Headmaster Brockert
May 29, 2015 7:32 AM
Opening Feast by Headmaster Brockert
The summer had passed uneventfully for Mortimer, and quite frankly, he didn't mind that too much. Eventful did not necessarily mean good. It had been quiet and calm aside from a few annoying obligatory parties that were much more spread out than during the midterm break. Of course, as long as Mortimer maintained an air of standoffishness, people wouldn't bother him as much. It wasn't hard.As the first years filed in, he stood and began to speak. "Welcome to Sonora for the new first years and welcome back for all older students. In just a minute,first years will be receiving a goblet distributed by Deputy Headmistress Skies, in order to sort you into your houses. You will turn the color representing your house which are blue for Aladren, yellow for Teppenpaw, red for Crotalus, and brown for Pecari. Afterwards, you may join your house table." Really, Mortimer rarely varied this part of his speech. How many different ways could one repeat the same basic instructions? And who cared if he did say it the same way every year? He was pretty sure that it wasn't exactly something all that memorable and it didn't really matter if the older students were even listening.
Besides, for all he knew, Nathan had told the first years this particular information at Orientation, but just in case he hadn't, it was something that needed to be said for they did need to know how sorting worked.
Next came the announcements for Prefects and Head Students. This was surely of more interest to the older students. "Would Adam Spencer and Francesca Wolseithcrafte please come to the front of the room to recieve your Head Student badges? In addition, I would like to call up Theodore Wolseithcrafte, Duncan Brockert, Isaac Douglas, and Liliana Bannister to recieve their prefect badges." Mortimer was pleased to see this year's recipients were a respectable group. He didn't see anything inherently not so about Miss Wolseithcrafte and Miss Bannister playing Quidditch and it was nice to see a Brockert among them.
"We have a new class available for our intermediate students. You may now take Divinations with Professor Gellar." Mortimer gestured towards the woman. "Also, please welcome back Professor Pye who will be taking the DADA position full time." Sonora had not had a DADA professor for awhile and it was nice to have someone in the position. Of course, it would happen when they lost their potions professor."This year's Midsummer Event will be a Concert. Details will be announced later this year. We will now sing the school song." With that, sheet music appeared in front of students.
Every day we strive
Learning to survive
Life’s hardships and to solve its mystery.
Learning to defend
Our honour and our friends,
Flying high to meet our destiny
We will stand and face those who want to harm us.
We won’t let the world transfigure, jinx or charm us
I won’t fight alone, as long as you are with me.
Sonora be my home, my tutor and my spirit
Vasita quoque floeat; Even the desert blooms.
When the song finished, the meal began and students were free to eat and speak as they liked.
Subthreads: Happy to be back. by Aiden O'Neil with Tobi Reinhardt
Something old, something new by Barnaby Pye with Emilia-Louise Scott
Too little, too late? by Theodore Wolseithcrafte with Clark Dill
In which our heroine makes a face. (Tag: Atlas Primred) by Liliana Bannister with Atlas Primred
In need of a mental beta. by Emrys Lucan with Arnold Manger
Fitting in by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte with Fabian Brockert
This is a kissing free, mother free zone. by Ava Fletcher with Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Emery, Ava
Fraying at the edges by Araceli Arbon with Makenzie Newell
My last Opening Feast. by Virginia Bellrose
Mixed feelings. by Joella Curtis with Lionel Layne
Playing brother quite well, I think. by Chuck Fintoc with Joey Thompson
My title name was super lame, so this is what we got by Dustin Newell
Last to be sorted, last to care. by Arne Reinhardt with Alistair Johnson
Nice to meat you! by Sammy Meeks
PUBERTY MONSTER by Jake Manger with Ginger Pierce
Do I look delighted enough? by Adam Spencer
The beginning of the end. by Julian Umland
And So It Began by Seven Grayscale with Louis Valois
Down the rabbit hole. by Laila Kennedy
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Headmaster Brockert
Opening Feast
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Headmaster Brockert
1
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Aiden O'Neil
May 29, 2015 8:17 PM
Happy to be back. by Aiden O'Neil
Aiden had spent part of his summer with the O’Neil side of his family. His mother said that now that he was finally a teenager, his grandfather and grandmother expected him to make more of an appearance at family affairs along with his older cousins. Aiden found all of this to be quite boring, but his parents insisted that this was going to become part of his routine and he was just going to have to get used to it. He still couldn’t quite understand why anyone would want to go through all the hassle for gatherings and he didn’t understand the dull conversations that the adults always had. Why would he ever want to make any of that his normal routine?Even though those types of gatherings bored him, for the most part, he just hung out with his cousins. They were older than him so he didn’t really have a lot in common, but they at least let him in on their conversations or games so that he wasn’t left completely by himself or with the adults. It was strange since his cousins were not so much older than him that he couldn’t relate, but he sort of couldn’t. They often times discussed either Quidditch or who their parents were looking to match them with. Aiden wasn’t interested in either of those things. His cousin told him that he better start looking or else he might end up with a real ‘witch’ (they did not use this nicer term when they discussed this). Even with their warnings, Aiden just wasn’t interested in that sort of stuff just yet and, thankfully, his parents weren’t forcing it onto him either.
Now he was back in school though and Aiden was excited to begin his Intermediate lessons. He was also excited to meet back up with his roommates and Savannah to see how their summers went. Life at Sonora was feeling more like the normal life than things back home. He loved his parents, but he could only handle them for so long. He missed the relaxed feeling his dorm gave him or the quiet chaos of lessons. But he also really missed the food. As if his round face and hefty stomach didn’t atest to that fact.
Sitting at the Teppenpaw table, Aiden smiled widely around, showing his unfortunate teeth as he did so. “Hello, how are you this evening?” He asked around.
6
Aiden O'Neil
Happy to be back.
287
Aiden O'Neil
0
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Tobi Reinhardt
May 29, 2015 9:33 PM
Relieved to be rid of a monster. by Tobi Reinhardt
Tobi’d had an interesting summer. For starters, he had been initiated into the craftsmen of his mother’s clan and begun his official apprenticeship under his father to begin to learn the actual magic techniques that went into the Northwest Reinhardts metal and wood charming crafts. Not only that, but two acceptance letters to Sonora had arrived in Turner’s Point, one for Arne as expected and one for one of the Muggle girls in Arne’s class. Tobi didn’t think he’d ever have found out about it except the night of his initiation he thought he spotted the quiet girl lingering on the edge of their property as Arne teased and encouraged her to join in the festivities. The next day when he’d approached Arne about revealing their secrets to a Muggle the response had been rather taciturn and abrupt and he’d nearly told his parents they needed to call someone to obliviate the Kennedy girl but Arne had shrugged him off with a do you rally think I’m that stupid, and gone on his way.The incident had been burned into Tobi’s head and he hadn’t been able to forget about it sense. Growing up, he and Arne had always been so close. Even leading up until last year the two had been thick as thieves with Liac coming second to his beloved younger brother. He had gone over everything that had happened over the course of the past year and could come up with nothing that he had done new that might have upset Arne and made him distance himself from Tobi. The inheritance of the shop was something they’d always known about and something they’d been able to commiserate over—what with Arne always wanting to be exactly like Father and Tobi always never wanting anything to do with the business.
He watched as Arne sulked off in the direction of the gardens along with all the other first years and rolled his eyes, returning to his room. Because he and Liac were from different areas of the country, they always arrived at Sonora separately and Tobi’s closer distance to Arizona meant that he generally arrived there before Liac. However, after unpacking his belongings, and attempting to relax in his room, Tobi couldn’t get settled. He found himself pacing about, wondering if Arne was being polite or if he was giving the other students a hard time. Eventually Tobi got up to leave. While Mr. Xavier had instructed them to go either to their common rooms or Cascade Hall, he figured no one at a school could get upset with him for sitting quietly in the library until it was time for dinner.
If anything, he reasoned, he could say he wasn’t feeling well and as a result of a terrible headache had gotten lost on the way to the Hospital Wing, a place he never would have normally forgotten the way to. Besides, just because he never acted out didn’t mean that he wasn’t allowed to—Arne wasn’t the only Reinhardt boy allowed to have a defiant attitude. However, lying wasn’t something Tobi was particularly comfortable with, and the entire time he waited for dinner to start he was preoccupied with the idea that he might get caught. Luckily for him, he wasn’t and he walked down to Cascade Hall a little earlier so that he could find a good spot to sit at the Teppenpaw table and have a reason for being out of the Teppenpaw common room. Upon entrance to the hall, he spotted his roommate already sitting and squeezed through the crowd to snag a seat near him. He normally wouldn’t have chosen a seat next to another person without Liac, maybe adjacent to or five seats away from as Tobi found most other people at Sonora more human-like than he would have preferred, but Aiden was alright and rather nice, so in this case Tobi felt good sitting next to him.
“Alright,” he said, his quiet voice calm as usual. “I hope you’re doing alright too?”
10
Tobi Reinhardt
Relieved to be rid of a monster.
289
Tobi Reinhardt
0
5
Barnaby Pye
May 29, 2015 10:08 PM
Something old, something new by Barnaby Pye
The long summer away from Sonora proved to be exactly what Barnaby needed to remember his position on the idea of friends. Tarquin had reminded him of the fact when he very nearly bragged that he thought he and one of his roommate were growing close, after which he had been very embarrassed that a ten year old had shown him up. But Barnaby’s new return to his old attitude had not been the only thing that changed about the adolescent boy. Over the summer, Alfie had dragged Barnaby to an optometrist and as a result he was returning to Sonora with a brand new pair of round spectacles which, when he wore them, gave Barnaby a rather owlish look, perhaps more so than usual.Upon arrival to his room, Barnaby unpacked a set of books from his trunk and settled onto his bed, drawing the curtains closed around him so that his roommates when they inevitably entered—if they came to the room before dinner, would realize that he didn’t want to be disturbed. Here he passed a lovely couple of hours until he happened to glance at his watch and see that if he didn’t leave just then for the Opening Feast he would be very late indeed. Barnaby bolted out of bed, the curtains swinging behind him as he dashed out of the room in a very un-Barnaby like manner. He didn’t even bother to save his place in his book or put the curtains back into order because being late was, above all other things, something Barnaby abhorred.
As Barnaby neared Cascade Hall, he heard the chatter of students die down and he quickened his pace slightly before taking a calming breath and walking into the room. The Headmaster had just begun his talk and Barnaby took a seat at the edge of the Aladren table so that he wouldn’t be disturbed by too many students wanting to talk and wouldn’t disturb too many students while trying to find a place. He eyed the new first years as they walked in, wondering which of them would be helpful additions to his class and which would be large nuisances and hinder his learning ability if he were forced to partner with them before scolding himself of worrying his poor heart with any of those details. He turned his attention forward, sitting with a straight back and looking very attentive as the Headmaster proceeded to hand out the prefect badges and Head students badges and then lead them in the school song, only letting his mind linger on the faces of the new students for a few seconds longer than he really should have, his fingers reaching up to push his new spectacles back into place as he sang.
The glasses, however, were not the only new thing that came to Sonora with Barnaby. There was a cold air about the twelve year old, an air which had previously not been there, as though the mirror from the children’s fairy tale The Snow Queen had been shattered and pieces of shard had entered not only both his eyes and his heart like poor little Kay, but also his sense of reasoning.
“Pass the potatoes,” he said in an indifferent tone once they were allowed to eat.
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Barnaby Pye
Something old, something new
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Barnaby Pye
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Theodore Wolseithcrafte
May 30, 2015 12:07 AM
Too little, too late? by Theodore Wolseithcrafte
To Theodore, Francesca had always seemed grown up - she had that crucial two years on him that made her always older and smarter - but, as he entered the Cascade Hall for his fifth year, he was weighed down by the fact that she was becoming a grown up. It was nothing new for her to be moving ahead - they had always cycled in and out of synchronisation with each other - she would take a step, he would catch up, they would overlap, she would step ahead again. There had been small steps the last few years - she had left him in the intermediates, stepping up to advanced, she had come of age whilst he remained a child. But now, they were on the verge of something much bigger.He had been unable to ignore it last year, when she had been nominated for head girl, and it had become more apparent over the summer, when she had invited Jay Carey to visit. Theodore had had other weeks where his sister’s company was still his own, but when Jay was there she disappeared off to spend time with him, just the two of them. As the Headmaster called them forward to receive their badges, he was undeniably delighted and proud of his own sister, but the badge pinned on her chest was an emblem to the fact that, at the end of this year, she would step out into the grown up world, and leave him here at Sonora.
He refrained from squeezing Francesca’s shoulder or any other display of solidarity and pride, as she already looked like she was only just winning the struggle not to burst into very public and embarrassing tears, and he knew she would not thank him for adding to that and, in all probability, tipping her over the edge, but his expression was a mixture of choked pride and wistfulness as he watched her collect her badge. He carefully arranged his features into an appropriate configuration for someone having honours bestowed on them by the school as they made their way onto the stage. However, on their way down, he found an elbow gently nudging his ribs, and turned to find Liliana making a face at him. He felt irritated with himself for having let his sentimentality show, and a little with Liliana for mocking him for it. He glared at her slightly before they parted ways for their own house tables.
Returning to his seat, he let the school song wash over him. Francesca leaving was sad (but happy, but good for her, but natural….) in its own right but also presented him with a particular problem. His sister had always been his closest friend in school. Theodore was not someone who sought the company of others often. He liked people, so long as they weren’t idiotic, well enough, but he also enjoyed peace and quiet. He found school and the constant forced interactions with others exhausting, generally preferring to spend his free time by himself. Francesca had been more than enough when he needed company, and as a result he had never made many friends. Once she was gone, who would he seek out, on the rare occasions he wanted someone to share things with?
It meant a new year’s resolution of being more sociable, he supposed. Of trying to build on what he already had, but he worried it was too late. They were fifth years. He was glad he had society to fall back on, which at least forced people to be polite and tolerant of him - even if he didn’t gain their friendship, perhaps that would be enough. With this in mind, he turned to the person next to him once they were free to interact.
“Good evening,” he smiled, “How was your summer?” The difference was perhaps imperceptible - after all, Theodore was never outright rude, so engaged in small talk whenever it was required of him, it just often left him feeling tired and irritable. It wasn’t his actions which had changed but the intentions behind them.
OOC - Liliana's actions were suggested by her author, and the way they were described was given her approval.
13
Theodore Wolseithcrafte
Too little, too late?
270
Theodore Wolseithcrafte
0
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Liliana Bannister
May 30, 2015 2:44 AM
In which our heroine makes a face. (Tag: Atlas Primred) by Liliana Bannister
It had been a pretty odd summer, what with Levi being so moody and her hanging out with Joseph and Isaac instead, but she had been grateful for it because in the end, though Levi was still her favorite cousin, she had always wanted to be a part of Joseph and Isaac’s little duo and now it finally felt like she was. The two had even come out to France for a week when she and Grandmère went and they had met Vetil. That was another reason that summer had been weird—the two had picked up right where they’d left off but it hadn’t been anything official and it hadn’t been anything with rules and Liliana found that she really liked that.She had made no promises to anyone and she’d been free to see him or anyone else as she pleased. She knew he’d taken out a couple of girls in her absence, but the idea didn’t bother her like she thought it might have. Instead, she laughed with him about the ups and downs of the dates and lamented the fact that there weren’t any good boys at Sonora for her to do the same with, Vetil sharing the same sentiments. And then they’d gone swimming and he had let her and her cousins tag along behind him and his friends when they went to a series of public concerts in Rennes and she found herself having a great time.
So, when Liliana arrived for the Opening Feast she was not expecting to receive a prefect badge. In fact, she expected anyone but herself in their house to get it, perhaps more because the summer she had just come back from was something out of a chick romance novel, something slightly wild and crazy and not at all something prefect worthy. She didn’t feel as though she were particularly responsible and though she had managed to get on top of her Transfiguration grades she still stressed needlessly about the subject. And she had Quidditch, too, which did take up a lot her of time.
However, the next thought that entered her head was that she was prefect and that was amazing news to tell her cousins—perhaps that would get Levi out of the funk he’d been in the entire time she’d been with him. The next thing she thought of was that Joseph would be happy to know that she would now be in more contact with one Portia Dobson. The thought made her smile with wicked excitement and she gave Atlas an unnerving grin as she joined Isaac, Duncan, and Theodore walking towards the front.
As they walked up the stairs, she let her body slightly collide with Duncan’s in order to get his attention and then when she thought she had it, she whispered a heartfelt congratulations to her friend. “It’s going to be a pretty awesome year,” she said, trying to contain her excitement. “Maybe we can look for ghosts while we patrol the corridors at night?” This last bit was a reference to the first time she had met Duncan when he had been searching the school for ghosts in their third year. She smiled widely when her captain received his Head Boy badge alongside the Aladren team captain and she turned to look at her own counterpart of the Aladren team who had just received his prefect badge as well.
While in any other situation she might have made a face at Theodore if he looked her way much like she did during Quidditch matches, his rather gloomy disposition made her want to cheer him up. However, their limited contact really restricted the things she could do, especially because they were in front of the whole school. So, she waited until they were walking back towards their tables to nudge him slightly.
When he turned, she pulled a rather goofy face at him, letting her eyes cross and her tongue slightly poke out the side of her mouth which was twisted into a ridiculous grin. She held the face for a beat before letting it return to the normal pout though the corners of her mouth still held a hint of the grin as she was rather amused with the swiftness she’d pulled off the face. Theodore, on the other hand, seemed to take offense to her face and glared at her before going towards his table. She rolled her eyes at his back and hurried to where Atlas was waiting for her to have a nice dinner.
“Now,” she said, with excitement in her voice once they had been allowed to start dinner. “You have to tell me all about your summer, I want to hear everything!”
OOC: Theodore's glare as written by his author.
10
Liliana Bannister
In which our heroine makes a face. (Tag: Atlas Primred)
274
Liliana Bannister
0
5
Emrys Lucan
May 30, 2015 2:51 AM
In need of a mental beta. by Emrys Lucan
That night as Emrys sat in Cascade Hall, waiting for Headmaster Brockert to begin the Feast, he was beyond nervous. That summer he had finally come to terms with his crush on Charlotte. Though he had asked her to the Ball and they’d had a lovely time and though he had continued to find her attractive in all qualities, he had never actually said the words I like her out loud to himself. And after all the trouble he had suffered attempting to write that first letter to Charlotte he realized it, and he said the words—only for Caelia to walk in the room and proceed to laugh her head off at his incredibly red face.So there he sat at the Aladren table—unusual for Emrys as he normally tried to sit with Charlotte at the Crotalus table, and twisted his fingers, ignoring the looks Caelia shot his way every now and then. Charlotte was a sweet, pretty girl. She likely had all many of suitors by now as they were entering their sixth year and these suitors likely had been perfectly able to form coherent sentences around her and write her good letters, and Emrys just couldn’t help but feel he wouldn’t ever measure up to his competition. Thus, lost in a tangential thought process, Emrys argued with himself through the opening speech and only paused in his thinking to clap when he noticed the loud noise always starting a beat too late and a clap after everyone else had finished.
By the time they were allowed to eat Emrys was rather red-faced and ready to forget about the whole thing, and busied himself by filling up his plate will all manner of good things to eat. The more food he had available for him to eat the better, he thought, that way no one would really expect him to answer their question as his mouth would constantly be full of food because he was almost 95% sure that anything he was asked would be met with the response of “yes, I like her, okay? Now leave me alone!”
However, as he was filling his mouth with a particularly yummy serving of mashed potato his neighbor took that opportunity to ask him a question. Emrys’ face must have looked rather startled, and he turned to look, spoon paused halfway to his face. He set the utensil and potato down on the table and finished chewing the piece of chicken that was in his mouth. He took a long drink of water to prolong any possible conversation before finally saying. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that—I was enjoying this potato too much.”
OOC: Conjectures about Charlotte are just Emrys’ insecurities/speculation and not necessarily true of her.
10
Emrys Lucan
In need of a mental beta.
260
Emrys Lucan
0
5
Ingrid Wolseithcrafte
May 30, 2015 4:44 AM
Fitting in by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte
Orientation had been kind of a drag. Ingrid hadn’t really spoken with anyone she clicked with. Food had been ok, having a tour had been in ok, in that she could now prioritise her efforts on proper exploring, looking for secret passageways and the like, as the basics had been given to her. She was excited to be sorted, even though she had very little doubt about where she would be put, because then she would be amongst kindred spirits and might start to make some friends.She still looked surprisingly neat as their tour ended, and the first years were brought to the Cascade Hall to be sorted. Having been shepherded around all day, she hadn’t really had a chance to indulge in any of her usual activities, which went rather incompatibly with being nicely turned out. She was by no means a slovenly person but being rather active tended to lead to bows coming undone, shoelaces getting knotted and hair falling out of place. She avoided these hazards as best she could by dressing simply where possible - avoiding garments that needed their ribbons retying to be neat, or where a missing ornamental button was going to be conspicuous and sartorially sinful. However, it was almost as if her clothes sensed her nature, and refused to sit tidily on her no matter how much damage control she tried to implement. School robes would suit her, being designed to look universally dreadful and being practically immune to all damage - as well as which, Sonora’s went rather well with her eyes, bringing out their natural green. The creases her uniform had gained on the wagon ride had been straightened out by Francesca and Ingrid wasn’t slobby enough to spill food without noticing, having been raised with some lady-like manners. Currently the only issue was that they were sitting a little lopsidedly, a detail which Ingrid had failed to notice and attend to, but for the most part she was presentable, her long brown hair still in the ponytail she had retied during Mr. Xavier’s speech (out of boredom rather than concern for appearance).
When she sipped the sorting potion, her skin turned brown, and she made her way to the Pecari table, grinning broadly. She recognised many of the faces from her siblings’ yearbooks, which she had pored over during the summer, taking note of whom her housemates might be, especially those on the Quidditch team. It was strange, finding those animated little pictures she had seen suddenly transformed into real humans - feeling she knew them but knowing she didn’t.
When the head students and prefects were announced, she whooped and clapped. She didn’t really aspire to such honours herself (though they would be nice, and she supposed being Pecari-ish couldn’t really exclude one, seeing as Pecari needed prefects too) and in some ways they underlined the differences between her exceptionally academic brother and sister, and herself. But family was family, and she knew they would be delighted, which meant she was happy for them. Once the announcements and the singing were over, she turned eagerly to the feast in front of her, and the new company surrounding her. She felt spoilt for choice with both.
“Hi,” she grinned at her neighbour, spooning some of the nearby lamb and pumpkin casserole onto her plate as she decided that, in both cases, it was most convenient to go for what was close at hand. “I’m Ingrid Wolseithcrafte of Chicago,” the last three words came out more like one. It wasn’t that Ingrid thought of them as unimportant exactly - being from a respectable family mattered - but there weren’t any other Woleithcraftes, so they only added their origin in order to fit with the way everyone else did things and signal that they ought to be treated with that kind of respect too. But given that anyone who was anyone was made to study who else was anyone who was anyone, anyone who was anyone should already have known she was someone without her having to add ‘of Chicago,’ so in that sense it seemed rather pointless, and there were more interesting and important things to dwell on. “So, why do you think you ended up in Pecari?” she queried, keen to find out what made the people around her tick and start making some friends.
13
Ingrid Wolseithcrafte
Fitting in
322
Ingrid Wolseithcrafte
0
5
Arnold Manger
May 31, 2015 12:30 AM
I can give it a try? by Arnold Manger
Sixth year, Arnold confidently believed, held much promise. It was a year of relative maturity both in terms of academics, as he and his peers transitioned into advanced level classes, and in terms of mentality. Sixteen years old was, by stereotypic standards, when teenagers began becoming freer. In the Muggle world, kids his age were given pieces of plastic to certify their competency to operate large and dangerous metal contraptions that accelerated at and around one another at considerable speeds. And, as many movies suggested, it was about the time where nearly everyone was dating.It was that advancement for which the Aladren was most excited. Though it betrayed his intellectual nature, Arnold was rather enthusiastic about romance. As if it were yesterday, he recalled his boldest moment, asking Ji-Eun to the ball, an event that eventually resulted in them going as just friends, not because of any vocalized disinterest but because she was “not allowed” to date yet. Time had passed since then, and the redhead had been patient, trying to be the best friend he could for as long as she needed him to be.
But as of last year, though nothing had been discussed, he felt a lot less like “just a friend” of Ji-Eun. She had grown flirtatious and playful in a distinctly non-platonic manner, and Arnold felt therefore that perhaps formal courtship was just around the corner. Because she had expressed the need for time--or else endure some sort of implied parental wrath--Arnold determined it was best to wait to introduce any titles or formalities until Ji-Eun suggested them herself.
He was certain to say hello to her before heading off to the Aladren table, his brother’s supportive gaze burning into the back of his curly-haired head. Jake was great, and had in fact given Arnold the advice and confidence to ask Ji-Eun to the ball in the first place, but sometimes, the elder Manger brother wished he could just have a bit more privacy. The closeness of proximity in such a small school certainly allowed for very little, and the barrage of questions at home all summer had only intensified this dilemma. Even at school, there was no escape.
Arnold paid polite attention to the Headmaster’s speech, clapping when appropriate. In particular, he applauded the new Prefects and Head Students. Though he knew none of them terribly well, he idly hoped to be in Adam Spencer’s position in a year’s time. It was a daydream he hardly anticipated seeing fulfilled, but it was one he held nonetheless. His mother had been Head Girl of her school in Russia, so he hoped to make her proud. Sally had, in her time, at least made the ballot and gotten close, but he hoped to actually see it through. Jake was sure to get Prefect, which was an excellent stepping stone to Head Boy, but Arnold wanted to do it first. He dreamed to accomplish something here, to be somebody.
At the conclusion of the song and serving of food, he noticed next to whom he had seated himself: Emrys Lucan, his roommate, Prefect, and unspoken rival. Arnold had always been vaguely jealous of the friendship his two roommates had formed, always feeling a bit like an outsider. And watching Emrys being awarded that Prefect title--as aforementioned, a stepping stone to Head Boy--had done nothing to satiate this envy. He held no ill will for his roommate, of course, and found him a rather nice young man, but he was jealous nonetheless. Still, conversation with one’s gentile rivals was often better than listening to oneself chew in silence, so Arnold decided to greet him. “Hey, Emrys. Did you have a nice summer?”
There was a respectable pause as the other boy finished his mouthful before his response. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that--I was enjoying this potato too much.”
Arnold chuckled lightly. “They are pretty good potatoes,” he admitted, glancing down at his own plate of them. “I was just asking how your summer went.” Emrys seemed a bit caught up in something, his face a bit flushed, and Arnold hoped a friendly conversation might help calm his storm, if only temporarily.
12
Arnold Manger
I can give it a try?
261
Arnold Manger
0
5
Ava Fletcher
May 31, 2015 2:02 AM
This is a kissing free, mother free zone. by Ava Fletcher
Ava shoved a piece of buttered bread in her mouth and chewed angrily. What exactly did it mean when a boy kissed you? Ava wasn’t sure she was the best person to ask about that particular matter, but nonetheless she found herself asking that question to the person who knew her best in the whole world—herself. It had all started when Papa told her Demetre was visiting George again. The majority of the summer had gone by as expected. The two had fought tooth and nail, Demetre teasing her to no end—any truce they’d forged the last time they had been together had been forgotten and Charlotte had lost touch with her again, making Ava feel as though her mother didn’t want her at all (that was a whole nother can of worms that she really didn’t want to think about at that moment in a room full of people who might possibly see her break down).Through it all, she found herself wishing that she was back at Sonora with Emery and Emrys and Chloe because they got on much better, so when it came time to leave for the wagon, she had bounded into her grandfather’s vw bug happily, chattering to him about all the people she hoped to see again that she hadn’t written over the summer—she wasn’t very good at writing letters, she was too impatient for them, and any letter she would have sent out to her friends would have been short, quick notes just to let them know that she was home, in Port Townsend, and alive. She felt slightly guilty, she had told her grandfather, especially because Emrys wrote such nice letters, but she was just incapable of doing so.
However, when Papa had stopped to fill up the tank and then sent Ava in with some money to buy cokes and a bag of peanuts for them to eat while they drove to the station. While in the gum aisle, Ava had been debating whether or not to use some of her pocket money to get a small pack of gum for the…flight? Her arm brushed against a very familiar body. “So, you’re going then,” he’d asked. Ava had just nodded in response. “Right, well then, I’ll see you later,” the awkward, non-antagonistic good-bye (in total opposition from the rather rude good-bye from the previous night) was the punctuated with a hasty kiss, something so quick that Ava didn’t even realize it had happened until Demetre had already dropped his bag of chips and run out the door, the flannel shirt tied around his waist billowing behind him.
In a haze she had bought the cokes and the peanuts and her chattering had slowed down the rest of the way to the station. She didn’t know how to feel about the incident, and had decided that if that’s what kisses were like then she didn’t think she ever wanted to be kissed again. It was wet and dry at the same time and Demetre’s teeth had kind of clinked hers and it made her feel like she was going to throw up. She swallowed the bread which settled in her stomach like a lump of very dry oatmeal. Ava didn’t really like oatmeal, much less dry oatmeal.
“So,” she said as she reached for a cup of coffee rather angrily, a drink she didn’t like too much but that she remembered her father did like so as a result she had decided to start drinking despite the bitter taste it left in her mouth. “How was your summer? Please tell me it didn’t involve any kissing, I couldn’t stand to talk about that particular subject at this moment.” She wanted to ask her neighbor not to talk about mothers or parents either, for that matter, but also didn’t really want many people to know about that particular part of her life.
10
Ava Fletcher
This is a kissing free, mother free zone.
258
Ava Fletcher
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5
Araceli Arbon
May 31, 2015 9:37 AM
Fraying at the edges by Araceli Arbon
Araceli’s hair flowed in the breeze as she stepped off the wagon, back into the world of Sonora. Her small body was slightly less small than last year, though she still felt frustratingly tiny compared to those around her. Last year had been hard, it had to have been the hardest, but it was over now. The most scrutinous pair of eyes, the most likely to call her out, had graduated and gone. Those who were still here had now had equal exposure to the first year Araceli and to the new and improved version they’d met last year. People’s memories were short. Araceli had started shy and scared and homesick - natural feelings, though perhaps exhibited to an unnatural degree - and now she wasn’t those things. She had moved on, albeit it through unconventional means. As she over-wrote their impressions, she became freer to behave however she felt. There was still the potion, and everything was still a strain - there were still ways in which she could get it wrong - but it had to be getting better.The weight of the vial in her pocket was so familiar now that she didn’t notice it. One year. She had spent one year on the stuff. She tried not to think about who she might be without it but it was hard. A year was a long time. Things changed. Surely she had changed. Her old self, hidden and buried under the potion’s influence, was surely still developing. Developing into whom though? Who was she now and what was she like? She hated mirrors. They only served to remind her how disconnected she felt - how could the features looking back at her really be her own if she didn’t know what was truly going on behind them any more? Nonetheless, over the summer, when she was alone, she found herself drawn in by the mirrors around her. She would examine her own face, she didn’t know how long for, trying to find answers or even clues about herself.
She walked into the hall, feeling marginally less irrelevant and powerless than she had done last year. At least she was an intermediate now. It was still bound to be tedious in the extreme but she wasn’t the bottom rung any more. And she was in classes with Duncan. She had enjoyed their chat in the library last year. He was the first person whom she felt had no preconceived notions about her and, though she had to mind herself and still say just the right thing, she had felt able to connect with him in a way she hadn’t with other people.
She took a seat at the Crotalus table, watching the first years take their potion, clapping politely for prefects and head students, the routine now familiar. The feast was served up, and she helped herself with a lot less worry than she had the year before, selecting a salmon fillet and salad.
“Good evening,” she intoned smoothly to her neighbour. She’d had such trouble getting used to hearing this voice tumbling from her lips but it seemed natural now. It seemed like her voice. “How are you this evening?”
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Araceli Arbon
Fraying at the edges
290
Araceli Arbon
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My last Opening Feast. by Virginia Bellrose
Virginia’s summer had been a wonderful time away from school for her. Her Coming of Age party had been a huge success and she was sort of dating Maxwell. They hadn’t made it official or anything,but they spent everyday together and both their parents seemed okay with the idea of them being on their own. Her parents were ecstatic about it, actually. Ginny assumed that they took this as a good sign about Ginny’s future. Honestly, Ginny had no idea where anything would lead with Maxwell. People were fickle and there was a chance that he would meet someone at University. He did promise to continue writing to her though, so she had that to look forward too.She was finally a Seventh year. Finally going to finish with all this schooling and go back home to start on the next chapter of her life (whatever that may be). She would miss her friends, of course, but there were always owls and visits whenever they wanted.
Coming to the school earlier in the day meant that Ginny could unpack and relax on her bed until the feast that evening. She never had to share her room with anyone, which was a nice treat, but also a little lonely. She probably could have wandered around until she found Francesca or Adam, but figured they were meeting up with their other friends.
Of course, even coming earlier didn’t change the fact that the feast felt exactly the same. There was still the same feeling of nervous excitement and the first years still looked like small little beings even compared to her small stature. But soon enough, everything quieted and the evening began. First went the sorting and then the announcements. One in particular affected her.
Ginny knew that her friends would be the ones to get the Head Student positions, they were the obvious choices for the positions, but even after time of preparing herself for their names to be called, the sting of knowing they had gotten those titles was still prevalent. She would have preferred if none of them had gotten the title rather than being left out from that moment with them. They were already both Captains to a game Ginny never quite got into and now they were sharing this too.
She didn’t think she had Adam had really ever repaired anything. They just glossed over all of it and pretended to move on. She supposed he would never understand why she had been so hurt by anything as he seemed too into everything else to realize she had deeper feelings for him, but there was nothing to be done about that now. Ginny was in a good place and her feelings for her first friend had faded greatly into nothing more than a slight blush when she thought of him.
Ginny’s face remained pleasant as she clapped for her friends. She would not allow herself to get into a funk over the titles. She knew that they both worked hard and therefore deserved the badges and she didn’t want to be that person and ruin it for them. Besides, her parents already said that after Sonora, she could join the Dance Academy near their home and continue with her dance. Unlike Francesca, college was not in Ginny’s future. She wasn’t bred that way. So, Head Girl wasn’t going to get Ginny as far as it would Francesca. Knowing this, made everything easier and Ginny’s smile relaxed.
Tucking her short brown hair behind her ear, Ginny looked around at the food that was available. Deciding on grilled chicken, Ginny began to serve herself some food. “Good evening.” She greeted the person nearest to her. Did you have a good summer?”
6
Virginia Bellrose
My last Opening Feast.
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Virginia Bellrose
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Emilia-Louise Scott
May 31, 2015 3:39 PM
Definitely something new. by Emilia-Louise Scott
As Emilia-Louise Scott stepped into Cascade Hall for the first time amongst her yearmates she thought that perhaps the new orientation idea for her year group's first day had been a good thing after all. Met with a sea of unfamiliar (and many much older) faces she felt mildly unnerved but refused to let it show. What was there to be nervous about anyway?Cascade Hall was very grandly decorated and Emmy-Lou tried her best not to gape too much but... there was water running down the walls! When the goblet reached her she took an eager sip and watched as her skin turned blue. Aladren. She smiled. There may have been a part of Emmy-Lou that felt mild concern at the thought of joining the 'clever house' and that she might not be of quite the same high intellectual level as her housemates. Yet now was not the time to worry about such things and more than anything she felt quite proud to think that her Aladren qualities overpowered those relating to any other house. She knew that Rob would be proud of her and found herself wondering if Grandad Fintoc would too, and perhaps even her own father... although she didn't care much for Broderick Scott and his opinions of her, of course.
As she made her way towards the table of her new house, Emmy-Lou looked out for Chuck and Joella over at the Pecari table. She spotted her stepbrother who gave her a thumbs up to which she grinned. Perhaps it would be better for her if she wasn't in his house as it forced her to be more independent, not that she thought she wasn't already.
Headmaster Brockert seemed neither friendly nor enthusiastic and only really said the necessities before the school song was sung and everyone was free to eat and talk. As Emmy-Lou began serving herself some chicken she looked her to talk to the boy across the table from her. He got there first, however, and she was rather taken aback by his manner.
"Pass the potatoes."
Just because Emmy-Lou didn't agree with the more extreme rules of etiquette which she believed many pureblood society members took far too seriously, it did not mean she saw no value in basic courtesy and manners. She was rather horrified by the way the Aladren boy addressed her. Was it that he thought she was beneath him because of her blood status or her age? In truth she didn't really care for the reason; the fact remained that he had been rude. She sincerely hoped that all Aladrens were not like him because she definitely couldn't envisage herself fitting in if this was the case.
"Excuse me?" She almost gave him the chance to redeem himself, thinking that maybe she had simply misheard. But she knew she hadn't and so went on to call him out on his rudeness. "Might I remind you that I am not your House Elf and you should make use of your manners if you want anything from me." It wasn't the kind of friendly way in which she had wanted to introduce herself to her housemates but she thought she had worded her response carefully enough that offence could not be taken, or she hoped so at least. Of course, she didn’t really know whether he had a House Elf at home but his cold posture seemed to suggest that he was exactly ‘that kind’.
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Emilia-Louise Scott
Definitely something new.
313
Emilia-Louise Scott
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Joella Curtis
May 31, 2015 4:07 PM
Mixed feelings. by Joella Curtis
Joella's excitement to begin her third year at Sonora Academy had been slightly dampened by having to leave her beloved new horse at home. She had been given Snorri by her parents as a birthday gift in early August after having found a particular affection for the winged creature whilst staying with her friend Audrey Montague. It did not feel as though Joella's time with the Granian had been long enough even after spending the whole August month bonding with him. The thought of returning to Sonora even sooner than usual was one that, quite oddly, she did not like.It was only when the covered wagon touched ground again that Joella was reminded just how much there was to miss about her school and all of the excitement she had ahead of her. Her close childhood friend, Emilia-Louise Scott, would starting her very first day at Sonora and Joella was keen to finally be able to share such a magical place with the younger girl who had always been so interested in her experiences at the academy. Whilst Emmy-Lou and the other first years had their orientation, a new idea that Joella rather wished she hasn't missed out on, the rest of the students were free to do as they wished. Having bumped into Emmy's stepbrother, Chuck Fintoc, in the Pecari common room, Joella had spent most of her free time catching up with him. She had seen him over the summer at her brother's wedding but had had little chance to properly talk to him by himself so she found herself glad of such an opportunity.
She was grateful that he commented on how nice she looked, hoping it wasn't just him being polite. Over the holiday, Joella had undergone several changes to her physical appearance, most namely to her hair which was now a black colour but she was already thinking of switching subtly to a very dark brown perhaps at Christmas. She had also grown somewhat since last term, although she still couldn't be described as tall (or even remotely so) and her figure remained as stick like as ever. Today she wore a small amount of mascara on her lashes but she did not think make-up was something she would take the time to apply every day. Joella's skin was as tanned as it always was after spending the summer at home and the smattering of freckles around her nose were much more prominent.
Taking a seat at her house table, the Pecari looked on eagerly as the first years entered the hall. She found herself with mixed feelings as her dear friend Emmy-Lou was sorted into Aladren but quickly resolved that she should not take Quidditch rivalry so seriously off the Pitch, flashing a smile in the direction of the chubby blonde even though she didn't think she had noticed her. Joella was glad to see her teammates Adam and Liliana both called up. She thought it particularly impressive that Adam would be Quidditch Captain and Head Boy this year and interesting that it should be the same for Francesca Wolseithcrafte.
It took the dark haired girl a moment to realize that what Headmaster Brockert had to say regarding intermediate students concerned her because she was now an intermediate student. Joella wasn’t sure if Divination appealed to her but there was really only one way to find out so she decided she would take up the opportunity and attend the new class.
The Pecari joined in with singing the school song but quickly turned her attention to the food in front of her when they were given the go-ahead. “Excuse me,” she got the attention of another nearby student, setting a bowl of potatoes back down on the table as she spoke. “Would you mind passing me the chicken salad, please?” At home, they were never without a good meal but she couldn’t deny that the diversity of foods that Sonora provided at feasts was something to look forward to.
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Joella Curtis
Mixed feelings.
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Joella Curtis
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau
May 31, 2015 4:24 PM
But...kissing is fun? by Emery Kijewski-Jareau
This summer had been incredibly weird. Like, beyond anything Emery could have thought possible and there were a lot of crazy things that could have happened within those thoughts. First, there was the whole debacle with Chloe’s mother. Emery sort of understood her reasoning for things but also didn’t. Emery’s father was a sperm donor, plain and simple, so he always thought that Chloe felt the same way about her mother. The woman didn’t spend more than a couple of days with her. She really was only an egg donor. At the same time, Emery knew there was a history there between his dad and Chloe’s birth mom and that’s what changed the label of her. Still, all this time had passed and Chloe had still been curious?The whole thing left a sour taste in his mouth. He couldn’t imagine what it had been like for his sister to find her mother in that situation or how terrifying it must have been for her to have to leave her there to find help. Chloe seemed okay after a few days. Maybe shaken, but otherwise, still herself. This led into Emery’s other weird issues with summer.
His friends all kept telling him how hot his sister had become!
That was disgusting. It was the equivalent of being told his mother was hot (he was NOT going to think about all the comments his friends made about that either). He didn’t want to think of any of his family members like that at all. At all. He was disturbed by the fact that his friends felt it was necessary to make any sort of comment on that to him. Of course, they mostly did it because they thought it was funny to see his reaction, but it didn’t change the fact that they still meant what they said.
Emery acknowledged the fact that they had all changed, noticeably so. Emery had shot up several inches, his shoulders have broadened, and he had filled out more, leaving him less lanky looking than in years previous. He still had a head of curly brown hair and hints of freckles, but at least now he felt like he looked more of an adult than that of a child. Knowing how much of a change he had gone through only meant that his sister had also gone through those as well, but he refused to acknowledge that. Besides, most days, there was only one girl who occupied his mind and he thought she was far prettier than his sister.
Now the summer was over and as stressful as it had been some of the time, he was glad to be with his family. Angel was worse, but he was still there and hopefully Emery will be able to help out once he graduated in two years. So long as Angel stayed with them for him to do that.
Once he got to Sonora, the short trip meant that he was more restless than tired. After unpacking his things, Emery decided to use the rest of his time to walk around the school and get reaquainted with things there before the Feast.
If Emery had paid any attention to who was sitting at the table when he entered the Hall, he would have noticed that Emrys was there and gone to see why, but he was so used to Emrys being with Charlotte that he hadn’t thought twice about finding a seat next to Ava instead. Emery thought it was good luck that he had managed to find a seat next to her and that perhaps it meant that this term might be off to a great start.
He had listened to the speech, watched the sorting, clapped for the new Prefects and Head Students (still hopeful for Head Boy, but now no longer putting much faith into the system), and then listened to everyone else sing. He was just starting to dig into his food when Ava started talking. At her question, Emery started coughing as his food suddenly felt stuck, and his dropped fork clanged against the plate. “Kis-kissing?” Emery stammered after swallowing his potato. “Who’s kissing who?” He asked, his green eyes wide and then making a horrifying realization, “Were you kissing someone?” Emery asked, cringing at the sound that his voice made. It sounded pitiful.
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau
But...kissing is fun?
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Emery Kijewski-Jareau
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Makenzie Newell
May 31, 2015 5:04 PM
I'm a-frayed that does knot sound good. by Makenzie Newell
Makenzie shifted in her seat, leaning around the taller Housemates in her way in an attempt to glimpse the Sorting process. Though typically not a particularly uncaring individual, she wasn’t actually terribly interested in most of the first years; instead, all of her focus was centered on a single young boy. Dustin Newell, heir apparent, was joining his cousin at Sonora this year. He was an upright (and uptight) young thing who, despite being two years her junior, had a bad habit of trying to parent her. For that reason more than anything else, she was hypervigilant of his Sorting, hoping to see him turn a shade of anything other than red. She didn’t need his hovering.Much to her relief, Dustin turned blue instead. Aladren. A fitting place, she felt, for a kid so logical and stiff. Her cousin was a know-it-all who knew it some, and hopefully there, he could learn a thing or two. The redhead relaxed into her seat, settling in to listen to the Headmaster call up the new student leaders and make his announcements. A concert sounded interesting, and Makenzie wondered what exactly it would include, but she supposed she just had to wait for more details.
However, despite the enthusiastic and plentiful feast before her, even when the school was released to eat, Makenzie found herself lacking an appetite. Maybe she was more nervous about Dustin being here than she thought. She was a good girl, recognized as Most Well Behaved by the entire school, but she was still worried he would find some fault in her behaviors and report back to their family. Maybe he wouldn’t like that it was all she was known for. Maybe she should have been Class Princess or Most Creative or Biggest Brain or something too. Maybe she wouldn’t be good enough in his eyes and consequently the eyes of the whole family. It was kind of a lot pressure for a thirteen-year-old girl.
“Good evening.” Oh, and speaking of thirteen-year-old girls, beside her sat her roommate, Araceli. Having now spent the same amount of time with a vocal Araceli as with a silent one, hearing her voice had become less jarring than it had been a year ago, although Makenzie still held memories of the quiet young blonde who came and went like a gentle phantom through their shared quarters. Araceli wasn’t that girl anymore, and Makenzie was happy for her. “How are you this evening?”
“I’m pretty good, thanks,” Makenzie smiled at her friend. “What about you? Glad to be back?” They were third years now, transitioning into intermediate level courses. There would be new challenges ahead of them and new classmates with whom to conquer them; personally, Makenzie was pretty excited about the whole thing. She wasn’t necessarily the most academically inclined student, but she always tried her best and found pleasure in the challenge.
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Makenzie Newell
I'm a-frayed that does knot sound good.
291
Makenzie Newell
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Chuck Fintoc
May 31, 2015 5:43 PM
Playing brother quite well, I think. by Chuck Fintoc
As much as Chuck loved the opportunities that Sonora Academy provided for increasing his knowledge in all sorts of areas he might otherwise have been ignorant of his whole life, the twelve year old had very much looked forward to going home for the summer at the end of the previous term. He hadn’t been especially homesick as such but simply felt as though the Fintoc family ranch was where he really belonged, surrounded by his uncles and cousins, the horses and cattle, working outside in the sun all day long. He was quite big for his age and helping out on the ranch his whole life meant he was a strong boy and therefore of use on the farm, as opposed to being a hindrance like some of his younger cousins often were.The only time that Chuck had spent with his stepmother and stepsister in their home (which was now supposedly his home too) in L.A. was for a couple of days around Bolivar Curtis’s wedding in July and also a few days before setting off to return to Sonora. This most certainly wasn’t because he disliked the company of Heather or Emmy-Lou in anyway as he was actually very fond of them, having come to view them as truly part of the family over the years since his father married Heather what must have been at least three years ago by now, but although Chuck did well to adapt to the situation, it was common knowledge that he was very far from being a city boy. Heather and Emmy-Lou both seemed very enamoured of the Fintoc farming life, however, so Chuck did not miss out on too much of their company as they came to stay in Colorado with Rob a few times.
Chuck was very keen to have his stepsister join him at Sonora so he could perhaps get to spend more time with her again, having seen much less of her since he began attending the school last September. Yet his relationship with her had moved very swiftly from a friendship to them being very much brother and sister and he knew that she wouldn’t want too much of his company as she tried to make her own way, finally receiving the independence she had always seemed so restless for. Chuck himself thought he had been quite keen on the idea of starting Sonora in his first year for all its adventurousness, but Emmy-Lou seemed even more so.
Upon arrival back at Sonora, Chuck had been a little concerned as to how he would occupy his time now that there was this new orientation thing for first years that required the students to get to school earlier. He ended up spending much of the free time before the Opening Feast with Joella Curtis, a girl he had made friends with instantly when he met her several years ago. He was fairly sure that their paths had probably crossed several times before when they were much younger, given the connections between their families, but neither of them could particularly remember earlier memories of meeting each other before Emmy-Lou had made formal introductions. Chuck enjoyed spending time with Joella, her farming background not so dissimilar to his, and she totally got his sense of humour. The two of them weren’t overly close but it never mattered how long they went without talking or seeing one another as they always picked up right where they’d left off the last time.
Chuck felt an unfamiliar sense of brotherly pride as he watched his stepsister enter Cascade Hall for the first time and watched eagerly as she took a sip from the goblet. He was rather surprised that she turned blue, although not overly so. Emmy-Lou had always been very interested in knowing things and she had a very strong willed nature which he supposed fitted with the description of the Aladren House, he reasoned. He didn’t know if he was disappointed she hadn’t joined him in Pecari or not but if he was he made sure not to show it, giving her a thumbs up when he caught her eye.
There was little else he could do after that but listen to the Headmaster’s notices and sing along to the school song, leaving Emmy-Lou to find her own friends over at the Aladren table. When the food appeared, Chuck began serving himself large portions. He always ate quite a lot, particularly at home because ranch work gained one quite an appetite but also at Sonora because the school’s feast were definitely something. It was only when he thought he should not fill his plate anymore until he’d emptied it a bit else he’d seem rather greedy and ill-mannered that Chuck addressed a nearby student. “Good evening,” he smiled widely. “How was your summer?” It was the polite question to ask after a long break but one that invited interesting responses as a lot of people often got up to all sorts of unfamiliar things during their holidays that were so different from how Chuck occupied his time away from school.
8
Chuck Fintoc
Playing brother quite well, I think.
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Chuck Fintoc
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Ava Fletcher
May 31, 2015 7:04 PM
Fun to say, maybe. by Ava Fletcher
If Charlotte was speaking to her then Ava could have asked her for motherly advice, but she wasn’t and the thought which had so sneakily popped up into her mind forced Ava to chug down the coffee that remained in her mug, wincing at the bitter taste it left in her mouth and turned to Emery to ask for him to pass some water just in time to catch him drop his fork and make a really odd face. The choking that soon followed concerned Ava and her eyebrows knitted together before she reached over and patted his back sympathetically in an attempt to help him stop choking.“Don’t you listen?” she asked, her eyes twinkling and her voice light to show that she wasn’t annoyed. “I said I didn’t want to talk about kissing.” She waited until she was sure he was done coughing before giving him two small, reassuring pats and removing her hand to return to her food.
She ripped off another piece of bread and put that in her mouth, forcing herself to chew and swallow. “You know,” she said almost to herself. “I’d expected my first kiss to go somewhat different, perhaps with someone I actually liked, someone friendly, maybe a friend.” Ava peeped an eye at Emery. “Hey, have you kissed anyone yet?” If Emery had kissed anyone then perhaps he would be able to tell her what it all meant. Though for some reason the thought of Emery kissing anyone made Ava upset. Be quiet, she told herself as she waited for his response. No one asked your opinion.
She let her eyes wander around the room before settling on Chloe. Her friend was quite pretty and Ava had wondered a couple times last year if she’d ever kissed a boy. If she had then perhaps…but no, Ava didn’t want to think about Chloe kissing anyone either, it all seemed so weird. Nevertheless, she figured that if she kept Emery on the distasteful subject of kissing she could keep him away from the even more distasteful subject of mothers. “Do you think Emrys has kissed Charlotte yet? Or Chloe, has she kissed anyone yet?”
The more she said the word, the more comfortable she was with it and she continued to repeat it a couple of times to see how it sat in her mouth. Actually, she found, it was a fun word to say and it kept that awful gas station scene in her mind so she didn’t have to think about the fourteen—no, thirteen letters (because she’d been sent a card on her birthday and she supposed that counted as a reply even if it didn’t address any of the things Ava had actually put in her letters), that she’d sent but had been left unanswered.
“What an interesting word,” she said, her eyes stinging. “Isn’t it an interesting word?” Ava fell silent and took another bite of her bread in an attempt to keep her voice from wavering. “So, how was your summer? Did you do anything fun with your family?”
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Ava Fletcher
Fun to say, maybe.
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Ava Fletcher
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Barnaby Pye
May 31, 2015 7:05 PM
New and a bit alarming? by Barnaby Pye
The chubby blonde girl who had sat down beside him seemed to take great offense to Barnaby’s manner of speaking and he just turned vaguely amused eyes to her, one eyebrow raised slightly. He reached past the girl whose skin was bright blue, indicating herself as a first year, and served himself some potatoes. “You know,” he said pointedly. “If you didn’t want to pass the potatoes you could have just ignored me. I would have gotten them myself eventually.”Barnaby was pretty used to taking care of himself—after all, once Alfie and Father’d had their big fight he’d been pretty much on his own (he didn’t really count either of his parents are real parents) other than the house elf and the nursemaid both of whom rather gave him the creeps and both of whom he had learned to avoid whenever possible. Of the adults in his life, his tutor was really the only one that he ever really felt he could depend on, and now that roll had been replaced by various professors who really didn’t measure up to his beloved Mr. Callihan.
“I take it from your skin you’re a first year?” The way he phrased it was really more of a comment than a question, and Barnaby wondered just how excitable this new girl was. Since she’d already appeared rather perturbed at how he’d asked for potatoes he wondered just how long it would take for him to get her to never speak to him again.
It really had nothing to do with any particular malice or ill-will, and was more of a social experiment, really. Besides, Barnaby had already decided he didn’t want any friends.—Tarquin had set him straight on that over the summer. What he needed was an accomplice, someone who sat by him during meal times and study periods, but someone who didn’t talk to him unless absolute necessary, someone who didn’t mind some intellectual banter about suppositions every now and then, but also someone who preferred peace and quiet to mindless chattering and small talk.
This new girl was definitely not the sort he needed as she was so…what was the word…, or at least too much so for Barnaby, and he’d ruled his two roommates out already—Spencer was the enjoyable chatty sort and Donovan was just…weird. Besides, Barnaby had his own suspicions about that particular roommate, and he couldn’t very well express these suppositions to the very subject of said suppositions since that would just be counter-productive. The whole fun of supposing was the actually not knowing of the right answer while one was supposing.
10
Barnaby Pye
New and a bit alarming?
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Barnaby Pye
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Dustin Newell
May 31, 2015 7:35 PM
My title name was super lame, so this is what we got by Dustin Newell
His skin was blue.As the heir of a wealthy Pureblood family, Dustin had always been around magic. He had seen spells, potions, beasts, and everything else. But he could not say that there had been a time where his skin had been blue prior to this Sorting affair. He hadn’t really been fond of drinking a mysterious magical liquid from the provided goblet, although that was honestly a bit more of germophobia than distrust. Obviously a school wouldn’t try to poison their new students. He just hoped no one in his year group was sick. This worry held more toward the Muggleborns in the group, not because of any real prejudice but mostly out of ignorance--who knew if there were some dangerous Muggle diseases to which he would have no immunity?
But despite the risks, he had done it, and now here he was. Blue. Honestly, he was a bit surprised, anticipating to join Makenzie in Crotalus, but this had been his second guess, so he still credited himself with correctness. After all, Dustin Newell did not tend to be wrong.
He joined his new Housemates at their table, finding a place to sit among the older students and remaining quiet while the Headmaster spoke. Dustin listened, although fairly uninterested in the announcements, given he didn’t know the upperclassmen being awarded badges or care too much about any new teacher. After all, they were all knew to him. He wasn’t entirely sure what a Midsummer Event was or what having a Concert would demand of him, but he supposed it was all in due time. However, when sheet music appeared in front of him, he was rather unsettled by the instruction to sing. Dustin could in fact read music, but he was more than a little uncomfortable singing in such a clustered group where anyone around him could hear him. The brunet instead simply mouthed the words along.
And then there was food, splendid, ridiculous amounts. It was truly a feast that lay before them. So far, Dustin was finding Sonora rather pleasant, although he noticed as he reached to fill his plate that his skin was still blue for some reason. That was rather upsetting. “Excuse me,” he said to a neighbor whose skin was not blue, hopefully an upperclassmen and not someone who happened to have faded exceptionally fast. “Hello, I am Dustin Newell of Michigan. Do you happen to know just how long I’m going to be blue?”
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Dustin Newell
My title name was super lame, so this is what we got
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Dustin Newell
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Clark Dill
May 31, 2015 7:59 PMClark Dill
AlumnusHouse: Aladren
Written by: Nathan
Age in Post: 14
Birthday: Who knows? But he celebrates it in November
Not for me, but I might not be your first choice by Clark Dill
Clark's summer had been a good one. He was fourteen now, so Dad was giving him a bit more freedom to do things on his own. Everywhere he went independently had to be within bike range or reachable by public transportation, of course, as he was too young to drive or apparate yet and broom flying had some serious draw-backs in the heavily muggle area where Clark lived, but he was a solid bike-rider and he could make it a few miles on his ten-speed and he had a metro pass that could get him as far as DC if he wanted to and told Dad where he was going.Of course, he mostly went to the planetarium, the library, and a few museums, so it wasn't like Dad had anything to worry about. Well, except the time he'd lost track of when the last train home left relative to how long it took to walk back to the metro station from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and he'd needed to call in a ride home. But mostly, he'd done okay, and he'd been more careful after that about making sure he didn't get stuck on the wrong end of the tracks.
Dad seemed to have no idea that most of his muggle friends did not have his new level of freedom at only 14, but Clark didn't really see a need to educate him on the point. He'd gathered Dad's folks had been kind of neglectful and stuff and let him run all over Detroit at a younger age than that, but he knew Dad was granting Clark a privilege based on trust, not neglect. Dad trusted him to behave and be responsible, and Clark was going to do his darned best to prove himself worthy of it.
Still, it had been pretty awesome, being totally unsupervised like that, and if he had gone through his own pocket money much faster than he probably would have if his super-frugal Dad had been hovering nearby frowning every time he got into a register queue to buy a snack or a souvenir, he was okay with that. He'd been given a good chuck to work with this summer since he hadn't gone to a summer camp or gotten a fancy new computer this year.
He'd even had enough left over to get a decent broom when he went school shopping a few days ago. It wasn't a great broom, by any means, but it was good one and it was his alone and it was built in the last decade, so he counted it as an improvement.
Arriving at the school earlier than normal, Clark had opted to head right to the Cascade Hall as he had every year previously. He felt no need to risk spending a few extra hours with Oliver Ferguson if he didn't have to. He'd spent the time wandering about, eating snacks and chatting with his classmates and, well, whoever seemed like they wouldn't mind joining him in conversation. Soon enough, though, people began settling down in their
respective House tables, so Clark headed over to his.
He wasn't particular about who he sat near, only being careful to avoid Oliver as was his habit, and he found himself sitting next to Theodore Wolseithcrafte, who, while being of the class that preferred the company of those belonging to the same class, he at least seemed to be reasonably accepting of his Quidditch teammates most of the time.
So when the announcements and the song were over, Clark thought nothing of Theodore's willingness to chat. He also wondered if maybe he was some kind of good luck charm because it was the second year in a row he found himself saying, "Congratulations on making Prefect!" He wondered if he should mention Francesca's new badge, too, but decided he could offer his felicitations to her directly, at the Quidditch Try-Outs probably, if he didn't see her before that.
With that said, he continued in order to answer the question Theodore had posed to him. "My summer was great! Saw a bunch of museums, got my money's worth out of my season membership to the planetarium, and got ahead on my independent studies. Bought a new broom of my own, too, so hopefully that keeps me ahead of the other Seekers in our matches this year. How was yours?"
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Clark Dill
Not for me, but I might not be your first choice
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Arne Reinhardt
May 31, 2015 8:04 PM
Last to be sorted, last to care. by Arne Reinhardt
Arne walked into Cascase Hall, his steps slightly shuffled and his head down. If he’d been looking up he likely would have noticed the way the light in Cascade Hall bounced around even if he never would have admitted it, but he wasn’t, he was looking down at his feet, not because he was frustrated or upset, but because he just didn’t feel like he really wanted to look at anyone and besides, it was out of habit. While staring at his shoes he couldn’t help but notice that his own scuffed-up Converse which had been hand-me downs from his best friend’s older brother because he’d refused to wear the nice shoes his mother had bought him, were in contrast to the click-ity Mary janes that Laila was sporting and he grinned, turning to the Muggleborn who seemed to have gravitated towards him at some point during the tour.“Nice shoes, Kennedy,” he whispered rather snarkily. “Stereotype much?” He grinned when she didn’t respond but rather inched away from him and tossed her head impatiently. Satisfied that he had been able to get one more jab in before they were sorted and likely separated, he turned forward to the Headmaster, idly listening as he adamantly kept his back to the older students, acting as though he were impressed with the walls of the room which he had just begun to notice. In reality, he did think the walls were rather nice looking, but he was loathe to admit that especially because looking at them had really just been a way to keep him from looking for Tobi in the crowd. His stupid big brother was likely looking out for him and Arne groaned, thinking that Tobi still cared about him despite everything.
When the first years began to form their lines, Arne let himself be jostled to the back of the line, casting a rather cynical grin towards the now red Laila when his skin turned the same color as hers. He saw, rather than heard, her groan and instead of taking a seat next to her, he mouthed “see ya’ in the common room,” deciding that the longer he took to start their next conversation the more likely she would be to be extra irritated, and found a seat next to another red student. “Arne Reinhardt,” he offered, letting his last name explain his position since he’d never been one for proper conduct and anyone who cared wasn’t someone he felt particularly inclined to deal with at that moment. “Want to pass the fish?”
He felt eyes at the back of his head, but he refused to turn around, knowing that it would likely be Tobi attempting to catch his attention so he could mouth some sort of meeting up later plan which Arne didn’t really think he wanted to go through with for some time. Through no fault of his own, Tobi had just earned a spot lower on the list of people Arne liked at the moment. Truly, if Arne needed someone (or something) to blame for this movement, it would be the potion he had just imbibed to make his skin red, because he had also just realized that red skin meant Crotalus and Crotalus meant a combined Quidditch team with Teppenpaw which meant that either he or Tobi would be playing on the team for the next five years and he was willing to bet it would be Tobi since Liac was captain and Tobi was older than him.
Then again, he thought, if he were to just mention an interest in joining the team he was almost certain that Tobi would decide not to come back if he realized he was the one standing in the way of what Arne wanted. However, to receive such unsolicited charity from the brother he wasn’t too happy with at that moment didn’t sound too fun to Arne—he’d rather not play Quidditch than be in debt to Tobi. Arne scowled as he then realized that Tobi was not the sort of person to hold someone in his debt and the thought made him hate his older brother even more.
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Arne Reinhardt
Last to be sorted, last to care.
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Sammy Meeks
May 31, 2015 8:10 PM
Nice to meat you! by Sammy Meeks
Another September first meant another time saying goodbye to her brother and her moms, but Sammy was super excited to go back to Sonora. She had a great first year in this brand new world of magic and monsters, particularly enthused about all the new and exciting powers she was learning had been inside her all along. It felt vaguely like a cheesy way to think of things (particularly in that phrasing, yuck), but whatever. Sammy was a magical witch with magical powers and it was super cool.She liked the way her wand felt in her pocket, the semi-visible outline on her leg as she sat down at the Pecari table. This year, she didn’t have the pleasure of turning a weird color after drinking a funny liquid, but she did get to watch other kids do it, so that was kinda cool. Living vicariously or whatever. Sammy did her best to take note of which ones turned brown for Pecari and somewhat let the rest slip through her memory to be picked up later if and when she needed to know them.
The announcements and stuff she didn’t really care about, and the songs was lame and also she wasn’t a good singer, so she opted out of that whole shebang. The part she cared about was coming soon enough: FOOD! Sonora had awesome food because apparently physics and science didn’t apply and they could just make stuff out of nothing and then bam, meatloaf, or poof, ham! Both of those two items were before her, and she graciously placed both on her plate, as well as a bit of turkey, just for good measure. Gotta get that protein, dude.
It wasn’t until she made accidental eye contact with a stranger whom she had seen glancing at her plate that the brunette realized she had compiled an order of nothing but meat. With a crooked smile, she offered unapologetically, “This is exactly what it looks like.”
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Sammy Meeks
Nice to meat you!
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I regret everything. by Emery
The reaction Emery’s body had over just a simple pat on the back was insulting. He felt his face heat up and knew that he was blushing. He was honestly grateful that he was coughing because the red could be covered by that excuse and not merely because the girl who has been his friend for a couple of terms now and his crush for just as long was making sure he wasn’t going to die from his dinner.After he had stopped coughing long enough to take a sip of water, Ava playfully reminded him that she hadn’t wanted to talk about kissing, but Emery didn’t believe that at all. Chloe was always going on about something or other with boys whenever they were together (mostly about Malcolm and Emery had no idea why), so Emery knew girls liked to discuss that sort of stuff, he just wasn’t sure why Ava was with him. What cold cruel God is this?
To make matters worse, Ava began to actually talk about her kissing experience to him. Emery wanted to cover his ears and run from the Hall singing the school song just to block her out and be done with this whole conversation, but he knew that wasn’t really an option without looking like a total crazy person in front of the entire student body (and there would go his hope of Head Boy entirely).
Unfortunately for him, the conversation kept going (at least she hadn’t liked the person who she kissed - whatever that meant). Her question was another one that he was not expecting, but thankfully he hadn’t just put any food into his mouth. Knowing that his face was probably going to a deeper shade of red, Emery answered, “Psh, of course I have.” He lied, trying to sound like it was no big deal. He had no idea why he lied, what difference would it have made? Except that he didn’t want her to think less of him if girls didn’t seem interested in him to begin with.
“No, he definitely hasn’t.” Emery commented, feeling this was safe territory. “I think the world would have shook in triumph if he had.” He joked. “I… don’t think Chloe has.” Honestly, this wasn’t really something he thought Chloe would have confided in him with. “I don’t think so though. She doesn’t like the guys back home and I haven’t seen her with anyone here.”
Emery just stared at Ava when she suddenly started randomly saying the word ‘kissing’, despite himself, he found himself watching her mouth as she said it, jealous that someone else had touched them first. “Er...yeah, sure, interesting…” Emery commented, trying to figure out what just happened, but happy that he was no longer blushing.
Emery sighed at the mention of summer. “It was a strange summer. Stuff with Chloe and her biological mother happened that caused some issues and Angel was pretty sick so we couldn’t really go anywhere. It was just a really long but not long enough summer.” Emery said. “How was your summer?”
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Emery
I regret everything.
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Emery
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Jake Manger
May 31, 2015 8:34 PM
PUBERTY MONSTER by Jake Manger
A funny thing happened to Jake when he arrived at Sonora. His bright blue eyes had wandered typically across the field of peers that stood before him, hopping between the ground and people’s faces and the parts of them that occupied the space in the middle. Jake wasn’t sure he had ever really paid much attention the parts in the middle, maybe because it had never occurred to him or maybe because, for his yearmates at least, there hadn’t been much of interest in that region. But now he was looking, and he noticed something weird: girls had these curves in the middle, and for some odd reason, he liked them.Puberty, you damned scoundrel! He thought bitterly. Jake didn’t want to be the guy who was always staring at the middle parts. That was creepy and not cool, but something in his head--a voice he had never invited, thank you very much--kept asking him to, demanding a sight that, through loose robes, was hardly even a sight. So why did he want to look?
The Teppenpaw decided it would just be best to keep his eyes to himself to avoid making anybody uncomfortable. As soon as he was seated at the appropriate table, he glued his eyes to his lap, not looking up for the Sorting, for the Headmaster’s speech, or even the song. He utilized his peripheral sight to direct food to his plate and was careful to guide his filled silverware to his mouth with limited glances upward. He just wanted to go to his room and be alone until this stupid feeling went away. For that reason, the typically chattery, happy, friendly fourth year looked exclusively downward and simply prayed no one would speak to him.
Of course, his luck obviously could not be that good. He only half-heard what was said to him, but he was fairly confident it was an inquiry into his condition. “Oh, yeah, I’m good,” he answered without looking up. “I just, uh, did something to my neck. It feels better if I keep my head down like this. I’m sure I’ll sleep it off and feel fine tomorrow morning. Thanks though.” Jake wasn’t an accustomed liar and had no idea if he was convincing at all, but Merlin did he hope he was.
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Jake Manger
PUBERTY MONSTER
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I regret...nothing? by Ava
“You…you have?” Ava wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or excited and she also didn’t know which one came across more in her voice. She decided that she didn’t really care what Emery thought she thought because she was going to get some answers. “Well, then…would a boy kiss a girl if he didn’t like her? Like at all?” She tilted her head as she frowned in thought. “And does it seem possible that such a thing might be done as a sort of joke or some way of getting back at her for something she might have done?”An incident involving rather a lot of cream-of-wheat entered her head all of a sudden and Ava worried that she might have caused the indiscretion via her breakfast incident which had really just been a response to Demetre’s obnoxious behavior. “Because if so that’s totally lame.” She didn’t want to be a revenge kiss. But mostly because she hadn’t wanted to be kissed at all.
“I think you’re right there,” she joked back. “He’s too stuck inside his own head to ever do it though, I think.” Talking about their friend’s affections towards a certain Crotalus seemed rather fun conversation and Ava smiled, feeling somewhat relieved to have moved on from her own kissing incident. She was glad, however, to hear that while Emery had kissed someone, Chloe hadn’t and she was sure it showed on her face. “That’s good,” she said after Emery finished telling about Chloe and the lack of boys she’d been around. “Boys are stupid, anyhow, present company excluded of course.”
“Oh,” she said nodding as Emery brought up Chloe and her mother and then asked her about her summer. “Right. My summer.” She began to shred her bread into very small pieces, suddenly not hungry anymore. She gave off a very unnatural sounding laugh, short and fake, and stopped herself, blushing. “That, that was a thing, yes, I had a summer.” She nodded matter-of-factly. “Yes, indeed, I had a summer.” When she ran out of bread, she moved on to her napkin.
“I saw Demetre, he came. Not Sonora Demetre, George’s Demetre, you know, that nasty brat I’ve told you about?” She had given Emery detailed account of her encounters with the devil-boy several times including the time he had pasted clubbed baby seal photos to her room door. “That was an awful visit, as expected. And I got a birthday card from Charlotte, so that was nice, I suppose.” If Ava noticed the shift in calling her mom “my mother” to “Charlotte,” she didn’t show it, and instead bit her lip, trying to figure out a way to switch subjects.
“Speaking of, since Emrys hasn’t kissed his Charlotte yet, why don’t you tell me about yours?” She was almost afraid to hear the answer, but somehow felt that the more upset she was about whatever it was Emery had done with whoever it was, it would keep her mind off whatever it was her mother was doing where ever she was with whomever she was with as well as whoever it was that Chloe might or might not have been kissing if she was into that sort of thing which she really hoped she wasn’t. Ava was fully aware her mind was a very muddled place at the moment but so long as someone was around to keep talking she didn’t think she minded so much.
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Ava
I regret...nothing?
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Ava
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Ginger Pierce
May 31, 2015 9:54 PM
Does being twelve make me better company? by Ginger Pierce
Ginger wandered into the Cascade Hall after spending the first years' Orientation hours catching up and decorating with her roommates. She had, by no means, entirely exhausted the conversational possiblities with her two female yearmates, she nonetheless bid them farewell as she headed off to find a seat for the feast. There were plenty of other people in her House she wanted to reconnect with after the summer away, and she didn't want to totally monopolize Jemima and Lauren's time anyway. She assumed, since they were Teppenpaws, they both had other friends besides her they wanted to meet up with as well.So as she looked to see who was about who wasn't already sitting with people, she saw her Quidditch teammate Jake looking pretty miserable. She was currently wearing the yellow ribbon he'd given her for Christmas last year as a way to add some color to her otherwise fairly boring brown hair and show House spirit for the Opening Feast, so she plopped down across from him with a cheerful grin that he did not look up to see. She pouted a little at this blatant ignoring of her, but he didn't see that either, and anyway, the first years were arriving with Mr. Xavier anyway, and she got distracted for a little while as they got sorted, the Headmaster named Prefects and Heads, and the school song got sung (Ginger joined in enthusiastically with decent pitch that wouldn't embarrass any of her more musically inclined family members but also would not earn her a place in any of their bands).
"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly when Jake still didn't look up to acknowledge her presence. This, from what she knew of him during Quidditch practice, was atypical behavior and now she was concerned he might be feeling ill.
He still didn't look up, but at least he responded, though not very believably. She wasn't a super good lie detector, but she could recognize bad acting and this was bad acting. Still, she decided she'd give him an out and pretend to believe him. "Do you need some muscle relaxant potion? I've got some in my trunk if you'd think it would help your neck." Ginger, on the other hand, was quite a good actress when she tried to be (or she liked to think so anyway and her production manager hadn't said otherwise when she'd gotten a bit part as a messenger in the Faire's Shakespeare play over the summer), so she put on concern and sympathy, and hoped he felt bad (but just a little bad because she didn't want him to feel very bad) for lying to her.
She took a deep breath, her flat, skinny, barely-twelve year old chest expanding slightly with the greater air volume for a moment before she let it out, and pointed to the mashed potatoes, hoping to force him to look at her, "Could you pass those over? I can't quite reach." It was harder to lie if you were looking at a person, after all. And that wasn't a lie on her part either. She was still pretty tiny and her arm-span would need a few more years to grow yet before she could really hope to be a formidable Keeper.
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Ginger Pierce
Does being twelve make me better company?
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Theodore Wolseithcrafte
June 01, 2015 5:10 AM
It's good to be surprised now and then by Theodore Wolseithcrafte
Theodore had joined the Quidditch team in order to be social - in the rather unconventional sense that being on said team seemed to account for the token minimum amount of sociability other people felt was expected of him, and thus prevented him from further criticism, nagging or well intentioned idiocy by those who felt everyone needed to be constantly surrounded by others in order to experience happiness. However, it had had father unforeseen effects on his socialising, in that it gave him a reasonable excuse to entertain the company of people like John Umland and Clark Dill, and he had found that to be something he quite enjoyed. At least, it was with Umland, he had never really had many interactions with Clark, outside of awkwardly patting him on the back for a job well done out on the pitch, but this evening looked set to change that."Thank you," he acknowledged, when Clark congratulated him, "Guess the house honours will be split evenly this year, which is always nice. Can't see Pecari's going the same way." It was an occupational hazard, he supposed, of being part of his family that he couldn't help but speculate on which way the badges would go. He felt bad for Atlas, who wouldn't have made a bad prefect, but paled in comparison to Liliana when it came to passion for Quidditch. He was a little surprised at the staff.
“Mine was pleasant, thank you. We always spend some time in the Adirondacks, which is relaxing - good for hiking and swimming - but I enjoyed my fair share of museums and the like too during the weeks we spent in the city. I never pass a holiday without visiting the Ms - the Magical Metropolitan Museum in Chicago,” he clarified.
Clark was, so far, proving to be a pleasant person with whom to chit chat. They were only on the small talk basics of summer holidays, and already he had managed to bring up three subjects that interested Theodore greatly.
“Museums, extra studies and a new broomstick…” he mused, “I think I’d like to hear about all of those Which would you like to tell me more about first?” Out of the possibilities, the broomstick interested him least but Quidditch was their common ground, and if Clark was excited about his purchase, or needed handling and maintenance tips, he wasn’t going to begrudge a quick discussion of the matter. The subject of broomsticks could even evolve into an interesting one, amongst the right kinds of minds, and in Aladren there was a higher chance than average of finding such things. The odds only improved when the person’s other choice of subjects was museums and extra studies.
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Theodore Wolseithcrafte
It's good to be surprised now and then
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Araceli Arbon
June 01, 2015 5:30 AM
You're a bad person by Araceli Arbon
“Yes, absolutely,” she smiled, when Makenzie asked if she was glad to be back. Sonora certainly gave her some difficulties but it was better than being trapped at home, with no one but mother, Father and the silent, stoney-faced dolls she had long since outgrown. “How about you?”Of all the people at Sonora, Makenzie was probably the one she felt worst about. Araceli’s room-mates were a pair of complete opposites - Shinohara was snide and untrusting, seeming determined to stick her nose in and root out secrets. She had been the more suspicious of the two about Araceli’s transformation last year, and she had never felt like the other girl had ever fully stopped questioning it. Makenzie, on the other hand, had been surprised but sweet, seeming to take the transformation at face value. Whilst Shino made her feel more determined to keep her secret, to deny the other girl the satisfaction of being proved right that something was going on, Makenzie’s trust - which should have made things easier, which was the thing she was supposed to want from people around her - made her feel guilty.
“And how was your summer?” she asked. She had written few letters over the break - she had responded as much as was needed in order not to appear rude, but she had not initiated, and her letters had not been long. She wrote letters all term, to her parents, to her sister, whilst simultaneously juggling all her interactions with her classmates. It had been nice to have something of a breather. Of course, Effie had still written to Delphine, so she had still been called on from time to time for that, but overall it had been a quiet summer.
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Araceli Arbon
You're a bad person
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Adam Spencer
June 01, 2015 11:53 AM
Do I look delighted enough? by Adam Spencer
It was perhaps much too soon for Adam to assume that everything would be all right. Ginny had invited him to her débutante ball; that was a good sign. He was supposed to be all right with her and her betrothed boyfriend or whatever he was. He had decided not to choose between Francesca or Ginny, but it seemed as though in not choosing either he’d chosen to be alone whilst his female friends found boyfriends of their own.It wasn’t as though he’d even been attracted to Francesca that way. Sure, he’d considered it but could never see passed their friendship. With Ginny, it’d been different. But now it was never going to be different because all she saw him as was a friend. After all, she had blooming Maxwell to hold her soft hand and play with her lovely brown hair and stare into her deep brown eyes. Adam smacked himself in the head with his palm, attracting curious eyes.
“All right, Adam?” asked Charlotte.
“I’m fine,” he said as convincingly as possible, but his heart stuttered as he and his siblings entered Cascade Hall for another year.
Adam sat at the Pecari table as he did every year near his team-mates. Now with Rupert gone, Adam had the responsibility as team captain. He’d never mentioned to anyone, not even Francesca, that every time he thought about it there was a small part of his brain that went mad with anxiety. He’d learnt to stave off the nervousness; he’d never live it down if his team discovered his anxieties. Rupert never seemed to have them and Adam didn’t want to be nervous either. Leading an entire team was daunting with the Anns and Ruper to rely on, but not impossible. He couldn’t wait for the letter from Coach Olivers indicating which Assistant she recommended.
His eyes wandered over to the Crotalus table and found Ginny Bellrose whom he had not been looking for subconsciously. But since his eyes were already on her, Adam didn’t move them away immediately. He wondered where they would live if they were married, if she’d want to stay in North America or agree to live in England with his family. Would they stay in Kensington or move to another county? Adam knew Charlotte would be thrilled beyond words; Lily most likely wouldn’t like her at first—she didn’t like the proper sort of witches—but she’d grow to like her. Adam imagined Maxwell knocking on Ginny’s door and Adam arriving to hex him. No, punching him in the face would be much more satisfying.
But if Ginny fancied Maxwell, then what could Adam do? Be a good friend? Adam leant his head against his hand in exasperation. He was only a silly wizard, but why wouldn’t Ginny fancy him? She only thought they were friends, and after that incident with the Midsummer Ball there was no way she would ever choose him over Maxwell. That idiot was proper enough, well-mannered and a friend of the family no doubt. Adam despised him.
Adam was startled by the sudden announcement of his name followed by Francesca’s. He immediately turned to look at her across the hall as though seeking confirmation. Adam Spencer, Head Boy? It took him a moment to regain his bearings before standing and quickly walking to the front of the hall where Headmaster Brockert stood with their badges. Whatever Adam had been thinking before was gone and he could only wrap his head around the badge that he was now holding. “We made it, Francesca!” he said, grinning with excitement before returning to his seat. He’d give her a congratulatory hug when they weren’t standing in front of the entire student body.
The school song that Adam had decided not to sing just moments before he now sang with utmost enthusiasm. Afterwards, he pinned the badge onto his robe. He couldn’t stop smiling. He was the first of his entire family to be both Head Boy and Quidditch Captain at Sonora. Neither Cepheus nor Rupert had been given the honour of Head Boy. His parents would be ecstatic. Adam picked up the jug of cider and poured himself a glass before looking at his house-mates. “Would any of you like a glass?” he asked, his smile bright.
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Adam Spencer
Do I look delighted enough?
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Adam Spencer
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Clark Dill
June 01, 2015 12:06 PMClark Dill
AlumnusHouse: Aladren
Written by: Nathan
Age in Post: 14
Birthday: Who knows? But he celebrates it in November
I think so, too by Clark Dill
Clark nodded in agreement that it did seem more equitable when the badges were spread among several people rather than one person collecting all of them. He assumed Theodore knew better than he did who was getting the Assistant Quidditch Captain badge as his sister was the presumed new Captain."Cool," he approved of Theodore's yearly pilgrimage to the Magical Metropolitan Museum of Chicago. He'd never been there himself, as Chicago was a little out of range of his normal stomping grounds and he'd never visited the city, but it was on his List of Places to Go Someday, along with the Field Museum in the same city. "I'd like to see that one eventually."
Theodore seemed genuinely interested in his summer excursions, not just politely curious, so, since they'd already started talking museums a bit, Clark keep to that topic. "I live in Greenbelt, Maryland, near the Goddard Space Flight Center, where my dad works. It's a muggle place that studies Astronomy," he added, assuming Theodore had probably never heard of it and explaining it the best way he knew how so a pureblood would understand what went on there. "They've got some exhibits open to the public, too, so I spent some time going through those, since one of my independent studies is Astronomy, and there's the Patuxent Research Refuge - which is a nearby wildlife preserve, so I got some nature time and fresh air, too - but mostly I had to take the train down to DC to get to the bigger museums. I went to most of the ones run by the Smithsonian - both the muggle and magical ones - and some other places in the Capitol, too. We're right on the end of the Metro's Green Line, so DC is pretty easy to get to. Baltimore is more complicated to reach since we don't have a direct rail line there, but that's not too far either, and I made it up there a couple times, too, for the Maryland Science Center and the Aquarium. It was a full summer," he concluded, nodding in pleased satisfaction.
It occurred to him suddenly to wonder, "Besides Sonora's wagons, I assume wizards must have some other kind of public transportation at those stations we get picked up at. I used the muggle systems since that's what my dad knows how to use - he's muggleborn with a muggle job so his idea of magical transport is broom riding, which we can't really do much around us because of all the muggles, and apperation, which works great when he's with me, but I'm not old enough to do by myself. But are there, um, I don't know, public portkeys or something?"
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Clark Dill
I think so, too
277
Clark Dill
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Lionel Layne
June 01, 2015 12:44 PM
Are there at least more good than bad ones in the mix? by Lionel Layne
Given two options for what to do while the first years went through orientation, Lionel had taken partial advantage of both. He had gone to his room to unpack a little, make it start feeling more like home in the hopes that he would sleep better before starting his fourth year of classes, and then gone back inside the main building to take advantage of the snacks in the Cascade Hall. He was almost fifteen, now, and Grandmother said he seemed to find it even harder to go any length of time without eating than Uncle Geoff had when he was fourteen and fifteen. His uncle had disagreed, saying Grandmother just hadn't noticed because Uncle Geoff had been doing most of the cooking for the whole family whenever he was at home at that time, which had led to a brief, somewhat unpleasant silence.He had probably, he thought, spent more of the summer with his uncle than his grandparents this year. Yesterday, Uncle Geoff had commented that he was sorry to lose his own personal house-elf, but that he did expect that Lionel's potions scores would be exceptional this year. Lionel's interest in cutting up roots and stocking bins and sweeping floors had been more greedy than academic - Uncle Geoff had given him a few sickles a week for the work, plus it beat spending his grandparents' workdays with the sitter he felt he was too old for and watching his little sister paint her nails and sing really terrible songs apparently popular with girls in her age group - but he hoped that was a good unintended consequence. He would have almost rather have stayed at home this year, but school was inevitable and something making one of the more difficult classes easier was a good thing.
At the feast, he applauded new Pecaris and badge-holders, though he knew none of the people involved well and was really already, despite the snacks earlier, more interested in the feast than in who the new prefects were. He felt a little bad about that since one of them was his cousin, but Isaac had been set to win by default - his roommate had, understandably, left the school after it got temporarily cut off from the outside world in Lionel’s first year, so the only way Isaac could have not become a prefect would have been for one of the fourth years to get it instead, and Lionel imagined Uncle Jeremy had probably given them enough money to make sure that didn’t happen. Uncle Jeremy wasn’t a really rich pureblood, or a particularly old or distinguished type, but he seemed to get the job done well enough when he wanted to.
When the food appeared, Lionel began serving himself, only looking up when someone asked him for chicken salad. Her hair was different, but he recognized Joella Curtis. They had gotten along in Beginners, but he hadn’t really seen much of her last year when he moved up to Intermediates. He smiled as he slid the bowl of chicken salad toward her. “Sure, no problem,” he said. “Did you have a good summer?” he asked, deciding to try catching up a bit.
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Lionel Layne
Are there at least more good than bad ones in the mix?
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Emrys
June 01, 2015 7:14 PM
Go for it! by Emrys
Emrys gave his friend a shakey smile. It was an innocent enough question that Arnold had asked, though through no fault of his own, his roommate had further opened up his insecurities. By all means Emrys'd had a pleasant summer. If one didn't count the many hours he spent lying awake at night wondering if he had shot himself in the foot with Charlotte. He had eventually been able to write a really well written letter that he was proud of, but he'd had to apologize numerous times in it and at the end he had very nearly begged Charlotte to see him when they got back to school. It was these thoughts that were banging around in Emrys' head as he contemplated a good response to Arnold's question."My summer was alright," he said instead, casting a quick glance towards the Crotalus table to see who Charlotte was talking to. He knew there weren't many students at Sonora, but if she had found a new best friend that meant that it was likely that he knew who it was, and if her new best friend happened to be a guy well then Emrys didn't really know what he would have done. It wasn't as though he could act angry about it--other than taking Charlotte to the ball he really hadn't done much to secure his place in her life as a potential more-than-friend. He looked back to Arnold and put his head in his hands. "I took Caelia around, mostly, and I spent a lot of time at the town's library."
There he had read a good deal of books that Grandfather hadn't had in his library and there had been a witch who he ran into there rather frequently who hadn't been too hard on the eyes and seemed to giggle whenever they ran into each other, but that had pretty much been it for his summer. He'd already done most of the exploring of Ekley when they had first moved there the previous summer, and now most of the town was well known to him. It wasn't that small of a place that he knew the names of everyone but it was small enough that he could recognize most of the faces and he was on a first name basis with the librarians and the owners of the bookshop and the coffeeshop.
"How about yours? Did you do anything fun?" After Arnold answered, Emrys rolled his shoulders back, loosening the stress that had built up there and looked around Cascade Hall observing their different classmates. When his eyes spotted Ji-Eun at the Pecari table, a girl he would have listed as a friend in her own right since they'd had rather a few friendly interactions, Emrys turned his head to look at Arnold again. "How do you do it?" He'd seen the way that Ji-Eun flirted back with Arnold and he was jealous. Not because he wanted Ji-Eun to be flirting with him, but because it seemed that Arnold was further ahead with Ji-Eun than he himself was with Charlotte who he was nearly certain only saw him as her best friend.
That was another thing weighing heavily on his mind. When he wrote Charlotte that letter over the summer, he had fully been intending to confess his feelings to her after the Opening Feast, but now that he was back in the thick of things he wasn't so sure. It had been easy to feel falsely confident when he was by himself in his room being shown how much of an idiot he was by a twelve year old girl. It was quite another thing when he was sitting next to a successful-with-the-ladies roommate and friend.
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Emrys
Go for it!
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Emrys
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I didn't think you would. by Emery
Emery felt a little hopeful at the response that Ava gave when she believed he had kissed another girl. It sort of sounded like she was not happy about it, which would mean that perhaps she had feelings for him? It gave him a sense of the possibility that there was something deeper with them. He almost felt giddy with the anticipation of the two of them starting a relationship together.That dream quickly ended when she started asking him about why a male would kiss a female. He wanted to bang his head against the table, but much like running out of the hall singing the school song with his ears over his head, he didn’t think people would take too kindly to him smashing his head while they were eating their dinner. How did this whole conversation end up so terribly wrong?
“Well...er, first, if a guy did any of that, he doesn’t seem like a very likeable person.” Emery started, hoping to fulfill her head with negativity towards this Devil of a human that kissed her. “But I think anyone is capable of kissing someone that they don’t have feelings for or in an attempt to humiliate or something.” Emery stated. He knew his friends back home would totally do something like that. “It is totally lame.” Emery agreed. He really hoped Ava didn’t get angry with him later on if she ever found out he misdirected her about his kissing history.
Ava completely dashed all of his hope by her relief regarding Chloe’s virgin lips. Wait, did that mean Ava wasn’t into guys? Was she into girls? More importantly, was she into Chloe? Was there a thing there? Oh Merlin, there really is a cold cruel God! This is a nightmare and Emery didn’t know how to wake up from it. He gave a shallow laugh when Ava dismissed the male population (minus him), still thinking of what exactly she meant by ‘oh good’.
Emery didn’t know what to think of Ava’s response to his simple question. He watched her tear apart the bread in her hands and answer him rather vaguely. She must have had a strange summer too. He didn’t really elaborate much with his summer, mostly because Chloe’s situation wasn’t for him to say, and beyond that, he hadn’t done much else except stay home or hang out with his old Muggle friends. His life was so boring. And, most of his friends were getting their permits and stuff and Emery will never really get a chance to experience that with them.
Suddenly Ava was talking about her summer and she was mentioning her not-friend Demetre that’s she’s known from childhood and Charlotte, but then not Charlotte from school, it was her mother and Emery was just completely lost (which wasn’t necessarily knew when it came to conversations with Ava). “Seems like a rough summer.” Emery said when she had finished.
Damnit. He knew that lie of a kiss was going to come back to haunt him, he just hadn’t thought that it would be so soon. “Er...there’s not much to tell really.” Emery said, hoping that being vague would get him out of this whole thing. “It was just a girl from back home. Experimental. It was okay.” Please let that be the end of it. He pleaded silently in his head.
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Emery
I didn't think you would.
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Emery
0
5
Aren't you clever? by Ava
Ava nodded as Emery agreed that it was lame to revenge kiss. Emery was such a wise person—that was one of the reasons she had trusted him with this conversation. She knew he would give her unbiased opinions and help keep her head on straight. That was one of the many reasons she liked him. He also, a tiny voice in her head said, has really nice freckles. Ava ignored that voice and tried to concentrate on this idea of being okay with her friends kissing other people. She wasn’t sure if it was because she wanted to be the one they were kissing or if it was because they were her friends and she felt jealous that they might share a closer bond with someone else other than herself.She decided it was the second because she also didn't really like the idea of kissing anyone, and nearly jumped back, surprised at the horrid little jealousy monster that had suddenly sprung up inside her. She’d known going through puberty would have been tough—being the daughter of an absentee Healer had meant she’d needed to educate herself on puberty via the medical texts that Charlotte sometimes left lying around Papa and her place (Jane Austen would have to write about vampires before Ava would ever want to learn sex ed from her grandfather, but Ava hadn’t really expected this much emotional swinging. Hormones, she thought to herself dryly.
“It was okay, I guess,” she said quietly. “Damned if I’m ever going to see that Demetre again though.” She had never really been much for swearing, but the word had just felt so right in that moment. She wanted to extend the swearing further to include some rather colorful expressions regarding her mother but though she felt comfortable with Emery she didn’t think he would appreciate her cursing out her mother like a crazy person at the dinner table.
His description of the kiss was less than satisfactory. It did nothing to distract her from all the things she’d hoped it would distract her from. In fact, if anything, it made things worse. Experimental? What did that mean? All she could picture now was some bombshell girl from back home who didn’t know anything about Emery’s magical life and who Emery would one day grow up to fall in love with and have 2.5 children and live in a brickstone with a fence. Likely a picket fence, probably a white one. “Oh,” she said, trying to be okay with it. “I’m…happy for you.” She fisted the side of her robes under the table away from sight. “Really, I'm glad that it was an okay kiss especially because mine was less than satisfactory.”
She mulled things over silently for awhile. She thought she would have tons of questions for Emery, but for some reason his telling her about this nameless girl was worse than knowing nothing at all. “I’m not really hungry,” she said. “I think I filled up on peanuts on the car ride over to the wagon. You wanna get out of here? Go on a walk or something?” She needed air. She needed to move around, she needed to paint. Her moth—Charlotte didn’t like painting very much. She thought art was pretty, but she thought painting was too messy, so it seemed like the perfect thing to do in that moment.
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Ava
Aren't you clever?
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Ava
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5
Alistair Johnson
June 02, 2015 5:05 AM
Hopefully you care about Quidditch. by Alistair Johnson
Quite typically, the main thing occupying Alistair’s mind on his return to Sonora for his second year was his duties as Quidditch Captain. He was very much aware that in order for Crotalus to have a separate team to Teppenpaw this year they would have to find four more players, whereas Teppenpaw were only lacking two. The idea of the Teppenpaws, who would not be as capable on the pitch as they now were without his help, managing to scrape together a team whilst Alistair was left watching from the sidelines with no team of his own sounded very humiliating and he was therefore even more determined that his house should have a team this year.The second year spent the time before the Opening Feast unpacking his belongings and then heading to the Library to try and remind himself of some of the things he had learnt last term since he had failed to even think about his classes over the holidays. The summer had been filled mostly with Quidditch playing and socializing at formal events, both of which Alistair thought he rather liked but nevertheless he felt that his break had be lacking something, almost dull. Seeing Joella at her brother’s wedding had been one of the highlights and he wondered how much he would see her now that they were in different classes, not that he had paid any attention to her when they had been in the same class. But then things had been different, although Alistair couldn’t quite explain how or why. Now that Joella was beginning to mature, he felt that her company was more appropriate for his image.
Having taken a seat at the Crotalus table in Cascade Hall when it was time to do so, Alistair looked upon the entering first years with much disinterest. He didn’t care to think that it was only last year that he had been one of them because so much time seemed to have passed since then and he felt so much older. Being a second year meant that he would be amongst the older of the students in his class and these first years would be beneath him, a hindrance to his education. Only when some of the small students turned red did Alistair remember that these kids were actually very important to him. If he had any hopes of creating a full team of Crotali then he would likely need these first years because there seemed to be very little interest in Quidditch among the upper years of his house.
Alistair felt quite hopeful as a red-faced boy sat down near to him. Reinhardt. The older Crotalus wondered how closely this first year was related to the two Teppenpaw cousins who had been part of the shared Teppalus team last term. Tobi’s brother, perhaps? Alistair thought he looked a lot more like the pureblood Reinhardt than the one he had to share his captaincy with. He wasn’t very keen on either Liac or Tobi but was willing to think that Arne Reinhardt might be different, considering his house placing, for the sake of team numbers anyway. With a bit of luck he would be as keen on Quidditch as his brother, assuming Tobi was his brother that is.
Perhaps under different circumstances Alistair wouldn’t have wanted to pass the fish as the boy requested but right now he felt very eager to do so and passed the dish across with a slight smile. “I’m Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons,” he introduced himself. “Crotalus Quidditch Captain.” He added this title on at the end, proud that he could say it and thinking it a good way to introduce the subject of Quidditch that was all he really cared about in regards to Arne Reinhardt. He considered asking after the first year’s relation to Tobi but didn’t think he really cared all that much.
“I don’t suppose you are at all interesting in joining the Crotalus team?” Alistair didn’t think there was much point hanging about; he might as well get straight to the point to find out whether pursuing a conversation with this first year was actually worth anything. “Only as Quidditch Captain,” there he went, proudly mentioning his title again, “it is important that I find as much interest as I can because we are very keen to have a separate team to Teppenpaw this year. Unfortunately last term we had to have a combined team due to lack of numbers.”
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Alistair Johnson
Hopefully you care about Quidditch.
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Alistair Johnson
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Arne
June 02, 2015 5:50 AM
Let's see if you can make me care. by Arne
Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons. Arne raised an eyebrow at Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons. He was clearly in the company of someone who cared a lot about names and positions, or someone who had, in the very least, been raised in that sort of community. And Crotalus Quidditch Captain? Arne wanted to ask the other boy if he knew that Crotalus didn’t realy have it’s own team yet and as a result he wasn’t the captain of Crotalus’ team but rather the co-captain of the strange mixed name team of Teppalus. Yes, he’d had the unfortunate opportunity to glance at Tobi’s yearbook and see the horrid orange color and even worse team name.However, Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons continued to talk about Quidditch after passing the fish to him which Arne accepted with a dubious air. Though he had only met Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons a few moments ago, he’d had the lovely occasion to share a room with Tobi and as a result had been on the receiving end of a couple rants about the boy he was now sitting next to. Apparently he was very disrespectful. Half of him admired Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons for being able to be one of the few people to truly piss Tobi off while half of him hated Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons for the very same reason.
So, instead of answering Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons right away, Arne finished filling his plate with everything it was that he wanted to eat, making it look as similar as possible to a plate of food he might have been served back home and took a bite of the salmon, making sure to chew and swallow before opening his mouth to give Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons his answer.
“I don’t suppose you can promise me it will be an all Crotalus team?” Arne asked his fellow Crotalus back. It was a good thing that this second year wanted to separate Crotalus from Teppenpaw in the coming year, but Arne didn’t really want to verbally commit to anything in case the separation didn’t work out and he was forced to sport the orange jersey alongside his brother and cousin and thus play Happy Families when he really wasn’t feeling like that was a game he wanted to play at all. “Only, I’m not very keen on wearing orange this year. Unfortunately it kind of clashes with my hair.” He gave his messy brown head a quick flick, causing the chin length mess to briefly reveal his devilish-green eyes before falling back into his face again. He gave Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons a rather dry grin before ripping off a piece of bread and eating it.
He was certainly no Tobi Reinhardt, that was for sure, and that was a point Arne prided himself on.
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Arne
Let's see if you can make me care.
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Arne
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Joella Curtis
June 02, 2015 6:00 AM
Oh yes, more good ones, I'd say. by Joella Curtis
It took Joella a moment to register who she had been talking too, maybe she was just that excited by the food. Lionel Layne was a year older than her and she remembered him very clearly as a boy she had enjoyed working with in class in her first year. She had not seen him at all last term, she didn’t think, because he had moved up into the Intermediate class whilst she remained in Beginners. It was a pleasant surprise to talk to him now and she returned his smile and thanked him politely as she served herself from the bowl of salad he had pushed towards her at her request.“I had a really great summer,” Joella beamed at the fourth year as she thought about just how much she had enjoyed herself over the break. “I stayed with a friend in Virginia for the first part of the summer,” she told Lionel, not stopping to think that he might not need or care to know all about the highlights of the past few months. “Her parent’s are Abraxan horse breeders which is really cool and I got to go to a lot of shows and races. Oh, and I met this lovely Granian horse called Snorri who my parents bought for me for my birthday.” She wasn’t trying to brag about her fancy winged horse but she truly adored him and any opportunity to mention him she would take quite happily. “Also, my oldest brother, Bolivar, got married in July and I was a bridesmaid at the wedding,” Joella added enthusiastically.
She refrained from carrying on any further, which she would have been quite happy to do, and reminded herself of her manners. “Anyway, how was your summer?” she returned Lionel’s question, not simply because it was polite but also because she was interested in what he might have gotten up to. In her mind she tried to recollect all that she knew about the older Pecari already in order to avoid following up with questions she had already asked him before. Although chances were, if she had forgotten he probably would have too because it must have been over a year ago that she had met him now.
Now that she had stopped talking, Joella permitted herself to start eating the chicken salad that she had just served herself as she listened to Lionel’s response. It was strange to think she would be in the same class as him again and she wondered who else she knew in fourth and fifth year who she would be working with this year. She knew that her Quidditch teammates Liliana and Atlas were Intermediates but they were fifth years so she doubted this would prove as an opportunity to get to know them better.
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Joella Curtis
Oh yes, more good ones, I'd say.
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Joella Curtis
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Alistair Johnson
June 02, 2015 6:45 AM
That sounds like fighting talk. by Alistair Johnson
Alistair was rather taken aback by the first year boy’s sassy response but didn’t let this show. He felt irritated by the confident smile that Arne Reinhardt gave him and it was all the second year could do not to scowl, reminding himself to be as friendly as possible if he had any hopes to gain enough numbers to form a full Crotalus team.“I can make no promises,” Alistair admitted. “But I am very confident that Crotalus will have its own team this year.” There was a part of him that would like to be confident enough that he could make promises but he didn’t want to be called up on it by this cocky little first year if it didn’t happen, which he was fully aware was a significant possibility.
Arne’s opinion of Teppalus and it’s orange robe colour was not dissimilar to the way that Alistair himself had felt at the start of last term, only Ali had not been so concerned about the colour clashing with his hair so much as the fact that it robbed him of the pride of playing for the house which generations of Johnsons had been a part of in the red Crotalus colours. Although admittedly, he did much preferred red as a colour to orange and wore the former quite regularly as opposed to the latter which he seldom dressed in, if at all.
Despite his desperation to have a full Crotalus team this year, Alistair felt a need to defend the team he had captained in his first year as Arne Reinhardt seemed to cast aspersions on it. Surely there was no way the boy could simply dislike the colour and that be his only reason for not wanting to join forces with Teppenpaw. Was he mocking Alistair’s team?
“My personal opinion is that playing as a combined team is preferable to not playing at all,” Alistair frowned at Tobi’s assumed brother. “We all have to make compromises at times and whilst it was not convenient, I believe that we coped well with the situation. This year, however, we have more chance of creating our own team. So please do tell me, are you interested or not?” He thought his response very diplomatic and did not see that the potential teammate beside him could take offence from his careful choice of words.
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Alistair Johnson
That sounds like fighting talk.
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Alistair Johnson
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Emilia-Louise Scott
June 02, 2015 7:38 AM
Yes, but nothing I can't cope with. by Emilia-Louise Scott
Emmy-Lou was quite astonished when the rude boy reached across to the potatoes himself. This was really not how she had expected the students at Sonora to behave. And she was not the kind of girl to let someone talk to her in the manner that she was currently being spoken to. “Of course I could have ignored you,” she agreed as placidly as she could. “But what would come of that? You can’t go around being rude to people all the time, you know? You’ll never have many friends if you act that way.” There was no telling whether the boy did, in fact, have many friends or not but Emmy-Lou found it difficult to believe that anyone could actually enjoy this Aladren’s cold company and no one seemed to be talking to him besides herself.“You don’t say,” came Emmy-Lou’s sarcastic response to the older student’s comment or question (she wasn’t sure which) on her skin being blue meaning she first year which rather stated the obvious. She instantly regretted saying it, knowing full well that wrongs didn’t make a right and that her maternal grandmother would be most displeased if she could hear her now. Yet she wasn’t so regretful of her mild rudeness, which was only a small price for the boy to pay after his own discourtesy after all, that she showed any signs of being sorry for it. Because, quite frankly, she wasn’t sorry at all.
“And what year are you in?” Emmy-Lou asked, thinking that her present company could not be that much older than herself, especially since he was still under the immature impression that he had no need to be polite towards others, particularly those who were complete strangers to him.
Her assumption was that he must be second year, although the new Aladren very much hoped that he was actually third year. This being because she would rather not have to share her classes with such an intolerable character. Although she was aware that one should not judge another so soon, it was hard to believe that this boy had a secretly kind heart underneath his indifferent exterior which Emmy-Lou thought she might quickly come to despise.
8
Emilia-Louise Scott
Yes, but nothing I can't cope with.
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Emilia-Louise Scott
0
5
Julian Umland
June 02, 2015 3:40 PMJulian Umland
AlumnusHouse: Teppenpaw
Written by: Grayson Wright
Age in Post: 17
Birthday: December 12
The beginning of the end. by Julian Umland
The Teppenpaw common room didn't have a password and, as far as Julian knew, never had, but when Mr. Xavier mentioned prefects being around to hand out passwords to their Housemates, Julian gladly took the excuse to separate from her younger brother. She circulated for a few minutes, trying to look useful, until she was sure John had gone away and then went to her dorm room to change out of the jeans and t-shirt and sneakers she had put on to travel in at a much earlier hour than she had really cared for. She was sure the new hours had meant some inconvenience for more than a few of her fellow classmates, but she still thought she and John had probably had it worse than most except maybe the British students - she didn't know how it was for purebloos with all their connections. For her family, it was always a hassle to have together all the papers and stand in all the different queues that were necessary to cross the border and take up temporary residence in the U.S., but doing it in the morning, with Mom weepy because it was Julian's last year of school and Joe's last year at home and Julian still half-asleep on her feet and John seemingly in one of his moods even though he'd started getting up before dawn of his own accord months ago, it had seemed worse than usual this year even though the lines had been shorter than they were later in the day. Going through it all in nice clothes would, she was sure, have been too much for all but the most girly of girly-girls.She had, though, between a booster shot of coffee in Edmonton and just the effect of being up for a while, been fully awake by the time they got the first set of stamps and signatures and started waiting for the right portkey to Montana, and now that they were in Arizona, she was ready to unpack her things, have a shower, and then replace her traveling clothes with a dress, green but a lighter green than her robes and covered with white polka dots, over her best shaper. Then she curled her hair and pulled part of it back from her face. Julian had let her hair grow a little longer over the summer than she’d worn it for most of her time at Sonora, so once curled, it ended up resting just below her collarbone in front and, she thought, looked good once she changed into a pair of white shoes tall enough to bring her up to average height. A few adjustments to her make-up – touching up her foundation, putting on mascara and just a little blush and lip gloss – made her look yet better, and putting on an old silver locket she’d found in her room over the summer kind of pulled it all together.
Too much, one half of her brain said as she made all these adjustments to her appearance, but the other half’s answer was a flippant oh, what the hell? She was going to a feast – probably, it struck her suddenly as she twirled a little in front of a mirror and regretted the necessity of covering most of her work up with her plain green robes, the last one she would ever attend. Why not have a little fun with it?
Plus, well…she knew she had not won Head Girl, no way no how when she was up against both Willow and Francesca, but she had been on the ballot. If some freak accident happened, she didn’t want to go to the front of the room in jeans and a t-shirt. It wouldn't suit. At all. And it was her last Feast anyway. So she really had every reason to dress up for it, even if nobody was going to notice more than her hair and shoes and necklace. Her biological mother had sounded insane when Julian had first heard her say it, but there really was a kind of uncomfortable that could feel good, or at least make her feel good about herself. She had taken advantage of it a lot over the summer and saw no reason why it shouldn't help with the trials of seventh year, too.
She slipped into the Hall with a crowd of other people. At the Teppenpaw table, she applauded lightly for their new arrivals during the Sorting even though her shoulders were tensing up. When, when Headmaster Brockert said ”Would Adam…”, she felt her stomach clench with nerves for the seconds it took to him to finish with ”Francesca Wolseithcrafte”.
As Francesca and Adam were applauded, Julian exhaled, clutching her hands together under the table to steady them up after the brief attack of nerves. She was relieved on one level, maybe a little disappointed; she couldn’t make up her mind, as the prefects were called, if she was disappointed at all or not. If she was, though, it wasn't a soul-crushing disappointment or anything. She was sure about that. It had just been impossible not to have a moment of nerves about the possibility.
Recovering herself, she smiled in Duncan Brockert’s direction as the prefects returned to their tables and clapped for all the prefects, then sang the school song as well as she could. Her eyes threatened to sentimentally water for just one second, but she controlled herself. If her mascara was going to run, it was going to be about something bigger than the school song. Once they finished, the food appeared and she smiled again as she offered a “good evening,” to her neighbors and considered the selections. She decided to start with the creamy potato soup. It was good, plus it didn't have as good a chance as the spinach soup of turning her teeth the same color as her clothes before the end of the meal.
As she ladled soup into her bowl, though, some slopped over the side of the big bowl and onto the table. She winced as she pulled her bowl back and started to reach for her napkin before remembering her wand and taking that out instead. “Drat,” she said. “I didn’t get that on your things, did I?” she asked her neighbor distractedly as she cast a charm to clean up the small mess she’d made.
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Julian Umland
The beginning of the end.
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Arne
June 02, 2015 8:30 PM
Let's see what you got, old man. by Arne
Arne chewed his bread rather thoughtfully, amused with the defensive tone that Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons was taking with him. This was the boy Tobi had been complaining about? Arne supposed he could see why his mellow older brother might not have liked the Crotalus co-captain, but so far Arne didn't really think too much of his conversation partner. There was something...lacking, he decided, a certain amount of what was the word...oh yes, pizazz. Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons was just so serious."How confident?" Arne pressed. While he supposed the older boy had a certain level of reason to his argument that playing with Teppenpaw was better than not playing, Arne also knew something that his housemate did not. He just didn't know if he could put what had happened over the summer aside and act as though nothing was wrong like Tobi seemed to be doing. Granted, a more rational part of Arne's brain pointed out, Tobi wasn't playing dumb, he actually didn't know what had happened, but Arne chose to ignore this voice and continue in his blind anger.
"I'm interested in a Crotalus team," Arne finally said. He hesitated, wondering if he ought to explain why his stance was as staunch as it was, but ultimately decided that no matter how much he disliked Tobi he wasn't going to air the family's dirty laundry to strangers, especially to someone who could use the information to further piss Tobi off*. It didn't matter how much he and Tobi were or were not fighting, family was family and family stuck together (publicly at least). Having come to this decision, he realized that to play alongside Tobi was the only way he could keep the dispute inside the family.
He cut another piece off his salmon and ate that too, keeping his head down and his posture hunched so as to give off the impression that he was thinking. "If playing on the Teppalus team would increase the chances of getting said team, then let me know when you put up the roster, Captain. You'll have yourself a Reinhardt trifecta." The little derisive smirk that turned up the corners of his mouth remained hidden by the long hair that had fallen into his face.
*OOC: I know Alistair hasn't ever done anything intentionally to make Tobi angry, but Arne doesn't know that and has never seen them interact thus the assumption that Alistair would do that.
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Arne
Let's see what you got, old man.
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Lionel Layne
June 02, 2015 8:59 PM
That's a good start. by Lionel Layne
Lionel was pleased when Joella started talking about her summer instead of just returning a pleasantry, since that gave material for a conversation. His eyes widened a little, impressed, at her description of her birthday present.“Nice,” he said.
His grandparents had taken in a cat when Lionel was younger, but Amy had been so upset when Boots eventually died that they hadn’t gone in for many living presents since. He was glad Amy wasn’t here right now, because she was still in the horsey book phase and would have been insanely jealous. Lionel was impressed – just buying a flying horse was, he was sure, extremely expensive, never mind knowing one had the resources to support it – but not jealous. He had gotten a few records, a good pair of shoes, school clothes, the usual small stack of books from Aunt Anne (his godmother, as he called her for lack of a better word even though neither she nor his grandparents had any particular religious affiliation that he knew of, had evidently read somewhere that just owning books made kids smarter, so she had taken to throwing them at him and Amy and, for all he knew, the offspring of all her friends), and a bag of candy, and that had suited him better, he thought, than a horse would, flying or otherwise. It was cool, no doubt, but a bit more than he was up to handling now.
“Less exciting,” he said, with a smile, of his own summer. “I spent most of it helping out one of my uncles – the potioneer one.” As opposed to Uncle Jeremy, husband of Aunt Emily and owner of a construction business, and Uncle Orville, husband of Aunt Helena and who-knew what – Lionel had only seen Uncle Orville and Aunt Helena a few times in his life, and his grandfather liked talking about what Aunt Helena had accomplished when she was younger more than talking about her now while Grandmother didn't really like the subject of his aunts at all. “And went to the beach with my grandparents and my sister a couple of times, that was fun.”
He helped himself to some mashed potatoes. “So, looking forward to intermediate classes now that we’re back?”
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Lionel Layne
That's a good start.
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Seven Grayscale
June 02, 2015 9:52 PM
And So It Began by Seven Grayscale
To say that Seven Grayscale longed for the summer to end was an understatement. He counted down the days that he would finally walk through the doors of Sonora Academy since the very moment he heard of it. It's not like he had such a choice in the matter. He had come all the way from England to be here in this very spot.The other first years around him were shaking and bouncing and chatting. Giddy with excitement and awe. Seven found that he did none of these things that the rest did. He wasn't biting his nails in nervousness, (Grayscales did not get nervous) and he didn't find himself practically bouncing around the Hall in excitement (Grayscales did not get excited, either). He was just...there. Waiting for his name to get called so he could be sorted into a house.
He had a bit of knowledge of what each of the houses stood for and he had an inkling of which house he would be put into. He wasn't that much of a complicated person, after all. He personality and goals were pretty set and straight forward.
However, it mattered not if he got into the house that he imagined he would be in. In the end, they were all the same. He just had to get through the years, graduate at the top of his class, and become an Auror.
He pulled himself out of his thoughts as he heard his name being called. His posture immediately stiffened. 'Back straight, head held high, shoulders square and set.' He could hear his father's commanding voice as he made his way to the goblet.
He wasn't so keen on the idea of turning a different color, but it could not be helped. Gray eyes eyed the luminescent potion that filled the goblet. With a Grayscale's grace, he lifted it to his lips and gave a delicate sip. His body was immediately glowing blue.
'Ah, so it is Aladren.' The blonde thought to himself as his future house table clapped for their new housemate.
Seven gave a curt nod towards the Headmaster before heading towards the beginning of his future.
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Seven Grayscale
And So It Began
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Louis Valois
June 03, 2015 1:03 PM
It's beginning for me too! by Louis Valois
Aladren. Well, that was hardly surprising. Louis had read about the houses before arriving at Sonora, of course, which was probably in itself a good reason to put him here. He was quite pleased with the outcome of the sorting. With his keen interest in furthering his knowledge, Aladren did seem to be the ideal house.The sorting method had amused him, at least until he realised he’d have to share a cup. They couldn’t have had one each? As the heir of the Valois family, it hadn’t really seemed like an appropriate way for him to be sorted. However, objecting in the middle of Cascade Hall during the sorting hadn’t seemed a wise move, so he’d suffered the indignity. Luckily he liked the colour blue.
Arriving at the long table had been rather unnerving, despite his appearance of confidence and calm. There were so many unknown students – he’d never seen so many people around his age all gathered together – and the many social events he’d attended in the past had mainly been comprised of adults. He’d quietly sat down, managed to get through the school song without wincing at how cheerful and enthusiastic it was, and filled his plate with a variety of foods, avoiding the few that were somewhat unfamiliar.
A boy sat down at the table, and he turned to introduce himself, thinking it would be good to know some of his housemates. “Hello, I’m Louis Valois.”
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Louis Valois
It's beginning for me too!
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Louis Valois
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Seven Grayscale
June 03, 2015 3:07 PM
This Is The Part Where I Socialize. Great. by Seven Grayscale
Seven watched the rest of the ceremony refusing to touch any of his food. Besides, it didn't look all that appetizing, honestly. He let his long, blonde hair fall in his face for a quick second. Did they really have to go one-by-one? Yes, it's tradition, but it was rather tedious.He turned back to his empty plate. Maybe he should put something on it. After all, it was rude if he showed that he wasn't grateful for the food. Sighing to himself, he took what appeared to be cream potatoes and added some to his plate. Merlin, did it look unappetizing.
A shift to his right caused Seven to bring his attention from his food. It was a boy. Seven chose not to acknowledge the boy and tried to turn his attention back to what he waa doing.
But then he talked. He had to talk. He had to introduce himself, now. Make himself known. It's what Grayscale's did. Seven looked back to the boy.
"Seven Grayscale. Heir of the Grayscale family." He said. Just the way he presented himself leaked decorum and grace, if that was even possible.
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Seven Grayscale
This Is The Part Where I Socialize. Great.
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Alistair Johnson
June 03, 2015 3:44 PM
The older, the wiser. by Alistair Johnson
How confident? Was this Reinhardt kid testing him? Alistair didn’t like it but he wasn’t about to let an eleven year old get the better of him. “Confident,” was his reply, his voice sounding as confident and sure as always. In reality, he wasn’t overly confident at all. Whilst Alistair could be considered very ambitious, he was not foolish and always maintained a sense of realism along with any optimistic ideas. Crotalus forming a team of its own would likely require a lot persuasion on his behalf but he thought that if he was persistent enough they could just about scrape together seven players. The skills of said players, however, may need a lot of work to bring the team up to a level at which they wouldn’t be completely slaughtered out on the Pitch by the others houses, again.Alistair was glad when the first year finally answered his original question. At least he could now continue being falsely nice to Tobi’s annoying little brother with the knowledge that he might actually gain something from it and not be wasting his time and patience. “I can’t pretend that there isn’t a chance that Crotalus and Teppenpaw may have to form a combined team this year,” Alistair said seeing as Arne Reinhardt sounded as though he was willing to be a part of Teppalus in Crotalus really couldn’t recruit enough players, although he failed to mention the slight possibility of Teppenpaw forming their own team and Crotalus therefore being left with nothing. “But if this does happen, I would advise you to join anyway. It would give us an advantage when Crotalus does have a team of its own if most of our players have trained and played together before. Of course, as I have already said, there is a good chance of us forming our own team this year.”
Whilst he may have been pleased that the younger Crotalus had confirmed an interest in joining the team and was not simply humouring a desperate Quidditch Captain, Alistair at the same time felt very irritated at what he believed to be Arne Reinhardt’s attempts to demean his position of importance. He was put off by the lack of respect the first year was showing him by the way in which he used Alistair’s title. The second year would not have minded being referred to as “Captain” (in fact, he probably would have liked it very much) had it not been said in the mocking manner that he suspected Arne was saying it in, considering his rather flippant attitude so far in the conversation.
In addition to this, the thought of a “Reinhardt trifecta” was not one that appealed to him. Whilst Liac and Tobi had perhaps been two of his more reliable players last year, he did not want to have too many of Liac’s relatives because they would likely be more keen to answer to their cousin and see him as the leader of the team, reminding everyone of the fact that Alistair was a co-captain and that meant shared authority and responsibility. Although since Arne was a Crotalus, surely Alistair would have more say over him than Liac? Only what he had seen of the boy so far, he thought he’d have to work hard if he wanted to hold any great authority over him.
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Alistair Johnson
The older, the wiser.
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Joella Curtis
June 03, 2015 4:42 PM
Already forgetting about those not-so-good feelings. by Joella Curtis
When Lionel described his own summer as less exciting than hers, Joella highly doubted that it had been and put this down to modesty or something of the sort. When two summers were so different, she really didn’t think the excitement of them could be compared. And they were very different as she discovered when Lionel shared with her the main events of his holiday.Joella was rather pleased to find that she already knew that one of Lionel’s uncles was a potioneer - she could retain information that she wasn’t required to know again for more than a year, it seemed. Having never been good at Potions herself, Joella didn’t hold much of an interest for the subject but perhaps if she were better her opinion would be different. The idea of actually assisting a real potioneer first hand sounding pretty impressive to her and she thought it must be nice for Lionel to be able to work with his uncle. Joella was very fond of her own family and liked the fact that they all worked together, unable (and not wanting) to imagine things any other way. She had recently become more aware that her older brother Lachlan’s interest in potions had still not waned over time since he had still been experimenting during the fairly long time he had spent back at home over the summer. She wondered if Lachlan would be familiar with the work that Lionel’s uncle did.
“That sounds fun,” smiled Joella, thinking that she would have liked to get down to the beach more this summer had she not been so busy with other things, it was right on her doorstep in L.A. after all. “How old is your sister?” she asked, curious as to how long it would be before she began at Sonora and hoping she wasn’t already supposed to know.
“What sort of potions does your uncle make?” Joella added, unsure whether most potioneers actually had one specified area or not. The reason she asked was because she knew there were, or had been, several medicinal potioneers on her mother’s side of the family. The Fennellys were all very involved in the medical industry. Joella’s own grandparents were medical herbologists and her mother had been a healer when she was young.
“Oh yes, I’m so excited about the intermediate classes!” Joella grinned enthusiastically when asked, setting her drink of pumpkin juice back down on the table. “It’s going to be strange having three different years in the same class now though. I don’t know much about Divination but I think I’m going to give it a try - how about you?”
She was aware that she was probably talking a lot and asking too many questions but Lionel never seemed to mind, unless he was just being polite. Yet it wasn’t as though she spoke to him regularly so there was just so much she could ask and that she could tell him and he would find it interesting because he wouldn’t already know about it.
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Joella Curtis
Already forgetting about those not-so-good feelings.
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Joella Curtis
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I like to think so. by Emery
Emery had to wonder if this whole conversation about their summers and about kissing had put Ava off completely for the evening. He hadn’t really meant to upset her or anything of the sort. Really, her original comment regarding kissing had just thrown him for a loop that his only thought process was to determine whether or not she had been kissing other people. And then when she had asked him, he just felt like he had to say yes. He thought that by saying no and being honest, he wasn’t at the same level of her for being intimate with another person and that would just look totally pathetic. So lying came as the better option.But now Ava seemed unhappy and he didn’t think it had anything to do with his kissing experience but more so of the conversation as a whole. He had to wonder what she wasn’t talking about when it came to her summer. Emery gave a small smile but refrained from making any sort of comment regarding the likelihood of her seeing the Devil again. Emery truly hoped she never did see him. If a guy is just going to bully a girl one minute and then kiss her the next, he didn’t deserve to spend time with someone like Ava while Emery suffered thousands of miles away. It just wasn’t fair. But, there was no telling whether Demetre really did like Ava, despite his jerkiness towards her, and would find a reason to see her next summer, like the worm that he was.
“Uh…” Emery responded. She was happy for him? For what? Having a meaningless (and non-existent) kiss with a girl who meant nothing (but whom he hoped would someday be her?). What was there to be happy about? Really, what he described was a kiss that was nothing more than an agreement between two people. No romance. No future. What was there to be happy about? “I am sorry that your first kiss was stolen from you and from someone who doesn’t deserve you, but there’s no reason to be happy for mine. It was just something that happened. Not bad, not good. Just something.” Emery commented with a shrug. “Anyway, I hope you have a second one that really makes you feel good about everything.”
He ate quietly for a bit while Ava said nothing. He wanted to apologize for whatever it was that he said that seemed to put her down. He didn’t like seeing her so sad. He was so used to her being so bubbly and chatty and just all around Ava like. That was part of her draw. When she was happy, Emery couldn’t help but feel happy too.
”You wanna get out of here? Go on a walk or something?
Emery’s heart skipped a beat. Ava wanted to go off alone with him? He could dance right here in his seat. Yes, Yes, YES! “Sure.” Emery said, trying to remain nonchalant about the invite. She probably didn’t mean anything by it anyway and just didn’t want to be alone. Still, Emery was happy that she wanted him to keep her company. “Where would you like to go?”
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Emery
I like to think so.
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Emery
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Barnaby
June 03, 2015 8:51 PM
That makes one of us. by Barnaby
Little did the blue girl know that Barnaby didn't want any friends. However, he could tell that he had gotten under her skin when she finally let go of the prim exterior and snapped back. The tiny show of fire both pleased and annoyed him but he grinned nevertheless. "Second," he said in a bored drawl. "So we'll probably be seeing a lot of each other over the coming year, won't that be fun?"He really didn't know what it was about him that made the first year think he wanted to actually talk to her, he didn't think he was a particularly approachable sort of person, and besides that, there were loads of Aladrens who liked to talk, he was sure of it.
But the first year's question about his year answered, Barnaby found himself growing tired of the little game that Tarquin had taught him. He wanted more, something else. Something that he couldn’t really quite put a finger on. He felt as though at some point in time he knew what it was but each time he tried to reach for it, it disappeared into the foggy mist that was last year’s memories.
Instead of continuing to talk to her, he returned to his food, carefully eating around the peas that had been floating in the sauce that the chicken had been accompanied with, and taking his time to eat every last bit of everything else including the savoury skin that held all the seasonings. “If you can’t tell,” he said rather absentmindedly and not at all in his normal voice. “The food here is pretty great. Never gets old, you know.”
There was something about this chicken that made him feel weirdly nostalgic. He wasn’t really sure why that was. His parents’ house elf didn’t even make chicken quite the same. And each time he tried to recall the lonely dinners he had spent with the creepy thing all he could remember were the quiet nights he and Tarquin had tagged along to their father’s business meetings and hidden in the darkened corridors whispering conjectures on what the adults could have been talking about.
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Barnaby
That makes one of us.
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Barnaby
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Lionel
June 03, 2015 9:33 PM
Fantastic news. by Lionel
“About nine now,” said Lionel when asked about Amelia. “I got informed I’m the lamest person on the planet this summer,” he added, seeing this as logical elaboration on his sister’s age. Everything she saw was either ‘so cute’ or ‘ew,’ she just had to paint all her nails different colors every day, sometimes more than once a day, and for some reason her room had posters with cats on them in it. It was like dealing with a creature from space. His grandparents seemed to agree with him about that. Mom, who’d drifted in for a few weeks over the summer before wandering off again with a vague comment about a job in Oklahoma, had said she was acting like Aunt Helena at that age, but Granddad and Grandmother didn’t seem to agree.“Right now, Uncle Geoff…I don’t really understand it all, but I think it’s something about refining…strains or something? Hybridizing plants and looking at blood from salamanders from different parts, seeing which works best in Potions, or if you can cross two things and eliminate a step in potions…I didn’t get anywhere near that, though.” Uncle Geoff had threatened to test an experimental antidote on him the day he both took some shortcuts in cleaning assigned areas (Uncle Geoff was fanatical about cleanliness in the lab, insisting on manually going over items that had already been Scoured magically just to be sure; Lionel had heard a pair of visiting colleagues making fun of him for picking up on Muggle attitudes somewhere, but Uncle Geoff had not seemed bothered by their criticism) and then ruined some marrow samples, but Lionel thought he had been joking. Grandmother would throw a fit if Uncle Geoff ever really let Lionel anywhere near anything actually dangerous. “He’d talk about it while he was doing it sometimes, but I didn’t really follow it all that well,” he admitted.
“I’m…not sure,” he admitted about Divination. “If we can just go try it out before we commit, I’ll go do that, but if we’ve got to sign up for a whole new class tomorrow….” He shrugged. “Having three years in the same room is something you have to get used to. I liked it better when we were in smaller classes, but it’s not that bad, and a lot of the time, third years get a different assignment or can pick between two. That helps,” he added, feeling old and wise for a moment as he explained this. It was an unusual feeling.
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Lionel
Fantastic news.
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Lionel
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Arne
June 03, 2015 10:57 PM
The younger, the springier by Arne
Captain Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons only continued to tell Arne things that he already knew about Quidditch, but he let the older boy feel like he was giving him good advice because well, why not let him feel self-important? The confidence that had been demonstrated thus far was promising, and Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons lack of backing down despite his rather provoking attitude was also a plus. Respect was earned though, not given, and he didn’t really know Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons well enough to respect him just yet. Besides, he didn’t have to like the guy to respect him, Arne reasoned. And just because he respected him didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to have a little fun at his expense every now and then.The thought was an extremely reassuring one to Arne who proceeded to grin madly. “How many players do you need to a Crotalus-only team?” He knew from Tobi that Teppenpaw was only short two players, and had figured from the yearbook that the Teppalus team contained more Teppenpaw players than Crotalus players. What he didn’t know and did want to know, however was if Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons was a straight out kind of person.
Arne could deal with a lot of people, but he couldn’t stand those who liked to manipulate their words in order to influence someone a certain way. Though winding people up was a favorite past time of his, when it came down to it, Arne supposed he was a rather straight forward guy. Lying was bad and unforgivable. Breaking promises were equally bad. And betraying family was worse above all. Having a laugh after ragging on them a little, totally fine.
“So you’re a second year, yeah?” Though he vaguely knew that the other Crotalus was in Tobi’s year, it was nice to have things confirmed. “That means we’ll have class together. I can help you recruit, if you like.” He didn’t really know if Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons liked, but he thought the offer might be a nice gesture. After all, if Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons really did want to form a Quidditch team them he would need as much help as he could get. Who said Arne couldn’t be helpful when he wanted to? He smiled—a rather nice smile when he wasn’t trying to intentionally annoy someone. However, the brief smile was quickly replaced with a scowl when he remembered the floo call between his father and grandfather that he’d overheard.
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Arne
The younger, the springier
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Arne
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Laila Kennedy
June 03, 2015 11:34 PM
Down the rabbit hole. by Laila Kennedy
As the first years were walked through Sonora, Laila found herself wandering closer and closer to Arne Reinhardt. Though she normally never would have willingly gotten this close to him ever before, she was in a totally different universe now, worlds apart from the rosaries and the Stations of the Cross, the basketball trophies and the prying eyes of Turner’s Point. When she was younger, Laila had not been able to wait for the day that she left the tiny town. She’d hated the way gossip circulated, hated the way everyone was in each other's business, hated the way one tiny little slip up could ruin everything. But now that she had actually left, she couldn’t help but wonder if Sonora was real life. Only yesterday she had been warning Billy Graham and his bag of tricks away from her yard and today she had arrived at a boarding school on a flying(!) wagon across the country with the Reinhardt boys, breaking every rule her mother had ever taught her.She still couldn’t get over the fact that the Reinhardts were wizards. She’d gotten the strange feeling a few times that when she had one of her “fits” in school, Arne was watching her, but every time she had turned her head to look, he had been doodling designs in his graph paper notebook. Laila pulled her brush out of her trunk, grimacing at the reminder of that stupid graph paper notebook. She had waited to get out of town for so long and when she finally did, she was accompanied by two of the weirdest boys the area had to offer. She wrinkled her nose. It was just her luck.
That aside, she still couldn’t get over the fact that she was a witch. Weren’t witches supposed to be creepy and green with warts on their oversized noses? Weren’t they supposed to be sleeping with the devil and casting uncomfortable spells on others? No, that belief was more puritan than Catholic, but wasn’t she committing idolatry by simply accepting the idea that she was magical and by carrying around a wand which could otherwise be considered a “charm”? Something expressly forbidden in the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Laila didn’t know the answers, and there wasn’t a priest around to whom she could confess her questions to. Not that she could even if there was a priest—the school official had scared her into never revealing her magic abilities to any Muggle outside of her family, and the wand maker had cautioned her on the dangers of Azkaban. The very thought of the prison sent shivers down her spine—when she had been taken to get her wand and her books, she had looked at a book about Azkaban and seen some of the grizzly photos taken there. As Laila walked into Cascade Hall for the first time, she said a quick, silent prayer for all those entrapped in the horrid prison, and ignored Arne’s hurtful jab about her brand new shoes.
In the jostling of a line forming, Laila found herself a few students ahead of her safety net as she grew closer and closer to the front, she hesitated—if she took a sip, it would mean that she actually bought into this madness, it would mean that the principles she had based her short eleven years around needed to reevaluated, it would mean that there were those out there with god-like powers. Even thinking that felt wrong and heretic, Laila couldn’t imagine actually partaking in the ceremonies as well. Yet here she was, at a crossroads, an impasse. She waited for someone to pinch her, slap her, do anything that would signify she was only dreaming, yet nothing came.
Before long the goblet containing the potion was before her and she was staring at it. She paused for a brief moment, reassuring herself that this was only like communion then immediately chastised herself for comparing such a hedonist ritual to the sacred Eucharist. She closed her eyes and sipped, waiting to be struck down. Yet when she opened her eyes, nothing—except that her skin was blooming to a bright red and she clicked her new shiny shoes over to the table she recalled as being the Crotalus table. Crotalus was good, that meant she was responsible, right? That’s what Mr. Xavier had said at least.
She tried to smile and not look unnerved but was sure she was failing. She waited for the rest of the first years to be sorted, groaning quietly to herself when Arne was also turned red and turned away when he tried to mouth something to her. Probably something antagonistic, she thought to herself. When the Headmaster’s speech was over, she turned to her neighbor and smiled in what she hoped was a friendly way. “Hello,” she said, her confidence only faltering slightly. Back home she was normally a very outgoing girl and she was doing her hardest to be the same way here however the entirely new environment was presenting certain difficulties. “Um, would you mind passing the spaghetti, please?” She felt her smile waver and knew she probably looked a little unsure of herself.
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Laila Kennedy
Down the rabbit hole.
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Laila Kennedy
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Your cleverness is part of <i>your</i> draw by Ava
Ava tuned in and out as Emery talked, she heard something about “sorry” and “stolen” and “a second one,” but other than, she was kind of lost in her own thoughts, so it was a little bit after he responded to her initial comment about his kiss that she suggested they leave Cascade Hall. However, after she’d asked the question, she was actively listening for his response, thus his “sure” was met with an enthusiastic smile that looked forced only if one was looking very closely because she was happy he had agreed to hang out with her even if heavier things were on her mind.“I don’t know,” she responded truthfully. “Labyrinth Gardens, Quidditch Pitch if you want fresh air, that could be nice.” She was somewhat hesitant to offer the MARS room since she didn’t know if Emery would be interested in going there and painting with her, so she figured she would just go there after they were done hanging out, curfew aside. She wasn’t a prefect, she reasoned, and she was in sort of a rule breaking kind of mood. “Or we could just go back to the common room. I just need to get out of here—it’s all the chaos and the noise, too hard to think.”
What she didn’t mention was that all the chaos and the noise surrounding them were also in her head, arguing with each other over what she should be thinking about the most. Images of Emery with a faceless girl, her mother with a faceless family (this particular image surprised her as the thought had never crossed her mind before but for all she knew it was true), Chloe with…well, Ava didn’t really know who or what it was the Chloe in her head was doing only that she didn’t particularly like it. Logically, Ava knew that these things she kept thinking about were non-existent. If she’d been thinking clearly she would have heard Emery’s use of the word ‘experimental’ and understood it was only well, an experiment. Like when they did things in Potions class.
However, even the logical part of Ava’s brain couldn’t negate the feelings about her mother. There she had no clue what was going on. She knew that Charlotte’s work was demanding and as a result often times was traveling abroad. She also knew that she was at a boarding school for most of the year so it wasn’t like she could really blame not seeing her mother entirely on the older witch. But somehow she felt as though Charlotte ought to be making the effort to see her when Ava was on break, even if it was just for a couple hours. The beachy cottage was far enough away from the town that Ava figured Charlotte could apparate there if she really wanted to, so the only logical explanation she had was that she didn’t want to.
“Hey,” she said to Emery as they were leaving Cascade Hall. “Do you know anything about apparation fees? Like…do we have to pay them each time we apparate or is there like a yearly pass or something?” She was curious, because if it were really expensive to apparate then she figured that could be a reason for Charlotte’s reluctance to come, completely forgetting that her mother didn’t pay rent at Papa’s and that her job paid her well enough.
OOC: You can choose where they go, I don’t really care.
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Ava
Your cleverness is part of <i>your</i> draw
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Ava
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Emmy-Lou
June 04, 2015 2:56 PM
Maybe I should feel bad now. by Emmy-Lou
Emmy-Lou most certainly wasn’t happy about this boy being in her classes for the whole year but she had already suspected this would be the case. “Oh yes, isn’t that something to look forward to,” her voice dripped with sarcasm but she was only vaguely aware of how rude some might say she was now being, but even so she was sure the second year was equally as sarcastic about the idea of the two of them seeing a lot of each other being fun as she was.The older boy returned to his food for a while so Emmy-Lou did the same. She was mildly surprised when he spoke again. “Yes, it is,” she agreed, even more surprised that he was suddenly being quite civil. “My step brother did go on a lot about just how good the food is at Sonora in his letters last year but I guess I can forgive him now that I know exactly what he means.”
Whenever Emmy-Lou stayed with the Fintocs she always found that ate much larger portions than she was used to and were very into their food. They didn’t, however, have a great deal of diversity in the type of foods they ate, as Emmy did at home in California. She assumed this was part of the reason that Chuck was so unbelievably enthusiastic about the Sonora meals when he always ate well at home anyway. Yet even Emmy-Lou had never been exposed to so many different food types, probably provided to cater for the culturally diverse student body that she was sure existed at Sonora. She was aware that there were several students from countries all around the word, these foreign kids usually purebloods because their families wanted to extend connections, but because she was new to the school she couldn’t quite tell the proportion of foreign students to American. But seeing as they should all be purebloods, she didn’t think there could be that many.
Purebloods always seemed to be considering connections rather than friends, Emmy-Lou thought. Perhaps that was why the Aladren boy in front of her, who she assumed but had not confirmed was a pureblood himself, was so disinterested in engaging in polite conversation with her. And also was likely the reason he was even at Sonora Academy, considering that his British accent suggested he lived abroad. Even the Fintocs cared about connections. Making friends with the ‘right sort’ was really what Chuck was meant to be doing at the school anyway but Emmy-Lou had quickly learnt that he would still be Granddad Fintoc’s favourite even if he didn’t succeed in this. The eleven year old had, over the years of being part of Chuck’s family, become just as bitter about this fact as all of her step brother’s younger cousins. Emmy-Lou highly suspected that Joel and Doug, the only two of Chuck’s cousins who were older than him, were the only ones who didn’t have some sort of secret jealousy regarding the favouritism that the family patriarch was so bad at hiding.
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Maybe I should feel bad now.
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Glad you agree. by Joella
“She sounds sweet,” Joella said in regards to Lionel’s sister, a smile on her lips as she tried to think back to herself being a nine year old girl. It seemed such a young age to her now. “Not that I agree with her calling you the lamest person on the planet, of course,” she added.Lionel’s description of his uncle’s work sounded awfully confusing but Joella thought it was likely because she knew little about the subject. Although seeing as Lionel said he didn’t really understand it either made her feel better about herself. His uncle was a professional potioneer, after all, so it was bound to beyond the understanding of an uninterested thirteen year old girl. She thought it was the kind of thing that would interest Lachlan and wondered if she should mention this conversation when she next saw him or if she sent him a letter but at the same time she didn’t want to get in trouble with her father for encouraging Lachlan and his passion for potions. Not that Ivan Curtis was the kind of man who wanted to discourage his children’s interests but it would make the whole family heir problem a whole lot easier to solve if Lachlan was more focussed on his job within the family company.
“Are you very interested in potions then?” Joella couldn’t recall ever having worked with him in Potions class so didn’t know if he had any hopes to follow in his uncle’s footsteps or not. She thought she had talked to him about the Baking Club before, not that she could be completely certain, but she didn’t think that necessarily meant he had a particular interest in becoming a potioneer.
“Yes, I hope we can try it out first and then decide whether we continue,” agreed Joella on the subject of Divination. “I don’t know much about it at all, as I said, so it would be rather annoying to have to continue it for the rest of the year if I end up not enjoying it.” In truth, the third year wasn’t overly keen on the idea of adding another class to her schedule, reducing her free time, but the idea of trying out a brand new subject was an exciting one and she had always been brought up to seize opportunities whenever she could. She also thought her father might be pleased by her taking up another class, finally showing some form of interest and enthusiasm regarding the educational side of school.
She was quite relieved to hear that the third years were often given different assignments as the thought of doing the same work as the fifth years was rather intimidating. Joella wasn’t sure whether she would agree with Lionel that smaller classes were better but she didn’t have long to wait to form her own opinion. Larger classes, she thought, would provide more opportunities to mix with people she hadn’t had the chance to mix with yet, she thought.
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Joella
Glad you agree.
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Barnaby
June 04, 2015 6:43 PM
Not necessary, we have meat here in the building. by Barnaby
Perhaps he and the first year had more in common than he had originally thought—the distrust of a relative was something Barnaby was more than familiar with and actually the reason he was even at the American school in the first place. He wanted to scoff at the ridiculous idea that an eleven year old be used as a spy on a perfectly grown man capable of making his own decisions. Since last fall, Barnaby hadn’t really heard anything from his older half-brother, thinking that he likely had fallen off the face of the planet as he usually did when he got in a strop.“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself then,” he said not meanly and returned to his dinner. The more than civil turn the conversation had taken was doing something funny to him. The idea of having a pleasant conversation was one he had grown accustomed to by the end of his first year, but one that he had grown an aversion to over the course of the summer he’d spent reading and plotting with Tarquin (for a ten year old, Tarquin did an awful lot of plotting).
Once his chicken was finished, he moved on to the rice, moving the white starch around in the chicken’s gravy in order to give it flavor and proceeded to use his spoon to scoop up as much rice as he could until only a few grains were left drowning in the pea speckled sauce. “If you’ll excuse me,” he said once he was done eating, wiping his fingers off on his napkin and placing it on the table. “I have to go and unpack, I didn’t get a chance to earlier, you see.”
Though he was loath to leave before he was able to eat dessert, Barnaby couldn’t spend another moment in the company of such an innocently inquisitive person. Granted, she hadn’t really asked him in personal questions per se, but she did have the unnerving ability to make Barnaby second-guess himself and that was not a feeling he really enjoyed. “See you around,” he managed a slight smile as he got up from the table and began to leave.
OOC: Feel free to start up a conversation in the time that Barnaby is eating his chicken and rice before he excuses himself. I’d be more than happy to reply, I’m not trying to end the thread here unless you want to too haha :)
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Barnaby
Not necessary, we have meat here in the building.
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Theodore Wolseithcrafte
June 05, 2015 8:21 AM
When one has hiccups, for example by Theodore Wolseithcrafte
“Muggles are interested in astronomy too?” he queried. He supposed it wasn’t totally surprising. Whilst knowing the locations of stars was foundation knowledge for certain aspects of Divination, that wasn’t their only use. Their other uses tended to be more practical - things like navigation, along with the pure joy of knowledge for knowledge’s sake. It was an ancient art too. Perhaps it was just a universal human tendency to look up and to want to label and understand. “And what is space flight?” he added. Whilst Clark had told him what the institution studied, that didn’t necessarily make its name make sense to him.He just about followed Clark’s explanation of his summer journeys - it was impossible to walk through Chicago and not experience at least some evidence of Muggle technologies. Clark had taken two different types of train to get around, one of which quite possibly was smaller and underground.
“Portkeys, not so much,” he answered Clark’s question, “I mean, you get them but usually only for special events or long distances. Most travel around the city you would do by Floo - the fireplace network?” he half asked. Clark might have been…. well, a Muggleborn Muggleborn, raised as a Muggle? Whatever that made one. Muggle-influenced? But he was also a voraciously curious Aladren, and had been surrounded by an excellent wizarding library for three years. Just because he hadn’t connected the dots and selected the right kind of transport didn’t mean he had no familiarity with the concept, and Theodore didn’t want to patronise him. “I believe some cities also capitalise on Muggle infrastructure. Trains stop for no reason and the Muggles are told they are being held at a signalling failure by leaves or something but really it’s a cloaked stop with wizards getting on or off. Or some stations have additional exits that only wizards can see.”
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Theodore Wolseithcrafte
When one has hiccups, for example
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Clark Dill
June 05, 2015 12:15 PMClark Dill
AlumnusHouse: Aladren
Written by: Nathan
Age in Post: 14
Birthday: Who knows? But he celebrates it in November
Or when you're expecting something to go wrong and it doesn' by Clark Dill
"Of course," Clark confirmed, frankly a bit startled by the idea that muggles wouldn't study Astronomy. Maybe it was the bias of being raised by a NASA employee and viewing it as a hard science for most of his life, but he'd had the opposite reaction and been surprised when he'd found out it was a course of study for wizards. Of course, he probably shouldn't have been. He knew Dad couldn't have entirely forfeited his magical education any more than he could have given up muggle science. A shared field between the two worlds was really the most obvious place Dad would want to focus. That it also offered him a chance to watch for aliens on company time was (possibly) just a bonus (though, with Dad, it could be his main reason; you could never quite be sure with him)."Muggles study it with more math than wizards do, I think," he expounded on the topic for Theodore, "Dad's muggle degree is actually for Astrophysics, which is the science of figuring out how and why things move in space as they do, more or less. And some of the things moving out there are made by muggles, that's where Space Flight comes in. The muggles launch rockets with telescopes and cameras and probes and robots and sometimes even people into space to study the cosmos up close and more directly than we can from Earth's surface. They even have a manned space station orbiting the Earth where the crew actually lives for months at a time!" Clark's voice became more excited and his gestures grew more expansive as he really got into the subject. "Have you ever seen high definition pictures of distant galaxies taken from a massive telescope not hindered by Earth's atmosphere? It's incredible! And there are pictures taken from the surface of Mars, and I even held a moon rock once!"
Eventually, though, the conversation moved on as it is wont to do. When Theodore explained that portkeys were generally reserved for long distances or special events, Clark nodded in understanding and filed that away as trivia that was potentially useful but probably not often applicable to him. And he had heard of the floo network, of course, just as he had heard of portkeys, but they both remained a moderately mysterious mode of travel he had never personally encountered. He did, however, kind of remember some train stops for 'refueling' that had seemed to him like people were getting on and off there though nobody else in his train car had seemed to notice, and he made a note to get off there next time, just to see what wizarding landmark was hidden away between Greenbelt and DC.
"Oh, really?" he asked with interest, in regards to the floo, "That's public? I always assumed it just ran between people's houses, and since we don't have a fireplace in our apartment, we couldn't use it. I think I saw signs for the floo at the Smithsonian Museum of Magical America, but where would I take it to? Would the train stations have a floo room if wizards are using those? Are there local floo maps posted somewhere and how do you find them? Does it cost anything? Do you need to bring your own powder? Sorry, that was a lot of questions." Theodore was an Aladren too, though, so Clark figured he'd be understanding and helpful rather than annoyed, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to at least acknowledge he was being more inquisitive than was generally considered conversationally appropriate.
"Dad doesn't know and he's usually my only source for practical advice on traveling around in the magical world."
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Clark Dill
Or when you're expecting something to go wrong and it doesn'
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Alistair
June 05, 2015 4:40 PM
We'll see about that. by Alistair
Although Alistair was still of the opinion that Arne Reinhardt was the extremely irritating kind of first year that would intentionally make his life as a Captain difficult, he was now beginning to wonder if there was more to him than that. Before he hadn’t liked the way the new Crotalus spoke and smiled with a cocky attitude but the boy was suddenly grinning rather excessively. He was weird, Alistair thought, but such a word didn’t seem to fit quite right.He was glad when Arne asked him a question, finally feeling like he was one step ahead of the younger kid again. “There were three of us last year,” said Alistair truthfully. “So we need four more players.” He would have liked to have at least one reserve as well but that would really be getting far too optimistic. He didn’t like to give Arne this answer because the boy could then go on to question his earlier stated confidence but at the same time he could hardly lie, especially when his conversation partner was offering to help him recruit.
“Yes, I’m a second year now.” Alistair was proud of the fact that he was such a young captain, especially considering the other two Crotali who had been part of the Teppalus team last year were both older than him, yet he had been the one chosen to lead them. He nodded when Arne commented that they would be in the same class, doubting that this would be a good thing. “That is kind of you,” the second year continued his politeness, taking up Arne’s rather surprising offer - perhaps this kid wouldn’t be so much of a nuisance as he’d first thought. “It may take some work finding enough players to fill a team,” he admitted, hoping that Arne would not doubt the team’s chances because of this. “So yes, help would be useful.”
“Is everything alright?” The Crotalus frowned as he noticed the way in which the younger boy’s oddly friendly smile so quickly turned into a scowl. He wouldn’t usually ask such a question because he often never cared enough to notice this kind of thing but he had suddenly found a little more interest in the first year, so different from his presumed brother.
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Alistair
We'll see about that.
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Theodore Wolseithcrafte
June 05, 2015 11:39 PM
Or when you're made to examine your underlying prejudices by Theodore Wolseithcrafte
Clark’s explanation of what Muggles did with astronomy was rather lengthy. It was clearly a subject he felt passionate about, and Theodore could see why. The list of Muggle achievements in the field was undeniably impressive. It surprised him. He didn’t think of Muggles and what their lives must be like much at all but when he did, he had supposed them to be lumbering along behind, desperately trying to compensate for life without magic - he knew of things like ‘electricity’ - a life which, in his mind, would be impossibly difficult. He had never imagined them to have overcome these difficulties so fully that they had time, and ability, to stretch themselves into areas that wizards hadn’t. It occurred to him that Clark may be pulling his leg but he had come up with that awfully quickly if so. And how would it benefit him - with whom could he snigger behind Theodore’s back? There were few enough people, and he and Clark were on the Quidditch team together, so surely it would be shooting himself in the foot a little. Unless it was only for his private gratification of having got one over on the Purebloods but he didn’t think Clark was vengeful in that way. He hoped not. He certainly felt he had done nothing to warrant that attitude from him - it wasn’t his fault that he was privileged, after all.“Gosh,” was all he could come up with. “You’ll have to show me those pictures,” he added, just to give himself some sense of security against being treated as a fool.
He gave nothing more than a slight tilt of his head in response to Clark’s apology - one that acknowledged that, whilst what he had said was factually true, it was not a problem.
“There are public and private elements to it. I read a comparison that said it was similar to Muggle telephones - most private homes have them, as do public institutions. The public institutions make their information widely available whereas private homes do not. I mean, it’s not a great analogy because I believe with telephones it works by having the unique access code for each machine, whereas floo places are protected by charms. For example, you could reasonably guess at what words you would need to access my floo place but it doesn’t mean you could just stroll in. Similarly, museums and the like put restrictions on their floo’s hours of operation. Whereas, from what I understand of telephones, as soon as you have the access code, you can bother the person whensoever you like - even the middle of the night,” he said, sounding slightly scandalised. “There are some in secure public locations - sometimes connected to Muggle transportation, sometimes just in little offices down little alleyways that Muggles feel no point in exploring.
“Most places that have a public floo will have information on the local area. For example, the office you mentioned in the Smithsonian will be able to tell you where you can connect to. I believe different places operate different policies - some you have to pay for access, some it’s just pay per pinch. Mostly, you buy the powder at the floo stop for public buildings because they want to make it worth their while having it - or, in the case of government buildings, they want to be able to track who’s going in and out. I think it can be very variable depending on district and institution, and I’m sure most attendants would be friendly if you needed help. Wizards in service roles are given training on dealing with Muggleborns with patience and sensitivity - and most of them are Muggleborn or at least sign up for it because they want to deal with them in some capacity or another,” he added, not really realising that his tone was treading into the territory of being slightly patronising or suggesting that Muggleborns were a problem that needed some sort of special handling, and how that might sound to Clark.
“Was there anything else?” he asked, happy to be helpful.
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Theodore Wolseithcrafte
Or when you're made to examine your underlying prejudices
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Here goes nothing! by Arnold
The casual response reminded Arnold of a fact he seemed so often to forget: Emrys was his friend. After all, one hardly lived with the same young men for the better part of five years without forming some type of friendship. Arnold wasn’t very talented in the department of friendship forming, but it was almost a challenge not to befriend one’s roommates to at least some capacity.He found himself smiling and nodding along as Emrys spoke of his time with his sister. Arnold knew the feeling of having a little sibling plodding along behind; Jake was closer to him in age than Caelia was to Emrys, but his brother had always been pretty innocent. Certainly, it didn’t seem possible that he could already be a fourth year. And their little sister Peyton, for that matter, was getting incredibly big. It was kind of insane to think back to a time when their parents were married and Peyton wasn’t even an imagined possibility.
“Nothing too incredible for me either,” Arnold answered. “I spent almost all my time with family. My brother’s wife had twins, so having babies around again was weird.” It was also weird to refer to Ryan having a wife, although his marriage to Sophie had seemed pretty inevitable for a while now. She was his best friend turned girlfriend since his own Sonora days. Now if Arnold could only be that successful…
“How do you do it?”
Arnold nearly choked; he had seen Emrys glance toward Ji-Eun, and his implications were clear. “Oh, dude, it’s not-..” he struggled, his cheeks beginning to glow dangerously near his hair color. “She isn’t-... I mean, we aren’t dating or anything. I’m really not doing well here, I don’t think, honestly. She knows I like her and everything, and I guess she seems like she likes me too, but we haven’t-... I mean-... Nothing’s happened.” It was a bizarre predicament in which Arnold found himself. Ji-Eun was coy and flirty without hinting at any tangible interest, dangling him in the worst, best way. “So, uh, I don’t think I’m the best person to ask about, like, girls and stuff.”
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Arnold
Here goes nothing!
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Arne
June 06, 2015 11:03 PM
Should we take this outside? by Arne
“Including me you need three more players?” He asked, just to confirm what Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons was telling him. “Do you know how many of the older students are willing to play? Or are we going to have to get those three other players from the first year?”Suddenly he was regretting giving Laila such a hard time. Though she had never flown on a broomstick before, he figured that she’d have to have some athletic ability since the Kennedys were practically basketball royalty around Turner’s Point—if what the town rumor mill had to say was true. However, the more he thought about it, he realized he had never really seen her ever play any sport unless hiking with her brother and their dogs counted.
The second year’s admission that it would be hard to fill the Crotalus team was somewhat discouraging, and on any other day Arne might have thrown his hands up and say oh well because it really wasn’t worth all the time and effort to get nothing out of it in return. But he needed to do something active and it had to be Quidditch because it didn’t seem as though Sonora offered any other sport. So he shrugged in response. “No biggie,” he said. “We’ll get the three. I’ll even drag Laila Kennedy onto the field kicking and screaming if I have to.”
His pointed look and the words he chose to stress indicated that this was a big feat and not an offer to be taken lightly—it was a real sacrifice he was willing to take because as much as he loved to annoy her the idea of actually having to work with her after doing something to deliberately piss her off was not one that was particularly attractive to him.
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine,” he replied dismissively, the scowl slightly fading away. It was family business that was upsetting him and though Alistair Johnson, of the Arizona Johnsons was likely to be making regularly scheduled appearances in his life in the coming years, he didn’t really think family business was something to talk about outside the family.
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Arne
Should we take this outside?
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I apologize for nothing by Makenzie
While Makenzie had no siblings, she had a number (a rather large one, in fact) of cousins. But, much to his displeasure, she happened to be the firstborn on both sides of her family, and the next closest was Dustin, who, while only two years her junior, was not particularly fun to have around. Growing up, she had been somewhat lonely, always wishing for a friend her age to spend her days with, someone with whom she could play dolls, share secrets, and host tea parties. Of course, she was a bit old for some of those idealized gal-pal staples now, but after years of searching, the redhead finally felt like she had someone with whom she could claim this title.Araceli was easily her best friend. And that was no offense meant to Uzume, of course; she happened to very much like her second roommate, finding a unique spark in the girl that was simply contagious and made an individual want to be stronger. However, she found she simply had a stronger pull toward Araceli, who, Makenzie believed, was perhaps as happy to have her as round as she was to have Araceli. The blonde had sisters, but, to Makenzie’s knowledge, they were not particularly close in age.
So when the question of excitement to return was brought back to her, Makenzie very eagerly replied with an honest, “Oh, yes. I’m quite excited. Can you believe we’re Intermediates already? Gosh, it seems like just yesterday when we were the ones being Sorted, doesn’t it?” It was a memory in which the Crotatus took pride, her red skin matching her red hair, if only for the evening.
“My summer was lovely. It’s pretty good to be home for a while. I missed you, though. Did you have fun?” Makenzie had written Araceli fairly frequent, lengthy letters and not received much in her responses, but she supposed given that was Araceli was still somewhat getting used to verbal communication that written letters might have given her some troubles. There was no offense taken; Makenzie was certain Araceli was incapable of doing anything out of malice, anyway.
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Makenzie
I apologize for nothing
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Emrys
June 07, 2015 1:59 AM
Here goes everything. by Emrys
“How big is your family?” Emrys asked, unsure if he’d ever asked Arnold about his family before. He knew that Arnold had a younger brother in Teppenpaw, and he remembered there being a Sally Manger a few years above them, but wasn’t sure if she was a sister or a cousin. Arnold also evidently had an older brother since he mentioned the birth of his..neices? nephews? Either way, twins sounded exciting to Emrys. Growing up he had always wished that he and Wesley were twins but in recent years he and his cousin had grown apart. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time the two had hung out. It had to have been over a year ago as one of the last times he could remember talking to him it had been about the dress robes to wear to the ball.Emrys looked at his roommate with concern. “You okay?” he asked as Arnold began to stutter. He felt bad for making his roommate choke and turn red, and what Arnold said next made him feel bad too. “Well that’s something, right?” Emrys asked him. He found it hard to believe that Arnold and Ji-Eun weren’t more than friends but then again he supposed the school had gotten him and Charlotte wrong for the past five years and he didn’t really think his roommate would ahve occation to lie to him about anything—much less not dating the girl everyone knew he liked and most people likely thought liked him back.
“If you’re curious I could—I could try to find out—Ji-Eun and I talk sometimes?” His suggestion was accompanied with a shrug and a questioning half-smile. The idea of talking to a girl about who she liked was a terrifying one to Emrys though he thought that perhaps it might have been easier if it were someone like Ava who didn’t really seem to get herself involved with those sorts of things.
Emrys took a drink of his pumpkin juice and nodded. He completely commiserated with Arnold’s situation of not knowing if the girl he liked, liked him back. Though he felt that having Charlotte flirt with him even if she didn’t like him at all would be better than nothing. He cracked his shoulder in disgust at the way this crush had turned him into a such a groveling person.
“Girls are so complicated, man,” he said. “And confusing. I wish I could just walk up to Charlotte and just say ‘hey, I like you, want to go out?’ But I can’t because I’ll see her and forget pretty much the entire speech which will likely come out just as ‘sup, want to do homework?’ You know?” He grimaced and looked down at his plate. "What'd you say to Ji-Eun?"
OOC: Note, the “everyone” and “most people” are just figures of exaggerated speech.
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Emrys
Here goes everything.
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Fabian Brockert
June 07, 2015 10:09 AM
Yeah, here's to that. by Fabian Brockert
Fabian yawned. He had so not been thrilled to have gotten up earlier so he could go to Orientation and have copious amounts of information dumped on him that he already knew. The young first year felt he already knew everything that one could ever possibly know about Sonora, and staff members weren't going to tell them the good stuff anyway. Adults never wanted kids to know anything useful or interesting. In fact, they seemed to often want just the opposite. And then, when one was old enough to know these things or figure them out, they were expected to be boring and stuffy and mature and not want to use them. When you grew up, you were supposed to enjoy dull things. Fabian never wanted to grow up.As far as he was concerned, the only decent thing about growing up was going to Sonora and learning to use magic. Of course, his sisters and cousins had mentioned the fact that some of the professors just seemed to love theory and assigning research projects and papers. How utterly dull, boring and tedious! It didn't matter how magic worked, just that it did. Quite frankly, learning how magic worked took some of the, well, magic out of it. Fabian didn't think a lecture on magical theory would hold his attention much more than the Orientation talk had. And that had technically been useful, it was just that he'd already known it all.
The Opening Feast however, provided something a bit more...different. It was where one got Sorted and even if you were almost positive where you'd go, it was not necessarily a known fact prior to the actual sorting. There was at least a little suspense, even though Fabian had completely eliminated any possibility to himself of being in Aladren because he wasn't the least bit interested in academics and Crotalus because he wasn't....cautious or rule driven. Quite frankly, Fabian didn't want to be in either of those houses either. Kelsey was in the latter and she was bossy, uptight,overbearing and just plain not much fun and as for the former, well, he had little in common with the average Aladren. Besides, it didn't sound like they were exactly a pleasant bunch lately either.
Fabian took the cup and threw back, his skin turning a deep brown. That meant Pecari, a house not many of his relatives went in for whatever reason, but Arabella and Uncle Seth had and Scarlett was now. He tried to catch his cousin's eyes, but she seemed...distracted about something. In a much different way than Serena had since last summer. He wasnt even sure Scarlett had noticed his Sorting.
The first year handed the cup off and walked to join his housemates at their table. He listened as Headmaster Brockert announced the prefects and Head Students, neither his sister nor Paul Bennett's-Fabian's future brother-in-law's- brother Leonidas among them. Honestly, the new Pecari didn't think Serena would care...or notice. He checked quickly, nope, she didn't seem to be even paying attention, just sitting and staring dreamily off into space.
Once all announcements were finished-new professors which didn't matter because one of them was for a class he'd never take, given Fabian had no intention of adding to his class load even when he got to be a third year and he hadn't been here last year to be too concerned about whether or not the DADA professor was new and a school concert which he had no interest in participating in-and the school song was sung, the new Pecari turned his attention to where it belonged-on the food. Fabian took some barbeque ribs and dug in.
He was mid-mouthful when one of the other first year Pecaris began to speak to him. The first year quickly swallowed, having decent enough manners to not talk with his mouth full. "Fabian Brockert, of the Western Brockerts. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Wolseithcrate." He considered her question. "Probably because I fit the definition, if not the stereotype." Brockerts in Pecari-of which there weren't many to start with-pretty much never fit the stereotype.
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Fabian Brockert
Yeah, here's to that.
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Aiden O'Neil
June 07, 2015 5:11 PM
Monsters are scary. by Aiden O'Neil
If Aiden had ever really paid attention to how other people interacted, he might have realized that his relationship with Tobi was slightly different than Tobi’s relationship with everyone else. However, because Aiden shared a room with both Liac and Tobi, Aiden had first had experience with how the cousins interacted and how Tobi was with Liac and (since he shared space with them) Aiden. It never occurred to him that Tobi wasn’t someone who sat with other people or made conversation when he didn’t have. These things didn’t go through Aiden’s mind. He simply assumed Tobi enjoyed being around people the way Aiden did.When he grew up a bit more and became to understand that people were different, Aiden might finally realize the significance of Tobi sitting next to him at the Feast truly was, but by the time that was actually going to happen, this moment in time would likely be forgotten for the both of them.
“I’m excellent.” Aiden commented, still grinning. He liked Tobi. His roommate was much quieter than Aiden or Liac, but his way of being was really calming, so Aiden always felt comfortable around him. Although, if anyone really knew Aiden, there were probably very few people that he knew in his life where he wouldn’t feel comfortable around them if they were really going to put any thought into it. One of those people being his own Great Grandfather O’Neil. He had always been pleasant to Aiden, but he also seemed really strict and somewhat rude, so Aiden didn’t like to spend too much time with him if he can help it. His dad always told him that his first feelings about a person were probably the correct ones to have. So, if someone put him off, it was best to not spent too much time with them.
Aiden liked to believe his parents were ‘all knowing’ and took their advice to heart.
Before any further conversation could really happen, the Headmaster stood up and began to start the evening. Aiden didn’t have any family coming to Sonora, so the sorting was merely just a show for him, but he clapped excitedly for any new Teppenpaws that sat at the table. The same went for the new Prefects and the Head Students. Aiden didn’t care who won those at this point in his life (and he never considered himself in the running for them either with his housemates as competition), but he was happy for their new badges just the same.
Once the song was over and the food appeared, Aiden picked up some pasta for his plate and returned to his conversation, “The sorting is always fun to watch. I’m glad that I ended in Teppenpaw, if I ended up in any of the other houses, I’m not sure how I would have gotten on with everyone.” Aiden admitted. “What about you? You ever think about what it’d be like in another house?” Aiden, being an only child, failed to understand that his roommate had a sibling who was a First year.
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Aiden O'Neil
Monsters are scary.
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Clark Dill
June 07, 2015 9:29 PMClark Dill
AlumnusHouse: Aladren
Written by: Nathan
Age in Post: 14
Birthday: Who knows? But he celebrates it in November
Or when the snitch appears right in front of you by Clark Dill
"Definitely," Clark promised, making a note to bring one of his muggle astronomy text books along to the next Quidditch practice. They weren't high def pictures for the most part, but some of them had decent quality prints that were probably better than most of what Theodore had seen before, and he had a poster sized glossy print out of the Crab Nebula that he'd gotten directly from NASA and always kept over his bed, so if he ever bumped into Theodore in the boys' stairway, he would call him in to take a look at that, too.Theodore, as Clark had kind of expected and certainly hoped for, gladly answered all of his floo questions and even requested more if Clark had any. Clark wasn't quite sure he entirely approved of the way Theodore spoke of 'dealing with' Muggleborns - as his dad was unarguably one of that category and who the heck knew what Clark himself was supposed to be classified as when he didn't know a thing about who his mom was except that Dad was 'pretty sure' she was human (and that wasn't even going into the fact that his biological father wasn't even from this planet because nobody was supposed to know that and he was just counting Dad as his dad) - but attributed it to cultural differences and didn't call him out on it. What could he say that wouldn't make it even more awkward anyway? He didn't think Theodore actually meant anything bad by it. In his experience, Theodore wasn't one of those purebloods who went out of their way to make muggleborns and mixed bloods feel inferior (which, unfortunately, could not be said for Oliver Ferguson, which made Clark's living arrangements at Sonora less than pleasant most of the time).
Still, it was little off-hand comments like those that definitely make Clark feel like John Umland was really his only actual peer on the Quidditch team.
"No, I think that's enough information to get me started so I can figure the rest out on my own," he denied further need to delve into the subject of the floo network. "But if I have any more after trying it out next summer, I'll let you know. Thanks."
"So are you taking any independent studies?" he asked curiously. Independent studies were, by definition, independent, so it wasn't really widely know what everyone else was looking into in their spare time, and he figured the best way to revive that part of their earlier discussion was to ask about Theodore's interests before expanding further on his own. He'd already mentioned Astronomy was one of the ones he was taking, anyway, so he wasn't entirely making Theodore answer his own question first.
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Clark Dill
Or when the snitch appears right in front of you
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Tobi
June 08, 2015 5:39 PM
Indeed they are. by Tobi
Tobi shook his head. He hadn’t ever thought about what it would be like in the other houses. Outside of Liac, Tobi really only talked to his roommate and Quidditch teammates and as a result didn’t have a very good outlook on the different houses and wasn’t entirely sure what he could expect from each one. He knew that Liac had some friends in the other houses and if Tobi really looked carefully at his acquaintances he supposed he could consider both Aiden and John Umland as friends since the former was his roommate and he ended up sitting next to the latter in class a fair deal, but that was it for the most part.He supposed he interacted with the Crotali the most seeing as there were three of them on the Quidditch field and he had somewhat befriended Araceli in their first year. And besides, his little brother and the girl from Turner’s Point had just been sorted into that house. But Tobi didn’t really know what that said about them since he hadn’t liked the majority of the Crotali he had interacted with so far—Uzume Shinohara being an exception since she was pretty enough he overlooked the more distasteful parts of her personality, and Araceli aside because she was too quiet and nice to be someone that Tobi didn’t like.
“Teppenpaw’s nice like that,” he observed. Tobi took a couple bites of the food he had served himself, a serene look on his face. Tobi wasn’t one for many words, but the words he did say were accompanied with faces that expressed a lot. This particular one said that he was content where he was and didn’t think he could be in any other house. He had Liac and he had a nice roommate. He was even starting to enjoy his position on the Quidditch team, finding that the partnership he had with Liac as Beaters served as an extra bonding experience.
He offered a pleasant smile to Aiden while he ate, enjoying the companionable silence that followed and was pleased that his roommate could understand the value of a quiet friendship based in just being. By and by, he turned to Aiden. “We’re Intermediates this year,” he said as though just fully realizing the impact of that. “Are you going to take Divination?” Tobi wasn’t sure if it was a subject that interested him or not, but the idea of working with something that could pass as a natural force was agreeable to him and he was seriously considering going to at least the first class.
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Tobi
Indeed they are.
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Lionel
June 08, 2015 8:39 PM
Yeah, it would be bad if I wanted you to feel bad. by Lionel
‘Sweet’ was not a word Lionel would think to particularly apply to Amelia, but he guessed it was a subjective quality. He grinned when Joella qualified her statement. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said.Lionel shrugged when asked if he was very interested in Potions. “It’s all right,” he said, then tried to elaborate on that after having another bite of his food. “I like brewing pretty well, but the experimental stuff, I don’t know about that, you know? And Uncle Geoff isn’t even involved in the hardest-sounding stuff. He’s on the practical side, not theoretical. He started tinkering with stuff like what he does now when he was my age – “ and the ceiling of Lionel’s room, which had been Uncle Geoff’s room until he ran away at home at seventeen, not long before Lionel was born, had the never-quite-removable stains to prove it – “but even he says the theoretical stuff hurts his head. I don’t see much of a future for myself in that,” he joked.
If all else failed, he thought Uncle Geoff could probably get him a job brewing everyday potions for an apothecary or something like that, but he didn’t see himself getting very far in the field. At best, he’d be ordinary, and that, to his grandfather and cousins at least, would mean he was a failure. The only problems with that were that for one thing, he didn’t think he had any other astonishing talents to fall back on and that for another, he didn’t know that he minded being ordinary that much.
“It’s a little weird to think about,” he mused on Divination. “I mean, the idea that we can figure out some of what’s going to happen, but it always feels like we’re deciding stuff and other people are deciding stuff and only figuring it out right then, you know?” Or at least it did to him. He guessed that was why he was a Pecari. He was pretty sure his cousins Alicia and Isaac, Aladren and Crotalus, had never felt that way in their lives. Alicia always sought to be in control, trying to make things go the way she wanted them to, and Isaac always hedged his bets while Lionel just went with the flow. “’Course, you probably have to be a Seer for things to get really weird, so that’s lucky for most of us,” he added.
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Lionel
Yeah, it would be bad if I wanted you to feel bad.
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...Yes definitely. by Jake
Teppenpaw House had a lovely reputation, one of politeness, gentleness, and kindness. Jake was pretty sure this was the only situation where those attributes were ever unhelpful, because right now, all he wanted was a rude neighbor who didn’t care about him or want to talk to him. Instead, he got Ginger, a peppy, happy, and sweet young girl with whom Jake had the privilege of being friends. She did justice to their House’s stereotype, he felt, and for the first time, that was pretty inconvenient.So not only did he have to lie, but he was lying to a friend. The guilt was quickly materializing into a fist-sized knot in his stomach. Like, why did she have to be so nice and concerned? “Uh, no thanks. I think it’ll work itself out naturally,” said Jake in response to her offer of a muscle relaxant. Now his lie was just growing and growing on itself, magnifying and intensifying, his core feeling rotten. Why did Ginger have to be so sweet? And why did he have to be so sweet and care this much about lying?!
“Could you pass those over?”
The fourth year felt his heart sink and be absorbed by the massive guilt knot. What did she want him to pass? Since she hadn’t specified, he would have to look up to see to which dish she was gesturing. With meticulous care, Jake slowly raised his head, his neck protesting slightly, perhaps out of complacency in its position and perhaps out of karma for feigning pain. As his blue eyes slowly swept to Ginger, he prayed that she still looked like she did last June, young and innocent. Much to his content, there was nothing tripping him up from eventually making eye contact, although he blushed slightly at both his own foolishness and the familiar ribbon in her hair. “Heh… It’s, uh, starting to feel a bit better now, actually,” Jake offered weakly. “So... which thing did you want?”
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Jake
...Yes definitely.
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I didn't catch that, my eyes were closed. by Atlas Primred
Atlas’ summer was filled with flirty kisses, days by the ocean, dude time with Steven, and of course plenty of family time. Although he found himself spending less and less time at home as the summer went on. Katie who was soon to be turning double digits was the center of attention both in school and in the house. As such she was a little less than pleased that Atlas was getting so serious with Ann-Marie, even going so far as to bring her home for dinner and movies- all of which Katie tried her best to get in the middle of. Atlas couldn’t understand why Katie, whom he had never considered a spoiled or bratty child, seemed so against his girlfriend. Katie had loved Liliana from the start, although, Atlas reasoned, they did meet when she was young and Liliana had been introduced as his friend rather than girlfriend. As a result, Atlas spent much time with Ann-Marie outside of the house as possible. Luckily, the time outdoors didn't bother his girlfriend much as she was a real tomboy, so she could keep up with Atlas in more than a few ways."My summer was fun," he said without much hesitance. Making light of just how 'fun' his summer had been was almost second nature for Atlas now. Initially he felt a little flustered when his parents asked him why he seemed so jovial after a 'sleepover at a Steven’s house", but now playing it down didn't make him feel so guilty anymore. He would tell Liliana the details later of course- however he slightly dreaded it since, although she had never said anything specifically, Liliana didn't seem to feel anything other than apathetic towards his sweetheart.
"Liliana.." Atlas complained, purposely trying to sound like a child. With the excitement of sorting and the presentation of Liliana’s new title over, his lack of sleep from the night before was finally catching up to him- and unfortunately the amazing comfort food of Sonora wasn't much help either. "I'm tired. Be a good Prefect and carry me back to the commons," he said as he laid his head on her shoulder closing his exhausted eyes. He was proud of her. Of course he knew she was reliable, and a shoulder to figuratively (and in the case literally) lean on, so he was happy the teachers recognized that as well. Even so the fifteen year old wasn't sure he liked the idea of sharing Liliana's time with the rest of his fellow Pecaris, so just for today he wanted to have her all to himself- in a best friend, catching up with summer adventures sort of way he clarified to himself when the odd thought crossed his mind.
“By the way, when we get back to the common room I want to do your hair," he said relaxing into her shoulder more. "I haven't done it in forever and Katie taught me some new hairstyles you might like." Although it wasn't so unusual for Atlas to do her hair, he felt that it was a little bit of an excuse to assure that he got the proper time to talk with his best friend. Despite the fact that he had quite the story to tell, he wanted to hear about her summer, about her cousins and Europe, and most importantly, about her grandmother’s attempts at playing matchmaker. If Liliana had spent the summer with anyone in remotely the same way as he had, then he wanted to know all the details. It was his job as her best friend to hear these things, and hex the socks off anyone that dare hurt his pseudo-sister.
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Atlas Primred
I didn't catch that, my eyes were closed.
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Atlas Primred
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Liliana
June 13, 2015 4:50 AM
Too bad, it was a pretty good face. by Liliana
When she’d asked Atlas to tell her about his summer, she’d really been expecting a detailed response in which he told her about the things he’d done with Katie and his friend Steven and, likely, an update on himself and Ann-marie. Though whenever Atlas talked about her it made Liliana feel upset, she also liked to keep tabs on the stupid Muggle who was trying to steal her best friend from her. “Fun?” she asked. “Can you elaborate any further?” She had really been expecting something more than just a few words.Instead of answering her, however, Atlas put his head on her shoulder and whined some story about being too tired for dinner and needing her to carry him up to the common room. She rolled her eyes. There were times when she wished she had a younger sibling, a little sister perhaps. Then Atlas opened his mouth and she remembered that she didn’t really need one because her best friend already had that role filled. “I haven’t even eaten yet!” She exclaimed as her stomach grumbled. “Besides, I think I have to walk up with Professor Olivers and the first years.”
From the beginning Atlas had always found a fascination with playing with Liliana’s hair. She figured it came from his adoration for his younger sister, Katie and knew that many of the hairstyles he knew how to do came from him learning how to do Katie’s hair. His prowess in the kitchen was also a result of his doting behaviour. She pushed his heavy head off her shoulder. “But if you want to go up there first I’ll meet you after and you can do whatever you like to my hair, okay?”
She hoped that he wouldn’t be asleep by the time she was finished with her first night of prefect duties. They had been apart for the whole summer and they had a lot of stuff they needed to catch up on. She wanted to tell him about Vètil, about the music festivals she had gone to, and most importantly all the cousinly bonding she had done with Isaac and Joseph!
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Liliana
Too bad, it was a pretty good face.
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Louis Valois
June 13, 2015 3:11 PM
It may not be all bad? by Louis Valois
Louis raised an eyebrow slightly at Seven’s somewhat abrupt response. He had not heard of the Greyscale family, though the boy seemed to act as if they were an important family. If being the heir was noteworthy, they must be reasonably well-known.It suddenly occurred to Louis that perhaps the Valois name would not command such respect in America as it did in France. The Valois fashion business had certainly expanded over here – for example, just that summer they had been involved in the designs for the Curtis family wedding. However, in France Valois was more than just a very expensive fashion brand. The family had a lot of influence in wizarding circles (their influence in the Muggle world had fallen along with the monarchy back in the eighteenth century), with Louis’ father being a key figure in French wizarding politics, and his family name very well esteemed in social circles.
The idea of this potential lack of scrutiny was not an entirely unwelcome one. Despite having its advantages, the family name meant a lot of pressure, and Louis was not averse to the idea of being known as someone other than ‘the Valois heir’. Of course, he would still have to behave appropriately (his father would otherwise not be impressed!), but surely there would be room for a bit of fun and irresponsibility this year?
Louis turned his thoughts back to Seven Grayscale, wondering how boring conversation with the boy was going to be. Perhaps he could get some inside information on the school. "Do you have any siblings here?" he asked.
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Louis Valois
It may not be all bad?
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Seven Grayscale
June 13, 2015 4:22 PM
Perhaps not. by Seven Grayscale
The question was simple enough, but the sheer fact that the boy had asked a question is what caused Seven to pause. Perhaps the boy hadn't realized that he had said his last name was Grayscale. Normally, that would quiet people up as if someone put a silencing charm on them.But then Seven remembered where he was. America. Such a...unique country. Maybe the name had no effect here. If that was so, Seven would have a very dull year.
Seven was never one to continue conversation with just anyone but the boy before him seemed to hold the air of importance. He found himself wanting to know more about him.
"No. I am a single child. I didn't get your name, however."
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Seven Grayscale
Perhaps not.
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Well, depends who with by Ingrid
"Pleased to meet you," Ingrid smiled at her neighbour, glad to find there were potentially other people in the school who were both proper and interesting. It was one of the most damaging things that WAIL had done, in her eyes, that the very concept of having any kind of fun was tutted and fretted over by some, and deemed unladylike. All those famous witches (whose names she couldn’t quite remember) hadn’t got famous for those things they’d got famous for by sitting around in parlours drinking tea and being afraid of breaking a nail. The specifics might not have stuck, history not being her forte (except the exciting battle parts), but the lesson had - witches were supposed to be allowed to do things too.She raised her eyebrows at his response to her question, which didn’t really tell her much. She hoped that he didn’t constantly talk in riddles.
“And what would that mean then?” she asked, “What’s the stereotype, and what parts of the definition do you fit?”
She was sure her brother had mentioned Pecaris being ‘loud and obnoxious’ and possibly even suggested she would fit there for those reasons, but he was a brother so said things like that. She didn’t know whether that was a school-wide stereotype, or just Theodore, who thought anything more lively than a game of chess bordered on being too rowdy.
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Ingrid
Well, depends who with
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Louis Valois
June 14, 2015 7:49 PM
I guess we'll find out by Louis Valois
Louis half smiled. “I am an only child too,” he replied. There never tended to be many children in the Valois family (Louis’ father had been an only child too), and Louis sometimes regretted never having had a sibling. His childhood had been quite lonely at times, although he had to admit that he didn't really object to the importance accorded to the only Valois child. Still, having an older sibling would have been especially welcome today – Louis never liked going into a situation without knowing the potential outcomes, and the information a sibling could provide would have been more valuable than anything he had read.He frowned slightly at the idea that Seven didn’t quite catch his name, never having experienced that before. Normally his introduction as a Valois was seized upon, and despite his earlier thoughts about freedom the lack of recognition was slightly unnerving. The day had been strange enough without a complete change in status too!
“Louis Valois,” he repeated, unconsciously giving his surname a slight emphasis. “I’m from France, perhaps you haven’t heard of my family?” Louis paused briefly, not wanting to make Seven too uncomfortable if this was indeed the case. “So where do you come from?” he asked, intrigued by this Seven Greyscale boy.
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Louis Valois
I guess we'll find out
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Louis Valois
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Seven Grayscale
June 14, 2015 9:13 PM
Surely you jest. by Seven Grayscale
Seven scoffed despite himself. Now, he was just being plain insulting. Where did he come from? All Grayscales were born and powerful in the UK. Surely, this Valois boy would have know that."No, I don't think I've heard of your family. But France is a beautiful country." Seven said as he took a delicate sip of his drink and immediately regretted it.
It was disgusting.
"I'm from England." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Surely, you could gather that from my accent." He knew he was being a bit challenging, but he never knew one to practically spit on his very essence as a person and an important one at that.
"You are of high status in France, I presume?" His gray eyes critically studied Valois's expressions. Even before he asked the question he had known the answer. The boy had looked quite shocked when Seven had asked for his name again. The mere look was almost enough to earn a smirk from him.
Almost.
Since this Valois boy was also sorted into Aladren, Seven knew he'd be seeing him, maybe even living in the same room as him, for the remainder of his years. It didn't hurt to try to know more about him.
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Seven Grayscale
Surely you jest.
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Louis Valois
June 15, 2015 7:04 AM
It's not a habit of mine by Louis Valois
Louis nodded at Seven’s description of France. An appreciation of France’s beauty could almost excuse a lack of knowledge about the French wizarding society, although Louis had to admit he was guilty of the same fault when it came to Britain. Perhaps that was something he ought to research.“You must excuse me,” replied Louis, trying to defuse the boy’s indignation but at the same time not willing to back down from a challenge, no matter how small. “I do not always think about the different accents in English. Perhaps it’s because I am not a native speaker - would you be able to notice the difference between a French and a French Canadian accent?”
With a smile, Louis confirmed that he was, indeed, of high status. “My family is one more the more influential pureblood families in France,” he explained. “Unfortunately our name does not seem as known in America, and presumably Britain too, although you may have perhaps heard of our fashion brand, Valois? I believe it is quite popular amongst those who are well-known in society.”
Louis couldn’t resist a slight baiting of Seven. He was enjoying this conversation, so very different and more enjoyable than those he’d had with peers in France. It was refreshing to meet someone who saw him as equal (or perhaps less than an equal), and ruffling Greyscale’s feathers provided amusement. He was beginning to like the boy.
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Louis Valois
It's not a habit of mine
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I second that. by Arnold
Arnold couldn’t say he blamed Emrys for the question. His family was a bit… complicated. “Well, there’s me, Jake, and our older sister Sally. And then my mom got remarried, so I’ve got older step-siblings. There’s Ryan O’Malley--I think he graduated like the year before we got here, and he’s the one whose wife had kids--and his sister Carrie.” The scrunched expression on Arnold’s face furthered the disgust suggested when he said Carrie’s name; he hated claiming her, but he supposed in this situation, if he was claiming Ryan, he technically had to mention her too. For the most part, he and Sally had agreed to refer to Ryan simply as their brother but always expressly referred to Carrie as a step-sibling. At least he didn’t see her anymore. “And then their dad and my mom had our little sister, Peyton. She’s, like, six. So, uh, yeah, there’s a few of us,” Arnold added with half a smile.He found Emrys’s outlook on his so-called romantic performance a bit too optimistic. Arnold wasn’t sure if whatever he had going with Ji-Eun even was “something” as his roommate suggested; it was flirty and confusing and exhilarating and frustrating in a weird way that culminated into a fat pile of nothing. No titles, no kisses, no nothing except Arnold walking away with a headache.
“I’m not sure if you should do that,” the redhead replied nervously upon Emrys’s offer to investigate. “I don’t want it to be too obvious that I’m lost, y’know?” Plus, as much as it sucked not knowing, there was so much negative possibility cloaked in the definitive answer. What if Ji-Eun didn’t like him? At least if he didn’t know for sure that she did, he also didn’t know for sure that she didn’t. There was hope in ignorance.
He completely agreed to the statement on girls, nodding along to Emrys’s expressed plight. No matter how well one planned an interaction with a girl, it was so easy to get sidetracked or disrupted when said girl was actually standing there. Hypothetical interaction was always a lot easier. “What’d you say to Ji-Eun?”
“Well, I mean, when I asked her to that Ball, I had her meet me in MARS and surprised her with flowers, a painting I did of us dancing, and an appropriately sappy K-Pop song,” he answered, feeling a bit silly saying it all out loud. It had been a lot better in the moment than it was talking about it. “I didn’t know what to do, honestly, but, uh, Jake told me to just ask. I’ve got no idea what’s happened since then or how.”
Arnold paused briefly, remembering his brother’s surprisingly decent advice. “Maybe you should just try going up to Charlotte,” he said suddenly. “I mean, it’ll feel awkward, but there’ll be no confusion or miscommunication if you just ask her out, you know?”
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Arnold
I second that.
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Arnold
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Aiden
June 16, 2015 8:43 PM
Let's never see one! by Aiden
Although Aiden had commented that he wasn’t sure if he would have gotten along with others from a different house, anyone who really knew Aiden would have known that was false. He might have honestly believed so, but his personality is much more approachable and accepting of others than Aiden really understood himself to be. He is the sort of person would would try to befriend anyone without 100 feet of him. Now, whether or not those people would want to be his friend was another matter. He thought that he was friends with all the Teppenpaws, and even if they didn’t think so, he thought he could consider Scarlett (due to her twinness with Savannah) and Diana as friends. He wanted to also become friends with Araceli because, even though she was really quiet (or had been when he worked with her), she still seemed super nice and he heard good things about Joella. And then there was John. Aiden wouldn’t mind having some more male companions.Aiden was a talker. He talked a lot. He didn’t like silence whenever he was around other people. He constantly felt like he had to fill this void of conversation. He had no idea why that was. It could have possibly been because neither of his parents were much for talking, so many of their meals were left in companionable silence until Aiden started chattering away. His parents would always smile at each other whenever he did this but politely pay attention anyway.
It was this silence that Aiden had acknowledged whenever he was with Tobi and it was that same silence that he respected enough to not interrupt. It was one thing to do it to his parents and another entirely to do it to a peer. His parents loved him and could forgive him for his certain personality traits, but others could very easily lose their cool with him and begin to avoid him. Aiden was trying for the most part to keep that from happening, especially with his roommates.
“Oh.” Aiden stated when Tobi posed that question. “I completely forgot that class was offered now.” Aiden admitted, his puffy cheeks glowing red. “Probably not though. Classes are already hard with just the five of them. I don’t know if I can do another one too.” Aiden didn’t want to also say that his parents didn’t put much stock into Divinations. They weren’t against the subject as Seers really did exists, but they didn’t agree that people could really be taught these traits either. “Are you going to?”
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Let's never see one!
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Seven Grayscale
June 17, 2015 11:51 AM
You Could Have Fooled Me. by Seven Grayscale
Seven felt his eye twitch. He took a deep breath. Bloody hell, he did know about Valois. Who didn't know about their elegant fashionwear? They were practically the only thing acceptable in the elite families around England.
He mindly criticized for not being able to recognize such an obvious name. Seven crossed his legs before answering. "Maybe I have." It was unnecessary, yes. He was sure his face gave away just how much he knew the brand as soon as it was mentioned.
Valois was challenging him and he'd be dammed if he let anyone play him for a fool. While he did appreciate the fact that the boy could hold his own in a battle of words, he also found the boy getting under his skin. Which was surprising since he rarely let people (especially ones that were his age) know exactly how to push him and it seems as if Valois did.
He pushed away the voice in his mind that was reminding him that this was his first real interaction with an actual person in Merlin knows how long. He liked it that way. He liked being lost in reading and writing. It always calmed him.
He disliked when people told him he looked like his father, but hated when people stated that he was his mother's match to the core. His mother was something he'd never wish to be. Looking from the outside, you'd probably have heard that Resfer and Lura Grayscale separated because work got too much. Things got too complicated, too fast.
But Seven knew the actual reason. His father preferred men. It's the fact that his father announced it at dinner one night. That was Seven's theory for why his mother turned out the way she had. Of course. He didn't like to think of that. He shook his head, realizing that he had drifted off while in a conversation.
Very un-Grayscalelike.
"Do you think we'd be able to go to our Common Room, soon?" He asked as he dug in robes to pull out a light blue ribbon to tie his hair back. It was certainly a hassle. But his parents insisted that he have aristocratic hair for an aristocratic lifestyle. Sometimes he'd long for an aristocratic haircut.
He knew his hair length wasn't common. But, it grew on him. Seven groaned at his horrible joke.
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Seven Grayscale
You Could Have Fooled Me.
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Starting a new chapter by Joey Thompson
Once he’d finished the orientation, Joey walked into Cascade Hall with the rest of the first years. He was anxious to find out his House. When he was in elementary school, he was one of the popular kids. In this new setting, he felt uncomfortable being a nobody. Finding out his House meant that he could become friends with a group of people that shared his interests.When Joey drank from the goblet that the Deputy Headmistress had handed him, his skin turned brown. He was officially a Pecari. He smiled, relieved that he had somewhere to call home. The brunette approached the Pecari table as his older Housemates clapped for all the new Pecaris. After the Headmaster finished his speech, sheet music appeared in front of Joey and every other student. As everyone began to sing the school song, Joey’s blue eyes darted around at the other students. He didn’t know how to read music, and he also hated to sing. He just mumbled the words and waited for the song to end. Once that was over, a whole lot of food appeared on the table. Joey served himself a drumstick and a large helping of macaroni and cheese.
"Good evening. How was your summer?"
“Great!” Joey replied. “I did a lot of surfing and volleyball at the beach. It was a lot of fun. My name’s Joey, by the way.”
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Joey Thompson
Starting a new chapter
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Emrys
June 18, 2015 2:05 AM
Hear, hear. by Emrys
That Arnold had a big family was the first thought that came to mind when his roommate listed all the siblings he had. Emrys came from a relatively small, quiet family. Once Wesley and his mother had, essentially, been banished by Grandfather, not much had happened around the Lucan household except for the patriarch's death which had discovered to Emrys & Caelia the room of an aunt who nobody knew about and then, eventually, a move to the dark, creepy property on the edge of Ekley, a bizarre wizarding town that couldn't seem to keep a mayor."What was that like?" he asked, imagining a loving, chaotic household in which the multitude of siblings involved each other in playful banter and good natured teasing. That was how he would have wanted to grow up, at least. He had seen Arnold's face when he mentioned Carrie O'Malley being his step-sister and he felt bad. Carrie had been in the intermediate classes when their year had just started Sonora, Emrys was pretty sure, and he had seen how she had always been voted as being worst enemies with everyone in the school's yearbook so he had a good idea of what it must have been like to live with her. And besides all that, Sonora was a small school and gossip got around.
Emrys couldn't really say he was surprised that Arnold didn't want him to talk to Ji-Eun for him. Emrys couldn't really be considered to be a shinning beacon when it came to girls as he still hadn't talked to Charlotte about where they stood with each other, but it never hurt to ask. He shrugged in response. "Makes sense," he replied, wondering if it would go too far to suggest that Arnold find out for his own sake that he might move on if Ji-Eun thought there was no hope for a relationship between the two of them. Eventually he decided it wasn't his place and just took another bite of his dinner.
Arnold's advice to just tell Charlotte echoed that of Emrys' younger sister and he pursed his lips in though, his head nodding slowly. "You may be right," Emrys mused. "I suppose I really ought to just do it." There had been a bit there was he hadn't thought he was going to go through with the talk he and Charlotte had agreed upon. He had always been planning on going, but part of him hadn't wanted to actually tell her about his feelings and just make the excuse that he had missed playing duets with her.
"Anyway," Emrys said after mulling it over. "What about this dropping classes deal this year? You keeping on all your old classes, or?" He knew that himself and was pretty sure the other Aladrens were keeping the full load, Ava had even mentioned adding another class on when he had seen her briefly at the Faire the past year, Herbology, he thought it was, and he had contemplated adding an independent study in Camelot on before deciding that he was better off just using his time to learn about Camelot on his own. He loved the mythos and the history that was a part of the Camelot lore, but he didn't think he wanted a teacher over-seeing it, trying to keep him reigned in. Emrys preferred being able to sit and mull over the stories at his own pace, spending as much or as little time as he felt like on each story.
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Hear, hear.
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Chuck Fintoc
June 20, 2015 1:06 PM
I think I'm stuck on the same chapter. by Chuck Fintoc
Chuck didn’t know the background of the brown faced first year sat down near to him but he had never been one to abide by society’s demands, not really sure that his family could even be classed as ‘that type’ anymore.“Nice to meet you, Joey,” Chuck smiled at the younger boy before introducing himself. “I’m Chuck Fintoc, of the Colorado Fintocs.” Since Joey hadn’t introduced himself in such away, it was probably likely that he hadn’t expected Chuck to but it had become almost automatic for the redhead since starting Sonora so he said it all the same.
“That certainly sounds a lot of fun,” agreed the second year. He wasn’t overly familiar with volleyball or surfing since he had never really gone to the beach much as a child. After spending so much time with Emmy-Lou in California, however, he could at least understand and picture the activities that the new Pecari was talking about. Contrary to what many may assume from looking at his rather unathletic figure, Chuck was fairly fond of sports to some degree, although not at all competitive.
“Is this beach you go to near your home?” Chuck was curious as to where this boy was from. For his stepsister, the beach was right on her doorstep - once a strange and amazing concept to the Colorado native. He had never liked the number of people that the beaches he had been to seemed to attract, but when they were more sparsely populated Chuck thought them very beautiful places.
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I think I'm stuck on the same chapter.
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Moving right along by Joey Thompson
Joey couldn’t help but laugh at his Housemate’s formal introduction. “The Colorado Fintocs?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Is your family famous?” Maybe this was the way that people typically introduced themselves in the wizarding world. Joey never referred to himself as one of the “California Thompsons.” The idea of it was amusing to him.“Yeah, I live in Santa Barbara, so the beach is only a five-minute drive from my house. I go there all the time.” He took a bite of his drumstick. “You ever been surfing before? It’s amazing, I can’t get enough of it. I feel like I’m in another world when I’m out there on the ocean.” Joey’s interest in surfing bordered on an obsession. His dream was to become a professional surfer one day. He knew it was a long shot, but his father had always told him to dream big. Joey thought it was a good way to look at life.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to surf while he was at Sonora. Well, actually, maybe there was some spell he could cast that could conjure up some artificial waves or something. He would have to look into that. But clearly it wouldn’t be as easy as driving a few minutes to the nearest beach. That was disappointing, but he knew that it was worth it to attend a magical school. The whole thing was still pretty bizarre. The fact that the vast majority of Muggles had no idea there was an entire magical world was crazy. As a Muggleborn, Joey now had one foot in a normal society and the other foot in a place where food can appear out of thin air. It would take some getting used to.
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Joey Thompson
Moving right along
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Louis Valois
June 21, 2015 6:04 PM
The more fool you, then? by Louis Valois
Louis half smiled at Seven’s reaction to his description of the Valois family. He had thought that, with a bit of prompting, Greyscale would recognise the name. Given what he felt was a slight victory, Louis decided to lessen the antagonistic nature of the conversation. “So your family, they are quite well known too, I gather?” he asked, curious as to what exactly the boy’s background was.Louis had never had to work so hard to understand a person before. Usually he was briefed beforehand on the background, tastes, and weaknesses of most of the people he met, but his father had not been able to prepare him for being at Sonora, where he was neither the main focus nor of the most powerful family.
Seven seemed to have become slightly distracted by his thoughts, so Louis finished eating his dinner. The food was pleasant enough, but although Louis was avoiding the less familiar options it didn’t quite match up with what he was used to at home. Still, he was fairly certain he’d be able to cope with it.
He had just finished eating when Seven spoke again. “I expect we’ll be shown the way there soon,” he replied. “Most people have probably finished eating.”
Louis was quite eager to see what their common room and dormitory would be like – he’d be living there for the next few years, after all! He hoped that it wouldn't be too tastelessly decorated - the earlier tour of the school having given him hope that the décor wouldn't be particularly awful.
OOC: Sorry, I'll be away for the next week and a bit so may not be able to reply for a while!
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The more fool you, then?
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Ginger Pierce
July 01, 2015 12:41 PM
They're so fluffy I could die! by Ginger Pierce
OOC: Assuming based on your post that Jake intended to pass the potatoes once he knew what she wanted. BIC:Ginger felt just a little bad for messing with Jake - he seemed adorably flustered if the blush was anything to go by, and really, some people just shouldn't try lying if they were that bad at it - but he was looking at her and acknowledging her existence now, so she had at least achieved her goal in tormenting him.
She smiled reassuringly, so he'd know there were no hard feelings on her end, and pointed again, "The mashed potatoes, please," she requested, "I can't quite reach. I'm glad you're feeling better. Sometimes neck cramps vanish as fast as they appear. Just keep rubbing at it to loosen the muscle there; you should be fine if it's easing already."
She accepted the platter of potatoes when it came to her and began heaping them onto her plate. "I love these things," she admitted when the pile became larger than she guessed was a standard serving. "I think the elves put dairy products into them," she confided like it was some kind of secret. "So much better that way. My family makes them the vegan way - which is still good," she hurried to add, "but Sonora makes them like heavenly fluffy clouds."
Once she had a double potion scooped out onto her plate, she offered the platter back to Jake. "You want any?" she offered before trying to find a place for it on the table closer to her.
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Ginger Pierce
They're so fluffy I could die!
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Seven Grayscale
July 01, 2015 11:11 PM
Heh. by Seven Grayscale
"Yes, quite." Seven said after a silence. "My father is a highly respectable Potionsmaster." Seven left it at that. The silence was am uncomfortable one and he found himself watching Valois as he ate the vile mush they called food."Well, perhaps they'd let us go soon. I am getting terribly bored." He found Valois to be strange indeed but not as terribly annoying as he had assumed. He was an acceptable annoyance.
Seven still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that'd he'd be living here until he was well over age. In America of all the exotic countries his father could choose from. Seven made a mental note to owl his father about the school's horrible design. Arizona. He had never heard of it and now he knew why.
The place was unbearably hot and it looked like it hadn't rained in only Merlin knows how long. It was a drastic transition from rainy England. Seven then found himself thinking about the Summer. He'd have to leave Sonora and go back to England. Hopefully to stay with his Father for a good measure of it.
He glared at the other tables which seemed louder than his own. Come to mention it, his own table was possibly the quietest of the Hall. They kept their conversations to themselves.
Seven practically sighed in relief as a man announced his house to follow him. He looked at Valois with a blank mask. "Well, shall we continue on to our new life?"
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Seven Grayscale
Heh.
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Louis Valois
July 09, 2015 3:54 PM
Once more unto the breach! by Louis Valois
Louis nodded in acknowledgement of Seven’s response. A highly respectable Potions Master? He’d definitely have to look that up – this lack of knowledge of other wizarding societies was a problem that he annoyingly hadn’t anticipated. Stupid really.He half smiled, seeing Seven glare at the other houses. They did seem to be rather more boisterous than the Aladren table, a fact that was mildly annoying. Louis was not used to large amounts of noise during dinner. Conversations in the Valois dining room were more civilised, usually serious, and never involved raised voices. His mother would have a fit if she could see some of the students here – well, not that Mathilde Valois ever indulged in anything as ill-mannered as fits. He grinned slightly at the idea.
Louis looked up as one of the professors called for the Aladren students. He laughed at Seven’s comment. “Who knows what excitement awaits?” he replied sarcastically. Truthfully though, behind his somewhat mocking exterior he was rather impatient to see what the Aladren rooms were like. He stood up from the house table, ready to be thrown into yet another unknown situation. Presumably he was about to meet the other Aladrens in his year, which was a slightly daunting thought, although he didn’t think there were that many. He should have payed more attention during the sorting. Still, it was too late now. Checking to see if Seven was coming too, he made his way over to the Aladren professor.
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Louis Valois
Once more unto the breach!
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