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
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Professor Aaron McKindy
Welcome home, firsties [HoH Speech cont'd]
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Professor Aaron McKindy
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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.
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Spotting the First Year Boy (Jude)
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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.”
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Jude Normandy
Rare Beast, Aren't I?
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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.
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Jose Hernandez
One of a kind
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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.
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Jude
And so are you
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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."
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Jose Hernandez
Thank you. I work hard at it.
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