Funny being back on Cascade Hall

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

June 01, 2012 7:47 PM

Returning Feast by Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

Midterm had been eventful with Angel now living in the house, but Kiva was happy to have helped him and her family was warming up to the idea of having Angel around. Emery and Chloe had had the luxury of growing up together since Jeff and Kiva had become friends shortly after the two were born, so they were going to have a difficult time accepting someone else right off the bat. Chloe seemed to have taken to him rather easily, but then, Chloe took to most people rather easily. Kiva sometimes worried about how easy and open she was with people. Emery had a much more difficult time with accepting new people, but he eventually grew to trust them. Kiva wasn’t sure how well Angel had accepted all of this since he was so quiet and withdrawn, but hopefully, with time, he grew to accept all of them as family. He was stuck with them for the next five years.

She stood in front of the students waiting for them to all calm down she that she can get to the point of it. She couldn’t really blame them for being so excited. They had just spent the last two weeks at home, getting gifts of all sorts, probably had loads of sugar, and a crazy amount of free time that they wanted to tell all their friends about, which they could do… after the feast. Clearing her throat, Kiva cast the Sonorus charm on herself and called to the students to quiet down.

“Welcome back, everyone!” She greeted with a smile. “I hope that all of your midterms were eventual and full of good cheer. We have a few things to discuss before I can set you off to eat.” Kiva advised them all. “First, I would like to introduce to you are new Divinations teacher, Professor Lowrski. For those of you who would like to take her class, please be sure to advise your Head of House so that they can update your schedule.” Kiva waited for the murmurs to die down before continuing. “This year our Midsummer Event is the school concert. I’m excited to announce that we will be hosting this event in Phoenix and inviting your immediate family members to join us during the celebration. Because we are going to be showcases the school to your family, we are making it mandatory that all students participate in this Midsummer Event.” Kiva knew that she wasn’t going to have happy students with the announcement that it was going to be mandatory, but she felt that if the parents were going to be traveling to see them, they ought to have their children actually participating.

“Now, you don’t actually have to be on stage to participate. Backstage work, creating the show that you are going to put on, or whatever other role you may have at making this successful is just as well as being the person on the stage. We just want to make sure we are putting on a wonderful performance for your families in which everyone participates in. You are to choose how you do it. Whether as group performances or individual ones, we will be marking down what everyone is doing so that everyone is getting the proper credit and when the programs are printed, your families are aware of what your duties were.”

That was probably a lot for them to take in. That was alright. “If you have questions, please see any staff member or myself. Okay, that was all that I had to tell you, enjoy your feast!” And with that, the food appeared.

Subthreads:

Wanting to get out (Tag Prof. Fawcett) by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan with Professor Fawcett, Josh McLachlan

Relieved by Lucille Carey with Aria Yale, Lucille

Returning with a sigh. by Heaven Baird

Complicated Contemplations by Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren with Jay Carey, Lucian D'Alesandro

Feasting, and plotting, and wishing, and hoping. by Alicia Bauer with Cepheus Princeton, Cepheus

Return me to the Napa Valley, PLEASE! (TAG: Kirstenna) by Arista Thornton, Teppenpaw with Kirstenna Melcher, Arista, Arista

Returning to who I should be... by Addison Thornton, Teppenpaw

Funny being back by Clara Abernathy, Pecari with Sullivan Quincy, Sully

I don't mind the returning part of that. by Autumn Collins

Magic in the making! by Regina Parker with Madeline Parry, Derry Four

I have returned to feast by Thad Pierce

Oh joy. by Valerie Lennox

Are you kidding? by Amira Thornton, Pecari

0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau Returning Feast 0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau 1 5

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

June 01, 2012 11:46 PM

Wanting to get out (Tag Prof. Fawcett) by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

Midterm had been uneventful to say the least. There had been a lot of time to think about life and to plan what he was going to do differently. His end goal was the same, to leave Sonora like a ghost, but his actions needed to change in order to do so. Being standoffish was bringing more attention to himself than he had wanted. This term, he hoped, would be different. He had had lots of time to plan.

The only thing Josh had received for Christmas was a long letter from Cecilia. It was nearly five pages long, and Josh had, while reading it, teared up. He wasn't the kind of boy who cried for anything, but this letter had made him come really close. It had given him a sense of closure that he had sorely needed, and he could think of her now without wanting to cry. He was grateful he had been alone during the holidays so he could allow himself to be a little bit more emotional. Now, of course, he had steeled himself. The letter was safely tucked away in his trunk along with the leather wallet he didn't feel the need to carry around any longer. He still missed her--heck, he'd always miss her--but it wasn't as painful as it used to be and for that he was grateful. She'd come through for him again.

Josh was sitting at the Aladren table, nodding at the few people he actually spoke with. He and Russell had bonded a bit in Potions. He was glad that he was at least on acquaintance terms with one roommate. The others weren't exactly fond of him. None of them really were that he knew of. Assuming Russell could tolerate him was probably assuming too much.

As Josh was eavesdropping on everyone's conversations quietly as he ate his food, the headmistress spoke up. He continued to eat, his ears picking up everything she was saying, and then he paused when she got to the school concert. He didn't know Sonora had Midsummer Events, but a school concert? And it was mandatory for everyone to participate? He had a very good feeling no one would want to work with him. And besides, what would he do? Brew a potion in front of everyone? He didn't have any stage talent. Sitting up from his hunched over position, he was suddenly two inches taller and could see over the heads of many of the younger students. He caught sight of his Head of House. He had to try and get out of this. He was absolutely sure his relatives weren't going to come to the school concert to watch him. That was a ridiculous notion and he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of people he didn't know.

Josh got up out of his seat and walked over to Professor Fawcett. He felt more comfortable around his head of house than the headmistress. Professor Fawcett was, first of all his head of house, and second of all his Potions professor, so he had spent a lot of time around him. And he excelled in potions, making a name for himself in that class.

"Professor Fawcett," he said when he approached him. "I have to ask you something about the school concert." Josh wasn't sure if Professor Fawcett knew that he was an orphan, but he'd rather not mention that now. "None of my family members are going to go to the concert and I would have no reason to perform in front of a crowd. All I can really do anyway is brew potions well and do magic. Is there any way I can be exempt from this concert?" His facial features were concerned, his steel grey eyes imploring. He hated being in the limelight and being onstage would be exactly that. He really hoped Professor Fawcett would understand. He respected this professor most and thought he would be the only one who would actually help him.

19 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan Wanting to get out (Tag Prof. Fawcett) 184 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan 0 5

Professor Fawcett

June 02, 2012 7:19 PM

Oh, dear by Professor Fawcett

Another year gone, another birthday past. John had worried briefly, during the section of New Year’s which had been his birthday party, that Allison insisting on putting the correct number of candles on the cake was going to end in them having no house, but somehow catastrophe had been averted and he had returned to his position with his person and all of his possessions, to the best of his knowledge, intact.

Now, if he could just get his students to settle down to work again after their holiday without any struggle or difficulty, John would think himself a very lucky man indeed, but he didn’t anticipate that. His house not burning down had been as much luck as he could reasonably hope for this month. To ask for more would be ingratitude to the higher powers of the worst sort, and he did not doubt that such a display of ingratitude would be answered quickly and painfully. Like with another episode with Miss O’Malley, only combined with a bit of what she had given Amelia and a particularly angry partner, or a pyromaniac in the class which would arrive in the fall, or….

Well, better, he thought, not to think too much about that. He didn’t want to give anything any ideas.

He made conversation with his coworkers until Kiva rose to give her speech, which he gave his polite attention. He was not sure how the matter of this year’s Concert was going to go, but decided to err on the side of optimism and assume they were going to have a grand performance, if hopefully one which, unlike the first Concert, did not involve the Crotali demonstrating that they knew everything about the staff that the staff would really rather they did not know. He could only credit how little time he’d been at the school with how he’d only gotten a passing reference in that…display. It was actually one of the anchors he used to recall how long it had been since he returned to education; sometimes, it seemed as though he had been at Sonora half of his life.

After the speech, he was surprised to be approached by the transfer student, Mr. McLachlan. There was a situation he had spent most of the time before Christmas expecting to see implode, but somehow, it had held together; he could only assume everyone, including themselves, was used enough to Arthur and Preston that they had been able to acclimate despite the new boy’s lack of discernible social skills. He was a good Potions student, though, and had avoided setting off the sort of dorm war John had often wondered if he were asking for by being so pleased that Crotalus always had them and not Aladren, so he had no direct cause to complain of this student.

When he heard what the boy was saying, though, he frowned slightly. “You should listen more closely, Mr. McLachlan,” he said, with only a hint of reproach. True, listening closely was especially important in John’s class, but it was something he encouraged in his students in all situations. Still, he had been here long enough to not too strongly question it if a student thought his family would not take an interest, and that made him feel a bit sorry for the boy, whose parents, if he recalled correctly, were deceased. “Though I'm sure you have many talents, skills with magic and Potions are perfectly applicable to the Concert. You do not need to perform on stage, but may assist in an act in another way.” He shuddered to think of them all performing on one night; they would never be finished with it.

0 Professor Fawcett Oh, dear 0 Professor Fawcett 0 5

Lucille Carey

June 04, 2012 12:50 AM

Relieved by Lucille Carey

As she hurried into the Cascade Hall, still settling her sweater around her shoulders, Lucille found it nearly impossible to believe that she had nearly arrived late to the Returning Feast. After she had spent every day of the past two weeks thinking about it, marking off each day on the calendar leading up to the one she’d circled in red the day everyone else left as though it were the date of her debut, anticipating it and clinging to the thought of it as the only thing that was keeping her sane, she had fallen asleep in her dorm room and nearly missed it completely.

She had slept a lot during midterm, since she had quickly discovered there wasn’t much else to do at school when only a bare handful of students had stayed and half the staff seemed to be gone more than they were present, too. Unable to go outside since there was no one to walk with her, she had spent most of her time either in the Cascade Hall, reading at one of the tables, or napping upstairs when she wasn’t writing long letters to her mother, her cousins, and anyone else she thought would listen. She had not quite fallen to the level of writing letters to her roommates when they were only going to be apart two weeks, restraining herself to just sending them falsely cheery Christmas cards, but she thought she had come close. Midterm had been terrible.

Now, though, it was blessedly over, and she had to try to get back into normal routines as quickly as possible, and hope that either Morgaine was dead by next year or that whatever had made her decide that Lucille couldn’t come home had blown over so that, either way, she didn’t have to go through this again in second year. She was just glad that students couldn’t stay at school over the summer, because she wouldn’t put it past that woman to make her stay if she could, and she truly didn’t think that, if it happened, she would be able to bear it.

A chair was open near other first years, and Lucille smiled at the others as she slipped into it and tried her best to look as though she’d been there all along. A minute later, Headmistress Jareau was up and speaking to them. She applauded politely for the new Divinations teacher, though she didn’t think she was allowed to take that class yet, and looked up in real interest when going to Phoenix for the end-of-the-year event was mentioned. A new city? That would be either wonderful or awful, depending….

…Depending on who came, and what, exactly, it was Lucille was doing there. Her eyes widened slightly at the mention of being showcased, especially since she couldn’t think of a thing she was very good at, for the stage or backstage. She had been taught to sing little songs in French, but she wasn’t sure that really counted as a talent, since it had been a mandatory part of her education mostly meant to reinforce her French lessons, since she wasn’t very good at reading music, picking up most of that by ear, and her music master had done nothing to make her think she had an especially good voice. He hadn’t done anything to make her think that she had a bad one, either, but she didn’t think that meant much except that she probably wasn’t so horrific that she made his ears bleed. There was a long way between being good and just not being horrible.

The speech ended, though, and the food appeared, and it occurred to her that June was still a long way away from January. There was plenty of time to worry about the Concert, and to trust that she would find something, or be swept into something, or maybe just overlooked somehow – but that somehow, one way or another, everything would turn out all right in the end. Stepmother said she was too much of a pessimist, that things usually did, even if they hadn’t for Lucille’s father. For now, she had other things to look at.

“It’s so wonderful to see you,” she said to one of her yearmates, her tone warm with real feeling. Some of them were overwhelming as individuals, they all were as a group, and she constantly worried that she was doing something wrong and they all secretly hated her, but right now, they seemed like the most wonderful people on Earth. “I missed you. Did you have a good midterm?” As miserable as hers had been, she didn’t wish the same on anyone else; them having the likes of her so-called guardian to deal with, too, wasn’t going to make her situation better, and might even make it worse if someone else was angry about their awful time and wasn't as used to not showing it as she was.

0 Lucille Carey Relieved 224 Lucille Carey 0 5

Heaven Baird

June 04, 2012 1:17 AM

Returning with a sigh. by Heaven Baird

Midterm had been absolutely dreadful! As soon as she had gotten home, her mother had moaned and groaned about Heaven’s bitten nails and how she hadn’t taken care of her hair. Before she even had a chance to say hello to her father or sister, her mom had whisked her off to the salon. The fact that they could walk in without an appointment at such a prestigious place had surprised her. She knew money meant something, but it also wasn’t something that she thought about much. Extravagance just seemed like the norm. However, being able to step over others who had already been waiting was eye opening to just what money could do.

Heaven picked at her nails. Unfortunately, she didn’t like what the money did. The stylist had used a potion on her nails to promote growth. While the potion did its work, highlights were added to her hair. Then, she had to sit for a bit, which was incredibly boring. Next, the woman shampooed and conditioned her hair, then cut and styled it. Admittedly, her hair looked amazing after. It hadn’t been cut too short and had been layered throughout. After came the nail torture. They were shaped with a file, stuff put on them, and finished with a clear polish and design. She hated it. Sure, they looked nice, but they were hard to do anything with. She hoped if she kept messing with them, they would somehow go back to the way they were.

With half an ear, she listened to the Headmistress’s speech. The addition of a new professor didn’t really affect her right now since she wasn’t old enough to take the class. She wasn’t even sure if it was a class that she would even want to take. She knew her mother would say to not take it, because it would be a waste of time since no proper pureblood boy would ever take such a class. This just made it all the more likely that she would not take the class when the time came. She also would skip on Muggle Studies. She could just imagine what her mother would say on that one!

The other announcement was of interest, however. That sounded interesting, especially since she could help out with work backstage or she could help with anyone that needed a pianist. At that moment, her blue eyes fell on the Aladren table and she made a face. Did he really have to come back? She had the displeasure of making his acquaintance in the music room when he thought he knew everything about music. As if that wasn’t horrific enough, he would bother her during class lectures. He was such a pain! If she weren’t such a lady, she would wish that he take a long walk off of a short pier.

Her mental rant about Lucien was interrupted by the additional comments on the concert. Their parents were going to be seeing this? Great. No, not really. She had been planning on working on something backstage. She didn’t really care to be in the limelight, but if their parents were going to be seeing it, then they would expect her to be. Absolutely wonderful. Now what was she going to do? She would have to practice night and day to have an acceptable piece to perform. How was she going to fit that in and do well in her classes?

If it wouldn’t have been so unbecoming, she would have banged her head on the table out of pure frustration. As it stood, she helped herself to some salad and angrily stabbed at the lettuce with her fork. The entire situation was unacceptable. She glared again at the Aladren table. He would probably do a piano piece as well and he would probably think it was better than hers. He would probably do the same piece just to show her up. Ugh. Stab. Stab. Stab. The rest of term was not looking good.

0 Heaven Baird Returning with a sigh. 229 Heaven Baird 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren

June 04, 2012 12:12 PM

Complicated Contemplations by Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren

Lucian used his hand to push his dark brown hair from his face and looked around Cascade Hall. Other students were buzzing around chatting while he sat and thought about his life over midterm. To most it would have seemed uneventful, dull even, but to him something about it stood out. Something was changing between his parents, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

Upon his arrival home, Lucian’s mother didn’t miss a beat in telling him how awful he looked with his longer hair. He hadn’t paid much mind to it while away at school, and it had grown out and revealed his natural wave. His sister, Alex, also chimed in about how perfect her hair was compared to his and that his mother should take him to get it all cut off, leaving him bald. Lucian shot his sister a sideways glare just as his father chimed in, to his relief, that the longer hair was a nice change and to “leave the boy alone.” This was unusual though, his father overriding his mother. The man was usually quiet, much like Lucian, and let his wife run the household as she pleased. Lucian’s mother had given his father a quizzical look, as if questioning the sudden offering of opinion for herself, but simply closed her mouth and stood in a sulking position. She resembled a child that had just been scolded for trying to take a cookie from the cookie jar before dinner.

Lucian spent the rest of his midterm shopping for more comfortable clothes with his nanny while his parents were away at business functions. His father told him to buy whatever he liked, as long as it was what Lucian actually wanted to wear and not what he thought he should wear. This was a foreign concept for Lucian to digest. He was allowed a little freedom time and again, but for the most part his mother offered her opinion on what articles of clothing he should want to wear. After all, he was “representing the family name every time he went into public.” He settled on black and white Converse sneakers, a pair of jeans, and a navy blue striped hooded sweatshirt. He wished he had a camera to take a picture of his mother’s face when he walked downstairs wearing his new outfit after she had told him to get ready for a party. She opened her mouth to most likely scold him and tell him to change, but Lucian’s father again chimed in to “let the boy wear what he wants”. And, yet again, she resembled a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. His parents did not talk much on the way to the party, but as soon as they walked in they appeared to not be able to stay away from each other. Lucian had assumed it was for appearance’s sake and took a seat at a nearby table and looked over his notes from his Potion’s class while his sister annoyingly flicked grapes at him from across the table.

The greeting from the Headmistress interrupted Lucian’s thoughts of midterm and brought him back to the present reality. When she mentioned the school concert, Lucian wasn’t sure if he should be excited or mortified. It was a way to showcase his musical talent, but at the same time it opened a window of opportunity for him to make a fool of himself. He wasn’t the best performer in front of a large group of people. He had to sing in a choir for an entire church on Christmas Eve when he was younger and nearly forgot all of the words to the song. He was finally making friends here, and he didn’t want to mess that up by becoming the laughing stock of the concert.
Just then, he noticed a girl at the Crotalus table glaring at him and contorting her face in disgust. It took him a few seconds to get a good look at her through the rest of the students at her table, but when he did he saw that she was the girl from the music room. He wasn’t dense, so it was easy to notice she did not appreciate his efforts of showing her how to properly play a song. He didn’t understand what her problem was, so he kept trying to talk to her when he saw her in class. Apparently midterm did not change her thoughts towards him. He glanced back after some time and saw her stabbing her lettuce aggressively with a fork. Assuming that she wished her salad were his face at that moment, Lucian turned to the nearest person and said, “I wish they had a class that helped boys understand girls. They are the most complicated subjects.”

0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren Complicated Contemplations 0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren 0 5

Alicia Bauer

June 04, 2012 1:35 PM

Feasting, and plotting, and wishing, and hoping. by Alicia Bauer

Alicia had spent most of the day before the Opening Feast picking out which outfit to wear to it, feeling a little as though she was getting away with something delightful but prohibited after all the work she had done over midterm. It had mostly been pleasant work, things that she really did enjoy, but it was still work, and abruptly ceasing it was still, therefore, at least a small thrill. It helped, too, that she hadn’t really dressed to impress since everyone else had been gone; she had been decent at meals, of course, and any other time she thought she might run into the other solitary souls who chose to remain at school for the holidays, but there hadn’t seemed to be much of a point to going to great lengths with so little of an audience.

Finally, though, she put her uniform robe on over a neat, dark dress with bars of red, blue, and green marching down the front, side-parted her almost equally dark hair, and put on a touch of lip gloss and mascara before stepping at the last into her shoes and heading downstairs, smiling as though she didn’t have a care in the world. At the moment, it sort of felt like she didn’t. She hadn’t had to see anyone she didn’t want to see for days and days, now, and there was something, she had discovered, about beginnings of terms that she liked. Everything was new and clean; there was no predicting how much potential the time to come might have in it.

In the Cascade Hall, she found some of her friends to sit with, starting to go through greetings, and though she was hungry and the sound of the woman’s voice therefore made her feel a little cranky, she folded her hands in her lap and kept a small smile firmly in place as the Headmistress introduced the new Divinations professor (something she found interesting, as she had been thinking about asking permission this term to sit in on the elective classes to help her pick out which ones she wanted to take next year; if nothing else, it would make the adults remember her as someone with ambition and work ethic and only a healthy, confident respect for rather than a fear of adults, she thought, and another gold star on her record could never hurt) and then began to talk about the Concert that was coming up later in the year.

Her eyes flicked, for one second, toward Kate when immediate families were mentioned – her mother and stepfather were all right, at least as far as her family went, they were a little tacky but they could get by when they needed to and could probably be passed off as just embarrassing parents to a youngest child, but were they going to invite Daddy, too? She knew that if they did, he would come, and that could ruin everything, would ruin everything if he so much as opened his mouth in the presence of…virtually anyone she knew, really – but since there was nothing she could do about that right now but write and beg her mother to try to make her father not come and to make Kate do something backstage, she tried to focus more on the event itself. This would be a wonderful opportunity to show what she was made of; the question was just of figuring out what to be the star of, and how to make it work with other people. The last thing she wanted was to be seen as someone who wasn’t a team player. That would be career suicide at Sonora, where the motto might as well have been Learn By Cooperation.

Besides, it would help cement her position yet further if she helped lead her friends to a triumphant performance, and it might be fun, doing something all together like that, where they weren’t, as they were in classes, forced by the very nature of the beast to compete against each other. Competing against other people was fine, she enjoyed beating them to the equivalent of a raggedy pulp, and there was a kind of friendlier competition which wasn’t so bad, if less satisfying, either, but she tried to avoid really going after her friends. All of them versus the rest of the school sounded much better to her. She was sure they could emerge triumphant.

When the food appeared, she began to serve herself at once, but also to look around at those she was sitting with. “So, that sounds interesting enough,” she said, tilting her head back toward the head table to indicate what she meant. Merlin, she was going to have so much to do before summer. “Do you have any ideas for it right off the top of your head?”

16 Alicia Bauer Feasting, and plotting, and wishing, and hoping. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Cepheus Princeton

June 04, 2012 7:38 PM

I do enjoy the feasting part. by Cepheus Princeton

Cepheus had never been a fan of the first day of a new term, but this term was different. After being told that he was going to be betrothed to some child he’d never met, the whole holiday had been ruined. Even getting a new cauldron for Christmas hadn’t helped to improve his mood. It also didn’t help that suddenly Cepheus’s limbs had begun growing at an alarming rate. His hands and feet were suddenly monstrous and his arms and legs were long and gangly. But his torso stayed the same. It was ridiculous and made him feel increasingly awkward just walking around, a feeling that Cepheus did not like at all.

He was glad to be back with his friends, however, and he joined a familiar face, greeting her warmly. “You look nice,” he told her as he sat down. After a chilly winter, Cepheus was still getting used to the desert weather again. Under his school robes, he was wearing a dark blue, short-sleeved cotton button-up and khakis. His mum had started dressing him in muggle clothing underneath his robes which his father abhorred. Father preferred the full wizard’s robes. Knickers were enough to wear under robes for him, which mother disagreed with. It wasn’t like she could go buy muggle dresses herself, but she dressed her sons in these shirts and trousers. Cepheus rather liked it, but that was a private opinion.

Their greeting was cut short by the headmistress and Cepheus, though still feeling that slight bitterness of being forced to do something against his will, forced himself to listen. As news of a mandatory performance came, Cepheus frowned. Usually Cepheus would delight in any opportunity to show off, but now that he was growing, and not taller in the way he wished, he was feeling rather self-conscious and didn’t want that to be noticed while he was onstage. Quidditch was another thing, of course. Perhaps he could work backstage…but if his family heard about it, there was no way they wouldn’t come to see. They would expect him to be the star of the show. Merlin.

Cepheus tried to keep it together. Perhaps if he did a performance with his friends, it wouldn’t be too terrible. He groaned a little in his head and was quick to start digging into the food. He was ravenous after a long trip back to the States. Saying goodbye to his family had been difficult—though not to his grandfather—but he wanted, as he now realized, to keep his life in England separate from his academic and social life in the States. There was so much pressure on him to perform at home he wished he didn’t have to do it at school too. He paused in putting food onto his plate when Alicia began to talk to him, and he shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ve got no clue,” he replied. “I’m not a fan of stage performances. I’d want to work backstage, but if my family comes, they’ll want me to do something onstage.” He sighed. “Do you know what you want to do?” he asked, making eye contact with her briefly before tucking into his meal.

40 Cepheus Princeton I do enjoy the feasting part. 216 Cepheus Princeton 0 5

Aria Yale

June 04, 2012 8:39 PM

Happy! by Aria Yale

Aria’s holiday had been quite different than any previous if only because of how many people gathered around her to hear about her tales of Sonora. Aria felt that her stories were not quite as entertaining as some of them acted as they were, but she was happy to tell them anyway. She missed her family and all of her friends. That was the hardest part about being at Sonora. Even though she didn’t understand the other students all that much, she still enjoyed being around them, but it was her familiarity here that had her homesick a lot.

Her holiday was probably different than most people at Sonora, case and point, the card that she received from Lucille. Aria’s community didn’t celebrate Christmas with the rest of the world. Instead, they practice much of the same way those of the Wiccan Spirituality, where they celebrated Earth’s rebirths through Solstices. The Yule, also known as Winter Solstice, is celebrated around Christmas. It is the celebration of the Sun God’s return. Aria and her community celebrate by dancing and being with those we love. They give thanks to the Sun God and all of its glory. They give gifts to Mother Earth and celebrated life together. It was all a merry old time. There were no gifts to one another, no tantrums, or fits of resentment. There was so selfishness or greed hidden in them. They were just there, together.

Her decision to come back however, was due to the Christmas card she received from Lucille. Aria wasn’t sure if she could claim any friends here at Sonora, but she could say that she felt she was on her way to having them. Sure her roommates were a bit strange, but she felt that they all got along quite nicely and they really were helping her better understand the world outside of the community walls. So, when asked by the Elders on her feelings of returning to Sonora, Aria sat down and explained in great detail about how much she felt that Sonora was helping her. She didn’t lie about anything, even when she said that she wasn’t sure if she could ever fit in or be truly happy there, but she was doing her best and wanted to get through the rest of the year before deciding on whether or not she should leave the school permanently. The Elders listened without interruption and agreed to her request. So, she’d remain here for until summer.

Aria didn’t see Lucille at first until the girl came wandering in just before the Headmistress began her speech, but she had saved a seat for her and was delighted to find that Lucille sat in it. They didn’t have time for greetings because the speech had begun. Aria was quite excited about the idea of Divinations, but she still had another year and a half to go through before she could even have it. The following news surprised her some though. They had a Midsummer Event? And it was going to be on stage? Aria wasn’t sure what on Earth she could do, but maybe she could work with some of the others? That was an idea anyway.

“It’s lovely to see you too.” Aria returned, smiling just as genuinely as her response. “Thank you so much for the card you sent. We don’t celebrate Christmas, so it was the first card I’ve ever received.” Aria told her, unconcerned that it might be strange for some. “Midterm was wonderful though, I missed my family and my community. How was midterm for you?” Although most probably asked to be polite, Aria was rather curious as to what others did.

6 Aria Yale Happy! 228 Aria Yale 0 5

Alicia

June 05, 2012 12:56 PM

It's really good, yeah. by Alicia

She didn’t, now that she thought about it, really remember the last time she’d smiled this much and sort of meant it, now that the time had been extended by remembering that, right before the speech, her efforts with her appearance had been noticed. Thinking of that was one of the things that kept her hands from clenching or her from scowling or any of the things she might have done when she had to listen to an adult while hungry. Being pleasant was always so much easier when something had just gone right.

Then nothing went wrong after the speech, either, exactly, as Cepheus answered her inquiry. It wasn’t necessarily perfect, with his statement that his parents would expect him to be on stage – did that mean they would expect a solo? Though frankly she was surprised that he had to worry about it, with them being international; they must have been really attached to him, or else very, very concerned with appearances – but it wasn’t bad, either. She could still work with that.

“I was thinking,” she said, after taking a quick two bites of her supper, “that we should do something together. You, me, and Thad at least, and maybe some of the others, if everyone wanted.”

She thought that was a safe enough proposition. The circumstances under which she’d met Cepheus could definitely have been better, but as far as she knew he’d never told anyone about that afternoon when they’d been stupid and then decided to go do something stupid afterward, and Thad was his friend and her best friend, too. Getting in the boys’ roommates might not be hard, either, since they all seemed close – enough that she was occasionally a little jealous of Evan, though she definitely wasn’t going to ever admit that. Her roommates might or might not be harder; she had never been able to really gauge how much of a grip she had over any of them. If she could get Henny and Ephanie, she would be happy, though really, she wouldn’t mind hanging out mostly with the boys if she could get away with it. Keeping girlfriends was just necessary, though, both because people might think strange things about her if all her friends were male and because she had to live with some of those girls.

And because she was never really, completely convinced that the guys were seeing her as an equal, and that she wasn’t viewed as the tagalong girl, but she banished that thought before it could even completely form. It was stupid, and she did not have time for stupidity.

If all their roommates came along, of course, that would be grand, since it would put her in the group that made up the most important part of second year, but Alicia knew she had to make herself be realistic. It would be wonderful if it happened and could be pulled off without a hitch, but she would live if it didn’t happen. It would be more of a problem if it started to happen and then there was a hitch.

“We’ll have to talk it out, then maybe talk with our roommates if we decide we want to do that, but I think it’s a pretty good basic idea,” she said. “I mean, I know we’d do better than, like, anyone else in this school – “ she made a small gesture which included all the other students – “but can you imagine a hundred-something solo acts? It’s the groups that will stand out, and ours would definitely be the best of all of those.”

16 Alicia It's really good, yeah. 210 Alicia 0 5

Lucille

June 05, 2012 9:11 PM

Further relief, then by Lucille

Normally, Aria was, somewhere between her hair and what she had revealed about her background before school, someone who disconcerted Lucille a little, but right now, she was as welcome a sight as any she had ever seen. She flushed a little at hearing that she had sent her roommate a card for a holiday she didn’t even celebrate, but at least she didn’t sound offended by it, or even – if, of course, Lucille was reading it all right – necessarily displeased. “I hope you liked it,” she said, unable to think of anything else. “I didn’t know you didn’t celebrate, I’m sorry.”

That was something she found hard to believe – not in the way that would mean she thought Aria was lying, but rather just that she had never really thought of not celebrating Christmas. It was always one of the better holidays; one of the few pictures Lucille still had with her father in it was a Christmas picture, a forgotten tree rising sumptuously in the background while he looked over a gift she was showing him and her mother looked smilingly on. She supposed it had been the only real Christmas they had ever had together, before the divorce; her half-sister, Amber, was in it, too, so she didn’t know who had been holding the camera. Sometimes, when she tried very hard, she thought she remembered that day, but she knew it was probably just the result of blending other Christmases together and then putting all them together with the picture, because she could never remember who had been holding the camera.

Whenever it happened, though, Christmas was always the most beautiful season of the year. In all her life, Lucille could only remember one really bad one, where no one had been able to even put up a front for the sake of her and her brother, and that had been the year her father died. They had sort of tried, but then Amber had just started crying, and that had set Lucille off, and….

She blocked, with practiced ease, the memory out before it could go much further.

Lucille smiled when Aria said her midterm had been wonderful, but it became a bit fainter when she was asked about her own. “It was very quiet,” she said diplomatically. “Since I stayed here.” Lucille tapped the table with the ends of her fingernails for emphasis. She had polished her nails this morning, but wasn’t as good as someone at the salon; she had hidden how she’d picked at them a little, but not how short they were, the way a good manicurist could have. “But my mother wrote a very nice letter, and my stepmother included pictures from Christmas, so it wasn’t so bad. I do wish I could have seen my brother, though.”

That was sort of amazing, since normally Mal got on her nerves a lot, but she guessed absence really did make the heart grow fonder. Or else she had just been so used to him getting on her nerves that it was part of how she thought the world should be, at least in very small doses, like the length of midterm. Either way, though, she had missed him, and Mother and Stepmother and Baby, too, more since she found out she wasn’t going home than she had all year before that. “I’m sure I’ll be able to see him at Easter, though,” she added, more to herself than Aria, and brightened again. Nothing was likely to change much between then and now – at least about them. Everything else was different now, because Thomas was dead, but for her and her brothers, who’d never even seen him, that was as relevant as the adults made it be. They just did as they were told.

“Did you do anything fun while you were home?” she asked. Aria’s home had sounded sort of strange, but Lucille didn’t think she really had any room to talk about that; her family was strange even in the context of the rest of her family, since her father had been married three times before anyone involved in any of those marriages died and she was being raised by two of his wives and their matriarch wasn’t even from the state she represented when she was being their matriarch instead of Georgia’s for something, either with them or in Virginia. Her brother was theoretically the most important nearly-ten-year-old in the family, but their branch was being run by a girl, far too young to be his or Lucille’s mother, who wasn’t even married and who Mother thought liked to pretend she was a man. They got by, of course, just as Aria’s people seemed to, but none of that was anything like something Lucille could tell even herself was normal.

0 Lucille Further relief, then 0 Lucille 0 5

Jay Carey

June 05, 2012 9:18 PM

Those are pretty common in life by Jay Carey

Getting everyone sorted out in the morning was always a difficult task at Jay’s house, one filled with double loops and fraught with complications, but it was, he had discovered, much worse on mornings when he and Terry were going back to school. Invariably, it seemed, the whole house was plummeted into utter chaos, an endless cacophony of shrill mother, flaring floos, half-cooked breakfast items, lost clothes, misplaced books, crying younger ones, trunks falling on feet. Father had tripped over a toy and missed several steps on the way to the ground floor and bruised his shoulder badly, Brandon had been sick on a pair of boots, a terrible fight had ensued when Theresa discovered that Diana had attempted to appropriate one of her hats. When the wagon had finally lifted off the ground, Jay had realized, when they reached open air, that he had been holding his breath; when he had breathed again, the world around him, after the madness of the morning, had seemed almost preternaturally calm.

Jay had no idea how they were going to all survive it next year, when there were three of them involved in the process, but the thought was not so bad now as he thought it would have been if things he hadn’t been home for hadn’t happened, things which Henry refused absolutely to talk about and seemed to feel an urgent need to exercise at the very mention of, but they had, and so the thought of the chaos that would ensue in September brought with it almost a sort of relief. His brother was not a Squib; he might not ever be very good at anything, but he was not a Squib. The worst had been suspected, but it hadn’t come to them.

It was strange, he thought, feeling relief that something wasn’t true when he had never suspected it was in the first place. He wouldn’t have thought that would happen, that he could be relieved at the failure of someone else’s fears after the fact, when even they weren’t afraid of that anymore. He had wondered a lot, over the holidays, if anyone else felt the same way, but had, in keeping with the way the matter was discussed only in whispers which mostly dealt with how narrowly Henry had missed dying and how he was now, never found a time he thought was good to ask.

He and his sister parted ways at the door to the Cascade Hall, Theresa hurrying off to the bathroom to check to make sure her clothes were in order before the Feast while Jay dusted himself off and went to find a chair at the Aladren table without any further fuss. The ride wasn’t, after all, that bad, and at home, his pants and shirts were so heavily starched that he wasn’t sure they could wrinkle if he went out of his way to make them, at least not until the end of the day. They looked like they were in good enough order to him, anyway, and his curly hair had been cut short again during the break, so he didn’t have to worry about that even as much as a self-respecting male could anyway.

He smiled politely at the mention of the new Divination teacher; he wasn’t sure if he would take the class or not next year, but it was good that they had the option, anyway, as for one thing it sounded very interesting and for another thing it was always good to have more things to study. The best of the tutors at home, the ones they had both liked and learned from, had always emphasized how learning everything was the best way to improve your fortunes and – far more importantly, since the stupidest man alive could have lots of money and then lose it, or at worst use it in ways to make the world worse, rather than better – yourself. The announcement about the Concert did not interest him very much; Jay thought he would make himself generally useful to a group, doing any behind-the-scenes task that no one else wanted or was just standing there needing doing, and that would be fine. It was really no different than being at home with his immediate family, after all; putting on plays was one of the ways they kept Brandon and Diana entertained, and he’d eventually gotten the idea to use it to teach them their literature lessons, too.

As he began tucking into the feast, his roommate, in the seat beside him, spoke up, and Jay looked at him curiously. “I don’t think they understand us, either, if that helps,” he offered. “Unless you’re just really close to one. Brandon and Diana, one of my brothers and one of my sisters, they seem to understand each other and no one else understands either one of them. But Theresa seems to think we’re as confusing as we think she is.” Technically, he had two sisters besides Diana, as he was pretty sure Lucian knew, but Cecilia wasn’t really old enough yet to have an opinion on the matter, at least that he knew of. “What made you think of that?” he asked, since he thought it was a little strange that girls and how they thought would be the first thing on Lucian’s mind on the very first day back at school after the holidays.

0 Jay Carey Those are pretty common in life 0 Jay Carey 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro

June 06, 2012 12:30 AM

A little too common in mine unfortunately. by Lucian D'Alesandro

Lucian saw the curious expression on his roommate’s face and decided to provide further explanation of what led up to his comment about the complication of girls. “See that girl over at the Crotalus table?” he said nodding his head in the direction of the scowling girl from the piano room, “she seems to hate my guts because I tried to help her with a piano piece in the music room awhile back. I don’t understand why that is so terrible. I was just trying to help, you know?” Lucian didn’t even give Jay a chance to respond before he continued his rant. “It’s like they always need for everything to be perfect, but it is only perfect if they say it is. So everything we try to do is not good enough.” He caught himself going off on a tangent in which his repressed feelings towards his mother’s perfectionism began to surface. Lucian stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m sorry,” he said turning to Jay, “I had an interesting midterm break and getting glares from a girl who doesn’t even know me didn’t help. Maybe you’re right. Maybe we are just as mysterious and confusing to them. I think I will try to handle it differently from now on.”

Lucian started to think about why the opinion of a girl who didn’t even know him well mattered much. Perhaps he just wanted to be liked and make friends. No one really wants to be disliked and people in general do care about what others think, though it would be easier if it didn’t matter. This is why he had always found the best friends to be books, or at least the characters within them. Jay seemed to be quite sensible though, and Lucian did find it easy to talk to him.

“So, how was your midterm break?” Lucian asked Jay after giving him some time to recover from the previous rant. He also decided to ask him something that popped into his head. “How would you like to be in a group with me for the concert?” Lucian decided that forming a group would be a good idea. The chance of him making a complete fool of himself on his own would be reduced, and maybe he could help Jay find a musical talent he didn’t realize he had. “I’m sure we could find something for you to do or play,” he continued, “at least maybe a tambourine in the background or something.” Lucian said with a grin, hoping his roommate understood his humor. “Seriously though, we will find something awesome for you to do.”

0 Lucian D'Alesandro A little too common in mine unfortunately. 223 Lucian D'Alesandro 0 5

Cepheus

June 06, 2012 5:09 PM

And so the planning begins. by Cepheus

Cepheus smiled. “Sounds like a corking idea,” he said enthusiastically. “I’m sure Gareth would be up for something like this.” He’d have to ask his roommate first, of course, but as of now he assumed Gareth hadn’t found a crew of his own to work with. They had just got the notice now. It was nice having a best friend who was his roommate, his teammate, and a fellow European. It had made them grow closer as friends, and Cepheus was glad he had a roommate he got along with unlike some of the other rumours he heard from other houses. He knew Thad from classes and all and he was the sort he could relate to. So far he had no reason to complain about this event. Except for their non-existent act, that is.

He paled slightly at the thought of all the students at Sonora doing a solo act. It would be madness just waiting and thinking of acts that someone else hadn’t already done. But Alicia seemed to have confidence that their act would be the best because they’d have the most memorable group, and he smiled again. “Most definitely. That means the recruiting period for the Best Team starts now.”

Despite the fact that they were in different houses that were almost always opposing especially in Quidditch and in academics, Cepheus was glad they could overlook the competition between their houses. Dorian always wrote him letters saying just how competitive the houses at Hogwarts were. It was yet another thing to add on the list of reasons why he was glad he hadn’t gone to Hogwarts. It was a very short list, but a list nonetheless.

“Do you have any other people in mind, then?” he asked, trying to think of some people he’d want to join. At the moment, he could only think of people he did not want to join. “Or an act in mind at all?” That would be the part to really think about once they had their group. “How many people do you think we should have?” He enjoyed being one of the initial planners of this project with her. It would mean spending more time away from academics and Quidditch, but he was all for it. In Cepheus’s opinion, he didn’t spend enough time with his friends.

Alicia had proven herself a worthy female companion after their ridiculous rendezvous first year. It had been silly, but fun. Cepheus had wanted to get into mischief too much last year. Now that he was growing up, he couldn’t get away with what he’d once done as a first year. He was thirteen now. That meant doing his best while staying within the social structure, starting with a brilliant performance with his friends. His meal had been forgotten, and he was quick to get back to it, thoughts running rampant in his adolescent mind.

0 Cepheus And so the planning begins. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Arista Thornton, Teppenpaw

June 06, 2012 8:27 PM

Return me to the Napa Valley, PLEASE! (TAG: Kirstenna) by Arista Thornton, Teppenpaw

Arista moped the whole beginning of Winter Break over the game that had ended so wrongly (if it was up to her to say it). She was mad and upset at the same time and she knew that she didn’t know how she really felt because of all the emotions jumbled up inside her. Yes, she had tried her hardest and Teppenpaw had STILL lost. It didn’t mean that her swollen hand from the Bludger hit on her tendonitis didn’t hurt. Or that the cursing under her breath so nobody could hear her (especially her very pregnant mother) made her feel better. The oldest Thornton knew that regardless of how hard she’d tried, she still didn’t get what she wanted. Some life lesson… she thought as she cursed again under her breath. She realized that the cursing actually only helped, in the moment, to feel at least a little better so cursing entered her vocabulary a lot more. She’d even, accidentally, let one or two slip within earshot of her mother (who thankfully didn’t hear her!).

Addison, however, HAD heard her and that was when Addi stopped following her around like a lost puppy dog or a larger shadow with worry and actually told her off for cursing and moping around, which surprised Ris completely. Who is SHE to tell me not to mope?! she thought with anger at her slightly younger sister.

Of course, the day Addi had snapped at her their newest baby sister was born. They had been visiting Clara and Uncle Bryan out in Napa Valley on the Family Vineyard when it happened and the whole family had been touring the Wineries when their mother started feeling strange. Uncle Bryan knew what was going on and cut the tour short to take his sister to the hospital and Arista was told that she would be left in charge of the children, AGAIN.

This is getting really old… she remembered thinking as she tried to keep control of fourteen children including 13 of her sisters and Clara before Addison said she‘d do it. I can’t wait till I can get away from all this! her brain added to her thoughts. If Addi wants to do it, its all hers… she said to herself as she walked off deeper into the Vineyard and Addi herded the others closer to the house.

It seemed that at the present time, all Arista wanted was to get back to school and stop having to be in charge of her siblings. She wanted nothing to do with it anymore. She was getting too old to enjoy playing ‘Mom’ when she wasn’t anywhere near it.

Aerin Ryanne Thornton was born on Christmas Day around Noon in California and both Aerie and Alora were sent home within two days back to the Vineyards where Arista watched the others oogle at the baby and coo over her. Arista, on the other hand, stayed away. There was something about a sixteenth sibling being born that made the oldest girl resent a lot of things.

When the days got longer and longer with less and less sleep for all of them, she longed to be able to stay here at the Vineyards with Uncle Bryan and send Clara home with her family. She didn’t want to live in a zoo anymore and she was honestly half tempted to ask Uncle Bryan if she COULD stay with him till she had to go back to school. She spent a few days thinking about asking him, wondering what he would say and finally, she got up the courage to ask him.

Arista cornered Uncle Bryan on the Vineyards one day when the others were ogling over the baby, “Uncle Bryan?” she asked. “Can I stay here until we have to go back to school? Addi and the others can carry my trunk back to school… Please?!” Then it was all about the wait for his answer.

Thankfully, for her, Uncle Bryan said he didn’t mind as long as her mother didn’t mind so she ran off to find Alora over in the house, stopping her run to turn back to Uncle Bryan to shout, “THANKS UNCLE BRYAN!” before turning back around and running to the house.

Her mother had said that she wished she’d go home with the rest of them, but realized the pleading look in her eyes and Alora had relented. Alora realized how much stress the other children put on Arista and couldn’t begrudge her daughter a little bit of quiet time. “You can stay as long as Bryan is okay with it, Addi and Amira can help me at home, and Abi has become quite the little helper…” she said as she cooed at Baby Aerie who’d just woken back up again and was fussing quietly.

“Thanks Mom!” Arista said, giving her a quick hug and running out of the room, back out to the Vineyards where she just plopped down onto the ground and looked up at the sun in the sky. Home, this is home until I go back to school. Privacy, quiet, wow… she thought as she felt better already about everything, except one pesky little problem.

Teppenpaw still lost.

*****

The day came ever closer to having to go back to school, and Ris wanted nothing to do with leaving Napa Valley and the Vineyards, especially to relive her loss over and over again as she had done the last bit of the previous term. Then again, I can talk to Kirstenna and we can maybe keep practicing anyway, that way we won’t stink too bad next year… she thought as she made it a point to take a mental note to talk to Kirstenna.

Her thoughts didn’t stop her from taking Clara out to try to give her flying lessons. Arista had wanted to give it a try since it seemed her cousin had a hard time with it and she hated to see Clara have trouble with anything! Arista enjoyed her time with only Clara and thought that as the cousins got to know each other better that she wished Clara was her sister, not her cousin and that she lived out here on the Vineyards instead of in Oregon.

Maybe it was because it was so much quieter at Uncle Bryan’s, or maybe it was because she was finally able to do what SHE wanted to for a change, that Ris loved being at Uncle Bryan’s and was tempted to ask him to let her apprentice or something for him either with his business or at the Vineyards for summer. She held her questions in though and decided it would be better to send him a letter during term to ask him instead of asking face to face.

When the day came to go back to school, she and Clara got onto the Wagon from the pick up point and Arista waved and shouted out the window to the getting smaller and smaller Uncle Bryan due to the wagon going further and further away from them. “THANKS UNCLE BRYAN! LOVE YOU!” she shouted, glad that she and Clara were the only ones on the wagon so far.

“I love the Vineyards, wish I could live here all the time…” she’d said to Clara with a sigh and the cousins chattered on about their time together, the note Brielle had sent via owl to let Ris, Uncle Bryan and Clara know that they’d gotten home safe and Aerie had slept most of the way back. Abi had added a little message to Arista that she didn’t show to anyone else though too. It was about their father’s reaction to little Aerie and the little note had made Arista sullen for a little while until she realized that surely Clara and Uncle Bryan would find out. She pretended not to be mad and went on with their daily things before leaving for school. The chatter on the wagon got louder as other children got on and finally they were at school and Ris left Clara by the Pecari’s and went off to the Teppenpaws, finding a seat near Kirstenna, thankfully.

Good. she thought as she spotted Professor Kijewski-Jareau in front of them, looking as if she wanted to talk to the lot of them. When the Sonorus Charm was put on herself, the Headmistress welcomed them back and introduced them to the new Divinations Professor, then told them about the Midsummer Event. Arista rolled her eyes. Yay… she said, dripping with sarcasm at finding out she’d HAVE to participate.

“Whatever… Maybe I can do a song or something? What will you do?” she said, turning towards Kirstenna, wondering what she’d want to do. Kirstenna had a beautiful voice, Ris had heard it in the MARS rooms, and the fifth year bet that she’d use it, or at least hoped she would…

Food arrived in front of them and Professor Kijewski-Jareau told them to enjoy the feast and she turned away from Kirstenna long enough to grab the tongs inside the spaghetti bowl in front of her and waited for her answer as she piled pasta onto her plate.

0 Arista Thornton, Teppenpaw Return me to the Napa Valley, PLEASE! (TAG: Kirstenna) 0 Arista Thornton, Teppenpaw 0 5

Addison Thornton, Teppenpaw

June 06, 2012 8:30 PM

Returning to who I should be... by Addison Thornton, Teppenpaw

Addison watched her oldest sister mope around through the beginning of Winter Break and followed after her like a cross between a lost puppy and her sister’s shadow. She didn’t like to see her sister mope, especially over something that seemed so silly to the second Thornton child. Quidditch was just a game, it wasn’t real life and it wouldn’t get her anywhere to worry on it. Quidditch wasn’t anything that could be changed by anything that happened now, so moping didn’t make any sense to the younger of the two oldest siblings.

Wait… Addi thought. Ris can’t change anything that happened already, and neither can I… What am I doing moping around all the time? Reggie was right! Absolutely right… No WONDER people don’t like me! she added to herself as she turned to the mirror in her bedroom at Uncle Bryan’s house out in Napa, California. “I’m better than that, Reggie’s right!” she said to herself and actually smiled for the first time from the inside. She realized, as she did that, that she really was a pretty girl, but she’d never seen it before. Sure, she’d seen her face in the mirror, but she’d never actually looked into it and noticed anything before then.

She looked into her green eyes and as she smiled at herself, they actually seemed to be glowing! “Wow…” she said, still looking at herself. It wasn’t that she was turning into a vain girl, but she hadn’t ever realized how pretty she really was ever before, even though some people told her. She had just assumed they’d been saying it to work her up and that they were only joking with her. “But they weren’t…” she tilted her head and looked at herself with another angle, still she smiled.

Arista walked passed her room mumbling something. Addi broke her focus and followed behind her. The words she heard come from her sister’s mouth made her mad. She pulled her older sister around with a strength she didn’t know she even possessed and glared at her. “Don’t you dare do this anywhere near our little siblings. They don’t need to hear that, not from you, not from anyone. Me, fine, whatever, even Amira, but not the little ones.” she said, anger in her green eyes. “And, stop your moping. Teppenpaw lost, we all got that, but YOU can’t change it!”

Addi turned fast away from Ris and walked out onto the Vineyards to cool off. She had just done something she’d never done in her whole life and she felt proud of herself. Regardless of her anger at her sister, she still smiled inwardly at her ability to finally do it. She walked farther and farther into the Vineyards and she sat down, wheezing a little bit at the exercise she’d already done that day before she heard the others approaching for the tour Uncle Bryan had promised them; her mother and Uncle Bryan leading the pack.

Uncle Bryan took them around and a little bit into the tour, Alora started feeling funny. Uncle Bryan took his sister (their mother) to the hospital and left Arista in charge of the other children. Addi knew that Ris hated being left in charge of the kids so she looked at her and told her to go, that she’d do it. Arista took the chance and ran off deeper into the Vineyard and Addi kept the other kids closer to her and brought them back closer to the house.

Her newest sibling was indeed born that afternoon, not long after Uncle Bryan took her mother to the hospital. A day and a half later Alora brought Baby Aerie home to her brother’s house and everyone, including Addison, but excluding Arista ooed and ahhed over her and Addison’s heart swelled with love. This perfect little girl was now a part of their family and she loved her already.

A few days after Aerie was brought back to the house, Alora told Addison that she and the others were going to be going home, but Arista was staying with Uncle Bryan and Clara. Addi shrugged to her mother, but inwardly was glad. She was tired of how Arista was acting and hoped that some time with Uncle Bryan would help.

So she led the others back to the van with all their stuff and told her older sister that she’d pack her trunk and bring it between she and Amira to school and that they’d see her there.

A few days later, they were back on the wagon again heading back to Sonora and Addi made a note in her mental notebook to talk to Reggie and thank her for being right all along and that she hoped she’d give her another chance.

Addi smiled at her younger sisters next to and across from her on the benches of the wagon and she listened to them chatter, mostly Andri and Brielle, but Amira chimed in every now and again. Addi watched and listened, sighing at how much they’re growing up right before her eyes. They arrived at school and trunks inside, they made their way to Cascade Hall for the Returning Feast.

Professor Kijewski-Jareau stood in front of them all and Addi watched her, knowing that she wanted to talk and was waiting for the others to quiet down through the room. She put up her finger to show Brielle that she needed to quiet down and B did just as she was asked with a small nod of her head.

The Headmistress welcomed them all back to school and spoke of a few things they needed to know about, like the new Divinations Professor and that the Midsummer Event was going to be a school concert. Addi glanced once more to her little sister and smiled at her ear to ear grin.

UNTIL… Professor Kijewski-Jareau mentioned that all the children would have to participate.

Addison’s heart thudded in her chest and her hands shook with fear. No… She can’t make me… can she? she thought to herself as she searched the Teppenpaw crowd for Reggie in the hopes that Reggie could give her some strength or something…

She couldn’t see her roommate right away, though she knew that she was there. Instead she decided she must look inside herself as she did in Uncle Bryan’s mirror in California and decided that she would have to talk to Professor Crosby-Brockert to see if she knew of something Addi could do that wasn’t in front of all the people. I’ll talk to my Head of House… She’ll know what to do… Addison told herself over and over again as the Headmistress told them to enjoy the feast.

Addi looked and saw the salad had been placed right in front of her. A small smile escaped her lips, both from nerves and the healthiness of the salad. She reached for the salad tongs and her hand hit someone elses…

“Sorry!” she said to them apologetically.

0 Addison Thornton, Teppenpaw Returning to who I should be... 0 Addison Thornton, Teppenpaw 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

June 06, 2012 11:26 PM

Funny being back by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara sat at the Pecari table with the rest of her house feeling both a little sad and a little glad to be back at school after the busy holiday. She was ecstatic to be back home in Napa seeing her dad. He was waiting for her at the drop off point when the carriage from Sonora dropped her off for the holiday. She threw herself into her father's waiting arms and giggled as he piggy-backed her back to the house. She had left her trunk of stuff back at school seeings how the 11 year old had more clothes in her closet than even she knew what to do with. Why bring home more? Her dad told her that he had received her letters and was very proud of the fact that she managed to do a potion on her own without hurting herself or anyone else. He admiitted that he had been a little concerned when he had learned that she had joined a baking club considering how her last attempt at the activity had gone. The fact that again she had managed not to hurt herself or anyone else astonished him greatly.

Clara had just barely begun to settle in when she heard her father on the phone with his sister, her aunt Alora. She had had a feeling she knew what that call had been about, but was surprised to learn that it had been an invitation to visit and not about the baby coming. She had been instructed to pack a small bag (which she did) and they drove the day and a half to Oregon. Once there Clara spent most of her time watching Addi trail around Arista, Brielle...be well...Brielle and her cousin Alexander be coddled by his dad, uncle Alexander, who barely spoke to them. She found she didn't mind that part so much. Arista seemed to be moping around the whole time so she was really no fun to be around and with Addi following her like a shadow it seemed they both were pretty occupied already. Clara didn't quite understand why her acousin Addi chose to do such a thing so she decided to leave well enough alone. Due to her father's hectic schedule they were only able to stay a couple of days, but Bryan insisted they come back with them to Napa so he and Alora and the children could spend Christmas together.

Clara smiled to herself as she remembered how much of a circus that had been getting 13 cousins into a vehicle and trying to drive with them all and 2 adults back to California. They had had to stop on the way like a million times. The drive back felt like an eternity to the impatient little redhead. Once they all made it back to uncle Bryan's (her dad) then it became a mini circus just trying to get everyone into the house and settled in. Thank god for Lucy or none of it would have even been possible. Once everyone was settled in things finally began to quiet down somewhat. As quiet as it can be with 14 kids, 2 dogs and 2 horses running around; not to mention parents, vineyard workers and a rather put out nanny.

A few days before Christmas, her dad and a few of the other vineyard guys went out and got the biggest tree they could fit into the house. It took all of the children almost an entire day to decorate it for the holiday. Arista was still moping around and didn't participate much and Addi was still following her around. Once the tree was decorated everyone sat around it and giggled, poking eachother, pushing eachother and lightly rough-housing. Clara's dad had promised everyone a tour of the vineyard, but the day they set out for it aunt Alora began feeling funny. Bryan left the children at the house with Lucy and Arista taking his very pregnant sister to the hospital. Clara's newest cousin was born christmas day. There's an interesting present to get from santa Clara thought to herself as she watched her aunt coddling the new baby after she was born. She was a little sad when her aunt Alora took everyone home including the new baby. She was a little surprised when Arista of all people wanted to stay with them until they went back to school. Surprised, but not upset.

She tried spending as much time as she could showing Arista around the vineyard. She was hoping that by doing so she could cheer her cousin up a bit from the whole Quidditch thing. Clara had really been hoping for Teppenpaw to win....oh well. Her house would be playing soon and she wondered how well they would do against Aladren. She felt a teenie tiny bit like a traitor because on the one hand she wanted her house to win, but at the same time she wanted her cousins' house to win as well...sucked being stuck in the middle. She put the match out of her mind and found she had something more immediate to worry aout. Arista was talking FLYING lessons and given Clara's current standing of success with that area the 11 year old didn't hold much hope for that.

As Clara sat back at school at the table with the other Pecaris her thoughts wandered back to the disaster of a flying lesson that Arista had tried to give her. Clara inwardly cringed as saw the whole thing clearly in her mind. There she was out in the open field holding her cursed broomstick and wondering to herself how Ris had managed to talk her into the mess she would later find herself in...AGAIN! She had managed to get the broom up into her hand and had mounted it like she had many, many times before. She was following Ris' instructions to hover and was managing to do so fairly well until she lost her concentration (worrying about the flying lesson) and sent herself careening into the blackberry bushes on the far end of the field by the fence. Clara winced visibly as she recalled the multitude of scratches and small punctures she received from the thorns on the bushes. Her hands, arms, legs and even part of her neck and face still showed evidence of her epic failure.

Clara tried to put the memory of her immediate thoughts and focus on what the headmistress was telling them. She nodded when she heard the announcement of a new teacher and wondered briefly is she was even allowed to take that class being a first year and all. She decided to look into it later. She would have been excited about the spring concert thing if it hadn't been for the fact that ALL of the students were being made to participate. Clara almost laughed aloud when she realized that the spring concert gave Brielle the "stage" she had always been craving and the audience to match. However, she smiled a little less when it occured to her that Brielle might try to recruit her for the performance piece. She wasn't quite sure whether she liked that idea just yet. It would depend on what crazy idea B came up with for the performance piece before she would be truely afraid. Another thought the little 11 year old tried to push out of her mind for the time being.

Clara sighed lightly as the headmistress finished her speech and the food plates began to appear on the table. Clara stuffed her plate full of everything she could reach as she found herself ravenously hungry all of the sudden. As she stuffed forkfuls of sporatic food into her mouth, she thought slightly about what sort of thing she might do for the concert. I could always play my violin she thought to herself as she continued eat. As the thought continued to cross through her mind her mother's favorite melody floated through her mind. She smiled lightly as the melody continued and she continued to eat. This next term is going to be fun she told herself as she looked around the large hall. At least...I hope it will be she said to herself before she noticed her plate was empty of spaghetti.

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari Funny being back 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Josh McLachlan

June 07, 2012 7:57 PM

Sigh... by Josh McLachlan

It had never occurred to Josh to take the easy way out. It seemed, well, too easy. And working with other people backstage meant more than just working lights or something like that. It meant communicating and trusting people to do their job, something that was not natural for Josh. Trusting other people, that is. He had been let down more times than he could count by other people, and though Josh had expected not to get out of it, he still felt disappointed.

Of course, he wouldn't show it on his face. His face was closed off now, and he nodded. "Right. Thanks." Many talents. Josh turned to walk back to his seat. If Josh had any talents, they were with magic. And anyone could do magic. The bigger problem was going up on stage and performing in front of a large crowd. Josh was not a fan of crowds in general. Maybe he could do something backstage.

He slid back into his seat, thoughts running through his head. He expected most of his classmates to want to do something onstage for their families, so it wouldn't be extremely busy backstage. Well, at least with the technical things. Josh had been to enough theater productions in his lifetime to know that whoever worked the lights usually worked them high up, isolated except for the cues from the director or whoever was in charge of the production. He had gotten his ear pulled by his grandmother many times during shows because he'd been more interested in the technical aspects rather than the performance itself. This would be no different, except he would be the isolated one.

'Let's not jump to conclusions,' he mentally reminded himself. Anyone could want the position he now desired. And anyone was just as liable to get it. Someone with experience was even more liable to get it, and Josh was already mentally preparing himself for that fact. It wouldn't do to disappoint himself just because he didn't get a position that he wanted.

Josh slowly started to eat his food again and cleared his mind. He didn't want to worry about the Midsummer Event when classes were going to start. Though Josh hated leaving things up to chance or Fate, he would have to do that now. As long as he was backstage, he wouldn't mind the production itself. Maybe someone would even do something silly and ridiculous enough to actually be entertaining. It was back to unconsciously eavesdropping on conversations while thinking about the texts he should read over before classes actually started. He learned a lot about his school this way.

0 Josh McLachlan Sigh... 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Jay

June 07, 2012 8:55 PM

I...may be able to understand that by Jay

Jay glanced toward the girl Lucian was indicating, recognizing her as one of the unfortunate souls who’d been Sorted into Crotalus with Miss O’Malley – Miss Baird, he thought, though he hadn’t worked with her in any classes yet that he could remember right now. He nodded, too, as Lucian explained why the two of them had a problem, wondering if there was more to the story – perhaps how the help had been offered; Lucian had always been pleasant enough to him, and Jay found him perfectly satisfactory as a roommate, but then, he’d kept his work to himself, and some people were just more touchy about that kind of thing than others anyway – but not saying anything, or really getting a chance to as his roommate went on with his story.

“That sounds good,” he said when the rant ended, smiling slightly and wondering what kind of midterm break Lucian had gone through, anyway. Interesting, in his opinion, was a terrible word, because it could mean so many things. Even using it to talk about a book could be dangerous, depending on tone, and sometimes tones didn’t come out the way you meant them to. It could cause all kinds of exceptionally large misunderstandings.

Of course, if he thought about it long enough, that could almost apply to any word he could use without getting in trouble, and most likely some of the ones he couldn’t, too, so maybe that didn’t mean anything at all.

“Mine was all right, I guess,” he said lightly about midterm. “I’m not sure if my family got louder or if I’m just not used to them anymore, but it was a little overwhelming being at home with all five of them, but we got through another year.” He liked Lucian well enough, but he wasn’t going to discuss Henry with him. Besides, that had been fine, except for that awful thing at Grandmother’s on Christmas. Jay was still, after finally figuring out the whole story, trying to figure out how anyone had thought taking Hen back in that house, tradition or no tradition, was a good idea, but it hadn’t been that much of an incident, really. It had just made him angry on his brother’s behalf. “There was still some talk about more memorials for Great-Great-Grandfather’s brother – “ Thomas’ death was something Lucian did know about, as Jay had been gone for a few days in the beginning of the previous month to attend the first round of services – “but that seems mostly settled, people are starting to adjust.” Or so it seemed, anyway; he hadn’t heard anything that made him think he was wrong. Things had seemed more settled, the adults less nervous, by the time he got home for midterm than they had been a few weeks earlier when he went home for the funeral.

He was a little startled by the offer to work together for the Concert, though he guessed he shouldn’t have been. Jay couldn’t help but laugh, though, at the image of himself standing in the back and playing a tambourine. His mother would probably start crying the second he started; it would, he thought, make her think of Diana, which often had the effect of making her need her nerve tea, if not her actual nerve potions. “I don’t mind being in the background,” he said. “I’m good at that, really. But thanks, I’m sure we can come up with something for it.” It was good to at least have a starting point for that; Jay liked being able to plan ahead what he was doing.

0 Jay I...may be able to understand that 0 Jay 0 5

Kirstenna Melcher

June 08, 2012 9:53 PM

I'm not sure I have that ability. by Kirstenna Melcher

Midterm had pretty much passed as always for Kirstenna. The circus had performed in Milwaukee and she'd gotten to be her dad's assistant. Doing the acrobatics that her mom's family did was fun and all, and the Teppenpaw was quite capable of them-though there had been a period where Kirstenna had been quite afraid of them, after she fell and hit her head-but nothing beat magic.

She'd also gotten to go sightseeing in Milwaukee. Certainly, the sixth year had seen these sites before but Kirstenna still enjoyed it immensely. This year she'd gotten to go to the Domes, the museum, and the Pabst mansion. She'd been to the first two before, she loved the museum. The Teppenpaw might have not seemed like a museum sort of girl, but she really liked the rainforest, Streets of Old Milwaukee and the European Village exhibits, though she found the rainforest dome unpleasantly hot, which was a shame since it was so pretty. The mansion had been new to her but Kirstenna had enjoyed it as well.

It had just plain been nice to get away from Sonora as well. To not think about Teppenpaw's loss and the increasing worries about people seeing her as a failure as a captain. To be away from the smugness of the Crotalus team. Not Sam, but she had a feeling Renee probably was. Possibly their Seeker too, from her limited impression of him, he seemed the smug type.

To be free from the shadow of the Imposter over her. It was safer away. Though Kirstenna supposed that there was always the chance that the Imposter would find her over midterm and murder her. Or at least kidnap her and put her in that hotel room in Gallup, New Mexico where she'd stuffed Brian-whom Kirstenna thought was probably dead by now-and the remains of the real Jannette Wolfe.

Now though, the Teppenpaw sat her house table, gathered at the Returning Feast with the rest of the school. She glared at the Quidditch Coach briefly, what was she even still doing here when she went around hexing students, especially those with powerful families? Of course, Kirstenna assumed that she'd probably just kill someone else and take their form anyway. Maybe even a student this time. Maybe even her. The idea made the sixth year sick to her stomach.

She grinned though, at the announcement of the new Divination teacher. That meant she would get to take that class again-and Kirstenna really enjoyed that class. Not only had it been totally interesting but well, she'd sort of like to know what was going to happen. To be one step ahead of the Imposter.

The news of the Concert only excited her more. Of course, Kirstenna had known it was going to be this year but now it seemed so much closer. Though she felt bad for those that wouldn't want to participate in a mandatory concert. Not everyone had the sort of talents that were useful for such a thing. Still, she couldn't wait to sing in front of everyone. Now to pick a song. Maybe Kirstenna could wear a dress made out of bubble wrap and sing Poker Face!

She took some nachos-which were a good deal fancier than the ones the circus served, more like a Mexican restaurant-when Arista who was sitting nearby began to talk to her. Kirstenna smiled at her teammate. She'd been very proud of and pleased with the other girl's effort. "Well, I'm definitely going to sing. What about you?"

11 Kirstenna Melcher I'm not sure I have that ability. 161 Kirstenna Melcher 0 5

Autumn Collins

June 10, 2012 3:20 AM

I don't mind the returning part of that. by Autumn Collins

The past two weeks had not been pleasant for Autumn. Whereas she'd once very much liked going home and seeing her family, now it was not all that enjoyable. First of all, while she'd not been up to going to Eliza Bennett's party, she had gone to her cousin Tawny's wedding, even though the Crotalus hadn't wanted to at all. All that food. Autumn generally didn't mind being around it, even often wanted to, though she'd yet to resort to Gemma's disgusting habits, but the combination of food and people and people expecting her to eat was pretty much more than she could take.

That was the main thing, Autumn had not been able to stick to small meals while there. Her mother watched the sixth year's eating habits very carefully, making sure she ate enough. Or rather what other people considered to be enough apparently. Autumm quite frankly felt that what she normally ate was just a bit too much, and what she'd been forced to eat at home was way too much.

She felt like a blimp again. The Crotalus was certain she'd gained weight over break and could just feel the fat building on her body. She was repulsive. However, what Autumn really hated the most was the loss of control. As a pureblood lady, she had so little say in so many things. She had to look perfect, act perfect, get perfect grades-and would accept nothing less from herself. Autumn would also have to marry whomever her family told her to-that was, if anyone even wanted a flabby creature like her. Her diet had given her feeling of having control over something, over her own body. Now that had been taken away from her too.

The sixth year sighed as she took a spot at the Crotalus table. For obvious reasons, Autumn would rather not have attended the Returning Feast. She looked down at her plate as the Headmistress began to speak. The news about the Divination teacher didn't affect her much-she wouldn't be able to take the class anyway, it was more stress than her counselor thought that Autumn could handle-but that the Concert was mandatory made her feel rather ill.

She had no intention of being on stage, of course. The sixth year had always been very shy anyway and the thought of being in front of so many people was terrifying to her. What if Autumn made a mistake in front of so many people? She'd be so humiliated. Being backstage, however, was only slightly better. If she was backstage helping with something, there was still the possibility that she could screw it up and make someone else look bad. Then they would be the one humiliated and it would be Autumn's fault and the person would hate her. Plus, even if they weren't embarrassed and blaming her, she would still blame herself if anything that she did had the slightest mistake.

Autumn couldn't take this. Any appetite that she'd forced herself to have was now gone. She felt anxious and sick to her stomach. There was no way that the sixth year could eat now. She got up from the table and started towards the door. If anyone stopped her, she would say she was sick. The Crotalus was allowed to be sick, to have a stomach bug. Others got ill all the time. Besides, it wasn't a lie right now.

It was only one meal that she was skipping. After all the larger meals she'd been forced to midterm, Autumn needed to lose a few pounds anyway.

11 Autumn Collins I don't mind the returning part of that. 164 Autumn Collins 0 5

Regina Parker

June 10, 2012 9:54 PM

Magic in the making! by Regina Parker

Reggie’s midterm had been a little crazy to say the least. First day home, she had met her mother’s grandmother and her mother for the first time in fourteen years. Reggie had never cared to meet either woman, or thought that she hadn’t. Until she actually met them. Her Great Grandmother, Edith Bellrose, was a terrible woman. There was no heart in her chest. No feelings for anyone at all. Reggie was okay if she never saw the woman ever again. Her grandmother, Flora, however, was not at all what Reggie had expected. She seemed so… normal. Reggie had spent some of her New Year’s Eve with Flora as she helped her get ready for the party, and then a couple of additional days there after. Her father had been hesitant about allowing her time with the older woman, but after he had sat and talked with her, he had come to realize this was something they had both needed.

Still, minus the hiccup of her family, Reggie’s midterm had been wonderful and her New Year’s Eve had been like a movie! They were all dressed up so wonderfully, Reggie in her sparkling green flapper dress with glamor hair and all of her friends in equally amazing attires – it had been so worth it. She felt like it had been such a long time since she had really had fun. Sonora had its perks and she had fun with her friends, but it wasn’t the same. She was a girl around her friends at home and at Sonora she was just one of the gang. She sometimes liked to be a girl for no reason.

Reggie wandered over to the Teppenpaw table per her usual routine and flopped down beside her friends. She grinned enthusiastically to them, “Hey Everyone, good to see you all again.” They didn’t have long to chat though because the Headmistress was calling them to attention. Reggie listened with interest as she introduced the new Divinations professor. Leaning close to the person next to her Reggie whispered, “Do you think I’d be able to join that class even though I wasn’t in it last year?” After having discussions with her maternal grandmother, Reggie was interested in knowing how it all worked, even if the Professor didn’t actually know. And then the discussion turned to that of the concert. Reggie didn’t mind that it was mandatory, she was going to be a part of it anyway (she was, after all, friends with a large group within her own year). She already had an idea for it.

The food arrived and Reggie went right for the pasta. She had enough ham and turkey for a while, so she wanted something different. Pasta it was. “So, you all know the movie I was trying to work out? How cool would it be to put that on as the concert? I’m sure they can set up a screen for everyone to watch. I can’t work out a decent script, so I might aim it more for a silent film. What to you all think?” Reggie went to take a bite, but paused for a brief moment to add, “Also, how were your holidays?”

6 Regina Parker Magic in the making! 187 Regina Parker 0 5

Thad Pierce

June 10, 2012 10:28 PM

I have returned to feast by Thad Pierce

Thad's midterm had been spent alternately reading in front of a fireplace and flying outside in the freezing cold. Mostly the former had been in response the the later, complete with several blankets and a mug of hot chocolate while he tried to get feeling back into his extremities.

He had come out of the return home with an awesome new broom, though, and with a game upcoming in just a week or so, so the practice was completely worth it. There had been no permanent damage and he'd only gotten frostbite the once and Mom had gotten a mediwitch to come out and fix it right away.

The return to school had gone much as it had in the fall. He'd sat with Derry on the wagon and caught up with his cousin. They didn't share any classes and were in different houses, so they just hadn't run into each other during most of the school year. They were very different people, after all, especially now that Derry wasn't part of the Mountain anymore. So it wasn't surprising or even really disappointing that they didn't spend time together at Sonora. Derry's questionable standing probably wouldn't make it look good anyway if they did.

Still, it was nice to talk to him on the wagon, hear how things were going for him, even if it weirded Thad out a little bit every time Derry talked about Coach like she was a normal person, Three like he was a real brother, or casually chatted about the nephew.

They were all replacements, him, Derry, and the Anns. The Anns had been Aunts for years and they were younger than him and Derry. But he and Derry hadn't had real siblings anymore, just the disowned ones. They weren't supposed to have nephews yet. Ever, actually. They were both supposed to be their parents' only children now. They were each other's brothers. That was the secret pact they'd had once, when they'd both felt the sting of being alone.

Now Thad really was alone. Derry wasn't disowned, exactly, but it wasn't the same anymore. He had his own brother, his real brother, back again, and he'd given up Thad to get him.

There were things Thad could give up to get a sister, too, but that sacrifice was too high. There were things he needed more than a sister. Things he had been taught had to happen and they couldn't happen if he got himself disinherited like Derry had. It wasn't even that he wanted to be Patriarch someday. It was just something that he was supposed to do. It was his duty.

Arriving at Sonora, Thad and Derry walked together to the Cascade Hall, still chatting, because Derry could somehow do that - talk for an entire wagon ride and still not be talked out. When they passed through the doors, though, they parted ways, Derry to the Teppenpaw table and Thad to the Aladren one.

Alicia was already talking to Cepheus, so he opted to let them catch up with one another and sit somewhere else. He greeted his tablemate and turned his attention to the Headmistress's speech. He'd read up on the midsummer events last year, so he wasn't surprised by the announcement of the concert, though he hadn't realized it was mandatory participation. Not that it mattered, really. Thad would have participated anyway. If you wanted to be Head Boy someday, you had to participate in school events. That was how it worked unless you were Raines Bradley.

The food appeared and Thad started to fill his plate. "Have a good midterm?" he asked as he did so.

1 Thad Pierce I have returned to feast 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Alicia

June 12, 2012 10:46 PM

So it does. by Alicia

Alicia smiled, amused by Cepheus’ phrasing. “Of course it is,” she said playfully. “I thought of it, didn’t I?”

She checked Gareth off as all but a set member of the group when his roommate mentioned him. She was glad of that. She liked Gareth better than she did most people, and plus, that would be one more person who could do something, anyway. She just sort of hoped that neither of them thought to invite the third Crotalus in their year to the group, since she would have trouble thinking of a reason for not accepting Alexandra except that she saw other girls as competition she didn’t want to deal with more than strictly possible and was more comfortable around the guys. But maybe she would do something with her relatives, Alicia had put it together that she was related to the Careys somehow….

For a moment, she entertained a funny mental image of the Careys and the Thorntons banding together to put on a skit about the problems that came with having too many relatives. The only thing would be keeping everyone from making some of the murders real; that sort of thing would ruin the comedy, if only because the school would quickly fill up with Aurors who’d get in everyone’s way asking questions and stuff.

“Evan Brockert will probably come,” she said when he asked about other people and what the act might be, to put off the second question for a moment. “I’ll ask my roommates, too, Henny and Ephanie are all right, and Ephanie likes acting and things, so she’d be useful to have around.” And they would keep her from being, depending on how the groupings went, either a third or fifth wheel to anyone, or at least publicly criticized for not having female friends. People seemed to think girls should be friends with other girls, and she really didn’t mind those two. At least if they were there, then if the boys did group together and leave her – she didn’t think it was likely, but there was the possibility, which she found so terrifying that it was almost enough to paralyze her and keep her from doing anything at all – as just some dumb girl tagging along after them.

“If we keep it down to – I don’t know – ten at most, say, then it would be easier to manage,” she said. “But it would probably be good to get some input from the others before we say anything’s final.” She glanced at Thad, a little irritated that he hadn’t come to sit with her. If they had been three, then they could have just declared themselves the leaders, but with two, they were going to have to ask for input. Plus, she wanted to know if he’d liked the present she’d sent him at Christmas. “I know plays have been really popular in the past, though, how does that sound? If no one could think of anything original, we could always adapt something from the Aeneid.” She added that last part a little less strongly, a little more jokingly, though she didn’t think it was a bad idea. The old Greek and Roman witches and wizards and stories were something virtually the whole audience would have a little familiarity with, if not from the original exactly, and it would be something that made them look smart to their parents, peers, and teachers all alike. Not all of the group was going to be from Aladren, but Alicia prided herself on not associating with more stupid people than she could help, so no one was likely to object too much to that part of the idea.

OOC: Sorry for the delay!

16 Alicia So it does. 210 Alicia 0 5

Valerie Lennox

June 14, 2012 2:11 AM

Oh joy. by Valerie Lennox

Valerie's midterm had been dreadful, but then her holidays usually were. Last year had been an exception, a wonderful one which she'd treasured, but this year, not so much. This year, she'd spent the holidays in bed coughing and running a fever that had lasted until the day before yesterday. Which was unfortunately much more typical for her.

It often upset and frustrated Valerie how often she got sick. She felt like she was never able to do anything but lie there. There were lots of times when the Crotalus didn't even feel up to getting out of bed even when she wasn't so ill that she was completely out of things. Valerie nearly always felt weak and lethargic. It was all she could do to get all her schoolwork done.

She never really got to have fun though. Never got to be normal and do normal things.She always had to be careful and take it easy. The most Valerie ever got to do was read, fortunately she liked reading but sometimes, she didn't even feel up to doing that, and that was sort of irritating. It was awful to get over one illness just to turn around and get another a week later. The third year often didn't feel too great during the time in between either, just as she didn't really right now.

Plus, things had to be adjusted for her, and that made her feel guilty. Valerie hadn't been able to take flying, which she hadn't minded, but she worried that other girls would resent her. Same with DADA, where she had to write essays sometimes instead of participating in more active lessons. Not that essays were probably a lot of people's idea of fun, but still, some pureblood girls probably didn't like the normal ones much. Valerie didn't want them to dislike her though for getting special treatment when she legitimately needed it for medical reasons.

She didn't really think they would trade places if they knew what she went through all the time though. The Crotalus hadn't really wanted to fly or run around with hexes flying at her, but Valerie really didn't think feeling like she did was worth it to escape those things. Half the time, she didn't really function.

Valerie sat listlessly as the Headmistress gave her speech. She wasn't allowed to take electives when it was hard enough to keep up with the required lessons so the new Divination teacher was of no consequence to her. She knew the subject was hogwash, but Valerie wouldn't have minded taking it or Astronomy, if she could. Muggle Studies would have been forbidden regardless.

The other announcement, however, made her go pale. Or, rather, paler because Valerie always was. How was she ever supposed to participate? How could she ever count on her body to cooperate so others could count on her? Maybe she could help sew costumes. Valerie was very experienced in all sorts of needlework and the like. She could sew, crochet, knit and embroider beautifully. It was something that she could do while lying in bed.

The Crotalus looked up at the person across from her. "So, any idea for what you plan to do for the concert?" The only other topic she could think of off the top of her head was midterm, and Valerie didn't really want to talk about hers when it was the same old thing. She doubted anyone would want to hear about it anyway and besides, she would want them to think she was whining.

11 Valerie Lennox Oh joy. 204 Valerie Lennox 0 5

Sullivan Quincy

June 14, 2012 9:57 PM

Hilarious by Sullivan Quincy

Sullivan's midterm had been normal except for two things. Karen had been as annoying an older sister as she had always been. The tree had been set in its usual spot and still stood taller than him (though not by as much as he remembered and that had to be because he was finally starting to grow like teen-aged boys were supposed to; it was an artificial tree so it certainly wasn't getting any shorter) and decorated with all the ornaments that he remembered from his previous thirteen Christmases as well as new ones for both him and Karen with year on it.

The first difference was one that had actually occurred the year before as well, but Sully still wasn't used to the California Pierces. He'd gone to their place down near the Mexican border, with half the people there not speaking English, and all of them being completely foreign to him except for his immediate family and Simon. They had been there for the New Year's party. Fireworks, music, the whole big deal among strangers related somehow to his mom's boyfriend.

The other difference was that Simon was apparently living at Sully's house now. Karen said he'd moved in back in October, though the first Sully had heard about it was when they were driving home from the wagon stop. Simon had been the one driving. It was getting to be a terrible habit, people not telling him about changes in his mother's relationship status. He didn't exactly get Facebook at Sonora.

He didn't even mind Simon. He just wished the biweekly letters exchanged during the school year mentioned important things like radical changes to his household. He could get that sometimes it was better to hear certain things in person, but if waiting until he was in-person meant he got news months out-of-date, he would prefer getting the news in ink rather than in person. After he thought he managed to make that point clear, his midterm break went better. Even the New Years Party had been okay. That Yoko girl was pretty cute and she'd given him a sparkler. He guessed she wasn't a witch or she'd probably be at Sonora and he was sure Sonora didn't have any girls who looked like her.

Sitting at the Pecari table at the Return Feast, he looked around just in case, but the only girls he couldn't remember being there were some of the first years he hadn't really interacted with now that he was in the intermediate level classes. One such girl was sitting across from him.

Sully listened (more-or-less) to the Headmistress as she gave her speech. He spared a glance toward the new Divination Professor, but without much interest since he was already taking Muggle Studies and had little interest in adding an additional elective. The Concert was of slightly more interest since he seemed to be required to participate somehow. (He had no idea how he would end up doing that since he had no performance skills to speak of but maybe Mom or Simon might have ideas.)

The food that appeared when she was done talking, though, that was great. Sully filled up his plate, and then mostly emptied it again. He reached for more spaghetti and saw the unknown first year also needed a refill. He didn't have huge amounts of manners trained into him like some people at the school but he had enough to offer the serving bowl to her first. "You want more?"

"I'm Sully, by the way. Third year."

1 Sullivan Quincy Hilarious 207 Sullivan Quincy 0 5

Madeline Parry

June 15, 2012 12:34 AM

It'll be brilliant by Madeline Parry

For some reason – probably the economy, since neither her parents in person nor Nana over the phone had seemed like anything other than the usual holiday woes was wrong in their worlds when the subject came up – the Parry family hadn’t gone north to visit their family this year after Madeline got home, instead staying in the small rented house they had been using since Dad stopped being a residence director after becoming Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs. It hadn’t snowed once, despite the nervousness of the locals, and this to Madeline made the holiday feel unsatisfactory and weird, as though it hadn’t really been her midterm break from school at all. If there hadn’t been presents, and the same fake tree they had used for all her life and had only even bothered to deconstruct when it made the move from New York state with them, she wasn’t sure the manger scene at church would have even convinced her, since they normally attended her grandfather’s at Christmas.

She had missed making snowmen, but had tried to make the best of it and appreciate the novelty value. She had suggested a picnic on Christmas Eve, but it had been too chilly for that in the end, as her parents – more familiar with the winter part of the year there than she was – had predicted, and then it had started raining. They had stuck to fake snow on tables and windowsills and drinking lots of hot chocolate – since, to her relief, it was not so warm in the winter in the south that hot chocolate was inappropriate at the holidays; after that first summer, she had wondered – and wearing colorful sweaters with fuzzy balls or sequins and pictures of holiday-themed objects on them instead, and found a station that played the Rudolph movie so that part of holiday traditions, anyway, didn’t lapse. In the end, she guessed it had been a pretty good midterm, and she could at least still look at the upside that it stood out from the other Christmases she could remember.

She came into the Cascade Hall with a gaggle of other people, most of them not ones she knew even if she did recognize their faces just after four years in such a small school, and looked around until she found her friends, at which point she made a beeline for that part of the Teppenpaw table. “Hi!” she said quickly as she sat down, smiling at everyone as she settled in, swinging the bag of pens and paper – she had never had the heart to tell her dad that it was virtually impossible to write on the wagon – and books and cookies her parents had put together for her to carry on the wagon off her shoulder and dropping it beside a chair.

Madeline clapped for the new teacher, whispered back, after shrugging, a quick “can’t hurt to ask” to Reggie’s question about the class, and raised her eyebrows slightly at the mention of the school Concert. She had assumed a midterm event was going to happen this year, since one happened every year, but she hadn’t expected everyone to need to be in something. It wasn’t a problem, since she felt pretty confident in thinking that she and the other Teppenpaws would stick together, but even with some people working backstage on things, she expected it was going to be a very long evening. Sonora was a small school, but it had enough people to keep paying the staff and put forth prefects and a Head Girl and Boy (even if it had only been just barely this year, apparently) every year.

Reggie’s idea, proposed as they all filled their plates, was a pleasant surprise anyway, though, because she was pretty sure it was going to be something different from what most people put together. Madeline was expecting a lot of musical numbers, somehow – maybe just because of the word ‘concert,’ she didn’t know. Different would be good.

“Fine” she said about her midterm. “Weirdly warm, but fine. And that sounds neat, about the movie.” She took a piece of chicken for her plate. “At least we’d probably stand out. I don’t think many people would think to try anything like it here.” The anti-technology thing, after all, was one of the things about Sonora that was hard to get used to at first, but then sort of became part of the scenery, almost, just something she was used to, so it was almost a shock to see cell phones and microwaves and electric lights when she went home for vacations.

0 Madeline Parry It'll be brilliant 188 Madeline Parry 0 5

Derry Four

June 15, 2012 8:24 AM

Glorious even by Derry Four

Derry's midterm had been great. Ben was starting to talk, even if he was a little hard to understand yet at two years old, and Boston was starting to be not quite as weird as it had been over the summer. (This did not mean to say it was not weird because it really really was; it just wasn't as weird and he could now make himself breakfast without being confused by the kitchen.)

He was also going to have to say it was millions of times better than last Christmas since his parents were not in the last throes of divorce, with sniping, arguing, ignoring, and then finally culminating in The Announcement. Still, he kind of wished he got to see Thad over the break more often than just the wagon ride to and from the school.

That wasn't possible though, and Derry was actually kind of relieved that he wouldn't have to see some of the other people on the Mountain. Grandmother had always made him feel nervous and like he was doing something wrong, and honestly, not having Father around made the whole holiday feel so much happier, which was terrible to say but true.

Hamlet came by for a few days, and even Berta dropped in for a couple of hours. They were dead and the family couldn't do anything about them socializing with outcasts.

Derry even got an invitation to a party Eliza was having, which had been both kind of surprising and kind of relieving since it kind of meant people hadn't forgotten he existed just because he wasn't set to inherit the Pierce family someday anymore. Mom had advised him to politely decline though, and since he didn't really know Eliza that well and because he had other plans that evening that he had been looking forward to with some of his new friends in the neighborhood, he had penned a very nice letter thanking Eliza for inviting him, but that he was unable to attend.

Now back at school, he joined his Teppenpaw friends in the Cascade Hall, waving bye to Thad as his cousin headed over to the Aladren table, and greeted them all before the Headmistress began her speech.

He was kind of glad that Divination was coming back because he had enjoyed that class. On the wagon, Thad had mentioned his research into the midsummer activities suggested the last one that Derry hadn't experienced yet would be a concert, so he wasn't too surprised by that part of the announcements. He barely noted that it was mandatory because he couldn't imagine not being involved.

"Yeah," he agreed after Madeline guessed that Reggie could still take Divination. "The professor wasn't teaching it last year either, and we're still in intermediates like everybody just starting out. I can share my notes, too, if you need help getting up to speed."

Then Reggie made her suggestion for their concert activity (he had naturally assumed he'd be working with this group and it seemed she had too, which worked out well for all of them) and he grinned and nodded in eager agreement. "Yeah, I got to see one of these moo-vees over Christmas, just to see what you were talking about, and they are totally cool." He was less sure how it would work without sound, but he was sure Reggie knew what she was talking about. "Are we still thinking of the zombie love story? That would just be a lot of zombie-groaning anyway, wouldn't it, like," he held his hands out in front of him, canted his head a little to the side, adopted a somewhat vacant expression and said, "Uuurrrrrr."

1 Derry Four Glorious even 189 Derry Four 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

June 15, 2012 10:00 PM

Thanks by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara had been seriously contimplating getting more of the spaghetti and was about to reach for the bowl when she heard the boy sitting across from her speak. "You want more? "I'm Sully, by the way. Third year." Clara gave Sully her friendliest smile and replied "I would love some, thank you. It's nice to meet you Sully. I'm Clara. You don't mind me calling you Sully, do you? I'm still getting used to some of the people here at school." She grinned sheepishly as she filled up her plate and then handed the bowl back to him. "It must be exciting being a third year. I can only imagine what your classes must be like," she half rambled as she spun some of her pasta onto her fork.

She half stuffed the over-stuffed fork into her mouth and chewed as carefully as she could to keep from getting any sauce on herself or spit any pasta out at him by accident. After she swallowed she found like a million more question swimming through her head about her other house mate. Before the curious little sprite could stop herself she heard herself bombarding him with questions. "So how do you like being here at Sonora? It must be way different from home, huh? Do you have any siblings or are you an only child like me? Are you from Arizona too like my friend Waverly?" She could hear the questions pour out of her mouth and she half way hoped that hadn't just scared the poor guy with them. She was curious by nature and knew that sometimes she tended to go slightly overboard. She hoped this was not one of those times.

As she blushed slightly she apologized for practically assualting him with questions. "Gosh, I'm really sorry if I just went overboard just then. I have a tendency to do that sometimes. Can't help myself sometimes," she grinned sheepishly, as she pushed her fork around her plate before stuffing more pasta into her face to keep her from talking more. "You really don't have to answer any of those questions if you don't want to." She offered him an apologetic smile as she waited for him to either laugh at her or ignore her.

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari Thanks 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Sully

June 16, 2012 11:11 AM

Welcome by Sully

Sully handed the first year the bowl of spaghetti, then retrieved it to fill up his own plate again when she was done. It hadn't been a long trip on the wagon - not compared to some of the people who were coming from the East Coast - but it still left him famished. Plus, Sonora elves cooked better than his mom did, so he hadn't eaten much before he left.

Having opened conversation, Sully wasn't surprised that she started talking to him now even though they had eaten their first plates in relative silence. What did surprise him was the sheer volume of questions she fired in his direction.

He blinked at her a few moments, trying to figure out how to start answering them all (at least, the ones he remembered, he was sure he couldn't remember them all; his grades proved well enough that his memory was certainly fallible). She took the moment of glazed silence to apologize and try to take back her questions, evidently concerned that she'd broken his brain.

"No, it's fine," he promised. "Sully's good," he added, too, so she didn't try to call him something else, though since he hadn't offered his full name or surname, he wasn't sure what else she might call him. A made-up nickname? Extrapolate that Sullivan was the most likely name that Sully was short for? Or worse, Mister Sully? Sully narrowly avoided a mental shudder.

"And I have one older sister, but she's a muggle so she doesn't come here," he added, "We're from Nevada. Las Vegas, actually. Where are you from?" he asked, thinking it only fair that he could return some of her questions back on her.

There had been more, but he kind of forgot what they had been. He twirled a forkful of spaghetti and lifted it up off his plate as he asked, "What else did you ask? I have enough trouble answering all the ones on tests and they're written down." He stuffed the spaghetti into his mouth and chewed while she answered.

0 Sully Welcome 0 Sully 0 5

Clara

June 19, 2012 1:11 AM

Las Vegas must be neat by Clara

Clara was actually relieved that he didn't seem mad at her for bombarding him with questions and watched as Sully took a bite of his spaghetti and thought back to the questions she had fired at him. Since he had already told her he had a sister that answered the sibling question and since he said he was from a place called Las Vegas that answered the "where are you from" question as well. Clara heard him ask where she was from and she finished chewing her bite of food before she replied. "I'm from Napa Valley California," she told him before taking another bite. "My dad and I live on a large vineyard with my nanny, Lucy." Since Clara didn't have any siblings and her cousins were about as close as it got to them, she had always wondered what it was like to actually have one.

But before she asked that question she remembered that he had asked about the other ones she had asked him. "Well, I had asked if you were from Arizona, but I know now the answer to that question is no," she chuckled slightly. "I had also asked if you had any siblings which you've already answered as well. I think the other question I asked was how you liked being here at Sonora. It's my first time going to a magic school so I really have no idea what to expect outside of having to use magic of-course." She smiled at the last part. "This may sound like a strange question, but what is having an older sister like? I mean, I have an older cousin and she's like an older sister, she goes here too, but I've always wondered what having a sibling is like. Whenever I ask my cousin Arista that question she always rolls her eyes and says they're a pain. Do you think she's right? Are having siblings a pain?" She watched him curiously, her sapphire eyes and freckled face half turned to her own plate.

0 Clara Las Vegas must be neat 232 Clara 0 5

Sullivan

June 22, 2012 1:40 PM

Eh. It's home. by Sullivan

Napa Valley, vineyard, nanny. These three factors led Sullivan to believe his younger housemate was of the wealthy variety of Sonora student. It wasn't neccesaily a bad thing, but he became suddenly aware of the secondhand nature of his robes and the piece of duct tape that served as an integral part of his left shoe.

As she continued talking, it seemed he had done a better job of hitting most of her questions than he'd thought he had. Either that or she'd forgotten some of them, too, which might be more likely given the sheer volume. She seemed more interested in Karen, anyway, which completely baffled him. Must be an only child thing.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but your cousin is right. Siblings are a pain. I'd be happy to give you Karen, if you'd like," he offered hopefully. "She's fifteen and thinks she knows everything."

He didn't ask about her mom, though he had noted that she said she lived with her dad. It was none of his business and he hated it when people asked about his dad. He just put in a mental note that she was also probably from a single parent household, albeit one much more well off than his own.

He took another bite of spaghetti and when he was mostly done chewing it, he asked, "You have any ideas what you might do for the concert? Something, maybe, that you might need a taller," taller as opposed to tall, but he definitely had relativity working for him when addressing a first year, "guy to carry things for you?"

0 Sullivan Eh. It's home. 0 Sullivan 0 5

Reggie

June 24, 2012 7:56 PM

I'm so happy you agree! by Reggie

Maddie and Derry were both right about Divinations. There probably wasn’t any issue about joining the class and the worst she could do after she asked was to be told ‘no’. If she couldn’t get into the class, it wasn’t like she could ask anyone about her ‘abilities’. Now that she knew Flora, she had a bit of a connection to her mother’s family (even though they didn’t discuss the ‘Bellrose Gift’ during the break because they had been too busy getting to know one another), but she also had Derry’s relative with whom Reggie could meet and talk about everything with (besides, it gave her an excuse to check out Derry’s relatives). “Thanks, Der!” Reggie exclaimed with a smile, “I would love to make copies of your notes if I get into the class.”

Reggie had been working on the idea of the movie for a long time. Ever since last year’s Charms class, really. And even though she felt that a script would make it that much better, she wasn’t actually a writer and couldn’t figure out how to make it work. She could, however, picture it in her head just fine and as long as they did it scene by scene, they could capture her vision rather well. They would just have to make sure they had enough zombies and maybe find someone who is more equipped to handle a camera than she was. But, she figured, with everyone having to participate, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find extras for their film. Although, their school is mostly filled with people from Derry’s background, Reggie wasn’t sure if they would have any idea to what she was asking them to do, but she would work on that when that problem arrived. For now, just getting people was an issue.

She laughed into her hand when Derry demonstrated a zombie to them. She was really happy that they agreed to do the movie with her. The concert provided them with a ton of opportunities that they could have really done what they wanted, so it felt good knowing that they didn’t mind doing something with her. Especially since the movie was completely on her. Man, she really hoped it worked out for them all…

“Sort of like that, Derry.” Reggie said, “Less Frankenstein’s monster and more blood, but I think you get the idea quite well. My idea of the movie was that a scientist wanted to find the cure of some horrific disease that had taken the life of his family, but in the process, he, instead developed this awful virus that kills and is transferred through bites. Starts with a lab rat and it is just an awful mess after that. And the main characters would be a young couple in love who get mixed into the whole thing and the male gets bitten, so they have to say farewell to one another. But, instead of like most zombie flicks, the male zombie still sort of remembers her and it’s a forever eternal struggle not to try to eat her.” Reggie explained quickly, leaving her slightly breathless, both from running out of air and from excitement. “How does that sound?”

6 Reggie I'm so happy you agree! 187 Reggie 0 5

Arista

June 25, 2012 8:55 PM

Oh well, was worth a shot... by Arista

Arista didn’t think she was too bad a singer, she just wasn’t a big fan of singing in front of other people. The thing with Ris was that if this was supposed to be something families were supposed to go to she knew that her father wouldn’t go unless it had anything to do with Alexander. Which this did not. And her mother had just had Aerie and then there was always the added issues about all the other little siblings and Aislynn’s doctors as well as Audi and Ashlings appointments and tutors. She wouldn’t be able to go either. What’s the point, really? she thought to herself as she sighed.

There was no chance of not doing anything about participating though. It was mandatory. Ris looked towards Kirstenna and asked her what she’d do and as Kirstenna answered her, she spooned a pile of spaghetti into her plate.

“Well, I’m definitely going to sing. What about you?” Kirstenna answered.

“I guess I could sing too, but I dunno. There’s something about singing in front of other people that’s completely different than playing Quidditch in front of even more…” she said. “It’s not that I’m nervous, its just…” She started. “I mean, well, I guess I am kinda nervous.” she finished, a surprised look broke out on her face. “I wish I could Chase for this… I wouldn’t do too bad, would I?” she asked her Captain as a sort of joke, but still she wondered what the honest answer would be.

I wonder if I could do some sort of circus act or something with flying and all? she thought to herself. Maybe something with crazy stunts or whatever? she thought as she looked at Kirstenna waiting on her answer.

Once Kirstenna answered her, she looked to her Captain and asked, “What do you think you might sing?”

0 Arista Oh well, was worth a shot... 0 Arista 0 5

Clara

June 27, 2012 6:38 PM

Don't know yet....maybe by Clara

Clara giggled when Sully offered to give her his sister Karen. Clara had never had a sister much less an older one. She wrinkled her nose slightly when she heard him say her cousin Amira was right about siblngs. "I don't know so much about Mira being right," she began. "I think she says it mostly cuz she's the oldest of like 16 kids. When you have that many siblings I can see how you could think they are a pain." She laughed slightly, putting another bite of spaghetti in her mouth. She chewed it up and swallowed before she spoke again. "Besides, at least she has both of her parents especially her mom. Mine died when I was really little so I don't know what she's really complaining about. At least she had someone to play with growing up even if my other cousins are kind of noisy and nosey," she grinned about the last part. She knew that despite all the complaining Amira did about her younger siblings that she loved them all dearly. Heaven help anyone who threatened one of them. Clara had seen Amira angry once and it was NOT pretty.

"Anyways, I'm sure that eventually you'd miss Karen and ask for her back, but it was nice of you to make the offer. Besides I think she'd want to come home after spending the day with me. I'm not known for being very graceful. I'm willing to bet that there has to be at least one thing about your older sister that you like," she teased him lightly smiling. Clara thought about Sully's qustion when it came to the concert. She hadn't really thought about what she might do for it to be honest. She shrugged lightly at the first part of his question. "I'm not really sure. I was thinking I might play my violin or something," she replied simply. "I can sort of sing, I can't really dance, I can play a couple of instruments really well. I could try doing some horseriding tricks for it, but I highly doubt the headmistress would allow that. I suppose I could astound everyone with my ability to crash my broomstick into the floor, but that might require rebuilding the stage afterwards and my being rushed to the hospital wing so I guess thats out," she rambled off ideas.

"So I think I'm gonna stick with the violin playing thing," she told him finaly. "I'm not sure yet if I'll need any help carrying anything, but it was definately very sweet of you to offer. You're welcome to come up to the music room and hear me practice if you'd like. You can tell me if you think I should play or not. Be nice to play for someone other than my cousins for a change," she laughed slightly. She took another bite while she waited for him to reply.

0 Clara Don't know yet....maybe 232 Clara 0 5

Amira Thornton, Pecari

June 27, 2012 9:58 PM

Are you kidding? by Amira Thornton, Pecari

Amira knew that coming back to school left Abi in charge of the littler siblings and that it brought her closer to her debut as a Chaser. The first thing didn’t bother her at all. Though she knew that her younger sister didn’t want anything to do with the others; Abigail was no people person, even Amira knew that; she’d be fine. It was the second thought that kept bouncing into her thirteen year old head that was the issue.

Chaser… she repeated over and over in her head. I’m no Chaser… I’m a Seeker. she added to herself as a mosquito flew by her head. “No way.” she said as she clapped the bug between her two hands, squishing it. A smile graced her face as she looked at it and wiped it on her robes. Sure, she was starting to get curves and look like a young lady, but that didn’t mean that bugs or dirt was a bad thing to her. She wasn’t afraid of anything like that and she was reasonably sure that she never would be.

Regardless of her desire for term to not resume thanks to being placed as Chaser rather than Seeker, it had to begin. So there she was back on the wagon once more. This time lugging her older sister Addison, her trunk, their oldest sister’s trunk as well as her own, Amira was about to snap. She turned away from Addison and gave up, pulling Arista’s trunk and her own to where they needed to be and went over to the Pecari table. She saw Clara already talking to Sully and she smiled and waved to her younger cousin before sitting down a few seats away in the closest empty chair to where she stood and she looked around her, smiling at her fellow housemates. Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau stood in front of them all and she watched her as she cast the Sonorus Charm on herself to tell them to quiet down. Mir glanced to be sure her very talkative cousin was quiet and then turned back to the Headmistress to see what she was going to tell them.

At first it was the normal message which didn’t mean much to the Third Year Pecari. However, once the welcoming was over Professor Lowrski was introduced and though Divination wasn’t top on her list, she’d always wondered what it was all about. She took a mental note to talk to the new professor to see what her class would be all about to decide if she wanted to take it or not. Once that was finished, the conversation went to the Midsummer Event over in Phoenix. Right… Like Mom and Dad would come… she thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. We’d have more luck getting Aunt Charlotte who’s children don’t go to Magical School yet to come… she added to herself as she shook her head when it was told to them that it was mandatory.

“Mandatory?” she said, staring at one of her neighbors as if to ask them if she’d heard their Headmistress correctly. When Professor Kijewski-Jareau went on talking about it, that told Mira that indeed she wasn’t kidding. It was mandatory and she didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Amira thought about the things that she knew how to do and wondered what of it she could use as either an act or something to do backstage, but nothing came to mind off the bat and she sulked about it as well as about the upcoming game. The game loomed defiantly in front of her as the food appeared in front of the students.

“Right…” she said to her neighbor as she spooned some soup into her bowl.

0 Amira Thornton, Pecari Are you kidding? 0 Amira Thornton, Pecari 0 5

Kirstenna

July 01, 2012 10:32 PM

Sorry by Kirstenna

"Well, singing in front of crowds isn't for everyone." Kirstenna told the younger Teppenpaw. It was true. Some people were terrible singers. Some had okay voices but didn't think they were that good, which she figured was Arista's problem with doing so. Then, some people were terribly shy and really, Kirstenna didn't think it was fair to make them get up in front of a bunch of people.

The more she thought about it actually, the worse the concert being mandatory seemed. Certainly, the sixth year was ecstatic to be a part of it, to sing in front of everyone. She didn't like to be arrogant, but Kirstenna knew that she had a really good singing voice. She'd been performing since she was little. She'd been born into the circus and been doing so her whole life.

However, she knew being onstage was not for everyone. Some people just didn't have that sort of talent or inclination. It was okay, they were likely to be good at other things and that was what made the world work. If everyone did the same things, had the same talents, there would be too people doing them and not enough doing other things that needed to get done. Everyone had their purpose in life, their role.

"I think the difference between singing and playing Quidditch is that when you're singing, it's just you. The focus is all on you, whereas Quidditch is a team effort." Or at least it was supposed to be. Kirstenna felt certain team members could have pulled their weight a little more. Of course, it would have helped if the Imposter's nefarious schemes were not at work as well. That was the main issue.

She also figured that Arista might have been more comfortable in a group. From what Kirstenna gathered, the fifth year was from a huge family, whereas the older girl was an only child. She was more used to being alone. It had been very difficult for Kirstenna's mother to even be pregnant with her . Not because the pregnancy itself was difficult, but because her mother couldn't perform during it.

The sixth year smiled at the other girl. "You would do excellent." She told Arista. "I really appreciated your efforts in the game." Kirstenna truly did. It wasn't the fifth year's fault that the Quidditch Coach was an evil sociopath bent on destroying them-particularly the sixth year-anyway she could.

"I'm not really sure what I'm going to sing yet." Kirstenna admitted. There were just so many songs out there to choose from.

11 Kirstenna Sorry 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Arista

July 18, 2012 8:06 PM

Eh, its alright... by Arista

"Well, singing in front of crowds isn't for everyone." Kirstenna said. Arista nodded her agreement. “That’s true. I mean, Not gonna lie or anything, I could NEVER see my sister Addison singing in front of US, not to mention other people!” the fifth year said. “Though, Brielle would do it in a heartbeat.” she added and smiled at the emphatic energy that her younger sister possessed. Arista herself, knew that she had a little bit of talent. She’d never say that she was really good at singing, not nearly half as good as Brielle, that was for sure.

Arista knew that her better talent was flight. Chasing mostly, and she knew it. If only I could play Quidditch for the show… she thought to herself again as Kirstenna spoke about the difference between singing and playing their beloved game. “That’s true. Singing onstage is different, just as you said. And Quidditch is supposed to be a team effort…” she added, thinking about the lack of effort on the part of some of her teammates in the last game.

Ris mentioned that she wished she could Chase for the show and actually asked Kirstenna if she thought she would do okay. True, she didn’t really need to hear the answer, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to… Thankfully, it seemed that Kirstenna hadn’t taken it for a rhetorical question and answered Arista’s query with a smile on her face.

"You would do excellent. I really appreciated your efforts in the game." The oldest Thornton beamed at her Captain’s praise of her and the red-head couldn’t remember a time in the recent past where she’d been as happy as she was right then and there.

After the ear to ear grin actually faded enough for her to speak, Arista asked Kirstenna what she thought she’d sing. Kirstenna’s answer was much the same as Arista’s would be if asked the same question and the fifth year nodded to her. “I understand that feeling… Would you do something yourself? Or with someone else?” she asked, an idea forming in her head if her friend said she might sing with someone else.

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