First class ever... on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Kijewski

June 18, 2006 12:51 AM

Lesson 1 - Years 1 & 2 by Professor Kijewski

Kiva Kijewski ahs been the Care of Magical Creatures Professor for the last two years. Her first year as a teacher had been rather draining on Kiva. Her very first lesson hadn’t gone over very well considering what she had taught to them wasn’t anything very enjoyable. And her second lesson was a disaster because of the dust storm that hit halfway through the class. That storm nearly killed two of their students simply because they hadn’t listened to her instructions. Luckily, her second year had gone loads better.

Now in her third year of teaching, Kiva was prepared for just about anything. Her summer had been anything but relaxing and she really wanted a break when it came to teaching. Her father’s health was slowly declining and he had been in and out of the hospital all summer long. Her mother was distraught with worry and relied heavily on Kiva’s help and support. What little time Kiva had to herself, she was here at Sonora taking care of the animals or working on her lessons. She was almost grateful for the new year to start.

This year, Kiva had decided to combine her classes to save time and so that the creatures didn’t get worn out too soon. She stood in her designated clearing in the gardens and watched as her first and second year students approached. She wore a pair of khaki shorts and a sleeveless tee. Her most comfortable pair of sandals decorated her feet. Her skin was a golden tan; a clear sign that she spent much of her time outdoors. Her usual curly brown hair was pulled back by two barrettes on either side of her head.

“Good morning, Everyone!” Kiva greeted them with a smile. “Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Professor Kijewski. However, most people just call me Professor K.” Kiva introduced herself. The crate directly behind her made a soft whining sound, but Kiva ignored it. “This class is less formal than your other classes. The only rule I have is to not talk while I or one of your peers are talking. Other than that, feel free to get as comfortable as you’d like. Now, today I would like you all to study these-” Kiva turned and opened the crate. She pulled out what looked to be a Jack Russell Terrier. “Everyone please take out some parchment and a writing utensil.” She waited until everyone had their materials out before continuing. “This here is Rutter, a crup. Crups originated in the southeast of England. These creatures are fiercely loyal to their Wizard owner while being rather ferocious to any muggle. They are wonderful at scavenging and usually eat gnomes.” She paused here and looked around once more at her students to make sure everyone was still paying attention. “If you wish to have a crup, you must take a test with the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to prove that you are capable of caring for these creatures in muggle-inhabited areas.” She paused once more and picked up the small dog.

“Everyone gather closer.” She placed the crup in the midst of the students. “Feel free to play with him. Just be careful of any Chizpurfle as they have a tendency to invade Crups and can destroy wands if they get to close.” She thought of something just then and walked to her large bag of supplies, “In fact, let’s study Rutter. Everyone take one of these, “She handed each of the students a magnifying glass, “See if you can spot anything. While we are doing that, can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between a crup and a non-magical dog? It’s okay if you can’t.”

OOC: I'm not looking for any right answers or any of that, so don't worry. However, I am looking at how well you write a response. Make sure each post is at least 2 paragraphs long, 5 sentences each. I know you all know how to do this, but I just wanted to remind you. Good luck, and have fun!

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Subthreads:

Destination: Care of Magical Creatures Class by Saul Pierce with Caedence Redoak

First class ever... by Eavan Valentine with Gil & Leo Idoya, Eavan

Good times.... Now where is my tree? by Melanie Rose

Shy....again....and not ready to raise my hand and answer by Guenther Heindrich with Elly Eriksson, Ginger Silverstein, Guenter Heindrich

Foreigners Just Have To Be Know-It-Alls by Nikki Ramirez with Nikki, Grail Markner

Different eyes, maybe? by Echo Elms with Leonardo Idoya, Elly Eriksson, Leo Idoya

Running a little late by Meredith Lail with August, Matt and Josh Santoro, Meredith, Elly Erkisson, Echo Elms, Jake and Matt

Hiding in the back.. by Adam Brockert with Pepper Jones, Pepper

ATTENTION EVERYONE! by Professor Kijewski with caedence redoak

0 Professor Kijewski Lesson 1 - Years 1 & 2 0 Professor Kijewski 1 5

Saul Pierce

June 18, 2006 10:47 PM

Destination: Care of Magical Creatures Class by Saul Pierce

Once Saul had gathered all the Pecari first years that he could find in the Common Room together, he set out for the classroom, about two minutes before class was scheduled to begin. It was cutting it a little close, especially considering he was talking and pointing out the sights and offering relevant trivia ("That bush, I think, looks a bit like Uncle Harvey. I wonder if Simon did that on purpose? Simon Tellerman is the groundskeeper. Harvey's his father.") as they went.

They did make it on time though, if just barely. It helped that the Pecari entrance was so close. Care of Magical Creatures was easily the fastest to get to from their Commons. With about ten seconds to spare, and with Professor K already standing in the clearing, Saul made a grand gesture that would most accurately translate to 'ta-da!' "And this, folks, is the Care of Magical Creatures lesson area. Everyone grab a log and sit down, class is about to start."

He watched to make sure his charges all sat without incident, then claimed a nearby log for himself just before Kijewski started talking. He dumped his bookbag down on the ground in front of him and didn't bother to pull out a pen or parchment despite her instructions. It was more trouble than it was worth to take notes without a desk. He'd tried last year. His paper had more holes where the pen tip poked through than legible words. He had a pretty good memory anyway.

Saul wasn't entirely sure what 'Chizpurfle' was, but from context, guessed it meant 'magic fleas' since whatever it was apparently was bad for both crups and wands and he didn't know why else the CoMC teacher would tell them to be careful of them. When she handed out magnifying glasses, he was even more sure of his assumption. They were clearly supposed to use them to check for fleas, either on themselves or the dog - crup - whatever.

Saul peered through the magnifying glass, but was not immediately successful in spotting any fleas. Or any difference between this and a normal dog, though something seemed a little funky about the fella's back side. He blamed the fact that Aunt Regina always picked the No Dogs campsites for his inability to figure it out. Regina's old cat Merlin didn't care for dogs.

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1 Saul Pierce Destination: Care of Magical Creatures Class 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Caedence Redoak

June 19, 2006 5:18 PM

Yay! we get to study crups. by Caedence Redoak

Caedence regarded professer K. haugtily. Not the normal teacher, that's for sure! Though at the magic words 'get comfortable' she let a rare smile escape. So this teacher wasn't so bad after all! Reaching in her bag, ignoring the bag of dungbombs reserved for potions, she found one of her extra red t-shirts. Hey, one can't be too careful! She was ALWAYS prepared. That's the first rule of trouble making. Spreading out her shirt on the ground she used it as a cushion. Her sharp braid gleamed in the sun increasing its resemblance to a sword, or a stinger as the muggles back home said.

Can anyone tell me the difference between a dog and a crup? Caedence's ears perked up at this. This was an easy question to answer! "Well, wouldn't the difference be that Crups kill muggles? Oh and by the way Proffeser Ki-kij-.....K., what was that thing you told us to watch out for? I mean what is it? A tick?" giving the proffeser her haughty glance that she hoped said 'You know there are people here who don't read all the time!' In reality, however, the look was spoiled, as always, by her soft eyes. Those eyes that looked so mischievious. She reached out a hand for the crup to sniff. "Hey, what about halfbloods? Do crups have anything against them?"she asked suddenly pulling her hand away from the Crup.\n\n

0 Caedence Redoak Yay! we get to study crups. 94 Caedence Redoak 0 5

Eavan Valentine

June 20, 2006 5:20 PM

First class ever... by Eavan Valentine

Eavan arrived to class a few minutes earl, already believingthis to be her favorite. It was outside and the professor looked nice. From what Earl had told her in letters, pictures, etc...this was one of the good classes. Astronomy was the worst, and everything else fell in between; except for quidditch, which of course beats all.

She took a seat on the grass and looked around at her classmates. Eavan had the unusual hobby of people-watching. She could sit for hours just staring at people with her bright brown eyes and listening to their conversations. People don't realize how much they say when they think no one's paying attention. Eavan turned to Professor K (she wasn't even going t o try to pronounce her last name) and stared at the whining crate that sat about five feet from where Eavan sat. She quietly pondered what could be in the box when Professor K pulled the lid off and a cute little crup popped out. She kept her eyes on the crup as she took out a muggle notebook and a quill and ink set and wrote a few noteworthy aspects of the crup onto her paper.

Eavan set down her things and crawled over to Rutter, the crup to get a better look. Just as she reached the animal she set her hand down on someone else's.

"Oh, geez! Sorry." She turned towards the person, an apologetic smile on her tanned and freckled face and her hand held out in greeting. "I'm Eavan. Eavan Valentine. First year Teppenpaw." \n\n

0 Eavan Valentine First class ever... 86 Eavan Valentine 0 5

Melanie Rose

June 20, 2006 10:59 PM

Good times.... Now where is my tree? by Melanie Rose

Melanie made it out and into the Care of Magical Creatures outdoors class in a matter of minutes as she was awake early and also arrived early to the class. She wasn't the first down there but she was the first to be at the tree that some of the other students and her preoccupied the year before. She liked it in the shade. The sun couldn't tan her skin any more than its light tan, already. She refused to let it. Her large bag from last year was down sized with everything else from the year before. She felt more comfortable too. That was only because she wasn't wearing all the layers.

She watched the students arrive and then listened to Professor K. talk. Normally, she wouldn't have but she was more interested this year. Then she watched the woman take a dog looking creature out of a crate. It was cute. She sat with her legs crossed as she kept her wand hidden within her bag. She didn't want it to get distroyed by the little creatures upon the Crup. Melanie only looked up and spoke,
"What exactly makes these little things so harmful to muggles and wands? And do they mind muggle borns?"

She had a knack for not raising her hand. It wasn't out of disrespect and to be disruptive. It was just a habit that was hard to break. She listened to herself and noticed another change. Her voice wasn't as rude and agrivated sounding. She smiled as she pulled her hair back into a neat high, ponytail of alburn. Her eyes revealed and, hopefully, she wouldn't gain another knickname or be called one of last years. She'd get even if it was heard. She would always find something to say. \n\n

0 Melanie Rose Good times.... Now where is my tree? 0 Melanie Rose 0 5

Guenther Heindrich

June 20, 2006 11:18 PM

Shy....again....and not ready to raise my hand and answer by Guenther Heindrich

Guenther arrived in class just before it started. He hung back even though this was one of the few classes that he looked forward to in the day. He wasn't very good in transfiguration or potions. He just didn't have the knack for them, but he love animals. Adding magic into the mix just made them better, if not potentially more dangerous. However, it was this sort of danger that drew him towards the animals. You never knew how an animal was going to react towards you and it gave him a thrilling sensation that he didn't normally get because he didn't like trying potentially dangerous stunts. He refused to play pranks either. It just seemed childish to him.

He watched carefully as his head of house released the dog-like creature. He heard the teacher explain that it was a crup and ask what the difference was between it and a normal dog. Grabbing a magnifying glass, he looked through it at the dog. Everything became clearer for him. He wondered if he needed glasses. He had been having trouble seeing things since the end of last year.

Having trouble noticing the differences, he wished that he had read more books over the summer instead of playing D&D with his friends and his 10-year old brother, who had been visiting.

"Do you notice anything?" he asked the nearest person. \n\n

0 Guenther Heindrich Shy....again....and not ready to raise my hand and answer 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5

Gil & Leo Idoya

June 21, 2006 8:35 PM

Me too! by Gil & Leo Idoya

Gil glanced over at his twin, who had his arms folded over his chest and was scowling overtly at the grass. As they continued down towards where the Care of Magical Creatures class was, Gil tapped his brother's shoulder to get his attention.

"It's not even a real class," Leo complained instantly. Gil raised one eyebrow, but supposed he should thank his normally laconic brother for offering an answer before Gil had to waste breath on a question. "Care of Magical Creatures... if we can successfully care for the animals at home, even the ones on Abuelito's farm, what use is this? I could learn it all from books."

"Well, I think it's meant to be... oh, what's that word Papi used? Experimental?"

"Experiential," Leo corrected sourly. Gil nodded, and his brother heaved a sigh. "I guess. But don't expect me to like it," he said warningly.

Gil raised one eyebrow as if to say, I'm really not that stupid. Leo glared half-heartedly at his brother and sat down as far away as he could without getting negative attention. Gil shrugged and moved onward, sitting up close. It seemed he'd chosen a good spot, too, because after Professor Kijewski had finished her speech, she set the crup, Rutter, down in the grass not far from Gil's feet.

"...Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference between a crup and a non-magical dog?" she asked.

Gil looked at the crup. It looked fairly like a normal dog to him--until it turned. "Oh! Professor!" he said, hand shooting into the air. For once he wanted to get the answer right before Leo. "It's tail is forked."

His attention was abruptly wrenched away from crups when something warm and soft touched his hand. "Oh, geez! Sorry."

The look of confusion faded from his darkly tanned face, and he pushed a few locks of black hair out of his eyes to better see the source of the voice. The girl had freckles, and looked strangely familiar...

"I'm Eavan. Eavan Valentine. First year Teppenpaw."

He beamed at her immediately. "Oh, that's where I know you, then! I'm a Tepp firstie, too. Gil Idoya, pleased to meet you," he said, taking her hand and shaking it.\n\n

0 Gil & Leo Idoya Me too! 0 Gil & Leo Idoya 0 5

Nikki Ramirez
June 21, 2006 11:45 PM

Nikki Ramirez
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Foreigners Just Have To Be Know-It-Alls by Nikki Ramirez
"A chizpurfle," Nikki replied in her thick Mexican accent, the only way a stranger would know she was not from America, "is a parasite that looks like a tiny crab, and often infests creatures with fur or feathers, such as Crups, Augureys, and Re'ems. Chizpurfles also attack wands and can reside in dirty cauldrens. I'm not sure why though."

"As for Crups, they won't attack us. They seem to be able to detect magic. Many believe the reason they are loyal to wizards and ferocious to Muggles is that they were origonally bred by wizards, although this is uncertain."\n\n

0 Nikki Ramirez Foreigners Just Have To Be Know-It-Alls 0 Nikki Ramirez 0 5

Nikki
June 22, 2006 12:07 AM

Nikki
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FJHTBKIA Cont.-Acidently Pressed 'Submit' Before by Nikki
Nikki thought of Abeulo back in Mexico. He had a Crup, Rico, that he had to keep locked up when they came to visit because Nikki's mother was a Muggle, and Benito, Nikki's brother, could not do magic either. When see was little, Nikki had longed to let Rico out so that he could run around. The one time she had actually managed to do this, Rico had almost biten Benito's hand clear off of his wrist.

"But sometimes they do attack Squibs" she said, trying to hide the smile creeping across her face.
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0 Nikki FJHTBKIA Cont.-Acidently Pressed 'Submit' Before 0 Nikki 0 5

Elly Eriksson
June 22, 2006 12:30 PM

Elly Eriksson
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by:

Age in Post: 11

Not so shy by Elly Eriksson
Elly followed Saul, the tour-giving second year Pecari, down to her first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. It was quite warm out, so Elly had scooped her tangled mass of orange hair into a rather messy knot at the back of her head.

Having never had a pet, or in fact very much contact with animals at all, Elly hung towards the back of the group. She wasn’t necessarily scared of animals (except cows), just a little apprehensive. After all, she had no way of knowing what magical creatures they would be studying.

As the teacher, Professor K Saul had called her, started talking to the class, Elly noticed a boy sitting near her, one of the very few people at Sonora Elly had seen who was taller than her.

Professor K was now showing them a dog – a crup she called it - and handing out magnifying classes. Elly didn’t quite understand – what where they supposed to be looking for? Apart from the obvious fact that this dog didn’t have a tail, Elly could see nothing special about it whatsoever. And what on Earth were chizpurfles?

Elly jumped when a voice next to her said “Do you notice anything?” She turned to see the tall boy was talking to her. Elly smiled at him, not her usual manic smile, but a normal, friendly one. She shrugged.
“Do you?” she asked him. “I’m Elly Eriksson,” she said, and offered her hand to the boy.
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0 Elly Eriksson Not so shy 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Eavan
June 22, 2006 4:48 PM

Eavan
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Cool... by Eavan
Eavan almost laughed out loud for how happy this boy was to meet her.

"You're a Tepp too? Cool!" Eavan smiled as she shook his hand. "So, Iyoda...is that Hispanic? My grandmother was from Mexico." Eavan gazed at Gil, trying to decifer what type of person he was. He looked nice enough: happy and friendly; a perfect Teppenpaw. She was the same way, but most thought her cold because she'd rather listen to people than talk herself. She didn't mind, though. Anyone who got to know her even a little bit saw that the coldness was just an outer layer of her personality. Maybe he was same in some way.

"Oh, should we be doing something with the crup?" Eavan saw the croud of people trying to pat the animal and shove magnifying glasses into its fur.\n\n

0 Eavan Cool... 0 Eavan 0 5

Echo Elms
June 22, 2006 6:12 PM

Echo Elms
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Echo Elms

Age in Post: 11

Different eyes, maybe? by Echo Elms
Echo had been very pleased that morning to abandon his freshly polished dress shoes, button down shirt and grey slacks for a comfy pair of patched up cargos, a t-shirt with the words "Obey Gravity, it's the law!" stamped across the front, and a very worn in pair of teva sandals. His feet were free again and he wiggled his toes happily. Sandals were normal. He promptly forgot he'd ever worn anything else.

In the common room, he'd met up with Saul. Saul was a second year who thought he was a tour guide, and Echo and a bunch of the other first years had followed him down to the Care of Magical Creatures class. Elly was among them, somewhere. Echo had lost her when they arrived and Professor K started talking. He moved away from his group so he could hear her better.

Well, actually, he could hear her just find back where he was, but he thought if he moved up he might be able to understand her as well. That was sort of key. Some of the other kids moved up too.

There was a box. A wood box with something in it. Echo moved forward a couple steps when she opened it. It was... it was...

A dog?

Okay, so Prof K said it was crup. It looked sorta like a beagle, but not really. Not that Echo knew much about dogs. His cousin owned a beagle and a labrodor, and it was more beagle-like than labrodor-like. He tried to think if he knew any other kinds of dogs. He did. There were hot dogs and carry-in-the-purse dogs, and defend-the-farm dogs, and as-big-as-a-bear dogs. Lots of dogs. This one looked most like a let's-sniff-out-something dog. Except, of course, that it was a crup.

He wasn't close enough to look for the whatever it was she had just said were on the dog, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be -- there were too many people too close together over there. So he kept a little distance and tried to see around everyone and find something un-dog-like about the crup.

He thought he noticed something.

"Is it, um, do crups have different eyes?" he blurted out, glancing at Prof K. Now that he said it outloud it sounded dumb.\n\n

21 Echo Elms Different eyes, maybe? 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Guenther Heindrich
June 22, 2006 6:23 PM

Guenther Heindrich
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Coming out of my shell and becoming more like Zack every day by Guenther Heindrich
Guenther smiled at her and shook her hand. "Guenther Heindrich. Nice to meet you and no nothing particulary unordinary."

This girl was nice and the first girl he had really hung out with since last years disaster with Spike. Though he really couldn't call her spike any more because it seemed that she had grown it out, probably to avoid the derogatory nickname. Unfortunatly, he could get any shorter so it was quite impossible to avoid the nickname that she had come up with for him.

He turned his attention back towards the crup. What was the difference?\n\n

0 Guenther Heindrich Coming out of my shell and becoming more like Zack every day 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5

Gil
June 22, 2006 7:43 PM

Gil
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Claro! by Gil
Gil released her hand and flashed her a smile as she started to laugh at his enthusiastic greeting. His dark brown eyes sparkled with the joy of meeting new people--one of his favorite things to do, though most who knew his twin found that rather ironic.

"So, Iyoda... is that Hispanic? My grandmother was from Mexico," she said.

"¡Claro que sí!" he laughed. "Abuelito nació en Cholula, pero ahora todos mis parientes viven en California." Then it occurred to him that she might not be fluent, and flushing at his outburst, he translated quickly. "I mean, of course! My grandfather was born in Cholula--that's in the state of Pueblo--but all my relatives live in California now. Sorry."

He looked towards Rutter as she asked whether they should be participating more, and laughed aloud again. Several students were already crowded around, and the pup looked less than pleased. "Maybe we should wait until some of the other students back off. I don't know much about crups, but a lot of animals don't like being crowded. But this class is pretty cool so far, don't you think? I hope the others are this good..."\n\n

0 Gil Claro! 0 Gil 0 5

Leonardo Idoya
June 22, 2006 8:15 PM

Leonardo Idoya
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Maybe [i]not[/i]... by Leonardo Idoya
From the tip of every carefully brushed strand of dark brown hair to the toes of his dragonhide boots, Leonardo Idoya was miserable, uncomfortable, restless, lonely, and--frankly--just in an all-around bad mood. He could almost hear his twin's response to that: [i]You, bad mood? Well, color me shocked![/i] Sonora wasn't what he'd thought it would be; the few classes he had so far attended hadn't been very challenging at all, and not only had he been separated from his brother (who had landed, much to Leo's embarrassment, in Teppenpaw), but he wasn't making many friends in his house, either.

And thoughts of Gil didn't help his humor much. He'd left Leo to his own devices at the very beginning of the class, and was now happily chatting with a girl towards the front of the crowd, right in front of the crup they were all supposed to be examining.

The thought spurred a little surge of guilt through Leo's mind; no matter how unhappy he was, it was no excuse for neglecting his schoolwork. He picked himself up out of the grass and brushed a few stray blades off his slacks, peering over the shoulder of the boy in front of him in an attempt to see the little beast. He found he couldn't concentrate, though, partly because of an uncomfortable twinge of jealousy--why can't I make friends as easily as Gil?--and partly because the boy in front of him had just offered the teacher a phenomenally stupid answer.

"Is it, um, do crups have different eyes?" the boy, who was clad in a fashion distinctly reminiscent of Gil (in other words--disgracefully), asked.

Leo snorted. "Eyes? You have the entire wrong end of the horrible little animal," he sneered, folding his arms over his chest. "Honestly... eyes... what do they teach in primary schools these days?"\n\n

0 Leonardo Idoya Maybe [i]not[/i]... 0 Leonardo Idoya 0 5

Echo Elms
June 22, 2006 11:13 PM

Echo Elms
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Echo Elms

Age in Post: 11

Meanie. by Echo Elms
"Eyes? You have the entire wrong end of the horrible little animal. Honestly... eyes... what do they teach in primary schools these days?" the guy behind Echo said. He sounded mean, and though Echo told himself to ignore it, he found himself sending an unamused glare back at the speaker.

He looked like a tough guy, mostly because of his cloudly expression. If Echo had ever immediately disliked someone, this guy was it. He had weirdo boots and his hair was perfect. Perfect. Nothing like Echo's own big curly tangle.

Echo turned back to the crup sobered. If this guy was feeling out for a kid to bully, Echo's dumb answer had probably just won him the prime spot. He had to be careful now.

He watched the crup, paying particular attention to the un-eyed half. He couldn't even see the rump from here. He still couldn't decide if the eyes were different or not. Maybe he had been on to something before. What did the other guy know, anyway? Echo didn't even go to primary school. He'd been homeschooled since week five of the third grade.

The more he thought about the comment the angrier it made him. This was a learning environment. All answers were good answers even if all answers weren't right. There was not such thing as a stupid question. Right? That's how it was with his mom.

Don't let him get to you, Echo, he told himself. He tried to focus on the crup again but it was just no use. He could feel the guy behind him. He couldn't see him and he didn't like it. He rubbed his once broken nose, the product of a bully in another school. That guy behind him gave him the creeps worse than the giggling girls did. Different. But worse.

There was only one thing to do.

"Look," he said turning to the guy, "You know so much, why don't you answer the question?"

Well, that proves it, he thought, turning back to the class, I am an idiot. Why couldn't I just cower like crazy weirdo cowering like I did with the girls? Oh no. I have to be all macho and stuff when it's a guy who's out to get me. Great, Echo. Just great.\n\n

21 Echo Elms Meanie. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Elly
June 23, 2006 4:34 AM

Elly
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See you around by Elly
“Hi Guenther, nice to meet you, too.” Elly smiled widely. She had always had the ability to walk up to someone, smile, and introduce herself. Shyness was not something Elly had ever experienced. She had always thought that perhaps she might be shy if she were shorter, but seeing as Elly had usually been the tallest girl wherever she went, she thought it would have been very difficult to be shy. Seeing as Guenther was really tall, too, Elly at least felt they had something in common. He seemed nice enough, anyway. Following Guenther’s gaze, Elly looked back at the crup. It was quite a sweet little thing, really.

Out of the corner of her eye, Elly saw Echo standing quite near the crup. She quite liked Echo; although he’d been very shy at the beginning of the feast, he’d seemed to relax a bit since and Elly was glad to have met him. Though as Elly raised her hand to wave, she saw Echo turn and retort to the boy behind him, who didn’t look too friendly. Elly wondered if she should go over to check things were okay, but then she didn’t want to interfere. She certainly didn’t want Echo to get embarrassed by her trying to defend him. She bit her lip while she made up her mind what to do.

“I’m going to go have a closer look,” Elly said to Guenther. “I’ll see you around, okay?” Elly smiled at the tall boy again before dodging the other students and heading over to where Echo and the other boy were standing…
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0 Elly See you around 0 Elly 0 5

Elly Eriksson
June 23, 2006 4:36 AM

Elly Eriksson
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by:

Age in Post: 11

Everything ok? by Elly Eriksson
Elly had been hanging at the back of the class. She didn’t know much about animals, particularly magical ones, so had decided to keep a safe distance until she knew the creature was harmless. However, Elly had noticed some tension between two boys nearer the front of the class. One of the boys was Echo, who Elly had already met and considered to be a friend. The other boy Elly didn’t know, but he didn’t seem to be giving off a friendly aura.

Elly wondered if she should go over to check things were okay, but then she didn’t want to interfere. She certainly didn’t want Echo to get embarrassed by her trying to defend him. Making up her mind to just see what was going on and not to make any trouble, Elly made her way over to where the two boys were stood looking at the crup, though both were frowning.

“Hey, Echo!” Elly said cheerfully as she approached. “What do you think? It looks like a dog to me!” Elly said, smiling widely. She turned to the other boy. “Hi,” she said, “I’m Elly Eriksson.” Elly didn’t extend her hand the way she normally did when introducing herself, but stood with her hands on her hips. Her friendly smile, though, was fixed firmly in place as she waited for either of the boys to respond.
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0 Elly Eriksson Everything ok? 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Leo Idoya
June 23, 2006 7:55 AM

Leo Idoya
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"Everything" is perfectly fine, thank you-oh-so-very-much. by Leo Idoya
After Leo's snide comment, the poorly-dressed boy (for Merlin's sake, there were patches on his shorts!) send a glare over his shoulder at the Crotalus, and then turned back to the lesson. The lack of reaction irritated Leo, and he clenched his jaw, squeezing his hands into tight balls at his side. He was well-known for his cold stares--he'd heard it said that they were even freakier because of his weird eyes, the one a pale blue and the other dark gray-green--but the one he leveled at the other boy's back now was nothing short of Antarctic.

And it seemed the boy wasn't quite as stupid as Leo thought; at least he had the nerve to turn back around and face him. Leo's estimation of him crept up the slightest bit, though he still thought it was abominable ignorance not to know how to tell the difference between a crup and a Jack Russell terrier. "Look. You know so much, why don't you answer the question?" the boy suggested.

Leo restrained himself from pointing out the superfluity of the first comment only through willpower, but his stare did lessen in its intensity a little. So the kid had backbone, even if it was a little flexible. He opened his mouth to reply when a girl turned up out of nowhere. His pureblood training kicking in, he automatically stepped back a bit to make room for her, and instantly regretted it. Would it look like he was backing down in the face of a challenge (weakly-worded though it was)?

"Hey, Echo!" she said to the boy at whom Leo had been directing his glare. "What do you think? It looks like a dog to me!" Then, to his immense surprise, she turned to Leo--and she was smiling! "Hi. I'm Elly Eriksson."

Somewhat befuddled by her amiability--especially since she seemed to be friends with the boy (Echo?) and surely must have seen the confrontation, to have appeared so precipitately--Leo blinked incredulously for a moment, but then pulled his aura of sangfroid back. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Eriksson," he muttered. "My name is Leonardo Idoya, of the California Idoyas."

He looked back at Echo, then, and though his tone and glance were still icy, at least they weren't overtly hostile. "The tail. Crups can be differentiated from non-magical dogs by their forked tails. And, of course, by placing them next to a Muggle, though I suspect the Muggle would not be too pleased by that method of testing species."\n\n

0 Leo Idoya "Everything" is perfectly fine, thank you-oh-so-very-much. 0 Leo Idoya 0 5

Meredith Lail
June 23, 2006 11:01 AM

Meredith Lail
Peripheral
Written by:

Running a little late by Meredith Lail
Meredith was running just a little late thanks so much to Pence. That mouse would not settle down. He even went so far as to bite her finger. Meredith couldn't understand what had him going crazy. He probably smelled or caught sight of a cat or a kneazle. That usually got him a little skittish, but never that much. She wondered if anyone here could have a kneazle for a pet. A muggle cat was seemed more likely. When she got back from washing her hands and taking care of the minor bite, she saw that Elly had left already. Meredith frowned a little but it was understandable. Dealing with Pence took a little longer than she had thought.

Meredith grabbed her bag and hurried to class. At least it was a class outdoors. That was where she, Elly and Echo planned to go anyway. When she got there, the teacher had just started speaking. Meredith thanked her luck she hadn’t missed much. She didn’t want to take too much time looking for Elly or Echo so she took a quick seat towards the back. Professor K seemed like Meredith’s kind of teacher and this seemed like Meredith’s kind of class. It was much more laid back than she expected. Professor K started talking about Crups. She jotted down what the professor said in her ‘illegible to anyone but her’ cursive. Meredith knew some people in her town that owned a crup. Meredith couldn’t own one because of how they act towards muggles. That was pretty much the extent of her knowledge on the creatures except their tails were forked which was obvious. The one Professor K was holding, Rutter, was cute and didn’t look dangerous at all.

Meredith picked up her stuff and sat closer when Professor K told them to and put the crup down near her and a few others. She didn’t answer the question since she didn’t know much about muggle animals. She knew for sure that muggles had mice too and they had cats which were similar to kneazles. She knew they had dogs that were like crups, but she just wasn't sure how similar they were. Meredith accepted the magnifying glass, but put it aside. Her wand was in her bag so she wasn’t worried about any of those chizpurfle. She didn’t feel like searching the crup with the magnifying glass anyway since she’d much rather just play with it. She began to pet Rutter who didn’t seem to have any problems with her. She played with him a little, he was very friendly, but then moved back to let others play with him as well. She looked around and finally spotted Elly and Echo, but they were talking to someone else. Meredith shrugged, not attempting to get their attention. They weren’t looking her way anyway. Meredith watched as others played with the crup. She wondered if Pence had a problem with crups as well. Meredith pushed her short blonde hair behind her ears and turned to the person next to her. She wasn’t good at staying quiet for long. Her light freckles were more visible under the sun as was the clear blue of her eyes.

“Have you gone over to pet Rutter yet?” she gave a friendly smile to the student. “I’m Meredith by the way. Meredith Lail.”\n\n

0 Meredith Lail Running a little late 0 Meredith Lail 0 5

Nikki
June 23, 2006 11:37 AM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Idoya!? by Nikki
Nikki pulled her blonde hair up into a bun. As she did so, she heard a boy behind her say "My name is Leonardo Idoya, of the California Idoyas." She knew that name. Abuelo often talked of his friend from childhood. She couldn't recall the person's first name, but she remembered 'Idoya.'

She turned to see a boy with neatly combed dark hair and expensive boots. His eyes were different colors and seemed to be fixed determindly on a boy near her. Probably a pure-blood. Well Abuelo was pure-blood.

"Your name's Idoya?" Nikki asked "Any relation to the Cholula Idoyas? I'm Nikki Ramirez, Aladren" she pointed to the house emblem embroidered on the front of her robes, which, unlike most of the students gathered here, she was actually wearing.\n\n

0 Nikki Idoya!? 0 Nikki 0 5

Leo Idoya
June 23, 2006 12:42 PM

Leo Idoya
Peripheral
Written by:

Sí... by Leo Idoya
No sooner had he corrected Echo's mistake than a girl standing in front of them turned to him, asking questions as to his family and introducing herself as Nikki Ramirez. His gaze flicked up and down over her; she certainly didn't look Hispanic, though that was no sure indicator. Admittedly, he'd never seen a Latino with naturally blond hair before.

"Sí, Señorita Ramirez," he replied. "My grandparents hail from Cholula. Abuelito often refers to Señor Ramirez when he waxes nostalgic. Oh, pardon--Leonardo Idoya, Crotalus." He briefly considered the traditional greeting he had been taught to use with women by his grandfather--bowing his head over her hand--but thought better of it. In this setting, he would most likely just be ridiculed for his "old-fashionedness," as Gil insisted upon calling it. Instead, he settled for a nonchalant, "¿Cómo está Ud.?"\n\n

0 Leo Idoya Sí... 0 Leo Idoya 0 5

Echo Elms
June 23, 2006 1:18 PM

Echo Elms
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Echo Elms

Age in Post: 11

Crisis averted? by Echo Elms
“Hey, Echo!" Elly said coming out of nowhere, asking him about the class, and jumping suddenly and temporarily onto Echo's list of favorite people.

This was her second time today, actually. When she had come down from the girl's dorms this morning she was amazing. She was actually kind of a mess, like she had just rolled out of bed and thrown clothes on -- which explained why he couldn't find her at breakfast (he had suspected she was avoiding him). But the crazy thing was, she was a mess and she didn't even seem to notice or care, and it was like she didn't expect anyone else to either. It was, it was so... un-girl-like. And now he wasn't quite sure now why that made her amazing then, but right now she sure was and this time there was a very clear reason.

She was saving his hide. He wondered if she knew.

Elly introduced herself to the guy with her usual cheer. The guy, apparently, was Leonardo of the California Iydotas -- whatever that meant. He looked at Elly for clues, but then remembered the British girl didn't know much more than he did about these magic people (he assumed it was a magic people thing, but it could just as easily be a rich snob thing).

Then Leo turned to him with his crazy weirdo eyes, "The tail. Crups can be differentiated from non-magical dogs by their forked tails," he said. Echo almost didn't dare take his eyes off Leonardo long enough to look at the crup for a forked tail. He didn't know if that were weak or whatever. But he did because this was class after all, and he was here to learn stuff. Leonardo continued, "And, of course, by placing them next to a Muggle, though I suspect the Muggle would not be too pleased by that method of testing species."

Echo leaned this way and then that way, but he couldn't see any tail on the crup. Maybe this one didn't have a tail (or maybe the class was just too big), and wouldn't that make it unfair? How was he supposed to tell something was different if the different thing wasn't even there?

Belatedly he realized he hadn't introduced himself. He didn't want to, not to this guy. He was condescending and snobbish and too neat. But he decided to take a lesson from Elly, and follow her lead -- even though she was too loud and confident and was prone to giggling fits at any given moment for no apparent reason.

"Yeah, if you say so," he said, because he had to start somewhere, "I'm Echo Elms." He almost added sarcastically that he was of the Wyoming Elms, but he managed to stop himself in time. That would have either sealed his fate or made the guy like him -- if he had a sense of humor, which Echo doubted.

Not trusting himself to say anything that wasn't posturing or dumb or both, Echo decided to let Elly do the talking. And right on the heels of that brilliant decision he looked back at the crup and opened his big mouth. "Are you one of the second years?" He almost had to be, right? \n\n

21 Echo Elms Crisis averted? 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Elly
June 23, 2006 5:00 PM

Elly
Peripheral
Written by:

I'll carry on from you thread anyway! by Elly
Leonardo Idoya was certainly smart looking, Elly thought, but she didn’t much like him on first impression. Still, he had replied politely to her greeting and then had proceeded to help Echo (and Elly herself for that matter) with the lesson, so he might not be so bad after all.

Just as Echo had introduced himself, however, they were interrupted by another girl, Nikki Ramirez, she said her name was. She didn’t seem to be including either Pecari in her introduction though, and Leonardo wasn’t paying them any further attention either. Elly wasn’t used to being ignored, but she just shrugged it off.

“I’m pretty sure he’s a first year,” she said to Echo, answering his question about Leonardo. “I think I remember seeing him at the feast, I think he has a twin in Teppenpaw.” She smiled again at Echo – she wasn’t sure how he was feeling after his encounter with the icy Idoya.

Elly was finding the lesson didn’t really hold her interest all that much. She glanced around to check the teacher wasn’t the sort to follow you around and glare at you for not paying attention. Luckily, Professor K was talking to some other students, and didn’t seem to mind that most of the class weren’t listening. As she peered over the other students (an easy feat for Elly, being taller than most), Elly saw Meredith’s blonde head back the other side of the class. Elly allowed a grin to spread over her freckled face.

“Hey,” she said to Echo. “Meredith’s over there. You coming?”
\n\n

0 Elly I'll carry on from you thread anyway! 0 Elly 0 5

August
June 23, 2006 5:10 PM

August
Peripheral
Written by:

Not late, just the quiet one at the back by August
Care of Magical Creatures was to be August's first class at his new school, and even though he would have liked someone to walk with as he made his way to class, he was more concerned with not being late. He stood in the Aladren common room for a minute or two, but when Gray, Gary, or Nikki didn't show up, he took off on his own, knowing that they'd all meet up at class, if nothing else.

Feeling pleased that he'd only managed to take one wrong turn, he arrived at the outdoor classroom area in the gardens with a couple of moments to spare. The teacher was Professor K., and he already knew her because she was the Aladren House advisor. That helped to ease his anxiety even further. As he stood at the edges of the group of students that had already gathered, the desert sun beat down on his back, and he began to feel warm inside his green school robe. He noticed that some of the others weren't wearing their robes, so he shrugged his shoulders and took his off, rolling it up in a ball and shoving it into his book bag. He was wearing a black polo shirt and jeans so he still felt a little warm, but at least he was in short sleeves, now.

Soon, Professor K. called the class to order and announced that they'd be studying a Crup. August smiled and craned his neck to see the little dog-like creature that Professor K. had pulled out of a nearby crate. He liked Crups; lots of people back home in Dugbog's Grove kept them for pets. Since the village was made up entirely of magical people, there was no need to worry about the creatures attacking Muggles. In all the excitement of trying to get a look at Rutter, August hadn't noticed that a girl with short, blonde hair had taken the seat next to him. August took a magnifying glass and waited for a turn to go and examine the creature up close. He couldn't help but smile to himself when he immediately knew at least one correct answer to Professor K.'s question.

He raised his hand and blurted out an answer. "I think the main thing to look at is the tail," he said. "On a Crup, it has two points at the end, where a regular dog tail just has one. Um, I think," he finished, feeling his cheeks grow warm. He'd probably sounded like a huge know-it-all just then, not to mention he'd probably given an answer that everyone knew already. He examined the magnifying glass in his hand, afraid that if he looked up, he'd see the others in the class giving him nasty looks or laughing at him. Since he'd seen plenty of Crups in his lifetime, he decided he'd just hang back until the others were finished examining the creature.

He almost didn't hear the blonde girl speaking to him, and he snapped his head up to look at her, his eyes wide with surprise. "What? Um, oh, no, I haven't seen him yet," August remarked, his voice so low that it was more of a murmur. "I've seen lots of Crups before, anyway." He let his eyes slide down to Rutter. Self-consciously, he ran a hand through his shaggy, dark hair.

The girl introduced herself as Meredith, and he gave her a quick glance and a shy grin before looking back over at Rutter. "I'm August Todvin," he said. Remembering that he'd taken off his robe which had his house crest on it, he added, "I'm in Aladren. First year."\n\n

0 August Not late, just the quiet one at the back 0 August 0 5

Matt and Josh Santoro
June 23, 2006 5:20 PM

Matt and Josh Santoro
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Written by:

Who's quiet? Not us! by Matt and Josh Santoro
Josh had awoken extra early that day. Today was his first day of classes and he was all about getting there early enough to asses the situation. It was good to know who they were messing with, who was a friend, and who was a foe. Matt, on the other hand, seemed to have woken up just before breakfast was over. He didn't care about figuring out those sorts of things. Perhaps that was why they were such a good team?

Josh had wanted to meet up with Matt in the Entrance hall, but Matt had been a no show. Josh simply thought he had gone back to sleep. However, when he was at the clearing (surprised to find a Professor who wasn't clad in robes and being prim and proper) Josh saw Matt making his way with what looked to be the lot of the Pecari first years. So they had all done a whole 'house pride' thing that Josh had heard about.

"Oy! You're late." Josh said to his twin. Matt smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"Ain't my fault. I was waiting to be led. Blame that kid." Matt pointed in the direction of Saul, the boy who had shown them about. The corners of Josh's mouth turned down, but he otherwise made no reaction. As soon as the Professor began talking, both twins turned to face the 'front' and listen to the professor.

The actual lesson was on crups. The twins rolled their eyes in unison. Crups were no big deal. They would have preferred Dragons or Griffins or some really cool and dangerous creatures. Instead they get a crup. They heard some of the students answering the questions, whether it was in a stuck-up 'I know everything' way or just a 'hey, how about this?' way, wasn't really important. However, Josh made a point to remember who said what and whether the answer was correct or not.

Matt had immediately gone in to pet the crup. Josh hung back. He didn't really care to touch the thing until everyone else had their fill. As Matt disappeared into the crowd, a girl beside Josh spoke up. His dark eyes landed on her and a smile spread eagerly across his face as he watched her address the boy on her other side. After he heard them exchange words, he spoke out, "Hey, I'm Josh Santoro and that there-" Josh pointed to his brother who was rubbing the dog with excitement, "is my brother, Matt." Josh easily intruded into the conversation. A trick he learned being the youngest in a family of nine children. "I'm a Crotalus first year and Matt is in Pecari."\n\n

0 Matt and Josh Santoro Who's quiet? Not us! 0 Matt and Josh Santoro 0 5

Echo Elms
June 23, 2006 5:50 PM

Echo Elms
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Echo Elms

Age in Post: 11

Right-o. Let's get out of here! by Echo Elms
"Yeah, sure," Echo said, following Elly's gaze over to Meredith. He tried not to sound to eager about that, but getting away from Leonardo was pretty high on his priority list. Meredith even managed to get right up close to the crup, so they might learn more from there anyway (if he could find a spot in there where he didn't have to worry about knocking into anyone).

Echo followed Elly without a backwards glance at Leonardo and the girl who'd drawn his attention. With any luck, maybe the snob would forget they'd ever met, or, at the very least, not feel inclined to ever talk to him again.

Imagine, though, being saved by a girl. He mentally shuddered. He needed some guy friends, and fast. Sure, Elly and Meredith seemed cool now -- especially after Elly's brilliant rescue -- but it was probably only a matter of time...\n\n

21 Echo Elms Right-o. Let's get out of here! 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Meredith
June 23, 2006 6:18 PM

Meredith
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Written by:

Good thing I'm used to loud people by Meredith
Meredith nodded when August, the first boy, said he'd seen lots of crups before. He actually reminded her of Echo. Both were shy when she spoke to them. She couldn't give her reason for nodding before Josh, the boy on her other side, spoke out and introduced himself and his brother who was up front playing with Rutter. Meredith suddenly felt quite at home. It was just like being back in Tennessee. Most of her friends were boys. She had no problems with the girls who weren’t giggling over boys in magazines and pretending to be grown up by putting on way too much make up. The gigglers were the ones who made fun of her for not doing those things. She thanked her luck again that Elly wasn’t like that. Meredith looked at Josh’s brother trying to find him familiar. He was vaguely so.

“Yeah, I think I saw him in the common room.” She said to Josh, “I’m a first year Pecari too. I take it he’s your twin brother. I have two older brothers who are twins, Max and Anthony. They’re goofs. Smart and talented, but total goofs.” She laughed and then she looked back at August. For the moment, the two conversations weren’t connected. She looked for a common ground, but wanted to ask August a question.

“You said you’ve seen a lot of crups. Do you live around a lot of muggles? In fact,” she paused for half a second thinking she found that middle ground, “do either of you live around muggles? Maybe you know the differences between crups and muggle dogs ‘cause I don’t.” Meredith shrugged, grinning slightly. She didn’t care much about the differences, but it was something to ask both of them.

She slid back just a bit so the three kids were in somewhat of a triangle. It would kill her neck to have to turn back and forth between them in a straight line. Once out of the shadow of the person in front of her she finally had the sense to take off her school robe. It was a bit warm outside. She wore simple blue jeans, her worn sneakers and a blue tee shirt. Her mother would be having a silent fit if she could see her. Meredith smiled inwardly at that.\n\n

0 Meredith Good thing I'm used to loud people 0 Meredith 0 5

Elly Erkisson
June 23, 2006 7:11 PM

Elly Erkisson
Peripheral
Written by:

Sorry to interrupt... by Elly Erkisson
OOC: see posts lower down for explanation of Elly’s arrival here.

BIC:

Elly shuffled through the crowd of first and second year students towards Meredith, checking occasionally that Echo was still following her. As Meredith loomed into view, Elly could see that she was already chatting to some other people. Some other boys, actually. Elly smiled, something she couldn’t really help herself from doing. She noticed that Meredith didn’t seem to have any trouble making friends, something the two girls had in common.

Elly didn’t specifically want to interrupt, but she had just walked over to see Meredith, not to mention having invited Echo to come, too. She guessed Meredith wouldn’t really mind. She hadn’t seen her housemates approach, so when there was a pause in the conversation, Elly stepped up.

“Meredith!” she said brightly, offering her widest smile. “Hi,” she said to the strangers. Elly offered her hand to each boy in turn. “I’m Elly Eriksson, and this is Echo. We’re both in Pecari.” She smiled at them before slumping rather ungracefully into a pile of long limbs on the hard, dry ground. “Meredith’s lovely, isn’t she?” Elly grinned mischievously at Meredith, biting her lower lip playfully as she shifted her weight onto her arms outstretched behind her.
\n\n

0 Elly Erkisson Sorry to interrupt... 0 Elly Erkisson 0 5

Nikki
June 23, 2006 9:07 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

And now for the Spanish portion by Nikki
(note: the computer on which Nikki's character is being written is stupid and won't put in accents and/or tildes. Therefore some of the Spanish words are not completely correct.)

"Mas o menos" Nikki responded "No conozco muchas personas aqui. Y no se porque estoy aqui. Mi madre es de Sadona pero ella es un Muggle y soy de Cholula. Mi hermano, Julio, esta a Youmens." she said refering to the Wizarding school in Mexico. She realized she was talking too much again. She did that when she wasn't nervous, and talking to Senor Idoya's grandson was like talking to an old friend, even though the two of them had never met. "Pero usted, como esta?"

((translation: "So-so. I don't know many people here. And I don't know why I'm here. My mother is from Sadona but she is a Muggle and I'm from Cholula. My brother, Julio, is at Youmens...But you, how are you?"))

As soon as she had finished speaking she realized people were looking at her. Perhaps this had not been the best time to start speaking in rapid-fire Spanish. She suspected most people had not a clue what she was talking about. Or could it have been the fact that in the Common Room she acted shy and withdrawn, yet here she was she was talking to a boy with dragonhide boots, different color eyes, and a decidedly bad attitude.\n\n

0 Nikki And now for the Spanish portion 0 Nikki 0 5

Echo Elms
June 23, 2006 11:07 PM

Echo Elms
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Echo Elms

Age in Post: 11

Yeah, pardon us. We're fleeing. by Echo Elms
Echo stuck close to Elly until they reached Meredith's group -- he would never have tried to join in a group with so many people there he didn't know. At least the unknowns were boys.

Of course, he didn't have much choice in the matter anyway. He was on a mission to say hello to Meredith because he was fleeing Leonardo of the California something-or-others, and somehow saying hi to Meredith would make his escape complete. It didn't quite make sense, if you thought about it too much; even so, Echo felt rather relieved when Meredith's first words to the group were, "Meredith!" It meant, somehow, that Elly had also understood that this was one of the most important things either of them had said all day.

Echo forced a smile at Meredith, he still wasn't in the greatest mood after the Leonardo thing, and added his own "hey!" to the mix, waving at the two boys when he was introduced.

"Sorry," Echo said, feeling their rescuers warranted some kind of apology or explanation or something. But was was he going to say? Gee, Meredith, thanks so much for standing over here? No way. "Right, so, what were your names?"\n\n

21 Echo Elms Yeah, pardon us. We're fleeing. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Leonardo
June 24, 2006 3:57 PM

Leonardo
Peripheral
Written by:

"Icy Idoya" Speaks... (I like that, Elly!) by Leonardo
OOC: My computer is the same way; I write the Spanish bits in Word and then copy-paste them. *winks* BIC:

Leo relaxed slightly as the girl began to speak in rapid, fluent Spanish, though he hoped his own could withstand hers. After all, it was only his second language, and he didn't speak it nearly often enough. Mami and Papi were just too inurred to the American culture by now.

The relaxation ended, though, when she asked him about himself, and how he was doing.

"Eh, yo..." he said, his tone deprecating. "Así así. Esta escuela... los estudiantes..." He shrugged as if to let her draw her own conclusions. He certainly didn't want anyone, much less a virtual stranger who nonetheless had intimate ties to his own family, to know that he thought Sonora was horrible--and not because of the condescension his comment showed, either. He hated it here already, because no one would come near him. He drove everyone away--just like Echo and Elly, who had fled to a group of students nearby, and would surely badmouth him there and turn them against him. And he didn't even have Gil by his side, to protect him and keep him company, to earn him friends through association! A wave of painful, lonely yearning swept through him, and he resisted the urge to glance at his brother where he stood at the front of the group, still easily conversing with a pretty first year.

He wished desperately that he could be as good as his twin at being around other people, but he just wasn't. Even being around Nikki was somewhat uncomfortable--after all, if word got back to his parents how badly Leo had been behaving, they would be so disappointed--though it wasn't quite as bad as usual. He bit his lip, looking back over at the group where Echo and Elly had found sanctuary.

"It's not like home," he muttered bitterly in English, hugging his arms tightly against himself.\n\n

0 Leonardo "Icy Idoya" Speaks... (I like that, Elly!) 0 Leonardo 0 5

Eavan
June 24, 2006 4:40 PM

Eavan
Peripheral
Written by:

Que? by Eavan
Eavan shook her head in amazement as fluent Spanish left Gil's mouth. Alothough her grandmother was Mexican, she had died before Eavan was born, so the language was never passed down. Plus, she was never that good at learning new things; always willing to learn, but not always willing to be taught.

"Wow. I only caught, like, three words. The only Spanish I know is the little bit my dad uses. And that's mainly cuss words. My grandma was born near Chihuahua, I think. Moved to L.A. when she around my age, met my Grandpa and the rest is history."

She looked over to the crowd of people arounnd the crup and saw Gil's point. That animal did not look too happy.

"I agree. We'll stay away for a while. I'd rather talk that learn any day." Eavan smiled. "Earl - my brother - told me that this was one of the best classes. Although I doubt he pays much attention in any class." Eavan picked at a blade of grass.

"What are you looking forwar to the most? Class wise, I mean?"\n\n

0 Eavan Que? 0 Eavan 0 5

Jake and Matt
June 24, 2006 5:32 PM

Jake and Matt
Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Amelle Nicchi

Age in Post: 14

Fleeing? from the crup? by Jake and Matt
OOC: Forgive me if I miss out on some important stuff. I'm trying to incorporate all three of the posts into this. BIC:

Josh grinned widened when she mentioned being in Matt's house. He hadn't met many Crotalus (none at all, really) but seemed to be meeting various people from other houses. Although, part of that was because his older siblings were in Aladren and Teppenpaw. So, Josh felt as though he knew their friends without actually knowing them.

When she asked about the crups and about Muggles, Josh nodded. He was a Pureblood but his family lived in the heart of Los Angeles within a Muggle neighborhood. Crups...well, he had family that owned crups. Annoying little buggers in Josh's opinion. At least the one whom his uncle Antonio owned. He was about to answer her questions when another girl and a boy popped out of nowhere. Josh was slightly startled by their arrival and that both happened to be Pecari like Matt was.

He took the girl's hand and shook it. She was obviously not shy. "I'm Josh Santoro and that's my brother-" Josh pointed to his twin who was now making his way over to them with a goofy grin on his face. "He's in Pecari like you guys. I'm in Crotalus." Josh said with a grin. Matt had finally reached them.

"Oy! Having a party without me?" Matt asked with the same identical grin his brother wore. "The lot of you should be ashamed. It's not party without the better twin." That comment earned him a hard punch in the arm.

"Meredith, August, Elly, and Echo. Matt." Josh introduced, pointing to each as he said their name. He could tell that Matt was about to make some snarky comment about the names (most likey August and Echo), but Josh stomped hard on his foot and covered up this moment by answering Meredith's questions, "We're from LA. We live amonst muggles, but they don't know we're there. Wards and stuff." Josh explained incase any of them were muggleborns. "And crups and dogs have only a few differences between them. Like, crups have forked tails, but they have to have them cut off when they are puppies cos of the whole 'Muggles might ask questions' thing. Plus, crups can 'sense' magical blood or something. I don't really know. I just know that they hate muggles." Josh explained.\n\n

6 Jake and Matt Fleeing? from the crup? 42 Jake and Matt 0 5

Professor K.
June 24, 2006 5:36 PM

Professor K.
Peripheral
Written by:

OOC: by Professor K.
Hello!

I'm very pleased to see the two of you participating so wonderfully in the lesson. However, I do not speak fluent Spanish (I know some but not much) and I'm sure there are plenty of other authors who cannot either.

I enjoy seeing how you impliment your characters' cultures into your post, but for future posts, please put up an OOC translations at the end of the posts so that those of us who aren't and/or cannot read Spanish know what you are talking about.

Thank you,

Professor Kijewski\n\n

0 Professor K. OOC: 0 Professor K. 0 5

Meredith
June 24, 2006 6:48 PM

Meredith
Peripheral
Written by:

Nah, they're too fun to flee from by Meredith
OOC: No problem. It could get a little tough with six people in the conversation.

BIC: Meredith turned around when she heard Elly say her name and smiled back at her. She rolled her eyes when Elly said she was 'lovely.' That was something her mother would say to guests when trying to cover up Meredith's less than feminine nature. ‘Oh Meredith really is a lovely girl.’ She’d say with a high laugh when Meredith went bounding out the door to play quidditch or something. However, Meredith didn't have a problem with Elly and Echo joining them. She silently followed them and Josh as introductions were done until Josh’s brother came back. Meredith grinned while watching the two interact. They were a lot like her brothers. Maybe all twins were just kind of goofy. She gave a little wave when she was officially introduced to Matt.

Meredith nodded as Josh told her where he lived. It sounded similar to where she lived. It wasn’t exactly among the muggles, but it was pretty close by. They just couldn’t get there unless they knew exactly where to go or had someone magical with them. That’s how her mother could get in and out. She also listened to his answer to her other question.

“Oh I know about crups. It’s the muggle dogs I’m not so sure about. I don’t know too much on muggle animals. I suppose muggle dogs pretty much look like crups, but with just the one tail. There are some people around my town that own crups. One of them got a scolding from a more uptight neighbor about not getting the forked tail removed.” Meredith shrugged. “No one cares much since the few muggles around town know about magic,” she tapped her head in a way that meant ‘duh!’ “and can’t go near the crups anyway.”

“So you’re from L.A, huh? That’s a fair bit away from here. My dad had a business trip there one time. I hear it’s nice. I’m from Nashville, Tennessee, but the exact place where I live is hidden from muggles too. Most muggles anyway. Mama’s a muggle, but she gets on well enough when my brothers aren’t driving her mad.” Meredith stretched a little and waited for the next person to speak. She figured it would turn into a round of everyone saying where they lived. \n\n

0 Meredith Nah, they're too fun to flee from 0 Meredith 0 5

Nikki
June 24, 2006 7:04 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Shocked and back to English by Nikki
Nikki laughed, a little pink illuminating her otherwise pale cheeks. She hated the fact that she had inherited her mother's pale skin, instead of the rich moca color that her father and brothers had.

"Not like home!" She decided to express her disbelief in English. Apparently Leo was more comfortable with English. Perhaps it helped him pull off the bad-boy aura he seemed to be going for. Leo's attitude however, was strangly attracting to her.

"You don't need a green card to go to school. That stagecoach picked me up at my Muggle grandparents house in Sadona. It doesn't go out of the country. At least my mom taught me English as well as Spanish, so I can talk to people. But I'm used to metric measrements, so I'll probably fail Potions."

"I've really only made one friend in America so far." Nikki turned and pointed to August, who was seated in the middle of a large group, which unfortunately included those two kids Leo had been trying to intimidate.\n\n

0 Nikki Shocked and back to English 0 Nikki 0 5

Leonardo
June 24, 2006 9:44 PM

Leonardo
Peripheral
Written by:

Surprised and a little jealous by Leonardo
Leo looked over at Nikki, surprised when she laughed and flushed prettily in response to his slip about Sonora not being like home. "Not like home!" she exclaimed. "You don't need a green card to go to school."

Well. That was bluntly put. But it did result in a minor paradigm shift for Leo. No, he may not be happy here, and no, Sonora certainly wasn't even close to comparing favorably with his grandfather's farm in Southern California--but at least he was still within the same country! He had the culture he had grown up with, he had his wand and his books and his intelligence, and he had family within easy reach.

But Nikki was still speaking, so he wrenched himself out of his surprise to pay better attention. Really, his manners were slipping so badly that it was almost insufferable. He'd have to work on that, too.

"...used to metric measurements, so I'll probably fail Potions."

He frowned at that. "It is a hard conversion to make, I'll give you that. But you could not fail Potions, Nikki. In truth, it's not all that difficult; I've been dabbling for years, helping my parents. If you truly need help, I'll--I mean, I'm sure you could find a tutor, or ask the teacher." He bit his lip after the slip, but quickly gained control of himself again, his frown easing into a completely unemotional expression.

She was speaking again, and pointing back towards the group to which Echo and Elly had fled. He flushed and glanced over at the boy she mentioned as her only friend. "Ah," he said noncommittally. "Well, friends aren't the most important thing. We are here to receive an education, after all, to learn how to survive the real world once we join it, not socialize..." He stopped, abruptly, as jealousy rose, constricting his throat. Again, he reflected on his determination not to let anyone know that he hadn't any friends other than his twin--and even that was a somewhat forced arrangement, what with them having been born within the same five minute span and everything.

"But you have only been here for a brief time. I'm quite sure you'll get the swing of things eventually." He forced a smile, hoping against hope that it didn't look as fake as it felt. He really was starting to like Nikki, and was determined not to push her away, not to freeze her out as he had the rest of the student body (at least those he'd been acquainted with).\n\n

0 Leonardo Surprised and a little jealous 0 Leonardo 0 5

Nikki
June 24, 2006 10:37 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

More Than Meets The Eye by Nikki
Nikki found Leo very interesting. She could already tell there was more to him than the uncaring tough guy image he projected. He was a mystery, a puzzle.

"I know; you're right." Nikki said, her eyes lowering "It's just, people always think about themselves. They don't stop to think about how their sitations could be worse. I'm guilty of that myself."

"And I know I won't fail, I was just trying to empasize my point. But if I need any help," she looked up and smiled shyly. "I'll ask you."\n\n

0 Nikki More Than Meets The Eye 0 Nikki 0 5

Echo Elms
June 24, 2006 10:42 PM

Echo Elms
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Echo Elms

Age in Post: 11

Crups, dogs, whatever. by Echo Elms
So..., Echo reviewed, trying to remember these things in case they were important later, Meredith is from Nashville. Matt is one of the guys in my dorm. He has a twin, Josh. Both are from LA. Magic people can live in muggle places and set up wards. Got it.

Since his brain was now officially full, Echo decided it would be his turn to talk now. "Um," he said, and waited to see that he was the only one volunteering to go next. He was, so he continued, "I'm from Wyoming, north-ish. Crook County." It was an interesting place if people were into western films like his dad was, or were researching the continental divide like his mom. But mostly, it was pretty dull. Everyone else had said more than that, though, so he added, "And I'm a muggle -- or my parents are, anyway. I probably know about as much about dogs as I do about crups -- and two days ago I didn't believe in magic."

And now it was definitely someone else's turn.\n\n

21 Echo Elms Crups, dogs, whatever. 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Leo
June 24, 2006 10:56 PM

Leo
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Written by:

Tongue-tied by Leo
Nikki replied to Leo's statement about her time in Sonora somberly, and much more philosophically than he had expected--but then again, reflecting upon her house, he shouldn't have been so surprised. He nodded in agreement with her assessment of the selfishness innate to the human character, and pulled absently at a few strands of grass near his feet as she continued with less gravity, talking about Potions.

He froze, however, at her last comment, and lifted his head slowly until he was looking into her pale face. I'll ask you, she'd said, smiling bashfully. He suddenly felt as if he'd swallowed a small fish alive and it was flopping about in his stomach, trying to free itself. It wasn't an altogether pleasant sensation, but neither was it horrible. A crimson blush spread across his brown cheeks against his will, and he looked swiftly back down at the grass, pulling it with more force now.

"Y-y-yeah..." Oh, dear Merlin. Not only had he stuttered, he'd also said 'yeah.' Good thing Gil hadn't heard it; he'd never let his pedantic brother forget it. "I mean, whenever you need me..." And that sounded awfully servile and gallant, like some lovestruck knight in a Muggle epic.

Well, you're making a fantastic fool of yourself, Leo, he told himself, shaking his head physically to clear it of the fog of surprise.

"Si me necesitas, me llamas," he said finally, his tone a little more gruff than he would have liked. "And... and maybe you can help me become a little more... fluent. It'll be nice to have someone to practice with." Gil didn't care much for Spanish. And for Merlin's sake, why couldn't Leo stop blushing?

OOC translation: If you need me, call me. Most likely not idiomatically correct, but Leo's writer needs as much practice as Leo. ~_^\n\n

0 Leo Tongue-tied 0 Leo 0 5

Gil
June 25, 2006 2:29 PM

Gil
Peripheral
Written by:

*laughs* by Gil
Gil nodded as Eavan related the history of how her grandmother emigrated to L.A., reminding himself to ask his grandparents when they had come to the States. He couldn't believe he didn't know--though he'd wager good money, now that he thought about it, that Leo knew. Leo knew everything.

"What are you looking forward to the most? Class wise, I mean?"

Gil shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Your brother sounds a lot like me," he said with a chuckle. "I've never liked school as much as my twin, though now that we're living here and get to be around everyone all the time, it's a lot better." Then he gave her question some serious thought. "Well, I've always liked Charms a lot, just from what my mother's taught me. And Astronomy. My grandparents' farm--we all live there, the whole extended family--is far out from any cities, so you can see the stars really well."

"But you have a brother? Does he go to Salem, too, or another school?" he asked, curious about her family.\n\n

0 Gil *laughs* 0 Gil 0 5

Nikki
June 25, 2006 3:55 PM

Nikki
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Written by:

Billywigs in my Stomach by Nikki
Nikki laughed again. Partially because what Leo had just said made absolutely no sense, and partially because when he had raised his head, and her blue-green eyes had met his different colored ones, she got a funny feeling in her stomach. It was like there was a live billywig in there.

And Leo was blushing. What did that mean? She found herself wishing Leo was in her house. Ugh what was she thinking. She wasn't supposed to like this guy. Or any guy for that matter. She was eleven-years-old for Merlin's sake.

"Um, it's getting hot." She stood up and took her school robe off. Underneath it she was wearing a white blouse and a loose knee-length skirt.

She sat back down. "Uh, so crups. Not very interesting really. Well except for when Abuelo's crup, Rico, almost bit my brother Benito's hand off. Apparently they don't like Squibs either."\n\n

0 Nikki Billywigs in my Stomach 0 Nikki 0 5

Elly
June 25, 2006 4:09 PM

Elly
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Written by:

I say tomato, you say tomato by Elly
Elly didn’t feel too bad about paying so little attention to the lesson, as between them, Leonardo Idoya and Josh Santoro had told Elly all she ever cared to know about crups anyway. Therefore she felt no guilt whatsoever in leaning back on her arms, feeling her palms press into the dry grass, and just relaxing as she got acquainted with a few more fellow first years.

The boys Meredith had been talking to were Josh and Matt, who were twins, and a boy called August who so far seemed pretty quiet. The conversation had turned towards where each of them lived when not at Sonora. Like Meredith, Josh and Matt came from a magic family and lived in magic settlements. Echo, as Elly already knew, was from an otherwise entirely muggle family, like Elly herself. He seemed to have developed a mild version of Elly’s rambling disorder; after Echo said where he lived, he continued to talk but a little incoherently, finishing with the ever classic “and two days ago I didn’t believe in magic.”

The small group went a bit quiet. From what Elly knew about Echo so far, she guessed he was usually shy, and would not normally walk up to a group of strangers and introduce himself the way that Elly would (and did, for that matter). She recognized that Echo was making an effort to be more outgoing, so hastened to maintain the relaxed atmosphere.

“Me neither!” Elly said brightly, followed by a light laugh. “Well, two weeks really, rather than two days, but I’m from a muggle family, too.” She stretched out her legs in front of her and crossed her right ankle over her left, a position which really demonstrated the length of her skinny limbs. “I’m from London and I’d never been to a desert before coming to Sonora. I think I could get used to it, though,” she said, smiling as she turned her face to the sky to soak in the warm rays of the sun.
\n\n

0 Elly I say tomato, you say tomato 0 Elly 0 5

Leo
June 25, 2006 5:12 PM

Leo
Peripheral
Written by:

Yes, um... crups. Right. by Leo
He diverted his gaze back to the grass beneath his hands--or, if he was being honest, the bald patch of earth beneath his hand where there had previously been thick, luxurious grass--as Nikki stood and removed her school robes, complaining of the heat. He was used to it, and in fact enjoyed the warmth of the sun against his skin, but wondered abruptly if she was often sunburned, what with her fair complexion and all.

"Uh, so crups. Not very interesting, really. Except for when Abuelo's crup, Rico, almost bit my brother Benito's hand off. Apparently they don't like Squibs, either," she said.

Grateful for the change of subject--he had been growing increasingly more uncomfortable and disconcerted--Leo nodded, almost smiling at the offhand comment about her brother. Apparently they weren't on very good terms, or so he would assume.

"They don't seem to be as amiable as non-magical dogs, on the whole," he mused then. "Our neighbors owned a crup puppy for a short time, but gave it away after it bit their daughter, Winifred, the third time." His almost-smile edged ever-so-slightly closer to a true smile. "Winnie still can't stand canines, magical or otherwise."\n\n

0 Leo Yes, um... crups. Right. 0 Leo 0 5

Nikki
June 25, 2006 6:17 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Things of a Bad Nature (?) by Nikki
"Really?" Nikki asked "Rico just loves all my dad's side of the family, and Julio and I used to play with him for hours when he was a puppy. Rutter over there" she poointed to the crup Professor K. had brought to show them, which was still b crowded and examined by a mass of students "seems fine. Well actually he looks a little annoyed by all the attention, but that's to be expected of any animal. Maybe the one your neighbors owned just had a bad nature."

She thought about this comment. She realized it might offend Leo, as he was attempting to appear one of those people who was smart but didn't care, which went along with his projecting having a bad nature himself.

She really didn't want to offend this boy. He was smart, complex, and she had to admit, though only to herself, that he was cute. She was getting that funny feeling in her stomach again. Oh, why couldn't she just think of Leo the way she did August, or her guy friends back home.

"But, of course, there's some good in everyone." she said. She could practically feel her cheeks going scarlet.\n\n

0 Nikki Things of a Bad Nature (?) 0 Nikki 0 5

Leo
June 25, 2006 6:53 PM

Leo
Peripheral
Written by:

A day of ups and downs... by Leo
Leo's expression relaxed even further as Nikki rambled on about Rico, her grandfather's crup, and Rutter, the animal being used in the Care of Magical Creatures demonstration. He nodded his agreement absently as she suggested that perhaps Winnie's crup had just been a bad-natured individual, but a few seconds later he couldn't have said for sure what it was he had agreed to. How strange, he reflected, that only about twenty minutes ago he had been in a foul mood, miserable and angry and painfully lonely. Now he felt strangely calm and content, listening to the blond Mexican girl chatting. He put it down to the accent; it must subconsciously have been reminding him of home and family.

Suddenly, she went rather quiet, and looked at him oddly. Before he could begin to question this change, though, she had continued: "But, of course, there's some good in everybody."

One of his eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch as she began to blush furiously, but didn't mention it; he didn't want to risk alienating the first of his friends - he hardly dared call her that, even in his own mind, but desperately hoped it was true - at Sonora. Instead, he ventured to smile at her.

"Now," he said, "you sound like my little sister. She's always saying things like that."\n\n

0 Leo A day of ups and downs... 0 Leo 0 5

Nikki
June 25, 2006 9:43 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Comfort by Nikki
Nikki was embarresed when she blushed so deeply and so obviously but Leo just smiled. This time, she saw that it reached his eyes and she could tell it was more natural, more genuine. She returned the smile.

She could tell that Leo was starting to loosen up around her. They had just met, but she felt so comfortable with him. Well except for that stupid feeling in her stomach that just wouldn't go away. She felt that she had made a connection with this boy, something she doubted many people could have done, especially in such a short amount of time.

"Now," he said, "you sound like my little sister. She's always saying things like that."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked

(OOC:My computer keeps screwing these things up. Please excuse and ignore the multiple postings)\n\n

0 Nikki Comfort 0 Nikki 0 5

Eavan
June 26, 2006 12:54 PM

Eavan
Peripheral
Written by:

*laughs back* by Eavan
OOC:You meant Sonora, right? Not Salem...I'll just go with Sonora.

BIC:
Eavan bit back her lip. Twin? That was so cool. But Gil kept on with the conversation, so she held off her comments for another moment.

"Wow...that sounds amamzing. My family is all over the world. I even have an aunt in Greece. I wish we were closer." Eavan sighed and then answered Gil's question.

"My brother goes here. He's a third year Crotalus, but walks around like he owns the place." She laughed as a mental image of Earl parading through the school strutting like a rooster flashed through her head.

"You said something about a twin? Are you identical or fraternal. My two little brothers are identical twins and even I have a hard time telling them apart."\n\n

0 Eavan *laughs back* 0 Eavan 0 5

Guenther Heindrich
June 26, 2006 1:29 PM

Guenther Heindrich
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Uh...yeah see ya *dissapointed* by Guenther Heindrich
"See you later" Guenther answered.

He would have to talk to Zack later about girls. He stared after her. She was pretty. Turning back to the crup, he held his hand out so that he could see he was a friend.\n\n

0 Guenther Heindrich Uh...yeah see ya *dissapointed* 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5

Grail Markner
June 26, 2006 4:15 PM

Grail Markner
Peripheral
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Found you! by Grail Markner
Grail had been excited and nervous at the same time. Her first magical class at her first magical school! Her mother would be jealous. Chali and Libby would call it stupid. Alice would probably call it stupid, but inside she'd be jealous. For some reason, she found herself with her three younger sisters in her head here. She guessed she wasn't used to being without them so she had her own annoying nagging in her head.

"Eww... this place smells dirty. Why'd you be excited in a dirty place?" her mind-Chali nagged.

She saw the creature with the teacher. He looked like a dog, he was adorable. She was glad they wouldn't be learning about anything gross or slimy yet. Instead a cute puppy. That was good.

"That? Cute? Ew, he'd probably slobber all over you. Figures you'd think it was cute, weirdo...": mind-Libby.

She ignored it and looked around. She noticed Nikki, the girl in her house, and walked over to her. They hadn't got a chance to talk, and Gray wanted to. Talk, that is. She sat next to the girl and smiled, taking out a notebook. Crups? She wrote it down, and jotted a few things the teacher said, while walking over to see the dog. Er... crup.

She listened to Nikki as she spoke. And a few other people too. Jotting these things down. She looked at it. He didn't like Muggles? Would he like Muggle-borns? She took a step back, but then saw his tail.

"He has a really sharp tail," she stated aloud.

"Well, duh. Everyone noticed that already, stupid! How could you not? said mind-Alice.

She knew her imagination was right. She blushed.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."
She didn't know if that was supposed to be her, Chali, Libby, or Alice. But she still put the notebook to her face, trying to cover the blush.\n\n

0 Grail Markner Found you! 0 Grail Markner 0 5

Nikki
June 26, 2006 5:29 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Maybe I am making friends-Hey Leo this concerns you too by Nikki
Nikki turned from Leo to the other Aladren girl. She was happy for the diversion, and she wanted to get to know Gray?, she thought that was the girl's name but she wasn't sure. She didn't know what Leo would think though. He seemed to be ready for the diversion, but Nikki thought that adding another person would make Leo put back up that metaphorical wall Nikki had just torn down.

The other girl wrote down some things about crups in her notebook and commented about the crups tail. Oh great. Nikki thought sarcastically. Now they're really going to get along. In her mind's eye, she could just see the superior smirk on Leo's face.

"Hi, um...Gray is it?" Nikki greeted\n\n

0 Nikki Maybe I am making friends-Hey Leo this concerns you too 0 Nikki 0 5

Nikki
June 26, 2006 5:32 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Maybe I am making friends-Hey Leo this concerns you too by Nikki
Nikki turned from Leo to the other Aladren girl. She was happy for the diversion, and she wanted to get to know Gray?, she thought that was the girl's name but she wasn't sure. She didn't know what Leo would think though. He seemed to be ready for the diversion, but Nikki thought that adding another person would make Leo put back up that metaphorical wall Nikki had just torn down.

The other girl wrote down some things about crups in her notebook and commented about the crups tail. Oh great Nikki thought sarcastically. Now they're really going to get along. In her mind's eye, she could just see the superior smirk on Leo's face.

"Hi, um...Gray is it?" Nikki greeted\n\n

0 Nikki Maybe I am making friends-Hey Leo this concerns you too 0 Nikki 0 5

Gray
June 26, 2006 5:57 PM

Gray
Staff
House: Aladren
Subject: Charms
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 9

Yay! same here... by Gray
Gray looked over and saw Nikki and another boy. She smiled.

"Hi, um...Gray is it?"

"Yes, I mean no. It's actually Grail, but yes, Gray is my nickname. I'd rather be called by--" she stopped.
"You're blabbing again!" mind-Alice giggled. "I wonder if you're ever going to get friends like that!"
"Yes, Gray," she smiled. "We're in the same house..."

Of course they were. She must have seen Gray with August last night. She and August had been talking a bit after all, and she hadn't seen Gary. Speaking of August, Gray did a quick sweep of the room until she spotted August, then turned back to Nikki and the boy.

"Well... this class seems interesting," she smiled.

"Stupid." her three sisters laughed. She mentally slapped herself.

"I mean..." shut up. She left the sentence hanging. She wasn't good being social.\n\n

16 Gray Yay! same here... 113 Gray 0 5

Nikki
June 26, 2006 7:59 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Re: Yay! same here... by Nikki
"Well," she said to Gray "It might be an interesting class overall, but for those of us that have grown up in te magical world, crups are...everydayish" she made up a word since she couldn't think of an actual one to describe what she meant. "It'd be like showing you a Jack Russel Terrior."

She would have bet money that Leo was rolling his eyes. And she also had an idea that she had offended Gray. Nikki wished the ground she was sitting on would open up and swallow her right now. She was so conflicted, and she didn't want to push ether of them away.

Leo knew all about the world she was used to. He spoke Spanish, if not fluently, and had grown up in a magical household. Their grandfathers had been friends in school. And she just seemed to have a natural connection with him.

On the other hand, Gray was her dormmate and August's friend, so Nikki wanted to get to know her. Because of her mother, she spoke English as well as Spanish and knew about American and Muggle culture, she recalled hearing somewhere that Gray was Muggleborn, so she could relate to Gray as well. And Nikki felt she needed a female friend in America if she was going to stand it here.

How could she have so much in common with both Gray and Leo, when the two of them were so different?

The worst part was, Nikki had a bad feeling that this time, opposites were not going to attract.\n\n

0 Nikki Re: Yay! same here... 0 Nikki 0 5

Matt and Josh
June 26, 2006 11:36 PM

Matt and Josh
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To-may-toe, To-mah-toe by Matt and Josh
OOC: Careful with what you read. Josh and Matt live amongst Muggles. Think of the House of Black and how the Muggles aren't aware that the house exists. BIC:

Josh concluded that Meredith knew about the magical world and was a half-blood, Echo was a muggleborn as was Elly and August seemed to have no personality thus far. Not that these people hadn't told him so already. Still, it was cool getting to know other people from different backgrounds.

"You're from London?" Matt asked suddenly, having kept rather quiet while the others had spoken about themselves. "What're you doing all the way over here? Don't they got magical schools over there?" Matt asked the girl. He wasn't at all accusing, but rather, his voice held curiosity as to why she would travel so far just to go to Sonora.

"They do! ¿No recuerda usted la escuela en España a la cual Jenaro fue? Anita fue allí también. En todas partes tiene escuelas Mágicas, tal vez ella no fue aceptada al que en Inglaterra." Josh replied to his brother, slipping into their first language out of habit. Their older siblings were used to speaking in English having been in school long enough, but this was really the first time that the twins would have to remember to speak in English with others around.

"¡Ah, sí! Recuerdo ahora. Anita dice que es bastante pequeño y siempre tiene un olor extraño. Tal vez por eso El-no fue a la escuela ahí. ¡Tal vez todos ellos tiene olores extraños!" Josh laughed at what his brother said while Matt turned eagerly to Elly, "Hizo usted no va a la escuela-I mean, did you not go to school out there because of the weird smells?" Matt asked his fellow first year.

OOC Translations:

"¿No recuerda usted la escuela en España a la cual Jenaro fue? Anita fue allí también. En todas partes tiene escuelas Mágicas, tal vez ella no fue aceptada al que en Inglaterra." - Do you not remember the school in Spain that Jenaro went to? Anita went there as well. Everywhere has Magical schools, maybe she wasn't accepted to the one in England.

"¡Ah, sí! Recuerdo ahora. Anita dice que es bastante pequeño y siempre tiene un olor extraño. Tal vez por eso El-no fue a la escuela ahí. ¡Tal vez todos ellos tiene olores extraños!!" - Oh, yes! I remember now. Anita says that it's rather small and always has a weird smell. Maybe that's why Elly didn't go to school out there. Maybe they all have weird smells!

"Hizo usted no va a la escuela" - Did you not go to school\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Matt and Josh To-may-toe, To-mah-toe 0 Matt and Josh 0 5

Elly
June 27, 2006 6:58 AM

Elly
Peripheral
Written by:

exactly by Elly
OOC: Sorry about the living with muggles confusion. I'm a bit scatty at the best of times :D

BIC:

“You’re from London?” Matt asked Elly. She nodded in reply. What he said next though really confused her. He asked why she attended Sonora, rather than a magic school in England. Elly looked at him a little blankly. It had never occurred to her that there were magic schools other than Sonora. Though, now she thought about it, it did make sense. So then why did she not get accepted to a school closer to home? Elly licked her lips in preparation to answer, then “Did you not go to school out there because of the weird smells?” Matt asked.

Elly laughed out loud. What a peculiar question. Grinning wildly, Elly said, “I have no idea what the other schools smell like!” she exclaimed, still laughing a bit. “I don’t know why I was invited to join Sonora rather than any other place. Like I said, I didn’t know about magic so it’s not as if I applied anywhere. Still,” she said as an afterthought, “I’m glad I came here. It’s exciting to be in a different country, and I’ve met so many great people already!” Elly smiled round at them all.

Changing the topic completely, to avoid demonstrating her ignorance that other magic schools existed, Elly said to the twins, “was it Spanish you two were speaking just now? I don’t know any Spanish. My Dad speaks a bit of French though, so I’ve picked that up. Do you speak Spanish at home?” Elly felt the rambling coming on again, so clamped her mouth shut firmly to prevent it from continuing.
\n\n

0 Elly exactly 0 Elly 0 5

Gray
June 27, 2006 9:14 AM

Gray
Staff
House: Aladren
Subject: Charms
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 9

... second thoughts... by Gray
"She thinks you're stupid, she hates you!" giggled Alice.

"Just like everyone else did in your old school!" Libby and Chali stated, giggling as well.

"Face it, you're a freak. You don't know anything! Who would like you?" Chali grinned.

Gray tried to push the annoying comments of her sisters away. She'd said something stupid, that's okay. It was like yesterday in the Cascade Hall, when Gary referred to the robes as dresses and August laughed. She looked at the Crup a little longer.

"Yeah, but she didn't laugh..." Alice rolled her eyes saying.

She had a point. August laughed, making it more of a joke. Nikki just stated something, making it not look like a joke. Did Nikki not like her? Did she really think she was stupid, like her sisters? She looked over to where August was. Maybe if she excused herself politely she could go over to where he was. If Nikki didn't like her, she wouldn't care... right? And she had been talking to that boy a bit before Gray came in.

This was why she didn't like making friends with girls. It was too complicated. She smiled at Nikki, trying to be polite. "Oh... well... I..." she tried to think of some excuse, then couldn't. So she simply shrugged, hoping if Nikki was the kind of girl she hated, she'd just go back to talking to the boy, so Gray could walk away.
Or else, she'd dug her own hole.

A little part of her though, was hoping that Nikki would somehow redeem herself in Gray's eyes...
She wasn't sure that would happen though.\n\n

16 Gray ... second thoughts... 113 Gray 0 5

Nikki
June 27, 2006 1:02 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

I am a chamelion. That's why I can't make friends. by Nikki
Gray seemed uncomfortable. Nikki mentally confirmed her suspision that she had offended Gray. She had to fix this if she wanted become friends with her dormmate.

Well, maybe she could have explained it better. After all, most of here friends back home were Muggles. She should be able to talk to a Muggleborn.

"I mean, I heard you were Muggleborn, probably from August. I didn't mean to offend you, I'm sure crups must be interesting to you, but, well, for me, showing us crups is like..." she paused trying to think of how to explain it.

"Well my mother is a Muggle, so she made me go to a Muggle primary school, and I don't know if this has happened to you or not, but at my school they would go over things agan and again and it got boring. I could understand it after just one, maybe two lessons, but we'd have about ten lessons on it. I just wanted to move on and learn or try something new. Does that make sense?"

'Dios mio.' Nikki thought. 'I am a chamelion. That's why I can't make friends.'

Now she was not only blathering, she sounded like she was trying too hard to be friends with this girl. Just great, she was going to loose Gray. Maybe Leo as well. Why was this so hard?

(OOC: translation: Dios mio = my God) \n\n

0 Nikki I am a chamelion. That's why I can't make friends. 0 Nikki 0 5

Ginger Silverstein
June 28, 2006 12:50 PM

Ginger Silverstein
Peripheral
Written by:

W-well at l-least I'm here... by Ginger Silverstein
Ginger's first class of the day was Care of Magical Creatures. She remembered last time she was in here, it was pretty fun, except for the fact that Adam started to freak out here. Ginger didn't understand why he was so afraid of people. Ginger had a minor fear of people, but it wasn't that bad. She hoped that it didn't happen again, because then she would probably have a damper on her day. Ginger felt so bad for him, he always seemed so scared all of the time. He seemed really innocent, and nice, but troubled to the core. He was like one of those cute little puppy dogs that had abusive owners. Ginger however, doubt that his parents were the case in his fear of people.

She walked to where the class was being held, and remembered that the teacher was one of the nice ones. Ginger liked the Transfiguration teacher as well, who she heard was the knew head of house for some house that wasn't hers. Ginger honestly forgot who her head of house was, some guy that Ginger just couldn't remember.

She remembered that coach Fox was cruel and heartless. She didn't like the fact that she forced first years to sign up for flying lessons. Did it ever occur to that woman that not all the firsties wanted to fly? She also didn't like Coach's Fox's attitude of "sucking it up". Okay, perhaps in quidditch games, but with flying lessons that was very mean. She remembered that the Defense against the dark arts teacher wasn't that nice either. She didn't like being put on the spot like she was in front of all of her classmates.

Ginger stood there and looked at the crup. She found it very cute, and she hoped that it wasn't going to attack her since she was a muggle born. It did look a little like a puppy. She had her notes out, but she didn't know what to write down.

She looked over, and saw one of her friends from last year talking to a Pecari firstie. Ginger didn't really feel comfortable talking with people yet, since she was just getting over the electronic device withdrawl. This process took a lot longer last year then it was now. She waited for the firstie to leave until she approached Guenther. She was starting to feel nervous again for some odd reason. She wasn't very nervous around Adam, because she was panicing at the time.

"H-hey Guenther," she said with a smile. She wanted to hug him, but she felt a bit too nervous.

Ginger was too lazy to do anything with her hair today, so she put a black beanie on it that said Zelda on it. A little bit of her blond hair was out in the front. She wore her usual pair of frayed jeans, and a black kingdom hearts shirt. \n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein W-well at l-least I'm here... 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Gil
June 28, 2006 2:16 PM

Gil
Peripheral
Written by:

oops... by Gil
OOC: Heh. *blushes.* Yeah, I meant Sonora. Sorry 'bout that. BIC:

Gil smiled as Eavan expressed her thoughts on the family-distance ratio. "Greece? Oh that's so cool... though you know sometimes, having everyone close is a real pain in the--" he blushed, and decided that he'd been hanging out with his older cousins far too often if words like that sprang so automatically to his lips. "I mean, I have four aunts and uncles, and eighteen cousins, and then there are my grandparents and my family--and we all live within five miles of each other! It's crazy. Sometimes I feel like I never see anyone outside my family, and they always know everything," he said, rolling his eyes in an exasperated manner.

When she asked about Leo, Gil's eyes automatically turned back towards where he had left his twin; he was talking with a pretty blond girl, and--surprise of all surprises--seemed to not be in such a crappy mood anymore. In fact, he was... smiling? Gil's eyebrows rose, but he just turned back to Eavan to answer her question.

"Yeah, Leo's my twin. We're identical... mostly. See, I have--" he hesitated to call them 'normal' eyes, "brown eyes like most of my family, but Leo inherited our abuela's eyes; one's green and the other's blue. So if you see someone like me but with two different colored eyes, you should probably run away," he said, grinning at the joke. "He's a Crotalus, like your brother, but he's not exactly warm and fuzzy... not that he's mean. He's just... not me," Gil shrugged, nonplussed.\n\n

0 Gil oops... 0 Gil 0 5

Leonardo Idoya
June 28, 2006 2:27 PM

Leonardo Idoya
Peripheral
Written by:

Speaking up by Leonardo Idoya
OOC: Sorry it took me so long; I've been out of town since Monday.

IC:
Leo had fallen back a few steps when another girl came over and greeted Nikki, feeling suddenly quite out of his element and very much like a third wheel. In the little experience he had with them, he had noted that girls all seemed to be automatic best friends with each other, whether or not there was any mutual respect or liking (which had always puzzled him immensely). It was almost a relief when he noticed the tension building between Nikki and Gray; at least he knew that these two were quite human and not as false as most of his female cousins.

When Nikki began to backpedal on the topic of crups, attempting to rectify her hasty remarks, Leo moved forward a few steps, rejoining them and looking from girl to girl. Neither looked too happy. He decided to interject (even though it went entirely against all rules of politesse) before Grail could respond, just in case things went from worse to worst.

"Pardon," he said smoothly, extending one hand towards Grail. "I don't think we've been introduced. Well, I mean, you introduced yourself, but..." Oh, just shut up, Leo. He cleared his throat discreetly and tried again. "Leonardo Idoya of the California Idoyas," he said, flicking a glance at Nikki to see if his interjection had done any good at all. "Where are you from, Grail?"\n\n

0 Leonardo Idoya Speaking up 0 Leonardo Idoya 0 5

Nikki
June 29, 2006 4:32 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Predjudices by Nikki
Leo was right, Nikki was going to get used to life in America. She was already exhibiting some of those traits that Tio Carlos used to describe Americans. The bad news was, the traits Tio Carlos prejudicely assigned to Americans were usually things such as rudeness, incompetence, and not thinking before they spoke.

Nikki sighed inwardly with relief when Leo rejoined the conversation, hoping that she didn't sigh out loud as well. Leo was bailing her out of this situation and she was immensely thankful, as she had been trying to dig herself out of a hole. Also, if Leo was introducing himself and asking about Gray, then maybe they would become friends after all. Or at least be polite to each other.

Now that Nikki thought of it, Tio Carlos couldn't have been more wrong. Not all Americans possesed these bad traits. And not all who possesed them were Americans.

(OOC: Tio is Spanish for uncle.)\n\n

0 Nikki Predjudices 0 Nikki 0 5

Matt and Josh
July 02, 2006 4:51 PM

Matt and Josh
Peripheral
Written by:

Right! by Matt and Josh
Matt and Josh listened to Elly as she spoke. Josh had to keep elbowing his brother to keep from interupting with what Josh was sure to be more absurd questions. Still, they were curious as to why certain schools chose certain people. Like, did they fight over the students and whoever won, got them? Maybe that was it. Though, maybe not. Bella had been asked to join the school that Sofia went to, but had been given a choice of Sonora too. She had chosen Sonora and rightly so.

"Yes." Josh answered her question immediately. "Our family is the first generation Americans. Our parents are from both Spain as well as Mexico, but our parents moved to America for some reason." Josh said with a shrug. He knew bits of the reason, but never cared to know the whole story. If you asked their parents, it seemed like they never stopped talking about it.

"We learned English because we were raised with kids, but our parents had to learn it." Matt said and laughed. "Hannah could tell you stories about that." Hannah was the eldest of the bunch and the mother of two. She seemed more like an aunt than a sister to them. "But, we usually speak Spanish at home. Sometimes, when we're all together, with Hannah, Julia, Paco...us kids, we speak English because it's more natural for them. They've been in school longer and Hannah's husband is rubbish at Spanish." Matt explained. The mention of Hannah's husband caused a laugh from Josh. They always played the worst tricks on him.

"Anyway, Sonora not so bad. Anita-she's Jake's girlfriend, but he denies that-she goes to a magical school in Spain and she says that it smells terrible. That's why Matt asked about the smells." Josh said by way of explanation incase they hadn't followed anything they had said.\n\n

0 Matt and Josh Right! 0 Matt and Josh 0 5

Elly
July 07, 2006 12:18 PM

Elly
Peripheral
Written by:

And everyone else? by Elly
Elly listened to Matt and Josh’s explanation about speaking Spanish, which involved several names of people who Elly had never heard of, so she assumed they were relatives of some sort or other.

“Right,” she said when they’d finished. She laughed a little, “Well I don’t know about any other school, I’m afraid. Sonora’s the only one I’ve ever been to. Except for my primary school, which wasn’t a magic school, and that usually smelled of floor polish.” She grinned at the twins, who both seemed like good fun, despite the possibility that they could start talking Spanish at any moment leaving everyone else utterly confused.

“I guess I’ve just moved to America, too. I’ve done a bit of travelling, though, so it’s not too bad. I went to Spain, once. Have any of you ever been to England?” Elly asked the group of students around her in general. Elly felt that she had been taking over the conversation, and although she liked to be the centre of attention, at the moment she just wanted to make friends. Elly thrived on two things: popularity, and making people smile. Therefore, making friends was pretty much her aim in life.
\n\n

0 Elly And everyone else? 0 Elly 0 5

Adam Brockert
July 07, 2006 4:48 PM

Adam Brockert
Alumnus
House: Crotalus
Written by: Allegra Brockert

Age in Post: 12
Birthday: March 5

Hiding in the back.. by Adam Brockert
Adam found a spot in the back of the group, a bit apart from everyone else. There was no way he was going to let himself be in the middle of all those people. That's what happened last year. He'd had that attack and was unable to participate. And the lesson had been puffskiens too, which were Adam's favorite. He was especially avoiding the boy from the Hall. Not that Adam particularily disliked him, he didn't dislike him at all. He just assumed that boy thought he was a huge baby and was disgusted with him, which would make Adam nervous if he saw him again. He didn't like feeling that people disapproved of him. It made him uncomfortable.

He leaned back against a tree as it was announced that they'd be doing Crups. Adam wasn't scared of them, though he didn't like them as much as puffskiens. He knew a little bit about them, because his grandpa had some and he'd read about them. He sure wasn't going to answer though. He did not want the class's attention on him. Adam would prefer to simply vanish into the crowd....or better yet, to vanish into a place where there wasn't a crowd. Not that he wanted to go back to his room in Crotalus. Adam didn't feel comfortable there and never would. (Though he wouldn't have liked Pecari or Aladren any better.)

A group of first years began to form nearby. Adam instinctively moved away, not that he was close enough that they'd notice him or that he was part of the group. However, they were making him a little anxious. Adam couldn't handle groups. They made him nervous. Especially groups of people close to his own age who were talking and laughing. He always assumed they were talking about him or laughing at him . Besides, getting too close to large groups caused attacks. That was the last thing Adam wanted. Besides being generally unpleasant, it attract precisely the kind of attention he didn't want. (Meaning, any at all.)

Adam took a deep breath and tried to ignore the people as he focused on what the professor was saying.\n\n

11 Adam Brockert Hiding in the back.. 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Guenter Heindrich
July 08, 2006 8:10 PM

Guenter Heindrich
Peripheral
Written by:

Uhoh, I feel the red cheeks......ahhhhhh!!! by Guenter Heindrich
Guenther blushed as he saw Ginger approach him. He had a crush on her and he knew that it was probably written all over his love-struck face. Now he had three girls that he really liked, including the Elly girl that had just walked away. "Hello, Ginger." he said gulping to gain some bravery.

He thought he was doing very well. He had seen perfectly confident guys walk up to girls and break down. Shrugging off that thought, he focused on talking to her. "Ummm, crups...they're very interesting aren't they?" he asked uncertainly.\n\n

0 Guenter Heindrich Uhoh, I feel the red cheeks......ahhhhhh!!! 0 Guenter Heindrich 0 5

Ginger Silverstein
July 09, 2006 4:06 AM

Ginger Silverstein
Peripheral
Written by:

Awwww by Ginger Silverstein
Ginger saw Guenther blush from some odd reason. Was he having hot flashes or something? Ginger had no idea that she was the cause of this blush, and if she did, she would have probably blushed back. But she felt a little less nervous around him when she saw him blush, and she wasn't so sure why. She gave him a small embrace, she somehow knew/hoped that he wouldn't be too nervous about that. When she helped Adam get to his sister during the opening feast, she was afraid that he felt really uncomfortable when she put her arm around him. She had to get him out of there somewhere, and he didn't look like he was really in any kind of condition to walk anywhere by himself.

Ginger gave Guenther a sweet smile. "Hey Guenther, haven't seen you for a long time. I've missed you," her green eyes survayed the crup. "Yeah they seem okay, not as interesting as dragons though," she said with a giggle. \n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein Awwww 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Eavan
July 10, 2006 1:02 PM

Eavan
Peripheral
Written by:

It's ok....I do that all the time... by Eavan
Eavan sat still, her eyes focused entirely on Gil listening to every word he said. Listening was her favorite pasttime. Eavan felt that her talking was only to help others talk.

"Wow, that's a pretty big family," she said, thinking of what would happen if that many of her family lived so close to each other. it wouldn't be a pretty sight considering that her mother was the black sheep of the family and her aunts' hautiness.

Eavan followed Gil's eyes to a boy sitting a few yards away who looked exactly like Gil, but who was talking to a blonde rather than to Eavan's mousy brown hair pulled into a ponytail. She shrugged and turned back to Gil who was mentioning his twin's differrnt colored eyes.

"Really? I would love to have two different colored eyes. I guess you and I were just born to blend in to the scenery with our coloring," she sighed as she pulled her brown hair and pointed to her brown eyes.

"I'll tell Earl to keep an eye out for your less than warm and fuzzy brother," she said with grin.\n\n

0 Eavan It's ok....I do that all the time... 0 Eavan 0 5

Echo Elms
July 10, 2006 1:41 PM

Echo Elms
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Echo Elms

Age in Post: 11

Wasn't there a class or something? by Echo Elms
Echo shook his head. He'd never been to England, or Spain or even overseas at all, really. He'd been in the midwest all his life. It would probably have been different if he were from Europe... in Europe everything was close together. But in Wyoming, well, if you drove all day long and more you could reach Chicago. He'd been to Chicago. Once, they even took a plane.\n\n

21 Echo Elms Wasn't there a class or something? 93 Echo Elms 0 5

Gray
July 12, 2006 4:21 PM

Gray
Staff
House: Aladren
Subject: Charms
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 9

They suck... by Gray
"Leonardo Idoya of the California Idoyas"

Gray had to admit when the boy spoke again. She heard Nikki sigh, happy for the distraction. And it was a good one, because Grail forgot what Nikki had even said. She did know it hurt her though, but Nikki was trying to... she guess "redeem" herself.

"He's so cuuute!" Alice squealed.

"Too cute for Grail to be seen talking to..." Chali sneered.

"Uh... he asked a question..." Alice frowned.

Grail shoved them away again. "Grail Markner, of Traverse City, Michigan," she smiled shrugging, then took his hand. "Nice to meet you." Deep down she heard her Libby snort at her greeting.

She gazed over at August again. Should she really leave now? Nikki was being a little nicer. ANd she couldn't walk away after an introduction, right? So she just smiled and wrote a few more things about Crups down.\n\n

16 Gray They suck... 113 Gray 0 5

Gray
July 12, 2006 4:23 PM

Gray
Staff
House: Aladren
Subject: Charms
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 9

oops... re-do of "They suck" by Gray
"Leonardo Idoya of the California Idoyas"

Gray had to admit when the boy spoke again. She heard Nikki sigh, happy for the distraction. And it was a good one, because Grail forgot what Nikki had even said. She did know it hurt her though, but Nikki was trying to... she guess "redeem" herself.

"He's so cuuute!" Alice squealed.

"Too cute for Grail to be seen talking to..." Chali sneered.

"Uh... he asked a question..." Alice frowned.

Grail shoved them away again. "Grail Markner, of Traverse City, Michigan," she smiled shrugging, then took his hand. "Nice to meet you." Deep down she heard her Libby snort at her greeting.

She gazed over at August again. Should she really leave now? Nikki was being a little nicer. ANd she couldn't walk away after an introduction, right? So she just smiled and wrote a few more things about Crups down.\n\n

16 Gray oops... re-do of "They suck" 113 Gray 0 5

Pepper Jones
July 14, 2006 3:37 PM

Pepper Jones
Alumnus
House: Teppenpaw
Written by: Rhy

Age in Post: 12

Seeking in the back.... by Pepper Jones
Pepper gave a muted 'thank you' as she accepted the magnifying glass that she didn't have much intention of using. She'd never been very fond of dogs, and this one gave her more reason to fear it than most. It didn't like Muggles... What if it could sense the Muggle in her? Humans could be total snobs about it... What if the do- er, crup was the same? It liked the Purebloods, tolerated the Halfbloods, and tried to nip the Muggleborns? Plus it had something on her that could eat her wand. All in all, she was more than happy to let the others cluster around it and make a fuss, which was unusual for the nurturing Tepp, whose favourite class was Care of Magical Creatures.

Hovering on the edge of the group, trying to look a little interested at least, she scanned around the room to see if anyone else wasn't joining in. Catching sight of a boy hovering towards the back, she ran Kaylie's description of Adam through her head. He fitted.

She detached herself from the group properly, slipping over to him. She felt bad about not trying to get involved in the lesson, or earn her house points, but when so many people wanted a go with the crup, it seemed silly to compete when she didn't really want one. Plus Adam was a worthy cause, and use of her time. She smiled at him, trying to look friendly and unthreatening as she walked up.

"Are you Adam?" she asked. Remembering how she'd reacted to Kaylie that morning, and knowing Adam was more shy than she was she tried to think of something she could say so he wouldn't feel threatened. "I'm a friend of you sister," she added. It wasn't strictly true, but saying that his sister had asked her to keep an eye on him might embarrass him. Especially if this wasn't Adam, and this person ended up teasing him over his sister sending him a bodyguard. \n\n

13 Pepper Jones Seeking in the back.... 74 Pepper Jones 0 5

Adam B.
July 16, 2006 10:59 PM

Adam B.
Alumnus
House: Crotalus
Written by: Allegra Brockert

Age in Post: 12
Birthday: March 5

Merlin help me! I've been found! by Adam B.
No sooner had Adam gotten what he felt was a safe distance from the large group of first years then he spotted a red-head, who he was pretty sure was in his year, coming his way. He looked for an escape route. Hmm..first years to one side, the majority of the class in front of him. Behind Adam, (aside from the tree) was the way out of class and he knew he couldn't just leave. Merlin, if he could just flee from class Adam would have tried it in flying last year. (He still had nightmares about that woman.) It seemed that once again, he was trapped.

He began to shake a bit, not quite as bad as the opening feast. The only students at Sonora Adam wasn't scared of were Kaylie-of course-and now Ginger. He turned even more pale when the redhead spoke to him.

"Are you Adam?"

Oh sweet Merlin, this girl knew his name . "Y-yes" Adam stammered. He wondered what he did that she would have heard of him. He didn't think he'd made that big of a fool of himself anywhere. Only in this class and he was still pretty sure most people didn't know who he was.

Adam breathed a sigh of relief though when she said she was Kaylie's friend. That had to make her okay, right? He gave her a nervous but genuine smile. "Um, uh, nice to meet you." Adam didn't really know what to say. He was far from a good conversationalist. He was much better at listening.\n\n

11 Adam B. Merlin help me! I've been found! 78 Adam B. 0 5

Guenther Heindrich
July 17, 2006 10:26 PM

Guenther Heindrich
Peripheral
Written by:

A guide on girls....yeah that will happen! by Guenther Heindrich
"Dragons? Yeah they are cool. I've seen pictures in a lot of books and they don't seem to be something you want to get near, but still very interesting. I want to see one one day. Of course some of these creatures aren't nearly as interesting as the one's we find in D&D. I came across a giant Calzone once."

He smiled, knowing he was rambling but uncomfortable with her presense. He scratched his head. Girl's were so confusing. SO very confusing. He wished there was some sort of guide on them.\n\n

0 Guenther Heindrich A guide on girls....yeah that will happen! 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5

Pepper
July 19, 2006 1:28 PM

Pepper
Peripheral
Written by:

Merlin's not available right now, will I do? by Pepper
Gosh, he was timid! Pepper thought, as Adam stammered a reply, looking at her like she might be about to bite. She refrained from giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, not sure how he'd feel about it. It also looked like all conversation was going to be down to her. That was ok, she was used to that. The sibs' friends had been anxious of her, a sophisticated girl of age nine, or whatever she'd been when she first met them. Conversation didn't tend to flow until you knew someone. At least she'd got a smile from him, even if he still looked mostly terrified.

"Nice to meet you too," she smiled softly, using her best soft, five-year-old-friendly voice. "My name's Pepper. Kaylie said she was worried you'd be feeling a bit overwhelmed in class," she added. She knew she'd have to take every conversation with Adam one step at a time, that was the simple part. It was knowing which steps to try that was tricky. "Do you find it hard being around so many people?" she asked. Unfortunately it was a question that only invited a shake or - more probably - a nod, rather than an actual spoken response, but she could move on to other questions from there. It just required a little patience. Luckily, that was something she had a lot of.

She could see why Kaylie worried about him. He reminded her of a timid version of G.J. She felt a little guilty that she'd not noticed him needing a friend last year. Some carer she was, not even noticing the shyest kid in the class. \n\n

0 Pepper Merlin's not available right now, will I do? 0 Pepper 0 5

Gil
July 19, 2006 1:31 PM

Gil
Peripheral
Written by:

Sometimes coming up with a good title is the hardest part. by Gil
Gil nodded. "Huge, really. And that's not counting second cousins and great-aunts and -uncles and a bunch of people who aren't really family but hang around anyway," he said, grinning. "Though at least none of them live on the ranch!"

After he finished describing Leo, Eavan tugged at her own hair and motioned towards her face, sighing at the prospect of blending in. At that point, he could just imagine his favorite cousin Casimiro saying that she was 'cute' and pushing Gil towards her. "Don't think you'll have to worry about blending in," he said sincerely, offering her another smile.

He laughed aloud when she talked about warning her brother about Leo, and thought that it was great to have someone with a similar temperament to talk to here at Sonora. Eavan was so good-natured, and he found himself less and less interested in crups. "Do - but be sure to let him know that not all Idoyas are prickly as cacti."

He glanced over towards the crup, then. "Hey, looks like the swarm's cleared. Wanna go check out Rutter now?"\n\n

0 Gil Sometimes coming up with a good title is the hardest part. 0 Gil 0 5

Leo
July 19, 2006 1:52 PM

Leo
Peripheral
Written by:

Perhaps, but they're inevitable. by Leo
After a moment Gray took his hand. "Grail Markner, of Traverse City, Michigan," she introduced with a smile and a shrug.

Leo smiled politely at her as well, releasing her hand. Gray glanced over at a boy nearby, but instead of joining him made a few notes; meanwhile, behind his polite facade, he was troubled. Markner certainly wasn't a pureblood name, at least none he'd heard of; it wasn't even a name he'd known to be attributed to more mixed families.

Growing up under his grandfather's tutelage had led inevitably to an absorption of his grandfather's outdated values. Intellectually, Leo knew that there was simply no reason for purebloods to look down on Muggleborns. There was still an instinctual reaction to the information, though - one that Leo hated, and that Gil seemed to have escaped. Being a successful wizard and upholding the family honor, and accepting Muggleborns as the equal members of society that they were, he reminded himself, were not mutually exclusive.

Besides. He'd alienated enough people at this school already, between that girl and boy outside the Cascade Hall (he was sure they resented his flight) and the two Pecaris from just earlier in Care of Magical Creatures. In any event, Gray and Nikki were producing enough tension all on their own, without any help at all from him.

"So, Grail - or Gray, if you prefer," he said, venturing to smile again, "what do you think of the magical world so far? It must be quite a change."\n\n

0 Leo Perhaps, but they're inevitable. 0 Leo 0 5

Eavan
July 20, 2006 2:22 PM

Eavan
Peripheral
Written by:

I hear ya....this part sucks by Eavan
Eavan blushed at Gil's compliment. She was a tomboy and was rarely told any compliments outside of "Awesome swing!" or "Wow, you're room's actually clean!", so being told that she shouldn't worry about blending in was, well...strange.

Eavan grinned at Gil's comment on cacti. "Well, I think we'll have to see whether or not you can be prickly as a cactus. I mean, I barely know you!" she said with mock modesty. Then she burst into giggles.

When she had calmed down, Eavan readily agreed to take a look at the crup. "I wish I could have a crup, but Dad says no. We live in a mainly muggle neighborhood, so it just wouldn't work out."\n\n

0 Eavan I hear ya....this part sucks 0 Eavan 0 5

Gil
July 20, 2006 3:04 PM

Gil
Peripheral
Written by:

- Insert clever comment here - by Gil
She blushed. Gil wasn't entirely sure what that meant. The only experience he had with girls was with his cousins - and they'd certainly never blushed at something he said before. In fact, he thought, the only times he'd seen a girl blush were a) when Melisenda started showing off her engagement ring, and b) that time Rosalinde tripped and spilled her plate in Abuela's lap. Before he could even start to try to puzzle out the response, though, Eavan was talking again.

Gil couldn't help but laugh when she went all demure, claiming to hardly know him. He snorted once (accidentally), but hoped that she didn't notice. Instead, he just cleared his throat, unable to stop grinning - how someone could so perfectly impersonate his cousin Agnese without ever meeting her was beyond him!

"Well, I hardly look like a cactus, do I?" he asked mock-defensively, motioning to himself with a dramatic gesture. "Anyway, I'm a Tepp, aren't I? We're hardly known for being icy."

He winced at the thought of a Crup in a Muggle neighborhood. "Yeah, I don't think that would be good. At least, not for the Muggles. Who knows - if it was a crup like my neighbors used to have, it might just have a good time." He grinned then and started walking towards Rutter, searching his robes pockets for the magnifying glass he'd gotten from the professor at the beginning of class. When a brusque search turned up nothing, he stopped, frowning, and dug into his many pockets a little more carefully. "Huh. That's weird. I can't find my magnifying glass."\n\n

0 Gil - Insert clever comment here - 0 Gil 0 5

Gray
July 21, 2006 12:37 PM

Gray
Staff
House: Aladren
Subject: Charms
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 9

So true by Gray
She wasn't noting things anymore, simply scribbling down random words was more like it. She felt uncomfortable with these two. She didn't know how to explain it, she simply didn't fit in right there.

"You don't fit in anywhere, dear." sighed her Chali. Gray could almost see her grinning. Sghe could almost see all three of them grinning at her uncomfort. And she was starting to miss them. She was starting to miss them and their ways of trying to make her feel out of place. She missed it because it never worked there, here it did.

She barely noticed when the boy, Leo, spoke to her again. It took her a second to let the words sink in, but she looked up at him again.

"Yes," she stated. "A huge change. It seems so much easier here."

"Stupid answer..." Libby smirked.

She tried to ignore what she believed they would say at this point. Blocked it out. At least for a second. She went back to her... "notes."
Why was talking to this boy so uncomfortable. She didn't feel this while talking to August and Gary. Why him?\n\n

16 Gray So true 113 Gray 0 5

Leo Idoya
July 21, 2006 4:36 PM

Leo Idoya
Peripheral
Written by:

No points for trying? by Leo Idoya
Leo barely refrained from raising one eyebrow at the girl's extremely laconic response. It was almost "Leo-worthy," in fact, or so he was sure Gil would say. Her brevity seemed to stem not from character, though, but discomfort, and Leo had already begun to look at this as a challenge.

He consciously made his smile warmer and gentler, knowing that it softened his peculiar eyes when he did so. This was, in fact, the smile he reserved for his little sister Mercedes. If it could charm that rebellious child, perhaps it might work on an apparently very self-conscious and uncomfortable Muggleborn. He glanced at Nikki, a look that clearly said, 'I know what I'm doing here - I think.'

To himself, he just said, All right... what would Gil do?

"I can believe that," he said in his best 'friendly' voice, allowing just a little laugh to creep into his tone. "I don't have too much experience with Muggle life, but from what I've had, I can't even imagine the differences." Well, that sounded rather condescending, he scolded himself. "But some of the things they've come up with to avoid magic - really very ingenious. Electricity and all that." He hesitated. "It is 'electricity,' right?"

He moved smoothly onto another topic. The patriarch was, in a way, a minor politician - depending on the arena a not-so-minor one, even - and politicians were good at nothing if not small talk. Leo had been raised a politician.

"You're in Aladren too, right?" he asked, hoping his memory of this girl with blue skin was correct. "So Professor Kijewski is your Head of House? She seems very friendly. The Crotalus Head of House - that's Professor Marlowe - seems... well... polite." All right, so politesse scored big points in Leo's books, but the woman hadn't exactly made herself likeable. Leo checked himself after that thought - sweet Merlin I'm turning into Gil. "I wanted to be in Aladren," he admitted then. "In fact, I thought I would be. It was no surprise when my twin was sorted into Teppenpaw, but no one but my twin could believe I'd gotten sorted into Crotalus."

...Which was still, in Leo's mind, a sore spot. Sure, he would have excelled in Aladren. But really, did they have to be that incredulous? He could do well wherever he ended up, surely they knew that! But Gil, astonishingly, hadn't been surprised. Faintly annoyed that they were separated, but not surprised. Now that Leo thought about it, he wasn't sure whether that boded well or not.\n\n

0 Leo Idoya No points for trying? 0 Leo Idoya 0 5

Adam B.
July 24, 2006 5:36 PM

Adam B.
Alumnus
House: Crotalus
Written by: Allegra Brockert

Age in Post: 12
Birthday: March 5

It depends, are you going to hurt me? by Adam B.
She seemed nice enough, but Adam couldn't help feeling just a bit nervous yet. Still, if Kaylie had talked to her and thought she would help him, she couldn't be too bad. Kaylie would never purposely send someone to talk to him who'd hurt him.

"Do you find it hard being around so many people?"

Adam blushed at the question. He nodded, "Uh-huh." It was horrible for him. He often felt alone in the group, feeling exposed and frightened. Thinking they'd smell his fear and exploit it by tormenting him. Adam hated being in a group of so many people. He didn't trust any of them, and was worried if he did anything wrong, they'd laugh at him and he had nobody to protect him. Adam was a bit embarassed at letting Pepper know that though. What if she laughed at him? Teased him about it?

No, Kaylie wouldn't send someone like that to talk to me , Adam reminded himself again. But what if Kaylie didn't know? What if she'd been fooled into thinking Pepper was nicer than she actually was?

Adam looked at her nervously. She seemed ok so far...\n\n

11 Adam B. It depends, are you going to hurt me? 78 Adam B. 0 5

Gray
July 25, 2006 5:15 PM

Gray
Staff
House: Aladren
Subject: Charms
Written by: Grayson Wright

Age in Post: 9

Maybe half a point by Gray
She looked down when he smiled at her. Despite its warmth, she still felt uncomfortable and self-concious. Even though that was probably mostly her fault for thinking of her sisters, and what they would say, the smile made it worse. Like he was trying to calm her, but it wasn't working. Making her feel guilty of that. She tugged the ends of her dirty blonde hair.

"Oo! You're nervous now!" laughed Alice. She always laughed too much, that thought somehow calmed her.

And so did the fact that this Leo didn't seem to know much about Muggles. Having not only told her outright but also asking if 'electricity' was 'electricity.' Or something of that nature. Whatever it was, it made her feel a little superior. She laughed a bit.

"Yes, it is. Electricity, I mean," she was looking at him now. "And it isn't really that big," she shrugged. "It's all electrons and heat and wires and such." She remembered back in fourth grade when Arthor taught her how to make a simple circuit. It took her hours, but in the end it worked out.
"But, yes, it is so much different than magic." She doubted she could disect magic like the bulb to see what made it work. "But, I suppose, that would be the fun in it."

"Know it all..." Libby hissed. Grail could laugh. If that was the worst that she would say at a time like this, things must be getting better.

"Yeah, I'm in Aladren. But I haven't talked to Professor Kij- Professor K that much, so I wouldn't know," she looked at the professor. She heard his remark on the Crotalus Head, but didn't say what she wanted to, which was something along the lines of "is politeness bad?" But she didn't know how to say it without sounding rude, so she dropped it.

He wanted to be in Aladren? She thought a second. From what she read, Aladren was for bookish people. Nerdish, a word she didn't really find insulting when used nicely (she stereotyped herself as a nerd, the thing that got her was 'loser' by her sisters). She didn't read that much about Crotalus though, seeing as she wasn't in it. So she didn't know what your personality trait had to be to be grouped in that house.

"Well, I don't know that much about Crotalus," she stated, "but surely you were placed there for a reason." It was a simple statement. "Maybe... you had more traits of someone from Crotalus that Aladren...?" She frowned, a little confused. "Ones that-" she grinned a little "-your twin saw better than you did?"\n\n

16 Gray Maybe half a point 113 Gray 0 5

Leo
July 25, 2006 6:04 PM

Leo
Peripheral
Written by:

I'll take what I can get. by Leo
Leo just blinked when Gray took up the subject of electricity, discussing heat and wires and something called 'electrons.' He really didn't like not knowing what other people were talking about, he decided; but simultaneously knew that, as far as he had unbent to meet the challenge that Gray presented, he'd never be able to do something as Gil-ish as ask her to explain. He made a mental note to ask the librarian if there were any books about electricity in the Sonora library.

But the subject seemed to have broken through that veneer of ice, and Gray was warming up to the conversation. She continued on, talking about her head of house, and then about the differences between Aladren and Crotalus.

He made a wry face. "From what I read in the brochure, Crotalus is the house for students who are practical and pedantic," he said flatly. "And ambitious. They described us as 'planners,' but that's what they meant." In a way, Leo supposed he was ambitious; after all, his status as heir to the patriarch completely passed over his father, the rightful heir. Abuelo had explained that to him very simply, though; Leo II (his father) was a weak man, whereas Leo himself (Leo III) showed every sign of growing up to be a very strong wizard, in more than one way.

"It's also where most of the blood-obsessed purebloods end up," he added as lightly as he could. That did sting - after all, he was trying his very hardest to beat down his prejudices. It was so easy for Gil and Mercedes; why did Leo have so much trouble with it?

When she suggested that maybe Gil had noticed something he hadn't, Leo gave a small, rather mirthless laugh. "I don't doubt it. But that's the way siblings are. Do you have any brothers or sisters?" he asked, neatly changing the subject and deflecting the attention in one question.\n\n

0 Leo I'll take what I can get. 0 Leo 0 5

Nikki
July 27, 2006 3:33 PM

Nikki
Peripheral
Written by:

Yup, that's Leo for you by Nikki
Nikki mentally checked off the traits that Leo named as being related to the Crotalus House.

Practical-check, Nikki could tell that Leo found rules and manners very important.

Ambitious-check, Leo looked ahead to the future, particulaly his future, but he had also assured her that hers at Sonora would be enjoyable and seemed prepared to help her.

Planner-check, when Leo introduced himself, he kept saying that he was 'of the California Idoyas' and he seemed to find his future role as the head of that family very important.

Blood-obsessed-um, Nikki wasn't sure; again Leo seemed very proud of his heritage, and he had been cruel to that ignorant boy earlier, but Nikki really didn't want to check that particular one, especially because she was a half-blood.

Yes, all in all, Leo was the perfect Crotalus. Of course his brother had seen that. Nikki had just met the boy and she could see it. Gil had known Leo literally since before they were born. \n\n

0 Nikki Yup, that's Leo for you 0 Nikki 0 5

Professor Kijewski
July 29, 2006 6:47 PM

Professor Kijewski
Peripheral
Written by:

ATTENTION EVERYONE! by Professor Kijewski
Kiva was amused by how little her class was paying attention. No bother. When she gave them the exam at the end of the year, those who passed would be grateful, those who didn't...would pay attention in the future. At least it was only a crup and not something more dangerous like a Hippogriff. However, when they were old enough for that lesson, Kiva was sure that the students would want to pay attention. Hippogriffs were pretty cool creatures.

"That's a good though, Caedence, but a little exaggerated. Crup do not like Muggles, however, they won't kill them. At least, as far as I'm aware, there has never been such a case. They are like normal dogs, yes they get frustrated, whiney, mean, and they don't like certain people for whatever reason, but dogs are not aggressive by nature. It's how they are breed, raised, not born. Does that make sense?" Kiva said to her students. "If I'm wrong, feel free to come to me with the evidence and I'll gladly retract my statement."

"Now, crups do have forked tails. Rutter had a forked tail but because of the Regulations to own one, his owners had to have it removed when he was very young." Kiva said, picking up Rutter from the ground so that everyone could see him. "We want to protect our creatures from the outside world. Our Regulations are necessary not only for Muggles safety, but to keep harm from happening to little guys like him-" Kiva gave Rutter's paw a wave to indicate whom she was discussing, "For the rest of the lesson I'll have you guys play with Rutter. I have a few balls and some treats here in this sack that you guys can play with. He's been cooped up in my office all day, so being able to run around would mean the world to him."

OOC: Feel free to continue posting in your threads or, if you want, you can start a thread in response to this post. Either is okay with me. Also feel free to write for Rutter and use your imaginations with him.\n\n

0 Professor Kijewski ATTENTION EVERYONE! 0 Professor Kijewski 0 5

Pepper
July 31, 2006 7:53 PM

Pepper
Peripheral
Written by:

Absolutely not by Pepper
"I still get a bit shy of them sometimes," she confided in Adam. It helped if the person you were trying to help realised they weren't the only one in their situation and it was especially helpful if they felt the person they were talking to understood how they felt. "I can't believe we've been here a year already. I still feel like the new girl some days," she smiled softly.

"In a class, what you've got to bear in mind," she tried, taking a wild guess that his problem was that he was shy of them, not claustrophobic (though he could be either as a result of the other, of course) "is that people aren't focussing on you. I don't mean this nastily, but you're not what they're here for, and most of them will be paying attention to the lesson. So you don't have to hide away from them all in order not to be noticed," she said.

She was going to ask 'Do you see what I mean?' but that gave him the choice of a one word answer. She wanted to get him to talk to her. She'd be better able to understand why he was scared then and not be putting words in his mouth then. 'How do you feel about that?' sounded far to like a psychologist, so she tried instead

"What do you think about that?" \n\n

0 Pepper Absolutely not 0 Pepper 0 5

Eavan
August 01, 2006 12:10 AM

Eavan
Peripheral
Written by:

*steals witty remark from unsuspecting passerby* by Eavan
She tried. She really did try to hold back the huge grin that threated to appear when Gil snorted for seemingly no reason, but it was hard. She finally managed by swallowing really hard reapeatedly and thinking about sad things.

Eavan shook her head enthusiastically with a smile when he asked if he lookedlike a cactus. "No, I guess not. We're more of the sunshine-y type aren't we?"

When Gil got up to get a closer look at Rutter, Eavan followed. And when Gil stopped suddenly, Eavan almost bumped right into him, but stopped herself just in time. She looked at him inquisitively.

"Your magnifying glass?" She glanced at the grass around where they had been sitting. If it was anywhere, it would be there. But all that was there was grass pressed down in the shape of two people.

"I have no idea where it is." Eavan then began searching through her own robes, thinking maybe she had taken it by mistake. There were quite a few things in her brand new robes that she had already stuffed in. She pulled her wand from her pocket and dropped it on the ground. The wand was quickly followed by a few crumpled pieces of parchment, a squashed dandilion she had picked that morning and...a magnifying glass.

"Is this it?" she held up the magnifying glass towards Gil. "Cause I don't remeber getting one."

\n\n

0 Eavan *steals witty remark from unsuspecting passerby* 0 Eavan 0 5

Gil
August 03, 2006 11:24 PM

Gil
Peripheral
Written by:

I dub thee Sneakthief! by Gil
Gil turned around to find Eavan very close behind him. He took an instinctive step back to give her her space even as she responded to his question, and proceeded to turn out her pockets. He winced slightly as she dropped her wand carelessly on the grass, but was soon overwhelmed with amusement as she continued to dig through.

Just after she dropped a mutilated dandelion, he asked teasingly, "Oooh, do you have Chocolate Frogs, too?"

Actually, a Chocolate Frog sounded really good right now. His stomach gurgled a little, hungrily, but the disturbance - unlike that hideous, mortifying snort - was pretty quiet. Though to be honest it had been kind of funny watching Eavan attempt to withhold her mirth for his sake.

But then Eavan was holding out a magnifying glass, asking if it was Gil's. He blinked. "Must be," he said with another little laugh, shaking his head in amazement. "Were you a pickpocket in another life, or something?" he teased, accepting the magnifying glass back. He cuffed her shoulder very gently, just to make sure she realized he was teasing, and gave her a winning grin. "Hey, you can share mine if you want. Though - wait a sec - "

The professor was speaking, and Gil held up one finger to forestall any comment on Eavan's part. When Professor Kijewski was done, he turned back to his new friend. "Guess we didn't need the glass after all," he said with a smile. "Wonder if he plays fetch...."\n\n

0 Gil I dub thee Sneakthief! 0 Gil 0 5

Eavan
August 03, 2006 11:45 PM

Eavan
Peripheral
Written by:

I like the sound of that by Eavan
Eavan looked at Gill seriously when he asked if she had any chocolate frogs. "I don't know. I might..." she said and continued to look through her pockets. After a few moments of haphazard searching, she came up with only a broken quill tip, her class schedule and an old chocolate frog card.

"Na, sorry. All out of food." Eavan grinned at both her joke about food in her robes and at being called a pickpocket. She was about to thank him for letting her share the magnifying glass when he held up a finger to hear what the professor was saying.

"No, I guess not," Eavan shrugged. "I just wish I had something in these pockets that he could fetch. I'm not givin' up my wand as a plaything for a crup." At that Eavan picked the trash and her wand off the grass and put them back in her robes.\n\n

0 Eavan I like the sound of that 0 Eavan 0 5

Adam B.
August 05, 2006 4:55 PM

Adam B.
Alumnus
House: Crotalus
Written by: Allegra Brockert

Age in Post: 12
Birthday: March 5

That's a relief! by Adam B.
Adan managed a tiny smile when Pepper said she got shy of them too. At least he wasn't the only one. There was barely any people here he wasn't afraid of. In fact, the list of people Adam wasn'tthe slightest bit intimidated by was very short in general. Just his parents, grandparents, Kaylie, Marshall, Hope, Evan and Ginger. And one of the few reasons he wasn't nervous about Hope and Evan was because they were very little. Even Chelsea and Nina made him a bit apprehensive at times.

And a whole year. They'd been here a whole year and Adam still wasn't comfortable at all. Not in class and not in his house. He was still terrified of his roommate and a great many of the teachers. (Though he was glad Professor Marlowe was his Head of House now and not that scary vampire lady.)

His cheeks burned as Pepper mentioned that people weren't focused on him. How arrogant of him to think they did! Adam didn't want to be like people said Crotali were (although his second cousin, Lily, who was in Kaylie's year and his house and he'd met a few times, had insisted the Pecaris were just as bad, if not worse in some cases).

"What do you think about that?"

Oh Merlin! Pepper wanted his opinion. It wasn't as though people never asked it, it's just that Adam felt awkward giving it. What if it made people mad? What if they thought he was weird or freaky. "It's not that I necessarily think they're initially focusing on me." Adam began "But some people don't pay attention in class, especially this one." His gaze shifted to the large group of firsties momentarily. "And they talk to each other, and if they can see me, and they think I'm doing something strange or freaky or abnormal, they'll laugh at me or whisper about me or make fun of me." He took a breath, "And some people, especially some purebloods, are very nasty. They might see me and think I'm going to lead my family into ruin because I'll unfortunately be head of it someday. Even though nobody in my family thinks so." Adam blushed. "I mean, we're not like that. Like the snottier society families. I don't mean to come off like that." He looked at the ground, feeling like he wanted to cry. "I don't even really like people who are. They make me nervous." \n\n

11 Adam B. That's a relief! 78 Adam B. 0 5

caedence redoak
August 08, 2006 8:13 PM

caedence redoak
Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by:

Age in Post: 11

playing with the dog-crup that is by caedence redoak
Caedence practically glowed with pride at being mentioned by the teacher. she scooted forwards and patted Rutter on the head. He gave her hand a little nip to tell her he wanted ot play. "May I?" she said grabbing the toy ball. She threw it in the air abover rutter. He did an odd sort of wiggle-jump and caught it.

Caedence smiled warmly. It was unpractied, but a nice smile none-the-less. Rutter crept closer to caedence, dropped the ball at her feet, and waited. He had his head cocked to one said as if to say, "Wanna play some more?" Caedence thought he looked rather like a dog, so could be trained.

She grabbed a box of treats. Rutters tail wagged rapidly until it was just a blurred triangle shape. CAedence Held one on his nose, just out of his reach. "wait!" she comanded. Of course rutter didnt get it. He had his tounge out trying to get at it.

"get it!"she said taking off her hand. Rutter snapped it up lickety split. She repeated this procedure several times. The dog just wasn't getting it. CAedence almost gave up and went to the ball again not wanting him to get fat, when he finally got it. She repeated the trick, without holding the treat there, and it worked. She smirked and petted the dog all the way up and down its little body. "Proffeser K., I tought Rutter a trick!"she exclaimed not knowing or caring if she heard.

She began tossing the ball again for him to chase. For once, there was something to be around that she could be nice around. It was alien, but not unpleasantly so. She often laughed at the way he shot like a rocket after that ball bouncing away. Turning to the person near her she said, "want to take a turn with rutter?" \n\n

0 caedence redoak playing with the dog-crup that is 94 caedence redoak 0 5