Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau
January 15, 2013 7:37 PM
Challenge Team List by Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau
It had been a long process for Kiva to figure out where to place the students. At first, she had simply used a spell and randomly selected the teams without giving it much thought. But then the teams hadn’t made any sense and there were teams with just younger years and vice versa. That would never work. So then she had tried to organize the teams based on level, but that ended up with the Seventh years being mainly with First and Second years and that didn’t seem very fair at all. So, she had spent a few nights just trying to get the teams as reasonable as she could and when she had thought she had done a pretty thorough job of it, she realized that some of them may not be too happy because they may not have known or been comfortable with their teams. So, she spent a few more nights working out the teams and trying to figure out who may be friends with whom.Since she was no longer a teacher, she did not have direct contact with the students, so this was harder for her to do. She watched them during meal times though to see who sat with who as well as watched them in the halls. When she couldn’t figure out who a person was friends with, she placed them with either a roommate or a classmate. Unfortunately, some of the Sixth and Seventh years weren’t able to be with friends since they were ‘leading’ these teams. Hopefully, people wouldn’t be too upset over the teams as they had been over Quidditch, something she was still appalled about considering Sonora was never meant to be so intense on the sport and more of an academic school, but since the challenges were meant to force people outside of their comfort zones, they’ll have to get over it.
Listed on the Hall board were the teams for all to see:
Team One
1. Sara Rains
2. Fae Sinclair
3. Alex Deveraux
4. Henny Boxton-Fox-Reynolds
5. Analea Thornton
6. Omara Hernandez
Team Two
1. Eliza Bennett
2. Sully Quincy
3. Jhonice Trevear
4. Carrie O’Malley
5. Clarissa Clark
6. Carter Browning
Team Three
1. Kate Bauer
2. Solomon Asa Davies
3. Jorge Garcia
4. Jade Owen
5. Bianca Stratford
6. Wendy Canterbury
Team Four
1. David Wilkes
2. Ayita Jareau
3. Thad Pierce
4. Evan Brockert
5. Henry Carey
6. Francesca Wolseithcrafte
Team Five
1. Ryan O’Malley
2. Sally Manger
3. Angel Jareau
4. Lucrezia Renaldi
5. Jude Butler
6. Aurora Royale
Team Six
1. James Owen
2. Josh McLachlan
3. Liam Ammon
4. Aria Yale
5. Willow Collins
6. Gemma Bennett
Team Seven
1. Valentina Bentacourt
2. Hope Brockert
3. Alicia Bauer
4. Andrina Thornton
5. Rajid Ambrose
6. William Casey
Team Eight
1. Marcus Williams
2. Phoenix Lucore
3. Arabella Brockert
4. Theresa Carey
5. Charlie Boxton-Fox-Reynolds
6. Julian Babineux
Team Nine
1. Jordan Adair
2. Arnold Carey
3. Aubrielle Thornton
4. Clara Abernathy
5. Rupert Princeton
6. Amity Brockert
Team Ten
1. Sophie Jamison
2. Kitty McLevy
3. Meghan Brownbriar
4. Alex D’Alesandro
5. Enion Whitebriar
6.
Team Eleven
1. Daisy Thorpe
2. Maddie Parry
3. Ephanie Lucore
4. Heaven Baird
5. Lucian D’Alesandro
6.
Team Twelve
1. Arista Thornton
2. Addison Thornton
3. James Carey
4. Marcos Crosby
5. Blair Castellano
6. Ravenna Stockwell
Team Thirteen
1. Renee Errant
2. Alice Adair
3. Elijah Errant
4. Solomon Bensalem
5. Honey Baird
6. Neeka Campbell
Team Fourteen
1. Preston Stratford
2. Cepheus Princeton
3. Gareth Whitebriar
4. Annette Pierce
5. Annabelle Pierce
6. Jade Phoenix
Team Fifteen
1. Regina Parker
2. Nora Dobson
3. Eris Ackert
4. Waverly Canterbury
5. Isabel Raines
6. Effie Arbon
Team Sixteen
1. Josephine Owen
2. Attoria Covington
3. Melanie Lennox
4. Lucille Carey
5. Julian Umland
6. Jeweliah Dyste
Team Seventeen
1. Arthur Carey
2. Lawrence Stratford
3. Amira Thornton
4. Adam Spencer
5. Keme RunningBear
6. Malcolm Carey
Team Eighteen
1. Derry Pierce
2. Brianna Japos
3. Linus Macaulay
4. Alan Raines
5. Anthony Carey
6.
Team Nineteen
1. Russell Layne
2. Michael Grosvenor
3. Mellie Goodwin
4. Abigail Thornton
5. Avalon Dare
6.
Team Twenty
1. Topher Calhoun
2. Valerie Lennox
3. Paul Bennett
4. McKinley Andrews
5. Percival Waterford II
6. Virginia Bellrose
OOC: This was posted a couple of weeks into the new term. If you do not see your name anywhere on this sheet, let me know and I’ll fit you somewhere.
Please note that challenges will be written in the same style as Quidditch. This means that there is no posting order. Basically, if you know an author is unavailable, you do not have to wait on that author to post. However, posting rules do still apply. Give people a chance before continuous posting. Remember, these challenges mean points for your house. The more creative your posts are, the more points your team receives. If your posts are unrealistic or break the site rules, your team will lose points. Be on the watch for the first challenge!
Subthreads: Much better than I thought. by Aria Yale
...I really am cursed. by Alicia Bauer with William Casey
Go Thestrals! by Jade Owen with Kate Bauer, Jorge Garcia
Tagging the members of Team One by Henny B-F-R with Alex Devereux, Fae Sinclair
To my esteemed colleagues of Team Seventeen by Arthur Carey with
Following the trend amd calling Team Four! by Thad Pierce with David Wilkes, Francesca Wolseithcrafte, Henry Carey
Meeting and Greeting Team Eighteen by Derry Pierce with Brianna Japos
A Notice for Team Fifteen by Regina Parker
Meeting with Team Eight by Marcus Williams with Charlie B-F-R, Arabella Brockert
Team Sixteen by Josephine Owen with Jeweliah Dyste, Melanie Lennox, Josephine
Looking it over. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan
Calling Team 12 by Arista Thornton with Addison Thornton
Team Five meeting posted in library. (nm) by Ryan O'Malley
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Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau
Challenge Team List
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Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau
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Rajid Ambrose
January 18, 2013 11:59 PM
Reporting for duty by Rajid Ambrose
The details given at the feast about the upcoming challenges had been vague at best. The headmistress had announced that more would be coming as the events drew closer, but Rajid couldn’t help but be a little surprised that they only clarification they’d received thus far had been a list of all of the teams. He didn’t know anyone well enough to be upset about his assignment, but he was a little dismayed by the lack of older males on team seven. It seemed reasonably balanced as far as age went though, and he was almost glad he wasn’t the only first year on the team. Rajid didn’t doubt that he’d be able to carry his own weight, even if his age was a disadvantage.Once more details were released, the first year had every intention of studying up so he didn’t make a fool out of himself. He had enough in life stacked against him— he didn’t want to add another.
Everyone seemed to be abuzz with talk of the teams, and it appeared that many of them were gathering prior to the challenges. That made sense, in a way, but it wasn’t as if they could discuss strategy or anything when they didn’t know what they were up against. Unless, of course, they’d done something like this in the past, which was an avenue the Ambrose boy hadn’t considered until just then. He figured he ought to find out whether his was one of these preassembling groups, and fought through the crowd looking for anyone who might be advertising for group seven.
Flaming letters caught Rajid’s eye and he made his way over to the girl sitting alone at beneath the words he’d been searching for.
“Good day.” He said, bowing politely before taking a seat across from the girl. “I’m Rajid Ambrose, son of Quintus and Malak Ambrose.” Rajid wasn’t one to make assumptions, but it would have made sense to him if the team captains were older students. However, seeing as this was a competition, it made more sense to him that the students with the best abilities should take point. He wasn’t sure which one was the case in this situation as the girl across from him didn’t seem like a 7th year. Then again, he wasn’t great at judging people; maybe she wasn’t the captain at all.
“Any idea what these challenges might be about?”
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Rajid Ambrose
Reporting for duty
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Rajid Ambrose
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Alicia Bauer
January 19, 2013 1:10 AM
Welcome, trooper. by Alicia Bauer
Alicia looked up at the boy who approached her after she put up the team seven announcement, but not very far, since he was one of the first years. More specifically, her first year, at least going by the badge on his robes. With that thought in mind, she didn’t get up to curtsy, but she did incline her head a little as he sat down and introduced himself. Her thick dark hair fell forward over her shoulder as she did, but didn’t make it into her face because of the plain sky-blue headband holding it back, an accessory which exactly matched her blue dress and shoes.“Hi, Rajid, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said with a warm smile. “I’m Alicia Bauer, I’m in your House, too. We’ll have to stick together.”
She omitted the names of her parents, since she did not consider them important. Normally Alicia only thought of her parents at all when reading one of their letters, writing to Momma to get something sent to her, or when something reminded her of the disadvantages they had saddled her with in life. And, of course, near holidays, when she was faced with the unpleasant thought of going back to them and having to put up with them for long periods of time, but it was far too early in the year to worry about that.
“I’m afraid not,” she said with a small frown when he asked if she knew anything about the challenges, the downward sweep of her long eyelashes and heavy eyelids concealing the extent to which that really bothered her for the second she allowed herself to feel it. “They’ve never done anything like this before, and if anyone I know knows anything, they’re not talking.”
She should, she knew, try to pump Evan for information later once she suppressed the anger the sight of anyone connected to the staff brought out in her today, but she wasn’t planning to tell this group much about it even if he did give her something, so she was comfortable enough saying that. “So we’ll just have to be ready for anything,” she finished, with a bright smile. “I think we can manage that. Have you met William Casey yet? He’s the other first year in our group.” And not an Aladren, but the first years clumped often enough even in classes they had with the second years, so it was possible they’d met and that he could give her some idea of what their other new person was like ahead of time.
Glancing along the table for approaching others, she saw that Thad, too, had started up his group and tried to catch his eye for a second. If she could just make this a friendly competition between her friends, then she would be okay. It would all be okay. She just had to keep everyone okay until she came up with a way to cement things, which she had to do soon, as hard as she was thinking about it. She never failed once she set her mind to something.
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Alicia Bauer
Welcome, trooper.
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Alicia Bauer
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Rajid Ambrose
January 21, 2013 2:01 AM
Thanks.....captain? by Rajid Ambrose
Rajid was pleasantly surprised by Alicia’s greeting. He had this misconception that older students would automatically perceive him as an inconvenience, particularly in a situation where competition was involved. However, being in a leadership role and having been assigned group members, it was possible that she was being polite and simply making the best of things. He heard his father’s voice in the back of his mind, reminding him to be careful about the people he associated with, but seeing as he didn’t have any choice in the matter, he pushed that thought aside. Plus, he couldn’t exactly demand to know the blood status of older students. Instead, the first year simply smiled, which was a rare occurrence.“It’s nice to meet you as well, Miss Bauer.” He said, trying to remember his manners even though he wasn’t entirely sure they were expected of him currently. Better to be over polite than get a howler from Father.
“That’s problematic. I guess it puts everyone at equal footing though, which could be good.” The Ambrose boy was a little disheartened when Alicia revealed that she didn’t know any more about the challenges than he did. She was right, they would have to prepare for just about anything, and with half of the team being Aladren, he didn’t think that would be much of a problem.
“Are you friends with any of the prefects? Do you think they know anything?” Rajid wasn’t entirely sure that not having an authoritative student on their team was going to be much of a disadvantage, but he also thought that they might be privy to more information than the rest of them. At least Alicia seemed positive about things; that was encouraging to the usually pessimistic first year.
Rajid didn’t reply right away when asked about the other first year in their group. He realized that he should probably remember them all by now, but his second major flaw was having a less than stellar memory—which could potentially pose a problem for his team. Plus he consistently got some of his classmates mixed up, what with two Julians, Jeweliah, and Jude. There were also two girls whose names were something to do with rhinestones, and there was the whole Carey versus Casey thing, and they were both of the same house.
“He’s a Pecari, I don’t know much beyond that, I’m sorry. I haven’t had the chance to really talk to him yet.” Rajid removed a small leather bound book and collapsible quill from the pocket just inside his robes and opened it. He hoped that the rest of the team would find them before long, but if they didn’t, he wanted to remind himself to get to know Will Casey a little better, and he wanted to write down Alicia’s name while it was still fresh in his memory. It wasn’t like Rajid to pursue relationships with people, but a small piece inside of him was starting to want to win this. He wrote what he needed to, but kept from tucking the book away—just in case.
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Rajid Ambrose
Thanks.....captain?
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Rajid Ambrose
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Alicia
January 21, 2013 8:31 AM
I knew I liked you. by Alicia
“You can call me Alicia,” Alicia said, pleased by the show of deference the use of her surname implied to her. “We’re teammates, right? I think that entitles us to first-name terms.”She made a small gesture with her head which might have meant anything when Rajid said it might be good that they would all start on an equal footing. Alicia didn’t believe in equality, and not just in the sense of thinking she should or shouldn’t have an advantage, either. That was a matter she could be indifferent on, but she truly didn’t believe there was a way to make the groups even roughly the same. Even with handicaps, some groups simply had the right people in them while others simply did not. Some people were just born better than others. There was nothing anyone could do about that. She, personally, didn’t want to, since she knew she was one of those who was better than the gutter she’d been born in, but even if she had thought about it differently, it would have been the same. Kate knew that, Alicia was sure of it.
Thinking of her sister reminded her of the continuing non-appearance of her sister’s roommate, but she ignored that. She could, if she had to, have a showdown with Valentina Betancourt later, and Rajid was asking good questions. She smiled at him again, thinking she had been right to think this one might be worth the time of day.
“I’m related to a few,” she said, thinking again of Kate, and also of Russell. She thought she had seen him as a team leader and was glad for him, even if they hadn’t really given him an optimal group, since it suggested he would at least be a contender for Head Boy. Of course, Arthur and Preston had received the same privilege, but what was life without a little real competition to spice it up? “They haven’t told me anything yet, but I’ll keep trying to get some information out of them until it’s time.” She briefly considered mentioning that their teammate Valentina might be able to help because she was a prefect’s roommate, just since that would give her a chance to call Valentina just a teammate and reinforce to her tiny audience that she was the leader, but she refrained from it. For one thing, she seriously doubted the effectiveness of Teppenpaws as spies, and for another, there was really no point to going to that much trouble with an audience of one.
While Rajid seemed to be mulling over his answer about the other first year she had to contend with, Alicia succeeded in catching Thad’s eye and exchanging smiles. He could, she guessed, have been trying to offer a smile that suggested a desire to cut her throat in a challenge as soon as possible, but she didn’t think so, and was too relieved by anything as friendly as smiling to want to try to analyze it that way anyway. No, these were smiles of their unspoken superiority to their classmates, and she wouldn’t hear otherwise.
“It’s okay,” she said reassuringly when Rajid said he hadn’t had an opportunity to meet William Casey yet, but did please her further by having a notebook on him. It was a typically Aladren gesture, and a little too picturesque for her to do it herself, but there were still things she liked to see. “We’ve only been here – what, two or three weeks?” Long enough for her to turn fifteen, anyway. “You’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other during this. It would be great, though, if you could maybe start to get to know other first years in general, you know, see what they’re good at in classes, to help us out. It’s a good job for an Aladren.”
If she could quietly slip a little distance between the others, that could be to her benefit, too, if they all liked her, or at least couldn’t get support up behind another leader. Divide and conquer, it was basic, and this one was right in front of her, just begging to be snapped up. “On...sort of a related note, how are you with a wand so far? Is there a class you think you especially excel at?” She couldn't plan much of a strategy around people she had no information about, after all.
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Alicia
I knew I liked you.
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Alicia
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Valentina Bentancourt
January 21, 2013 5:12 PM
And I have arrived! by Valentina Bentancourt
The challenges had the whole school in uproar. The Spaniard didn’t necessarily think it was going to be the best time of her life, but she was sure it would be fun to in some level. Mostly because she would be able to socialize with people she didn’t really know and that was extremely exciting. However, she was really worried about how the challenges were going to interrupt her dancing schedule. Ever since the seventh-year had started the upper level-classes, she had a tad more free time to focus on her main craft. More importantly, she had a work-shop to look forward to that would dictate the rest of her dancing career. Her new dance teacher, Madame Tradeu, had been adamant on sticking to her practice hours. Her whole future depended on it.Talking about the challenges, Valentina had just seen the team assignations on the board of the Cascade Hall. She read it and was sad to see she had absolutely no idea who the people listed with her were, other than she was sure Alicia was related to Kate in some way or another. No matter, it was an opportunity to meet them! She made a mental note to send everyone an owl, once she had the time and utensils to write the names down, but someone was doing it already. The Spaniard saw out of the corner of her blue-eyes a banner for her team. Oh well, something less she had to do now.
The Teppenpaw walked towards them with the confidence of an upper level classmate, but with a big friendly smile on her lips. “Hi!” she greeted everyone with a cheery tone and her characteristically accent. The girl sat down next to the boy, “I am Valentina,” she introduced herself without her friendliness faltering.
She leaned on the chair and crossed her legs, feeling more comfortable than sitting “correctly”. Her mother would frown at her lack of manners and ladyness. Valentina had never been the conventional pureblood girl, and she was quite happy like that, since she didn’t like pretentious people. She thought they were a waste of time because they had no idea who they were and masked that with superiority ideas. “So, what will our plan be?” she asked the two other people with her. Being a leader wasn’t something she excelled at, so she was happy with leaving that task to someone else.
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Valentina Bentancourt
And I have arrived!
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Valentina Bentancourt
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Rajid Ambrose
January 25, 2013 10:40 AM
Welcome to the team by Rajid Ambrose
Rajid nodded when Alicia suggested he use her first name. That made sense, they were on the same team, even if she were a few years older. Plus he didn’t think he’d like being called Mr. Ambrose very much—that was definitely his father’s title. With her name written down in his notebook, the first year felt confident that he’d remember to call her Alicia and not Miss Bauer. He only hoped she’d be able to overlook it if he slipped up.He probably shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was when Alicia revealed that she was actually related to some of the schools prefects. Whether that was better or worse than being friends with them was beyond the first year, however. He knew if his sister Lelia or one of his cousins were prefects, it’d be likely that they’d try to sabotage him in the tasks rather than aid him—his sister definitely would. The Ambroses was definitely a competitive bunch, and money and power often were valued higher than family.
“I think any information would be useful at this point.” Rajid said, though now he was only stating the obvious. The uncertainty of it all was really starting to bother him. They didn’t know what the challenges would be, and that was irritating enough, but Rajid had to take into consideration of when they would be—and that part was particularly stressful for the boy. He was aware of the fact that some of the staff knew about his medical condition, and that they would likely plan around it, but logic often gave way to fear and anxiety when that was involved.
“True.” He said in response to how long they’d been in school, slightly relieved that he wasn’t expected to know everything right off the bat. Then again, he reminded himself, Alicia was team captain—not his father. Reconnaissance was definitely up his alley. Despite being a “pretty face”, Rajid was (though he completely despised the term) a bit of a lone wolf. He was an observer and sat happily on the outside while everyone else went about their business. In fact, he was pretty sure he didn’t even talk to his roommate this much. That wasn’t a stretch either, considering Keme was as quiet as Rajid was, unless you counted flying class.
“That won’t be a problem. I can already tell you it’s pretty split down the middle as far as flying goes. “ He said, recalling flying class and how there seemed to be a whole lot more talking and playing around than actual flying; and that was only with those who managed to get off the ground in the first place. “Charms was a little less exciting. It took a few tries, but I think most people grasped the levitation spell alright.” Rajid added with a shrug, wondering if he should mention that he got it right the first try. He didn’t want to gloat or come off as overly cocky, though he definitely was prone to conceit.
“I’m above average for a first year when it comes to wand work,” He started, thankful for the first time in his life for all the magical theory lessons he was forced to suffer through before coming to Sonora. “Charms are fairly simple to me, so I imagine I’d do alright with minor transfiguration—once I study it a little more. Flying is second nature to me, potions are ok, and…”
Rajid paused for a moment, lightly scratching his left shoulder lightly. In his possession, he had several books on magical creatures and defensive strategies against them. He hadn’t read through all of them, and tended to stick to certain beasts, but he felt as though he’d absorbed enough information to call himself educated on the topics.
“I have a healthy knowledge of magical beings, including animals and half-breeds.” He said, trying not to wince too visibly at his choice of words. Luckily and overly bright greeting from someone named Valentina drew the attention off of the boy. She was pretty, but obviously older. Rajid smiled politely and bowed his head a little. He couldn’t remember her last name from the team list, and considered asking for it, but then he remembered what Alicia said—it was ok to use first names. At least he hoped Valentina also felt that way.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Valentina. I’m Rajid.” It felt a little odd omitting surnames, but if she didn’t offer hers, he’d leave his out as well. There was no sense in being formal if the sentiment wasn’t going to be returned. As the Teppenpaw girl asked about the plan, he let his gaze return to Alicia. Apparently she really was the team leader.
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Rajid Ambrose
Welcome to the team
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Rajid Ambrose
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Andrina Thornton
January 26, 2013 1:38 PM
Joining in... by Andrina Thornton
When the team lists went up for the Challenges, Andri didn't want to look at them right away. A big part of her wanted nothing more than to be on Kitty's team, whichever that was. Kitty was for all intents and purposes, her best friend and she wanted to be with her. When the crowd dissipated from the lists, Andri walked up to them, using her pointer finger to go down the lists. She found her name in Team Seven, but Kitty's was under Team Ten. Andrina Thornton sighed, knowing now that she wasn't on a team with her best friend. She looked better on the list where her name was found, Valentina, Hope, Alicia, herself and two first years, a Rajid and a William. “Right...” she said softly. Two Teppenpaws, my roommate, two first years and me... she thought, wanting to suddenly hit her head off the wall. She and Alicia never really got along in all their four years there and she was pretty sure that wouldn't change now. Especially since she'd gotten biggest brain in the yearbook the year before and she was sure that Alicia thought she should have gotten it.Andrina saw Alicia and a sign that said Team Seven on it, but she didn't walk over there just yet. A smaller boy, probably the first year Aladren (if she saw him right) walked over to Alicia and sat across from her. Andri was close enough to hear his name. Clearly, as he introduced himself that way, he's a Pureblood... she thought, guessing that they wouldn't be at as big of a disadvantage as she'd originally thought. Rajid probably knew something of magic or at least had a guess at how things worked. Alicia asked about what Rajid knew of William and Andri listened, still far enough away for Alicia not to notice her. It wasn't that Andri was spying, she was more about trying to not spend as much time with Alicia there as possible. She found out that William was a Pecari from what Rajid said and she wondered if her sister or cousin knew anything of him yet to ask?
When Valentina, her sister Arista's roommate walked up to Alicia and Rajid, she wondered if it may possibly be okay for her to walk up too. No, I'm going to wait another minute... See what happens... She was being a normal Aladren, she couldn't help it.
When Valentina asked what the plan was, Andri was surprised at the seventh year. Why doesn't she want the leadership role? Alicia will end up killing our team! she thought as she made her way to the rest of them. With Valentina there, Andri was sure that Alicia wouldn't try anything. Though that didn't mean something wouldn't happen in their room later and she made up her mind to sleep with one eye open that night.
“Hello.” she said. “My name is Andrina Thornton.” she said, to Rajid. Alicia knew her name, and Andri guessed that Valentina could see her relationship with Arista in her traditional Thornton red hair.
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Andrina Thornton
Joining in...
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Andrina Thornton
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Alicia Bauer
January 26, 2013 4:51 PM
Let's get this show on the road. by Alicia Bauer
Alicia smiled, amused, when her potential minion made an obvious comment. “Knowledge is always useful,” she said. “Especially when it’s about something you have no choice but to try to excel at, but you know.”Knowledge was power. Power corrupted. She knew she was far from the first person to link those two clichés together in that way, noticing the parallel, but she wondered if the person who’d come up with the one which had been invented second had thought of it that way. If the second one had been the second coined, she wondered if the person who said it had been a bitter little man who never had either knowledge or power. She wondered too if the other Houses thought of it was a truth when it came to Aladren – if the other three did really think that a greater than statistically likely number of the members of her House were bad people because intelligence, which tended to lead to gaining knowledge and tended to do that even more in the atmosphere they created when thrown together for years on end, was one of their defining traits – and if it was wrong of her to be a little proud if they did.
She was pleased again when he didn’t seem at all shocked by her suggestion that he should watch the others and report on them, and even more when he began just telling her about his impressions of his classmates right then and there from their lessons. She wished she had something out to take notes with, but wasn’t going to dig around for paper while she was listening to him talk. It would draw attention to her being unprepared, which would never do.
“That’s an excellent start,” she said, smiling warmly, when he finished his recitation. “Thank you. The more of that you can give me, the better.”
She didn’t expect the first years to really be a factor in the games, because they, well, didn’t know enough to be really useful yet, so she had been expecting to just use the two on team seven as pawns in the prefect game by making sure the staff saw her being friendly and helpful to them, but she was not unhappy to hear that hers was apparently a little ahead of the pack, since she assumed an Aladren would know better than to lie to another Aladren about his capabilities. That kind of thing would backfire pretty quickly, especially in a competitive situation. Aladrens didn’t usually make good losers.
She caught his wince when he mentioned creatures and such – maybe he had a traumatic childhood memory? – but she was distracted from it by the arrival of, at last, Valentina Betancourt. Her stomach twisted itself into knots as the older girl sat down next to Rajid and introduced herself, and Alicia could only hope that nothing in her eyes was giving that away. She ducked to finally get that paper and a quill to help hide it if there was.
“And I’m Alicia,” she said when Rajid had introduced himself, her smile firmly in place. “It's really is a pleasure to meet you," she added warmly. She omitted any suggestion that she should have met the other girl before, since she had no plans to identify herself as Kate’s little sister if the relationship was not already known. She and Kate had never been close, so it was possible that her sister wouldn’t have talked about her that much to her roommate. Maybe. Anyway, even if Valentina knew, bringing attention to it would do no good, because then they would both see her as someone’s little sister, which was not a position of respect. “W – Rajid was just telling me about his skills and knowledge to help with planning the team strategy,” she said. “Rajid, would you mind making me a copy of your course syllabi, for the classes you have one in, just so we can see everything you’re going to have by game time? Thanks.” She turned to Valentina, her quill in hand. “Of course you’ll be our go-to girl for advanced spellwork,” she said with another smile. “Would you mind saying which RATS you’re in, just for the record?”
She smiled pleasantly when Andri joined them. "Hi, Andri," she said cheerfully. "Glad you joined us." This was a bald-faced lie, since she had never cared one way or the other about Andri's existence until the end of last year, when it had begun to offend her, but it was a necessary one. This game demanded a player who was firm, but in the most pleasant way possible. "Just to catch you up, we've started pooling our skills so we can plan a little better for the challenges once we find out more about them. Do you have anything you'd like to contribute?"
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Alicia Bauer
Let's get this show on the road.
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Alicia Bauer
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Andrina Thornton
January 26, 2013 10:00 PM
On the road again... by Andrina Thornton
Andri had walked over to the group of Team Seven people after Valentina had, and right away wished she hadn't. Alicia smiled pleasantly and was cheerful when she said she was glad that Andri had joined them. How fake is she?! Andri asked herself as she prepared to fake it right on back to her roommate.“Oh Alicia dah-ling! I wouldn't have missed it for the whole wide world!” she said, batting her eyes towards the roommate that she knew hated her very being this year, even though she didn't even care about her earlier on in their school career. That yearbook last year had been what had done it. They lived in the same room, but they barely spoke to begin with. Now whenever Andri was in their room she just felt hate all over. Like she was being watched, and she hated that. She hadn't done anything wrong to Alicia. She hadn't had anything to do with the making of the yearbook, so why Alicia was mad at her, was almost beyond her. Except for the fact that Alicia, just like herself, was an Aladren. Andri knew, that she wouldn't ever give up. Neither girl would. I'm a young woman, I am an Aladren and most of all, I am Andrina Reid Thornton. And I will NEVER give up. Never.
When Alicia told her what she'd missed, she listened politely and nodded to show she heard her. “I think that's a wonderful idea. If we pool our skills we'll know what we need to work on and who needs help with what. As far as what I'd like to contribute, I think we aught to all meet with everyone here to better discuss it.” she said, head held high and a smile on her face. “Don't you? That way everyone hears everything and there's no need to repeat.” Andri looked from Alicia to Rajid, then to Valentina, wondering what they would all have to say about her idea.
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Andrina Thornton
On the road again...
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Andrina Thornton
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Hope Brockert
January 27, 2013 9:37 AM
Here! by Hope Brockert
Hope was sort of excited about the challenges this year. Not that she was terribly competitive but they sounded like fun. Something different and exciting that the whole school could be involved in. On the other hand, people had no choice but to be involved, and there might be some people who didn't want to do this. Sort of like the concert two years ago. She was still going to enjoy herself no matter what though. There wasn't anything that they could ask her to do that would really bother her, not even flying the normal way.It would be a chance for her to experience something different, something she normally might not be allowed to do. Along with having to act proper, Hope had not been allowed to do much that was risky. Her mother was very concerned about safety and whatnot ever since Kaylie's accident. Therefore, the Teppenpaw had never been able to do anything remotely dangerous. Though she was honestly not sure she'd be good at any of those things anyway. She wasn't much of athlete probably in part because pureblood girls weren't raised to be. They were supposed to know how to dance at parties and there were other activities that were acceptable but Hope had never really gotten into any of them.
She didn't really know her teammates. One of them was one of Addison's sisters, and Valentina was one of the seventh years in her house. Alicia was friends with Evan's friend, Thad, but she wasn't close to Hope's brother and of course, she didn't know the two first years. The Teppenpaw had only heard of the ones in her own house because of Willow and these two were an Aladren and a Pecari. The name Ambrose sounded vaguely familiar but she'd never heard of William Casey at all. Her cousin hadn't met them either.
At least they had a full team though. Neither Russell nor Sophie did. Hope felt kind of bad for her friends. Usually, in Russell's case, the sixth year tended to root for him more than she wanted things for herself, but in this case, she kind of thought her team stood a good chance of beating his-Sophie's too-and she wasn't about to let them win as she doubted her own teammates would appreciate that and Hope didn't really want them to get mad at her. She doubted either of her friends would expect her to not do as well, so they could beat her, or would let her win, so she was still going to do her very best.
The Teppenpaw spotted her team in the Hall and walked up to them just in time to hear Andrina speak to Alicia. Why was she calling her 'dah-ling and batting her eyelashes'? That was kind of odd. Was she mocking pureblood girls? That was rude. And weird, considering that the other Aladren wasn't one. Or flirting with her, which was suggested by the eye batting? That was...okay. If Andrina Thornton liked girls, what did Hope care? Maybe it was just some goofy roommate thing. Some private joke between them.
She smiled at everyone. "Hello, I'm Hope Brockert, of the Colorado Brockerts." Introducing herself that way was second nature to her, even if they weren't from her social circle."But you can call me Hope." She knew who Valentina was and who Andrina was was pretty obvious and she'd heard her call the other girl Alicia which would have also been easy to figure out. "Are you Rajid or William?" Hope figured it was Rajid, given his looks, but one never knew.
"I think that idea sounds fine." Hope said. She couldn't see any problem with it. "I'm pretty good with wand work, especially Transfiguration and I'm not bad with magical creatures either. I can identify many of them and have experience with them from class and on my grandfather's ranch. I can also ride a flying horse." Somehow, horses were considered more proper than brooms.
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Hope Brockert
Here!
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Hope Brockert
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Rajid Ambrose
January 30, 2013 8:36 PM
And now we're all here...mostly by Rajid Ambrose
Rajid nodded, and took Alicia’s recommendations under advisement. Before long, the female population of group seven doubled, and Rajid wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself. He could have sworn he saw Will Casey eating a piece of bacon before sauntering out of the Hall without so much as a peep to the rest of the group. The Aladren boy wondered if he shouldn’t go after him, but he was being addressed in so many different directions, he lost track of the other first year and found himself at the mercy of four older girls.There seemed to be a little bit of tension surrounding the first year, and he hoped that this would all be ironed out come challenge time. That was the downfall of working in a predominantly female group—all of the emotions. He wrote down the other names in his notebook; Hope and Andrina and made sure to note that he needed to get a syllabus to Alicia as soon as he got them.
“Rajid Ambrose.” He said, looking to each girl and bowing his head politely as he addressed them.
He couldn’t quite figure out why Andrina had made such a big deal about waiting until everyone was there, and wanted to ask why it mattered as long as the team captain there, but he refrained. It was better not to ruffle any feathers of it wasn’t necessary. Instead he sat back and listened as the girls listed off their strengths.
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Rajid Ambrose
And now we're all here...mostly
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Rajid Ambrose
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