Signing up on Cascade Hall

A Notice

July 19, 2011 12:43 AM

Broom Jousting Tournament by A Notice

Broom Jousting Tournament

In honor of this term’s theme, Sonora’s faculty is proud to present: the first Broom Jousting Tournament! If you think you have what it takes to uphold the Knightly virtues of loyalty, faith, courage, and honour, then you should participate and go into Sonora’s history as a Champion!

In order to be part of it, you need to sign-up. Write your name and year below and wait for further instructions.

Good luck!

Subthreads:

Omgshthisisthecoolestthingever!! by Demelza Eagle with Professor Aaron McKindy

Champion's Signature by Renée Errant with Professor Aaron McKindy

The answer is....<b>YESSS!</b? by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren with Professor Aaron McKindy

This is how it's done by Charlotte Abbott

Signing up…Take two by Kitty

Sign me up! by Derry Four

Signing up by Andrew Duell

Forsooth by Jose Hernandez

Opting out . . . for now by Daniel Nash

Sign-up take two! (because I fail) by Demelza Eagle

I don't play well with others by James Owen

This is probably a bad idea, but who cares? by David Wilkes

0 A Notice Broom Jousting Tournament 0 A Notice 1 5

Demelza Eagle

July 19, 2011 4:51 PM

Omgshthisisthecoolestthingever!! by Demelza Eagle

Demelza Eagle, Fifth Year

0 Demelza Eagle Omgshthisisthecoolestthingever!! 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

Renée Errant

July 19, 2011 6:14 PM

Champion's Signature by Renée Errant

Renée Errant, Third Year

0 Renée Errant Champion's Signature 0 Renée Errant 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

July 19, 2011 11:56 PM

The answer is....<b>YESSS!</b? by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Kitty McLevy - First Year

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren The answer is....<b>YESSS!</b? 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

July 20, 2011 6:16 AM

This is how it's done by Charlotte Abbott

At the Opening Feast when Headmaster Regal had announced they would be celebrating the anniversary of one of the Founders of Sonora or something, Charlie hadn't really paid it an awful lot of attention. Then, as the weeks of term progressed and no further mention of the celebration had been mentioned, the seventh year had forgotten about it entirely. So when a notice appeared that proclaimed a broom jousting tournament, it took her longer than she would admit to realize what it was on about as it refered to the year's 'theme.' It took her a little longer yet to understand what it meant by broom jousting. As no further explanation was offered, the Head Girl could only assume it was as it sounded - the medieval sport of jousting, but on broomsticks, in stead of horses. Of course, there would probably (hopefully) be some safety procedures in place that wouldn't have existed in the days of yore, because she was pretty sure people had died during actual jousting tournaments - or so Muggle pop culture movies would have her believe.

It sounded like a bit of fun, and reminiscient of something Charlie might have done in the past with Oliver, when her brother was at the school, too. Being a seventh year and experienced Quidditch player, Charlie fancied her chances at winning the tournament, too. She might not have the body mass of someone like Nic or Edmund, but she was used to staying on her broom when hit (unlike Nic whose track record indicated he was more likely to fall off, and Edmund who had never been hit by a Bludger, as equipped as he was with his Beater bat during games). The potential for injury didn't really faze her, either; if she was worried about being knocked off her broom she wouldn't have been Chaser for seven years at Sonora.

After not much consideration, Charlotte decided it would be an interesting activity, and if she got the opportunity to knock some people off their brooms then all the better (she was fairly sure she wasn't just refering to Daniel Nash when she thought that). She might also incorporate the concept into her Quidditch practises in future - the few that would be left before she graduated and Marissa became captain... had it really been seven years since Charlie first walked through those doors into the Hall where she now stood? Terrifying. At least she hoped to go out with a bang. As if being Head Girl, Quidditch Captain and Prefect wasn't enough, Charlotte Abbott was hoping to be Broom Jousting Champion, too. On the space at the bottom of the notice, she added her own details:

Charlotte Abbott, seventh year.

0 Charlotte Abbott This is how it's done 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Professor Aaron McKindy

July 20, 2011 10:17 AM

OOC Notice by Professor Aaron McKindy

Hi Kitty! I'm glad to see that you're interested in participating in our broom joust this term. However, I'd just like to remind you that each post here on Sonora should be a 200 word minimum. Sign-ups can be a little difficult to fit this requirement sometimes, but a good example can be found here.

Happy posting!

0 Professor Aaron McKindy OOC Notice 0 Professor Aaron McKindy 0 5

Professor Aaron McKindy

July 20, 2011 10:21 AM

OOC Notice by Professor Aaron McKindy

Hi Renée! Thanks for signing up for broom jousting this term. I'd just like to remind you quickly that each post here on Sonora should be a minimum of 200 words long. Sign-ups can be a bit tricky, but here is a good example if you need one for future reference.

Happy posting!

0 Professor Aaron McKindy OOC Notice 0 Professor Aaron McKindy 0 5

Professor Aaron McKindy

July 20, 2011 10:24 AM

OOC Notice by Professor Aaron McKindy

Hey Mel! Thanks for signing up for broom jousting. Just a quick reminder: all Sonora posts should be a minimum of 200 words each. It can be tricky to get 200 words in a sign-up post, so if you need an example of one that was done well for future reference, check out this one.

Happy posting!

0 Professor Aaron McKindy OOC Notice 0 Professor Aaron McKindy 0 5

Kitty

July 20, 2011 10:55 PM

Signing up…Take two by Kitty

Kitty just finished eating a bowl of strawberry oatmeal when she noticed some students standing near the bulletin board. Her curiosity was peaked when she heard a number of students talking excitedly about a tournament that was coming up. With quick light steps Kitty made her way towards the group. She waited for the student in front of her to finish signing up before skipping forward.

Clever blue eyes read over the notice as a grin bloomed on her face. She knew that her tiny size would be a considerable disadvantage in such a game. But, that didn’t stop her from scrawling her name on the signup sheet. She saw that a lot of other girls were going to play too, so she wasn’t worried that it would be for the boys only. And even if she had very little chance of actually winning, it still sounded like a great time.

Excitement tingled though the small girl as she thought about how the Tournament would be. If nothing else this would give her even more flying time, something the small girl loved from the first moment she’d flown on one. Not to mention that it made her competitive streak rise up, even though she was small she would win!

Kitty McLevy - First Year

0 Kitty Signing up…Take two 0 Kitty 0 5

Derry Four

July 21, 2011 11:47 PM

Sign me up! by Derry Four

Derry wasn't quite sure what to make of this year's theme - mostly because even his clothes would be too modern, and he wasn't sure if he was supposed to drop back to the 13th century to compensate or just wear 16th century clothing like everyone else - but if it brought broom jousting to Sonora, he was totally in favor of it. Broom jousting sounded awesome.

He was only a second year, and a totally average sized second year at that, so he had few illusions about winning, but he would definitely give it his best shot. And, hey, maybe being a beater would help, too. After all, he'd already been training to knock people off brooms for just over a year.

Approaching the sign-up sheet, he was a little surprised to find mostly girls' names on it, and for a moment he worried about fighting against girls (his father had told him this was dishonorable, not honorable like the quality the tournament was supposed to promote) but then he realized he recognized most of the names from Quidditch and he stopped worrying about it.

Quidditch Girls, he'd realized pretty early in his Sonora career, didn't count as Real Girls. Some people even seemed to get offended if he didn't hit Fake Girls just because they were girls (or, more accurately, try to hit Fake Girls - if he made an honest attempt and failed, that seemed acceptable). Therefore Jousting Tournament Girls were probably also Fake Girls, and he could try to hit them without anybody thinking he was an uncouth bully.

This conclusion drawn and accepted, he took out a quill and added his name under all of the Fake Girls' names.

Derry Four, Year 2

Then he realized maybe he was supposed to be more formal, seeing as it was a knightly tournament and all, so he crossed out that line and filled in the next line, using his very best calligraphy:

Derwent Pierce IV of Teppenpaw, Second Year

1 Derry Four Sign me up! 189 Derry Four 0 5

Andrew Duell

July 21, 2011 11:56 PM

Signing up by Andrew Duell

Andrew was concerned, he still had no solid plan for his responsibilities this year. Jose had not been as much help as he would have liked, and he had no idea where to go next. It was a bit unbelievable, Jose had hardly seemed concerned about the whole thing. He sat alone at the table and poked his food a bit longer while he thought. He needed a date for the dance.

Marissa was his prime candidate. She was smart, pretty, fun to be around and to top it off, she was a prefect as well. She needed a date just like he did. The question was... how to ask her? No, before he could even think of that he had to 'gain some favor' with her, or whatever the proper terminology would be. He had to make it so that when he did ask her, she'd at least think about it and not immediately laugh in his face.

That was when he looked up and saw the notice for the competition. That might be a start... obviously he couldn't win it first, it would be to late by then. But, if he was competing it should be a start at least. What if she competed though? What if they had to face off? He'd let her win obviously. Not that he'd make it look obvious. Anyway there was a whole set of factors that may or may not come into play for that to even happen, so he wasn't going to worry about it.

He put his name on the list, Andrew Duell - Sixth Year

2 Andrew Duell Signing up 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Jose Hernandez

July 22, 2011 12:05 AM

Forsooth by Jose Hernandez

From the start, Jose had felt the whole idea of a 16th century theme had been created just for him. He had been literally raised in a series of Rennaisance Faires. He spoke Elizabethan better than he did Spanish (which actually meant something now), and the prospect of asking a girl out to the dance didn't terrify him nearly as much as Andrew seemed to think it should.

Even after considering all that, though, the first reaction Jose had to finding out Sonora would be hosting a broom joust of all things, was to laugh. He had to be the only kid in the school who actually had jousting experience. True, he hadn't actually performed in one yet, but he had auditioned more than once, and sometimes helped out in rehearsals, and he even spent one summer as the Black Knight's Squire, so this. . . he must have done something worth a whole lot of karma in a past life or something.

There was no way he wasn't going to sign up, and he thought he had a really solid chance of winning, even with Charlie's name already on the list.

Jose Hernadez, Year 6 was added at the bottom, and Jose walked away, still laughing a little under his breath. This year kept getting more and more interesting.

1 Jose Hernandez Forsooth 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Daniel Nash

July 23, 2011 4:09 PM

Opting out . . . for now by Daniel Nash

At the Opening Feast, Daniel had been too exhausted from his summer to pay much attention to any of the announcements beyond that his Head Boy position had not been rescinded. There had been something about a dance, which hadn't come as a shock since the midsummer festival events went on a four year cycle and that was the one that followed a bonfire. The theme had been background noise that he hadn't really given much thought to.

The notice of a Joust, therefore, confused him for a long moment before he vaguely remembered hearing something about history and the sixteenth century. Even then, he really wasn't sure what to make of it.

Until this point, Daniel had signed up for everything the Sonora put on, for the exposure it would give him in his quest to become first Prefect and then Head Boy. Prefect had eluded him, but he earned Head Boy, so he counted the strategy as a success. Of course, he no longer needed to impress anybody to remain Head Boy, so that was no longer a driving factor to put his name on every list that appeared in the school.

This year, he could decide whether or not he wanted to joust before his name had to be written down.

Daniel was not, by nature, a violent person. Combat in any form (except possibly as it applied to Aladren Beaters) did not interest him, either as a participant or a spectator. He was competitive, there was no denying that, and being Sonora's Champion did have its appeal, but when he saw Kitty's name on the list, he wasn't sure he could, in good conscience, knock a tiny little eleven year old girl off her broom. (He knew himself well enough that he felt sure that when push came to shove, he would, but he'd feel really bad about it.)

Even besting Charlie had only limited attraction. He held no ill will toward her, and he already planned to smash her into little pieces on the Quidditch Pitch, so he felt winning this as well would only add insult to injury and losing this - to her or anyone else - would simply be intolerable.

So he ran his eye over the list of participants, looking for the one and only name that would invalidate all his other concerns and force his name to join the ranks of challengers. Only one person in the school could make it worth risking the indignity of finishing less than first place. He had only one rival he really needed to prove himself against.

But James Anthony wasn't on the list yet.

1 Daniel Nash Opting out . . . for now 130 Daniel Nash 0 5

Demelza Eagle

July 24, 2011 6:51 PM

Sign-up take two! (because I fail) by Demelza Eagle

It was just another day in the bubbly hyperactive world of the confused fifth year, Mel, as she skipped down to Cascade Hall for her usual beastly breakfast. Breakfast was the most important meal of the day, as she had often heard, so she always ate a substantial amount. Today, she devoured a cheese and ham sandwich, served on a croissant, and two waffles with lots of sugary maple syrup and lots of powdered sugar! All the sugar she digested just made her even more bouncy and excited to take on the day (it was a school day, but her first period was free so she planned to go to MARS after she ate to practice her guitar and singing).

Humming happily, Mel began walking out of the fast food area (even though it really wasn't; Mel just liked to call it that because the food was served in a swift manner by the lovely prairie elves) to go fetch her left-handed guitar from her dorm she shared with Nina and Delilah. Usually she would have chosen to sleep in on days where she had a free period, although today she was really intent on letting the music take her away. Flying around the Quidditch Pitch gave her the same "drifting off to a far off land" feeling, but since she was a beater she tended to channel all her anger into the bludgers, and that took a lot of energy, and she needed her alertness to keep her awake during Divinations in second period.

Being exceptionally alert (albeit that did not mean she was totally focused on everything) she immediately noticed a group of people around a notice sign. Mel was a little afraid to read what it was about--this year was full with tons of surprises, and Mel was not a fan of all of them. For one thing, she hated old things from, like, before the 1950s. She was more of a sophisticated, modern young woman and tended to be more on the creative, spontaneous side of things and liked new, fresh ideas. A ball was just too fancy. Although, Mel did love wearing dresses, and dancing was equally as fun, if not more! She just needed a date, and more importantly, it had to be a guy. Or, she could just go with a group of friends and not have to worry about being strapped down to someone. She was more of a free-spirit, anyway, making guys who wanted to feel superior in a relationship not want to date her. Whatever. Mel was perfectly happy with the way she was, as her mom told her she should be.

Finally she pushed through the crowd and stood behind three people who were much shorter than her (not a that that was surprising) to read the notice about a Broom Jousting Tournament. "Oh my gosh this is groovetastic!" She squealed excitedly. She had to sign-up for it! Jousting sounded like the greatest thing ever invented, and with it being on brooms just made it even better. And since Mel had a really long wing-spand, she was pretty confident that she could win.

Borrowing a quill from someone close by, she jotted her name down on the list, adding "Assistant Captain" in front of her title, just because it sounded more superficial and cool.

Assistant Captain Of Pecari's Super-Amazing Quidditch team Demelza Eagle, Three years below Eighth Year

She cracked herself up, sometimes.

0 Demelza Eagle Sign-up take two! (because I fail) 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

James Owen

July 25, 2011 5:07 PM

I don't play well with others by James Owen

There had never been a need for him to sign up for the Quidditch team. The skinny third year had glanced at the Aladren House sign-ups at the start of each year, but they had never needed an extra player. He could fly pretty well, he thought, even on the crappy brooms his family had at home that were probably around for original bouts of broom jousting in the medieval times. It wasn't just flying in Quidditch, though - it was a team sport, and James hadn't ever gotten on well with that sort of thing. Sharing the blame in no way made up for sharing the victory, and James had a tendency to blame everyone but himself for his group's imperfections (in his defense, it was rarely his fault if anything went wrong). So that was one problem, and another was that the Aladren team was swarming with the sort of pureblood snobs James liked to avoid where possible.

This jousting tournament though... it didn't matter whether or not James played well with others. In fact, as the idea was to knock one's opponent of his or her broom (he was asusming the rules would be similar to his own jousting games at home) then lack of team spirit was probably a positive trait. James was tougher than he looked, and if all he had to do was cling onto a broom to get named a Champion, then he was sure he could manage that.

he wasn't traditionally a joiner, and didn't know many other people in the school as a result. He didn't have a good memory for names, either, so it was no surprise that he didn't think he knew any of the other students who had signed up. That was probably for the best - potential harm caused to a stranger was a lot less guilt-ridden than harm caused to an acquaintance. So, feeling good about his chances, James signed his name and details up the sheet:

James Owen, third year.

0 James Owen I don't play well with others 168 James Owen 0 5

David Wilkes

July 26, 2011 12:39 PM

This is probably a bad idea, but who cares? by David Wilkes

There were a number of reasons not to join a broom jousting tournament, some more clearly defined than others.

One of the clearest was not really being too sure what broom jousting was.

David didn’t see that as entirely prohibitive, though. He knew how to fly, was fair enough at it if he did say so himself, and generally words didn’t mean completely different things between the worlds. They might be a bit off contextually, but they were close enough that the general idea generally remained recognizable. Jousting was a concept he was familiar with from spending way, way too much of his time at home reading paperback versions of the Arthurian cycle.

That, though, led to the second clear problem, which was that this sounded even more violent than Quidditch. He was fairly certain the rules would be drawn tightly enough to prevent students from actually killing each other, the way it had sometimes been in the Muggle jousts of the olden times, but still, what weapons were they going to be using? The running at each other part seemed a little pointless if it was wands, unless the idea was to make it harder to aim reliably and maybe more honor, or points, or whatever were earned for hitting the target at a greater distance, or greater speed, or something like that. That could make sense.

There were also some concerns about players being older or younger than him, with the attendant implications, but since Edmond wasn’t on the list, he thought that was less of a concern so long as the issue wasn’t dueling magic. No greater, anyway, than the fact that he didn’t feel like he was a very heroic character.

That was the thing about Sonora, though, the really great thing that he’d noticed early on but had never really had too many chances to put into practice. He was here, and because he was Muggleborn, there was no one who knew anything about him that he hadn’t told or shown them. No family here to be nosy and judgmental and always subtly discouraging, no records of his previous school performance making him feel the need to live up to or outlive anything…It was great. He had always liked buying notebooks and pencils and pens before school started, everything crisp and clean and new, and that was sort of what Sonora felt like. He’d started over, and could be almost anything he wanted. And maybe today, he felt like giving this a spin. It couldn’t hurt anything.

Well, it could hurt something, quite a few somethings really, and hurt them fairly severely, but that was why they had the lovely Medic Rocamboli around. If she’d dealt with last year’s Quidditch season without any lasting damage to the participants, then she could probably deal with all this.

So, though he had a brief moment of panicky regret almost as soon as he did it, he put his name beneath his roommate’s name.

David Wilkes, Third Year

16 David Wilkes This is probably a bad idea, but who cares? 169 David Wilkes 0 5