Spotting the First Year Boy (Jude) on Pecari Commons

Professor Aaron McKindy

November 09, 2009 6:58 AM

Welcome home, firsties [HoH Speech cont'd] by Professor Aaron McKindy

“These are the Labyrinth Gardens,” Aaron announced, walking backwards as he lead the group of first years (plus Prefects, plus anybody else who had wanted to tag along) along the correct path through the Gardens. “ Don’t worry, they’re not nearly as confusing as they look.” The professor stopped in front of an ordinary-looking hedge wall by a suit of armour. “To enter the Pecari Commons, you need to tell the password to this suit of armour. Please don’t share this password with any of your friends outside of your House; only Pecari students should have access to the Pecari Commons.”

“Deasil,” Aaron told the suit of armour. The hedge obligingly moved aside, revealing the entrance to the Pecari Commons. The man stood aside as the students filed into the room. Comfortable chairs and couches were scattered about, with handy tables in areas where students might like to do their homework. He motioned for the students to take a seat in the general area. “This will be your home for the next seven years; you will eat together, room together, and attend classes together. Over here,” Aaron motioned at the notice board “is the notice board. When the passwords change, they will be posted here. Sign-ups for Quidditch and flyers for other school events are usually posted here by involved students, as well as any other announcements.

“There,” Aaron continued, “are the staircases for the boys’ and girls’ dormitories. Boys are not allowed in the girls’ dorms, and vice versa, and don’t try—there’s a spell on both hallways that will drop you back down here if you do. You need to be back here by 10 each night to make curfew, and my office is just over there, so I’ll know if you come back later. Any questions?”

The Charms professor smiled at the gathered first years invitingly, pink, bubble-made tophat perched cheerily atop his black hair and crimson robes settled in the air around him.

|OOC| Respond here if you want, but you are otherwise free to roam the rest of the school! Enjoy!

Subthreads:

Spotting the First Year Boy (Jude) by Jose Hernandez with Jude Normandy

Wow by Startbuck Gregory with Holly Greer, Starbuck

Amazing! by Demelza Eagle

0 Professor Aaron McKindy Welcome home, firsties [HoH Speech cont'd] 0 Professor Aaron McKindy 1 5

Jose Hernandez

November 09, 2009 10:16 AM

Spotting the First Year Boy (Jude) by Jose Hernandez

Jose had still been in the Cascade Hall when Pecari's new Head of House started calling in the first years. Drawn in by the pink hat which looked to be made of bubbles - his family had some very eccentric modes of dress, even when they weren't working a Renaissance Faire or doing something else that required costumes or period garb, but he had never seen a hat quite like that - Jose drifted in closer and blended in with the kids a year younger than himself.

With his height being as unimpressive as it was (he wasn't small exactly; he was just a bit closer to average height in this group of kids than he was among the other twelve year olds of the school), and his rampant curiosity about McKindy and whatever he might say being as intense as any of the first years', only the prefects and any other older students who recognized him from last year might distinguish him as an older student.

Jose noted the password and followed everyone else inside. As McKindy talked about the usual rules Baer had gone over last year, Jose turned his attention to the other kids.

There was only one boy.

He wondered if anybody would even notice if Jose snagged a bunk in the first year dorm before anyone realized he wasn't technically a first year. Last year had been almost lonely at times. Strange, in a new sort of way, and it had been kind of nice to have his own space, but lonely. Especially late at night. Jose was pretty sure he didn't want to be by himself for his entire seven years here, and he wasn't convinced being stuck in an otherwise empty room would necessarily be the best thing for this new kid either.

So as McKindy wound down, Jose edged his way over to stand beside the first year boy. He stuck his hand out and introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Jose. I guess we're roommates, huh?"

It would eventually come out that he was a second year. But the first and second years shared all their classes and unless Tawny or one of his other classmates blew his cover, he could probably keep it up for weeks.

This year was already turning out to be awesome. First, he'd convinced Jack that the potion would give him animal characteristics. Now, he was passing himself off as a first year. It was way better than trying to convince strangers that (a) Jose could understand Spanish, or (b) that he didn't speak English. His record for making a Spanish speaker think he was fluent had been set only two weeks ago, at a folk festival in San Fransisco, where he'd been nodding and saying 'Sí' for almost twenty minutes before the lady cottoned onto the possibility that Jose had no idea what she was on about.

This was much closer to the second game he played though. Convincing English speakers he only spoke Spanish was much easier. He certainly had the look and the name for it. His father's Mexican genes completely drowned out his mom's Causasian ones when it came to Jose's appearance. The biggest problem in any long term deception of co-workers at the Faires was that his family would inevitably speak to him in English.

Pretending to be a first year would not be so easily blown. He thought he could maybe make it until the yearbooks came out. He made a bet with himself that he could maintain the role until then. If he lost . . . he'd wear a pink bubble hat for a week. If he won . . . he'd allow himself a piece of milk chocolate.

The biggest problem was going to be explaining why he had no luggage or school supplies waiting for him in the room. But he had faith in his ability to improvise.

1 Jose Hernandez Spotting the First Year Boy (Jude) 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Startbuck Gregory

November 09, 2009 1:28 PM

Wow by Startbuck Gregory

Starbuck was amazed at the Percari common room it was so big. She was excited about starting school and couldn’t believe she would be here for the next seven years. She listened to the Professor for a few moments and was glad that he was done. Not quite ready to head up stairs to bed she sat down on a chair.

She pushed back her hair out of her face closed her eyes. Everything was real; she still couldn’t believe she was a witch. She ran a hand through her hair and smiled as someone sat down next to her. She opened her eyes. Starbuck grinned sheepishly at the person and said. “This is all crazy isn’t it?” She asked with a wave of her hand.

0 Startbuck Gregory Wow 0 Startbuck Gregory 0 5

Jude Normandy

November 09, 2009 4:41 PM

Rare Beast, Aren't I? by Jude Normandy

It turned out that Jude’s guess had been right when it came down to who their Head of House was, and he was pretty keen on that. On the other hand, when the boy started hearing the summons that meant it was time to leave the feast, he figured he’d better put his shoes on. With grand irritation, the boy slipped his feet into his sneakers and got up with the girls to follow their Head of House wherever he and his hat might lead them. The conversation had sort of degenerated into Delilah, Mel, and Nina chatting about girl stuff, which was fine with Jude because it gave him the chance to eat. After some corn-on-the-cob and chicken and mashed potatoes and even some string beans (just because he knew his Mom would want him to), Jude was feeling almost full enough to roll all the way to the Pecari Commons.

But instead Jude walked, blue eyes firmly glued on their Head of House (Professor McKindy, as he had introduced himself) and peripherally took in his surroundings. After awhile and a bit of running commentary, Jude started to feel less nervous. The fact that he had been feeling a bit nervous was kind of weird, Jude decided with a frown, deciding to concentrate on his surroundings again. Most of the first years were quiet-ish, in deference to their Head of House, but some were still chattering quietly. Jude absent-mindedly attached himself to one of those conversations, throwing in a friendly smile, chuckle, or opinion as needed, not paying more than half attention to the actual conversation.

Armour, check. Password, check. Comfy commonroom, check.

Jude was seriously considering kicking his shoes under one of the couches, flopping back, and just chilling until all the bustle had calmed down. Maybe he would work on his latest Ceiling Bird comic, or (more probably) one of the girls he had been talking to earlier would come over and chill with him. They seemed to be cool about the no-shoes thing, and anyway, the commonroom was like his living room at home. AKA, in Jude’s mind, a Shoe Free Zone.

The possibility he didn’t examine was the part where a boy almost exactly his height (a bit taller, but not by much) approached him and stuck out his hand.

“Hey Jose!” the brown-haired boy flashed a friendly smile at his new roommate. “I’m Jude. Clearly we were destined to be roommates,” he added with a grin. “It’s gonna be great sharing with you. I’m an only child, so I’m definitely into this whole sharing plan. So hey, wanna check out our new room? And are you down with this whole magic thing? ‘Cause my parents definitely are about as clueless as I am.”

0 Jude Normandy Rare Beast, Aren't I? 0 Jude Normandy 0 5

Holly Greer

November 09, 2009 4:42 PM

That's one word for it. by Holly Greer

Holly had joined up with the very strangely attired man who claimed to be her new Head of House. She supposed he fit in well enough with the other Pecaris, but she couldn't help a small shudder. She would have been perfectly happy to avoid him, the 6th and 7th year prefects, and the new Pecari first years, but in the decidedly finite wisdom of the school staff, Holly had been named a Prefect herself. She had seemed to be expected to join the small parade, and so she had.

It was wretched. The new children were not as small as Molly, but not so large as Daniel, and Holly couldn't even begin to imagine how she was supposed to feel anything but superior to them. Nina was the only one she felt any kind of kinship toward, and that only because she was Chelsea's sister.

Finally, the guy with the tasteless hat stopped talking and attention came off of her as most of the kids started going up toward their dorms. Feeling no inclination to immerse herself in the undersized crowd but too drained to remain standing, she dropped (gracefully) down onto one of the couches.

“This is all crazy isn’t it?”

Holly turned her head toward the voice, realizing belatedly that she'd picked a couch that was already occupied. She tamped down her initial defensiveness, reminding herself that there was no possible way this new first year could possibly know Holly had been seeing a psychiatrist for most of her life. It wasn't a commentary on Holly, it was a commentary on Sonora.

And it was completely accurate.

"Yes," Holly agreed with perhaps a touch too much feeling. Embarrassed by the intensity of her confirmation, she added in a more normal tone, "Some of it starts to seem normal after a while, but a lot of it . . . doesn't. I mean, the waterfalls in the Cascade Hall, those you can eventually put aside as pretty but normal. But, like," she waved toward McKindy, who might have still been answering questions, "that guy's hat - is still very much insane."

1 Holly Greer That's one word for it. 123 Holly Greer 0 5

Jose Hernandez

November 09, 2009 6:02 PM

One of a kind by Jose Hernandez

Awesome. Jose grinned brightly, pleased that his initial claim was accepted so easily. It almost - almost - made him feel bad for lying, but he dismissed that consideration before it had properly formed. Jude seemed happy enough to have a roommate - destined even, Jose thought with amused irony - and he wouldn't have one without Jose, so no harm no foul.

As Jude went on to spill out a bunch of only vaguely related comments and questions, Jose remembered these conversations from last year - Does your family have magic? Any relatives at Sonora? Dude, where is all this water coming from in the dessert? - and he fell back into them easily.

"Sure, let's check out what kind of digs Sonora has. Only had my own room once, and it was kinda lonely. I'm an only child, if you're technical about it, but I live with my whole extended family, so I've got three cousins close enough in age to me that it's like I have siblings. When I'm home, I usually share with both Jason and Sam. When I'm away at school, I almost always had roommates - been a boarding school kid since kindergarten. My family's freakish, and not just because of that."

"We're kinda like your borderlands. We're prolly one of the richest families at this school, but check this out," he held one foot out in front of them and then pulled up the edge of the school robe, so Jude could see how big the robe was on him (Saul had been taller as an eleven year old than Jose was even now and it still dragged on the ground pretty bad) and how short the jeans underneath it were - they'd been hemmed for Sam who had really short legs and the pants didn't quite make it to his ankles. His canvas shoes were all but disintegrating on his feet and had three previous owners' worth of pen drawings and declarations of love the likes of which SP+PJ was only one, "I still get hand-me-downs."

Jose waved up toward the stairs ahead of them, "I mean, I don't even have luggage today because the bag split down the middle before I could get onto the wagon. Mom's sending most of my stuff by owl. Hopefully, I'll get it in time for classes tomorrow. Oh! Owls - that's how wizards send mail. My family's both. Wizard and Muggle, I mean. It's not even half-and-half - half-and-half is when one parent is completely muggle and the other's completely magical; we're totally mixed up. Mongrels, I've heard us called. We're technically a wizarding family, but only about half of us can actually do magic, so we kinda live on the fringes of both worlds. In tents." He grinned, "It's awesome."

"So, you're muggle then? What do your folks do? And what state are you from? We're traveling hippie gypsies from California. We're performers. Actors, musicians, dancers, jugglers, you name it. If you can get paid for doing it on stage, we do it. I got one cousin who's a stage magician. The funny thing is that he's really a real wizard and he's only pretending to fake it. I mean, we're all fakers, but he fakes faking it. How backwards is that?"

Despite asking a handful of questions, Jose didn't even slow down to give Jude a chance to answer them. "Which leads me to a warning I feel I should give you, as you're my new roommate and we'll be in close quarters for the foreseeable future. I'm a liar. Professional hazard of being performers - we embellish, everything. Don't believe anything I say at face value. Also, I'm a thief. My family's communal and all into the whole communist 'ours instead of mine' philosophy. I promise I'll give back anything I take, but you might have to remind me it's yours. I'm generally better about it than most of the cousins who didn't go to boarding school since kindergarten, but I'll occasionally look down and notice I'm wearing somebody else's shoes. It just happens. So, I apologize in advance for when it comes up. Nice sneaks, by the way. Okay, you can talk now." He grinned and winked, well aware that another of his family-taught flaws was that he didn't always let people get a word in edgewise.

1 Jose Hernandez One of a kind 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Jude

November 09, 2009 6:54 PM

And so are you by Jude

Jude blinked twice at the massive amount of information coming at him in the very short span of time it was released in, and wondered briefly how he had managed to end up in the House with people who talk. A lot. Not that he minded, exactly, it was more of a culture shock. The eleven-year-old had been homeschooled for most of his life and wasn’t used to being around too many people at one time; in fact, when it came down to it, Jude wasn’t sure he’d ever been around quite so many kids his age before.

Well, to be fair, Jude had been talking more than he normally would. Things were pretty quiet around his house, usually. Assuming his dad wasn’t talking to the walls or something, which he did sometimes when he got frustrated with a piece.

After about a minute and a half of Jose talking though, Jude’s blue eyes had gone very wide and he was seriously reconsidering his definition of ‘talking a lot’. Previous to his arrival at Sonora, it had been defined as ‘what happens when Dad gets a really good offer or a really lame offer’ and until about five minutes ago it had been redefined as ‘what happens when Mel and Delilah and Nina get put in the same room’. And now? Now, it was being re-re-defined as ‘what happens when Jose...talks’. Well, Jude had been hoping for a bit of a livelier experience at Sonora than he’d had at home. Maybe he was just getting what he asked for, in the package of one hyper roommate.

Although really, it was kind of interesting, if confusing. Jude definitely perked up when Jose mentioned that his family lived in California, and living in tents definitely sounded fun. It sounded like it wouldn’t involve things like too many rules or shoes, both of which suited Jude just fine. When Jose admitted to being a liar and a thief, Jude did his best to keep a straight face but ended up grinning a little bit instead, especially when his roommate mentioned shoes.

“You can have my shoes,” Jude said vehmently, making a face at the compliment. He hated shoes, he really did. The whole constricting thing really wasn’t his cup of tea, and new ones were always so pinchy. Plus, the eleven-year-old rarely got around to wearing the shoes enough to make them less pinchy, which really just exacerbated the entire problem. “My mom’s an environmentalist with the National Park Service and my dad’s an artist. We live in Orick, actually. And you can borrow some of my stuff, if you want.” Jude hadn’t lived by the communal property concept—well, he was an only child and homeschooled, so how could he?—but he didn’t mind giving it a shot. And if Jose wanted his shoes, well...more of a reason not to wear them.

0 Jude And so are you 0 Jude 0 5

Starbuck

November 09, 2009 7:06 PM

Right now it's the only word for it. by Starbuck

Starbuck smiled when the older girl said the no matter what, the Professor’s hat was insane. “Well then I’m glad that I’m not expected to wear something like that.” She grinned ear to ear and held out her hand. “I’m Starbuck Gregory.” She pushed her red hair out of her face so she could see the girl better. The girl who was sitting next to her was an older girl, a perfect if she remembered correctly.

She was a bit surprised that the older girl was talking to her, she knew from her old school that older students tended to not speak to the young years. They were often “beneath” the older ones which Starbuck didn’t understand hadn’t they all started off as a younger year?

“I’m what people call a muggle born apparently, so I’m so new to this magic thing it kind of embarrassing.” She said with a frown, she didn’t know why she told the girl that but she wasn’t one to hide things and wasn’t ashamed of her background.

0 Starbuck Right now it's the only word for it. 0 Starbuck 0 5

Demelza Eagle

November 09, 2009 10:29 PM

Amazing! by Demelza Eagle

Demelza wished that she could stop looking to stupid with her foolish grin on her face, but she just couldn't help it. Finally, she was going to start her life as a witch. Or, well, a learned witch, at least.

At first, she thought the HoH was just giving them a tour of the school... but then she realized that the common room was in the gardens! It was most bizarre.

She grinned through everything: the speech, the "tour', and even at Professor McKindy's introduction to everything. It all just seemed wonderful!

Demelza sat on a cozy couch and hummed and tapped her foot to the beat of her humming quietly, in a very content way. She stopped suddenly, and said aloud, not caring if she sounded crazy (like she ever does?), "Lovely place to live, wouldn't you say? No spiders. Now how about that?" She couldn't help but chuckle at her own ridiculous statement.

0 Demelza Eagle Amazing! 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

Jose Hernandez

November 10, 2009 12:52 PM

Thank you. I work hard at it. by Jose Hernandez

Jose was more than a little relieved. There were a handful of different ways Jose had seen people react to being told their new roommate was a thief and liar and few of them involved smiling or gifts of shoes. Usually there was a lot more disbelief and confusion. Surprisingly, he'd found there was actually only one occasion where he'd been told off and been made to change roommates, which is why he'd taken to telling people. It went much, much worse when he got caught stealing or lying without giving a warning that it was going to happen.

Still, Jude was taking it way better than was his experience. Maybe it really was destiny that they be roommates.

And dude. Those shoes. "Really?" he asked, eyeing the all but brand new sneakers that had just been verbally given to him. "I never had new shoes before." He pushed the door to their room open (going to the room marked for Year I students was more natural to him than going to the one for Year II students anyway) and entered.

He'd barely cleared the threshold before he was hopping around on one foot trying to yank off the old hand-me-downs that, if they had ever been new, hadn't been in Jose's lifetime. Whatever manufacturer's label had once identified their make had long since been lost, but he thought the might have started life as a pair of Keds high tops, or maybe they were Converse. The canvas and soles were held together by a few decent muggle repair jobs at least one of which utilized duct tape, and probably enough magic to hold back their final stage of decomposition well into the next century. If those enchantments were ever interrupted, Jose had no doubt both shoes would biodegrade into a puff of dust on the spot, like a staked vamp on Buffy.

He dropped first one, then the other, onto the ground, then picked them both up and offered the pair over to Jude. "Trade then? You'll probably need some kinda shoes. They don't look it, but these'll last forever. There's more magic holdin' 'em together than there is in the whole Cascade Hall." Which was another example of his pathological exaggeration, but he didn't think he was too far off on that one. He grinned. "Your mom'll be proud. They're the ultimate reduce-reuse-recycle pair of shoes ever."

1 Jose Hernandez Thank you. I work hard at it. 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Holly

November 10, 2009 2:30 PM

Then I suppose I'll let you use that one. by Holly

The first year introduced herself. Holly didn't expect to recognize her name and she didn't, except insomuch as Starbuck was a brand of coffee. But since that was the girl's first name rather than her last name, it was unlikely her family owned the franchise. Which no doubt meant she wasn't worth Holly's time, but the new badge on her robe meant she was expected to play nice with the little common girl. And if Daddy got a letter suggesting Holly wasn't meeting any of her responsibilities, she'd go on trial, and anything short of touching dead caterpillars was preferable to going on trial again.

So she took a deep breath and returned the introduction. "I am Holly Thistle of the Hollywood Thistles." Her own name as she gave it was no more recognizable than Starbuck's own. This was largely due to the fact that it wasn't legally her name. It just sounded so much better than Greer, and so, as far as Holly was concerned Thistle was her name now.

Not that the Greer name would have gotten her anywhere in the wizarding world anyway. She had discovered early in her Sonora career that Los Angeles District Attorneys had disturbingly little impact on how things got done in the magical world. Owners of high end catering companies like her stepmother and Academy Award winning actresses like her mother were likewise powerless to get her out of taking potions. It had been a crushing realization.

"Don't be embarrassed," Holly told the first year with all the patience she'd show to her little half-sister - which was to say, very little, but she was trying to pretend she had some anyway. "Sonora has quite a few muggleborns. I'm one as well." It wasn't an admission she liked to make. The only one she liked making less was telling people she was a Pecari. But neither fact could hardly be called a secret.

The Ladies of the Fifth Year Court - purebloods, all of them, except Holly - had known her origins (and, worse, her House) from day one, and they'd accepted her as one of their own anyway. Wealth, breeding, and compatible tastes in high fashion had proven more important than a piddling little thing like whether or not Holly's parents could do magic. But it wasn't a difference she liked to advertise. Most muggleborns were so . . . middle class.

Starbuck Gregory already knew the shameful truth that Holly was a Pecari. Saying she was a muggleborn was almost a mitigating factor at that point. The fifth year held the uncomfortable position of being Pecari enough to adapt so completely into a magical high society primed to reject her that she ceased having any other Pecari traits.

Which was why she didn't understand why they'd made her a prefect. The expectation that she needed to be kind and understanding to the younger Pecaris, children she would otherwise have nothing to do with, chaffed.

"You'll get used to it," she told Starbuck, trying out a phrase her Mom had attempted to soothe Holly with when she'd been forced to continue taking potions and history against her will. Holly had come to discover that the words were lies, but maybe they'd work better for someone who was more Pecari than Holly was. Besides, even Holly had adapted to accept magic as something that was real instead of a figment of her diseased and fragile mind.

Unfortunately, that understanding hadn't come to her before she'd adapted to idea that she had a diseased and fragile mind. Which was the other reason it was incomprehensible that she'd been named a prefect. It was even less of a secret than her blood status that she was one Flatt the Elder sighting away from a complete mental breakdown. Didn't they know she was supposed to avoid stress?

1 Holly Then I suppose I'll let you use that one. 123 Holly 0 5

Starbuck

November 10, 2009 8:18 PM

Okay :) by Starbuck

Starbuck breathed a sigh of relief when Holly told her not to be embarrassed. It was nice to know she wasn’t the only muggleborn and that the perfect next to her was one too. Though she felt the girl next to her was a bit stuck up she didn’t mind it. Starbuck smiled again when Holly assured her she would get used to it, the funny thing was Starbuck was already getting used to it.

She was already enjoying being away from her family. The Gregory family had once been a bubbly happy family but since that horrible day two years ago they were somber and silent there rarely were smiled in the household any more. Starbuck had chaffed against the quietness and was glad she was away from them.

She nodded at Holly once more stifling a yawn. “Thank you.” She said with a smile. “At least I know I’m not the only muggleborn here.”

0 Starbuck Okay :) 0 Starbuck 0 5