Have a little Piece of Mexico on Pecari Commons

Elly Eriksson

November 30, 2007 1:47 PM

Not so lonely - TAG my roommates by Elly Eriksson

The moment covered wagons started to return to the school, bringing back students from their midterm breaks, Elly was excitable beyond measure. The Headmaster’s efforts had ensured that her holiday at school had been extremely fun after all, but she was nevertheless thoroughly looking forward to seeing her friends again. Waiting for their arrival, Elly had busied herself in the third year girls’ dormitory with last-minute touches. She had, for the first time ever in her life, cleaned a room without being instructed to do so. In truth, not a great deal of cleaning was to be done, for the Prairie Elves had kept the room spotless. However, without the worry of disturbing the other girls, Elly had made a complete mess of their room over the holidays, and so made efforts to tidy it up again before they returned. In addition, she had laid a small gift for each girl on the pillow of her bed. Unlike previous years, the presents hadn’t been bought on a shopping trip with her mother, or even made out of fabric found in the spare room. Having stayed at Sonora over the midterm holiday, Elly had found it necessary to be rather more creative with her gifts this year.

For a start, she had saved the chocolate coins collected on the scavenger hunt, and had distributed them equally between her roommates. For the rest of their gifts, she had put together from bits and pieces found within the school and grounds, helped occasionally by the spells she’d come across in her frequent visits to the library.

For Meredith, there was a photograph frame made from twigs gathered from the labyrinth, intertwined with a blue hair ribbon Elly had never worn. She’d found out one of the pictures taken of Meredith, Echo and herself at Mere’s house last year, and slipped it neatly into the frame.

For Caedence, Elly had worked hard to transfigure a largish stone into a water glass – a spell they’d learned in class last year. The glass wasn’t anything fancy, just a plain tumbler with a slight blue tint to it, and then Elly had ‘borrowed’ some colour-changing ink that someone had foolishly left in the Pecari common room, and written Caedence’s name across the glass.

Danae had proved a touch more difficult, because Elly didn’t know her very well. She liked her well enough to give her a present though, and so next to the chocolate coins on Danae’s pillow was a bookmark. Elly had carefully written the name across the top of the narrow strip of parchment, and used the sticking charm she’d learned in first year to attach some small pressed flowers to decorate the gift.

Elly had made gifts for Echo and Saul, too; she would have to find them later. For now, she sat cross-legged on her bed, playing with Custard, as she waited for her roommates to arrive.

0 Elly Eriksson Not so lonely - TAG my roommates 92 Elly Eriksson 1 5

Danae Dupree

November 30, 2007 7:15 PM

Feeling odd by Danae Dupree

When the door to the dormitory closed, a breeze fell off of it and swept across Danae's bare neck. She gave an involuntary shiver. Her hand reached up to touch the exposed skin. She had never been aware of indoor breezes before. Her hair had always protected her. Her long, long hair that had once been like a good friend and now it was gone. All because of Marie and a pair of scissors. Now, it hung a couple inches above her shoulders, making her feel vulnerable.

Danae headed towards her side of the room. She had hoped to be alone so that she could unpack her bags and disappear into the Gardens. She didn't want anyone to see her this way. It was humiliating. Unfortunately, Elly was already in the room sitting on her bed playing with her puffskein. Danae did her best to ignore the other girl. She didn't dislike the girl. At least, not anymore. She had before, because she was friends with Caedence, but after working with her in Divinations, she had actually gotten to know Elly a little bit and had to admit she wasn't so bad. She had even gotten her a present while in France.

When she reached her bed, she was surprised to find something there. It was a bookmark. She picked it up to examine. It appeared to be homemade, but it seemed like care had been taken into making it. A soft smile grazed her lips. Carefully, she placed the bookmark on her table along with the chocolates. Feeling a little more at ease and glad that it was only Elly at the moment, she decided it was the best time to present her present. Opening her trunk, she took out a box wrapped in paper that had moving snowflakes. Inside the box was a snow globe. It contained the Eiffle tower and was charmed to produce a color changing snow. It was small, but she had thought it was cute.

Tentatively, she approached the other girl with the box. “Hi, Elly,” she said shyly. With one hand, she held out the gift. “Merry Christmas.” The other hand reached up to play with nonexistent hair, a nervous habit. Blushing slightly, she forced her hand to her side. “Thank you for the bookmark. It's lovely.”

0 Danae Dupree Feeling odd 91 Danae Dupree 0 5

Elly

December 01, 2007 12:52 PM

Feeling funky by Elly

When the door to their room opened, Elly looked up to see which of her friends had made it back to the commons first. It was Danae, except not as Elly had last seen her: her hair had been cut shorter even than Meredith’s. It was quite nice short though – Elly thought it gave the other girl an air of confidence that wasn’t there before. Danae had always seemed fairly withdrawn (though perhaps that was just in comparison with her rambunctious roommates), and so Elly didn’t jump off her bed and hug her, which is probably what she would have done with Caedence or Mere, but uttered a simple “Hey,” instead. She didn’t want to alienate Danae with hugs when she didn’t seem an especially touch-feely sort of person.

While Danae got herself sorted, Elly continued to play with her puffskein on her bed, not saying anything despite the fact that the silence was unnatural to her, and making her nervous. She didn’t want to look like she was watching Danae, but she couldn’t help looking up every so often to try and work out the reaction to her present. When it was laid aside without a word, Elly felt a small stab of disappointment. It would have been nice if Danae had liked her gift, but Elly supposed that even silent acceptance was better than outright dismissal. It was only a bookmark after all – Danae probably had hundreds of very attractive bookmarks already.

Elly scratched Custard gently with her bitten-back fingernails, and was surprised when she looked up again to see Danae heading her direction. She was even more surprised when she was presented with a beautifully gift-wrapped box, and a timid, “Merry Christmas.”

“You got me a present?” Elly asked, a surprised smile on her lips. “I mean, thank you.” She took the proffered item form Danae, who then proceeded to thank Elly for her own gift. Elly laughed easily, feeling both relieved that Danae had liked the bookmark after all, and disgusted with herself for her earlier disappointment – she had to remember that not everyone was as outwardly expressive as she was herself. “Don’t mention it,” she told Danae, “I had fun making it.”

Then Elly turned her attention to her own present. She took the paper off carefully – it was too pretty to rip – and then opened the box contained within to reveal the most stunning snow globe she had ever seen; she was sure her eyes widened with delight. “Oh it’s beautiful!” she exclaimed, taking it out of the box for a closer look, the wrapping paper that had been so enthralling just moments ago now abandoned on the bed beside her. “You’ve been to Paris?” Elly asked Danae, having identified the figure within the globe. It did occur to her then that she knew very little at all about Danae, and that the girl could even live in Paris for all Elly knew. Making her mind up at once to rectify her ignorance, Elly scooted back along her bed to sit on her pillow, giving Danae plenty of room to sit at the foot of the bed, which Elly wordlessly indicated she should do. “Thank you, it’s wonderful,” Elly said earnestly, placing the snow globe on her bedside table, before tuning back to Danae. “Tell me about your midterm,” she invited, hoping with all her will that Danae would accept the invitation to sit and chat.

0 Elly Feeling funky 0 Elly 0 5

Meredith Lail

December 01, 2007 3:13 PM

Feeling cheery (WotW) by Meredith Lail

Meredith practically ran off of the wagon when it finally landed back at Sonora after midterm. She was in dire need for some normalcy after the break. She could handle a change of pace, and sometimes it did a person good, but by the end Mere wished for the normal pace again. There was far too much dolling up time and not nearly enough broom or gymnastics time. People from the ministry that came by to see her father would always stop to tell her how beautiful she looked at the gala and in the picture on the cover of the Nashville Notice. Her friends just kept laughing at her and she doubted they would ever let it go. She could understand why. It was very not Meredith.

She decided to leave the newspaper at home. Her school friends were going to see her dress anyway because her mother decided she should wear it again after they received the letter from the Headmaster about a ball at school. So much for normalcy. In an attempt to ensure that she did in fact stay Meredith and didn’t become one of those mindless zombies from Ms. Corona’s, she gave herself a long overdue haircut. It was back to normal chin length and back in her low pigtails held by her beater hair ties.

Mere held Pence and Dot’s shared cage and dragged her luggage behind her to the entrance of the Labyrinth Gardens that led to the Pecari Common room. It felt so good to be back. With all the happenings at home, Meredith forgot to send out her presents on Christmas. She had them all in her suitcase ready to hand out when she found all of the recipients. She had gotten a little something for pretty much everyone, which meant a lot of goody bags to fill with candies. A few people got something a little more, but Meredith couldn’t think of an individual gift for everyone she knew. She didn’t have the same creative brain like, say, Elly did.

Mere hurried upstairs to the third year girls’ dorm. She opened the door a little too quickly and it bounced off the wall with a bang. Pence gave a nervous squeal at the sound. She quickly stopped the door from bouncing back and hitting her or the cage. “Oops. Sorry Pence.” She looked at the two girls already in the room with a little apologetic grin.

“Merry Christmas, happy new year, and all of that!” Meredith laughed, oblivious to what the banging might have interrupted. She did see opened presents though. “Oh! Hold on a second.” Mere pulled her suitcase to her bed and set it down along with the cage. She opened the case and reached into the large stuffed bag within it. She pulled out two goody bags made from her famous dancing elf wrapping paper and tied at the top with red and green ribbon. She held one out to both Elly and Danae with a smile. “Here you go. It’s a little late, but Merry Christmas.”

0 Meredith Lail Feeling cheery (WotW) 0 Meredith Lail 0 5

School Owl

December 02, 2007 1:01 AM

Have a little Piece of Mexico by School Owl

An owl with two small packages tied to her legs landed on the window sill of the dorm room to the 3rd year Pecari girls. Despite not having to go very far, the owl was very tired. The packages were heavier than they looked and it had been quite a fight to keep herself from being overwhelmed with weight.

But, she had made it to her destined place with the packages still safely tied to her. She tapped patiently on the window trying to get the attention of the young girls. Specifically, two girls that go by the names Meredith Lail and Elly Eriksson.

Along with the packages were notes. The notes were quick and to the point much like the person who wrote them is. They are as follows:

Elly

I hope your Christmas and New Years went well. I was down in Mexico when I came across this and thought you'd like it.

Mateo

Meredith,

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a good New Year! While in Mexico, I found this and it reminded me of you. I hope you like it.

Mateo

Inside the package labeled for Elly was a Talavera wall art of a Sun Face. It was painted in bold colors of yellows, oranges, blues, greens, and purples. The package labeled for Meredith contained another Talavera art, but it was of a Horse. The horse's colors were richer to the eye of darker blues, golds, and pinks. The gifts were handmade and hand painted (though not by Matt) and were of Mexican heritage. And even though Matt would never admit to it, each gift was picked with care.

0 School Owl Have a little Piece of Mexico 0 School Owl 0 5

Caedence

December 06, 2007 10:40 PM

Feeling mixed emotions by Caedence

Caedence clomped into her common room feeling a mixture of sullenness and cheer. She knew that she was going to have to put up with Danae so soon after putting up with her father. But she was cheery that she was seeing Elly again. She peered into the wire mesh that covered Scrap’s cage. She had attached the mini cage holding the fluff ball to the top of Scrap’s cage. The young cat, no longer kitten, mewed pathetically to express his desire to be let out. Caedence laughed and opened the door.

The laughter left her face as soon as it graced it at the sight of Danae so close to Elly. Meredith was there too, but she didn’t mind her roomie. She actually had gotten Meredith a present as well as Elly. Well, she actually made Elly’s gift. IT was going to be something special for her friend, something that she knew Elly would love.

But first to let her cat loose and to let loose the fluff ball. She scooped out her puffskein first, because she knew that Scrap wanted to eat it, then let loose her cat. Scrap dashed under her bed in a streak of cream-colored fur. All Caedence could see of her disappearing cat was the brown tip of its tail and one of its mittened paws before it disappeared. She couldn’t help but let out an unsmiling chuckle at her cat’s antics before nestling the fluff ball securely on her pillow.

She ignored her roomates for the most part, while she looked for the two of their presents. Then she noticed something out of place. She noticed a blue glass with her name on it and some coins, probably those chocolate kinds that were tossed out at St. Patrick’s Day. She picked the glass up and inspected it. It was like the ones they made in transfiguration. The only person she could think that would make something like this would be Elly. Meredith didn’t like Caedence, she didn’t think, and Danae hated her guts, so she knew that it had to be Elly as Echo couldn’t make it up to their dorms.

“Thanks,” She said half out loud, half in a mutter, and placed it back on her table. She waited until Elly caught Caedence’s out-of-the-corner-of-the-eye glance and smirked for a second. Fishing through her bag, Caedence unearthed a peppermint stick in her bag. Fine, merry Christmas Danae…

Finally, she found what she was looking for. Plain brown paper cut from a shopping bag covered Elly’s cube-shaped Christmas present. (The Redoaks didn’t have wrapping paper as they hardly exchanged presents) Actually, her present was a cube, in a sense.

Caedence had gone to a local magical photo shop to have several pictures copied and brought to life. One was a picture of Caedence from kindergarten. She had her hair in twin braids, draped over her shoulders, a tooth missing from her smile, laughing at the camera. Three were the pictures her and Elly had gotten in the photo booth over the summer, the two of them laughing and making faces at the camera. One was a picture of Caedence over the holidays, a very unhappy Scrap wrestled into a Santa hat that fell over the brown patch over his eye with the fuzz ball perched on her shoulder. Caedence kept scolding her cat over and over again, it looked like telling him to keep still, before looking back at the camera with a smile.

The final picture was taken with her mother at the dance. Her in in her black dress, hair in a bun with a froth of curls cascading out of it, and a flower intertwined in her hair, glowing with happiness, face flushed from the dancing. Her mother hugging her, smiling, her Santa dress absolutely tacky, the dark circles under her eyes barely visible, a grin spreading across her face. The two were having fun, and the picture reflected that.

Meredith’s present was found next, and fished out. Not knowing what the girl liked really, knowing only that she lived somewhere south and was almost as loud as Elly, Caedence didn’t know what to get. So she had her mother prepare a box of fudge for her roomate and got her a pretty green heart-shaped necklace. It was wrapped in the same brown paper as Elly’s.

Passing the wrapped picture cube to Elly first, then the slightly lumpy one ot Meredith, then, with a grunted “Here” the peppermint stick to Danae. She sulked back to the foot of her bed and began to attempt to coax Scrap out. \n

0 Caedence Feeling mixed emotions 94 Caedence 0 5

Danae

December 07, 2007 3:22 PM

Thread Combining by Danae

Danae sighed a breath of relief, glad that Elly liked her gift. She didn't know the girl that well and wasn't sure a snow globe would have even been something she would like. At the question about Paris, she nodded. “We spend every Christmas there with my grandparents,” she answered, taking the proffered seat. It was strange to be sitting on Elly's bed when it hadn't been that she had thought so poorly of the other girl, judged only by the company she kept. She supposed it went to show that birds of a feather didn't always flock together.

“My midterm was...” she struggled to find the right word and finished with, “interesting.” It had been more than interesting, it had been downright awful, especially with Marie, but she didn't feel comfortable telling Elly that. She wasn't even sure she would tell those that she was closest with at the school. She knew that Chris' betrothed was unhinged and it wasn't her fault what had happened, but she felt ashamed. Part of it may have also been caused by the fact that her mother, her own mother, hadn't believed her. She thought that Danae had done it to herself for the attention, which was ridiculous as she made the effort to be invisible.

She didn't get to say more before the door was opened with a loud bang. She jumped a little. She turned towards where the sound had originated and saw Meredith in a cheery mood. Curiously, she watched the girl dig through her suitcase and produce tow goody bags, one given to each of them. “Thank you,” she said, taking the bag with a slightly guilty feeling at not having gotten anything for her in return, especially given that she liked Meredith well enough, but had never had the opportunity to get to know her. She decided she would have to figure out something to give to her a little later.

As though more excitement couldn't happen, an owl flew through into the room carrying more presents. This time they were for Meredith and Elly. Then, Caedence burst into the room. Even though, she didn't like Caedence that much since she thought the girl was much too aggressive, Danae still had to admit that it was almost like a little party, especially when Caedence produced presents of her own. Surprise registered on her face when Caedence handed her a peppermint stick. “Thank you,” she managed quietly, wondering what had come over the other girl, another person she had failed to get something for.

Then, a thought occurred to her. She knew what she could give to each. Excusing herself, she slid off Elly's bed and went over to her side. She dug around a little in her truck and produced two trinket boxes. One was decorated with moons and stars. The other was decorated with various bead shapes. She had bought them for herself, but she knew she could always buy others later. It was more important to establish good will while she could do so. Maybe it had something to do with the new hair, but she thought that maybe she could show more of herself rather than just her protective shell or maybe it just meant that she was growing up. Either way, she wanted to try and put the fighting to rest, or at least, as much as possible.

Before returning to where Elly and Meredith were, she cautiously approached Caedence. She held out the box with moons and stars. “Merry Christmas, Caedence.” Then, she added, knowing it was probably her presence that was stopping the other girl. “I'd like it if you came over and joined us. You were missed.” Oddly enough, while it implied Elly and Meredith, she found that she had included herself in the statement. She still didn't necessarily like the girl, but she was familiar and in a way, safe, especially compared with Marie. And maybe, just maybe, Caedence was a little like her, now that she admitted it. Maybe what was on the surface wasn't really what was on the inside.

0 Danae Thread Combining 0 Danae 0 5

Elly

December 08, 2007 7:04 PM

Nicely Done by Elly

Elly was pleased to see that Danae did take a seat, and didn’t hesitate in sharing that she spent every midterm break with her family in Paris. That had to be so much fun! Elly visited her Grandma for a few days every Christmas (this year being an exception) but that was only just down in Surrey, nowhere near as exciting as Paris. Elly did get the impression that Danae hadn’t enjoyed herself fully, though, based on her word choice of ‘interesting’. Unless of course the other girl really did mean it had been interesting, and hadn’t just been using the word in place of more negative adjectives, as it had sounded. Elly wouldn’t hear any more, though, because Meredith took that moment to bang her way noisily into the room. Elly laughed at her, and sent her best friend a wide grin. She felt it would be poor manners to desert Danae just to catch up with Meredith – there would be plenty of time for that later, anyway. Meredith, on the other hand, apparently didn’t feel the same way. She handed goody bags to each of the girls and Elly shunted further over on the bed to make space for her friend should she desire it. Having accepted her gift, Elly told Meredith, “Your present’s on your pillow.”

Before Elly had even had time to look in the goody bag, more gifts arrived for her and Mere, from Matt Santoro. Elly vaguely wondered why he had sent them by owl instead of delivering them himself. She also felt bad upon opening it to see a beautiful ceramic decoration from Mexico, when all she’d got to give him was a pack of biscuits. She did allow time for a quick glance up at Danae – Matt hadn’t sent a present for her, but from what Elly had heard from Saul, Josh was bound to be getting a present for Danae.

After placing Matt’s gift carefully aside, and hugging Mere for the cute Snitch/ball thing that was with her confectionary, Elly had just settled back down on her pillows, ready to resume her conversation with Danae, when Caedence finally arrived. It was like Christmas morning, with everyone arriving together, and lots of presents! Elly was having a great time as she called a greeting to Caedence, which went unacknowledged, but Elly didn’t mind – Caedence had always been at her most withdrawn when returning from holidays. Elly was surprised, though, as not only did Caedence offer gifts to her and to Meredith, but she handed over a small token to Danae, too. Elly couldn’t help but smile – this was the same girl who, in their first year, would pick fights with anyone who so much as looked at her wrong. Now here she was exchanging presents with a girl she’d been edgy with for over two years. Possibly more surprising, though, was Danae’s move to return the favour.

Throughout these exchanges, Elly remained seated at the end of her bed, pleasantly bemused by the turn things had taken. While the other girls were settling, Elly quietly took the wrapping off her present from Caedence. The pictures she saw were beautiful – a real expression of Caedence, not the angry girl, but the cheerful friend she had been over the summer. Elly loved the cube – she placed it alongside her other gifts, feeling so elated she almost thought she could fly (without a broomstick) if she just tried it.

Elly pulled Custard close for a quick cuddle, before placing the critter on her shoulder. A short distance away, Danae was effectively offering the olive branch to Caedence, suggesting that they all sit down together. Elly’s face split into its widest smile yet. “Yes, come on over, Caedence,” she said, laughing. “Danae was going to tell us about Paris, and I want to hear all about this party with your mother,” she said, referring to the pictures. Elly grinned at all of her roommates – this was the best fun she’d ever had!

(OOC: Phew! That was hard work)

0 Elly Nicely Done 0 Elly 0 5

Caedence

December 08, 2007 9:35 PM

Yay! We are one! by Caedence

Caedence still hadn’t succeeded in coaxing Scrap out from under her bed. The little nuisance. She heard Danae excuse herself from Elly’s bed and Caedence stiffened. What was that girl up to? Holding her in a cautious glare, Caedence watched Danae ruffle through her stuff, and produce two boxes. She stiffened further when Danae approached her. She felt like almost backed into a corner, one she made by giving the girl the peppermint stick. Now she knew why Scrap used to always claw her. Until Caedence taught the cat a harsh lesson that she could claw back.

She hesitantly reached out to take the present. Almost as if she was afraid of what might be in it, Caedence held it in a tentative grasp. She inspected the little moons and stars on it carefully, not quite meeting Danae’s gaze.

“I'd like it if you came over and joined us. You were missed.”

Caedence’s head snapped up. What in the world was Danae saying? She hated Caedence! Her and Danae had been throwing insults and threats at each other since the first time they talked. Heck, even last year Danae and Caedence fought when Elly had the problem with the itch powder. Caedence had even wished, just after midterms last year, that she would come across Danae so she could take out some of her anger on the girl. She didn’t know what to say, or what to do. She just sat there staring dumbly at Danae with a mixture of shock and apprehension on her face.

Caedence was brought out of her stunned silence when Elly talked. Throwing one more curious glance at Danae, Caedence moved back over to where Elly was. “So…Danae…” She said awkwardly, “You went to Paris huh?”

She didn’t really want to talk about her party with the other girls, so she hoped something interrupted them before that happened. She would rather not share any superfluous details of her life with Danae. They may be looking at a truce, but certainly not a friendship. She refused to make any more friends ever. Though she didn’t mind Echo and Meredith at all. She leaned up against the side of the bed, feeling it was too crowded for a fourth and indicaed that Danae should take her spot back.
\n

0 Caedence Yay! We are one! 94 Caedence 0 5

Meredith

December 10, 2007 10:17 PM

That's profound. by Meredith

OOC: I think I've caught up all right. *crosses fingers*

BIC: Meredith was glad to see Elly and Danae happily accept her gifts and gave a grin and a casual “No problem.” when thanked. She had dropped her suitcase on her bed and grabbed for gifts so quickly, she hadn’t noticed the present at the end of her bed. Mere looked as Elly pointed it out to her. She picked it up and eyed it with a smile. It was a neat frame made of twigs with a ribbon interlaced in it. The picture soon captured her attention and she looked at herself, Elly and Echo fondly. It was a great picture of them. She returned Elly’s hug with as much enthusiasm in thanks for the frame and the chocolate coins. And it seemed like presents weren’t done being delivered.

An owl flew in carrying a gift for both Meredith and Elly from Matt. A beautiful statue of a horse. Mere wondered where she would put all her gifts if she received many more. In the mean time, she moved the pet cage over, ignoring Pence’s nervous squeak that was due to seeing a cat, and placed the picture frame in the middle of the bedside tabletop. She put the horse on its other side nearest the bed. Perfect. When Mere turned around, she saw Caedence had joined the steadily growing party of third year girls. And with a gift as well. Mere thanked her in kind, but Caedence walked back to her bed before Mere could give her the gift she had gotten for her.

Meredith took a goody bag and the wrapped up gift out anyway, a set of Quidditch hair ties similar to her own since she knew Caedence enjoyed Quidditch as well, and slid across her own bed to reach Elly’s. She sat cross-legged, still leaving room where Danae had been sitting so she could return to her spot. It looked like Elly’s bed would soon be crowded. After some coaxing from Danae and Elly and an encouraging nod from Mere who would love for Caedence to come join them, Caedence did come back despite looking a bit tense and joined the conversation that had first been halted by Meredith. Mere knew Danae and Caedence weren’t the best of friends, but both seemed prepared to put that aside for the good cheer of the moment. Mere was glad for that.

“Paris sounds exciting. I’ve only ever been out of the country once and it was only for maybe half an hour.” She added as she worked the wrapping paper off of her gift from Caedence. She paused for a moment to pass Caedence her gift and goody bag before turning back to her new necklace and opening her box of fudge with a giddy smile.

0 Meredith That's profound. 0 Meredith 0 5

Danae

December 16, 2007 8:30 PM

Indeed. by Danae

Danae was glad that Caedence followed her back to where the other girls were. She knew they would never be friends, but it was nice to be able to have peace in the room. Her major issue with Caedence had always been the other girl’s aggression to which she allowed herself to react and at times, provoke. She had learned a lesson about such things over Christmas break when Marie sot revenge by taking her hair.

At Elly’s bed, Danae curled back into her spot and handed the other trinket box to Meredith with a ‘Merry Christmas.’ She wasn’t really sure what the other girl’s tastes were, but she hoped she liked it all the same even though it wasn’t much.

With everyone settled and their eyes on her, expecting to hear about Paris, Danae shifted uncomfortably. She didn’t want to disappoint anyone, but she didn’t really want to discuss it at any rate. She was afraid Marie would come up. She settled for a compromise of trying to avoid mentioning that girl. “My grandparents don’t live directly in Paris, but right outside of. We get to go into the magical part of Paris though for shopping before Christmas Eve. That’s when my grandparents have their party. Then, on New Year’s Eve, there’s one at my cousin’s, who lives nearby.”

The one at her grandparent’s was never that exciting. Most of the people were friends of her grandparents, whose children were grown and gone. The one at Talen’s would have been a little more exciting, because the people that came brought their children. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on the view, Danae preferred not to be around most of them, as most of their jokes were disgusting and involved something being done to a muggle, then they would look at her expecting her to laugh and praise them.

0 Danae Indeed. 0 Danae 0 5

Elly

December 18, 2007 9:51 AM

Deep like the ocean? by Elly

When all the girls had finished exchanging presents and were settled on and around her bed, Elly turned her attention back to Danae and listened with interest to her roommate talk about the various parties she had attended in France over midterm. It sounded so glamorous to Elly; the last party she’d been to was her friend Lauren’s tenth birthday, and it had been a swimming party. Somehow she imagined the parties Danae attended were a little different.

“Was everyone at parties except for me?” Elly said, though she was laughing. “All of you three dressed up all pretty,” (here she threw Mere a wink, to let her know she would be teased later) “and me here wearing my grey sweater and living it up with the Prairie Elves.” Elly laughed again. It wasn’t that she especially wanted to dress up and be girly, because that wasn’t something that Elly took much pleasure in, but it was easy to feel left out when all your friends were doing something you couldn’t. In all truth her midterm had turned out to be far more enjoyable than she had imagined, but Elly had still missed her friends, and didn’t even have her own bedroom to sleep in or family around her to compensate. She had enjoyed Custard's company, though, which the puffskein thought to remind her as it tried nibbling her ear.

0 Elly Deep like the ocean? 0 Elly 0 5

Caedence

December 29, 2007 3:25 PM

My apologies by Caedence

OOC: Sorry for the delay, amigos. Life has been hectic. Very Hectic. *offers a plate of apology cookies*

BIC: Caedence listened to Danae’s talk of her time in Paris. It sounded pretty fun. After all, it was Paris! She hadn’t traveled much until she went to Elly’s house, then Irene’s. She had never seen Paris. Just as well, as she didn’t speak the language. Though she had heard of some first year kid who grew up in France in Pecari.

“Was everyone at parties except for me? All of you three dressed up all pretty and me here wearing my grey sweater and living it up with the Prairie Elves.”

“Ha! I’d just as soon burn my dress.” Caedence laughed as she glanced over at the picture cube. “Besides, Mom did my hair. It looked weird.” She tugged at her hair, which was in a rather loose and messily thrown together braid. She hadn’t really cared much that morning of doing her hair.

She shrugged, knowing that Elly would probably ask her about the dance anyways. “It was just a Christmas dance. Nothing special. Me and mom danced and took a few pics, and my father just sat around glaring at the pair of us,” She said. She sighed at the thought of her sullen father.

“So,” she went on, “Danae had a fabulous time shopping in Paris” she pronounced the word ‘pair-ee’, “Elly buddied up with all the older students, I had a Christmas party. But what, oh what did Meredith do?”\n

0 Caedence My apologies 94 Caedence 0 5

Meredith

January 06, 2008 3:46 PM

Happens to the best of us. by Meredith

OOC: It's totally understood.

BIC: The winter holidays just seemed to be the time for one party after another. Meredith could picture Danae dressed up nicely in somewhere like Paris. It was supposed to be a very beautiful place. Somewhere her mother would fit in perfectly. Mere stuck her tongue out at Elly’s look. She was beginning to feel very smart for leaving the newspaper at home or it would no doubt end up on the wall with Elly’s other photos.

Even though it may not have been considered a party per se, Mere had no doubt whatever happened at Sonora over the break had been as much fun as one. Well, as much fun as a good one anyway. Caedence seemed to share her sentiments over these party issues if not a little more expressively. Mere looked at Caedence with an amused smile as she summed up the girls’ holiday events before asking about hers.

“Meredith went to a Christmas party too.” She grinned, deliberately speaking in the third person the way she was addressed. “It’s this thing the ministry does every year and Daddy usually just goes with Mama and maybe my big brother. Don’t know why they took us all this year. I’d rather live it up with Prairie Elves.” She shrugged with a smile. “And don’t burn your dress just yet, Caedence. Mama’s making me use mine for this ball coming up. We’ll wait ‘til after and make a bonfire of it.” She laughed.

0 Meredith Happens to the best of us. 0 Meredith 0 5