Dancing with Rachel Bauer on Cascade Hall

Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell

October 14, 2011 9:40 AM

Midsummer Medieval Ball by Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell

Considering the request for Sadi to step in as temporary Headmistress at Sonora while David Regal had been called away to a family emergency had been made at midterm, the former Ancient Runes professor had not expected to still be performing this temporary role by the year’s culmination. Yet, here she was, opening the Midsummer event. The Cascade Hall had been suitably altered for the occasion so it now no longer resembled itself: the walls were strewn with banners, streamers and tapestries. Along one side of the room were large oak tables, already decorated with candles and drapes, which would later bear a magnificent banquet of fresh meats and vegetables that might have been consumed around the time of Leith Clurican’s birth. The opposite side held a stage, where members of the most liberal branch of Pierces were ready to entertain with musical delights. The staff table had been replaced by a lower surface, covered in numerous re-filling goblets containing a variety of drinks, to which staff and students could help themselves throughout the evening. While the majority of the rest of the room was empty for dancing, there were several scattered chairs round the outskirts, clustered together in groups of two or three for conversation, and each chair had been dutifully transfigured to mimic an ornate medieval throne.

Even Sadi herself had made a transformation on a much smaller scale. While she usually wore simple robes in muted tones and her grayed hair was pulled neatly into a bun, her attire this evening consisted of earthy green robes that would have been in fashion five hundred years previously, and the bun was twisted a little more elegantly, sitting higher on her head; she had eventually decided against the traditional pointed hat. She had encouraged other faculty members to dress in appropriate costume, too, and hoped many of the students would take advantage of the opportunity. From her vantage point on the stage – keeping as best she could out of the way of the musicians – Sadi was able to survey all those who came into the hall. She watched people gather, some excited, some unsure of what to do with themselves, and even a few who looked as though they’d rather be somewhere else. As six o’clock approached, the Hall began to look nicely full, and so Sadi signalled to the Pierces that she was ready before casting the Sonorus charm.

“Good evening,” Sadi’s voice was magnified to be heard over chatter, the waterfalls, and the rustling of many gowns. “Thank you all for attending the Midsummer Ball this evening. Music will begin shortly, and the banquet will be served at eight. First, I have a couple of announcements to make.” It seemed the way that whenever an event occurred there were always announcements to be made first. “I’d like to begin by congratulating the current seventh year students on making it to their final year, and wish them all the best for the future.” From all accounts they’d been a very pleasant yeargroup on the whole, causing very little trouble other than asking incessant and pedantic questions. “Hopefully our current sixth years will follow their good example, led, of course, by their Head Boy and Head Girl.” The prefects would not be announced until the Opening Feast, but it was tradition to announce the most senior positions at the end of the year. “Congratulations to Jose Hernandez of Pecari, and Marissa Stephenson of Crotalus, who can collect their badges at the start of next term.” She led a short round of applause for the students who had been amongst those nominated by the faculty, but voted in by their fellow students.

“It is not only our seventh year students who will be leaving Sonora, but we’re also saying farewell to Medic Rocamboli, and to Professor McKindy, who will both be moving on to other exciting opportunities.” From a professional perspective, Sadi considered that this left a vacant position for Head of Pecari House, but she also experienced Aaron’s resignation on a personal level; next term would mark the first time in over a decade that neither of them was employed at Sonora. “We wish them all the best.” There was another short smattering of applause before Sadi resumed speaking for the last time. “Finally, I’m sure you’ll all join me in thanking everyone who has made this evening possible. So as the prefects lead the opening dance, let’s show our appreciation for the faculty, and for our guests from California.” One final round of applause, and Sadi cancelled the charm that amplified her voice, and vacated the stage as music began to play.

(OOC: As students are still posting in some classes the House points for this year have not yet been totalled, so look out for an OOC notice before the start of the new term to see which House has won this year.)

Subthreads:

I - what? by Jose Hernandez with Tawny Brockert

Stifling my nerves...or trying too. by Fae Sinclair with Arnold Carey, Fae

House pride. Or something. by Josephine Owen with Russell Layne, Josephine

Meeting Jane by Jethro Smythe with Jane Carey, Jethro

Here we go... by Andrew Duell with Marissa Stephenson

Deep Breath... this night won't hurt you. by Brianna Japos with Linus Macaulay, Brianna

A Historic Moment by Derry Pierce 4 with Demetra Mason

Let the fun begin! by Sophia Randolph with Renée Errant, Sophia

Just a glance. by David Kim

Don't even want to be here by James Owen with Alessa Hinckley, James

Enjoying the festivities from a distance by Dana Smythe

Fun!Fun! by Laurie Stratford with Kitty McLevy, Laurie

Flying solo by Samantha Hamilton

Desperation (Tag-A guy) by Nina Brockert with Sullivan Quincy

Partytime! by Jhonice Trevear with Arthur Carey

Dancing with Rachel Bauer by Nic Sawyer with Rachel Bauer

Smile, boys, that's the style. by Charlotte Abbott

An Alison Alliance by Daniel Nash with Alison Sinclair

Ryan+Sophie=best friends forever! by Sophie Jamison with Ryan O'Malley

Making the best of it by Preston Stratford with Sara Raines, Preston

Well, I'm fine with having a ball, anyway. by Sam Bauer with Kirstenna Melcher

Observing...or trying to. by Mellie Goodwin

A Modest Proposal by Seth Brockert with Lilac Crosby

Looking for Miss Manger by Paul Bennett

Making multiple points by Eliza Bennett with Marcus Williams, Eliza

0 Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell Midsummer Medieval Ball 0 Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell 1 5

Jose Hernandez

October 14, 2011 12:08 PM

I - what? by Jose Hernandez

Jose arrived at the Cascade Hall with Tawny, wearing an outfit that felt as familiar to him as the school robes he normally wore on a daily basis. He had, after all, been raised among Renaissance Faires and he spoke Elizabethan as readily as Modern English. Though he normally wore garb a little lower in class, he felt a Midsummer Ball was an appropriate enough occassion to rise up into the nobility, especially since he had given Tawny a dress that would suit a princess.

He spent a few minutes saying hello to people he knew, and making a few comments to Tawny about his observations of the room and fellow guests, and he exchanged a few facial expressions with his relatives on the stage before Headmistress Powell called for everyone's attention.

Though his name had been on Head Boy ballot, he had largely forgotten about it in the weeks since then. He was running against Edmond Carey for one thing, and Saul had not managed to secure the title despite a year's worth of campaigning, so Jose had pretty much written off his chances. When Headmistress Powell called his name, he blinked a couple of times, stood up straighter, and said in genuine befuddlement, "What? Me?"

Then he recovered, grinned, and waved to the voters who had chosen him, as a lifetime of entertainment urged him to acknowledge the people looking in his direction.

And then the music started, and he remembered his immediate duty - not only as a prefect now, but as the Head-Boy elect (!) - so he bowed to Tawny, held out his hand for hers, and asked, "May have this dance?"

1 Jose Hernandez I - what? 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Fae Sinclair

October 14, 2011 6:50 PM

Stifling my nerves...or trying too. by Fae Sinclair

Fae stood in front of her long mirror. She had butterflies in her stomach and she felt like she looked a little flush. This wasn’t like a real date or anything. She had no reason to be nervous. It was only Arnold and he was just her friend. He only asked her because they were limited to whom they could ask and considering they usually ended up together, it just seemed natural and more relaxing that they would go together. So then why was she so nervous?

Fae could almost hear Alice give her some logical explanation as to why her body was responding this way and then give her a funny look for having not grasped that concept to begin with. But, that was Alice for her. Nothing seemed to faze her roommate. Fae wished that she could go through experiences being completely stoic. She sometimes felt that she wore her feelings right on her face. Her sister told her she needed to keep that into check. If Fae became betrothed to someone not to her liking, Fae would need to learn how to control herself. Shelby said that if she didn’t, it might end up biting her in the nose.

There were too many things to keep straight and Fae didn’t want to think about that at the moment. All she wanted was for her stomach to stop doing somersaults and for her face to not feel so hot. She didn’t need Arnold to think he had made the wrong decision by asking her. That she wouldn’t be a fun partner for the ball. Fae could have fun. She could. She just needed to stop being so worried about it. She just needed to clear her mind, take a breath, and get on with it.

Taking a look at herself, Fae had to admit that her sister and mother really knew how to make her look nice. The dress they had picked was more modern than it was 16th Century. Its style still held that historical look, it just wasn’t so dramatic. A pale pink in color with gold threads, the color suited her nicely. Long sleeved, square neckline, and an a-line skirt. She could move just fine and her matching ballet flats would keep her from tripping over herself or someone else. She had decided to curl her hair and clip the front back to keep from getting into her eyes. She knew that the style back them, women had their hair teased and up high, but Fae couldn’t bring herself to do that to her hair. Putting on some lip glass, Fae gave herself one last look, glanced around to be sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, and then left the safety of her dorm to meet Arnold for the ball.

They hadn't specified where they were going to meet, so Fae assumed they would meet in front of the Hall and go in together. Still, she stood off to the side and occasionally looked in to see if perhaps he had gone in without her and was waiting at a table. If that were the case, she felt like a fool standing out in the hall waiting for him.

When she finally did see him, Fae smiled openly and waved to get his attention.

6 Fae Sinclair Stifling my nerves...or trying too. 194 Fae Sinclair 0 5

Arnold Carey

October 15, 2011 2:00 AM

Likewise... by Arnold Carey

It had been a chaotic kind of day, for so little to have actually happened during it. At least, Arnold thought so, and he thought Arthur agreed with him. It was the idea that fit best, anyway, with the way Arthur had kept muttering about how he should have known it was an omen when he touched his teacup and discovered it was a lot hotter than he’d expected or, playing with charms, meant for it to be. He had spilled the tea, too, in surprise; it wasn’t often that even Arnold got to see Arthur looking flustered, much less with tea all down the front of his robes, and he was determined to cherish the memory.

There was no sign of anything like that now, though. In very old-fashioned brown robes and a hat the Fourth wouldn’t even have worn in public to anything other than a party like this one, Arthur could have passed for a medieval scholar except for being thirteen and looking slightly distracted for some reason. Arnold didn’t ask; there were times when he would ask, but today wouldn’t be one of them.

His robes were of an equally old fashioned cut, but deep green and a little more elaborate, with some goldish stuff he was calling trim but which was really closer, in true medieval fashion, to being embroidery on the sleeves and front. It was less than the pictures of some medieval wizards Arthur had shown him, far less, but still. Not his idea, not his idea at all; he didn’t know whose idea it had been, actually, not only for him to be all embroidered, but for him to be the embroidered one. His brother seemed more amused by it than anything, but Arnold wasn’t. Only Mother and Father, of the whole family, didn't refer to them as a unit more often than as not one; they were supposed to go together.

Well, they didn’t go to the dance together, he did that with Fae because that was how things were supposed to work. But in general.

The entrance hall was crowded, and Arnold momentarily despaired of finding Fae before five minutes before the day ended. He didn't really think about his age too much, maybe because of being on the Quidditch team and being around the older and higher-ranking people there all the time until they stopped seeming like anything really remarkable, but now he noticed he was short and was annoyed by it. Then Arthur said something indistinct and touched Arnold’s shoulder before tilting his head toward something. The thing in question turned out to be Fae. Arnold smiled and started to head over before realizing his brother wasn’t walking with him.

“Aren’t you going to come say hello?” he asked.

“No,” Arthur said bluntly, then added in a milder tone, “Not now, anyway. I’ll speak with Miss Sinclair in a little while.”

Arnold frowned, momentarily troubled, as Arthur wandered off, but then shrugged and went on in the way he had been. He thought Arthur had gotten stranger since they started Sonora, but he had always kind of done his own thing without anyone really noticing, and Arnold guessed he always would.

“Hi,” he said, coming within natural speaking distance of her and smiling before he bowed. “You look nice, ah, really nice tonight.”

That wasn’t quite the way he was supposed to say it, but he had sort of noticed at some point while he was talking that she did look nice – not that she didn’t always look nice, just that she looked…nice-er, dressed up. Really nice, instead of just nice.

Straightening up, he offered her his arm, making a mental note to maybe do something nice for Terry sometime. Yes, she had to put up with it just like the rest of them, but she was the only girl who’d been around when he was learning to do this, so he possibly owed her. He really did owe her if they actually danced at all, because proper dancing wasn’t something that had come naturally to Arnold, and his cousin’s feet had been trod on a lot when they both learning, much more often than his had. “Would you like to go in now, Miss Fae?”

It was all going to be all right. The trick was just not to start talking too fast. As long as he did that, he’d be all right. He knew what he was doing, and really, he and Miss Fae had already been to a party together once, sort of.

He had thought of that to reassure himself, so he was surprised when he did, in fact, find himself feeling better after he thought of it, more comfortable with the situation and his place in it. He was still a little worried about dancing, but he was pretty sure Derry had done that at the same party he was thinking of last year, and it was a rule of the universe that anything a Pierce could do, a Carey could…well, all right, a Carey who wasn’t Arthur could do; the mere thought of Arthur attempting to be as cheerful as Derry was terrifying. But the rule held in all other cases. If Derry could dance, then Arnold, if he needed to, could dance.

0 Arnold Carey Likewise... 181 Arnold Carey 0 5

Josephine Owen

October 15, 2011 1:46 PM

House pride. Or something. by Josephine Owen

She had really wanted it to be purple, but her Mom had written to tell her that all the purple fabric was far too expensive. The dress was light brown cotton for the most part, but her mother had managed to stitch in slim panels of some sparkly gold fabric around the hem of the skirt, which was knee-length, and so not really suitable for the occasion. Some of the gold fabric had been stitched around the neckline, too, and that looked quite pretty, even if it was v-shaped, rather than the square line Josephine had been hoping for. When she’d tried it on, and seen her reflection in the mirror in their dormitory, Josephine thought she looked quite nice. The dress looked handmade, yes, but it looked new, too. Richer purebloods got their clothes handmade for them all the time, so how was this any different? At least nobody would be wearing the same thing.

It was still brown, though. Josephine didn’t think she could manage a color-changing charm to turn the whole dress at once (or better - just the brown bits), and even if she was successful, she doubted it would last the whole evening, so everyone would see the brown, anyway. Better to make the most of it, on this occasion. She did have some quite nice ankle boots in a very similar shade of brown. They were scuffed, by the second year colored in the worst bits with some matching ink, and then rubbed them for ages with an old t-shirt to make them shine. In her jewelry box she had some gold bangles – well, they were only copper and tin, but they looked gold, so she slipped them onto her wrist. Her hair had been washed earlier in the day, and was finally dry, so Josephine brushed it thoroughly before clipping back the front portions into a half-ponytail, securing it with a gold colored plastic butterfly clip.

Being in the hall with the whole school was intimidating, from a second year’s perspective. As a second year without a wide friendship base, Josephine hung near the drinks table while the Professor did her speeches. Then she watched the older students dance for a short while – casually she wondered whether she’d ever look that elegant and grown up – before turning back to the table and helping herself to a sparkling fruit drink (that actually sparkled, as well as being fizzy). Then she moved out the way of others trying to get drinks, and continued to smile at everyone who looked her way until one of them decided to speak to her.

0 Josephine Owen House pride. Or something. 196 Josephine Owen 0 5

Jethro Smythe

October 15, 2011 4:52 PM

Meeting Jane by Jethro Smythe

As the Midsummer Ball approached, Jethro found himself feeling very fortunate. The aspect most contributing to this feeling was that he had asked Jane to go with him to the ball, and she had agreed. He knew that there was a lot of politics involved in things that he did or did not do, none of which Jethro really understood, but the powers that be seemed to suggest that him being friends with Jane was perfectly acceptable. This was especially lucky, because Jethro had discovered that he liked spending time with Jane more than with any other person he had ever met. He still felt as though he shouldn’t inflict himself on her with too great a frequency because he’d become well accustomed to the fact that his company was tiring, but he also felt that she mostly didn’t mind when he was around.

There was another aspect that was contributing to his feeling of fortitude this evening, which was that, unlike the last Ball, he hadn’t put together his own costume. Dana had sent home for a costume to be made for her, and so she’d gotten something sorted for Jethro, too, for which he was grateful. He had plenty of dress robes anyway, but this outfit was apparently tailored to fit in with the theme of the event, without making him look ridiculous (another aspect for which Jethro was grateful, because he genuinely didn’t need any help in looking ridiculous). He combed his hair and looked at his mostly-black clad reflection and almost wished he had a roommate to reassure him that he didn’t look foolish. He didn’t care for himself, but he wouldn’t want to bring that on Jane.

Having made it down to the entrance to the Hall, Jethro waited there for Jane to arrive – it seemed other students had planned a similar meeting scenario, as Jethro wasn’t waiting alone. When he saw his friend approach, the sixth year stood up a little straighter, and didn’t need to fake the expression of happiness when she arrived near him. “Good evening, Miss Carey,” he said, in the social event mindset that would have made it impossible for him to address her as Jane at their first encounter this evening. “You look incredibly beautiful,” he told her earnestly, wishing he had mastered eloquence past basic expression of thought. He didn’t usually give much thought to Jane’s appearance, but there was no doubt he had noticed just now that she was nice to look at. The original smile he’d sported since he first witnessed her had managed to stay firm on his face as Jethro once again felt excessively lucky. Holding his arm out to Jane, he led her into the decorated Hall, joining many more of Sonora’s students.

(OOC: Apologies for making assumptions on behalf of your character, and apologies the post doesn't go very far as many more assumptions would have been implied!)

0 Jethro Smythe Meeting Jane 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5

Russell Layne

October 16, 2011 11:26 PM

'Something' about sums mine up. by Russell Layne

Russell had thought for a while about asking someone to the ball just because it seemed to be the thing his roommates were doing, but had finally decided that wasn’t a very good reason to do something and gone with his original plan of turning up alone. He had enough trouble just engaging his roommates, or someone he was working with in class, in conversation for a while sometimes; he had no idea what he’d talk to someone about all evening, especially if it wasn’t one of his more eloquent days. Besides, the thought of asking a girl to the dance as a sort of date was kind of…weird.

He would have really preferred to just stay back in Aladren, but not only was that maybe against the rules, but also everyone would know he had stayed behind. Most likely, none of them would actually care, but they’d know, so he didn’t try to dodge it and was glad his mom had gotten excited enough to get him a set of dress robes. He owned another set, but they were what he wore to funerals and the occasional adult thing his parents drug him to, and he thought they were too short now, anyway. The dark blue robes he wore now weren’t the Aladren shade, nor were they anything like as nice as what the other Aladren second years had on, but he thought he looked pretty good in them.

Once he reached the Hall, he felt a little at loose ends, and lurked near a wall while the Acting Headmistress talked. He applauded for the announcements about hoping the seventh years did well since his Quidditch captain was among them, and again for the Head Boy and Girl even though he didn’t know either of them except as Pecari Chaser-Captain and Crotalus Seeker and so not people on his side, and was a bit sad to hear about the staff members who were leaving them, but otherwise didn’t find the speech particularly relevant to him. He doubted he was ever going to do anything that would bring him in contact with the Head Boy and Girl, anyway; the medic and new Charms teacher were relevant, but not in a hugely personal way.

As people began dancing, he wandered over to the drinks and saw Josephine Owen smiling. He smiled back. “Hi,” he said, figuring that, at least, was just simple politeness even if they didn't end up talking. Though he wasn't opposed to that, either. "How's it going?" he added, going more over in her direction.

16 Russell Layne 'Something' about sums mine up. 183 Russell Layne 0 5

Andrew Duell

October 17, 2011 5:02 PM

Here we go... by Andrew Duell

The day was finally here. The day he'd been simultaneously dreading and dreaming of since the opening feast. He'd made his plans, and miraculously some of them actually panned out. He had gotten the prettiest girl in the school to go with him, and they'd even learned to dance without tripping over each other to much. One of the last things he had to figure out was what he was going to wear. This was not a dilemma that he usually encountered. Luckily he had a solution, he knew a leading expert in the field of archaic fashion and was mildly skilled in the art of transfigurations. After a few consultation sessions with Jose, a little research in the library and some experimentation; he was ready to go.

Andrew met with Marissa so that they could arrive at the ball together, they were prefects after all and should make a proper entrance. She was stunning, simply stunning. He tried to convey this idea on their way down to the hall, but wasn't sure he had much success. The Cascade hall looked incredible, he'd been here for six years, but what they could do with this room still amazed him. The room was pretty full by the time they arrived, with all the other people dressed up he didn't feel quite so out-of-place in his robes.

Headmaster Powell made her speech, and he cheered loudly and applauded his date and best friend on their appointments. "Congradulations Marissa! You're going to be an excellent... head?" That didn't quite sound right to him, but it didn't really matter.. he hoped. So he just grinned at her and offered his hand. Time to show off what they could do, "So, shall we?"

2 Andrew Duell Here we go... 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Brianna Japos

October 17, 2011 8:45 PM

Deep Breath... this night won't hurt you. by Brianna Japos

This was the first sort of anything fancy that Brianna had ever been invited to. She had, as a child, been to some of her father’s family events in the Philippines, but Brianna didn’t remember much about it. Besides, she didn’t even think that counted considering she had been so young and it had been with her family. And, she was fairly certain that if anyone asked her whether or not she had any experience with balls, dances, or any other type of formal event, Brianna didn’t think they would be all too impressed with her if she said she had been to some family functions.

While she got herself ready for the night, Brianna thought about how the evening would go.

There was a small part of Brianna that wished she hadn’t agreed to go to the ball with Linus. It wasn’t because she had anything against Linus. He was rather pleasant to her and he definitely exuded being from an affluent family, which is what Brianna needed in order to keep up with this whole spiel. If she was going to pull of being a prim and proper princess like Attoria, she needed the right connections to do it.

The problem with Linus was that Brianna wasn’t sure they could have fun together. Whenever she was around him, she felt like she had to be absolutely perfect or else he would judge her. He seemed somewhat reserved in nature, so she wasn’t sure if she could hold a conversation with him for a long period of time. Plus, he if wanted to dance (which she wasn’t sure if that was something boys even cared to do), Brianna might end up stepping all over him and really hurt him. She knew how to dance… sort of. When her father had down time, back when she was younger, he used to let her dance on his feet. If she ended up bruising his feet, she doubted he’d leave the ball with happy thoughts of her. She wasn’t sure if they could have fun together, but she didn’t want him leaving with hate of her either.

Of the boys in their class, Brianna thought she could have fun with Paul or David. She felt more relaxed around them when she was partnered with them in class. Well, maybe not relaxed per se, but definitely not as though she had to walk on egg shells around them, afraid that they would throw her to a Dementor and run away laughing. She hoped that she could have that same feeling while she was with Linus, but she didn’t have such high hopes of it. On top of that, Attoria was angry with her for having a date to the ball while she didn’t. Brianna didn’t think that was very fair since Linus had asked them all and she had said nothing, but she knew that Attoria wouldn’t see it in such a way.

It was too late now anyway. What was done was done and there was no backing out now. Brianna finished her hair and looked at herself to see how the full effect was. Although the dress wasn’t truly authentic in the look because her mother had used a cheaper satin that was lighter to work with, Brianna still thought she looked pretty good. The emerald green of the dress complimented both the olive tones of her skin and the brown of her eyes rather well. Her hair being too long without the holiday cut, she decided to pull back into a low bun at the nape of her neck. This way, it was out of her way and wasn’t difficult to maintain. Hopefully Linus would like how she looked as his date.

Taking a deep breath, Brianna left her dormitory and went in search of her date for the evening.

6 Brianna Japos Deep Breath... this night won't hurt you. 203 Brianna Japos 0 5

Fae

October 17, 2011 9:31 PM

You're nervous too? by Fae

Arnold and his brother spotted her in the crowd of students. She felt that was a downright miracle that he had been able to. Fae would never have made any sort of negative remark on Arnold’s height, but she couldn’t deny the fact to herself that Arnold was not the tallest in her class. On any given day, this fact did not bother her in the slightest. Fae was petite. She will always be petite. Where Shelby gained their father’s height, Fae gained their mother’s lack of height. Two second years in which neither had height as an advantage to them did not fair well in crowds. It was by chance that they were able to connect.

Fae curtsied as Arnold bowed. She felt like she was playing a game with him by being so formal and over the top in their outfits. Almost to the point where she felt a bit of laughter bubbling up from her stomach. Almost. She was still rather nervous about being here with Arnold. The bubble of laugher flopped in her stomach and instead of laughing, Fae had to hope she didn’t look suddenly ill. If nothing else, she hoped the smile she wore showed how excited she actually was about going to the ball.

“Oh, thank you, Arnold.” She commented, blushing slightly without wanting too. She didn’t realize how strange it felt to be complimented on her outfits or looks and she wasn’t sure what to say in return. “I enjoy your costume. It is definitely Medieval.” Fae suddenly felt that her dress wasn’t sufficient enough to be Arnold’s date for the evening. As beautiful and comfortable as it was, it didn’t hold the same Medieval quality that his did. “I’m sorry if my dress isn’t perfect. My mother was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stand up properly if she allowed me to wear something more authentic to the times.”

Fae took his arm when he offered it, feeling only slightly foolish but that was more for the blush she still had on her cheeks than for walking into the Hall on the arm of Arnold Carey. “I would love it, Arnold.” Despite the nervous butterflies in her stomach, Fae really was looking forward to the ball. Maybe it was the girl in her that was bringing out her glee, she couldn’t say for certain, but she knew that she couldn’t wait to be seated with others who were dressed in costume, eating wonderful food, and then dancing the rest of the night away.

“I’m rather glad that I am not a Prefect.” Fae said lightly as they walked into the hall and she took in all of the scenery. “I have a difficult time with dancing comfortably as it is, I wouldn’t be able to do it in front of the entire school for the first dance of the evening. The pressure would be too much.” She shivered just thinking of it. She wasn’t going to lie, she liked the idea of being Prefect because than she was being recognized for something. She just wasn’t sure she liked everything that came with such a title. “Where would you like to sit?” She knew she had just switched topics rather suddenly, but she was having a hard time keeping her train of thought. She hoped that this would get easier as the evening went on.

0 Fae You're nervous too? 0 Fae 0 5

Jane Carey

October 17, 2011 9:54 PM

I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long by Jane Carey

As she adjusted the filet holding her dark hair, Jane found herself remembering the morning they had set off for the first Reunion she could remember attending. Mother had, in an unusual gesture that had let her know in a way the speeches hadn’t that this was important, fussed over Jane’s appearance, straightening and re-straightening the lace cuffs and collar on her best robes and tying long, brightly colored ribbons in her curls…

A hollow feeling crept into her chest, and something in it tightened painfully for a moment, but it was mild, now, and didn’t linger. She smoothed her hair and studied her reflection until her large brown eyes were perfectly serene, then went to the door and out through the Teppenpaw commons to meet Jethro.

In the entrance hall, she looked around for a moment until she spotted her date and smiled as she went over to him. “Good evening,” she said warmly when he greeted her, making a slight curtsy just for the formality of it, because it felt like what one should do at a ball. Mother had drilled them on the fine points of etiquette for as long as she’d been alive, but Jane had never been able to remember all of it at once, and she had never really been to a ball before, either. They hadn’t attended many parties at all, and she and Edmond had never been old enough for a ball most of the time.

She had expected Jethro to at least not disapprove of her appearance, since her gown was emerald green and he had told her about this time last year that he liked green and it was a nice gown and she had even found a few very small pieces of jewelry with green stones in her mother’s jewelry boxes, but being told that she was incredibly beautiful took her by surprise. She could feel herself starting to blush and looked down instinctively. She knew she wasn’t the girl equivalent of her poor brother, but that was not something she had ever expected to have said about her. “That’s very nice of you to say,” she said, making herself look up again. “You look very handsome tonight, too, Jethro.”

Which was truer, she thought, than the comment about her being incredibly beautiful, however pleased with it she really was. She took his arm when it was offered to her, a gesture that wasn’t hard after all the times she and Edmond had needed to practice it over the years, and let him lead the way into the Hall.

“Where would you like to sit?” she asked once they were inside, raising her voice slightly to be heard clearly in the noise. “I don’t think we can dance until after the prefects do.” If he even wanted to dance. Jane hoped he did. She enjoyed dancing very much, but it hadn’t been proper to while she was in formal mourning for Mother, and the prospect of it was one reason she’d been looking forward to the midsummer ball ever since she’d heard about it at the Opening Feast in September.

0 Jane Carey I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long 160 Jane Carey 0 5

Derry Pierce 4

October 17, 2011 10:05 PM

A Historic Moment by Derry Pierce 4

He had planned to just wait until only one of his friends didn't have a date, or maybe even go as part of a Teppenpaw Group, but a few weeks ago, he got an owl from his family asking who he had asked to the ball. There had been a definite undertone (so much of one that even Derry had picked up on it) that he should ask someone who had been at Fae's party last year.

The only person on his short list who had been at Fae's party was Demetra. Honestly, he had already toyed with the idea of asking her simply because his first thought upon learning there was a dance was to remember the dancing they had done at Fae's party. The only reason he hadn't was because he hadn't run into her before he realized many of his other friends didn't have dates either.

But Grandmother had made her opinion clear on the matter, so he'd gone out of his way to find Demetra and asked her, and she said yes, so here they were.

'Here' was the front hall of the Cascade Hall where it seemed pretty much the entire student body had also decided to stand while trying to find their dates. Though not especially short, he was still only twelve, and even standing on his toes didn't help him see over the crowd, and Demetra wasn't any taller, so finding her was proving difficult.

After a little while, the crowd thinned out a little and he finally spotted her. "Dem!" he called and headed over in her direction, being careful not to catch his tights on anything. Of the outfits his mother had sent him, the colorful poofy pants and sleeves had appealed to him most. He didn't think most guys would dare wear anything like it, which really only added to its appeal. He'd kind of gotten used to dressing differently than everyone else. It was his thing.

His hat, also was not his usual tri-corner, but the feathered mostronsity that took its place was almost worth its loss, if only for the night. He'd be glad to go back to the tri-corner tomorrow, but for tonight, this was going to be his hat.

1 Derry Pierce 4 A Historic Moment 189 Derry Pierce 4 0 5

Sophia Randolph

October 17, 2011 10:41 PM

Let the fun begin! by Sophia Randolph

Sophia was pumped for this, she had never attended anything resembling a ball, and it was exciting, especially the getting-ready-for-it part. The blonde Pecari had never been a girly-girl, she always been more of a tom-boy, but her mother had began instructing her in the art of being a girl, and she loved every minute of it. It wasn’t that she had forgotten her tom-boyish ways, but playing to be a girl was nice. Plus, she would be fifteen in a few weeks, and she had already realized that boys were cute, and that those boys usually looked at girly-girls. It was confusing, it really was. Her mother had sent her a very lengthy owl explaining things, she had been grateful for it, because boys were something she was starting to discover. They were a very nice discovery if she said so herself. She had a small crush on an older guy at Sonora, but he was never going to notice her, she was still too little.

So, seeing as she was going to be date-less to the medieval ball, she opted to ask Renée to go with her…as friends. Sophia really liked the younger girl; she just had something that lured her in, even when she got her into trouble. The Pecari couldn’t really forget about getting caught with her at MARS by the groundskeeper. It had been the black mark on her perfect record, her mother had been furious with her, and after that she had tried to maintain her rebellious nature under check. It was never nice to receive howlers, nope it wasn’t.

In preparation for the ball, Sophia asked her mother for a costume, and he had complied. Her dress was purple, with a long skirt and long sleeves, just like women used to wear during that time. The dress had been home-made by her mother and Aunt Cecilia. They had done a very good job with the dress; it didn’t seem to be home-made. She had to admit that she felt like a princess in her dress. Her mother also sent some make-up and precise instructions on how to use it and how to style her hair. All in all, she was sure that the final outcome was good enough. She was learning! Her mother was going to be very proud of her, since Andrea Randolph had always complained about her tom-boy nature. Sophia smiled at her reflection and exited her room feeling excited about this. It was going to be epically fun!

The Pecari had sent Renée an owl specifying that she would be waiting for her inside the Cascade Hall near the food table. It would be a hassle to wait for her out of the hall with everyone else, and from what she had seen when she arrived, it had been the best idea ever. Sophia hummed a cheery tune she had heard somewhere while she waited for her friend to arrive, she was sure that Renée would come in with a bang and pretty dress. Her mother was a designer, she was bound to be. When she finally spotted her, she waved to get her attention, “Renée!” She said excitedly. A grin on her face, she couldn’t wait for the fun to begin.

0 Sophia Randolph Let the fun begin! 167 Sophia Randolph 0 5

David Kim

October 17, 2011 11:04 PM

Just a glance. by David Kim

He made no attempt at dressing for the occasion, his only unpacked clothes being the same ones he'd worn since early that morning. The light grey sweater forced a paleness to his skin that made his eyes darker and his hair blacker. David was. . . confused. He had been for the past month. He hardly knew what to make of the emotion, it was so strange and foreign a one to him.

He'd only experienced it once before, and that was with a neighborhood kitten that he'd discovered left outside in a box with a hand-written note designating it as abandoned. He'd known that he could never bring it home, and so he had hidden it in an unfinished townhome, one of a few still left unfinished near the back entrance of the gated community. The contractors always finished the bathrooms and kitchens first in their homes, and a bathtub was exactly the right height and length to keep a kitten.

For three weeks, every day before and after school, David would sneak away to the unfinished house and stay with the kitten, feed it and pet it. Within only a day of having cared for it, he'd fallen in love. It was so small and tiny, so very weak and scared, and in his mind, there was only himself to protect it. David had never felt so needed or wanted before in his life. But he hadn't been careful enough; he hadn't paid attention to the neighborhood notices regarding the continuance of the construction. The kitten was found and dropped off at an animal shelter.

David knew well enough to not ask his parents, and so had turned his grief and anger onto one of the older bullies who made the mistake of choosing him to pick on the next day. David might have got a bruise or two during the encounter, but the satisfaction he felt from knowing that his words had the power to turn a boy four inches taller and thirty pounds heavier into a sobbing mess had sated much of his violence.

And so, David had some experience with what he was now feeling, but the confusion remained, because he certainly had never felt it for another person. That stab of possessiveness, of concern; he both welcomed and rejected it. Still, though, as he slid around the outskirts of the mulling crowd in the Cascade Hall, he sought her out. He looked for the long brown hair, the skin almost as dark as his; he searched and peered, avoiding the dancing of elbows and the ruffles of full skirts. He listened to nothing of the speech or the declaration of school appointments. He wanted only to find her, certain that the moment he did, something of the stirring in his chest might abate.

And then it was; at last, he spotted her across Hall, her silhouette, caught in beautiful relief for three masterful seconds. He saw her dark eyes and full lips, and at once, David felt relief. The crowd shifted and she was lost to him again, just a blur of green in a sea of color, but it was enough; he was calm once more. He did not need to speak to her or peer closer. He had no plans to wish her a good summer, or press a farewell or good tiding before he would leave.

He had wanted only that-- to see her once more.

0 David Kim Just a glance. 0 David Kim 0 5

Arnold

October 18, 2011 1:05 AM

A little bit by Arnold

She was blushing. What did that mean? Terry did that sometimes, but she usually wanted to hit him when she did, so he was guessing - hoping - his friend and his cousin had different motives for doing that. He was almost sure he hadn't said anything that should make her want to slap him yet.

"Thank you," he said when she complimented his costume, his smile widening in relief as he decided this most likely meant he didn't look stupid. Noticing he felt a little flushed at the compliment, just as she was, helped, too. Then, though, she started apologizing for her dress. It was nothing he would ever wear, of course, and somehow he didn't see Terry in it, either, but it looked nice on Fae for all he knew about such things, and he didn't want her to feel bad anyway. That seemed wrong to him somehow. "No, it looks great," he assured her, or tried to. And, since she'd used the word, he added a "Perfect. Really."

Going in was okay with her, so he counted that off the list of things that could have gone wrong but hadn't. "Edmond's going to have to do it," he said when she started talking about prefects and leading the dancing. "It's probably better him than me." Though better him than Arthur in sixth year, maybe, despite Arthur already deciding he'd be prefect while Arnold was the Quidditch captain. "I'm sure you'd be great, though," he added, hoping as soon as he noticed what he'd said that using the same word he had used in an earlier compliment wasn't a huge problem. "Do you want to dance some when the prefects are done?"

It would be different for Anthony, who was about nine and already had the family speculating about which girls were about his age and was usually good at talking to people anyway. It might even be different for Arthur, who enjoyed being around adults and never got nervous or worried about people at all. The problem, though, was that it was Arnold who was here with Miss Fae Sinclair, who was pretty in her pink gown and who he'd like to impress and maybe make smile and have a nice time but would settle for not looking stupid in front of. He didn't really know what he was doing, and while he usually didn't mind working things out as he did them, this was...different, somehow. He was, for once, worried about what would happen if he messed up - and an impressive thing it was that this was what would cause him worry, since most of his potential mess ups involved his body hitting things like walls or trees or the ground at high speeds.

Still, he hadn't really messed up so far, which meant there was a chance he wouldn't really mess up at all. He'd just have to do the best he could, starting with finding seats.

"Er - " He hadn't really thought about where to sit. "Is over here okay?" he asked, spotting two open chairs without any students very much older than them around. Older students were intimidating, sometimes, especially the ones he had never played Quidditch against and so had no ground with, and he didn't think that feeling like someone was looking down at them or else that they weren't worth noticing was really what either of them needed tonight.

0 Arnold A little bit 181 Arnold 0 5

James Owen

October 18, 2011 11:14 AM

Don't even want to be here by James Owen

Large social events, particularly ones with dancing, were never enjoyable in James' opinion. He was at the Midsummer Ball almost against his will. Not quite, but almost. It did have its few redeeming features. For one, there was going to be a banquet, and in the third year's understanding of the term, that meant a great deal of food. He never ever passed on an opportunity for free food, especially when his intake was likely to go down dramatically as of the following morning. He didn't go hungry at home, but the variety was smaller, and the quality of his mother's budget food didn't match Sonora's high standards.

For another, he wasn't sure whether his absence would be entirely forgiven by the staff - if they even noticed the lack of one student among the throngs of over-exaggerated dresses in the Hall - and he wished to remain in their good graces. he wasn't sure yet whether he really desired the title of prefect, but it seemed nonsensical to ruin his chances before he'd made up his mind on the matter, only to regret his actions later.

Therefore, reluctant but resigned, James joined the rest of the school in the Cascade Hall, barely paying attention to those who were dressed up in ridiculous frills. He was wearing his least-worn jeans and a clean shirt, and his brown hair (too long for his liking as it was only cut in the holidays) was neatly combed. This was about as dressy as the third year would ever wish to be.

He was disappointed to discover food wouldn't be readily available, and he avoided going near the drinks table because his sister was lingering there; he was going to spend all summer with Josephine, and didn't need to start the torture ahead of time. He chose instead to take a seat and maybe pass the time by people-watching, which was usually a fairly entertaining sport, and it would be easier than usual to come up with sardonic commentary with everyone dressed like morons. There was an empty seat just near him, but the others round it were occupied. "Is this seat already taken?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the music that had just begun.

0 James Owen Don't even want to be here 168 James Owen 0 5

Linus Macaulay

October 18, 2011 12:24 PM

It might even be fun by Linus Macaulay

It seemed to Linus that he'd been particularly fortunate in his allocation of roomates. For a start, he could have ended up with that weird Solomon, or with David Kim, liable to fly off the handle at no provocation. Instead he had Paul, who filled in the limited but nevertheless existing gaps in Linus' knowledge about the wizarding world with helpful advice. For instance, that it was fairly common practise for a couple to match the color of their outfits at a ball, as he had done with his date, Sally. Linus had initially been baffled by the concept, but then he supposed if one were to go in orange and the other in purple (as unlikely as that scenario was) they might have retrospectively wished they'd discussed their options. Perhaps this was why the practise was now in place. Therefore, Linus had asked Brianna what she was intending on wearing. She'd told him green. It was, he later concluded, a preferable answer to pink, or yellow, but he didn't really care much for green clothes. Dark green, he'd supposed, wouldn't be so bad, and then he'd realized there were so very many different shades of green, and surely a lime green and a turquoise shade would clash just as badly as orange and purple! he had never in his life before spent so much time thinking about an outfit, and so had eventually just asked his Mom to find him something green to wear to a medieval ball.

The outfit that had been delivered was satisfactory. It was essentially composed of some tight black pants, and a white shirt with a high collar and unnecessarily puffy sleeves. Over this, Linus wore what he would describe as a waistcoat that was too long for him, but which mercifully covered his behind (that had been feeling exposed in such close-fitting fabric). This garment was dark green, and had some gold twisted fabric reminiscent of curtain tie-backs round its edges. The outfit was completed with a leather belt round his waist, and some footwear that in any other circumstance would be pirate boots, which came up to his knees. Linus thought he was dressed more appropriately for a community theater performance than a ball, but as he arrived in the Hall, he realized he actually blended in quite well.

In costume, everyone looked different, and it took him longer than he'd anticipated to find Brianna. In hindsight, he should have arranged to meet her in the commonroom, but he hadn't liked the thought of either of them just waiting around for the other while everyone else was milling in the Hall. Regardless, he did find her eventually (and discovered that knowing the color of her dress in advance was beneficial for a second reason). He offered a tight smile as he came up to her, and he tried not to be too obvious as he visually scrutinized her. he knew girls liked to be told they looked nice, but he'd never intended on lying about something so trivial. As it happened, he thought Brianna did look nice. He'd never considered her to be conventionally pretty, but then very few of the girls in their year were rendered attractive by the uniform robes in which Linus usually saw them. "You look very nice in that outfit," he told her, bobbing his head in a nod without even realizing he was doing it. He did, however, realize that saying such a thing made him feel strained, like when complimenting an unfamiliar relative on their chicken recipe. Compliments didn't come naturally to him, and this whole scenario was sufficiently unfamiliar to make him feel off-kilter as it was. He was almost as befuddled as he'd been the night he first arrived at Sonora.

The perceived formality was in itself dautning. Linus almost felt like he ought to bow, and he wasn't sure if it was more down to the costume or the occasion. He resisted the urge, reluctant to do anything to further alienate his sense of the situation. "This is all new territory to me," he confessed to Brianna after a pause, during which he discovered he had no idea what to do with his hands, and his outfit didn't have any pockets. He instinctively smoothed his dark blond hair over to the side, but then jolted his hand away again - he refused to be the person who spent all night irrationally fussing with his hair.

Not a moment too soon, the Headmistress, or whoever she was - Linus had lost track of what had happened to the man who'd been Headmaster at the start of the year - began speaking, saving Linus from having to think what to do next. Only for a minute or two, as then they had to clear space for the prefects to dance. "Would you prefer to get a drink now," he asked Brianna, leaning in a bit so she would hear him okay, "or watch the dancing for a bit?" There was a third option of something else entirely, of course, but leave it to her to mention that if she wanted. He was currently open to suggestion.

0 Linus Macaulay It might even be fun 205 Linus Macaulay 0 5

Dana Smythe

October 18, 2011 1:00 PM

Enjoying the festivities from a distance by Dana Smythe

Having eventually talked Alison into going in costume, Dana could confess to being excited about the evening as they'd prepared for it in their dormitory. She didn't need to make a great effort, as nobody was there for her to impress, not to mention she didn't have a date, but the seventh year nevertheless enjoyed getting dressed up for an occasion. It was lucky she had this temprament, considering how often she had to parade herself in social situations outisde of school; she didn't envy those who'd rather forgo the glamour. The dress that had been made for Dana was pale gold in color, with a fleur de lis pattern covering the fabric. It had a straight neckline, puffy shoulders, a fitted waist and a huge skirt: she was delighted with it. Her dark blonde hair had been carefully curled into loose spirals, and she wore a basic headress threaded with pearls. After making sure Alison was ready, Dana left her friend to find her date - or whatever their arrangement was called - while she herself took in the sights of the Cascade Hall.

Dana didn't have any specific desires for the evening. It would be the last she spent at Sonora, and she reflected on her time there with a positive attitude. She'd made a good friend in Alison, and even if they didn't see each other much in the future, Dana hoped they'd manage to stay in touch, and wondered if she was naive for thinking they would. She'd also gotten on tolerably well with Edmond Carey in the past few years - she hoped to speak to him before she left, just to say that she hoped they would stay in touch if circumstances permitted it.

It was peculiar, this desire to remain in contact with people who, essentially, were part of her childhood. the next year of her life was a transition to adulthood, hopefully including a swift betrothal and a satisfactory marriage. That's all there was now for Dana to enjoy: just the rest of her life. It almost felt like a formality to have gone to school and taken examinations, but one she would happily repeat if given the opportunity. In fact she was almost starting to feel quite sentimental as Professor Powell ended her speech, and the Pecari watched her yearmates begin to dance. She stopped herself from welling up by concentrating on Alison's dancing, in case there was an opportunity to tease her about any slip-ups later on in the evening.

0 Dana Smythe Enjoying the festivities from a distance 142 Dana Smythe 0 5

Laurie Stratford

October 18, 2011 4:29 PM

Fun!Fun! by Laurie Stratford

There weren’t actual words to describe how excited Laurie was for the ball, there really weren’t. The ball was going to be awesome, since he had everything he needed for it: a pretty epic costume and a pretty epic date. Yes, it was definitely going to be a blast. Unless for some reason Preston had figured out that Kitty was not a Pureblood and he had said something to his father. Unlikely, but possible. Laurie was well aware that his family would not approve of his friendship with Kitty, but he had come too really like her, and he was not going to stop being friends with her. The redheaded Teppenpaw had resorted to lying to his parents every time he sent a letter home, he didn’t like it, but he had come to make peace with it as time passed. His plan had been working to perfection, and he just needed to come up with a plausible story about his comings and goings at Sonora once he went home for the summer. It wouldn’t be too hard, he was known to be pretty creative, and that had become an advantage as of late.

Anyways, the ball was going to be epic. The first-year Teppenpaw looked at his reflection on the mirror and grinned at his reflection. His costume was amazing! He had told his mother that he wanted to completely dress the part, and she had sent an awesome outfit. The tights were black with some gold broidery, the dress-like shirt also embroidered with gold (it was also black), a gold belt, a cape and an awesome hat with a feather. Laurie loved dressing up in such garments, and he had to admit that they were somewhat comfortable. “You look pretty handsome,” he said to his reflection and blinked at it before heading out to meet Kitty.

Laurie ran all the way to the entrance of the Cascade Hall. He was too happy to be still for more than a second. He had told Kitty to meet him at the entrance, but it hadn’t been the best of ideas. There were a lot of other students there, and he wasn’t tall. It would be hard to spot Kitty among the crowd, especially since she was like super tiny. Laurie tapped his finger on his chin, thinking of a way to go around that particular issue. He began to jump up and down shouting her name, “Kitty! Kitty!” after he finally saw her, he stopped jumping.

The redhead smiled at her, “My Good Lady,” he bowed. “Ready for some fun?”

0 Laurie Stratford Fun!Fun! 0 Laurie Stratford 0 5

Samantha Hamilton

October 18, 2011 4:48 PM

Flying solo by Samantha Hamilton

Despite helping out in the library early on in the day, Samantha found she had plenty of time to get ready for the Ball that evening. She'd had a relaxing day, cleansing, buffing, toning, moisturisng, clipping, polishing, brushing, sleeking, flossing, and other assorted beautification processes. Her dress for the occasion was a bold, Aladren blue, and had originally been one of her step-sister Gemma's cast-offs, but had been altered through a process of adaption by her Mom's sewing machines, and some last-minute transfigurations performed by Samantha herself, so that it was now more periodic in appearance. She employed the orginal charm she'd learned from Rachel so her shoes were sublimely comfortable, and a couple more charms her friend had taught her to make her hair shine and her skirt stay wrinkle-free for the duration of the evening.

She didn't have a date to the ball, but that was okay. It wasn't as if she'd really had anyone in mind. She'd sort of thought she could go with Other Sam as friends, but then he'd asked Kirstenna and she felt dumb for not thinking that he might have someone he'd liked to go with, even if she didn't. She could have gone with David as friends, or even with Autumn as friends, as she hadn't been asked by anyone, either. But then she'd come round to thinking there was no point in singling out one person to go with as a friend when she could just talk with anyone, anyway. So she'd gone on her own, happily, expecting to spend some time with one or other of her friends once she got there.

Samantha had barely made it to the Hall when she encountered such a familiar face. "Hello," she said, smiling brightly. It was fun seeing everyone all dressed up. Out of all the Midsummer Events she'd attended so far, Samantha thought the Ball was her favourite. Which was a pity, really, because it was the only one she wouldn't see repeated in her remaining time there.

0 Samantha Hamilton Flying solo 159 Samantha Hamilton 0 5

Nina Brockert

October 18, 2011 4:52 PM

Desperation (Tag-A guy) by Nina Brockert

This was it. The single worst moment of Nina's life. She had failed to get a date for the ball and was about to be totally and completely humiliated, just as Kaylie had been. And the fifth year had been rather happy to be prefect too! It made Nina feel good about herself. She was still different than Delilah and Mel but in a good way. After all, there could only be one prefect per year and house group. Someone saw something worthy in her. Something her great-grandfather didn't see.

He was so ashamed of the fact that Nina was in Pecari and seemed annoyed that she didn't like going to pureblood parties like the one at the Sinclairs last year. He didn't even feel like it was worthwhile to try and find Nina a betrothal the way he wanted to for Hope and Evan. Not that she wanted one but at least having one was a good reason not to have a date like Pippa. Still, he had seemed rather pleased that the fifth year had been prefect and for someone reason, Nina was happy about that.

Then Nina had realized that she would have to lead the dance. The Pecari didn't mind being the focus of attention, but when it came to dancing at parties especially alone, it bothered her. Even though Nina was a more physically active, energetic person-though next to Mel she looked downright lethargic-she still didn't like to dance very much.

It just was not fair either. There weren't a lot of guys at Sonora and anyone Nina would have potentially gone with-she'd gone with Jude her first year and gotten on reasonably well with Tobar and Theo-was gone. Then, Nina had come up with a plan to have Jason Tolliver go with her. He was the son of another prominent pureblood family in Colorado-though Nina lived in Oregon, the Brockert family was centered in Colorado- but he was nice and attractive and Nina was friends with his sister Abby. (She did have friends, just not at Sonora really and it really did not help her with her loneliness here at school.)

But of course, this time, outside guests were not allowed and now Nina was going to be publicly humiliated. It would become painfully obvious to everyone that she didn't have a date. That nobody liked her. Nobody wanted to be seen with her. The Pecari might not have minded going alone so much, lots of people were, but she needed someone to dance the first dance with or she would look ridiculous.

The banquet began with the announcements for Head Boy and Girl and that Professor McKindy and the medic were leaving. Nina clapped for Jose and Marissa. She was glad her cousin her not gotten it. That girl was psycho. Marissa should probably be afraid of what Tawny would do to her in retaliation.

The music began to play for the first dance and Nina began to feel a bit sick to her stomach. She just couldn't do this alone! It was beyond mortifying and plus she was one of the only ones who would be up there by herself.

The Pecari glanced around. Nina only had one option right now. She made her way to the first unattached guy she saw and asked "Will you please dance with me?" The fifth year honestly did not care who at this point. She just didn't want to be embarrassed. Even a first year was better than being up there alone.

11 Nina Brockert Desperation (Tag-A guy) 156 Nina Brockert 0 5

Fae

October 18, 2011 8:25 PM

I thought you'd be cool as a cucumber by Fae

She tried not to smile so happily when Arnold said that her dress looked perfect. She really did try not to smile. She thought if she did smile like she was, Arnold would get worried. But, she couldn’t help it. She liked the compliment. It made the butterflies in her stomach dance in a rather peculiar way. Not in a way that made her feel jittery and ill, but one that made her feel more elated. Maybe there would come a time when compliments didn’t have the same effect on her as they did now. But, until that time came, she’d enjoy every compliment that was given to her.

“Oh right. Your cousin.” Fae commented quietly when Arnold mentioned Edmond. She had a terrible time remembering that just because she was the first in her family to attend Sonora did not mean that was the same for everyone else. Arnold had many relatives here and had many relatives attend in the past. She was a bit envious of that. She sometimes wished Shelby was here with her. Only sometimes. She knew that if Shelby was actually here, Fae would be in the shadows wishing that someone would notice her like they did her sister. She really only missed her when she was trying to figure out what she was supposed to do around people.

She didn’t think she’d ever stop being flushed because Arnold was complimenting her again. If he continued down this path, Fae was going to look like a tomato. Much like she had on her very first day at Sonora. He wasn’t sure if he was asking her because he was being nice and assumed Fae had this die hard need to twirl around the dance floor or if it was because he actually really did want to dance. She was hoping for the latter because she didn’t want to force him into dancing if he really hated it. “I would like to dance, yes, but if you do not like to dance or anything, I am okay with sitting the dance part out of the ball.” She explained to him. If they did dance, this would be her first time dancing with someone who wasn’t a tutor or family.

Fae looked to where Arnold was indicating. She didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find a place to sit and eat. She figured it would be like it normally was and she could eat with the small handful of people she would like to consider friends. She never pictured it quite like this. Maybe she should have. Chaos seemed to rule much of this school. “That is fine.” She said after a moment. So long as they weren’t sitting with a group of seventh years, Fae didn’t really mind.

“What sort of food do you think they will be serving?” Fae asked as she started to make her way over to the vacant seats. “I-uh-didn’t really do much reading on the subject for this ball.” Fae confessed. “I wish I had though. I am not really a fan of the unknown or of surprises. “

0 Fae I thought you'd be cool as a cucumber 0 Fae 0 5

Alessa Hinckley

October 18, 2011 8:46 PM

Me neither by Alessa Hinckley

Alessa had never cared for balls and parties and in fact, had been not planning to attend this one at all. There was no point, she wasn't a prefect and, as she had not been allowed to invite her betrothed, did not have a date. There would be plenty of time to be forced into these sorts of things. As a pureblood woman, it was her unfortunate duty.

She had, however, seen no need to go to the midsummer ball. Alessa did not envision herself having a good time. She didn't like to dance, she was rather horrid at it and to do so would only be embarrassing. Plus, there was just too much noise, too many conversations going on at once. It gave the Aladren a headache. Besides, there were not a lot of people that she had much in common with, and thus, she would be bored.

However, Alessa had come to the horrid realization that she would have to eat and in order to do so, she would have to go to the banquet part of the ball, However, she was leaving right after. Alessa would rather do just about anything else than attend, but she couldn't just go hungry. The Aladren hoped there was at least food available that she liked - Alessa had quite a few textural issues and was a rather picky eater-or she was going to be quite annoyed.

She dressed in the nicest dress robes she had available, which were, of course, very nice. As Alessa was only going for dinner though, she saw no point in wearing a medieval dress. Though the fifth year enjoyed history and could certainly afford one, there was no need to get a fancy costume that she was only going to wear for half an hour. On the other hand, Alessa did not want to be under dressed either. That would be shameful, even though the Aladren preferred comfortable clothing. She often dressed nicer than she would have liked to have, just to act accordingly with her station in life.

Alessa took a seat and waited for dinner to be served, already feeling a bit bored. The Head Boy and Girl were announced and the fifth year winced. She expected that Tawny would not take this well, and she was just as glad to be leaving tomorrow and not have to deal with it. Alessa felt awfully bad for Marissa because she knew that her cousin would spend all summer trying to come up with the worst possible thing to do to her.

She heard someone ask her whether the seat next to her was taken and looked to find a third year, James, from her house. "No, go ahead." Alessa replied. Everything about the younger Aladren suggested that he was not a loud, hyper and annoying person and she could certainly handle being around him for such a short duration.

11 Alessa Hinckley Me neither 150 Alessa Hinckley 0 5

Kitty McLevy

October 18, 2011 9:24 PM

Dance Dance Revolution by Kitty McLevy

The young girl in the mirror almost looked like a young woman, a very short young woman. Her red dress fit perfectly, and even though it was hardly authentic (she’d gotten it from a costume shop after all) Kitty loved it, the sleeves in particular pleased her immensely. But, the feature that had her in tears merely half an hour ago was now absolutely perfect.

Kitty was always forgetting that electricity didn’t work here, and this little (not so little) fact often bit her when she least expected it. Everything had been going perfectly, the dress was beautiful and fit just right, her red satin slippers didn’t rub her feet painfully, all that was left was to curl her hair and put it up. She’d gotten her iron out, it wasn’t something she’d had to use this year seems she didn’t usually care too much about doing her hair, and remembered that there was nowhere to plug it in.

Most of the girls had already gone down to the dance, and Kitty had gone down to the commons in tears trying to find some help when Daniel came to her rescue. Now her lion’s mane of curls had been tamed into perfect ringlets of ebony, held back by a brilliant blue butterfly clip. One last look proved that everything was just right so Kitty made her way down to Cascade hall, and the wonderful dance that awaited her.

Laurie told her to meet him at the entrance to the hall, but it was crowded full of older students (well and younger ones too, though it hardly mattered seems they were all taller than her). Kitty tried to stand on her toes to catch sight of the flash of familiar red of her friend’s hair. Apparently Laurie had a better idea, his happy shout let her zero in on his location “Kitty! Kitty!” A brilliant grin lit her heart shaped face as she stepped forward and gave her best curtsy (she’d even asked one of the proper pureblood girls to show her how to do it right). “My Good Lady, Ready for some fun?” Laurie asked with a bow.

Kitty gave a happy laugh, he looked perfect! She loved his costume! “Of course Good Sir!” She replied as she held out one dainty hand for him to take, her eyes twinkling with happiness.

0 Kitty McLevy Dance Dance Revolution 0 Kitty McLevy 0 5

Jhonice Trevear

October 18, 2011 9:45 PM

Partytime! by Jhonice Trevear

Jhonice was in heaven. She had been waiting for this ball ever since she'd heard about it just before winter break. The room was filled with all sorts of people in extravagant outfits. She was wearing a dress that she thought looked like it was from the right era. She and her mother had gone out shopping for it as soon as she had heard about the ball. It was the most magnificent thing she had seen, but now here she felt a little under dressed. That didn't really matter though, this was the social event of the year! She was going to be busy.

She had her notebook in hand as she strolled around the room just watching all the people. The first one to catch her eye was Jane Carey, she naturally looked wonderful. She was here with Jethro Smythe? Interesting... she made a few notes in her book. Ooo, Derwent Pierce the fourth! She caught a glimpse of him as she panned the room once more. He was dressed to impress, she may have to attempt to sketch that hat when she got a chance, words would not do it justice. He was here alone? No, he called out to... Demetra? More notes were scribbled in her notebook. Looking up once more, she spotted Arnold Carey with Fae Sinclair. They looked like they were having a good time already.

The Headmistress started talking and she listened intently. She applauded with everyone else at the announcement of the new student heads. She cheered for her captain and prefect, now head-boy! Marissa... that was one of the Crotalus players, she was fairly certain. Good for her. It was then that the Headmistress brought attention to the musicians... how had she missed so many Pierces in one room! That is awesome! As they started to play, she looked at whoever was standing near her. "That's awesome! Have you ever seen so many Pierces in one place?!"

2 Jhonice Trevear Partytime! 209 Jhonice Trevear 0 5

Nic Sawyer

October 18, 2011 9:55 PM

Dancing with Rachel Bauer by Nic Sawyer

Nic had been terrified of this day for most of a year. He had secured himself a date with Rachel Bauer because his tongue asked without consulting his brain. He had obtained - he wasn't sure he could call it a costume, since it was just a nice dress robe, but it wasn't something he would normally be caught dead wearing - something to wear because his mother knew what was going on before he did and had gotten him something she told him Rachel would approve of. Nic had never had reason to doubt his mother's Sight before and dearly hoped this was not the event that would prove her fallibility.

So he was here. He was wearing a dress robe that might not be 16th century but it was certainly well behind the muggle fashion trends he still tended to judge such things by. And he'd waited for Rachel in the Crotalus Common Room, so he wouldn't need to find her among the crowd, which he noted as they approached the Hall, had been excellent foresight.

They went inside, where Nic spent most of Headmistress Powell's speech sweating and simultaneously wanting her to finish up already so they could get the stupid prefect dance over and done with, and hoping she just kept talking until the ball finished and they didn't have to dance after all.

Of course that didn't happen, and the band started to play, and he and Rachel were up. "Please, Merlin," he sought divine intervention aloud, "Let this go better than Quidditch." Then he forced a somewhat sickly smile at Rachel, held out a hand, and asked, "Ready?"

1 Nic Sawyer Dancing with Rachel Bauer 165 Nic Sawyer 0 5

Arnold

October 19, 2011 12:01 AM

Maybe I'll get to that later. by Arnold

Compliments, Arnold decided, were a good idea, because while Fae turned redder, she also smiled. Smiling was good. He liked it when she smiled.

He filed this away as a clue about what the right things to do were. Compliments were a good idea. Maybe not too many, because he had heard Arthur grumble about how when people praised his work too much, he thought they were either lying or covering for something less flattering they were thinking, but he would need to review that because Arthur wasn’t a girl, and was Arthur. It was different, a lot of the time, between boys and girls as far as he could tell, and Arthur wasn’t even like other boys. What bothered one might not bother another, and any of it might bother or not bother Arthur.

“No, I don’t mind,” he said when she said she’d like to dance. “It’ll be more fun than sitting in one place all evening, right?”

Immediately, he wondered if that was the right thing to say, since she might have just been being polite about it and thought he really wanted to dance, but it was too late to worry too much about it now. Besides, it would be more fun to dance than just to sit there all evening. They got to sit still and not do anything every day during their lessons, and this was supposed to be about a break from that routine, wasn’t it? At least, the clothes in particular suggested a change. This wasn’t their everyday attire by a long shot.

He had thought about that, but not about how the menu might be affected, and as he sat down beside Fae, he wasn’t sure what to say again. “I’m sure it won’t be anything too strange,” he said, hoping to be reassuring. “I don’t really know, but my great-great-grandfather’s banquets are okay, even the things we don’t normally see, and he grew up in the early nineteenth century.” That was several centuries away from the theme of the night, but it was the best he could do. “I don’t think they’d put anything that they really thought we wouldn’t eat out.”

He hoped, anyway. It had already been a while since lunch, and after dancing, he thought he was going to be hungry. It would be really bad to have his stomach start rumbling in front of his date.

"What kinds of food do you like?" he asked, the first question that occurred to him. Well, at least he could learn more about her this way while not letting the conversation flag, which wasn't polite.

0 Arnold Maybe I'll get to that later. 181 Arnold 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

October 19, 2011 6:02 AM

Smile, boys, that's the style. by Charlotte Abbott

(OOC: All godmodding of James has been approved by his author)

Despite having spent the last month of term in a despicable mood, by the time that morning had rolled along, Charlie had forgotten to be grumpy and was back to her obnoxiously carefree self. She’d had immense fun spending the day with Adelita, getting ready for the ball. She didn’t doubt they would remain friends after school – they were even going to college in the same state, and with Apparition as a travelling option she couldn’t see they’d drift apart any time soon. Charlie was even planning on taking some Spanish modules so she could communicate better with Lita’s family when they holidayed together in the future.

As she glided into the Hall following hours of preparation, Charlie felt a tingle of excitement. She wasn’t quite conceited enough to presume she was the most attractive girl in the room (though she did believe she was in the running), but she did like to think she’d turn some heads that evening. Her dress had been purchased by her parents, on the grounds that every Muggle parent bought their daughter a prom dress, and because she’d pleased them by being their first and only child to make it to college (a bit pre-emptive, perhaps, as she have to not talk herself out of it over the summer). She had intentionally selected Crotalus colors: dark red satin formed a tight, sleeveless bodice and a magnificent skirt, ruched into a diamond pattern and decorated at each gather with a band of glistening clear rhinestones. The bodice itself was heavily crystal-encrusted, in a diamond pattern that both mimicked the skirt and highlighted her figure. It wasn’t strictly the correct costume for the era, of course, but Charlie had gone with creative license on this occasion. Her long dark hair had been piled on top of her head, with a few loose tendrils left to curl down the back of her neck, and a couple to frame her face. She wore a simple and understated crystal tiara, because she wanted to. She’d charmed her satin shoes – low heel, ideal for dancing – to match the crimson of her dress, and had decided not to wear any jewelry at all – the dress was glitzy enough on its own.

When she found her date for the evening (or, more accurately, the first dance, as she doubted James would hang around any longer than that), Charlotte was pleasantly surprised. She’d never known him to pay a great deal of attention to his appearance, past looking neat and presentable. This evening, his attire was almost as obnoxious as her own outfit. She was certain he hadn’t owned a set of dress robes before, and she liked to think he’d made the effort to look nice for her, but she doubted that was really the case. It was far more likely this was a last-ditch attempt to outshine Daniel. That was one aspect of Sonora Charlie really wouldn’t miss. She knew people could be competitive but Jesus those Aladrens took it too far.

Charlie listened to the end of term speech, feeling proud to be part of the legacy that was her graduating year. Then, she happily did her duty as Head Girl and Prefect, and conducted the opening dance with James Anthony. He’d learned to dance, and moved meticulously but with no flair. Charlie tried to forget that their relationship was more or less at an end after this evening, and she managed to have a reasonably good time. Two dances later, of course, James had taken his fill of frivolity and left with an ambiguous statement that left Charlie uncertain whether he’d be returning to the Ball later or not. She didn’t really care either way, assuming that she had enough friends present to manage a good time regardless.

She made her way to the table where drinks were available, and helped herself to something red that she hoped was cranberry juice. “They could have labelled them,” she commented aloud, in good humour.

0 Charlotte Abbott Smile, boys, that's the style. 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Josephine

October 19, 2011 1:54 PM

We could do worse by Josephine

"Hi," she returned the greeting from Russell Layne. "It's not going too bad," she replied, happy to reflect that this was true. So what if she wasn't dressed up as most of the other people here? She tought she was sort of pretty, and she was usually a nice person (not always, but hey, nobody was perfect), and she could have a good time without being well off. "How about you?"

Josephine took another sip of her fizzy drink, having invited Russell to respond. She didn't know whether he really wanted a fully-fledged conversation or if he was just saying hi because she'd been smiling. It wasn't as if she was friends with him, per se, but from the little she knew of him he seemed okay. She was also trying not to make snap judgments of people just by their last name alone, as that had led to a rather awkward encounter with Fae Sinclair earlier in the year (though admittedly Fae had that party that was still nestled in the corner of Josephine's mind labelled 'stuff I should have gotten over by now').

Glancing over to the prefects dancing every now and then, Josephine began to sway a little to the rhythm of the music without really noticing she was doing it. She didn't know how to waltz or tango or whatever other dances the older students knew how to do, but she might go and twirl on her own a bit in a corner later. She could dance like no-one was watching - they'd have the whole summer to forget about a nobody like her, anyway.

0 Josephine We could do worse 0 Josephine 0 5

James

October 19, 2011 4:40 PM

A sign of a superior mind by James

The girl who answered was on older student - most likely a fifth year, James thought, from what he could remember from the classes he shared with older yeargroups - in his own House. He didn't know her name, but he could still barely recall the names of people in his own yeargroup, so that wasn't unusual. James' minds remembered important facts, and solved puzzles; learning a name of someone he may never speak to again was a pointless waste of valuable resources. The more important point was that she said the chair was unoccupied. James therefore sat in it, casually leaning back to be as comfortable as possible in the given situation.

He hoped the older girl didn't think he'd come there to talk to her. She didn't seem to be talking to anyone else, so maybe she, like him, had come by herself. That wasn't in itself reason for James to talk to her, of course. he didn't often initiate conversation, and never when there was no purpose for it. That wasn't to say that he'd necessarily mind a few sentences exchanged on a sensible topic, but if she wanted to have a good girly gossip then he'd be forced to move. That would be disapointing, too, because his location seemed to be placed happily in a soft breeze, which kept him cool in the busy hall. He was also well placed to watch people, and this was important to provide his entertainment until food was available.

Just now he was watching the prefects. Some of them were from families who'd taught dancing as if it were a skill that actually mattered, he could tell. Some of them had either only learned recently, or were simply incompetent, as they made mistakes, and then pretended as if they hadn't. James was amused, this emotion evident in the smirk that began to cross his face.

0 James A sign of a superior mind 0 James 0 5

Rachel Bauer

October 19, 2011 5:26 PM

So you are, Nic Sawyer. by Rachel Bauer

The end of the year held a lot of uncertainties for Rachel, and many more this year than ever before, but about one thing, she was absolutely sure. That one was that she could not have put more effort into being both somewhat event-appropriate and still looking good.

Her thick blonde hair wasn’t long enough for a huge style or hated enough for her to put it through that or try completely covering it with a hood or veil, so it was instead caught up in a golden net. Large golden hoops hung in her ears, mirroring a necklace of golden links settled around the very high neck of a sort of eggshell-colored under-dress, close-fitting in the neck and torso, she was wearing. The narrow sleeve wrists were embroidered with tiny golden flowers, each centered on a tiny pearl, or at least a bead that looked like one. Over that, she had on a long, sky blue robe almost the color of her eyes, which had wide sleeves and a square neck which had hems picking up the gold floral motif from the cuffs of the under-dress, here in a wide maze pattern. At her waist, she had a slim, golden-looking belt, to which was attached a chain, at the end of which was a thing meant to hold potpourri, and on the longest finger of her right hand she wore a sapphire ring borrowed from her mother for the occasion.

Her mother had said it was late medieval, early Renaissance, but Rachel wasn’t too interested in that, just in looking pretty while being reasonably comfortable. That was why the biggest break with pattern was in her blue, embroidered slippers. Authenticity was all well and good, but not enough to make her forsake shoes with left and right feet. She was going to be dancing, in front of everyone and before most of the school came out, and she was not going to fall around under any circumstances, but least of all those. Shoes that fit were essential.

Altogether, she was sure to look more doll-like than ever beside her very tall date, but she didn’t think that changed that she was pretty tonight. Prettiness, after all, was usually a condition for being a doll, and looking in the mirror had made her sure she was that. The old-fashioned clothes had needed a second look at first, since they were unfamiliar, but her mother’s tailor was good enough that they looked more real than like a costume, and she had tried them on enough times in the past few weeks since they were delivered for them to feel natural enough for that not to be too much of a problem. She was as ready as she was ever going to be for this.

There was a tight knot of anxiety in her stomach about being in that lead dance, and she had been catching herself looking wide-eyed behind her make-up every now and then all day, but as she stepped into the entrance hall with Nic, she was all confident smiles, for her public and date. She still wasn’t sure if Nic should be counted as part of the public or not, but impressing him with her looks and ability to carry herself well was definitely part of the program for the night. Her ego could withstand, or at least quickly recover from, having him ogling other girls and wishing he’d gone with them, but she and it would both rather that it didn’t have to, and hexing him in front of the entire population didn’t sound like the brightest of the ideas she’d had in her life. There were too many adults around tonight to do that sort of thing.

She listened through the speech, clapping for Marissa. She neither liked nor disliked the sixth year prefect, though the girl was a little too cheerful for her taste, but another Crotalus Head Girl was good. Next year, Rachel fully planned to carry on the tradition, though personal loyalty always trumped House with her and she was also fully planning for Samantha Hamilton to take the crown once she was done with it the year after that. She was neutral on which of the boys should be Head Boy, since she didn’t really know them anyway, and so clapped for Jose as well, though more than she would if Tawny had also won and given Pecari too much of an…

She blinked, wondering what was going on in her head, then gave her head a little shake. Okay, weird, but whatever.

Then, as they got up to dance, Nic began praying aloud, and for a moment, Rachel’s smile became fixed. If he embarrassed her…oh, Merlin, he could not embarrass her. “Quidditch isn’t that bad,” she said firmly, since he had actually saved a few times in his career, and took his hand. “And yes.”

This had going to go well. It had to go well. She had to be completely perfect in every way from this moment until this moment next year. Raines Bradley was going to be Head Boy by default unless the staff wised up and decided they didn’t need one, so she had to be Head Girl or she was dead. It was going to go well. She told herself that very firmly indeed as they stepped out for the most visible moment of her entire year.

16 Rachel Bauer So you are, Nic Sawyer. 154 Rachel Bauer 0 5

Marissa Stephenson

October 19, 2011 5:59 PM

Let's just try not to go mad, okay? by Marissa Stephenson

Having always had her own room at home, and only shared with other girls for sleepovers, Marissa had spent most of her years at Sonora being okay with having no roommates, but now she almost wished she wasn’t the only sixth year Crotalus girl. Having friends to tell her if she looked good and help with the buttons and her hair and such would have been great, and while she had friends at Sonora, they were both not Crotali and kind of…not girls, which made the part about not being Crotali irrelevant. Even if a boy had an eye for clothes, it just wouldn’t be proper.

What she heard about her appearance from Andrew made her feel a little better on that point, but as they entered the Hall, she still felt an uncomfortable flutter of anxiety in her stomach, if not as large a one as when she’d come to the place where she met up with her date. She kept smiling, but she was pretty sure she seemed a little fidgety, a little on edge. She felt bad about it, and hoped really that her date didn’t think it was because of him, because it really wasn’t…mostly not, anyway. It was about the Head Girl announcement.

She had been trying to ignore it, but the truth, the truth she couldn’t ignore anymore in this moment, was that she wanted it. She was a prefect and going to be Quidditch captain, so she knew she shouldn’t begrudge Tawny it if she got it, but…well, if it happened, she wouldn’t hold it against the other girl. She’d just hold it against herself.

The worst thing, she thought, if she lost, was that she wouldn’t know why. Would it be because they really thought Tawny would do better, or because they thought she was too busy, or would it be because of her ability with magic? People boiled it down to blood, but it wouldn’t surprise her at all if it turned out that there was a certain amount of…something that went with magical strength as well. Maybe it was smaller, more subtle if it wasn’t huge, and primarily between people of the same class, but it was hard for her to imagine that it didn’t matter at all, that people had seen her try and fail time and time again in magic classes without having some thoughts about it.

She had taken the psychology exam last summer, but somehow had failed to internalize the lesson involving the invisible audience. It would have been a great help to her if she had, but she hadn’t.

During the endless wait, she kept up a conversation, hoping to distract herself, but her nerves didn’t go away, and began to intensify greatly when the headmistress finally started to speak. By the time the words ‘Head Boy and Girl’ were uttered, her hands were clasped so tightly in her lap that her knuckles were starting to hurt, and she wished Andrew were actually her boyfriend so she could hang on to his.

Though he was soon using them for clapping, so maybe it was for the best that she hadn’t. For a second, she sat there stunned, but then closed her eyes and smiled as relief crashed down over her. She had done it. This one thing, at least, she had done. She had been good enough.

Andrew was saying something. She responded with a kind of squeak. He said something else, offering her his hand. She kind of noticed she was hugging him after the fact.

Once she did, though, she quickly stepped away, her cheeks rapidly turning red as sense returned to her head. Yes, she wanted to bounce up and down and scream at the top of her lungs, but she could not do that. She had to maintain a level of dignity here. She was the Head Girl-Elect. “Sorry,” she said. “I…guess I needed to hug someone.” She hoped that sounded like she was making appropriately light of it. The Head Girl-Elect’s first action in her new office had been to make someone almost certainly think she was very weird. That had to be one of the more auspicious starts to a tenure in the history of Sonora Academy. Since the music was starting, though, she had a good excuse for changing the subject to something a little less weird. “We can, um, dance now.” She thought she still remembered how, anyway. It hadn’t been very hard once she learned the basics, just like any dance routine. Now it was time for the recital, to be her best.

16 Marissa Stephenson Let's just try not to go mad, okay? 147 Marissa Stephenson 0 5

Daniel Nash

October 19, 2011 7:24 PM

An Alison Alliance by Daniel Nash

After he had helped Kitty with her hair, Daniel decided he couldn't wait much longer for James Anthony to get ready and leave, and still to have time to get ready himself. So he headed up to the Seventh Year's Boys' Room. So far as he could tell, it was tied for the most crowded boys room in the school, but the second year Aladren guys were both smaller than the seventh years, and they did not (yet) host a rivalry on the Daniel and James level. (Daniel thought there was definitely potential for one to break out once badges started getting handed out, but so far they remained amicable, which had been very good for his Quidditch team.)

Doing his best to ignore James Anthony all together, Daniel offered polite head nods of greeting to Quentin and Juri, then headed over to where his costume was hanging. It was one of two outfits remaining in his closet (the other was for wearing home tomorrow) and Daniel replace his black jeans and blue button-down shirt (which had been bought over the summer to replace the one that went missing at the end of last year) with clothing that had very little in common with its predecessors.

Though he'd been an actor for most of his life, every single role he'd ever been in had been modern day. The closest he had come before today to period clothing had been school robes. Still, he was the Head Boy and he had every intention of playing this out to end. The Headmaster wanted a theme and a theme he would get (even if he was still MIA).

Deciding not to get too flamboyant, Daniel had found a picture of King Phillip II, of Spain, wearing an elegant black affair. It had cost almost as much to have it made as it had cost to purchase one of the Aladren team brooms, but he was pleased with the fine embroidery of black thread on black satin, and the ivory lace was soft and smooth enough even on his neck and wrists that it didn't itch at all. He thought the black cape was especially fine and even believed that it mitigated the fact that he was also wearing white stockings. While the tall hat was somewhat strange to his modern eye, he decided that if it was good enough for Phillip II, it was good enough for him.

In addition to being tasteful and 16th century appropriate, Daniel also liked that it was in one of Aladren's House Colors. He was glad Aladren had a color that could be worn in bulk like this without it looking garish or like he was trying to look Aladren. He was Head Boy, after all. He represented the whole school for this first dance, more so even than Charlie, he thought, since he wasn't actually a Prefect. (As that thought crossed his mind, he sent James Anthony a dirty look.)

He decided not to do anything crazy with his hair. The picture of Phillip II showed him shaved closed, and Daniel liked his hair far too much to follow his example that closely. Instead he just ran a comb through it. He desperately wanted to put in some of his hair gel to make sure it stayed nice the whole evening, but that was definitely not period. Settling on a couple of charms to hold in in place, he looked over himself in the mirror one final time, decided he was as good as he was getting, and headed down to the Cascade Hall to try to find Alison.

Being a seventh year worked to his advantage, and he located her with relative ease. With a gracious bow, he greeted his date for the evening courteously. "Milady. May I say you look exquisite this evening?" Not terribly familiar with the etiquette of royalty, he hoped using the word 'milady' and improving his vocabulary to its highest and most formal level would help cover any lapses.

1 Daniel Nash An Alison Alliance 130 Daniel Nash 0 5

Brianna

October 19, 2011 8:49 PM

I should hope so by Brianna

Brianna spotted Linus as he began to move towards her. His outfit surprised her greatly. For some reason, she had thought he would come in regular dress robes. All prim and proper. She hadn’t actually thought he would dress for the role of Medieval Century. Not that she was complaining. Just looking at him, he seemed much more loose. Or, at least, his attire made him look that way. His smile made her think otherwise. Maybe he was regretting asking? Well, she couldn’t really blame herself on that one. He had asked them as a whole and she was the only one who accepted. Really, if he wanted to ask one specific girl to the ball, he shouldn’t have just asked her.

She unconsciously smoothed the skirt of her dress while Linus not so subtly looked her over. She hated it when people did that. She knew they were judging her. Her dress was hand-made and although she knew her mother created a beautiful dress, there was a part of her that couldn’t help but feel as though people could tell. It wasn’t made by some family designer costing over a hundred galleons and felt like that was screaming all over her.

His compliment took her completely off guard. She had not been expecting it in the slightest. Not that she wasn’t pleased by this. Maybe he didn’t really notice or care that her dress wasn’t expensive? “Oh, thank you!” She said, beaming at the compliment. She knew that if one gave a compliment, the receiver should give one back. It was customary. Looking him over, Brianna wasn’t sure what to say. It wasn’t anything against Linus, but these outfits, especially on the boys, were rather… ridiculous. “You’re outfit is very festive to the occasion.” Brianna said, her smile still shining brightly on her lips.

She settled down once the Headmistress began her speech. She clapped politely for the new Head Boy and Girl, but she had no idea who they were. It would probably matter to her when she was older, but for now the appointments made very little difference to her. She also gave the appropriate response when it was declared that Professor McKindy and the medic would be leaving the school. She had never met the medic (thankfully, her parents would have been upset if she made it a habit to visit the infirmary) and she never really had an opinion on the Charms Professor. She felt the pink bubble hat kept her from forming anything other than the opinion that he was a strange man and she shouldn’t spend too much time with him.

Brianna turned to Linus when she started to talk and copied his body language by leaning in to hear him over the music. She wasn’t sure how to answer his question. On the one hand, she really did want to watch the dancing. On the other, she wouldn’t mind having something to do while waiting for her own chance to dance. She wished the food was available because she knew her stomach was going to start grumbling soon. “We can get some drinks now with everyone distracted by the dancing.” Brianna commented after some thought. “Could we…maybe dance later though?” She asked, looking hopeful.

0 Brianna I should hope so 0 Brianna 0 5

Sophie Jamison

October 19, 2011 9:39 PM

Ryan+Sophie=best friends forever! by Sophie Jamison

Corsets, Sophie soon found out, hurt. A lot. Seriously. She had no idea what she was doing playing around with one of those. Sure, it was for the time, but it was under her clothes where no one would see it, and it pulled things in weird directions! She had to be stealthy putting it on, not wanting to look stupid in front of Sara.

Once the awful thing was tightened, she pulled her blue dress over her head and examined her reflection. The corset did make the curves she didn’t really have appear, despite the discomfort. She liked the look, and she told herself, You’ll get used to it. She didn’t really believe herself.

Grabbing a hair tie, she managed a sort of puffy bun with a braid across like a headband. She wasn’t sure how much the style tied in to the time, but it worked. It looked pretty, and it got all the blonde strands off of her neck. Normally the fourteen year old didn’t wear make-up, but she did own some, and she slathered on blush, lipstick, mascara, and a large--but tasteful--amount of blue eye-shadow. With a pleased smile, she slid into her high heels and was off to the Cascade Hall.

The heels, she soon realized, were a great idea. Being short was kind of awful, at least today she was less short. They hurt her feet a little, but that pain too she grew used to and forgot. Right now, she stood outside the Hall, looking around--I can see over some people’s heads!--for Ryan.

Now, Ryan was her best friend. He was like a brother, or what she imagined a brother the same age as oneself would have been like. His own sister, a few years his junior, was just awful, so she wanted to be the sister he deserved. The Crotalus had done nothing to warrant her--or their mother’s--distain, and his Pecari friend wanted him to be happy.

When she spied him, she scurried over as quickly as her shoes allowed. “Hey there,” she grinned. “You look awesome.” Ryan always looked good, but this was a super special occasion, and he looked super special good. Not that he probably thought he did. “Are as excited as I am? I’m practically shaking!” The blonde grinned. “Well, ready to go in?” They were going to have fun, she was sure. She could feel it.

12 Sophie Jamison Ryan+Sophie=best friends forever! 34 Sophie Jamison 0 5

Andrew

October 19, 2011 10:12 PM

Luckily, we're not from Aladren by Andrew

Andrew could really get used to this. He hugged Marissa right back, after he realized what was happening, which did take a moment or two. That wasn't quite what he had meant by "Shall we?", but it worked for him all the same. She was warm, soft and even smelled beautiful, he reveled in the moment but let her go reluctantly as she stepped back. She was blushing a very cute red color, and he couldn't help but smile at her. "You've worked hard for it and you deserve it. I couldn't think of a better person for the job."

He took her hand and gave it a quick, friendly squeeze then looped her arm around his and led the Head Girl-Elect to the dance floor. Right, dance. How did this go again? Dance class had showed him something unexpected. It had showed him that he was a half-decent dancer. He certainly wasn't a great and awesome natural, but he wasn't horrible at it either. He could follow the rhythm of the music and he could find the right places to put his feet. It had taken a little bit of practice in class, but he actually had a small, very small bit of confidence in what he could do on the dance floor. Or at least he thought he did. Then all the sudden he had to do it with the entire school watching. He was not meant to be the center of attention, he never wanted to be the center of attention and yet here he was... the center of attention. Well, a part of the center, the other prefects were out here as well. Hopefully most of the people were watching them. He looked around nervously and unsuccessfully tried to tune them all out.

The pattern was still up in his head, somewhere. He had just been practicing it in his room again before coming down to meet Marissa, definitely one of the advantages of having a room to himself. That plus there was no one else to complain about his experiments. But now... Rather sheepishly he looked back at his partner, he was afraid to tell her that they were in trouble. But looking at her again, everything else just faded away. She was something else. He put his hands at the right spots on her and gave her the best grin he could. The steps came back to him as he caught the rhythm of the music, so he drew in a breath and started them off counting quietly as they began to move.

2 Andrew Luckily, we're not from Aladren 145 Andrew 0 5

Tawny Brockert

October 20, 2011 2:12 AM

Yeah, well, I'm not . by Tawny Brockert

Tawny absolutely loved the dress Jose had gotten for her from his family. It was beautiful and made her feel like a princess. Like someone special, the daughter of a king, instead of the great-granddaughter of the patriarch's-the king's-younger brother, who was behind several people in line for the throne, including her simpering older sister, and a Twerp.

She couldn't help feeling smug. None of the Twerps had dates and neither did Pippa. Of course, in Pippa's case, the Teppenpaw was betrothed and it would be improper for her to go with anyone but Justin. And Tawny wasn't betrothed, so she again felt inferior. Her sister would probably be married by the end of the summer. Still, Pippa didn't have a date and neither did Royal Twerp. They both had to lead the dance and were about to be humiliated. Tawny would rather enjoy that.

So, it was about to be the perfect evening. Tawny felt and looked beautiful and she was going to the ball with one of the few people in the world that she did genuinely like, even though their friendship hadn't always been easy with the Twerps trying to take Jose from her and him getting prefect over her. Her sister and cousin were about to publicly humiliated and she would shortly be Head Girl.

She entered the ball with Jose, feeling like royalty. As a Brockert, Tawny practically was royalty at least as far as Colorado pureblood society and a good portion of the West was concerned, but she'd never felt it like she did tonight.

Then Headmistress Powell called for everyone's attention and announced the Head Boy and Girl. Tawny, who had been hoping-and had made herself expect-to hear her own name sat there, hearing Marissa's name announced instead.

White hot anger flashed through her as she glared angrily at the other sixth year. It wasn't fair . Why did everyone else get everything and Tawny got nothing? She was so deserving of Head Girl. She needed the title. Marissa already had enough! She was prefect, she was going to be Quidditch Captain. It wasn't fair that the Crotalus got Head Girl too.

Tawny seethed, she wanted to cry and yell and break stuff. Throw stuff at the new Head Girl elect that wasn't her . Just a moment ago the Pecari had been so happy. She'd felt like a beautiful special princess and now she felt like she was nobody again. Just the third daughter of the first son of the first son of the Patriarch's younger brother that she was. Just the younger sister of the beloved, betrothed, oh-so-perfect Pippa who might not have had a date but would be married before too long. Whom largely didn't have a date due to it being improper. Whom had gotten prefect.

This was supposed to be the sixth year's moment to shine and now it was ruined. Tawny didn't know what the Cruciatus Curse felt like but was sure it was the outer equivalent of the pain she was feeling inside at this moment and it was taking every last ounce of self-control the Pecari possessed to not take her fork and stab Marissa with it.

"May have this dance?"

Tawny blinked, remembering her date. She plastered a smile on her face even though inside she was still miserable. "Of course." She replied. The sixth year took her friend's hand and walked towards the dance floor, shooting Marissa a cold angry glare. Her year mate was going to pay. Tawny would make sure Marissa would feel as bad as she did right now...and so would the Twerps. They had probably voted against Tawny and she was going to make them suffer too. All they'd done since they'd arrived her second year was make her miserable. Tried to take away her friend and ruin her life.

She wanted them all to pay, every last person who wronged her. She would make them suffer as they had made her suffer.

11 Tawny Brockert Yeah, well, I'm not . 148 Tawny Brockert 0 5

Preston Stratford

October 20, 2011 3:56 PM

Making the best of it by Preston Stratford

Preston had never been one to like dressing up in costumes, even when his parents thought that Halloween was a nice holiday to celebrate with the family. His younger siblings always loved the preparations for the day, they got all excited and ran around the house looking at the house-elves prepare for the party their parents usually threw for the children of Vermont’s pureblood society. While the whole house was in an uproar, the redheaded Aladren was usually in the library reading about the pagan beginnings of Halloween. His parents made him go down and mingle, but he escaped after about 10 minutes. Preston had never been one to like big piles of people in the same room, which made him anxious about this ball thing. The ball included things he didn’t particularly enjoy: 1) a lot of people in the same place, and 2) dressing up.

He tilted his head to the right and mumbled not very nice things about his cousin, Laurie. The Aladren was assuming that he had owled home about the costume requirement and that his mother talked to his…and he was now staring down at tights. The package had arrived that morning. Tights! In what world did his mother think that he was going to wear that, he glared at them as if they had offended him in the most despicable of ways. The second-year crossed his arms and continued to stare down at the costume. It was almost time to meet Sara and he was still undressed. It was a predicament, because he didn’t have any formal robes with him, and he couldn’t wear any of what he had to a ball. The only option of clothing was mercilessly teasing him. He squint his eyes in annoyance and groaned, because he would be wearing that horrible thing. His mother would receive a lengthy owl on this, he was her son, and she was humiliating him in front of the whole school and Sara Raines.

The redhead went down to the Cascade Hall with a scowl on his face; he still couldn’t believe his mother had done this. She knew how much he hated dressing up in costumes. He was uncomfortable with it and he hoped Sara wouldn’t notice it. He had asked her to meet him at the entrance, it was the sensible thing, but he hadn’t realized that everyone had the same idea, and now he was in the middle of an ocean of people. He sighed. Preston was feeling anxious about the whole thing, it was very out of character of him to willingly attend a party like this, but his father along with his grandfather had insisted, and he couldn’t say no. He just hoped that Sara would have a nice time with him; he would do his best to have fun.

Preston finally spotted Sara and waved to get her attention, “You look lovely, Sara.” He hoped that he calling her by her first name would not offend her. They had spent time together and were friends. He smiled, “Are you ready?”

0 Preston Stratford Making the best of it 0 Preston Stratford 0 5

Russell

October 20, 2011 5:53 PM

I don't have the slightest doubt about that. by Russell

“I’m not bad,” Russell said, taking a sip of the drink he had acquired. He had wondered if they were going to be really medieval about it and serve watered wine or mead or some of that other stuff he read about even kids getting in his books at home, but he was pretty sure this was juice. Though he guessed it could be wine; it wasn’t like he’d ever had any to know the difference. His parents didn’t drink wine often, and if they did, they didn’t give him any, nor had he ever really thought of wanting any.

“Pretty good, really,” he ventured further. It wasn’t untrue. Just because he didn’t really know what to do with himself didn’t mean he wasn’t kind of enjoying himself a little now that he was here. He had spent half his life reading about this kind of stuff, so watching the party going on in the same room as him was a bit like having a mental picture come to life, especially with the tapestries on the walls and, oddly enough, the different styles seen in the room. Things in his imagination were never fully together, so he liked this way better. It would have felt a little too staged to him, somehow, if everyone had been from exactly the same time period, exactly the same country, exactly the same social class.

“This isn’t something you see every day, so it’s kind of cool, I think,” he elaborated. There were plenty of things he didn’t see every day that wouldn’t be remotely cool to see on any day, but he thought the point stood well enough if he wasn’t being pedantic. If things were this way every day, then it would lose some of its interest factor and just be like wearing their class robes, nothing to think about at all because it was normal and routine for them. “I’ve really liked them doing stuff with the school’s history this year. I kind of like history.” More than kind of, really, but he didn’t talk about that too much at Sonora. It wasn’t, he thought, that he felt it would earn disapproval or something, just that it didn’t come up a lot.

“Do you dance?” he asked when Josephine started swaying a little. He had been wondering recently how many of the people in their year knew how to dance, and had just shown up at Sonora already in possession on that skill. He was fairly confident that all his roommates fell under that umbrella, but that didn’t surprise him. What would be a surprise, and not one he would like in the slightest, was finding out that everyone in second year knew when he didn’t. That wasn’t likely, he knew, but weirder stuff had happened in the history of the world, and even the history of this school. Possibly even in the history of some of the other second years.

16 Russell I don't have the slightest doubt about that. 183 Russell 0 5

Laurie

October 20, 2011 5:59 PM

Revolution? Isn't that like..dangerous..? by Laurie

Laurie took the offered hand and placed it on his arm, “You look amazing!” his voice was full of the excitement, of the promise of fun tonight. Whatever might have worried him was long forgotten, all the first-year could think about was of everything that the ball could bring him. Being with Kitty would just make everything better; after all, she was his best friend. Laurie had decided that after the first time he had spoken to her, they were so similar it was somewhat eerie, but a good kind of it. She understood his need to be constantly moving to perfection. They were two peas in a pod.

The redhead wanted to bounce, but didn’t, because he had a girl on his arm, and that could be somewhat uncomfortable for Kitty. He settled on walking into the Cascade Hall, it was safer, anyways. The Teppenpaw looked around the room, it had been transformed and it looked awesome! The grandeur of it was still there, but the medieval theme was present, making it even grander! He definitely would write a letter to his mother telling her about the ball, a perfect theme for the next Halloween party. For a second he became sad,sinde he had remembered that he wasn’t going to be part of those festivities until he graduated school. It was sad, it really was. However, the sadness lingered for about one millisecond. He listened to the Acting Headmistress talk about announcements and the like. His foot was anxiously moving, he wanted to dance or eat, whatever came first. He watched the Head Boy and Girl, along with the Prefects, dance and have a merry good time. His smiled widen, if that was even possible.

Laurie looked at Kitty, “What do you want to do?” he was fine with whatever she wanted, as long as they did something. The redhead couldn’t stand being still for so long. During the time that they had been watching other people dance, Laurie had been shifting in his place, trying to not bother anyone around him. He just couldn’t stand watching other people do what he was itching to do. Dancing was awesome!

0 Laurie Revolution? Isn't that like..dangerous..? 0 Laurie 0 5

Marissa

October 20, 2011 10:07 PM

That does tend to help, doesn't it? by Marissa

“Oh, thank you,” she said, biting her lip through a smile and looking down at the marble floor, smooth with two centuries of feet walking over it, for a second. “I really hope that you’re right about that.”

There wasn’t much else to say. To protest too much would be to seem to insult his judgment, or at the very least like excessive or false modesty – might even make him assume she would be incompetent, when she had no intention of being any such thing; it was hers, now, and that meant it was hers to do right – but she couldn’t bring herself to seem totally confident. That could seem arrogant, and even if that wasn’t how it was taken, she would still be deeply uncomfortable with it. It seemed like asking to fall and fall very hard at some time in the near future.

But now, they had to dance. As the prefects stepped out onto the floor together, she saw Jose across the room and started to smile in his direction, only to have the expression falter at the look Tawny was giving her. It was only for a moment, short enough for her to doubt she’d read it right, but enough that she couldn’t quite be sure she had read it wrong. It had also been very unfriendly indeed.

She hoped she was wrong, or at least that it was only a brief flash coming from disappointment instead of something worse. Being thought of as someone's enemy, even if it was just at school, would be bad, and worse than usual next year when she was Head Girl and trying to live through her RATS. Worst still when she had gotten through all of Sonora without seriously annoying anyone, except maybe every now and then, impersonally, in Quidditch.

“I hope Tawny and Edmond aren’t too upset, though,” she said as, after an initial moment during which he seemed to hesitate and she was about to as well, they began to move in the pattern they had been taught at the lesson. That was very much the bad thing about their voting group consisting of only four people, two boys and two girls. It made it seem more personal, somehow, than if there had been more candidates.

Since that didn’t seem like much of a way to continue the conversation, and focusing it on herself would be both awkward and rude, she then said, “So, do you have any great plans for the summer? I can't believe we're already on our way to seventh year."

16 Marissa That does tend to help, doesn't it? 147 Marissa 0 5

Alison Sinclair

October 21, 2011 1:02 AM

A Daniel Dance. by Alison Sinclair

On one, maybe two levels, Alison still felt slightly guilty about letting Dana talk her into letting Dana – or Dana’s father, anyway – pay for her costume, a bit like she was taking advantage somehow, but when she got a good look at Daniel, some of that guilt was replaced by relief that she had gone along with it. Beside the king of Spain, she was pretty sure that the modern Muggle prom dress her mother had picked out for her would have looked pretty darn shabby, and would have gotten her stared at in a not good way an awful lot for most of the evening. That would have been kind of a damper on the evening, especially if His Highness elected to walk off the floor rather than be seen dancing with her in modern attire.

As it was, though, their alliance seemed likely to hold firm for as long as it had been intended to, unlike the sometime alliances of the long-dead important people whose dress clothes had provided the templates for what they were wearing tonight. And Alison was prepared to go out on a limb ahead of the fact and feel that this was good.

Nearly choking as she attempted not to laugh at being addressed as ‘milady’ was not so good, but she thought she covered that pretty well by distracting attention with a curtsy. She had been practicing curtsying specifically in case it came up again, as her first attempt, during the dancing lessons, had been at less than the summit of grace and skill. This one went much better, though the effect was a little ruined by her touching her headdress, perched on her head like some unnatural bird, to make sure it had not slipped loose. Modern notions of wizard modesty didn’t demand that she keep the thing on, but having part of her costume spontaneously detach wasn’t something she was after tonight.

At least the green dress itself was more manageable than she’d expected. The volume of skirt involved was a little difficult to deal with, since she wasn’t too accustomed to skirts in the first place, but the whole garment wasn’t as heavy and bulky as she had been afraid, once that aspect of going in full costume had occurred to her well after she and Dana made the deal about both going in costume, it might be. She could walk around, and didn’t worry too much about falling on her face during the dance. She was a little concerned about a sleeve or veil end or something falling into the soup or something during the banquet, but not about the dress itself making it impossible for her to complete the dancing without making a fool out of herself.

“You may,” she said, “if you will most kindly agree to escort me into yon Hall, good sir.” She was pretty sure that any actual medieval noblewoman would have looked at her like she’d fallen on her head if she said all that, but it was the best she could do.

16 Alison Sinclair A Daniel Dance. 140 Alison Sinclair 0 5

Sam Bauer

October 21, 2011 1:41 PM

Well, I'm fine with having a ball, anyway. by Sam Bauer

It had initially been a joke, but Sam had slightly warmed to the idea of showing up in a costume that had nothing to do with the theme, at least in part because he thought Starfleet uniforms didn’t involve tights and might, in the not-too-well-made category, come a bit cheaper than dress robes unless he had the exchange rate completely backwards again, but finally things had come out to where he and Kirstenna were just going to dress nicely. In fairly cheap dress robes, in his case, but most of his clothes were not exactly the height of shiny, so that bothered him only slightly. If people were going to make an issue out of that, he was guessing they would have done it before now.

His mom apparently thought he looked good in green, because the robes that showed up a few weeks before the ball were pretty similar to his ordinary school ones, only a different shade and without a Crotalus badge on them. And with a bit of lace at the cuffs, but he wrote that off as Mom trying her best to stay in the spirit of the event and decided to tolerate it. He still felt a little weird about it, but seeing the things some of the other guys here were wearing helped a lot with that; he, at least, did not have more elaborate embroidery on his robes than some of the girls, and he had no idea how the Teppenpaw Beater he spotted was even walking in those…those…Sam didn’t even know what word to use. Whatever they were, though, there was no way in anything that anyone could ever get Sam Bauer into them, not unless there was a large amount of money involved.

He took a second look at the Garment and revised that statement. A huge amount of money, and only a short time in public. Like, less than Pierce had already spent out here kinds of short. What did that guy’s parents have against him, anyhow?

Maybe Divination was helping, or maybe not, but either way, he had foreseen that things might get crazy in the entrance hall unless he was really the only person who’d had the bright idea to ask someone who wasn’t in his House, so he’d arranged to meet up with Kirstenna at a fairly distinguishable painting a corridor away instead. That meant needing to make compliments without a crowd to partially drown him out and a thankfully short while of kind of walking with a girl, but it was preferable to wending through the crowd trying to find her in the first place, especially since he was short and many here were not.

“Okay, then,” he said when they finally got within a reasonable proximity of the Cascade Hall. “You got anywhere in particular you want to stand while the prefects do their thing?” He didn’t, in particular, though one where he could see and therefore laugh (very quietly, since his roommate and cousin were somewhat fearsome even separately) at Nic and Rachel was preferable. That, he expected to be one of the highlights of the evening, if not the highlight itself.

16 Sam Bauer Well, I'm fine with having a ball, anyway. 163 Sam Bauer 0 5

Mellie Goodwin

October 21, 2011 2:44 PM

Observing...or trying to. by Mellie Goodwin

For the week leading up to the Ball, Mellie had been increasingly grateful that her grades were more or less set for the year, because it seemed like her ability to concentrate just got less and less by the moment. By the day itself, she was all but bouncing around, chattering at anyone who would stand still long enough and almost not minding that she was going by herself. She had half-hoped, half-wished Russell might ask her, but he hadn’t, and that was okay. Most of the first years, she had noticed, were not going with people; plenty of second years, but not really the first years. She’d heard the Crotalus boys had both asked girls, but they were in Crotalus and that explained a lot of things.

She had arrived at the Hall ridiculously early, and since she didn’t have to stand outside and wait for a date to show up, had gone in as soon as she was allowed. The thought of older students wanting them had made her pause for one moment, but the idea of actually sitting on a throne had quickly overwhelmed Mellie’s caution about that, and she had grabbed one of the chairs, where she now sat, smoothing her floaty, layered lavender dress robes over her knees and smiling down appreciatively at the little beads sewn here and there to give it a bit of sparkle in between looking around the room to see how people were dressed.

The costumes were, by and large, beautiful. Even the boys’. It was like being in a story, looking around at it all, and Mellie found herself rehearsing her memories the way Dad had taught her, trying to make sure they would last. It would be, she had read and heard, four years before they did this again, and then there might be a different theme, maybe one she didn’t like so well as this one, so it was important to remember as much as she could…and maybe take a few pictures. Mom had, though she said it had been against her better judgment, gotten her a bag that was bigger on the inside than the outside, and she had brought her camera in it.

Seeing a particularly handsome couple, she tried to remove the camera stealthily, but just lost her grip on the bag, sending it sliding a short way on the floor and bumping into someone’s foot. Starting to blush, Mellie leaned forward to get it back and only avoided falling off her throne by going to her knees on her own as a compromise. By the time she straightened up with the bag, she thought she could almost be a newly-Sorted Crotalus instead of a Pecari. “I’m sorry,” she said to the person who’d stopped her bag from going any further. “I, um, dropped this, and it went over there…”

Now might just be a good time to be quiet and not dig herself any deeper. She thought that might be a good idea.

16 Mellie Goodwin Observing...or trying to. 206 Mellie Goodwin 0 5

Seth Brockert

October 21, 2011 4:04 PM

A Modest Proposal by Seth Brockert

This was going to be a special night for Seth. One wouldn't think a school dance would matter much to a groundskeeper but it wasn't the dance itself. It was what Seth had planned for tonight. Something very very special. He wasn't even nervous about it, just excited. Of course he would get the answer he desired, he had very little doubt about it.

As for his costume, Seth had gone with something medieval, but drew the line at tights. He'd considered going in a suit of armor, which might have been nice in the unlikely event that things did not go his way and Lilac decided to throw something at him or otherwise harm him in some way, but those didn't have pockets and that would not have been very convenient for him tonight, and he'd had to add a pocket to his costume as it was. That didn't work with suits of armor so well.

Now Seth was sitting next to Lilac, waiting for Acting Headmistress Powell to finish her announcements. He was probably more impatient for the woman to be done than anyone else in the Hall. He listened as Head Boy and Girl were announced. It wasn't an honor he himself had achieved. Seth really hadn't achieved any himself, though a few of his siblings and cousins had though not Pearl of course.

It looked like not Tawny either, and judging by the expression on the Pecari girl's face, maybe Marissa Stephenson should have been the one to come in a suit of armor.

But that was unimportant to Seth at the moment. Not so much that he didn't care about how his distant cousin felt or the safety of other students in general. Also he was slightly concerned that Tawny might do something messy that he, as school groundskeeper, would have to clean up and right now, Seth did not want to clean things up because that would just totally ruin his evening.

He continued to wait impatiently through the prefects and Head students leading the opening dance, throwing Lilac smiles every so often. She looked really beautiful tonight but then Seth always thought she did anyway.

As soon as the opening dance was done, Seth got up, bent down before his girlfriend's chair,and pulled something out of his pocket "Lilac," the groundskeeper began, "will you marry me?"

11 Seth Brockert A Modest Proposal 377 Seth Brockert 0 5

Kitty

October 21, 2011 8:52 PM

It could be fun by Kitty

Kitty beamed happily at the compliment as she waved her arms, making the large sleeves flutter in her self made breeze. “This is going to be so much fun!” Kitty exclaimed as she tried not to bounce, though she still ended up tugging on Laurie’s arm probably more than necessary but she could hardly stand still. And the Principle was still talking!

Finally the talking was done, but now they had to wait for the opening dance to be finished. Kitty waved excitedly at Daniel as he passed, giving him a thumbs up for good luck before whispering to Laurie “He fixed my hair up for me.” Watching the older dancers was fun and all but Kitty was having a very difficult time just standing still and watching. She shifted from foot to foot, whispered soft comments about the dancers and the different costumes to Laurie and generally made a nescience of herself to anyone standing within a five foot radius.

Finally, after what felt like an entire CD’s worth of songs, the dance of the head boy and girl as well as the perfects was done and Laurie asked what she wanted to do. By now, Kitty could hardly contain herself and with a bounce she tugged Laurie forward onto the dance floor. “Come on let’s dance!” Kitty demanded, needing to burn off some of her boundless energy.

0 Kitty It could be fun 0 Kitty 0 5

Fae

October 21, 2011 10:21 PM

With the dancing by Fae

Fae had to agree, if the two of them did nothing more than sit around a table with other students they may not have been familiar with, they would more than likely grow bored and Arnold might not want to be around her in the future. Fae did not want that. Arnold was one of the few with whom Fae felt some form of contention with. She wouldn’t know what to do if Arnold found her boring or anything thought her boring. That was the last thing she wanted. Shelby always said that a girl who exudes a sense of excitement is usually the most popular. Fae was trying to do her best by following Shelby’s advice, but with every decision she made, Fae was terrified that the outcome would be negative.

“You’re probably right.” Fae said in agreement. “At the other outings with my family, I could only sit or stand and ‘mingle’ with others.” Fae was saying to him, trying to sound like she had some experience in this even though she had very little. “It wasn’t very fun at all. I think maybe dancing would have liven things up a bit. Besides, I haven’t ever really danced aside from lessons. It will definitely test my abilities.” Everything about this evening was going to test her abilities. The main one being her conversational skills. Another was being Arnold’s perfect date. She was fairly certain she would fail at both.

She really hoped that Arnold was right about the food. Fae wasn’t one to go outside her comfort zone for much of anything, but most especially food. That was due in great part to the fact that she was raised on a strict diet. She was only allowed to eat certain foods because in order to be the ‘Perfect Wife’, they had to maintain a certain look. So, when Arnold asked her what she liked to eat, Fae was momentarily stunned. She had no idea how to answer that. Even at school she had kept to this strict diet out of fear that her mother would be angry with her for stepping out of it.

“Er…” She started and then fumbled with her words like an idiot. “I’m not really sure. We are only allowed to eat certain foods. Mostly fish. If we’re having a gathering, we usually eat a French Cuisine. Father’s choice, of course. I suppose, I don’t really know what I like since I’ve only been given very little choice.” Fae wasn’t sure how that sounded, but it was the best way she could explain herself. “Do you have any food that you enjoy?”

0 Fae With the dancing 0 Fae 0 5

Arnold

October 22, 2011 5:22 PM

I promise not to step on your feet, anyway by Arnold

Arnold wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or not that Fae’s parents apparently took her to social occasions all the time. He was thirteen now, old enough according to his grandmother to be in society and his whole future planned out to the smallest detail if she had her way, but only because he and Arthur had just had their birthday in February, and there hadn’t been time for that to mean anything in the social sense yet. They were, though, boys where Fae was a girl, and Aunt Gigi swore girls learned to act like civilized beings much earlier than boys did, so maybe that was the difference. Fae was very civilized, even compared to other girls he knew, though that wasn’t a long list.

Dancing skills, though, were things he could speak on a little more easily. “Mine, too,” he said with a smile that was slightly relieved at hearing that she, too, hadn’t done this beyond lessons before. “I’ve only ever danced with my cousin Theresa. She’s the only girl old enough for most of us to learn with, so it’s good that she likes dancing.”

Loved it, more like. Now that he was a bit more used to the idea of girls playing Quidditch, he could see her being very good at it, if she was given the chance, because she loved dance lessons better than any other, she was almost as quick as he was to propose a game of tag if the occasion arose, and she didn’t spend a lot of time sitting still if she could help it. She liked to read, which was reasonably sedate, but to hear her tell it, she was horrible at sewing, and he knew she was no more than an indifferent musician and painter. The family would never hear of letting her on a broom, though, and there were only so many Careys Edmond could get away with having on the team anyway, so he guessed it was good that she’d taken up archery.

His attempt at a conversational question didn’t go over the way he had expected, and he found himself startled enough by the idea of someone having such a limited diet that they didn’t like any of it that he forgot himself enough to answer honestly. “Sometimes, my mother makes brownies,” he said. “She doesn’t do it often, but she likes to bake.” He noticed he’d just said that, but if Arthur was right and it was normal for people to collect as much information about their schoolmates as Arthur did, then she already knew where his mother had come from, anyway. That she was a pureblood, even moderately well off, but not exactly the kind who normally married Anthony Carey VII and was the mother of Anthony Carey VIII. Just the kind that could claim a lot of wizards in her family tree, most of them intelligent, sensible sorts.

Most of them. There was always the occasional Great-Great-Uncle Virgil, who Mother had been warning him about being like since he was small. The fellow had taken it in mind to ride a griffin when he was on holiday in Greece at sixteen and had never made it back to have nephews. But he was an odd one; most of Mother's relatives had never done anything remotely interesting in their lives, were boring enough that her marrying Father was regarded as Virgil-like behavior, despite his branch being respectable enough that even Grandmother thought it should override his mother's family being a bit...unimportant in society's eyes.

“But fish are good, too,” he said, hoping to make her feel a bit better instead of longing for brownies she couldn’t have. “Sometimes we have that, too, at home. I don’t know if we ever eat French food, though. No one tells us what things are at formal dinners.” He had never liked formal dinners, and could never help but double check with his parents that there was no way out before one. Somehow, he always did something wrong, and Grandmother would always wince just a little and then so pointedly not notice it that Mother turned red, and then everyone was all tense about it until Mother and Grandmother finally had another fight, often about something else, and got it over with. Even on nights nothing bad happened, everyone just kept waiting for something to.

0 Arnold I promise not to step on your feet, anyway 181 Arnold 0 5

Paul Bennett

October 22, 2011 7:30 PM

Looking for Miss Manger by Paul Bennett

Sometimes, Paul thought meditatively, sisters could be a real inconvenience. He loved Lize, but she could make him even sorrier than he usually was to be a Crotalus, and sometimes even slightly embarrassed to be a Bennett. Did she have to wear that much red? It was like she was going out of her way to make a spectacle, to draw way more attention to herself than was smart or necessary. The large amount of thread of silver embroidery he could have passed over as just one of those extravagances she liked, like getting her nails done every week and her hair washed by someone else for some reason and even more often than usual now that she got to go to parties, but her dress was the single reddest object he had ever laid eyes on, as if to scream her House out at the world.

At least it wasn’t all about That Female. She had always liked red, and Mother had always not liked to let her wear it, so it made sense that when she found a way to wear it, she would go a little overboard. The rivalry between his mother and sister was another thing Eliza just wasn’t sensible about. Yeah, Paul found her irritating, too, but what was the point? It was just making trouble for herself that she didn’t have to, when Eliza had more than enough here that she – probably – hadn’t been able to help. He suspected enough of it was about wanting to make some kind of point against That Female, though, to be almost ashamed to be wearing robes which included, along with a good bit of fabric in a warm shade of brown, a lot of fabric in a much more subdued shade of red. At least his embroidery – much more subdued than his sister’s, really just a few unpretentious vertical lines here and there – was in gold.

That, he thought, that one detail, was why he was able to appreciate that they were very fine robes even past the superficial resemblance to his sister’s color scheme. If they had been scaled up to fit his father, they would have been very grand, and Paul would have thoroughly approved. As it was, he approved, but occasionally felt…odd. As though they didn’t quite fit, despite being tailored to him, and he was actually wandering around in his father’s clothes, the way Gemma liked to get into Mother’s and Eliza’s closets and do that. He was just too short for robes like this. He needed another five years or so to grow into them.

That, though, was definitely the kind of thought he was to keep to himself and not tell Miss Sally Manger about, so he just pretended to be taller as, hiding exasperation with being a first year and wending through the mad crowd here and irritation with Linus for grabbing Brianna and with himself for not asking Attoria instead of going outside of Crotalus behind a slight smile, he finally found Sally and bowed to her.

“Good evening, Miss Manger,” he said smoothly. He and Eliza had practiced this so often at home that it didn’t feel strange or unnatural at all for him to say it, the way it might have. These formalities were just part of him, like staying out of trouble whenever it was remotely possible and noticing clothes and the color of his eyes. “How are you this evening?” The compliment stage, the way he had learned it, came just slightly later, after the initial exchange of polite greetings. This wasn’t quite a party, but it was close enough.

0 Paul Bennett Looking for Miss Manger 201 Paul Bennett 0 5

Ryan O'Malley

October 22, 2011 7:54 PM

Yay! by Ryan O'Malley

As far as the ball went, Ryan was feeling quite relieved...and eternally grateful to Sophie because the Crotalus was certain nobody else would have gone with him. He was sure that Sophie probably had someone else that she'd rather go with, even though there weren't as many guys as girls at Sonora. Ryan really appreciated his best friend making this humongous sacrifice.

It still surprised the third year that he and Sophie were best friends. In fact, it was shocking to Ryan that he had any friends at all considering what an incredibly worthless inferior person that he was. And that he didn't really have any actual enemies at Sonora. Well, Daisy didn't seem to like Ryan much but then Daisy didn't seem to like anyone much.

Of course, this did bother him. The Crotalus needed to be liked even if it did make him feel better that his housemate didn't seem to like anyone else either. Still, James didn't seem like very many people but Ryan considered him a friend.

Actually, he understood that a lot less than he did people not liking him. The third year had been taught essentially his whole life that there was nothing to like. Ryan was goofy looking and weak and stupid and couldn't fly. Plus, according to his mother and sister, there was just an yucky-ness about him that came from the inside out. Because of this, Ryan never would have had the nerve to ask any other girl to the ball.

The sad thing was, the Crotalus really did want a girlfriend. Someone who loved him and cared above him and recognized something good in him. Sophie did, but Ryan didn't think she felt that way, and truthfully he didn't about her. They were more like brother and sister. Or well, what the ideal of a brother and sister was, which was radically different from Ryan's reality.

That made him remember that he was going home tomorrow and was going to have to put up with Carrie all summer long. Ryan was not looking forward to this. His younger sister was being more difficult than ever before. He shook his head as if to clear the thoughts-the anxieties-out of his mind. It was just another way in which Ryan sucked as a human being, his worries about facing a not quite ten year old girl. How pathetic of him, how utterly pathetic! It wasn't something Ryan would have held against anyone else, but he was certain others would see him that way. He just didn't feel that he had the right to be critical of others even if he was so inclined.

His best friend joined him then and Ryan smiled. "I'm probably not as excited as you then." He admitted returning her grin. Sophie just had so much more energy than Ryan did in general though he tended to get a second wind around eight or nine PM. Which was another reason he was surprised she liked him, he was worried that she might think he was boring.

"You look nice." Ryan told the Pecari. From what he understood, girls liked to be told things like that. In fact, people in general liked compliments. He knew he would like them, even though he didn't feel himself at all deserving. "Thank you so much for coming with me. I really appreciate it."

He did. Not only did Ryan think nobody else would have gone with him,whereas he was sure someone would have gone with Sophie if there were more guys at Sonora, but he was convinced he'd have the most fun with the other third year. Not only was the Pecari Ryan's best friend, but he would have been to anxious about messing up with anyone else.

11 Ryan O'Malley Yay! 176 Ryan O'Malley 0 5

Eliza Bennett

October 23, 2011 12:59 AM

Making multiple points by Eliza Bennett

Eliza didn’t think her dress was exactly medieval, but she also thought it was close enough to theme to earn her the approval of the staff. The fact she was wearing a tiara might not earn her such approving looks, but she liked the look it gave her in her deep red attire, the sleeves and bodice both heavily embroidered with silver roses. Roses with very long, very sharp looking thorns. Everything about this dress had been picked to make a certain impression, and the places where the gown was uncomfortable because of that were, she thought, a small price to pay. She thought she looked like one of those witch queens from the stories, beautiful and all-powerful.

It did occur to her, though, that all of that might intimidate her date a little, especially given the contrast of the colors of the outfit with her large brown eyes and the way her equally dark brown hair had been taken out of its usual waves and instead put into dramatic curls with a charm, so she put on a warm smile as she waited at the meeting point. When she saw Marcus, she didn’t curtsy in case he took it for mockery, but she did hold her hand out. Whether he took it, shook it, kissed it, or ignored it was completely up to him; she was indifferent to that.

“Hi,” she said cheerfully. “Ready to go?”

She still hadn’t heard anything from the family about this little expedition, which made her think that they didn’t know. She would have to get Sara Raines a Christmas present next year for that, though it probably wasn’t necessary to bite her tongue or lose at chess on purpose to Paul a few times over the summer. Her brother had made it clear he washed his hands of all involvement, for her or against her, in the Unfortunate Situation except for telling her what That Female did at Quidditch practices, so she didn’t really owe him for not tattling to their parents about her coming to the dance with a Muggleborn. Maybe, if her luck held even a little, then they would never find out at all, and this would all work out beautifully for her.

That, though, was all in the future. Tonight, the biggest trick was going to be make sure they danced right past the faculty table to be sure Pierce saw them without making it hugely obvious – assuming the trick wasn’t getting Marcus to dance. Sometimes, apparently, boys didn’t like to, though she couldn’t imagine why. Eliza hated the monotony of dancing lessons, repeating one step over and over again until she was ready to scream at the instructor, but she enjoyed dancing itself. It was something to do that didn’t necessarily have to involve making brilliant conversation every single moment she was with someone.

She didn’t expect that to be much of a problem, though. He had, after all, asked her, not the other way around, and there wasn’t much point in coming to a ball with a girl if not to, well, dance. Unless he had an agenda, but she didn’t think so, and besides – he was at a dance. The least he could do was dance one piece with his date.

0 Eliza Bennett Making multiple points 174 Eliza Bennett 0 5

Andrew

October 23, 2011 10:26 AM

Immensely by Andrew

"Hmm..." He considered for a moment, as they danced and circled around he got to look over in Jose and Tawny's direction and Edmond and Cassie's. They were dancing, and he really didn't get a lot of time for analysis. "I hope not," he finally responded, "It's not like it was your or Jose's fault, the students were the ones that picked. I have noticed that some 'feuds' can get started this way though." He was fairly certain that everyone in the school would know to whom he was referring. "It seems a bit childish though. Oh well." He realized he was probably dragging down the mood and he needed to fix that so he cracked her a smile, "On the plus side, neither you nor Tawny are Aladrens."

He had been considering something for a little while now and he wasn't exactly sure how to proceed. He liked Marissa, a lot. She had agreed to go to the dance with him, miracles aside that had to indicate something, right? He wanted to ask her if she had any inclination towards making this arrangement of theirs more official. Tonight would be the right situation in which to ask, if all went well anyway. So far it was, the trouble was timing. It was their last day here at the school before leaving for the summer. Could he ask her something like that when they wouldn't see each other again until school started again? What sort of message would that send?

"Summer?" He thought about it for a moment, "Not really any big plans. My summers are generally boring. I'll split the time between Mom and Dad as usual, come to think about it, last I heard they had been talking about taking a trip somewhere..." he paused for a moment. "If they can agree on a place." The most exciting thing he could think of doing over the summer would be exchanging letters and such with his beautiful girlfriend until they could be reunited once the next term started.

"Yeah... seventh years. It's hard to believe, isn't it? We're going to be the old timers here, well not counting the teachers of course. It'll be our last year..." He nearly stumbled in his dance as the implications struck him. "We'll have RATS, and then on to the rest of our lives." Again he realized he may be steering the conversation in far to much of a 'serious' direction, "So," he continued more cheerfully, "What do you have planned for your summer?"

2 Andrew Immensely 145 Andrew 0 5

Marcus Williams

October 23, 2011 1:33 PM

Will they get across? by Marcus Williams

Marcus received his tailored robes in the mail about a month before the ball. His mother wanted him to try them on to be sure that they fit and he was surprised to find that they had. The seamstress had said the robes were fit for him. Apparently, she knew what she was talking about. Along with the robes, his mother had sent along a couple disposable cameras with a note stating that he better take pictures of the ball. His mother had never had a chance to see him all dressed up and since Marcus was certain they didn’t have prom here at Sonora, she would never be able to take pictures of him on his prom night with his date. This was the best that she could do.

Even thinking about something so trivial as a prom might Marcus homesick for a normal life. His friends would all rent a limousine together, grab dates, do an all day event, take loads of pictures with their families all around, and then dance the night away. Marcus would never have any of that. He’s grateful of the opportunities that being magical has given to him, but he wished he could still experience the things that going to non-magical schools provided. Football games. Cheerleaders. Band. Prom. Spirit Week. Those were things that didn’t occur to him at age eleven, but if he were in Muggle schooling still, next year he would be a Freshman and those things would be apart of his life. These were things he would never be a part of and it made him sad for the life he was a part of but not at the same time.

Putting on the dress robes, Marcus stood in front of the mirror and took a shot of himself with the camera. He couldn’t tell if he got it or not, but it was the best he could do at the moment without a roommate to do it for him. He’ll have to ask someone to take a picture of him and Eliza. If she wanted to, that was. Who knew with her. If she didn’t, maybe he could just get shots of everyone else. That might be enough to give to his mom. She might ask for a picture of his date, but he wouldn’t be able to explain that she couldn’t really be seen with someone like him to his mother.

In the crowd of other students, Marcus had an advantage with his last growth spurt because now he could see over the top of some heads. He easily spotted Eliza in her elaborate gown. It threw him off for a moment because he didn’t expect her to be such a display. Especially with the tiara. He didn’t understand the look she was going for, maybe royalty? Before he made his appearance to Eliza, he snapped a shot of her. Either way, he now had a picture of her.

Walking up to her, Eliza held her hand out to him. With a showy air, Marcus took her offered hand, kissed it lightly, bowed and said, “Evening M’Lady” He let go of her hand and then offered her his arm to take. He found a fairly empty table and immediately grabbed it. This way, their friends could sit with them. He pulled out a chair and offered it to her. Manners were always important with girls. “My mom gave me two cameras to take pictures of everyone in their costumes. I hope that’s okay. I kind of want to take pictures anyway. These outfits are ridiculous.” He meant that in a good way, but some of the outfits actually were the bad kind of ridiculous. Thank Merlin he did not have to wear tights.

6 Marcus Williams Will they get across? 180 Marcus Williams 0 5

Sara Raines

October 23, 2011 5:23 PM

It's really not that bad by Sara Raines

Sara's excitement had been building since her ball gown had first arrived, and each time it had come back after she sent it home for some small alteration had just made her look forward to the dance more. She was a little nervous about attending with Preston, and felt something like curiosity about what game they were playing and where it would go, but her main feeling was pure girlish enthusiasm about getting to dress up.

She tried to remain sedate and calm while she was getting dressed for Sophie's benefit, but couldn't help but smile slightly as she moved around the room, feeling lighter on her feet than usual. Her dress flowed almost to the floor, all rose-colored silk with a wide, but modestly high, slightly rounded neckline and intricate lines of golden stitching for decoration. Her brown hair was done up elegantly on top of her head, and she was wearing an appropriate amount of jewelry. Most of it was simple stuff, with the most elaborate piece being the necklace where vine-like segments of silver connected small flowers made of colored stones, mostly blue topaz and pink diamonds, but she thought it all complimented the dress perfectly. She also thought she had never looked so pretty, or at least had only very occasionally, and could only hope Mr. Stratford would agree.

And that she would ever find him to find out if he had an opinion or not. Not for the first time, she bemoaned being one of the short Raineses and even stooped in a few moments of desperation to standing on her toes. She chose to believe that it hadn't been during one of those moments that Preston had finally spotted her. Really, this was almost as bad as those soap stories where people bypassed each other in a transport center and so had some horrible accident that led to a few people dying and someone cheating on his wife without realizing it and then yet another story where there were inheritance problems with knowing which family a baby belonged to.

Not that she ever listened to such things, of course.

In any case, when she saw him waving she smiled in relief and, lifting her skirts very slightly away from the tops of her shoes to hopefully make it a bit less likely that someone would step on her dress, went over to him. She was a bit surprised to be greeted by her given name, but decided to be all right with it.

"Thank you, Preston," she said, trying out his for size. "You look very handsome as well." The look would have to go if he meant to make it permanent, but for tonight, it looked good. "I am," she said when asked if she was ready to go.

"The staff did a wonderful job with the decorating," she said in the Hall, looking around at the thrones and tapestries on the walls. "I think, anyway," she added. "Do you like them? You probably know better than I do if it's all accurate to the medieval period."

0 Sara Raines It's really not that bad 179 Sara Raines 0 5

Marissa

October 23, 2011 9:50 PM

Admittedly, there have been some Crotali.... by Marissa

She tried not to, but Marissa couldn’t help but laugh at the mention of feuds being caused by the elections. Maybe things wouldn’t have been so bad if Charlie hadn’t been somehow involved, too, but as it was…well, it was an amusing comment now, but if Tawny decided they were the new James and Daniel, she was dead, and it wouldn’t help that much that they, at least, didn’t have to share a dorm. Though… “That should help,” she agreed with a smile. “Those guys are often a little intense, aren’t they?”

Intense. That was one way of putting it. A way that made her have something like a pain in the very nasty bruise version of a phantom limb.

Marissa was almost sorry she had brought up summers at all when Andrew started talking about his parents. Her parents, and her father’s partners and their wives, had all been together as long as she could remember, so she found that she didn’t really know what to say. Especially since even when her parents disagreed, it didn’t actually matter, because Mama would discuss it until she got bored and then tell Daddy what they were going to do and that would be that. He would grumble, but he would go along with it. Still, at least Andrew didn’t seem…terribly disturbed about it, so maybe it wasn’t going to completely mess up the evening.

Or maybe so. She didn’t shiver at the mention of the rest of their lives, but she thought it was an appropriate moment to do so. What did that mean, anyway, now, for her? Once, she’d had at least seven more years of her life worked out, but now she didn’t really know how well, if at all, any of those old plans could be implemented. Coach Pierce said it was possible, but Marissa could only see difficulty in going back to the Muggle world. The question was if it would be more difficult than trying to be a witch who’d taken almost a month longer than the rest of the class to get the feather the full five feet in the air, and that had been one of her success stories.

At least she could practice over the summer now. That might help. “I’m going to try to take the Apparition test,” she said. “I might not be magic enough to do it, but I turned seventeen last month, so I guess it can’t hurt…much to try.” She added the qualifier to the normally rhetorical statement because of the real fear of splinching. “And I’ll spend a lot of time working on Transfiguration. It’s going to be so good to be able to practice so I can do more than light a candle by the time I get back next year.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “Though I guess if you can only do a few things, that’s not a bad one. The power went out last midterm, and my sister kept asking, ‘why can’t you just magic the candles on instead of fumbling with the lighter.’”

She finished that with a laugh. Trust Paige not to fear her being a witch in the bad sense, or even the idea of her little sister she’d teased remorselessly when they were little being able to break the laws of physics where she could not, and just focus on the part where Marissa’s abilities could be applied practically.

“So yeah,” she said, looking up at him with a smile. It was a little more work to dance and talk at the same time, but she thought she was pulling it off. “We were just saying I’m not an Aladren, but I get to spend all summer acting like an Aladren. I’ll be keeping up with my Muggle subjects a lot, too. Mama wants me to have options.” She shook her head. “So at least you can think your summer is probably going to be more exciting than mine.”

16 Marissa Admittedly, there have been some Crotali.... 147 Marissa 0 5

Eliza

October 24, 2011 8:43 PM

Only time will tell by Eliza

Eliza smiled slightly when Marcus did actually bow over her hand, if without gravity, and again, more broadly, when he held out a chair for her in the Hall. “Thank you,” she said, being careful of her skirt as she sat down. Stepping on it wouldn’t be a total disaster, even in her heels, but it might be embarrassing, especially if the wrong people saw her repairing her outfit with her wand, and she’d just rather not do it.

She looked curiously at his cameras as he explained about his mother. “Some of them are,” she agreed about the outfits being ridiculous. It was really clear to her, in a way it usually was not because of the monotonous at least semi-practicality of their day wear, that she wasn’t the only student with access to a good seamstress, and she was grateful for her tiara. It wasn’t goblin-made or anything like that, but it gave more of an appearance of affluence, and maybe someone who didn’t know jewelry really well would assume it was something a little more special. “Mother didn’t send me a camera, but she did insist that I describe exactly what every other girl here is in to her.”

In a letter, to be sent in the morning before she left Sonora, because she would have forgotten details even in the tiny space between now and going home, and because she and her mother did not talk. Not long enough to describe all these gowns in, anyway. It just wouldn’t be natural for them to spend that much time together, any more than it would be natural to have a serious talk with Gemma or come back to school on terms of dearest friendship with That Female. They both knew instinctively that it could never work.

“I think we both look very nice tonight, though,” she said lightly, cheerfully. “Not ridiculous. We’ll be the best-looking couple on the dance floor.”

And if she got any more blatant, she’d be a log being dropped on his head. In her head, she could practically see her father wince at her direct handling of the issue, but she didn’t know if she had time, between now and when the prefects finished their opening dance, to go through a more subtle approach. This was too important to take a chance on not being understood with, especially if Marcus needed some coaxing.

0 Eliza Only time will tell 0 Eliza 0 5

Fae

October 24, 2011 8:59 PM

I'll forgive you if you do. by Fae

“When I was a little girl, my Father used to dance with me.” Fae said in almost a wistful way. Everything seemed so much at piece when she was a child. Her father, usually around Christmas, would put on a record and pull her close for a special Father/Daughter dance with only the fire crackling in the fireplace as a source of light. Her mother was usually resting in her chair with a glass of wine and Shelby would be playing with dolls on the floor. If Jaiden was around, he would usually be playing a card game, but normally by that point he was already off in his room. It had been a couple of years since her father had done that. Now he was just too busy dealing with the business, especially with the current economy. The goblins were being stingy and making things difficult. Life was so easy back then. “But, otherwise, it was just with my Etiquette tutor.”

Brownies? Fae was fairly certain she had never had any of that, but they sounded familiar. If she was correct, these were desserts. Fae wasn’t allowed much for desserts… or sugar really. “I’m not sure my mother has ever been in our Kitchen…” Fae commented, her brows furrowed as she tried to remember whether or mother had ever bother trying to cook or bake. She was positive she never had and Fae had to wonder if that was normal or not. She thought it was. If her mother truly believed that wives should be cooking or baking, Shelby and Fae would have begun having lessons by now.

“At Christmas, I’m allowed to have pudding.” Fae told him looking pleased. “It is quite lovely. Usually I have vanilla, but they served pudding here before and I decided to try the chocolate and that was pretty amazing. I didn’t tell Mother that though, she would probably be upset with me for straying.” Fae pouted at the thought. The chocolate pudding had been wonderful and different. It seemed to have more flavor than the vanilla and Fae had to wonder why her mother never served chocolate pudding at Christmas.

She didn’t know if he was trying to be polite or not about the fish. Some dishes were better than others (usually thanks to the sauce), but fish was just fish and if one eat it for days at a time, it often lost its appeal. When this happened, Fae ate salads. “Oh, I know what I love to eat!” Fae declared, looking excited as she said it, “Raspberries. I love raspberries!” She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t thought of them when he had asked. Perhaps because she had been thinking more along the lines of actual meals instead of specific foods. “When I was little, Mother would take Shelby and I to this raspberry farm and allow us to pick as many berries as we could. Shelby would always squish them and then put the red juice on my lips and cheeks to make it look like I was wearing lipstick and blush. It was fun. Sort of gross, but definitely fun.” Fae paused for a moment and then looked a little crestfallen. “Now I want raspberries.”

0 Fae I'll forgive you if you do. 0 Fae 0 5

Andrew

October 24, 2011 10:23 PM

Maybe just one or two... by Andrew

Andrew smiled as she talked about her summer plans, and thought about his own. "I don't know that mine will be that much more exciting, maybe if Mom and Dad can figure out a trip. I think half the fun for them is just trying to figure out where to go." He briefly remembered their last family trip they took, it had been... interesting. What might they come up with this time? He'd find out soon enough.

"I actually hadn't given much thought to the Apperation test. I'm going to have to do that as well." He considered her statement, and wasn't quite sure how to respond. Apperation did take quite a bit of magic from what he'd heard, and as much as he liked her, Marissa was not one to pack a lot of power. "From what I've heard, the hardest part is the focus and determination." He smiled, "You'll do great." He really hoped she'll do great, he would not be happy if she lost a leg or something in the process. Hmmm... "I'd love to help you keep practicing over the summer, but I guess that would be a bit difficult wouldn't it?"

Maybe he could take some small steps here, to build up to asking her officially. That could work. Yeah. "If you want... I can give you my addresses, just in case you want to send me an owl or e-mail or something..." Huh. That didn't come out sounding quite as cool as he had hoped, more desperate or needy or something. Well, there went the evening and all hope he may have had for... well, anything. Open mouth, insert foot. Maybe he can recover, and say something clever! "I wonder how many other couples in the room could use either method to communicat..." had... had he just said the word 'couple'? Crap! He had! Don't Panic. Maybe she didn't notice... yeah, and maybe Jhon would learn to fly a broom someday. He had to be nearly beet red at this point, he could feel it. He wasn't even sure how he was still dancing now that he just solidly slammed his other foot into his mouth next to the first one. He just prayed silently that she didn't shove him away and storm off in the middle of the dance. Maybe she'd be kind and wait until the end, then he could sneak out and finish his schooling in another country.

2 Andrew Maybe just one or two... 145 Andrew 0 5

Sullivan Quincy

October 24, 2011 10:24 PM

Fate, why do you hate me? by Sullivan Quincy

Sullivan had sort of missed the whole dance thing somehow. When forced to think about it, he could vaguely recall people talking about it, but it had never really loomed too urgently in his view of the world. He'd dismissed the dance lessons as non-applicable. And, somehow, it wasn't until about two hours ago that he realized he was supposed to show up to this thing and dress up for it.

He'd gone through all of the clothes in his truck, but the fanciest thing he had with him was a collared polo shirt. It wasn't exactly Medieval Times but he didn't really have much other choice. It wasn't like anybody was going to be paying any attention to him anyway. He was just a first year and he wasn't really going with anybody. He figured he'd just show up, eat some freaky old fashioned food, and maybe tell some of his classmates to have a good summer. No big deal. He could wear a pair of khakis and a polo shirt for that.

So he arrived at the Hall severely under-dressed. That became increasingly obvious with ever other person he saw. As the Acting Headmistress began speaking, he tried easing back toward the door, hoping to escape back up to Pecari without anyone noticing, to rummage through the other boys' rooms until he found something that both looked decent and fit. It wouldn't be stealing; it would just be borrowing under extreme emergency conditions.

Before he made it to the door, though, the Acting Headmistress finished talking and one of the older Pecaris caught him trying to sneak away. Afraid he was about to get into serious trouble for attempted escape from a school function and intent to commit theft, he gave Nina the Prefect a wide eyed look of fear that only became worse as he realized what she actually wanted from him.

But polo shirt or not, Sullivan was a first year being asked to dance by a fifth year prefect. 'No' was clearly not an acceptable answer.

"Uh," he said suavely, "Okay."

He was tall enough for a twelve year old that their height difference wasn't horrendous. He still felt too short, of course - the guy was the one who was supposed to be a couple inches taller, not the girl - but it was definitely better than if she had been, say, Demelza.

Fortunate, too, was the fact that he'd blown off the dance lesson because his mom was a professional dancer and he already knew how, and not because dancing was stupid. (Well, it kind of was; but only because his sister liked it and therefore Sully was duty-bound by law to dislike it.)

Anyway, he and The Prefect Nina and his stupid polo shirt and khaki pants went out onto the dance floor for the Opening Prefect Dance in front of the Entire Sonora Population. He smiled weakly up at her and promised, "Despite the lack of costume, I do know what I'm doing."

And then he attempted put the large number of eyes on them (all of which were surely mocking him for only wearing a polo shirt) out of mind, and did his best to prove it.

1 Sullivan Quincy Fate, why do you hate me? 207 Sullivan Quincy 0 5

Jethro

October 25, 2011 3:18 PM

Not at all by Jethro

Though he appreciated her making the comment, because he didn't think Jane would lie to him and it further cemented his earlier belief that he didn't look foolish, Jethro was otherwise unmoved by the statement that he was handsome - it was one he heard just about every time he wore dress robes. He wasn't sure whether it was so much always true as it was a comment made in sympathy to his lack of skills in all fields other than appearance. Rarely did he pick out his own clothes for those occasions, and even the outfits he selected to wear at Sonora had originally been purchased by someone else. The sixth year simply maintained his smile - he was enjoying himself so this was easy - and escorted Jane into the Hall.

Once there, Jane questioned him on his seating preferences. Briefly, Jethro scanned the room, and considered the being too near the doorway would put them in the way of jostling crowds, that being right at the front might draw attention - and very infrequently was that welcomed - and that seating was more densely distributed round the outer edges of the room. He also thought that it would be fun to sprout wings and circumvent the crowds by flying overhead, but rather than digress on this desultory matter, he instead guided Jane to some vacant seats and suggested them as suitable.

"I don’t think we can dance until after the prefects do," Jane had said on their short journey to the ideal - in Jethro's opinion - seats. He realized this didn't necessarily indicate she wanted to dance, as she expressed no intention, but he thought dancing was to be expected at a ball, and he had no objections to dancing with Jane. He knew how, of course - the lessons having been repeated so frequently in his youth that the motions felt as natural to him as tying a shoelace - and had yet to experience dancing with someone who quite obviously resented him as a partner (any one of his female cousins, of which Jethro seemed to have a greater number than was normal).

"Okay, we can dance later, if you'd like to," he replied. Soon after he'd spoken, his attention was drawn momentarily to the stage area. His focus drifted in and out, managing to latch onto the Head Boy and Girl announcements. He applauded politely for those who had been named, though he said to Jane, "Will Edmond be disappointed?" Jethro himself knew he'd never see his name on the ballott, and knew that this was in the best interest of the school. Edmond, on the other hand, was far more competent, and Jethro didn't know whether he'd have been hoping to hear his own name called. Regardless of the outcome, Edmond would have to lead the Opening dance with the other prefects, which commenced as Jethro and Jane remained seated, able from their location to view some of the dancing.

0 Jethro Not at all 0 Jethro 0 5

Kirstenna Melcher

October 25, 2011 6:15 PM

Me too by Kirstenna Melcher

Her blonde hair was piled on her head and Kirstenna had on a very pretty green gown with shiny satin bodice on top and flowing gauzy skirt which had been made by the same person who made costumes for the circus. She had wanted to wear blue-turquoise actually-but then she had found out that Sam's robes were green and decided to match them.

She felt very pretty and glamorous in a way that was quite different from how she felt dressed up for the circus. Kirstenna had really never wore a fancy dress like this before. Her grandparents and great-grandparents and aunt and uncle sometimes had parties, though not that many from what Quentin said, as the Melchers were a serious bunch and only ever had parties because it was what important members of pureblood society did, but certainly Kirstenna had never attended one.

The Teppenpaw was excited for tonight. For once, conspiracy theories about professors who wanted to turn students into beetles and Imposters were not on her mind. Instead, Kirstenna was concentrating on having a good time with Sam. Sam was important to her, he was the one friend Kirstenna still felt she had, since Renee, the dark creature, was corrupting one and poor Brian had been kidnapped. Plus, Quentin was graduating and so, Kirstenna felt alone.

She had heard Sophia was going to the ball with Renee too and felt a bit concerned. If the Pecari liked other girls, that was just fine but Kirstenna would rather see the other fourth year with someone who wasn't evil. A nice human girl not some dark creature whose function was to lead others into wrongdoing. The Teppenpaw was afraid that spending too much time with Renee would lead Sophia to become a hollow shell of a human being with no soul. Or into a creature much like Renee herself was, but that would suggest the third year had once been human herself, and Kirstenna had doubts about that.

After she had met up with Sam and walked over towards the Hall, he asked.

“You got anywhere in particular you want to stand while the prefects do their thing?” .

Kirstenna shook her head. "Anywhere is fine." There were people that she felt that someone should keep an eye on, but the Teppenpaw really did not want to worry about it, just for tonight. She wouldn't want to chance ruining Sam's evening and it would just be rude to pay more attention to others than her date. After all, Kirstenna wanted him to pay attention to her and would have felt bad if he was too busy worrying over other things.

11 Kirstenna Melcher Me too 161 Kirstenna Melcher 0 5

Marissa

October 25, 2011 6:29 PM

I'm not one of those, though...I think. by Marissa

Marissa nodded at the idea of half the fun being figuring out where to go. “Paige and I always said that packing was half the fun when we were little,” she said, then couldn’t remember if she had ever said anything about Paige to him by name before. “Paige being my sister,” she added. “There’s just the two of us, she’s older.”

Sometimes, when she thought about it too much, she felt almost sad about being away from her sister so much. True, they had never really liked each other, but they were sisters, and one day, that would make them about the only close family they had. They had never been alike, never gotten along, but they had known each other, and she liked to think they had loved each other just because that was what close relatives were supposed to do. Now, though, they were practically strangers, especially with Paige spending practically half of her holidays with friends and boyfriends in New England these days.

Still, if she’d stayed, then life would have been entirely about being better than Paige, and she couldn’t imagine the kind of cutthroat competition that went with prep school, never mind the next step, would have done a lot of good things for their relationship, either. Things were what they were meant to be.

“A little bit,” she agreed. A pity, though. Andrew was very good at Transfiguration, and she thought Apparition was a little related to that. ‘Thought’ being the key word. She’d read so much, with all the independent studies, this year that she couldn’t keep it all straight in her head anymore. She had no idea how that was going to play out in her RATS next year, she just had to figure out some way of getting it straight again….

“I’m not sure,” Marissa said, pausing mentally on the word ‘couple’ for a moment before passing it over as innocuous and also looking around the room – she was never sure how many of the other students were Muggleborn, or at least the kind of half-blood familiar with a computer – then noticed Andrew looked kind of red and pained. Since she was pretty sure they had not been dancing that vigorously and that he had not been abruptly re-Sorted into Crotalus….”Did I step on your foot? I’m sorry.” She didn’t remember stepping on his foot, much less stomping it, but….

16 Marissa I'm not one of those, though...I think. 147 Marissa 0 5

Nic Sawyer

October 25, 2011 7:40 PM

Or, trying to, at least by Nic Sawyer

Nic took a deep breath to calm his nerves as Rachel Bauer confirmed she was ready to dance. He noted that she did not return the question, and was rather grateful for that because if she had, then he would either have to admit he wasn't or lie, neither of which did he particularly want to do. Instead, he accepted Rachel Bauer's hand in his own (!) and escorted her out onto the dance floor.

Obviously, stepping on her feet would be bad. And remembering the steps from the Dance Lesson would be good. They hadn't been too difficult, and he'd gotten reasonably proficient by the end, so there was no reason to think he would do badly here and now. He would just have to be careful with where he put his feet and not get ahead of himself.

He smiled down at Rachel as they moved into hold. This was the good part, and the surprisingly wonderful thing was that he didn't even need to hold up a conversation for this part of the night. He might have even been looking forward to dancing with her if it hadn't been in front of every other person in the school. He really didn't like having that many people looking at him. It made him anxious that he'd mess up and look foolish. And worse, make Rachel Bauer look foolish, which was unacceptable.

So as they started to move, Nic started counting quietly under his breath, to keep in time and focused on what he was doing. He was going to do this right. He only had to keep it up for approximately three minutes. He could do that. He had to do that.

1 Nic Sawyer Or, trying to, at least 165 Nic Sawyer 0 5

Renée Errant

October 25, 2011 9:19 PM

And the drama, and the epicness, and dancing! by Renée Errant

Her bare feet padded on the cool floor of Cascade Hall, her toes clothed only in the toe rings Marianna had sent her, along with the dress she now wore, the fabric clinging to her developing curves, and the note explaining the gift. 'I'm still angry at you, Madre.' Renée looked around the room, biting her lip as she sought Sophia. 'But thank you, anyway.' She hadn't been sure she even wanted to come to this ball. It wouldn't be like the parties in New York because the people weren't like the ones in New York; soft voices and hard bodies, moving rhythmically and frenzied, a fire-hydrant broken, the water gushing onto the street. It wouldn't be like the parties in Spain either; the music seductive, the people holding back but the dance demanding the release of inhibitions, sangria drenching the air, a fan cooling the skin while the musicians strummed flames. It wouldn't be like that at all. Especially when the one boy she'd considered liking (had even thought about quietly on more than one, two, perhaps three bored occasions) was taking someone else and she knew nothing about medieval dances (she considered herself a talented dancer; pride wouldn't allow her to take the lessons offered) or gowns.

She stood inside Cascade, smoothing her dress down, palms hotter than she'd like, the seconds rapping against her skull, resounding and mocking and worrying. 'What if she meets someone here and I'll be by myself again?' She didn't mind being by herself. She liked her own company far more than the people around her. But the thought of dancing with Sophia, being near Sophia was appealing, appetizing, alleviating - 'Dear Merlin, stop using strange adjectives!' - and it was pretty much the only reason she was there. That, and because her mother had sent her a dress. Marianna wasn't a woman capable of apologizing. Renée couldn't recall an instance where the words "I am sorry" slipped past the woman's lips. But standing in the dress, pinching part of the skirt and twisting it in between her index finger and thumb, Renée decided that this was a better consolation prize than a sorry. So far, Marianna's greatest wrongs (running away from the family that loved her, flaunting her conquests in front of the man that so obviously adored her, abandoning the son who trusted her, and choosing not to protect the daughter who needed her) couldn't be fixed by a simple "sorry" anyway.

"Renée!"

She turned again when she heard her name sound, a smile flashing on her face, widening as she neared Sophia, her bare feet avoiding the danger of heeled shoes. "Hola." She spoke happily, her hand lightly leaning against Sophia's arm as she leaned forward and pressed her lips against Sophia's cheek. "Well, ah," She laughed a little, slight self consciousness slipping into her tone. "I'm here." The dress pressed against her skin in shades of turquoise, and patterned green leaves that scattered the fabric. Her sleeves puffed out, cushioning her arms while her shoulders were left bare, clothed only in her dark skin. The sleeves were stitched by small buds of wild flowers, decorating the seams and bloomed across Renée’s bust, holding up her smoothly covered corset. In the note her mother had instructed her to pull up her hair, which, outside of the Quidditch Pitch, Renée rarely did. The dark curls framed her face, sweeping back into an elegant bun she'd spent an hour learning to do with the list of spells and instruction manual Marianna had sent. The hair style alone made her feel mature, like a real woman. After scrubbing her face with soap and water, reaching all the secret corners she didn't even know her head held, Renée chose not to mar the freshness of newborn maturity with any make up or jewelery.

The note also explained the toe rings. The dress had been made with the rainforest in mind; absolute freedom, liberation, an attractive barbaric wildness which apparently was what Marianna thought of when thinking of her daughter. The toe rings were charmed so that it would appear to an outside observer that Renée was wearing shoes complimenting the dress. But, as the note stated, no one wears heels in the rainforest. For Renée, this gift was better than being snuck wine beneath the table, or grabbing some for herself. She was getting to go barefoot while everyone else was trapped in binding leather, or ridiculously high heels. The only thing that could have made the moment more perfect was a ring or necklace that would make it look like she was wearing clothes when she really wasn't. 'No one wears medieval style gowns in the rainforest.' She took a private moment to ponder the benefits of liberating nudity.

"Hey, you look really pretty." She interlaced her fingers with Sophia, her eyes bright with growing excitement, her lashes shading any anxieties. "As always, of course." She grinned up at her. "Dance first? Or food first?" She began tugging Sophia toward the dancing. "Your choice."

0 Renée Errant And the drama, and the epicness, and dancing! 0 Renée Errant 0 5

Sam

October 26, 2011 5:05 PM

Looks like we're set, then!: The Corrected Version by Sam

Kirstenna was also indifferent on the matter of placement. “Cool,” he said. “My cousin’s gonna be dancing with my roommate. I’m kinda looking forward to seeing how that goes.”

He liked Nic pretty well, but was also pretty sure that as far as Bauers with Keepers went, he had come out better than Rach had. Nic didn’t completely suck anymore, sometimes he saved now, experience could do that to a guy, but Kirstenna was a good Keeper. Good enough that she was the Teppen….

He blinked, nearly missing a step, as one thing went together with the other thing in his head and he came to a conclusion. He hadn’t thought about that before. He guessed it was just the shock of it having not completely worn off yet, combined with not being completely sure what was going on in this situation here on top of not being quite used to the situation there yet, but…Huh, he really hadn’t thought about that, until now, and now he was thinking about it when it might not be the best time ever to think about it. By the time that tidbit occurred to him, though, his mouth had already started talking.

“Hey, you’re the Teppenpaw Quidditch captain.” Then, lest he sound really stupid or possibly offend her by seeming to express ignorance of her accomplishments, he quickly backtracked and said, “I, uh, knew that already, but I forgot Marissa told me I’m gonna be the Crotalus Assistant next year. Small world, huh?”

Though admittedly, he’d seen it turn out to be a whole lot smaller. Sonora was not the largest group of people in the known world, so it was a lot less weird for the Crotalus Assistant Captain to accidentally end up going to the dance with the Teppenpaw captain without realizing it than it was to find out that his half-sister was apparently old-time best buddies with, of all the random people on the planet, the seventh year Pecari prefect from his school. Still, he really hated the phrase ‘small world.’ It was a very small world, a claustrophobically small world, and he frankly thought it needed to undergo some serious expansion, now, before his life completely devolved into some kind of horrifying chick flick on the Nightmare Channel. That. Would. Not. Be. Cool.

16 Sam Looks like we're set, then!: The Corrected Version 163 Sam 0 5

Laurie

October 26, 2011 5:12 PM

..I am not that sure by Laurie

Laurie began stroking his chin, as if he was thinking over the demand Kitty had verbalized. Of course he wanted to dance, dancing was awesome, but she was so anxious to get out into the dance floor, that he thought that making her wait for a little while longer would be somewhat fun. He looked at her, “That was nice of him. He did a pretty good job.” His comment referred to the Head Boy doing her hair. For some reason, the redhead couldn’t picture the Big Head Boy helping Kitty with her hair, he was a boy. The Teppepaw had grown-up seeing very specific gender roles, and a man doing a woman’s hair didn’t fit into them. It was hard for him to process the overlapping of roles, it was the first time he had experienced something like this, and he wasn’t sure he liked being confused about it.

He finally relented, “okay! Let’s dance.” Laurie grabbed her hand and skipped to the dance floor with Kitty on tow. He just hoped he hadn’t been too violent with his tugging. He was anxious to move once again. The redhead stood for a few minutes and looked at Kitty before starting to laugh. “And now, we dance!” the song was upbeat and he didn’t feel like dancing in a formal way. Dancing in a formal way was stuffy and boring, he did it when he had to, and now wasn’t the occasion. The redhead began to jump up and down, flailing his arms in the air. He began jumping around Kitty, laughing.

The Teppenpaw was always up for some fun, and if fun included someone he liked, it was always better. The good thing about Laurie was that he had so much energy that jumping up and down like the world depended on it didn’t tire him; he could do it all night long. His parents constantly told him that it was exhausting watching him move around the house. He couldn’t stay still for too long, and everyone seemed to be annoyed by it. That was one of the reasons he usually spend most of the time in the gardens, that way he could burn energy without making anyone mad at him. His grandparents constantly admonished him for his constant need to move. It wasn’t fit for the first-born boy.

“Dance with me!” he asked of Kitty between giggles and jumping. “This is fun!” Laurie was sure that what he was doing wasn’t dancing, but it was sure fun!

0 Laurie ..I am not that sure 0 Laurie 0 5

Andrew

October 26, 2011 9:13 PM

No, trust me, you're not by Andrew

"Foot?" Andrew was a caught a bit off guard by her response, "No, I just thought..." his anxiety drained from him, she actually hadn't noticed? Maybe there was hope for Jhon's flying after all. Or... she didn't even consider it worthy to think about. That was probably more likely, she was Marissa after all; Prefect, Quidditch Captain, and now Head Girl-elect. He was just plain ol' Andrew, nothing terribly special there. She would have her pick of the school, it was kind of her to agree to this dance with him. He wondered, very briefly, who she actually wished she was dancing with.

No! That familiar streak of determination reared it's head once more, burning its way through his depressing train of thought. He couldn't give up without a fight, he liked the girl. He just had to figure out how to get her to like him back. She had agreed to the dance, so there had to be something there. Man up, girls liked the take-charge, confident types. Not the whiny depressing ones. He had to be bold and daring and such. He'd come into this dance with just such plans, what had happened to them? Why did he keep falling back into his old, depressing, anti-social habits? He was past that stage, wasn't he?

"Sorry," he continued with a bit of a grin, "Don't worry about it. I think you've mentioned your sister before, but I don't know if you said her name." Being raised as an only child, this gave him a good avenue for conversation. "I don't have any siblings, Jhon is about as close as I have." He glanced over at his cousin, still mesmerized by the Pierces, Careys, Brockerts, and whomever else might catch her fancy. "Are you and Paige close? I look around at some of the families and wonder what it would be like to be a part of a bigger one."

2 Andrew No, trust me, you're not 145 Andrew 0 5

Lilac Crosby

October 26, 2011 9:57 PM

An eager answer! by Lilac Crosby

Costumes were nothing new to Lilac. Every day when she taught, she wore a costume. It was, after all, by one definition a set of theatrical clothes. She was acting in that classroom, playing the part of the teacher the students wanted. Calm, collected, “normal”.

Tonight’s context of the word “costume” was, however, it’s alternate definition of historical period attire. The grey-eyed professor excitedly dawned her hooded dress in preparation before running a brush through her mess of brown hair. She did not straighten it because the hood would drape over her head, and if it was straight, it seemed it would slip off.

It was staying up as she sat next to Seth, the acting headmistress giving her speech. Lilac was rather compelled to grasp Seth’s hand subtly and out of sight, but she was slightly afraid of it being seen. She loved him, of course, but she was always worried about how appropriate affection displays among staff was.

As the Head students and prefects led the first dance, he kept throwing her little smiles. He’s certainly up to something, the brunette thought. Obviously if he was smiling it was a good something, and she trusted him enough to wait and see what it was. The idea of it being a proposal up his sleeve hardly even crossed her mind. Lilac was doubtlessly ready to marry him, and they’d been together for a long time now. Her mother was on her about it, but then again, Veronika had been for a decade.

It therefore shocked her to tears when Seth knelt down in front of her.

The ring was beautiful, but for all she cared, he could have proposed with a tooth pick. It was Seth she wanted; she didn’t care about anything else. She tried to speak, to shout yes, but nothing came out. Speechless, she nodded her pale head vigorously until the word came. “Yes!” Dear Merlin, she was getting married.

Mrs. Lilac Brockert, she couldn’t help but think to herself, a grin uncontainable.

0 Lilac Crosby An eager answer! 0 Lilac Crosby 0 5

Daniel Nash

October 26, 2011 10:11 PM

An Alison Accompaniment by Daniel Nash

Daniel was, admittedly, no expert on how olde times people spoke, but he was reasonably sure that Alison was making it up as she went along just as much as he was. That removed any pressure he felt to get attempt accuracy (as best he could guess it) and instead turned the whole thing into a fun amusement. He grinned in a way that was definitely olde times improper but was one of the more genuinely carefree expressions he had offered in the last decade. "I shall verily escort thee into yon Hall, good lady."

With that he offered her his arm and led the way into the Cascade Hall. He stuttered one of his steps as he took in all the changes to the room, but recovered before tripping himself or Alison. As they were going to be dancing the first dance, Daniel saw no reason not to move directly to the front. They manuevered through the crowd with relative ease, the rest of the crowd seemingly willing to accommodate King Phillip the Head Boy.

Headmistress Powell's speech went about how Daniel expected it to go, though honestly, he'd sort of expected Edmond to replace him as Head Boy as well as Quidditch Captain, but he liked Jose, too, so it was only his Aladren House pride injured by the results. He clapped politely for both Jose and Marissa, then turned his attention to Alison as the music began.

"Our moment to shine," he remarked wryly. Holding out a hand to lead her out onto the dance floor, he finished more solemnly, "Shall we give Sonora our farewell dance?"

1 Daniel Nash An Alison Accompaniment 130 Daniel Nash 0 5

Arthur Carey

October 26, 2011 10:40 PM

Are you enjoying yourself? by Arthur Carey

Arthur did, contrary to some opinions, have emotions. He had learned that it was better not to show them, if he could help it, but he did have them, and when he did, he tried to figure out why.

Right now, he felt dissatisfied, almost angry, and he did not know why, only that it had something to do with Arnold. There were lots of reasons to feel angry with Arnold sometimes, but he hadn’t done anything tonight. Really, he hadn’t even done anything recently. They had been getting along perfectly well, studying for their finals mostly. He didn’t feel stress about the exams, not the way other people seemed to sometimes, so he knew he couldn’t be on edge because of that. It was inexplicable, and he didn’t like the inexplicable.

Weaving through the crowd, he spotted the table of drinks, and wasn’t sure if he was supposed to take one before things really got started, but he did anyway. It was some kind of juice. He concentrated on figuring out what kind to take his mind off his irrational irritation, and it worked a little until the Headmistress made her announcements. Then he felt another moment of irritation, but he knew about this one – a Carey Head Boy would have suited him, and an Aladren one.

Still, that receded quickly in favor of the original irritation, which he still could not understand. He was beginning to wonder if that was irritating him beyond what he’d originally felt.

And then someone spoke to him. A girl. He recognized her – first year, one of the new Pecari Chasers. He didn’t have much information about her, though, so he’d assumed she was no one particularly important, but she was talking about the Pierces. The number of Pierces.

“Of course,” he said. Admittedly, it had been last year, and because of – of Miss Sinclair, he felt renewed irritation, he supposed it was because of the association with Arnold – but it had happened. He hadn’t counted the band, which he thought he remembered vaguely hearing had some of the California Pierces in it, but he thought that party had been bigger, anyway, and that it had definitely been more…Pierce, in the usual sense. “Why do you ask?”

Not the best question, he had as good as asked if she had an interest in the Pierces, but he had discovered that most people around his age had no idea what was going on in the world anyway, so he didn’t think it mattered. If it did…well, it wouldn’t be a huge problem, and he frankly didn’t care right now. The perils of being emotional.

0 Arthur Carey Are you enjoying yourself? 182 Arthur Carey 0 5

Preston

October 26, 2011 11:53 PM

I could say otherwise by Preston

The lack of formality that came from their first names was refreshing, it was sometimes exhausting being so formal all the time, and when you were among friends – he had heard – one shouldn’t be so stuffy all the time. The fact that Sara called him by his first name meant that she corresponded with his sentiments about it. They had been hanging out for some time and it had been just a matter of time. Of course, it would have been better to ask for her permission, but it had slipped out of his mouth before he could contain it. He smiled at her, “thank you, Sara.” He didn’t feel handsome in his outfit, he felt stupid, ridiculous. He hoped Sara wouldn’t be embarrassed by his mother’s idea of a joke, because he was, and he didn’t particularly like the feeling of embarrassment. It didn’t matter that a lot of students were dressed-up in costumes, he just didn’t feel comfortable. It would be the first and last time it happened.

Preston offered his arm to Sara to enter the Cascade Hall, he was looking at the decorations when his date commented on them, “Hmm,” he bit his lower lip, “I would need to inspect them more closely to determine if they are from the right period.” Preston liked historical accuracy, he thrived on studying history and its beginning, that was why he wanted to be a Magical Anthropologist, and that was he was planning on doing after he graduated Sonora. He already knew he wanted to attend the Wesley Magical College in England, since it had the best anthropologist program in Europe. He hadn’t told anyone about it, he still had time to decide about it, but it was almost a sure bet. “From here they look okay. They did a good job.”

The students were filling the hall and the Head students and Prefects dance began, Preston watched them silently. He began imagining when he would be the one opening the dances, because he was sure he would get the Prefecture and Headboyship, he also wanted to be Captain of the Aladren Quidditch team, but the first two were far more important than Quidditch. He was sure that the first two would make a good impression on the Wesley Admission Board.

The dance finished and he looked at Sara, “what do you want to do? Dance or eat or just hang out?” He was sure that dating etiquette required the girl to choose the activity of choice, he didn’t really mind. He would prefer to talk or eat than dancing, but if Sara wanted to dance, he was going to comply with her wishes. Preston tugged the collar of his costume, it was really uncomfortable.

0 Preston I could say otherwise 0 Preston 0 5

Jane

October 27, 2011 1:28 AM

I'm glad to hear that. by Jane

Jane felt a little strange sitting down on what very much resembled a throne - her parents' chairs were built along somewhat similar lines, at least in shape and size, but were very visibly the comfortable armchairs a couple very comfortable with each other and their family and not at the top of their extended family had been using for years, and she and Edmond were never seated on anything so grand as even that because they were, or had both been until December, children - but she took her place at Jethro's side smoothly, only smiling a little at the novelty as she straightened out her skirts. She was fifteen, now, and would be an adult soon, so it was only proper that she become accustomed to some things. Mother had always said preparation was the best way to keep from looking foolish and overexcited and altogether undignified when going through new things.

"I'd like that," she said, smiling now because she was pleased with his response. "To dance in a little while. I enjoy dancing very much. Do you?"

She didn't, after all, want to keep him on the floor until the banquet if he didn't like to dance. Seeing whether or not he was a good dancer wouldn't give her a conclusive answer to the question, either. Edmond was about as good at it as Jane - what one had learned, the other had learned; that was how it had been, and dancing well was one of the skills they had both been required to learn in addition to their determination to be the same - but he didn't like it as much, and had needed to work harder to reach proficiency. Cassie wanting to might very well be, and probably even was, enough to get him to dance every song, but Jane wasn't completely sure about even that.

Though that didn't, she had to admit, make the matter as special as it might have been. There were a lot of things she couldn't be sure about with Edmond anymore, and that was a minor one by comparison. But she didn't want to think about that right now. She wanted to think about being at a party.

Hearing Jethro's question about him, though, made her consider her brother again as she clapped for the new Head Boy and Girl. "I think he'll be relieved," she said after a moment, deciding that while she couldn't tell the whole truth, she didn't have to lie, either. "It would have been an honor, but he already has so many things to do, and with the RATS coming up....Well." Edmond was keeping up with all his work, but he had been starting to look a little frayed around the edges lately. She couldn't think next year's promise of exams at the end would really help with that. "And he doesn't like being the leader. I think he's almost as worried about giving the Quiddith team a speech next year as he is about training them to work without Mr. Nash."

She watched all the prefects and Head People move onto the floor, noting costumes and couples here and there. "It looks like there's so many of them," she commented. "I suppose it's just the partners." Though most of those were other prefects, too, as far as she could see. She guessed she just wasn't used to seeing them all at the same time, together and distinct from everyone else.

0 Jane I'm glad to hear that. 0 Jane 0 5

Marissa

October 27, 2011 12:04 PM

I'll take your word for it. by Marissa

He just thought…what? Marissa hated it when people didn’t finish sentences like that. She couldn’t help but be paranoid, going over everything that they might have meant or not meant and if it was something bad about her. She usually assumed it was by default, or at least worried that it was and that she didn’t know what about herself she needed to try to fix at that time.

She was right on the verge of asking if she had done something wrong when he changed channels and asked about Paige. She didn’t have full use of her hands at the moment, which limited her ability to express it non-verbally and more fully than she thought she could with words, but did lift her right shoulder slightly. “Not really,” she said. “Not now. She started going to this boarding school in Connecticut in our second year, so we don’t even have the same old people we knew to talk about when I was home because she didn’t see them all year either, and now that she’s in college I don’t really see her anymore.”

But that was depressing to talk about, and she didn’t want to depress him. “But I’m still friends with some of my friends from before Sonora,” she added. “My parents pass on letters, put stamps on them and stuff, since they think I’m at some weird…I don’t know…some kind of school where it’s all about development and they don’t let us have much contact with the outside world, and they’ve taken me back every summer so far.” She made a face. “Though it’s kind of bad that I decided to tell them Quidditch was the dorm soccer team, because now one of them is the soccer captain at her school and we ended up playing last summer and I kind of…I don’t know how much she bought that I’m supposed to be a soccer captain, too.”

Of course, Marissa had always had a sneaking feeling that Briana in particular didn’t believe her – valued their friendship enough not to confront her, sure, but still didn’t believe her. “I don’t know if I’d want to be part of…you know, some of the big families here, though. I hadn’t been here a day before people started telling me to avoid the Careys. And the history books I’ve seen….” She shook her head. “We’re supposed to live a really long time. Maybe we’ll end up with magic great-great-something grandchildren and see how big families are.” Assuming, of course, that her…Problem wasn’t a dominant trait or something like that, which would get passed on and make everyone turn out to be a Squib in a generation or two. Mendel, for some reason, had never gotten around to figuring out what happened with magic as far as she knew, though she hadn’t really tried to find too much about that kind of stuff in the library. Though maybe she should, if only to see if the Problem would make her die sooner than other wizards, if still well after she could have expected to otherwise.

16 Marissa I'll take your word for it. 147 Marissa 0 5

Alison

October 27, 2011 5:36 PM

A Daniel [Insert Clever Noun Here]. by Alison

There were a lot of things Alison might expect in an encounter with Daniel Nash, but for him to miss a step wasn’t one of them. He recovered quickly, but she noticed it a little.

He didn’t seem to have a problem walking after that, though, so she ignored it as she let him lead. Going to the front made her feel a moment of something like nervousness – prefect or no prefect, she wasn’t used to being at the front, in front of the school; it just didn’t happen often, and certainly not to this extent – but she went along with it anyway, as it was kind of inevitable. That was what she got for coming with the Head Boy, and anyway, she was above that kind of thing. Not knowing what to think of being in front of everyone, and caring if they did think something of or about her. Ridiculous.

She, too, clapped at the announcements of the Head People. Marissa was too…neat for her likings, though still possibly better than Rachel, but Jose was all right. At least it was a break in Aladren’s supremacy over something. She didn’t follow the Quidditch that closely, just enough to be a good prefect person or whatever, but she did know that it was kind of embarrassing for all three other Houses how Aladren had suddenly come out of nowhere with that. And they had a lot of Head Boys to their name. She had no problem with Edmond, but she figured, here at the end of her brief spell at Sonora, she ought to show a little House loyalty.

“Like stars,” she returned, and stepped out onto the dance floor with what she assumed was a manner suggesting she did this every day. Then, “We shall.”

She remembered there being some rule about ‘shall’ and ‘will,’ but couldn’t remember it clearly. It had been a while. ‘Shall’ sounded better here, though, so she went with that. As they began to dance, she was pleased to see her feet moving the way they had been taught to. “So,” she said, deciding to give conversation a shot. If he didn’t like that, she guessed that she’d pick up on that pretty quickly. “Got your whole future planned out, Mr. Head Boy?”

16 Alison A Daniel [Insert Clever Noun Here]. 140 Alison 0 5

Daniel Nash

October 27, 2011 8:22 PM

An Alison Agenda by Daniel Nash

They fell into an easy waltz. He kept it simple, to limit the opportunities to go wrong, but he did put in a gentle turn to their steps. He thought they made a good looking pair, and the steps were coming gracefully and naturally enough that they surely appeared fittingly competent. Their time left at Sonora was now measured in hours; it was only appropriate that anything they did in front of the school should look sufficiently skilled.

They hadn't made it more than a few measures into the dance when Alison brought up The Future, which, Daniel could admit, was his own fault for saying this was their farewell dance. He grimaced slightly, and confessed, "If my whole future had a plan, I'd feel a lot better about it."

He paused a moment as the music got briefly louder, then continued, "I'm still kind of exploring my options, but I ran out of time, so I'll be starting at UCLA, to study magisociology, but I'm not sure yet if that's what I really want to do. I may still change majors or schools or drop out entirely and go into acting full-time." He shrugged slightly, barely enough to be seen but in hold, she should at least be able to feel it.

"What about you? Are you going to college?"

1 Daniel Nash An Alison Agenda 130 Daniel Nash 0 5

Arnold

October 27, 2011 9:22 PM

I appreciate it. by Arnold

“That’s nice,” Arnold said about Fae’s father dancing with her. He had rarely seen his father dance, and even less with his mother. Father and Uncle Donnie had both been known to dance with their sisters at events – Uncle Donnie usually spoiling the dignity of the event by trying to make Aunt Emma laugh; he was nearly the only person who could – and with Aunt Gigi, especially when she and Uncle Donnie were in one of their phases where they acted almost more like a courting couple than a married one with a lot of kids, but Father and Mother seldom did. “My parents don’t dance very much.”

There had, he remembered, been one time Mother tried to teach Arthur some odd dance, though, not a very formal one; it hadn’t seemed as strange for her to do it, it had even looked more natural than when she attempted formal dances, but Arthur’s attempt had been ridiculous, and not just because Mother had been so much taller than him. Even he had laughed a few times before the end of that episode, and even when they were little, that hadn’t happened very often. Arthur said it was just that he often didn’t just find the same things funny that other people did.

He didn’t know quite what to say to her mother not going to the kitchen ever. He knew this was more common than what Mother did – Grandmother would have been tremendously offended at the very idea, and even Aunt Gigi, who had the largest family and least help of anyone, didn’t except maybe to throw a tiny bit of something on a cracker for a snack – but wasn’t sure if he should call his own mother an eccentric or not.

Luckily, Fae then brought up pudding. “I won’t tell her, either,” he said. “I don’t tell my mother lots of things. She might make me stop playing Quidditch if she knew about all the Bludgers during practices.” He liked to bring out real ones even when he was practicing on his own or with just a few of the other members of the team outside of the official practices; the kind the Beaters had tried out with were all right, but it was only getting pummeled for real an awful lot which had finally gotten him better at avoiding the real ones. A slightly guilty look crossed his face as he added, “And the practicing the nights before tests.”

He was startled by Fae’s sudden declaration of knowing what she wanted, but pleased to hear there was something she enjoyed after all. He couldn’t help but laugh at the way the paragraph ended, though. “Maybe they’ll have some at the banquet,” he said. “Then you could have all you want.” He didn’t understand what it was about adult witches and food. Aunt Gigi went on crazy diets every time after she had a baby, and then she always got really irritable and it wasn’t good. Mother, who didn’t do that, wasn’t as thin as Aunt Gigi, but she wasn’t fat, either. The Fourth had finally put his foot down about Aunt Gigi dragging the girl cousins along with her and they just had to have everything portioned a lot more carefully than Arnold did and to exercise every day. Which really didn’t bother Terry and Diana. Di was a little more interested in dolls and stuff than Theresa was, but she was always wandering after Brandon, too, always trying to keep up with their brothers.

“Me and Arthur used to go get pumpkins like that, like you were saying about Miss Shelby, when we were home at Halloween. Sometimes we’d end up throwing stuff at each other before Mother could Vanish it.” He liked Halloween. All the food had pumpkin, but he liked pumpkins, and candy, though Mother didn't always like him to have it. She said he was enough to keep up with without giving him lots of sugar at one time.

0 Arnold I appreciate it. 181 Arnold 0 5

Sara

October 27, 2011 11:49 PM

Are you going to? by Sara

Sara nodded her agreement that things looked nice. "I guess that's the really important part at an event like this," she said. "But I don't think it would be too far off. A school would want to be accurate even if they weren't doing it all for one of their founders." She smiled slightly to herself and added, "at least, I hope they are, if they're teaching us."

It was imperative that they have all the right connections, that they have perfect manners and social skills and all that, but it was just as important for them to be fully and accurately educated. At least, that was how her parents and Aunt Margaret had always taught her. Not everyone agreed - some thought a girl could, as Catherine seemed to, get by with little beyond a basic knowledge of Charms and etiquette; some even thought it was best that way - but she thought an Aladren might not be completely opposed to the idea. And since it wasn't like she and Preston hadn't originally bonded over a shared academic-type interest, she thought she could assume some things based on more than just his House.

She, too, watched the prefects with a determination, if a maybe a quieter one than his, to be among them the next time there was a ball. Sara thought she might have some competition from Marcus, but also felt she had a very good chance of coming out on top in that competition. It wouldn't be a crushing thing for her if she wasn't selected, but...She'd like to be. Either way, though, there was still Head Girl at the end of the next year.

Afterward, she considered her options, suppressing a whim-like desire to adjust his collar after he started tugging at it. They might call each other by their first names now, but there were still limits. "I think I'd like a drink right now," she said. "And we can have that and just hang out. Then..."

She smiled at him, since that might have a convincing effect. Her cousins and friends in Aunt Margaret's circle all gossiped constantly when Margaret wasn't around, even more than when she was, and Sara had picked things up just listening to them. "Maybe one dance," she said. "If the song is good. Unless you want a few more." It was possible she had gotten something wrong in her deductions about Preston, after all. "I'm," she added honestly, "fine either way."

0 Sara Are you going to? 0 Sara 0 5

Alison

October 28, 2011 11:47 AM

A Daniel Design. by Alison

Alison was surprised to hear that she was apparently not the only one who had no idea what the heck she was doing leaving school, but she guessed that went to prove what they said about assumptions, or would have if she’d been dumb enough to mention being surprised. And maybe suddenly feeling a little better. Rationally, she knew it was all kinds of wrong to equate this kind of thing or follow people off cliffs or…however it ran, but in the back of her head, she couldn’t help but think that if the Head Boy didn’t have an elaborate, detailed life plan and the means to carry it out, that she might not have so much to worry about.

“Not immediately, anyway,” she said, shaking her head slightly when he asked if she was planning to go to college. “Kinda let that one outpace me.” By which she meant she hadn’t come to a decision before application deadlines were generally past. “Maybe next year. I don’t know. I’m even more plan-less than you right now.”

He did, at least, have a starter plan and another plan – for some reason, she kept picturing him doing those Shakespeare films that went for cheap at the local bookstores; maybe it was because of the outfit, kinda the same time periods there, she thought – whereas she was completely going to end up making things up as she went along. She had serious, serious doubts about how good she was going to be at that, too, but there wasn’t much to do about it at this late date but try to make the best of it.

“I’ll get by one way or another, though,” she added cheerfully. “I might go back to Illinois. Or land in New York or California. Somewhere big, you know, lots of people from everywhere.” She smiled, amused by a thought. “Who knows, maybe by the five-year reunion, you’ll be famous and I’ll be the new poster girl for the American Dream. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”

16 Alison A Daniel Design. 140 Alison 0 5

Rachel

October 28, 2011 12:41 PM

You're doing fine. Just keep doing that. by Rachel

Rachel smiled back at Nic, hoping it was in an encouraging manner, as they moved into hold, and then the music began and there wasn’t really any more time to worry about whether or not he was going to be able to go through with the sequence from the dancing lessons. She just had to trust him – not something she was good at doing, really, with anyone; Momma had done too good a job of not only impressing the need for but outright instilling paranoia in her – and remember to be grateful that she had a date at all. Seeing Nina Brockert accosting what appeared to be a first year helped a lot with that second part.

Her fourth year began to count the steps, and she made no move to interrupt him. If that helped him out, then all the better for it. She had to try to block it out of her head, because it made her start missing hers a little for some reason, but living with Kate and Momma at the same time was enough by itself, even without all the other fun that was their family, to have made her learn to kind of hear the sounds around her well enough to make an appropriate reply if she needed to without ever letting them really stop at her brain on their way through her ears, so that wasn’t too much of a problem, especially with the music being a bit easier to make out than his count anyway.

The benefits of the Bauer-Layne-Douglas family. It was nice to see them every now and then.

She found herself judging other girls’ costumes as they danced, pleased to find that hers was definitely among the best, though some of the boys’ came close. That was interesting; she had known, vaguely, that historically guys had dressed a lot more elaborately than they did now, but she hadn’t really expected a lot of Sonora’s male population to go along with that bit of historical accuracy. She reminded herself, though, not to feel threatened, since their clothes and hers were in totally different categories. Unless and until she spotted a girl whose gown she thought looked better than hers….

As they made a turn in the dance, she saw one that might qualify, and started to open her mouth to ask Nic if he thought it did look more authentic – she couldn’t just say ‘better’ – than hers before she caught herself and bit her tongue instead. No. One did not ask guys about that. It just wasn’t done. Maybe Samantha or Veronica, but not Nic. That would just be kind of…weird, not to mention something that would make her sound like a complete airhead. She did try to avoid that.

16 Rachel You're doing fine. Just keep doing that. 154 Rachel 0 5

Josephine Owen

October 28, 2011 2:41 PM

So we should consider ourselves lucky by Josephine Owen

"This isn’t something you see every day, so it’s kind of cool, I think," Russell commented, and Josephine nodded in agreement. "I’ve really liked them doing stuff with the school’s history this year. I kind of like history." At this news Josephine, wrinkled her nose.

"I've never gotten on well with it," she admitted. She liked historical outfits, but that was just an extension of her liking clothes. "I like the nice bits of history," she added as an afterthought. There wasn't a great deal in her knowledge that constituted 'nice bits' though - apparently only death and detruction were worth recording - "I'm not so interested in the battles, invasions, plagues... not really my thing." For the most part, she lived in an idyllic little world where, aside from being poor, she could appreciate the beauty and wonder of life. Whenever a gruesome history topic came up it broke her illusion and made her feel uncomfortable. She was glad History wasn't one of the required subjects at Sonora, though she'd heard it had been in the past.

"Do you dance?" Russell asked, causing Josephine to - honestly - feel a little insecure about her movements, but not so much she'd let it show. She had enough insecurities with trying to beat her brother academically, being short for her age and being slightly overweight, and the fact that nothing she ever owned had been bought new, without worrying about people judging her everyday actions, too. It was a party and she was entitiled to dance.

"I do dance," she replied, smiling at her interpretation of the question. "Not like them," she pointed with the hand that wasn't holding her cup to the prefects on the floor, "but in my own style." She had endured some basic ballroom dancing lesson with James, at a dusty hut with other kids their age who didn't really want to be there, but neither of them had especially enjoyed it. Pretty soon their parents had removed them from the classes, and had never bothered to send Jade. Josephine was far nore comfortable with just moving to the music as she saw fit. "Do you?"

0 Josephine Owen So we should consider ourselves lucky 196 Josephine Owen 0 5

Linus

October 28, 2011 3:02 PM

How's it so far? by Linus

Very festive? Linus felt his lip quirk. Apparently he wasn't alone in being awkward with his compliments. He did, for half a second, consider the possible interpretation that Brianna had wanted to compliment something about him in return but hadn't found him suitably physically appealing to be truthful, but that was obviously nonsense - he'd seen his own reflection just minutes ago. Nevertheless, he thanked her, because she'd done so for his awkwardly-delivered comment, so it seemed the polite thing to do. They were even.

Brianna elected to get drinks, and Linus nodded as he gradually moved towards the drinks table. He hestitated just a moment when Brianna asked if they could dance later. On the one hand, he'd never actually danced properly with a girl before. On the other hand, he'd sort of been expecting that Brianna might want to dance (he'd looked in on the dance lessons for that reason), and as he was already dressed up like a fool, he might as well dance, too. On balance, while he thought of dancing as a girl's activity, Linus appreciated that at an event like this, it seemed far more normal for boys to dance, too, and if everyone else was doing it, then he didn't see the harm. He wasn't exactly anxious to dance, but if he was going to give it a go, he was quite pleased it would be with Brianna, who was neither mean nor boisterous enough that she would make fun of him if he did dance like a fool.

"Yes, of course, if you'd like to," Linus said, finding this next smile a little more natural. He even felt comfortable enough to lightly rest his hand on Brianna's back as they progressed through the crowd to find a drink. His main aim was to get through the night without looking like an idiot, and to make sure Brianna had a good time. If she didn't, it would only reflect badly on him.

"What would you like?" he asked her as they approached the table. The drinks were there for anyone to take, but Linus knew it was gentlemanly behavior to fetch the lady a drink, and this seemed the sort of occasion when those manners might matter. He was guessing and fumbling with what he thought was appropriate, but he was smart, and observant - he couldn't be going too far wrong.

0 Linus How's it so far? 0 Linus 0 5

Jethro

October 28, 2011 3:42 PM

Are you having a good time? by Jethro

Jane she would like to dance, and Jethro smiled because Jane smiled. He was pleased that she enjoyed dancing, too, because that was another activity, as well as art, that they could potentially enjoy doing together. Though admittedly, occasions for dancing seemed to be less frequent than occasions for painting. "I do enjoy it, yes," Jethro said, having to put a little thought into the question. It was actually more the music he enjoyed, he supposed, because he liked to listen to music and to pick out the rhythms, but he also thought the movement was enjoyable. It would probably be more pleasant to dance with Jane than with one of his cousins, too. He was pleased that he didn't have to dance with the other prefects, because dancing while other people watched was something different altogether. Jethro didn't really like attention from crowds of people. He was relieved, in fact - the same word Jane used to describe Edmond's probably reaction to not being Head Boy, although the reasons she gave were a little different.

"It looks like there's so many of them," Jane commented, presumably on the number of prefects dancing, as that was where her gaze currently fell. Jethro considered that there were the same number of prefects each year - or potentially two extra if the Head Boy and Girl were not already prefects - so the number shouldn't be in any way surprising - but he had to agree that the crowd was larger than he'd have expected. Perhaps it was simply because they were not usually all in one place at the same time, or perhaps it was, as Jane suggested, because they'd acquired partners who were not also prefects. Jethro thought he counted ten couples, which meant twenty people, and that was quite a lot - sufficiently more than there were prefects, at any rate.

"It's unusual to see so many dress robes in the school hall," Jethro commented, as an extension of Jane's own observation about the prefects. Admittedly some of the outfits were far more unusual than the dress robes to which Jethro was accustomed seeing, but nevertheless it was interesting to see all the students together and not in their uniform robes. He'd never worn dress robes at school before - it was almost like a blending of realities; he already took classes at home, and now he was attending a social event at school. It was just as well he'd had six years' experience of being at school to have a handle on the situation, otherwise it would have been sufficient to confuse him.

Sensing this was an acceptable opportunity for conversation, Jethro took advantage of it, as he would probably not be seeing Jane for any great amount of time after this evening until term resumed. "Do you have any plans for the summer?" he asked her. He knew that this was a vague question, but he'd gradually come to understand that sometimes that was okay. Jane would be able to infer that he wasn't asking about plans to see her immediate family - as that was obvious - or to reveal anything she did not wish to tell him. Jethro himself understood this by now, and Jane was far smarter than he was.

0 Jethro Are you having a good time? 0 Jethro 0 5

Daniel

October 28, 2011 7:18 PM

An Alison Arrangement by Daniel

"I'm already famous," Daniel correct. Had he given the statement any thought at all before uttering it, he would have kept it to himself, but the words had already been spoken before he realized the might sound pretentious. He hadn't meant them to be. To him, they were merely a statement of fact. He'd been in a national television series since he was ten; there were over 150,000 people who had watched him grow up but never met him. His parents were both actors and his mom had an Oscar. 'Famous' was an accustomed and natural part of his existence. If anything, he was using the wizarding world to escape 'famous'.

To cover the spoken gaffe, he quickly brought up a point that she'd mentioned earlier. "If you do end up in California and need a place to crash, I'll keep a door open for you." They had never been close friends, of course, but they had gone to the same boarding school and attended the same small classes for enough of their developmental years that he felt that counted for something. Also, she'd agreed to go with him to what was essentially their senior prom (Mom had used that term to refer to this event and no amount of discussion was going to change her mind on the matter), and that was significant as well.

Besides which, Daniel would certainly rather have Alison drop in on him out of a clear blue sky than any of his roommates. Juri had also seemed somehow just short of declaring himself another James, Quentin would likely have far too many questions about Daniel's muggle appliances, and James himself was not worth mentioning.

To further distance himself from his initial remark, he continued, "This may be a muggle bias," here, he stopped briefly to frown and add, "or possibly an Aladren one, but somewhere in there, I would recommend going to college, and probably sooner rather than later. . . Not that it's any of my business," he added quickly. "It's your life." Of course, it had sounded like she did intend to go back to school, at some point, so hopefully she wouldn't take his thoughts on the matter as a criticism of her choices.

"Holly skipped college," he put in, though, in case Alison did take it that way and he needed to soften the impact. "She got a job as a flying horse ranch apprentice." Holly had also been a Pecari prefect, so presumably this was a good example of a no-college success story. "She plans to own one of her own someday."

He frowned at the sudden realization that Holly had left Sonora knowing exactly what she wanted to do with her life and in the two years since then had achieved significant progress on all of them. It made him feel, for perhaps the first time in his life, that his sister may actually have her life more together than he did.

"I'm not sure if its more irritating to have Holly for an older sister when she' actually competent or the rest of the time." As if were a personal affront, he told Alison, "She knew exactly how she wanted her life go when she graduated." More likely, she knew by the time she got her CATS results. Or possibly even the minute she learned there were flying horse ranches. Holly's goals were not exactly complex; they could largely be summed up as 'Marry Raoul, Raise Horses.'

1 Daniel An Alison Arrangement 130 Daniel 0 5

Andrew

October 28, 2011 10:30 PM

No independent verification needed? by Andrew

Andrew really wished he had some common point of reference at this point. He had no siblings and the kids he had called friends before coming to Sonora had pretty much deserted him He hadn't really noticed when it happened, his connection to them had been tenuous at best to start with. It occurred to him that this might be some of the information that 'social-type' people share with each other. Well, one way to find out.

"You still keep in contact with your friends? That's cool. I've pretty much lost contact with the ones I had before I started coming here. They were never really close friends, it was kinda tough to make real close friends while I was bouncing back and forth between Mom and Dad. So I guess on the plus side that means I didn't really loose anybody by coming here." He gave her a bit of a wry grin, "On the down side, I don't have much of a social life when I'm not here. Just a few letters back and forth with Jose, but he leads the life of a California Pierce, so..." he let the sentence drift off since he really wasn't quite sure how to end it. "You said your summer will be something of an Aladren summer, most of mine have been as well. Mainly for lack of other things to do." He sighed.

"I guess that's one of the reasons I was anxious to keep in contact over the summer. I'm trying to become more 'social' and such and you've been a wondrous help to me in that aspect." He gave her a wink, "Look I'm out dancing in front of the whole school with a beautiful girl. You can't get much better than that." He could have stopped the grin on his face if he had wanted to, which he didn't. "You may be on your own on the soccer thing, I haven't tried to figure that one out yet. But, once we have hordes of grandchildren, we can set them against one another and let them figure out how it works."

Wait a second... had she said 'we'll end up with magic great-great-something grandchildren' or 'we'll end up with magic great-great-something grandchildren'?

2 Andrew No independent verification needed? 145 Andrew 0 5

Jhonice

October 28, 2011 11:03 PM

Always. Are you? by Jhonice

"Of course."

The response came from around Jhonice somewhere. She was so enthralled with the room and its occupants that she hadn't actually realized there was someone close enough to answer her question. Who could answer the question in such a manner? Almost as if he was surrounded by Pierces all the time. She focused on the source of the voice. It was Arthur Reginald Carey of the South Carolina Careys. He had been born on February 11th along with his twin brother Arnold. At least that was what the Carey family wanted everyone to think. She still had her suspicions that the Carey boys were still actually triplets and the family was trying to cover it up by presenting the three as merely twins. It was a clever ruse, but she wouldn't fall for it. Who was this really? One way to find out...

"You have?" she responded eagerly, "That is incredible." She pause for a carefully calculated length of time and looked him over as if she was figuring him out. "of course, you are one of the Carey Family," she paused again, "the South Carolina branch?" 'Arnold' had seemed a bit more friendlier during his interview than 'Arthur' did right now. She would have to play this a little cautiously. "I am Jhonice Trevear," she even tried a bit of a bow as she introduced herself. We've been in some classes together and I've seen you chase on the pitch. You're very good."

"This is my first time at a function such as this," she gestured around the glitz and splendor of the room, "I'm sure you've done this many times. Would it be to forward to ask if you would be so kind as to 'show me the ropes' as they say?" She tried to put on her sweetest, most innocent smile. If she could just get him to agree to stick around and continue the interview, this would be an incredible ending to her first year.

2 Jhonice Always. Are you? 209 Jhonice 0 5

Jose Hernandez

October 28, 2011 11:09 PM

Still can't believe he is by Jose Hernandez

Tawny looked absolutely wonderful in the dress, as he'd known she would. Jose felt quite lucky as he stepped onto the dance floor with her on his arm. He'd secured a lovely date for the night, he got to wear cool clothes, his family was here (as had been evidenced by the cheers coming from behind the Headmistress as his name was called), the music was like home, and he was about to start dancing with said lovely date.

Tawny was a Brockert, so he assumed she knew how to dance, but he wasn't sure what the range of dances that she knew was. So, as they began a fairly simple waltz, he asked, "So how fancy do you want to get out here? We could really go into the theme and pull out some actual medieval dances. You up for that, or should we keep to the regular ones? I can coach you through the old kind if you don't know them already." Which she probably didn't since she hadn't grown up at a Renaissance Faire.

Honestly, he hoped she was into being adventurous because he was really much better at medieval dancing than modern dancing, but he could pull off the uncomplicated regular dances well enough to serve for a school dance even if she didn't.

Plus, he hoped, challenging her to a strange new pattern of dancing might hopefully take her mind off the fact that she hadn't gotten Head Girl, which he knew she must be disappointed about.

1 Jose Hernandez Still can't believe he is 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Kirstenna

October 29, 2011 2:55 AM

Excellent by Kirstenna

Kirstenna nodded. She didn't really know Nic as anything beyond the possibly part-giant, not-very-good Crotalus Keeper and Sam's roommate. The Teppenpaw didn't even think she'd ever even talked to the other fourth year. Which was kind of a shame, really. Their class wasn't that big-in fact smaller now than it had been originally thanks to the Beetle Lady and to a lesser extent, the Imposter-and Kirstenna should know a few people better than she did.

She didn't really know Rachel Bauer either, but this was a little more forgivable because Sam's cousin was in a different year and house than Kirstenna was.

Thinking of Sam's cousin, however, reminded Kirstenna of her own. Quentin was going to be graduating and the Teppenpaw was really going to miss him. Sonora just wouldn't be the same without the Aladren. Of course, she was happy that he would be away from the Imposter and had made through the whole time without anything happening to him at the hand of Kirstenna's nemesis...or at the hand of the Beetle Lady either. That was a true accomplishment and one the Teppenpaw hoped to achieve herself.

And speaking of accomplishments..."Congratualations!" Kirstenna smiled at her friend warmly. Hopefully, this would not affect their friendship at all. It was bad enough to lose friends to the evil of the Imposter and her dark creature minion, Renee. The last thing Kirstenna wanted was for Quidditch to come between her and Sam. It just wasn't as important as their friendship. Winning would be great, as she hadn't won one yet, but friendship was more important.

She thought about what Sam had said. It really was a small world. Especially when one thought about microcosms. Kirstenna didn't know a lot about them, but Quentin had talked about them once. The pureblood world was one, and one she was an outsider to and yet, had a connection with because of her father's family and the fact that Kirstenna had a lot of cousins at Sonora even if Quentin was graduating.

The fourth year would never truly be alone here, she had her family and she had Sam. The Teppenpaw hoped she would be able to keep them all.

11 Kirstenna Excellent 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Marissa

October 29, 2011 9:20 PM

I think it'll be all right for now. by Marissa

Though still blushing a little from being called beautiful, Marissa couldn’t help but laugh at the image that popped into her head when Andrew said that about teams of great-great-grandchildren playing soccer against each other, not least because it involved her being very old and wearing a sweatshirt and blowing a whistle in between long monologues about not letting them forget that their great-great-great-grandmother was a Muggleborn and they had better be proud of that when they complained and said they’d rather go play Quidditch. Assuming no one married any more Muggles, great-great-whatever grandchildren would be pretty thoroughly wizards by that point – not really purebloods, at least not by the standards some of the wackier families held, but definitely not Muggles or Muggleborns by any stretch of the imagination.

But that was a long, long lifetime away, even if she only lived to be a hundred. Maybe all those people who lived to a hundred and fifteen were like her, just-barely wizards who found themselves in the Muggle world, or else the Squibs she’d read about – not magic enough to have a hugely elongated lifespan, but still different enough from everyone else to get attention from Muggles. Either way, though, it was too far off to really affect her right now. Though it did put a new complexion on Papa Donnie and Aunt Hetty, technically a great-great-aunt, both living to be more than ninety….

“We’ll have to wait and see about that,” she said. “But…” she flushed again, then went on. “If you want to write, like you said, I’ll write back.” And since that felt like one of those moments she called a ‘script moment,’ she kept talking. “I, you know, miss talking to magic people during the summers, too. It’s hard, always having to cover for everything…” She shook her head. “That’s one big reason why I think about staying on this side, you know, being a witch full time even after we graduate. Either way, though, I’d like to still be in touch with people here.” She glanced up at him for a second. “I’ve probably spent more time with you this year than I have with my sister in the past two.”

16 Marissa I think it'll be all right for now. 147 Marissa 0 5

Andrew

October 29, 2011 10:53 PM

Now I'll take your word for it by Andrew

Andrew loved to hear her laugh. Especially when it was potentially connected to the thought (he hoped) of them making grandchildren. On the plus side, she wanted to keep in contact over the summer. That was great news! He was grinning wide, but faltered a bit when she revealed her thoughts about changing back over to the muggle world after graduating. He knew she wasn't the best with magic, but she was still a witch. They had been studying together and she had been getting better.

His smiled perked up again when she said she'd want to stay in contact regardless of which way she decided. It really perked up when she mentioned the time they had spent together. "We have had some good times, haven't we?" Was now the time? She would write to him over the summer, maybe that would be the best. They'd write back and forth, and build up to something and at the opening feast next term.... Maybe that would be the right time. But... who knows what might happen over the summer. She hadn't directly mentioned any, but she had to have boys after her all the time. What if some guy came along and swept her off her feet? He couldn't afford to wait.

"Marissa, writing will be great, but..." How to word this? "This probably really isn't the best time to ask you this, since we won't see each other until the next term starts, but what do you think about making this more of an official relationship?" That didn't come out right, to 'official', "I mean, I like you and..."

2 Andrew Now I'll take your word for it 145 Andrew 0 5

Demetra Mason

October 30, 2011 10:01 PM

In general, or for us? by Demetra Mason

Demetra knew that she was expected to attend the dance even before her father's owl had found her at breakfast one morning. He insisted that she go, should a pureblooded boy ask her. She hadn't expected any one to, with the combination of her Quidditch playing and her house. She had been thoroughly surprised when Derry Four had asked her. She was pleased though. Derry was a nice boy, and going with him would be much more enjoyable than any one else.

She hurried down to the hall, her medieval dress fluttering a bit in all its floor length green glory. She was running behind, and was more than pleased to find that they had yet to open the doors of the hall when she reached the entrance hall. She stood on her tip toes in search of Derry, wondering where he might be. They were only thirteen, and trying to find a thirteen year old is not easy when you're surrounded by people up to four years older and much taller.

Finally, she caught sight of him, but only because he was walking toward her and calling her name. His outfit caused her to giggle as he came into view. The puffy sleeves and feathered hat had taken the place of his usual colonial hat and dress. She supposed that she looked different as well, in her ancient dress instead of the school robes and modern clothes she wore every day. “Hi, Derry,” she greeted him with a little wave, not bothering to curtsy. Her father wasn't watching, and she didn't think that Derry would mind.

The doors were opened now, and she had found Derry, so she figured it was time for their evening to begin. “Well, let's get this whole sha-bang done and over with, yeah?” She didn't want it to seem like she dreaded spending time with him. She just wanted to get out of her dress and into pajamas and warm bed. They were more enjoyable than doing her best to look graceful while dancing with Derry. She really hoped that the night didn't consist of only small talk. She didn't know Derry extremely well, and she really didn't want to go through the extremely boring process of small talk. Hopefully, their conversation would flow easily.

0 Demetra Mason In general, or for us? 0 Demetra Mason 0 5

Marissa

October 30, 2011 11:31 PM

Very good, then. by Marissa

Marissa wasn’t sure what to expect when a ‘but’ happened. ‘Buts’ tended to herald not-so-good things, in her experience, and she didn’t want that. They had been having such a good time, she was still on a high from being named Head Girl…If things could just kind of stay the way they were now forever, then that would be okay with her. Just a permanent loop of one day when nothing went wrong for her, Groundhog Day without the memories driving her crazy – with an Obliviator on standby for each repetition, she guessed.

But it didn’t work that way, she knew. Life was more complicated than that. Nice moments never lasted, and even if they were followed by more nice moments, eventually, the kind of lousy ones crept in again. She wasn’t sure what was going on here, only that it was in her nature to mentally prepare for the worst, and that this trait had been greatly enhanced by six years of being one of the slowest in many of her classes.

In retrospect, she guessed she shouldn’t have been quite so surprised by what Andrew did end up saying, but it took her completely off guard anyway. For one thing, Andrew was…well, to say was was to risk the kind of inaccuracy that happened when people assumed she was confident, but he’d always seemed like one of those people with a big personality, actually confident and that sort of thing, comfortable with himself not the sort to really be particularly interested in a choir mouse like her except when she was directly in front of him, and for another…the question itself was just a surprise. She’d dated a few guys, but always with both of them fully aware that she was going back to boarding school in, of all the weird places in the world, Arizona in two months, a month after they started back to their schools anyway, so she had no familiarity with how people went about actually going from ‘people who have been on a date’ or even ‘people who have been on multiple dates’ to ‘people who are in, as Andrew puts it, an Official Relationship.’

Either she’d just found out, though, or Andrew was as oblivious to these things as she was and was making it up as he went along, but a question had been asked, and it needed an answer. Either way, next year was going to be…different. She smiled.

“…Yeah,” she said when he trailed off. “I guess…we can give that a try.” Then, since that reply was very Crotalus but not very warm, she added. “I’d like to give that a try.”

16 Marissa Very good, then. 147 Marissa 0 5

Andrew

October 31, 2011 7:36 PM

Indeed by Andrew

She had said yes! Andrew felt like dancing, except he was already dancing. So, he felt like leaping into the air and shouting, but that would probably scare off his cause for such elation. So instead he went with his first instinct. He stepped up their dance with just a little more flair as the music dwindled and came to an end. He was grinning ear to ear, and releasing Marissa from the dance hold he gave her a very quick 'official' hug. Releasing her from that, he took her hand, bowed and kissed the back of it.

"Thank-you M'lady for the dance," it was cheesy and he knew it, but he couldn't help himself, "and everything else. I look forward to giving this a try as well." He still couldn't believe it, despite everything Marissa had actually agreed to be his girlfriend. He was going to have to figure out what to do next, because he had no idea. He did know one thing, he couldn't let her down. He also couldn't let his mother find out... Knowing her, she'd try to arrange some kind of meeting, she'd probably try to make is look 'accidental' while she was at it. That wasn't going to happen, not for a long time.

Now was not the time to wallow on that thought, they had a whole evening ahead of them yet before they parted ways for the summer. He was not about to waste a moment of it. "Shall we peruse the refreshments and allow some of the other students to use the dance floor?" He offered his arm and wished for the best.

2 Andrew Indeed 145 Andrew 0 5

Sophia

November 04, 2011 1:27 AM

Woooo by Sophia

“Thank you,” she said smiling. “So do you. Your mom did a great job with your dress.” She was sure her cheap home-made dress couldn’t compare with the designs of Marianna Errant, but it was nice of Renée to compliment her on it. She would make sure to let her mother know that her friend had side her costume was nice. Sophia had never been embarrassed by her family’s lack of money, they weren’t paupers, but she sometimes felt inferior to Renée in that department. She would never ever have something as beautiful as the dress her friend was wearing. With her none-school friends she never had to worry about it, because they lived in the same neighborhood and their parents were in the same situation as her. At Sonora, as far as she could tell, a lot of students came from money and important families just like Renée. The Blonde fourth-year had to work for a lot of things, she had a summer job and she would until she graduated and could work full-time, and if she wanted to attend college she would need to have a scholarship, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to afford it.

In times like this she really wished her father hadn’t left his wealthy family, but if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t be here, at school having fun with her friend. At least she wished her grandparents were kind to her and help her from time to time, but they didn’t want to know anything about their Half-blood granddaughter, they didn’t even care that their son was sick. Sophia sometimes dreamt about having an unlimited money flow, but they she remembered how her grandparents were because of it and she forgot about her money problems, or more accurately about her parents’ money problems.

“Like I have one,” Sophia smiled and rolled her eyes good naturedly, “Dancing it is.” It was obvious that Renée was itching to dance, and she wasn’t hungry enough to start with the food. The blonde Pecari was had snacked before the ball to prevent hunger from taking over, since she didn’t know what kind of food or when they would be eating. She followed Renée to the dance floor, deciding to just copy whatever she did. Sophia didn’t know how to dance. Well, not formal dancing, she could dance like normal people did: jumping up and down, and moving her hips and move her arms.

0 Sophia Woooo 0 Sophia 0 5

Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell

Midsummer Medieval Ball by Acting Headmistress Sadi Powell

Jose Hernandez

I - what? by Jose Hernandez

Fae Sinclair

Stifling my nerves...or trying too. by Fae Sinclair

Arnold Carey

Likewise... by Arnold Carey

Josephine Owen

House pride. Or something. by Josephine Owen

Jethro Smythe

Meeting Jane by Jethro Smythe

Russell Layne

'Something' about sums mine up. by Russell Layne

Andrew Duell

Here we go... by Andrew Duell

Brianna Japos

Deep Breath... this night won't hurt you. by Brianna Japos

Fae

You're nervous too? by Fae

Jane Carey

I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long by Jane Carey

Derry Pierce 4

A Historic Moment by Derry Pierce 4

Sophia Randolph

Let the fun begin! by Sophia Randolph

David Kim

Just a glance. by David Kim

Arnold

A little bit by Arnold

James Owen

Don't even want to be here by James Owen

Linus Macaulay

It might even be fun by Linus Macaulay

Dana Smythe

Enjoying the festivities from a distance by Dana Smythe

Laurie Stratford

Fun!Fun! by Laurie Stratford

Samantha Hamilton

Flying solo by Samantha Hamilton

Nina Brockert

Desperation (Tag-A guy) by Nina Brockert

Fae

I thought you'd be cool as a cucumber by Fae

Alessa Hinckley

Me neither by Alessa Hinckley

Kitty McLevy

Dance Dance Revolution by Kitty McLevy

Jhonice Trevear

Partytime! by Jhonice Trevear

Nic Sawyer

Dancing with Rachel Bauer by Nic Sawyer

Arnold

Maybe I'll get to that later. by Arnold

Charlotte Abbott

Smile, boys, that's the style. by Charlotte Abbott

Josephine

We could do worse by Josephine

James

A sign of a superior mind by James

Rachel Bauer

So you are, Nic Sawyer. by Rachel Bauer

Marissa Stephenson

Let's just try not to go mad, okay? by Marissa Stephenson

Daniel Nash

An Alison Alliance by Daniel Nash

Brianna

I should hope so by Brianna

Sophie Jamison

Ryan+Sophie=best friends forever! by Sophie Jamison

Andrew

Luckily, we're not from Aladren by Andrew

Tawny Brockert

Yeah, well, I'm <i> not </i>. by Tawny Brockert

Preston Stratford

Making the best of it by Preston Stratford

Russell

I don't have the slightest doubt about that. by Russell

Laurie

Revolution? Isn't that like..dangerous..? by Laurie