I can do this, I can do this… on Cascade Hall

Headmaster Brockert

January 26, 2018 10:51 AM

Opening Feast by Headmaster Brockert

The school year was not off to the best start. First day back and they were already having problems with a student. Worse, they had an issue with a parent . Andrew James, the father of a student named Cleo James-someone Mortimer wasn't the least bit familiar with as she was not his grandchild, some other relative, a prefect or Head Student, someone Ruby or Emerald had mentioned or Joe Umland, whom Mortimer knew about before he became a prefect-had written Selina to tell them Cleo was half-veela.

Which had led to having to sit around while Selina talked to everyone one on one. Honestly, Mortimer was slightly irritated that Mr. James had not gone to him first, feeling it undermined his authority. Of course, he would have passed it off on Selina anyway because dealing with it would have irritated him too.

And then they'd had to have a meeting about how to put safety measures in place. Honestly, pain in his ass that was. Mortimer had no intentions of being alone with any student except his own grandchildren. However, he wanted to protect the staff from any false accusations. He didn't honestly think that any of them would do such unwholesome things with a student.

The students trickled in. Once everyone seemed to be in attendance Mortimer placed a Sonorus charm on himself and began to speak. "Welcome to Sonora for the new first years and welcome back for all older students. First years, you should have recieved a blank badge at the end of Orientation." At least they hadn't gotten it when they first got there, some were liable to lose it. "You will dunk the badge in the Sorting Potion and it 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."

After the first years had been settled, Mortimer continued."Would Fabian Brockert and Ingrid Wolseithcrafte please come up and get your Head Student badges? In addition I'd like to call up Zevalyn Ives , Georgia Kirkly, Arianna Tate and Lily Spencer to recieve their prefect badges. Congratulations." He was less then pleased with the fact that they'd had to give Miss Spencer the badge since Emerald disliked her. Mortimer didn't know quite why, as his granddaughter, like himself was not the most...effusive person, but the fact that Emerald didn't like her was enough for Mortimer to be against it. However, in this case he had no choice as she was the only option. Actually he'd probably wouldn't have given it to Miss Ives either but more because of her unusual beginning then any character flaw. On the other hand, she had gotten up to her grade level despite her setbacks so that was something positive about the girl.

"Now I would like to do introduce our new Medic, Healer Anisha Kapoor. Please welcome her to our school." Mortimer continued. "This year, our midsummer event will be the Ball. Now we will sing the school song." Which meant they were going to sing it as he sure as hell wasn't going to .

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 that was finished, everyone was free to eat and talk as they so pleased.

Subthreads:

Who needs wine? by Librarian Fox-Reynolds with Professor Sophie O'Malley

Oh, wow. by Zevalyn Ives, 5th Year Prefect with Dustin Newell

This is not going to plan by Sylvia Mordue with Chrystopher Mathilde

Here's to an interesting year by Gary Harper with Amelia Layne

This is rather unexpected. by Lily Spencer with Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

Well, this was unexpected. by Nathaniel Mordue with Kir McLeod

Any other new Pecaris? by Michael DiCaprio with Beau Tate

Trying to find my home by Parker Fitzgerald with Kyte Collindale

Dodged that curse by Jozua Sparks with Joe Umland

I can do this, I can do this… by Masha Adin with Heinrich Hexenmeister

Zzzzz.... by Wu Peizhi with Georgia Kirkly

Idle speculation by Jasmine Delachene

11 Headmaster Brockert Opening Feast 6 Headmaster Brockert 1 5

Librarian Fox-Reynolds

January 26, 2018 9:29 PM

Who needs wine? by Librarian Fox-Reynolds

Well. The start of term had been... interesting. His own interview with Selina had been mercifully short. Had he been lured in by the half veela student by mistake? He had no idea which one she even was and he was gay. He felt sorry for some of the other staff though, who had closer relationships with her, and were presumably susceptible to her charms. His own life was utterly unchanged by the news, save that he might have more ghosts hovering around the library. And, once he'd worked out which one she was, he would keep half an eye on Cleo.

He was staying for the feast out of politeness and because it seemed vaguely required that 'all staff' attended, although he wasn't really sure anyone would notice or care if he didn't. He struggled to know how to talk to his colleagues at the best of times, and given the events of the morning, this was probably not the best of times for anyone. He had had a decently pleasant conversation with Daniel Nash when he'd first come back, and he tried to remind himself of this now as he took his seat amongst the staff – he wasn't completely socially inept, he just chose to not really spend much time with people, and then it was a sort of self-perpetuating thing with being a reclusive librarian and live out member of staff, which meant he didn't get many chances to get to know them and thus, at any point where it was optional, avoided it on the grounds that he didn't know the rest of the staff very well, which meant he didn't get to know them any better. It meant that he really doubted anyone wanted to get in depth right now about their feelings on the morning's events with him. But should he acknowledge the news? It seemed a little strange not to talk about it. But perhaps it the last thing anyone wanted to talk about?

“Would you like some wine?” he offered the person next to him, proffering a bottle of red. That seemed like a safe enough start, and he strongly suspected most of them could do with one right now.

13 Librarian Fox-Reynolds Who needs wine? 1464 Librarian Fox-Reynolds 0 5

Zevalyn Ives, 5th Year Prefect

January 26, 2018 10:07 PM

Oh, wow. by Zevalyn Ives, 5th Year Prefect

Zevalyn remembered to put all her books away and head down to the Cascade Hall in time for the Opening Feast. She was sorely tempted to go find a seat near Georgia in Teppenpaw, now that they had declared their best friendship at the Bonfire, but she was kind of under the impression that the Opening Feast, especially for fifth years, it was kind of required to sit at your own House table. It would just look funny if the Headmaster called your name as the new Aladren Prefect, and you stood up from the Teppenpaw table.

And, well, quite frankly, she was the only fifth year Aladren.

However, since she she was skipping years like a crazy person, and she'd never been a fourth year or a second year, she wasn't entirely expecting this would work out in her favor, or if the staff quite considered her a real fifth year. She wasn't quite sure what they did do if there were no qualified fifth year students in a House, but she wasn't taking it for granted that she'd earned it. Strictly speaking, she'd only been here two years. Had she been eleven instead of thirteen when she started, she'd only be a third year.

So she sat at the Aladren table, and started her breath as the Headmaster called up Fabian Brockert and Ingrid Wolseithcrafte as the head students. She had to let it out again and draw in a new one to hold a couple times while the Pecari seventh years walked up there and got their badges, and then . . .

Zevalyn let out the latest breath with an excited grin as she stood up. She shared a grin across the room with Georgia, who had gotten the prefecture for Teppenpaw, which was way awesome, and they both made their way up to the front. A discreet low five with her best friend and a badge later, she was returning to the Aladren table with the implied support of the staff that she was, indeed, a real fifth year now.

Of course, that meant she was at the Aladren table, and she honestly didn't really have many friends there. She supposed she ought to work on that, especially now that she was their prefect. "Hi," she said to a neighboring student, after the school song was over (which Zevalyn mumbled her way through out of obligation). "Looking forward to a new year of classes?" This was Aladren after all. People could say that, and not be sarcastic.

1 Zevalyn Ives, 5th Year Prefect Oh, wow. 380 Zevalyn Ives, 5th Year Prefect 0 5

Sylvia Mordue

January 27, 2018 12:20 AM

This is not going to plan by Sylvia Mordue

Orientation had been an interesting experience. They'd had a rather slow and difficult conversation with Heinrich, who was of German extraction and undetermined blood status, and a presumably non-S girl had given up on trying to talk with them, which Sylvia was taking to be a positive sign because she didn't want to talk to nobodies anyway. The tour of the school had probably been the most interesting part because even having an older brother who could tell you all sorts of things about the place didn't make up for actually treading its hallways yourself, starting to know your way to your classes, and, for when you pictured yourself studying with your big group of friends, knowing what the actual library you would do it in looked like.

And now they were lining up, ready to be sorted. Sylvia was excited to see who her and Nate's housemates would be. She already knew many of them by reputation, as Simon had told her who to look out for in Crotalus (almost everybody) and she'd even met her brother's friends before. Mostly, the only surprises would be who they were to room with. She had read a lot of boarding school stories, and having an excellent roommate was the cornerstone of school happiness. She hoped she would have a closeknit dorm with other society girls, where they could talk about boys and do make up together.

Sylvia went first, and her badge turned the beautiful shade of scarlet that she had predicted it would. She wasn't allowed to hang around for Nate, but started towards the Crotalus table whilst he dunked his badge. She hadn't got far enough to have split off to the different tables by the time he was following, but a glance at his badge told her that something had gone horribly wrong. It was yellow. Sylvia stared. This wasn't right at all. They were cousins – more than that, they were best friends. They did everything together. And Crotalus was where the most respectable people went. Was the potion judging Nate? No damn potion was going to judge Nate and find him wanting! But what could she do? She couldn't exactly challenge the potion – not only because only crazy people yelled into cauldrons, but because this was school and you had to do as you were told. She just hadn't thought the school would ever tell her anything as idiotic as to sit at a different house table than Nate – or rather, tell him to sit at a different one than her, as she was where they were meant to be. As he got to her, she reached for his hand, determined that he should join her in his proper place in Crotalus. It was the simplest solution – she would just take him with her, and they would sort it out later, because it was obvious that this was a mistake.

“It's okay,” he reassured her – perhaps mistaking her hand grab as a search for reassurance rather than an attempted kidnapping. Sylvia however, looked thunderstruck. It was definitely not ok by her, and she had that steely look in her eyes that she got when she didn't get her way, and thought that arguing rather than crying was her best option. “We can't make a scene,” he advised her. She hadn't been going to make a scene, she wanted to argue. She had just been going to take him with her and look after him like she was supposed to, and sort it all out. But she knew what he meant. He did have a rather literal flag pinned to his chest, and it was going to be hard to smuggle him across without having to do some explaining to someone – someone who might be cross and unreasonable about them technically breaking a rule. They would have to go their separate ways for now but she would do the explaining at the first available opportunity, and get Nate brought over to Crotalus.

“I'll sort it out,” she promised, dropping his hand, giving him a very sad look as she had to abandon him to his miserable, yellow fate. Teppenpaw. It was just... tragic.

She made her way over to the Crotalus table, making sure she smiled. She didn't want anyone to think she was miserable about her sorting, when it was exactly what one should hope for. She needed to make a good first impression on her new housemates. She applauded politely for the prefects and the head students, and sang the school song quietly but tunefully. The announcement that interested her most was the ball. Even if it was just a school ball not a society ball, she was excited at the chance to dress up and dance. She really hoped someone would ask her to be their date. Maybe even one of her brother's friends. She was very mature for eleven, after all.

“Hello,” she smiled pleasantly at the person beside her. “I am Sylvia Mordue of the Oregon Mordues.” She had often had to introduce herself without Nate, at parties and the like, so it wasn't like she was in a firm habit of presenting them as a pair, but it still felt a little bit strange not to be meeting all their new housemates together.

OOC - all god-modding (writing for another character) of Nate approved by his author

13 Sylvia Mordue This is not going to plan 1413 Sylvia Mordue 0 5

Dustin Newell

January 27, 2018 11:50 AM

You can say that again. by Dustin Newell

Dustin’s final departure for Sonora had been far less eventful than the year prior, and for that he was grateful. Makenzie had returned some time ago from her “adventure” - apparently, she had vanished in the night for something as stupid as traveling, which she had done on what inheritance she had gotten to keep after her father’s assets had been seized. Now she was back, living on her own, and working. The gaul of that girl!

In any case, he was in a fairly decent mood as he returned to school. The wagon ride was still god-awful, and Brett and Florence were still annoying, but things were going to be different this year. Dustin was finally a seventh year, situated at the top of the school, where he belonged. And, having voted for himself of course, he felt that the odds were fairly good that he would be bringing home a badge for Aladren, also where it belonged. Crotali were one thing - at least they were respectable generally, with one red-headed exception immediately coming to mind - but the fact that this school let Teppenpaws and Pecaris be in charge was ridiculous. The former were too nice to get anything done, and the latter were unreliably distractible. Not like the intelligent, organized brood cloaked in blue.

When the results were announced, Dustin entered a complete state of shock. He had not won? That would have been acceptable if it had at least been Louis or something, but Fabian? The only possible explanation he could come up with was that the portion of the vote belonging to sensible people had been split between him and his roommate, leaving the more ridiculous factions to elect a leader of their choice. He thought for a moment that the school was going downhill, but then again they had let Samantha Meeks be Head Girl last year, so obviously it was just the continuation of this trend of degradation.

The reminder of the Midsummer event was also a nuisance. A ball again huh? Dustin, as a member of proper society - or at least former member while the Newell family reputation pended improvement, although he thought things were going well in the direction of reacceptance - was no stranger to such formal events, but as a boy in a fairly female-dominated school, it was almost an obligation to pick a date. Natasha DuBois was looking pretty good these days, as was Angelique Brockert. Ingrid was an option, but he’d somewhat gotten lost on where she and Louis stood these days and felt no inclination to complicate things if they were 1) on bad terms or 2) on very, very good terms. He supposed Nevaeh Reed was technically an option, although Dustin wasn’t a dog person, so her service animal was inconvenient in that regard. Meh. There were many factors he would have to regard in the coming months.

As ever, he did not participate in the school song. Aside from it being stupid and childish to have to sing at a school gathering in this manner, the Aladren was still feeling discontent over the loss of a position of authority he rightfully deserved. Newells did not lose elections! (The irony of the fact that some of those victories had evidently been corrupt was lost on him.)

In any case, the torturous music ended, leaving him with lingering thoughts of relief he’d never have to sit through it again, and the students were released to eat and converse. He was immediately greeted by a neighbor, the girl who showed up suddenly a couple years ago and progressed through the years to now be prefect, the one with a ridiculous Z-name that he would have forgotten if the Headmaster hadn’t literally just said it a moment ago to award her a badge. “I suppose so,” he answered her inquiry. Dustin did enjoy learning, although sometimes he worried his grades were not quite up to snuff for an Aladren like himself. He studied hard to compensate. “And you?”

“Congratulations on the badge,” he added, trying not to sound as bitter as he felt about his empty lapel. Admittedly there weren’t really other options, but it was still an honor and a title, and it was fitting nonetheless to be proud of her position. Zevalyn was a Muggleborn, which naturally slightly lowered her in his eyes, but she was obviously a diligent worker to have risen up to the fifth year like this, so it somewhat balanced out. In any case, it was not offensive to speak with her. So that was nice.

12 Dustin Newell You can say that again. 312 Dustin Newell 0 5

Professor Sophie O'Malley

January 27, 2018 12:32 PM

Enthusiastically raises hand by Professor Sophie O'Malley

All staff required meetings were never a promising start to a new school year, but Sophie had not expected to arrive and immediately be stressed out. It was a rough situation that both the school and Cleo James were in here, and the Potions professor felt powerless to do little more than hope for the best. Her heart went out to Mr. James, it really did, although she couldn’t help but be happy that her kids would never have such an issue as they were 100% human (although their biological grandmother’s true status as a human being was probably open for debate, but genetically speaking, they were safe here).

Still, parental worry was quite contagious, and by the time the Opening Feast actually got going, she was already mentally exhausted and ready to go home to her kids. And that was impressive, considering how exhausting they were. Mostly Stanley, with his endless energy, and Charlotte, who was under ten months old. Wally was good and would probably curl up and nap with her if his siblings ever gave her the time.

Sophie plopped down into her chair at the staff table and decided immediately that she wasn’t moving again until it became absolutely necessary. She of course gave a wave whenever she caught the eye of a relative, of whom there were a fair amount around here, or a student who she particularly liked, but she was mostly just waiting for everything to settle so that Mortimer could get through the Sorting and the speech and the food could arrive. Things went fairly quickly, at least, thanks to the Headmaster’s terse nature. She was fairly pleased with the badges, as she thought all the Prefects were good choices, and it was nice to see both Head Students hailing from her former House. She had never been Prefect or Head Girl, but if it was anything like Quidditch Captain, it would surely require a lot of work from those chosen few.

Soon enough, it was food time. That was great. Also, the librarian was offering her wine. That was also great. Well, probably. Sophie considered for a moment. She was still breastfeeding her daughter, so it wasn’t good to have alcohol in her system, but then again, she’d left a lot of pumped bottles behind and wouldn’t be home to see the kids again until way after it would all be out of her system. Still, it had been far too long since she’d drank anything stronger than root beer, so maybe it wasn’t the best choice?

But she was stressed, and also Sophie wasn’t maybe the best at always making great choices. It was just wine, anyway, so what could go wrong? “A man after my own heart, eh?” she replied with the clear intonation of a joke. “Yes, please.” The blonde professor accepted the bottle merrily and poured herself a little bit too full of a glass. She took a sip and smiled; red wine was the best wine.

“Did you have a good summer?” she asked as she filled her plate with the contents before her on the table. “Personally, while I love the time off, I always find by the end of August that I’m itching to get back here.”

12 Professor Sophie O'Malley *Enthusiastically raises hand* 34 Professor Sophie O'Malley 0 5

Gary Harper

January 27, 2018 8:25 PM

Here's to an interesting year by Gary Harper

Gary wandered into the main hall straight from the wagons this year. Had it really been a full year since he'd come here as a wide-eyed, ill-informed first year student? He had chuckled a bit as he had passed the gardens, watching the new batch of first year students getting herded into the labyrinth. Oh the preconceived notions that he had been worried about upon his initial arrival, they seemed so silly now after a full year's experience. He was still convinced that there was some sort of grand wizarding group watching everything, but he had gotten to know most of his teachers well enough to believe that they weren't directly involved in any such activity.

He looked around in the crowd of returning students for his roommate, Jehan. Either he wasn't around yet, or Gary was failing his perception check, because he didn't spot the boy anywhere. Oh well, He dropped his ever-present backpack full of not necessarily class related books and notebooks on the Aladren table bench and sat down to wait for the opening feast to get underway. Other than the standard 'passing classes' and such, he had one goal in mind this year. He wanted to see a group of wizards play D&D. Logically, the best way to do that was to find a group of students that wanted to play, and run a game for them. Unfortunately, he though having a relatively low charisma score would most likely make that tricky. He hadn't been overly social last year, and only knew a few of the other students. There was obviously Jehan his roommate, whom despite their living arrangement, he hadn't really socialized with all that much. There was Jasmine, he had talked to her in some of their classes and hanging out with her at the bonfire had been fun. He'd had a few interactions with Parker, but not many, and other than that... he sighed. Even if all of them wanted to play, he'd still need another one or two to make a proper adventuring party.

How did one go finding players? He knew some people out in the muggle world would post announcements of games on noticeboards in their local gaming stores. But he didn't know if there was a main board here somewhere. He could put something up in the Aladren common room notice board, but only the Aladrens would see that. He presumed the other houses had their own noticeboards, but he couldn't post things on them. Maybe the Aladren board would be enough to get some interest. Perhaps word would spread by word of mouth from there?

The ceremonies began, the first-years were sorted and announcements were made. It was all very similar to last year. When the food appeared, he began collecting different items on his plate for consumption. He was still lost in thought, trying to solve his dilemma when someone talked to him. It took him a second to process that fact, but got there eventually, "Hmm..? What? Sorry... I was, somewhere else."

2 Gary Harper Here's to an interesting year 1404 Gary Harper 0 5

Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

January 27, 2018 9:51 PM

How do you feel about interlibrary loan forms? by Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

Tarquin smiled as Professor O'Malley joked with him and accepted the wine. He knew all the staff by sight and name, and knew that she had been distinctly pregnant last year, so presumably they had the whole 'being parents' thing in common, which was usually good – having kids had been such a social lubricant, they were so easy to talk and talk about – though presumably hers was (were? Did she have others?) a vastly different age to his. Going through a whole phase of life that he had actually missed out on. He never knew how to feel about that... On the one hand, he was sad he hadn't been there for every single moment of their lives. On the other, babies sounded like hard work, and he sometimes – although he felt very guilty about it – was glad he'd been able to take a shortcut, unsure that he would have been able to cope with the stress of it all, but that made him feel like a very bad parent. Usually, he just drew a line under these thoughts with the fact that it was what it was. They had the life they had had, and not only was it impossible to change anything but, given how happy they all were, why wish it had been any different? He just supposed he would have liked to know, for certain, that he wouldn't have made a mess of it if he'd had to do the whole baby thing, and it frustrated him that there was a question that he would never have the answer to.

“I'm surprisingly fond of summer. Y'know, for someone who doesn't exactly like the sun,” he smiled, figuring Sophie might not know his reclusive librarian ways well enough to understand that first comment without context. Maybe it was because summer meant Pride events. He always thought he didn't really want to do those until he actually got there. He thought he was getting too old, and he'd never been a fan of huge crowds, but they picked events to suit – quieter things, they'd done more family friendly events as the kids grew up, although now Charlie – for all that he definitely liked girls – was keen to get into the louder more riotous ones. He would leave him to discover that side by himself, or with Danny. It was always an uplifting experience though. He'd long got past all the teenage demons about who he was, but it never hurt to have it affirmed. The mug in his office, the one that promised him freedom, books, flowers and the moon had been the birthday after he and Danny went to their first ever Pride event together. His first ever ever Pride event. That where was item one on the list came in... “We had a nice break in San Francisco,” he told her, deciding that their family holiday was maybe a more accessible dinner table subject. They had not timed the vacation to coincide with San Francisco Pride, which pretty much sounded like rainbow hell on earth, if you asked him. “Well, just outside it, by the beach,” San Francisco was a good compromise between all the things the liked – it had museums and culture, and Tarquin was more than happy to look at nice beaches whilst reading his book at a safe distance from the sun, it also had a great restaurant scene and those who liked the sun, the sand and the waves could venture further than the porch of the house they'd rented. They still found themselves taking the kids, and now Niall – Henny's boyfriend – too, because the three of them were all perpetual students so they were still sort of free in the holidays (Niall and Henny were doing PhDs, which technically meant they didn't have summer holidays but was flexible and definitely meant they were too broke to take their own vacations). He enjoyed their company and the family time, and having Charlie was very useful, as another more sun-and-beach inclined person to keep Danny company. Just because they chose a place with something for everyone didn't mean that – even after twenty odd years of marriage – Everyone understood leaving the other person alone, or enjoyed doing things by himself...

“But I do like getting back to work too,” he added, feeling a little thrill at being able to admit this. Danny sulked so much about him going back, about how he'd be gone for hours every day, that it wasn't exactly politic at home to talk about how much he was looking forward to seeing all his books again. About spending hours in peace and solitude. About interlibrary loan forms, and how exciting he found them. Actually, that probably wasn't a wise thing to admit to anyone, because he knew that it was quite frankly a bit weird. But he liked them. You put in all the information, making sure to get it just right, and sent it away, and books came back. It was the best kind of magic. Or like playing a lottery where you won every time.

“Did you do anything in particular over the vacation, or is the little one still too little?” he asked, wracking his brain to try to think whether he should know any more information about Sophie's child than 'incredibly small.' He was pretty sure there had been a card, and that he had signed it. He may have been told details such as the small human's name and gender, or the card might have been some kind of indication, but he doubted he'd looked at the front of it or read the pre-printed sappy shop sentiments. He reassured himself that a) Sophie probably didn't expect him to know anything about her and b) gender was an evil social construct anyway and he was not, in fact, a misanthropic loner who spent too long in his office and didn't pay enough attention to the lives of other humans but was actually fighting the damn system. Or something.

13 Tarquin Fox-Reynolds How do you feel about interlibrary loan forms? 1464 Tarquin Fox-Reynolds 0 5

Lily Spencer

January 28, 2018 4:48 AM

This is rather unexpected. by Lily Spencer

This was the first year Lily arrived at Sonora without her siblings, but she felt comfortable. She loved visiting her brothers and sister whilst in England and family holidays, but she had established her own niche at Sonora. It didn’t feel lonely; at least not as lonely as it first had years prior.

The sweetness of the summer lingered as she rode the wagon halfway across the country after meeting it in New York. She would be turning fifteen soon, in November, and this year she felt more grown-up. After experimenting with a slightly more feminine wardrobe last year, she had decided to go back to her fluffy pixie cut and buttoned shirts. She still didn’t have a very noticeable bust, and she hoped it would stay that way.

The noise in Cascade Hall greeted her like a familiar friend and she sat down at the Pecari table. She saw Jozua across the way and felt a bit awkward. She’d sat next to him at almost every Opening and Returning Feast, but today she wanted to keep her distance. She didn’t know what it was, but her fling over the summer hadn’t felt right. It had been fun and sweet, but brief. At first she'd felt guilt, but later something else she couldn’t really understand or explain. Lily let her gaze linger on Jozua for a bit before turning to glance at the first years. They were so small, and whilst she hadn’t grown more than twelve centimetres over the past few years, she was at the very least taller than all of them.

The Headmaster made his usual announcements and she kept one ear open as she observed Jozua again. Belatedly, she realised that her name had been called by the old wizard and she looked up to see three other fifth-year witches making their way to the front. She scrambled up and joined them, looking with shock at the Prefect badge that was handed to her. Of all of those in her house and year, they had chosen her? It had to be some kind of joke. She glanced at the rest of her classmates and smiled at them in muted congratulations. She was pleased that they’d chosen all witches this year, but she felt sorry that she wouldn’t be with her best mate.

If she couldn’t believe it, it was highly unlikely her family would believe she’d been made a blooming Prefect.

Delighted, Lily returned to her seat. She was the third out of her four siblings to become a Prefect – not that there was much competition this year – but it was an achievement to be proud of nevertheless. She was in the process of pinning the badge to her robes when the headmaster declared a ball was going to be the event this year. She couldn’t help but glance at Jozua again. Would he ask her, or would it be a reprise of their first year? If, of course, they decided they wanted to go together.

Lily sang the school song – she knew it by heart now – and picked her favourite dish of chicken pie and mash. She looked around the table for some chili powder – spicy foods had become a recent obsession – and finally spotted it out of her reach. “Sorry, but could you please pass me the chili powder? Cheers. How was your summer?”

40 Lily Spencer This is rather unexpected. 357 Lily Spencer 0 5

Nathaniel Mordue

January 28, 2018 1:11 PM

Well, this was unexpected. by Nathaniel Mordue

When Nathaniel first saw his badge turn yellow, his first thought was remarkably calm: Well. That was unexpected.

Sylvia had thought they both ought to be in Crotalus, and since she was very proper and Simon was already there, Nathaniel had not argued with her about that, though he had sort of wondered if his cousin might not be an Aladren instead. She was definitely smart, perhaps the smartest of the four of them, and she was just as definitely someone with what he guessed one could describe as strength of will – she expected things to go the way she wanted them to, and they usually did – a trait which he was afraid was going to become a problem when Sylvia, rather than progressing to her House table according to directions, reached out and seized his hand, he assumed in surprise or upset.

“It’s okay,” he said quickly, and then realized from the look in her eyes that the situation was most definitely not okay with her, and not because she was panicking as such. “We can’t make a scene,” he warned her then.

Not making a scene was, after all, extremely important. He had to be good. No scenes, no drama, nothing that would remotely remind Mama of – unpleasant times. His younger brother Jeremy didn’t always understand this, which meant it was even more up to Nathaniel to keep up appearances and please Mama and reassure Uncle Alexander that everything in the city house was fine and generally Set A Good Example. He was the man of the family now and had to take care of everyone else, which included doing what he could for their reputation.

”I’ll sort it out,” said Sylvia, and while Nathaniel had no idea what that meant, it at least meant no-one was going to cause a disturbance right now, so he’d take it.

“Sorry about that,” he said quietly to the adult directing them once Sylvia left and he proceeded to the Teppenpaw table.

“Good evening,” he said, smiling as he sat down next to a new housemate, then looking forward to the rest of the Sortings and the Headmaster’s announcements. A ball – Sylvia would like that, that would cheer her up, dancing and dress robes and such. That made him a bit less worried about her – he hated it when Sylvia was unhappy, as she had very clearly been when they had parted ways. He glanced toward her as the school song ended, but she was smiling at the other Crotali, so that was all right, and he resumed smiling at his own neighbor.

“That song’s a nice way to start the year,” he commented. “I’m Nathaniel Mordue, of the Oregon Mordues. Nice to meet you.”

At least, he thought, Teppenpaws had a reputation for kindness. One couldn’t rely on the kindness of strangers, but it did seem likely to decrease the chances of someone saying something unkind about That Matter, or mentioning That Matter at all.

OOC: parts of this post quoted from Sylvia’s post

16 Nathaniel Mordue Well, this was unexpected. 1412 Nathaniel Mordue 0 5

Chrystopher Mathilde

January 28, 2018 9:47 PM

New Friendships by Chrystopher Mathilde

Chrystopher was beyond excited to start his schooling at Sonora Academy. It was one of the best wizarding schools in the world and he hoped it lived up to his expectations. This school was also a way were he could gain connections with other people, boost his status. His father always said that you couldn't go anywhere if you didn't have connections. That's how he got his job as an Unspeakable in the ministry.

Chrystopher was one of the first ones in line to get sorted. He had read about this potion before. It was incredibly hard to make and there was little knowledge about it's ingredients. It was rare for Chrystopher to not know everything about a Potion, but this one sure was a mystery that Chrystopher wanted to crack one day.

He stepped up to the potion and had the blank badge ready in his hand. This was going to determine his future at Sonora, and he sure was nervous. He gained his composure, like he was trained to, and submerged the badge in the potion. After a couple of seconds he pulled it out and saw a dark ruby red. He grinned as this was the house he wanted to get into. This would be a perfect place to gain respect and to gain status. He pinned the badge onto his robes and took his rightful spot at the Crotalus table. He recognized a few faces in the room as he had brief encounters with them at pureblood parties.

Chrystopher sat up straight and kept an even face, even though he was extremely excited. The sorting soon ended and a girl took the seat beside him. The headmaster spoke again and he clapped for the Prefects and the head students. He was not well acquainted to singing, but he made due.

He then heard the announcement about the ball. He needed to find a date with a respectable pureblood, only the best would do in the eyes of his father. Yet another thing that Chrystopher would worry about to appease his father.

Chrystopher turned to his right as he heard the girl speak. He automatically recognized the noble pureblood house. His father would be pleased if he knew that Chrystopher would become acquaintances with her. He wondered where her cousin was. Whenever he was at pureblood balls he saw her usually followed by a boy, which he discovered was her cousin.

He nodded and smiled gently at her greeting. The scar that ran down his left eye was an attention grabber whenever someone looked at him, which Chrystopher hated. He had gotten it in a sparring accident when he was younger. His father denied Chrystopher treatment as a reminder to always keep his guard up.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Sylvia Mordue. I've heard many good things about your family. I am Chrystopher Mathilde, heir to the Noble Pureblood house of Mathilde." Chrystopher replied back.

0 Chrystopher Mathilde New Friendships 1485 Chrystopher Mathilde 0 5

Michael DiCaprio

January 28, 2018 10:34 PM

Any other new Pecaris? by Michael DiCaprio

Michael had never been the quiet type—far from it, actually. He liked being known as the chatterbox even though he knew it was supposed to be an insult. But this, this was something totally different. Neither of his parents had attended Sonora as children and he was moving from his home state to somewhere completely different all by himself. He almost cried when his parents said goodbye to him as he waved to his little brother from the wagon. Nico had definitely cried, but maybe it was because he was glad Mike wouldn’t be around to pester him anymore. He could never tell with him; Nico was such a crybaby.

It felt weird to talk to anyone during orientation and Mikey kept to himself when he got there even though he wanted to talk to everyone. He felt nervous, like the first time he had walked into his kindergarten class. Without knowing which house he was in, he felt awkward and didn’t know what to talk about. All he knew was that he wanted to be an Aladren because he liked the color blue and thought they had a pretty cool mascot. He just wanted to know if his skateboard and notebook of drawings had made it along with the rest of his luggage, and if his bed was comfortable and if his roommates were cool.

Mikey followed his group to Cascade Hall after orientation was over holding his blank badge and felt intimidated by the huge crowd of students. Some of them looked so old and the teachers—er, professors—looked scary. Mikey fiddled with his buttoned-up robes as he waited for his turn. The robes were super comfortable, but he wasn’t wearing anything but shorts and a T-shirt underneath and it made him feel a little more vulnerable than usual, especially being in front of so many other people.

When his name was called, Mikey stepped forward and pulled his badge out of his pocket. He dipped it into the Sorting Potion, wondering briefly what his dad would say about a dozen kids putting their hands into the same container, and watched his badge with bated breath. Please be Aladren, please be Aladren! His badge turned brown and his heart sank. He looked at the table full of Pecaris and sighed before trudging to his new house. He sat down and tried to smile at his new housemates. He’d be with them for seven years and it wasn’t like he could change it.

He didn’t talk to anyone right away since the sorting was still going on, but he glanced around at his fellow first-years. Mikey decided on who he wanted to talk to first before turning his eyes back to the front. A ball didn’t sound that cool and he really wasn’t looking forward to it. If it was like a school dance or something, they’d probably have to find dates and Mikey did not want to do that. Unless there was a super pretty girl. Then maybe he’d change his mind.

They sang a school song and Mikey tried to pick it up, but it went by too fast and before he knew it, it was time to eat. He had eaten a lot of snacks during orientation, so he wasn’t that hungry, but he did serve himself some mac and cheese. It didn’t really taste like the kind Mom made. He missed home already.

Looking up, Mikey made eye-contact with another firstie. “Hi, I’m Mikey DiCaprio. I’m from Colorado,” he said with a smile. “What’s your name?”

19 Michael DiCaprio Any other new Pecaris? 1406 Michael DiCaprio 0 5

Sylvia

January 30, 2018 7:09 AM

Excellent by Sylvia

Yes, yes yes! This was more like it! Goodbye, Miss Alana-Aloha Nobody whom she’d been forced to talk to at orientation, hello proper Pureblood boy. An heir, no less. It was a shame about the scar. Having grown up around magic, which could fix almost anything but the worst curse damage, and which could straighten out teeth and deal with all manner of other unsightly issues in the blink of an eye, Sylvia wasn’t really used to seeing such physical imperfections. Some people, of course, had the misfortune of just being ugly, and whilst a few glamours might improve them a bit, there were definitely hopeless cases. She just tried not to associate with them. She herself, with her green eyes, dark hair and strong cheekbones, had no deficiency in her looks, unless one counted the slightly haughty countenance that went with being well aware of this fact - though this was not currently directed at Mr. Mathilde, who - as her social equal - was being treated to her charming smile.

“And I about yours, of course,” she added with a smile, when he said he had heard many good things about her family, trying to ignore the nagging doubt that he may have also heard one rather bad one… Most people were good enough to toe the line on that one. Every family had its… less than pleasant memories, and thus most people were perfectly willing to gloss over other people’s in case the favour needed returning. Therefore her ex-Uncle had not run off with his secretary. He was simply ‘no longer with us,’ and you said that, and people were supposed to smile sympathetically and then make some kind of appropriately sad comment and then get on with having a nice time like civilised people.

“It’s wonderful to be here at last, isn’t it?” she smiled. “And in Crotalus too. It’s really quite the best. My brother’s here too, and he rooms with a Pierce, and a Callahan,” she added, voicing the comma appropriately. She was sure Victor was very nice, but it was ‘A Pierce, and a Callahan’ not ‘A Pierce and a Callahan.’

Making polite small talk was fairly well second nature to her at this point. The only people she really talked to without sounding like she’d swallowed an etiquette book were Nate and Mother. And sometimes she practised things with mother too and was, of course, always polite to her - just sometimes they could be playful together, like when they went through her mother’s jewellery box and made up stories about where all the things had come from. She fiddled for a moment with her own necklace, the rather nice green sapphire that went with her eyes and had been a going away to school present, along with a matching bracelet, thinking about what fun stories she could come up with about it - dragons slain or pirates robbed, that sort of thing - before she caught herself and realised that fiddling with one’s jewellery was often taking as a sign of nerves (which she most definitely did not have - at least not terribly much - and did not want to be mistaken for having) and let it go.

“Might you pass me that salad?” she asked, indicating a dish by Chrystopher’s elbow.

OOC - if you'd like to know more about the Pureblood families, and what Chrys might now, ask on the OOC or ask anyone in chatzy.

13 Sylvia Excellent 1413 Sylvia 0 5

Parker Fitzgerald

January 30, 2018 11:15 AM

Trying to find my home by Parker Fitzgerald

Parker had spent the summer mostly with William at the Washoe Tribal Centers as it's were he felt the most... at home?

His mother and father were still at a loss for words about the revelations that brought Parker to Sonora his first year, and sent his brother John Jr. to a military academy. It was odd, but he seemed to get along well enough with his brother now that they weren't in the same house, or even the same state.

His brother seemed the most interested in what Parker studied and in Quidditch, and seemed less ruthless. Though Parker could see the glee in John's eyes when he talked about his last match and how he got knocked out of the game a few times.

He tried to get his parents into Quidditch too, but his mother said it all sounded too confusing, and his father couldn't get over the fact that the brooms flew. But they had enjoyed hearing about gardening club and Cleo. His mother had asked him if Cleo would come over in the summer, and though Parker had thought about inviting her, he wasn't sure if her father would be as keen or how she'd get there.

So when he wasn't gardening, reading up on Quidditch, and talking with his sister, who would quietly ask him if she would also be going to Sonora, he was with William at the Tribal Centers.

It was fascinating to hear William talk. He would talk about the early days of the America's before no-mags and magicians came over from Europe. He talked about something called the Ghost Dance that different indigenous groups did to see their dead and the Americas without Europeans. He talked about how he thought it was weird that there was some kind of line between the worlds, and that Parker wasn't allowed to really talk about his new life with his old friends. Mostly though William told him stories with animals and plants. Stories that William said had lessons for everyone, but sounded like Parker might need them the most.

After the summer he knew he didn't really fit in with where he grew up anymore. He was only twelve and the realization as he got on the wagon, that he no longer felt at home at home, was jarring. Getting into the wagon this year was easier than last though. He knew where he was going, and he knew he could talk with Cleo about the things he'd heard from William and ask her what she thought. He also knew he had at least one person who made him feel at home.

As he walked into the Hall he looked around hoping to see Cleo, at least briefly and wave hello or suggest to her that the meet up in the garden and keep exploring, which sometimes just meant walking and talking away from others, even if it was Prarie Elves. She wasn't anywhere to be seen though. Maybe she would be late. He sat down at the Pecaris table facing the Cortalus so he could see her when she came in.

Pecaris. The tribe that had been chosen for him. His team. He smiled at them all and clapped as new members were added and that Lily got a prefect badge. Parker still wasn't 100% sure what they did, but it was recognition of a being a good person. Though she reacted to him in an odd way, whether it was because he was young or his family wasn't magic he didn't know, but she was still a good person and his Quidditch captain so he stood up clapping when her name was called.

As the first years came over to the table, Parker tried to remember the excitement and terror he had when he first came to the school. He smiled at them, and tried to be welcoming, but he still couldn't see Cleo in the hall and that worried him.

Was she not going to be at school this year?

The thought struck him like a thunder bolt. If so, that'd be a horrible beginning to his second year. He pushed some of the food around his plate without actually eating any thing, leaning his head on his left hand. He knew it probably wasn't how you were supposed to look at the beginning of school, but he felt more lost and a lone, even with all the people around, than he had before.

41 Parker Fitzgerald Trying to find my home 1402 Parker Fitzgerald 0 5

Jozua Sparks

January 30, 2018 11:55 AM

Dodged that curse by Jozua Sparks

Jozua had headed up to Teppenpaw from the wagons. In his second year, he had tried to find Lily during the first year orientation, but he assumed she must have spend that time catching up with her Pecari friends because he hadn’t been able to find her. Since then, he just spent the time in Teppenpaw, usually playing wizard chess with Finn in their room. He’d figured he’d see if Finn was amiable to continuing that tradition before trying out something new. And this year he had much better stories to tell his roommate over the chessboard than he’d had last year, even if none of them were quite as . . . exciting. . . as his house burning down, as he’d had to explain last fall.

So after two games and a recounting of the international dueling tournament he’d attended as his main birthday gift (front row seats this time, even!) and details of his dad’s study of a cursed box (which Jozua had even been paid a little bit to be his assistant for! - not much mind you, but it meant it was an official job he could mention on his college application in a few years) it was nearly time to head down for the feast.

He parted company from Finn, who he figured would want to spend the Feast catching up with Juniper, and found an empty seat at the Teppenpaw table. He looked over toward the Pecari table, trying to catch Lily’s eye to give his best mate a wave but she seemed engrossed in watching the first years. He didn’t think she had any relatives starting this year, but maybe there was a distant cousin coming in? He’d have to ask the next time he talked to her.

Then the Headmaster began the start of term speech which went on a bit longer than it ordinarily did on account of there being a new staff person to introduce. Ah good, a new medic. He was surprised Medic Eir had stuck around as long as she had. Jozua had never much gotten the impression when he went in for pepper-up or minor Quidditch or Dueling injuries that she really much cared for working with . . . people. Anyway, that added a whole two sentences to the Opening Feast speech, which accounted for maybe a quarter of it.

The other chunk of the speech that was of personal interest to him was the prefect announcements. He let out a breath of relief as Georgia Kirkly was called up. He hoped Fin wasn’t too disappointed, but Jozua himself was mostly just glad he wasn’t getting stuck with it. Though he did hope Lily saw him giving her a thumbs-up and cheering her on when she went to get her badge, so she knew he supported her appointment, even if he’d made no secret to her that he didn’t want it for himself.

Jozua avoided singing for the well-being of his fellow Teppenpaws, and then he smiled happily as the food appeared. He filled his plate. He was newly fifteen as of only a few weeks ago, and he hadn’t eaten in hours, so he was basically starving.

“Dodged that curse,” he said cheerfully to his nearest neighbor, grinning, and not giving them any context to the statement, as it amused him to let them try to guess what he was so glad to have escaped. Though it probably wouldn’t be terribly hard, seeing as how he was a fifth year now. Prefect was the pretty obvious conclusion.

OOC: Spending pre-feast time with Finn approved by his author.

1 Jozua Sparks Dodged that curse 348 Jozua Sparks 0 5

Zevalyn Ives

January 30, 2018 12:45 PM

Oh, wow by Zevalyn Ives

“Thank you,” Zevalyn replied to the congratulations, feeling pleased and accomplished and acknowledged. Fifth year was starting out wonderfully despite the lack of Georgia to eat with.

In answer to his previous question, she nodded eagerly, proud to report, “I’ve just about caught up to everyone else in fifth year, so I am really looking forward to studying and learning at a much more natural pace again. Of course, there’s CATS, so I can’t slack off too much, but that’s a boat everyone is sailing.”

She didn’t really know this older boy at all - she’d still been in beginners when he was in his fifth year - but there were only two Aladrens in seventh year, and it hadn’t been that had to pick up his name just from being in the common room as she studied. Well, she’d heard it. It was Justin or something. But she wasn’t sure enough of that to call him that to his face. What she was sure of was that he was in seventh year, since he hadn’t been in the intermediate classes last year.

“Which RATS will you be taking? Any that you’d recommend or not recommended now that you’ve finished the first year of advanced classes?”

1 Zevalyn Ives Oh, wow 380 Zevalyn Ives 0 5

Joe Umland

January 31, 2018 11:00 PM

I would have expected you to dramatically deflect it instead by Joe Umland

Joe loved his family, but after this summer, he was grateful to be away from them. For one thing, Europe really had been too much togetherness, at least with that group of people – William had been too much, and it was not comfortable being around him, John, and Julian all at the same time. John and Julian he could take, Julian and William he could just barely take, but all three of them together was horrific and he didn’t even know why. Then Lenore had joined them, and Joe was pretty sure she and John had been doing something he would have thought was a violation of John’s Code in France, and then John had come home and promptly set Julian on the warpath by moving in with Sammy Meeks, of all people –

Well, this time, he had to sympathize mainly with Julian, for all that she was the sibling he’d left home with an unresolved fight going on with this time. Julian had ordered – not asked, ordered – him to tell John that his conduct was Not Okay With Us. Joe had pointed out that if John wouldn’t listen to her, why would he listen to his younger brother? Julian had shouted at him about it not bothering him that some person might be taking advantage of their brother, at which point Joe had almost asked what she thought her cousin had been doing on the Riviera, before he’d remembered two things: one, that he had no proof of what had gone on, and two, that he was reasonably sure Julian would agree with him that their brother hooking up with and/or conducting wildly illegal and immoral experiments with her cousin was weird and that she would have been hysterical had she had any inkling that it was a possibility. Joe had only caught on because he, without such intrigues or any prospect of them, had been bored out of his skull much of the time they’d spent in the south of France. So now he was annoyed with Julian for yelling at him and with John for being a massive hypocrite and he was glad to let them get on with their love lives while he came back to….

Well, that was an interesting question.

In retrospect, it was kind of funny, when he wasn’t too busy being humiliated by it. Joe couldn’t count all the times he’d successfully covered up some slip of his or John’s which might have made people ask questions. He’d looked William in the eye when his brother-in-law was in Important Ministry Official Mode and lied to him. And then Raine’s older brother had called him on his nonsense without him even saying anything. Statute of Secrecy? He was a law-abiding citizen and therefore above good and evil when interacting with his Muggle neighbors. Harboring criminals? He was perfectly fine with that if sufficiently emotionally involved with same. Becoming a full-blown criminal - rather than just the accessory - by technically helping kidnap some people? He didn’t blink. Hula-hoops? Busted, which was embarrassing on an unimaginable number of levels even before he’d reached the good-God-smite-me-now levels of embarrassment which had occurred when Starr had been very, very casual about the whole thing, seeming to regard it as totally normal that Raine might be - affectionate - with strange people her brother didn’t know.

Maybe it was. Joe didn’t know. In his family, everyone had looked at William like some bizarre exotic centipede whose intestines Julian had brought in on her shoes when he came around as properly as a gentleman caller in an old book - how, they had all been wondering, disturbed, had she even ever interacted with such an object without them knowing about it first? Starr’s nonchalance couldn’t have seemed much more alien to Joe if it had involved green antennae and a spaceship.

One of them, clearly, was weird. Either way, though - he had concluded that Raine really had been suggesting...something in that neighborhood, anyway - that evening in MARS when he’d made such a fool of himself, but he had no idea where that left them now, or even really where he wanted it to leave them. As a result, at one point in France, Joe had actually attempted to do something far, far too normal to have ever have had a chance at success in his family: he’d asked his big brother. Naturally, the conversation had gotten very strange very fast.

”You’re seriously telling me you don’t think a bit differently about Joanie than you do about Clark?” asked Joe in exasperation – a sentiment only strengthened by the expression of amazement which crossed his brother’s face then, as though he couldn’t believe what crass stupidities he was confronted with.

“I’m not telling you that seriously – or at all,” said John. “It’s very different. It’s like….” John’s eyes slid out of focus and away from Joe as he thought, and then Joe was startled when he abruptly grabbed Joe’s wrist without looking back at him. “Me and Clark, we’re like this,” he said, holding his free hand up to Joe’s now captive one. “Pretty similar, yes – but one of us would win an arm-wrestling contest.”

“Christ,” said Joe, reclaiming all his appendages. “You’re telling me you think you’re better even than your best friend?”

“Don’t swear,” said John in a manner rather reminiscent of their mother. “And you have it backward – we’re equal or he’s better usually. I am better than him at being a cynical jerk, but that’s just because he doesn’t try. I’m sure he could top me in that too if he wanted to.”

Joe stared for a moment, unsure what to make of that incredible pronouncement. “And Joanie?” he asked finally, deciding to just let that one go.

“Tell me, Joe – what’s your relationship with your bone marrow like?”

“My what?”

“Bone marrow. Produces blood cells and fills up bones and all that. How do you feel about it?”

“I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about it,” said Joe.

“But you’d do so if it wasn’t there, or wasn’t functioning properly.”

“Well, yeah. Since my only options in that case would be painful death or really painful medical treatments.”

John nodded. “That’s Joanie.” He looked back at the book he’d been reading when Joe interrupted him. “That year - Clark being gone, that was - alone, and nobody to bounce off of. I didn’t like it. With you and the others - not good. All of you - like I’d lost a leg. With Joanie it was like I’d had a hemispherectomy.”

“So you – what are you even talking about?”

John was tapping his foot now, agitated, clearly not liking something he was thinking about – or else lying about something. “I used to tell you that I didn’t get bored,” said John. “It’s not a fact now. But with Joanie, or Clark, or – with both of them, I’m - awake. But it’s different. With Clark, I – I can see him, and I can see me, and I want to be better. With Joanie – doesn’t matter. Clark’s my friend. Joanie - she was my friend. Now we’re accomplices. No way out. Your bones don’t care if you swing or get canonized – you stick together until then anyway. Now do you understand?”

He hadn’t, and he still didn’t.

Even if Raine was of the opinion she’d appeared to be last year, though, and at least part of her family was really incredibly casual about that, those facts and the dilemma of what to do about them if they existed weren’t relevant to the Opening Feast anyway and so he was able to temporarily put the problem aside.. At the Feast, his primary concern was seeing who got prefect and thinking about whether there was any way he could increase his chances of being elected Head Boy. That was, technically, the one thing neither of his siblings had done – John had had the title, but only because someone else forfeited it by not coming back. His classmates hadn’t actually given him the honor and Julian’s hadn’t given her Head Girl either.

He applauded politely for this year’s honorees, none of whom he knew well, and mumbled through the school song before gratefully turning to the food and an odd remark from Jozua. He went back through the last few things which had been said and done in the room.

“Prefect or something to do with a genetic tendency to make things grow flowers when they’re not supposed to?” he asked, thinking that asking that about the end of the school song was not as strange a question as it might have been - Jozua’s family apparently had a well-established tradition of living up to their surname, so it stood to reason he might think some family called Flowers had an irresistible compulsion to make deserts literally bloom.

OOC: The remainder of Joe and Starr’s fair conversation discussed with Raine’s author.

16 Joe Umland I would have expected you to dramatically deflect it instead 329 Joe Umland 0 5

Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

February 01, 2018 7:10 AM

Really? How much attention have you been paying? by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

It was quite lucky that the start of term was distractingly busy. Summer had definitely been... interesting. She was rather smitten with a certain someone, and the fact that Theodore obviously didn’t like it had just made it all the more tempting and enjoyable…She thought she could lose quite a lot of time thinking about him, but there were other things to distract her. Like the fact she’d been made Quidditch Captain. She pretty much had to nominate Ben as her assistant, although she would have much rather worked with Lily. It was nothing against Ben, and she had to admit he’d been a solid team member and had probably earnt it, though she wasn’t completely sure he was the most organised person in the world, but that sort of came with the territory in Pecari. She also knew that people would start crying ‘racism’ if she skipped over him. She mentally glossed over the fact that this would probably be entirely justified, as it was really the foundation of any closer allegiance she felt with Lily - had Ben been a Pureblood boy, she’d probably have thought he was fantastic; he was fun, funny and he liked sports.There was something to be said for having someone like him in a position of authority too, in that it meant she could delegate dealing with other people like him to him. Like Parker. She had nothing against him, and was exceptionally glad he had joined the team, but she just had no idea how to talk to a Muggleborn first year boy. Second year now, she supposed, but the gulf between them was as big as ever. And with all the houses struggling for players, and with Pecari having fewer Purebloods to start with, she had to be tactically nice about the whole thing. Still, she remembered what Joella had done for her during her final years. The older girl had taken Ingrid under her wing as a sort of assistant assistant captain, in case Sammy Meeks was too scattershot to do a proper job of training her. She could do the same with Lily.

As she entered the hall for the feast, she spotted the younger girl and took a seat next to her. Although Ingrid did not get to retain hers for long, as she and Fabian were called up to receive their head student badges. She felt a little bad for Louis, who she sort of thought deserved it. Fabian was… fine, and nice enough, but he didn’t exactly stand out from the crowd. Mind you, that might have been why he got it. Louis and Dustin had just enough scandal in their families to put off Pureblood voters, although she thought some of the rest might have gone for Louis on that basis. Perhaps news hadn’t reached them that he was a reformed character, championing their causes. She very deliberately did not look at the Aladren table whilst collecting her badge. She didn’t want him, or anyone else for that matter, getting the wrong idea. It was good, she supposed, that he hadn’t got it. It might have got awkward if they’d been required to be alone together. This way she could just tell him she’d moved on, and wouldn’t be faced with the awkwardness of then having to be around him.

The feast began, and Ingrid served herself steak and potatoes. Lily asked her to pass the chilli, and she obliged, only fumbling it slightly as Lily asked after her summer.

“Quite good, I suppose,” she answered lightly, although there was something of a blush on her cheeks. “Yours?”

13 Ingrid Wolseithcrafte Really? How much attention have you been paying? 322 Ingrid Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Jozua

February 01, 2018 11:39 AM

I was saving that for a more suspenseful moment by Jozua

Jozua blinked with complete incomprehension, having no idea what Joe was going on about regarding genetic inclinations towards herbology. He glanced in question toward their Head of House, but Professor Xavier didn’t seem possessed of any unexpected growths or blooms. “The prefect appointment,” he confirmed, feeling Joe had won that round and confused Jozua far more than Jozua had confounded him.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool you and Lily have yours, but I’d either have to stop blowing up my potions or turn myself in for sabotaging my own brewing if I got it, and neither of those appeals to me at all.” He grinned, as if he were joking, though it had been a valid concern that had plagued him from time to time. He hadn’t really thought he stood much chance of getting made prefect, not with both Georgia and Finn being such excellent candidates and sharing the same House and year as him, but there was the outside chance his dueling club leadership had somehow convinced somebody on staff that he was responsible and competent to interact with other students.

“Speaking of badges, is that a captain’s badge I see on your robes? Congrats!” Not that it wasn’t unexpected, what with Ginger graduating and Joe having been her assistant. Of course, one of his friends being captain meant he was obligated not to quit the team again, not that he’d managed to do that when he didn’t have a friend in the captaincy. “Since Keeper is vacant now, I figure I’ll try for that position this year. Might be less of a liability to the team that way.”

1 Jozua I was saving that for a more suspenseful moment 348 Jozua 0 5

Joe

February 01, 2018 4:32 PM

What, the possibility of Head Boy? by Joe

For one brief happy moment, Joe and Jozua had been on the same page, and then Jozua started talking crazy talk. Joe looked at him with his head slightly tilted, puzzled. Was he serious, or –

Oh! He was mocking the common perception of Teppenpaws as utter Boy Scouts (Jozua probably wouldn’t know the actual organization, but Joe was sure the wizarding world had some equivalent of the concept he just personally didn’t happen to be familiar with). That made sense.

“It is,” he said on the more direct subject of Quidditch. “Thanks. That reminds me – “ he had stuck the envelope with Jozua’s new badge in his pocket. “Official proof you’re not too much of a liability,” he joked as he proffered it, “if you want it.”

Privately, he thought Keeper might not be a bad place for Jozua, though he wouldn’t mind too much if someone else came along for that position either. If nothing else, Jozua was a loose cannon, which was not entirely unbeneficial in a Beater – if only because the opposition might think Jozua was as apt to hit them with himself as a Bludger. Anything that kept the opposition off-balance, though, was Good, or at least Beneficial – that was true even just of talking one’s way out of situations that might end in someone finding out one was a wizard. In Quidditch, of course, the technique was a little less…refined, but a lot more fun and less stressful, which did make up for a lot.

16 Joe What, the possibility of Head Boy? 329 Joe 0 5

Jozua

February 01, 2018 7:54 PM

Maybe the Quidditch Try-Outs by Jozua

“Oh dear Merlin,” Jozua cursed as he stared at the offered badge in horror. “Somebody on staff did think I was responsible and competent to interact with other students.” But he snatched the badge away from Joe before he could rescind his offer and pinned it on his own robes. Assistant Quidditch Captain. Take that, world. Just goes to show that you can come out on top (or second to top as the case may be) if you persisted and were basically the only other option older than twelve.

Well, Eden was probably third year by now, so thirteen. And Georgia had technically joined the team last year, even if she hadn’t made first string. So, options that weren’t Jozua existed.

This meant he really seriously couldn’t ever quit the team now, because - “Dude, are you sure you really want me running the team after you graduate? Isn’t that kind of like the blind leading the deaf or something? Not that I’m giving it back, mind you; I’m just asking. This is the only shiny I’ve got a shot at.”

He wasn’t even going to contemplate getting Head Boy. There was just no way people would pick him over Finn. Finn had lots of friends. Jozua had three. And Joe would be graduated by then. And of the two left, one was Finn himself. Heck, Jozua would probably vote for Finn, too. Finn was way better suited.

1 Jozua Maybe the Quidditch Try-Outs 348 Jozua 0 5

Masha Adin

February 02, 2018 7:50 PM

I can do this, I can do this… by Masha Adin

Masha followed the rest of the kids to the hallways and into the huge room. Suppressing the need to turn and dash she took one shuddery breath.

I can do this.

Those few simple words became her mantra while the man was talking. He looked slightly intimidating to Masha. She glanced around the buzzing hall. Kids were silent now, whispering sparsely only in pairs.

Those before her wee dunking their badges in the potion and they were ushered toward the correct table. Masha wasn’t happy about her prospects, so far not many things happened to the way she liked it.

She did sort of met Alana, the girl was nice, but then again - Alana was Hawaiian, and she knew Alana’s customs.
She tried really hard not to think about the colour her badge is going to have. Sure she read about sorting process, it didn’t sound scary then. But now…

When it was her turn she was frozen for few seconds. She fisted her hands. Took a deep breath and stepped forward. Potion, she has to dunk… Curiosity got the best of her. In spite of her fear and overwhelming need to run and hide. Masha leaned over the cauldron and sniffed carefully. She didn’t know the potion - which wasn’t much of a surprise.

I can do this.

She closed her eyes and dunk her badge in the potion.
Peeking on one eye. Blue. She was directed to her table. She was now ready to bolt. Despite herself, she picked the spot far enough from everyone else, as much as it was possible. Which wasn’t much.

Her eyes firmly pinned to the table surface she sighed.

I can do this.

0 Masha Adin I can do this, I can do this… 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

February 02, 2018 9:32 PM

You absolutely can by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Heinrich had stumbled through his first encounter with English-speaking Americans. He thought he’d done well enough and Nathaniel had even complimented Heinrich’s own ability to speak the language. He was tentatively willing to count the Oregon Mordues as, well, probably not friends, not yet, after just one conversation. But maybe allies or associates anyways. Acquaintances at the minimum.

Of course, then there was the tour. Heinrich followed . . . some of it. He understood ‘library’ anyway, and even if he hadn’t his eyes told him the nature of that book filled room, and that was the important one anyway. What was called ‘MARS’ looked like a good place too. His eyes told him more about that collection of rooms than what Herr Xavier was says though.

Now brought to the Cascade Hall, Heinrich was handed a blank badge though he didn’t understand what he was supposed to do with it until he saw his yearmates dunking theirs into a caldron and pulling it out bearing the color of one of the Houses. Ah. The Sorting.

He dunked in his blank badge and pulled out a blue one. Aladren. He smiled. From what he had read, that was the one he had guessed he might get. He was pleased to have been right.

Heading over to the table, he took an available empty seat near a blue-badged girl who had been sorted shortly before he had, figuring it was safest to stick with another first year for now. Then the Headmaster began talking again. There was a bunch of what sounded like gibberish to him, but he soon realized they weren’t unfamiliar English words, but names of older students as they came up to get badges a lot shinier than his own now blue one. Then he welcomed someone and pointed out a lady at the staff table, which Heinrich took to mean the lady was as new to the school as he and the first years were.

Finally he mentioned playing ball in the middle of summer, which seemed an odd thing to Heinrich to bring up, but maybe the Headmaster just really liked Quidditch. To each their own.

Then there was singing, which Heinrich tried to join into, but reading English and music at the same time was a bit beyond his capabilities, so he mostly just hummed along with the melody until it was over and the food appeared.

With some relief, he did see some dishes he was familiar with, and took a fair sized helping of those, plus some less identifiable foodstuffs that smelled appealing but which he could not identify. Cautiously, he tried a forkful of some kind of very yellow rice and his eyes widened and he reached for his glass of juice to quench the fire in his mouth. “Das is spicy hot,” he warned his neighbor (remembering to use English only after the first word), as he pointed at the yellow rice. He took another gulp of his juice.

OOC: Not sure exactly what the rice dish is. I based it vaguely on an Indian dish I had at a company potluck. If you know something that is spicy with yellow rice, feel free to call it that. Heinrich also has a low spice tolerance, so what he considers burning hot may seem pretty mild to someone who regularly eats spicy foods.

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister You absolutely can 1414 Heinrich Hexenmeister 0 5

Wu Peizhi

February 03, 2018 9:28 PM

Zzzzz.... by Wu Peizhi

She did not wish to talk about summer.

Wu was quite grateful to be back at Sonora, although knowing it was her final time was a bit stressful. That meant her adulthood was ahead of her, and she felt incredibly ill-prepared for such a life. But she was feeling more alone again here, withdrawing back into her shell once more to an extent, so maybe it wouldn’t make much difference.

In any case, she was remarkably relieved to not be awarded Head Girl. She’d doubted there was much of a chance of it, just based on who she was and how she interacted (or didn’t) with the rest of the school, but she’d felt a minor knot in the pit of her stomach at the possibility. Ingrid Wolseithecrafte would do a far better job than Wu could have ever done. This was the best option, really.

The mention of a ball was slightly terrifying, as it jogged memories of the last one, where things had been tense, to say the least, as it had overlapped with her withdrawal from the friend group she had stumbled into previously. Spending time with Abby had been nice, and when she could speak to Laila that was fun, but she’d felt the tensions from others, and it was difficult. And once again, she imagined her mother would send her a dress without allowing her to pick it out herself. She’d grown up some since the previous one, but most likely not enough. At least, she thought, there would be no pressure to find a date.

The song came and went - Peizhi never sang, although she did hum quietly - and then food appeared, but she wasn’t particularly hungry. Schedules had not allowed her to stay with her sister Serenity and brother-in-law Adam for the last couple weeks of summer, so this year, she was experiencing the full effect of the time change as she was coming directly from China. Propping her head up with one hand, elbow balanced on the table, it was all she could do to keep from falling asleep. She was not sure that she would make it through, even with all the commotion around her.

12 Wu Peizhi Zzzzz.... 316 Wu Peizhi 0 5

Kir McLeod

February 03, 2018 10:02 PM

Come mix with the ruffians by Kir McLeod

Kir’s summer had been relatively uneventful although very enjoyable. He’d interned at his parents’ charity, helped with fundraising, and gone on camping for week with his parents and his little sister. Who was getting to be not so little. This would be the last time he started a school year without her, although he very much doubted they’d be in the same house. Kir’s approach to McLeod politics was to never scare anyone off - someone who needed their help would find it so much harder to ask for it if they personally disliked him, or had to swallow their pride to take it. Nessa cared much more about proving that what they were doing was right.

Kir took a seat at the Teppenpaw table, applauding the new prefects and head students. He’d had fun singing with Georgia last year and thought he might try to hang out with her again sometime. The ball… He had mixed feelings about. It would be really nice to have a date, but he didn’t rate his own chances, and he thought it might make for stressful dynamics as everyone waited to see who’d ask who, and he wasn’t a fan of those.

He sang the school song, and when that was finished, helped himself to salmon and potatoes and peas, eyes roving over the rest of the dishes as he considered what else he might eat. The person next to him turned out to be a new first year - not a surprise, he supposed, that there had been a seat spare next to him, as he didn’t exactly have a huge social network.

“I like it,” he agreed about the song, glad the boy had given him something other than the very stiff Pureblood introduction to work off.

“I’m Kir,” he replied. “My full name is Kir McLeod, but you don’t need to be that formal with me,” he advised, “On the whole, I get the feeling Teppenpaws mostly aren’t too worried about formalities, but I might be speaking out of turn,” he added. He didn’t presume to know how the Pureblooded Teppenpaws interacted, but… it was more a feeling he got in the common room, that it was a warm, cosy and relaxed place. It didn’t feel like anyone was standing on ceremony. But maybe that was just him projecting how he felt. The notion of informality was reflected slightly in Kir’s attire, the arms of his school robes were rolled up above the elbow, and where prefects or head students displayed their badges, he had a small rainbow flag shaped pin with ‘McLeod Foundation’ written underneath it.

“You came here with someone?” he added. He’d watched the sorting, and seen a newly minted Crotalus seeming rather sorry to part ways with Nathaniel.

13 Kir McLeod Come mix with the ruffians 366 Kir McLeod 0 5

Georgia Kirkly

February 03, 2018 11:08 PM

Hey there sleepyhead by Georgia Kirkly

Summer had been interesting. There had been the mall boy. The one who called her cute. And she, Georgia Kirkly, chubby and generally not one of the cool kids, had kissed him. She couldn't wait to tell Zevalyn about it. It hadn't gone further than that, and it hadn't been love or even boyfriend and girlfriend. He was a guy she'd seen a few times whilst staying at her dad's. And ultimately, she had decided he was kind of up himself, and it had all fizzled out before she'd even left her dad's, which was a good thing that she didn't have a permanent phone number (her dad let her use a cell phone when she stayed with him, but she couldn't bring it back to school) and hadn't had to make up excuses about why she wouldn't be in touch like... ever again. Still, it was a milestone. And she felt less horrific about herself. She was not, apparently, the one hundred percent unattractive she had always assumed herself to be.

The start of term continued to go her way and boost her confidence as she was named prefect. Her! And even better, Zevalyn got it too. She grinned at her friend across the hall, and gave her a subtle low five as they collected their badges. She was excited to write home. After all the blood prejudice that her mom had endured at school, it had been her number one worry that Georgia wouldn't be accepted – a paranoia that had hung over Georgia for her first few years as she tried to navigate the social labyrinth of school and make friends. Certainly though, the staff seemed to accept her. And she'd always got on fine with the other students. She thought she might actually be able to stop worrying quite so much about the blood thing, which would be nice.

The only low point was the mention of the ball. The ball in her first year had been super embarrassing when she hadn't realised that ball did not equate to school party, dress-code-wise, and she had been severely under dressed for the occasion. Even though she knew better now, she still had the memory of last time hanging over her, plus she wasn't sure how she'd look in a fancy ball dress. She hadn't even remembered that the prefects would have to do the opening dance. If she had, she might have been a bit less grateful about the badge pinned on her chest.

She helped herself to mac and cheese as the feast began. Sure, Sonora provided all sorts, but she was a solid, comfort food kind of person. She glanced at the person next to her. The Asian seventh year girl. Georgia didn't really know her. The girly seemed either sleepy or gloomy though Georgia wasn't sure which. She figured some of that famed Teppenpaw friendliness was in order either way though.

“Hi,” she smiled. “Are you ok?”

13 Georgia Kirkly Hey there sleepyhead 346 Georgia Kirkly 0 5

Lily

February 04, 2018 12:38 AM

I'm particular about what I notice. by Lily

"It was interesting, to say the least, but in a good way. I went to a few parties my Muggle friends invited me to and met someone. Firstly, I admit I've never been to parties that weren't proper, but some Muggle teenagers can be mental. It was loads of fun nevertheless, but my mum wasn't happy about it." Lily grinned. "Not that she's very happy about anything I do, but she's stopped lecturing me about it.

"Secondly, I met a guy at one of those parties, really fit. It was just a fling for the summer, but everything about it was nice. Really nice." Lily wasn't really the blushing sort and she wasn't embarrassed to kiss and tell, but she chose to end it there. She imagined Ingrid would be more embarrassed for her. "I spent most of the summer with him and the few other friends I've got there. I haven't really met many wizards or witches my age that I get on with back home." She'd been hurt by Muggles enough to see how foreign their culture was at times, and she sometimes wished for magical company, friends that would fully understand her. But it wasn't easy to find others her age who were willing to chat with a witch they didn't know, didn't go to school with and didn't regard as 'proper'.

"Congratulations on two badges in one year, Ingrid. Good for you." Lily was very happy for her, but she would've traded in her Prefect badge to be Assistant Captain instead. She respected and looked up to the older witch and would have liked to work with her and be trained by her, but formality called for Benjamin to step into the role. Lily wasn't going to throw a fit about it; after all, it was only a formal position. She still had one year to seek some sort of training or mentorship from Ingrid before she left. She couldn't imagine Ingrid having much time, however, what with RATS, Head Girl duties and advanced coursework.

Whilst Lily had once been rather dense about social cues and nonverbal language, she had improved over the years through her Seeker training. Her family wouldn't agree, but that was only because Lily spent so little time at home and, when she was home, she liked to wind up her mother on purpose. So the slight colour on Ingrid's cheeks did not go unnoticed by her. "Something tells me there was something - or someone? - that made this a particularly good summer. Care to tell?" Lily smiled at her and popped a grape into her mouth. She liked falling back into her cheeky younger sister role, especially to those older classmates she felt comfortable with.

40 Lily I'm particular about what I notice. 357 Lily 0 5

Kyte Collindale

February 04, 2018 7:46 AM

Take some advice from a wise older student by Kyte Collindale

Kyte had had a great time catching up with his roommate and best bud before the feast, but he couldn’t exactly say he was sorry when it was time to quit the dorm room and head downstairs to an almost literal mountain of food. He was starving. Coming from a family of circus performers who lived on the road, never having gone to formal school before he started Sonora, and with hair long enough to tie into a ponytail (although he rarely did), Kyte was in many ways not your typical teenage boy. But in the way that the only time his mind wasn’t on his stomach was when it was on girls (and, to a lesser extent guys) he definitely was.

He took a seat, not really listening to the announcements. He took a sheet for the school song. Every year, he kept meaning to make up some amusing words that summarised how he actually felt, but once the song sheet faded from his hands, it always faded from his mind until that same point came up again the next year. He winged it for a few lines…

Every day we strive,
Try to stay the hell alive,
Sonora will really bore ya…

He was out. Transfiguration theory deserved a special mention, he felt. The song drew to a close, and his mind tumbled over words… ‘Until it’s time to graduate, I’ll just...’ he grinned. He could think of two things he liked to do when he had the dorm room to himself, one of which conveniently rhymed.

He piled his plate high with a little bit of almost everything in reach, regardless of whether it seemed likely to go together. There was so much good food, why skip over any of it, just cos it came from opposite sides of the world, or was carbs with carbs with carbs? He reached across his neighbour for something (table manners had never exactly been his strong suit) and noticed the kid still had an empty plate. Not only that, he looked down right miserable. Kyte knew the feeling - he couldn’t exactly say he was ever thrilled to come back to school himself, although he liked hanging out with Ben, and now that he never had to take another Transfiguration class, things looked a lot better. This kid was small enough that he clearly still would have to listen to Professor Skies all year. Poor thing.

“Hey,” Kyte smiled sympathetically, “I know coming back’s a drag, but dude… Don’t take it out on the food. It’s the best thing this place has going for it. Save the moping and zoning out for when you get a Transfiguration theory class.”

13 Kyte Collindale Take some advice from a wise older student 335 Kyte Collindale 0 5

Ingrid

February 04, 2018 8:54 AM

But not about what you get up to, apparently by Ingrid

“Lily Spencer!” Ingrid gasped, as Lily told her about her summer, “Are you serious?” she asked. She couldn’t believe how casually Lily was just dropping the fact that she’d been to Muggle parties. What was with the Pecari Quidditch girls? First Liliana had gone off the rails, showing up to the ball with a Muggleborn boy, and then Joella had been swapping between guys like nobody’s business… Ok, her own record wasn’t exactly squeaky clean. She’d spent a lot of last year making out with Louis, who was scarcely fit and proper company for a society girl these days. Well, scarcely proper, at any rate… But she wasn’t exactly going around shouting that from the rooftops. Didn’t Lily care about her reputation? She knew Pecaris were meant to be adventurous, but she thought it might be nice if she could just make and keep one friend who didn’t seem to put themselves at constant risk of getting disowned. It had been so hard after years of looking up to Liliana to see her risk being tainted with scandal and unkind gossip. Not to mention the giant mess that was her and Louis - the boy she was most attracted to at school, who was determined to branch out into the Muggle world and drag his family’s reputation under. And she’d been getting closer to Lily, and now this?! Was it too much to ask that she have one nice, steady friendship that didn’t end in disaster? It did feel like there was some kind of jinx on her.

“That was all your mom did? Lecture you a bit?” she asked, gobsmacked. She would have been in so much trouble if she’d snuck off to Muggle parties. “How do you even know any Muggles anyway?” she asked. She never mixed with non-society people at home, and she couldn’t believe Lily’s parents were letting her. “And mental how?” she added, curiously. She was a Pecari, after all. And Lily had glimpsed into another world. One which she had never seen. She would have been lying if she’d said she wasn’t just a teensy bit interested.

“Thanks,” she smiled, when Lily congratulated her on the badges, “I guess I’ll be asking Ben to be my assistant. But it would be cool if we can do some stuff together,” she added. She wasn’t quite sure what, seeing as Lily was Seeker, which was pretty solitary.

“My brother brought a college friend to our lake house for the summer,” she grinned, when Lily asked about her summer. She really hoped Lily wasn’t about to get herself kicked out or scandal ridden or anything. It was so nice having a girl to gossip with. “Theodore was a total pain in the backside about it though. Do your brothers do this? Like… they’ll treat you like a child so long as that’s what’s most convenient, but then the second it gives them a chance to be on your case about something else, they’ll remind you how you’re growing up now and can’t behave like a kid - even though they’re the ones who have been acting like you are? He’s so annoying!”

13 Ingrid But not about what you get up to, apparently 322 Ingrid 0 5

Joe

February 04, 2018 4:24 PM

Drama seems more suited to a game. by Joe

For a moment, Joe thought Jozua might do something truly unusual and actually turn down an offered promotion – something even John, who had clearly been in no mental state to do any of his jobs in his seventh year and who, Joe had discovered later, had been completely aware of that fact even as jobs had been piling up around him, had not been heterodox enough to try. Then the badge was abruptly snatched away.

“You can speak in complete sentences,” he said dryly when Jozua explained his thought processes. “You’re already leaps and bounds ahead of my brother when he was a captain. And you’ve played more than one position, so you’re going into it with more theory of different positions than most people have.” Another thing which had proved fatal for John’s chances of success as a captain; John understood Beating, and had picked up a fair bit of Seeking theory from Clark, but that was it. He neither knew nor cared about what went into Chasing and Keeping, so long as he knew which color robe to aim at. John’s thoughts were complex, but when he stayed away from women, his life was actually sometimes enviably simple.

Not, of course, that avoiding women seemed to be one of John’s strengths, one way or another. Joe never would understand what it was about him which made even their mother and sister want to take care of him so much, or, no matter how many times either John or Joanie herself tried to explain it to him with small words and diagrams, what John could possibly do or say which was interesting enough to get a girl like Joanie Murphy to become somewhat unnervingly devoted to him, albeit still in an (apparently) weird and non-sexual way, and God alone knew what could possibly account for Sammy and, apparently, Lenore…Well, Joe could think of a few possibilities for Lenore, actually, when he thought about what he knew about How Society Worked, but they were varying degrees of disturbing and so he preferred not to.

“The letter – I think I left that upstairs, but the letter was talking about service to the team,” he said. “You know – “ he dropped his voice slightly in imitation of what he imagined pompous pureblood patriarchs sounded like – “loyalty is an important thing in our House.” He cut the act before he made himself sound unduly ridiculous. “You’ll be fine. Just look really confident and everyone will fall for it.” Joe thought he had always known this rule, but Julian had really convinced him of its reality; the contrast between just plain Julian Umland, the wide-eyed, pearl-dripping, naïve little Mrs. Welles who the snotty sorts saw, and Lady Julian the Feudal Overlord was impressive, and he’d seen people responding differently to those three personages with his own eyes. “And you’ll have something to brag about at home,” he added, though this was possibly not as important when one didn’t have four fairly accomplished older siblings to compete against. “Have, er, a good time there this summer?”

16 Joe Drama seems more suited to a game. 329 Joe 0 5

Masha Adin

February 04, 2018 4:24 PM

You probably don’t want to eat that by Masha Adin

Masha tried not to flinch when the boy sat next to her. It wasn’t so much that he was a boy but more that she saw him talking to other kids. She assumed he is a chatty type and she was not in a chatty mood.

She sighed a silent relief when the boy didn’t start talking right away.

Too many foods were at the table. Some of it familiar some of it not. She carefully took a bit of chicken meat and some potatoes, carefully picking a fruit for later. The boy next to her took Indian dish she was familiar with. In a way she was impressed - the dish was spicy hot. Masha didn’t like spicy food, at least not spicy food that had a tendency to burn your mouth.

“Das is spicy hot,”

Masha blushed. The boy was talking to her. And not just talking - he used the foreign word. One she was unfamiliar with. Clenching her hands around knife and fork she glanced at the boy with a tight smile.

Should I just nod or respond?

Masha decided that response might be expected. The boy was polite and it looked to her like he was trying to warn her. After all, if she keeps conversation on food, nothing can go wrong. Hoping that she is doing the right thing she mimicked boys informal way of addressing.

“It is if you don’t like spicy hot food you should avoid Indian food.” Masha didn’t know too many Indian dishes, but all dishes Mrs Inamari made were hot “That is Khichdi. Mrs Inamari always puts ginger and cayenne peppers and other hot things inside. It is hot.”

She did it again. Every time! Every time she was forced to talk when she was nervous Masha would start to talk, giving the unnecessary information to her surroundings. Well, if she didn’t somehow offend the boy, he would probably run away from her.

That is how it always was. She would say something unnecessary stupid and kids would just start avoiding her.

OOC: By the description, I’d say the meal is Khichdi, it can be hot spicy or not. Traditionally it is (even if Indian people would say it is not :D ), but that varies depending on the part of India - each part has its own unique flavour.

0 Masha Adin You probably don’t want to eat that 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Nathaniel

February 04, 2018 4:29 PM

I’m not sure Sylvia will allow it. by Nathaniel

Kir McLeod did not think they needed to stand on ceremony, but Nathaniel noticed he had a pin with what appeared to be his surname on it. The word foundation made Nathaniel slightly wary – foundations held fundraisers, fundraisers were social functions, and social functions were things Mama preferred to avoid since they’d lost his father – but at least the things Kir McLeod from Nowhere was saying sounded good for the moment.

“I see,” said Nathaniel seriously. “Thank you for letting me know, Kir.”

Then Kir asked about Sylvia and Nathaniel tried – and somewhat failed – not to wince. So they had made a bit of a scene after all, then. They did bear some resemblance to each other, of course, they were first cousins, but the strongest point of similarity was the eyes, which he was pretty sure Kir had been too far away to note. He had his mother’s curlier, lighter brown hair, unlike the darker Mordue look Sylvia and Simon shared.

“I did,” he said. “Miss Mordue is my cousin.” He was quite sure Sylvia would not be okay with a person she didn’t know being informal about or with her. “Er – you might know this, I hope you don’t mind me asking – she said she was going to sort ‘this’ out. I guess she meant me being in Teppenpaw – Is that, er, something she can actually do?” If so, Nathaniel suspected he was the one who was going to end up being a bit unpopular with both Houses, more than he thought he already was with the other first-year Teppenpaw. The literature had talked about Houses being like families, so he couldn’t imagine the Crotalus family would be happy with a late, unexpected addition or the Teppenpaw family with what it was sure to view as a betrayal, though Nathaniel wouldn’t think of it that way himself. Sylvia was his actual family, and only the scum of the earth would put anything ahead of actual family.

16 Nathaniel I’m not sure Sylvia will allow it. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

February 04, 2018 8:48 PM

You are probably right by Heinrich Hexenmeister

The girl blushed when he addressed her, and for a second he thought maybe she was shy and wouldn't respond at all, but then she did. She had an accent that he didn't think was German but it seemed easier somehow to understand than the Americans he'd spoken to earlier. Accented or not, though, she was a much better English speaker than he felt he was. She also told him the name of the rice, though he was sure he would never remember it as anything other than 'hot yellow rice.' The hot parts were apparently 'Ginger' and 'Cheyenne Pepper'. He recognized the Pfeffer well enough, as they sounded a lot alike between the two languages. However, his knowledge of spices was limited in German and worse in English, so he wasn't quite sure what 'Ginger' was. But if it had Cheyenne Pepper in it, then yeah. Hot. He used his fork to push the rest of it to the side of his plate and decided he'd had enough of that.

"Danke," he thanked her, forgetting again to use the language of his new school. He realized his mistake and corrected, "Thank you, I mean. I am called Heinrich," he introduced himself, figuring he may as well do that now that she had shared part of a recipe with him.

He pointed at a different rice dish, that looked like it was just plain and safe white rice, but he figured he may as well ask, "Is that safe rice? It tastes not spicy hot?"

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister You are probably right 1414 Heinrich Hexenmeister 0 5

Amelia Layne

February 05, 2018 11:20 PM

I'm for it...I think. by Amelia Layne

The summer had been fairly unremarkable for Amelia and her grandparents, at least until the end of the summer, when it had become a bit more interesting for Granddad and Grandmother. They were both excited about officially being great-(well, step-great, in Grandmother’s case)grandparents since Alicia had had her sons in August, and Granddad, of course, was thrilled with everything about the situation – that he had great-grandchildren, that said great-grandchildren were related to important people, that said great-grandchildren had really, really pretentious, to Amelia’s mind slightly stupid-sounding middle names….

The only thing keeping Granddad, at least, from being over the moon was that they had not actually met Amelia’s miniature half-first cousins once removed. Aunt Emily had been to Mt. Pierce a couple of times, but while no-one had actually said anything to Amelia, she had gathered that Alicia had not exactly been pleased by the thought of her mother playing the doting, involved grandmama. In fact, the overall impression Amelia got was that Alicia was intensely possessive of Alexander and Nicholas (who named a kid born in August ‘Nicholas’? Wasn’t that name pretty much synonymous with Christmas?) to the point of not really wanting to share them with anyone but her husband and dead determined that being related to the Laynes and Bauers should be a) something about them which was brought up as little as possible and b) something about them which would not stand in their way.

”I could have told them Ali was going to be like that,” Lionel had remarked to Amelia, but only to Amelia – over the summer, Amelia had discovered that he had nearly made Granddad have a stroke in the winter by first quitting the job Uncle Geoff had gotten him and then later participating in an unsuccessful political campaign of some kind that Granddad had not approved of. Lionel seemed unfazed by it all, but clearly did not wish to provoke Granddad too much again. Stating point-blank that Alicia regarded being part of their family as a Bad Thing would be the kind of thing which could constitute provoking Granddad severely, and even Amelia knew this, which meant Lionel definitely knew this. Accordingly, he just hadn’t said anything about it to anyone else.

Amelia couldn’t understand why her brother was not doing what they knew they were supposed to do – take the best jobs their connections could get them, only get involved with the right organizations, stuff Granddad and Aunt Emily and Alicia and Uncle Geoff would approve of, work hard and get ahead by whatever means necessary – but she couldn’t bring herself to be furious with him about it. How, after all, did it really hurt her that Lionel was doing his own thing? Or even that Alicia wanted to hover over her infants and pretend that the rest of the family didn’t exist? Amelia had her own problems, one of which Headmaster Brockert obligingly mentioned in his speech….

When Amelia was four or five, she would have thought a ball sounded like a splendid idea. At fourteen going on fifteen, she was somewhat less enthralled. Balls meant really uncomfortable shoes and really uncomfortable dresses and, of course, being very aware that she was Doing It Wrong. Alicia went to balls. Rachel and Aunt Emily could no doubt manage at need. Amelia…was not any of them. She was just her: the not-thin-enough, flyaway-brown-blond hair, round-faced one with the Squib mother, no father, no money, and no particular skills that she could ascertain. So this was probably gonna suck, and Granddad and Grandmother weren’t going to admit the possibility until it had already completely and totally sucked.

The food at Sonora, however, usually failed to do that, so Amelia turned her attention to it. “Hey,” she said to a younger Aladren, a boy, who was doing the same. “Mind handing me those potatoes there?”

” Hmm..? What? Sorry... I was, somewhere else."

“No problem,” said Amelia. “I was just asking for potatoes. Were you anywhere interesting?”

16 Amelia Layne I'm for it...I think. 360 Amelia Layne 0 5

Jasmine Delachene

February 06, 2018 11:06 AM

Idle speculation by Jasmine Delachene

Jasmine was a second year now and Sonora was turning out reasonably well. She still didn’t have the equivalent of the Ladies that her mother had manage to gather around her, but she had Peyton as a best friend which was nothing to sneeze at. Some people never found a best friend, so Jasmine was going to be glad for the one she had rather than lament over not having two more.

Plus, Arianna Tate was something like an older sister she could call upon, even if she did sometimes felt kind of small and young around the fifth year Aladren, especially now that Arianna was a prefect. Tatiana was a friend too, but there was a language and cultural barrier there that made it unlikely they would ever become as close as her and Peyton. But Tatiana was a good person with excellent taste in jewelry so Jasmine liked her.

And Gary, well, Jasmine wasn’t quite sure what to make of Gary. He was a bit odd, but nice enough. Probably not True Love potential though. She wasn’t entirely convinced any of the boys in her year were quite Fairy Tale Prince material. Though she thought Dorian spoke French. Grandmere Delachene would like that.

She looked out toward the other Houses (as Crotalus was sadly boy-less for second years) contemplating the options. It was a ball year, after all, as the Headmaster had kindly reminded everyone.

“To you suppose a boy will ask us to the ball?” she idly wondered aloud to her female dinner companion. “Do you have your eye on anyone in particular?”

1 Jasmine Delachene Idle speculation 1397 Jasmine Delachene 0 5

Gary

February 06, 2018 8:37 PM

You sound... uncertain. by Gary

Gary smiled a little sheepishly at the older girl as he passed her the requested dish. "I was..." He had been where, doing what? I was trying to figure out how to convince some wizards-in-training to sit around a table and play make believe with me on a regular basis. Yeah... that wasn't going to work. At home it had seemed like such a good idea, getting a group of students together to play some D&D. When he had told Dad about it, Dad thought it would be a blast and had told him to do it, he wanted to hear all about it. Now all of the sudden... trying to explain it to someone who probably had no idea at all what it was, struck him as silly. He wanted to do it, he wanted to play, to run a game here. He needed people for that, but... despite being here a whole year, he didn't really have any close friends. Which meant he'd have to talk to people he didn't know all that well about something he liked a lot, and risk facing their derision or scorn. Was it worth it? Dad had pointed out that it is a great way to actually make friends, but first... He sighed. "Sorry, I was just thinking about starting up a club type thing. Students can do that, right? How would someone go about doing that?"

He really needed a friend with a high charisma stat to handle recruitment for him. This is why adventuring parties have people with varied skills. As he understood the school's houses, most of the charisma-based students were in Crotalus or Pecari. Jasmine was in Crotalus... hmmm... He shifted that thought to the back-burner of his mind to cook away a bit. As for now, he should probably work on improving his own stats, in case all else failed. To that end, he decided to attempt some further social interaction. The simplest way to go about that, he reasoned was to fall back on the cliche formulas for just such an occasion, "So, did you have a good summer?" He asked the girl and almost immediately regretted it. Now she'd respond, and he'd have to figure out something else to say. He was doomed.

2 Gary You sound... uncertain. 1404 Gary 0 5

Amelia

February 06, 2018 9:53 PM

Just hedging my bets. by Amelia

The younger kid – Gary, she thought; the House was kind of small, and while Aladrens were known for liking to remain in their own little worlds, it was easy enough to pick up on who people were generally – seemed down as he talked about what he’d had on his mind. Amelia could sympathize; it seemed like quite the logistical feat, organizing a club.

“I guess I’d start asking around,” she said. “To make sure there was interest, and then I’d talk to the teachers until I found one who’d agree to be sponsor, and then I’d ask the Heads of Houses to put up signs in their common rooms.” There were other places to post fliers, of course, but Amelia knew she tended to look to her own House’s board first. “Then I’d just cross my fingers and hope for the best,” she half-joked. She lacked enemies, which was good, but also the close associates who could drag in their friends and acquaintances and boyfriends’ siblings and objects of blackmail to make sure the thing was a success, which would make a certain amount of luck necessary should she attempt something like that.

“Pretty boring, honestly,” she said of her summer. “It’s too hot to live at home, so it’s just sit around and read and try not to melt most of the time – don’t live in the South on the coast. It’s awful this time of year, and the several months before now. Hope you had a better time?”

16 Amelia Just hedging my bets. 360 Amelia 0 5

Kir McLeod

February 07, 2018 7:51 AM

But Sylvia isn't here by Kir McLeod

“I don’t think so,” Kir replied, when Nathaniel said that his cousin planned to ‘sort this out.’ He tried to not immediately jump to the conclusion that said cousin was a spoilt little brat. He supposed being separated from one’s family was not necessarily a particularly nice thing to have to go through. However, the idea of a first year somehow over-ruling the sorting potion’s decision - thinking that they could do that… “I’ve never heard of anyone being moved,” he added, not wanting to give the boy false hope. That was if he wanted to move. His cousin wanted him to, but Kir rather liked the impartiality of the sorting potion. It didn’t care what your cousin or your mum or dad wanted. He didn’t even think it particularly took note of what you wanted. It took note of who you were. It might take him some time, but he hoped Nathaniel would find what suited him about his house, and be happy there.

“It probably won’t make too much difference though. I mean, you only have to sit with your house for special occasions, like the feasts. So, you can still take all your other meals with your cousin, and you’ll be in classes together,” hoping to comfort him if he was worried about being apart from his family. That was a natural and understable reaction.

“You’re Simon’s… relative too then?” he added, as the surname filtered through. He was so used to not caring who was who, but it was hard not to know everyone’s names in a school this small. “I’m in the same year as him,” he added, feeling that this being the most obvious way to describe their relationship spoke volumes about the extent to which it did not exist. He wasn’t sure Simon Mordue knew more about him than his name, and was pretty sure he’d detest anything more he did know.

13 Kir McLeod But Sylvia isn't here 366 Kir McLeod 0 5

Nathaniel

February 07, 2018 12:29 PM

I'm not sure that bothers her too much. by Nathaniel

I don’t think so.

Nathaniel’s eyes widened a little, as though he could not quite believe what he was hearing. Of course he could – Sylvia usually got what she wanted, but not always, nobody always did, and Nathaniel had suspected this was the case himself. That wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was twofold: for one thing, he was going to have to spend all night worrying about it, and for another, more serious thing, the plan – that Sylvia led and Nathaniel let her do the talking, at least until they were sure nobody either knew or at least was going to talk about That Matter – was blown.

“I see,” he said.

Kir was in the same year as Simon. Nathaniel made a note to ask his cousin about his new companion in that case – his tutors were usually of the opinion it was good to check two books. “Simon’s also my cousin,” he said. “His father is my uncle.”

And more than that. Uncle Alexander was the most stable thing, aside from Sylvia, in Nathaniel’s life. Nathaniel knew he and his mother and his brother really owed his uncle everything – Uncle Alexander had his own family, Aunt Avery and his own two children, to take care of, but he had proven the sort of grown-up wizard Nathaniel hoped to be in also taking care of his sister-in-law and his nephews after Father had – after they’d lost Nathaniel’s father. However, this was a great deal more than Nathaniel really wanted to explain to anyone, much less someone he’d just met.

“Simon’s the eldest son of the eldest son, so he’s more important than the rest of us,” added Nathaniel instead, as apparently Teppenpaws were a relaxed lot and Nathaniel wouldn’t necessarily benefit from looking more important than he really was. “He’s told us about Crotalus, but not much about the other Houses – can you tell me more about Teppenpaw?” At least this would relieve Nathaniel of the burden of dancing around what to say and what not to say for a minute or two.

16 Nathaniel I'm not sure that bothers her too much. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Masha Adin

February 07, 2018 1:38 PM

I don’t know that much about food by Masha Adin

Masha looked while boy carefully pushed the Indian dish to the edge of the plate. At least she did help a little bit. It appeared that he didn’t like hot food any more than she did.

"Danke,"

That language again. She did recognise the word, however, even if she didn’t know the meaning. Definitely European. She heard it loads of times on the streets among groups of tourists.

"Thank you, I mean. I am called Heinrich,"

Masha smiled shyly at the boy. She remembered one time they had to wait for 4h in Munich airport for their flight. She heard that word a lot. Also, boy’s name sounded like he’s from that part of the world. Panic! She didn’t know anything about his country or their customs.

“Это нормально” she nodded and then froze. That is what she would reply to her parents, after all ‘It’s ok’ was customary reply to ‘thank you’ in her home. But she wasn’t at home.
Hoping that boy didn’t hear her, she barely whispered the words, after all, she cleared her throat.

“You are welcome. I’m Masha.”

Masha sighed a breath of relief when she noticed that the boy directed his attention to food again. He was pointing at another rice dish, obviously thinking that she knows something about cooking.

"Is that safe rice? It tastes not spicy hot?"

She glanced at the direction he pointed and shook her head.

“I think this is plain rice.” If he keeps asking about each dish, we will have a problem

She smiled at the boy encouragingly, blushing, wanting him to take the rice and stop asking about food before she runs out of the answers.

OOC: Это нормально - It is normal, which can be used as it's ok in informal surroundings

0 Masha Adin I don’t know that much about food 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Lily

February 07, 2018 7:03 PM

I blame youthful passions. by Lily

It was certainly not proper to be seen hanging about Muggles, but Lily took pride that she wasn’t from such a high-profile family that pure-bloods waited thirstily for some sort of scandal to pounce on. Her cousin Rupert, on the other hand, was at the moment dangerously close to being disowned because of his muggle-born fiancée. It was the talk of the family these days – one usually wrought with raised voices and harsh tones – and though Lily did like him very much, she also understood the importance of blood status. It was one thing to flirt around with Muggles and befriend them, but very different to marry one and bring them into one’s family.

“Oh, I never told my mum whose parties they were. She just hated that I was out late at night with strangers she’d never met. Mum’s tried to control me before, but alas I prove to be very stubborn. Don’t tell anyone, it’s not exactly public knowledge.” Lily was rubbish at keeping secrets, but she trusted Ingrid not to spread it around. She didn’t believe anyone would be surprised that she’d been hanging around with Muggles, what with her boyish attire and apparent lack of femininity.

Ingrid’s question reminded Lily that she hadn’t told her the history of the Muggle boys she used to call friends. “Well, London’s a big city and I get bored at home a lot so I go out and explore. I used to go with my brothers, but they’re all grown and whatnot now. I became friends with a group of Muggle boys my age a couple of years ago. We just played sports together, mostly, and I met others from their school through them. My parents have no idea, really, just Adam. The boys kicked me out of their group after some drama happened between me and another boy last winter—most loathsome boy I’ve ever met—but the girls still kept in touch and invited me to hang out with them during the summer. As for their parties, they drink liquor that adults drink, like my dad, except it tastes different from what I had imagined. And they put music on but the way they dance is not something you’d ever see at a ball. I didn’t really know what to do except copy the friends I was with. Others just stand around chatting with their drinks. No one dressed up in fancy robes either. But everyone was very open and friendly, which is why I went back a few times.” There was a certain energy that she did like about it, and she wouldn't mind attending again next summer.

"That’d be brilliant,” said Lily, returning the smile. “I can always use flying tips and I’d be happy to train with you even though we’re in different positions.

“Well look at you, Ingrid,” teased Lily. “Good for you.” If she’d ever gotten with one of Jack’s friends, he would’ve been furious with her. “Yes! I hate it when they do that. Adam doesn’t, but both Charlotte and Jack do that to me all the time. Sometimes it’s the worst being the youngest. What’d Theodore say to you? But more importantly, are you and that college boy still seeing each other?”

40 Lily I blame youthful passions. 357 Lily 0 5

Gary

February 07, 2018 8:00 PM

What's the worst that could happen? by Gary

Gary could feel his eyes widen and jaw begin to drop, while he listened to Amelia run over the suggested steps. He could literally feel the wave of anxiety starting to draw him in before crashing over and drowning him in a panic attack. She was suggesting talking to people, a lot of people. Then after that, to go talk to teachers, and try to convince them that they should back his idea. After that was talking to even more people, the older students and convince them to do something for him. That was all crazy, there was no way he could do that. His eye began to twitch at the thought, all those people... It was a relatively new experience for him, as he wasn't typically prone to panic attacks. That was probably his saving grace. As it had become accustomed to doing with new experiences, his brain suddenly shunted all of that raw emotion to the side for analysis. The result was not unexpected, talking to lots of strangers was not something he was going to be able to do. He did his best to compose himself again. "Sorry about that. I... I'm not sure I'm up for that level of social interaction. Maybe I'll just have to start smaller... an unofficial group of like-minded individuals?" He tried to make a smile. "I'd still have to assess interest and interact with some people..." His mumbled musings continued for a few moments as he stared off into space. Then he shrugged and turned back to the girl whose name he still didn't know, but might have to make an effort to find out sometime. "I'll have to figure something out I guess."

"Too hot?" He nodded at the south coast comment, "Yeah, I could believe that. I'm from around Chicago so we don't quite get those kinds of temperatures. If it was too hot to live at home, did you go somewhere else?" He thought about how his own summer had gone, it had been good to be back home with Dad again. He had started feeling awful homesick by the end of the year. "My summer was pretty good. I don't know if I could use the word boring to describe it, but it was mainly just hanging out with Dad and friends." That cursed demilitch had beaten them again over the summer. One of these days... one of these days...

2 Gary What's the worst that could happen? 1404 Gary 0 5

Amelia

February 07, 2018 8:28 PM

Rocks fall, everyone dies. by Amelia

It did not take Amelia long to realize that her plan for starting a club might not be one suited to Gary’s interests. The look on his face and things he mumbled after she wrapped up were pretty strong hints in that direction, anyway, along with his suggestion of…she wasn’t quite sure what he meant, actually, with his group of like-minded people. Wasn’t that pretty much the definition of a club? Or did he mean to keep it below the radar enough for the teachers not to notice? Now that was an intriguing idea….

Oh, Great Merlin. I really am related to Granddad, aren’t I?

“Stuff you do with people usually does involve interacting with them,” agreed Amelia. “Even Seeking – though most of that involves other people hitting Bludgers at you a lot.” John Umland had either been seriously annoyed with her for not being his dearly departed BFF Clark Dill or - as had been the official case at least - had been of the opinion that bruises would teach her what did and didn’t work with some efficiency. Amelia wasn’t sure if his opinion had been right or not – on one hand, she’d never won anything, but on the other, well, she had gotten rather good at not getting hit before John left school.

“Nope,” laughed Amelia when Gary asked if they had gone somewhere else. “Granddad still works, so we all just have to stay indoors as much as we can and try not to melt. Uncle Geoff says it builds character, if you don’t die of heat stroke first.” She nodded at his description of his summer, which involved a cooler place, a dad, and friends. “That sounds pretty nice,” she said. “I’m guessing you’re from the magical part of the city?” she asked, assuming this on the basis of his mentioning having friends. Friends were items she and Lionel had always sort of been discouraged from having, as most of their neighbors weren’t wizards.

16 Amelia Rocks fall, everyone dies. 360 Amelia 0 5

Parker Fitzgerald

February 08, 2018 9:30 PM

Age and Wisdom aren't synonyms but go on by Parker Fitzgerald

Parker looked up from his plate as the boy next to him reached across to grab something. It reminded Parker that there was food in front of him. His mother had told him about needing to eat certain foods if Parker did want to get stronger so he could take a hit when he was home, but Parker couldn’t remember what foods and just wasn't hungry.

His neighbor started talking to him as Parker stared off a bit. Parker laughed at the Transfiguration comment. Transfiguration wasn't his strongest class. Actually it was probably his worst class. Parker turned towards his neighbor for the first time. He recognized the older boy, but not one that he had ever had any long conversations with, but he looked like he had a mischievous nature to him, and Parker liked him in that moment immediately.

"Until last year I didn't even know there was a word called Transfiguration, so I've the zoning out in that down pretty well. Also the looking at others papers from time to time to make sure I didn't miss too much." Parker paused and took a breath and tried to put a smile on his face.

"Sorry for being mopey. Was excited to see someone, and it looks like she might not be here this year which sucks," Parker said as he went for a roll that was in front of him, trying to get himself to eat something.

41 Parker Fitzgerald Age and Wisdom aren't synonyms but go on 1402 Parker Fitzgerald 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

February 10, 2018 10:13 AM

We have that in common by Heinrich Hexenmeister

His very first thought when the other first year spoke and said something completely incomprehensible was that it couldn't possibly be even English. Much of English was incomprehensible to him, but he felt he knew enough by now that he could at least recognize when it was being spoken, and that wasn't it. That somehow made him feel more confident in his English skills, because as foreign as it still sounded, it wasn't that foreign.

His second thought was relief. Relief that he wasn't the only one letting their native language slip out without meaning to. He felt a sudden kinship toward Masha. They didn't speak the same native language, but they seemed at least to be in same position of being utterly surrounded by the unfamiliar. It was good to know he wasn't the only one. Uncle Karl said Sonora was friendly toward international students, but it suddenly seemed a lot easier knowing he wasn't the only one in his year group.

"Thank you, Masha," he said again, careful this time to use their shared second language, and took some plain white rice. "I am from Germany," he told her, so she knew what the language was that he occasionally slipped into. "My German still comes out sometimes, too. What language was that? Where come you from?"

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister We have that in common 1414 Heinrich Hexenmeister 0 5

Kir

February 11, 2018 12:40 AM

I don't know, she seems very bothered by this whole thing by Kir

Ouch. What kind of family raised kids to believe that one of them was more important than the rest? Well, mental Pureblood ones, obviously, which was part of the reason why his family’s foundation existed. It wasn’t just the LGBTQ+ angle, although that was their main thing, but the whole toxic culture that went with Pureblood society. It was strange to think… He was the eldest son of an eldest son. But he struggled to think of himself and his dad in those terms. It made sense, he supposed, that he couldn’t see himself that way - the lineage and the things that went with it had been gone before he was born, and he had never been part of that world. But his dad had spent his formative years in that society. Kir could never imagine it. His dad was the little brother, and he filled that role so spectacularly, always looking up to Aunt Catriona, always going to her for advice, even now… He couldn’t imagine a family where his dad had been poised to take charge. Not that Aunt Catriona was exactly champing at the bit to be the supreme leader of anything. She was on the quieter side. But he couldn’t imagine dad being more important than she was. He could definitely not imagine anyone letting him think for a second that he was valued more highly than his sister. And he was glad of all of that because it all seemed so wrong.

“Teppenpaws are known for friendly co-operation, diplomacy and improving themselves and others,” he explained. “Hopefully that doesn’t sound like too terrible a group of people to spend time with,” he added with a smile, “People often nickname us the friendly house. Sometimes people make out that Teppenpaws are a bit soft, or they don’t value those characteristics as highly as they should - though I guess that’s true of how most houses feel about each other, to an extent. I’d certainly rather be considered friendly than adventurous or proper,” he mused, leaving out Aladren because he identified with more of those traits than he did Crotalus or Pecari. “I mean, people don’t generally fit exactly into one of four neat little boxes. Most people have a few different houses in them. And no one house is better or more important than the others. I generally don’t believe people are either,” he added. He didn’t want to go into full lecture debate mode on Nathaniel, as he was aware that was probably pretty intimidating, coming from a much older student, on his first day, and when it went against a lot of what he’d been taught to believe. But the way Nathaniel had so casually spoken about himself as unimportant had struck a note with him, and he really wanted him to know that there was a different way of thinking, and that he did matter. Which, Kir supposed, was only natural, as a Teppenpaw, interested in the development of others.

13 Kir I don't know, she seems very bothered by this whole thing 366 Kir 0 5

Nathaniel

February 11, 2018 1:28 AM

That’s with me not being there, not her not being here. by Nathaniel

“No, not at all,” murmured Nathaniel politely when Kir commented that Teppenpaws didn’t sound like too terrible a group to belong to. He did, however, frown slightly upon hearing that Teppenpaw had a reputation for being soft. That was no good. He had to be strong, always. He had responsibilities now.

But what if I can’t? What if I’m just – like that? What if some people are just like that, and Father was one, and now I’m one?

No. He couldn’t think like that. He was not like his father. He would be strong, be a real wizard. If there had been something wrong with his father, some illness in his head or something, it would have been like Mama’s headaches: they would have taken care of him and tried to keep him comfortable and away from things that could make it worse. Instead, though, Father had been cast into the outer darkness, rejected altogether, and this was because he had been weak and done bad things. Nathaniel would not be like him.

“But some are,” said Nathaniel when Kir remarked that he didn’t generally believe that some people were more important than others. That statement made him rather uncomfortable – it was only the ‘generally’ which remotely saved it. If there weren’t some people who were – well, not more important to him, or to anyone, emotionally, but more important than others – then everything would be chaos. Uncle Alexander had been raised to lead and he was therefore able to take care of them all. Of course, Sylvia made a better leader than Simon, but – well, there had to be rules, and Simon was the one with the rights and right education. “Like the ones with badges,” he added, to keep it technically about Teppenpaw and the school.

16 Nathaniel That’s with me not being there, not her not being here. 1412 Nathaniel 0 5

Ingrid

February 14, 2018 8:47 AM

Chance would be a fine thing by Ingrid

Eek. So Lily had secrets. Secrets she now wanted Ingrid to keep. That wasn’t exactly hard – Ingrid had a limited number of people she could tell, and she wasn’t really all that gossipy, unlike a lot of Pureblood girls. But that was exactly why she didn’t want to be burdened with other people’s secrets. Secrets were like having a powerful curse at your fingertips, one you weren’t entirely sure how to control… And then, if it came out, there was all this fallout. There would be suspicion from Lily that Ingrid had been the one to betray her. There would be people questioning whether, being close to Lily, she had known this kind of thing was going on…

“Your secrets are safe with me,” she promised, “Just… try to not get disowned, yeah?” she requested.

The party for sure sounded interesting. Drinking and dirty dancing. She’d heard of less formal parties at college where that kind of thing went on… She’d seen the non-Pureblood contingent dancing at school events. Some of them tried to emulate proper dancing, but some just seemed happy to move around to the music. Or to move in on each other.

“Ugh, you’ll never believe it,” she rolled her eyes, when Lily asked what Theodore had said. “He forbade me from seeing him. Even if Freddie wasn’t super cute, I’d go after him now just to annoy Theodore. Starting to see each other would have been nice,” she sighed, when Lily asked if she and college boy were still seeing each other. “My family watched us likes hawks.” Ok, so Jemima’s eyes were a little less vigilant than Theodore’s. They’d been able to push the boundaries a bit more when she was “supervising” with her nose stuck in a magazine, but it had been hard to take it beyond teasing and flirting. There had been one night where she’d slipped out… But she shied away from telling Lily. She preferred her secrets to stay that way. At least until she knew…. “What happened with you and your guy?”

13 Ingrid Chance would be a fine thing 322 Ingrid 0 5

Kir

February 14, 2018 8:56 AM

Hmmm by Kir

“Well, true,” he acknowledged, when Nathaniel pointed out that there were some people who were more important, like prefects. “I guess some people get given an important job to do, and then that might mean they get treated a certain way. I think prefects have their own lounge, and stuff like that… But there’s other ways where they’re still not more important than other people. Their feelings, their ambitions - what they want out of life.

“It just sounded like you were putting yourself down, that’s all,” he added, deciding that they might be getting a bit too philosophical for a first day back. “And I know if my parents heard me saying that I was more important than my sister, I’d get a massive lecture.” There’s families out there where being the oldest boy doesn’t get you everything handed to you on a plate, he added to himself, but decided to just leave implied for now.

“So, uh, is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to at school?” he asked, trying to shift the conversation to a less controversial area, unless it turned out he was mistaken and Nathaniel wanted to go there. “The house team needs Quidditch players, if that interests you.”

13 Kir Hmmm 366 Kir 0 5

Lily

February 15, 2018 5:39 PM

This feels like a new level of friendship. by Lily

Unlike the Muggle girls Lily had spent time with during the summer, she felt a stronger camaraderie with the older witch. Sharing a magical background made her feel less guarded about what she talked about, and she liked chatting with someone who understood the hierarchies and expectations as a pure-blood. Perhaps getting older made her appreciate those connections more.

"Thanks. I'm not too worried about that, but I'll do my best," she replied. "I like to explore, but I'm not as wild about it anymore." So she said. In the eyes of the rest of her family, she would probably be considered the black sheep. Her father loved her too much to disown her, however, and of that she was confident. Unlike her cousins, her family was close because they loved each other, not because they had to be.

Ingrid's brother sounded just like Jack and Lily sighed in sympathy with her. The most Jack had done was try to dissuade her from joining Quidditch and demand her to stop playing with him and his friends, but he'd just made her want to join even more. Lily shook her head. "That's too bad," she said. "I'd think about running away if my family was that invasive." She didn't mention that her mother was just like that, but she was the only one.

Lily wasn't quite certain how to respond to Ingrid's question. Did she want the 'dirty details' or their relationship status? "We're not together," she began. "Over the summer we just had fun. We didn't, well, do it, mostly just snogged a lot. I think I like partners who are up for adventure and exploring more than all that romance. Alex was too into the other stuff and I didn't want to go all the way with a guy I'd just met. You'll think this sounds mental, but I couldn't shake off this guilty feeling the entire time, like I wasn't doing something right. I don't know why, I just ignored it, but it made it easier for me to end things before coming here." Lily sighed. "You're the first person I told about that, and it makes me feel better sharing it with someone else."

40 Lily This feels like a new level of friendship. 357 Lily 0 5

Beau Tate

February 16, 2018 12:21 AM

Yes. by Beau Tate

Beau stood with the other first years, looking a tad bit bored. The tour and orientation had seemed like one massive info dump that he just didn't need. His sister went here, his mother had gone here. His aunts and uncles and grandparents. Et cetera.

Okay, the Sorting ceremony was different than the one his mother or sister had had, but it wasn't as if he didn't know about it. While he waited impatiently, Beau considered the houses. Aladren and Crotalus were out. They sounded boring and his sister was in the latter. He didn't really get on with Arianna well and was often torn between staying out of her way and winding her up. It just depended on his mood.

And Teppenpaw just didn't seem like it would suit him. They sounded too....goody-two-shoes. Also boring. Pecari definitely sounded the most fun. Besides, Arianna didn't seem to like them much so that made it much more appealing. Yeah, Pecari was the place to be.

His turn finally came and he dunked his badge. Beau pulled it out of the potion and took a look. Brown! Yes! Pecari he came!

He sat down across from the other new Pecari and let the Headmaster finish talking, nearly gagging as prefects were announced. Who would see fit to give Arianna power? Were they all crazy or had she manipulated them into it? Beau would certainly not put it past her to do the latter. She probably had but the next few years before she graduated were going to massively suck with her lording it over him and everyone else.

At least he didn't have to be in the same house for her. Which Beau would be eternally grateful for.

He was looking over his options for dinner when his apparent roommate spoke up and introduced himself. Beau tried not to snicker. Mikey?? Who over the age of five would go by Mikey ?? Presumably the boy was named Michael which was a perfectly normal thing to go by-in fact it was Beau's middle name-or even Mike. Mike was much cooler.

Still, he replied. " Nice to meet you. I'm Beau Tate of the Napa Valley Tates." Introductions always provided a bit of a challenge for him, honestly. First of all, his full name was Beauregard, but he didn't really want people to know that because it was an incredibly stupid name, though right now, he was glad his parents named him that and not Michael because that would get confusing. At least Beau had a name he could shorten, which was the best thing about it.

Furthermore, he actually lived in Jamaica, not Napa Valley. His father's family lived in Napa Valley where they owned a winery so that was the proper branch. "I live in Jamaica though." This bit Beau always tried to clarify. "Colorado, you say? I have relatives there."

11 Beau Tate Yes. 1416 Beau Tate 0 5

Ingrid

February 18, 2018 7:20 AM

Hurrah by Ingrid

Lily seemed to be sure she wouldn’t be disowned for her wayward behaviour. Ingrid was still slightly unconvinced. Or rather, even if Lily’s family wouldn’t disown her, that there wouldn’t be other serious consequences to lying, drinking with Muggles and kissing unsuitable boys. She guessed she just had to hope for the best.

“They’re not that bad,” she laughed, when Lily said she’d run away. “I mean, ok, if I had to live with Theodore ruling my life? Then yeah, maybe. But he doesn’t. He can tell me what to do until he’s blue in the face but it doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. I don’t think my parents have a problem with me dating Freddie, they just didn’t want us getting up to mischief.

“I don’t think it sounds.. uh, mental,” she replied, echoing Lily’s choice of words. She would have thought Lily was more mental if she had done it with a boy she barely knew. And it wasn’t mental to feel like she was doing something wrong when, essentially, she was. She’d lied to her family and got with a Muggle. Ingrid was pretty sure she’d have a guilty conscience about that if she’d done it. “Maybe you felt like that cos it involved sneaking around? Even if you don’t really care what your mother thinks, it’s still probably going to make you feel a bit weird on some level, right?” she asked, trying to phrase her thoughts into a slightly less accusatory tone.Mostly snogged. Lily wanted adventure but Alex was into the other stuff. They hadn’t done it but… well, there were a few levels between snogging and doing it, although she figured that Lily had told her as much as she wanted to. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to really hear whether Lily had done any other things. She just wanted to know what other girls of a similar age to her were willing to do with the guys they liked so that she could know whether she herself was a slut or a prude (and whether there was actually any comfortable area in the middle where you weren’t either), but preferably without having to have that actual conversation cos it was still kind of embarrassing.

“I’m glad,” she said, when Lily said she felt better for sharing. “It’s nice for me too. Swing by my room any time you want a chat. It’s only me and Mischief so we’ll always have privacy - unless she gossips to the other cats,” she smiled.

13 Ingrid Hurrah 322 Ingrid 0 5

Masha Adin

February 20, 2018 4:37 PM

What now? by Masha Adin

The boy thanked Masha and then he said:

"I am from Germany,"

Germany! A country in Europe. I don’t know anything about Germany!

Masha was starting to panic. The only bit of good news was that the boy didn’t seem offended so far by anything she said or done. She smiled shyly at him and nodded, losing great deal of her confidence.

"My German still comes out sometimes, too. What language was that? Where come you from?" asked the boy.

He seemed friendly, but his questions were the reason for Masha to start panicking again. First in the Gardens girl asked her about blood now this! She tried to smile again but failed. Masha had no idea how to explain where is she from.

For a brief time, she contemplated not to answer, but that seemed rude. Finally, she opted to reply to the easiest of two questions.

“That was Russian. My parents are from Russia. We speak Russian at home.” She tried to smile again, uncertain how to explain next “Ummm….I’m born in Egypt, but we don’t live there or in Russia. We… ummmm …. Move a lot. Because of my mama’s work.”

She closed her eyes briefly and peeked at the boy. Masha had no idea where she is coming from - the question never arose until now. She supposed she is Russian because of her parents or maybe Egyptian because it was written on her passport. She could always say that she is resident of the World, but that seemed like a bit too much to say.

Holding her breath she hoped that the boy won’t mind her vague answer. At the same time the boy...Heinrich was fine and polite, even if he did ask unpleasant questions. In a way it was much easier to connect with kids here - they seemed more open and not so stuck on customs.

She smiled at the boy again. Maybe she had at least some prospect of finding friends here.

0 Masha Adin What now? 1410 Masha Adin 0 5

Mikey

February 21, 2018 12:36 AM

Thought I was the only one for awhile by Mikey

Mikey was able to keep a straight face when his new roommate introduced himself. Beau was the weirdest name he'd ever heard for a guy. The only Beau he knew was his neighbor's female dog. She was nice, though kinda lazy, and Mikey had always thought the name fit her. Hopefully Beau would grow on him for his roommate too.

"You're from Jamaica? That's sweet," Mikey said. When he thought about that country, he imagined endless beaches, reggae music, and dark-skinned Jamaicans. Beau did not look like a native of Jamaica physically, but maybe his family was rich and could afford a cool mansion over there or something. If he had a house in Napa Valley, where his gramps liked to get his wines from, and lived in Jamaica, he had to be from a rich family.

"Yeah, I'm from Denver, the capital. I have family in California too, except they're in Los Angeles." His younger uncle was an actor there and his nonna had worked in the entertainment industry too. "I always visit them in the summer and in December during Christmas."

Apparently the house his nonna lived in had been passed down for a couple generations, so his dad sometimes talked about eventually moving to LA to be with her when she got even older. Mikey hoped that never happened because LA was too dirty, hot, and sorely lacking in greenery. It was nice going to the beach and playing in the ocean during the summer, but definitely not to live there. He would miss the snow too much too, and the mountains!

The mac and cheese was alright, but not quite enough so Mikey poured himself some tomato soup.

"You're the first person I've met from Jamaica," he said. "Do you guys live on the beach? Is it always hot there?" Mikey didn't know where the country was on a map, but he'd heard of it enough as a tropical vacation destination that he knew a tiny bit about it.

19 Mikey Thought I was the only one for awhile 1406 Mikey 0 5

Headmaster Brockert

Opening Feast by Headmaster Brockert

Librarian Fox-Reynolds

Who needs wine? by Librarian Fox-Reynolds

Zevalyn Ives, 5th Year Prefect

Oh, wow. by Zevalyn Ives, 5th Year Prefect

Sylvia Mordue

This is not going to plan by Sylvia Mordue

Dustin Newell

You can say that again. by Dustin Newell

Professor Sophie O'Malley

*Enthusiastically raises hand* by Professor Sophie O'Malley

Gary Harper

Here's to an interesting year by Gary Harper

Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

How do you feel about interlibrary loan forms? by Tarquin Fox-Reynolds

Lily Spencer

This is rather unexpected. by Lily Spencer

Nathaniel Mordue

Well, this was unexpected. by Nathaniel Mordue

Chrystopher Mathilde

New Friendships by Chrystopher Mathilde

Michael DiCaprio

Any other new Pecaris? by Michael DiCaprio

Sylvia

Excellent by Sylvia

Parker Fitzgerald

Trying to find my home by Parker Fitzgerald

Jozua Sparks

Dodged that curse by Jozua Sparks

Zevalyn Ives

Oh, wow by Zevalyn Ives

Joe Umland

I would have expected you to dramatically deflect it instead by Joe Umland

Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

Really? How much attention have you been paying? by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

Jozua

I was saving that for a more suspenseful moment by Jozua

Joe

What, the possibility of Head Boy? by Joe

Jozua

Maybe the Quidditch Try-Outs by Jozua

Masha Adin

I can do this, I can do this… by Masha Adin

Heinrich Hexenmeister

You absolutely can by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Wu Peizhi

Zzzzz.... by Wu Peizhi

Kir McLeod

Come mix with the ruffians by Kir McLeod

Georgia Kirkly

Hey there sleepyhead by Georgia Kirkly

Lily

I'm particular about what I notice. by Lily

Kyte Collindale

Take some advice from a wise older student by Kyte Collindale

Ingrid

But not about what you get up to, apparently by Ingrid

Joe

Drama seems more suited to a game. by Joe

Masha Adin

You probably don’t want to eat that by Masha Adin

Nathaniel

I’m not sure Sylvia will allow it. by Nathaniel

Heinrich Hexenmeister

You are probably right by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Amelia Layne

I'm for it...I think. by Amelia Layne

Jasmine Delachene

Idle speculation by Jasmine Delachene

Gary

You sound... uncertain. by Gary

Amelia

Just hedging my bets. by Amelia

Kir McLeod

But Sylvia isn't here by Kir McLeod

Nathaniel

I'm not sure that bothers her too much. by Nathaniel

Masha Adin

I don’t know that much about food by Masha Adin

Enthusiastically raises hand by Professor Sophie O'Malley