People of Non-Magical Backgrounds on Cascade Hall

Zack Dill

August 04, 2008 9:22 AM

People of Non-Magical Backgrounds by Zack Dill

Zack was starting to worry. Midterm was over (and so, incidentally, were his Runes translations: a feat he was quite proud of) and he still had only one person signed up to help him at his fair booth. Granted, he'd only begun to advertise while most people were away, but the application deadline was growing closer and he was starting to feel antsy.

It was time to take more drastic measures and move out of the library.

He started with a sign. He drew it up, charmed it to make the letters more glossy and eye-catching, and then posted it on the door of the Cascade Hall, where everybody who entered to eat lunch today was likely to see it. The sign read:

People of Non Magical Backgrounds
(And Anyone Who Likes Their Games)!

Enjoy rolling dice or shuffling cards?
Know what a Nintendo is?
Have you role played?

Join the Non-Magical Gaming Booth at the Cultural Fair.

See Zack Dill for more information.

Once that was posted, Zack took a seat not too far away from it and propped up his Prefect Station sign, which had his name prominently displayed so that even a first year who had only heard of him once would know who and where he was.

Theoretically, he was eating a chicken sandwich. In actuality, he was too anxiously awaiting any sign of interest in himself or his sign to pay his lunch any attention at all.\r\n\r\n

1 Zack Dill People of Non-Magical Backgrounds 40 Zack Dill 1 5

Mia Kerova

August 04, 2008 3:54 PM

That sounds like me. by Mia Kerova

Mia returned to Sonora and it was as if an inner sun beamed from her. What else could explain how inexplicably bright and cheerful she was? She practically walked on air as she hurried to the 7th year girls' dorm to unpack her suitcase. She just felt so good. Maybe it was in anticipation for Easter after having the greatest winter break ever. Maybe life was just more beautiful than she had ever seen it before.

Mia's unpacking was hasty and unorganized, but she was too hungry to care. There was something different. She felt she could eat more than a single plateful and yet it still wouldn't satisfy Rosa. When she left for Cascade Hall, she grinned brightly at the students she passed and welcomed them back whether or not they had left Sonora at all or even if they were friends. She was half skipping too quickly to hear or see a response anyway. When she waved or gave a playful salute, she purposely used her left hand to see the three quarter-karat diamonds embedded in the glittering silver ring that sat there. It was more for her to see than anyone else.

A large poster hung up on the door to Cascade Hall caught Mia's attention. It was advertising for a booth for the fair. Mia had been perfectly content to walk around and see the different booths people would come up with. People of non-magical backgrounds, huh? Well Mia played cards from time to time. She wasn't much into dice games and she never role played before, but she certainly knew what a Nintendo was. But electronics didn't work at Sonora except in the muggle studies room and that was only sometimes. Could the same thing be done for the fair?

Mia entered Cascade Hall and even the lights bouncing off the waterfalls and the marble floor seemed brighter. What an awesome day! She saw Zack a short way away with his sign seen so often in the library. Yeah, no one would mistake that for anyone but Zack Dill. Mia strolled over to where he was eating.

"Hey Zack." She greeted and took a seat. "Nice sign. That's a cool idea for a booth. You're going to get a Nintendo working at Sonora for the fair?"

0 Mia Kerova That sounds like me. 0 Mia Kerova 0 5

Zack Dill

August 05, 2008 1:17 PM

There's a Fair number of us, I believe by Zack Dill

Zack sat up straighter as he spotted Mia first checking out his sign and then moving towards him. Oh, good. If Mia was interested, he'd at least know one of the other people helping out at his own booth.

"Hey," he returned her greeting, smiling back at her a bit more warmly than he had originally intended because hers was oddly infectious. Her next question though clarified things and his grin grew more genuine and less reactive. The thought of a working Nintendo must be universally uplifting.

"I'm certainly going to try," he answered. "I still need to talk to the Muggle Studies professor about it, but a working Nintendo is definitely going to be one of my goals. I mean, what is more non-magical American culture than Mario Kart, right?" Well, Halo or Grand Theft Auto, probably, but he doubted the teachers would help him get his hands on those.

"The other thing I was thinking about, but planning to put to a vote once I knew who was helping out, was maybe some carnie games - you know, bean bag toss and whack a mole and hoop shooting and, well, probably no dart throwing for safety reasons, but that kind of game - but I'm not really sure how normal people go about getting those. And, I think I heard Mr. Tellerman's family was doing a bunch of normal fair things, so they might have that covered already. And they're not really games most people play during a normal day, so it might not fit with our theme anyway."

It occurred to him that maybe he was skipping over a pretty critical exchange, so he hurried to fix the oversight. "I'm assuming since you came over here that you're at least considering helping me out with the booth?"

1 Zack Dill There's a Fair number of us, I believe 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Mia

August 06, 2008 2:00 PM

Clever. Now we have to find them. by Mia

Maybe Mia wasn't the only one having a great day. Zack looked happy enough, which was understandable. The idea of the fair was an exciting one. It seemed he put a lot of thought into his booth already. Mia laughed with an agreeing nod at his description of Mario Kart. She wasn't a serious gamer like her brother, but she played with him a lot on practically every system available before her family moved last summer. She was sure the other students would get a kick out of playing videogames at the fair, especially those who had never played before.

Mia listened to Zack's plan and pictures of what the booth could look like shaped in her mind. It definitely had good prospects. Carnival games were fun, but he made a point about the possibility of the games being taken already. Mia hadn't heard much of anything so she would have to take his word for it. Not to mention it was his vision so if he thought the games wouldn't fit, maybe an alternative was needed.

"I'm assuming since you came over here that you're at least considering helping me out with the booth?"

Mia briefly glanced back at the sign once more. She didn't know what other booths people would be thinking of; her friends hadn't mentioned any thoughts to her earlier. However, there were only so many people she knew and would actually want to help out with a stall. Zack's idea sounded really good. He could make it work and she was happy to help.

"Yeah. Count me in. I'm sure we can get the Muggle Studies professor to see things our way." Neither she nor Zack were problem students. They were both Prefects. Why shouldn't they be able to get a small favor from a professor? Zack especially, being Head Boy. Then Mia had another thought. "And if that works, maybe you don't need the carnie games. What about arcade games? Pinball, Tempest, Pac-Man. Things like that. And there are plenty that don't need electricity." There were a lot of options available for them. Mia was getting more excited about the fair by the minute.

0 Mia Clever. Now we have to find them. 0 Mia 0 5

Zack

August 06, 2008 11:11 PM

Perhaps we can use infrared goggles? by Zack

"Great," Zack said, smiling and feeling much better now that he had the minimum three names required for his booth application. No doubt he could have badgered Zoey and Guenther into it if push came to shove, but it was much better finding people who were actually willing to volunteer.

He nodded along with Mia as she reasoned the muggle studies professor would help them out. He himself had reached similar conclusions already but it was still good to hear her collaborate them. On a few previous occasions, he had noticed that other people who did not bear the gift of Zack's genius sometimes had a somewhat skewed perception of how things worked in the world, but this apparently wasn't one of those times.

As she continued, Zack sat up straighter, becoming increasingly interested by her suggestions. "Pinball would be awesome," he agreed. "Or air hockey. No, that probably uses electricity, too. We might be able to find a magical work-around, though. But Foosball. And pool would work. Or skee ball. Yeah. We can definitely do something with arcade games. Great idea, Mia."

"I'm going to be talking with the new muggle studies professor - did you hear? We got a new one over break. It's a guy. Professor, uh," Zack made a painful looking I'm-trying-to-remember-something-but-it's-escaping-me expression, then shook his head, and let out a defeated breath.

"I don't remember his name. Anyway, I'm going to talk to him, then once we know if we can get electric stuff to work, we can get together everyone who's volunteered and come up with a more detailed plan. So far, it's me, you, and an Alderaanian named Delany. By her handwriting, I assume she's a girl, probably a first or second year, but other than that, I have no idea who she is. She signed up on a sheet I left in my common room."

0 Zack Perhaps we can use infrared goggles? 0 Zack 0 5

Mia

August 07, 2008 1:58 PM

You have a pair lying around? by Mia

From the sounds of ideas bouncing back and forth between the two students, the booth would slowly but surely come together. Mia's face lit up further at the mention of skee ball. That was one of her favorite arcade games and it didn't require electricity, which meant it was totally a possibility. And for some of the games that did, Zack was right that there could be a way around some obstacles with a touch of magic. Mia grinned, jokingly unabashed by the compliment.

"I get those every now and then." Mia may not have been a genius like her booth partner, but she certainly wasn't dumb. She just kept it to the classroom and it usually involved her wand.

Mia looked curiously at Zack as he told her about the new Muggle Studies professor. Something else she hadn't heard about. She realized Sonora kept teachers for about as long as a fish's attention span. That was a shame. She liked Professor Williams and it couldn't be good to switch teachers in the middle of the year for those who had testing coming up. Mia immediately banished the thought before she began to feel ill. She wouldn't let RATS ruin her wonderful day.

Mia's mouth was half way open in inquiry about who else volunteered, but Zack explained right away. She didn't know the other student that was helping them. Zack didn't seem to know her either even though she was in his house, which Mia didn't think twice on Zack's pronunciation of the house name. Delany. It definitely sounded like a girl's name and with the mismatched population at Sonora, it was probably easiest to guess that the student was a girl.

"Well, it would be a good idea to figure out who Delany is eventually." Mia smiled wryly. "In the mean time, I can put a sign up in my common room. See if anyone there is interested." She saw a sign posted already. It was nothing she could help with being American born and raised, but she might take a peek if she got a spare moment during the fair.

0 Mia You have a pair lying around? 0 Mia 0 5

Zack Dill

August 07, 2008 10:16 PM

Well, no, but if we had them, they'd help, right? by Zack Dill

"That would be great, Mia," Zack gladly approved the 'sign in Pecari's Common Room' idea. He wouldn't have to find and ask the novelling kid then. "Maybe if you know anyone in Teppenpaw or Crotalus, we could get signs up in there, too. I, uh, I usually keep to myself." Sure he knew the other kids in his grade, he just didn't know them (outside of Zoey who was also from Alderaan). He hadn't even really talked to Stephen since, what, second year? Maybe third? He was pretty sure Stephen thought Zack was insane, which was really rather ironic seeing as how Stephen was the one other person in the school who knew better than anyone that aliens were real, seeing as how Stephen was one himself.

Of course, Stephen was also a Pecari, so that was all irrelevant anyway. The point was that Zack just didn't have many friends. Zoey and Guenther were all he needed and they were both in his House. He just felt weird about approaching anyone else for anything outside of schoolwork or his duties as Prefect or Head Boy. It wasn't that he was shy or anything. It was just usually awkward. He suspected word had leaked out early on about his alien theories, before he realized the extent of the conspiracy and the foolhardiness of talking about them too much.

Or maybe he was just like every other stereotypical nerdy genius in the world and lacked normal social skills.

To be honest, he hoped it was the alien thing.

But now that the fair booth business was concluding for the day, and Mia was still there, Zack suspected the aliens weren't entirely at fault for the awkwardness that typically plagued his encounters with classmates. "Uh, did you, um, want to have lunch?" he waved toward one of the empty chairs at his table. "Or were you meeting someone else?"

1 Zack Dill Well, no, but if we had them, they'd help, right? 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Mia

August 10, 2008 10:56 PM

'Course they would. In the dark. by Mia

Mia smiled and shook her head, brushing off Zack's statement about keeping to himself because she could empathize in a way. There weren't many people at Sonora that Mia really considered friends. Acquaintances? Classmates? Definitely. But friend was something different. She wasn't exactly Miss Popularity, which made the award she won in the yearbook last year really funny to her, but the few friends she had like Tally, she was glad for.

"I'll ask Tally and Chrissy to hang up signs for Teppenpaw and Crotalus. If you have any more, I can pass them on and hang one up myself." If Tally could talk to Chrissy, they would be set. She supposed she was fortunate, quiet as she was once upon a time, to have branched out enough that she could talk to people in other houses. It seemed Zack could use the favor. Mia didn't have to think too hard to imagine that when she saw him he was usually alone or with someone focussed on classwork. The trials of being a genius she supposed. Sad, because as far as Mia could tell Zack was a nice guy. A little strange at times, sure, but nice all the same.

There wasn't much left in the way of booth discussion until they could get permission for electricity at the fair and they could find Delany. As if sensing it had been forgotten in the excitement of the discussion and was angered by it, Mia felt her stomach cramp from hunger pains. The smell of the food that filled the hall came rushing back at her. Zack seemed to read her thoughts and offered her a seat. She thought that was what he was implying anyway between the um's and uh's. Her original intention had been to come to Cascade Hall to eat and she was still in an amiable mood.

"No, I wasn't meeting anyone. I came down for lunch since I haven't eaten yet today, but I sort of got side tracked by the sign." She happily took a chair across from Zack. She eyed the food displayed there and spotted a bowl of pasta and sauce within arms reach. It was like the prairie elves could read her mind. There would forever be a fondness in her heart for the little creatures. After doling herself a small helping to anyone's standards but her own, she spoke. "So did you stick around here for the holidays? I thought I heard something about a blizzard."

0 Mia 'Course they would. In the dark. 0 Mia 0 5