Welcoming our new neighbour (tag Allegra) on Crotalus Commons

Sylvia Mordue

August 08, 2018 8:10 AM

Welcoming our new neighbour (tag Allegra) by Sylvia Mordue

Sylvia was very much looking forward to being a second year. First year could hardly have been said to be dull, what with a magical illness sweeping the place and quite literal explosions, alongside all kinds of other unseemly displays. She was pleased to note that her own accidental outbursts had been entirely tasteful - in fact, two had been so subtle as to have only really occurred to her after the fact. Her most blatant display had been recreating their Christmas china during dinner when they had been stuck at school over midterm. She thought that her homework ending up blowing across the Crotalus Common Room might have been an accident, looking back, because it was really rather convenient that it had landed right by someone she wanted to talk to, and when she replayed the moment in her head, it had done so ever so gracefully, in a manner not at all reminiscent of the way paper usually behaved when caught by strong gusts of wind. She also thought she might have tripped Jasmine up in the hall. She would own that that, perhaps, was not very ladylike, but she felt it thoroughly deserved. Jasmine was common but seemed not to know her place.

This was one of the reasons why Sylvia was glad to be a second year. Of course, she wasn’t ahead of Jasmine, because without the help of some very tricky time magic, that simply was not going to happen. But nor was she the youngest in the school any more. There were still a lot of people older than her in the rest of the school, but she thought she could make a good reputation for herself, one that would move up through the school with her. The beginners classes would be a lot better now that she had seniority in them.

The first step, of course, was going to be making sure she found out who was proper, and guiding them to band together with her, against those people who weren’t. Her own house seemed like a good place to start with that. There was the odd bad egg, like Jasmine, or Cleo (who apparently had tried to use her accidental magic last year to bewitch Winston - clearly the girl was a hussy and a gold digger, and needed to be watched) but the majority of Crotalus house lived up its core value of respectability. She had not had the chance to sit with either of the new first years during the feast, but before bed she suggested to Caitlin that they call on their new neighbour and introduce themselves, because the chances were that she was worth knowing.

Sylvia knocked politely on the door. When told she could enter, she did so. She gave a shallow curtsey, because she was older (and because she couldn’t guarantee that this person deserved a curtsey at all, but it seemed better to give one just in case - on balance she would rather waste a curtsey on someone undeserving than slight someone who did deserve one).

“Good evening. I am Sylvia Mordue of the Oregon Mordues,” she introduced herself, and then with a smile, “I wanted to be neighbourly - to come and welcome you to Crotalus.”

OOC - as you write Caitlin too, I figured it was easier to leave it vague about whether she joins or not and you can include it in your post, though I assume she would.

13 Sylvia Mordue Welcoming our new neighbour (tag Allegra) 1413 Sylvia Mordue 1 5

Allegra Brockert (with a bit of Caitlin)

August 14, 2018 5:44 PM

Being welcomed by Allegra Brockert (with a bit of Caitlin)

Allegra was incredibly nervous and had been for weeks. It had only gotten worse after getting on the wagon with her cousins. Thinking about what Topaz could do on a flying wagon was very nervewracking indeed. Then she had to worry about being in the same house as the other first year which would have made them roommates, Allegra couldn't imagine anything worse than that. In fact, she didn't think Owen could imagine that she would find worse than that and he was a writer.

Not to mention meeting new people. What if they didn't like her or were like Topaz? What if she ended up with no friends? If she had nothing in common with her classmates the way Angelique didn't or Topaz being...Topaz made them hate her too because they were cousins? Or if Topaz extorted loyalty out of her. She didn't want to be here for seven years with nobody but her family.

And if she had a roommate who was mean even if it wasn't Topaz? When Crotali were mean they were usually mean in a different way than her cousin, but they were still mean and Allegra didn't want anyone to be mean to her. She had had quite enough of that.

Now though, she was in her room in Crotalus. By herself. She was eternally relieved that Topaz was in Aladren and that she didn't have a mean roommate but now she was worried that because she had nobody with her, everyone else would bond with their roommates-aside from her cousin of course as unless Topaz's roommates were also totally evil, Topaz bonding with another human being was unlikely-and she'd be the odd one out. Allegra didn't want to be the odd one out, Angelique had made it sound worse than anything except, of course, roomming with Topaz.

A knock sounded on the door and Allegra jumped. Noise startled her, it always had and she didn't even remember why other than it probably had to do with her cousin. She took a deep breath and pulled herself together externally even though she was anxious inside about who could be on the other side.

She opened the door to see two girls that were probably slightly older than her, given that she was a first year and a roommate wouldn't knock. One of them gave a shallow curtsey and introduced herself as Sylvia Mordue of the Oregon Mordues and then the other followed. "I am Caitlin Pierce of the New Hampshire Pierces". Family branch was much more of an issue for Pierces than other families and Caitlin wanted to be quick to point out that she was not a California or Boston Pierce, because both branches were shameful and she would prefer to pretend they didn't even exist. Some of the Californians didn't even have magic.

Allegra quickly returned the curtsey. "I am Allegra Brockert of the Western Brockerts." She continued. "It's very nice of you to stop by, I'm sorry I don't have the room more together yet." She had only just gotten there after all. On the plus side, there was nothing embarassing about such as her one-eyed teddy bear Bernard-Topaz had removed his eye and fed it to a house-elf-or some less than presentable quilts and doilies that she'd made.

11 Allegra Brockert (with a bit of Caitlin) Being welcomed 1426 Allegra Brockert (with a bit of Caitlin) 0 5

Sylvia

August 20, 2018 9:18 AM

With white gardenias by Sylvia

Brockert. Excellent.

“Very pleased to meet you, Miss Brockert.” Sylvia’s smile widened, and it actually reached her eyes a little bit. She definitely seemed genuinely excited at meeting her neighbour.

“That’s quite alright,” Sylvia smiled, when Allegra apologised for the state of her room, “You’ve hardly had the time. Oh,” she exclaimed, as if the thought had just occurred to her and not, as it actually had been, a solid part of her plan when entering the room, “I have something that might help. Just give me a moment.”
She ducked back into her own room. Upon arriving at school that day, she had retrieved from her trunk a large bouquet of flowers, encased in a bubble charm to protect them along the journey, and set them on her and Caitlin’s windowsill. Ostensibly, just a nice gift from her parents to brighten the room. Sylvia, however, had herself requested the flowers, with particular composition and purpose in mind. She took a small assortment from the side of the bunch, and one of several empty inkwells from her trunk, and returned to Allegra’s room.

Caitlin was now inside with the first year, so Sylvia assumed they were officially invited in and followed, handing the small posey to Allegra. It was predominantly white, composed of a variety of flowers, but with a particularly pretty one in the centre.

“That should make it feel much more cheerful,” she smiled, placing the inkwell on Allegra’s window and transfiguring it into a small vase. It was a feat she could have accomplished in her own room, but it never hurt to show how one was nicely magically adept.

“I was thinking of wearing the gardenia in my hair tomorrow. You could wear yours too, and Caitlin, you can have another from the bunch. It would be nice, don’t you think? And if there’s any other proper girls in the year, we can give them some too. Did you meet anyone at orientation?”

OOC - Caitlin being inside approved by her author

13 Sylvia With white gardenias 1413 Sylvia 0 5

Allegra (and Caitlin)

September 03, 2018 9:11 PM

Thank you. by Allegra (and Caitlin)

As Sylvia ducked out of the room, Allegra felt puzzled. Sylvia had seemed pretty happy about meeting her so where was she going?

Caitlin didn't know what was going on either but the fact that Allegra was a Brockert made her very pleased. She knew how important it was to get them on her family's side rather than Thaddeus', though the girl might be a bit young to marry Winston. "I'm sure she'll be right back." She assured the younger girl. "So how are you liking Sonora so far?"

"It's very nice." Allegra responded. "I'm quite pleased with my Sorting." Because it's different than my cousin's . In all honesty she would have wanted to be in Teppenpaw because they were always nice. There couldn't be mean Teppenpaws any more than there could be stupid Aladrens or tame Pecaris. Still, the thing that mattered most was that she was not with Topaz and plus, here were two nice older girls making her feel welcome.

Sylvia returned then bearing flowers and an inkwell. The first year watched as the older Crotalus transfigured the inkwell into a vase and placed the flowers inside. "Thank you very much Miss Mordue. I'll be sure to do that."

Caitlin nodded "All right." She agreed as Sylvia mentioned that she could take some flowers. "Thank you."

Oh dear, now Sylvia was asking Allegra if she'd met anyone. She hadn't yet. What would they think about that? The first year had been way too nervous at Orientation to approach anyone not knowing what they were going to be like as well as worrying that her cousin would intrude on her conversation. "I'm afraid not."

That was all she had to say, let them think she'd not talked to anyone proper. "I ate with my cousin Angelique at the feast. She's a seventh year so she was kind of...telling me about things here" Mostly, Angelique was trying to get Allegra to join choir-wasn't happening-and talking about her betrothed, Devin Highmore. Still, her cousin was quite popular in pureblood social circles of her age group outside of Sonora. Not so much inside Sonora but that wasn't her fault. Angelique had done her best to make that clear to Allegra.

Caitlin saw this mention of the older Crotalus as an opportunity to ask. "So, then you're pretty closely related to Angelique then?"

Allegra nodded. "Our dads are first cousins."

She took this information in. "So, are you closely related to any of the other Brockerts here at school?"

The first year was puzzled. She wasn't entirely sure what Caitlin was getting at. Usually the Brockert family tree was too tangled even for Brockerts to make heads or tails of. Only her father's cousin Alessa, who was really into all that genealogy stuff could keep it straight.

And Allegra really didn't want to mention Topaz. Then again, she was sure it would be figured out soon enough. She felt a bit powerless when it came to avoiding that. However, she thought she knew what Caitlin was getting at. "Headmaster Brockert is my grandfather." Then she added. "And my first cousins Emerald, Ruby and Topaz are here. Topaz is in my year, in Aladren."

Caitlin smiled. This girl was Emerald's first cousin. How perfect.

11 Allegra (and Caitlin) Thank you. 1426 Allegra (and Caitlin) 0 5

Sylvia

September 13, 2018 9:21 AM

All you have to do is swear loyalty by Sylvia

“Lovely,” Sylvia smiled, when Allegra agreed regarding the flowers.

It didn’t seem like Allegra had made many connection within her own year group, but what she lacked in useful information she more than made up for in status. She was close to the more senior Crotalus girls, who Sylvia had felt it hard to get in with but whose approval she desperately craved. Allegra was also the granddaughter of the Headmaster. Headmaster Brockert was not exactly someone Sylvia foresaw herself wanting to spend a lot of time with, he was grumpy and ridiculously old and seemed to hate just about everybody. But clearly he had power here, and if she could be preferred by his granddaughters, that would probably do a lot for her status.

“That sounds like a lovely way to spend the feast. Family is so important,” Sylvia smiled, “My brother is here, in Crotalus - he and Caitlin’s are roommates, along with the Callahan heir. And my very close cousin Nathaniel is in mine and Caitlin’s year, so you’ll have classes with him too. He’s in Teppenpaw - the diplomatic house,” she added, keen to emphasise the relevant and noble qualities of her cousin’s house. Sometimes Teppenpaw had a reputation for being soft, even though when you actually examined its house traits it didn’t say anything of the sort. It didn’t even say they were nice, just fair minded. ‘Fair minded’ didn’t have to mean going around being all sympathetic to Muggleborns and the like. Sylvia herself could be described as fair minded - she had been born better than other people, and therefore had nicer things and the right to act as she did. It was fair. It would be unfair if she wasn’t allowed pretty jewellery just cos other people’s families weren’t rich, when it wasn’t her fault that they weren’t and that she was.

“I’ll be sure to try to get to know your cousin too. We can have a little club of sorts, with the flowers as our emblem. That way, we’ll be able to identify who’s proper to sit with and that sort of thing much more easily. Us older girls can tell you who’s who, and which boys are proper company, that sort of thing. I know I’d have found that so helpful when I started. I mean, I’m sure you’ve got a head start on that, with so many family members here, but it’s always nice to make new connections, isn’t it?”

13 Sylvia All you have to do is swear loyalty 1413 Sylvia 0 5