Setting the woods on fire. on Care of Magical Creatures

Professor Rowan Dakin

November 19, 2009 4:37 PM

Beginner Lesson (1-3 years) by Professor Rowan Dakin

To say that Rowan Dakin was nervous was an understatement, she was down right fearful. How could she be nervous of students who were so young, after all she had faced in her past? After ten years of being a Dragon Keeper she needed a change in pace but why was she so fearful of the students? They were just children; they didn’t blow fire at her, nor try to claw her eyes out.

The short Professor made her way to the large fire pit where the fire was still going strong, perfect for her little friends that crawled all over the logs. She bit her lip nervously as she swept her short dark hair out of her face as the students began to gather. They seemed to be a calm bunch but one could never tell at the start of a class, that she remembered from her time in school. They were calm till they had tested the Professors patience.

Finally they were all settle and she smiled at them. “Welcome to Care of Magical Creatures, I am Professor Rowan Dakin.” She paused as she stepped out of their line of sight so they could see the blaze that held the Salamanders. “The first things we will be studying are salamanders. Come sit down on the logs I have arranged for you around the fire.”

She watched as the students took seats and she walked over to the fire. “You may want to take notes.” She said with a nod of her head and waited for the students to take out their writing equipment. “In here are salamanders, a fire dwelling lizard.” She smiled and rocked on her heels looking at the bright blue and red salamanders. “They are born out of flames, and live as long as the flames that they are born of are still going.”

She paused as she put a pair of gloves on and reached into the flames. She grabbed one of the salamanders and held it out by his tail for the class to see. “These guys feed on the flames or when out of the fire, on pepper.” Rowan set it down on a table a bit further away. She laid out some pepper and salamander munched on it. “They can last out of the fire for six hours as long as you regularly feed them pepper. Salamanders are known for their regenerative properties, and are used in many potions but these guys are for you to enjoy.”

Rowan waved her wand and tables appeared all around the fire. “Please pair up and come get one salamander. Please do not reach in the fir, allow me to get them for you. Once you get them you can feed them pepper and study them.” With that she clapped her hands and began to hand off the Salamanders to the partners.

OOC: Normal posting length, the more creative you are with your salamanders the more points you earn! Also there is a quick homework lesson if you do it I’ll add 5- 10 more points!

Subthreads:

So I should forget what I learned in muggle school? by Demelza Eagle with Theodore Manzana, Theo Manzana, Demelza Eagle (Pecari)

This class doesn't agree with me. by Veronica Kerrigan, Aladren with Edmond Carey, Aladren, Veronica

Oooh, fiery! by Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari with Jose Hernandez (Pecari), Delilah

Setting the woods on fire. by Rachel Bauer with

Setting the woods on fire. by Rachel Bauer with Tobar Brishen, Tobar

I'm not a fan of fires. by Marissa Stephenson with Starbuck Gregory

It's gonna be hot, hot, HOT! by David Lancaster [Teppenpaw] with Daniel Nash II [Aladren]

Content in being alone by Juri Dahlgren, Aladren with Charlotte Abbott

0 Professor Rowan Dakin Beginner Lesson (1-3 years) 0 Professor Rowan Dakin 1 5

Demelza Eagle

November 19, 2009 5:43 PM

So I should forget what I learned in muggle school? by Demelza Eagle

Demelza was way too hyper. She loved nature and animals, and loved the adventures they seemed to have. She's had a lot of experience with some of the craziest magical creatures, for her mother used to be a magical creature explorer. So Demelza felt rather advanced at this. She wondered how the muggle-borns would think about magical creatures; they seemed to be very opposite of common creatures that muggles knew of. She remembered when she used to go to muggle schools and had science class there. The animals they studied were nothing like the magical animals Demelza knew of. However, Demelza didn't know much about salamanders except from what she had learned from muggle schools. Which she discovered wasn't going to help her much in what Professor Dakin was teaching.

After bouncing into the classroom, Demelza listened to the COMC teacher introduce herself and describe what they were studying. She groaned as the teacher told them to take notes. She hated taking notes because then she had to focus. And she had a hard time focusing. Her mind just seemed to wander too often. Nonetheless, she did focus and wrote down everything she said.

Well, this is most certainly different than what those muggle teachers taught me, she thought. She had been taught that salamanders live in the water and were born from the water, not fire. She figured that this was a magical salamander, so it must be different. Although, it was hard for her to think that amphibians came from fire... her parents should have just home schooled her. Then she wouldn't have to have this mental adjustment.

As Professor Dakin instructed them their lesson, Demelza walked up and grabbed the salamander as she was instructed. It felt just like an amphibian: it had no scales. She walked over to the bin that held pepper, grabbed a handful, and attempted to feed it to her bright blue neon salamander. To her great surprise, it ate it. Then remembering another part that the teacher instructed, she asked anyone from the group of students there, "Wanna partner up with me? I don't bite, although, I'm not sure if these guys do," she said, glancing at the small lizard like creature, wondering if that was another feature of it. That would be interesting.

0 Demelza Eagle So I should forget what I learned in muggle school? 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

Veronica Kerrigan, Aladren

November 19, 2009 10:46 PM

This class doesn't agree with me. by Veronica Kerrigan, Aladren

What did these professors have against the nice standard desk and chair? Veronica didn’t understand it in the least. At least, most of the rest of her classes were held in the sanctity of the indoors rather than the harshness of the outdoors. Didn’t they understand that the elements could dry out her skin or damage her hair? Then, to make matters worse, instead of just merely sitting on the floor of a classroom, she was now expected to sit on a more than likely filthy log that would ruin her fine clothes. Her brow furrowed and her lips turned down, she took her seat. What could be worse than this?

Oh, yeah, the fact that they were going to be studying salamanders. Ew, totally gross! She didn’t care to learn about such icky creatures and since she wasn’t going to ever be going into a Care of Magical Creatures field, it seemed relatively unimportant that she would need to. Unfortunately, for her grade, she had to, because getting a good grade was the gateway to getting a multitude of presents from Santa. Okay, so she still didn’t believe that some guy in red wizarding robes actually flooed into her home and brought her presents for nothing more than simply existing and being odd, but it was still nice to get lost in the entire holiday experience.

Veronica only wished that she could get lost instead of being in this class. With a sigh, she pulled out one of her textbooks and used it as a hard surface to take her notes on. It wasn’t as good as a desktop, but it would have to do. She wrote all about how awful it was that the salamanders had to live on flames. Seriously, how terrible was it that they would die once the flames did? No matter how disgusting she thought they were, she didn’t think that life was very fair to them. It was a life of either waiting for the flames to die or waiting to be used in a potion. It really was a sad life just like hers would be if she didn’t carry out her plans.

Then, it got worse. They were expected to get one of the creepy crawlies to study with someone. Her first instinct was to partner with Rachel, but decided against doing so. She needed someone that actually enjoyed this sort of thing, someone that would do all the work and she could just continue to write in her notebook. Shame she didn’t know who was who yet to easily pick out the right person. Taking a chance on someone that looked somewhat promising, she walked right up to them and said, “Hi, I’m Veronica and you are?” As soon as the person replied, she continued, “Let’s go get a salamander. You can handle the thing.” She may have been more polite in normal circumstances, but this class had put her in a foul mood.

0 Veronica Kerrigan, Aladren This class doesn't agree with me. 0 Veronica Kerrigan, Aladren 0 5

Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari

November 22, 2009 2:24 PM

Oooh, fiery! by Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari

Absolutely simply more than a little awesome were the only description Delilah had for her classes so far. Charms had been wicked cool and she hadn’t thought anything like that could have possibly lasted, but Care of Magical Creatures was outside on logs. It was just like camping! Or at least, she thought so. She had never actually been camping since her dad was always too busy at the firm to take them on any sort of vacation. She couldn’t really imagine Cassie and Veronica camping anyhow. Veronica would probably complain about the lack of amenities and Cassie would probably have an aneurism because every little thing wasn’t organized down to the finest detail. Sometimes, she worried that she was the only normal one in the family.

Delilah took a seat on one of the logs next to a person that she didn’t know, but she figured they were just someone she wasn’t friends with yet. Pulling out her notebook, she balanced it on her lap and attempted to take notes. Although, her notes ended up being more pictures than actual writing. She drew little fire salamanders all over the outer rim of the page creating a frame for the pitiful notes that she actually did take. At least she got the main points of having to feed them pepper while outside of the fire. She was definitely more of a hands on person than a theory person, which was why when the professor said that they could actually have one to observe she was ready to jump out of her seat.

Of course, she was halfway to collect one when she realized that this actually required having a partner. She glanced back to where her log in the hopes that the person that she had been sitting next to was still there. As luck would have it they were. Yay! Bounding back over, her brown hair bouncing, she eagerly greeting the other person. “Hi! I’m Delilah. Want to be partners? Do you want to get the salamander or do you want me to or we could together? Maybe we should together cause we have to get the pepper.”

Suddenly, she stopped and blushed. She realized that her mouth was running away with her and apologized, “Oop…sorry. I tend to get carried away. So, do you want to be partners?” She hoped that they would. She was thinking of how much fun they could have together. And hey, maybe they would be willing to sign her shoes. She looked down at them as she fidgeted slightly. They were so utterly plain and boring! It sorely tempted her to put on her old shoes, but Veronica would have killed her if she did that since they were falling apart. Yet, they were rather comfortable…

0 Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari Oooh, fiery! 0 Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari 0 5

Theodore Manzana

November 22, 2009 3:54 PM

Probably. by Theodore Manzana

Theodore Manzana walked to the CoMC class by himself, he hadn’t made any friends just yet but he figured that would change very soon. He was giddy with excitement at the thought of CoMC he loved animals and mama always made sure to expose them to new ones. He grinned at the bonfire and knew exactly what they would be studying. Salamanders! Mama and Papa owned a whole bunch of them and sold them to the potions shops all over the U.S.

He sat down and quickly took notes as Professor Dakin spoke glad she was covering these early on. Hopefully he wouldn’t know any of the other animals they studied this year. They finally were allowed to get a salamander and Theodore was standing in line to get one when a girl came by and said. "Wanna partner up with me? I don't bite, although, I'm not sure if these guys do,"

He grinned and nodded. “Yes I do.” He said with a smile. “Do you think they are cute?” He asked. “Yo me llamo Theodore Manzana.” He said then blushed. “Sorry my name is Theo Manzana, I’m in Crotalus what are you in?”

0 Theodore Manzana Probably. 0 Theodore Manzana 0 5

Demelza Eagle

November 22, 2009 5:40 PM

Well, then this will be very different by Demelza Eagle

Demelza was so glad she had someone to partner up with. As soon as the boy said he would partner with her, Demelza smiled widely at him, but was extreamly surprised what the boy asked her if she thought they were cute. It was such a funny thing for a boy to say! She couldn't imagine one of her brothers asking her that! Then, she was even more surprised when the boy introduced himself in Spaninsh. Luckily, (however, this would be the only situation she would call this lucky) she had a crazy Spanish lady who used to live across the street from her who only spoke to them in Spanish, and she spoke a lot. So Demelza got the gist of what he said, however she couldn't dream of replying to him in Spanish. That language was just too complicated. It was hard enough for her to keep track of the English language! But, thank goodness, he finished the sentance in English.

Raising an eyebrow at him, she replied, "Erm, if you think they are cute, then I guess they are. I don't look too much for cuteness in salamanders. I look for it more in humans. You're pretty cute," she said, trying to humor him, "but, really, I guess I'm just not the type of girl who looks at things and think 'Aw, isn't that cute?!'. That's not me. And if you do want to know me, I'm Demelza Eagle, and I'm in Pecari house. So, salamanders, they are one of very few magical creatures I don't know about. My mom used to be a magical creature explorer, scientist, thingy. Eh, I don't really know what it is called.

"Ok, they're born in fire, correct? Well, then these little guys must have some fireworks in them!" She said, a little too enthusiastically. She was obsessed with fire. "Let's experiment and see what happens if we feed them too much pepper!" She said, grabbing even more pepper and pushing it down the salamander's throat. Goodness, she was having to much fun with this. And Demelza + too much fun =... CATASTROPHIES! Which would be a good summary for the result of what happened.

The salamander started smoking. White steam was pouring from it's skin, and it was extreamly hot. The neon blue salamander was turning neon red. Demelza was tossing the little amphibian from hand to hand because it was too hot to hold in one hand for more than a few seconds.

"Should we put it in water?" She asked. Would that be a good idea, or bad? She was starting to get desparate now, and she guessed that Theo was getting annoyed with her, and she couldn't blame him. Demelza was just too crazy. Which is what makes her a good Pecari, right? Right.

0 Demelza Eagle Well, then this will be very different 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

Jose Hernandez (Pecari)

November 23, 2009 1:01 PM

Standing outside the fire by Jose Hernandez (Pecari)

Jose had discarded his school robes the second he entered the clearing used by the Care of Magical Creatures class. This was mostly out of a habit learned under Professor Kijewski, and he nearly forgot she wasn't still teaching until he noticed Professor Dakin. He debated putting the robes back on, but they had been Saul's and he was still not quite grown into them. With the fire and all, he figured the whole class was safer with him in just jeans and a t-shirt. And Jude's shoes.

Jude was the best roommate ever.

So he put the robe down as an extra cushion on one of the logs and sat down beside a girl he recognized from the audience of Professor McKindy's Head of House speech. As he was pretending to be a first year for Jude's benefit, Jose figured hanging out with other first years would help with the blending thing.

He took out his notebook at the prompt to do so, and even took reasonably complete notes on the lesson. Professor Dakin had never met Saul, which meant there was zero chance she would compare them. Still, he'd developed a work ethic somewhere along the line, and there was no reason to stoop down to his cousin's level just because he no longer had to prove himself as not-an-idiot. He was no Aladren, of course, never could be, but he took a certain amount of pride in the fact that the only class he was in any danger of failing was Potions. Besides, Comec was cool, and fire salamanders were hot, so to speak.

He was just finishing up his notetaking and putting away the spiral pad (this year's project was to work on his ambidexterity, so he'd gotten all of his notebooks with the spiral thing on the top; the project also accounted for why his note-taking had taken so long and why his handwriting was so bad today - he was not naturally left-handed), when the girl he'd been sitting next to returned and asked if he wanted to be partners.

"Sure," he agreed with a grin, once she finished talking. He took no mind of her excited chatter. He was much, much, much worse once he got started, and he wasn't the worst about it in his family, either. She hadn't even gone a full minute. That was not 'carried away'. That was 'taciturn'.

"I'm Jose. Jose Hernandez. Not to be confused with Jose Santoro, who's the Head Boy. But he's not in this class, so you can probably get away with just calling me Jose, Delilah," he grinned and gave her a quick wink. Despite the name, and an appearance he'd inherited almost solely from his father, Jose's accent was as devoid of a Spanish inflection as his mother's. He'd grown up with her family in California, after all.

He got up off his log, looked briefly down at his robes and bag, but decided to leave them both there. He figured there was very little likelihood that they might walk off while he was away. "Let's go get our Salamander. You want to get that, and I'll get the pepper? Or do you want to do it the other way around?"

0 Jose Hernandez (Pecari) Standing outside the fire 0 Jose Hernandez (Pecari) 0 5

Edmond Carey, Aladren

November 23, 2009 6:05 PM

I'm very sorry to hear that by Edmond Carey, Aladren

Though her teaching style was not exactly in line with his learning style, Edmond immediately found cause to like the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher in her failure to be much different in style than Professor Kijewski. Though he had retained his tutor-inspired reluctance to form much of an attachment to any of his professors, he did get used to certain ways of things being done, and he had been worried that every class except History of Magic and Potions would be horribly difficult as the new teachers shook things up.

He couldn't, however, deny that chairs might well have been a change he could live with. It was one thing to sit on the ground at home, but he still felt like he was breaking some social code when he did it at Sonora. It was the exact sort of thing Julia would vehemently disapprove of.

Since his foster-mother was in Virginia and he was here at Sonora, though, he did it with the best grace he could and focused the main part of his attention on salamanders. The creatures were of some interest to him because of Potions, but as he typically bought all potions ingredients from an authorized apothecary in pre-prepared form, he doubted the information would ever be really useful to him. Since they would inevitably come up on an exam, though, he took notes diligently and, when prompted, began looking for a partner for the practical part of the lesson.

He was vaguely thinking of Cassie when another girl - most likely one of the first years, if he was right to think he had seen her in the common room - approached. She did not, it seemed, have a surname, which did present him with some cause for concern, but it didn't seem like the time or the place to make an issue of it. Besides, he put real efforts into never mentioning where he came from, which was little better in some Carey minds than just denying that he was a Carey at all. "Edmond," he said, somehow managing to leave off his surname and the bow. It seemed his skill at this 'normalcy' thing was more developed than he'd thought before. "A pleasure to meet you, I'm sure."

This was, of course, a lie - he had no idea how much of a pleasure it was to meet her - but there were only so many rules he could break at one time before his brain decided to revolt. He was a creature of habit and always had been such. It was why he made a very good student and son, but not such a good heir of the Savannah Careys, though other members of the family didn't seem to have entirely picked up on that yet. Since it was inevitable that they would - Father was half a myth to him, but logic said the man had to die sometime, and Edmond would be expected to take his place as the wand arm of the family when he did - he only hoped to put it off as long as possible.

Her tone didn't win her any points with him, but he decided not to make an issue of that, either. Morgaine had done her level best to uproot his assumption that social graces were essential for functionality, and she had a way of doing the things she set out to do. He still thought she'd make a far better Auror than she would a Healer, but her point had not been lost on him. "Certainly," he said mildly. "I would not dream of asking a lady to do so." And here was where he got to figure out if she was really anything like his sister at all; Morgaine would have cut him dead with a few words and, that done, proceeded to let him nowhere near the salamander for the rest of class, just to make a point.

With great care - he saw no need to injure himself, after all; he needed his wand hand intact for his other classes and had no desire to waste time in the hospital wing - he took one of the salamanders from the professor and moved, expecting his partner to follow, out of the way of all of the people still milling about to pair off. "If you could get the pepper, please," he told Veronica. "I'm not quite sure of what we're supposed to be observing, but I have a feeling it's not the salamander's death."

0 Edmond Carey, Aladren I'm very sorry to hear that 0 Edmond Carey, Aladren 0 5

Veronica

November 23, 2009 11:56 PM

Does it really agree with you? by Veronica

The fancy formalities that were usually notable of someone worthy were unnoticed until the key word of lady was stated. Veronica stopped dead in her tracks and turned on her heel, which made a nice little dent in the dirt as the grass curled around it. Her mouth was ajar. Hastily, she closed it. She wanted to smack herself. How could she have been so incredibly stupid as to allow her emotions to get in the way of her purpose? If she continued this type of behavior, then she certainly wasn’t going to make any progress towards the ultimate goal. Worse still, she might earn herself a reputation that said that others should steer clear. It was already bad enough that she had to overcome the follies of her family.

All right, there was no need to panic, right? No, no, of course not. This could all be fixed. Quietly, she followed him to get the salamander and at his request, she took pepper to feed the animal and then continued to where they were out of the way. She chewed on her lip, tasting her lip-gloss, as she thought about how she could apologize without seeming weak. She didn’t want to be that type of girl. She might want to appear less intelligent so as not to intimidate a boy, but she didn’t want to be so subservient that the worst type of guys were the only ones that would be attracted to her. She wanted to be like the women that she had read about. They were the ones that were support to their husbands, leaders of the household, and role models to their community. Yes, she wanted to be one of those women.

Veronica began working on the apology in her head. She wanted it to sound formal, yet sincere, and it was very hard to accomplish. She considered going with the very simple ‘I’m sorry,’ but that didn’t seem good enough. He might not know what she was actually sorry for. Then, she thought about saying something like ‘I sincerely apologize for being impolite,’ but then it sounded overly polite, and therefore, fake. She tried a few more when he broke into her thought process. “Oh, I suppose not,” she said thinking that she should consider herself lucky that she was paired with a boy that did not wish for the salamander’s death. While she did not like the thing, she would be very upset if it came to that, even by accident.

Perhaps, she lucked out and she had ended up with a partner that was more than a little suitable. In appearance, he wasn’t really her type, but the magazine said that there were more important things and she took that to heart. Sneaking a glance at him, she decided to see what else they agreed on. “Truthfully, I think that anything that we observe could have been just as easily gotten from a book. Personally, I do not plan to work with animals, magical or muggle.” She may have continued with how her plan was to get married to a proper pureblood, but somehow that didn’t seem like very good conversation.

So she figured that now was as good a time as any to apologize. “Uh, I think I may have been less than gracious before. I really do not enjoy the outdoors nor do I like having to sit on a log.” She left out that it was because it ruined her clothes. On top of that, she had failed to actually apologize, but it sort of sounded like one, which was probably good enough. At least, she thought so and was actually pleased with what she had said. Of course, she really knew that it wasn’t, but she wasn’t about to admit that she was any more wrong that necessary. She hated admitting that she wasn’t perfect, which was funny given that she quite frequently tried to prove herself imperfect in academics, but it was all a matter of perspective, she would have argued.

0 Veronica Does it really agree with you? 0 Veronica 0 5

Theo Manzana

November 24, 2009 1:58 AM

DIOS MIO!! by Theo Manzana

Theo blushed when she said he was pretty cute, glad that he had taken after his father and had inherited the tanner complexion then his mothers pale one. He nodded when she explained about her mother. “My parents sell them.” He said with a smile. “So I’ve been around them most of my life. I think they are just about the coolest creatures out there.”

His eyes went wide when the Salamander started smoking. He had NEVER seen that before! “Ay carbon!” He cried as he took the poor Salamander out of Demelza’s hands and set it on the table. “Just don’t touch it!” He snapped as he looked around wildly hoping the Professor wouldn’t notice. He didn’t want to get detention on the first class of CoMC! He would remember to stay clear of Demelza Eagle the next time they had to pair up in ANY class he did not need this type of stress while trying to learn. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair which had hints of red in it and sighed.

“Why would you do that?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “Were you trying to kill the poor thing? I think if our Salamander is dead at the end of the lesson we get a bad grade.” He frowned he didn’t want to get any bad grades Mama and Papa would be upset with him, he was their heir, the first of the Manzana’s who wasn’t pure Salvadorian and he had to show that they were just as good as his cousins! The Manzana cousins were very haughty about being pureblooded and being pure Salvadorian and looked down at their half Irish, half Salvadorian cousins even though they were a pureblooded wizarding family.

0 Theo Manzana DIOS MIO!! 0 Theo Manzana 0 5

Demelza Eagle (Pecari)

November 24, 2009 7:00 AM

This is taking a lot of will power, y'know by Demelza Eagle (Pecari)

It took all of Demelza's will to not burst out laughing. She pitied the poor kid for freaking out so much. The salamander wasn't going to die! Although, Demelza figured that Theo really didn't appreciate her going hay wire with the small creature, so she didn't touch it like he asked. Such a party ruiner. Nonetheless, Theo was making the whole thing more fun for her! It was just like at home: Her brothers would do something crazy and Katlin and Luna would go tell on them, freaking out about getting in trouble. Demelza really didn't care about getting in trouble, though. That's how you learn... or, well, that's the nicest way to describe it. Demelza was just a lot more relaxed than most people and a detention didn't scare her at all. However, it seemed to petrify this kid.

"HEY! The Sally stopped smoking!" She exclaimed, looking down at the salamander. Oops... did she say that a little too loudly? Probably. She touched the salamander and it was... just right. Good, Theo can calm down now.

"Hmm, should we feed it more pepper?" She asked politely. "You can do it this time," She said with a little mischievous grin she was trying to conceal.

When Theo expressed his freaking out about bad grades, that made Demelza think. She never did that good in muggle schools and she really wasn't doing that good with magic schools. Grades never concerned her, but now she thought of it, what if she failed every class? Would she be sent back a grade like they do in muggle schools? She wouldn't want to watch her new friends, like Delilah, go on to the next grade with out her. She was sure that Theo wouldn't have to worry about that; he seemed pretty smart and responsible. Very unlike Demelza. Maybe she did need to calm down.

But that just doesn't fit her personality. And she doesn't think she could do it. So, trying to make the kid not hate her (because she was pretty sure he didn't want to interact with her anymore) she tried to calm him down.

"Professor said we could do whatever we want with them. And don't worry, I'm sure the little guy is fine. You can do boring stuff with him now, I'll just watch and study," she said, thinking that last sentence was pretty mean. Oops... she hated it when she says something mean. Now she felt really bad....

"I'm sorry!" She blurted out because she could no longer stand the guilt. Darn guilt, always coming out at me, she thought. But now she felt better, and quite frankly, she had her fun with the salamander and now it was Theo's turn. So go him.

0 Demelza Eagle (Pecari) This is taking a lot of will power, y'know 0 Demelza Eagle (Pecari) 0 5

Edmond

November 24, 2009 11:54 PM

Well, there are worse things. by Edmond

She supposed not? Even if one lacked ethical concerns - one of those subjects Julia had been pushing with a passion for about a year now - there was still the slight matter of their grades. The class title was Care of Magical Creatures for a reason; if they started killing off all the creatures, he suspected they would both fail spectacularly. Besides, he really didn't need that kind of press.

Julia had done her best to shield him from some of the less savory details of the family reputation, and while he had a feeling she'd been more successful than not, he'd picked up a few things. He wasn't very observant, but more than a few of the Virginia cousins were, and he had almost gotten into a fight over the summer when James had been careless in his repetition of...vile things...about Edmond's sisters at one of the parties. Though he'd spoken to Morgaine the next day through the floo, he hadn't asked if any of James's stories had been true. He hadn't wanted to know.

Of course, it could just be a matter of phrasing. Veronica, presumably, didn't have to be as paranoid as it seemed - at least at times - he did. The formal mode of speaking, which was often deliberately indirect to avoid offense, could end up as cause for trouble when one or the other party was too literal-minded. Edmond had often been accused of being much too literal, which was probably the whole problem.

"Nor I," he said when Veronica disavowed any plans to work with animals in the future. The salamander was starting to cautiously move about; Edmond noted its directionality. "I understand many people learn most effectively from working hands-on with things, though." He put pepper down right of the salamander to see if it would turn toward the food. He thought he'd seen that in a book before. "Personally, I've found it depends on the subject matter."

Though he'd seen her reaction to his earlier statement, it was still a surprise when she admitted she'd been a little less than gracious. It wasn't something he would have seen coming, and proved firmly that she was not much like Mora. She didn't hold with apologizing when Defense practice got out of hand and he got injured, never mind when she merely lost patience with him. Of course, Veronica hadn't exactly lost patience with him, but the teaching methods of Professor Dakin, so... "Quite understandable," he said. "I found it difficult to adapt to taking my lessons like this last year, too." He realized he had never gotten around to confirming her year. "You are a first year, I believe?"

0 Edmond Well, there are worse things. 0 Edmond 0 5

Delilah

November 25, 2009 12:09 PM

Sitting in the grass by Delilah

Confusing Jose Hernandez with Jose Santoro was not really a problem. She didn’t even know who Jose Santoro was since truthfully, even during the announcements at the Feast, she hadn’t paid much attention to who everyone actually was apart from those having to do with the Pecari House. Veronica would probably scold her for such things as she was supposed to be getting to know all the ‘important’ people, but she didn’t need to know that. And since Jose Hernandez was the first Jose to be introduced to her, he would forever be the one that came to mind at the mention of any Jose.

When Jose asked her if she wanted to work it the other way around where he would get the salamander and she would get the pepper, Delilah shook her head. “Uh-uh. I’m all over getting the salamander. I can’t wait to see what it’s like up close.” Looking at them in the fire was cool and all with how they were surrounded by flame and how it moved with them, but the ability to interact with the creature was incredibly limited, especially to them. She doubted that the professor would allow them to wear the gloves she was now sporting to get their salamander. Once the salamander was handed over, she took it gently and moved over to an out of the way area where they could work.

But before she sat down, she had to go get something. “Here,” she said, handing over the salamander. “I’ll be right back.” She went back to the spot where her things were. Digging through her bag, she pulled out some markers. Back to where her group (as she considered the salamander now part of it), she flopped down on the grass and pulled her shoed foot into her lap. Delilah pulled off the white marker cap with her teeth and pushed it onto the end of the marker. “Okay, ready to observe. Let’s put it down on that rock.” She pointed to a fairly large, flat stone that was sticking up out of the ground. She figured that would give the salamander plenty of room to move around while they did ‘work.’

She didn’t really considering the observing work. How could it be when she got to draw on her shoe? The shoes from last year had been white while this year’s shoes were black. It worked out perfectly, because then she could color in the salamander to which she did as well as wrote the word ‘Sallymander’ around it. But before she could add anything more, she wanted to see what else the creature actually did. “Maybe we should move sprinkle the pepper in different places. Maybe it’ll move to those places. Or maybe we have to always sprinkle it in front of it. Do you think they can climb things other than rocks and logs like trees? Do they get any bigger?”

0 Delilah Sitting in the grass 0 Delilah 0 5

Rachel Bauer

November 25, 2009 1:36 PM

Setting the woods on fire. by Rachel Bauer

When it came to Care of Magical Creatures, Rachel had made up her mind to hope for the best and assume the worst. The word 'liability' had entered her vocabulary almost as soon as Jeremy and Momma had gotten married, and it meant that, unless she was very lucky, Care of Magical Creatures would be boring as sin.

Odd phrase, that. She'd never really thought about it - she had picked it up from Momma, whose speech had suffered from the combination of growing up Layne and growing up in South Carolina - but 'boring as virtue' really sounded a lot more logical. Other than shopping, all of the behaviors her Most Common Guardians approved of bored her silly.

The presence of a fire suggested, though, that terminology might not matter at all. It was September; unless a professor who happened to be part snake had been recruited from Merlin alone knew where, a fire was not necessary for warmth, which meant it had something to do with the lesson at hand. Since dragons probably weren't an option, she had some fun trying to think of what the professor might throw at them before she was slightly disappointed to learn that it was just salamanders.

Next time, she was sitting up front. That way, if it was a relatively mundane something again, she'd notice that well before the lesson began.

She took notes in her loopy, sloppy handwriting, handling a nagging desire for it to have turned into an elegant script like Alicia's by the simple expedient of pretending it had. There was nothing too shocking revealed, though she had not known coming in that salamanders could be kept alive, for a while, with pepper; she'd never heard of trying to keep one alive instead of dicing it up quickly for its blood and all the other useful bits it contained. She'd been hoping for a bit more excitement and new knowledge, but she could still, now, say that she'd learned something today.

She hoped there was something else to be learned through an observation period, because she had trouble seeing what was enjoyable about watching a lizard crawl about and eat a bit of pepper every now and then. A naturalist she was not; her interests had never extended far beyond personal advantage, and playing with bugs had stopped being one before she even stopped wearing pigtails. Just watching something for a few minutes wasn't exactly a challenge, either, so she couldn't see how it would even be vaguely entertaining.

It was official: she hated being a first year.

Masking her impatience with difficulty, Rachel went to the front and collected a salamander. Veronica seemed to be in the process of snagging a boy for her partner, which put a major dent in the number of people Rachel felt she could - within limits - trust not to be psycho. As she scanned the group for someone promising-looking, she momentarily met a pair of eyes.

Well, that would work as well as anything. She went over, her walk just a little too confident for Momma to call it ladylike. "Hi," she said. "I'm Rachel Bauer, of the Arizona Bauers." Now that she'd begun the fiction, she was bound to maintain it as long as possible. As Momma put it, merchant families were so into calling themselves pureblood, and had the money to make others respect the title so frequently, that only a genius with a photographic memory could know the names of every family, which made it a lot easier for her to pass herself off as something she wasn't. "Partners?"

16 Rachel Bauer Setting the woods on fire. 154 Rachel Bauer 0 5

Rachel Bauer

November 25, 2009 1:40 PM

Setting the woods on fire. by Rachel Bauer

When it came to Care of Magical Creatures, Rachel had made up her mind to hope for the best and assume the worst. The word 'liability' had entered her vocabulary almost as soon as Jeremy and Momma had gotten married, and it meant that, unless she was very lucky, Care of Magical Creatures would be boring as sin.

Odd phrase, that. She'd never really thought about it - she had picked it up from Momma, whose speech had suffered from the combination of growing up Layne and growing up in South Carolina - but 'boring as virtue' really sounded a lot more logical. Other than shopping, all of the behaviors her Most Common Guardians approved of bored her silly.

The presence of a fire suggested, though, that terminology might not matter at all. It was September; unless a professor who happened to be part snake had been recruited from Merlin alone knew where, a fire was not necessary for warmth, which meant it had something to do with the lesson at hand. Since dragons probably weren't an option, she had some fun trying to think of what the professor might throw at them before she was slightly disappointed to learn that it was just salamanders.

Next time, she was sitting up front. That way, if it was a relatively mundane something again, she'd notice that well before the lesson began.

She took notes in her loopy, sloppy handwriting, handling a nagging desire for it to have turned into an elegant script like Alicia's by the simple expedient of pretending it had. There was nothing too shocking revealed, though she had not known coming in that salamanders could be kept alive, for a while, with pepper; she'd never heard of trying to keep one alive instead of dicing it up quickly for its blood and all the other useful bits it contained. She'd been hoping for a bit more excitement and new knowledge, but she could still, now, say that she'd learned something today.

She hoped there was something else to be learned through an observation period, because she had trouble seeing what was enjoyable about watching a lizard crawl about and eat a bit of pepper every now and then. A naturalist she was not; her interests had never extended far beyond personal advantage, and playing with bugs had stopped being one before she even stopped wearing pigtails. Just watching something for a few minutes wasn't exactly a challenge, either, so she couldn't see how it would even be vaguely entertaining.

It was official: she hated being a first year.

Masking her impatience with difficulty, Rachel went to the front and collected a salamander. Veronica seemed to be in the process of snagging a boy for her partner, which put a major dent in the number of people Rachel felt she could - within limits - trust not to be psycho. Seeing no better option, she simply went to sit down and allow someone to come to her. Going around asking people to like her wasn't really her style, anyway.

She was distributing pepper in small clumps when a shadow fell over her. Glancing up, she saw another student. "Hi," she said, deciding to be polite..ish. "Can I help you?"

16 Rachel Bauer Setting the woods on fire. 154 Rachel Bauer 0 5

Rachel

November 25, 2009 1:42 PM

OOC - Ignore this one by Rachel

Hit the wrong button whilst editing, didn't realize it had double-posted. Sorry!

16 Rachel OOC - Ignore this one 154 Rachel 0 5

Marissa Stephenson

November 26, 2009 12:03 AM

I'm not a fan of fires. by Marissa Stephenson

Though more than a little worried about the possibility of burns, Marissa took a seat near the professor and her fire and smiled politely at the woman before she took out her clean notebook and class text. No matter what the professor did, Marissa had to stay in her good graces. There was no magic used here, which meant Marissa could succeed without half-killing herself the way she did in Defense, or at least be reasonably safe from the regular humiliations of Charms or Transfiguration. That was the thing to remember.

She wanted to ask how often constituted 'regularly' - she'd never been a fan of imprecision with this sort of thing; as far as she knew, feeding the salamander too much pepper was just as bad as feeding it too little - but couldn't get the measure of the professor well enough to feel sure if asking that would get her labeled a smart aleck or not. That would, well, be bad. Very bad. Not quite as bad as making an enemy of Professor McKindy or Professor Carter, but still...bad. The one problem with being someone whose grades hinged on a talent for essay writing was that all such grades were very subjective.

It quickly became apparent that, at least for today, things weren't going to change much from the way they'd been while she was in first year. Lecture followed by group work. That format was incredibly common at Sonora, really; she thought it was an attempt to stay on top of teaching strategy, only they'd forgotten the part about varying which instructional techniques they used.

Still, she had no objections. This class was perhaps the best single way of getting to know people at Sonora, and since the second year of Crotalus was made up of her and Jethro, mixing with other Houses and years was pretty much the only way she could have a social life for most of the year, and that was important to her.

Being proactive wasn't really something Marissa enjoyed - she wasn't a natural leader, which was one reason it was important that she have a social life - but Mama insisted it was the only way to make her way in the world. Since the theory seemed to work well for Mama and Daddy both, she had to at least try. "Hey," she said to a nearby fellow apparent loner. "Want to work together?"

16 Marissa Stephenson I'm not a fan of fires. 147 Marissa Stephenson 0 5

Starbuck Gregory

November 27, 2009 8:08 PM

I'm not a fan of salamanders by Starbuck Gregory

Starbuck wasn’t that excited about Care of magical Creatures she wasn’t a big fan of animals. She only enjoyed having her dog Porky around. She was glad that it was outside though and not in a stuffy classroom like the other classes had been in. She liked how Professor Dakin had them sit on logs. Having lived on a small farm most of her life bonfires and logs went hand in hand. It was the one thing she missed about being home, the fact that she got to be outside most of the time.

Starbuck sighed when Professor Dakin announced what they would be working with. Creepy crawly salamanders. She bit her lip and hung back as the students rushed forward to grab partners and salamanders. She didn’t realize someone was near her until she heard “Hey, Want to work together?”

She smiled at the other girl and nodded. “Sure, I’m Starbuck Gregory.” She said with a smile. “Would you like to get the Salamanders and I’ll get the pepper?” She asked hoping that the girl would go along with it. She really didn’t want to touch the icky Salamander.

0 Starbuck Gregory I'm not a fan of salamanders 0 Starbuck Gregory 0 5

Tobar Brishen

November 27, 2009 8:26 PM

Why stop at the woods? by Tobar Brishen

Tobar had practically danced to Care of Magical Creatures, his family often worked with magical creatures in fact his Uncle Brwie had been a Dragon Keeper until he rejoined the family. The visits to Romania had always been enthralling to see Dragons that close had been amazing. He hadn’t worn his robes as the weather was nice and he was outside, the Professor should be glad he had worn a cut off shirt instead of a vest leaving his chest exposed.

When he saw the bonfire he really wanted to hear music and dance around it like they did at home. Right now home was in Florida his sister Gianelly had wrote to him expressing how much everyone missed him. He was the next leader of their small gypsy tribe but his position was in danger the longer he was away and he knew it. For the next seven years he would be judged harshly by the ones who wanted them to stay in the dark ages, where the children weren’t associated with others of the wizarding world.

He grinned when Professor Rowan spoke about the Salamanders. He was excited he couldn’t wait to get his hands on one. As he joined the line of students to get one he noticed that there was one girl sitting by herself and feeding a Salamander. She seemed lonely so Tobar made his way over once again almost dancing in his steps. He couldn’t help it he was a musical gypsy and he had moving this way since he first heard that magical music as a child.

He was about to open his mouth when the girl said. “Hi Can I help you?". Well at least she was blunt. Tobar grinned as he pulled on his earring and in his odd accent of a mix of Romanian, German, and English said. “Would you like to partner with me? I’m Tobar Brishen, first year Teppenpaw.” He said holding out his hand.

He liked long introductions when he met other gypsies he was often introduced as ‘Tobar Brishen the next leader of the Brishen-Molecome tribe.’ So the mouthful of name, year, and house was nothing to the young boy.

0 Tobar Brishen Why stop at the woods? 152 Tobar Brishen 0 5

Rachel

November 28, 2009 4:32 PM

Because I have to go paint the whole town yellow. by Rachel

OOC: Since a number of characters, including both of ours, referred to Charms as the first lesson of the year in that thread, I'm assuming that Rach knows who Tobar is, as they worked together there. BIC:

Rachel bit her tongue hard when she finished looking up and recognized Tobar, who'd saved her from spending at least an hour of the first class day looking like an Abominable Snow-witch. Not that getting close to snappish with a new person was any better, but if she couldn't make friends, the least she could do was not turn people who she established decent relations with against her at the first opportunity. If her mouth didn't succeed in blowing her cover, nothing would.

What came out of it next did nothing to relieve her of that impression. "I know," she said. "Do I really look that much better with my hair down?" It sounded like she was flirting with him. How great. She'd always wanted that thought in people's heads, and before Momma wrote her about the people she'd met so far at that. Forget a cover; if her mouth didn't get her killed, nothing ever would. She could blame it on him for confusing her, but that would fix nothing.

She honestly didn't know if she should be offended by his failure to recognize her, though. On one hand, he could be one of those people with no head for names: annoying, but unable to help it and so not deserving of real rebuke. On the other hand, he could just be implying she was boring, average, and generally forgettable, in which case she had to do something very impressive very fast to correct him. What, exactly, that could be, she didn't know, so she was hoping he was just really bad with names and would recall their earlier meeting in a minute.

"You can work with me again if you want, though," she added graciously. She still had a point to prove with him that it would be hard to prove right now, but there was no real way to be sure she'd never require saving from Yeti-dom or some greater horrors in future. Rachel was determined that she'd save herself next time, but...One never could tell. Momma's doctrine on Divination was that not even Seers could see an entirely clear picture of the future, which was why all the rest of them needed to be especially careful. "I'm not sure how much work there is for one person, though. I think that they just want us to socialize."

16 Rachel Because I have to go paint the whole town yellow. 154 Rachel 0 5

Marissa

November 28, 2009 8:04 PM

Guess we'll just have to deal with it. by Marissa

Marissa couldn’t honestly say she was thrilled at the prospect of handling a salamander. She wasn’t exactly squeamish, but…Well, it was more like she was squeamish, but cared much more about doing well in one of the only areas she could than she did about how much touching a lizard was likely to make her skin crawl. It would only be for a minute, though – if it wandered off during observation, she could poke it back to center with her wand – and it wouldn’t hurt anything.

“Sure,” she said. “I’m Marissa Stephenson.”

Just saying her name, in the face of the poor first year’s, made her feel slightly guilty. She’d gotten a handful of jokes about not moving to Greece over the years, and her parents had really not thought out the unfortunate implications of her initials all the way until after she started school, but at least her names were all normal. Daddy had not seen fit to name her after a brand of overpriced coffee drinks, and Mama wouldn’t have allowed it if he had. She wondered if the other girl was the child of a celebrity or something.

Salamander gingerly collected, Marissa joined back up with…Miss Gregory (somehow, she just could not bring herself to think out the other girl’s first name without a picture of the coffee house springing to mind). “How long do you think ‘regularly’ is?” she asked. She’d look it up in the book, of course, but it seemed polite to ask her partner’s opinion.

16 Marissa Guess we'll just have to deal with it. 147 Marissa 0 5

Veronica

November 28, 2009 9:39 PM

Such as? by Veronica

A pleased smile flickered across Veronica’s face when Edward agreed with her. Of course, no one of good breeding would even consider working with animals. It was such a dirty profession and she could only imagine the type of males that went into such work. They probably enjoyed the dirt and liked getting scratches. They probably grew their hair long and maybe even sported a beard. It was utterly disgusting and she couldn’t even begin to imagine why any female would consider it. Her hazel eyes drifted over to where their professor was. She briefly toyed with the idea of actually asking the professor about it, but decided against it since she didn’t think Professor Dakin would appreciate her phrasing of the questioning.

It wasn’t the only thing that wasn’t appreciated. Her bubble was burst when Edward did not agree about theory. It also had the unwanted effect of making her think. “I think it depends on if it’s an area that you intend on going into or not like if I were going to be a Potions Mistress, then, of course, application would be important in that case, but if you aren’t, then theory should be enough. Honestly, it’s not as though I’m going to be spending time with salamanders on a daily basis. After today, I doubt I’ll ever even see one let alone need to have gotten to know one on such a personal basis. Though, I suppose I should never say never, because knowing Delilah, she’ll try to have one for a pet. Thank goodness, Dad would never allow it.”

Her father never allowed pets, because he didn’t think they were responsible enough to actually take care of one. If she had wanted one, she would have argued about it. Okay, maybe Delilah really wasn’t responsible enough, but she and Cassie were. If anything, Cassie was overly responsible to the point that Veronica didn’t think she even knew what fun was. Her idea of fun was probably solving some ridiculously hard math problem. Just the thought made Veronica want to take a long nap. She much preferred reading her magazines and, of course, working on her life plan. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been making much progress on making it actually happen and was more than a little impatient about it.

She just had to keep reminding herself that “Yes, I am a first year.” She had seven years ahead of her to make everything in her plan happen. She just had to make step one happen this year. Now the real question was how helpful he might be to her plan. “I take it you aren’t?” She asked. “A second year?” She was guessing, but found it reasonable to assume that most third years wouldn’t bother to talk to someone in the first year. They were more established with their friends and the like, but she could always be wrong, which seemed to happening quite often. She would also have to figure out a way to fix it. At that moment, Veronica wondered how Delilah was fairing. If she was doing better, Veronica was not above having a temper tantrum in the privacy of her room.

“Aside from this class and Charms, are there any other classes that are necessary to worry about when it comes to such…dress concerns?” She hadn’t been sure what else to call the casualness to which the classes were conducted and wished that there were some form of propriety. She really wished that Cassie had warned her. No, what she really wished was that her father had the foresight to send her to an exclusive private school. That would have been much better, but then he didn’t believe in being so wasteful of money. Honestly, sometimes she thought it was a miracle that they had their own rooms. Too bad she couldn’t say the same here and she didn’t even get to room with Rachel, who was in Crotalus. She was stuck in horrible Aladren! Was there anything good about this school?

0 Veronica Such as? 0 Veronica 0 5

Tobar

November 29, 2009 1:47 AM

I thought it was paint the town red? by Tobar

Tobar was oblivious to the fact that to the others in the class Rachel’s comment would be misconstrued as flirting. The only people he had interacted wit besides his family had been the people who they preformed for, and none of those girls had dared flirt with him when their parents were close. “It’s not that, it’s just I didn’t recognize you because I didn’t see your face.” He smiled it wasn’t a lie; he really hadn’t seen her whole face just the top of her head and the side of her face, not enough to identify after one charms lesson together.

He smiled when she said that they could work again. He picked up a bit of pepper as he held his hand up to the salamander that quickly licked up the pepper. He laughed the tongue felt a bit odd on his hand. “I think there just wasn’t enough for all of us to have our own salamanders so we have to pair up. Do you think in every class we are going to have to pair up?” He asked as he took the salamander into his hands. He smiled apologetically at Rachel but he loved animals, he sat on the ground and let the animal crawl up his arm until it was perched on his head.

0 Tobar I thought it was paint the town red? 0 Tobar 0 5

Starbuck

November 29, 2009 2:01 AM

I guess so by Starbuck

Starbuck smiled as the other girl introduced herself as Marissa, that was a pretty name. Though not a name for a girl like Starbuck, she was a tomboy and it had helped her fit in with her older brothers. Only one of Gregory children had, had a normal name, Marc, and that was only because he was a junior. The rest had been named after characters in Moby Dick, Ishmael, Elijah, Ahab, and Starbuck herself.

Starbuck shrugged when the Marissa asked, “How long do you think ‘regularly’ is?” . “Probably about every five minutes.” She said it like she knew, a habit she had picked up from her brothers, always act as if you knew what you were talking about. She ran a hand through her hair and smiled. “So what house are you?” Starbuck had quickly learned this was a normal question here at school.

When she had written to her brothers Ahab had been the one to answer. He had teased her endlessly about going to school before she left but the letter had practically glowed green with envy. Starbuck was the lucky one she had left the somber house. Mother and Father were as they always were shells of their former selves.

0 Starbuck I guess so 0 Starbuck 0 5

Theo

November 29, 2009 2:40 AM

Sure by Theo

Though when he heard her comment about boring stuff he bit his lip and glared at the girl. Even though she had said sorry after a moment Theo was not impressed, without meaning to he began to speak. “If you weren’t being such a chica insensata you would know that studying a creature like this is a gift. And I’m sure if the Professor had seen this exchange we would be doing lines or serving a detention because I do not think she would like her salamanders being harmed.”

He finally turned away from the girl as he let the Salamander crawl around the table exploring. It really was an extraordinary creature the way it moved and would return the pepper when it needed it.

He smiled as he forgot his partner for a few moments. He was already enjoying this class and he felt a need to protect the Salamander from his horrid partner. He wondered if he could switch partners in the middle of class he was sure the girl had friends in class, unless she had messed someone up during charms and he wouldn’t put it past her.

OOC: Chica insensata means foolish/senseless girl

0 Theo Sure 0 Theo 0 5

Theo

November 29, 2009 2:43 AM

Read this one ignore other one! by Theo

Theo sighed with relief when the Salamander stopped smoking. He didn’t want the poor thing to suffer and Demelza sure didn’t have any regard for the feelings or the well being of the salamander. Obviously she didn’t understand the Care part of Care of Magical Creatures. If they had wanted them to torture the animals they would have called it Torture of Magical Creatures. But Theo kept his mouth closed not wanting to offend the girl.

Though when he heard her comment about boring stuff he bit his lip and glared at the girl. Even though she had said sorry after a moment Theo was not impressed, without meaning to he began to speak. “If you weren’t being such a chica insensata you would know that studying a creature like this is a gift. And I’m sure if the Professor had seen this exchange we would be doing lines or serving a detention because I do not think she would like her salamanders being harmed.”

He finally turned away from the girl as he let the Salamander crawl around the table exploring. It really was an extraordinary creature the way it moved and would return the pepper when it needed it.

He smiled as he forgot his partner for a few moments. He was already enjoying this class and he felt a need to protect the Salamander from his horrid partner. He wondered if he could switch partners in the middle of class he was sure the girl had friends in class, unless she had messed someone up during charms and he wouldn’t put it past her.

OOC: Chica insensata means foolish/senseless girl

0 Theo Read this one ignore other one! 0 Theo 0 5

Demelza

November 29, 2009 8:03 AM

I'm still not going to lose my touch by Demelza

If Demelza even had a streak of good impressions so far in Sonora Academy, she had just ruined it. Theo called her a chica insensata; something she had been called many times in her old muggle school by her spanish teacher and the rest of the class. She was just that: a foolish, senseless girl. And that made her want to cry. But Demelza Eagle doesn't cry. Not even when she fell of her broom from 15 feet in the air. It wasn't in her nature to cry. She was raised that way, and every since she was 5 years old and she cried when her brother took away her candy, and she cried, he beat her up and told her not to cry. And since then she has never cried. So instead she took the offense like an iron clad punch to the stomach, and set her jaw tight. This time she was going to keep her mouth shut. However how hard the insult was.

As Theo turned away from her, Demelza could only guess why. She was after all, just a chica insensata. I'm a darn happier partner than him, though, she thought. He did know how to have fun. And she wasn't trying to kill the salamander. She thought the salamander was sorta fun! And besides the teacher did say they could study it however they like to, and this is how Demelza like to study!

"Hey, we learned something!" Demelza suddenly said from nowhere. "Salamanders can't eat too much pepper! Do you know what this may prove? Who knows! Maybe the gases from it can be used in a potion that cures dragon pox within a matter of seconds! Who knows!" She said, excitedly, trying to get Theo back on her side, if that was even possible.

Not waiting for a reaction, though, she continued, "But, of course, if you don't care, then that is fine with me. I just had a bit of a brain wave, is all. And don't worry, I won't attempt to try anything out on the sally! Like I said, he is all yours. Or is it a she? Y'know, you ought-"

"Opps...,"she muttered, "Sorry, I forgot, it was your turn. But, if it is a girl, we'll call it Sally! No, wait, Long Tall Sally! I love that song, I even know how to play it on my guitar, and-"

"Opps, again. Sorry, I'm going off again, aren't I? Well, um-" She stopped in her words again, and looked toward the Salamander. "MAMA MIA!" She exclaimed, using the only other language she knew that show a sudden, and bad action, "Long Tall Sally is running away! Get her!" She exclaimed, for the Salamander was crawling off the table. What if it smattered on the floor? Well, then, Theo really isn't going to be happy. It is a good thing this CoMC teacher hasn't noticed the smoking salamander yet, or then they really would have been sentenced a detention by now. And it would be her fault, right? And then Theo would really hate her. Opps....

0 Demelza I'm still not going to lose my touch 0 Demelza 0 5

Rachel

November 29, 2009 10:45 PM

I like to be different. And have no memory for song lyrics. by Rachel

"Well," Rachel said, sounding slightly at a loss, when her query got what she thought was supposed to be a polite-ish answer. If she squinted at it just right, he could've just said that she actually looked worse than she had in Charms, which would not make her happy at all. She'd spent ages doing her hair this morning, and the idea that it had no impact on her audience whatsoever was more than a small bit on the discouraging side. "All right, then."

He proceeded to have a reasonable answer to the question of why they were in pairs for a simple assignment. She thought her answer still had validity, but his probably came closer to the official reasoning. She watched as he let the little lizard crawl on him. Maybe she didn't mind animals, but for one to be on her head, where she couldn't see it...

She shook that thought aside. "I think we'll probably do it a lot," she said, glancing around at all the couples in the area. "It's practically inevitable in Defense." Rachel gave him an almost mischievous smile. "Would you want to duel me when we get there, Tobar?"

If the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor decided she was a fan of friendly cooperation, Rachel thought that she might scream. She had trouble seeing the point of anything academic that didn't involve a contest, but taking the one subject that had competition at the center of its theory and turning it into a series of Aesop stories about how no man was an island would drive her nuts. She had no objection to the idea of friends and intended to make some, but everything had its place and time. Things that involved concrete achievements were not in that place and time.

16 Rachel I like to be different. And have no memory for song lyrics. 154 Rachel 0 5

David Lancaster [Teppenpaw]

December 01, 2009 11:18 AM

It's gonna be hot, hot, HOT! by David Lancaster [Teppenpaw]

David's favorite place at Sonora was the Gardens. He devoted most of his free time to it, exploring its many corners and hidden knolls. He'd managed to sneak out several times during his first year to catch in some star-gazing, and already he was planning his outing to watch the Draconids in October. He was more comfortable outdoors than in, and out of all the things he wished his parents wouldn't force him to do, camping was the sole exception. His physique certainly betrayed none of it, but he was an avid trekker, and had been sorely disappointed over the summer that his father had arranged for only one trip to the Apennines.

It only made sense then that David's favorite class-- and best-- was Care of Magical Creatures. Each lesson introduced him to something completely new to his knowledge and experience, and each lesson left him quietly happy, his smile glued to his face through til supper. The change in professors worried him slightly, and it was with some trepidation that he approached his first lesson with the new Professor Dakin. The presence of the large fire and the bordering logs for seats quelled whatever concerns he had, however, and after trading a few quick greetings with his classmates, he settled onto one of the logs, tucked his legs close to his chest, and listened.

Salamanders, but not at all like the ones he was used to. David leaned forward, transfixed. Animal Planet had once had a special on a breed of giant salamanders that lived in Japan, but that tv special had been about as exotic a sort of salamander as David had ever heard of. Certainly nothing like amphibians-- and could they even be classified as amphibians since they lived in fire?-- that fed off of fire. The science behind it was far too advanced for him to even attempt to make sense of, but it intrigued him, this idea of life sustained by heat alone.

Once Professor Dakin freed them to their partnering, David rolled his school robes into a ball and stuffed it into his book bag, his other hand pushing the heavy weight of his brown hair from his forehead. Deciding that proximity was an easy determinant, he turned to his left, and with his typical crooked smile, asked, "Want to work together?"

0 David Lancaster [Teppenpaw] It's gonna be hot, hot, HOT! 0 David Lancaster [Teppenpaw] 0 5

Daniel Nash II [Aladren]

December 01, 2009 2:47 PM

That's sort of what I'm worried about. by Daniel Nash II [Aladren]

If there was one class at Sonora that Daniel thought his sister might like more than he did, it was Care of Magical Creatures. While he liked to think he could handle the outdoors a little better than most of his social class, Daniel Nash II (note the Roman numerals instead of the more plebeian 'Jr' than any other kid named after his father would have been saddled with) had a deep and complex history with dirt.

This was the handy phrase his mother used about some of her ex-husbands, when she was being too polite to say what she really meant: that if she ever came into contact with them again, it would be too soon, and she'd need to take a very long shower with a lot of soap if such individual took the unwanted liberty of touching her. Daniel felt it fit for him and dirt.

But in the meantime, he was just as good as his mom at pretending it didn't bother him at all during the actual encounter. He wondered sometimes if Mom could fool herself into enjoying the unwelcome presence as much as she was pretending she was. Daniel could. For a time.

It was mostly only after the fact, while he scrubbed himself pink and shampooed his hair at half past two in the afternoon, that he remembered that he hated Care of Magical Creatures and all the dirt and smells and grime that came with it. During the class itself, he took careful notes and absorbed every word the teacher said, like a good Aladren should.

Sometimes, too, Daniel wondered if he was such a good student at Sonora because he was an Aladren, or if he was an Aladren because he would have been a good student anyway. He honestly couldn't recall being this into his studies before he came here and got sorted into the studious House. He really had to get out of the acting business before he forgot who he was entirely. Just as soon as the CW canceled Street Beat or the producers decided Nate Bealer wasn't popular anymore and had the writers take him out for good.

Thank God Sonora kept him grounded for most of the year, even if it was tipping him toward a more academic role than he might have otherwise chosen. Being smart and dedicated to learning was hardly a bad thing.

Not to mention, the ability to forget about the dirt in favor of the lesson was something of a blessing as well. And a fire salamander that lived on and in flames was downright fascinating, if you thought about it.

"Sure," he agreed when David, who happened to have sat down to Daniel's right, asked if he wanted to partner up. He took off his own robe (there was no sense in potentially getting that burnt or ashy) and headed up toward the fire with his classmate.

"Want to get the salamander while I get the pepper? We can meet back at our seats," he suggested.

1 Daniel Nash II [Aladren] That's sort of what I'm worried about. 130 Daniel Nash II [Aladren] 0 5

Jose

December 02, 2009 12:35 PM

Peppering on an arm by Jose

Jose grinned as Delilah made her preference for fetching the salamander quite clear, then headed off to pick up the pepper. It didn't take long to pick up the shaker, or to find where Delilah had moved over to once she had their little flame eater.

Jose accepted the fellow as she handed him over to go looking for something in her bag, and while she was so occupied Jose shook out some of the pepper along his arm, enticing the salamander to follow it up from his hand onto his shoulder. It was almost up to his elbow when Delilah returned.

At her suggestion the put the salamander down on a nearby rock, Jose nodded, "Yeah, okay." He carefully knelt down beside the indicated stone, holding his arm out in front of him as still as he could keep it so as not to dislodge the salamander that was now slowly creeping up from his elbow along the trail of pepper to his shoulder.

"'Kay, buddy," Jose warned as he shook out some more pepper on the stone and then put the pepper shaker down beside the pile. "I'm gonna pick you up again. There's more pepper waiting." Slowly, gently, he used his pepper hand the pick their new friend up off his upper arm and set it down on the rock. Judging by how quickly it started consuming the new pile of pepper, it wasn't too disturbed by the relocation.

Jose brushed off the remaining pepper from his clothes, and leaned in to watch in fascination as the little tongue flicked out to collect a few flecks of pepper before curling back into its mouth, almost like a bit of flame itself.

At her suggestion of spreading the pepper out to see him move about some more, Jose picked up the pepper shaker again and and started spreading it out in a wide spiral. "We can see if he follows it," he agreed, pretty sure it would, given it had already done so up his arm. "Dunno how big they get," he added in answer to her last question. "Bet they get bigger than this though, if they're from a big and long burning fire. And they can prolly climb anything that was burning. I'd guess," he added, because that was all he was doing, and he had a tendency to pass those off as facts if he wasn't careful.

While that was fine and kinda fun most of the time, this time Delilah might get tested on the subject, and he didn't want to be responsible for her getting a bad grade if he was wrong.

0 Jose Peppering on an arm 0 Jose 0 5

Tobar

December 02, 2009 3:50 PM

Different is always good by Tobar

Tobar grinned as the salamander came down to his hand where the pepper lay to grab some before it scurried back up to the top his head. Would you want to duel me when we get there, Tobar?” . She had asked. Making Tobar’s grin even wider, he had dueled a couple of times before.

He nodded slowly. “Sure I would duel you. I’m not scared of girls.” He teased with a wink and a laugh. He had dueled his sisters before when they had gotten a hold of the elders wands. That had earned them a week of extra chores and work. That was the one thing he liked about being here at Sonora, no chores, no work. Though he missed his family like crazy.

“Do you think they are going to let us Duel each other?” He asked as he tugged on his earring. “I mean this year at least a lot of the muggleborns wouldn’t understand the finer points of a wizards duel, that at least what I think.” He picked up the salamander and held it out to Rachel to see if she wanted to play with it for a few moments.

0 Tobar Different is always good 0 Tobar 0 5

Marissa

December 03, 2009 5:50 PM

Can you think of any alternatives? by Marissa

Five minutes. Her partner sounded fairly certain about that, though the use of the eternal 'probably' did not escape Marissa's attention. She had a thing for details, especially spoken ones; Addison said it was because she'd read too many books where slippery phrasing and oddly placed perfume bottles were essential to figuring out the plot, and Marissa had no reason to dispute that. The midnight detective drama binges she went on sometimes with Paige were also highly suspect. She did a little mental division of the class period and nodded.

"That doesn't sound bad, considering how long we're going to be here," she said. "It's better safe than sorry, right? And if it doesn't want more, I guess it'll just stop eating and we'll know."

Marissa was not so good at sounding decisive. She knew its theoretical value as a strategy, but...Yeah. Nature had conspired to give her a soft, high-pitched voice and a personality to match, and the combination did not a lot of assertiveness make. Besides, assertive people were usually at least somewhat antagonistic toward others, and Marissa liked being liked.

"I'm in Crotalus," she said when she was asked about her House. She smiled as she did, but wondered, in the back of her mind, if the House reputation was already known of. She had little evidence for it, but it seemed that a lot of people did not think all that well of Crotalus girls. Some of her older Housemates were said to be...unpleasant, especially to people like her. Her very first day of classes in first year had featured a warning from a classmate about the purebloods therein. "Second year. You?"

16 Marissa Can you think of any alternatives? 147 Marissa 0 5

Rachel

December 03, 2009 6:24 PM

Well, I wouldn't say <i>always</i>... by Rachel

Rachel laughed, too, when Tobar asserted that he wasn't afraid of girls. Not surprising, really; she had never met a boy, with the possible exceptions of Terry and Jeremy, who were afraid of girls. They, however, were often a bit surprised to discover that she was no more afraid of boys than her tomboyish sister Kate was. Maybe less "Oh, yeah?" she said lightly. "I could do something about that."

Whether or not that was true was up for debate. She had, of course, practiced in secret in her room from the day she'd gotten her wand and textbooks, but the last actual fight she'd had, where she'd been trying to accomplish something through action, had been with Kate two years ago. She'd honestly thought Momma, high-wired as she was about propriety, might have a stroke, which was why they kept it to insults these days. Since this was just a teasing match, though, it didn't really matter. Besides, even if they'd been mortal enemies (which she didn't think they were), neither of their powers should have developed well enough to do any real damage.

That was the major problem with being young. She knew about all sorts of things she'd be able to do years from now, but there didn't seem to be much of anything she could do right now. Some things she was going to be learning now were practical, some not so much, but from what she'd put together, it all boiled down to letting them dabble their toes in the water for a year or two while they waited to become strong enough to actually do something she might find interesting. To her surprise, Tobar brought up a similar point.

"Formally? No," she said, taking the salamander and letting it balance on her upturned wrist. It was not getting on her head, but she wasn't going to shrink from contact. That was wimpy. "I don't even know all the fine points, and I think it, like, varies cross-culturally or something." That was more of a guess than anything, but it seemed that every other thing under the sun did, so she figured it was a good one. "My stepfather's brother was a professional for a year or two, and he says there's all sorts of little sub-rules a normal person never finds out about." Matt had taught her a few things on the sly, mostly to annoy Jeremy, who felt she was way too far from her proper place in the Future Trophy Wives of America as it was.

Good guy, Matt Douglas. After the clothes and the nice room, getting him as a sort of uncle was easily the best thing about her mother's second marriage. He was way cooler than Dad's brothers (she'd never met Momma's little brother to make a comparison to him; if he was like the two little half-sisters he'd grown up with, she didn't want to), and sometimes, when he was around, she could almost forget about missing Dad. They were a lot alike in some ways.

"But they have to teach us something, and they have to let us aim at something else. Otherwise we'll just be shooting random spells around the room, and that would turn into a disaster." Rachel said that part with confidence. She had never seen anything like a classful of eleven-year-olds aiming at nothing, but she did remember the way Kate had kept losing control of her powers during their parents' divorce - something to do with stress. It had not been pretty. Turning one Kate into fifteen did not seem likely to make it prettier.

The salamander started to scurry up her arm, so Rachel turned it and brought the other one up level, allowing it to cross her hands like a bridge onto the other arm. "I think it likes me," she said, just about the time it jumped off. "Or not."

16 Rachel Well, I wouldn't say <i>always</i>... 154 Rachel 0 5

Edmond

December 05, 2009 12:49 AM

Death and taxes? by Edmond

"I don't think a salamander would make a good pet, really," Edmond said, unable to think of anything in particular that qualified as a better comment. Morgaine had an evil cat she was very attached to and which he assumed their father knew about, but he'd never had any pets. He didn't have time for them; when he wasn't studying, he was usually sketching - a pastime that fit in with his studies nicely - or trying his best to get Jane out of trouble. "Their lifespan is far too short."

He looked at the salamander, though 'looked' was not really the word; it was more like looked through. The ideas she'd presented were interesting, and he was hardly one for passing up a chance for a nice debate. He needed to keep in practice, because his rhetoric tutor was going to be around during Christmas break to see how much progress he had made in making arguments he didn't necessarily agree with. That, according to Master Burns, was a rare skill, which everyone needed but only the best minds were capable of.

"One might make the argument, though, that we can't predict what we'll do or need to do in our lives. Nothing is a sure thing, and it seems possible the school means to prepare us for various eventualities." His entire life, as far back as he could remember, had been spent in preparation for taking his father's place as Head of the Savannah Careys, but even a casual observer of the family history indicated that he'd no more than an even chance of actually doing so. Though he did have to admit how small his chances of survival were if he didn't manage to take over, so... "One could also argue, though, that we all get what we work for, though that seems very optimistic to me."

Edmond was not an optimist. Nor was he a pessimist, not in his own mind. In his opinion, he was a realist. His frequent failures aside, he tried his best to apply logic, cool and objective, to all situations. It couldn't work at all times because what was logical could conflict with the equally important considerations of morality and legality, but it was a code that, in theory, appealed to him.

He had been right that she was a first year, which pleased him. It was trivial, but he liked to be right. "I am one," he said when she asked if he was a second year. "A second-year Aladren. It's an excellent House, but I'd advise that you avoid Quentin Melcher unless you really have an interest in linguistics." That wasn't quite the right word for it, but it was the best one he could come up with.

Her question about...dress concerns, for some reason, most amused him. He was supposed to be a proper pureblood, but, now that he thought of it, he wasn't sure he knew one girl who was overly concerned about dressing. Morgaine appeared to like jewels and flowers, but she was more interested in practical and modest clothing than in pretty dresses. Poor Jane, of course, was more apt to get dirty than he was. He remembered from the Reunion that Gwenhwyfar had a fondness for finery, but he could hardly say he knew her.

"I wouldn't wear anything I was very attached to into our Potions lessons," he said, hiding his amusement. It might be taken the wrong way. "Professor Fawcett is very strict about safety and rules, but accidents happen. Defense..." He trailed off, thinking. "Well, I don't know how our new professor intends to run things. We had to practice a lot last year, though, so it might be something to consider." She had looked like the type to enjoy combat magic, but a completely unfounded impression was not a good foundation for advice. "History of Magic is based on discussions, so you should be safe there."

0 Edmond Death and taxes? 0 Edmond 0 5

Veronica

December 07, 2009 12:47 AM

I'm not sure which is worse. by Veronica

Veronica let the issue of a pet salamander drop. Though, if her sister were smarter, then the short lifespan of salamanders would make a good argument as to why they would make a great starter pet. Veronica could see all sorts of reasons to present to their father, such as the shortened lifespan, so they wouldn’t have to take care of it for very long, it would show responsibility for the being in the fire and then feeding it pepper for six hours outside the fire requirements, that they would be fairly clean since they would probably have to stay outside, and so on. None of these, of course, would she be willing to share with Delilah.

“Even if we can’t predict what we’ll do or need to do in our lives or even if we don’t get what we work for, we always have choices,” Veronica argued. While she would never admit it, she was actually beginning to enjoy the little debate that had been started. “I might not be able to predict exactly what I’ll be doing or if I’ll get to carry out my life plan to a t, but I can certainly say that I won’t be working with animals. I could get a job in something else. If I wanted to avoid working with animals enough, there are other things I could do such as, oh, I don’t know, work in a shop or be a maid or whatever other options there were.”

The idea of her being a maid was enough to make her shutter. She really didn’t do plan on having anything to do with physical labor when she grew up and certainly not any that required serving someone else. Continuing on, she added, “Besides, I doubt that there is much of a demand outside of an area like COMC or Potions that requires working with salamanders.” She didn’t add that running a household had nearly nothing to do with the creature. The most it would was if she had children one day that asked to have one and in which case, she would simply say no like her father always did. Although, she probably wouldn’t be as strict as he was and might allow normal pets. Maybe.

Why did he keep doing that? She was in the middle of preening inside her head that she had been right about his year when he went on about what a great house Aladren was. Her expression at the moment probably suggested that she thought he was nuts, but he might have thought it was about the kid he mentioned. Quentin Melcher. The first name wasn’t horrific, but the last name was certainly lacking. She really wouldn’t want to be known as Veronica Melcher. “I’ll try to remember to say away from the Mulch kid.” Ew. So, even if she did have an interest in linguistics, which she didn’t, she would probably avoid him simply because he already had a check against him according to her life plan for an awful sounding last name.

Of course, Edmond seemed to redeem himself in information, though, what was given was a bit disappointing and disconcerting. “I’m guessing the easiest thing would be to save all my pretty clothes for the weekends. It really is a shame too for I happen to like them very much, but as you said, accidents and all, even if I don’t plan on having very many.” If she had her way, this would be true, but what she failed to realize was the whole partners process tended to extend towards just about every single class. It remained to be seen to whether it would be her downfall or her blessing.

Leaning over, she added some pepper for the salamander as it was already established that the professor wouldn’t appreciate it if they turned their creature back in without a pulse. After she did that, she asked probably one of the most important questions that she would ask, “Is there anyone else that’s notable in the House or otherwise?” She really wanted to ask who all the proper, pureblood boys were, but this really wasn’t an option, especially if he were the type to think less of her for sounding slightly shallow.

0 Veronica I'm not sure which is worse. 0 Veronica 0 5

Tobar

December 07, 2009 1:51 AM

I would say always by Tobar

Tobar let out a healthy laugh when Rachel said she could do something about him being afraid of girls. She had obviously not met gypsy girls before, his mother’s and aunts’ spankings had always been worse then his father’s and uncles’ were. His sisters and girl cousins were also rougher on Tobar then his brother and boy cousins. Then again the males new Tobar was the next leader and they were to respect him, the females of course treated him like any male, next leader of not he was still a boy and boys were dealt with in only one way, force.

“I’m sorry, but I do not think you could change my mind about being afraid of girls. I’ve lived in a whole tribe of them yacking my ear off day after day.” He grinned at her. “And my sister Giannelly can hex us faster them mama and daddy can see.” He tugged once again on his golden hoop and bit his lip as she talked about her stepfather and what she thought the school would teach them about dueling. He really didn’t care about dueling though it was something he may have to do one day. He still remember when Daddy had to do it to save their tribe from being swallowed by another larger one. Tobar himself would do the same thing to save the tribe and he knew he had to learn how to duel.

When the salamander jumped off Rachel’s arm Tobar jumped up and chased after it for a few moments before finally catching it. He sat down with a grin and placed it back on his head grinning.
“I think it likes hair, and I bet seeing your stepfather duel would be cool.” He said it because that was what was expected he was sure the girl wouldn’t know he said it halfheartedly.

0 Tobar I would say always 0 Tobar 0 5

Starbuck

December 07, 2009 1:59 AM

No I can't, sadly by Starbuck

Starbuck grinned when Marissa said it sounded right she glad it hadn’t sounded stupid she would have hated to sound stupid. “I’m a first year, Percari.” She said after Marissa said she was a second year Crotalus girl. She set the salamander on the table and let it eat out of the palm of her hand suddenly unafraid of it.

“So are all classes partner work? Charms and this class we’ve had to partner up. Do you enjoy the classes? What’s your favorite one? ” She asked the older girl glad she could ask these questions. She hadn’t really spoken to any other older students and she wondered a lot about Sonora sure eventually all this would be second nature to her but right now she was just a curious muggleborn.

She paused and blushed looking at the older girl. “Sorry about asking all these questions, I’m just getting used to the idea of all of this. It still seems a bit unreal to me.” She said with a frown. Starbuck hated not knowing stuff she strived to be the smartest among her brothers but here in this place of magic and wonderment she was just a lost little girl.

0 Starbuck No I can't, sadly 0 Starbuck 0 5

Juri Dahlgren, Aladren

December 08, 2009 10:59 PM

Content in being alone by Juri Dahlgren, Aladren

If anyone had seen Juri’s behavior towards Lita in Charms, they probably would have thought the thirteen year old to be a horrific jerk. He had taunted her about her hair and had even gone so far as to comment on the color of her undergarment. He knew he should have been nicer to her after she had been cast up into the air and he really didn’t know what was wrong with him. He was an absolute idiot. Every time he went to say something nice like how he liked her hair, he would say something completely different like implying that there was something wrong with it. Why did he keep doing that?

He was bemoaning his fate as he sat on one of the logs to listen to the lecture. He really didn’t mind the lack of desks, though; it made writing a little more difficult. Thankfully, he never needed to take very many notes. His first year he had actually been able to use his notebook from his previous year in muggle elementary school. It had actually lasted him nearly the entire year. This year he was starting off with the one that had been new last year since it was only halfway filled. He figured if things held up, he might actually be able to hold off on getting another one until next year. Of course, this depended on how many essays were assigned.

So far so good it seemed. They were learning about salamanders, which was obviously beginner material, fairly easy for a third year. Plus, there really wasn’t that much to learn. The hardest thing about them was remembering to feed them and to put them back in the fire after six hours, but the observing them should be fun. Once they were allowed, Juri headed off to get a salamander first rather than a partner. He figured that anyone that didn’t have a partner could find him and the salamander.

Gently, Juri took his salamander to an unoccupied bit of space along with his things. “Hey, there. What should we name you?” He asked as he sprinkled down a bit of pepper on his hand. The tongue flickering out tickled a bit and he smiled in response. “Hmm. To be honest, I don’t know if you’re male or female. Sorry ‘bout that. So, I guess we should name you something neutral. How about Flicker?” If he didn’t know better, he would have swore his salamander really did like the name since at that moment its tongue rolling out. “Okay, Flicker it is then.”

Aside from feeding Flicker pepper and talking to the creature, there wasn’t much to do. It would probably be a good time to practice the song he was working on. He hummed a few bars before softly singing to the little one. Music had always been his outlet for anything he was feeling, whether it was dealing with his father or dealing with emotions he wasn’t ready for. He stopped singing and returned to talking to the salamander. “That’s all I have so far. I’m not even sure if it’s worth anything, but it’s a work in progress, right?”

0 Juri Dahlgren, Aladren Content in being alone 0 Juri Dahlgren, Aladren 0 5

Marissa

December 09, 2009 7:10 PM

I guess we'll just carry on, then. by Marissa

Marissa watched in amusement as Starbuck let the salamander eat out of her hand and fired off questions faster than she could answer them. It was a bit odd, not being a first year Muggleborn half-terrified and half-intrigued by everything, but she definitely had no objections to it.

Except that, in some classes, it would be her last year as a Beginner, and Intermediate sounded hard. There was that. She could hold her own, with effort, with the Beginners; a foray into more difficult work next year was likely to be, at best, painful.

She wasn't going to think about that now, though. It was an exercise in futility; next year would come in spite of what she had to say on the matter, and she had this year to deal with first. "Oh, don't worry about it," she said, only just preventing herself from adding a 'honey'. She had spent too much time being charming to Daddy's friends this summer; it was distinctly bad for her diction. "I'm Muggleborn. I spent half of my very first Potions lesson asking my partner questions."

She wasn't sure, even now, how smart of her it was to admit that, but hang it, she couldn't help what she was. "Most of the classes are pretty hard for me, but it really means something when I finally get it right. History of Magic is my favorite, though. And we usually do partner up a lot in most classes." Most of that had been said in what Marissa called her 'definition voice', so named because it was usually used for reciting definitions in class. It was subtly different from a presentation voice, which had more depth of expression. "It's great for getting to know people," she added, more normally. "Like now, actually. I would hardly know anyone if not for classes, because I have to spend most of my free time studying and I don't have any roommates."

16 Marissa I guess we'll just carry on, then. 147 Marissa 0 5

Rachel

December 11, 2009 12:25 AM

Even if 'different' equals 'totally amoral'? by Rachel

"Giannelly," Rachel repeated, trying the name out. "Nice name. Is she going to come here, too?"

She thought Kate and Alicia and most of her cousins would be following her here over the years, though really, no one ever knew what Uncle Isaac might do. Her mother had always gotten along swimmingly with him, to the point that she'd named Rachel's half-brother after him long after her divorce from his brother, but even she didn't really trust him. Rachel thought she just had a thing for manipulative, power-hungry men; it would explain why she and Dad had not worked out on several different levels. And then there was the problem of not knowing if everyone was magical; Naomi, at least, was Muggleborn, Papa had a fair bit of Muggle in his ancestry, and her uncles weren't picky when it came to wives. Squibs were likely.

Yet another thing she'd have to worry about...There were a few days, scattered out though they were, when Rachel felt losing the perks of status would be worth losing the order to play pureblood. It was going to be hard enough, if some of her Bauer cousins did show up here, to explain that she would have to near-kill them if they mentioned anything about where she actually came from.

"Not really," she said with a shrug, dismissing Tobar's odd mistake of 'stepfather's brother' for 'stepfather'. Jeremy, for his part, traded in the Potions market. Or so he said - Rachel had her suspicions about how else he and Momma could have as much money as they did, but if he was smuggling, it was none of her business until the Aurors showed up. That, of course, was the point at which she grabbed her sisters, Flooed to Dad's, and pretended none of them had laid eyes on their mother in years. She did not want all the gossip here to be that Rachel Bauer got questioned by the cops, and she was not about to let her sisters go through that. Kate wasn't tough enough for it, and Alicia was the baby. It was her job to look after them. "A pair of suicidal glory hounds going at each other? I'm not going near that with a ten-foot pole. Not unless I'm a lot older and have an Auror's certificate, anyway.

"And I'm sorry as I can be - " another borrowed phrase of Momma's; when she relaxed, she sounded more like her mother than her mother did these days - "but that thing is not getting anywhere near my hair." She spoke lightly again, a hint of a smile on her face, but meant it absolutely. "It takes, like, twenty minutes to fix it every morning, and I am not letting a lizard make me skip lunch."

16 Rachel Even if 'different' equals 'totally amoral'? 154 Rachel 0 5

Edmond

December 15, 2009 3:28 PM

Might depend on the manner of death by Edmond

Edmond nodded, acknowledging a point, as Veronica pointed out range of choice. "But that's a specific incident," he said. "I've read that many of our peers have no concrete, achievable plans for their lives. If program requirements were tailored to each of us at age eleven, there would be those who changed later on and lacked the foundations for their new area of study.

"Of course," he admitted with a slightly rueful smile, "I must admit I was also thinking of my own situation. To do as my family intends for me to, I need at least a working knowledge of even more subjects than we have available at Sonora." If there was an afterlife, he was going to spend it irritated if he was murdered before he could use those subjects. He'd spent his entire life bent over a book, so his entire existence would have been a waste of resources if he got knifed in the back any time in the next four or five decades.

"That sounds wise," he said gravely as she declared that a majority of her pretty clothes would be kept for weekends. He really had no idea what the correct thing was to say in this situation. There was a difference between taking care to remain neat and clean, which was what he did, and being well-informed on the matter of women's clothing. It was as inappropriate a subject for him as Veronica said Creatures was for her. And no one planned on accidents; that was the part that made them, well, accidents. It was a very important matter of definitions and classifications.

The matter of other notable people required another moment of thought. "I suppose one would consider the prefects as, ah, people of note in the House," he said, though not with a lot of conviction. Edmond didn't know any of them, but a year of observation had indicated that none of them really lived up to the high image he had of their office. "All of them are...very quiet fellows. I might be Grayson's cousin by marriage, but I'm not sure." Morgaine had spoken about some cousin of a cousin who had something to do with Gwenhwyfar and an aunt who'd somehow managed to die twice; Mora wasn't much of a storyteller, and he thought that the details had gotten garbled in translation. "There are five sets of family trees to learn just in Father's family," he offered by way of explanation. "When you get to affiliates it becomes really impossible to memorize them all.

"Other people...Well, Cassie and Marissa are in my year and if I'm not head of it in a subject, one of them is." He had never actually compared grades, but that was the picture he had put together from observation. That Teppenpaw, Duell or something like that, might be in the running for the Transfiguration title, but speaking generally..."Odd thing, though - Marissa's in Crotalus. You might ask her about the appropriate dress codes for classes; Crotali tend to be the most knowledgeable about that sort of thing." The fact that she was almost certainly Muggleborn ruled her out as a wife option, but objectively speaking, Marissa was quite pretty. Veronica was also quite pretty, so Edmond thought that they would get along well. On the chance that Marissa would be a little miffed at having Aladren first years directed to her for wardrobe advice, though, he made a note not to jump all over the first flaw in her reasoning he found in discussion this year. He didn't take losing personally anyway; it just gave him an opportunity to see where he might be a tad weak and work to fix the problem.

"You'll find in general that Aladrens tend to be quiet - " the former Head Boy hadn't been, but then, that wasn't his job, and Gwenhwyfar's year of Aladrens seemed to have been a ragtag bunch of misfits, but they weren't here now; he'd only heard as much about them as he had because his sister and Geoff Layne had been rivals to the death and the crazy ex-Aladren captain, Anne Wright, was a relative - "and not to know many people outside our House, I'm afraid. Most of us are devoted to our work and academic rivalry."

0 Edmond Might depend on the manner of death 0 Edmond 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

December 18, 2009 9:29 AM

Breaking your solitude by Charlotte Abbott

Care of Magical Creatures just wasn't going to be the same without Professor Kijewski, or so Charlotte thought. But then as she approached the teaching area, and she discovered that there were the same students, same textbook and their new professor was also a young woman, Charlie felt the change would probably be minimal after all. Besides, they were learning about fire salamanders, which was really cool. Charlotte usually enjoyed the subject - her older brother had taunted her with stories of dragons and unicrons during his first few years at Sonora while Charlotte had been stuck at home, and she'd been delighted to know he hadn't even been making any of it up. Okay, so sometimes they had to study flobberworms and that was just boring, but there was nothing cuter than a puffskein, and not much cooler than a fire salamander.

After making some brief notes, Chrlotte joined the back of the queue to get her salamander. But then she saw that boy in their year, Juri, who'd been mean to Lita in charms, even though he was supposed to be her friend, sitting on his own. Intending to be indignant on her best friend's behalf, Charlie marched over only to hear him singing to his salamander. What now?

"So you're better with animals than with people, then," Charlie said, sitting down on the log next to him. Although she knew Lita spoke to Juri sometimes, charlotte didn't know him all that well (she'd been too distracted by other Aladren boys to notice him all that much until now).

0 Charlotte Abbott Breaking your solitude 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5