I'm a grown woman! on Cascade Hall

Joella Curtis

April 05, 2016 5:11 PM

I'm a grown woman! by Joella Curtis

Joella wasn’t returning from summer a completely changed person but there were parts of her that felt sufficiently refreshed. Her break had been jam-packed with activity as ever. She’d spent a lot of time with her Granian horse, gladly accepting Audrey’s help to get him ready for an abundance of races. Despite this focus, she’d also managed to cram in plenty of Quidditch practices and also a lot of quality family time which was the biggest thing she missed whilst at Sonora. Additionally she had done well to avoid a great deal of formal events and instead often socialize in a more relaxing environment with her friends, such as days at the lake. She’d been surprised by seeing Darius Tavana again outside of the usual scene as he was part of what she could refer to as her new friendship group. Joella had found herself spending more time with Audrey’s friends than her own from pre-Sonora days over the summer and thought it had been good for her. Most of them were around her age, perhaps a little older but not too much for it to be an issue, and although they certainly knew how to have fun their maturity seemed to have rubbed of on her.

Returning to Sonora as a fifth year was intimidating to some extent as Joella was aware of the significance of the looming CATS examinations but studies aside she found it more exciting than anything. She had grown in character and confidence (not that she had ever lacked such things to begin with) and had also done a fair bit of growing physically (finally at a par with the majority of girls her age when it came to height). She was still a skinny girl but she was constantly growing stronger. It could also be said that she had become emotionally stronger too, for one she was no longer nursing a broken heart, sincerely ready to begin a new chapter of her life. Her hair was far longer than it had ever been, flowing the whole way down her back and she’d got into the habit of straightening it again. Before the summer it had been brown but the sun had since bleached it mostly back to its natural blondish colour, with a slightly ginger tinge left over. Another change to her appearance was the greater use of make-up. Now that she was fifteen she felt more comfortable playing around with her face, knowing that no one would criticize her for doing so. In the past she’d often sported a natural look by just sticking to mascara and lipgloss but now she wanted to be a little bolder and had discovered the world of fake eyelashes and eyeshadow. That wasn’t to say she now plastered her face in cosmetics but she definitely looked older than she had done the previous year.

Perhaps this whole ‘growing up’ transformation had been partially inspired by Joella’s new status as an aunt. Bao Curtis was the firstborn of Bolivar and Brenna, a beautiful baby girl who’d arrived in June and had resulted in Joella spending an unusual amount of time in L.A. over the summer break since that was where her brother and sister-in-law were living. A number of Joella’s cousins already had children but this Curtis birth was particularly significant as Bao was her very first niece. The mere thought of being an aunt made Joella feel old and responsible, although she knew that no one would ever use such words to describe her.

Joella was keen to get started with her fifth year, challenging herself to make it her best one yet. She had three main focuses for the term: Quidditch, studies and friends. She was very glad that her favourite sport would be back in full swing this year, after having matches cancelled for the entirety of last year. She knew that Liliana had plans for the team and she wanted to be the best Assistant Quidditch Captain she could by fully supporting them. It was all very unknown what would happen this year - perhaps it was about time for Pecari to beat Aladren? Joella was curious to see what the turnout would be for new players and hoped that all four houses could pull together their own full teams.

Unfortunately studies were going to have to be a major focus of Joella’s year since she had her CATS to face at the end. Studies had never been a high priority for Joella. She was fairly bright but didn’t take a great deal of interest in many of her classes but her father had drilled into her how important it was that she properly applied herself this term. Joella hadn’t been all that optimistic for her academic success but her father had a persuasive nature that could make you believe in yourself and even if she didn’t think she cared very much, she would at least try her hardest to make him proud and if that meant doing her best in her CATS then that was what she’d have to do.

Another important part of being at Sonora that Joella thought she needed to leave time for was her friends. With all her romantic drama of last year, she felt she hadn’t spent as much time just having fun with her friends as she’d have liked. Liliana had been pretty much the only person she felt she’d prioritised and she was keen to continue that friendship, especially since this was Liliana’s final year at Sonora (a fact Joella was desperate to avoid thinking about). Joella also wanted to do much more with Scarlett and Diana, her roommates and two girls she considered among her best friends. She also had some matchmaking ideas up her sleeve (which the yearbook survey had unintentionally sparked) and was eager for relationships and gossip to happen that didn’t involve her. Joella herself was sworn off boys for the time being and much preferred the idea of solidifying old friendships and making new ones. There were so many people she was still dying to get to know and now that she was in fifth year she had no excuse for not having already done so. It was quite shocking really, and she always thought herself a sociable girl!

Joella was glad that Liliana had kept her fully updated on her Quidditch-related plans over the summer and knew to meet her and the team on the Quidditch Pitch. Before doing so she headed to Cascade Hall, with her broom in one hand and her lucky Quaffle tucked under the other arm - she left the rest of her belongings for the elves to handle as usual. She was in need of a drink after the wagon ride, especially if she was going to be doing something active, and had been told that she could find refreshments in Cascade Hall.

8 Joella Curtis I'm a grown woman! 295 Joella Curtis 1 5

Clark Dill

April 06, 2016 2:27 PM

I'm legal to drive, does that count? by Clark Dill

Clark had turned sixteen way back during the fall of his fifth year, so one of the things he'd prioritized for his summer was getting his driver's license. This was made more difficult than he thought it should be by the fact that his dad had never even been inside a car so far as he could tell, never mind knew how to work one and therefore could teach Clark. Zack Dill had grown up in a city where everything he needed was either only a walk or a public transit ride away, and by the time he moved out to the suburbs in Maryland, he had the ability to apperate, thus nullifying any need or desire to bother with the expense of owning and operating a motor vehicle. That did not work quite so well for Clark who wasn't (quite) old enough to use magic away from Sonora yet.

Despite Dad's opinion on the matter, Clark could definitely see future applications for the license beyond this one summer prior to reaching his majority in the magical world. For one thing, it would be a lot easier to explain how he got places if he could point out a beaten down Jeep than if he just showed up with no visible means of transport. Dad did not really understand that 'I walked' or 'the metro' were not always viable excuses.

So he used his summer allotment of funds to secure driving classes, pay for his tests, and purchase a second (or possibly tenth) hand vehicle from Craig's List. It was a piece of junk and it barely ran, but it was cheap and Clark was learning a lot about mechanics. Didn't cost much to insure it, either, though Clark being sixteen and not having an adult driver cosigning on his policy made it more than he really thought was fair. But he did find a sweet student discount for going to a boarding school and not being a driver for nine months of the year, so there was that. He managed to break even anyway, and hadn't had to beg Dad for any additional funds for insurance.

After budgeting for gas, he didn't have anything left over for entertainment purposes though, so he mostly drove his new-to-him Jeep to free museums and parks that weren't terribly far away. He missed his trips into DC and Baltimore, but fixing up the Jeep was interesting in its own right. By the time he boarded his wagon back to Sonora, he'd made enough upgrades that it hardly ever broke down anymore. Months of inactivity would probably undo much of his progress, but at least he mostly understood how combustion engines worked now. And he'd be sure to come home over Christmas to check it over.

That was still ages away, though. Right now, he was starving. He headed right to the Hall upon hearing there was food available, and stack a plate high with sandwiches. He was not at all worried about ruining his appetite for the Feast. For one thing, he was sixteen, and hunger was his normal state of being. For another, Dad didn't believe in stocking food in sufficient quantities to keep Clark's stomach happy, so he had a summer's worth of deficit eating to make up for.

He had no desire at all to head up to Aladren and possibly run into Oliver, and Ms. Nicchi frowned at eating in the library, so he looked around to see who might be good company to sit with while he demolished his sandwiches. He spotted Joella and was momentarily stunned and impressed by her new look. When he recovered, he noticed his feet had taken him several steps in her direction. Deciding it might look weird if he changed direction now, and seeing no reason not to greet the other Assistant Captain, he kept going.

"Hey, Joella," he greeted companionably. Though their teams were rivals on the Pitch, he saw no reason not to be friendly outside of it, and, being only one year apart in age, they'd shared enough classes by now that nobody could call them strangers. "You look like your summer agreed with you!"

His own appearance wasn't significantly altered. He'd gained more height again, bringing him up to six three, but at their height differential, he doubted that was notable anymore. His blond hair sported the same cut it always had, and his voice had finally finished its metamorphosis well before the school year had ended last spring, so that shouldn't take her by surprise. The stubble he might have grown since his last shave this morning was so fair and wispy, Clark had to lean up close to the mirror to even find it, so that new development might not register either.

1 Clark Dill I'm legal to drive, does that count? 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Joella Curtis

April 08, 2016 10:49 AM

That actually sounds way cooler. by Joella Curtis

Joella glanced around Cascade Hall as she helped herself to a drink of water, watching as familiar faces entered and reunited with friends. She noted the Donovans walk in together and since she doubted either had noticed her standing there, she didn’t bother to be subtle about her appreciation for the leather jacket clad Jax Donovan who, if it was at all possible, seemed to have returned from the summer break looking hotter than ever. She quickly hid her coy smile, which had been accompanied by raised eyebrows, with a brief hand to mouth movement when someone greeted her.

It was Clark Dill. She was rather surprised by the older boy approaching her as they hadn’t previously had a great deal of contact. In truth the Pecari had always found him irritating simply because he never failed to catch the snitch, even against someone as awesome and talented as Annabelle Pierce, and therefore Aladren had had a very long winning streak ever since she'd started at Sonora. Despite this grudge, his flattering remark caught her off guard and she couldn’t bring herself to be so unfair as to take Quidditch rivalry out on him now.

“Thank you,” Joella smiled, knowing he might just be referring to her summer tan but hoping that he had noticed other developments in her appearance. She wanted to return some sort of compliment to the Aladren boy out of courtesy but she didn’t think he looked all that different to when she’d last seen him before the break, not that that was at all a bad thing. “I had a fantastic summer.” She looked genuinely happy as she said this and was glad of the time away from school to refuel her bright energy.

The fifth year wasn’t sure whether or not to tell him how exactly she had spent the summer vacation since he didn’t actually ask and she also had reservations about revealing too much to ‘The Enemy’, especially since her holiday had involved a good amount of Quidditch playing. It was probably the fact that the team bonding exercises Liliana had planned for a little later were at the forefront of her brain that made her want to be so cautious. Even if there were a number of members on the Pecari team (herself included) who might not like Jamie Park a great deal, Joella found it hard to believe that they would want to publicize it in the yearbook. The theory planted in her brain by Liliana that it was a dirty Aladren tactic seemed more likely and she felt rather cross that the other house couldn’t just play matches without psychological meddling.

“How was your break?” Joella tried to temporarily ignore all thoughts of Quidditch. She didn’t know for certain that Clark had been involved in the ruse so it wasn’t worth ruining a pleasant conversation over a possibility, no matter how much she wanted to believe that Aladrens were evil - although he was Assistant Captain so she couldn't erase her suspicions completely.

8 Joella Curtis That actually sounds way cooler. 295 Joella Curtis 0 5

Clark Dill

April 10, 2016 8:58 PM

It is pretty cool by Clark Dill

Clark grinned back as Joella confirmed her summer had been great. He was always glad to hear it when his classmates had enjoyed their time away. He assumed others were equally pleased to hear about him having a good time, so he readily answered her inquiry into his break. "Mine was fantastic, too! I got my driver's license!" he enthused. As he didn't know whether Joella even knew what a driver's license was, he continued, hoping to give her some context, in case it was foreign to her, "And I bought a muggle car, too! So I got to drive that quite a bit. It was a pretty cheap one, though, so I spent most of the summer fixing it up, but that's fun, too. I like tinkering with machines."

He didn't mention flying, but that was largely because he hadn't gotten to do much, living as he did in a muggle area, rather than because he was reluctant to talk about it with a Pecari. He just didn't think about it because it hadn't been part of his summer. Likewise, he read nothing into her lack of mentioning it.

"Went to some museums, and spent a lot of time in the library," he grinned again and shrugged a little self-deprecatingly, "That's a good time for me." Any Aladren would have likely understood, but she wasn't one, so he felt it necessary to specify this was part of his summer's greatness and not a low point. "Got some sun and fresh air at the local park, and spent some time with my Dad. Swam in the bay. All the great things. I love summertime. But I'm glad to be back, too. Can't do magic at home until next year, and I definitely miss it now."

As he talked, perfectly comfortable to chatter on for extended periods of time because his two friends were Lena who didn't talk much at all, and John who liked details and getting a thorough understanding of things, Clark settled down into a seat at Joella's table. He picked up one of his sandwiches, and asked a question to give himself time to take a bite without talking with his mouth full. "Did you get to do anything exciting?"

1 Clark Dill It is pretty cool 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Joella Curtis

April 14, 2016 4:47 PM

Just a little jealous. by Joella Curtis

Joella was glad when Clark enthusiastically described some of the highlights of his break. It was nice to talk to someone as cheerful and chatty as herself. She was impressed to hear of his driver’s license and muggle car, although she understood his background was significantly different to her own. Joella doubted she’d ever learn to drive but she did know a bit about such things since her cousin Sheldon quite liked to tinker with old muggle vehicles and when she was smaller her dad had let her sit on his knee and help drive his magically-enhanced muggle contraption, called a quad bike, around the farm.

Clark’s kind of ‘good time’ was very different to the sort of things that Joella did but she found it interesting all the same. Even if she didn’t think she would find his pastimes all that fun, what was important was that he did - and he clearly had. Joella loved how everyone was different and therefore had different things to talk about. It made people all the more fascinating. She couldn’t help smiling at the mention of a library inparticular, thinking that was a totally typical Aladren place to spend one’s summer holiday. The more outdoorsy parts of his summer personally sounded more appealing to her.

“Yes I did,” Joella said in response to Clark’s question, glad that he asked. “I spent quite a lot of time preparing Snorri, my Granian - that’s a winged horse - for some races with my friend Audrey who does a lot of that sort of thing. The races weren’t anything too serious as Snorri and I haven’t ever entered before but that was all super exciting. And on top of that I still got in a good amount of Quidditch practice.” Joella realized a little late what she’d said, too caught up in trying to pick out the highlights of her break, but she hesitated for only a moment before continuing. She hadn’t given much away and even if she had provided an easy way in for Clark to turn the subject onto Quidditch (something she was beginning to doubt he had intentions of doing considering how he hadn’t mentioned the sport when talking of his own summer), she thought she should be able to handle it. “We have a house in L.A. which I actually stayed at a lot with some friends and it’s right near a lake so we went there a lot which was really fun. I did also spent time with my family at home on the farm which is always great too.”

“Where abouts are you from?” Joella asked him, his mention of swimming in the bay having stirred her curiosity.

8 Joella Curtis Just a little jealous. 295 Joella Curtis 0 5

Clark Dill

April 14, 2016 9:38 PM

Flying horses are nothing to sneeze at either by Clark Dill

"Ooh," Clark hummed, intrigued, at the mention of actually racing a Granian. He'd heard of the winged beasts before, thanks to Care of Magical Creatures, but actually riding one, nevermind racing one, sounded pretty incredible to him. "That sounds awesome! I'm not even allowed to have a fish at home." Not that he really wanted one, but the point remained. The complex where he lived had a strict No Pets policy and certainly no land for raising horses, winged or otherwise.

"I live in Maryland, just north of DC," he explained when she asked, "So lots of muggles and not much flying space around; definitely urban-slash-suburban. So I didn't get in much practice myself." That was always the rough part about coming back to Sonora. He had to train himself extra hard before the first match to get back into shape for Quidditch. And with as much expectation as he had on him now, that had to be near flawless. But that wasn't what they were talking about. "I'm from a town called Greenbelt, right on the edge of DC's metro coverage. NASA has a center there where my Dad works. We're not terribly far from Baltimore or the Chesapeake Bay, either."

"Speaking of LA, my dad went to school at Cal Tech, so I lived there, too, way back when he was finishing up his doctorate. But that was ages ago, so I don't really remember it that well. Just that his college apartment was a dump," he grinned and shrugged, unconcerned about a living situation he only barely remembered. Their townhouse in Maryland was perfectly middle class comfortable, though Dad still sometimes lamented the lack of rodents to trap for free rats tails for his potions. Dad was weird sometimes.

"So is your family all magical then?" he guessed, since muggle families in his experience didn't own Granians, which eliminated the chance that she might be muggleborn, and he'd learned it was better to guess more magical than less if you weren't sure or you might offend someone. "My dad's a muggleborn, so I'm second generation magical." He'd never met his mom, didn't even know her name, so her background on the matter was not applicable in how he viewed himself.

1 Clark Dill Flying horses are nothing to sneeze at either 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Joella Curtis

April 20, 2016 5:35 PM

I'll second that. by Joella Curtis

Joella’s eyes widened when Clark told her he couldn't even have a fish at home. Animals were such an integral part of her life, growing up on a farm and all. She just couldn't imagine life without them. Even at their more urban L.A home they had a couple of Crups running around, partly as pets and partly as guard dogs to keep muggles away since the mansion was much closer to non-magical residences than their farm out in the country.

“It is amazing,” she fully agreed with his comment on her Granian-racing. “I've always felt at home on the back of a horse or flying on a broom so it's great to be able to pretty much combine both.” Joella loved her magical horse Snorri ever so much and thought it a great shame that she didn't get to see him for such a large part of the year but what with such a busy schedule ahead of her, she thought perhaps it was for the best, as much as she disliked to believe it.

Joella nodded with interest when Clark told her about his home. She was not especially familiar with Maryland but knew of the Maryland Scotts, a small but particularly wealthy branch of the East Scotts who resided in the state. There was a particular one of them who had many years ago married Tammy Ownby, a talented horsewoman who had evidently passed on her passion to her daughter Soraya, as she was a popular horse trainer who was regarded highly by a lot of people Joella knew. She didn't, however, know the area well enough however to fully understand the geographical placing of Clark’s home or all the specific names but she got a basic idea.

The Pecari paid attention to Clark talk about his, or rather more his father’s, L.A days. Her father had worked in the city as an auror before Abraham Curtis’s death. Becoming the family patriarch and inheriting the company had forced Ivan to give up his day job due to his great new responsibilities. Despite this, he hadn't totally given up his governmental influence and involvement in the area so had bought a large home just outside the main city which went on to prove very useful.

“I spent more time in California this summer than I have for quite a while,” Joella told him. “I guess I’ve always preferred the farm as it’s home. But growing up I did visit the house fairly regularly and most of my siblings live in L.A. too so being there is the best chance I get of seeing them.”

Internally she wasn’t sure whether to be more surprised or offended by Clark’s question about her family but seeing as he was from a very different background she knew he wasn’t to know and had therefore meant no offense by the innocent question. Joella guessed since she was the only Curtis currently at Sonora it should really be no surprise that non-society people didn’t pick up on her name. Whilst they were certainly an influential family worldwide, these days the Curtises were probably known better by those interested in business than for their old pureblood status because they had very much shrunk in size over many many decades and didn’t generally promote arranged marriages.

“Yes, my family are all magical,” Joella nodded, continuing her politeness but there was a slight frown visible on her face. She wasn’t sure she understood how Clark’s own background worked. His father was a muggleborn so did that make him also muggleborn or half-blood? She wasn’t familiar with how to determine such things, being brought up with the idea that pureblood was all you really needed to now. Joella did notice that he failed to mention his mother but she didn’t inquire about it. Perhaps he was of a similar situation to Emmy’s step-brother Chuck, who had barely any knowledge of who his mother even was. As much as Joella loved the times that it was just her and her dad together, she couldn’t imagine life without her mother. Tess Curtis was such a vital part of her, as most mothers probably were to their children, and she felt sorry for anyone who did not have such a wonderful person to support them through everything.

“So, besides your dad obviously, you don’t have any magical relatives?” She found it hard to imagine a life in which you had to hide a large part of who you were from your family, as she was aware many muggleborns had to.

8 Joella Curtis I'll second that. 295 Joella Curtis 0 5

Clark Dill

April 26, 2016 9:38 PM

So we both had awesome summers! Excellent! by Clark Dill

Clark nodded along as Joella talked about her love of horses - he had very little experience with the creatures, but he did understand loving multiple things and the joy of being able to combine the two activities into one. That was almost where science club had come from - science being one love, and collaborating with other people being another - and it was also why he'd enjoyed tinkering on his car so much. So even if he'd never flown a horse, he could certainly get the idea that Joella had really enjoyed the experience.

He winced a little when she frowned a bit at him when he asked after her family, especially when she went on about having two homes and such, which meant she was probably from one of the Society Purebloods and he had just stuck his foot in it. Oops. After dealing with Oliver, and even the reluctance of Theodore and Leonidas who seemed to like Clark in spite of themselves, for most of his Sonora career, Clark just assumed anybody who was genuinely friendly to him, as Joella had been so far, couldn't be one.

When she asked the question back at him, though slightly turned around, he was quick to answer so she didn't think he'd slighted her intentionally, "Nope, the only magic people I know are here in this school. Well, technically, Dad has a couple of Sonora friends he's bad at keeping in touch with, so I've met some of those, very occasionally, but I wouldn't say I really know them. And no relatives. Actually, until just recently, Dad was the only family I'd met on either side of the magic divide, but his dad died last year, so he kind of patched things up with his muggle family a bit, at least for the funeral, and I got to meet some of them for that, which, not the best circumstance in the world, but yay, I got a gramma out of it!" He gave a forced grin and a mini-fist-pump, indicating non-verbally that it was still a bit weird and awkward, but he was making the best of it (and doing better with it than Dad, though that part probably didn't carry through as well as the rest of the unspoken qualifications).

He shrugged and continued on more naturally, "But mostly it's just me and my Dad for family. Keeps things easy and simple."

1 Clark Dill So we both had awesome summers! Excellent! 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Joella Curtis

May 01, 2016 5:02 AM

Let's hope for an equally awesome term! by Joella Curtis

Joella had often thought it strange how different people’s lives could be and Sonora had really opened her eyes to this. Meeting people from muggle backgrounds especially had always fascinated her because muggles just seemed so…weird. Not weird in a negative way, simply an alien way.

Some people not being from a magical background, however, was something the Pecari come more aware of over the years since there were quite a handful of muggleborns at the school. Therefore it wasn’t the obvious muggle influences that surprised her and set Clark’s homelife so apart from her own, but the lack of family. She was rather astonished that he basically had no family. Growing up Joella had always been surrounded by brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and also many friends who were pretty much treated as family. The fifth year wouldn’t have it any other way. Family was everything to her and it seemed strange that Clark didn’t really have one.

“That must be nice for you,” smiled Joella when Clark talked about getting to meet some family members. She was pleased for him that he had recently met his grandmother, although the way he made things sound it wasn’t a particularly comfortable situation. “Although I’m sorry to hear about your grandfather,” she added, not sure whether she would have just been better to let it slide. She wanted to be respectful and sympathetic about the fact that Clark had just mentioned his grandfather dying but at the same time it didn’t sound as though he had really known him and she didn’t want to make him feel awkward.

Joella wondered what it would be like just having a dad and no one else. Would it be boring or fun? Clark didn’t seem to mind, she guessed it was all that he knew really. Like she knew life with lots of family, he knew life with just his dad. That was his home and it wasn’t her place to judge whether or not his life was better that way or not. “I suppose there are perks to being an only child?” Joella grinned. She was certainly not an only child but being so much younger than the rest of her siblings did mean she occasionally got a taste of what it might be like and it was actually pretty fun.

The Pecari decided to move on from the subject of family. Although Clark didn’t seem bothered by it, she didn’t want to pry about why his dad wasn’t in contact with his family or rub it in his face that she had such a big but close-knit family herself.

“Hey, you’re moving up into Advanced classes this year, aren’t you?” she commented with sudden realization, knowing that in his shoes she probably would be feeling nervous. Advanced classes seemed far too old but the scary truth was that they were only a year away for her. “Are you nervous?” It wasn’t the smoothest transition of conversation topic but a totally reasonable remark to make so she didn’t think Clark would mind.

8 Joella Curtis Let's hope for an equally awesome term! 295 Joella Curtis 0 5

Clark Dill

May 20, 2016 11:31 AM

Agreed! by Clark Dill

Clark shrugged, making an expression somewhere in the neighborhood of What-Can-You-Do? when she expressed joint support for meeting new family and condolences for his grandfather. "Thanks," he said, appreciating the sentiment, not because he was grieving the loss of a man he'd never met but because he was grieving the lost opportunity to ever meet the man. Dad clearly was not the guy's biggest fan, but even if Grandfather Dill hadn't been a stellar human being, he had been the only grandfather Clark would (n)ever know.

He was kind of relieved when Joella changed the subject. Talking about his family always made him a little nervous, fearing his omissions and lies and half-truths might be recognized, and talking about his Detroit relatives added a level of depression to it all as well.

"Not really," he denied her allegation of being nervous about becoming an Advanced Student. He grinned, his mood buoying immediately, "Call me an Aladren, but I'm actually pretty excited about it. This is when we really start delving into the guts of each subject," he enthused excitedly. "I couldn't bring myself to drop anything, because everything is just about to get into the really interesting material. Bigger, more dangerous animals in Comec. Advanced theory in Transfiguration. Complex charms! The really useful stuff in Defense. This is going to be a fantastic year!"

1 Clark Dill Agreed! 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Joella

May 25, 2016 12:43 PM

My term is looking better than yours already. by Joella

Joella wasn’t generally a nervous person but even she thought she’d be nervous going into Advanced classes. They sounded scary and difficult and important, not to mention being synonymous with having to think about the future. At least for Joella she knew already what she wanted to be doing when she left Sonora but apparently she still needed to graduate with good grades so she had some sort of fall back option if things didn’t turn out quite the way she’d always dreamed they would.

Clark was an Aladren, however, and he was one of those annoyingly super duper clever people who actually seemed to prefer reading a book indoors to flying a broom outdoors. Well, Joella wasn’t sure that stereotype worked for Clark - his Seeker prowess wouldn’t be as great as it was if he was one of those sorts. What a weirdo though, not wanting to drop anything - especially Transfiguration. She did kind of envy his outlook on the challenges of Advanced classes, wishing she could have a similar attitude when it came to academics.

“Sounds like you’re going to be pretty busy then,” she remarked with raised eyebrows.

She didn’t say what she was really thinking, which was more along the lines of ‘how is he going to fit in Quidditch practice’, especially since he’d said he hadn’t had much chance to practise over the summer. Maybe this year could finally be the break in Clark Dill’s perpetual streak of success.

“Are you running Science Club again this year?” Joella wasn’t asking for her own personal interest in the club, which sounded super boring (not that she would ever say such a thing to Clark since it was clearly a passion of his), but because she was suddenly very curious to know just how busy the Aladren Seeker would be this term. On top of all that he also had his prefect duties which could only add to his busy schedule and take away from precious training time. A part of her felt she was being a bit unfair, using his friendliness against him, but if Aladren were playing games to try and destroy her own team’s unity then she couldn’t allow herself to be fooled by their charm.

8 Joella My term is looking better than yours already. 295 Joella 0 5

Clark Dill

May 25, 2016 2:05 PM

Ah, but I have no CATS this year by Clark Dill

"Definitely busy," Clark confirmed, grinning. He liked a full schedule, and he wasn't against dropping things if they proved too much to handle (a skill Chaslyn, he thought, might lack). He'd had to drop several clubs last year to keep everything else up in the air, and hoped that not having CATS and Challenges this year might make up for the extra work if Advanced level courses. If not, he was pretty sure sixth years had no major tests at the end of the year so they would have a year to figure out if they needed to spit out some subjects before they could chew what was on their plate.

He nodded enthusiastically when she she asked about about Science Club. "Absolutely! I've got some great ideas for this year! Were you thinking of joining this year? I'll probably get the first meeting going in a week or two, let people settle in first. With Quidditch up and running again, I thought we might try a lecture of broom dynamics and how the charms on them work. I've been doing some research. It's a really interesting field!"

He remembered belatedly that Joella was not John and managed to cut himself off before he really started delving into the enchantment theories and the physics behind some broom maneuvers.

Instead, he redirected back onto the less technical topic of his business. "And I'll still be a Library Helper, and hopefully there will be enough time left in my schedule to stay in the book club, but that'll probably be the first thing I drop if I can't otherwise find time to eat." He grinned as if that were a joke, but it really might come down to that, depending on how many essays he started getting assigned over the next few weeks.

"Were you in any other clubs?" he asked curiously, not recalling one way or the other from the yearbook last spring. He was pretty sure she hadn't been in Science club, and that was the only one he had a vested interest in tracking who did or didn't come.

1 Clark Dill Ah, but I have no CATS this year 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Joella

May 25, 2016 4:35 PM

Ew, don't remind me of CATS. by Joella

Clark seemed perfectly happy at the thought of a busy year ahead of him and Joella was surprised that he didn’t appear to notice the flaws that she had.

She groaned inwardly a little as he took hold of her Science Club question eagerly. The fifth year knew she should have anticipated him assuming she might be interested in joining, which she definitely wasn’t. “Um no I wa-” she began sheepishly, a mild colour creeping into her cheeks for a moment, but she broke off as Clark continued talking and she was surprised to find herself intrigued by what he had to say. “Broom dynamics, you say?” Joella wondered if it would benefit her in any way to know the science behind brooms. She’d never given it any thought before. “That sounds cool.” Although it had perked her interest, she was hoping he wouldn’t take that to mean more than it did and start getting all sciency with her. She doubted she’d understand much and she didn’t want to feed the Aladren belief that all Pecaris were stupid.

“Let me know when you’re covering that,” Joella smiled. “I’d quite like to come along for it if you wouldn’t mind?” She wasn’t sure if it was the done thing to just turn up to one club session without being part of the club but she knew she couldn’t commit herself to something like Science Club. Her viewpoint on the subject wasn’t going to change just because of one conversation - she was not the kind of girl who turned up to a club they weren’t even interested in just because they thought the host was cute.

Books, books and more books. Joella couldn’t think of much worse. Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration but oddly enough she had found that the older she got the less she enjoyed reading. This was quite possibly because she was continuously discovering better things to do and taking the time to concentrate on a book was not something her distracted mind found very easy. She’d never been one for studying or reading non-fiction just for “fun” (which she totally bet Clark did) but as child she’d always got people to read her bedtime stories or she’d curled up in an armchair by the fire with a novel when it was cold outside. Over the years, however, she’d come to the conclusion that her life was just to awesome to waste sitting around reading about an imaginary person’s imaginary life when she could be living her own very real one and making every second count.

“Oh you can’t forget to eat,” grinned Joella, because eating was one of the best things ever. Even though Clark neglecting his energy providers would be beneficial to the Pecari team, she wasn’t so cruel as to wish malnutrition upon someone. That was more of an Aladren move, she thought, once again reminding herself that the Aladren team were evil and trying to mess with her team. Joella wanted to think Clark wouldn’t do something like that, since he seemed so nice, but he was Assistant Captain after all and she didn’t know him well enough to say for sure.

Joella frowned slightly at Clark’s query about her own club involvement, not because she had a problem with the question but because she had to stop and think a moment. “I was in Archery Club,” she told him, “which picked up later in the year. Actually, I think I saw you there too?”

The fifth year had always thought she been involved in quite a few clubs but only now did she realise that Dance Club and Baking Club (the latter something she had only joined one year to help her with Potions and not because baking was something she remotely enjoyed) had not run last year so hadn’t been part of her schedule. She supposed what with the challenges and a new Assistant Captain role to fulfil she must have found herself with plenty to do and not noticed herself lacking the aforementioned activities. “Hopefully there’ll be a few more clubs starting up this year,” Joella said optimistically. “I think when hosts graduate there’s not often people willing to take over the responsibility of running a club but there’s bound to be people with new ideas for clubs.”

8 Joella Ew, don't remind me of CATS. 295 Joella 0 5