Headmaster Brockert
July 02, 2016 1:10 PM
Returning Feast by Headmaster Brockert
Midterm had passed much as all the others before it , filled with parties where he'd had to be polite and make small talk. Mortimer loathed small talk, it was all so pointless and uninteresting. If he was going to talk to others, he would prefer it to be worth his while, an intellectual discussion. His seven year old granddaughter Topaz was more capable of it than some society adults as far as he was concerned.Now, however, it was time for school to resume and Mortimer couldn't have been happier about it, not that it showed. Of course, Sonora was full of people too, teenagers no less, but he didn't really have to interact with them too much one on one.
Besides, even if he did have to make a few remarks, there was much less to say at the Returning Feast than there was at the Opening Feast. Once the students were settled in, Mortimer cast a quick Sonorus charm on himself and stood. "Welcome back to Sonora. I hope you all had a nice break." He still didn't really care if they did or not, not anymore then he had last year or the year before or the year before that but he said it anyway. "Before we eat, I would like to introduce our new Astronomy professor, Professor Wolf-Starra." Presumably this new addition to staff was somehow connected to the Divinations teacher. "All intermediate students now will have the opportunity take Astronomy as an elective."
With that, Mortimer sat down and the meal began.
Subthreads: A question (tag: Lena) by Clark with Lena
Returning and feasting by Andrew Carey with Arthur Leithan, Andrew
Taking the plunge (Tag Savannah) by Aiden O'Neil with Savannah Brockert
Back at Sonora! by Tess Whittaker with Killian Everett
Green is not my favourite colour. by Abigail De La Garza with Joseph Umland
Back to the daily grind (tag Joella). by Lionel Layne with Joella Curtis
I came in like a wrecking ball (tag Dustin) by Emilia-Louise Scott with Dustin Newell
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Headmaster Brockert
Returning Feast
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Headmaster Brockert
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Lionel Layne
July 11, 2016 3:00 PM
Back to the daily grind (tag Joella). by Lionel Layne
Midterm, for Lionel, hadn’t been half-bad. His granddad had not been best pleased with his grades for the first half of the year except in Charms, but he had not been too unhappy about it, excusing it as a product of the first weeks of adjusting to Advanced classes. Lionel still understood that he was expected to do better during the second half of the year, which did cast a bit of a pall over the Returning Feast. He had honestly thought he was doing the best he could in the first half of the year and didn’t know where he was going to get anything else to work with.He had complained to his grandmother, but he hadn’t gotten much sympathy there. Grandmother accepted that the only way Lionel was going to make the history books was if he could secure an apprenticeship to a printer after school, but she said that doing extremely well in school was the only way to have a nice life, a normal life just like the one he’d always had - anything more than that took just the right combination of good looks, connections, and luck, and that was someone who had the skills to sail through school with ease and gain a reputation for magical power - the great equalizer, as he’d once overheard Uncle Jeremy call it. The rest of them just had to work hard, and of course she had suggested he give up drawing again so he’d have more time to study.
His mother, when she’d replied to his Christmas owl, had dodged his questions about exactly where she was and what she was doing, but she had congratulated him on improving his technique (which meant she’d noticed he had made the card himself) and had thought his grades sounded pretty okay. Intellectually he knew she was a mess, but it was hard, sometimes, these days, not to yell at Granddad when he spoke badly of her. Maybe, if she’d had a little more support, his mom could have not had a stroke of bad luck and a few youthful mistakes completely mess up her whole life. Maybe she would have screwed up anyway, but it was all maybe, as opposed to the results they knew they had gotten from other approaches….
Of course, he also knew that he’d had a lot more frustration toward her back before she had started approving of him, so he didn’t even know what his own motives were at this point. Just that he was kind of glad to be away from his family at the moment, even though it meant more hard work and…other complications.
His first thought about the Ball had involved Joella, but then she had come back to school all…noticeable-looking this year. Really noticeable-looking. It made it all…awkward, and between that and his workload, after he’d decided that just calling ”hey, want to go to the Ball with me?” during the meeting where they’d been told they had to have partners would be kind of inappropriate, it had just gotten easier to avoid the issue. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure his behavior was not that of someone who was going to be all that great at adulting, and since his birthday was before the Ball, he thought he might need to change it before June for all kinds of different reasons.
Accordingly, he looked for a seat near Joella at the Feast and said hello as he sat down. By this time she probably already had a date, but he could still work on not being an asocial jerk and see if he could get a pity first dance later. After the welcome back and the announcement of a new teacher – not an issue for him, as he was in Advanced now, and he doubted any of the fifth years would pick up a course for just one year, either. Never knew, though.
“You have to love school,” he said to Joella. “’Welcome back – want even more work’?” He helped himself to some pasta. “Did you have a good holiday?”
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Lionel Layne
Back to the daily grind (tag Joella).
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Lionel Layne
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Joella Curtis
July 15, 2016 11:29 AM
Why don't we just dance? by Joella Curtis
Joella hadn’t really wanted midterm to end. For the last part of it she had been staying in Québec which, needless to say, had been absolutely amazing. She’d had dress fittings for her midsummer ball dress and also her bridesmaids dress for Will and Rolene’s wedding which they'd announced over Christmas was set for the summer. The beautiful garments were courtesy of Valois and she was very excited to wear them both.All the glitz and the glam was gone now that she was back at school (that being said, cascading waterfalls on the walls was pretty grand) but Joella wasn’t going to let that dampen her mood. She was excited to get back to regular Quidditch practice anyway and THE MATCH! Oh was she looking forward to Pecari’s first match of the year.
Since her conversation with Lani near the start of the midterm break, the fifth year had resolved that she would put on her brave face and ask Jax to the ball but now she was back her doubts had crept back in. For starters, he hated the spotlight so forcing him to the ball was cruel enough, let alone making him star in the prefects’ dance. At the same time, Lani’s voice would reappear in her mind telling her that she was just making excuses because she was scared of rejection.
Joella was pleased when Lionel took a seat near her at the Returning Feast and she greeted him briefly before turning her attention to the headmaster, not for any reason in particular other than that she liked chatting with him. But then her brain had to overthink and she tuned out what the headmaster was saying, her only thoughts on what she would do if Lionel did ask her to the ball before she mustered the guts to ask Jax… if she ever did. It didn’t take long for her to reach the conclusion that she’d probably give a positive answer because she needed a date and couldn’t hang about relying on the complete unknown which she believed was more than likely to fall through.
She laughed at Lionel’s comment when he spoke. “I have CATS this year,” she grimaced, knowing she really needed to start thinking about that more than a stupid school ball (which she clearly didn’t think was all that stupid considering how much thought she’d given it). “That’s more than enough work for me.”
Joella wasn’t the sort to look for extra subjects but Astronomy did sound vaguely interesting, not that she was going to pick it up halfway through her fifth year. “It’s a shame they didn’t offer Astronomy sooner,” she remarked, remembering how she and Lionel had discussed whether or not they would take Divination when it was first offered to them. “I’m willing to bet it’s a good deal more interesting than Divination.” She didn’t actually know what Lionel’s stance on the subject was but she hadn’t got on very well with it so had been quick to view it as pointless.
The fifth year was fairly sure that Clark had involved some Astronomy in his Science Club at some point before midterm but she hadn’t attended. She wasn’t keen on the idea of science, which seemed complex and intellectual and not like something one should do in their own time. Even so, she had turned up for that one session Clark did on broom dynamics but that was a one-off, she was sure.
“But yes,” Joella smiled, replying to his second question which unlike the other was clearly not meant to be rhetorical. “I had a wonderful holiday. I took Snorri to a hunt,” she paused, wondering if she was making a mistake assuming she had told Lionel previously who Snorri was and expecting him to remember it. “Snorri’s my horse, the one with wings,” she added with a grin. “And I spent Christmas at home in Tennessee with my family as usual and then we stayed with my grandparents in Texas. My grandfather takes me to a Sweetwater All-stars game - they’re my favourite team - every year and this time my cousin’s son Luke came with us which is awesome. He’s coming to Sonora next year so I think he’s been trying to get more familiar with Quidditch so he can join the team of whatever house he ends up in.”
Joella liked to ramble but Lionel was probably used to that by now. As a general rule of thumb, if one didn’t like chatty people they should not approach Joella Curtis and ask her questions, even if simply trying to be polite.
“What about your sister?” she asked, curious to know if Lionel’s sister would be coming up anytime soon. “How old is she now?” Joella selected some chicken from a nearby dish before remembering her manners. “Oh and you had a good break too, I hope?” she smiled. “Would you like some chicken?”
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Joella Curtis
Why don't we just dance?
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Lionel
July 18, 2016 11:32 AM
I'm sure there are worse things we could do. by Lionel
“Just wait until next year,” said Lionel when Joella cited CATS as why she didn’t need any more work. Lionel had almost begun to suspect that Clark Dill was either on performance-enhancing drugs, a lot of them, or was some kind of extremely advanced Muggle machine, because he found it hard to understand a natural way how someone could take all the Advanced classes, play Quidditch, run a club, and also be a pleasant guy who seemed to get along with everyone with ease. How, even accounting for academic work being significantly easier for Aladrens than it was for everyone else, did he find the hours in a day and energy to put into those hours?He shrugged over the desirability of Astronomy compared to Divination. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I mean, in Divination, worst comes to worst you can make some stuff up. I think Astronomy has a lot of math in it. It was mandatory for a while when my uncle was a student here,” he added to explain how he knew that despite not knowing much more about the subject than that some potion ingredients, especially if they were being used in Advanced potions, were best gathered when the moon was in certain phases. Uncle Geoff wasn’t the type to dwell too much on the past, but sometimes, when he was working on a potion and had Lionel around to assist him, he’d start talking, generally only half to Lionel, about Sonora or his childhood or whatever, usually right up until he accidentally mentioned Aunt Helena and then promptly stopped talking altogether.
Joella’s holidays sounded like they had been busy and full of fun, at least if she liked hunting and her cousin well enough. He decided to assume that she did. He took the barrage of questions that came his way when she was finished describing her midterm in stride, just sorting through them quickly to figure out how to answer them coherently as he accepted some of the chicken.
“Yes, thank you,” he said, putting a piece on his plate. “My break was good, thanks again – less exciting than yours, though. We went to Aunt Emily’s for New Year’s, I got lectured about studying harder, the usual. Didn’t see Mom this year, but she sent a nice card. Meme’s thinking about schools – Sonora’s appeal is that we have balls pretty regularly, but you know, other places also have their advantages.” That took him closer to something else than he’d really meant to get just now, but since he was already here….”Speaking of the ball, while I’m thinking about it, I have a proposition for you,” he said, trying to keep it as casual as possible. “We both have to do the prefect’s dance, right? What do you say we help each other out with that one?”
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Lionel
I'm sure there are worse things we could do.
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Lionel
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Joella
July 21, 2016 1:26 PM
Well maybe we should do <i>more</i> of it. by Joella
“Ah I see, that makes sense,” Joella nodded as Lionel explained that his sister wasn’t guaranteed to join them at Sonora. She had a number of friends around her age outside of Sonora, some who were homeschooled and others that went to schools in other states or even in other countries. She didn’t have long to dwell on the contents of his midterm (which she did think sounded interesting, as much as he liked to try and belittle it) because Lionel went on to ask the very question she had been pondering the answer to only moments earlier.Joella was a Pecari through and through. At least, she had always believed she was (house pride was definitely not something she’d ever found herself lacking) but now she was not feeling any of those typical traits that were attributed to such students. She didn’t even need convincing to take the easy option - it was almost as though she’d been planning on taking it all along.
It wasn’t nice to refer to a friend as wonderful as Lionel as ‘the easy option’ but it was really no good pretending he wasn’t exactly that. Joella was in many ways running away from her feelings by chickening out of asking Jax Donovan to the ball, an impulsive idea that she had psyched herself up to believe she was crazy enough to carry out… That was until she’d set foot in Arizona again after the midterm break and totally caved.
Backing down wasn’t a brave move but Joella tried to tell herself that it was probably for the best. She’d known for a while now that her feelings would not go away no matter how much she tried to ignore them. She liked Jax and that was that. It didn’t have to be an issue. Joella thought she was mature enough to cope with it but at the same time doubted Jax would if he knew. Would their boxing sessions stop? Would he shut her out? If he found out she had non-platonic feelings for him, perhaps he would question their friendship and think she had ulterior motives. Joella was surprised he hadn’t already figured it out (at least he didn’t seem to) but he was just a guy after all and they could be annoyingly unaware of this kind of thing sometimes.
Ultimately the fifth year saw Lionel’s proposal as a relief but the way in which he asked was disappointing. “Of course,” Joella beamed brightly at him before revealing her issue, because she wasn’t known for being shy and was comfortable enough in the older prefect’s company to do so. “But,” she paused briefly before plunging on, “don’t you want to, you know, spend a bit more of the evening with me than just the prefects’ dance?” Joella thought it unlikely that Lionel would ever have romantic inclinations towards her so she didn’t even consider it possible that she could be putting pressure on him or making him uncomfortable. She was a bit put out by the idea of just one measly dance and as far as she was aware, she and Lionel were friends so she deserved more than that.
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Joella
Well maybe we should do <i>more</i> of it.
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Lionel
July 21, 2016 3:20 PM
Sounds good to me. by Lionel
”Of course,” said Joella, and Lionel had to remind himself it would be weird to actually cheer. She had said ‘of course’! She hadn’t even sounded hugely reluctant about doing it! Actually, she’d sounded kind of enthusiastic! This was fantastic!Not saying or doing anything stupid got a little easier when the ‘of course’ was followed by a ‘but.’ ‘But’ wasn’t fantastic, generally. ‘But’ usually meant trouble. He just hoped that it was the kind of trouble he had anticipated, which was Joella already having a proper date she would abandon him for the moment the prefects’ dance was over. He had planned to offer her the option of ditching him after that one dance guilt-free if a better proper date option came along between now and Midsummer if she accepted anyway, but it was…different, somehow, to make the offer than to have it presented to him as a condition of getting the dance out of the way at all. He raised his eyebrows slightly and looked attentive, waiting to hear what ‘but’ was this time.
It was…not what he expected at all. Lionel suspected he briefly looked flabbergasted. He doubted it was a very good look for him. He tried to rearrange his features into a more appealing configuration quickly.
“Yeah, sure, of course,” he said, once he decided that yes, he had parsed her sentence correctly and understood what he was really being asked. “Yeah – that would be great. I just – thought I’d leave it open-ended so if someone you’d rather go with asks you later, you can do that, too.” He guessed that could potentially sound kind of…bad, if it was looked at the wrong way, but he hoped Joella wouldn’t take it so. He didn’t want to think of himself as using her and didn’t intend to seek another date of his own, but he wasn’t attractive or highly social or all the other things that made Joella a desirable potential partner to people who were more desirable partners than he was. He figured she knew this and would understand him. “But I’d be happy to spend more of the evening with you, yeah.”
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Lionel
Sounds good to me.
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Lionel
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