Team Sixteen on Cascade Hall

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

0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau Challenge Team List 0 Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau 1 5

Aria Yale

January 15, 2013 9:47 PM

Much better than I thought. by Aria Yale

Aria’s summer had been pretty easy going, minus a few things dealing with growing up. Her mother helped her through it and advised that it was just something that needed to happen. She was, of course, extremely excited about such things and wanted to go on a spiritual meditation with Aria as a way of celebrating (which Aria did to be polite), but Aria did not feel like it was something to celebrate. Her mother, however, also felt it was time for Aria to look the part of a growing female. They had done actual shopping. Her parents had been saving money for so long that they had a small fortune. That was news to Aria, she figured they must have spent some of the money, but they hadn’t. What was given to them in from the joint community pot was all put away in an account. It would someday be the money that they would give to Aria, either for college or for a life outside the community if she so chose to do. In the meantime, her mother wanted to spoil her a bit.

Coming to school, her mother had tried to use a potion to straighten her hair. Instead, it looked like Aria had merely given up half way through. This did not bother Aria in the slightest. She never really cared about how her hair looked. Her mother also allowed for her to pick out any clothes that she wanted. So, Aria picked out a bunch of graphic shirts and some jeans. She still wore her blouses and skirts, of course, but she liked to be able to switch it up too. On top of all that, her mother bought her a wireless. Aria had never heard music outside of the community. It amazed her so much. Not all of them, of course, but she found herself enjoying classic rock.

Since being back, Aria found herself in a mix of her new style. Some days her hair was half straight, other days it was a complete mess. Some days she was hippy with her long skirts and blouses, others she looked like a groupie. Most days though, she mixed them without any thought. Like most things in life, Aria went with what felt the most comfortable to her.

She had been anticipating the challenges. She thought that they would be the most fun. Not that she had ever been involved in anything like that, but it still seemed so fun and new. Probably a lot of work too, but she was up for it. Looking at the list, Aria discovered that she was in the same team as Liam. She hadn’t really been able to catch up with him very much, but now she could be with him all year! Or, at least, for however long the team saw fit to work things out together. She really didn’t know the rest of the members, but she was at least happy with Liam.

6 Aria Yale Much better than I thought. 228 Aria Yale 0 5

Alicia Bauer

January 16, 2013 12:52 AM

...I really am cursed. by Alicia Bauer

As she looked over the team lists for the fifth time, Alicia stood perfectly still, her arms crossed and her expression stony. Besides the shallow rise and fall of her chest, only the occasional downward flick of her long eyelashes or twitch of a muscle in her cheek revealed she was not, in fact, a statue of a girl with unusually realistic hair as she looked over the twenty clusters of names, and even her hair added a little to the impression because of how neat it was until she turned abruptly on her heel and, with a tremendous effort of will, forced herself to walk normally over to the Aladren table and sit down instead of stalking to it, visibly offended, or just blowing up right now so that the whole Hall could observe her extreme displeasure with the team arrangements. She still had a prefect’s badge next year to think about, after all, and she was better than half the idiot Quidditch players in this school anyway. She refused absolutely to sink to their level.

Harder to control, though, were the hard, bright red spots high on her cheekbones, and happy people didn’t normally hold the knife that came with their silverware in a white-knuckled grip, as though wishing to stick it into something more offensive than an apple. She sliced through the piece of fruit with more force than was necessary, the knife making a click every time it went through the bottom of the apple and hit the pretty ceramic plate, usually just missing the fingers of her other hand as it made its way down.

This was completely, utterly, and unquestionably unfair. Just reading the list was enough to prove that. Whoever was responsible had not, thank Merlin, been as uncharitable to Thad as to the rest of her friends – he had gotten Wilkes, who had to have some redeeming features she just hadn’t happened to spot if he’d made it to Head Boy, and got to be with Evan, who, while he was no prize normally, might come in useful in a few kinds of challenge and, more importantly, was someone her friend could at least stand to be around – and Henny had gotten the Head Girl in her group, but Alicia felt that she and Cepheus had practically been slapped in the face. He was on a disadvantaged team which, though the people actually on it were good, was a body short, and hers….

The knife hit the plate so hard she thought for a moment that it must have put a chip in the lacy border, and she decided to put it down.

Alicia took a deep breath and let it out again, trying to think logistically, since the deal was done now and she had to work with what she had to work with. She could maybe take the first year boy, the Aladren one, under her wing, he might be worth something, that would be good if he was. It wouldn’t do much, though, for the biggest challenge she was going to face during the challenges, whatever they were, but anything beat nothing, and it could be useful after they were over, if she didn't go absolutely insane being against her friends, even in something she was rapidly trying to redefine as small and trivial and stupid and unimportant, and having to deal with people no more than a step above family in desirability as partners for the whole year….

At least, she thought, with the grim ghost of a smile for a few seconds, she’d finally get to prove who the girl in their class with the Biggest Brain was. She was going flatten Andri Thornton like a bug.

She started eating her apple slices, still seething, if a little less violently now, over the injustices of the world.

16 Alicia Bauer ...I really am cursed. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Jade Owen

January 16, 2013 11:35 AM

Go Thestrals! by Jade Owen

Having located her name on the list, the very first thing Jade did was to take out her quill, cross out the title 'Team Three' and write above it the far more exciting title 'Thestrals.' The way she figured it, having a team name was way cooler than just having a dull old number. Having looked a little more closely at the students allocated as her teammates, Jade nodded, clearly pleased with her choice of dangerous animals. Just like a thestral, people would never see them coming until it was too late. Plus thestrals were seriously cool... or so she would guess, having only ever seen pictures, and how reliable were they, anyway?

This year was going to be fun, Jade could tell. The oldest in their team, and probably the Captain (Jade at once decided to make Kate the captain, or maybe even Admiral) was Kate Bauer. While she didn't know her personally, Jade thought Kate was probably okay. She also thought that she might possibly be her brother's girlfriend, as she'd heard him mention her a couple of times, and the only other girl he talked about by name was Eliza Bennett, who was clearly dating that tall Crotalus Keeper who'd graduated last year. There was also a Niffler Girl, but Jade wasn't really sure what all that was all about.

Anyway, she knew who Solomon Asa was, and nothing more about him, and she'd heard Bianca's name, probably. So she had nothing against them for now. Wendy was Little W, her roommate's sister, who loved ponies, so that was cool with Jade. Then there was Jorge, a moody little ogre who made Jade laugh, and who secretly might have been her first choice if their teammates had been optional. Yes, This year was going to be okay.

After scanning the list a couple more times, Jade conceded that she would consider switching places with either Theresa or Arabella, who had both been lucky enough to be drafted in a team containing both Marcus Williams and Phoenix Lucore (generally speaking, boys were icky and gross, not to mention stupid, but even Jade had eyes). Otherwise she was already on the best team. She didn't know what she'd done to deserve such good company, but she was going to keep on doing it. She turned her back on the list and bounced away with the echoing cry of "Go Thestrals!"

0 Jade Owen Go Thestrals! 221 Jade Owen 0 5

Henny B-F-R

January 17, 2013 1:15 PM

Tagging the members of Team One by Henny B-F-R

She, Thad and Alicia were all on different teams. Given that it was mixed age, mixed house that wasn't entirely surprising. She also thought it might be better than if they had been split two and one. She was quite sure Alicia would have never forgiven her if she'd managed to be on a team with Thad and without her. Her room mate, being a logical person, might have been able to stretch to the more reasonable being angry with the situation but Henny thought it was probably safer this way. She found it harder to explain why she would have been bothered at Thad and Alicia being alone without her. It would make them a competitive threat but she didn't really care about winning. She also knew enough other people in the school not to be really dependent on their friendship. But she did already feel like they knew each other better than she knew either of them. She guessed that was it. She didn't want an active reason to be left out of that group – they already spent more time as a pair than they did as a three, or than either of them did with her, and them being on the same team would have pushed her even further out.

She didn't really know enough about her team mates to know how to feel about them. Perhaps people thought having the head girl was a coup but Henny cared more about her team being people who could get along than she did about their skill levels. She guessed, or hoped, Sara was nice if people saw fit to vote for her. She thought a team meeting might be a good idea. She didn't expect them all to become best friends – after all, Fae and Sara were miles older than her and the other two miles younger. But it would be nice if they at least knew each other's faces before they had to get together for the first challenge. She knew who Sara was as she was head girl. She'd seen Fae in baking club. But she didn't think the older students would have any real reason to know who she was, and none of them – she suspected – knew any first years that they didn't happen to be related to (she had scanned the list for Charlie but didn't know what to feel, besides hoping the boys didn't bully him and the girls weren't snobs to him. Landing amongst a mix of boys and Purebloods was a virtual inevitability though, so he would simply have to cope). She could probably pick their first years out easily enough – they could be fairly sure they were looking for a Latina and a red head – but it would be nice to at least say 'hello.'

Coming down to breakfast the day after the challenge list was posted, she waved her wand over her head.

“Signum,” she cast, a large amorphous blue glow appearing above her head as she spoke. “Team one,” she said clearly, and the mist formed itself into these words, which hovered above her like a large neon sign. She could only hope her team mates had remembered their number – which, really was not a lot to ask – and that none of the older ones felt she was stepping on their toes. She was sure they were meant to be in charge and she was perfectly happy with that. She just wanted to actually have met them.

13 Henny B-F-R Tagging the members of Team One 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Alex Devereux

January 18, 2013 12:06 AM

Responding to the call by Alex Devereux

When Alex walked, a little late, into the Cascade Hall for breakfast, she looked around the room and then paused immediately, wondering why the words ‘team one’ were hanging over a seat and if she was imagining them.

A good blink convinced her she wasn’t imagining them, and since she had spotted she was on team one the day before – whatever that meant, since information about what they were going to be asked to do; she was, as the days went on and she thought more about all the kinds of things they could be asked to do and had no idea which ones of them the staff liked or didn’t like or if her ideas were even the same as theirs, beginning to find that more and more annoying – Alex decided, since she really had nothing to lose and didn’t have anything interesting or important planned for breakfast this morning anyway, to go see what was up. When she got to the words, she was surprised to recognize the figure under them as Henny.

“Taking over?” she asked, slipping into a nearby seat, though leaving plenty of room for other people to fill in. Her brown hair had been put up in a twist on the back of her head; on another girl, it might have been elegant, but Alex suspected that in her case, the effect only kicked in from behind. In front, it just made her face look thinner and her nose, accordingly, bigger. “Very Aladren.”

She regretted that comment, though it had been delivered with a bit of a smile, a little as soon as she made it, but it was true. Alex expected a lot of Aladrens to end up dominating groups, whether they were supposed to or not. Not all Aladrens were the same, any more than all Crotali were the same, independence, intelligence, determination, and problem-solving skills could make just as good a second-in-command or loner as they did anything else, but a lot of them did end up…bossy types. She decided to try changing the subject.

“Fawcett hasn’t dropped any hints to you guys about what the challenges will be, has he? Pierce hasn’t told us anything.” Alex had always wondered if other Heads of Houses cheated on their students’ behalf when it came to competitions; she didn’t think she would, in their position, but a guess said Arnold was probably the only person she was related to at this school who wouldn't laugh at her if she said that out loud.

0 Alex Devereux Responding to the call 0 Alex Devereux 0 5

Arthur Carey

January 18, 2013 1:09 AM

To my esteemed colleagues of Team Seventeen by Arthur Carey

Arthur had woken up with a headache and left the Aladren common room just as the potion he’d taken for it had started to kick in, so he didn’t spot the team lists until he reached the Cascade Hall and felt better enough to take an interest in what other people were looking at. Going over, too, he put his reading glasses on for the day and began to skim the lists for familiar names, seeing how the people around him had been sorted.

He found Fae and Arnold’s names before he spotted his own, and his first reaction was to frown at having his family separated to that extent. Sara would take care of Fae, of course, and Alexandra would do to inform him about how that was going, but what were they going to do with Arnold? Jordan Adair was either going to ignore him or attempt to convince him to disgrace himself, depending on what she thought of his alleged attractiveness, if Arthur read her right, and no one from the family was in that group at all.

Besides, Arthur had wanted at least the one person he trusted absolutely on his team, both so at least one member of it would be sure to support him if it came to decision-making and so they would not have to be on different sides during events. He did not like the idea of being forced to compete against Arnold in front of strangers. It wasn’t even about winning or losing, or worrying about Arnold winning or losing; it was just….

He failed to put a name to it, bit his lip in irritation, and kept reading. It didn’t matter, whatever it was. They would have to do the best they could, as would everyone else.

As he went over more and more groups, he began to worry that he had been left out and to think of how humiliating it would be to point out his own insignificance to the Headmistress when he finally came to team seventeen and spotted his own name at the top of the list.

For a moment, he looked at it, taking in his own name and then those below it, with his mouth half-open in surprise, and then, all at once, his expression broke into a smile.

It was not a very nice smile.

Suppressing it quickly, Arthur went to the Aladren table, where he prepared himself a celebratory breakfast, slicing oranges thinly over his pancakes, carefully inspecting the bread basket before selecting a light, still-warm roll from it, indulging in a bit of regionalism with a small bowl of buttered grits, taking a pair of eggs sunny-side-down with salt but no pepper, and though he still drank a small cup of coffee – it was good for preventing headaches, and he mixed it with an equal amount of cream before he dutifully swallowed it down even on mornings when he had already had to take a potion before he came to breakfast – he chose to replace the second with a pleasantly spicy cup of tea sweetened with a couple of spoonsful of honey. He didn’t normally indulge as many of his tastes in one meal as he was right now, since it seemed like a good point of discipline, but he didn’t expect to become leader of anything else during his school years, so he thought he could let himself go a little just this one morning.

After that, he got busy, and by lunch, he had invitations ready to send out to the members of his team. They were all, despite him being badly tempted in two cases, identical, short, pleasant, and to the point.

Dear [Teammate's name],

I am delighted to see that we are all members of team seventeen, which, I have no doubt, will be remembered for many years as one of the best to enter this year's competition. In the interests of being as prepared for that event as we can, I would like to propose a short meeting on Saturday in the Visual Arts Center of the MARS. I hope you can all take the time out of your schedules to come.

Sincerely,

Arthur Carey

0 Arthur Carey To my esteemed colleagues of Team Seventeen 182 Arthur Carey 0 5

Henny B-F-R

January 18, 2013 12:46 PM

Fretting over making it by Henny B-F-R

“No!” Henny squeaked, genuinely concerned when Alex accused her of taking over. Or possibly teased her. The quip about Aladren and the grin on the other girl's face suggested her comments had been tongue in cheek but it still worried Henny that she might think that. “I just wanted to be able to put names and faces together. Do you think Sara will see it that way? Should I take it down?” she asked, really not wanting to tread on the older girl's toes or cause a falling out before things had even begun.

“No, he didn't” she said, managing to keep her tone neutral, or perhaps having used up all her indignation on her first 'no.' The way Alex phrased things implied she thought Professor Fawcett might want to give the Aladrens an unfair advantage. Although, given that they were distributed throughout all the teams, there was no way him telling them anything would have done that. Each student might be ahead of their team mates but, as they had to work together, that would not help, and there was no way for Aladren to win, so he therefore could not advantage it as a house. Besides which, he wouldn't. Professor Fawcett was very fair minded.

“I expect there will be a mix of stuff though. I mean, there's no point just turning it into a flying contest, so I'm sure it will test us in a number of different ways. And some challenges we might get advanced warning for and some might require us to think on our feet.” She felt vaguely guilty recycling her and Alicia's ideas for her team but it wasn't like Alicia had been the sole contributor to the conversation and she was stealing her hints and tips. It was only natural for them to discuss that kind of thing in their teams too. Not that it moved any of them a great deal forward, seeing as it was only speculation.

13 Henny B-F-R Fretting over making it 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Alicia Bauer

January 18, 2013 2:02 PM

Recovering and rallying the troops (Team Seven). by Alicia Bauer

Seeing the challenge lists had put a serious flaw Alicia’s day when it happened. Later, she had gone back to the common room, where she’d used a spell to copy the names of all twenty teams onto a piece of parchment she could take up to her room, where she’d entertained herself both trying to analyze their relative strengths and weaknesses and in coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories she could pour her frustrations into. Her favorite was that Kijewski and Brockert had deliberately saddled Thad with their relatives so they could ride her friend’s coattails, and also because they had somehow divined that she was going to consider using Trip Jinxes, if she got a chance, against anyone related to anyone on the staff during the competitions. It would have been only fair, in her mind, to keep their families from getting anywhere near the prizes after they’d done the same to her and her friends, but saddling Thad with Jareau and making it at first look like they were being kind by letting him have Evan meant she couldn’t hurt them without hurting him.

She hadn’t been able to convince herself of it enough, though, to stay angry – for one thing, she frankly didn’t think teachers were that smart, at least in certain ways, in general – and after that, nerves, bordering on and crossing over into fear, had settled in, keeping her on edge all night. Alicia was a competitive person herself, but her friends were more important; she didn’t think they ever would, because she didn’t befriend anything that reminded her of her half-brother very often, but if they asked her to, she would make her team, anyway, lose the challenges. Their reciprocal dedication to her was something which, in her heart of hearts, she had never been as sure of. They weren’t idiots, but they were Quidditch players, and what if they started seeing her as the enemy because of all this? All that energy running high, without the usual, much more focused and controlled, outlets…She worried about Cepheus holding her House against her sometimes even when Quidditch was on, and she wasn’t personally playing against him in that arena. Here, she would be, and none of them would be together – except, of course, Thad and Evan, who might get even closer as a result of the experience, shutting her out….

If she lost her friends because of this, she had resolved, she was going to do everything in her power to ruin the lives of every single person on the faculty, but even that resolution hadn’t really made her feel any better once she had started to think that way. Maybe revenge would be a temporary distraction from it, but it wouldn’t change the fact that she would be right back where she’d started in first year, as someone who couldn’t count on one single person to be genuinely sad at her funeral. It was true, she knew, that if her friends abandoned her that easily, then they probably hadn’t been worth much to begin with, and that she didn’t think they really were that shallow, but if they were, they were still all she had.

This morning, though, she was trying to focus on the positive, on how maybe they could still have a good competition between themselves and just ignore the superfluous other people and how there were still plenty of things they could all do together this year, after all. She had to do that, because those other things were still in the balance, and throwing a tantrum wouldn’t help with getting her closer to anything she wanted right now. Not having to see Evan on her way to breakfast this morning helped, as did coming into the hall to see something surprising and then smiling to see Henny directly underneath it. That was how things were supposed to go, and she felt a bit more warmly toward her roommate than usual. She never would have thought Henny was up to it, but there was no time for getting things as close to right as they could be like the present.

Waving to Henny as she passed by her and Alexandra Devereux – another one she didn’t regard as much of a threat, as the Crotalus girl actually managed to be less attractive than Alicia considered herself – she stationed herself a little further down the table, took out her wand, and wrote Team Seven over her head in fiery letters everyone would be able to see. If Henny could be the leader of her group when it included the Head Girl, Alicia thought she could easily handle just the girl who was apparently so lame she had actually lost out two times, first for Teppenpaw prefect and then for Head Girl nominee, to Alicia’s sister. Kate being better than...well, anyone, actually, was an idea which had never entered Alicia's head before Kate had become prefect, and it still seemed pretty bizarre to her.

16 Alicia Bauer Recovering and rallying the troops (Team Seven). 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Thad Pierce

January 18, 2013 3:49 PM

Following the trend amd calling Team Four! by Thad Pierce

To be perfectly honest, after looking at the list of teams, Thad thought his sister might have pulled some Deputy Headmistress strings to make sure he got put on a good team. All but two of them were Aladrens (and Henry Carey was almost close enough to count as one, being a male Carey). They had the Head Boy as their leader. He was with Evan, letting him continue his trend of working with his roommate for the Midsummer events. Even Miss Wolseithcrafte could have been worse; as far as first years went, he at least knew she was intelligent and adequately Aladren enough to be an asset.

Ayita was probably the only one he would have traded out given the choice - probably for Alicia, ideally, though Henny wouldn't be bad either - but inserting the Headmistress's daughter into the group was probably how Amelia managed to wrangle him onto such a high potential team in the first place. And she was a sixth year, so she would be getting Advanced lessons this year. Maybe she could help Wilkes out in anything that required more advanced magic than Thad or Evan could do as fourth years.

Still, he'd feel better about her if she was an Aladren. Or even a Crotalus. Or anyone who hadn't won Most Dazed And Confused for her year, really. At least she wasn't Derry anyway. He knew what Derry got on his CATS. Thad took a moment to feel bad for the doomed Team Eighteen who were stuck not just with Derry, but with Derry as their team leader and only advanced level student.

The much more fortunate Team Four at least had two advanced students so hopefully Wilkes and Ayita had different strengths that might help cover any weaker areas the other had. As an Aladren, Thad did trust that Wilkes was smart and competent, but after hearing some of the guy's Quidditch pre-game speeches, Thad was secretly kind of glad Wilkes did have another advanced student to back him up.

He was sure he and Evan had that complementary strengths thing working for them in the Intermediate third of the team. Plus, they had the advantage of knowing each other better than he thought anyone else on the team knew each other, so hopefully they might be able to contribute to the group in any challenge activity that required cooperative work.

The day after the team announcement was posted, Thad was still feeling good about Team Four's competitive potential. He still would have liked to have Alicia and Henny on it instead of Ayita and Henry to make it a full Aladren sweep, but no team had four, or even three, people from the same year on it, so that was far too much to ask. He felt grateful he at least got Evan.

He still glanced around the Aladren table at breakfast to see if the girls were around yet and find out what they thought of their groups when he saw they both had glowing letters over their heads to summon their groups to them. Not to be outdone by his yearmates, Thad also found an open space at the Aladren table and set floating letters over his own head, spelling out his own glowing summons for "Team Four" to come together for breakfast.

1 Thad Pierce Following the trend amd calling Team Four! 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Derry Pierce

January 18, 2013 9:04 PM

Meeting and Greeting Team Eighteen by Derry Pierce

Derry was only a little bummed when he made it down to Team Eighteen. While searching for his own name among the earlier teams, he had seen that all of his friends were already accounted for, so he wasn't surprised when his own team didn't have any of them on it. What was surprising - but probably shouldn't have been after seeing Reggie's and Arthur's groups - was that his name was listed first. Reggie's could have been explained by her being Prefect, but Arthur didn't even have the Assistant Captain badge that Derry did. It should have cued him in that, this far down in the team list, the Powers-That-Be had run out of seventh years to lead the groups and the remaining sixth years were probably the team captains.

He only managed to put that together after he saw his name listed above two fifth years and two second years, though.

Brianna and Linus he knew by sight because they were only one year below his, and they had shared many classes over the last several years. Of the younger two, he knew who Alan was because he was a Teppenpaw. And while he wasn’t quite sure which Aladren kid Anthony Carey was, he did know Anthony Carey hadn’t turned up on the Aladren roster until last year, so he was a second year, too.

He felt kind of bad for Brianna, being stuck with a bunch of guys, but overall Derry thought the team wasn’t too bad aside from the fact that none of his friends were on it. He’d seen that she was on crutches, too, so he hoped for her sake that not too many of the challenges would be physically taxing. Surely, the teachers couldn’t force a girl on crutches or Valerie do too much physical activity. Of course, he also hoped not too many were academically taxing either, because he’d only gotten an E in Charms, Muggle Studies, and Care of Magical Creatures, and had scraped As in everything else (which was one E more than he’d really hoped for, and three more than he had truly expected), so if they were depending on him for the advanced topics, their team was in serious trouble.

They’d find a way to make it through though. He thought Linus and Brianna were both pretty smart (of course, he thought everyone was smart as long as he compared them to himself instead of to Thad), so maybe he could have them split up their best subjects between them and maybe study ahead a little while they were in the library studying for their CATS anyway. And if there were physical challenges, well, they were a team and they’d get Brianna through it together.

First though, he thought maybe they should all get together somewhere just to meet up and introduce themselves and maybe find out what the two fifth years were good at academically. Well, what everyone’s strengths and weaknesses were, really. That would be a good thing to know as team captain.

So later that same day that the team list came out, he sent out owls to each of his new teammates inviting them to come to dinner early tomorrow and meet up at the Crotalus table (Crotalus, he’d decided, because they had two Crotali, and it seemed mean to make Brianna sit somewhere else if she was going to need to sit there for dinner anyway; Teppenpaw wasn’t too far for him and Alan to walk, and Anthony could make it over to Aladren with no trouble as well) so they could get to know each other.

The next morning, he was kind of glad he hadn’t picked Aladren since that seemed to be where a lot of teams were meeting first thing in the morning. He didn’t see any reason to rush to do it before classes either; no challenges had been named so it wasn’t like detailed strategies could be worked out yet. Before dinner was plenty soon enough and wouldn’t feel nearly as rushed.

That evening, he arrived a little earlier than he had mentioned in his owl and felt a little weird sitting alone at the Crotalus table until the rest of his group showed up. But he had wanted to make sure they could find him and know where to go even if they showed up a little early. At 4:45, there weren’t really a lot of people in the hall, so he didn’t bother with the glowing letters the teams this morning had used, but he did tent up a folded piece of parchment with the number 18 written on both sides in front of him.

Of course, his tricorner hat and 18th century clothing style stood out even when there were a lot of other people around, so as long as they all knew Derry was the Guy Who Dressed Weird, they shouldn’t have too much trouble finding him. He’d tried to find something with all three of their house colors on it; yellow was easiest since he was a Teppenpaw and a lot of his clothes were yellow already. Blue wasn’t too hard either. Blue was a color that generally went well with most other colors (though not yellow, so much, and he felt kind of mismatched with a yellow vest and a blue pair of knickers; he thought it would have been fine if they were denim, but they weren’t and it looked kind of odd to him when he’d examined himself in his mirror; he ultimately decided he always looked a little odd so maybe nobody would notice). The red was harder. He didn’t really have anything in red. So he just used a charm to change the color of the piping on his vest to red instead of brown and hoped that was enough Crotalus spirit for Linus and Brianna.

“Hey, everyone,” he greeted, once they were all there. “Thanks for coming. I know we’re all busy, and dinner starts in an hour, so I’ll try to keep this quick. I just wanted everyone to meet and get an idea of everyone’s skills, strengths, and weaknesses, so we know who should and shouldn’t do stuff in the challenges, whatever they turn out to be. I’ll go first, I guess. I’m Derry Pierce.” He used the name shown on the team list to avoid confusion, but felt no inclination to give a branch affiliation and wouldn’t know which one to give if asked. That was why he usually introduced himself as: “Or Derry Four, or just Derry, or just Four. I'll answer to any of them. I’m a sixth year in Teppenpaw. I passed all of my CATS, but that’s the best I can say academically. I did get Es in my best subjects of Charms, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies. I’m really hoping you guys can help me out if we need to do anything hard in the other subjects, though I am a lot better at practical work than in remembering trivia and explaining theory and stuff. I play Quidditch as a beater, so I’m pretty strong and athletic and stuff if we need that. I know magical culture stuff and muggle culture stuff. Um, I went skiing once, but I doubt that will come up. I guess that’s it, but if you want to know something else, just ask.”

1 Derry Pierce Meeting and Greeting Team Eighteen 189 Derry Pierce 0 5

David Wilkes

January 18, 2013 10:40 PM

Follow the leader! by David Wilkes

Upon his entrance to the Cascade Hall, it took David approximately twenty seconds to realize he was in trouble, but his response was just to smile at first in resignation and then, once he’d taken in the whole picture, in amusement at his House. Apparently, either the fourth year Aladrens had missed the part about Advanced students being team leaders or they had just chosen to ignore it, and he was going to guess it had been the second, seeing as three of them he knew for a fact were pretty good friends between themselves had already set up shop for their teams, one of which happened to also be his team, at the House table.

As he crossed the room, heading toward where Thad had established a base for their team, he tried to guess which one had been the initiator. He thought the darker-haired girl, the one he also thought might be Thad’s girlfriend or something, seemed a little more like the type, but since he considered it too early to try to remember for sure if her name was Alison or Alina, he was happy enough to admit he knew too little about the fourth years in general to make a very good guess. It probably, unless the staff took exception to it and decided to punish the teams for the lack of leadership shown by their sixth and seventh years, didn’t matter much anyway.

“G’morning,” he said when he got to team four, sitting down well off-center and looking at the food. He picked up a biscuit, cut it open, inserted a square slice of cheddar cheese into it, and then picked up an apple, too. Apples and cheese went well together, some dim voice, recalled vaguely from his mother’s endless marathons of Food Network programming over the summer or maybe all the years before it, informed him, and warm bread went with just about anything, didn’t it? He looked around for some molasses, but then decided he had better not mix those with cheese unless Food Network came to his aid again and that, more importantly, it wasn’t worth the effort to go looking for foods not already in his immediate vicinity. “Is this just the meet-and-greet, or do you have an agenda planned out already?”

He said this without a trace of irony, sarcasm, or resentment for Thad’s stepping up to the plate. Instead, he sounded, at most, mildly curious, since he was mostly just making conversation until other people showed up, with only a bit of a secondary motive of at least knowing what to expect in case people looked at him and his badges funny once they got there if he didn’t. He didn’t care who ran the thing, as long as the job got done, and he had never counted himself as one of the Aladrens whose Aladrenosity had manifested in a way that spelled ‘super ambitious leader guy.’ He was almost kind of relieved, since he’d have felt sorta idiotic sitting around under a glowing sign with his team number on it, maybe even more idiotic than....

Well, no, he didn't think he could really feel much more idiotic than he did every time he gave a pre-game speech for the Quidditch team, not unless something utterly bizarre and generally bad for him happened, but he thought he could get close, anyway. The fourth years seemed to take themselves seriously enough to get away with it, but he would have looked like something from a surreal comedy set in the seventies.

16 David Wilkes Follow the leader! 169 David Wilkes 0 5

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?”

0 Rajid Ambrose Reporting for duty 0 Rajid Ambrose 0 5

Fae Sinclair

January 19, 2013 12:45 AM

I wouldn't be concerned. by Fae Sinclair

Fae’s summer had been rather easy going in comparison to the last few that she had had. She didn’t mind this too much. After two weddings last year and her own betrothal announcement, Fae was ready to have a year with nothing to do. She had spent the summer getting to know her sister in law, Eleanor. She was nice and Fae found her to be a fun shopping partner, but the only thing that mattered to Fae was her brother. Having spent time in their home, Fae realized how much of a married couple they really were. They seemed at ease with each other and her brother seemed pretty content with things. She could only hope that when the time came for her and Arnold to become husband and wife, they had a smooth transition like her brother had. She might have rather hoped to have the marriage her sister did (who she was able to see during the summer and who was constantly beaming and genuinely happy in her life), but she felt that would place far too much pressure on the two of them.

Her happy and relaxed Sixth year was cut short during the opening feast when it was announced that they would be doing challenges this year. At first, Fae was only worried about how Arnold had taken the news of Quidditch having been cancelled and then, a moment later, how Topher took it since this was his first year as Captain, but after a few days of the news having sunk in to everyone and Arnold hadn’t seemed like he was going to explode or anything, Fae had let that drop and instead, had focused on the challenges. If they were athletic at all, she was going to have a problem. Fae was small, just barely over five feet tall and rather petite. She didn’t have a single athletic bone in her body and, if she thought about it, neither did Sara and they were the two Advanced students on a team of girls. Fae could only hope that some of the younger years were athletic or that the challenges didn’t necessarily rely on such things.

When Fae had walked into the hall, she had to pause a moment to take in all the flashing words. Out of this, she noticed one calling for Team One, which was her team. Looking at the two girls under it, she did not see Sara and had to wonder if they had decided that they were the leads. Fae was not a leader in any way, so she didn’t mind, but she wasn’t sure what Sara would think about it. Sara usually seemed to take things to heart and hold them in even when they really irked her.

When Fae had first had seen the list of teams, she had been a little saddened to see that she wasn’t with Arnold. But happy to be with Sara. Now she really wished she was with Arnold because even if he wasn’t the smartest, he could at least get them through anything that was physically challenging. Oh well, she could only rely on these girls.

Walking over to the two girls, Fae gave them both a polite smile. “Hello.” She greeted. “I guess we’re having a team meeting today?”

6 Fae Sinclair I wouldn't be concerned. 194 Fae Sinclair 0 5

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.

16 Alicia Bauer Welcome, trooper. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Thad Pierce

January 19, 2013 11:06 AM

Whoever that may be by Thad Pierce

Thad looked around the hall, trying to figure out if any of his teammates were already here and just hadn't noticed his glowing summons. He caught Alicia's eye and nodded toward her, grinning a little at their almost mutinous show of initiative. He just hoped the staff took it more as helpful leadership than subversion. He wasn't sure if he would have done it if Alicia and Henny hadn't first, but once they did, he couldn't be left behind.

With no offence meant to Evan, Ephanie, or Andrina, Thad really thought Alicia and Henny were his greatest competition for Prefect. Henny had founded a successful and popular student club which had to give her a huge number of leadership points in her favor. Alicia was just, well, Alicia, and she was involved with everything Thad was. She'd even taken a little more of the lead in their concert act than he had, so he didn't really know how the staff were viewing their relative merits. If they were both collecting their groups, he couldn't do less and fall behind.

Still, he was kind of glad David Wilkes, their nominal leader as both Head Boy and Seventh Year, was the first to show up to Thad's gathering. It would let him clear the air without the rest of the team around watching any potential scuffle over who had the right to call team meetings.

Wilkes started out friendly enough, and didn't seem too upset with him as he sat down and greeted him. Thad returned his greeting politely, "Good morning, Captain." Wilkes had been Thad's Quidditch Captain long enough that the form of address was habitual.

Surprisingly, Wilkes didn't seem too anxious to assert his leadership rights on the team. If anything, he seemed content to let Thad run this meeting.

"Well," he admitted, in response to the question about the morning's non-existent agenda, "I just saw Henny and Alicia were gathering their groups and didn't want to let ours get left behind." He really should have been thinking of an agenda. Just because he normally preferred having more time to plan and wasn't generally prone to such impulsive actions was no reason not to realize that he needed a purpose for the meeting once everyone had gathered. "I suppose a meet and greet would be a good start."

"And I wasn't actually trying to take over," he added. Surely, the others would look oddly at both of them if a fourth year started leading the group when they had the Head Boy on the team. "I'll gladly volunteer to be deputy team captain or meeting coordinator or something though, if you'd like."

1 Thad Pierce Whoever that may be 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Regina Parker

January 19, 2013 11:50 AM

A Notice for Team Fifteen by Regina Parker

Looking at the group of teams, Reggie had been slightly disappointed. She wasn’t with any of her friends. She had wished to have been with either Derry or Maddie, but apparently Derry was a team of his own and Maddie was with another group under Daisy Thorpe (Reggie only knew her by face due to all the classes they had together, but only thought of her as a bit stuck up because she never bothered with people). Hope was also in a different group as was Josephine. Oh well, from the list of names under her own, she could only hope that it wouldn’t be too terrible working with them. Waverly and Eris she was sure would be fine. She remembered them from her party. Nora she already had to work with since they were both Prefects, but Reggie was fairly certain that Effie and Isabel were the two girls who tried to throw a tea party during her own costume party. She had no idea if it was successful or not and didn’t really care. She just hoped they were willing to work with the rest of them and actually did some of the work.

Deciding that since everyone else was getting together, they might as well too, and so, she sent them each a note.

Dear [Name]

Please meet me in the MARS Sports Room to discuss some of our teams strengths and strategies for the upcoming challenges.

Hope to see you all there.

Sincerely,

Regina Parker

6 Regina Parker A Notice for Team Fifteen 187 Regina Parker 0 5

David

January 19, 2013 12:27 PM

Whose team is it, anyway? by David

David tried extremely hard not to laugh when his teammate announced he had, in effect, did it to either impress the girls or to keep up with the Joneses. Alicia, that was it, that was why he’d been unable to decide between Alison and Alina. He still thought she looked more like an Alison than an Alicia, but he would leave that to her parents’ consciences.

“Suppose it would,” he agreed, in an almost even tone, when Thad said a meet-and-greet would be a good start, thinking now of how utterly doomed Thad Pierce was if the Carey kid and the first year in their merry band of misfits weren’t at least semi-normal. Living with Evan Brockert had probably done a lot to desensitize him, but combining Evan, David, and Ayita in one group with him was probably still going a little far. David expected any attempt at organization they set up to quickly turn into a discussion any outsider would swear was made on drugs if the fourth year didn’t somehow convince everyone else he should be the leader and then steer them back on track when their minds started to wander to such pressing topics as whether or not Starbucks’ very name was a taunt to the free world, effectively announcing as it did that they were planning to conquer the galaxy through the power of coffee.

That would be hard, though, with the Head Boy sitting around, and David recognized that, so he was delighted with Thad’s compromise position. “Brilliant,” he said. “If I tried to learn Robert’s Rules of Order, we’d probably end up running on Robert’s Criminal Offenses Against Sanity or something. Besides, leadership’s all about delegation, right? I’ll delegate.”

He relaxed a little and fell into his normal tone, the one he routinely used for interacting with friends, immediate family, and other people who, though they would probably con him someday, probably weren’t doing so to his face right this moment, so he could act like they weren’t going to in a year or two. It was probably not one Thad had ever heard before, since he almost never found an occasion to use it on the Quidditch Pitch, where he found himself irresistibly drawn to the cult of the God of Overacting. “Seriously, I owe you one all around, dude. I've got ten things to do every five minutes of this year. Besides, it's good prep for you anyway, right? You're pretty sure to end up with at least one of my jobs somewhere down the line.”

16 David Whose team is it, anyway? 169 David 0 5

Marcus Williams

January 19, 2013 1:23 PM

Meeting with Team Eight by Marcus Williams

Marcus was really happy that this was his last year at Sonora. He was sad too, of course. Sonora had changed his life for the better. If he had stayed back in Rochester, he would have had to go to city schools since the Urban Suburban program had been cancelled a few years back. And, if Marcus had to go to the city schools, there was no telling what would have happened to him. The drop out rate was ridiculous, teens lost to gangs or to drugs was always raising, and teen pregnancy was always there in the background. Marcus was glad that he had not had that in his life most of the time. He saw it while he was home in the summers and with his friends, who grew fewer and fewer as the years had gone on and that had been enough for him.

Sonora had given him an opportunity. Not only with magic, but with a future too. He had given it a lot of thought over the summer about what he wanted to do and he really felt that getting into law would be the best thing. He was thinking of getting his undergrad in Criminal Justice and then maybe try for a law degree. It was ambitious, he knew, but he felt strongly about this. Of course, he would need a scholarship for that and to do research on Magical schools for law, but his grades weren’t terrible and he was sure there were scholarships for kids from single parent homes and maybe for minorities. He just had to stay positive and also had to make sure he went to state colleges instead of private ones.

Now that he was in his final year, Marcus wasn’t really sure what he wanted to happen. He had liked hanging out with Jordan and there were so many cute girls at the school that he still sometimes wondered if he ought to get another girlfriend or just finish the year keeping in the back like he normally did. He couldn’t deny the fact that he had noticed Josephine. But then, he noticed her last year too. She was cute in her pirates costume. But she seemed to have lost some of the weight that she had (he didn’t really mind the curves she had before) and had more confidence than he remembered. That was sexy. Marcus could appreciate that. Not that Josephine was the only girl he noticed, but she was the one who seemed to change the most over summer.

The biggest thing this year besides his RATS was the challenges. And, according to the list, he was a team leader along with Phoenix. He knew Phoenix to be that good looking white blonde kid, but nothing really other than that. It would be nice though, for the help. He really didn’t know anyone else. But, that was why he was here. He wanted to get to know them and see where they were at. Marcus was a nice guy and pretty easy going, so he didn’t foresee any issues.

He wrote a note on the board for them to meet before dinner, much like a similar note he had seen left by Derry. There were several teams who met in the morning, so Marcus didn’t want to feel overheard or over crowded. Before dinner would be an emptier hall. He asked them to meet at the Pecari table.

He came into the hall and sat at the Pecari table around the same time that Derry appeared, but there didn’t seem to be much else going on. He had brought parchment and a quill in case anyone felt inclined to want to write things down. Now, he just had to wait.

6 Marcus Williams Meeting with Team Eight 180 Marcus Williams 0 5

Brianna Japos

January 19, 2013 2:44 PM

Meeting with hesitations by Brianna Japos

Brianna was having a hard time with everything. That probably wasn’t all too surprising to some, but she was trying so hard and becoming frustrating so easily. Over the summer, she had been so angry. She lashed out at her Healer and her Physical Therapist more times than she could remember. They were easy targets and usually just let her scream it out before moving on. She had lashed out at Michael when he had come too. For most of the summer, she really had hated him. She had wanted him to hurt the way that she did, both physically and emotionally. She had felt her words were true when she shouted at him and sometimes still did. He really had no idea how he treated people, unintentionally or not. And then he had stood there and slapped her in the face with his ‘new found’ relationship with Eris. Like that would have made her feel any better. But, by the end of summer, she had sent him a note saying she was sorry for her behavior. She was not sorry, however, for what she had said. But she should not have yelled at him the way she had. Or thrown her pillow at him.

When summer had ended, Brianna was so tired. She was so emotionally drained and physically exhausted that she just couldn’t keep up with it anymore. She wrote him a letter and hoped that was the end of it. She wanted this year to just be a year to focus on herself and get back to how things were. Unfortunately, this seemed to be the year where she was forced to doing more. She had already asked so much from Josh and Linus. Josh was looking so worn out and there would eventually be a moment where Linus would get sick of dealing with her and regret having offered his assistance.

It was these reasons that Brianna kept how she was really feeling to herself. She hated to be a burden. There were still moments when Brianna felt so low on herself that she still wished that death had happened. Those moments were rare, but they happened just the same. She also still cried to herself, usually when she hoped her roommates were asleep and couldn’t hear her. She hated herself. She hated those boys. She hated having to rely on people just to get to class and back. She never even realized how large the school really was until she had to walk it on crutches. Most of the time, she had to stop and take breaks. The stairs were awful for her. And she often skipped breakfast just to make it on time. If her Healer knew that, he’d be so angry. He’d rather have her serve detention that skip a meal while on her medications. But Brianna was in her CATS year and didn’t want to miss anything. She just wanted this all to be over.

And now, for the challenges, she was not only on a team with Linus (he really was going to hate her), but she was also on a team full of boys. Boys like to be physical and if these challenges were… there was no way Brianna could do it and do it quickly. She was going to let them all down.

Brianna made it down to the hall as quickly as she could and found the meeting place at the Crotalus table. Feeling as though this was because of her, Brianna ambled over to Derry with bright pink cheeks of embarrassment and took a seat. They were supposed to go around and explain their strength and weaknesses. Brianna thought hers was blatantly obvious. Still though, she spoke up. “I’m Brianna, fifth year Crotalus. I’m pretty good with spellwork, mostly charms and transfiguration, although I am getting better at Defense. I’m okay at Potions, but not at the top of the class for it. And I’ve been reading ahead by a year, so I’m pretty good with theory in just about all core subjects.” She paused trying to think of things to add. “I’m not athletic…obviously, so I probably won’t do any good with those challenges, but I’ll do my best to keep up with everything.”

6 Brianna Japos Meeting with hesitations 203 Brianna Japos 0 5

Alex

January 19, 2013 6:29 PM

It's too late to back down now anyway by Alex

“Too late now,” Alex noted when Henny asked if she ought to take the notice down. “Besides, if she didn’t want someone else to do it, then she should have, right?” She noticed an event beginning to take place nearby. “Plus, your roommate’s already copying you,” she added, tilting her head in Alicia Bauer’s direction.

This was why Alex liked the Aladrens, at least from a people-watcher perspective. They did interesting things, things she would never think to do most of the time, things that could cause conflict. At the moment, she was hoping that Henny’s move didn’t cause any conflict because she’d be stuck squarely in the middle of it by default and would have been even if she hadn’t come over here without waiting to see what Fae and Sara would do, but even if it did, she’d have to be amused by a pair of fourth year girls deciding to just take matters into their own hands. If they had been on the brink of a challenge and had still never all gotten together to meet, Alex guessed she might have done something like this, but even then she wasn’t sure.

“No? Too bad,” Alex said. She guessed Henny could be lying so the Aladrens could look particularly outstanding alongside their teammates, or that maybe the teachers had just passed along clues to their particular favorites if they had any, but if the two Houses that routinely tried to win things hadn’t had any widespread leaks, she really doubted that Pecari and Teppenpaw were doing any better. Well, Pecari might, since they really wanted to win things, but Alex was sure Theresa would have already spilled the beans in that case, and she hadn’t, so it was still safe to assume the Pecaris probably didn’t know anything either.

“We’ve lost if they do turn it into a flying contest,” she observed, thinking over the list of their members, as Henny speculated about what might be ahead of them. “I think she – “ she tilted her head this time toward the staff table and the headmistress’ usual place – “said something about details coming out from the event sponsors closer to them, though, so maybe we won’t have to go into anything completely blind.” She hoped so. Alex didn’t care about winning that much, but she hated the thought of going into anything without some idea what it was.

Fae approached them. "It seems like the popular thing to do," Alex said, since now others were starting to do the same thing. "We were just talking about what we might see, and how much we might find out ahead of time. Any thoughts?"

0 Alex It's too late to back down now anyway 0 Alex 0 5

Arthur Carey

January 19, 2013 6:39 PM

Meeting posted on MARS (nm) by Arthur Carey

0 Arthur Carey Meeting posted on MARS (nm) 182 Arthur Carey 0 5

Omara Hernandez

January 19, 2013 7:01 PM

Nervously approaching older students... by Omara Hernandez

Omara only recognised two names on the list. One, because she was Head Girl, and the other from the sorting at the beginning of term. She was glad to see another first year on her team. She had not yet spoken to Analea but could picture her face. Omara's first days at Sonora had all gone in a blur. There was so much to take in and she still felt nervous, on edge, like moths were flitting about her insides. And she had started to feel nervous about the challenges ahead. When the headmistress had first mentioned them at the opening feast, Omara had assumed they would be for older students - or at least voluntary - of course, it was more than likely that her mind had been elsewhere when the instructions were stated. It hadn't seemed to matter how much mental energy she put into trying to keep her mind focussed, Omara couldn't help but hop from one thought to another as though her thoughts were chocolate frogs trying to escape.

She was almost relieved when she saw the luminous blue 'Team One' sign hovering a few inches above a few girls in Cascade Hall. Omara saw this as an invitation. They had called her over; she wouldn't be bothering them. She started fairly steadily but slowed as she neared the girls, one foot almost crossing the other as she approached, and she tipped her head gently to one side, "Hello, I'm...Omara...my name was on the list for this team..." she spoke as clearly as she could manage, her wide eyes looking up at them, hoping her nerves didn't try to make an escape through her voice.

The three appeared to know each other, at least a little, and Omara scanned the rest of the hall to see if she could catch a glimpse of Analea. She thought she'd feel better once she made an appearance. There were so many students about, however, she could barely tell where one ended and another began, let alone pick out an individual. She imagined all the trainee witches and wizards were tiny ants, bustling about, she imagined a giant foot coming crashing though the ceiling, and crushing every last one. It happens to ants every day, she thought, they don't expect it...why would we?

The excited chit chat around her, and the light emanating from the bobbing letters above many heads in the room, brought her back to the present. All talk around seemed to be about the challenges, quite logically, she concluded, that this be the case. She looked up at the three girls again, one, who, although fairly small, looked like she must be a fifth or sixth year at least, mentioned that the headmistress had said they wouldn't have to go into anything blind. Omara didn't think she would mention that sometimes she ties a scarf around her eyes to see how much she can do without her sight. And anyway, she knew the girl was speaking figuratively - Omara would find it amusing to herself if in one of the tasks, they were to be blindfolded, however.

After her initial introduction, Omara thought it best to stay quiet. She didn't have anything to input. She had very little idea what was going on at all. And she was more or less happy with this, and happy with her own thoughts.

0 Omara Hernandez Nervously approaching older students... 0 Omara Hernandez 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

January 20, 2013 2:20 PM

The leader's by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

The latter half of the team list read well. The first two names she did not recognise, apart from the obvious connection to the headmistress. A quick scan of the rest of the teams revealed that she was doing well for acceptable company. Only team fourteen was made up entirely of Purebloods. Everyone else had had to accept some form of... compromise. Plus other Purebloods were not guaranteed to accept her. If she was in an entirely Pureblood group, she stood the risk of being the obvious odd one out. Here that duty could fall easily to Wilkes or Jareau.

Walking into the hall for breakfast, she saw that her team was gathering. Interestingly, if she had to state a guess, she would say the sign hovered more over Thaddeus' head. Perhaps Wilkes knew his place.

“Good morning, Mr. Pierce,” she nodded to Thaddeus, having previously met him. “Wilkes, I assume,” she added to the older boy. Seeing as she had seen him walk up to collect his badge at the opening feast and there was only one seventh year male in their group it was somewhat of a stretch to call it an assumption. “I'm Francesa Wolseithcrafte,” she added, although she suspected that was rather obvious.

She took a seat, helping herself to a piece of toast, appreciative of the charms that kept it hot and fresh. She spread it with butter and marmalade, pouring a cup of pumpkin juice for herself. She assumed if they wanted anything much from her they would tell or, or most likely be waiting for the others to join them before they got started, and was content to quietly eat breakfast until that happened.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte The leader's 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

January 20, 2013 3:39 PM

Go team! waves pom poms by Charlie B-F-R

Charlie didn't really know what to feel about his team. He'd met a few people in his year group so far but he tended to like everyone, so whilst he could be disappointed about not being with Jeweliah or Juli-one, he could be please about being with Twolian (as he had, in his head, dubbed Julian and Julian, based on the order in which he had met them). Plus his default assumption was that people were nice, unless things were very clearly demonstrated to be otherwise. Henny had said that even the Purebloods from really big families who cared about That Sort of Thing tended to be decent to people. She even wrote to Thad Pierce and he was probably one of the people she talked about most, so he wasn't intimidated by the idea of mixing with a Carey and a Brockert.

He bounced into the hall just before dinner with just about as much energy as he'd started the day with. Even though classes were kind of tiring he just couldn't help but be bouncy. He'd just about crash out in time for bed. When he'd seen the note from his team leader, he'd asked Henny how to identify him, and so was relatively confident he was enthusiastically bounding up to the right Pecari.

“Hi,” he grinned. Marcus was, being a seventh year, a lot bigger than him and kind of tough looking. Charlie tried not to think that he looked like the kind of person who would pick on someone like him. It wasn't nice to assume things about people. He felt a little bit awkward talking to such an older student by himself but as far as he was concerned, there was no reason to assume it wouldn't be fine – he just wasn't sure they would have much in common but at least they had the fact they were team mates to go with. “I'm here for the team meeting – I'm Charlie,” he smiled brightly. Although he was bright and enthusiastic, his voice itself had a soft, gentle quality. Bluntly put, it was rather camp, an effect that was accentuated by the way he flicked his floppy blond hair away from his face. “You're Marcus, our team leader, right?” he beamed, sitting down.

13 Charlie B-F-R Go team! *waves pom poms* 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Henry Carey

January 21, 2013 12:00 AM

I don't care by Henry Carey

At the Welcoming Feast, Henry had taken a seat as soon as he entered the Hall, without looking around for friends or relatives to sit with, and had sat quietly through the meal, eating his potato soup and doing his best to ignore the events going on around him. It was better that way. Meals in general were one of his least favorite times at Sonora, and the feasts were particularly stressful occasions. When he tried to interact with people at them, he usually ended up mumbling, unable to make eye contact, or else snapping at them.

He did, though, hear the announcements. Most of them hadn’t interested him at all, and the one about Quidditch had actually come as a relief. Henry had been planning to take his leave of the Crotalus Quidditch team anyway, since he was terrified of being in the air and didn’t even have the support of his family around him that he might have on Aladren’s to pressure him into staying and suspected that the rest of the team disliked him just because of who his relatives were, but now he could do it without losing any face, without seeming weak or like a failure or any of the other things which had occurred to him as a possibility. The relief had only been momentary, though, as he had realized he had no such escape from the reason why the games had been cancelled. In Quidditch, he could at least be the reserve. In what might, if he gave his imagination full reign to make up whatever it wanted, lie ahead of him….

When the team lists had come out, he had felt both of his previous emotions, the relief and the dread, almost at the same time after he found his name in the group of other names he had been placed with. On one hand, he was with a fairly prestigious group, one which could prevent him from being completely shamed in front of the whole school. On the other hand, he could do very little to keep from being shamed in front of that group.

He was turning a coin back and forth between his fingers when, after taking a moment to steel himself once he saw the announcement for his team to gather had been hung over one of the older students’ heads. Thaddeus Pierce’s, to be exact, though Wilkes and a girl – fair hair, not familiar, Aladren, first year, presumably Wolseithcrafte – were also there.

He waited until he thought he sensed a lull in the speech to step forward. “’M Henry Carey,” he said, only clearly saying his name, so that the attempt at using a complete sentence could easily be missed completely. With that, he sat down, uncomfortable at the unfamiliar table, with the unfamiliar people, and began to look blankly over this morning’s breakfast offerings, remembering after a few seconds to push his glasses higher up his nose so he could see everything as clearly as possible.

0 Henry Carey I don't care 239 Henry Carey 0 5

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.

0 Rajid Ambrose Thanks.....captain? 0 Rajid Ambrose 0 5

Josephine Owen

January 21, 2013 3:45 AM

Team Sixteen by Josephine Owen

No Aladrens. After reading the list for the third time, Josephine was relatively sure there were no Aladrens in her team. That was another surprising point about the list: she seemed to be in charge of a team. As a prefect, she supposed she should have expected it, but she just hadn't seen it coming until she read her name at the top of the short list of students classed as Team Sixteen. The lack of leadership she would learn to deal with - she had been peace-keeper between Jade and James for years now, so could probably manage to organise a small group of younger students sufficiently that they didn't squabble at every turn - and the lack of Aladrens was actually just fine by her. Josephine was confident in her intelligence and logic to know that they weren't missing the brains of the outfit, and Aladrens had a tendency to be, well, a bit weird.

The rest of her team consisted of a bunch of people who she might have met in classes, but otherwise was not familiar with. That was good on the level that she didn't already hold any grudges or reservations, but she wasn't always good at getting along with people straight away, particularly if they were all in a group. On the other hand, the list had placed Josephine in charge, so perhaps this implied authority might give her that extra confidence boost to just smile and get along with everyone. Only time would tell.

In order to get to know her teammates better (and because everyone else seemed to be doing it, too) Josephine scheduled a meeting for their team for the following afternoon. She decided to meet at the Pecari table; as oldest and Prefect, she was calling dibs on her usual seating arrangement. She wasn't convinced that the first years would know who she was, so she'd written a large number 16 on a piece of parchment and placed it in front of her so her teammates would know where to meet. All she had in mind for this initial meeting was for them all to get to know each other a little better. She was still pondering whether to let slip right now how competetive a nature she possessed, or to leave that until next time, when the first of her comrades joined her. "Hi," Josephine greeted with a smile.

0 Josephine Owen Team Sixteen 196 Josephine Owen 0 5

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.

16 Alicia I knew I liked you. 210 Alicia 0 5

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.

0 Valentina Bentancourt And I have arrived! 171 Valentina Bentancourt 0 5

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

January 22, 2013 12:00 PM

Looking it over. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

The announcement of the challenges had been the cherry on Josh's cake. It would be a challenging experience, certainly, and normally Josh would jump to it. It was different, however, when he found that he wasn't on the same team as Brianna. His jaw clenched briefly. How would he look after her if they were against each other? Josh couldn't very well duel her team if he was dueling against her.

The rest of his teammates he wasn't familiar with. The first-years in particular would be useless, but Josh wasn't planning on winning. He wasn't actually planning on anything because that was James Owen's job. Josh clenched and unclenched his fists as he looked down at the rest of them and back at Brianna's team. At least she had Linus.

Things were preparing themselves for him to graduate. Brianna would be taken care of after he left, his C.A.T.S. scores were outstanding as expected and useful for when he planned on opening his apothecary somewhere. His O in Potions in particular would help him in publishing any of his findings and hypotheses as he made his way up to the more prestigious potions journals.

But this was going to be a test of their skills as a team, something Josh didn't think would help him. It would have been easier working alone; at least that way he could get through it quickly and challenge himself. With youngsters, he had to slow down and perform less difficult spells while trying to give everyone a chance. It wasn't going to be easy. Concerning any challenges, Josh hated groupwork. He worked much better on his own. At the very least he wouldn't have to direct these kids. He thanked God for little mercies and went to eat his breakfast alone.

19 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan Looking it over. 184 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan 0 5

William Casey

January 22, 2013 9:49 PM

Willing to work by William Casey

Will entered Cascade Hall one morning to find a list posted up on a wall. 'That must be the group challenge tam list,' he thought nervously to himself. He wasn't nervous, per say, the idea sounded like a lot of fun, but he hardly knew anyone at this school. What if his group didn't like him?

Pushing his childish worries from his head, he did his best to casually stroll over to the list. He scanned the list until he reached his name. 'Group 7, huh?' He looked over the other names, and frowned slightly at the fact their were no other Pecari's in his group. "Well, the odds were against it I guess," he muttered under his breath, returning to his house table.

As Will ate, some deep thoughts occured to him, as deep thoughts often do when one is eating. Firstly, he wondered about the content of the group challenges, wondering if he would struggle due to his miniscule knowledge of magic.

He also thought about his classes so far. He had taken a wonderful flying class, where he again got to experience the true magic that is flight. Will had also taken a Charms class, where he got to experiment with his magic, performing the levitation charm. Would he be able to contribute to the group when he had accomplished so little?

'Either way,' Will thought, finishing up his bacon,' I guess my best shot is worth it, if not only to not dissappoint my team.' With that rather pessimistic thought in his head, Will sauntered out of the hall and on to his next task.

0 William Casey Willing to work 0 William Casey 0 5

Kate Bauer

January 24, 2013 9:44 AM

I can work with that. by Kate Bauer

When she had first seen the team lists, Kate’s first reaction had been surprise, even as a seventh year Quidditch captain and prefect and sort of past contender for Head Girl, at seeing her name at the top of a list, just because she never expected that kind of thing. Picking up awards and leadership positions left, right, and center was something she accepted that members of her family just did – Christmas could get really dull when someone was in an award year, since that prompted everyone, Granddad and Momma and Uncle Geoff, and Granddad doing extra duty to remind them that Aunt Helena had been a Quidditch captain since she wasn’t there to do it herself, to start talking about their own awards – but it always caught her off-guard when she did it, usually without trying. Usually it unsettled her, too, but she didn’t admit that, lest the family decide she must have been swapped in the hospital or something despite her resemblance to her mother.

After surprise had come amusement when she’d seen the name someone had decided to apply to their team, and after that had come more of an interest in her breakfast than anything. It wasn’t until the next morning, when she’d come into the Hall to see that Alicia and her friends had decided to rally their separate teams around themselves and effectively tell the seventh years to all go get drowned together, that it occurred to her to do anything else with the knowledge of who she was to work with in the challenges replacing Quidditch.

She shook her head as she went to sit down and take her wand out, wondering who had started it and feeling kind of sorry for her sister. Kate was pretty sure, after all, that Alicia knew she was expected to follow in the family prefect tradition, so doing less than her little friends did wouldn’t have been an option, but upstaging appointed leadership did not really mesh well with the role of a youngest girl who cried and smiled to get her way instead of just going and taking what she wanted directly. At least her group, unlike the other two, didn’t include one of the Heads; Kate didn’t know Sara Raines well, but she didn’t seem like the kind of girl to like the sibling of an old rival – and worse, a half-blood one, a social nobody – getting mouthy.

Putting the number three up over her head – ‘Thestrals’ was too long to bother spelling in the air, especially since the hall was starting to fill up with team numbers over people’s heads – she put her wand back in her bag and then looked over the nearest breakfast options, trying to decide what to have. She didn’t think the food was actually better here, but Kate enjoyed meals at school a lot more than those at home except for when she got to stay with her father because of the infinitely more relaxed school breakfast atmosphere.

16 Kate Bauer I can work with that. 170 Kate Bauer 0 5

Arista Thornton

January 24, 2013 7:42 PM

Calling Team 12 by Arista Thornton

Arista had heard rumors that the team lists for the Challenges were up in the Hall. Rista was still upset over Quidditch being basically canceled, but there wasn't anything she could even attempt to do about it. Maybe there's a Challenge for Quidditch? she thought to herself, guessing she was probably only just wishing.

With a sigh, the tall, seventh year walked down towards the lists. Her head held high, as she spotted her name at the top of the team labeled, Twelve. She smiled, I may not have been named Kirstenna's Assistant Captain, but I get to head a Challenge Team. And we WILL win! she thought to herself as she glanced at the names underneath her own.

Addison, This should be interesting... she thought as she kept reading. James Carey, Marcus Crosby, and two first years, a Blair and a Ravenna. Well... interesting... she thought, wondering if they would win after all...

She noticed that the other teams were meeting together there in the Hall, and she decided that her team needed to meet as well. Using her Charms skills, she wrote on a piece of notebook paper, Team Twelve. Pointing her wand at it, she charmed it to twinkle and change colors so that her teammates would be able to find her.

She levitated it using 'Wingardium Leviosa' and smiled up at her handi-work. She normally wasn't the complete creative person her sister, Bri was but she did enjoy doing it every now and then. Ris was more the competitive one, and it showed, especially on the Pitch.

She frowned again, but looked around, wondering if her teammates were in the room at all. Addison wasn't, she was working out in the water room, but she'd be there soon. It'll be okay... Even though we're a young team, we still have a chance. she said, more to try to psych herself up than anything else.

0 Arista Thornton Calling Team 12 0 Arista Thornton 0 5

Addison Thornton

January 24, 2013 8:46 PM

Answering the call by Addison Thornton

Addison had been having quite a bit of trouble since she'd been back at school keeping up with what Emma had told her to keep working on. She still had healthy foods to eat and she still exercised, but that didn't mean that she was happy all the time!

Addi felt very out of place in their room. Now that Jessica was gone, it was only Reggie, Maddie, Hope and herself. Hope was the only one who was semi-clear on the fact that she didn't entirely bother her. At least Hope was trying to be nice to her. When Addi started a conversation (which was one of the things Emma had told her to work on) with Hope, and they'd gotten to talking about some of the things that had changed over the summer. Hope had even said she looked better. Addi had beamed for hours about that.

It was all a journey, Addison knew that. She also knew that it would take time, but it would happen if she worked towards it. I want to be better, I want it so bad! she thought as she dried herself off after swimming up in the MARS water room. Swimming had been something she'd started doing the year before when she and Josephine had started hanging out together. She didn't want anyone (other than Josie anyway!) to see her in her bathing suit, but still she went in. If other people were in the water room, she'd go in with all of her clothes on on top of her suit. Such was the case that morning. Another student was in the room, swimming before Addison had walked in, so her clothes stayed on.

So, instead of changing out of her bathing suit and going right to breakfast, she had to go back to her room and change. Addi put on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt back in her room and with her long red hair still wet from swimming, she went downstairs to the Hall. It was time for her salad, and she was glad for it. Her stomach was rumbling.

Walking into the room, she saw a crowd of people around some paper on the boards. She walked over to it and, since she was taller than some of them, saw that it was the lists for the Challenge Teams. Oh merlin... she thought as she glanced down the lists. She spotted their last name a bunch of times, and finally spotted her name right under Arista's. Oh! Well, if I'm not on Josie's team, at least I'm on Ristas... she thought, trying to be excited. Addi knew that Marcus was a Teppenpaw, but she didn't really know James. Blair and Ravenna were firsties, that was the only thing the sixth year knew about them. This is how we get to know people... she thought. Just like Emma said...

Then the noise got louder and louder around the room as students started talking. Addi turned around from the wall and saw signs up over their heads for some of the teams. Arista stood underneath one with 'Team Twelve' written on it, and Addison walked over towards her sister's pretty sign. When she got there the letters were changing colors from a shimmery shade of blue to one of a glittered green.

Addi walked over to her older sister. “Hey Ris!” she said as someone else came up to them too.

0 Addison Thornton Answering the call 190 Addison Thornton 0 5

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.

0 Rajid Ambrose Welcome to the team 0 Rajid Ambrose 0 5

Jeweliah Dyste

January 25, 2013 11:51 AM

Sweet 16! by Jeweliah Dyste

Competition was Jeweliah’s life. Usually she was up against other girls, both older and younger than herself, and they were competing to see who was prettiest, or had the most charisma—this was an entirely different ball game. Being an only child, and a beauty queen, Jewels wasn’t entirely sure how well her team would do against the others, particularly because she wasn’t in control of the entire thing. She was too young to lead the entire group, not to mention inexperienced still in the magical arts, but she was used to only having to rely on herself to win. This was going to be a challenge.

As the first year looked over the list and found her name, she got really excited about it. Her team was all girls, so maybe they could do makeovers or something as a team bonding experience! This could be so fun.

Soon she got the notification about the team meeting, and she picked the perfect outfit for the occasion; an olive green military inspired crop jacket with a row of brass buttons on either side with a white tiered ruffle tank underneath. Jeweliah chose a pair of black skinny jeans, black calf high boots, and a conductor’s cap as well. Her long golden locks were pulled back into a loose fishtail braid that fell forward over one shoulder, and her neck was adorned with sparkly silver dog tags while small silver stars clung to her earlobes.

She remembered Professor O’Rourke saying that Josephine Owen was their prefect, so she thought that maybe they’d meet at the Pecari table. As she approached, and noticed the parchment in front of the girl she assumed was Josephine, she knew she was in the right place.

“Hi!” She said brightly, returning the girl’s greeting. “I’m Jewels, I’m here for the meetin’.” Jeweliah smiled and took a seat near Josephine as they waited for the rest of the group. “You’re Josephine, right?” She asked, her accent very obviously southern.

0 Jeweliah Dyste Sweet 16! 0 Jeweliah Dyste 0 5

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.

0 Andrina Thornton Joining in... 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5

Ryan O'Malley

January 26, 2013 4:01 PM

Team Five meeting posted in library. (nm) by Ryan O'Malley

11 Ryan O'Malley Team Five meeting posted in library. (nm) 176 Ryan O'Malley 0 5

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?"

16 Alicia Bauer Let's get this show on the road. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

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.

0 Andrina Thornton On the road again... 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5

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.

11 Hope Brockert Here! 186 Hope Brockert 0 5

Jorge Garcia

January 30, 2013 7:11 PM

It's better than girly Unicorns. by Jorge Garcia

Jorge was neither excited nor upset about the upcoming challenges. They were just another thing that the school as doing that the students had to be involved in. They seemed to do it just about every year that he has been here and he could remember his sisters and Tios and Tias also saying how they were involved in one thing or another for the school, so really, he wasn’t surprised or concerned or upset, or any other emotion that most people seemed to be experiencing over the news of it all. Jorge also wasn’t feeling anything towards the cancellation of Quidditch. He played it at home with family whenever they were together and had thought about joining the school team, but never got around to having ever done that. Now, he just wasn’t interested at all.

The only thing he was really looking forward to for the challenges was to see how crazy everyone else became. After watching the ridiculous show at the Opening Feast when people freaked out over the cancellation of the Quidditch games, Jorge knew that this was going to be a fantastic year to sit back and watch everyone else have meltdowns. He’d, of course, do his part for his team but he wouldn’t really do anything with the sole intent to win. He felt that pinning one another against each other probably wasn’t the best way of teaching camaraderie between students, but they knew best.

At least with his team, he didn’t outright hate anyone and, as far as he knew, no one else hated each other. He couldn’t be certain for sure, of course. He had no idea about Kate considering he had never met her before, but he hadn’t heard anything negative about her at the very least. He figured, Solomon was too quiet to really have any sort of rivalry or hate with another person. Jade and him did seem too bothered by people and all things considered, there were worse people to work with then her. If Wendy was anything like her sister, she was fine. And Bianca… well, he’d have to wait on her. He heard things about her relatives, so she was the one he felt he’d have to keep on eye on.

Walking into the hall, Jorge saw all the groups beginning to form and then saw his team number floating in the air above, who he assumed, was Kate. Well, might as well get it over with… “Hey.” Jorge greeted as he made his way to her. He took a seat opposite her and grabbed a muffin. “I’m Jorge.” He introduced with a nod of his head.

6 Jorge Garcia It's better than girly Unicorns. 220 Jorge Garcia 0 5

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.

0 Rajid Ambrose And now we're all here...mostly 0 Rajid Ambrose 0 5

Thad Pierce

January 30, 2013 10:04 PM

So I can be the power behind the throne? by Thad Pierce

Thad nodded, pleased that the Head Boy agreed a meet and greet would be a reasonable first meeting agenda. They didn't really have a lot else to work with besides getting to know each other anyway. The next remark, however, was a little baffling and he immediately made a mental note to look up what Robert's Rules of Order were and then do a little more research to determine if Robert's Criminal Offenses Against Sanity was a real thing or a joke. He smiled a little, just in case it was the later. But even worse than the uncertainty of those references was that, while Wilkes did definitely delegate something to him, his specific title and responsibilities were not clearly defined. And, somewhat less distressing than that but still doing nothing to help him know what was expected of him, Wilkes started using words like 'dude'. He did manage to gather he was being appreciated and complimented, though, so he nodded again, grinning a little in agreement. He, too, was pretty much counting on Quidditch Captain eventually, and he definitely had high hopes for Head Boy as well.

He wasn't sure if he was glad of Francesca's arrival because it meant he could focus on something simple and straightforward, or disappointed that he did not get a chance to clarify his position as the team captain's delegate. For the time being, he would work under the assumption that he was a meeting coordinator since he had called this one and that seemed the more pressing responsibility at the moment. "Welcome, Miss Wolseithcrafte," he greeted her politely. She was followed shortly by the arrival of the second year on their team and Thad greeted him equally politely, "Welcome, Mr. Carey."

Both of the younger team members set to filling their plates with breakfast, and Thaddeus supposed that was an appropriate thing to do while they awaited Evan and Ayita, if they were coming. As there had been no previous notice, it would be understandable if they did not know this meeting was happening and missed it entirely.

Once he had a small stack of pancakes and syrup atop them on his plate, he looked around again and still did not see the remaining two members approaching yet. "Well, I guess we'll start. This meeting is pretty informal, so Ayita and Evan can join in when they get here. We're just having a little meet and greet to get to know each other since we'll be working together most of this year. I am Thaddeus Pierce, for those that don't know me." Which was pretty much just Henry Carey, but he didn't want to single out the group's lone Crotalus. "For the ease of quick and smooth communication during the challenges, you may all call me Thad. Mr. Wilkes," Thad nodded toward the Head Boy, "our captain, has been kind enough to delegate me as meeting coordinator today, so that takes advantage of my organizational skills. I am also very good at most aspects of academics." He wasn't quite sure if this was supposed to be a recitation of his strengths for the challenges ahead or a very early campaign speech for Head Boy, but he didn't want to come across as arrogant either, so he wrapped up quickly, "I also play for the Aladren Quidditch team, so I'm hoping we can crush these challenges the same way we crushed Pecari last year. Er," he looked around nervously in case Ayita had come up behind him, "no offense meant to Pecari."

"Anyway, could everyone just say a few words about the strengths you're bringing to the team and let us know what name you wish us to use when addressing you?" He imagined, with his example, most of the group would invite everyone to use their first names, but it would be improper to do so until such a formal invitation was given. Some, like himself, might even prefer a nickname, and while that would normally take some time to earn, in such a setting as this, there was little point in standing on formality. The challenges would likely require easy communication and efficiency and wasting time on a 'Mister Pierce' or a 'Thaddeus' just did not make sense when 'Thad' was so much quicker to say.

1 Thad Pierce So I can be the power behind the throne? 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

David Wilkes

January 31, 2013 12:28 PM

Sure, why not? Have fun with that. by David Wilkes

David looked at the first year girl who’d just joined them in some amusement when she ‘assumed’ he was ‘Wilkes.’ Well, at least they hadn’t given his team a timid first year. “You can call me Dave, since we’re off honorific terms,” he said dryly, catching that Thad had been Mr. Pierce. Then, though he knew it wasn’t nice to pick on first years, he added, “Fran.”

David tried hard to have egalitarian ideals. He really did. Growing up in a small town, though, just wasn’t very conductive to that kind of thing in his experience, and neither was being Sorted into Aladren, since somehow, they had never taken intellectual idealism to the point of developing the Socialist Party of Sonora. He guessed most of them weren’t quite that idealistic, at the end of the day, but it did seem weird to him, even if it did come as a relief at the same time, now that he thought of it, that they had absolutely no raging political debate nights around the fire. He was a little tempted by the idea of starting the League of Muggleborn Aladrens just as a joke, but suspected a large enough percentage of the House might not get his sense of humor for that to be a safe proposition.

A kid in glasses showed up and informed them he was Henry Carey, and David amused himself by imagining the asocial kids his new friends Fran and Harry could have someday. Then Thad started putting on an excellent show of why he got to be the talker, except for the minor political slip-up about Pecari. Simple physics had probably let everyone know who he was by now, but David introduced himself to the group when they started going around anyway.

“I’m David,” he said, since he would prefer they not actually call him Dave on a regular basis all year. When he thought of ‘Dave,’ he thought of the one really annoying fortysomething-year-old guy at his mom’s church. “I’m also pretty good at my academics, guess I’m a fair Keeper, I don’t do half-badly with a camera, and I’m the trashketball champion of my dorm six years running and going for a seventh. Next?”

He had a feeling his teammates were going to guess from this that he was not taking things all that seriously, but that was a fair assessment of his talents here. Plus, some of those skills, particularly those with being Keeper and playing trashketball with his notes during exam seasons, could be generalized into actual skills which might come in handy. Since they had no idea what the challenges were, though, he had no idea if they would and saw no reason to stress about it now.

16 David Wilkes Sure, why not? Have fun with that. 169 David Wilkes 0 5

Evan Brockert

February 02, 2013 1:13 AM

Here at last. by Evan Brockert

Admittedly, punctuality was not really Evan's thing. He did make an effort to make it to class on time-usually-but he was pretty much always one of the last ones to show up. Anything else, well, he tended to get carried away with whatever he was doing prior and not want to stop doing it. Truthfully, the Aladren didn't even like the idea of being a certain place at a certain time, it felt restrictive to him. Oh, Evan understood it, but that didn't mean he liked it.

So naturally, the fourth year was running late for the team meeting. He had been out in the gardens, looking for supplies, sticks and whatnot. Also interesting bugs. He'd found this one specimen that he'd only heard about and had never seen up close. Evan had had to capture it, take it back to his room and put it in his terrarium. Then he'd gotten caught up watching his terrarium. Plus, he knew he'd have to go back out and find more. He liked to have live ones as well as mounted ones.

It was fortunate that Thad knew his habits. He probably didn't expect Evan to be on time for the team meeting. The Aladren wasn't all that surprised that his roommate had been the one to call this meeting rather than David Wilkes. Thad was ambitious, much more so than Evan was. He'd never seen the need to be so and quite frankly didn't understand why his friend did either. If he remembered correctly, Thad was already the heir to the Pierce family. What else did he need? His future was set, he'd get betrothed and do...heir stuff.

Which, as far as Evan could tell, meant learning how to be a Patriarch. Which he thought meant bossing everyone around, because that's what Great Grandfather did. Maybe Thad thought he needed to practice because Evan really didn't think his roommate was a bossy person at all. He was always nice about Evan's eccentricities and didn't really tell him what to do. They probably wouldn't have gotten very well if he did. It was bad enough to be restricted people who actually did have authority over him.

Evan reached his group just in time to hear David Wilkes refer to the younger girl as Fran, which clearly meant she was Miss Wolseithcrafte, as last time he checked the name Fran was a lot closer to Francesca than Ayita. Plus, the fourth year already knew who Ayita was. She stood out to someone like Evan because she might possibly be stranger than people thought he was. Anyway, he was glad Francesca wanted to be called Fran, because he wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce her last name, though it sounded vaguely familiar. "Hi everyone, I'm Evan Brockert of the Colorado Brockerts, but you can call me Evan." Mr. Brockert, to them, was the groundskeeper. Though Evan felt free to call him Seth because calling someone Mr. Brockert would be odd for the Aladren. "Did I miss anything?"

11 Evan Brockert Here at last. 212 Evan Brockert 0 5

Evan

February 02, 2013 1:15 AM

Meant to post down here. by Evan

Admittedly, punctuality was not really Evan's thing. He did make an effort to make it to class on time-usually-but he was pretty much always one of the last ones to show up. Anything else, well, he tended to get carried away with whatever he was doing prior and not want to stop doing it. Truthfully, the Aladren didn't even like the idea of being a certain place at a certain time, it felt restrictive to him. Oh, Evan understood it, but that didn't mean he liked it.

So naturally, the fourth year was running late for the team meeting. He had been out in the gardens, looking for supplies, sticks and whatnot. Also interesting bugs. He'd found this one specimen that he'd only heard about and had never seen up close. Evan had had to capture it, take it back to his room and put it in his terrarium. Then he'd gotten caught up watching his terrarium. Plus, he knew he'd have to go back out and find more. He liked to have live ones as well as mounted ones.

It was fortunate that Thad knew his habits. He probably didn't expect Evan to be on time for the team meeting. The Aladren wasn't all that surprised that his roommate had been the one to call this meeting rather than David Wilkes. Thad was ambitious, much more so than Evan was. He'd never seen the need to be so and quite frankly didn't understand why his friend did either. If he remembered correctly, Thad was already the heir to the Pierce family. What else did he need? His future was set, he'd get betrothed and do...heir stuff.

Which, as far as Evan could tell, meant learning how to be a Patriarch. Which he thought meant bossing everyone around, because that's what Great Grandfather did. Maybe Thad thought he needed to practice because Evan really didn't think his roommate was a bossy person at all. He was always nice about Evan's eccentricities and didn't really tell him what to do. They probably wouldn't have gotten very well if he did. It was bad enough to be restricted people who actually did have authority over him.

Evan reached his group just in time to hear David Wilkes refer to the younger girl as Fran, which clearly meant she was Miss Wolseithcrafte, as last time he checked the name Fran was a lot closer to Francesca than Ayita. Plus, the fourth year already knew who Ayita was. She stood out to someone like Evan because she might possibly be stranger than he was. Anyway, he was glad Francesca wanted to be called Fran, because he wasn't entirely sure how to pronounce her last name, though it sounded vaguely familiar. "Hi everyone, I'm Evan Brockert of the Colorado Brockerts, but you can call me Evan." Mr. Brockert, to them, was the groundskeeper. Though Evan felt free to call him Seth because calling someone Mr. Brockert would be odd for the Aladren. "Did I miss anything?"

11 Evan Meant to post down here. 212 Evan 0 5

Arabella Brockert

February 02, 2013 1:19 AM

Rah Rah! by Arabella Brockert

Arabella went to the meeting straight from practicing her fencing. Since Amity was absolutely refusing to be of any use when she needed a sparring partner, the Pecari had been practicing with an enchanted fencing dummy in the sports room. It was one of her favorite activities, a good way to stay in shape now that she had reached puberty, and an acceptable way to work out any pent up anger and aggression without being unladylike and beating up her cousin. Sometimes, she needed an outlet for all the rage the third year made her feel.

Now, though, it was time to meet her team. Unlike Amity, who had been complaining nonstop to anyone who would listen or even anyone who was tired of listening, Arabella was pretty satisfied. She was a bit sorry not to be on the same one as Alexandra, but she didn't mind being with Theresa either and there were two good looking older boys, one of whom was like the hottest guy in school. They were both off limits due to their ages and blood statuses, but Arabella could still look. As for the first years, well any team was going to have them and as long as they weren't too full of themselves, it would be just fine. Prolonged exposure to Carrie had caused the fourth year to have an aversion to arrogance.

She was actually looking forward to the challenges. They might be really fun. Or, she supposed, they could be awful but she didn't like to look at it that way. Arabella had tried to get Ryan and Amity to look on the bright side of this and had been somewhat successful in the case of the former who even though he was nervous about leading, was happy to be on a team with his step-sister. On the other hand, she hadn't been able to convince her younger cousin that there was any bright side to the situation.

The Pecari wondered what tasks they would actually have to perform. There were very few things that Arabella couldn't or wouldn't do, but still, she didn't want to have to do anything that was too difficult, in part because she knew Amity would complain about that too, and the fourth year didn't really want her to be upset. Or to have to listen to her about it either. Not that Arabella didn't care how her cousin felt or didn't understand Amity's reasons for being unhappy, but it did get tiresome after a bit.

Spotting a boy she recognized from around the common room as Marcus, she made her way over. The only other person who had arrived was one of the first years, but of course, she didn't know which one. "Hello, I'm Arabella."

11 Arabella Brockert Rah Rah! 217 Arabella Brockert 0 5

Melanie Lennox

February 02, 2013 7:51 AM

Sweet Six of Team 16? by Melanie Lennox

Although Melanie had been extremely happy since last summer, she was a bit worried about the challenges. Not for herself, though she sort of would have liked to be on a team with Marcus, but for her sister of course. Potion or not, there was no way Valerie could perform any physical task. It would only hurt her to do so, and Melanie didn't like things that hurt her sister. How could the school ask the Crotalus to do anything that would? Was that why they had been trying to get rid of her?

Plus, there was the matter of her sister's team. The Teppenpaw was very worried they'd be mean to Valerie about the fact that she wasn't capable of anything physical. That they'd blame the fifth year if they lost and Melanie didn't want to see that happen. She didn't want her sister hurt emotionally any more than she wanted her to make herself sick doing something physical. Valerie's emotional state was just as important to her overall health. She'd been doing so well and the third year didn't want to see that stop.

Unfortunately, she couldn't do anything about it. As usual. Nor could she ever think of anything really nasty to do to anyone who actually did upset Valerie. Melanie just didn't have that kind of thing in her. It made her feel powerless, that things were out of her control. She could accept not having control over most things, even who she married someday, but this was really important to her and she hated that she couldn't prevent Valerie's illnesses-though she was really glad the medic had found something to help her- or her having to do something that might make her ill or people possibly being mean to her or the fact that she never could get back at them if they were, no matter how much she might want to because it was wrong-not to mention improper and unladylike-and she didn't really want to stoop to their level.

As far as she herself went, Melanie wasn't that worried about the challenges. Her team sounded perfectly okay. Even though she wasn't with Marcus, at least she was with Lucille so she'd know somebody on the team. Plus, she had many skills that she was sure she could utilize. Even though she didn't particularly care for anything athletic-sports were totally unfeminine-she could do it. That was the difference.

She arrived at the meeting to find that Josephine and one of the students that she assumed was a first year were the only ones there so far. "Hello." Melanie greeted them. "I am Melanie Lennox of the St. Louis Lennoxes. Pleasure to meet you." She smiled pleasantly, assuming that it would genuinely be a positive experience to be on their team though obviously she didn't know anything about Josephine other than that she was a prefect and that the other girl was a first year whose name she didn't recognize as she was neither in Melanie's class last year like the second years had been or from a family like the Teppenpaw's. The only one she really knew would be Lucille. Attoria was Valerie's roommate but they weren't close and Melanie's sister hadn't said much about her but hadn't seemed to have any trouble with her either so that was good. Very very good.

11 Melanie Lennox Sweet Six of Team 16? 226 Melanie Lennox 0 5

Josephine

February 02, 2013 4:03 PM

Sounds sweet to me by Josephine

The first team member to approach was a chipper little Southern girl, to whom Josephine took an instant shine. She recognised the girl - Jewels, as she introduced herself - from the commons, and had already noted to herself that this particular first year was quite pretty. Josephine already envied her clothes that were evidently not hand-me-downs, unlike the red jersey dress and gray tights that the sixth year was wearing. She particularly liked the other girl's cap, and made a note to mention it at some point, but not immediately, as she didn't want her first impression to be that she was distracted by an accessory. Jewels was like the expensive doll that Josephine had coveted as a child; she only hoped that her disposition would prove to be agreeable, too, otherwise the older Pecari would be so disappointed.

"Yes, I'm Josephine," she returned the bright greeting with a smile. "Nice to meet you Jewels." She made the assumption that Jewels was the Jeweliah on the list, however if Jewels was her preferred name, then so it would be. "Feel free to take a seat while we wait for the others to arrive," Josephine offered, subconsciously gesturing towards the seat next to her own. She was spared the task of having to find sutiable small talk to fill the time while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive as another member approached soon after, confirming her identity as Melanie Lennox. Josephine balked internally at the traditional greeting, but outwardly her smile remained fixed in place as she prepared to welcome the third of their small party.

"Nice to meet you, Melanie," Josephine replied. She was fairly certain this was the sister of Valerie in the year below her own, but seeing as she didn't know the Crotalus very well anyway, she decided there was no real point in asking just now. "I'm Josephine," she said, just in case there was any doubt on that score, and also because it seemed rude not to return an introduction, "and this is Jewels." Josephine was appreciating the feminine energy her team conveyed. On her inital reading of the list, she had thought that Julian would be the only boy among them. however, she had since discovered that there were two students in first year called Julian, and only one of them was male. Not having done any further research, she actually didn't know which Julian it was that was in her team. Personally, she was hoping they would be an all girl group, but she would naturally do her best to try and make the guy feel welcome, if he did turn out to be a guy. She'd know soon enough.

0 Josephine Sounds sweet to me 0 Josephine 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

February 03, 2013 3:40 PM

You really are distractable, aren't you? by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

The other team members began to drift in, starting with Henry Carey who would probably have utterly failed to register had it not been for his last name. She had researched the school's Careys after her meeting with Malcolm. This one was a South Carolina – allegedly a more reputable branch, not that those differences had had a lot of chance to hold meaning yet. She listened as Thad introduced the meeting and the fact that he had been designated 'meeting co-ordinator.' She wondered what exactly that meant. It did not seem like there was an awful lot to co-ordinate and she wondered why Wilkes felt so incapable of doing it. Presumably he had to have some intelligence and general leadership qualities to be both Aladren and Head Boy. That meant ruling out the hypothesis that he was incapable and the only other option was that he was being egalitarian, or suspected that there would be much more work required in being a leader later on. She scowled forcibly at him when he called her 'Fran' before realising that this was probably just the reaction he had hoped for, and that her expression had merely indicated to him that it would be worth teasing her in this way again as it got a reaction. All in all, she was finding herself glad that she could easily forgo Quidditch this year as she did not suspect she would relish working with him. It was only the fact that sheer logic dictated he wasn't entirely incompetent that saved him from being written off entirely in her eyes.

“I have grown up in a magical household and have a good appreciation of magical history and politics,” she began, when Thaddeus Pierce – she was not sure whether calling him Thad extended to non-challenge situations, after all the extra time needed to utter the syllables in this situation was scarcely critical – indicated that she should describe her skills. “I was taught some theoretical work before beginning school but have only begun the practical since being here, as per the law.” The next part was trickier. She was proud of her flying and Quidditch skills and did not really wish to hide her light under a bushel. However, too forceful a declaration of her skills, and therefore political leanings, could alienate people. “I fly. Well.” She was tempted to add 'and in the proper damn fashion,' meaning astride but felt that was rather pushing things. Instead she merely jutted her chin forward and regarded her team mates with steely determination, as if sheer self-assurance could exculpate her. “I would say I would be an asset in an athletic challenge.

“I agree that surnames might be dispensed with. I...” What she wanted to say was that she preferred to be called Francesca. Not Fran, Fanny, Cheska nor any other derivative. It was simply mind-boggling to her that a name – quite pretty to begin with, even if she did say so herself – could be shortened in so very many fashions without a single one of them being anything other than hideous. “Is 'Thad' a nickname you are already comfortable in using with more familiar people or are you adopting it for the express purpose of our convenience?” she asked, trying to ascertain the level of sacrifice he was making for their collective good. They were joined by another of the senior students. She gave a small nod of greeting as he introduced himself, leaving it the meeting co-ordinator to answer both of their questions.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte You really are distractable, aren't you? 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Henry Carey

February 05, 2013 9:59 PM

I'm sure he tries his best by Henry Carey

Henry didn’t see the point of the meeting they were having, and so most of his attention was on the question of whether he should eat oatmeal or not, but he looked up politely as Pierce – who said they could call him Thad, but only for ease of communication; in a way, this actually made Henry more comfortable, as it clarified that the leader, anyway, had no intentions of becoming best friends with them all and trying to get personal and otherwise just being a colossal annoyance – started talking about why they were there. He wasn’t very impressed, but did have to quickly smother a laugh when Pierce offered an obscure apology to the air for insulting Pecari.

Theresa was in Pecari, and so was Honey, who he found a good Potions partner, but Henry didn’t see that as a reason to be offended on the other House’s behalf. They had, after all, lost, just as Pierce said; that was an undeniable fact, so there was nothing to be offended over. So was Aladren’s dominance at most things. If they had had more people, he was sure they would have been as untouchable in the House Cup race as they were in everything else, but they were one of the smaller Houses, a minority among students. However, they were the majority of this group, so Henry expected to be left in the background most of the time and then ordered to do something every now and then during challenges, which suited him just as well as any other arrangement. He was the second son of a second son; being overlooked until people needed him to do something no one else really wanted to was most likely going to be the story of his whole life. He might as well, as Mother always said when discussing unpleasant things they would never escape from, get used to it now.

Wilkes was David, Pierce was Thad, and Wolseithcrafte was…curious about Pierce. Henry waited through that, then gave the spiel he had been coming up with while he listened to them. “Er – “ that was not part of the spiel – “I’m good at Potions, theory and practice. I can remember any incantation we’ve learned in my classes. And you may all call me Henry.”

He thought of most people by their surnames and thought he might have been more comfortable if they had called him by his, but he wasn’t going to argue against what everyone else did, because frankly, Henry didn’t really care. His sole interest was in getting through all of this making as little of a fool of himself as was humanly possible. Anything else was just a bonus, not a necessity. It was not a very Carey way to think, but then, well, he was the family disappointment already, so he might as well commit to all areas. The family did, after all, dislike ambiguity; everyone, they said, had a place, and everyone was supposed to be in their place.

0 Henry Carey I'm sure he tries his best 239 Henry Carey 0 5

Thad Pierce

February 15, 2013 1:05 PM

Catching everyone up by Thad Pierce

Thad stared at David in open horror. After four year on the Quidditch team with the guy, Thad felt he should have known if Wilkes ever went by 'Dave' but the impact of that nickname paled to insignificance beside the Head Boy addressing Francesca as 'Fran' which was just wrong on so many different levels. He wondered if maybe Wilkes won his badge because people outside the House just didn't know him well enough to realize 'Aladren' wasn't everything you should know about a candidate before voting for him (meanwhile Aladrens would have ignored that in favor of propagating the assumption out of self-interest).

It was clear from her reaction that Francesca was not pleased by the shortening of her name, but she refrained from comment and Thad did not need to step in as a mediator. This was fortunate because, though he was sure Wilkes was in the wrong, chastising the nominal team leader and Head Boy would just be awkward. He settled for a look of disapproval to express that the seventh year was not helping to create a positive team bond.

Fortunately, he settled into listing his skills. Though Thad would have preferred a little more formality than any discussion using the term 'trashketball' was capable of, it continued around the table as Evan arrived. Thad nodded a greeting to his roommate and took note of each skill point dutifully, pausing only long enough to clarify a point for Francesca.

"I have several cousins either unable or unwilling to learn names longer than two syllables," he explained, with only a brief glance toward the Teppenpaw table where Derry sat, "so I became accustomed to 'Thad' at a young age. You do not need to create a short form of your name if you do not already have one you respond to," he added, to ensure she understood she was under no obligation to subject herself to more 'Fran's, as she clearly did not care for that form of address.

Once everyone else finished, he explained for Evan's benefit. "We were just go around and introducing ourselves so we know what to call each other and expect in terms of talent during the challenges." He passed Evan his notes so they didn't have to go over it again. "I think you caught Henry and Francesca's introductions, and you already know me and David." As Evan wasn't on the Quidditch team, he wasn't sure how well he knew David, but they should be able to recognize each other at least, he thought.

"Ayita is also on our team," he added for those unfamiliar with her. "She's a sixth year Pecari from a Native American tribe." Or so he had gathered, though he had no idea which one or any details of how or why she had left the tribe to join the Headmistress's family, only that her surname had changed. "She can probably bring in a different cultural perspective and help David with the advanced material." He hoped so anyway, though he wasn't really familiar enough with her to know how well she did in class.

"We don't really know what the challenges entail yet, but does anyone have any ideas on how we might prepare for them?"

1 Thad Pierce Catching everyone up 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

Challenge Team List by Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau

Aria Yale

Much better than I thought. by Aria Yale

Alicia Bauer

...I really am cursed. by Alicia Bauer

Jade Owen

Go Thestrals! by Jade Owen

Henny B-F-R

Tagging the members of Team One by Henny B-F-R

Alex Devereux

Responding to the call by Alex Devereux

Arthur Carey

To my esteemed colleagues of Team Seventeen by Arthur Carey

Henny B-F-R

Fretting over making it by Henny B-F-R

Alicia Bauer

Recovering and rallying the troops (Team Seven). by Alicia Bauer

Thad Pierce

Following the trend amd calling Team Four! by Thad Pierce

Derry Pierce

Meeting and Greeting Team Eighteen by Derry Pierce

David Wilkes

Follow the leader! by David Wilkes

Rajid Ambrose

Reporting for duty by Rajid Ambrose

Fae Sinclair

I wouldn't be concerned. by Fae Sinclair

Alicia Bauer

Welcome, trooper. by Alicia Bauer

Thad Pierce

Whoever that may be by Thad Pierce

Regina Parker

A Notice for Team Fifteen by Regina Parker

David

Whose team is it, anyway? by David

Marcus Williams

Meeting with Team Eight by Marcus Williams

Brianna Japos

Meeting with hesitations by Brianna Japos

Alex

It's too late to back down now anyway by Alex

Arthur Carey

Meeting posted on MARS (nm) by Arthur Carey

Omara Hernandez

Nervously approaching older students... by Omara Hernandez

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

The leader's by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Charlie B-F-R

Go team! *waves pom poms* by Charlie B-F-R

Henry Carey

I don't care by Henry Carey

Rajid Ambrose

Thanks.....captain? by Rajid Ambrose

Josephine Owen

Team Sixteen by Josephine Owen

Alicia

I knew I liked you. by Alicia

Valentina Bentancourt

And I have arrived! by Valentina Bentancourt

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

Looking it over. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

William Casey

Willing to work by William Casey

Kate Bauer

I can work with that. by Kate Bauer

Arista Thornton

Calling Team 12 by Arista Thornton

Addison Thornton

Answering the call by Addison Thornton

Rajid Ambrose

Welcome to the team by Rajid Ambrose

Jeweliah Dyste

Sweet 16! by Jeweliah Dyste

Andrina Thornton

Joining in... by Andrina Thornton

Ryan O'Malley

Team Five meeting posted in library. (nm) by Ryan O'Malley

Alicia Bauer

Let's get this show on the road. by Alicia Bauer

Go team! waves pom poms by Charlie B-F-R