenor

June 11, 2011 12:43 PM

The "settling in" thread - first year boys' dorm by Michael Grosvenor

Michael had about a million questions but figured most of them would be better addressed by actually experiencing life at Sonora. Besides which, he didn't want to delay anyone getting to bed, especially not himself. The Opening Feast had been a tiring experience. He was glad to get out of the racket, to somewhere were just one person was speaking at a time. He stifled a yawn as he headed along the corridor indicated by the prefect.

Opening his suitcase, he was glad to find that his mum had packed the things he would need most immediately on top. He picked up his pyjamas and wash-bag and then froze. His alarm clock. He'd forgotten about that. Or rather, he knew he had his alarm clock and he knew he'd be sharing a room but he hadn't really put the two together. The pad that went under his pillow was only about the size of someone's palm, but as he picked it up, trying to figure out whether there was a way of holding it that would make it actually invisible, it felt like he was wielding an object the size of a large notice board. In trying to make the transfer from his case to his bedside table as subtle as possible, he managed to almost drop it and had to do some impromptu juggling to keep his grip on it. He hurriedly shoved the small round pad under his pillow and set the clock part of the alarm on the dressing table. It used to have wires between the two and they were still connected by something but it was a lot more flimsy looking and he wasn't sure whether they actually served any function or had just been put in as a comforting aesthetic. He automatically reached around to find the flex to plug the device in before remembering, when he failed to find one, that it didn't have that any more. Looking at the display, he noticed it already had large red numbers glowing from it and that they were automatically displaying the correct time. That, he had to admit, was clever. He wondered whether a magically modified VCR would do the same. If wizards could get VCRs to stop blinking 00:00 he might have to admit that they were onto something.

Straightening up, he tried to pretend like what he'd set up was perfectly normal.

13 Michael Grosvenor The "settling in" thread - first year boys' dorm 199 Michael Grosvenor 1 5

Skipper

June 12, 2011 4:48 PM

Moving in by Skipper

Skipper was lugging his chest of clothes up the four flights of stairs, making a large thunking noise with every stair. It was annoying, annoying enough to make nearly everyone peer out of their doors to see what all the noise was about..

Skipper didn't know the basic magic tricks, like making your luggage fly up flights of stairs by itself. No, his skills were of a different variety.. a rather unexposed variety.. and something most magicians didn't care for.

As he approached the final landing, he breathed a sigh of relief, dragged his chest the last few feet to the side of a comfy looking bed, and let it hit the floor. Across from him was a bloke about the same age as him with an outdated alarm clock. To which, he thought, I wonder what I could do with those parts?

"What, oh, yeah.. hi, I'm Adams. Skipper Adams. Nice to meet you too.."

0 Skipper Moving in 0 Skipper 0 5

Jasper Malone

June 12, 2011 5:28 PM

Best roomies ever? by Jasper Malone

The Feast had been very loud, and Jasper Malone had been very tired from the wagon ride there, so he had eaten little and not talked to very many people. What energy he had, had been devoted to the internal logbook he was keeping for posterity. He would probably write it down in some really secret place, once he was sure his roommates wouldn’t be able to find it. Jasper was an only child, so he’d never had to worry about younger siblings stealing his stuff like they did in books, but his mom could also be very nosy. He didn’t want to keep a diary because he wasn’t a girl but his logbook was very important to him. It was what he did on the nights he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep.

But he had to destroy the evidence before morning, otherwise The Others would get it. That was the way it worked.

Logbook 2, Entry 1
I have arrived at the training camp. Here I will learn all about how to use my magical powers for good and not evil so that one day I can save the universe. I will learn to be the very best. But, there are things standing in my way. We had to fight off dragons from the wagon so that we could get here in time and The Others who run the school would not behead us for our insolence and get a new crop of trainees from their underlings. Also, I think that there are probably spies, because they have divided us up into Houses.

There was a very nice older girl who led them to their commonroom, and Jasper was very impressed that they had a secret dance and everything. It was a little less cool than a secret handshake—Jasper had always wanted to have a good enough friend that they could have a secret handshake—but it was still pretty awesome. He was also very interested in the Dire Consequences that were promised if they tried to get into the girl’s part of the dormitory. Jasper considered that sort of thing a challenge, and he couldn’t wait until he made some friends so they could check it out. Getting in trouble was okay, as long as you had friends and you hadn’t hurt anyone.

The quarters have nice furnishings and the inhabitants seem to be nice overall. So far the training has not been very difficult, although we were told that from now on we would have to hunt our dinner using our skills alone. This will be a very good way for us to learn to use sneaky magic, because the animals around the training camp are very sly and cunning and cannot be thwarted by just normal boys, this is to make sure that we are truly worthy of being here. Otherwise we will starve to death.

The brown-haired, brown-eyed Illinois native decided that he was too tired to try exploring right now, and that instead he would get up early tomorrow morning and do it. So instead of going up the girl’s staircase (which would have been dumb with everyone watching) Jasper went up the boy’s side. He wandered around a little bit, getting a feel for the hallways, before finally finding his room. Once he did, he realized that there were two other boys in there from the noises he heard before stepping into the door, which Jasper did somewhat tentatively.

Having been homeschooled most of his life—public school hadn’t incredibly appreciated his very inquisitive sense of fun—Jasper hadn’t spent too much time around other kids outside of structured playtime/co-op stuff. He wasn’t afraid of them, but it was definitely a new experience. And he was already tired from new experiences!

“Hi,” he said, stepping into the room and almost tripping over his robes. Jasper hated robes. They were so uncomfortable, and he couldn’t do as much in them as he could in jeans! “I’m Jasper, and I’m from Chicago,” he decided that was a good introduction. He looked over the two other boys in the room. One of them was standing by an alarm clock and had longer hair than Jasper did. The other one looked like he’d just come in, so Jasper had probably barely missed him on the stairs. Probably due to his exploring. “Dude,” he added, realizing that was what he’d forgotten. “Can we share alarm clocks? Mine doesn’t exist.” There was no need to have one, because homeschoolers got to wake up whenever they wanted. He hadn’t even thought that he might need one at Regular School.

0 Jasper Malone Best roomies ever? 0 Jasper Malone 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

June 12, 2011 5:59 PM

Quietest alarm clock ever, which should be a good thing... by Michael Grosvenor

Michael blinked as someone introduced himself and said it was nice to meet him too, in spite of the fact that he hadn't said anything. He glanced around, wondering whether he'd missed anyone else talking under the ungodly racket the other guy had made with his trunk, but the boy was looking at him.

“Nice to meet you too,” he nodded almost adding another 'too' on the end, “I'm Michael.”

They were joined seconds later by a boy called Jasper, so Michael repeated his name and the fact that it was nice to meet him, even though the very first thing he did sent a little prickle of unease running down his spine. He figured everyone else in the room was going to unavoidably end up sharing alarm clocks, unless they knew spells to keep the sound to themselves. He was about the only one whose alarm clock wouldn't be waking everyone else up in the morning. But it would seem unfriendly and odd to say no.

“Sure,” he nodded, not being able to help a little grin at Jasper's turn of phrase in spite of his worry, “I can give you a prod when it's time to get up.” That was as near to sharing as was going to be possible... Michael's alarm clock would wake him up, and then Michael would be Jasper's alarm clock....

13 Michael Grosvenor Quietest alarm clock ever, which should be a good thing... 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Solomon Asa Davies

June 13, 2011 9:28 AM

As long as it don't wake me up, we're good. by Solomon Asa Davies

It had been a pleasant enough feast but Solomon couldn't have been expected by those who knew him to last much longer. Grateful that he didn't have to perform a jig (from now on he'd have to go back to the common room with a companion at all times because there was simply not enough energy in his body to perform such an odd movement and also enter the common rooms) he followed the other first years, idly listened to the prefect who had led them, cast his sleepy gaze around the common room (warm, comfortable, and maybe it could become home) and then followed up the stairs to the first year boys' dorm, making slow steps.

"Hey." He nodded with only a little surprise at the number of boys in his room. 'Not really my room, anymore.' He looked around for a bed and found one with one of his trunks already on it. He wanted to head immediately for it but smiled a little at the other boys first, always able to retain manners through years of cultivating by his family and the entire culture of the state. "Solomon Asa Davies. Mos' call me Asa. Nice tuh meet y'all." He cast a general smile about the room before heading happily to his trunk, unlocking it and pulling out his shorts. He wasn't really used to wearing anything to bed but his tutor had gone over the rules with him, informing him of everything that was proper and all that was not. To ensure that Solomon actually remembered, he had the boy write everything down. Only once, but it was enough to get him to remember.

"Where y'all from?" He pushed his trunk off, heading quickly for the bathroom to change from his robes to his red shorts. He already knew Dani was from Michigan, and though Arizona was a southern state, he already knew most wouldn't be from the south. They had foreign students here, and yankies as well. Solomon's voice which blended so well back home, would be a stark contrast to everyone else. The yellow skin was gone now too, and his dark skin had been restored. White teeth and blue eyes continued to form a pleasant enough expression though he was clearly tired. He took off his thick square rimmed glasses and put it on a table near the bed, his vision perfectly fine without them. It had been suggested that he wear glasses for reading but he had liked the feel of them so much that he had decided to keep them on. Now, all he wanted to feel were the blankets.

0 Solomon Asa Davies As long as it don't wake me up, we're good. 0 Solomon Asa Davies 0 5

Skipper

June 13, 2011 8:41 PM

trunks, alarms & everything nice by Skipper

Skipper looked strangely at the other guys in the room as Asa walked off into the bathroom carrying his shorts. "uh, yeah.. I'm from Boston." Then he noticed Jasper writing in a small book like a chipmunk/squirrel protects its food. Not wanting to intrude (and understanding the desire to keep a journal), he wrote it off as quirky. He also seemed easily excited, once again, alluding to characteristics shared with a chipmunk.

Skipper kept eyeing that alarm clock.. surely, we could come up with a better way to use such parts than a torturous device as an alarm! Skipper suddenly realized Jasper was asking him something, "huh? what? Sorry, wasn't paying attention..."

0 Skipper trunks, alarms & everything nice 0 Skipper 0 5

Jasper

June 16, 2011 12:11 PM

How about some intrepid exploration instead? by Jasper

Jasper grinned when Michael promised to give him a poke to wake him up. This was very good—he was terrible at getting up in response to alarm clocks, and it was pretty cool that Michael guessed he might be and responded with the offer to poke. Clearly, this whole roommate situation was going to work out pretty well since they were already basically reading minds. Obviously not literally, since mind reading was incredibly hard magic that even homeschooled kids didn’t get to learn (even though Jasper had begged and begged, after reading about it), but it was still totally up his alley.

“Awesome, gr—“ Jasper was just about to thank Michael in off-handed Spanish (his mother had decided to try teaching him foreign languages but after trying French, Spanish, and Latin had finally given up; bits and pieces had stuck, though) when another boy came in and greeted them all with a ‘hey’. The brown-haired boy looked around the room, for the first time registering how many beds were there. Huh. He was going to have a lot of roommates. Plus, the new guy looked pretty geeky, like some sort of technomancer or something that would be on an adventure team in the stories. They would have stories of their own soon.

Excellent.

The other boys seem to be worthy comrades. Tomorrow morning, we will go on an exploration to determine the best spots for future tactical advances. Maybe we will make a map one day, but first we have to make it secret so that the Others—or girls—cannot find it.

“Illinois!” Jasper announced. “Chicago, actually. My whole big family is from Iowa but they’re a li-ttle nuts so we don’t visit them.” The first-year realized that he hadn’t actually asked his new roommates if they wanted to go exploring yet. He was pretty sure they’d all say yes because they seemed like cool guys, even if Michael and the other kid who hadn’t introduced himself to Jasper yet seemed a little bit shy. Maybe unaware instead of shy. Those were usually the best sorts to have on adventures, because they always turned out to be really good at something nobody expected.

“Guysguysguys, who wants to go exploring early tomorrow?” the newly-Sorted Teppenpaw bounced on the balls of his feet. He decided not to share his intentions of making a map quite yet, since he didn’t know if one of the others was the hesitant sort that would tell on them to the authorities but feel better about it later. Maybe that would be Michael? Or maybe Asa. Or maybe they just didn’t have one? Any way he put it, Jasper was convinced that they would be a fantastic team after some trials and stuff like that.

He still hadn’t started unpacking his stuff Then, the boy who hadn’t introduced himself yet re-zoned-in, and Jasper repeated his question about exploring, just as excited as he had been initially. Yeah, that one was probably the vague adventurer who ended up having secret talents.

0 Jasper How about some intrepid exploration instead? 0 Jasper 0 5