And so it begins. on Cascade Hall

Headmaster Brockert

January 11, 2019 3:40 PM

Opening Feast by Headmaster Brockert

Another year was upon them and 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 receieved 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 Finbar Scott and Zevalyn Ives please come up and get your Head Student badges?" At least that awful Spencer girl hadn't won. He knew that as she was a pureblood, he was supposed to want her to win but the fact that she offended his granddaughter at some point made her a less than desirable candidate. Not to mention that she was Pecari and Mortimer thought very little of their abilities in positions of power and responsibility. His own son would have made a terrible Head Boy, it was bad enough he had been Quidditch Captain in his time seeing as Eustace was exactly the type to let things go to his head and had, from what Mortimer gathered, been a little tyrant in his days at the job. Which as he understood, was how Pecaris tended to get over such an unimportant thing.

Plus, Miss Ives had overcome starting school two years late to catch up to her classmates so she'd likely do a perfectly adequate job.

"In addition I'd like to call up Amelia Layne, Eden Manger, Cleo James,and Brett Newell to receive their prefect badges. Congratulations." Miss Layne had had to be given the honor because there were no Aladrens in the current fifth year and this had been the best option for settling that matter.

"I would like to introduce Timothy Kinsell as our new Quidditch Coach."

"This year's Midsummer Event will be the Concert. Each house will be putting on performances that embody their own house qualities. Prefects will lead these groups and must meet with the interested members of their house and submit a plan to their Head of House by midterm."

"Now we will sing the school song." Or they would, rather. Lyric sheets were passed around and the song began.

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.

That done, he dug into his steak and bourbon.

OOC: Welcome to Sonora. All new first years are now welcome to post in this thread. To make things easier to find, we have grouped threads by the house table they are happening at. You can start a new conversation by posting directly under the house name post, or reply to someone who is already there. Enjoy.

Subthreads:

Teppenpaw Table Threads (nm) by System

Pecari Table Threads (nm) by System

Crotalus Table Threads (nm) by System

Aladren Table Threads (nm) by System

Staff Table Threads (nm) by System with Mary Brooding

11 Headmaster Brockert Opening Feast 6 Headmaster Brockert 1 5

System

January 12, 2019 12:22 AM

Teppenpaw Table Threads (nm) by System

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System

January 12, 2019 12:22 AM

Pecari Table Threads (nm) by System

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System

January 12, 2019 12:23 AM

Crotalus Table Threads (nm) by System

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System

January 12, 2019 12:23 AM

Aladren Table Threads (nm) by System

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System

January 12, 2019 12:23 AM

Staff Table Threads (nm) by System

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Evelyn Stones

January 12, 2019 12:25 AM

Bittersweet to be back by Evelyn Stones

Evelyn spent most of her initial time at Sonora with her neck stretched as far as possible to see over and through the sea of green robes. She was still small, made even more obvious by the fact that she seemed not to have grown while her classmates had, and it didn't help much. The fact that she was 13 now made her feel particularly tiny, but it no longer bothered her. The fact that'd survived year one and that she did in fact have some magic was good enough. She'd never complain about her size or age again.

Wearing obnoxiously gold eye shadow, a recent addition to her makeup, granted as part of her official start to teenage years, and brown lipstick from Malikhi, Evelyn was almost proud to sport Pecari colors this year. If nothing else, her summer had proven that she was indeed as bullheaded, stubborn, adventurous, and excited for life as a cauldron full of potion and her badge seemed to think. Now, sitting at her House table watching the new first years dunk their badges in the same potion, that seemed very long ago. It was hard to see the familiar look of shock and sadness when a pair of girls got sorted into different houses, apparently despite their preference. She wondered whether they had made as fast of friends as she and Ness had or whether they'd been friends before school.

Finally, with everyone seated and the excitement of the evening simmering down into the steady din of awe, Evelyn thought of home. She wouldn't have done that so fondly last year, but the idea that her new baby brother was going to eventually come here made her more excited, and the fact that the next time she'd be going home it would be positive were all encouraging for her. She couldn't wait to tell Ness and Malikhi more information than her letters over the summer had conveyed. They did, of course, know of the new baby, and of her father's personality changes -- more Ness than Malikhi as Malikhi knew less about what had been going on before that -- but it was always better to see them in person. Evelyn was particularly anxious to talk with Malikhi. It was his first summer without his father and Evelyn wanted to make sure he was okay.

Focusing on the moment -- and not the moment to question Malikhi about his emotional state -- Evelyn reached for a plate of pot roast and turned to the nearest Pecari.

"Hello," she said, excitedly. "You excited for the school year?" It was the dumbest question she could've thought of, but would have to suffice. Hi, tell me about your interpretation of male characters in Pride and Prejudice as compared to Sense and Sensibility seemed less normal. "I'm excited for the feasts!"

22 Evelyn Stones Bittersweet to be back 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Beatriz Couthon

January 12, 2019 12:28 AM

So much to do, so much to see. by Beatriz Couthon

Cascade Hall was incredible, it’s name explained by the waterfalls rushing down the walls. Beatriz wanted to touch it but she knew that was something that would have to wait. There were a lot of things that had piqued her curiosity as she had toured the school amongst her classmates so she was constantly adding to her mental list of things to explore.

She felt a little nervous as she stood in front of all the older students and staff members but her excitement spared her from worrying about this too much. When instructed, she dipped her new badge into the Sorting Potion with anticipation. She had a good idea where she would like to be sorted given the information she knew about the four houses, but it was out of her hands.

Brown! Beatriz grinned as the badge turned brown. She didn’t hang about and promptly went to take her seat at the Pecari table - her new home for the next seven years. She hoped she would fit in well with these like-minded students. She watched the rest of her fellow first years get sorted, noting that Zara (who she had met earlier) did not join her at the Pecari table. She did, however, scrutinize the three other students whose badges turned brown, wondering if any of them would become good friends with her in the future. Who she made friends with was, of course, not limited by house, nor was it limited by year but she did hope she’d be good friends with the two girls who’d be sharing her dormitory.

The petite redhead only half-listened as the headmaster spoke, once her classmates had all been sorted. She didn’t know any of the students who went up to collect badges, although she did recognize a few of their surnames. It was hard not to be distracted by her surroundings, all so new and intriguing. She did, however, perk up when she heard the Quidditch Coach announced. That was something she really needed to know. Timothy Kinsell had been a well-known Quidditch commentator several years ago and she knew he had somehow been connected with her grandfather’s company before that so he quite quickly resolved that he would be good enough for her. Of course, she had yet to see him actually coach but she had high expectations - she at least knew that he knew the sport inside out.

Beatriz wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the idea of participating in the midsummer concert but it was probably a good idea to get involved in things, if only to meet more people, although she wasn’t quite sure what skills she had to offer.

She sang along with everyone else as they sung the school song, although not too loudly as she didn’t fancy herself much of a singer, and was glad when it was over. Thankfully was finally time to eat - she hadn’t had much of the snacks at orientation, wanting to save herself for the feast. There was such a range of dishes to choose from that Beatriz felt spoilt for choice so she didn’t dive in immediately, eyeing up her options and trying to decide what she wanted.

The new Pecari was aware that she should probably try and make a good impression and select for herself a refined three course meal.. Yet at the same time she was away from home and no one here was going to tell her what she should and shouldn’t do, and Beatriz being who Beatriz was she couldn’t exactly not take advantage of that. So with that battle quickly won in her mind, the eleven-year-old helped herself to a steak and fries.

She grinned at her plate and then, with slight reluctance, turned to her neighbour. “Would you mind passing the salad, please?” She supposed she ought to make some effort to be healthy - for Quidditch at the very least. “I’m Beatriz Couthon, by the way,” she added with a friendly smile.

8 Beatriz Couthon So much to do, so much to see. 1437 Beatriz Couthon 0 5

Zevalyn Ives

January 12, 2019 12:29 AM

Shiny New Badge by Zevalyn Ives

Zevalyn had been awarded Aladren Prefect through the simple expediency of being the only Aladren in her year. She had briefly shared a room with Madeleine Dautin the first year she had been at Sonora, but the french girl had transferred out not long after that, leaving Zevalyn clear to take the prefecture despite having only caught up to her yearmates just about that same time.

Head Girl was different. She had been up against two other girls who were both very viable candidates. Georgia and Lily had both earned prefect when there were other candidates to pick from. Georgia had earned 'Most Friendly' in the yearbook, indicating a fairly high opinion of her among their classmates, and Lily was . . . well, Lily had the sports people and the pureblood people surely going for her.

Consequently, Zevalyn had not counted Head Girl as a sure thing. But she had been hopeful. She didn't discount her own qualities either. Aladren prefects did have a higher than average chance of earning it, largely because Aladrens as a House were widely regarded as responsible and hardworking, and Zevalyn apparently was the most Aladren Aladren in the school, if the yearbook was anything to go by.

Still, she held her breath when the Headmaster stood up and began his speech. He was Headmaster Brockert, known for his brevity in his speeches, so he got to the important bit well before she ran out of oxygen. She felt a wide smile spread across her face and allowed her lungs to resume their normal functioning.

'Head Girl' was going to look very good on her college application letters. Which were going to need to go out probably in the next few weeks. Her smile dimmed slightly as her nerves about that surfaced briefly, but the smile revived as she reached the front of the room and received the shiny Head Girl badge to wear with her Prefect one.

She grinned and congratulated Finn for his own victory, then headed back to the Aladren table, feeling like she'd just eaten some of the cotton candy from last year's fair.

This was going to be a good year. Busy, and crazy, and probably a little terrifying, yes. But good.

1 Zevalyn Ives Shiny New Badge 380 Zevalyn Ives 0 5

Zara Jackson

January 12, 2019 12:30 AM

Friendly and co-operative! by Zara Jackson

Excitement and nervousness were surprisingly similar feelings. Or rather, they tended to happen rather a lot together. At least, they both summed up Zara’s feelings about school so far. She did not want to say she was only nervous because that sounded far too negative, but there was definitely something churning in her belly besides excitement as they stepped up to be sorted, just as there had been when she had stepped off the wagon, even though it really didn’t matter where she ended up.

Of the houses, Crotalus sounded the least like her, but it wasn’t like she was against following the rules - she wasn’t a disruptive student. She sort of thought it was kind of a weird baseline to take though - like, ‘hi, we’re the ones who aren’t planning on landing ourselves in detention constantly’ because she kind of figured that was surely most of them? That said, she wasn’t against starting revolutions if they needed starting. If Crotalus was the house for, for lack of a nicer way to put it, mindless sheep, then she didn’t feel that was her. Based on their descriptions, she thought she would most likely want to be friends with people in Aladren and Teppenpaw, but she wasn’t sure if that meant she was like them or just desired their company. Pecaris sounded a bit impatient and she thought that wasn’t a good quality but also recognised that it was true of her - she liked to start things more than she liked to finish them. There was only one way to find out, and she stepped up to the cauldron when it was her turn, dipping her badge in, and watching as it turned a brilliant canary yellow. She was a Teppenpaw.

With a smile on her face, Zara made her way over to her new house, glad to have been sorted amongst people whose traits she’d picked out as being positive. There was one familiar face already at the table, and she gave a quick wave to Kir, who gave her a thumbs up, but settled in a seat on the opposite side of the table. She knew him a little from back home but he was closer with her cousin, James, and she wanted to make new friends, especially as Kir was already a sixth year.

The headmaster’s speech was short, and she didn’t really give much thought to the idea of the concert. It seemed both far away and like something that the older kids had much more responsibility for than she did. She would join in, probably, but right now her priority was getting to know people. And food. A delicious spread had appeared in front of them and even though she’d grown up with magic it was hard not to be impressed by these big sudden displays, like a whole feast appearing from nowhere, or the water flowing down the walls. She helped herself to some beef casserole that was nearby, wondering how many different things she’d have space to try.

“Hi,” she smiled at her neighbour, the little gap between her front teeth on full display, and the smile full of genuine friendliness and excitement, “I’m Zara.”

OOC - normally you are not allowed to reference the actions of other characters but I also write for Kir, which is why I am able to

13 Zara Jackson Friendly and co-operative! 1444 Zara Jackson 0 5

Cleo James

January 12, 2019 8:12 AM

Wait, this responsibility involves responsibilities? by Cleo James

Cleo had had a fun summer. An interesting one too. She had made a friend back home. After the fun of the magical state fair, she had encouraged her daddy to see if there was anything similar going on in their area, and they had attended a small magical county show. They’d been talking about their hometown, and someone had overheard them and it turned out her family lived in the next town over and even though distance didn’t really matter so much when you were magical, it had given them enough shared ground, a few landmarks in common, and enough reason to strike up a conversation. Anna’s dad had been helping with the judging for one of the categories, so she’d been going around the fair alone (something which struck Cleo as terribly grown up) and had been glad of the company.

Now though, it was back to school - something which was suddenly full of positives too. She had her gardening club, she felt she could say she had friends - plural, and there was the prospect of spending more time with a particular boy. The time she had spent with Isaac last year hadn’t exactly gone to plan but he was so nice about everything. And cute too. Unfortunately, she couldn’t sit with him for the feast, or with Parker. Half of her was tempted to flout the rule but the Crotalus in her said that rules were there to be followed. Plus she’d then have to choose which of the two boys to go and sit with, and that sounded complicated.

After the first years had got sorted, she was very, very glad she had sat at her own house table, because she found herself being called up to collect a prefect badge. She would have looked rather ridiculous standing up from Pecari table to do that. She took it, glancing across and trying to catch Isaac’s eye. He had asked her last year whether she was expecting to get prefect and her answer had been a very definite no. She didn’t think the school would give it to someone like her. Her - half veela, not even the same species as the rest of them, versus a Pureblood boy. But they had! The staff thought she was organised and responsible, and whatever qualities it was the prefects were meant to have. She pinned the badge happily on her robes, smiling broadly.

Her jubilation lasted only a few moments, as - once they were back in their seats - the headmaster announced that the prefects would be organising the concert groups. What? Okay, just because the staff thought her capable of being organised and responsible, didn’t mean she actually wanted to have to demonstrate responsible organisation skills! She’d never seen any of the previous prefects having this forced on them. It was so unfair. She wondered, briefly, whether they had given it to her… if not exactly out of spite but to spare Connor, because they knew this was going to be required. But then she remembered that he ran the orchestra and probably would have been well up for this. It was probably meant to be something that the kind of person who got prefect was meant to be interested in and have the skills to do. She was good at making flowers grow. That didn’t exactly sound riveting for a live audience - although actually, she thought there were some charms that could cause them to accelerate their growth or to bloom on command, and she was pretty ahead of her peers when they did plant transfigurations but really… it was not going to cut it, and nor was it reflective of the values of Crotalus house.

She mouthed and mumbled the school song, trying to look attentive and not too fussed about the prospect of the concert. This was much easier once the food appeared because that could get her interest a lot better than the school song had. Her conversation with Isaac last year had made her realise how safe she was in her food choices. She stuck to what was familiar, rarely going for anything she didn’t recognise, and could honestly say she was not sure what her own opinion on spicy food was. She sort of expected it to hurt and why would you eat something that could hurt you? She cast around, wondering whether there were any exciting forays she could make in terms of food adventures…

“What do you think looks good?” she asked her neighbour. “I reckon I’ll start with some macaroni and cheese,” she added hastily, before they could suggest anything too crazy. She heaped some of the safe, familiar food onto her plate, accompanying it with a couple of hotdogs and some peas. Spiciness seemed like something you should work your way up to.

13 Cleo James Wait, this responsibility involves responsibilities? 389 Cleo James 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

January 12, 2019 5:59 PM

Auf Wiedersehen by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

OOC-- I don't speak German well IRL so please forgive any grammar errors.

IC-

Johana Leonie was sad to learn that she and Hilda would being different houses, although the prospect of finding others who weren't fluent in English seemed more likely this way. She tossed her new friend an eager grin and mouthed "auf wiedersehen" before taking her seat at the Teppenpaw table. It was good to know the potion thought she was nice, even if she didn't think it was particularly hard to be nice and wasn't sure whether that really said much. Why wouldn't you be nice to people?

She listened to the man's speech -- she was pretty sure he was the Headmaster based on context -- and caught mostly none of it. Something about a concert? The German word and English word were surprisingly close, and that helped. She hope she wasn't required to sing, although she'd probably enjoy trying it. Then everyone in the room started singing and she wondered if that was what he meant.

Pushing those thoughts aside as he took a seat and the feast began, Johana Leonie pushed her red hair over her shoulder and stretched out an arm to reach for the nearest thing she recognized: Käsespätzle. It was a bit different than she was used to, but looked good nonetheless.

When her neighbor piped up with a beautifully simple introduction, Johana Leonie smiled at her. That was English she could handle. Unfortunately, when she opened her mouth, an accent fell out. She hoped Zara wouldn't mind.

"Hallo," she said, trying to copy the girl's introduction. "Zara?" she confirmed, although she was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be a ts sound. "I'm Johana Leonie. I'm..." There was a word for this. She sighed. "Ich bin Deutsche."

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Auf Wiedersehen 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5

Zara

January 12, 2019 9:56 PM

That's a funny way of saying 'hello' by Zara

The first two words her new roommate spoke were enough to notify Zara to the fact that she was not American, even though those two words were ‘hello’ and Zara’s own name repeated back to her for confirmation. Both were said not only with an accent but with enough hesitation and… lack of other words around them that this all flagged up a non-native speaker. And then Johana-Leonie also added something that was… probably about where she was from, or what language she spoke? Zara didn’t recognise any of the words. She thought she had maybe said something that sounded like Dutch. Kir’s mom was Dutch. Kinda. In the same way her own was Irisih. As in no member of the family had set foot there for generations, but it was still a thing they talked about, and Kir’s mom even had a properly Dutch name which everyone messed up the pronunciation of. So, she knew that Dutch was a thing, and that ‘J’s in it went ‘ee’ and that you had to pronounce an ‘e’ if you saw it at the end of a word.

“Yep,” she confirmed with a thumbs up when the girl clarified her name. Not being used to hearing ‘tz’ as a blend and against the backdrop of the noise in the hall, her brain tuned out the unfamiliar sound. And anyway, she wouldn’t have minded - pronouncing her name with an accent was different to pronouncing it wrongly.

“Johana-Leonie?” she repeated, trying her best to copy the girl’s pronunciation but not mimic her accent, which meant that the consonants stayed more or less where she had put them but the vowels became East Coast American.

“I’m from Boston,” she added. She drew a quick rough tapered square in the air and pointed to the righthand side up near the top, “Boston is on the East Coast of the USA,” she added. She wasn’t sure how much she should simplify things for Johana-Leonie. She didn’t want to patronise her - after all, she had come to an English speaking school, so possibly her level was pretty decent. She had lapsed into her own language when introducing herself, but maybe she was just nervous or homesick or something. Zara guessed they’d have to find their level as they went. She continued to give her a broad and encouraging smile - even though ‘working out how much English she speaks’ wasn’t something she’d figured would be on the cards with her new roommate, she wasn’t too worried by it. At some point Zara might make things too difficult, or she might assume that Johana-Leonie couldn’t do something that she could. She would probably make mistakes, but hopefully being in the friendly and diplomatic house meant they could work through those.

“Are you excited for school?” she asked.

13 Zara That's a funny way of saying 'hello' 1444 Zara 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

January 12, 2019 10:57 PM

Nein. Nein nein nein nein nein! by Hilda Hexenmeister

Hilda had followed the tour around the school, but hadn't gotten much out of it other than what her eyes told her. That had been a fair amount though. Libraries were pretty self-explanatory, and so were potion classrooms and medical facilities. The Quidditch pitch was quite obvious as itself, and it didn't take a genius to work out that the green houses were probably where Herbology would take place. So it had been useful in seeing where those thing were in relation to anything else. From there, she could ask Heinrich how to get to anything else, using those as landmarks.

Then they arrived at the Cascade Hall. It was beautiful. Aside from the Quidditch Pitch, it might easily become her favorite place in the school. When the sorting commenced, lead by the lady Heinrich's yearbook told her was the Deputy Headmistress, Hilda waited nervously for her turn, glad she wasn't at the front of the line, and could watch what everyone else did before she had to try it. It seemed simple enough, and she dunked her badge in and pulled it out brown when her turn came.

She took a few steps toward the table where the brown badged people went, but then stopped, waiting for Johana Leonie before heading over to find seats together there. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be happening. Her mouth fell open in horror and dismay when her friend's badge came out yellow instead. "Nein," she said, giving Johana Leonie and the Deputy Headmistress a look of helpless denial, but no reversal of this terrible mistake seemed to be forthcoming: she was just urged to go take her seat at her own separate table (or so she gathered based on the woman's sympathetic expression but firm shooing hand gestures). She returned her friend's Auf Weidersen faintly, then reluctantly walked in something of daze to her own House.

Shock kept her from even hearing the rest of the Headmaster guy's speech (she knew he was the Headmaster because of Heinrich's yearbook), never mind understanding any of it. Johana Leonie was not going to be her roommate. This was terrible. How was she supposed to survive living with other people when she had probably used up all her language luck by finding one other person who spoke fluent German? And they were in Teppenpaw.

She came back to herself as paper with English writing on it appeared in front of her, but she was clueless as to its purpose or content. Then everyone started singing. She didn't even try.

The papers disappeared and food filled the tables. The girl nearest her started talking. Hilda looked back at her with a blank expression of complete incomprehension. One gesture stood out, though, communicating that she wanted something passed to her. Hilda looked in the indicated direction, but wasn't sure what dish was being requested. There had been a word 'Salad' that sounded a lot like 'Salat', but she wasn't sure enough to risk passing the wrong thing if Roommate didn't want the salad.

Hilda pulled out the trusty flashcards she'd been prepared to use when communicating with the people at this American school, before she'd been blessed with the presence of Johanna Leonie. First, she held up the top one that said, "I don't speak English," with the English side pointing toward the other girl. Then she flipped quickly through the rest of them, German side up for her own ease of reading, looking for the group of food related ones (Heinrich had warned her that the first day involved a big feast, so she had a card every food word she'd been able to find, even weird ones like artichokes). Finding them, she flipped them English side up and handed the stack to her neighbor and new roommate, for her to pick out the one she wanted. To make it more obvious what was expected, she also held up the flash card that said "What?" on the English side, which she hoped might work as shorthand for "what were you asking for?" Unfortunately, there wasn't a flashcard with that specific question on it.

As she gave Roommate time to find the food word she needed, she located the one that said "My name is ..." and waited until Roommate looked her way again then said, "Hilda."

Then she deliberately placed the stack of flash cards down on the table between them and made an inviting gesture toward them, so if Roommate wanted to say anything else, she could find prompts Hilda could understand. There were a lot of them, covering a lot of different scenarios and topics, so hopefully it would be enough to allow at least basic conversation with such a terrible language barrier between them. They were going to have to live with each other for seven years after all. Completely avoiding communication wasn't going to be possible, and this was the best solution she'd been able to come up with.

OOC: Flashcards can cover question words, common phrases, nouns (especially food items but also things like 'sister' 'plate' 'Germany' 'roommate' 'teacher' that might come up during a first meeting at a school dinner), etc. Feel free to claim whatever simple words or phrases you need are available, as long as they're not and terribly complex or advanced or muggle (ie, there definitely isn't one for 'antidisestablishmentarianism' or 'computer'; there probably are, however, words like 'Floo' and 'Snitch', which would indicate a magical background). You may also use the cards in combination like "How many" and "sibling" or "Do you have ..." and "pet", etc. to construct rudimentary sentences that might not exist as common phrases.

OOC 2: Permission granted by Professor Skies to shoo Hilda to her seat.

1 Hilda Hexenmeister Nein. Nein nein nein nein nein! 1433 Hilda Hexenmeister 0 5

Kir McLeod

January 13, 2019 2:43 AM

That's my girlfriend! by Kir McLeod

Kir sat at the Teppenpaw table, keeping his fingers (their nails painted a shimmering blue with black ombre effect) very firmly crossed. Which was utterly ridiculous and superstitious seeing as the votes for head students had been cast and counted long ago but it felt wrong not to. He thought there was a chance he was every bit as nervous and excited as the people who were, themselves, actually involved in the ballot. He kind of wished they would make the first years wait. They were nowhere near as important as this, and there seemed to be an interminable number of them. Though he did manage to give his friend’s cousin a cheery thumbs up when she got into Teppenpaw.

Luckily, Headmaster Brockert was not known for his long-winded speeches. Or really stringing enough sentences together for them to even count as a speech, and tonight was no different. As soon as the last first year was settled, he was calling out the names and

“YES!” Kir cheered, punching the air enthusiastically as Zevalyn’s name was called. He added several enthusiastic ‘woos’ to the round of applause for the head students, a huge smile spreading across his face as he watched Zevalyn get her badge.

There was some news about the concert, and Kir’s brain took a moment to catch up that said news was that he, as a prefect, had to help co-ordinate Teppenpaw’s performance. He had been too busy being happy for Zevalyn’s victory to actually be listening, but the words had sort of filtered through. They were quickly put to one side though. Part of him wished he could go join the Aladren table and celebrate with her, but he didn’t want The Night Zevalyn Got Head Girl to turn into The Night Kir McLeod Got Busted for Breaking Feast Rules, and just had to content himself that tomorrow he would give her the best ever double celebration possible for it being both her birthday and for her getting the badge. He had had worked out several scenarios in his mind for how he would jointly honour the two occasions, and none for how he would juggle her birthday with commiserations, because he did not like the thought of planning for a worst case scenario and because it seemed like a lack of faith.

“That’s my girlfriend,” he informed the person next to him with a nod to the Aladren table and a huge smile on his face. Unless the person was a first year, or habitually inclined to residing under a rock, there was little chance that this was news. Whilst Kir tended to keep more passionate making out for quieter places, such as between the library shelves, he was definitely not one to avoid public displays of affection altogether. “My girlfriend got head girl,” if he couldn’t celebrate with her right now, he could at least point out her achievement to anyone who would listen. It wasn’t boasting, given that it wasn’t his own achievement, but just shining a spotlight on someone who, in his opinion, had earnt that. He was proud of her. And there was nothing wrong with being proud of someone when they were awesome and amazing and wonderful. “And she thoroughly deserves it too,” he beamed.

13 Kir McLeod That's my girlfriend! 366 Kir McLeod 0 5

Johanna Leonie Zauberhexen

January 13, 2019 2:43 AM

Genau! by Johanna Leonie Zauberhexen

"Ja!" Johana Leonie said when her new roommate pronounced her name sort of almost right. She'd gotten the J right at least, and that was pretty surprising in its own way. Then she said a bunch of other words and she was glad to know some of them. She didn't know where Boston was, but she'd heard "I'm from . . . " sentences before from patients, so she was pretty sure she understood it. She thought USA was familiar too and nodded along. The most important thing though was Zara's question, and that was one she'd been hearing a lot over the past few months.

"Ja," she said eagerly. "Yes! Oder...." she hesitated with a grimace, using the German filler word as she considered her options. There wasn't really much she could say, although she'd been doing her best to learn what she could from patients. "Tränke?" she asked, mimicking the stirring of a potion in a cauldron. "I like Tränke." She grimaced again, apologetically. "I made sorry... Es tut mir leid."

Settling into a bite of food with a thoughtful expression, she considered for a moment. "You liking school?" she asked, raising her voice into a question and hoping it was good enough. "Are you excite did school?" she repeated, trying to copy Zara's question more closely.

22 Johanna Leonie Zauberhexen Genau! 1432 Johanna Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

January 13, 2019 3:14 AM

I hope not. by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe was sorted into a decent house, it seemed, and he took a seat proudly at his new table. With an older student based him, he felt rather pleased with himself, and also rather small. Both of these things were fine by him. It turned out to be a particularly good choice when she also became prefect. All in all, she seemed like a good option of conversation partner if he had to have conversation with anyone. She spoke up nearly as soon as the feast began which was vaguely exhausting, but at least she was talking about something unimportant. He wasn't mentally prepared for a conversation about value systems or something, although this topic was more keenly on his mind with the House sorting having just finished.

"Shrimp," Felipe replied plainly, picking up a platter of camarones rancheros and pushing some of the spicy dish onto his plate. He watched as the girl added hotdogs and peas too her own plate. The latter sounded good but he was pretty sure that was the most disgusting combination of food he'd ever seen in his life. Also who eats hot dogs at a celebratory feast?

"Congratulations," he added, nodding at her prefect badge. "That is quite an honor." He wasn't sure how much nepotism was engrained in Sonoran life, so he was hesitant to comment either on the hard work she must've put in to get there or on the pretty face she flashed instead. He'd heard that Americans particularly liked blondes, but he thought it made her look a bit washed out.

22 Felipe De Matteo I hope not. 1434 Felipe De Matteo 0 5

Florence Newell

January 13, 2019 1:03 PM

A little blue, a little green. by Florence Newell

It was still strange, being only two. As one of four children (five if you included Makenzie; their cousin had only lived with them a year, but they had always been close), Florence found it odd when the Newells numbers were so low. It was the second year now since Dustin had graduated and since Ana had not joined them, so it was once again just her and Brett. But this year when they get off the wagons, he didn’t want to hang out until the Feast. He wanted to go find Eden, his…. Well, Flo wasn’t sure what they were, quite frankly. She had never heard them use words like “boyfriend” and “girlfriend”, but they did spend a good deal of time together, and she had definitely caught a glimpse of their faces too close to not be touching when she rounded a corner.

It was no matter, she told herself. Time passed, and the Opening Feast rolled around. Much to her surprise, both Eden and Brett won Prefect. As did her friend Amelia, which was particularly unexpected since they were sixth years. The fifth year Aladren class was a bit barren, so she supposed it made sense, but she was definitely caught off guard. It took her a moment to start clapping for any of them, fighting through the slight paralysis of surprise. As she watched them receive their badges, Florence honestly felt a bit jealous. Now both of her roommates were Prefects and she wasn’t. Plus, if had seemed likely for any of the Newell siblings, she was the safest bet. Dustin was rude and Brett was immature and Ana, had she attended, was too sweet. Flo was practical and efficient, and very bright. And it hadn’t bothered her that much last year, but now to be the only one of her immediate group to not wear the title felt pretty lousy.

She waited out the speech (if it could be called such) and the song in the expectations of food, but when it actually appeared, she found that she wasn’t feeling particularly hungry. Still, Florence helped herself to a couple small portions of things just to stave off raising any alarms, if anyone even noticed. As she reached for a plate of mashed potatoes, her hand bumped someone else’s, and she reeled back immediately. “Sorry,” she half-mumbled. “You go ahead.”

12 Florence Newell A little blue, a little green. 362 Florence Newell 0 5

Vladimir Brockert

January 13, 2019 1:27 PM

Here we go again! by Vladimir Brockert

Summer had been an adventure. He’d gotten to go over to Dorian’s house for a while, which was super exciting because Vlad absolutely loved going to other countries. America and even Russia had gotten a little bit stale, but Canada was new and exciting! And he’d also had his friends over a few weeks ago for his birthday, so that was super fun! It hadn’t been that long since he’d seen them now, but he was nonetheless eager for their reunion now that it was time to once again return to school.

He went to Teppenpaw to settle in, although to his surprise, Dorian wasn’t around. But he figured maybe his roommate and friend had other first priorities. That was okay too. He would obviously see him later. So Vlad just went about unpacking and then headed out to find one of his friends or maybe reunite with his sister or Peyton. Either way, he would definitely find someone to hang out with, he was sure.

Then the Opening Feast came. Vlad was somewhat attentive to the Sorting process, given his relation among the first years. There were pretty much always Brockert cousins, but honestly that side of his family was so big and complicated that unless they were close or named Brockert, he sorta lost track. But this time, somebody was here from his mom’s side. His cousin, Martin Crosby IV, had sent his son - the aptly named Martin Crosby V - to his wife Tawny’s alma mater. (Tawny was a Brockert and therefore also related to Vlad technically, but it was farther off, he was pretty sure.) Little Martin and Vlad were not particularly close, mostly due to their vastly different dispositions, but the Teppenpaw felt it would surely be his duty to look after the little guy, anyway. He was in no way surprised when Martin took his place among the Crotali.

What did surprise him, however, was the Prefect announcement. Namely, that his sister hadn’t won. Ivy would’ve made a great Prefect because she was a great big sister and that was, as far as he could tell, kind of a similar thing sometimes. Being a leader, helping people younger than you, that sort of thing. Ivy was great at that. But not everybody could be Prefect, and maybe Eden would be good too. He supposed he should probably be at least a little happy for her; he hadn’t talked to Eden much, but she was Jake, Arnold, and Sally’s little sister, so that made them kind of almost related. And in the brief interactions he had with her over the years, she did seem nice. But still, she wasn’t his big sister, so he decided it was okay to not be that happy for her.

Vlad belted out the school song with as much accuracy to the actual notes before him as one could expect, and then the music faded and it was time to eat. Vlad always liked that part of the feasts, and as he grew up now, he found himself always, always hungry. Mom said that was probably a puberty thing. As a recently turned fourteen year old, he was definitely getting older, although “growing up” was a debatable synonym as he hadn’t gained too much in the way of height. He was still on the tiny side for his age. But he was maturing! He knew that for a fact because his mom told him so.

Once his plate was sufficiently stacked, he turned to a neighbor for some friendly Feast banter, which was just his favorite. “Hi,” he grinned. “Did you have a nice summer?”

12 Vladimir Brockert Here we go again! 1400 Vladimir Brockert 0 5

Martin Crosby V

January 13, 2019 1:44 PM

And so it begins. by Martin Crosby V

Sonora Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry was, Martin decided upon completing his Orientation and tour, adequate.

It was a stellar review from the generally apathetic young boy, and one worthy of note. His mother, Tawny Crosby nee Brockert, was an alumna, and her critique of the location had not inspired the utmost confidence in the institution. Mother tended to feel unfavorably about just about everything, but she expressed a specific dislike for her own former House - Pecari - and had instilled in him the hope for his own dormitory. He could not fault her that complaint, as he too was generally opposed to the idea of sharing his quarters with other eleven year olds. Martin had found that most children his age were obnoxious and loud, which were similar to his mother’s complaints of her House as a whole. It was quite tiresome. Between Martin and his contemporaries, he tended to feel a bit of a disconnect on the whole.

As the Sorting commenced, he was grateful not to be sent to Teppenpaw, either, which - if his Crosby relations were any indication - was the home to sentimental idiots. Martin was assuredly more intelligent than his father’s young cousin, Vladimir. No, Crotalus did seem a better fit for him. Respectable and mature. These were his people.

He clapped along politely to the announcements, although the Prefect by name of “Manger” made his nose wrinkle. Martin’s general knowledge of that whole situation was simply that it was complicated and distasteful, so his instinct was to feel unfavorable toward this Eden person. She was the child of the late Ross Manger, his great-aunt’s ex-husband, and that man was, as he understood it, atrocious. So his bastard was probably just like him.

He did not care about the Quidditch coach, and he did not sing the song. Singing was a young man’s game, and Martin was too grown for that nonsense. He simply waited it out and then gathered himself a polite but healthy serving of the food provided to him. Martin, with careful and meticulous manners, took to his dinner and kept to himself.

12 Martin Crosby V And so it begins. 1439 Martin Crosby V 0 5

Isis Carter-Xavier

January 13, 2019 2:16 PM

On time, and other mini-rebellions by Jehan Callahan

Another opening feast meant another summer gone, another time at home endured, and another year older. Jehan felt that these were all equally valid ways of measuring the passage of time, a passage which really was quite an odd concept if considered. Jehan was firmly on the side of the debate that argued time was not a linear concept, but instead stretched and expanded to fill different spaces in one’s existence. Why did dinnertime at home drag so, whilst afternoons hidden behind the bookshelves with Oliver would speed by? Time was definitely a mysterious force.

Nevertheless, time had now arranged itself so that Jehan was here, in Cascade Hall, a fourth year. Older and wiser and braver and all of those stereotypical things that were magically supposed to happen as you grew. He was also taller, which was no bad thing, although Jehan was never going to be a giant by any stretch of the imagination.

It was a strange feeling, being back in school uniform surrounded by expectations and rules. Jehan and his parents seemed to have reached the happy truce that came with largely ignoring the other’s existence. Provided Jehan attended most meals and repressed the unfortunate comments he was prone to making, his parents seemed quite happy to accept that he was spending the rest of the time in a respectable way. More frequent visits to see Dorian had helped, too. Jehan’s parents had been relieved at the fact that Jehan was maintaining a friendship with a fellow pureblood and, perhaps somewhat stupidly, never bothered to check up on Jehan’s purported visits to his friend. A lot of these visits were of course real – time spent with Dorian was always precious – but the coming and going was also sometimes used to hide trips to see Richard, Oliver, and all of Jehan’s increasing circle of friends in Muggle New York.

However, now that he was at school again, such freedom was only to be dreamt of. Contact with Oliver had ceased for the next few months, and Jehan would have to be where he was expected to be. It wasn’t all negative, as Jehan got to live with his friends again, but at the age of almost-fifteen freedom was a tantalising thing.

Jehan listened to the headmaster’s speech, clapping for the prefects and new head students. The idea of a concert for the midterm event was exciting, and he was looking forward to seeing what was suggested. As happened every year, the school song was sung, and then they were released upon the feast that awaited. Really, it was all starting to get a bit repetitive.

“Do you ever get the urge to rebel against the powers that be and eat dessert before the main course?” Jehan casually asked the person next to him as he reviewed the options laid before him on the table. Maybe casual things like that could liven life up, although he did spot a rather appealing ratatouille that was requesting he stick to the normal order of things.

9 Jehan Callahan On time, and other mini-rebellions 1398 Jehan Callahan 0 5

Mary Brooding

January 13, 2019 6:37 PM

Quite un-ready by Mary Brooding

Summer had been exhausting of course, but also exciting and wonderful and perfect. She and Tabitha had spent most of it abroad, not least of all because they hadn't either really established a local home outside of Sonora, and between meeting the Hawthornes and celebrating in proper high society fashion, and visiting with the few friends they had, there had hardly been time to simply enjoy their newfound engagement. This was, of course, on top of preliminary wedding planning that was taking place.

Mary knew they weren't the only ones to have experienced this. Professors Xavier and Carter had recently wed and had a baby, so she didn't doubt that their summer was even more hectic. She also was more than a bit curious about it all. Had they talked to Deputy Headmistress Skies before wedding? What were the protocols for them as professors and colleagues now? How did they plan to manage childcare?

None of these questions were Mary's business, particularly since she was not well-acquainted with either of the involved parties, but she was still a bit excited when Professor Carter (she prodded herself to call them by their first names, since she was supposed to be an adult and stuff) asked her to pass the salad. She'd made a point of sitting with someone other than Tabitha tonight, simply to avoid any more speculation than would otherwise be going around anyway, and to remained herself of what it felt like to be a professor, far more than just a woman and just a fiancee.

"Certainly," she replied to the exhausted new mother. "Nice to have a night off cooking, huh?" she laughed, thinking of the meals she and Tabitha had made together over the summer and how much more stressful that would be with a newborn. "I think that's my favorite part about the Opening Feast is just knowing I don't have to decide what I want for dinner that night." Mary offered a sly smile and a soft chuckle, well aware that this was a silly joke and not hardly a good point of conversation. "You're looking good, though! How was your summer?"

22 Mary Brooding Quite un-ready 1424 Mary Brooding 0 5

Zara

January 14, 2019 7:24 AM

Uh...maybe? by Zara

"Potions," Zara supplied, when Johana-Leonie did a clear mime of stirring a cauldron.

"It's ok," she assured her, when the other girl apologised. She didn't understand any of the rest of the words that went into the apology but she didn't really think Johana-Leonie needed to apologise for anything. Zara was concerned that she was going to struggle with classes as it was rapidly becoming apparent that she really had not been being modest about her level of English but... well, she or her parents had chosen to send her here, and the school had accepted so they must all have thought it would be workable.

"I like potions a bit," she added, making a so-so gesture with her hand. "I'm too impatient," she added with a laugh, before considering that, as Johana-Leonie lacked the basic vocabulary to name her subjects, it was unlikely that she knew this word. She considered how to explain

"Potions take a long time," she mimed stirring again, and then made a circle on the face of her watch to indicate time passing, then repeated both motions. "I get..." she rested her chin on her hand, huffed and glanced at her watch. "I want to do Charms," she mimed, using her knife as a wand, and swished and flicked it. As there were a lot of wand-based subjects, she lifted a pepperpot that had been roughly in line with her knife and made it glide upwards.

"Yes," she answered, with a big grin and a thumbs up when Johana-Leonie returned her question about being excited. She wanted to say she was excited because she liked adventures or explain about her sister and cousins staying home but that seemed compicated. It was sort of fun trying to work out how to do everything via charades but really frustrating when you couldn't. Zara was the kind of person who was used to just putting it all out there and it felt weird to have to hold back so many of her thoughts. Getting to know each other on any meaningful level seemed like it was going to be time-consuming if not impossible. And this train of thought was probably why Zara had just edged into Teppenpaw over Pecari. Because, impatient though she felt at the thought of slowing down, the final stop on the journey was that it must be a million times worse for Johana-Leonie. Zara could find other people to talk to later, and could lapse back into conversation that was easy for her at any time. Johana-Leonie could not.

At least she seemed excited, rather than overwhelmed. That was positive, and it meant they had a feeling in common.

"Who is in your family?" she asked, following on from her own thoughts about home, and hoping that the English 101 level of the question would make it answerable even without mime.

13 Zara Uh...maybe? 1444 Zara 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

January 14, 2019 6:33 PM

Du bist nett. by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie wasn't sure if everyone in the world was this patient, but she was amazed at her luck so far. Between Hilda and now Zara, Johana Leonie couldn't imagine having gotten any more fortunate in her first Sonoran acquaintances. Her English was clearly much worse than she had expected, but she chocked some of it up to nerves. She had gotten through basic conversation with patients, hopefully more of it would come out here soon.

When Zara turned the conversation in a way that kept the topics familiar and easy, Johana Leonie thanked her with a wide grin. "Potions!" she repeated. "Ja!" She wasn't precisely sure what Zara didn't like about potions, but it was clear that it wasn't her favorite subject and she offered an understanding nod. Or at least a sympathetic one. She was worried for a moment when Zara huffed, but decided it was more out of concentration and effort than dislike of the conversation.

"Charms," Johana Leonie repeated, understanding that word. She wasn't sure why she knew that one, although she remembered being confused why Americans had a cereal, a piece on a bracelet, an amulet, a knick knack, and a branch of magic, all named basically the same thing. She was pretty sure there were princes and flirty people named Charming, too.

When the topic changed to family, Johana Leonie smiled. That was nearly the same word in German and she knew that one for sure. She'd told patients about her family and those were much easier words, not least of all because they were often so similar in both languages. She wasn't precisely sure whether Zara was asking where her family was or who they were or what they did, though, so she settled on describing all of it.

"My brother," she said, listing him first on her fingers. "He smaller," she added, holding a hand up near her head to show that he wasn't that much smaller than she was. She couldn't remember the word for younger so figured it was close enough. "My brother name Friederike Albert. Mother und father," she finished counting two more fingers. She wanted to add that most of the community was her family, but wasn't sure how to explain that one. "My Familie is a healer. Large sick people come. Tränke-- oder, potions. My family..." she mimicked stirring a cauldron again. "Potions of sick people."

Her shoulders sagged with the effort of formulating her sentences. "Are you understanding?" she asked, familiar with the word she'd heard conjugated a thousand ways in English conversations, usually with 'I don't' preceding it.

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Du bist nett. 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5

Zara

January 14, 2019 8:52 PM

I'm not what? by Zara

"Yes," Zara confirmed, when Johana-Leonie asked if she understood. "That's cool," she smiled, slipping into the more colloquial way of talking because it was just such a habitual response. Zara found lots to like about the world, so lots of things were cool. "Healing. Making Potions - those are good.

"In my family... My older sister," she raised a hand a little higher than her head, "Me," she indicated herself, "and my little brother," she dropped her hand slightly lower than herself. "And mom and dad," she added.

"My family... Wow, this is gonna be hard to mime," she added with a laugh, more to herself. She made a 'considering' face as she tried to work out how to explain 'anthropologist' and 'Muggle Cultural Centre.' "They study," she mimed a book, "Non-magical people," she made the wand gesture again with her knife but this time waved her other hand in the way that generally indicated no/stop/do not want. "They have... a place. For teaching others. Uh... Does that make sense?" she asked, feeling like maybe she was overshooting here.

13 Zara I'm not what? 1444 Zara 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

January 14, 2019 10:31 PM

Nein, Nett! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

"Ja, coole," Johana Leonie laughed, using the borrowed form. "Making potions! Das ist das word! Making."

She was satisfied that her description of her brother was appropriate when Zara offered that her own brother was littler than she was. "Sister?" she mimicked, looking around and wondering whether she'd be able to spot Zara's sibling in the hall. "Where is Schwester? Sister?" she asked.

When Zara described her family's work, Johana Leonie was confused. She thought she'd understood enough to think that the sort of place Zara was describing was a school, but they had already established that she knew that word in English. Was it a different kind of school? Or not a school at all? She tried to think of what sort of place it might be, and wondered if the studying part had something to do with that.

"Der Muggel?" she asked, clarifying the first part. "My Familie heal der Muggel und die Zauberer. Ah..." she mimicked Zara's motions. "Magic people," she tried for, raising an eyebrow. "My Familie heal people," she said, hoping it made sense that she meant all people.

She considered another moment, taking a bite of her food as she did so. "Your Familie school?" she asked. "Oder...?" Johana Leonie sighed and looked around helplessly, wondering if there was any chance of finding a magic translator box or something wondrous.

Getting an idea, she looked back at Zara with a small smile. "Lass uns etwas anderes versuchen," she suggested, more to herself than anything. "Kartoffeln," she said emphatically, pointing at a plate of steamed potatoes. "Wasser," she said, pointing to a glass of water another student had. "Tisch," she announced at the table. "Schule," she said, gesturing around. Then she turned back to Zara. "Your Familie teacher?"

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Nein, Nett! 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5

Jessica Hayles

January 14, 2019 10:33 PM

Paralysis at the starting line. by Jessica Hayles

The afternoon had seemed like it would never end, and by the time they were done with the meet-and-greet and the tour, all Jessica wanted to do was go crawl in bed and hide from the world, rest and gather her resources so she could wake up refreshed and start sorting out the errors in her schedule and getting to know her new teachers and classmates and plowing through whatever it was this new school meant she would have to endure. Unfortunately, however, this was not an option. Instead, she had to accompany the group of people into the dining hall, where the entire school seemed to be looking at the sixth graders.

Jessica had been in front of large groups of people before. Daddy had taken her with him on business trips and to the occasional award ceremony and occasions where Arivale Cosmetics were used on television or movie sets in Atlanta. She had been involved in every competition she could qualify for at her old school. With Mommy’s family, she had even been on television, peripherally - Great-Grandpa had been the focus of the program, but the whole family had been on stage behind him while he’d been speaking. Crowds were not inherently frightening. But this one was looking at her in a situation where she had not prepared properly, where she didn’t quite understand what was happening, where she hated what she was wearing, and where she did not feel in control, and she could feel her chest tightening painfully and her feet going numb and heavy and her hands tingling alarmingly as she walked behind someone she didn’t know.

Calm down. In - two - three. Out - two - three. In - oh God help me. God help me.

She was breathing in short, shallow bursts, lips pressed together tightly to prevent them from transforming into gasps, temples throbbing, cheeks and forehead flushing, by the time it was her turn to dip the peculiar badge-thing into the cauldron. She had flashbacks to Shakespeare Stories in school - double, double, toil and trouble. Toil was the human condition, there was no escaping that, but trouble was bad. She didn’t want trouble. She also didn’t want to burn her hand. Was it hot? It was a pot. Pots were often hot. Oh no, if she burned herself and nobody else did -

The badge turned red. What did that mean again? It meant something. She was supposed to go - somewhere -

Her face flushed deeper yet, sweat beginning to appear on her forehead and tears starting to blur her vision. A cynical, detached voice in the back of her head noted that, well, here was an advantage to Mommy and Daddy only allowing her to wear her lip gloss and eyebrow pencil. If she had mascara on, then if she started really crying, it would run, and even having it on would make it much more obvious that her eyes were watering - eyelashes were more separated and prominent with it on, and so would visibly draw together more when wet. That wouldn’t be good….

The woman on the other side of the witch’s brew was speaking. Jessica understood the tone - kind, but no-nonsense, brooking little argument - more than the words, but there was also a visual cue where she should go. Almost zombie-like, she made her way to that table and sat down in a seat.

There was a lot of talk from the headmaster, but for the first time in her life, she was too nervous to listen to her principal speak. She was too busy trying to calm herself down to pay attention. When food appeared in front of her, she jumped, startled, and stared at it. She was hungry, but the thought of putting food on her plate and putting it in her mouth made her throat close up as though she was going to throw up. So she sat there, stock-still, an empty plate in front of her, looking straight ahead toward but not at one of the other first years who was quietly eating his supper like a normal person who didn’t currently feel trapped in a world with too many primary colors and no control whatsoever.

OOC: Comments on Selina's tone and actions discussed in Chatzy with her author.

16 Jessica Hayles Paralysis at the starting line. 1442 Jessica Hayles 0 5

Cleo

January 15, 2019 12:02 AM

If anyone needs me, I'll be in my blanket fort by Cleo

"Maybe later," Cleo mumbled, when the new boy suggested and selected shrimp. She did not really like fishy things, and shrimp looked little and wriggly and you could almost imagine them swimming about in your belly, which was gross. And that was all without ever having seen them with the eyes on. If Cleo had ever seen that, it would have been enough to put her off for life.

"Thank you," she smiled, looking genuinely pleased and a bit surprised when he nodded to her badge, the reaction being more to do with having got it in the first place than than with his offer of congratulations. "Uh, yeah. It is," she added in agreement with his statement that it was an honour. She wasn't really sure what to say beyond that - that she was surprised by it, or that she wasn't sure she was up to the job seemed way too personal to share with someone she didn't know. She didn't really want to go super in depth on her feelings about it, or anything else, with a first year. Especially, she realised with a sinking feeling, because how she felt was all very tied up with what she was and he might not know. It had seemed like that was all done with last year when it had been announced to the whole school. She had sort of forgotten the part where there were going to be new people. How was the school handling that? Were they just announcing it at orientation, like it was part of the essential need to know info about school life - here's your class schedule, later you'll be sorted into one of four houses, watch out for the half-veela, especially if you end up in Crotalus? Cleo did not want to be a safety warning. But People Who Don't Know were sort of complicated too. She wished the stupid first year hadn't sat with her. Though that was probably not a very prefectly thing to think. She was bad at this already and she had only had her badge for five minutes.

"I'm Cleo. Cleo James," she added, watching his face for any sign of reaction.

13 Cleo If anyone needs me, I'll be in my blanket fort 389 Cleo 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

January 15, 2019 1:50 PM

Sometimes The Powers That Be have a point by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Heinrich arrived to the feast early to ensure a good seat for observing the first years. His sister Hilda would be getting sorted tonight and he wanted to be able to see where she went. He did not anticipate her joining Aladren - too much impatience - so he didn’t try to save her a spot next to him. On non feast days, he expected to spend a fair number of meals in her company, if only because he knew her English was terrible - much worse than his had been two years ago, and he’d gotten dropped into the American school system with only about a month’s warning - and he didn’t want his little sister to be completely isolated here.

Tonight, though, she was unfortunately going to be on her own.

He was unsurprised to see her badge come out brown when the first years did come and it got to be her turn. He cheered for her, knowing Pecari would suit her, if she could just learn how to communicate with the people there. He was surprised to see her wait for another girl and look devastated when that girl’s badge came out yellow.

How in Merlin’s name did Hilda make a such a close friend so quickly? She couldn’t even tell people what her name was in English, last he knew. He’d been trying to coach her all summer into something approaching beginner level competence but she was stubborn and refused to learn. Unless she was just being obstinate and pretending she wasn’t absorbing what he was trying to pound into her very thick skull? He wouldn’t entirely put that past her. But he was pretty sure she was legitimately Not Trying And Therefore Not Getting It.

So with a dire enmity with the English language, how had Hilda already found such an instant kinship? Heinrich had been here two years and he still didn’t have a friend he was sad wasn’t in Aladren with him. He hardly even had friends period.

His sister and the other girl parted ways, and Heinrich’s eyes followed Hilda mostly, though they occasionally darted toward Teppenpaw in mild confusion and consideration. When Hilda stared showing flashcards to her neighbor though, he decided she must have figured out some way to communicate even if verbal English was beyond her ability right now.

Shaking his head at her problem solving skills, he thought maybe she had had a shot at Aladren after all. He still felt pretty sure she was much more Pecari though.

The movement must have been seen as an invitation to talk, because that was the same moment Jehan began talking. Now in his third year at the school, with English being as much a subject under study as Charms or Potions, Heinrich was getting close to fluent. He was considered Intermediate in all his magical subjects, and he felt his English had likewise moved out of beginner (lack of) fluency. He had realized in trying to teach Hilda how far he had come himself.

He had no trouble understanding the vocabulary or grammar of Jehan’s question. His own sentence structure was still a little weak compared to natives, and his accent was in no danger of disappearing, but he felt he was fluent enough to get his meaning across now under most circumstances and he could understand even more than he could say.

That said, the idea of eating dessert first floored him.

“Ah -“ Heinrich began, then hesitated as he worked out his answer first in German, then translated it with careful effort into as fine English as he could manage, “I never thought about it.” Trying to explain foreign grammar to an English-impaired sister had also helped solidify his own understanding of many of those concepts, and he wondered if anyone would notice through his accent that he really was talking better this year.

He eyed the desserts and then the main course options, seriously contemplating the matter. “Dessert tastes better and will make everything else taste worse, if you start there,” he decided, speaking slower than most Americans did, but he couldn’t think up English sentences that quickly yet. “Pudding is your reward for eating vegetables. Vegetables are a very poor reward for eating pudding.”

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister Sometimes The Powers That Be have a point 1414 Heinrich Hexenmeister 0 5

Beatriz

January 15, 2019 6:42 PM

That's not a very positive attitude. by Beatriz

Beatriz was surprised when, instead of passing the salad, the girl she had spoken to presented a bunch of cards. She didn’t speak English? Beatriz couldn’t quite get her head around this. Why was this girl at an American school if she couldn’t even speak the language? How did she expect to learn anything? Perhaps it was because Beatriz was multilingual herself but she couldn’t see any excuse not to learn the language of the school she was attending. Could she not be bothered to learn a few simple phrases at the very least?

But it was her first day and she would be sharing a bedroom with this girl for the next seven years, so it was no use criticizing her. It was what it was. Her roommate was sure to pick things up soon enough, although that would probably be hindered by her overuse of the cards.

Beatriz selected the salad card and presented it to the girl, repeating the word “salad”, and then thanked her fellow Pecari in English when she received the salad bowl, adding “danke” which she believed to be German for thank you. She presumed from the cards that Hilda, as she revealed her name to be, was German.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hilda,” Beatriz smiled, selecting the appropriate card for this sentence after helping herself to the salad. She didn’t quite know what to say next as the language barrier made things difficult - it was unlikely that the cards would allow her to ask if Hilda snored, which was a very important question if they were going to be sharing a dorm. “Do you play Quidditch?” Beatriz asked and found the necessary cards. Quidditch was a lot bigger in Europe than it was in the States, that she was envious of Hilda for.

OOC: I hope it's OK that I assumed Hilda passed the salad.

8 Beatriz That's not a very positive attitude. 1437 Beatriz 0 5

Luke Powell

January 15, 2019 7:17 PM

Back to the grind. by Luke Powell

Luke was glad that his CATS were over and he didn’t have to take his least favourite subjects anymore, but even though he didn’t have exams at the end of his sixth year, he wasn’t foolish enough to believe that it was going to be easy. He was getting to that age where he wished he could go back in time because he hadn’t realized just how easy he had it before. Although, despite the work getting harder, it was more interesting and the results were so much cooler so he supposed it wasn’t all bad.

Luke was never one to stress about work anyway, or anything for that matter. He was a laid-back kind of guy and a summer full of surfing at home only amplified this trait. He was going to miss it, he always did: the people and the ocean. But there was plenty of fun to be had at his weird school too. Quidditch was one of them. Alongside surfing, he’d played plenty of Quidditch over the summer - two of his best friends Zane and Ryan were keen players and they had plenty of friends from their club for playing mini games, so Luke felt very ready to rejoin Quidditch this year.

As well as his sun bleached hair and even heavier tan than usual, Luke’s time outdoors surfing and playing other sports showed in his ever increasing muscles. He was constantly broadening and over the years his slim athletic figure had become more and more muscular, which would definitely be useful should he try out for the Beater position. He had played as Keeper for Pecari in previous years but was now considering that it was time for a change.

Luke watched the first years get sorted into the houses with mild interest. He was curious to see if there would be any potential Quidditch players - because fielding house teams this year was not looking hopeful, he knew. He noted his second cousin Beatriz join the Pecari table and flashed her a smile but she didn’t appear to notice - probably too overwhelmed by everything else. There was a lot to take in on one’s first day at Sonora, the sixth year remembered that much - it seemed so long ago that he had first set foot in the school grounds. He would catch her later and make sure she settled in, as he had promised his mom, although he knew Beatriz had a strong head on her shoulders and would be fine.

Once the announcements were over, Luke reached out and selected some salmon before helping himself generously to some mashed potato. “Good summer?” He casually asked a housemate near to him.

8 Luke Powell Back to the grind. 374 Luke Powell 0 5

Hilda

January 15, 2019 9:07 PM

You are right. It is not. But it's improving a little. by Hilda

OOC: That's fine. BIC:

Hilda smiled, perking up a little, when her roommate thanked her in German, without consulting a card. That was very very promising, though no further words in her native tongue seemed forthcoming. The high ebbed slightly, but it was still nice that the other Pecari first year knew even one word. Heinrich had said he'd been starved of German during his first year, but this didn't look to be the case for Hilda. Even if the other girl just knew a few polite niceties, it would still be good to hear some of her native tongue in her new school home.

'It's nice to meet you' was one of the phrases Hilda could actually recognize in English, this being one of the ones people started with so she'd sort of had that one drilled in by repeated exposure over the past three or so years since she started learning English, even before she had been forcibly moved to Utah to live with her uncle. She still glanced at the card though to make sure she was remembering it correctly and not mixing it up with something else that sounded familiar or similar.

"And you," she said carefully in very rough and heavily accented English, again without using a card to help her. She was feeling pretty proud of herself actually.

She took a moment to add some food to her own plate, picking out some chicken that looked like it had an interesting glaze on it.

"Ja," she nodded, smiling in earnest as one of her favorite flashcards turned toward her. She had written the question about Quidditch out on a card with the expectation of turning it on her roommates. That her roommate had picked that one to direct at her first was a good sign that they at least had one thing in common. "Beater," she said the English word, pointing to herself; it was one of the few words outside of a standard meet and greet script that she knew without looking up. Most of the others were also Quidditch related.

Hilda was tall, and muscular, and she looked powerfully built, so this declaration of her preferred position was unlikely to come a surprise to anyone familiar with the sport. She, quite frankly, looked like a Beater.

She wanted to talk more about her excitement to get to play, to actually have someone older than six to play with (though Heinrich did play with her over the summer a little, so that was appreciated, but Heinrich was skinny and bookish and a terrible beater so they usually ended up tossing a Quaffle between them and Hilda was left to do her Beater drills by herself - she really missed Germany where she'd been able to play in Zauberstadt's children's league), but her lack of English got in the way, and flashcards wouldn't really cut it. She tried anyway and held up the one that said "Excited" on the English side. Then she turned the flashcard her roommate had used back the other way, to return the question.

1 Hilda You are right. It is not. But it's improving a little. 1433 Hilda 0 5

Zara

January 16, 2019 8:48 AM

.... neat? by Zara

Zara grinned upon hearing Johana-Leonie utter the word "cool," or something very like it. If she had mastered that word already, they would be just fine.

"At home," Zara replied, when Johana-Leonie asked about her sister. "Sister likes home. Likes being with family. I do too," she added hastily, not wanting to make Johana-Leonie think Zara had family problems, "but I also like... new things. Meet new people," she indicated Johana-Leonie and the general population of the hall, "See new places," she gestured at the room.

"I like your family,” she added with evident excitement and enthusiasm, when Johana-Leonie mentioned the principle of treating people. She could have hugged her. For all their language barriers, they clearly agreed on some very important things. And had been able to get to know that in spite of the difficulty in communicating. Zara grinned from ear to ear, feeling warm and happy about all those things. And also curious. “That’s allowed?” she asked. “Here.. In America za… z- magical people,” she shrugged giving up on recalling the word Johana-Leonie had used, “cannot give potions to Muggles. Or… your family does potions and muggle medicine?” she asked, wondering whether Johana-Leonie was also dual-heritage.

Ah. School. Darn. Now that Johana-Leonie had said that it seemed the obvious conclusion from what she had said. She was about to shake her head, when her roommate rattled off a sentence in her own language, which Zara really hoped she was not meant to understand and then started pointing at things and speaking slowly and clearly in single words. Oh… they were… teaching each other words? Ok. But then they were back to the subject of her parents, and she wasn’t sure whether that mime had been a part of Johana-Leonie’s guess about that or… something else.

“No. Not teachers. Not school…. Uh. A…. place. Teach magical about Muggles. Um… Muggle music. Muggle art. Famous Muggle people. Share it with magical people.”

13 Zara .... neat? 1444 Zara 0 5

Christabel Davidson

January 16, 2019 4:32 PM

New badges, new students by Christabel Davidson

Christabel watched the new Head Girl return to her seat, delighted to find out that Zevalyn was from her own house. As if it wasn't exciting enough to finally arrive at Sonora, she'd already found out about another opportunity to do well here.

Christabel looked away quickly so as not to stare, but she couldn't help but take little peeks towards the Head Girl during the feast. Zevalyn looked so grown-up, and so pleased with her new position, that Christabel thought she could probably get away with being a little bit curious.

Just a little bit, though. The night before she'd made the journey here, her mother had warned her not to get too nosy too quickly. Mom had probably been right; it wouldn't be much fun here if she offended everyone by staring and poking her nose into everyone's business on the very first day she arrived.

Still, she couldn't help but sneak a few more looks at Zevalyn, and the other older, more confident students in the hall. Perhaps one day even Christabel Davidson might find her name announced and-

Well, perhaps it was too soon to think about things like that. She had to stay out of trouble for a good few years first, and that was going to be enough of a challenge in itself.

0 Christabel Davidson New badges, new students 1446 Christabel Davidson 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

January 17, 2019 7:40 AM

Making connections by Jeremy Mordue

Jeremy had, he thought, made a pretty decent job of orientation. He had already made A Connection. Felipe De Matteo. Who was an heir. And gracious and polite, and just the sort of person Nathaniel probably thought he wasn’t capable of impressing but thought he ought to. So. That was great. Felipe was… great.

It was only, just ever so slightly, unfair. It was the story of his life, so far, that everyone else got to be special. Simon was special because he was the air, Sylvia was special because she was the girl, Nathaniel was special because he was the oldest boy in their family (and he was mother's favourite, however much she claimed not to have one). Now Jeremy had to deal with a friend who people were naturally going to think was important. He didn't want to end up just being "Felipe De Matteo's friend." He wanted to be noticed too. He deserved to be.

They arrived into the Cascade Hall. He had had it described, and even seen a couple of pictures in Nathaniel's photograph albums. It was different, seeing it for real. It was strange, seeing the water flow down the walls but not hearing it - you didn't think about that when you saw a photograph of it because, whilst you expected photographs to move, you expected them to be silent. The lack of noise had not been strange in a picture but was in real life. He watched Felipe dip his badge. Crotalus. Right. Jeremy was pretty confident of the way his own sorting would go, and that meant they were going to be roommates.Well. That was... excellent. That was really, really excellent.

When it was Jeremy's turn, he dipped his badge which turned, as he had predicted, turned red. With a rather self-satisfied smile, as if he had just made some great personal achievement, he set off for Crotalus table. He noticed there was another boy in his year. He hoped he wasn’t an heir too… In Simon’s room, they were all heirs. He could not be the only one in his dorm who wasn’t an heir. That would be so humiliating. There was also a girl. She was… probably fine. He didn’t really care. He just wanted to be not the only one who wasn’t an heir.

He opted not to sit with either of his cousins, because he did not want to look clannish, insteading taking a seat next to someone he knew to be respectable company. His brother had been able to tell him who all the decent sorts were, and who to avoid. The yearbook was very handy like that. There weren’t many undesirables in Crotalus, but there were a few, and it would pay to know who they were. Glancing around the table, he found that Felipe had not been so fortunate. He was talking to the half-veela. Oh, that was good. That was really, really good. Because it gave Jeremy something that Felipe De Matteo, heir and multilingual show-off, did not have. Jeremy had knowledge, and knowledge was power. If Felipe wanted to know who was who and avoid making that kind of mistake again, he would need Jeremy. The playing field had just levelled substantially. Deciding to further widen his advantage of already being connected, Jeremy turned to the person next to him.

“Good evening. I am Jeremy Mordue of the Oregon Mordues,” he introduced himself. Anyone who had ever noticed Nathaniel would be able to make a pretty decent guess as to which of the school’s resident Mordues Jeremy was most closely related to. They had the same lightly curling brown hair, the same greenish eyes (though often carrying starkly different expressions) and identical noses. Jeremy's face was a little thinner, but the structures were similar enough to achieve the effect that a miniature Nathaniel Mordue had just joined Crotalus. Something that Jeremy hoped was not about to be pointed out to him.

13 Jeremy Mordue Making connections 1443 Jeremy Mordue 0 5

Zevalyn

January 17, 2019 9:34 AM

Welcome to Sonora! by Zevalyn

As Zevalyn sat down at the Aladren table, she glanced over at Teppenpaw to share a long distance smile with Kir (who she had definitely heard cheer earlier) and Georgia, her two favorite people at the school. Pity she didn’t have many Aladren friends to sit with at feasts like this, but especially now that she was Head Girl, in addition to being an Aladren prefect, the idea of going to sit with her boyfriend or best friend was simply impossible.

So she stayed with her own house and smiled at the people she already knew and the new faces amongst them, looking so young and small. She’d be turning eighteen tomorrow and eleven felt like a lifetime ago. Even her own sorting felt a lifetime ago, and she’d been all but fourteen when that happened. She could hardly imagine coming here as an eleven year old. The actual first years had looked little even then.

Oh, the headmaster was talking about the concert. The concert had been her first midsummer event, and she felt a moment of nostalgia, but only a moment before two things broke it. First, was the memory of how crazy he first year at Sonora had been, trying to catch up academically while still trying to accept magic was a real thing she couldn’t deny any longer.

Second was the headmaster’s announcement that Houses, not clubs, were responsible for the performances this time. Which meant she was basically in charge of Aladren’s, being both Head Girl and the eldest of Aladren’s three prefects (even if Amelia was less young than most of the newly appointed perfects were).

The rest of the announcements and the song passed by with token attention and participation, but she was mostly mulling over what might be a good showcase for Aladren house. The food appeared, and Zevalyn absently filled her plate with some of her favorites: some turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes (also with gravy), Caesar salad, and a few apple slices.

She was a few bites into her salad when she noticed the nearby first year kept looking her way. Zevalyn smiled at her, hoping being bigger and older and badged wasn’t too intimidating to the new student. “Hi, I’m Zevalyn,” she greeted her. “Welcome to Sonora and Aladren. Did you enjoy the tour?”

1 Zevalyn Welcome to Sonora! 380 Zevalyn 0 5

Winston Pierce

January 17, 2019 10:48 AM

An advanced student now by Winston Pierce

Winston was eager for new school year. The Pecari had graduated, leaving only The Aladren to give him problems in Quidditch and she (he was pretty sure she was a she) had almost no shot at being named Captain, so she was a much lesser problem than The Pecari had been. In fact, Winston had hopes of being the new Captain. Really, the only person he thought might have a slight advantage due to age was Lily. And while he still didn’t like Lily all that much, he could play with her and she had earned a bit of grudging respect in regards to her Quidditch abilities from him over the last year of being first string Chasers together. So it wouldn’t be the end of the world if she got Captain this year instead of him, but that wasn’t going to stop him hoping for it.

The other good thing about the Pecari being gone was his departure meant Winston and his sister were the sole Pierces left in the school, and so neither of the disreputable branches had a presence here sullying the name anymore.

The feast began. Winston had little interest in the first years. Simon had a cousin in the group, but the boy was enough younger that Winston did not expect to run into him much, even if he got into Crotalus. Prefects were likewise immaterial, as his chance had passed. Except . . . what was Amelia doing up there? Oh, no fifth year Aladrens. Pity it wasn’t Crotalus with that problem. Winston was still a little angry at the staff for picking Victor as the most suited out of the three of them.

Victor hadn’t even gotten Most Representative of Crotalus.

And now the Headmaster was having the prefects plan the concert act to represent Crotalus? Pfft. It should have been Winston wearing that badge. Winston represented Crotalus better. The yearbook said so.

He supposed he could volunteer to help anyway. That would look good for this spring’s Head Boy vote.

Huh, another new Coach? Well, Timothy Kinsell was a better known name in the Quidditch world that Patricia Reilly, though Winston wasn’t sure he’d ever heard of him coaching before. Well, he was probably still an improvement. Coach Reilly had appointed The Pecari as captain, after all.

Good riddance to both of them.

Winston sang the school song with reasonable skill, feeling more confident in the lyrics and melody now that he’d been here so long and was more familiar with both. He didn’t have an amazing signing voice, but he’d had a little musical training before he’d begun at Sonora so he wasn’t going to embarrass himself at least.

Then there was food. Winston was sixteen and it had been hours since his last meal. He was starving and the heaping piles he moved onto his plate reflected this. Nothing too unhealthy, of course, he didn’t want to risk getting out of shape so soon before try-outs, but he desperately needed nourishment before he wasted away.

Once he had taken his first bite, and thoroughly chewed and swallowed it, he turned to make polite conversation with his neighbor. ”Did you have a good summer?” he asked the requisite question after a long break. It was etiquette, not lack of creativity, he reassured himself.

1 Winston Pierce An advanced student now 370 Winston Pierce 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

January 17, 2019 5:30 PM

smiley face Nett! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie was fairly certain Zara was making some pretty snipped sentences and she wasn't sure if she was more grateful or embarrassed. She was proud of her German heritage and language, but it wasn't any good to make other people deal with the problems it caused.

"People, places," Johana Leonie agreed. The next question puzzled her. "My Familie makes potions und das Medikament. Die Medizin." She tried to think of a better word than "makes" because really, her family specialized in homeopathic remedies, but she was pretty sure that wasn't a word she knew in English. She remembered that the English word and the German word for medicine were pretty close to each other, and just settled for that. "Magic und Muggel," she added.

Zara looked so confused and put off when Johana Leonie tried to work through some basic vocabulary, and didn't offer any English vocabulary to match her own efforts. She wasn't sure if this was cultural or if she was just odd. Was she odd? It would make sense if she were odd, she'd grown up far from these sorts of civilities. It didn't normally bother her, but she wasn't sure what to think now. What was the English word for "I'm trying really hard to connect but I'm not sure how to explain that I need you to help me with words and this is what they did in tutoring which was kind of like school so maybe you'll understand what I mean by school"? She didn't know.

"Das Muggelmuseum?" she tried. "Das Muggel Museum?" she tried again, remembering that English speakers separate their bits.

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen *smiley face* Nett! 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5

Julius Astley

January 17, 2019 7:55 PM

Connections are certainly beneficial by Julius Astley

Julius didn't hold so much hostility towards being at Sonora as he had done the previous year. He didn't frown or glare at anybody as he walked into Cascade Hall and took a seat at the Crotalus table - he even gave a polite incline of the head to the students who formed the team behind the publication of The Aronos. There was still no smile, though. He wasn't that happy to be back. Somehow, leaving his sisters and his mother behind again this year had seemed harder than the year before. They had spent a lot of time in each other's company over the summer, when Julius wasn't attending his father's lessons on politics and economics. He already missed sitting in his favourite armchair in the Astley Manor library, listening to Aurelia play the piano while Aelia curled up into their mother's side.

He paid just enough attention to the Headmaster's speech to be aware of what was going on but he didn't care about who the Head Students and the prefects were and he wasn't in the slightest bit bothered about the new Quidditch Coach. The concert snagged his attention, however. Not because he wanted to be in it, certainly not, but it could certainly provide material to put in The Aronos. Julius made a mental note to bring it up at the next meeting - and it was perhaps worth putting up a new sign up sheet. If he could get more journalists on board, the more The Aronos could publish.

Like the year previous, he refused to sing the school song. There was just no way that his mouth was going to be used for any kind of vocal exercise other than talking - or shouting, if it came to it.

When the food appeared, Julius helped himself to a lamb steak and filled his plates with all sorts of delicious looking vegetables - carrots, peas, roasted sweet potatoes to name but a few. He might not hold any love for the school but he had to admit that the food was always rather delicious.

He was just about to take a bite of his dinner when the first year who had sat next to him introduced himself. Julius hadn't really paid attention to the boy or any of the other first years. If he had, he might have realised sooner that Jeremy was a relation of Nathaniel's - in fact, looking at him now, Julius guessed that they were brothers. The similarities between the two were rather remarkable. He set down his cutlery and offered his hand for Jeremy to shake. He worked with Nathaniel on The Aronos and had spoken with Sylvia Mordue before. To meet another Mordue would strengthen the connection between the Astley and Mordue families and that was important. Connections were always important.

"I'm Julius Astley of the Californian Astleys and the French Chasseloup de Laubats," he replied, feeling it necessary to point out that he wasn't just an Astley and that Jeremy Mordue was basically in the presence of royalty. Of course, if the boy knew anything about Pureblood families, this would already be common knowledge. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

20 Julius Astley Connections are certainly beneficial 1425 Julius Astley 0 5

Isaac Song

January 18, 2019 3:55 AM

Gotta love this student life by Isaac Song

This year Isaac was seriously thinking about joining the Quidditch team. After a good four weeks of sports camp at the end of summer, his muscles ached to be worked during the rest of the year. He'd forgotten how much he enjoyed working out and being part of a team. He was still pretty thin, but felt a lot stronger and tanner, not to mention he definitely had abs now. Not exactly a six-pack, but getting there.

This was also going to be the year of advanced classes. He could finally drop COMC and focus on the core classes he needed to start the process to becoming a healer. While in Korea, he had looked up the requirements to become a healer. He needed really good grades on his RATS in order to even meet the requirements for Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, and DADA. It sucked that he still had to take so many advanced classes, but it would be worth it in the end. He had a whole year to start prepping himself for those exams.

After the first years were sorted, Isaac applauded loudly for the new Head students. Getting an honor like that required himself to get his name out there, but also being an impeccable student. He was especially thrilled to hear Cleo get called up to receive her Prefect badge. She had been so sure she wasn't going to get it last year. Isaac caught her eye and gave her two thumbs up with a smile. It was awesome that they were both Prefects now. It meant they'd see more of each other since they wouldn't be in the same classes this year.

There was a new coach and a concert to plan for. The moment after the headmaster announced that Prefects would be organizing it, several ideas ran through his head. They could have a circus act, as he was sure some of his classmates could pick it up. He wished Kyte or Raine were still here. They would've been perfect for that. Another idea was a mock battle--his housemates would love that. They could put on a play about some kind of adventure, or put on an actual concert singing some upbeat song that represented Pecari. Isaac himself didn't really play instruments, but he was sure at least someone did. The rest of them could sing as a chorus.

The other Prefects in his house were Lily and now Brett, neither of whom he knew very well. More ideas were coming to him, some more fantastical than others, and he was looking forward to discussing it with them. Organizing large gatherings, after all, was something he actually enjoyed.

"Oh, good choice," Isaac commented as Luke put some salmon on his plate. "I think I'll have some of that too. Yeah, summer was good. I visited my family in Korea for a couple months, then went to sports camp for about a month. It was cool. The workouts were intense, but I like it a lot. I'm thinking about joining Quidditch this year." Maybe it would impress Cleo too. None of his family members had played Quidditch in school. They had been more focused on the academics and social life.

"You were part of the Quidditch team before, right? What was it like for you?"

19 Isaac Song Gotta love this student life 375 Isaac Song 0 5

Zara

January 18, 2019 7:52 AM

Nice? by Zara

“Nice,” Zara smiled, as Johana-Leonie explained that they made both Muggle and magical remedies. The word ‘medicine’ was similar enough that she assumed Johana-Leonie was saying it in English, just with her accent.

Museum was slightly hard to decode, just because the middle vowel sounded so strange, but given the context, she was able to work it out.

“Yes. A little bit,” she held up her fingers a small space apart. “Sometimes it is a museum. We show things,” there was an exhibition room, and that part of it was quite museum-like, hosting different displays of Muggle art or information about famous scientists. There were also some rooms with permanent displays like that. “But also… do things. Show Muggle… movies. Uh, entertainment?” The word ‘movies’ was going to be lost on Johana-Leonie if she hadn’t grown up with many muggle things but ‘entertainment’ seemed like a hard word. “A little bit museum, a little bit library. A little bit… place for doing things. Playing games.” It was hard to sum up, but she thought Johana-Leonie was getting some idea. If she decided Zara’s family had a Muggle Museum, that was close enough for now. The more important thing was how she reacted to the idea. Given that Johana-Leonie’s own parents seemed to live in both worlds, she suspected it wasn’t going to be a problem.

13 Zara Nice? 1444 Zara 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

January 18, 2019 8:05 AM

They are indeed by Jeremy Mordue

“Very pleased to meet you,” Jeremy grinned, with something approaching genuine enthusiasm when Julius Astley said it was nice to meet him and held out his hand. Yes! Jeremy shook it, wondering whether Felipe’s suggestion that people here might be keen to meet him might not have been so wrong after all. For all Nathaniel thought Jeremy needed to brush up his etiquette, he was hardly going to have gone around bad mouthing him to everyone. Maybe Nathaniel had actually done the decent thing and talked him up to a few people. That would have been the helpful thing to do. Not that he needed help. And not that Nathaniel was going to get the credit if people liked Jeremy. Just, it’s what a good brother would have done.

“My brother’s mentioned you, of course,” he added, wanting to make sure Julius knew he was known to Jeremy and well thought of in the Mordue household, though wishing he didn’t have to credit Nathaniel out loud during this interaction. “And I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the editions of the Aronos that he’s mailed home.”

He decided to also help himself to lamb because it looked rather good, but went for different side-dishes so it didn’t look like he was copying Julius because that would be weird.

13 Jeremy Mordue They are indeed 1443 Jeremy Mordue 0 5

Bridget Ferguson

January 18, 2019 3:13 PM

sighs by Bridget Ferguson

Although the Cascade Hall was bright and festive and full of the chatter of teenagers, to Bridget everything felt muted. Her mind was elsewhere and she only had the dimmest awareness of what was going on around her. She was doing what she had to do, but her heart just wasn't in it. In her heart, mind and spirit, she was at home with her parents. Mama had taken ill again this morning and for just a moment, it didn't look like Dad was going to see Bridget off this morning, but Mama had insisted and Aunt Issy had come to stay with her while Dad took Bridget to the wagon.

The first year moved slowly towards the sorting potion and dipped her badge in. Yellow. Teppenpaw. That was good. At least that meant her roommates would be nice. That was one less thing to worry about, she supposed. Of course, that didn't mean they'd be friends with Bridget. What if they had nothing in common, like if the other girls were really into Quidditch or something? Though at least it wasn't Pecari where they would think she was sub-human for not being into sports. The last thing Bridget needed was someone looking down on her for what she was or wasn't interested in. She had bigger issues.

The rest of Headmaster Brockert's brief speech barely aroused her attention. Connor hadn't gotten prefect-even though Bridget felt he would have made a good candidate-she didn't care who the Quidditch Coach was, so long as he didn't try to force people to play who didn't want to or look down on those who didn't, and she wasn't the least bit interested in participating in the school concert. Bridget knew that in the past that this was an event that parents attended and hers likely wouldn't be able to attend.

Once the school song ended and the feast began, Bridget looked over the table. She wasn't really feeling like eating much. All the new Teppenpaw really wanted to do was go up to her room and read. She supposed she was thirsty though. "Could you pass me the pumpkin juice please?" Bridget asked the person across from her.

11 Bridget Ferguson *sighs* 1448 Bridget Ferguson 0 5

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

January 18, 2019 3:28 PM

Ja! Du bist nett! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Johana Leonie indulged in a small slump. She reached for a potato and dug into the little guy as Zara spoke and she considered her words carefully. There were bits and pieces she thought she understood, but really, she was just tired. It had been a long day and English was hard. Zara was friendly and she was glad they'd be roommates, but if she never had to struggle through another conversation like this, she'd be happy. Unfortunately, that didn't seem very likely. Impossible in fact.

She tried to focus on what she did understand. "Muggel," she said simply, offering enough of a smile to show that that idea was familiar and friendly to her. "Games," she said, too, remembering sick children who had come and their parents encouraging them to play "games" with the healthy Zauberhexen children as they recovered.

When nothing else came to mind, she realized she didn't have the vocabulary to comment on these things or offer her opinion in English. "Your Familie ist nett," she decided instead. "You is coole."

She tried to keep the bleary look off her face and out of her eyes as she smiled at the girl beside her. There was a friendliness in her new companion's face that made her feel welcome, and that was worth much more than English words would be to her. "Fruende," she decided. "Wir sind Freunde." Pausing to consider which words she knew in English, she said it again. "We're is friends?"

22 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen Ja! Du bist nett! 1432 Johana Leonie Zauberhexen 0 5

Felipe de Matteo

January 18, 2019 3:40 PM

Americans introduce themselves so strangely. by Felipe de Matteo

Felipe raised an eyebrow at Cleo's introduction, and pursed his lips in thought. Except that he did none of that on the outside. Maintaining the stoic expression that his father favored for business transactions, Felipe's eyebrows remained in place and his lips adopted a polite up turn. He was fairly sure that Americans didn't all introduce themselves by their last names, but between Jeremy Mordue of the Oregon Mordues and Cleo, Cleo James, he was less certain than he had been before. He wondered if he was supposed to think Cleo James was important too.

He decided to apply the same test.

"Pleasure," he said, offering a more genuine smile and a hand to shake. "My name is Felipe."

In this case, since Cleo James seemed much less cocky than Jeremy Mordue, he did not comment on his lack of knowledge about the who's who of American pureblood wizardry. Instead, he extended a softer approach.

Taking a bit of his food and chewing quietly for a moment, Felipe allowed himself the luxury of examining Cleo's face for some sign of her thoughts at his own introduction. He hardly saw the point in giving away his family name, and she'd heard it announced anyway. There was little to gain from that and this was much more fun.

"Are you from around here?" he asked, moderately excited to see whether this would push a button for her. Who knew social interactions could be so fun? Sonora was turning out well for Felipe so far. "I'm from Mexico," he added after a long enough break that if she were offended by not being known, she would now have to backtrack over herself to realize that it was because he was not from here, not because she was unimportant.

He took another delicate bite of food and watched Cleo James' face, eager to see her reaction.

22 Felipe de Matteo Americans introduce themselves so strangely. 1434 Felipe de Matteo 0 5

Julius Astley

January 18, 2019 9:17 PM

You are lucky to make a connection with me. by Julius Astley

"Welcome to Crotalus," Julius added finally before releasing his firm grip on Jeremy's hand and returning to his dinner. Based on first impressions alone, Jeremy seemed suitable to socialise with which, to Julius, was a bit of a relief. Even after a year, Julius still had next to no friends at Sonora - he didn't count the team behind The Aronos and he still wasn't entirely sure where he stood with Evelyn. Were they friends? He sniffed and decided that was a question for another time. For now, he finally had somebody of good standing to have a worthy conversation with.

He was pleased that Jeremy knew him and the corner of his lips twitched upwards in a brief smirk before he had a mouthful of his lamb. A warm feeling of pride bloomed in his chest when Jeremy told him that he liked the published editions of The Aronos. "Thank you," he said cordially, reaching for the mint sauce. His lamb needed a bit of something. "I'm pleased that it has circulated outside of Sonora."

Julius had a mouthful of vegetables and chewed thoughtfully, trying to work out the best line of conversation to take next. It was perhaps best to stick to something simple, rather than delve into something complicated like politics or economics or even history, given that Julius had no clue as to what the first year already knew. With that in mind, to talk about Sonora was perhaps the safest option. "Are you looking forward to starting classes?"

20 Julius Astley You are lucky to make a connection with me. 1425 Julius Astley 0 5

Cleo

January 19, 2019 6:31 AM

Yeah. Well. What eleven year old shakes hands? by Cleo

Cleo blinked for a fraction of a second longer than was normal when a hand was held out to her, though quickly shook it because she knew that there was really no other choice. She appeared more startled by the gesture than anything else, and tense about completing the transaction, as if afraid he might bite.

“Nice to meet you,” she added, a little quietly.

She had reported the incident with Isaac to Professor Skies last year (in what had to easily be the most awkward conversation she had ever had to have with a teacher, and which was so unfair because no one else had to go around describing their dates to the staff, or - worse still - explaining the moments within them that had gone disastrously wrong). They had stepped up sessions in the mirage chamber again, and… and she still felt unsure about what caused her to do The Veela Thing and make boys go goopy. It was super inconvenient. Luckily, however, it did not seem to be touch activated. Or, if Felipe had been affected by that, it had worn off as soon as she had let go.

“Uh. Yeah. Colorado,” she answered, when he asked if she was from round here, “So, pretty close.” They’d chosen the closest school, in fact. Perhaps a silly consideration when you could whizz around by Floo powder or portkeys. Distance shouldn’t have really mattered. But it was comforting to know she was close to home.

“Oh. That’s cool,” she answered when he said he was from Mexico, her tone not betraying any particular feelings about it. She took a few bites of her dinner, searching for something to follow that up with. “What made you come to school here?”

13 Cleo Yeah. Well. What eleven year old shakes hands? 389 Cleo 0 5

Dorian

January 19, 2019 8:50 AM

Yup. Round and round. by Dorian

After his rather intense conversation with Professor Brooding, Dorian had headed up to the Teppenpaw Common Room. He had been relieved to find that Vlad was out, as the two things he needed most were a nap and shower, which weren’t exactly sociable room-mate together time activities. A two hour time difference didn’t sound like a lot, and it wasn’t enough to throw his body into chaos, or require him to be knocked out with a sleeping potion the way trips to China did, but it was just enough that, by the end of the feast, his eyelids were going to be drooping and his sentences were not going to be grammering goodly if he didn’t take precautions. He had finally learnt this after doing it the hard way for the previous three years. It had been hard to drop off, his brain still full of the conversation he’d had, and still trying to think through every possible scenario, but he had rested. He had felt a lot better for showering too, putting the long wagon ride behind him, and drawing a line under the day so far.

He took a deep breath as he entered the Cascade Hall, reminding himself that just because he had told one person did not make it inherently more obvious and did not mean that the giant flashing sign reading ‘LIKES OTHER BOYS’ was any more likely to have appeared over his head than any other day. He tried not to consider the ways that which, this being a magical school, that might accidentally happen because he was pretty sure that thinking about it was, in itself, a danger. He made his way to Teppenpaw and took his seat. Nice, normal, relaxed. It felt good to have told someone. But that had been more than enough for one day, and he just wanted to go on with the rest of his evening now doing the same things he always had.

He took a seat next to Vlad, feeling that it would be nice to catch up as they'd missed crossing paths in their room. He had seen Vlad over the summer but it was always nice to spend time together. Vlad had been super enthusiastic about getting to come to Canada, as if it was some crazy adventure. But then, Vlad was enthusiastic about almost everything. It was kind of sweet, and definitely something that was uplifting to be around. And Dorian needed lifting up... well, more and more often, if he was honest.

He clapped politely for the head students and prefects (would that really be them, next year?), listened to the announcements (he supposed he might help backstage but would surely die of embarrassment if anyone put him on one, and anyway, he wasn’t good enough at anything) and managed to make his way tunefully through the school song.

The food appeared, and Dorian cast around for something good. Not that there was a lack of choice on that front. And he felt like he could happily eat his way through most of the things that appealed to him. Just like he had simultaneously gone from being too short to too tall, he had also gone from never eating enough to being impossible to keep full (all of this in his mother’s opinion, and the latter point made with something approaching enthusiasm whilst heaping food onto his plate. As most of his friends had now discovered first hand, his mother very much enjoyed feeding people).

“Very nice,” he commented, when Vlad asked after his summer, “Went to a fun party. Had nice visitors,” he added with a smile. He was aware that Vlad was probably asking about the bits of his summer that he didn’t already know about but there wasn’t really that much to tell beyond that. And ‘had fantasies about kissing Jehan’ and ‘felt awkward with everyone’ and ‘got tormented by my brother.’ But none of those were things he felt particularly like sharing right now.

“How was the time since your birthday?” he asked. “And… that is not correct. Why not?” he added, Vlad being one of the people he was comfortable enough with to unpick his errors and get advice from.

13 Dorian Yup. Round and round. 1401 Dorian 0 5

Luke

January 19, 2019 8:03 PM

It could definitely be worse. by Luke

“Here,” Luke moved the salmon closer to Isaac so that he could help himself, before putting some vegetables on his own plate to complete his meal.

“That sounds cool,” Luke remarked in response to Isaac’s brief description of his summer. He envied Isaac’s travels somewhat and couldn’t wait until he was older and could go off and travel the world as a professional surfer. For now it was rare that he strayed outside of California.

“Yeah I was when Pecari had a team but not for the past few years,” Luke divulged when Isaac asked him about his own Sonora Quidditch experience. “It was really fun. I’m planning on joining again this year. I was Keeper before but I wanted to be Beater so I’m hoping now I’ll be able to get that position. I’ve got friends who are really serious Quidditch players so I practised a lot with them over the summer.”

“You should definitely sign up as well!” Luke added encouragingly. “It will be awesome. It’s nice having a team and it’ll be a good break from all the work we’ll be getting this year.” One thing about surfing and swimming in the MARS water room was that it was quite lonely, although Loren of course regularly joined him, so it would be nice to have the social aspect of Quidditch again, as well as the fun of actually playing the sport. He hoped Isaac would join - he was always fun to be around and would no doubt be a good player with his natural affinity for sport.

8 Luke It could definitely be worse. 374 Luke 0 5

Beatriz

January 19, 2019 8:16 PM

That's all I can ask for. by Beatriz

Any disappointment at the fact that her roommate did not speak English was forgotten the moment Beatriz found out that Hilda played Quidditch. Her whole face lit up. Now she could really envisage being friends with this girl.

Beatriz smiled when Hilda announced her position. It made sense, given her roommate’s build, and also meant that she was serious enough about the sport to be dedicated to a particular position.

“Yeah, I do,” Beatriz grinned back, nodding enthusiastically. It was fairly obvious that she was also excited. “I’m a Chaser.” She hoped Hilda understood what she meant, since she had known how to say Beater in English.

Beatriz pieced together some of the flashcards to form the question: “Do you play matches?” She hoped that Hilda understood what she meant by that as she was keen to know if Hilda, like herself, had played for a club at home. Hilda sounded enthusiastic about the sport and if she was even half as Quidditch mad as Beatriz was, the new Pecari couldn’t see any reason why the two of them wouldn’t make great friends. She was already imagining the extra practices they could do together.

It was good that Hilda played in a different position to Beatriz, meaning that their potential friendship didn’t have to be ruined by the two of them competing against one another to get onto the school team. Of course, there was still the chance for one to get on the team and the other not to but Beatriz hoped that didn’t happen. It would be nice to have a fellow first year on the team and she felt fairly confident because, well, she knew she was good, and Hilda was European.

8 Beatriz That's all I can ask for. 1437 Beatriz 0 5

Hilda

January 19, 2019 11:10 PM

Then we should get along by Hilda

Between the excited nodding and the fairly short sentence that included all words Hilda actually knew, she gathered, in spite of the English, that her new roommate was a Chaser who did indeed play Quidditch. "Heinrich, too," she said in response to Roommate's declared position, then held up a card that said "Brother" so she knew who Heinrich was. "Aladren," she added, and held up three fingers, then pointed over to where she'd seen him sitting, having noticed him while she was waiting to get sorted.

Then her roommate used several the flash cards to put together a question, and Hilda grimaced, more because the answer was too complicated for a simple answer than because there was anything wrong with the question itself, either in itself or in understanding what the other Pecari meant (even if all of the flashcard nouns were singular and she was pretty sure her roommate was asking about more than one match).

She picked up the pile, and flipped through them until she found the ones she wanted. First she held up "Year" and then two fingers, and made an exaggerated sad face while shaking her head. Then she held up one of the cards she'd had Heinrich help her with because it contained information she expected she'd need to share. "I moved to Utah from Germany." Then verbally, she said in her badly accented English, "Quidditch match, Utah, no. Quidditch match, Deu- er, Germany, yes." She knew those 'sentences' lacked any kind of verb or grammar, but figured it got her point across well enough. And she still hadn't forgiven English for getting the name of her country wrong. What was this 'Germany'? Where did the English speakers come up with that?

She put together the cards for "Where" and "Match" and said "America" (most locations didn't need translations, so she hadn't bothered to make cards for them unless they were really different from what she'd expect - like 'Germany') to see if she could find out more information about how one went about getting into an American Quidditch league. By next summer she might be able to follow enough English to join one. Hopefully. If not, Heinrich could come, too.

1 Hilda Then we should get along 1433 Hilda 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

January 20, 2019 1:25 AM

Indeed so by Jeremy Mordue

“Thank you,” Jeremy smiled, when Julius welcomed him to Crotalus. “It’s the house I was hoping for. I felt pretty sure I’d get it too,” he added. He decided not to point out that it was practically a family tradition, given that his closest relative was not in the house, and he was not keen to point out Nathaniel’s Teppishness more than necessary. Or, in fact, Nathaniel himself more than necessary. So far, in spite of having had to allude to him to get the subject of the Aronos started, Nathaniel had not become a feature of the conversation, either in terms of his contributions to the paper nor in how very obvious Jeremy was his brother.

“Yes,” he replied, in a carefully neutral tone when asked about classes. He thought it probably sounded nerdy to be too keen but equally one didn’t want to sound ignorant or lazy. In truth, he wasn’t that enamoured with the academic side of things. “Though I have to say, I’m looking forward to Quidditch more,” he added, hoping to move the conversation onto more exciting ground, although he knew from his brother that Julius was strictly pitch-side, with quill in hand when it came to matches. “I play Seeker.”

13 Jeremy Mordue Indeed so 1443 Jeremy Mordue 0 5

Zara

January 20, 2019 1:34 AM

Aw. Thanks. You too :-) by Zara

She seemed to have got some of the message across. It was strange just hearing single words echoed back to her of her own comments, but it seemed to be Johana-Leonie’s way of confirmed what she’d heard or committing the words to memory. She’d evidently done enough, as Johana-Leonie was proclaiming her family to be ‘nett’ and Zara to be ‘coole.’ ‘Nett’ sounded kind of like ‘not’ but it seemed to be being said in a complimentary tone. Maybe it meant ‘neat,’ the same way that they used that to mean something good. Either way, they seemed to be on the same side of everything, politics-wise, and Zara felt warm and happy, glad she would be able to write home and tell her family that she had at least one room-mate who shared her world view and was going to look after her.

“Thanks,” she grinned, “I think so too,” she added, not ashamed to blow her family’s trumpet for them, or get enthusiastic about how great they all were.

“Yes,” she agreed happily, when Johana-Leonie proclaimed them friends, both in her own language and then translating. “We are. Wi… freund?” she tried to copy back, wondering if her attempt was even close enough for Johana-Leonie to recognise that she was trying, though the hesitant speech and look for confirmation probably helped.

13 Zara Aw. Thanks. You too :-) 1444 Zara 0 5

Gwen Fintoc

January 20, 2019 2:05 AM

Change is inevitable [tag: Finn] by Gwen Fintoc

Gwen was facing several changes going into her sixth year of Sonora, some good and some perhaps less so. Daniel had graduated and she was now the only Fintoc left at the school. It was a strange thought and she had felt unusually lonely when she had boarded the flying wagon. It had felt odd enough the first year without Chuck but now she didn’t have any of her cousins to prevent her from feeling homesick. She wished her sister had come to Sonora as well. Alice was entering her fourth year but went to school elsewhere, along with Dan’s brother Anthony. Gwen didn’t think she would want one of her cousins to be in the same year as her, even if it would have solved the issue of being the only one left at her school, as she liked the independence. Her cousins were too much like siblings.

But Gwen was almost seventeen and she’d got used to being away from home for long periods of time. She never stopped missing her family and the ranch whilst she was away but she was okay with it. One day she would get married and move away from home anyway so boarding school was essentially a drawn out weaning method. Gwen hoped that day wasn’t so far away now.

On the bright side of things, Gwen had done well in her CATS exams and was looking forward to focusing on her favourite subjects now that she was a RATS students. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy for her but it would definitely be interesting, so it was all worth it. What’s more, she would be sharing classes with Finn again - although this was a bit of mixed blessing since he was in his last year. Gwen hoped they would stay friends even after he left, if not more. They kept in touch through letters over the holidays and had both visited each other’s homes so she didn’t see why that should end even without Sonora keeping them connected.

Gwen watched as the first years were sorted, thinking about how small they looked. It was funny to think she was that small once upon a time. They were children. Gwen didn’t know when the turning point happened exactly but she was well and truly on her way to womanhood now. Although she was a slim girl, her body had become much more voluptuous in more recent years, so there was no mistaking her for a child anymore.

When Finn was announced as Head Boy, Gwen grinned and clapped enthusiastically. She was happy for her friend and felt proud too. She had always been disappointed that she had never got a prefect badge herself, although she kept this to herself. Chuck had been a prefect and she had believed that she and Dan would have also made good prefects too. Gwen wasn’t bitter about it though, and she knew that their absence when Granddad Fintoc was ill had probably stood in the way of their being appointed anyway.

“Well done!” She whispered when Finn sat back down at the table. “Here,” Gwen added, continuing her hushed tones, taking the badge from him and pinning it to his robes. It was only when she had done it that she suddenly questioned the action and blushed when she looked him in the eye. She quickly turned her attention back to the headmaster, hoping Finn hadn’t noticed the pink colour appear in her cheeks. In her mind she tried to claim that she’d just got too used to looking after her little cousins over the summer, but she knew that wasn’t really the reason she had helped Finn with the badge. The real reason had something to do with the tingling feeling she got when their hands had touch in the transfer of the badge.

When it was time to eat, Gwen’s face had returned to normal and she helped herself to some chicken breast. She turned to Finn, glad that she was finally able to talk to him properly. “Well done on Head Boy - you deserve it,” Gwen smiled. “I hope you’ll still be able to find time for me.” The last part was a joke, made obvious by the grin upon her face.

8 Gwen Fintoc Change is inevitable [tag: Finn] 364 Gwen Fintoc 0 5

Christabel Davidson

January 20, 2019 4:45 PM

Re: Welcome to Sonora! by Christabel Davidson

"Oh! Um, hi," said Christabel, wanting to slide right under her seat and hide forever after being caught staring. She took a deep breath and tried to carry on; she was supposed to make friends with people in her house, so maybe now was a good opportunity to give that a try. "The tour was... pretty good, actually. I was kind of nervous though- I think I'm still going to get lost."

She fiddled with one of her braids for a moment. "I'm not sure I even know where our common room is. I tried to remember everything they told us but there's just so much to learn!"

Christabel cleared her throat, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry. My mom says I talk a lot." She smiled. "I'm Christabel, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

She let out her breath all at once, hoping none of the other students sitting nearby would notice. Sure, it was exciting to be here, but it was also somewhat nerve-wracking. It was already difficult not to just blurt out everything that came into her head.

On the other hand, she was already managing to have a proper conversation with a seventh-year. That was something to be pleased about; Aladren looked like it might just be a place where she'd fit in.

0 Christabel Davidson Re: Welcome to Sonora! 1446 Christabel Davidson 0 5

Zevalyn

January 20, 2019 10:10 PM

Great! You'll do fine. by Zevalyn

"Nice to meet you, Christabel," she said, after the younger student introduced herself, deciding to start with the easy quick and part. Then she continued, addressing the concerns that had been raised earlier. "Don't worry, the common rooms weren't on the tour, that's why you don't remember them. After the feast, our Head of House, Professor Tarnasay, that one," she pointed him out at the staff table, "will lead you back to where Aladren is located. It's not on the tour because House locations are supposed to be secret from people not in the House, though I'm pretty sure I've figured out the general areas of the other three by now. Not how to get in, or exactly where their entrances are or anything, but it doesn't take a high perception roll to notice that most Pecaris too young to cast their own drying charms come in to breakfast wet if its raining outside, for example."

"Anyway, that's why they gave you maps. Nobody expects you to have the whole school memorized after just one tour. I was consulting my map for weeks before I felt confident enough to leave it in my bag, and even then it was probably midterm before I felt safe leaving it in my dorm. I mean, you get the usual routine down pretty fast, but if you decide to go exploring or something, the map's a good thing to have with you. And these are prefect badges," she pointed hers out, pinned to her green school robes opposite the new Head Girl badge. "There's three prefects in each House, so twelve running around the school at any given time, and it's literally our job to help people out who need help, especially younger students, so just ask any of us for directions if you do get lost."

Deciding she had talked enough about how to resolve getting lost, she asked, "What are you looking forward to the most?" Christabel was an Aladren, so it was about even money that she'd bring up her favorite magic subject, but there had been clubs and Quidditch discussed in Orientation, and of course the tour would have let her see the library and MARS rooms, so getting involved with any of those or just generally exploring were still on the table, too.

1 Zevalyn Great! You'll do fine. 380 Zevalyn 0 5

Christabel Davidson

January 23, 2019 5:13 PM

Re: Great! You'll do fine. by Christabel Davidson

Christabel was relieved to be able to talk about something she was certain about.

"I'm really excited for Care of Magical Creatures," she said. "I can't have magical pets at home because my dad and I are the only magical folks in our part of town. My mom always says she doesn't know what to do if something escapes while my dad isn't home, but I'm pretty sure she just doesn't want to clean up any mess. Non-magical pets only in our house- that's why I brought a cat with me instead of an owl."

She smiled. "My grandma on my dad's side breeds Puffskeins though, so I know a little bit already- probably not anything that other students wouldn't know, but enough to be able to keep up. Hopefully it'll be enough for me to stay out of trouble too, but that bit might be a little harder." Christabel leaned a little closer to Zevalyn and lowered her voice. "I don't try to get into trouble, you know? And it's never really bad trouble. There's just so many interesting things out there to learn about!"

Christabel stopped speaking then, sitting up straight and clearing her throat as she realised she might have already caused problems for herself- and on the very first day too. "I um, I probably shouldn't say that to the Head Girl, right? Anyway, Dad says I'll be too busy learning useful things here to be too nosy about anything else."

0 Christabel Davidson Re: Great! You'll do fine. 1446 Christabel Davidson 0 5

Isaac

January 23, 2019 6:41 PM

True. Quidditch could be canceled by Isaac

"Thanks," Isaac replied as Luke moved the salmon closer to him. It smelled so good. He couldn't wait to dig into it. He noticed Luke putting some veggies on his plate and thought that would be a good idea. He put some green beans and corn onto his plate along with some small potatoes.

Since a trip to Korea was pretty much the expectation for Isaac's family every summer, it wasn't that special for him. He used to hate going when he was younger, and he still wasn't a fan of it now. He wanted just one summer where he could spend every day with his friends, chill at the beach, and skate around everywhere in LA. He didn't like how humid Korea got, and he couldn't even speak the language that well to get around on his own.

It could sound pretty cool to someone who didn't know that, though, so Isaac just shrugged it off. There wasn't much else he could think to add. It was different from the US, that was for sure. Maybe it would be cool for someone who had never been before; exotic, even.

"Nice," he said, glad to hear his roommate would be joining this year too. "Yeah, I think I will. I'm thinking of trying out for Keeper. Since I haven't really played before, it seems like a good position to start with." It was nice having an athletic roommate; it made Isaac feel a little more motivated to join when someone else was doing it too. "I hear the team victory parties are awesome too," he said, grinning.

19 Isaac True. Quidditch could be canceled 375 Isaac 0 5

Malikhi Hill

January 23, 2019 7:43 PM

Is it okay to sleep on the table? by Malikhi Hill

Malikhi's feelings about being at Sonora differed massively to what they had been the year previous. As a small first year, he had been filled with excitement, wonderment and a curious energy that had resulted in him (with the aid of a certain Evelyn Stones) in covering himself in a smelly, sticky slime during the Opening Feast. Of course, the Malikhi that had walked into his very first year at the school hadn't lost his father. The second year Malikhi who traipsed into Cascade Hall at the last minute for his second Opening Feast had and it was plain as day that he hadn't yet recovered.

He hadn't yet gained back all the weight that he had lost the year previous but he had grown taller, the combination of both making him appear gangly and awkward. His hair was unkempt, limp and long, falling even more into his eyes than it had before. The mischievous spark that once twinkled in his dark brown eyes was long gone and replaced with the grey circles that surrounded them, indicating weeks of poor sleep. This was further backed up by the fact that he had to stifle a wide yawn as he made his way over to the Pecari table and took a seat next to Evelyn with a heavy, tired sigh.

He didn't have the chance to exchange any words with her before Headmaster Brockert began his speech. Malikhi didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to what was being said, instead closing his eyes and resting his head on one of his hands, holding it up. His summer had felt long, miserable and he had spent most of it shut up in his bedroom at his Aunt's and trying desperately to avoid his mother who had been getting on his nerves throughout the entire holiday. She had seemed determined to get through the summer as if nothing was wrong, as if his Dad was still alive, planning 'fun' trips and 'exciting' days out. Malikhi had refused to go on any of them. It wasn't the same. His Dad was dead. No day trip would be able to distract Malikhi from such a fact.

He could feel himself slipping into sleep when suddenly, everybody around him was singing and he jolted awake again and made a hurried attempt to catch up, butchering the tune horribly. He was relieved when it all ended and the food appeared. He didn't choose much, helping himself to a large spoonful of mash potato and a couple of sausages. He didn't feel particularly hungry.

He managed a small smile when Evelyn turned to him. "Hi," he greeted, reaching for his fork and poking at his mash. "Pretty excited," he told her, though it was a fib. He didn't want to ruin her good mood. "I'm looking forward to learning some more advanced spells."

20 Malikhi Hill Is it okay to sleep on the table? 1423 Malikhi Hill 0 5

Julius Astley

January 23, 2019 7:55 PM

Let's hope it lasts. by Julius Astley

Julius reached for the jug of pumpkin juice that stood on the table just in front of him and filled his goblet and offered to fill Jeremy's before placing it back on the table. He quite liked the first year who was clearly a confident and proud individual, both qualities that Julius himself held and valued. Crotalus would benefit from having the younger Mordue in its ranks though Julius did not admit this out loud to the boy - Julius still felt that he was better than the first year and was going to make sure that it stayed that way.

This seemed like it wasn't going to be a difficult task when Jeremy moved the subject of classes to Quidditch, something that Julius had no love for in the slightest and only cared just enough about to write an article for The Aronos and only then when no one else wanted the job. Brains and knowledge were certainly more valuable than whether one could stay upright on a broom. He refrained from rolling his eyes when Jeremy remarked that he was a Seeker.

"Will you be signing up for the team, then?" he asked instead, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "If you make the team, it's certainly a possibility that you would be featured The Aronos."

20 Julius Astley Let's hope it lasts. 1425 Julius Astley 0 5

Evelyn Stones

January 23, 2019 9:38 PM

"Okay" is relative, but sure. by Evelyn Stones

Malikhi now was not the Malikhi she knew, and it made Evelyn feel sick. In a rush of emotions, she thought of all the happiness she had to share with him and all the grief she didn't know how to accept should he try to share with her. Then he put his head down on the table, and Evelyn was reminded of a very similar night one year ago to the day, as an eruption of tears had sparked a friendship.

"I missed you," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. She wanted to offer him a hug but wasn't sure whether that would be pushing it for now. "Thanks for being my friend."

When he mentioned his interest in learning more advanced spells, Evelyn couldn't help thinking he was probably not telling the truth. Malikhi had never been one to particularly care for the spellwork of classes, especially when words like "advanced" were thrown around, since they were usually synonymous with "difficult," "aggravating," "something Ness is good at," and "theory-based." At the same time, he was a skilled wizard and Evelyn didn't want to make him think she took his raw abilities and playfulness for stupidity. He was smart and kind and loving when he was able to be.

"Me too," she replied. "I was so afraid they'd kick me out last year, and I would never have found out I even really had magic if not for you." She stopped just shy of saying what a difference it had made in her relationship with her father. "I'm pretty excited for herbology though, honestly. Dangerous plants and pretty flowers in one place? Sounds like a dream. Plus we'll get to do Quidditch again!"

Evelyn knew she was rambling but she was just hoping to hit on any topic that might make him light up, bring back some of his usual self in those dark, haunted eyes.

Moving carefully in case he really didn't want a hug, Evelyn extended her reach towards him. "And late nights eating brownies in the Common Room. Some things never change, even when others do, and I'm glad you're my adventure buddy," she said, praying to Eleos, the Judeo-Christian God, Balder, Isis, and a few others as the came to mind that there would be some reconciliation, some hope, some light, or whatever each deity might be willing to offer her poor, sweet friend. "I don't expect you to be you just yet, and it's okay to be sad."

22 Evelyn Stones "Okay" is relative, but sure. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Malikhi Hill

January 24, 2019 1:54 PM

Great, 'scuse me while I snooze. by Malikhi Hill

Evelyn's hand on his shoulder felt warm, even through his robes and the weight of it was a comfort to the tired boy. His free left hand moved to cross his body and rested on top of it, clasping her fingers in his own and, for a moment, everything felt like it would be okay. With Linney at his side, surely the world wouldn't be so horrible anymore. Her letters that he'd received over the summer had been his only source of comfort and what he had drawn strength from and the thought of seeing her again had played a big part in him wanting to return to Sonora.

"They'd have never kicked you out, Linney," he told her and for a moment, a glimmer of the old Malikhi was back as he smiled at her properly, showing his teeth. "I always knew you had it in you."

As quickly as the smile had appeared, however, it disappeared at the mention of Quidditch. Malikhi wasn't sure if he was going to bother with signing up for the school team again - he hadn't even ridden a broom since before the summer which meant that he was out of practice and there was a definite chance that he'd make a complete fool of himself. Then there was the fact that the mention of Quidditch didn't make him as excited as it used to. It seemed to matter a lot less than it used to, now that he could no longer share it with his father. So, by way of answer to Evelyn, he gave a non-committal shrug and had a mouthful of mash potato.

When Evelyn reached out further to him, he found himself leaning into her, his head coming to rest on her shoulder which felt comfortable and warm. Eating brownies in the common room with her sounded great and fun and he looked forward to doing that but something else sprang to mind...

"I'd like to go to the beach again..." he murmured in a low voice, as if wanting to keep the admission a secret. "Would that be okay?"

20 Malikhi Hill Great, 'scuse me while I snooze. 1423 Malikhi Hill 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

January 28, 2019 12:46 AM

Proper ones of course. by Felipe De Matteo

Felipe didn't consider Cleo's pause particularly strange, as he was more than used to people taking each social action only after deliberate thought. He would have almost thought it stranger had she responded much faster. He wondered what she was considering though, as she hadn't seemed particularly strategic or high-minded about anything else so far. When she released her shake and answered his question, Felipe nodded. He was well-versed on geography and knew the United States well.

"Was it hard adjusting to the weather here? The climates between Arizona and Colorado are quite different," he asked politely, happy to have struck on a conversation that was almost mildly interesting.

When she asked about why he came to school here, Felipe paused. He had told Jeremy Mordue something about cultural diversity or studying abroad or linguistic proficiency or something, which was true, but only part of the story. There were other schools he could've gone too, probably any other school he wanted to go to, but why here?

"Sonora's history reflects some of the values my family holds most dearly," he said in a softer voice than he'd used before. He hardly knew whether it was from genuine vulnerability or learned, tactical vulnerability, but it didn't matter much. The story was true either way. "As does study abroad. It seemed appropriate to seek education in an institution close to home, in a place where Mexican-American relations frequently come to head, and where I could work with a diverse student population." He shrugged, sure his response wasn't going to be what she wanted to hear. "I am glad to meet kind people," he added more diplomatically, nodding in her direction and offering a polite smile.

Always polite, always tactical, always a proper heir to a legacy he didn't want.

Felipe stifled a sigh and ate a shrimp.

22 Felipe De Matteo Proper ones of course. 1434 Felipe De Matteo 0 5

Evelyn Stones

January 28, 2019 1:12 AM

Snooze away, my friend. by Evelyn Stones

Malikhi almost became himself again and Evelyn offered him a glowing smile, hoping to reinforce his happiness. "You're sweet," she said, surprised by how much it meant to her. She was all sorts of focused on his plight, and still found that his confidence in her made her feel warm and safe and happy. Her new smile was even brighter.

When he lost his glimmer a bit, Evelyn made a mental note that Quidditch would need some encouragement too. She hoped he'd really sign up so she could play with him and make it wonderful. Hopefully.

When Malikhi's head found Evelyn's shoulder, she felt the familiar concern building in her chest. It was a fear that she hated and that she really hoped would go away since her father had improved so much. She tried not to react to it, focusing instead on the next words that came out of her mouth.

"I would like that a lot," she said. "Let's go Friday after classes. Celebrate the first week of school!" Evelyn paused, in case he wanted to go sooner than that or didn't want to make any sort of plans at all. She hoped Friday sounded good. The first week was bound to be exhausting and it would go faster if she had something to look forward to.

22 Evelyn Stones Snooze away, my friend. 1422 Evelyn Stones 0 5

Zev

January 29, 2019 4:24 PM

I recommend not telling prefects you’re a trouble magnet by Zev

Zevalyn was a bit surprised by the confession that Criastabel kind of expected to get into trouble. Though, she did amend it was the cat’s curiosity sort of trouble, so that kind of fit with an Aladren sorting. Still, Zev was Head Girl and prefect. Belatedly, Cristabel seemed to realize it was a bad idea to talk to about that particular penchant for trouble with such a badge wearer. It was probably best not to comment on the remark at all, and just keep an extra sharp eye on the girl in the future.

Fortunately, there was plenty more to comment on in what she had said. “Care of Magical Creatures is a good one,” Zevalyn agreed, not through any personal interest in the subject (it being the only core class she had decided to drop going into Advanced classes) but out of loyalty to their Head of House who was the professor. “That’s Professor Tarnasay’s class,” she added with another nod up to the staff table, as it seemed relevant given she had just pointed him out not even five minutes ago. “I’m sure he’ll be glad to have an Aladren excited about his subject.”

“So you’re magic born, or at least half and half?” she asked, mostly as a segue to a conversational shift rather than any doubt on the topic. It sounded like her dad was definitely a wizard, though her mom could be a muggle. It would explain the living in a muggle part of town bit, though Zevalyn thought it wasn’t unheard of for magical families to settle in muggle places. “Both my folks are muggles so you’ve got a leg up on where I started,” she added quickly, before Cristabel could develop any worries that Zevalyn might be a . . . Racist? Magicist? Bloodist? She wasn’t sure of the exact term, but prejudice against those with muggle ancestry was a thing, and not unknown in Sonora, though Zevalyn hadn’t run into it too much herself, aside from some of the pureblood boys in the year below hers being careful not to sit too close to her in class, and a bit of snubbing by Winston Pierce at the fair last year.

But Winston Pierce was a prat with some kind of weird vendetta again her boyfriend so she didn’t mind him avoiding her one little bit. The practice was entirely mutual.

“I didn’t even know what a puffskien was coming in, so I’m sure you’ll have no trouble keeping up.” She might have felt a bit of reluctance before making such a claim to any random first year, but Cristabel was an Aladren. Zevalyn believed in her.

1 Zev I recommend not telling prefects you’re a trouble magnet 380 Zev 0 5

Christabel

February 08, 2019 4:52 PM

Re: I recommend not telling prefects you’re a trouble magnet by Christabel

Christabel was extremely relieved about the change of subject; she hadn't meant to blurt out quite as much as she had, especially to someone who was her own house prefect and Head Girl. She hoped that her enthusiasm for a subject that was taught by her head of house would make up for it, at least a little bit, but she was still grateful that Zevalyn had moved the conversation along.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm half and half. My dad is a wizard and my mom is a muggle- there are a few other magical folks around but I guess Mom preferred to live somewhere familiar, I don't know." Christabel shrugged. "It's kind of nice knowing both types of people though, right?"

Christabel hoped that Zevalyn would agree, being a muggle-born witch. She was surprised to find that the Head Girl wasn't from a magical family- not because of any prejudice of her own, but because she couldn't quite believe someone who seemed to fit into Sonora so well had started out with no knowledge of the wizarding world at all.

"You know what," she said, "I would never have known both your parents were muggles." She hesitated, wanting to choose her next words carefully; she really didn't want to put her foot in it again. "I mean, you seem so confident, like you've known about all this your whole life. I guess that shows how wrong people are when they act like the big families are better." Christabel hoped she was managing to communicate what she really meant a little better this time. As a half-blood, her parents had made it very clear to her at home that magical ability was just one of many talents a person could have. She hoped people here would agree, and that hope had increased a little more on learning that at Sonora, people of all backgrounds could be successful.

0 Christabel Re: I recommend not telling prefects you’re a trouble magnet 1446 Christabel 0 5

Headmaster Brockert

Opening Feast by Headmaster Brockert

System

<b><font color="#e6ac00">Teppenpaw Table Threads (nm)</font></b> by System

System

<b><font color="#804000">Pecari Table Threads (nm)</font></b> by System

System

<b><font color="red">Crotalus Table Threads (nm)</font></b> by System

System

<b><font color="#1a75ff">Aladren Table Threads (nm)</font></b> by System

System

<b><font color="#006600">Staff Table Threads (nm)</font></b> by System

Evelyn Stones

Bittersweet to be back by Evelyn Stones

Beatriz Couthon

So much to do, so much to see. by Beatriz Couthon

Zevalyn Ives

Shiny New Badge by Zevalyn Ives

Zara Jackson

Friendly and co-operative! by Zara Jackson

Cleo James

Wait, this responsibility involves responsibilities? by Cleo James

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Auf Wiedersehen by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Zara

That's a funny way of saying 'hello' by Zara

Hilda Hexenmeister

Nein. Nein nein nein nein nein! by Hilda Hexenmeister

Kir McLeod

That's my girlfriend! by Kir McLeod

Johanna Leonie Zauberhexen

Genau! by Johanna Leonie Zauberhexen

Felipe De Matteo

I hope not. by Felipe De Matteo

Florence Newell

A little blue, a little green. by Florence Newell

Vladimir Brockert

Here we go again! by Vladimir Brockert

Martin Crosby V

And so it begins. by Martin Crosby V

Isis Carter-Xavier

More than ready by Isis Carter-Xavier

Jehan Callahan

On time, and other mini-rebellions by Jehan Callahan

Mary Brooding

Quite un-ready by Mary Brooding

Zara

Uh...maybe? by Zara

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Du bist nett. by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Zara

I'm not what? by Zara

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Nein, Nett! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Jessica Hayles

Paralysis at the starting line. by Jessica Hayles

Cleo

If anyone needs me, I'll be in my blanket fort by Cleo

Heinrich Hexenmeister

Sometimes The Powers That Be have a point by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Beatriz

That's not a very positive attitude. by Beatriz

Luke Powell

Back to the grind. by Luke Powell

Hilda

You are right. It is not. But it's improving a little. by Hilda

Zara

.... neat? by Zara

Christabel Davidson

New badges, new students by Christabel Davidson

Jeremy Mordue

Making connections by Jeremy Mordue

Zevalyn

Welcome to Sonora! by Zevalyn

Winston Pierce

An advanced student now by Winston Pierce

Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

*smiley face* Nett! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

Julius Astley

Connections are certainly beneficial by Julius Astley

smiley face Nett! by Johana Leonie Zauberhexen

sighs by Bridget Ferguson