Welcome to Aladren (ignore other post) on Aladren Commons

DH Kijewski

November 28, 2006 10:52 PM

HoH Speech (Con'd from Cascade) by DH Kijewski

Kiva walked through the halls of the school in a manner that showed she knew these halls like she knew the back of her hand. Occasionally, she would check to be sure Zack was still walking with her or to make sure none of the children were having a difficult time with things. Every-so-often if she took a passageway or back-tracked, she would pause briefly and make sure everyone was still with her.

Down the corridors and up the staircase. Down the hall and pausing before giant doors with signs about animals. They were standing in front of the library. "I'm about to show you exactly how to enter the Aladren Common room. You are not allowed to reveal this to anyone. Understand?" She asked, surveying the students around her. "Good. Now, my office is just that door there." She pointed to a door a little way down the hallway, "There is also an entrance to it in the common room. Quickly, follow me."

She led them into the library. She took the students through the maze of the library. Row after row of shelves covered in books, they walked between. There were many twists and turns throughout the isles of books that she was sure the students would become lost. Finally, they reached the last corner of the library. Her hands reached up and grasped an old tattered looking book called, Birds of Prey in reference to the Hawk. She pulled on it and the entrance to the Aladren commonroom was revealed. She gestured to the students to go through first and then followed them in after.

The commonroom was a brilliant royal blue filled with large sofas and comfortable chairs. Shelves of books littered the walls and tables surrounded the room. There was a large fireplace against one wall, already lit to make the room a comfortable warm. An occassional painting or portrait decorated the walls the inhabitants watching the young students with amusement or curiosity.

Kiva turned and faced the students, "Hello and welcome to Sonora Academy. This is the Aladren Common Room, your new home. I am your Head of House, Professor Kiva Kijewski. You may call my Professor K or just Kiva if my last name is too hard for you. Boys dorms are on the left and girls are on the right. Curfew is at 10. Anyone caught out after that is susceptable to punishment. My office is through that door there. You'll have to knock first before entering." Kiva told them, giving them a smile.

"Classes start bright and early tomorrow morning, so try not to be late. Zack is your new Prefect and one of the top students here at Sonora. His purpose is to help students around the school. You're all lucky to have him." Kiva smiled at him before continuing on with her speech, "You are more than welcome to come to me for anything. Also, the Quidditch Captain is Anne Wright and I'm sure she'll be posting a notice about Sign-ups very soon. Are there any questions?"
\n\n

Subthreads:

Welcome to Aladren by Kavin Analai

Welcome to Aladren (ignore other post) by Kavin Analai

A little talk (tag: Mika and Zack) by Professor K with Zack Dill, Mika, Kiva

0 DH Kijewski HoH Speech (Con'd from Cascade) 0 DH Kijewski 1 5

Kavin Analai

December 01, 2006 9:17 AM

Welcome to Aladren by Kavin Analai

After the talk with Bella, Kavin said goodbye to his sister with a nod of his head and went with the Head of House and Prefect to his house (and apparently his half-sister's half sister's house as well) Aladren. Through the entire long walk to the Library (where, apparently, Aladren was located), Kavin was imagining how this "Gray" girl looked. She wasn't an Analai, so it would be hard to find her. Kavin just hoped he'd find Bella so she could point the girl out to him.

Kavin thought that the HoH using a book to open the house up was odd though.Pretty cool when it came down to it, but still odd. Kavin had seen his share of weird magical "lock" things in schools, since his father worked with different magical schools all over the country, but he had never seen the use of a book before. He was a bit angry when the Head said he couldn't tell anyone outside of Aladren. He wanted to discuss it with Adrian or Darci. But neither his father nor sister was Aladren. But... Kavin sighed, he didn't have to tell them exactly which<./i> book in which section of the library. He grinned, walking into the royal blue house, and turned his attention to the HoH, Professor K.

She was talking about the basic things, classes, Quidditch, Prefect. Thinks Kavin already knew about. But where was that Gray girl? What did she look like? Did she look like a second year? Or did she look younger... or older? Kavin was unsure, all he knew was that she was in this house and was Keeper of the Quidditch team. That bit might help, if Kavin talked to people. Which he didn't. Kavin disliked people, and avoided talking to them if he could. But... Gray... he and Darci promised they're dad they'd find her and ask her about... their new half sister and brother. Kavin knew he'd have to talk to people. Well... sacrifices had to be made, Kavin just hoped the person he was turning to wasn't someone Kavin would hate. Or that they knew Gray.

"Quidditch? The Keeper's name is Gray, right? I want to find her, do you know her?" Kavin said slowly and clearly, before turning to the person. \n\n

0 Kavin Analai Welcome to Aladren 0 Kavin Analai 0 5

Kavin Analai
December 01, 2006 9:18 AM

Kavin Analai
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Welcome to Aladren (ignore other post) by Kavin Analai
After the talk with Bella, Kavin said goodbye to his sister with a nod of his head and went with the Head of House and Prefect to his house (and apparently his half-sister's half sister's house as well) Aladren. Through the entire long walk to the Library (where, apparently, Aladren was located), Kavin was imagining how this "Gray" girl looked. She wasn't an Analai, so it would be hard to find her. Kavin just hoped he'd find Bella so she could point the girl out to him.

Kavin thought that the HoH using a book to open the house up was odd though.Pretty cool when it came down to it, but still odd. Kavin had seen his share of weird magical "lock" things in schools, since his father worked with different magical schools all over the country, but he had never seen the use of a book before. He was a bit angry when the Head said he couldn't tell anyone outside of Aladren. He wanted to discuss it with Adrian or Darci. But neither his father nor sister was Aladren. But... Kavin sighed, he didn't have to tell them exactly which book in which section of the library. He grinned, walking into the royal blue house, and turned his attention to the HoH, Professor K.

She was talking about the basic things, classes, Quidditch, Prefect. Thinks Kavin already knew about. But where was that Gray girl? What did she look like? Did she look like a second year? Or did she look younger... or older? Kavin was unsure, all he knew was that she was in this house and was Keeper of the Quidditch team. That bit might help, if Kavin talked to people. Which he didn't. Kavin disliked people, and avoided talking to them if he could. But... Gray... he and Darci promised they're dad they'd find her and ask her about... their new half sister and brother. Kavin knew he'd have to talk to people. Well... sacrifices had to be made, Kavin just hoped the person he was turning to wasn't someone Kavin would hate. Or that they knew Gray.

"Quidditch? The Keeper's name is Gray, right? I want to find her, do you know her?" Kavin said slowly and clearly, before turning to the person. \n\n

0 Kavin Analai Welcome to Aladren (ignore other post) 0 Kavin Analai 0 5

Professor K
December 05, 2006 7:01 PM

Professor K
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A little talk (tag: Mika and Zack) by Professor K
Once Kiva was satisfied that any and all questions were answered and the first years were left to their own devices, Kiva moved away from the group and indicated for Zack to follow her. Her honey eyes travelled over the faces of the first years before landing on one specifically.

She worked her way through the crowd until she came upon a young boy in a wheel chair. Pulling up a seat across from him, Kiva sat down and smiled at him. She waited for Zack to get settled before finally speaking. "Hello Mika'el." Kiva greeted. She had worked on pronouncing his name during the summer and hoped she had said it right. "It's nice to meet you. I've been told of your situation, both the fact that you are still trying to learn English as well as that you are working with Professor Wolfe." Kiva stated. She wanted to get past he small talk and let him know she was there to help.

"As of right now, we have a small issue with the dorm rooms. As you can see, there are sets of stairs that lead you to the proper dorm. First years are always on the lowest of levels, but you'd still have to climb. We still haven't worked out how to manuevor the wheelchair up there just yet." Kiva said, looking apologetic that she couldn't give him better news. "We're hoping that there's a possiblity to use a charm to manipulate the stairs to turn into a ramp whenever you need to ascend or decend. However, I don't want this to deter you. We are going to do all we can to accommodate you."

Kiva glanced over at Zack for a moment to make sure that he was following along with everything that she was saying. "Mika'el, this is Zack. As I've stated before, Zack is our house Prefect. His job is to help assist everyone to the best of his abilities. I was hoping the two of you could work together and possible help you learn English" Kiva paused for a moment before adding, "Of course, it completely up to the two of you. I don't want to force it on either of you."\n\n

0 Professor K A little talk (tag: Mika and Zack) 0 Professor K 0 5

Zack Dill
December 05, 2006 7:18 PM

Zack Dill
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by: Nathan

Age in Post: 15
Birthday: November

that I can do by Zack Dill
As Professor Kijewski was winding down her speech about the stairs and then making a segway about how Zack was now duty bound to help people, he deduced where she was heading. His eyes widened, and his head began to shake no, very marginally, because there was no way, no way he was the best suited person to help the wheelchair-bound kid up the stairs. He couldn't even carry around his own bookbag without using weight reducing charms.

Zack very nearly sagged in relief when she proved him wrong. Normally, he did not like being wrong, but in this one case, he was glad of it. He hadn't wanted to prove to be a useless Prefect on the very first day of the job. Teaching English was well within his skill set. "Yeah," he agreed, relief still evident in his voice, "Not a problem. I can do that if you want," the last part was directed to Michael. Mika El. Something like that. "What's your first language?"

He didn't suggest that maybe he knew it, because it was way too much to hope for that Mika El spoke Kling-on, Orcish, or Sindarin.\n\n

1 Zack Dill that I can do 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Mika
December 06, 2006 6:43 PM

Mika
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Many Thanks by Mika
Mika watched as the Professor came over to him with the older boy, sitting down across from him. He appreciated that quite a bit, it was much nicer than having to crane his head back. He smiled a bit at the careful pronunciation of his name. He nodded his head a bit as she spoke, so she knew that he was keeping up with what she said. The stairs would be an inconvenience, but he had gotten up to the common room alright, after all.

Mika nodded to the other boy when he was introduced, watching as he tensed at first, then relaxed. Mika had no idea what that was all about. Oh well, it didn't matter, the other boy seemed far more amiable once it was made clear he would be helping Mika with his English as needed. Mika waited politely until the head of house finished speaking.

"Thank you, I am very appreciate-" he paused a moment wanting to be doubly sure he had the right ending, since they were discussing his English skills. "-tive of your concern. The stairs are inconvenient, yes, but my wheelchair has been magically enchanted by my mother, it levitates a bit to make it up stairs, though it's extremely slow." He smiled a little, his hands folded politely in his lap.

"I can also walk, when I use my crutches. I probably will not use them much during the school day. I do not want to get knocked over. It would be very nice if the stairs would be ramps though. It would be much faster. For now, I can manage one way or another, to get to the dorm rooms." Mika was speaking slower than usual, to be sure all of his English was perfect.

"I am still learning English, yes, and I can always use improvement. I am fluent though, just a little rough at times. I almost always understand though. I very much appreciate your offer of help." This last bit he directed at Zach, inclining his head politely, before pushing his glasses up on his nose.

"My first language is Russian, my second is Hebrew, I haven't been learning English nearly as long, which is why it is still not perfect. I'm sorry if my accent is hard to understand." He smiled again slightly.

The boy sat very straight in his chair, and his demeanor was very reserved. If he hadn't looked so small he would have probably been taken for much older than he was with how self possessed he was. He was actually quite tall, but very skinny with a frail look to him, so that in his wheelchair, he looked a lot smaller than he was. The wheelchair was custom and a light frame which he seemed very at home in. His accent wasn't all that bad actually, he annunciated very carefully. His accent sounded very soviet block, but with a suggestion of something else as well.\n\n

0 Mika Many Thanks 0 Mika 0 5

Kiva
December 07, 2006 8:21 PM

Kiva
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That takes care of that by Kiva
The only sign that Kiva showed when looking at the relief on Zack's face was a small crease in her brows. She paused in thought trying to deduct where in her speech she might have made him apprehensive. Perhaps he had thought that she was going to give him a difficult duty as a Prefect. Truth was, even if Zack wasn't a Prefect, she still would have asked him to help Mika'el.

"Don't worry about the wheelchair for now. Headmaster Bulla is an excellent charms master, so I'm sure we'll get those stairs into a ramp in no time. For now, if you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask myself or any one of the upperclassmen." Kiva informed Mika'el, smiling happily at him.

"And thank you Zack for being so kind. I'll leave the two of you and let you get back to meeting and greeting everyone." Kiva said to the two of them. She stood and lightly squeezed Zack's shoulder as she walked past him. She had a lot to do to prepare for her lessons the following morning not to mention make a floo call home.

\n\n

0 Kiva That takes care of that 0 Kiva 0 5

Zack Dill
December 11, 2006 1:46 PM

Zack Dill
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by: Nathan

Age in Post: 15
Birthday: November

No problem by Zack Dill
Zack smiled and nodded as Professor Kijewski thanked him. "No problem," he promised, as she left them alone. Meeting and greeting wasn't really his thing, but he eyed the other first years warily, wondering if maybe it was his duty to meet and greet now.

Of course, he did have one excuse to at least put it off for a little while yet. He turned back to Mika El, giving him an encouraging smile, "You already speak English better than a lot of people back in my neighborhood." Granted, this was not a difficult feat, but those people were native speakers and Mika El was not.

Impressive as his English already was, Professor Kijewski had asked Zack to help, and he wasn't going to shirk that duty. "Do you have anything in particular you think you need to focus on, or should I just draw up some vocab and ennunciation studies?" Mika El didn't seem to be lacking in vocabulary, really, but even native speakers could always do with more vocabulary. The accent was pretty strong, though, much stronger than Granddad Kravmir's but similar enough that Zack didn't have too much trouble with it.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1 Zack Dill No problem 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Mika
December 12, 2006 12:26 AM

Mika
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Thanks but... by Mika
"I think I shall be alright without any special help." He smiled slightly. "I have an English/Russian dictionary if I need to know words, also English/Hebrew." And Russian/Hebrew, Russian/Japanese, and a recent acquirement: English/Spanish. "I think I will be alright. I am careful about my enunciation. I appreciate your offer to help though, if I ever get stuck I will be sure to ask you for help.' He managed another small smile.

Mika didn't want to be rude at all, but, he didn't want extra help with his English. He was fluent enough to study in English. If he hadn't been, his mother would have left him at his yeshiva in Jerusalem, or sent him back to Russia to study.

"Truly, I think I shall be alright."\n\n

0 Mika Thanks but... 0 Mika 0 5

Zack
December 12, 2006 9:25 AM

Zack
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Sure by Zack
Zack nodded, fully understanding Mika El's insistance that he was fine. He did seem to have a full grasp of the language as far as Zack could tell. "Sure, I only offered because Professor Kijewski told me to. I was going to give the same sort of lessons middle and high schoolers here in the States get in English class, with maybe a little extra effort put into giving you a slight midwestern accent," he grinned and shrugged, acknowledging the quirks of his own speech.

It was just as well really. He'd come to Sonora after sixth grade so he wasn't entirely sure what middle and high schoolers here in the States were taught in English class. The homework he'd done for the summer school kids wasn't neccessarily representative of the whole course.

"Anyway, if you do have a question, I can usually be found in the library, next to the window in the Science section. I've got a table there." The statement didn't quite convey the level of possessiveness Zack felt for that table, but it got across the important part well enough - that he was almost always there.

He barely hesitated before adding the invitation, "If you're ever bored and want to turn your hand to teaching, just stop by. My grandfather Kravmir emigrated from Russia when he was a little kid. I've never heard him speak anything but English, but I think he'd like it if I learned a little bit of the language. I'm a pretty quick study."\n\n

0 Zack Sure 0 Zack 0 5

Mika
December 16, 2006 12:08 PM

Mika
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Russia? Really? by Mika
Mika shook his head briefly but somewhat emphatically at Zach's suggestion of acquiring a midwestern accent. "I do not wish to lose my accent." His Russian one was already a little bit diluted from his time in Israel, that he didn't mind. Israel was part of his cultural heritage as much as Russia was. He, however, was NOT an American, and had no desire to be. Living here was one thing. He didn't want to pretend to be one.

"I will keep that to mind, thank you." He inclined his head politely as Zach told him where to find him if Mika had questions. Mika was sure he would have some eventually, and made careful note of where to find the older boy.

"Your grandfather is from Roosia?" Mika was surprised, he supposed in America though, everyone was from somewhere else somewhere back down the line. "Do you know where in Roosia?" not that it mattered, but Mika was curious. He doubted the other boy was a Russian Jew. There were scant few of them anyway. It would have been nice though, for there to be someone else who came from a similar background. "I would be very glad to teach you Russian. Do you speak any languages besides English? I am always wanting to learn knew languages." Mika had a love of language. He knew it was an odd hobby for a ten year old. Nothing about Mika was particularly normal though.\n\n

0 Mika Russia? Really? 0 Mika 0 5

Zack
December 16, 2006 5:07 PM

Zack
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Yes indeed by Zack
"Uh," Zack said, in eloquent response to the question about where in Russia his materal grandfather's family was from. "The European part?" he guessed. Even if he was right, and he wasn't really 100% sure about it in the first place, it didn't really narrow down the location very precisely.

At least he knew what country that part of his family was from. The Dills could have been from anywhere. Based on the name, he'd guess probably England, though. When they crossed the Atlantic, though, was anybody's guess. Dad certainly didn't know. When Zack had done the unit about immigration in sixth grade, and Zack had asked him what nationality the Dills were, all he'd been able to say was 'American.' Further prodding about where they had lived before coming to Detroit only got him 'Somewhere out East, maybe? New York?' After that, Zack had given up and gone to Mom to ask her about her side. She'd been a little more helpful, but he was pretty sure that was only because her parents were both immigrants themselves. Her mom was Italian. They'd apparently bonded over their poor English.

He shrugged, "Granddad Kravmir never really specified an exact location. I could probably write home to ask him, if you're really curious."

He flushed slightly at the question of what other languages he knew. It wasn't that he was embarrassed, precisely - in fact, he was pretty proud of himself, but most people found it a little weird. "And I know a bunch of different fictional languages including two tongues of Elvish - Sindarian, which I'm better at, and the High Elvish tongue which I don't use very much. I also know Orcish and Kling-on, and I'm decent with Romulan as well. I can do a very basic Vulcan, but it's only rudimentary. I'm pretty sure of my pronunciation in the Trekkie languages, but not so confident of the Tolkien ones. I write all of them better than I speak them."\n\n

0 Zack Yes indeed 0 Zack 0 5

Mika
December 18, 2006 1:24 PM

Mika
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I see... by Mika
The European part of Russia? Well, that was all of it. All though he supposed over in Siberia and the Steppes it could be considered Asian, but it was still a European country. How odd that he didn't know where his grandfather was from. Mika knew where his grandfather was from, even though he had never once met the man, he had been long dead by the time Mika was born. That made it a pretty good bet though, that the boy wasn't Jewish. Especially if the only other languages he spoke were fake ones. Zach looked old enough to have had his bar mitzvah if he had been Semitic. Ah well, it had been a nice thought.

"You speak fake languages?" he raised an eyebrow. His tone was curious, not condescending. "Why?" If he had an interest in learning languages, why not learn ones that people actually spoke, instead of languages, which by their definition and nature weren't actually languages at all, since no one spoke them natively. \n\n

0 Mika I see... 0 Mika 0 5

Zack Dill
December 18, 2006 4:44 PM

Zack Dill
Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by: Nathan

Age in Post: 15
Birthday: November

It's a funny story by Zack Dill
Why? Zack blinked, confused momentarily by the question. He'd spoken some variation of a fictional language since fourth grade, and wrote in them since third, so he wasn't used to the idea of not knowing how to speak them. It took a moment to remember why he started in the first place. "Well, see, I went to this school that didn't have an honors program, so I was stuck in with all the dumb kids and got really really bored. And when people started stealling my class notes, it only made sense to start putting them in code."

Zack shrugged, "My brother figured out my first code and sold the key, so had to do better than English in a different alphabet. Since I figured nobody else spoke the Trekkie languages, I took my notes in them." He nodded decisively, like this was the most natural course of action to take. "At first it was just a few words that I picked up for the tv shows and movies, thrown in to confuse spies and theives, but within a year or so I had Romulan and Kling-on down pretty well.

"In between fifth and sixth grade, I read the Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien's got a huge language resource. So I taught myself a few of his languages and started using Sindarian instead of Romulan in my notes so that anybody trying to translate them would need to look further than just Star Trek. By then, my notes were already considered more work than they were worth, so it probably didn't matter, but I have a better vocabulary in Sindarian than Romulan anyway."

He shrugged, "Plus, a lot people at the conventions speak them, so this way I don't miss anything. People talking in Kling-on are usually hilarious." He frowned at a sudden realization about that statement. "I don't think the Kling-ons would approve."\n\n

1 Zack Dill It's a funny story 40 Zack Dill 0 5